Nowhere to Hide, In Your Dreams You Are Useless [Open]

[celebrityskinned]

WHO| Venus Dee Milo and anyone in the Arena!
WHAT| Venus finds the food court the first night.
WHEN| First night.
WHERE| Food court.
WARNINGS| Mentions of torture, violence and mutilation, plus some dark mental stuff.

She finds the food court on the first night, and for a few moments allows a little spark of hope to catch the tinder in her chest. She and Kankri did well in the cafe for several weeks back at the museum; there might be food there, a stockpile she can jealously guard. More importantly, there might be people.

She doesn't know who among her allies might have been exploded. The entire thing was too fast for her to keep track of which people were reduced to bloody splinters and chips of bone, droplets and chunks across the ice. She'd gone straight for a key and tried to find Kankri, Joly, Ellie, even the boys - but in the tumult, in people's scrambles away from the killing field and to identify their loved ones, she didn't even see if they were among the living.

To be honest, she isn't sure who her allies are anymore. Maybe it's better they haven't seen her like this up close, with bruises festering purple and sickly brown on her neck and arms and bare legs. Her face, usually the envy of skin cream models and makeup artists, is a wound. The brand that sprawls across her cheek, nose and upper lip looks rotten, and the yellowed skin withers away from the edges, where painfully raw flesh beneath peeks out. The juxtaposition of her current state and the daintily-beaded, sequined spandex outfit she's wearing doesn't escape her.

She has a baseball bat from the sporting goods store. She holds it close but not cocked as she starts to go through the metal cabinets behind each buffet line. She pauses occasionally to look over her shoulder, but she doesn't take much care to hide the clatters of metal on metal. She's alright with being found, so long as she can act on it.

Thirty minutes going through each kitchen station yields nothing. Nothing but the hiss of oil in the fryer, spitting at her.

She takes a seat behind the cash register at the Panda Pantry. Her figure skates are dangling around her neck, resting against her chest. She folds up her legs, lets her palms take in the coolness of the tile on the floor. There are no victories for her here - not in the Arena, not in Panem.

She would cry if she weren't on camera, or if she weren't so good at swallowing it down by now, but she's had a human body for over a year now. She knows how to keep it to herself.

Comments

[hit_girl_mindy]

She had Chibi Usa wait for her in the locker room. She'd already known that she was going to be shit out of luck for food, so she'd better get that now. The locker room at least had a place so she could store her shit, and a raiding of the Sports store had gotten her a nifty hunting knife in case she needed to defend herself.

Mindy is rummaging for dry stuff right now. Chibi Usa would hopefully be getting the good stuff: she'd make do on some water and whatever bags of peanuts and junk shit available. It's here she sees someone she recognizes, barely: Venus. She looks in a bad way.

[celebrityskinned]

When Venus sees the girl, her heart sinks for two reasons: she doesn't want to kill Mindy, and it's another reminder that the supposed safety of victory is, to the Capitol, a privilege earned and capable of being revoked. Her chest tightens further when she sees the ugly brand on Mindy's face, not dissimilar to Venus'. It's healed slightly better on Mindy's, but that doesn't say much.

Venus gets up from behind the Panda Pantry cash register, brushing dust off her pants. "There isn't shit here to find. Just so you know."

[hit_girl_mindy]

She stops, angry at herself that she didn't spot Venus first, but after hearing her say that swears pretty viciously.

"Fuckers! I got to make sure I get something. I can't come back with no food, otherwise we gotta depend on her rations."

And if that happened, there was no way she'd take it. Usagi would have whatever they gave to herself and that was it.

[celebrityskinned]

Venus doesn't look terribly sympathetic. "You been in the Arena. You know what it's like."

She folds her arms. "At least you got rations."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I can usually get Sponsors," Mindy reminded her. "That's over now, with the latest infraction. If I have to go run this again, I prefer having something like a plan."

She sighed. "Sure, for however long they last."

[celebrityskinned]

"Yeah, we're not exactly looking cute and sponsorable right now. Even if there weren't a block on it, I wouldn't be able to rest on my good looks anymore." Venus laughs as if it's funny and not devastating. The truth is that she feels like a picture frame with the canvas torn out.

She glances over at the bubbling oil. "Pretty sure they want us to use that before the Arena's out, by the way."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Looks aren't usually the only thing, there's got to be more. I was never in it to be cute, and I never got the cute sponsorship either, I bet. I went in it to win, to show people a kid could. So I did."

And now here she was, back again like nothing happened.

