thearena | Sabertooth Tiger Attacks

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Sabertooth Tiger Attacks

Who| Everyone who wants to fight Smilodons or run from Smilodons or watch in horror!
What| Sabertooth tigers are rampaging through the Arena!
Where| The forests
When| Monday & Tuesday
Warnings/Notes| Violence against humans and animals! Make your own threads as you like. You can also tag in to run from the tigers, rescue people from them, or watch others fighting them.

The first signs of trouble are noticed on Monday morning. As the snowfall ceases, a foreign rustling could be heard amongst the trees of the forests. The rustling became louder and closer, and soon it was obvious that there were dozens of massive furry beasts roaming the woods. But they weren't the peaceful herbivores of the autumn, oh no. These things were massive, vicious, and on the trail of something to eat.

Those who had taken shelter in the woods would notice them first and likely need to run away. However, the cats would not be contained to the forests for long. By Monday evening, the sabertooth tigers were rampaging through most regions of the arena, ready to tear apart any sorry soul who crossed their paths.

The cats are looking for blood. Will you give it to them?

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Haruto does a startled double-take when Iskierka shows herself, for it takes him a moment to remember things like 'I know this dragon' and 'this dragon isn't bad' and 'since when were dragons part of a glacial landscape, anyway'. But during that moment he does manage to leap closer to Gary trajectory and put an arm up as though he was prepared to defend him. Hero reflexes, after all.

"Really? Because I've been hearing things all day. They must be good at hiding." And he casts a look back at Gary, more worried than anything else. Good job, you've avoided a cranky scolding from big brother Haruto.

For all of his confidence, Gary can't help but jump when Iskierka appears through the scattered brush and snow. She's honestly the most terrifying creature he's encountered in this Arena so far, and he knows her. Which means she's on his side.

This is an excellent thing to realize. Gary's startled little jump and wide-eyed stare rapidly shifts back to a grin, and he's quick to push past Haruto's protective arm so he can get a better look at her. The gesture's significance, naturally, has gone completely over his head.

"Or they just don't want to mess with a motherfucking dragon," Gary points out with an enthusiastic laugh. When it fades, the others might notice that the forest has become comparatively, eerily quiet. Like something is watching and trying to stay quiet.

She's very good at being terrifying, it's true. In fact, she doesn't even bat an eye at Haruto jumping into a more protective position. (It is, in fact, rather gratifying that she can still startle people even now.)

"Whyever should anything wish to," she answers by way of agreement. "Even if they do not have dragons here it is not as if I am anything that they should want to fight, regardless of what they should happen to be."

As to Gary's attempt to get a better look at her she looks to be in excellent health, apart from the part where there's a slowly melting puddle of slush around her feet. True, she doesn't look terribly pleased about the cold, but this is probably on account of the fact that very few of the warmer clothes that have been trickling into the arena are something she can easily wear. Nor has it occurred to her that she could quite possibly make use of sleeping bag, with a few adjustments.

She does note the sudden silence in the forest, but she's no hunter. To her it's just an odd silence, and not something that might be indicative of anything particularly worrying.

Haruto, too, is not experienced at surviving in the wilderness. He's more apt to notice sudden noises than the absence of noise, and thus the sudden quiet completely escapes his notice.

"There are still things that like to mess with dragons." Someone still has to be the negative one, though, and Haruto's happy to keep at that. "Whether it's a good idea or-"

And hey! That is totally a sabertooth tiger lunging in at the humans! And it's not even polite enough to let Haruto finish what he was saying.

Always such a downer! Gary would joke about Haruto's spectacular ability to be a wet blanket in any situation, but he is too busy being terrified by the sudden appearance of a huge cat pouncing at them from the undergrowth.

All previous confidence and attempts to imitate it are promptly forgotten. With remarkable agility Gary springs to the side, rolls and recovers in the snow, and immediately tries to hide behind Iskierka.

Given that Iskierka hasn't actually run into any of the larger variety of cats, the appearance of the sabertooth tiger is doubly surprising. She hadn't even been aware that cats could get that large and here she is facing something that looks more than ready to attack besides.

She doesn't run. Just because the cat is a lot closer to her size than it might have been otherwise doesn't mean she can't still take it, and her wings are already half-spreading as Gary dives behind her. A moment later, she lowers her head and hisses at the sabertooth. She doesn't expect that it'll be at all familiar with dragons, but with any luck it'll at least recognize another predator when it sees one.

