Sabertooth Tiger Attacks

[etcircenses]

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?

Comments

[letthemburn]

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.

[wizardplease]

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.

[a_minute_younger]

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.

[letthemburn]

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.

[wizardplease]

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.

[a_minute_younger]

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!"

[letthemburn]

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."

[wizardplease]

"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.

[a_minute_younger]

"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...?"

[letthemburn]

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.

Think we can call this done?

[wizardplease]

"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.