You're Still No Hero Diving in the Blue [Closed]

[celebrityskinned]

WHO| Venus and Wyatt, Venus and Guy, Venus and Courfeyrac, Venus and Enjolras
WHAT| Catchall for Venus meeting with her fellas again after the mini-Arena
WHEN| Before the Thicker Than Blood plot
WHERE| Tribute Center
WARNINGS| Mentions of death.

She sits up and laughs when she wakes. Not a long laugh, not even an especially humor-filled one, but it's a surprised sound that comes right out of her, because she had been told that she wouldn't be coming back and yet here she is. The Capitol's lied many times to her before, and yet she can't recall it ever being so blatant. So rarely have the contradictions come so soon after the original statements.

She lets living again flow through her. She examines it, sitting on the bed, feeling her heart beating away in the body the Capitol gave her, twisting a tiny braid in her fingers, letting herself feel the disappointment and anger and grief she felt while in the Arena have a smidgen of time in her right now. She breathes deep, in her nose and out her mouth, and counts, over and over again, to thirty-five. After some time, she opens her eyes and feels, while not clearly, somewhat less overcast.

She puts on a dress and socks and makeup and listens through Enjolras' door for a moment in the hallway, not wanting to interrupt if he's getting some much-needed sleep. She doesn't hear the typical rustling of pages or scratching of a pen, so she leaves him be for now. She slips one of her hair ribbons under his door, so he knows she's back and well. And she asks an Avox if Guy and Courfeyrac made it back, and sits down on the suite couch with relief when she gets news that they did.

An Avox gets her a cookie-dough milkshake and she watches Wyatt win on a rerun, and Hans, and Harley and Eliot. She replays it to relish that one of her team made it out relatively safe and sound. Since she's only been back a few hours, she leaves watching all the deaths for later. No need to see what happened to little Pruna when the day is so fresh. And when that's done, she puts her feet up, flicks off the TV and starts her way into Sartre.

Over the next few days, she goes and finds the people she owes celebrations and the people she owes apologies to. Guy, Courfeyrac, Wyatt. She finds them in the Tribute Center lobby and greets each of them with a hug.

Comments

orz

[libertin]

The only injuries Courfeyrac is still nursing are the ones to his pride. One the plus side, death and resurrection have solved the problem of his crocked nose entirely. One the negative, he's come to honestly appreciate what Max has been harping on him for. He isn't prepared for another arena, physically or mentally. It's something he needs to work on. But that will have to wait until after all their reunions.

"Do not look so sullen, my dear. This is a happy occasion." He smiles when he sees her, determined to be his dazzling self.

Re: orz

[celebrityskinned]

"I don't look sullen," she says, a tease in her voice and on her lips. "That just makes me sound so dour."

She gives him a squeeze, affirming to herself that he is, indeed, alive still. She can't help but be elated that he doesn't stink of charred flesh, that he's warm and his body doesn't have that elastic bend of death. "I'm surprised your mini-me hasn't monopolized you yet."

[libertin]

"My what?" He is unfamiliar with that precise term, though he has indeed heard others refer to Max that way. He preferred to consider her his sister still. "Max is rather protective, this is true, but I have found a way to maintain some privacy. It is a girlish attachment, I am sure."

[celebrityskinned]

"How, do you tell her there are some explosives that need disarming? The kid seems like she might be a bit hard to shake." She stands back and the grin disappears for a moment, but she bites her tongue.

[libertin]

"How can you be sure she is not watching us now, eh?" He laughs, though there is a simple truth to Venus' words. "All I have to do is threaten to write her a sonnet. She generally scampers away quite quickly after that."

But enough about his woman troubles. He is here to socialize with Venus. "You are ravishing as ever, Mademoiselle. I am certainly glad to see this."

[celebrityskinned]

"You sneaky bastard. Threatening to subject a kid to your poetry, tsk tsk." Venus says, grinning wholeheartedly. To tell the truth, she has no idea if Courfeyrac's poetry is any good. She recognized maybe three words out of the entire thing and at least one of them was 'le'.

"And you're looking pretty swell yourself." Better than the corpse she saw last time. "Can I buy you a coffee?"

[libertin]

"I would be glad to join you for coffee," he answers smoothly, offering her his arm. "However I must insist that it be my treat. I cannot stand the thought of allowing you to pay for me."

[celebrityskinned]

"Such a gentleman." Sometimes, the fact that he and Enjolras are close friends absolutely baffles her. Courfeyrac seems to have an ease with socializing that's rare not only with the French collective, but with people in general. She takes his arm. "Have you been up to much since you got back?"

