Well, we didn't pass our RATG today. It's not entirely a surprise, though it would have been wonderful to do so.
We have some polishing to do on our static-recall, distraction in new places especially where cattle and rabbits have been, and our long distance retrieves.
As far as distraction around other dogs, water retrieves, and our heelwork went, Freyja did marvellously. Everyone was very complimentary of her work ethic and our general outlook during the trial itself.
It probably helped that everyone had a lovely little chuckle at Freyja's lauched faceplant into the water after the dummy after being released to retrieve on her first run. Ridiculous animal that she is.
Still, we had fun, learned plenty, and are greatly looking forward to our next trial.
And this ^ is how... unbothered about anything except new smells Freyja was. Genuinely, weirdest dog ever.
Characters: Reader, al Ghul family(includes Sarab), Queen family
Series: Unexpected
We woke at the crack of dawn and gathered everything we would need for the trip. My whole family was against me going. They didn’t want me climbing up the side of the cliff but regardless I was going whether they wanted me to or not.
After about an hour we started to head out. Sarab stayed behind with some guards to make sure Oliver and Thea actually made the climb. It didn’t take long for us to get to the the bottom of the cliff. “Are you sure you want to make the climb?” Nyssa asked for what felt like the thousandth time. “Yes. I’m sure. Now let’s go.” Before I started to climb Ra’s took hold of my hand. “You will be taking the path up to the cliff.” “What, no. It’s tradition to climb the cliff to get to the top. “Yes. It is but only for the one’s participating in the agni kai. You will take the path and I will hear no more of it.” I huffed and turned mumbling the whole walk up about stupid husbands and their stupid stupidity.
I reached the top just as Nyssa and Ra’s pulled themselves up. We waited for Sarab and the others to get here. I said a ‘prayer’ to them in Romanian. ‘May the demon guide you through this fight. May he give you strength. May he decide your fate and be merciful shall he decide for you to join him.’ I kiss them both on the check and step away just as I see Sarab come up the path. “They will be here soon,” is all he says. After about twenty minutes of waiting they finally reach the top.
“You will both have to remove your shirts. It’s tradition. Thea you may remain in you undershirt.”
I walk over to Nyssa and help her remove her shirts before checking to make sure there are no weapons hidden on her. I walk over to Thea and do the same. “You may now choose your weapon of choice,” I point to the rack of weapons. Thea picks up a sword while Nyssa picks a bow and arrows.
They move to the center and Ra’s says, “abda(begin)”
Thea lunges for Nyssa and Nyssa rolls out of the way before shooting an arrow at Thea, it misses but the second one imbeds itself in her thigh. She stumbles before breaking the arrow, leaving the arrow head in her thigh. She attacks Nyssa with such quickness. Nyssa cries out in pain. Thea managed to stab her in the abdomen. Nyssa rolls away and stands before shooting arrow after arrow at Thea. One grazes her arm, the other’s miss… except one.
Oliver screams “THEA!” Sarab holds him back from entering the fray. One of the arrow’s managed to strike Thea right through her chest. She falls to the ground and start to cough up blood. Nyssa rose to her feet and stood before Thea. After a few small minutes Thea fell to the ground, in a pool of her own blood.
I see Oliver fall to his knees from my peripheral vision. I walk up to Nyssa and clean her wounds. I sew up her stab wound and help her put on her shirts and jacket. Ra’s walked over to the edge of the cliff looking out at the land. Sarab takes Thea’s body and throws it over the cliff. Oliver cries for a short moment before regaining his composure and standing.
“I killed my first man when I was eleven years old. He threatened my family and others before mine. Such cruel people shouldn’t live. All they do is spread their evil. Men like that must be exterminated. I walked up behind him and removed his cloak, and jacket. He handed me his rings and then his shirt. I took a look at him before returning to the side lines.
Ra’s turned and stepped closer to the center. He looked at Oliver and said “Fight me boy.”
Oliver stepped forward and responded with, “You are unarmed.” “That is because I will take yours once you are done with them.” And just like that the fight began.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIxIk6TVZVE (this is after Thea’s fight with Nyssa. Ignore the part where Oliver walks up and talks with Sarab. Just picture yourself between Sarab and Nyssa.)