She looked over at the oil. "Should we dump it out then? So no one get their faces burned off?"

[celebrityskinned]

"Please, you probably got plenty of cute Sponsorship, just like I got plenty of Sponsorship from people who wanted to see me in my underwear." She rolls her eyes.

"Nah. They'll either replace it or punish us for it." The idea of shoving Mindy into it now crosses her mind, but Venus isn't about to ambush children. She doesn't know if she'd even fight back against one.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I think I lost my cute sponsorship when they saw me kill Shion in cold blood," Mindy said. Granted, she made it quick, but it had still been one of the most cold blooded things she'd done. Even Pruna had gotten more warning than that.

She glanced over at the fryer, than at Venus. "Do you remember when we first met? You took a swipe at me and everything. Couldn't even grab a decent weapon at the Cornucopia. Of course, if you wants to take me out, you could just use the fryer."

She wouldn't stick around for the impact, but it was still an option.

[seestheman]

After her encounter with Alex coming off the ice, Clara set herself to a few tasks: find clothes, find weapons, and find food. Having succeeded in the first two and now wearing something far more appropriate than a cowgirl outfit and armed with a decent sized hunting knife, she hits the food court in the hopes that maybe there's something there that's edible.

What she finds instead is Venus looking like hell. The burns on her face bring back memories of seeing Alex after the explosion. And, god, seeing someone who's been nothing but kind to her in the past in that state shakes her. Not enough to the point where she's going to cry or anything, but enough that she feels safe enough to approach.

"Any luck finding anything?"

[celebrityskinned]

Venus is zoned out - not enough for Clara to get close without detection, but enough that it isn't until Clara speaks that Venus glances upwards from where she's drawing figures in the dust on the floor with her finger. There are still deep cuts from struggling against the handcuffs around her wrists. The edges of them are swollen, puffy and pink.

She meets Clara's eyes and there's honest-to-God regret there. Clara's been gentle; from what Venus can tell she's a sweet person worried about her husband. Venus wishes her family, what was left of it, had been so supportive when she'd undergone her change, instead of just punting her around and then leaving her on the street. She wants to tell Alex how lucky he is for Clara, but that runs directly counter to the duty she's assigned herself now.

There are people here who deserve to win more than Clara. There's a kid here Venus promised to protect.

"Oh, Clara. I'm real sorry."

And with that Venus gets to her feet with nigh-supernatural grace and swings the baseball bat.

[seestheman]

There are a lot of assumptions people make about Clara. That she's sweet, kind, compassionate. And all those assumptions are true. But along with all of those is this assumption that Clara can't take care of herself. Sure, she doesn't have the training and she doesn't know how to fight. The fact that she's one of the lowest scoring Tributes in the Arena makes that abundantly clear. But just because she doesn't know that doesn't mean she's completely clueless when it comes to certain, more primal aspects of fighting. She has no form, she has no training, but she knows how to dodge shit and how to move fast from years of playing softball as a kid.

Which is the only reason the tip of the bat grazes her upper arm instead of hitting her square in the chest. Which hurts like a bitch, but she'll worry about that later. Logically, she knows she shouldn't stand a chance against Venus who has a much higher score than her, but really, if she wants to be sure that she can try to see Alex through to the end of the Arena so that he can win, she's going to have to do her damnedest to stay alive.

"Venus, you don't have to do this," Clara says as she edges back, bringing out the knife she grabbed earlier. "We can both walk away from this."

[celebrityskinned]

Damn. Venus isn't looking for a drawn-out fight, and Clara's out of the bat's range too fast. Venus excels in killing quickly, violently but painlessly, and then she justifies herself by saying that there are others who would be more brutal and messy than she is.

"I do." She wants to tell Clara that Venus isn't doing this on behalf of any desire for her own victory, but for the teenager who's stood by her side in spite of everything. That even that's selfish, because there are plenty of teenagers in this Arena and Venus is just choosing the one that's wormed into her heart with his endless patience and understanding. She can't say that without making a target of the kid in question.

But she imagines Clara might understand that, if she could hear it.

"I'll make your death quick. Promise." She throws the bat at Clara, then lunges forward, going for the knife with one hand and twisting to throw an elbow at Clara's nose with the other.

[seestheman]

There are people Clara would love to see win. Alex and Dave, so she would never have to watch either of them die again. Dennett, because he's probably the only person in here who's worse suited for this place than she is. Clem, because she had her victory stolen from her. She would almost be able to understand if Venus were to say anything, not enough that she would roll over and let her kill her, but enough that she could say 'I understand, but it's still wrong.'

