self para / the sound of death
She was too afraid to stick to the Cornucopia and the heat was making it hard to breathe, as used as she was to the natural sunlight on a summer afternoon as she was picking up fruit and vegetables. This wasn't natural. It was heavy for her lungs and skin and the sweat was that unpleasant detail she could never stand no matter how normal it was. Pretty girls like her didn't sweat. So, although the writing on the sky made it perfectly obvious that the danger was hiding South, she sought a more civilized temperature, all risks considered. Sauntering through the arena and flinching at every cannon - she did not figure out what they meant yet, but the noise made her skin crawl - Rosalind hoped that the arena was light enough so that the writing on the ceiling wasn't a problem anymore. She looked up, reluctantly. It was still up and glowing in the sky. A heavy sigh struck her, thankful to have gone out of the confrontation with Pike without more wounds. The bandages were keeping her together enough for her to move and she got used to the pain. She didn't know when she reached the void, but somehow, she felt it, refusing to take another heavy sigh in that direction. The arena was strange, but this particular corner looked to her like it was from another world completely. She stared, stunned, and suddenly heard something, turning just in time to see Mabel about to push her off the edge, like the sky encouraged them to. She was ready to tell the girl that she did not have to do this and that there are better solutions, but she remembered Mabel before the Games and how she didn't seem to regret the prospects of her death very much. Rosalind froze for a moment, and her eyes darkened. This time, she was the one to attack. As Mabel was running her way, facing the hole with only her back, Rosalind ran as well, towards the hole, and all the strength left in her was channeled into surviving, pushing Mabel back as Mabel was trying to turn the situation around. She seemed successful for a moment, before Rosalind used her leg to push her back, winning a second of advantage. A smile flashed on her face, almost apologetic, in the half of moment when Mabel was oscillating between life and death. "I'm sorry," she mouthed and watched the other tribute fall to her death before further ado. Now, Rosalind finally understood what a cannon meant as it penetrated the newly found silence. Again did she wish she knew a prayer for this girl's soul, even if she did not believe. @mabelwinfield