After it’s all over and done with we return home. The rest of the day is spent in silence. We let Oliver’s friend go, telling him where he could find the bodies in case he wished for them to be buried in Starling City. Malcolm remains in his cell seeing as he has yet to stand trial.
I spend the rest of the day in my room, reading and eating only when Sarab stops by with a tray of food.
I don’t attend dinner and instead getting ready for bed. I slip on one of Ra’s’ shirts and walk over the bed pulling the sheets back and getting in. I’m drifting off when I feel the bed dip beside me.
He pulls me closer to him. He nuzzles my neck and lays a hand on my stomach. I drift off dreaming of what the future will hold for us.
Tag List: @uncomfortable-writers @archer-whovian-violinist @brok3nsurvivor
Went to a Canicross intro-day today with Freyja. We had a blast. I'm a fairly rubbish runner, so we lagged at the back of our 3-dog trial run pack; but we did well, and we'll be making a habit of it, I think. It's a lot of fun!
Damien walked along the rooted ground, rope in one hand and twine in the other. The twine was dangling loosely behind him. It was only for backup, just incase he chickened out. However, he wasn't sure how he was going to explain to anyone why he had a piece of rope and was heading from the deep dark forest if he met anyone when walking back. It would be difficult, that was for sure.
He stopped, sudden coughing fit coming upon him. He doubled over, covering his mouth with his hand and dropping the rope in the process. It was a few minutes before it stopped and he caught his breath. He brought his hands away and noticed the blood on his hand. Right. The reason why he was doing this.
He didn't want anyone else to die. He knew that other people would try to kill to stop themselves from dying, but he just knew that that would involve another one of those damned trials and executions. But....
He just sighed and picked up the rope again, walking farther into the woods. He remembered a slight clearing when he was here last, one with a low hanging but high enough branch. It would probably work out perfectly.
Minori, on the other hand, was simply... out. Shortly after they got outside, they broke down into a coughing fit lasting so long that by the time it stopped they had forgotten what they were doing out here. So, they just decided to wander, take their mind off things. Maybe go somewhere where they could cry and freak out and no one would hear them. But that might not be a good idea, someone might try to find and kill them while they were out--
They passed the forest and stopped, believing they had heard something, saw something. It might not be the best idea, they thought at first -- someone could be in there, waiting for someone to come in so they could kill them -- but, after a few moments of thinking, they went through. Oh, well, they'd much rather be murdered than die slowly and painfully like this.
After a few minutes of walking he found the area he was looking for. It was less densely forrested, finally being able to see more then a few feet in front of you, with low thick branches. Eyes with dark circles under them scanned for one that would probably be able to hold his own weight, at least for a good while. He found one and dropped the spool of twine on the ground.
First he flung the rope up to make sure it was long enough. It looped around the branch once when he did, almost ready to do what he intended for it to accomplish. He pulled it down again and grabbed a hold of one end. Then, slowly, he started to make the noose.
All while he was doing this his face was blank. His eyes were blank, if he talked the tone probably would have sounded free of any kind of expression either. He didn't want to do this anymore. He just didn't. He didn't want to watch himself die, he didn't want to watch his friends die, he didn't want to watch Shimi die-
Soon he had made a rather crude knott, but found that it was rather sturdy. It didn't look great, but it was the best he could do. He stared at the rope in his hands for a few minutes.
Then he blinked a few times, realizing the extent of what he was going to do.
He felt his heart beat start to race in his ears and the panic start to set in. He gasped hard and flung the rope from his hands, taking a few steps back. He felt himself starting to shake, and in doing so another coughing fit came a long. He found himself kneeling on the ground afterwards, a light sweat forming on his forehead. "What the hell am I doing....?" He muttered
Minori kept trudging through the forest, breath shaky, occassionally having to stop, leaning on one of the trees to get back their balance before continuing because god damn it sometimes the whole damn forest looked like it was spinning and it was irritating.
