thearena | I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more....

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I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more....

Who| Kevin and OTA!
What| Kevin has just been thrown into the arena. He has only the faintest idea of what's going on.
Where| Wandering the halls! Pick a location for your encounter for him in the subject.
When| Week 1
Warnings/Notes| None exactly yet, but watch this space for edits. Kevin has literally only the understanding that his job is to be the last person left alive, and...he's dedicated to his job, so. He also wants to gather some information, though, so not all threads have to devolve into violence! Just let me know.

Scarred feet padded quietly along hard floors, making a soft pat-pat-pat sound as they went. A steady pace. No fear. The man that they belonged to was...well, to be perfectly honest, he was taking a little bit of time to admire the scenery. He loved museums back home, but there were...sort of different from this. This one was a lot...drier.

Never mind that this was kind of a surprise situation that he had found himself in in the first place. One minute he was back in Desert Bluffs, getting ready to go do the radio - the next, he was being herded into some kind of highly-spectated fight to the death. In a museum, of all places! They had even taken his suit and given him pajamas to fight in - happily, ones that he could still feel professional in. What WOULD they think of next, though? Reality television, always innovative!

He had gotten a couple of gifts from anonymous people - some food and a knife - and he DID think that was very nice. Here he was, given the jobs of entertaining and also staying alive, and someone had given him some tools to help him be productive in that task! Very thoughtful. The food was stashed away, the knife was concealed, folded, in his palm....

And he wore his trademark (literally, the company had been quite insistent on covering all bases) grin while he explored, all sharp teeth and light-less black eyes.

Gosh, he wondered to himself. Who was he going to meet first?

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It happens to be Venus Dee Milo that he meets first - no stranger to reality television or to killing, which might be slightly evident in the way she carries herself through the death match. It takes effort right now, to appear poised and confident while each breath knits pain into her broken ribs, but she's nothing if not good for the cameras.

Kevin might have a trademark grin, but Venus' sells toothpaste. She makes sure to wear it as much as possible, just in case the Capitol has forgotten how deadly she is and how much they want to shower her with attention and gifts. It's paid off so far - she has a folding knife now, and wire for a garrotte, and has received some other much-appreciated tokens of the Capitol's esteem.

So she's smiling when she hears the soft padding in the dark around her. She can't tell yet where it comes from, but she turns, pointing her toes like a ballerina as they sweep through a patch of moonlight. She's sure it's ridiculous, but being photogenic is all about drama.

Kankri is sleeping in the cafe, which means Venus is patrolling this wing of the fourth floor, which she has claimed as her territory. She makes sure to emphasize that word for the cameras as much as she can - it works well with her tiger-print pajamas. Fossils weep shadows as the moonlight drools into a hall of prehistoric mammals, and she paces the perimeter, listening for trouble.

"Hello?" She reaches into the pouch of her pajamas and pulls out a knife. "This floor's taken. Try another."

Kevin, on the other hand, has never been on camera before. His job doesn't exactly require him to be seen, so his own behavior comes across as very comfortable, natural. He's not theatrical, but he does have a sort of honest charm about him - something that can't be taught. Maybe that's why he got sent his own knife by some anonymous sponsors...or maybe it was pure curiosity what a weird guy like him could do. He keeps the knife hidden in his hand for now, even upon being approached.

Upon seeing Venus, he gives a soft little laugh - not derisive in the least - before speaking. Now, SPEAKING - SPEAKING is something he's good at. His voice puts people at ease, the mark of a good radio host.

"Oh - I'm sorry, Miss! I had no idea that any of this was owned by anybody." He blinks, canting his head to one side. His eyes drink what little light there is. "I've never been here before. They called me a new Tribute, and just...told me to get in here and do my best! But I guess I don't know ALL the rules yet, huh?"

He knows primarily one rule to all this, to be precise.

Fight to be the last one alive in here.

But he's also a shrewd enough business man to know better than to tip his whole hand right away in a transaction of any kind. Better to play a little dumb to engage interest...and with those unreadable eyes and constant smile, there's not a whole lot of reason to believe he isn't ACTUALLY dumb.

