thearena | Dude, we're getting the band back together!

Entry tags:

Dude, we're getting the band back together!

WHO| Mindy, Chibi Usa, and OTA, especially if you're a kid.
WHAT| Mindy finds a base of operations
WHEN| First night.
WHERE| The Comic Store!
WARNINGS| Kid cursing of course, reflections of torture, mentions of wounds and blood and such.

But Mindy had made sure to stockpile BEFORE she smuggled the younger girl up here. They hit the Sports Authority first, where Mindy had grabbed the water bottles and a few choice knives, not to mention a new change of clothes. Now in a tank top, cammo pants and boots, Mindy stored what items were needed in her locker and then the two went searching. Mindy was all ready to set up shop in the theater when LO ANS BEHOLD there was a comic shop! Mindy dragged Chibi Usa here, barricading the door but leaving just enough room for someone smaller to squeeze right through.

"Here," she said, giving Usagi some of the spoils from the food court, "I got this so far. Eat only a little, though I think you'll be getting some food from sponsors pretty soon."

Mindy leaned against the door, panting. The work of moving around and rustling up supplies had been draining, and she was still feeling the pain of the brand, not to mention her bones.

"You nab anything, Usagi?"

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"Love love love la la love, la la loooove makes the world go round!"

This haunting melody drifted in through the doors to the store as a familiar bouncy figure Came squeezing through the door. She had to stop singing to suck in her chest and pop through with an "Ooof!"

Harley had dressed herself in a loose tank top that she had painted a grinning face on the front of it in red and green. Meanwhile Red and black stockings clung to her legs going up past her knees where they teased some skin before showing off her ample hips and booty in a pair of tight shorts.

Put most distracting of all was she had painted her face in white makeup covering her wounds earned in jail. Even the branding was harder to see under the layer of shiny cream. Black makeup ringed her eyes like a mask and her lips shone in the same glossy shade.

"Ah it's been so long since I've been in a place like this." She chirped to presumably the cameras. "Unless Mindy's right and I am a comic book character, then I guess I've always been in places like this." she chuckled.

Edited 2014-08-20 21:57 (UTC)

Did you think Mindy had been lax about protecting her place? Evidently not, because the girl came out quickly, pausing only when she heard it was Harley. All the better too: she'd had a clear shot and would have knifed the woman, hiding on the right corner entrance of the door.

"Way to announce yourself, Harley," Mindy said, shaking her head, then inspecting the girl's face. "Convenient. Hides the brand and everything. Where'd you get the hoochie outfit?"

Mindy, meanwhile, was dressed like Tamika Flynn, minus the hand around her neck.

Harley would appreciate the reference if she had any idea what Nightvale was. Ironic considering she'd become such good friends with the Capitol's Cecil before his Avoxing.

"Well you know me, I like to keep people's attention." She leaned forward playing into the "Hoochie" Comment and giving a show to the cameras and Mindy by proxy.

"There's plenty of clothes around here, I just dressed to impress, and be comfy." She straightened up and gave a twirl before opening her arms up indicating she wanted a hug.

"Come here you! It's been forever!!" Or a week and a half to two weeks give or take. But to Harley that was a lifetime.

Mindy was lowering her knife back into the holster and shook her head, giving the woman a hug. True, these circumstances were fucked up, but she knew that she could at least trust another mentor. They were only on the first week, after all.

"Hey, keep those shits to yourself!" She laughed, pushing Harley's offending boobs out of shot. "yeah, been awhile. I hear you were cooling your heels in the cell a little later. Trying to get Suz out, I bet."

Harley hugged Mindy tight, with a sort of desperation that spoke of her clingy and needy nature.

"Oh cut me a little credit, sure I was starting with Susie but I wasn't gonna leave till you and Eva were out too." She brushed back some stray bangs from Mindy's face gazing at her affectionately.

"Turns out the Capitol Clink is a little harder to get through then Arkham. Especially when you're working with Senior Sourpuss, AKA Roland."

