She remembered the godswood, drooping branches heavy with moisture...

[needlebearer]

Who| Arya and YOU
What| Having escaped the destruction of Winterfell, Arya takes to the forest
Where| The Godswood
When| Week 5
Warnings/Notes| Giant spiders in the last part of the post. Prose and brackets both welcome. If you'd prefer another starter let me know and I'll set one up.



She didn't stop running until she was well into the forest. She refused to let herself look back again after she'd seen the towers of Winterfell begin to crumble to the ground; she couldn't allow her last image of her home to be the pile of rubble it was fast becoming. She'd got Needle back, and she keeps one hand on its hilt as she goes deeper and deeper into the trees, tripping over roots and making birds fly up from their perches as she thunders by underneath them, still dragging the guitar behind her no matter how much it slows her down, knowing that it's the ace up her sleeve.

When she finally stops to catch her breath, she takes a look around her to assess her surroundings, and is shocked to find herself staring into the blood red tears of a Heart Tree. The Godswood... another piece of home that they'd brought here, whether to reward her for making it this far or to torment her further Arya's not sure.

She stares at the Weirwood for a long time, part of her wanting to take the opportunity to pray to the Old Gods, her Father's gods, but she hadn't felt their presence for a long time. Eventually she clenches her fist, her stance looking as though she's squaring off against the Weirwood rather than finding any comfort in it whatsoever. "There is only one god, and his name is Death," she says, her voice cold steel.

After successfully contacting the Capitol, Arya realises too late that she's lingered too long. Dark shadows creep between the trees, and she only just has time to gather her belongings to see a spider the size of Hodor skittering toward her. Arya runs, lumbering through the trees until the Godswood is far behind and the forest gets deeper and thicker, and if anything even more primal. Little does she know that she's wandered into Mirkwood, and while she knows nothing about this part of the forest, the spiders knows every inch of it...

Comments

[justoutrunyou]

Fortunately (Or unfortunately) for Arya, she's not the only meat the spiders are tracking through these dark and dangerous woods.

Her eyes wild, focusing and un-focusing at inopportune times, Sandy is moving in a sort of stiff and jerky fashion as she treads roughly through the brush, slashing at branches and webs with her knife and knife in an almost carefree fashion. Her burns are scabbing over nicely with fresh blood decorating the side of her face that isn't melted. She's drawn a spiral on her cheek, and dots over her eyes with it.

Twirling the knife in her hand she stops and holds her breath hearing the sound of prey, more prey. Yes she has fought the monsters and survived but this is a beast on two legs. A beast that might pose more of a challenge. One that might actually end her.

Giggling to herself and then pausing still as a statue she realizes that the sound has echoed through the lonely woods. Maybe if she's lucky it won't give away her position.

Then again...she doesn't really care does she? Why should she care anymore?

[needlebearer]

Arya tries to tread carefully, but it's difficult with the gear she's carrying and especially with the gnarled, twisting roots threatening to trip her up with every step. Every little sound makes her pause, trying to determine whether they're something sinister about to end her. The giggling is unnatural, completely out of place with the noises of the forest and the creatures that lie within. Another Tribute, it must be. She can't see them, but they must be able to see her.

She pulls Needle from her belt and grips it tightly, checking the branches above her first to make sure she wasn't about to be ambushed in the same way she'd done to Kaidan previously.

"I know you're there." Her voice sounds far more confident than she feels.

[justoutrunyou]

The giggle turns into a barking laugh and Sandy calls from her hiding place "They know you're there too!" She squeals delighted. Her mind spins and tries to refocus on the situation at hand. Chemical induced madness is struggling against battle worn instinct as she prowls along the trees slicing through another spider web.

"But do you know where they know we are?" She replied nonsensically. Her chipper upbeat tone is still gravely and rough but clearly the voice of a young girl. Does Arya recognize it from before?

[needlebearer]

The voice itself isn't instantly recognisable, but at least now she has a direction. Arya heads toward Sandy slowly, cautiously, ducking under the thick web between the trees and her stomach lurching as she realises just how big the creature that made it must be.

"Come out. I'm not afraid of you."

[justoutrunyou]

That seems to amuse the girl even more, barking out with laughter as a shadowy figure darts out of the bushes and vanishes behind a thicket. Branches rattle and leaves scatter as the figure springs out from the thicket behind a tree, then into another bush, then back to the tree.

"No one is afraid of me. That's why it's always a surprise when I kill them." She giggled and somehow the giggles sounded like they were behind Arya when clearly the shadows were in front of her.

[needlebearer]

"You're not going to kill me," Arya declares much more bravely than she feels. Not today... she tells herself, not today... "Come out where I can see you, you coward!"

[justoutrunyou]

"Not a coward. Not anymore."

Slithering out from behind a try like some figment from a nightmare, Sandy's burns were made all the more horrific by splashes of blood and dirt streaking along her arm and dripping off her face. wisps of hair clung to half of her scalp drifting gently with every motion while the unmarked side of her face still sported full greasy blond locks.

"When I was little, my father always told me this joke...not a particularly funny joke...but it was our special joke." She explained drawing out a knife and a piece of bone, sharpening the bone with slow unpleasant sounding scrapes of her blade, all the while keeping her drooping burnt eye on Arya.

"These two campers you see? Sleeping in a tent when they here a noise..."

Her foot stepped on the brittle bones of some long dead creature making a audible cracking sound.

"When they investigated, it was a bear, and it roared and gave chase! So they ran and ran, but then one of them began laughing." She giggled with glee as if this was the best joke she had and just the memory of it was making her giddy.

"I just realized something." He said with a grin "I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you."