"Mostly I've just been checking out all this stuff. Pretty nifty museum, isn't it?"

He'd desperately needed some fresh air from the musty museum type decor of the Arena, so Zelos found himself up on the roof. He needed to think. Receiving that sponsor gift after he'd cut himself getting to a weapon (which had been stupid) reminded him that this was technically being viewed on television right now. So far, all he'd done was settle in to the field, but nothing particularly exciting.

So he obviously needed to do something to change that, before watching him run around got too boring. Otherwise, the next time he needed something critical from the sponsors, he might not get it.

Zelos had made sure to stand facing the stairwell, in case anyone came up, and it was only now, as a guy exited from it, that he was belatedly realizing there was nowhere to hide.

He weighed his options and made a snap one. Twisting his dagger around so it was in a sword position, he pasted a devil-may-care grin on his face as though he'd been waiting all along for someone to come find him and spring his trap. He didn't need to kill him, just put on a performance for them so they'd be holding their breaths back home, wondering if one or both of them would survive the encounter. Tease them a little, then withdraw. This wasn't that different from wooing a girl. "This just isn't your lucky day, buddy!"

That first meeting with one of his fellow Tributes could have gone...just a little bit friendlier, Kevin was thinking. He wasn't as banged up as he could have been, but he had taken a couple of hits, given a couple, and now there was blood on his nice new pajamas. But hey - that's this game, right? That was the point! Survive. He didn't blame her any more than he blamed himself. And he couldn't even feel his wounds, really.

But he was still curious - still exploring, folding knife concealed once more in his palm. He'd made his way up all the way to the roof, stepping out into the night air, so crisp compared to the desert that he was from (but really, anything was going to be crisp compared to the desert) -

And wouldn't you know it, he had company again. Oh, well! At least they were smiling! Kevin grinned back, impossibly wide and sharp. He still didn't really grasp the whole...audience thing just yet, not fully, but at least he did know that even here, he could talk.

"Well, it wouldn't be - if it weren't for the power of positive thinking! It's easy to forget simple pleasures in the heat of a competition, I know, but - isn't the night air just wonderful?"

He didn't pull his knife. Not yet.

"Well, I've claimed it. And the rules are pretty straightforward: don't die." She steps into a patch of light, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head. The angry cuts on her cheek are hidden by hair and shadow. "So I'd suggest you get along now."

If he leaves now, before he realizes that Kankri's here too, Venus may not track him down to 'tie up loose ends'.

She lifts her free hand (the one not wrapped around the handle of a blade) and waves it in a shooing gesture.

"Hm...well, if the rules are THAT straightforward - and this might be silly of me, but - if they're that straightforward, then technically, none of this is yours anyway."

That smile of his doesn't budge - in fact, it spreads further, impossibly wide, nearly taking up half of his face. There's something wrong about it.

"And I don't know ALL the rules, but I do know that not dying is only part of it. Being the last one alive in here is the other part, isn't it?"

His voice is still pleasant, conversational.

He flicks open his own knife.

"So...well, I'm here to do a job, and it would be poor performance if I didn't do it, wouldn't it?"

"Is that a threat, honey?" She doesn't sound angry, doesn't sound scared. She gave over her life to the thrills and perils of fame a long time ago; death holds no specter over her. She flicks open her own knife, holding it up so it catches the light.

"The third part is to be entertaining. Whether that plays into being the last one standing is up to your own determinations. It usually plays into mine."

"Threat? Goodness, no! I'm just talking about what my job is, here."

Kevin doesn't seem the slightest bit afraid either. He doesn't even seem concerned that he's been placed into a death match. He's just...here, and thinking about what his job is. That's it.

"Oh, entertaining is something I can do." He shifts his stance, head lowering a little. Ready to pounce. His grin is a crocodile's.

"I'm a community radio host."

Once he starts crouching down, once he's made his intent clear, Venus has no need to deliberate between attacking or not. "Then this should be a good match-up."

