earthborn: (pensive mood lighting is how i roll)
Commander Jane Shepard ([personal profile] earthborn) wrote in [community profile] thearena2014-02-06 10:50 pm

Good Hunting

Who| Shepard, Garrus, and All Of You
What| Attempting to murder some folk, or at least cause injury
Where| various floors
When| Week Three, et all
Warnings/Notes| Probably language, game-typical violence

Shepard: Good Hunting in the Hallways, any floor
The second time, she’d been caught by surprise and normalcy of the challenge. The first, by the novelty. But in every arena, there was a simple rule— they would do something unexpected. Same recipe, like variations on a theme: this arena had sprinkles, that one had Dinosaurs, this one had… Well, still Dinosaurs, but considerably less terrifying ones.

By now, she’s no longer surprised, merely grateful for the shallow comfort of long lines of sight and well-defined shadows. Grateful for the way that having bare feet is an advantage rather than a hindrance, and for the weight of the bundle on her back, heavy with food both perishable and otherwise. It’s wrong; she should be angrier, but rage can’t solve her problems right now, and hiding is no longer the order of the day— she’s hunting, and if she finds you, she will kill you.

Garrus: Dioramas, Floor Two
Bullets were great but not having a gun to use them limited their functionality. If there was a gun to be had that fit the bullets, Garrus figured the best place to look would be the dioramas of human history. If nothing else, he would look a few of the spears and consider taking those. It wasn’t a great place to hide but his plan was to get in and get out of there as fast as possible.


Either or both: Elevator, any floor
Ding!

Beautiful thing, a choke point. Every bell meant something. A person. A sponsor gift. A tense waiting moment for everyone on the floor. A vantage where you could see the elevator but not easily be seen was worth more than anything right now. The perch just outside the door where one might lie in ambush was risky, but damned useful— as were the Elevators themselves.

Which was why most people took the stairs, it seemed. Which was why Shepard and Garrus had largely been taking the elevator. So far, it’d been nothing but empty corridors and tense breath-holding moments. Once or twice they’d pressed a button on their way out, send it down to the basement, send it up to the roof, just to see if anything would happen, to watch rushing feet kick up bits of roof-gravel as they scattered over the skylight.

But it was possible, this way to draw out the targets. Which was, after all, what Shepard wanted most right now. And what the Commander wanted, was what she usually got, in the end. No matter how many people had to die before she got it.


Just say which one you're responding to,
or which person you want to thread with in your entry thread, thanks! <3
justoutrunyou: (...whut?)

Elevator

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-07 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
Sandy had thought it was a good idea.

Sandy was not having many good ideas in this arena.

As the bell ran and the doors slid open she peered around the corner and stalked closer with her crowbar held firmly in both hands. Was there a gift in this elevator? One she could steal? No one's name had been announced...

The bandages on her face were starting to come loose from sweat and activity revealing tell take scars from one of the masks ripping off her skin. Blood stains the collar of her Pjs in a way that makes her appear more dangerous to anyone who didn't actually know Sandy.
knifewithnoname: (oh I see)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-07 10:43 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna was close by, though not next to Sandy. She was watching and waiting. If Sandy got caught she would come out to help her, but for now she wanted to see what Sandy could do alone. What she could steal.

She had her knife in her hand and did not take her eyes off Sandy though she kept aware of everywhere, in case anyone tried to sneak up on her.
knifewithnoname: (But I don't want that)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-13 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna took in the situation in a split second, recognising Shepard, seeing the crowbar going towards Sandy. She dived out of her hiding place and threw herself at Shepard's legs, trying to knock her over, to give Sandy enough time to get out of the way. She had been going to let Sandy do this alone, but she knew the other girl couldn't take Shepard.
justoutrunyou: (WHAM! Redlight!)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-13 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
A lot of things happened very quickly.

First, Sandy was disheartened to see the elevator was in fact...empty.

Next the sound of soft footsteps coming up behind her fast. Sandy thought that it might be Pruna but when she turned all she saw was crowbar. She shrieked and brought her own crowbar up on instinct...only to see Pruna go flying at Shepard's legs. The confusion meant Sandy wasn't holding her crowbar strong enough and Shephard's swipe hit the crowbar so hard it popped out of Sandy's hands, caught her in the gut and put her on the floor.