An explosion of tittering unstable giggles as she watched Arya with manic eyes expecting her to react in a similar fashion.

[needlebearer]

Arya grips Needle tightly, ready to run if needed, taking small steps backwards to get herself in a better position to strike. She really didn't want to hurt Sandy, knowing that the state she's in is at least partly her fault, but she also knows a truly unstable person when she sees one, and feels she may have no choice but to attack. At least it would put her out of her miserable condition, so she could wake up in the Capitol anew.

"How are you still alive? I thought that burn would have got you weeks ago."

[justoutrunyou]

"I had help." She confesses and brings the sharpened bone to her teeth pretending to pick at them with the tip of her bone shank.

"Friends, sponsors. Sending me burn cream of killing monsters for me. Fighting at my side."

The bone came out of her mouth with blood from her gums on the tip and she pointed it dramatically at Arya.

"You know how long I've been dying? Of course you do that's a stupid question. We're dying from the minute we're born aren't we? But here...this. This place? I've been dying for District twelve for three years! And I have lost so...so much to be here today. To get where I am right now burnt like a Marshmallow and hurting every time I breath."

Another step closer, then a bark of laughter and she kicked at the dirt scattering it towards Arya.

"That's how I'm still alive! Because you learn a lot in three years. How to use friends, how to take things slow and most importantly? How to hurt."

A tear leaked from her bulbous eye but she kept smiling and moving closer.

"Would you like me to teach you how to hurt? It'll take some time but the scars won't last...at least not on the outside."

[allyorfoe]

Tabris has plenty of skills, but being quiet isn't really one of them. At least Arya won't have to worry about the elf sneaking up on her, because Arya will be able to hear her foul mouth from a mile away, yelping and swearing, accompanied by the solid sounds of wood against--well, something. Not quite flesh.

If she wants to pursue the noise, it won't be hard to track down Tabris smacking at a large spider, trying to dodge around as it swiped at her. She rolls, right as it bites at her, narrowly missing her, and she slides under the spider as it tries to use its webbing. "Fucking creepy ass spider, no one ties me up without a safety word--ARYA." Moving from under the spider, Tabris flashed a grin at her, before turning back to the spider.

"Hey, you got a weapon? Wanna lend a hand? If you don't got one don't sweat it, just keep a bit back, okay? Man, I wish they'd been passing out giant brooms at the cornucopia, huh?"

[needlebearer]

Arya's a little incredulous at how Tabris is taking no effort to conceal herself. She supposes that at least the spiders would be distracted by her so she could attempt an escape, if it came to it. Nevertheless, she knows that it's pointless trying to stay quiet now that Tabris has noticed her. Besides the spiders could probably smell her just as much as hear her.

"I have my sword!" She's excited to be able to show Needle off to someone, and to actually use it in combat here. Dropping the rest of her gear, she leaps toward the spider and swipes at one of its legs, hoping to dismember it.

[allyorfoe]

"You got your own sword?" Tabris peeked up from around the spider to look at it, before ducking as the stupid thing tried to grab at her arm. "Oh man, Arya, that's great!" Despite the fact that she was currently locked in battle with a beast trying to turn her into an elf slurpee, she just grinned brightly at Arya.

When the girl hacked off the leg of the spider, it let out a piercing shriek, causing Tabris to wince. Eugh. "Well, you got 'em mad. Madder. Good work! Let's see just how mad we can get this asshole. I hate spiders, you know." She swung the bat, right on top of the spider, earning a solid thunk. Then she ducked, as the spider spat webbing at her. "Just watch out for that stuff."

[needlebearer]

"Yes, Needle! It was a gift from my brother." Although she wonders how the Gamemakers managed to bring it here. They must have got it from Polliver, and he wouldn't give it up freely. The idea that they'd got rid of someone on her list enrages her; the names were pretty much all she had to go back for.

Some of the webbing lands on her foot and she hacks away at it, freeing herself from being stuck to a nearby rock. "Have you killed any more of these?"

[cognitived]

The truth is, Clint is far more comfortable in the boroughs of a tree than he is on the ground. Yeah, yeah, he gets it -- of course the bird guy would pick a tree to hide out in. But it's been useful, and he knows how to keep hidden like only a master assassin can. This forest though, it makes him uneasy, and Clint isn't planning on spending much time here. He's simply checking on his bandages again, carefully.

Which is, of course, when Arya comes running through.

Clint freezes, gaze sharp as his namesake, as he hears her lumbering through the trees. There's a chittering noise, and oh fuck-- there's nothing pleasant about the spider chasing Arya. Maybe it's an Arena, maybe she wouldn't hesitate to kill, but Clint's clearly been hanging out with too many heroes. He can't let her get eaten by the spider. So he waits patiently, knives in hands, for her to run beneath him. And then he leaps, landing on the spider's back, knives biting deep into it's body.

Probably not the best decision he's ever made. But not the worst, either.

[needlebearer]

As the knives plunge into its back, the spider lets out a shriek unlike anything Arya's ever heard before. She's not sure if it's injured and crying in pain, or calling for back up, so she doesn't hesitate, as tempting as it is to look back and reassess the situation. It's only when she's gone another thirty feet or so that she realises that she's no longer being chased, the spider focusing instead on the much more instant threat that Clint poses, reeling to and fro in an attempt to shake him off before he can land a killing blow.

She knows that she should get out of there while she still can, especially as she's unsure whether this is an act of chivalry on Clint's part or whether he's simply saving the chance to kill her for himself, especially now they're paid cold hard assi for each Arena kill. Instead she finds herself unsheathing Needle and running full tilt toward the spider, jamming the blade straight into one of its many hideous eyes.