thearena | (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

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....