HEARTS REFUSE TO DIE ---

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A shadow of pain
will arise from the ashes

Reina shifted a bit so that her legs were doing the brunt of the lifting. The corpse she was dragging to the side for burial was literal dead weight as she tugged. The very fact that Reina was helping with something so gruesome spoke wonders of where she was and what had happened. Reina was a lady. She didn’t drag corpses! However, she did fight battles as of late. The cause was worth it, even if victory was far away still. The girl hefted the dead man one more time till he was in line with all the others. There were thousands of dead and they needed to be buried quickly, before the sun got too far with increasing the stench and decay from their rotting bodies. Better to bury them before they rotted...

Reina stopped and did a glance around at the destruction. It was July 4th...Independence Day, and she felt like that independence was being wasted. Those traitorous Confederates were tearing apart this great country. Poor Alfred...he had to hold it together. As one of his states, Reina was doing everything she could to do her part. Of course, right now that just meant tugging bodies around. She wasn’t much help with the horse carcasses as they were much too big for her...but the men she could help with. The soldiers around her had given plenty of sceptical looks at a woman during the battle, but they couldn’t argue with her assistance during the clean-up.

Reina leaned against a nearby tree and took a drink from her water canteen. They were calling this a victory. Gettysburg was far from a victory in Reina’s eyes. She saw it as a blood bath...one gigantic bloodbath. The destruction, the lives lost...was it really worth it? Unless they won the war, it definitely wasn’t. Never in a million years would Reina have thought that the Union would lose to the Confederates...that was until her side had lost over and over and over again. Reina still had faith in the Union; they just needed to pull it together. No way could any of the various states and cities let Alfred fall apart. It made Reina feel so betrayed to think that it was Alfred’s states and cities in the south causing all of this. Those who remained had to make things right...they had to save Alfred!

She tucked her water canteen back around her body and sighed, once more glancing around her. She’d seen Penny in the battle a few times, though the two had been separated early on. Reina looked for the tell tale flash of deep green that was Penny’s hair. Reina’s own pink hair stood out dramatically as she tucked some of it behind her ear to get the sweaty, dirty strands out of her eyes. It only took her a moment to pick out her friend, and she briskly glided across the field, dodging a soldier dragging another corpse.

”It’s quite a mess here Penny...it’s too bad it had to happen here. It’d be much more fitting if it had happened to Gage instead of you...”

[/b] Reina said, somewhat sympathetic but mostly resentful toward Gage. Reina wasn’t the person anyone turned to for emotional support. She wasn’t exactly sympathetic. But in this case, she had more sympathy than would be seen any other time. This war was affecting all of them...and it was their job to make sure it ended the way it had to; with the Union intact.

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DATE: July 4, 1863
TAG: Penny/Cal
WORDS: 580
LYRICS: "Soldiers of the Wasteland" By Dragonforce
OUTFIT: A military uniform, with full pants, vest, etc. She has her helmet on, though her gun isn’t with her. Her nails are tinted pink (an older form of nail polish). Her face has blotches in her foundation and her rouge has worn off considerably but there is evidence it was applied at some point. A very unusual look for Reina.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] A thousand times I tempted fate, A thousand times I played this game, Penny would never forget this battle for the rest of her life. It would leave scars and horrific trauma for as long as she lived, and she knew that before the battle even ended. Just taking a look around would tell her that quite simply. It was as if there was a river of blood covering the city, and she felt bad for her city having to deal with this. The bleeding had started before the battle ended, and she knew she hadn’t gotten shot or stabbed there. Her other injuries she could easily explain from the battle, but that one she knew was the battle itself. She fought through the burning pain and the liquid dripping down her side and back. Her uniform was soaked with blood by the time it was all said and done. She’d probably end up burning it. There was only so much you could get out after all. Actually, she might not even be able to fight after this. It was hard to say, it would depend on the next few days certainly, and how she dealt with the constant images. The battle was over now, and one look around told you easily why she wouldn’t stop bleeding in one particular spot. It looked like the ground was just oozing blood. Once things were over she just kind of sunk to the ground and started doing something about her injuries. It was hard to do through the intense shaking she was doing. Her vision was blurry, and it took her another minute to figure out why. There were tears leaking down her face, oh that explained why she was having trouble seeing. The state fumbled with bandages and stitching herself back together. She knew she was going to be out of commission for a while with these injuries. Her memory of the battle was a little fuzzy too at this point. At some point the blood shed had gotten to her and she just sort of kept fighting but not really even paying any sort of attention to what she was actually doing. All she had wanted was for it to be over, and when she returned to her senses she found herself shaking on the ground and the battle was over. With a sigh she put a hand on her side, more towards her back than her stomach, and noted she was already starting to bleed through the bandages she had just done. Clearly it was no use. This wasn’t an injury that could be patched up, it was one caused by conflict, and so she would just have to deal with it. She really should be helping the other soldiers move bodies, but she was pretty sure she couldn’t even stand right at the moment. One of her legs had been pretty badly injured, and the other had gotten covered in cuts and bruises from the fighting. Besides, she was shaking pretty bad still, and tears were still running down her face. Blood spotted green hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she was dressed like the rest of the soldiers as a boy instead of her real gender. Penelope had not wanted to deal with their comments about said gender, and so went with the same strategy she had gone with in the first war, just pretend to be a boy. Hearing Reina she looked up at her and sighed. The state took a quick glance around to make sure nobody was in earshot. ”R-reina…..Gettysburg…won’t stop bleeding.” she said quietly while pulling her hand away from her side to show the bloodiest part of her ripped and blood stained uniform. ”It hurts.” she said wrapping her arms around her own shoulders in some attempt at stopping herself from shaking. ”I just want it to stop.” she said while more tears fell down her face. 645/ tag: Pancake && Reina / notes: trauma. all the trauma [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