Mindy had been hugged by Clementine earlier and, it turned out, was pretty happy with a hug. Going from that hell to here was honestly a blessing. Now she didn't have to worry about her body getting mangled until MUCH later.

"Oh relax, you had your priorities. Suze has already had time in the slammer, better you started with her. I already have someone's well being on my conscience."

She looked up. "No kidding? Susannah spoke pretty well about him."

Harley pouted and tapped her on the nose "What you think I'm fibbing? I couldn't leave you to rot even if you are tough as nails. We're friends aren't we? And I get the feeling you'd appreciate me alot more then Susie." Her voice fell a bit indicating that she and Susannah were still not on the best terms despite Harley's sacrifice.

Perking up again but with anger she grumbled "Yeah well, he may be crafty or a decent fighter but I wouldn't know! The stiff refused to trust me at all so all we did was argue. We got busted before we were even halfway into the building because he wouldn't listen when I tried to warn him about the guards coming."

At least that was her version. Also she had not yet let go of Mindy. Being locked up always made Harley extra touchy feely afterwards.

So she kept the hug going, even longer than Clementine? That was weird, but she wasn't opposed right now, so long as her eyes were glued to that door. The moment anyone she didn't know too well started fucking around, she'd end that exploration real quick.

"I'm not saying you would because you'd want to, I'm saying it because those assholes would do worse to you. It's better you were focusing on one person. Like I said, someone tried to come for me too: that warrior woman, Sonja."

She'd have to have a drink with her later.

"Hehe. So you guys didn't even have a coordinated plan with trust? No wonder you failed."

"Oh like I care what they do to me." Harley laughed it off and finally broke the hug long enough to flick Mindy's nose with a finger.

"Hey at least I TRIED to work with him. I knew how important Susie was to him and didn't want to freeze him out. I shoulda gone on my own. I bet I would have gotten both her, you and even Sonja out." She boasted. "Come on you know my skill."

"You should," Mindy said. "Getting your bones broken and getting a brand on your face is not the kind of shit you can just shrug off."

Even though that was precisely what Mindy had been doing.

"Do you know how many attempted jail breaks there were, Harley? I don't know how many people got out, and how long they even stayed that way."

In other words, stop talking yourself up Harley.

"Just watch me." She shrugged her shoulders and snickered "If you're suddenly the expert how are you dealing with your trauma?"

Because Harley had a hunch the answer was "Not well" no matter how Mindy would rephrase it.

"Just because they couldn't figure it out doesn't mean I wouldn't have. I just had that dead weight Roland around my neck."

In other words, you're not the boss of me!

Mindy looked a little unsure about that. "Enough. It's not like they gave us time to really process. I just concentrate on knowing that there were some people I want to be around if this happened again, which it did. As for dealing...well. I try not to sleep too much, if you get my drift."

Which wasn't the greatest idea, but would serve her well here for now. Adrenaline was more than enough of a push.

She chuckled. "If he trusted you, you guys probably would have been more successful. He might have been wary about it with all the shit you put Suze through. When she talks about him, its like...like he's their leader, almost. Like how Joel is constantly looking over Clem and Ellie."

"Yeah well, it's his own fault." Harley grumbled "I made it pretty clear I was there for Susannah not Detta. It's not my fault he couldn't trust."

She embraced her once more with a sigh, "Either way, this place is a whole 'nother level with so many skilled people and not a single one of us pulled it off for more then a few days? Even if we were all united they woulda just toasted the place and started fresh huh?"

"If you say so. I wasn't there." It sounded pretty childish, and coming from Harley, was it really all that surprising? Harley wasn't known for acting like the biggest adult to begin with.

She looked at her. "It doesn't even mater. Where would we have even gone if all the jail breakouts went right? They would have just found us and imprisoned us again. I think I might have even gotten some extra bashing because someone actually came for me."

"Well...we coulda found something. I mean it's a big world out there. So what do you figure happens once you run all the way past District 12?" She mused.

