thecapitol | Little girl, little girl [open]

Entry tags:

Little girl, little girl [open]

Who| Clementine and OTA
What| Clem wakes up from her first ever death in the arena, then goes up to the roof with her thoughts
Where| District 6, then the roof
When| End of week 5 of the arena
Warnings/Notes| Inevitable angst

Prompt A: District 6 Suite

Clementine wakes up, that's the nightmare. Not the six weeks proceeding it.

She never thought she'd be so unhappy to discover herself alive. It's not just the shock of it or the horrible memory of dying, it's the fear of what she did in the space between dying and waking up. Clementine remembers a girl who tried to save her and then she remembers trying to warn her but she's can't recall clearly if she actually got the words out before she died.

The fear of it overtakes her as she sits up on the bed, pulling up her knees to bury her face in them, arms wrapped tight around her legs to muffle the sound of the first sob. She should be stronger than this, better than this. Instead she'd been stupid and possibly gotten other people killed. Nevermind what the Capitol did to the food, she's still going to blame herself now for her actions.

Prompt B: The rooftop garden

Hours after waking up Clementine has calmed down but in desperate need of fresh air, a space to clear her head away from the view of any screens. She's started to get a picture of what's happened since she died; what happened after, who else she knows who's died and who is still left alive in the arena.

Joel, Sabriel... they took care of what she'd become. She'll have to thank and apologise to them when they come out but all of that seems very far away as she looks out at the gleaming city from the balcony, her chin pillowed on folded arms over the railing.

It's so wrong, those people out there enjoying the spectacle of the games, not understanding the real horror of what the tributes go through. Clementine doesn't understand how they can be so removed from the suffering happening under their very noses.

[[ooc: Prompts are in prose but reply in any format you wish!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She'll admit it: she was invested in Clementine. She had no reason other than age to be, really, but she' liked the girl and wanted her to do well. So the stunt the Capitol had pulled, making her a zombie an having her essentially kill Sandy, had good and pissed Mindy off most of the week. Se'd checked the games to see how shit turned out and, sure enough, Joel and the new girl took her out, as needed. It sucked, but she doubted Clem would hold a grudge.

Mindy had been asked to be informed once she was brought back, and when that happened, she took a walk over to District 6's suite, noting the difference between her own and this one, before knocking lightly on her door.

"Clem? It's Mindy. Can I come in?"

The knock startles the occupant. Clementine's realises after a moment there's probably a normal time limit to how long it takes someone to come back to the Capitol and a veteran like Mindy is probably familiar with that.

She rubs her eyes hard, not wanting to be caught crying and swings her feet off the edge of the bed, ready to get up and go answer. Then she pauses, see's her hat on the bedside table and picks it up, fingers rubbing over worn and familiar fabric.

Putting it on first makes her feel better. Clementine crosses to the door, taking a deep breath before slowly opening it. "Hi." and winces at how quiet her voice is.

This was true, but of course it helped to keep tabs on everyone too, and Clementine was someone she'd definitely been watching for.

When she sees the girl, she makes n apology. "Your eyes are red," she said, making sure that the girl understood what she'd been doing. "Don't be ashamed. That was fucked up, having that happen to you. No one would survive out of that ok."

And, in a move sure to stun even her own dad, Mindy reached over and gave the girl a hug. Hell. She needed it. She new even SHE would have.

"I--" Clementine sighs and gives up before she even starts, she hasn't looked in a mirror since she woke up but she can imagine she probably looks a sight. Mindy's right and she knew on the opposite side of this she'd likely tell someone the same thing but herself, well, it's always harder to acknowledge that she's as human as everyone else. "Mindy..."

Her voices cracks at the hug and despite herself she just gives in, pride be damned. Mindy's a friend and Clem really does need this because as many people as she's lost and seen die nothing prepared her for what just happened to her. Her face buries in the older girls shoulder, arms wrapped tight around her back.

Mindy was notorious for being a hard ass. Hell, if anyone had ever told her she'd be hugging someone because they lost, she'd have laughed in their faces. But Mindy saw nothing short of terror for what happened in there. Clementine had died in agony, and then turned into a zombie and killed a friend before getting killed herself. All she could hope for was that the Capitol didn't make her remember what happened after her death.

Not that she could stop them from broadcasting it. Fuckers.

The hug lasted awhile. This was a time where words couldn't do a hell of a lot. Sometimes actions needed to get the job done.

If there's more tears that slip free and soak into Mindy's shirt it's done in silence and eventually it's Clem who acknowledges that she's okay to pull back. She'll be forever grateful to Mindy for her patience with that, she didn't seem like the type to hand out hugs very often.

"I'm okay now." and there's a thank you in those words. They probably both know she's not even remotely okay still but the hug has put a temporary bandage on a raw wound.

It's not over though, Clementine looks up at Mindy. She doesn't want to know but she has to know. "Mindy, when I died did I... did I come back there?"

Oh, she was probably still shit, but that was OK. It was a lot healthier than HER, because Mindy knew she would have just shouldered it and been annoyed with anyone trying to perk her up about it later.

"Well," Mindy said, sighing. "Yeah. Someone's gonna tell you. You tried to warn Sandy and she didn't get it in time, so...you were a zombie. You kinda took her out, and then got killed again later. Sandy tried to cut off the arm, but it wasn't enough to stop the death. Believe me, it was no fun fucking watching it."

"You have to do it quick." Clementine says after a long moment of silence. " Darn, I -- I should have said something to everyone, I should have put it up on the network so everyone would have known!"