All and all a complete success for the viewers at home and their entertainment.
knifewithnoname: (But I don't want that)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-18 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Pruna found herself flying through the air, then knocked onto the floor, half pinned under Shepard. Anger was indeed a valid response and green eyes met Shepard's as Pruna scowled at her, taking a moment to get back all the air that had been knocked out of her lungs. "Robbing you." She tried to sit up, shoving Shepard as much as she could. "What do it be looking like."
justoutrunyou: (Gimmie a break)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-18 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Sandy wheezed and tried in vain to protest Pruna's explanation. All that came out however was breathless whistles and gasps as she struggled to re-inflate her lungs after being winded by a bar of iron.

She shook her head to indicate that they didn't know it was Shepard they were robbing but other then that she remained on the floor clutching at her stomach where a deep bruise would be forming under her bloody and tattered one piece bed clothes.
knifewithnoname: (you're joking)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-19 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna fell backwards ungracefully and glared up at Shepard, fully believing that she would go through with her threat if Pruna pushed her. She kept an eye on her though, she did like Shepard but if she did anything to hurt Sandy then Pruna would not hesitate to kill her.
justoutrunyou: (he's dead jim)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-19 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
She made another wheezing whistling noise and held up a hand in a thumbs up, all the while wondering what internal bleeding felt like. She clearly was not OK but she'd live.

At least Shepherd didn't seem mad enough to finish the job. But how many more screw ups could Sandy afford before they came across someone who would?
knifewithnoname: (yeah well)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-21 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course it do be being, we have been robbing loads of people." She pulled a face, one day they would get Shepard. Not that Pruna particularly had anything against her, she was just a good target, a good test of skill.

She didn't mention that it was usually her doing the robbing, she didn't want to discourage Sandy too much.
justoutrunyou: (he's dead jim)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-21 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not like we knew it was you." Sandy finally croaked sounding like she'd swallowed broken glass. She sniffed some dribble from her nose and wiped it on her sleeve as her eyes watered red.

"You're on our side." She wheezed with her second complete breath and finally sat up straight keeping her hand on the place where the crowbar had caught her.
knifewithnoname: (smiles)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-25 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna wrinkled her nose and looked at Shepard, she seemed not so mad anymore so Pruna used the opportunity to scramble to Sandy's side and check her injuries.

"We did be getting loads of cool stuff, especially from stupid head R."
justoutrunyou: (I'm listening)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2014-02-26 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah he's not really so good at protecting his loot...it's almost unfair." Sandy remarked wincing as she straightened up to let Pruna check her stomach. Already a dark purple bruise striped over her skinny belly. She was lucky she hadn't been broken in half.
googledox: (084)

Hallway, 4th Floor

[personal profile] googledox 2014-02-07 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Bright green really wasn't the best color to be in an arena like this. Brainy might have perhaps had better luck in the last arena, with all its lush rainforest, but this arena was all dust and shadows. The darker places that were good for hiding in were all cast in dim grays.

Even when he clung to the shadows, his skin caught what little light there was and reflected it back a color shadows weren't supposed to be.

He froze when he saw movement, saw someone entering the fossil hall.

For him, freezing and hiding wasn't enough.
googledox: (013)

[personal profile] googledox 2014-02-14 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
Hey hey hey, he's made for thinking, not...doing most stuff.

While he was a competent fighter thanks to the same training with Karate Kid most Legionnaires had, he'd never bothered with most skills that were useful for combat or survival. Who needed stealth when they could stand there and let their forcefield deflect energy blasts?

"Motherfucker."

Another "sprock" helpfully translated for the home viewing audience.

He bolted, knowing that with his current state of exhaustion that there was no way he could outrun her if she was in remotely decent physical shape. It was to buy a few extra seconds.

"LYLE!"

Just a few extra seconds. She'd catch up to him first, though.
Edited 2014-02-14 07:56 (UTC)
googledox: (096)

[personal profile] googledox 2014-02-19 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
Adrenaline was his friend this time, adding a little more pep to his step. It helped that he'd retained his super-intelligence and such extreme control over his cognitive faculties. That meant he was able to lift open the sluice-gates and allow for a stronger fight or flight response.

He was still running, running, gauging how far she was behind by the sound of her footsteps, running, stopping -

Stopping?

He stopped suddenly right when she was nearly upon him, reversing direction, turning and diving into a roll back towards her, ending it by launching into a sweeping kick aimed at her feet.

Exhausted and outmatched though he was, he certainly wasn't helpless. And he wasn't about to just let her run up and bash him in the head from behind.
atippleoftransparency: (Default)

[personal profile] atippleoftransparency 2014-02-21 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
Which was about the time the friend turned up.

