Venus Dee Milo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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thearena2014-01-26 03:15 am
celebrityskinned) wrote in thearena2014-01-26 03:15 am
Entry tags:
Just Look at How Close We Are [Closed]
WHO| Venus and any Amis who want to join in, but especially Courfeyrac.
WHAT| Venus sends a message to all her Sponsors, and then goes to find an ally.
WHEN| Week 2
WHERE| Fourth floor.
WARNINGS| Mentions of Venus' injuries.
The gift shop has cheap, themed makeup; Venus grabs a Brainiac Green and a Vakarian Gunmetal in eyeshadow. She considers a Vantas' Blood lipgloss, then decides that she needs something a little more demure and selects one titled 'Lottie'. It's a watery pink so thin it's practically nude on Venus' lips. Thankfully, there's foundation in her skin tone.
It all looks like a joke on her ghastly face. Kankri did the best he could with the stitches, but even the most skilled plastic surgeon couldn't have kept Venus from looking completely mutilated. While mercifully uninfected, the gash bisecting her across the nose is deep and ugly and jagged, and the sutures look comically Frankensteinish. The right side of her head has gone from purple to a vomitous yellow tone, and the fading black eye looks almost slate grey. She has a distinct limp now, and when she stands one side of her body sags at the knee.
She uses only a little makeup, just enough to hide some of the worst bruising and give her eyes a little extra glitter. It's her charisma that, she hopes, will draw her beauty out from under the gore, that will make her painful to look at and yet easy enough to swallow that she doesn't have to be edited down to a mere clip.
She spends almost an hour finding the right spot, trying to analyze where she would put a camera if she were trying to get the best view of the action. When she finds a location with good lighting, she takes a seat and, looking in the direction she hopes is straight-on to a viewer, starts speaking. Her hands are in her lap.
"I hope that everyone in the Capitol knows how grateful I am for your support. Timaeus, Enjolras, Azula, and all my anonymous Sponsors - without you I would be dead, but." She waves a hand at her maimed face. "You know what they say about the stars and plastic surgery. I guess I'm not too young to go under the knife."
She doesn't let herself become distracted while she talks. She delivers her statements directly forward, making eye contact with people she can't see, smiling even as it tugs at the edges of her wound.
"It's strange, doing all this inside a museum. You might even say it's ironic, you know, laying all us down to die at the feet of history. I recognize some of this history from my world, and obviously, well, we got it wrong, because Panem's come in and corrected some of our inaccuracies. I'm noticing so much has been updated since then."
Rather, some of it's been censored, altered, turned into mere propaganda. Venus isn't the most educated person in the Games but even she can smell the fish on some of these plaques.
"I'm not much of a history buff, but I know that Panem's history was paved in blood, and the history of my own country before that. And I don't want to diminish that, because that's what you're all watching for, isn't it? You take the time to get to know each and every one of us so that you never forget who died to let you live in peace. But the part that should also be recognized is the work of the people behind the scenes."
She pulls a Sponsor canister from beside her into view. Her token, the wire and bead pendant from District Five, twinkles in the light.
"You don't have to die to make a difference. These gifts came to me when I was bleeding out on the floor. That's why I'm taking the moment to thank the people, the mechanisms we cannot see that support the people who fight."
There's a pause, and she holds the canister close to her chest.
"Anyway. I'd especially like to thank my mentors. I didn't know if you'd come through for me, especially Enjolras, because you're so new to the post." She knows that back home, viewers are watching, waiting for some announcement of love that the tabloids have declared is imminent. She lets a pause in her words hang.
But she doesn't want to say that, because she doubts that if he needs to hear anything, it'll br a grandiose declaration of affections he doesn't reciprocate. Instead she reflects on Courfeyrac's return, on walking on the beach knowing that everyone at the barricades died. She wonders if Enjolras is still stubbornly not watching, if he's holed up in his room 'reading' as a way to avoid people all too eager to fill him in on the gruesome details.
What she says is "I put my faith in you for good reason. Thank you, my friend. I won't forget it."
-/-
Once she's done making her little speech, she goes looking for Courfeyrac. With the early events of the Arena, she didn't prioritize finding him. She expects he's already allied with Marius and Cosette, and that the three of them are doing quite well for themselves.
She tells Kankri she'll be back soon, and with that she staggers off to check each room one by one. Wounded as she is, she gets exhausted after each long hallway, each chamber filled with skeletons and diagrams and drawings of ancient creatures. It takes her nearly three hours to get far enough into the fourth floor to see familiar dark curls, and when she does she's so eager to just end her search that she doesn't much bother with stealth.