The snow near Haruto is too high for a proper duck-and-roll away, but he is quickly recoiling the way he came, brandishing that hunting knife of his more like a ward than a weapon. "Woah!" So that's what's been stalking around all this time! He had expected something vicious, but nothing so enormous. He, too, is sure that it might even give Iskierka a hard time.

The big cat snarls and starts to side-step, sizing up this larger opponent. And, perhaps deciding that it's entirely too large to be bothered with and an easier meal may lie with the smaller things around it, it pivots and pounces for Haruto.

Things are happening entirely too fast for Gary's tastes. This continues to be a new, unexpected and unpleasant experience for him; nothing is supposed to move faster than Gary, and the fact that things frequently do while his abilities are disabled makes him incredibly uncomfortable. For the first few critical seconds of the encounter, Gary has no idea how to process any of what's going on.

The first thing he realizes after that initial period of shock is that they're all in genuine, horrible danger. Iskierka looks and sounds like she can handle herself, so instinctively Gary wants to keep hiding behind her, and at first this sounds like a fine idea. Then he remembers hearing Haruto shout.

Thinking through things has never worked well for Gary and he's not about to start testing his luck. As soon as he peeks over Iskierka's back and sees the cat advancing on Haruto, he grabs a handful of snow and chucks it at the sabertooth's head.

If Iskierka let it concern her, she'd probably admit that Haruto might be right. Even medium-weights can be a problem, given a good enough crew and a range that makes using her flames inconvenient. It's just that she's not ever inclined to mention such things. Other people associated with her might, but at the end of the day that's neither here nor there.

She's glad to see that the sabertooth appears to be less than interested in attacking her, though, even if it only lasts until it goes after Haruto. As far as she knows, she's the only one with any sort of weapons. Besides, she's been spoiling for a fight as it is.

Gary's snowball has only just landed when she launches herself at the sabertooth, claws outstretched - caught between having half-turned in Gary's direction and needing to turn again to deal with this newest threat it doesn't manage to get out of the way in time and her claws strike true. It's not enough to drop the sabertooth, but it's left wounded... and angry.

Everything is happening at once, and Haruto can only react to what he notices first. He saw the big cat pounce and, snow in the way or not, his instinct is to dive out of the way. So he does, and he is sadly unable to get right back up to his feet to contribute to the fighting. In fact, he is struggling and stumbling and covered in powdery snow and otherwise being completely damned useless.

The sabertooth has been warded away from him for the moment, though. There are those fresh wounds to worry about, and there's that smaller, softer thing that threw something at its face. Yowling and snarling, it claws at Iskierka and tries to pin her, wanting to sink those huge fangs into her neck.

In general, Gary decides that things are going in their favor. His distraction had worked, Iskierka had gotten some good hits in on the nasty creature and now it's bleeding and looking decidedly less happy than it was a minute ago. This is a minor success.

"Yeah!" Gary urges them on from the sidelines, pumping his fist over his head. If he shouts loud enough, then maybe Haruto will regain his footing--or the sabertooth will stop lashing out at Iskierka.

Actually that seems like a really bad thing.

Gary doesn't want to quite admit that the tides could turn so quickly; he's riding the high of what he perceives to be a winning battle and he wants to keep it that way. Feeling confident, he decides to step in and help, ducking around the flank to snap off a branch from one of the barren trees. Then he's lunging forward to stab the cat in the leg.

Not only does this spectacularly fail because he loses his footing in the snow, but also Gary sorely underestimates the sabertooth's reflexes. It spins around, realizing that the squishy target is near and fumbling but also carrying something sharp, and immediately lashes out in a pounce. Gary yelps with surprise before he disappears beneath the snow, followed by a shriek when a fang snags on his waist. Its feet are very heavy on his chest--there's no wiggling out of this hold, not without hurting himself even more.

It's definitely a good start. The fact that the sabertooth is mostly working on sheer animal reflex is throwing Iskierka a little - she's used to expecting things of her own size to also be similarly capable of thought to her - but it's not hard to figure out what to do all the same. It might only be an animal, but it's going after people that she would much prefer it weren't. At that point, figuring out what to do is easy.