Lyle had been trained to run silently, but he'd sacrificed stealth for speed when he heard Brainy screaming for him. Which meant, if she wasn't too focused on the chase, that she might have warning enough to dodge before the impact of knuckles against a pressure point made her drop her crowbar.
Edited 2014-02-21 20:26 (UTC)
atippleoftransparency: (pained)

[personal profile] atippleoftransparency 2014-02-28 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
There was no way he was going to dodge that. Thank god he'd trained for this sort of thing specifically, at the hands of sentients with superior-to-human strength

Roll with it, ROLL WITH IT--

"Whooft!"

Lyle hit the floor hard, with the wind knocked out of him and his side on fire. He tried to move, or failing that, to fade from sight; but he couldn't do the latter because of whatever the Capitol had done to suppress his powers and his attempts at the former could have been knocked aside by a month-old kitten until he could get his breath back.

I don't wanna have my head smashed open in front of Brainy...
googledox: (088)

[personal profile] googledox 2014-02-28 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
He didn't yell his name - it was a waste of breath, but the rage that hardened in Brainy's eyes as he lunged forward and aimed a kick at Shepard's head could have probably cut glass.

They were alone in this place together. After having lost so much, to be detached from the Legion, from what they did have, was already painful. All they had in this place was each other. By themselves, they were certainly heroes, but only together could they be Legion, even if it was only a legion of two.

Of course, the ferocity wasn't just that. There was also the fact that before all this, they'd spent an awful lot of time together and this was the first mission or life or death situation they'd been in after spending that awful lot of time together.

That was possibly why Brainy was half-focused on Lyle, making it so his kick was angled in a way that didn't have much power to it, even if it was fast. The fatigue from starvation wasn't helping either.
atippleoftransparency: (caution might be less fatal)

[personal profile] atippleoftransparency 2014-03-05 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
His hero. It was a good thing Lyle was too injured to jump up and plant a kiss on Brainy, because this was not the place he wanted to have any kind of relationship talk. He struggled out of his prone position, muttering a wheezy litany of curses as his ribs objected to the continuation of existence.

"Go, go, go, go," he panted, staggering in Brainy's direction. Like sprock he wanted to stick around here for the crowbar-happy lady to recover!
googledox: (011)

[personal profile] googledox 2014-03-09 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
Easier said than done when both of them were battered and exhausted. Brainy's hand went for Lyle's elbow to at least stabilize him before they both booked it but it meant he was slow to start running himself, a bad thing when he honestly needed a head start more than anything.
the_marshal: (wyattDown)

Shep, Second Floor

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-09 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
The blackberry bushes the little bear cubs played in had long since been picked clean. Wyatt knew that even before he slipped into the display, easing around the hulking mother, her dark round eyes staring into nothing - but he checked again anyway. If only for something to do. Something to occupy his hands, his mind, as the arena stretched on.

It was a maddening stretch, this. Things were so quiet, too quiet, the lists at night so short.... It couldn't last. Wyatt could feel the hammer, poised above them. Either the Capitol was going to break, and do something to stir the hornet's nest, or the tributes were.

He crouched beside the tumbling cubs, frozen forever mid-wrestle, and brushed through the leaves, checking the branches, his mouth twisted in a thoughtful frown. He should have been grateful, he supposed, for every extra day, and he was - partly.

But it also made it harder. Made him want - made him wish....

With a sigh, he turned away from the empty bushes and stared out into the dark hallway beyond. He glanced toward either end of the hall, checking the surroundings, then reached back for his bag.

Pulling out the thick square of paper and unfolding it has he many times before. Giving himself a moment to pretend there in the silence.

To hope, that it wouldn't all end there.
the_marshal: credit: <lj site="livejournal.com" user="open_the_blinds"> (wyattStare4)

c: Thanks

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-13 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
He realized he wasn't alone a heartbeat before the voice slithered out of the shadows. Not for anything Shepard had or hadn't done - just instinct. An inherent skill crafted on the job and honed to a sharp edge by the arena.

He knew when something wasn't right.

It didn't safe him from trouble - he often got mixed up in it all the same - but it was a warning. Enough to keep him steady, giving him a heartbeat to tense and ready before it came dropping down on him.

His heart skipped, his shoulders bunched, he started to look up -- and the voice called out, almost a whisper, if not for the current of steel running under the surface.