"Courfeyrac!" she whispers when she sees him. She lifts her hand up, waving over a display with a les Amis d'ABC pin from the giftshop tucked between her fingers like a flower. She hopes the fact that her clothing is stained with so much blood it's easy to miss the original tiger-print pattern doesn't terrify him too badly.
WHAT| Venus sends a message to all her Sponsors, and then goes to find an ally.
WHEN| Week 2
WHERE| Fourth floor.
WARNINGS| Mentions of Venus' injuries.
The gift shop has cheap, themed makeup; Venus grabs a Brainiac Green and a Vakarian Gunmetal in eyeshadow. She considers a Vantas' Blood lipgloss, then decides that she needs something a little more demure and selects one titled 'Lottie'. It's a watery pink so thin it's practically nude on Venus' lips. Thankfully, there's foundation in her skin tone.
It all looks like a joke on her ghastly face. Kankri did the best he could with the stitches, but even the most skilled plastic surgeon couldn't have kept Venus from looking completely mutilated. While mercifully uninfected, the gash bisecting her across the nose is deep and ugly and jagged, and the sutures look comically Frankensteinish. The right side of her head has gone from purple to a vomitous yellow tone, and the fading black eye looks almost slate grey. She has a distinct limp now, and when she stands one side of her body sags at the knee.
She uses only a little makeup, just enough to hide some of the worst bruising and give her eyes a little extra glitter. It's her charisma that, she hopes, will draw her beauty out from under the gore, that will make her painful to look at and yet easy enough to swallow that she doesn't have to be edited down to a mere clip.
She spends almost an hour finding the right spot, trying to analyze where she would put a camera if she were trying to get the best view of the action. When she finds a location with good lighting, she takes a seat and, looking in the direction she hopes is straight-on to a viewer, starts speaking. Her hands are in her lap.
"I hope that everyone in the Capitol knows how grateful I am for your support. Timaeus, Enjolras, Azula, and all my anonymous Sponsors - without you I would be dead, but." She waves a hand at her maimed face. "You know what they say about the stars and plastic surgery. I guess I'm not too young to go under the knife."
She doesn't let herself become distracted while she talks. She delivers her statements directly forward, making eye contact with people she can't see, smiling even as it tugs at the edges of her wound.
"It's strange, doing all this inside a museum. You might even say it's ironic, you know, laying all us down to die at the feet of history. I recognize some of this history from my world, and obviously, well, we got it wrong, because Panem's come in and corrected some of our inaccuracies. I'm noticing so much has been updated since then."
Rather, some of it's been censored, altered, turned into mere propaganda. Venus isn't the most educated person in the Games but even she can smell the fish on some of these plaques.
"I'm not much of a history buff, but I know that Panem's history was paved in blood, and the history of my own country before that. And I don't want to diminish that, because that's what you're all watching for, isn't it? You take the time to get to know each and every one of us so that you never forget who died to let you live in peace. But the part that should also be recognized is the work of the people behind the scenes."
She pulls a Sponsor canister from beside her into view. Her token, the wire and bead pendant from District Five, twinkles in the light.
"You don't have to die to make a difference. These gifts came to me when I was bleeding out on the floor. That's why I'm taking the moment to thank the people, the mechanisms we cannot see that support the people who fight."
There's a pause, and she holds the canister close to her chest.
"Anyway. I'd especially like to thank my mentors. I didn't know if you'd come through for me, especially Enjolras, because you're so new to the post." She knows that back home, viewers are watching, waiting for some announcement of love that the tabloids have declared is imminent. She lets a pause in her words hang.
But she doesn't want to say that, because she doubts that if he needs to hear anything, it'll br a grandiose declaration of affections he doesn't reciprocate. Instead she reflects on Courfeyrac's return, on walking on the beach knowing that everyone at the barricades died. She wonders if Enjolras is still stubbornly not watching, if he's holed up in his room 'reading' as a way to avoid people all too eager to fill him in on the gruesome details.
What she says is "I put my faith in you for good reason. Thank you, my friend. I won't forget it."
-/-
Once she's done making her little speech, she goes looking for Courfeyrac. With the early events of the Arena, she didn't prioritize finding him. She expects he's already allied with Marius and Cosette, and that the three of them are doing quite well for themselves.
She tells Kankri she'll be back soon, and with that she staggers off to check each room one by one. Wounded as she is, she gets exhausted after each long hallway, each chamber filled with skeletons and diagrams and drawings of ancient creatures. It takes her nearly three hours to get far enough into the fourth floor to see familiar dark curls, and when she does she's so eager to just end her search that she doesn't much bother with stealth.