That said, she's more than glad to see the sabertooth's attention drawn away from her for the time being. Her scales have done a decent enough job at turning the cat's claws, but she didn't much fancy the idea of those fangs being anywhere near her neck.

She likes the fact that it's got Gary pinned even less, and she hisses, wings mantling. It doesn't quite catch the sabertooth's attention, but she hadn't expected it to; she's not even finished hissing before she charges the sabertooth, head down and steam jetting from all the various spikes along her back. It'd be an impressive sight, really, if anyone was in a position to see it. As it is, the first indication that Gary will have of anything she's doing is the weight on his chest being quite literally thrown off - the cat might be large, but Iskierka handily outweighs it. Fortunately, she manages to not step on Gary in the process, but the snow around him melts, a little under the heat of her - to say nothing of the steam.

The cat itself, meanwhile, lands a good distance away, and if it weren't pissed before, it certainly is now. On the other hand, it's a reasonable bet that it's at the very least bruised and winded, if not worse.

Haruto rises from the snow in time to see Gary fall into it, and to see Iskierka charging and steaming. It's not the clearest glimpse of it, but it's still impressive. He has a healthy respect for the sorts of things that dragons can do. (And what would Dragon think of this, he wonders?) "GARY!!!" ...and he's free. Possibly wounded, but free. Alright. One less thing to worry about.

He's closer to the big cat than any of the others are right now, but that's just fine with him. He has a knife, and panic and fear is rapidly giving away to that sense of I need to make this right that drove him on as a Rider. The adrenaline is kicking in, and right now, he is certain that he can take that thing on because he has to take it on. He's the Last Hope. "Hey! HEY!" And the Last Hope is advancing on the sabertooth as though daring it to come lunge at him.

He has its attention, at least, even if its still somewhat stunned from being tossed. It growls and starts to advance in kind.

Gary feels the weight leave him and instinctively crumples into a tight ball in the snow. The snow leaves him, too. He rationalizes that as the reason for why he feels so warm and wet along one side, because it seems more likely, and also less alarming than considering that it's from his own blood.

When he staggers upright, it should be obvious that it's actually the latter. There's a heavy gash just above his hip that's already soaked through the ripped edges of his windbreaker, but a combination of adrenaline and shock keeps him from noticing right away. Instead, Gary focuses on the stick still clutched in his hand and the fact that the sabertooth is moving a lot slower than it was a few minutes ago, and tries for that lunge again.

This time he's much more successful, not because he actually hits the cat's leg, but because he misses and snags it a bit higher up, spearing its gut. Gary is already hopping backwards as it reacts, yowling and lashing out in fury and pain, struggling enough that it makes its own wound worse before dislodging the makeshift spear. It's not immediately fatal, but it's definitely not something the cat can ignore.

Iskierka, for her part, doesn't even notice that Gary's injured. Not so much because it doesn't matter to her, but because she used to the sorts of battles where stopping to mend an injury could very cost them the turn of the tide. That and it's not usually her place to see to the aviators flying with her. There are doctors for that sort of thing, when they make it back to the ground; what aviators do until then is largely a mystery to her.

She does, at least, notice Haruto's yell, but that's all but instinctive. You notice people yelling on the battlefield because that's about the only way to be heard over anything else. It's just that it's not orders to do something (or not do something) and so she puts it out of her mind.

Instead, what she registers is the way Haruto is advancing on it with a knife and then Gary's making his own strike. It's not much but it's enough. Enough that Iskierka's absolutely certain that they can manage this. She'll let Haruto have the finishing blow if he wants it, but even so, she's approaching from the same side as before, slow and steady this time. And if no one else decides to do anything, as soon as she gets close enough her claws lash out and strike deep - not a killing blow, but very definitely a crippling one.

Any effort on the sabertooth's part to strike at Haruto is considerably hampered by Gary's successful lunging and Iskierka continuing to be very, very talented at being a dragon. It snarls and is slowed by the effort to dislodge the makeshift spear, and that's enough time for Haruto to lunge first. He has no idea where its heart would be but he knows where the throat is, and he slashes for that with all his might, the blade of his knife hitting true and tearing deep.

