I Was Born on A Bloody Battleground [Closed]

[celebrityskinned]

WHO| Venus, Kankri Vantas and Subaru Sumeragi.
WHAT| Subaru stumbles onto the wrong camp.
WHEN| First night/second morning.
WHERE| Fourth floor.
WARNINGS| Death, suffocation.

The fourth floor cafe ended up being the perfect hiding spot. They risked the elevator once more, and now Venus and Kankri have huddled themselves up behind the counter. Broken ribs aside, Venus is feeling alright about how this Arena's started. They have a decent supply of food and water now, and both she and Kankri have knives.

They have a small meal of pastries and bottled fruit juices. Venus says grace under her breath. She doesn't know why, but it seems appropriate for the somber atmosphere. Shadows drip from the bones of the fossil hall, making the entire floor appear like some awful forest of dead things throughout the afternoon. The video on genus and species repeats itself every thirty minutes, fading into background noise.

They don't wait for the museum to announce nightfall. It's already dark well before the disembodied voice says that the building will be closing, and besides, Venus knows night is no safer than day. She insists that Kankri rest for a few hours while she keeps watch, and then they switch off. Her sleep is troubled, made all the more difficult by the pain that rips through her chest with each breath, but the pajamas make things a little easier, at least.

She's asleep when Subaru approaches their hideout.

Comments

[cherryblossomnoose]

Subaru arrived on the fourth floor hours ago, managing to run from the elevator and find hiding places in the different displays. When the museum's lights shut off, he ventures out, watching for any hint of movement in the darkness. Within no time, he sees the darkened sign of the cafe and he brightens. While he doesn't want to admit it out loud, but he's hungry after a day of running and dodging other tributes.

He smiles as he steps into the cafe, looking around to see if there is any food that is easily accessible. He'd rather have the food to-go than stick around, and possibly meet someone unpleasant.

[privilegecheck]

Kankri is half-watching, half-dozing. He's trying his best, since Venus has already done a lot to help him, but he's not used to tense situations on very little sleep. He's nodding a little in his tiredness when the scuff of feet on tile startles him abruptly awake.

He sits up straight, wide-eyed, watching the approaching shadow against the light from the video screen. It's getting closer. Panicked, he blurts out, "Hey, stop! What do you want?"

His voice cracks a little; this is possibly not his best idea. Hopefully Venus will wake up, she seems to know how to handle these things.

[celebrityskinned]

Venus wakes up the instant she hears Kankri's voice. Immediately she slides out from where she's been resting under the sink, rolling to her feet and finding her knife. The rest has given her a bit of bedhead, and without even realizing she's doing it she straightens it as she assesses the situation.

"This is our territory," she says, making sure to keep the knife hidden for the moment. If this person is going to attack, best let him see that he's at a disadvantage being outnumbered, but still maintain an element of surprise.

[cherryblossomnoose]

Kankri's voice surprises him more than it should have, and he stills, watching for any sign of movement. What he gets is a second voice

There's two. Where exactly they are, he's not entirely sure. One on one with someone who possibly knew how to fight, he's at a disadvantage. Now that he knew there was two others here? It worries him.

Even with a bit of dim light, he can only just see the outlines of chairs and tables. He surveys the area, finally seeing two figures, but unable to make out their details or worse, if they had weapons.

"I had no clue!" he admits, a bit more urgency in his voice than he should have revealed to them, "I was looking for any sort of food. If I had known that someone had claimed, I never would have come here."

[privilegecheck]

Hesitantly Kankri peeks up over the counter, letting the dim light fall on his face.

"Well, as long as you're not going to attack us, I don't see why we can't share," he says after a few tense moments. "We have far more than we could eat by ourselves in here."

He takes a poppyseed muffin and a cold turnover out from their little store and pushes them across the counter. There's no harm in being friendly, as long as they've got the counter between them. And anyway, whoever it is sounded too scared to try to hurt them.

"Here, go ahead."

[celebrityskinned]

"Well, limited resources is why we can't really share," Venus says to Kankri, but lowly. She doesn't make any motion to stop him, or to grab the goods for the counter. Instead, she just keeps her eyes set on Subaru, watching to see what he does and not drawing herself out of the dark.

The ache along her side - more like throbbing, honestly - doesn't help her mood all that much.

"Take it and go."

[cherryblossomnoose]

The edge in the woman's voice unnerves him. The entire situation does. Being in a museum where people killed each other for sport. Where no one could be trusted. And here he is once again trusting strangers. Hokuto would probably be scolding him if she were here with him.

Subaru watches their dark figures, hoping with all of his might that this isn't some sort of trap, and that the small voice in his head that is screaming at him that this is wrong, is actually wrong. A gloved hand reaches for the muffin, snatching it and smiling, "Thank you so much. My name is Subaru."

He knows he can't stay, after the curt comment from the woman. But the bit of kindness...maybe it means there are more to these people than just killing and bloodshed? He smiles a bit at them, before taking a bite of the muffin, sighing in relief, forgetting temporarily that needs to be on his way.

[privilegecheck]

"Venus, we have far more than we could eat before it goes bad," Kankri murmurs to her before turning his attention back to the stranger.

"I'm Kankri." He smiles shyly in return, seeing Subaru's soft expression. "Say, while you're here, what do you know about how things are going out there?"

No harm in asking, right? Sort of a repayment for the food.

[celebrityskinned]

"We might be here for weeks," Venus says, although she slouches over the counter as she looks at Subaru in the dim light. He doesn't appear to be armed, nor especially confident, and that relaxes her just a little. "And since Kankri's already given you my name, I don't suppose you're chomping at the bit for my introduction, now."

She can get behind what Kankri's suggesting, though. "Information is a solid trade, though."

[cherryblossomnoose]

Subaru tenses a bit. What information did he have to give? He'd spent most of the day hiding, and staying as far away as possible from other. Besides his brief encounter with Holiday at the start of the arena, he hadn't seen any one, let alone gathered any information. And could he really bring himself to rat Holiday out to two people who he's just met?

"Ah-" Subaru starts after he swallows the bit of muffin. He pauses longer before setting the muffin back down on the counter, "I don't have anything useful for you two. I've only come across one other person, but not long enough to find out what they were going to do in detail."

He can't accept the muffin if they want information in exchange. It doesn't feel right to him to not give them anything at all.

[privilegecheck]

It makes Kankri's pump biscuit hurt a little, seeing Subaru so reluctantly put down the food after not being able to give them what they asked for. He nudges the muffin forward on the counter again.

"No, go ahead and eat. It was just a thought. There's no need for you to starve on the very first day." He gives Subaru a hesitant little smile. "Take it, it was a gift in good faith."

[celebrityskinned]

"But just this once," Venus says. "Take it so we don't have to feel guilty about turning you away for now, but that's it."

She folds her arms and waits for a response.