[libertin]

He shakes his head as he leads her along. It's nice to get to play up the chivalry. Of course, Cinderella appreciates his attempts, but it seems that many modern women do not. "I've not had much chance to get out. Max has been on my case to train more rigorously. Between her and Cindy, I have been quite occupied. And you, my dear?"

[celebrityskinned]

"I found some of your poetry when I went to visit your District Suite," she teases. "I've been put in charge of teaching combat skills to some of the kids here. And Enjolras, ever since he let himself get beat up by you and Marius."

[libertin]

"He isn't cross over that still, is he?" His expression betrays only a bit of amusement. His focus returns quickly to the other subject. "You are teaching children to fight? Ah, but that is so very tragic that they should need to be trained at all."

[celebrityskinned]

"He's not, but I am. I have to kiss that face, you know." She teases a bit before her expression gets nearly severe. It's not the way she usually looks outside the Arena. "Even if they get out of the Arenas, don't you agree we're in a war?"

[libertin]

"No one is forcing you to kiss him." He teases right back before adopting an equally somber expression. "I have said it is a war from the get, my dear. You will hear no claims to the contrary from me, only lamentations."

[celebrityskinned]

She snorts in that way people do when there's nothing actually funny.

"Lamentations. When did our lives get so sad?" She pauses. "Or is this just the state of humans?"

[libertin]

He shakes his head unhappily. "It is likely the latter. I've not known many people who would claim they have led happy lives. Life is miserable for most everyone, more often than not."

[celebrityskinned]

"What a happy thought." She exhales deep, letting the air whisk over her lower lip. "I wouldn't have thought that someone like you would be so pessimistic. I'm almost disappointed."

[libertin]

"I am hardly a pessimist, Venus." Courfeyrac pats her arm reassuringly. "Rather, I decline to be a fool. Understanding that life is a misery is the first step one must take toward altering that fact. If people are happy, they are reluctant to change, no?"

[celebrityskinned]

"You have more of a view of process than I do. I'm - it's hard for me to see the longer arc of things. I feel so trapped in the present." It's not a sad comment, just one to explain. She whisks them into the cafe and orders them both some coffee (by now, she's picked up what each of the Frenchmen like best, although it helps that their tastes are a thousand times simpler than her own). She receives a cup of actual coffee and of her caramel-covered whipped cream-topped caffeinated confection.

"And you have a pretty optimistic view of the concept of change."

[libertin]

He accepts the coffee gratefully, thanking her as he escorts her to a semi-private table. "It is easy to feel trapped. Most people I have encountered see the world for what it is and nothing more. It is not wrong to see the world in that way, but I suppose I do see it differently. I try not to dwell on today. I celebrate today. Today is beautiful. But do you know why I think that? I think that because I believe absolutely that tomorrow will be even more beautiful. And I cannot wait until tomorrow."

He takes a long sip of his coffee. It's good, not as good as they had back in Paris, but it is good enough. "Some of us live for the past and some for the now and some for the future. I say, remember the past, enjoy the now, but live for tomorrow. Your tomorrows are limited. Each day you lose another one."

[celebrityskinned]

She takes a seat across from him, stirring her sugary toppings into her hot beverage.

"That's straddling that thin line between morbid and inspiring." She folds one hand over the other and rests her chin on them. "Why aren't you the one who does all the speaking, anyway? You've got a downright silver tongue."

[libertin]

Courfeyrac laughs, shaking his head. "I have asked myself that many times. For the record, Enjolras has agreed that it would be best if he were to allow me to convey his messages going forward. He is an inspiring figure, yet he has no patience for those who cannot parse his message."

[celebrityskinned]

"I think people back in your days were a bit better equipped to do the parsing than people today, too." She can't help but smile at Enjolras' expense, even though nothing terribly clever has been said - only something true. "And they're even worse in this city than back home, for me."

[libertin]

"I must disagree, my dear. Many people in my time were uneducated. They could not even read, nor were they ever exposed to the lofty ideals my friends and I are so fond of." He shakes his head, a little dismayed. "The people of Paris could barely feed or clothe themselves, and we expected so much of them."

[celebrityskinned]

"Maybe they never had the opportunity to be educated, but they didn't seem quite as dumbed down as they were in my time. I-" She pauses, then presses her lips together. "You didn't meet me when I was first here. I was, I was an easy sell on the Games. I was almost eager to do them because they felt like home."

[libertin]

He isn't sure whether he is glad that she has changed or not. On one hand, she has blossomed and thrived in spite of the horrors all around her. On the other, perhaps she has lost something of her true self along the way. As for Courfeyrac, he does not know, cannot tell the answer. At least she is his friend now. That is all that he cares about, truly.

"We shall all have a better home than this, dear girl. Let us be optimistic for our futures. The past, we cannot change. But we can do something about tomorrow. And if no one else will stand, you can rest assured that I will at least."