It's not enough to kill the sabertooth cat immediately, though. It snarls and lashes out with its enormous claws, but Haruto is not inclined towards sticking around to let something get a free hit in on him. He lets his momentum carry him most of the way to safety before turning and preparing to either spring back in at it or dive out of the way of a more purposeful counter attack.

It's bleeding out, though, and doesn't look like it's going to manage a whole lot more other than some angry death throes.

The battle is more or less won at this point, so Gary is happy to just stand back and make sure the sabertooth doesn't try anything too drastic. Or maybe he's not attacking again because he's starting to feel kind of unpleasantly lightheaded--either way, Gary takes up position opposite to Iskierka and Haruto, completing a circle around the cat while it lashes out in increasingly weaker swipes and bleeds profusely on the trampled snow. Gary finds a second, less impressive stick to swing and yell with whenever the sabertooth looks at him funny, but the both of them are too weak now. Unless someone finishes it off early, the tiger will stumble around for another minute or so before it finally gurgles its defeat and collapses.

Gary watches it with wide, wary eyes, gasping for air while he waits for the sabertooth to breathe its last. Only then does he drop the stick.

"Holy fuck," he laughs, an awkward, abrupt and halting sort of noise that is clearly from relief rather than actual humor. "That was fuckin' awesome!"

Iskierka, as it happens is quite content to let the cat bleed out, on mostly because she doesn't really care enough about it to give it the mercy of a quick death. Well, that and the fact that she's always been a little bloodthirsty at the best of times, and if people are going to keep her from the war back home she's damned well going to make the most of what she does have.

She still hasn't quite realized that Gary's injured either, although now that they aren't fighting it's probably only a matter of time if no one else notices first.

"It was ever so enjoyable," Iskierka agrees with a bob of her head. "Certainly much better than most anything else thus far."

"If you say so." That was not awesome, in his estimation. If it had been awesome, no one would have been hurt and it wouldn't have been anywhere near this messy. Iskierka's answer in particular has him shaking his head in disbelief. Dragons, man. Dragons are nuts.

"Gary? How're you..." He takes this time to look over at his fellow District 11-er, and the ease immediately drops from his question. Now that he can spare the time for it, it's plain to him that Gary's bleeding. "Damn it! It got you?" And now he's rushing forward, shrugging off his backpack and starting to unzip it. He has a medkit. He has supplies. He can fix this.

"I like how you think," Gary huffs at Iskierka, which is his attempt at actual laughter before he realizes, oh wait, that really fucking hurts, holy shit what the fuck is wrong with his side, oh god ow. His smile melts into a pained grimace as he reaches for the offending spot above his hip, and is immediately alarmed to find his clothes warm and soaked. Haruto's protests come at about the same time Gary pulls his hand away; it comes back covered in fresh blood, which is apparently news to him by the way he stares at it like he's holding someone else's severed arm.

"I...huh." Gary blinks, dumbly, and makes some attempt to twist around and see the full extent of the damage. He doesn't get very far before wincing back. "--Ahh, shit. That explains a lot. How bad...?"

Iskierka bobs her head in agreement at Gary's comment. It's a good way to think, or rather, it is when you're both a dragon and kind of also a weapon of war. Not that she blames Haruto for his opinion, but it's certainly not the sort of thing that she's seen a lot of in other dragons.

(Aviators, maybe, but that's an entirely different matter.)

Still, she comes close enough to peer at the wound in question, even if she's not likely to be much of any help in helping fix this. About the best she can probably manage is to hold things - anything else is probably going to need something smaller and less pointy than her foreclaws.

"It could certainly be worse," she offers, either unaware of or unconcerned about the fact that this might not be a comforting answer.

"Let me get a look at it. And stop moving! Geez..." He's no paramedic but he's spent a lot of time recovering from having the crap beaten out of him, and corresponding amounts of helping others do the same. By the time he's at Gary's side he has managed to fish out a first aid kit, as well as one of his spare scarves, which he shoves into Gary's hand. "Put pressure on that." He's got this. He's sure that he's got this.

"...keep an eye out for any more of them, would you?" He calls that over to Iskierka, the politeness a sort of squawked and tacked-on thing. In his experience it's better not to order dragons around. They don't like it.

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Sabertooth Tiger Attacks

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We're all free to dictate what the sabertooth does, I imagine?

Fine by me!

likewise!

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Think we can call this done?