In Every Atom, Broken, Is a Name [OPEN]

[celebrityskinned]

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.

Comments

[silberfuchs]

A shadow overtakes Venus' seated form from behind, blocking the sun from glinting off the screen of her phone and letting its owner view the receipt caught in her other hand. Albert manages to glance it over and give a low whistle before Venus looks up to catch him leaning over the bench. "That's quite the shopping trip. I hadn't figured you for a magpie."

Y'know, because shiny things? Don't mind him, he's lame.

Also in a good mood, which is a general state for him lately as the wedding starts to approach. He's just so damned excited. Plus being vetted for rebellion work also has his spirits raised and hopeful, which his wedding excitement can be used as an excuse for his good mood over that.

All in all, he's happy and he hopes it will rub off on Venus, to whom shopping apparently is a form of therapy.

[gunshiptotheface]

The Capitol had never been friendly, but it was decidedly less than welcoming since the past Arena. He hasn't talked very often with Venus, only knowing her really in passing from Shepard. Seeing her at the bus stop as he's out on his usual walk of the city, the brand sticks out on her face almost like the missing plating on his arms stands out in deep scarring.

"Hope your jewelry is prettier than the bracelet the Capitol gave me, I'm thinking they took the cheap route in showing their affections." His dry tone is not directed at her, but he doesn't give her any looks other than a friendly one.

[a_minute_younger]

Gary has neither the patience to wait for a bus nor shame; the two balance each other out rather well in this situation, possibly for the worse. His brisk walk breaks to an abrupt halt as he glances at the bench in passing, curiosity overtaking any rush he might have felt to continue exploring.

"Where'd you get that?" The teen points to his own cheek to indicate the obvious. He assumes it's a tattoo. This is not going to be a fun conversation for him.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Sam doesn't think of himself as a superhero and he isn't an Avenger, but he has a pretty vested interest in someone who's both, so Venus's comment on that Lonestar post had caught his attention.

Well, that, and he is really interested in those blind spots.

So he heads out to where she said she'd be, looking around at all of the sights of the city to cover scanning for her. Honestly, it's not much of an act, considering he hasn't had a chance to be out in the city much.

When he spots her, he heads over and drops down next to her with a smile. "Finally, a familiar face. If I didn't have that map they gave me, I'd have been beyond lost by now."

[celebrityskinned]

She tenses a little as the shadow crosses hers, as Albert approaches as nothing but a fuzzy silhouette reflected on her screen, faceless, all shadow. She relaxes when he gets close enough for her to make out the grey hair, when she hears his voice.

"I totally got into Hollywood for the bling." With only minimal kill money from the last Arena, she's been racking up quite the credit card debt, but the Capitol hasn't seen fit to care enough to ask her to repay it yet. Maybe it's off earning interest somewhere. She isn't planning on staying alive long enough to find out, even if dying isn't her top priority either until Kankri and Ellie are safe.

She does her damnedest to match Albert's good mood. "Besides, these Capitol citizens giving me the stink-eye? A four-digit bill usually changes their tune."

[youbarium]

A figure in white sinks onto the bench next to her.

"So, I figured we could talk over a raspberry smoothie."

[celebrityskinned]

It's a little difficult to read the expression on Garrus' face, given his inhuman bone structure and musculature, but she understands from what little she does glean that he means her no harm. She looks up at him with narrowed eyes for a moment, considering how best to respond.

She hasn't forgiven him for killing Ellie when the girl was so close (so close) to escaping the Arenas, but just because the anger isn't dead doesn't mean it can't be put aside. She knows she has to remember who her real enemies are. They all have too many to be concocting more.

So she relaxes. "Well, I ran up a few thousand assi, so I should damn well hope this stuff's pretty. How're you doing, Vakarian?"

[celebrityskinned]

She smiles back as she shoves her device back into her clutch; thus far, she likes Sam. It's nice to have a roommate who isn't a grade-A nutjob, genocidal, a romantic misstep or any combination of the previously stated categories. "I swear they renovate the city every time we're in the Arena. I still get lost and I've been here ages."

Besides, he's here, presumably, because she mentioned one of his friends. That kind of loyalty is a good sign.

