thearena | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who| Karis Needleteeth and Daniel Jackson
What| Or in which a Forsaken finishes what she'd started in the previous Arena.
Where| Candy Arena, edge of the meadow. Early morning.
When| Week Three
Warnings/Notes| Death

There wasn't a set plan this time, other than to survive and keep moving; he hadn't been able to run into Punchy and despite the whole "let's be friends" peaceful explorer thing he'd aimed for before coming here, he hadn't made many allies within the Arena. Maybe he could count on R to not try and eat him at first sight. Wyatt, he wasn't too sure of.

Granted, that had also taken a a great big hit thanks to Panem's media. Who'd want to take a chance at allying with the stone-cold killer? Sure, most of them had gotten painted just as badly by the media,, but there was still that chance that that one Tribute was the one the media had gotten right. It wasn't a big deal in the Capitol. But out in the Arena, that one little chance could mean a hell of a difference.

Daniel slowed. It wasn't quite sunrise when he'd finally come out of the forest. It was close though, and the horizon was just lighting with blaring pink and yellows from the sun. Before him stretched the divide between a wide open meadow and the candy tree line, and Daniel remained within the shadows of the forest, looking left and right, and squinting against the dim light. He didn't think he saw anything in the meadow, but with these conditions, he couldn't be sure.

He took a chance to take stock of what he had to work with, if things went south. He'd done better at the Cornucopia this time. A folding knife, small; that seemed more for supplies than anything else. A steel bladed rapier; he definitely wasn't an expert at using swords. And a bow and arrows. It was too bad he wasn't exactly practiced at a bow. Knowing all about it within a historical context was a lot different than actually making or firing one, and he'd gotten sufficiently schooled in that back by Jack when they'd tried to save the Nox.

Making sure the sword was at his hip, where he could draw it, Daniel took a step forward, out into the meadow. He drew the bow, setting an arrow to it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Karis hadn't managed to land a claw on anyone since the kid at the very beginning. Or Venus, alternatively, but that had been more of a scuffle. She'd been lurking around the edges of the fighting and hunting since then, trying to find a good target. She'd found one, finally. One of the people she'd tried to kill during the last arena (and failed at, actually). She had a chance to redeem herself; to get stuck in and get her claws wet again.

True, he had weapons, but that didn't mean anything to her. She could deal with that (and if she couldn't, well, there was always next time, wasn't there). She eased through the tree-line, watching Daniel as she tried to work her way closer. There was no darkness to hide in; the shadows of the trees helped a little, but stealth wasn't going to get her anywhere. So, when in doubt - scream and leap.

She burst out of the tree-line and headed straight for him. It was a bit silly, really. She was wearing what looked like an old-timey nurse's uniform, but it was stained and worn and stained with blood (among other things). All she had to do was get close before he got off more then a shot or two with the bow....

He'd expected an attack to come from hiding within the meadow, laying low against the ground, or waiting for him further on. Not from the very treeline he'd been trying (that was a big keyword there, trying to move stealthily through himself. Daniel had thought he'd been alone. He hadn't seen or heard anyone coming, but then again, it wasn't like he was that much of a tracker when it came to living people.

The shape in white was female, dressed in what looked like an old nurse's outfit, but stained with blood and god knew what else. Daniel had an instant to recognize that face and those glowing eyes. Oh shit.

He didn't hesitate, he didn't bother to warn her off this time. He'd tried earlier and it looked like she wasn't going to let a little setback get in her way. The archaeologist swung around. Daniel quickly drew back on the arrow and praying to God he didn't just do the ancient equivalent of spray and pray, let it fly in her general direction, already groping for another arrow as he staggered back a step.

If it was any consolation to Daniel, she hadn't been intentionally stalking him. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (well, from his perspective anyway). She saw the arrow loose and she jerked to one side and felt the wind of its passage as it whistled past her. He'd probably get off one more before she could actually get within arm's reach.

That was fine with her, though. She could take a little bit of pain.

It occurred to him right as the arrow went whistling past her that either he was an incredible poor shot - and/or just not fast enough to match her reflexes, which meant he was even worse off than he thought, or that the bracelet of his had came with more repercussions than suspicious looks from the Capitol. The bow itself, compounded on top of everything else, could have been rigged. Sure, the Cornucopia was supposed to be random, a free for all in theory, and anyone else could have grabbed it, but the Gamemakers themselves had proved that they had as much control over the Arenas they wanted or needed.

Who knew? He certainly didn't. None of it changed the fact that arrow completely missed her. Or that it kept on coming. She was . Daniel had one more time to loose another arrow at her when he grabbed for the rapier.

Karis jinked again, but this time the arrow caught her low in the side and stuck against one of her ribs. She feels it in an abstract sense - an impact, the feeling of her flesh being cut into - and she keeps coming. Being dead already has its perks. She lunges for him as Daniel goes for the rapier, claws spread as she tries to get her arms wrapped around him and get in nice and close where he can't use that sword of his.

The last arrow stuck, but for all the good it did, it was about the same as trying to tickle a water buffalo to death. The Tribute just kept on coming. And it almost made it worse that he could see her better than last time; it wasn't just a set vaguely humanoid shape with glowy eyes and claws rushing him, it was a gaunt shape, almost starved and on death's door, looking almost as dead as R.

His fingers just barely grasped the hilt when she crashed into him, arms going around him. Daniel could only get one arm free before it could get pinned to his torso. He tried to twist to the side as he fell, trying not to land on his back.

