Turn the White Snow Red as Strawberries in Summertime [Closed]

[celebrityskinned]

WHO| Venus, Phillip, Jet, Albert and Sam Wilson
WHAT| V gets patched up.
WHEN| After the cats attack.
WHERE| Near the lake.
WARNINGS| Gore.


Venus wakes up in the snow. At first she thinks it must be a mistake, because she's found herself a little cave near the lake to spend her nights hunkered down in, and she usually rouses from being curled into a tight ball, her neck and spine aching from the tension in her muscles, as opposed to how she wakes now, face-up with snowflakes melting on her cheeks. Her lips feel numb, but she presumes that's from the air. The back of her head feels wet, in spite of the parka's hood cradling her.

It's when she realizes that the snow is pink, that it looks like a puddle of half-melted cherry snow cone around her, that she understands that she passed out from blood loss. Her parka is in tatters, her stomach to her pelvis a battleground of black-blooded lacerations. She vaguely remembers the events leading up to this moment - fighting with a wildcat the size of a bear, hitting it in the teeth with a branch hard enough to knock the monstrous canine out, taking a hit to the stomach that she didn't feel because of the adrenalin, scrambling up a rock face to get away and then collapsing here on a snowy ledge, not far from her hideout.

Her eyelashes flutter, batting away some more flakes before they melt. She breathes heavily and decides not to get up yet.

A Sponsor package, its little signal light blinking, sits in the snow next to her, sunk an inch in.

Comments

[metalicarus]

Jet had been whittling away both time and wood when Albert told him Sam and Venus were approaching. He was only a second behind his partner when they left the treehouse and met the group. Albert had the med kit and Jet left him to it, moving to stand next to Sam and press his sleeved wrist to Venus' cheek.

"Vee? Not lookin' too hot there." There was concern in his tone, but it wasn't as strong as it might be if Sam had been running up to the tree. It probably wasn't life-threatening, at least.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

They're not too far, fortunately, and Sam tells Phil as much before they head out. He's tense as they move, jogging as quickly as he dares while he tries to keep quiet. The last thing they need right now is another Tribute finding them and taking advantage of things.

But they make it to the treehouse unbothered, and Sam lets himself relax a little when Albert and Jet emerge.

"Tigers," Sam replies, resettling Venus in his arms. "Phil and I patched her up best we could-" He pauses to nod his head at the man with him. "-but she's lost quite a bit of blood."

[voiceinthephone]

Phillip nodded, a bit winded from the watch over to this place, and actually seeing cyborgs in action. This is kind of nice considering they're in a snow death arena and there were murder cats running around like they owned the place. Which they do.

"She's headed into shock if we don't get some transfusions going and she's got a lot of damage around her torso."

Moment of truth, more so when Phil sees the way Venus falls into Sam's arms and whatever position they lay her down. Pull through...please, please don't be like the others, he mentally pleaded with her. He didn't want to see that rare spark they had die so early in the Arena.

Gray stepped back and placed his knife on the ground, as a show of good faith. He looked at Albert and Jet, and finally to Sam. "I-I can keep watch, just focus on her and you guys." He knew when to be the night guard again.

[celebrityskinned]

"I'm fine," Venus protests, but quietly and noncommittally. "I've survived worse."

But she's also been in combat often enough to know that it's not always the worst injury that kills someone. Sometimes it's the lucky shot that doesn't get treated in time, or the infection, or the withering afterwards. The last time she was this badly injured in an Arena she didn't have to handle exposure to the cold on top of things.

She pats Sam's chest. "You can put me down if you want."

[silberfuchs]

"How exactly do you expect us to manage transfusions here?" He looks at Phillip with a deadpan expression - after all, if the man has an idea on how to do that safely, he agrees Venus needs some blood - but if wishes were horses and all that. Still, there's no overt show of mistrust to the newcomer from Albert. If Sam trusts him enough to be the one with hands free while carrying their patient, then that's enough for Albert.

"She's right, though." Albert puts a cool and gentle hand on Venus' forehead. She doesn't seem feverish, but with wounds like that he knows the odd sensation of burning up while the rest of you feels cool as the blood leaves your body. "She's strong and she'll come through. Besides, the cold's probably helped slow her circulation and she's lost less than we think. Don't put her down just yet though, Sam, we need to get her up in the tree if we can."

He looks up in the tall pine, then at Jet. "Ideas?"

[metalicarus]

"Without some kind of elevation system? Really, only one." If he could fly, that'd be easiest, but that wasn't an option.

He turned his attention to Venus. "Think you could hold on tight if you were on my back? That or we could find a way to secure you, if you think there's a chance you're too weak to hold on yourself." Which, considering, might be a real possibility. He threw a glance over at Albert to judge if he was going to deem it a bad idea or not. "And it ought to be me and her cause you're lucky to get yourself up there most of the time."

He turned to the stranger, finally really acknowledging his existence, although not overly kindly. "Hey, you, you got rope or something? All of ours is being used right now."

[voiceinthephone]

Phillip was pretty sure he was the oddball out of a group of professional Tributes at this point, so Jet's lack of hospitality suited the man just fine. He shook his head but he knew where to look: the parachute for the Sponsor package.

"P-parachute, will it work?"

Without Venus on his back and watching out for incoming enemies, Phil made for a good sprinter to go back and forth the Arena for supplies. And even if it didn't, nylon wasn't a bad resource to have in survival. By coming back to the site, and following the trail left by Sam and Venus, Gray offered that much.

"Anything you need, I'll find it."

[let me know if you want me to change anything!]