Clara dodges the bat, but not the elbow, which hits against the corner of her eye instead of her nose. She has the feeling that she'll have one hell of a shiner tomorrow, but it'll be fine, she'll still be alive to have one. Using her free hand she tries to grab for Venus's wrist so she can try to stop her and talk some sense into the younger woman. "You're better than this. Steve was right, we don't have to play their game."

let me know if this is too godmodey!

[celebrityskinned]

"Stop talking and I'll make it fast!"

You're better than this. Venus can't explain that once upon a time, this blood sport, apparently reserved for the lowest of the low, was her voluntary occupation. She may be forced into the Arena, but she chose the life of a killer a long time ago, thinking herself unworthy of anything else.

Maybe, before she got herself caught by the authorities and got her face mauled up, she could have considered Clara's words.

Clara's wrist closes around Venus', and in the struggle the knife goes skittering under a metal cabinet.

"Shit!"

She gets her hand on the back of Clara's head and wrenches her arm downwards, slamming Clara's face against the corner of the food court table next to them.

no no, this is perfect!

[seestheman]

The moment that the knife drops, Clara has a feeling that she's completely fucked, even if she technically has the upper hand. That feeling only grows the moment Venus's hand goes to her head. There isn't anything she can do and she knows Alex can't save her this time.

She just thought she'd be able to stay in more than a day.

It won't be until later that Clara will really be able to start pondering whether or not Venus missed her intended target or whether she was being petty and trying to draw it out so that it could be as brutal and drawn out a kill as possible because Clara kept talking. All she knows now is pain as her eyeball bursts as it makes impact with the completely non-OSHA compliant from how sharp it is counter, the awful feeling as the remains ooze down her cheek, and the bloodcurdling scream that rips through her, the sound echoing around the general area.

[celebrityskinned]

They both topple to the floor, Clara in shock and Venus from the weight of her bloody, screaming cargo dragging Venus' bruised and beaten shoulders down. Clara's still thrashing too much for Venus to get her hands around her head and snap her neck.

She throws a punch into Clara's gut, buying herself a moment to scramble to the side and try to grab the knife. Her hands scarper under the cabinet but find nothing. She won't have much time before Clara's getting up and running away, or before someone comes and responds to the screaming.

She can at least stop the noise. She lunges back to Clara and straddles her, pressing her hands against that pale, taut throat expelling shrieks like a water fountain. Trying to cut off the air. Venus has never strangled someone to death before, and to tell the truth she doesn't know how to do it efficiently. She doesn't know where the jugular is to block off, and Clara's wriggling makes it difficult to find anyway.

"Just die- please, just die already!" she huffs, trying to swallow the distaste for such a violent, intimate kill. Her disgust for herself passes through her like a wave of nausea, leaving an undertow in its wake. She wants to apologize. She honestly wants to.

She almost thinks she can't, with an audience expecting the murderess they know, but the audience doesn't love her anymore and the gruesome mask of her face reminds her of that. So as she presses as hard as she can on Clara's throat, she says it out loud, too.

"I'm sorry!"

Tess is coming too!

[aintyourdad]

After finding Tess and Ellie, getting to a spot to take stock of what they have and what they need, it's then just a matter of getting the lay of the land. They're going to need food, and better clothes than the ridiculous outfits they've been put into. He leaves Ellie to explore a likely looking store for the clothes, reluctantly trusting her with Riley for a while. They'll meet up in an hour back at their hiding spot.

Meanwhile, he motions to Tess as they carefully approach what looks to be a food court. Jackpot. Of course, there's already someone rummaging around inside, so he keeps low and circles around quietly, one of his ice skates still in hand for a weapon, just in case. He motions for Tess to wait, while he peers around a corner to see who it is.

Venus. But - "Jesus Christ," he mutters, standing up and giving Tess the OK with a quick glance. "You look like hell."

[oopsright]

It had been a relief to finally come across the two girls. Finding Ellie had been their number one priority after Joel had found Tess and after that, finding out where that damn key would lead them to. Or that was what Tess wanted to do, and she doubted it would work in any of the lockers in that locker room as she remembers, back in the day, that public recreational centres had lockers and each key would have a number assigned. Swimming pools, hockey rinks, train stations - anything - so why should it be different here?

She catches the motion and waits, taking the moment to glance down at her socks and noting to herself that they're soaked through with in patches with the blood from the ice when she'd run off of it. That she should find herself another pair, and some proper pants.