Karis snarled in triumph, wordscoming out in a gravelly hiss, "You're not getting away this time-!"

She's trying to make good on that threat. She has her arms wrapped around him and she's doing her level best to keep it that way as she squirms and wriggles, fighting her way on top with wiry, horrible strength (zombie strength, really). She's cold to the touch and clammy (surprisingly enough, she feels like a corpse; who knew?) and her clawed fingers start to tighten, digging into flesh where they can. It's a grappling match, gone to ground. And she's perfectly happy with that.

She felt disturbingly like R had felt like when he'd made a grab for him, except she was faster and if she was like R, a lot more of her had been preserved. Daniel grappled with her, trying his best to use his height and weight against her, but so far, he was having about the same luck as trying to hold onto a frighteningly strong eel.

Those claws of her sank in, dragging or digging in where they could, and pretty soon, he could feel the warmth of blood welling up. This wasn't like that other Tribute, the one who'd taken his time and sickeningly enough, made it seem as if he thought killing was some sort of art; she was going to maul him if she had her way. Regardless, there was no talking to her. She would kill him once she had the upper hand.

Daniel grasped for anything he could - the bow! - and tried to get it around her neck.

"Maul" was actually quite close to what Karis tended to do to people. She could enjoy a bit of sadism now and again, but mostly when she killed, she did it in a disturbingly brutal fashion. She can feel blood under her claws and that spurs her on. She snaps her teeth shut, trying to bite - and then something catches at her neck. He's using the damn bow and her head is forced back as she continues to snap her teeth in his face, frustrated because she can't bite and she can't finish it the way she usually does (sinking her teeth into someone's throat) and instead she claws at his arms, trying to disable him before he can get too much leverage and start using his superior size against her.

Daniel had a moment's relief when he actually managed to get the bow around her neck; the moment he had it, he pulled as hard as he could. There was a small gust of air against his neck and the telltale click of something sharp and hard snapping closed, only inches from his neck. Judging from that flash of her head as it was forced back, and the way she kept trying to lunge at him, teeth bared, he'd been moments away from having her actually trying to tear his throat out. Holy shit.

Her claws sank in. Daniel managed to twist one arm out but his left one began to go numb. He could feel his grip on the bow faltering. His right arm shook with the effort to hold her head back. Daniel threw all of his weight into his legs, trying to push off the ground and throw her off.

There was a low snarl from Karis (she was the monster people always said she was, after all) as she felt his grip begin to falter. She had him. Just a few more seconds - and then she tumbles away as he gets his feet under him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid-

She hissed at herself and then scrambled to her feet and charged him again. No mistakes this time.

Daniel scrambled to his feet, almost knocking himself back over in his hurry. The fact that she was light, practically skeletal, was just about the only thing he'd had working for him just now, because she had ferocity and animal brute strength on her side. And as Daniel caught a flash of movement lunging for him, inhuman speed.

He had only a second to get the rapier out. Daniel swung wildly with it at her direction.

Karis took the blow against her side and kept coming. She could deal with a cut. Then she was inside his reach and her hands went for his throat as she lunged again. She needed to kill him and kill him now before he got away again. No more mistakes.

Oh God. She might as well have gotten tickled for his trouble, rather than take a swing from a sword.. Daniel couldn't even get another blow off. Whatever advantage he had was pretty much gone, because there was she, ducking in and clammy hands suddenly wrapping around his throat, squeezing, claws sinking in.

He stumbled back, hands going towards hers, fingers sinking in as he tried to pry her wrists off.

Kill him, kill him, hill him-

Karis was used to death and killing and general brutality. She'd been doing this for years - fighting and soldiering and killing. It was almost second-nature to her now. In a way, that was disturbing to her, deep down. But she was here, she had an objective and she had to handle it the best way she knew how. Through killing.

She squeezed and tried to get her weight (such as it was) on top of him, legs scrabbling for a grip, for leverage, for something to hold him down as she tried to throttle the life out of Daniel.

"Just give up," she hissed through her teeth, "You get to go back to the Capitol, I get another kill, everyone's happy."

All that answered him where wheezes and pants.

There wasn't any damn guarantee that they went back to the Capitol, Daniel wanted to snap, some Tributes certainly never returned, and frankly he didn't like dying even if he did have some repeat experience in it! He didn't want to go down so easily.

Except it didn't really matter what he wanted. Daniel's knees buckled then went down as he gasped for breath, fingers sinking into her as he continued trying to pry those claws off him. Trying to keep her from pinning him during this? Wasn't going to happen, even though he knew that his chances of survival pretty much went to zero if she did manage it.

"That's it," Karis muttered as she leaned over him. She didn't have weight, but at this point, she had leverage (and a death-grip on his throat) and she intended to use those advantages as best she could. She bore down and her cold, bony fingers squeezed a bit tighter as she started to throttle the life out of Daniel.

That same cold that came from that clammy skin of hers was quickly spreading throughout his body, his fingers starting to loosen on her wrist. His vision blurred in and out and then, creeping in from the edges, darkness, until all that remained was that acid yellow glow of her eyes.

Then those too winked out.

Karis waited for another minute after Daniel went limp, just to make sure of it. When she thought he was finally well and truly dead she clambered to her feet with a grunt and started rifling through whatever he'd been carrying.

At least the sword would be handy....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Argh, sorry.

(can change the description of Karis, let me know if I got anything wrong)

s'allll good

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject