Venus Dee Milo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
celebrityskinned) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thecapitol2014-10-07 06:18 pm
celebrityskinned) wrote in thecapitol2014-10-07 06:18 pm
In Every Atom, Broken, Is a Name [OPEN]
WHO| Venus Dee Milo and open
WHAT| Venus shows people where the blind spots are.
WHERE| The corner of Castor and Juvenal.
WHEN| After Lonestar's post.
WARNINGS| Likely some mentions of torture and suicide.
Venus does the perfect approximation of just lounging at a bus stop, playing on her network device and checking her receipt for all the things she bought at the jewelry store. Capitol citizens passing by pay her no mind, except to sneer at the brand across her cheek. She knows she should be wearing it like a badge, but no amount of conviction seems able to stop her wincing every time that look of disgust crosses someone's face.
She feels strangely detached, as if she's spent all of her energy either in berating herself for her laundry list of recent mistakes or in acting like they haven't brought her down. She knows that there's chaos around her, and yet she feels like the shrapnel and debris in the air misses her, that the wind doesn't touch her. She knows that she should feel the hum in the earth as the water behind the dam reaches a breaking point, and yet there's nothing. Nothing but the sun beating on her face, her scarred, ugly face.
She's accomplished nothing here. Even Wyatt and Maximus' safety was incidental to anything she did. She has a fistful of locations where someone, anyone might go forth and make fire with a spark that she's to dim to light.
She sits there, browsing some tabloid on her device, and she waits.
WHAT| Venus shows people where the blind spots are.
WHERE| The corner of Castor and Juvenal.
WHEN| After Lonestar's post.
WARNINGS| Likely some mentions of torture and suicide.
Venus does the perfect approximation of just lounging at a bus stop, playing on her network device and checking her receipt for all the things she bought at the jewelry store. Capitol citizens passing by pay her no mind, except to sneer at the brand across her cheek. She knows she should be wearing it like a badge, but no amount of conviction seems able to stop her wincing every time that look of disgust crosses someone's face.
She feels strangely detached, as if she's spent all of her energy either in berating herself for her laundry list of recent mistakes or in acting like they haven't brought her down. She knows that there's chaos around her, and yet she feels like the shrapnel and debris in the air misses her, that the wind doesn't touch her. She knows that she should feel the hum in the earth as the water behind the dam reaches a breaking point, and yet there's nothing. Nothing but the sun beating on her face, her scarred, ugly face.
She's accomplished nothing here. Even Wyatt and Maximus' safety was incidental to anything she did. She has a fistful of locations where someone, anyone might go forth and make fire with a spark that she's to dim to light.
She sits there, browsing some tabloid on her device, and she waits.
no subject
A man with gray beginning to dust his hair sits down next to her, but he keeps a respectful distance, folding his hands in his lap. He's not going to give her the code immediately, just in case the Capitol is watching. Better to make it seem at least somewhat natural, or having a code word doesn't matter. They'd pick up pretty quickly on random strangers approaching a girl for smoothies before disappearing into a blind spot.
"I think I've seen you around. You're from District 5, right?"
no subject
She leans back on the bench, grateful for the bit of space even if there's no reason for her to say it out loud. She's been jumpy, lately, ever since the torture. Her ankles feel week sometimes and shadows cast around her peripheral vision, demanding her immediate attention and revealing nothing.
"Yeah, Venus Dee Milo. And you're Bruce, I mean, Dr. Bruce Banner, right?"
no subject
They are, after all, all in the exact same boat regardless of what degrees they have.
"Do you mind if I call you Venus, or would you like something else?"
no subject
She pulls some lipstick out of her bag and applies it; cherry red, spreading over her mouth like candy, making her teeth stand out white in comparison. The remnants of a "remember to floss" smile.
"Venus works. My agent named me back in like, 2005, but it's what it says on all my paperwork. You just coming out here to enjoy the sun?"
She has suspicions.
no subject
"Why don't you join me? I hope you like raspberries."
no subject
She jerks her thumb to her left.
no subject
Bruce is not good at acting happy, but maybe that just makes the act more realistic. He never looks particularly happy, even when he really is.
no subject
When they pass under a bridge, she quickly shifts conversation to something else, and she ducks her face a bit so her mouth's obscured by her scarf. "I find blind spots by analyzing camera and audio footage from the news and reality shows here. I used to do reality TV, right? I know what to look for but shoring this has taken me a year. Laugh like I said something funny, there's still visual here."
no subject
"You're going off the grid too often. They're going to notice."
Because he has noticed.
no subject
She recalls the note that she found in one of her places. Under her coat her muscles tense.
"Have you been following me or something? Is this a setup for blackmail?"
no subject
Bruce's face hasn't changed. He still looks like he's having a good time, even if his eyes have sharpened somewhat and he adjusts his collar so that it obscures his mouth.
"I'm not blackmailing you. I'm warning you. You've been branded as a traitor, so they're going to be paying extra attention. If they realize you know where the blind spots are, they'll take you in and invest in some more surveillance equipment."
No, he didn't say how he knows that she's been sneaking off a lot. He's just explaining that it's best for everyone if she lays off for a little bit.
no subject
She swallows and nods with a smile that hides how gutted she feels. She doesn't ask how he knows. He's just marked her as more of a liability than she already imagined herself.
"I break under torture. I can only give information, I shouldn't be in on anything important." She says that because she deeply, honestly believes it to be a personal failing, a regret she can't take back. I break under torture, in the same league as I fuck up all my relationships because I'm selfish and I didn't tell my parents I loved them before they died.
no subject
It's easier on Bruce because there is very little that can be done to him that will match the agony of his body ripping itself apart and building itself back up again to create a huge bulging monster, but before the gamma radiation and all the stuff it did to him, he has no doubt he would have folded under torture easily.
"The trick is to not give them a reason to do that to you in the first place."
no subject
She doesn't believe Bruce about military men. She believes the facts, she just doesn't feel it makes a difference, not in her heart. She remembers words being pulled from her like splinters out of skin. It wasn't pain that did her in - she knows pain. It was fear, it was the moment before the bag went back over her head or the instant she smelled the hot brand again.
"I have a list of about thirty places. How's your memory?"
no subject
He knows exactly where all the blind spots are, but he doesn't want her to know that. That's information he'll keep to himself.
no subject
"You can probably put them to better use than I can. I have- I have so much less than I used to. So many fewer resources."
no subject
"I'll do what I can. In the meantime, take care of yourself."
/wrap
And she can fill him in on his role in her world then.