A Pie in the Face is Worth Two in the Sky

[acro_bat_ic]

Who: Barbara and You? 
When: Early week Six.
Where: Toon town
Warnings: None, yet. 

Barbara sat in a cavern made of fallen rubble, staring at the flat rock with her desert on it.

Barbara has a pie... It came from the sky. It floated down so sly. You'd think that it could fly.

...it was little rhymes like that which told Barbara she was dangerously close to hysteria. But seriously. It was a banana cream pie, with a cherry on top. No note, but it pretty much screamed Harley. Harley. The insane clown girl who had died in front of her. Saving her, actually, as if she wasn't a deranged criminal...

It sort of lent credulity to the whole "death is temporary here" concept. ...Unless it was a trap. Exploding pie? Poison pie? What exactly where they going to do to her that this arena wasn't anyway? It wasn't like she was going to survive here. It wasn't like Bruce had survived there. Or Blaine. If the delicious pie didn't get her, what exactly would? 

Maybe she could poke it with a stick. Or a finger. she was going to poke it with a finger and decide whether Harley was still alive. if if it blew up in her face, for example, then it was probably a trick from the capitol. Or Harley wanting company, in which case she could ask for herself.

if it tasted delicious, on the other hand, then Harley was just alive, right? Or the capitol was trying to trick her. Or it was from someone else ,and she was totally over thinking everything while hoping for her dead friend to be alive. And when did Harley start to be a friend, anyway? 

...Barbara stuck her finger in the pie. It was delicious. 

Comments

[splendid_roman]

Ian had seen something floating down and went to investigate. Just because he had a weapon didn't mean that he wanted other people to get any.

However, once he got there he found it was a cream pie. He forgot that he was being quiet and sneaky and asked out loud, "What is that for?" without stopping to consider how silly the question was.

[acro_bat_ic]

She paused, finger in her mouth, pie still sitting on the rock before her. It's not the best position to be surprised in, jumping when a finger's in your mouth, and accidentally smearing it on what's left of your dress when she tries to shift into combat position.

"...I think it's for eating."

[splendid_roman]

Ian hesitated for a moment, thinking about the absurdity of the answer when the absurdity of the question struck him and he laughed. It was good to laugh for a change and so he didn't stop straight away.

[acro_bat_ic]

She watched him for a moment, wondering if he was heading into hysteria. Not that she had any room for judgement.

"...Did you want some?" she asked.

[splendid_roman]

Maybe he was a bit hysterical, it wouldn't be a surprise in this place. But he managed to stop laughing at her question.

He was tempted to say yes - it looked tasty and he was tired of eating the same old things around here. Not to mention that there was never enough of it. But he was suspicious and worried about what was in it. "No, thank you," he said. "I don't know what else might be in it."

[acro_bat_ic]

"Does it matter anymore?" she meant it to sound amused, but it came out more tired than anything. Miserable, even.

"I think it's from a friend."

[splendid_roman]

"Perhaps not." He was tired too, but he wasn't giving up yet. And he didn't know what sort of friends she had. "If it's from a friend you should eat it all yourself."

[acro_bat_ic]

"She's dead..." And alive again? ...She didn't exactly have a fork, so she just stuck her hand into the pie and pulled out a decent-sized glob. And stared at it.

It's not that Barbara was ready to give up, either... She didn't want to die. But neither did she actually want to win. She felt ashamed of having survived that long, letting others die in her place...

She and Batman - they were supposed to be super heroes, right? They were supposed to take things like this down.

She didn't understand why she was still alive, when all her friends kept dying.

[splendid_roman]

"I'm sorry." He wondered how a dead person could send food, but perhaps she'd left a note or something.

Deciding that a little bit of it couldn't hurt and perhaps it would cheer them both up, he stuck a finger in it himself, then licked it off. "It tastes good," he concluded.

[acro_bat_ic]

She shrugged, then blinked in surprise when he stuck a finger into it. It got another laugh at least, before she took a bit of the pie in her other hand and started licking it up.

"It's her flavor," she admitted, a little smile on her lips. She needs to shank the funk and she knows it. It's just a little hard.

[splendid_roman]

He smiled at her laugh. "This was her favourite flavour?" Maybe getting her to talk about her friend would help. Or not, he couldn't tell.

[acro_bat_ic]

"Something like that..." Explaining Harley would take... several psychologists several books. It wasn't the time, and she wasn't in the mood.