Someone meant business.

He shuffled through his options and shifted, slowly and carefully, refolding Max's pictures with one hand, reaching for his crowbar with the other. Trying to catch sight of who'd gotten the drop on him through the tight tangle of branches.

"Steady," he rumbled back, almost politely, as he decidedly kept his crouch. "I ain't lookin' for trouble."
the_marshal: (wyattListen)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-19 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
The voice softened, grew a little louder, and Wyatt finally placed it. Realizing with a dull pound in the back of his head that he should have known.

Shepard, of course.

"Probably goin' to regret ya didn't," Wyatt drawled, pushing a sigh out through his nose. But, given that she hadn't, he rose up out of his crouch, revealing himself - though the crowbar remained in hand. Iron pressed against the inside of his wrist. "But I appreciate it."
the_marshal: (wyattUp3)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-21 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Despite the talks they'd had, Shepard was still something of an unknown to Wyatt. The hard front she kept so firmly in place, the snide, sharp remarks. The way she eyed him. It kept a distance between them, kept him from being able to fully trust her.

Even knowing she meant something to Max, that he to her in turn, he couldn't shake the unease.

(Maybe because of it. Of how she'd replaced him once, slipping in as the partner Max had needed and couldn't find in him. Would never find in him.)

"I ain't found nothin'," he said roughly, assuming that's what she wanted as he shifted carefully through the display. That uncertain deal they'd made there in the dark of the bathroom. "If that's what yer wonderin'."
Edited 2014-02-21 12:42 (UTC)
the_marshal: (wyattListen2)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-25 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"I didn't say ya were," Wyatt drawled, returning to the floor outside the display, glass crunching beneath the long-stolen moccasins. "I know yer smarter than that."

Not that he didn't think her entirely capable, he knew that too, but it would be more trouble that it was worth just then. For both of them, whoever came out on top.

As she settled herself against the wall, he elected to move, drifting in a slow loop past her and back, head tipped slightly as he listened.

"I was jus' checkin' the bushes again, makin' sure they were really as empty as I remembered."
Edited 2014-02-25 12:53 (UTC)
the_marshal: credit: <lj site="livejournal.com" user="open_the_blinds"> (wyattStare4)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-02-28 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
Wyatt shot her a look, jaw tightening at the expression on her face, but he stopped and turned.

"What can I do for ya, Shepard?"
the_marshal: (wyattWhat)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-03-03 11:51 am (UTC)(link)
If it was a reaction she was hoping for, that was certainly a good way to go about getting it. That Wyatt been expecting her say something else - anything else - was all but spelled out on his face.

The tension is his jaw slackened with surprise and his head pulled back. His mouth opened a fraction, but there was a long pause before he found words.

"...Is there somethin' in particular ya'd like to know?" he asked with a blink, his head tipping.

It wasn't really that it was Shepard asking, it was that Wyatt hadn't really talked about it to anyone - not in depth. He'd only just found the words for Max and even then it had been the promise of death that had loosened his tongue. The knowledge that if he didn't say it then, he might never again have the chance.

Bearing his heart wasn't something he did idly.
the_marshal: (wyattUp)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-03-04 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)
There was another pause, Wyatt taking a breath as his heart thumped hard - once, twice - against his ribs, then he gave her a nod.

"Yes," he told her, meeting her lingering stare. "Yes, I care for him."

Loved him. Missed him, now, with a terrible ache.

That too was written on his face, in the lurch of his Adam's apple has he swallowed.

"There ain't no story. Neither of us planned it,... it jus' happened." Grew between them. Burrowed so deep into Wyatt he felt it in the marrow of his bones.
the_marshal: (wyattDown2)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-03-05 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe so."

They were alike, weren't they? Her and Max. Wyatt had recognized that from the start - even in the state he'd been.

He looked away, studying the dirty grout in the floor, a muscle working slowly in his jaw as he chewed his way through another long breath.

"I think he regrets, every now an' again. Wishes sometimes...." He cleared his throat, turned back. "There's a guilt in him, when he leaves."
the_marshal: (wyattWhat2)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2014-03-08 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
He wasn't sure what she meant with the vague smile of hers, and he stared at her a moment, trying to puzzle it out.

"I did."

That, at least, he didn't have to ask. He'd already felt it. That moment of weakness as he stood on the threshold of the arena, knowing full well what was waiting.

If he had to say, it was likely the most selfish thing he'd ever done.