The Stormfather

Mark looks back to the TV screen. "Uh, everyone? Remember the Redspine?" He pauses. "Well, this time it's a Deepwalker."

Maj, standing on the beach, looks out to Murr. "Do you want to make a team? It seems like you might need some help, if that monster starts going for you after Berin." @The Aspiring Archivist

I doth summon the meme makers! (I'm bored in english class.)

The battle is fairly calm at the moment, with a lot of posturing between the invading force and the guard on the wall. You notice that the enemy seemingly only has one catapult, and are not as well armored or geared as the guards of the city. You do, however, notice a contingent of about fifty riders on horses.

"Tinker..." Mark pauses. "You know that we can help, if you need it, right?"

"What's wrong?"

Maj notices the shadow under the water, eyes widening in fear. Can't go into the forest, because of the Nightmaws. Can't stay here, near that thing. Where can I go? Maj stands still, slowly turning his head to look behind him, trying to move and think the least amount possible. Bird, if the Nightmaws come for me, I'm going to need a burst of strength like...immediately.

What is your favorite type of squirrel?

"You're remembering the end of the games, when we were in teams and when we knew we had a chance of getting out. That's all it took. Hope. At the beginning of the games, there were many of us who were just as emotionally deadened as those in the arena right now. We just... Well, we formed teams, and actually started to get to know each other. Our arena was much less deadly, so...I guess we had time to stop thinking about the next fight, the next Change."

"Well... We did have investiture..." "No..."

You know, I've heard a lot more talk of this necro-ing lately. I think I've become attentive. How horrible. /j

As Berin paddles off, Maj mutters, low enough that he can't hear. "May the blood of thine enemies run against open air, and may thine ally's blood rest unspilt." He says, an old saying that the Steeles had picked up, and added too. "And may glory rule yourself, and death take hold over the opposition." "To blood and strife." He had never really liked the ending of the Steeles' mantra, but it felt odd to his to say it incompletely. Bird chirped slightly, although the meaning was completely unknown to Maj. "Alright, Bird. Fly up above the trees, and if you spot any danger, chirp twice when you come back." Bird pecks Maj's shoulder lightly. "Fly, Bird." Bird spreads his wings, preparing to fly. Then he pecks his shoulder, lightly, and against the pad on his shoulder it doesn't really do anything. "Bird, could you like...be...useful..."

"You know, its' the people who say things like that. 'Honor will get you killed.' That's... That's the reason we're here. Those people are the ones who put are in this arena." Maj glares down at Berin. "You're nothing but one of them. A pawn. A terrible person, shoved into the arena to do terrible things. Even me, a scumbag from the streets and a member of a gang who killed people on the daily, still has more of a moral compass than you. Because even when you are in a place where murder means death..." Maj pauses, thinking. "Even if being honorable means that you will die, or get you killed, there is never a place where honor will leave you awake at night, horrified of what you've done. Leave you in tears, screaming about someone you shouldn't of killed." "I assume, from what you're saying, that you have killed someone. Probably a few people. I know for a fact you killed Casper in cold blood." Maj's eyes flash with anger, rage, even. "But it's people like you who made the world like this! It would be better to die being honorable than to survive as a murdurer." Maj looks up at the sky for a moment, though wary of Berin, and looks back, thoughtful. "Though it isn't the killing that makes the difference. I know several good people who've also killed more people than I know names of. It's in killing the innocent, the just, the honorable, where you sacrifice all honor left inside you and leave the world a worse place." "I've done things I'm not proud of. I killed. But even my gang, even us, the Steeles, seemingly some of the worst people always did it for a purpose. We burned, killed, destroyed, but once our old leaders were gone, once we threw them off, we were good people." Bird chirps encouragingly. "In a world where honor gets you killed, then it is up to you to whether or not you're going to be the one who stands up, gets killed, but does it for a purpose, and accomplsihes something before they die, or one of the people who lays down and accepts their fate, going along with the killing, the destruction, the terrible things that they make you do to survive." Survive. The word echoed through Maj's mind. "In a world with death around every corner, being the one to die isn't something to run from." Maj stops, lowering his voice to a whisper barely audible to Berin. "It's something to fight." Survive. Survive. Survive. but only as yourself.

Bird chirps lightly on Maj's shoulder, bobbing his head. Maj nods. "You're good at fighting. I'll give you that. But don't think that that makes you a good fighter." Maj lowers his voice. "Because I doubt there's a scrap of honor inside that body."

"Keep the things. How about you take to the water and I'll take the land? Then we can be sure we're far away from each other and don't have to wreck ourselves being paranoid."

Maj takes the punch again, this time groaning in pain but still standing. Maj, now in close quarters, growls. "You know, if you had chosen not to fight, you might have survived. Whoever wins, the other is still dead. The Nightmaws will kill us if we don't find shelter soon. So either you get us both killed for nothing, or you should stop fighting and let us survive." Maj steps back, but his machete is still at the ready in case Berin attacks again.

"...Astra, obviously not!" Mark paused. "Because I know you already bet enough money for the both of us!" He says playfully.

Maj takes the punch, continuing forwards, swinging his machete, this time aiming low.

"Astra, I'm pretty sure you only enjoy it because you're betting on it."