She takes a step closer, then another, light on the ground, slipping like water over the marble floor. No longer ceding mobility to stealth, her feet make tiny squeaks.

"What's your name, stranger?" Her teeth flash like gunshots as she doesn't give him a chance to answer before lunging in, her blade leading the way in hunger for his shoulder.

You don't have to tell Kevin twice when it's time for work. He laughs, softly. "Remember, give it one hundred and ten percent!"

She lunges for him, sudden and quick - he throws himself off to one side, the blade giving him a good graze on the way and tearing though the fabric of his pajamas. He twists around as he hits ground, catlike, and pounces up with a wild slash for her midriff. He's smiling, sure, but he's not PLAYING.

"My name is Kevin! Yours?"

"Venus-"

Venus twists, and the tip of the blade whips a shred of skin off and whisks dots of blood across the fossil of an ancient quadruped behind her. "Dee-"

She snaps her elbow back, using her foot position to put momentum into her twist, into the blow aimed for his head.

"Milo!"

Gabriel padded around the museum, trying to keep out of sight of most people. When he did run into someone, he could usually handle the situation quickly, despite being unarmed. He was still quick.

As the week on, though, he had begun to slow down quite a bit. Food was becoming an issue and it was really annoying.

Hearing someone else walking around, Gabriel tucked himself quietly into a corner, but stuck his head out once he had gotten a good view. Was that a suit? Swanky.

Kevin drops down in a clumsy crouch - more or less just throwing himself to the ground to avoid the blow. It's not very efficient, he realizes quickly, and he isbut...well, he hasn't really done this before, has he?

While he's on the ground, he forgoes the knife for a moment and throws himself at her ankles, meaning to sweep her off her feet. He's leaving himself relatively open for a strike, but he's just doing the best he can for his first fight on camera. Give 'em a show!

"Pleased to meet you!"

The figure that padded around the corner was wearing a suit - a pajama suit - and he was a little bloodied. He'd been through a couple of scrapes so far, but his morale was still really high. His morale was ALWAYS really high.

Casting a glance around and not seeing anyone about immediately, he settled himself against a wall, breaking out part of one of his food rations and busting into it. All this fighting could really work up an appetite!

It wasn't until he was already eating that he glanced up, spotting Gabriel's head sticking out. He blinked his pitch-black eyes once, swallowed his bite of food, and gave a little wave.

"Hello?"

Venus takes the blow in exchange for the opening. Her feet go out from under her and she twists as she brings the knife down, down for Kevin's hand.

She looks to drop her weight on top of him. Her free hand shoots for his hair.

He's glad as she comes down until his strike - even still glad as he can't get his arm out of the way in time, the knife sinking a deep gash into the side of his forearm.

Ignoring the warm blood gushing from the new wound, he enjoys the "loving caress" she gives his hair, giggling a little bit.

"Aw, that feels nice," he sighs...and then snaps his pointed teeth hard for the nearest body part. This is so much fun!

Venus shrieks.

It isn't normal to feel sudden pain like that, not in her thigh like it does right now. A chunk of flesh and cloth is just ripped out, strands of nerves trailing from Kevin's mouth like the train of a jellyfish.

"You son of a-" She slams a punch into his rips.

As yet, the best hiding place that Some has found is the shadows atop the enormous model of some massive, serpentine sea creature (The label he didn't bother to read said 'Blue Whale: Extinct'). A week in, and he'd had few confrontations. But he'd done no one any good, either.

He was growing increasingly uneasy with that.

It was with the intention to find Don and see if they could aid each other that he slid down off the giant whale, and he was just adjusting the shawl he'd made of his nightshirt over his head when he heard bare feet.

Awww, she's cheering! He must be doing well!

Pleased as can be, Kevin finishes tearing out the hunk of flesh - proceeding then to chew and swallow it, mouth open a little bit, letting Venus get a good look at her own flesh getting shredded and pulverized in those jagged teeth. For a moment, he makes a pleasant humming sound, like he'd just eaten a tasty cupcake...