They had reached the point where they could hear coughing from deeper in the forest, wincing as they heard it. This was bad, really bad, but they couldn't freak out now, not when someone was in there to hear it. They kept going in, kept looking around, until they nearly bumped into something -- or, rather, someone.
"A-Ah...! Damien-kun, e-er, hello. Is everything, er..." They realized asking if everything was alright was incredibly stupid, clearly it wasn't. They shook their head lightly before speaking up again. "What... are you doing here, if you... don't mind my asking?"
Fuck.
He heard the footsteps coming up from behind him and he froze up. Had someone been watching him? He had tried to be as descrete as possible, but there was always the chance he fucked up. He slowly got back up to his feet, ready to go down fighting if there was the chance the person behind him wanted to off him out in the middle of the forrest. Stupid stupid stupid-
He audibly gasped when he heard Minori's voice, whipping around to see the only other person he could possibly call friend in this hell hole. He sighed lightly, and gave them a small wave. "H-Hey Minori-san...." He laughed a little nervously out of the lingering fear he had. "Fancy....meeting you here, huh?" He was acting like this was an everyday occurance.
He tensed up when asked what he was doing here. He slightly glanced down at the noose at his feet, laughing again. "Uh....well..." He honestly didn't know how to tell them.
Minori was, quite frankly, relieved -- Damien, aside from possibly Hiruko, was pretty much the only friend they had around here as well, so they were glad it was him rather than anyone else, really. They could've gotten killed, otherwise.
"Yes, yes, quite, er, fancy, I suppose." They let out a light chuckle, coughing a little into their elbow afterwards, before turning back to Da--
...What was that, there, by his feet? Minori had only glanced at it previously, their eyes drifitng back towards it. Eventually, they had made out what it was...
...and let out an oddly loud noise of extreme distress, staring at it with a look on their face looking just as mortified and about to burst into tears as they did when the motive was announced. Hoo boy.
Damien winced. He knew they were going to notice that.
"L-Look! Minori-san! It's not what it looks like!" He quickled explained, using his hands to empathize his point. "It's....." It was what? That he just so happened to find a noose lying around on the ground in a secluded area, with no one in the village but them? He knew even the most gullible of people wouldn't buy it. It looked exactly as it was, and the realization just made his face fall. Well....he could at least give his friend a little closure.
"It's....not for you. I'm not going to kill you, I swear." He coughed once, bringing his arm up to bury it in his sleeve. He looked defeated, almost like a kid who got his hand caught in the cookie jar.
Minori's gaze didn't leave the noose lying there on the floor. They were shaking violently, horrified expression still present on their face. Slowly, slooowly they nodded -- almost as if they knew already what the noose meant, what Damien had intended. Or maybe Minori just refused to believe that a friend would kill them. Either way, they knew what it was there for -- and /that/ was what upset them so bad.
"...Y... Y-You..." was all they managed to choke out before they finally lost their grip on their emotions, sinking to their knees and bursting into tears, broken only by the occasional coughing fit. Good job, Damien, you broke the boy. Or girl. We just don't know.
"Yeah.....yeah....." Damien just stared at the ground. Had he...really tried to kill himself? He could still feel his hands shaking as he balled them up into fists. He walked closer to Minori and knelt down too, wrapping his arms around the other in an effort to comfort them. He knew that it probably wasn't going to do much, but he wanted to try.
"I'm....I'm sorry...." He muttered, patting the others back. "I'm sorry....please don't cry...."
"I hate it when people cry...."
Yeah, it didn't do much -- the poor boy slash girl was still sobbing, hard, wrapping their own arms back around the other, trying to speak but they were crying too damn hard to sound even the least bit legible. Oh well, at least you tried, Damien.
He sits there for a little while, letting the other cry on him. His sweater was probably going to get pretty wet after this but he didn't care. Slowly however, after a couple of minutes, he pulled away.
"L-Look...I'll put the rope back...as long as no one knows I had it in the first place...we could act like this never happened." He doubted he'd be able to pull it off now, the rope just barely in the corner of his eye. It looked threatening now, and he wanted none of what he did about five minutes ago.