"Courfeyrac!" she whispers when she sees him. She lifts her hand up, waving over a display with a les Amis d'ABC pin from the giftshop tucked between her fingers like a flower. She hopes the fact that her clothing is stained with so much blood it's easy to miss the original tiger-print pattern doesn't terrify him too badly.
no subject
And another one is coming as he glances around for something to clean his hands with, sees nothing, and then sets to work as he is. As far as that bruise...he's not seen one exactly like it before, though the smell is certainly, well... It has Joly wrinkling his nose in concern there.
"Ah, too many indeed. This does smell rather suspect. Some sort of poultice would be best for it, I think. I did see plant life among our mammals here. There may be SOMETHING I can use. If I had everything I needed, I would suggest leeches. It does not seem we have to think of bleeding yet. I'd rather avoid that if we could. Painful and it also would be risky, exposing another new wound to the miasmas that I'm certain must be floating around this place."
"I think that it can still be helped though, if we clean it first before I go to try and find what we might need."
"As for Gavroche," Because a change of subject is good, after all, especially at times like now. "He was a gamin, a child of the streets who was a ally and a good friend to many of us. He lived in the statue of an elephant. A monument that had been left unattended. It made a safe enough shelter from what I understand of it, especially for the innovative and intelligent as he was."
And he's pausing, looking at the wound again, and the location. "If you might, I think it may be best to have you do the washing up on your own. We can look away for that, and then I may be able to set out."
no subject
Suddenly, something else occurs to him, and in a flash he's out of his perch and rifling through the small pile of supplies. "Where are you, you... Aha! Our savior has come!"
Grinning like a cat, he rejoins the party with a folded pamphlet in hand. "Here we are, Docteur. I cleverly snatched this up from the cornucopia, and having no need of it, I stashed it away. But I see now that this will benefit us all! It is, as you will see, a guide to the plants and herbs on display in this museum. Perhaps this, combined with your knowledge and skill, will allow for a rapid recovery to Mademoiselle."
He gives Venus a reassuring look then, reaching for her hand. "We will do everything for you, Venus. I swear it."
And he'll find that Kevin bastard and make him pay, too.
no subject
She hates bugs and creepy-crawlies beyond any sort of rational reason and she can't even explain why.
Leaning back, she settles her head in, breathing through her mouth because of the clots of blood clogging her nose. She reaches over and gives Courfeyrac's hand a squeeze before thanking him for his foresight. "Wait, was he a little blond boy? I think he was-"
She stops.
"Nevermind. I'm thinking of someone else."
[Warning: outdated medical advice. Don't tilt your head back with a bloody nose today, kids.]
"Ah yes. He certainly was. Very streetwise, very smart in every other way too...Courfeyrac, you mentioned a guide?" The news of that is amazing, practically Christmas to him, and he'll reach over and study that in a moment.
"Your head is back already, but if you might tilt it a little more, that could help with the bleeding." Joly is also pressing a pad of some sort of cotton to Venus's nose now. "Pressure ought to help stop the flow as well."
o7
"Yes, the guide." A pleasant change of topic, indeed. He waves the guide under Joly's nose. "All of the plants in the museum are listed here. And I'd wager there will be quite a selection to choose from. Perhaps something which can ease Mademoiselle's pain and suffering."
He smiles at Venus, trying to be supportive. Then, he catches the discussion of Gavroche. "Yes, Venus. I am told Gavroche was here."
Re: o7
She looks over to Courfeyrac, then back to Joly.
"I didn't know if you knew." Her voice is soft and gentle. "They didn't bring him back after my first Arena."
Which is a nice euphemism for saying he's dead. Venus squeezes Courfeyrac's hand again - not out of pain, but out of sympathy.
Re: o7
Courfeyrac's guide, which he is eagerly accepting and delving into, does provide distraction from that topic. "Certainly there is something else here, which can prove to be useful."
Gavroche...not brought back? That is horrible, in and of itself, though, perhaps,a voice inside his head points out, better he's not in the arena to suffer what he had at home. It's not that he would not like to see him and see him well but...this place is not conducive to any wellness he is personally aware of.
"He was brave, and kinder than many would have been, who had his life." He's saying now. "Perhaps it's better he is spared this, somehow, terrible as it feels to say." And then, well, better focus on the living, right? He's delving into that guide again, with more of a surge of focus than before. He won't let anyone else die here of something that he might prevent if he can help it now.
no subject
"Is there anything I can do to aid you, Joly? Perhaps you can tell me which plants to get and I can fetch them for you while you tend to your patient." He looks to Venus, and staying strong for her sake, decides not to comment on her state any further.
no subject
Unlike Joly and Courfeyrac, Venus is hyper-aware of the cameras. She knows that the more they talk about being happy with something, the more they're tempting the Gamemakers to change things as a twist.
