thearena | (no subject)

Who| Atticus Bell and Adel-Makim-Zalur
What| Time to die!
Where| The crevasse Atticus has been in since that thing with the zombie
When| Let's say...Monday?
Warnings/Notes| Death! And violence and such. And nudity.

Atticus ad been trying to stay out of trouble since his first day here when he almost got EATEN BY A ZOMBIE.

Seriously? Zombies are a thing here? Someone could have told him. That's the kind of thing you really want advanced warning for.

Anyway, since then, he'd been staying in wolf form, mostly because it was warmer that way and also because he felt safer if he didn't look human. His first couple nights, he'd managed to stay wolfed up while he slept, probably because he still felt like he was in imminent danger. On his third day, though, he'd shifted back while he was asleep, and while he had a lovely, wolf-sized den in the snow, waking up human and naked was not terribly pleasant. He still hadn't worked out how to shift on command--he didn't even know if it was something he could do--so he was stuck, naked and cold and needing to try and find his way back to where he'd left his clothes, hopeful that he could find them again before he froze to death.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Adel had been wandering alone ever since she woke to find that her fellow four-legged companion had left. Only severe sleep deprivation had been able to pull her into slumber, her naturally alert andalite instincts made all the keener by the fact that she was in a strange and dangerous place without the use of her precious stalk-eyes.

The ice had always seemed sturdy enough beneath her hooves, if not horribly slippery, but suddenly one step leaves her feeling off balance and the reason is soon clear. The snow beneath her hooves covered a thin layer of ice that had formed over one corner of a crevasse in the glacier. Her weight had cracked it easily, and so, down she went. <Ahh!>

Atticus' reflexes were a bit off, mostly due to the cold and wet and naked thing, none of which he was too terribly pleased about. As such, it took him a moment to react to the sudden minor avalanche that came down on him. When he did, his reaction was mostly in the form of a muffled curse, and then a slightly panicked, "Jesus, not again!" as he felt the now familiar sensation of fire flowing through him and his body shifted back from human to wolf.

He was really going to have to figure out how to control that, but not just now.

This particular avalanche included not only snow and ice, but a rather peculiar looking centaur-like being. <Ugh...> She groans, as the last of the snow settles atop her fallen form. She's definitely had more than enough falls since she's gotten here to Panem. This time for sure, she's either broken or badly sprained a front leg.

Atticus is mostly in good shape once he manages to dig himself out of the rubble. But then he both hears and smells another...something near him. And considering how his last encounter with someone else went, he's not about to let himself be taken by surprise again. He lowers himself into a crouch, hackles raised as he growls at the newcomer.

Adel jerks her upper body upright to see where the threatening noise is coming from. Not a tribute, no. It wasn't human. Then again, neither was Some. Neither was she.

She tries to get to her feet quickly, but her right front leg gives painfully when she attempts to put weight on it and she's forced to shift her weight to the three remaining. <Get back!> She shouts, arching her tail over her head.

As that tail comes up, Atticus' defenses are raised, and he gives one more warning growl as he prepares himself to lunge for her.

Adel doesn't wait any longer, fear and pain taking over as her tail whips forward, cracking the air with it's speed. She's running on pure instinct, never even considering to recall the tail fighting techniques her younger brother had taught her.

Atticus leaps forward as her tail whips toward him, instinct driving him to aim for her throat, teeth bared and ready to sink in, even as he's clipped by her tail.

<No!> She yells, throwing an arm up in an attempt to guard herself even as she whips her tail forward again, once, twice. A third time. She's been told that death here isn't permanent, but the knowledge is lost in terror.

His teeth sink into her arm, and he yanks downward in an attempt to throw her tail off target. He's not sure how many of those hits he can take.

She screams in thought speak as the creature's teeth sink into her arm, blood of a deep, tyrian purple staining the fur there. The yank sets her off balance and collapses her broken leg, sending her down onto her left front knee.

Before she goes down, her tail manages to catch him across his chest, cutting deep enough to make Atticus lash out again in self-defense. As she drops to her knee, he lunges again, aiming once more for her throat.

This time, Adel isn't fast enough to block the attack. She cries out as fangs close around her throat, the rest of her legs buckling beneath her as her weak, andalite arms reach up, seven-fingered hands gripping the fur of the beast at her throat in an attempt to pry it away.

Atticus is nothing if not tenacious, and he clamps his teeth down on her throat, instinct pushing him on to shake his head, tearing at her throat.

And it's instinct that has her whip her tail forward blindly, even as she feels the flesh of her throat torn away, the hot blood soaking into the front of her parka. <No...> She moans. Would she really come back? Or was this it? What if she dies here alone in this crevasse with this creature and never sees her family again?

Atticus lets out a sharp yelp as her tail catches him in the side, cutting a deep gash. Whimpering, he starts to draw away from her.

Too late for Adel, who slumps against the icy wall of the crevasse, delicate hands pressed to her wounded throat. There's so much blood, how could she ever hold it all in? She's vaguely aware that she's cold, colder than she's been since she arrived here.

And then, suddenly, there's nothing.

Her cannon sounds a moment later.

Atticus stumbles as he moves away, staggering his way up the pile of rubble left when Adel had fallen into the crevasse. He wants to get as far from her and the zombie he'd met before as possible.

The climb is difficult, and he leaves a wide trail of blood in his wake, seeping across the snow in a bright red path. By the time he gets to the top of the rubble, he feels weak, barely able to gather the strength to make the final leap that takes him out of the crevasse.

And then he's lying--naked and human--face down in the snow, limbs heavy and limp as the gash in his side spills his blood across the ground.

A few moments later, another cannon sounds.