"How's this life treating you so far?"

[celebrityskinned]

She's reading her device, and so when he asks that she leans forward to open her bag, presuming he's asking about the jewelry she's just purchased - and then she raises her eyes to see he's gesturing at his face.

Something about the innocence with which he asks that makes her feel as if her heart and lungs are being crumpled up like a tin can. She takes a quick breath, blinking away the threat of tears before she pushes up her sunglasses, so he can see the damage for what it is: damage. A burn that tugs at her lower lid, spreads from cheek to her ear, warping and wrenching her skin.

"I got it from a hot iron." She very nearly spits the words.

[burnedbrighter]

"If I am ever sent home to district Five, I think I shall miss Capitol food most of all."

Azula appeared almost out of thin air with two cups of frozen yogurt. One had berries and little crackling candies in it while the other had an assortment of other chopped fruits.

"You looked lonely." She commented sitting down next to Venus without an invitation and offering her one of the cups.

[silberfuchs]

"I can imagine. Not to mention diamonds suit you." He walks around the bench and offers his arm for her to take.

He's dressed in his usual that being the simplest clothing he could find in his wardrobe. Today it's a blue button down and black leather jacket. Topped with his aviators, he has the look of some kind of upscale bad-boy, more like a weekender who will have to go back to investment banking or insurance sales during the week and is trying far too hard to forget that fact. He doesn't seem to mind, though. Anything that makes his stylist tear at her hair in frustration is a good fashion choice in his book.

"Care for that smoothie? Though I warn you, we'll probably get more looks. According to the tabloids, I'm having one last fling with you before marriage."

[pigspigspigs]

The Engineer calls him on the telephone.

I am but an infant, dear Mandus, he says in his usual rattling voice, and right now, the tit from which I suckle coughs only dust.

Work harder is what the voice meant. Oswald Mandus isn't an imbecile. Work harder, work longer, work until your fingers are raw and your vision doubles, work until you supply the veins and the muscles and the ducts that are necessary to provide milk for your youngest child. (For your only brother.) Work harder is what the voice meant, and Mandus will work harder, he will, but the telephone calls make his head feel wrong somehow. The ringing on the line is so close to the ringing in his ears. The voice on other end is so close to his own.

He goes outside for fresh air, his hands buried in his pockets to fight the oncoming autumn. He sees Venus and he knows who she is, he knows she is one of the sacrificial lambs (one of the pigs), and the pity in his heart turns so perfectly into disgust.

But he does not sneer.

"Good afternoon," he says, calm and measured. He glances at the brand on her face. Makes no effort to hide it. "I've seen you before, haven't I?"

[a_minute_younger]

Oh. Oh. That is either definitely not a tattoo or it is a really poorly done one. Gary's already biting his lip and thinking of ways to resolve his blunder even before Venus confirms that it is, in fact, the former. Or perhaps some combination of the two. Either way, it's not a fun situation to be in.

But nothing is too sacred for Gary's tastes. "I'm guessing you and the hot iron aren't on speaking terms anymore," he says, before he has time to consider how poorly this will go over.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

"Oh, good, and here I was worried things wouldn't be confusing enough." He shakes his head, giving her a little grin, and is suddenly more appreciative of the fact that he actually likes her. Sam's not the best, at this subterfuge stuff, he's not used to being anyone but himself.

"Now that I'm actually venturing out in the city? Not bad, the Capitol's an interesting place." It's not a lie, at least, even if he has a few choice other words he'd like to pair with that. "Worked up an appetite walking around it, though, what do you say you let me buy you a smoothie? I saw a place somewhere nearby, and you look like a raspberry kind of girl."

[reassures]

Since Nill can't say hello the same way most people do, when she stops by the bus stop she lifts a hand to knock on the side of it to announce herself, a small, friendly smile already on her face. This time around it seems she actually has a notepad, because she holds it up for Venus to see once she's taken notice of Nill, a message already written across the top of the page.

Can I get you a raspberry smoothie?

[celebrityskinned]

Venus leans forward to read it, then pushes her sunglasses back on her forehead to see it. She looks up at Nill and nods her head.