"So." She raises an eyebrow and sits up, starting to clean out the injury herself where it would probably be uncomfortable for Joly to do so. "Have Marius and Cosette hijacked the tent into a lovenest yet?"
no subject
"Good point." He is quick enough to agree. "The tongue is not the sea, but it can drown you all the same." He would hate to see what sort of drowning the gamemakers come up with.
That next question, directed to Courfeyrac as it is, still sets Joly to snicker, a little. "Is our young Marius grown THAT far out of his shyness to discuss this then? I'd rather imagine him going miserable throughout the arena than requesting someone watch as he helps to create the beast with two backs,somehow."
And as for Courfeyrac's question, Joly IS at least paying attention to the lists, as he considers, finding a few bits of plantlife that may very well work. "Have we anything to write with? It may go faster if I just note what might work well."
no subject
He thinks then of their viewing audience, eyebrows raised in amusement. Perhaps an injection of drama would ensure that they all live to see another day.
"They do nothing but fawn. Marius cannot stand to sleep, lest something happen to Cosette as he does. It seems that his faith in me does not extend to watching over him and his sleeping wife." He rolls his eyes, sharing a quick grin with Venus. "After all, it is not my fault Cosette kissed me."
As for the guide, they will have to make plans without a writing utensil. Courfeyrac double checks the bag it came in, and alas there is none. "I am afraid I've come up short."
no subject
Venus, thankfully, has a pen on her in the small pack she's brought, which mostly includes collected goods from the gift shop. It's got patterns of Some on it.
"Courfeyrac, careful, or Marius is going to make hurt, unfocused puppy dog eyes at you when he sees the replay of this conversation." Her grin is mischievous, though. She's enjoying taking shots at the easy target as much as anyone.
no subject
As far as Marius goes though,that has Joly frowning. "Still as serious a case as when we left him then." It would seem to him that the best thing to do,in that case, would be to allow the lady to win in the arena, that she never has to go into one again. Marius would pine, perhaps, but he would know she was safe,and be perhaps less of a danger. "Well, we shall do our best to keep an eye on him, to prove we might be trusted." Perhaps, he thinks, looking over the list of plants again, lips moving a little as he reads through them, remembering properties, they can induce him to sleep without realizing it. It seems that it would be far fairer somehow, to get him out of the way for a while,and to have him wake with a clear head as well.
"I have a theory on how we might make him a bit useful and get those puppy eyes focused. There are some Linden flowers here." And he's circling, using Venus's pen with a grateful nod. "And chamomile among some others. They should help us ensure he has some sleep, and the Linden can make a paste for that wound of yours as well. It should clean and bring down swelling, and we needn't do very much to have them prepared as anything. Mint, as well, there should be plenty of it...And let Marius see it later, if anything, it may help him to realize he is doing no one,least of all, his lady wife, much good like this." He's willing to let Marius see the truth, if it will help even a little.
no subject
"I trust the pair of you can manage yourselves while I am away?"
no subject
She stands up, trying to steady herself on her bad leg. "I think we'll be just fine. If he tries to be as flirtatious as you are, Courfeyrac, I'm quite able to resist his advances, you know?"
no subject
"Do we have anything in the way of extra clothing, any of us? I should hate to get that cleaned out properly, and risk a greater infection from the blood."
He can't help grinning though, at the commentary. "Ah,someone to appreciate my wit, and add to it not only in words, but in speaking the truth. I think we ought to do just fine."
no subject
Squeezing Venus one last time, he stands, patting Joly as he heads away from them. "I shall return. I will knock on the wall first. Listen for it."
no subject
Naturally, injured or not, she's volunteering herself for the job. It's in her nature, and she doesn't think Joly would be best sent out alone.
As Courfeyrac walks away, she sits and turns to Joly. "So. Tell me a little about yourself, monsieur."
no subject
There seemed to be some kind of sutures in the kit and that is heartening, certainly. Nothing to be used until Courfeyrac is back, but they'll be helpful. For now, he is making use of the gauze found in the kit to continue cleaning.
As far as himself...well.
"I am not quite certain where to begin, I suppose. I was a year from my degree at the Paris Medical School, and I quite enjoy reading of advances in science to begin with.
[His interest in politics and the nature of Les Amis did not seem fitting for the cameras if they were watching, somehow.]
no subject
Men. She forgives quickly, though. Venus has let things roll off her back in less time before.