"I'll...I'll be right back, alright?" He was slightly glad he had the twine now as he stood up and walked over to the rope again. He picked it up gently, staring at it and frowning. Then he started to wrap the rope around his arms, trying to make it look like the way he had found it. He had to fling it across the ground sometimes to make sure it didn't knot while he wrapped it up.
But by doing that, however, the other end of the rope landed near Minori.
Minori said nothing, just nodded -- it's not like Damien would be able to understand what they said if they spoke, anyways.
So they sat, waiting for Damien to handle the rope, slowly starting to calm down, even if only a little bit. Waiting, out of the corner of their eye they noticed the other end, staring at it for a few moments. Their mind started racing -- were... were they really thinking about...?
...No, no! They couldn't do that! Damien was their friend, why would they kill him?
...But... if someone didn't die, they'd all die of the poisoning, right?
Just remembering it nearly brought tears back to their eyes. Nearly. They wouldn't let themself freak out like that again. At least, that's what they told themself.
They continued to sit there. Staring. Contemplating.
...Slowly, shakily, they rose. Breathing growing ragged and shaky again, they bent down, picked up the other end of the rope. Nearly dropping it in their grip, they slowly, quietly, carefully approached Damien from behind, prepared what they had of the rope...
"I'm... I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!"
Voice cracking as the tears reamerged, crying even harder than previously, they lunged forward and twisted(?) what they had of the rope. They were doing it. They were fucking strangling their only friend here.
They could've sworn, they heard something in their head telling them, /begging/ them to stop, only making the tears flow harder and faster as they kept tugging.
He heard Minori calming down behind him. Mentally he felt relieved. It wouldn't be easy trying to explain to everyone why the other was crying so much if they had left the forest then. What he hadn't heard were the footsteps at his back. Either he was too preoccupied with fixing the rope or he just couldn't hear them.
The only notice he had that tipped him off to something being wrong was when he noticed the rope was looping back around him.
It happened fast, so he had no time to react. The scratchy material dug into his skin hard, Damien himself in too much shock to comprehend that his breathing was now cut off. He gaped as he was pulled back, dropping the rope again as he tried to grab the thing around his neck, trying to take it off.
Minori was behind him. Minori was strangling him.
He had trusted him.
Tears of his own started to fall as he struggled to breath, not knowing what the hell to do. He tried to push Minori back with his body, pushing the other back into one of the tree's around them. This wasn't happening, god no no no fucking hell no!
Numerous times Minori had nearly dropped the rope, they were shaking so bad. Repeating apologies over and over with varying degrees of coherency as the tears flowed out like waterfalls. Their eyes were clamped shut, unable to even look at their victim.
They couldn't bring themself to look at him.
They were /killing/ him. They were killing their friend.
Could they... even consider them that now? Of course they did, but they couldn't blame Damien if he didn't.
This was horrible. /They/ were horrible.
And yet they didn't stop themselves.
His action was futile as his air never returned to him, clawing at his throat to try and get the rope off. It was too tight to his skin. His throat, which had always been slightly burning was now on fire due to lack of oxygen, Damien shutting his eyes as his peripheral vision started to go black around him.
He was dying. He didn't want this. He didn't want to die. Why why why why why?
Slowly he started to lose strength in his struggles, getting more and more sluggish. His knee's were starting to go out, then did go out as he fell onto them. His head was screaming at him, every cell in his body on fire. But he couldn't do anything about it.
Was this what was going to happen to him if he had gone through with killing himself? That was his final thought as everything finally cut to black, his whole body going limp.
The deed was done. As his body went limp, Minori fell silent. They dropped the rope, staring at the body in terror. They had done it. They were terrible, truly terrible. Taking someone's life like that...
They dropped, breaking down into hard sobs once again, not moving or doing anything else, the sobs only being broken by the occasional coughing, harder and harder than previously.
After a little bit, they got back up. Looking back at the rope, they turned to leave when they had an idea...
And so they strung up the body, as if to make it look like Damien had succeeded with what he had intended originally.
MINORI TAKARA HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY! EXECUTION WILL NOW COMMENCE!
Execution: That's a Wrap!