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A shadow of pain
will arise from the ashes

Reina took in the state of her friend and partner in arms. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Reina herself had her fair share of scrapes and bruises. However, she had managed to avoid getting full out shot, which was always a blessing, especially when the ammunition had the ability to blow your arm off. She was thankful for her own state, but my god did Penny look awful. The girl was covered in gore and Reina couldn’t tell how much of it was from other people and how much was Penny’s. Hell, she couldn’t even tell what was a natural wound and what wasn’t. She quickly moved over and skimmed around to be sure no one was within ear shot.

Reina quickly washed her hands with what was left in her water bottle and quickly, started to skim over Penny’s side. ”It’s okay Penny...take a deep breath. Slow and steady, in your nose and out your mouth. And keep breathing like that for a few minutes. Just try to calm down.”

[/b] Reina instructed. Anyone who knew Reina well would never guess the girl had the ability to be calm in a moment like that. Hell, it would be an amazing sight for anyone to see her caring for someone else more than herself. However, she knew the state Penny was in wasn’t natural and that it was a side effect of the battle, even without Penny having told her as much. Being a State as well, Reina knew the signs.

”Let’s take a look. I may have to stitch it up to get it to stop until it has a chance to heal...”[/b] Reina offered. ”It’ll take some time for them to clear up the mess and deal with the after effects of the battle, its better if we can get you out of here for now.”[/b] Reina said, rambling more to try to keep Penny somewhat attentive and occupied. Reina gently tugged the uniform up to get a better look at the mess and seeing the bandages there, dropped it back in place.

”Okay, we are going to walk over to that tree over there....”[/b] Reina said, pointing at a tree that was sitting clear of the blood and mud. The tree itself had no one under it for now, so Reina was hoping it would stay that way. ”I’ll help you get there. Okay?”[/b] She said, making clear eye contact with Penny and hoping the girl would agree. The only way to stop the bleeding was to patch it up the hard way. Stopping the blood flow wasn’t going to be easy when it was so blatantly a wound on the State instead of just a flesh wound. Reina just hoped Penny could make it over there...she wasn’t so sure she could carry her if it came to that. She could support her as they both walked over, but flat out carrying her was beyond Reina’s physical strength. If it became a necessity she’d get one of the soldiers running around to do it for her.
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DATE: July 4, 1863
TAG: Penny/Cal
WORDS: 508
LYRICS: "Soldiers of the Wasteland" By Dragonforce
OUTFIT: A military uniform, with full pants, vest, etc. She has her helmet on, though her gun isn’t with her. Her nails are tinted pink (an older form of nail polish). Her face has blotches in her foundation and her rouge has worn off considerably but there is evidence it was applied at some point. A very unusual look for Reina.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] A thousand times I tempted fate, A thousand times I played this game, Penny knew she was a pretty gore-covered sight at the moment, but that really didn’t matter at the moment. She knew she needed to get out of here. Home was preferable, but unless they found a ride there that was out of the question. Maybe they could just hobble their way to an inn of sorts and then find a way back to her place in a few days when she was up to the trip. Maybe Reina would even come with her for the time being. That is, if the fellow state didn’t have to wander off to another battle right away. Hopefully the battling would stop soon, she was tired of this war and wanted to go home and have things just go back to normal. She watched as the fellow state washed her hands with water and started talking. Penny did as she was instructed and while she was still shaking, it was decreasing a little as she continued to do so. The smell of the gore around them was not doing anything for her stomach, but she did her best to try and focus on Reina instead. It was a difficult task, considering all the distractions around her and the pain she was currently feeling. Hearing Reina offer to stitch it up she sighed slightly. ”If it will heal.” she said simply before returning to her attempt at calm breathing. ”Anywhere but here is good with me.” she commented when Reina said that it would be better if they got her out of here for now. She certainly wanted to leave this carnage right at the moment. She could feel Reina pull up her uniform and looked as well to see the bandages being slightly bled through. Penny didn’t currently have a way to stich herself up, so she instead went with just trying to stop the bleeding with bandages. Clearly, that wasn’t working in the slightest so it would have to be redone. Really it was more of a temporary fix until she could stop shaking enough to do actual first aid, or until someone else could. Though, it would technically have to be a state, city, or her country otherwise there would be quite the shock when they realized she was actually a girl and not a boy. Ah well, Reina was here, and so she could do it without the whole shaking problem Penny had been experiencing. After all, you were more likely to injure yourself more if you were shaking while trying to stitch yourself up. It was doubtful that she would even be able to thread a needle at this point in time. Hearing the statement of walking over to the tree and looking where she was pointing Penelope knew she was going to need help. At least the other state said she was going to help, because it was fairly doubtful she’d be able to walk there on her own with only one working leg and the probable lack of coordination that came from being shaken up. ”O-okay. Go slow, pretty sure only one of my legs is functioning mostly correct.” she said simply. Now to go about this, she assumed the first goal would be getting her on her feet. Then of course there would be the walking part of the trip. ”Do you want to get up first then see if we can get me to my feet?” she asked simply with a slight frown. 577/ tag: Pancake && Reina / notes: bloop [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com