"When you get out of this Arena, I'll find you a science magazine. The developments are going to blow your mind." She smiles, the edges of her mouth disappearing into cherry cheeks. "You know, actually, when I'm up to strolling I could escort you through some of the exhibits here."
no subject
As for the museum himself,he is not QUITE sure that he wishes to wander through it and risk anything happening, but, then again, he could do it on the guise of scavenging and gathering. "I would like that. It seems like so many things have changed, and they've done well to detail all of that here."
no subject
"And I can tell you a little about myself. I'm from Georgia, in America. I never had a chance for higher education but Enjolras has been recommending books to me." Which may explain a little of their relationship, but not the whole of it by any means.
no subject
Joly finds himself nodding as she speaks He does not know much OF America beyond what he knew of their revolution, really, so he is not quite certain what to ask. Something else she mentioned sticks out a bit more, though.
"That is something many women are denied still, at home. And it is something that should not be. I do not dare presume to speak for members of your sex, but I will say that my...that I know women at home." He corrects himself, lest he mention Musichetta by name, "Who have done more with what limited education they have been allotted than certain other friends at the law school. And Enjolras is a good teacher, certainly."
no subject
Except that she is, acutely so, but why broadcast that? Especially to Capitol viewers, who likely don't give the slightest care about their Tributes' educations? It's a personal foible that she tries to keep close to her chest, like her illness and her own history.
"I'm famous where I'm from, for acts of heroics." She grins, although it looks ghastly with the cut, even stitched. "I have to say, you guys are much less backwards about women getting educated than I'd expect people from the 1800's to be."
no subject
After all, Joly must consent, for the sake of fairness, to own what is his to own, even if it is unpleasant, even as he wishes that things might be changed that everyone might have such opportunity.
"It was the aim of our society, in part," Their public one, at least. "I am certain Enjolras has likely told you more of many of our other purposes as well." That seems a good enough way of steering around announcing that he may be trouble. "That all who are qualified may be able to access the education that they need. Why should it not be a woman as well as a man? And? As well? It is not as though women never require doctoring themselves, who may be more comforted by the presence of another woman rather than a man."
Ideas cultivated, perhaps, by long conversations on the subject, with Combeferre, but that does not mean he does not agree, merely that his fellow medical student had helped him to sort his thoughts into the proper words. "I'll say though, that we were not quite a society who held views in vogue with the rest of society, though we'd hoped to try."
"Heroics though?" And he's leaning forward a bit, with interest. While he is not quite a Romantic, he does favor this type of tale when the mood strikes. "Well, you must tell me more."
no subject
It's a magnificent understatement, but Joly would have to be completely distracted to miss the affection in Venus' griping. In the last several months she has come to enjoy the lengthy diatribes that have become, through active effort on her part and more self-awareness on Enjolras', actual two-sided conversations.
"Well, it's all a bit complicated in the modern age, but I go out and fight people to protect the weak and small."
To get endorsements and talk show appearances and record deals. To pretend that because she had the title of a hero, her actions were justified no matter how ugly things could get. No matter how sticky the morality.
Kill one scared child for the chance to cure thousands? Where's the heroism in having to make the decision there?
"That's why when I say I'm competent, I'm not joking."
no subject
"Do you indeed? A worthy cause I think," He added, smiling. "Still, one that takes much from those involved. You have my admiration for it, truly." As did many who fought for others, who were forced to make those horrible, difficult choices that did not seem choices at all to him. He was better off, himself, by all intents and purposes from his position outside of the realm of hero. That seemed a heavy conversation to end on as it was though.
"Enjolras certainly...knows his way with words." He settled on.
no subject
She laughs, and it's the opposite of musical, forced and flat. "His way with words and nothing else. Was he always as bad with women as he is now?"
no subject
Odd, though, that here, they went ahead and seemed, really to enjoy these things. Though the Capitol he heard about was different, surely humanity was humanity in the end? He would have thought it once, at least.
As far as that went, well. THAT Was something he could certainly speak to. "We did joke amongst ourselves he did not know what women were beyond some abstract image. It certainly always seemed true."
no subject
"Maybe you and Courfeyrac should do the female gender a favor and give him lessons. As it stands he could make a career out of embarrassing himself."
no subject
It's true, really, and part of why he's a doctor, and not, well, more in the realm of the law students. He may not have taken his final vows yet, and they may apply to medical practice alone, but well. Doing no harm is something Joly takes quite seriously, save when the question becomes one of protecting a friend or innocent from harm. Or in the cases where he's needed to do harm to be a greater help, but, no thinking of that here. Instead, he is laughing at the suggestion there.
"Perhaps we ought, and yes, I think he does at times."