Here it's safe, here it's warm

[etcircenses]

Who| All those on the liberation mission and all those being made to fight against them.
What| The liberation of District 7.
Where| District 7.
When| This week.
Warnings/Notes| War, violence, death. Please warn for more in headers.

The forest goes on for miles, a great green, snowy, and towering sea unbroken by the influence of man, at least until the city is reached, parts of the forest cut away around it. It's a city that's come to much ruin as the elements have taken over most of what once was Calgary, but some of the buildings have been converted into lumber mills, the giant saws buzzing loud. A few mills even have a man made river running by them to help run smooth and transport materials, the water's current keeping it from freezing just yet. The river runs into a massive and beautiful lake that's frozen over to the opposite side of the river's mouth, the ice thinner the further one gets from shore.

Posters of Clara and Emily have been put up around the District but some only half-way as the war broke out and parts were lost to the elements. Still more have been defaced, scratching out the lines Peace is the brightest star on the tree. The phrase We can make this our Panem can be seen around, but those too have been blotted out in other areas, sometimes with a note that the offworlders don't belong here. Tiny snowmen faintly resembling Karkat and Wyatt stand around, made by the young and hurried hands of certain residents here.

Much of the homes are log cabins, but a few have been made out of overturned train-cars and trucks. Throughout the open paths, Snow has been piled up to build icy blockades, protecting the buildings and their people, while trenches in the middle of the roads give Districters a vantage point to fight from.

But there is no better vantage point than among the trees. With the cover of the foliage, soldiers, Peacekeepers, and Districters alike able to climb the trunks can sit up high and scope out their enemies, getting the drop well before they're ever even noticed. These people have lived rough, but they are stronger for it, not weaker, and they are largely in favor of the Tributes, grateful for the children that were saved. Much of rebellion has hidden within those woods. The rebels on top of the many wildlife creatures like moose, big cats, foxes and birds of prey, make it a treacherous walk for Peacekeepers.

That in itself is another thing everyone will notice; there are a lot of Peacekeepers here. In District seven, most peacekeepers are the best of the best. Capitol-soldiers will be in no short supply of backup, even despite the District's rebelliousness. Rebels will need to step light no matter what they're doing; the Peacekeepers can be a little trigger happy.

The war continues, and in the back of everyone's mind is a familiar phrase; may the odds be ever in your favor.

Comments

[carnagecarnival]

He mouths and form an O and K with his hand. He's sure it won't be much a thing. He's been hurt worse. There's always a worse thing. He remembers the axe. He remembers being melted down alive and watching his fingers burn to bone. He remembers losing Terezi and that last sense he had some manner of control over whether or not he could be any sort of good. He'll just get on some bandage or all what motherfucking not and be back on his way, he's certain.

How could he explain that his daze has little to do with the wound? How could he elaborate that he saw the ghost of a hero and she'd show him a fool? He doesn't have the heart, like he used to, to call rebels out for their hopes. Not since he joined them.

He doesn't lie down like he's asked, but he does sit for her. His hands go upon the edge, clear of her work. He looks from her and down to himself, noting her hesitation. He might as well make this easier on her. He grabs the pen and quickly tugs it free with only a wince. It opens things up, but he needn't add to someone else's guilt today more than he's already done.

[didnothing]

"Oh - no, no, no!" Luna's not panicked, having seen worse in other fighters come back from the battlefield, but she does quickly start fussing over the Initiate's wound: dabbing at blood, applying a tiny amount of antibiotic (she doesn't know exactly what it does for trolls, and besides there isn't much to go around), and dressing the wound once she's satisfied with what she's done.

She doesn't speak until she feels she's finished, but when she is it comes out as a sort of scolding - a mild one, mindful of his history, but certainly her displeasure should come across well enough. "Be careful! You'll need some time for this to heal over, and being too rough will only make it worse." She doesn't mention taking a rest, because to her the fact that the Initiate ought to stay for a bit is obvious. She's sent people back out before, yes, but never with at least a short wait.

[carnagecarnival]

Fussy she up and is. He can't help but think it in this state, where all the old Alternian has clawed through the remains of him all over again. He saw her last time to wrap a wound, keep District 13 clean. It's the most he's done about Docterrorists what he had comfort for. He guesses he's still not quite so used to them giving this much of a fuck.

Being careful now sounds like a silly notion. He's had friends convince him why it ain't, but it's still hard not to feel like it's pointless. The fuck is going to happen to the likes of him to get his protesting?

But... this is his last fight. He promised one more time, just for Sam, then stepping out. So he halts in any sort of scoff and following that hesitation, nods. He'll try and remember, he supposes.

[didnothing]

Luna breathes a sigh of relief when the Initiate nods, because she can argue and she can insist that people stick around for their own health but it's much easier when patients cooperate rather than endanger their health for the sake of throwing themselves back into battle. That means she can focus more of her time on tending to those in need of care, and there are many such people in the middle of a warzone. "Lay down and take a rest," she instructs the Initiate softly. "I need to go see to a few others, but I'll come back soon."

Then it's off and back to the mill's entrance, to pick up the rotation she'd dropped earlier. Luna steps out by the door, just for a quick glance at how things are doing outside - and she's promptly greeted by a gun. By a Capitol soldier at the end of the gun, too. Instinctively Luna lets out a strangled yell that she tries to stifle in hopes of avoiding a hair-trigger reaction, and steps back. It's very much an expression of fear, but it also serves the purpose of mostly blocking the entrance with her body: she hadn't expected this encounter, but she isn't going to sit by and let things escalate within taking any action either.

[carnagecarnival]

He's still an Avox. Even under all the blood. He always will be, there will always be a part, especially in these more unsteady states, where being told what to do is mercy absolute. He doesn't want to lay down and rest but he doesn't want to think either. So he starts to ease himself slow into the idea.

He doesn't quite get to laying flat but she said resting and this counts. Instead, he finds himself watching her, following that red hair bright through the... whatever these things is called.

He's bolting upright for what he sees and moving fast for what he hears. No, no, no. It's a snarl on his breath, his claws are reared and ready, and he's running for her, maybe it catch their enemy by surprise, maybe to take a bullet like he knows he can but with full intention to end a motherfucker if need be. Luna can't go, she can't go.

[didnothing]

At the entrance Luna's doing her best to hold off the soldier, whose demands for her to step aside are accompanied by jabs and waves of the gun. To be honest she's forgotten about the Initiate at the moment, her world narrowed down to herself and the makeshift hospital behind her and especially the gun in front of her. In her mind she flashes back to the encounter with the sniper in the previous battle, and before that Ruffnut's betrayal in the Arena. That incident had gotten Luna killed; she knows that death is the most likely outcome here too. It's terrifying, but stepping aside is not an option. Luna resolved that a long time ago.

The soldier demands again that she move. She shakes her head. He tries to push past her, and she moves to block him. There's a curse, and a leveling of the gun. Luna has just enough time to think that her death may not accomplish anything, but at least she won't have stood by this time.

Then the gunshot comes, and that's it for her.