"Or what if you run south? The map of Panem doesn't cover Mexico. Hell south America was lousy even in my world unless you like tropical plants, giant bugs and mud. But if Ivy could live there I'm sure we could have at least stalled."

As much as she would have liked to say "Find District 13." she didn't want to irritate Mindy any further.

"Its not a question that we can't run, its more a question of how far we'd get before they found you and really let loose on you. If getting out of this place was that easy, wouldn't people from the Districts have done it? Hell, wouldn't some of our own had gotten the fuck out of dodge? It's just not that simple. Wish it was."

She knew she was implying District 13, of course. She'd heard a little about it. But getting there without detection right now was nothing more than a pipe dream.

"Well gee thanks captain buzz kill." She pouted and finally put some distance between the two of them as she roamed the little area Mindy had claimed for her own.

"Looks like you're hold up here pretty good, you and someone else." Harley observed letting her eyes roam over how Mindy had arranged the room. "Your little friend Sandy?" She guessed curiously. "Or Ellie? Or that other one...what's her name? Gosh we have alot of kids around here all the sudden." She noted.

"It's what I do!" Mindy managed a half hearted joke, though she felt far from being funny right now, really.

"Sandy's probably with her girlfriend, and Ellie is not going to be five feet of anyplace with Joel in tow. Nah, I'm with the new pink haired girl, Chibi Usa. Couldn't just let her go around here by herself, and Joel's got enough kids he's looking out for."

That caught Harley's attention "Chibi-whosa?" She blinked and glanced around the room expecting the pink haired girl to just pop out of a stack of comics.

"Pink hair, about this tall?" She gestured with her hand. "Big eyes that say "Please don't traumatize me"?" She questioned further.

"That's the one." Which gave her enough of a reason to look out the door just now, tightening her grip on the hunting knife she had on her hip. "You can imagine the eyeful she got after Steve's speech. You know, for kids!"

She rolled her eyes, sighing. "I don't think I have nearly enough weapons for what I want to do to whoever brought her to the Arena."

Harley made a curious noise and nodded sauntering deeper into the shop and sitting on the counter. With her current costume she looked right at home and proceeded to make herself at home by laying on her side, lounging luxuriously across the counter top.

"Death would be a gift after what you want to do to them." Harley guessed. "And I'd be the one handing you tools to do it. I mean I'm evil sure but wasn't it enough to kill her the first time? They had to bring her back so many arenas later? I wonder if anyone even remembers her from the theme park arena."

Truth be told, Harley barely did.

"Yeah, Donatello told me about that." She was curt, barely able to contain the anger out of her voice. "I don't get what the point is of bringing a kid younger than any of us here whose power they took away. It's fucked up. I'd even teach her to fight if she let me, but she doesn't want to do that. So we're here now."

She wiped her forehead. "I feel like a hypocrite, bitching at Joel for not letting Ellie do her thing, and yet coming here and sticking so close to Usagi But I can't just leave her to do this by herself."

Ah yes the Mindy and Joel situation. Harley had sat through more then a few tirades on that subject.

"Well the difference is how many years?" She pointed out kicking her legs casually off the end of the counter. "Ellie is a teenager like you...barely." She added with a playful smirk. "Chibi is grade school. I think it's probably a rule that if you can't reach the top of the fridge you probably need to learn how to fight or find someone who already knows."

Waving with her hands in pointless gestures she added "Like Pruna. Kid will rip out your throat with her teeth and she's probably about Chibi's age."

Mindy snorted. "You don't have to tell me about Pruna. She and I faced off in the last Arena I was in. She's fucking amazing. We've been sparring ever since. Girl earns respects in her sleep, I bet."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I hear you. I want to let her grow, but this is her first, and she never killed before. I can't just let her go into this blinded. Not on good faith even."

That was enough to make Harley smile warmly, all her usual goofy mannerisms aside.

"See? You are a good mentor deep down. Like a little big sister." She praised.

"Well you know you've got my help. Anything I can do to keep the little sugar cookie alive and keep you happy just lemme know." She added blowing Mindy a kiss.

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