Glancing up that's when she catches his second motion, the glance, seeing him standing. Tess moves to his side, limping and trying to keep her weight off that hip of hers. She looks around the corner and the sight of the other woman in the state she's in, it's not good.

You aren't looking so hot.

She remembers saying those words to Marlene way back when, her hand covering an injury she had received before coming upon them and Robert's corpse.

"Is that...?" It's almost a difficult task to make out who this woman is, but Joel is looking at her with recognition so they must know each other.

[celebrityskinned]

Joel. Joel and dis bitch. Unlike Venus, Tess is plenty easy to make out. Venus straightens up, still graceful from self-possession even though her body hurts ten ways to Sunday.

"I just got out of prison," she snaps. "Jail, whatever."

They'd beat her like a rented mule, less to make her scream than to get a rise out of Wyatt and Maximus. They'd suffocated her, burned her, poured water down her nose, whispered in her ears all the things they would do to her, keep doing to her, if she didn't give them information they wanted. She doesn't know if she would have given it up if she'd even had it. She's missing some of her damn toenails.

She shouldn't feel ashamed of looking like she was just scraped off of the bottom of a shoe, but she does, because this was the one thing she was good at. Looking capable and untouchable.

"Did you find Ellie? Is she okay?"

There will be time for the 'I told you so' from Joel later, the condescension from Tess, she's sure. Joel called this, after all - she'd do something reckless and get hurt. And Tess has no reason to respect what Venus has lost lately.

But in the moment what matters is that Ellie's safe.

[aintyourdad]

"You and a dozen others," Joel mutters darkly. A dozen other dumbasses, but clearly she's been punished enough for her idiocy. He views her injuries with a kind of detachment borne of years, decades, of seeing others hurt, and doing a lot of hurting himself.

"Ellie's fine," he assures her without any hemming or hawwing. "Just doin' some scouting. This is Tess." He tilts his head at the woman in question, then glances at her. "This is Venus. Friend of Ellie's." Ellie's friend, not his. There's clearly little love lost between them. But he told Tess already - Ellie's friends are off-limits.

[oopsright]

Tess leaves the talking to Joel. The last time she had talked to this woman, it hadn't ended on a good note. She stays where she is and taps her skate-as-a-weapon against the side of her leg, restless, still dressed in that ridiculous 80s get up with the pushed up shoulders and the short short way too short silver skirt.

Hopefully the girls found that clothing store, they could bring something back for her or she'll go when they come back.

"We already met," Tess answers in a dry tone, watching how Venus had straightened up, standing there alongside Joel as she takes in Venus' injuries.

They'd really done a number on her, a good number, while Tess only had the splatter of blood on her face and the bruising angry looking cut under her left eye at her cheekbone, the bad hip that made her feel like she was sixty and not thirty-eight.

[celebrityskinned]

"Good." And like that, just a bit of the tension seems to slip away from Venus. She's genuinely glad that Ellie's with people who can take care of her, give a watchful eye. That they've got Ellie means that Tess and Joel have a safe pass from Venus' particular brand of murder.

And that means she can move on to less pleasant topics, more self-focused ones.

She holds her arms wide. "Well? You gonna give me the third degree? Take your moment to told-ya-so?"

[aintyourdad]

Joel, for his part, now that he's ascertained it is apparently just Venus in here, is already rummaging around in search of food or other useful items. At her words, though, he stands up, gives her a look, eyebrows raised.

"I can if you want. It was pretty goddamn stupid, like I told you. Tryin' to break those people out, you didn't change anything and just made it worse for all of us."

He shakes his head and goes back to working through a cabinet. "I don't have any medical supplies to spare right now, and Ellie don't need to see you like this."

He's not worried about offending her delicate sensibilities. He's more worried about how pissed she'll get when she sees Venus like this. What she might say or do in response.

[oopsright]

She's looking between the two as Joel's getting on with his lecture, standing back in silence and listening. This woman had tried to break people out of...a prison? Guess in some sense that move had made it worse on everyone else, but had it been the break out attempt or that guy's speech at the beginning that lead to the unnecessary deaths and gore before everything even began?

Either way...although Tess and dis bitch hadn't gotten off on the right foot in the beginning and her loyalty was with Joel, Tess holds up a hand to cut in, "We don't have time to waste hashing over reckless decisions -" God knew she was guilty of her own, which is why she's stepping in. "- when I might have done the same if you were locked up."

A sharp look is thrown his way. Not only would she try to break him out if he'd been caught but Tess knows (OR THINKS SHE DOES) he would do the same for her.

"We need to figure out what our next move is. And where this key goes."