She doesn't know this girl with the wings at all, really, but more and more Venus is beginning to believe that everyone deserves a little privacy - and Nill came across as so frazzled and scared that she's more in need of a safe space than anyone.

"You can, if I can get you a mango one." She smiles and shoves her device into her shopping bag. "How've you been holding up?"

[celebrityskinned]

"Never a dull moment in the city of glitz and more glitz. If you need any tips on dodging the paparazzi, I'm your girl. Hollywood life." She makes a 'hardcore' gesture with her hand, throwing him a self-deprecating grin. Nothing like Panem to strip any of the moral comforts away from the celebrity lifestyle, to reveal how empty and self-serving it all is.

"Oh my God, it's like you know." She already has a place in mind she wants to show the Avengers and their friends. It's enough of a blind spot and in a convenient enough location that quite a few people could congregate there for a brief time and not raise too many alarms. "But I have a favorite place that I could lead you to."

[celebrityskinned]

"Ten points for observation, Azula." Still, she takes the cup of fruit with a genuine smile of gratitude. Throughout all of this, Azula has had her best interest in mind, smuggling in medicine to the Arena and letting Venus have her space in the District. She could have used her power to make Venus suffer more, and hasn't. She appreciates it.

"Thanks for the fro-yo." She takes the one with the sweets in it. "How are you?"

[celebrityskinned]

She shouldn't be surprised to see Carlos here. Surely he's lost more than most of the people here, what with everything that's happened to Cecil, what with the exposé that may or may not be accurate. She never bothered to ask. She never thought it was the right of a stranger.

She looks over at him and reaches over, touching the lapel of his labcoat and straightening it. "Sure. You can talk about science and my eyes can glaze over. What's to lose?"

[reassures]

Nill seems pretty pleased, and she smiles, nodding at the mango addition, even if she's sure it doesn't actually matter, is only for show. If it is she doesn't care.

She fiddles with her notepad for a moment, uncertain, before writing another message out slowly and holding it up for Venus to see.

a lot of bad things happened right before I came here. I'm ok now.

She hopes Venus will understand it as being okay to trust her. Even if she doesn't, it can't hurt her to try.

[celebrityskinned]

"Wow, and if you thought you were robbing the cradle before," she says with a whistle. "But yeah, I knew that rumor was going around. I'm basically the hub for gossip these days."

Always has been - knowing how to manipulate people's perceptions in her favor has always required knowing what they think to start with.

She knows which spot she wants to take Albert, and isn't even remotely surprised that he showed up to talk to her. She takes his arm. "Okay, let me show you the place that makes the best fruit stuff. I'm absolutely addicted."

[youbarium]

He gives her a smile: a weak one, but still a smile.

"Come on, it's not that bad. Science is a lot more interesting than most people think."

[celebrityskinned]

Venus actually laughs at that. It's so ridiculously insensitive that it crosses from being hurtful to just being humorous. She pushes her sunglasses back onto her nose and lets her giggle die into a sigh.

"I try not to blame inanimate objects for turning me into a human grilled cheese sandwich."

[celebrityskinned]

She doesn't look up until he's right there, but she knows his eyes are resting on her brand even before she sees his face. There's some second sense she has now, some knowing when disgust is aimed in her way. It's like a stench she can't close her nose to, and the whole Capitol reeks of it.

Still, she looks at him as if her afternoon is perfectly pleasant. She pulls her jewelry bag onto her lap and politely sets the phone aside. She knows better than to blow off a Citizen these days.

"I'm on TV a lot." Her voice, when talking to strangers, to Citizens who used to be fans, would have been a coo, but her attempts to play to a consumptive gaze have weakened with her self-esteem. She used to play the camera almost as a subconscious habit; her poise clung to her skin like perfume. That is no longer the case. "Unless you know me from somewhere else?"

[silberfuchs]

He groans theatrically but it's followed by a laugh.

"I think once you're both past eighteen it just falls under consenting adults, doesn't it?" Y'know, since Jet was eighteen when they met. Nevermind that they're almost fifteen years apart. "I did think you might have heard though, I know you read those things."

"Alright, lead on m'lady, and feel free to fill me in on whatever other gossip you like," the easiest small talk until they reach their destination and can actually speak freely.