...And then that sound is drowned out by the loud cracking of his own ribs. He jolts, but otherwise doesn't react as he should...he doesn't cry out, he doesn't wince. He just blinks, still smiling, speaking with a bit of a wheeze.

"Oops! I forgot, I'm supposed to be fighting with my present, aren't I?"

With a sudden, wild strike, he arcs his arm up, splattering his own blood everywhere as he slashes at her face.

She doesn't scream this time. She braces. She tenses her face and closes her eyes so the blood doesn't blind her.

The knife moves through her nose as if it were slicing through water. All of a sudden she can't breathe, and her face is wet and her teeth and sticky and something hot and liquid is rolling down her chest.

It would probably be less horrifying if she made a noise. A normal person would cry out in anger or pain or simple exertion as they grabbed another human being by the hair and smashed their face, three times, in quick succession, into the ground until they heard teeth break.

Edited 2014-01-25 05:24 (UTC)

Briefly, he thinks that her face looks kind of pretty that way. It's like a second smile! A second smile, higher up on her face. Two smiles! Imagine that! It's actually kind of a great idea -

That's what is running through his head just before his face is getting smashed into the ground. One, two, three. He can feel, numbly, the shattering sensation of a couple of his teeth cracking away to fall to the ground.

She's patting my head for a job well done! How sporting, he thinks, a little bleary as he blindly, wildly bucks in her grip, trying to break free, shove her back...whatever happens first.

Or whatever happens second, that is, as some of his hair rips out with the motion.

Edited 2014-01-25 05:34 (UTC)

Venus slides across the ground, slicked with the sweat and blood of their battle. She gets to her feet and slips slightly, and that's what prevents her going for the kill. Instead when she lunges she loses traction and slams into his with uncontrolled momentum, and they go careening into the elevator panel.

The ding of the doors opening behind them is almost lost under the grunts of them kicking and choking each other.

Kankri always stays away from any scuffle he hears. He's going a bit stir crazy hiding in the cafe - not to mention sore without anything to properly sleep on - so he does venture out on occasion, but he always returns whenever it looks like trouble. And when he hears this fight, he's prepared to do just that, turn around and flee.

But then someone screams. And it's Venus. And without even thinking he's in motion, running straight towards the commotion instead of away from it.

The scene brings him up short for a long few moments. Venus, her lovely face bloody and twisted in a snarl, coldly slamming a man's face against the paved floor and then rolling right into him.

The elevator dings. That brings him out of his frozen stupor. If there's one thing that Venus has impressed on him over and over, it's always go for free supplies if you can risk it. He shouldn't be much in harm's way with Venus - Venus - distracting the stranger, that's a good word, a nice neutral word with no missing teeth in it or anything. So he dives for the elevator, picking up the canister with trembling hands, and then he backs up.

"Ve-" His voice cuts out for a moment. He swallows, wide-eyed, then tries again. "Venus?"

Kevin is barely on his feet, swaying but sure-footed in the blood (it's just like home!)when Venus is lunging for him. He outstretches his arms, happily accepting the hugs and cuddles she's giving him as he stumbles against the elevator panel.

And then he sees Kankri, directing his dark eyes towards him and letting his voice rasp out.

"Hello, friend!"

Still grinning, now with broken teeth and bleeding scalp, the distraction is enough to see him finally uprooted by one of her better-placed kicks. He tumbles sideways into the elevator, skidding a little bit, already-broken ribs crackling in a sickening fashion.

Venus almost goes after him. For a moment, she pauses, suspended between the urge to finish the job or stay with Kankri. Or die trying to do either.

Then the elevator doors shut like an eyelid and Kevin's being whisked away, and Venus turns to try to explain this to Kankri when the world goes dim around the edges and twists sideways. It's only later that Venus realizes it's because she's fainted.

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I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more....

Care to scuffle? :D | Fourth Floor

Ooh, yesssssss. Always.

ROOF

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Re: Ooh, yesssssss. Always.

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First Floor cause I can

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These two have a few features in common. Second floor?

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