The execution began with the filmmaker tied to a seat resembling those you'd find in the theatres, rather fitting for someone with the title of SHSL Filmmaker. They appeared... rather calm, much calmer than they had been at the end of the trial. Still, the facade was beginning to slip up again -- after all, it is difficult to keep your cool when you're about to die a painful, ironic death, no?
There was no sound in the room they had found themselves stuck in. No lights, either. It was pitch black -- another close resemblance to a movie theatre. They weren't alone, however -- numerous Monobears were seated around them. Suddenly, a sound resembling an old movie player flicked on. The lights showed up on the screen, and...
...what was playing out was essentially the entire Mutual Killing game leading up to that point. The previous two motives. The murders. The trials. The executions. Minori was reliving it all, and while they struggled to keep calm while doing so, they did succeed. Barely, but they did.
Then it reached the most recent motive.
The most recent murder.
All over again, Minori was forced to relive their killing of one of their closest friends -- an action they regretted in spades. Their facade was outright gone at this point -- shaking and crying all over just like they were when they committed the act. Just like they were at the end of the trial.
Speaking of the trial, eventually the "film" reached the point of the trial. It went over all the evidence all over again, each piece of the evidence hitting them like a bullet, almost. Then their confession. Then the execution.
Then nothing.
The room was as dark as previously, although not nearly as quiet -- the Monobears in the surrounding seats roared with applause, paying no mind to the shuddering, weeping filmmaker in the seat in the center of them.
The cheering from the bears went on for what felt like years, until one of them stopped, and started coughing slightly. The room was dead silent for a few moments, Minori and the rest of the Monobears looking up and around to see what was going on.
And then they saw it: a sort of misty looking gas was emptying slowly out into the room. No one knew what it was -- all they knew was that it was likely dangerous. As if on cue, the restraints that kept Minori from escaping previously opened, leaving Minori to run free. And run they did, making a mad dash for the doors.
The only problem? So did the bears. All of them at once, trampling the poor filmmaker under their feet, crushing any chances they had of escape along with them -- once all of them had left, they locked the door, locking Minori inside.
They pounded on the door, despaerately trying to get out, but to no avail. As it became more and more clear that any attempts to escape would end in vain, they stopped, sinking to the ground, slumped against the door, waiting for the poison in the air to take them.
As they waited for it, they laughed a little bit to themselves, a sad, bitter laugh. How ironic, their life being taken by the very thing they tried to prevent by killing. It was all just a waste in the end, wasn't it?
That was the last thing on their mind before their body siezed to the toxins in the air, a couple of awkward twitches before going dead still.
Levant Kikiyama has been found guilty! Execution will now commence!
Execution: The Mountain Climber
The scene starts out on a frostbitten mountain that is currently being pelted with a large amount of snowfall and ice. Through the thick wall of falling snow, we can just make out the shape of our culprit, Levant Kikiyama, as he slowly makes his way through the treacherous terrain and up the dark sides of the mountain. Why is he there? Well, no body knows really, but then again, why would it matter? It doesn't matter what climate they are in, a wanderer just does what a wanderer needs to do, weather they have a goal in mind for it or not.
As time goes on and the winds continue to grow worse and worse, Levant continues to push his way past the layers of snow that continue to pile up around his feet. The cold air has clearly begun to take its tole on his at this point as he struggles to keep himself moving on, placing one foot in front of the other to keep himself from freezing on the spot, but at one point, just before the the super highschooler could make his way around one of the larger piles of snow, a huge gust of wind suddenly engulfs the mountain in its vortex of terror and blows the child a few feet back down the mountain, leaving behind a few indents in the snow from where his body once hit.
For a few moments there is nothing but silence, like the storm had realized its mistake and had pulled away to give the soulless mountain some much needed space. But just as the winds finally began to slow down and free the sky from its canopy of darkness, a bright light suddenly appears around the decease's body and engulfs the area with its mysterious radiance. From there, we can now see six white-cloaked figures standing around Levant's body, staring down at him as if he were a foreign object. Silently, and without even a glance towards one another, the figures begin to move towards the fallen wanderer before picking him up and flying towards the sky. The camera then turns back to where the child's body once was, slowly zooming into it before the world slowly fades to black.