"She has a thing for cream."

[splendid_roman]

"Doesn't everyone?" he joked. "It's good stuff." He stuck his finger in the cream just to make the point.

[teethofneedles]

Karis had spent the last few weeks trying to kill people and devour them. Not always in that order. She still was, really. She wanted to win. The fact that that killing people made her smile was a bonus. Of course, even complete sociopaths tended to get bored eventually. She'd noticed a parachute and she'd tried to track it down - it had taken her a little while, but she thought she'd found the general area.

Finding a teenager wasn't exactly a surprise, but most of the people she'd killed had been older. Karis herself is quite a sight - there's dried blood smeared over what was left of the outfit she was shoved in at the beginning of the arena and her fingers (claws, really) look like they're stained with it as well.

Perks of being a zombie, apparently : you don't care about getting messy. She eyed Barbara in silence for a long moment - she could kill her, sure. Well, try, but she looked pretty harmless and she could always get to it later.

"What flavor is it?" Karis rasped.

Not that it really mattered. Karis hadn't been able to really taste pie in a long time.

[acro_bat_ic]

"Banana cream..." She'd finished half of it, when the other woman showed up. She was as smeared in cream as the other woman was with blood, what with the lack of utensils to deal with.

She was getting a little tired of jumping up every time a new person showed up, even if this one deserved it. So she didn't jump. Just sort of stiffened in case she needed to jump up after all.

Karis definitely didn't look like good company.

[teethofneedles]

Karis usually wasn't good company, so Barbara had good instincts. She settled down against a piece of rubble, acid-yellow eyes glowing faintly as she watched the other girl stiffen. She chuckled, mouth splitting open in a nasty-looking grin, full of pointy teeth.

"Relax, kid. I'm not gonna kill you."

The "yet" was left unspoken.

"Never tried banana-cream," she continued and she almost sounded wistful for a moment, "Then again, I'm not sure pie's really in my tastes anymore."

So far, the conversation was eerily casual.

[acro_bat_ic]

"Did you want some?" she asked, still stiff. Harley would probably find it pretty funny if she threw what was left of her pie into someone's face. Whatever was needed to survive, right?

Not that she wanted to win. She just didn't want to lose. She really didn't want to lose to this person.

[teethofneedles]

"Me? Oh, no. Wouldn't do me any good, anyway," Karis chuckled darkly, "Doesn't work that way, y'see?"

She trailed off, claws rattling against a piece of debris as she contemplated girl across from her. It was strange how this all worked. She cocked her head to one side, regarding Barbara without blinking.

"...why do you think they put people like you in here with people like me?"

She sounded genuinely curious.

[acro_bat_ic]

"I guess they think it would be fun to watch me kick your butt." Humor - the ultimate defense mechanism... short of actually having a defense, anyway.

She tightened her grip on the pie, ready to throw it into the woman's face if that was what she had to do. It would be a waste of pie, but she'd come too far to be taken down by someone like this. Harley would never forgive her.

"Big strong thing like you being taken down by someone like me?"

[teethofneedles]

Karis snickered. A moment later it turned into a full blown belly (well, as much of a belly laugh as Karis could actually give). It was a gravelly, harsh sound and Karis almost bent herself double with it. Recovering took her a minute and when she finally did, she gave Barbara a grin, head cocked to one side.

"Don't think that'd happen if it came down to it, girly. Think you'd be willing to actually kill?"

Karis tended to judge based on appearances.

[acro_bat_ic]

"I think I wouldn't need to," she promised, pretending to relax at the laughter. She was wishing she had more room to move, since her defensible cover had at some point begun to feel like a trap. She was maybe edging a little to more open ground.

She hopes she's really good enough to take Karis down. She knows she lacks upper body strength, but she is pretty good at dodging blows.

[teethofneedles]

"Why's that?" Karis snorts and reaches up to pick at her teeth with a claw, "This is last man standing. You don't kill the other guy, he'll probably kill you without blinking."

She pauses and then shrugs, "...that's why I think I'm gonna win this one, in the end."

[acro_bat_ic]

"Good thing I don't care about winning, huh?" Those teeth were seriously starting to creep her out. She wasn't used to her villains being do fold about it. "I'm thinking more along the lines of not dying yet."

Just a little bit further, and she can...what? Run from this fight like a coward? When did she strop wanting to at least die the bad guys up?