It's too late, far too late. Now she got another person killed because of her. "She tried to help me."

"I think Sandy wasn't expecting it. It wasn't your fault, anyway you look at it. Sandy is a strong girl, but this was something that caught her off guard. Unfortunately, its not the only thing."

No, Sandy had more than that to think about right now. "You did well though. Lasted longer than me in my first Arena, that's for sure."

"She couldn't have known." Clementine folds her arms around her chest. Her fault, she's resolved now that she'll make that request on the network, she won't let another person die because they didn't know the truth that Clementine is infected and dangerous.

If they know to destroy her brain then she won't be coming back. God, there's footage out there of her as a Walker, it makes her feel sick. "I don't feel like I did well. I was stupid at the end."

"Doesn't matter: biggest mistake she made was letting you go as a zombie. That way you'll have other people on your conscience. Granted, she was probably too injured to do anything, but that place...everything was out to kill you, its better to be paranoid."

She raised her eyebrow. "Well yeah, climbing up the tree without help was pretty stupid."

"Did... did I kill anyone else?" she asked, alarmed at the idea. "Wait... how long has it been?"

Clementine snorts a little, "Thanks." she says, deadpan but not with any real aggression. Really that's what she likes about Mindy, she doesn't sugarcoat things. If you make a mistake and it really is your fault she'll tell you. "I think they did something to the fruit. It was like I couldn't think straight suddenly, I had to have some right then."

Mindy shook her head. "No, they took you out before you could do any real damage. It was just...pretty bad, probably for both of them."

She shrugged. "Hey, I call them like I see them. You're better off rationing your food, and if you're going to go and do something like climbing a tree. Once you're there as late as you are. things start to get pretty fucking vicious."

"Thank God." Clementine says, relieved to hear that. The last thing those who were left in the arena would need is a steadily growing population of Walkers.

She smiled without humour, "Yeah, guess that's a lesson learned for next time, right?"

"Some people actually know how the fuck to deal with zombies," Mindy said, shaking her head. "But I bet Joel was happy he didn't have to do it himself."

And so was she when it came down to it. She'd been watching Joel, and really, he'd been through enough.

"You better believe it. Next time, make sure the food I send ya lasts along with the items."

"Wait, who did?" Mindy's going to have to clearly explain it to her because as she's proving she doesn't remember a thing about her time as a Walker and that's a mercy.

Joel saw... Joel was there. She'd never have wanted for him -- or anyone -- to see her like that.

"I will." however good she'd thought she'd been at making the food last she'd have to do better. "... thank you, for sending it."

"The new girl, Sabriel. She was able to call you to stop, and, well, she had a crowbar. That was the end of that. I saw you were traveling with Joel, might want to check in on him when he comes back."

He had a way of irritating her, but he hadn't deserved the recent turn of events.

"Good. I don't want you dying so easily the next time, even if you did last longer than I did. I mean, if you go down in a blaze that's one thing, but to get infected, that's just not cool."

Some people deserved better.

"So. No point in staying here being fucking depressed. Want to go do something within reason of being secluded?"

Sabriel. Sabriel was used to dealing with the dead. That was okay.

"Well I was already infected, Mindy." she points out, rubbing the back of her neck.

Clementine looks at her, pondering her options. Stay in here and mope or do something to avoid, as Mindy put it, being depressing; both have their appeal. Ultimately she tentatively agrees to the latter, or at least she will depending on what Mindy says. "Like what?"

"I know that, I was making a point," she said, scoffing. "It was rough, is what I was trying to say. It's a pretty bad way to die. Though seriously, I'm starting to think Sandy can't catch a break in these things."

Good question. "Oh, I don't know, what the hell do kids like us do when we're all mopey and shit? Build fires, sacrifice people to the elder gods, some shit like that."

"Easy would just be killing ourselves at the start." Clementine snorts softly, she doesn't get a lot of what Mindy says sometimes, the older girl has an odd way of speaking. "I'm as clueless as you."

But she thinks about it for a moment, "... well I'm hungry. We could start with that." Dying apparently works up an appetite.

"It wouldn't be easy for me," Mindy said. "That's one thing I'd never do, no matter how fucked up things got. I never give in without fighting, even when I'm dying."

Which Guy had witnessed first hand.

"Man, we suck at this. Ok, food it is. What's your favorite?"

"I've seen people choose it before. I wouldn't either though, no matter how bad things get." It was one thing she'd never been able to understand, just giving up like that. You found them occasionally, the remains of suicides in houses or other places. Once they'd passed a man who'd tried to hang himself, clearly in the early days before the news that you came back no matter how you died got around.

It'd been bizarre watching a Walking swinging around like that.

"Pizza." Clementine decides quickly enough. "With everything."

"I knew someone who would. The Capitol decided to put a stop to it by torturing someone unrelated as punishment. You can imagine that he decided not to do that anymore. It's what people forget in the Arena or outside of it: they own you. You can't pretend its not the case no matter what you do: eventually, the shit they do will leak down on you. It always does."

She laughed. "Everything? That's a lot of shit, Clem. You sure about that?"

"Figures." Even the 'easy' way out really wasn't here.

Clementine allows a half-smile to show on her face, shrugging a skinny shoulder. "I went three years without pizza and a lot more stuff before coming here. Trust me, I can eat anything now."

"Try going to break the kid out and getting a scalding for your trouble," Mindy said, groaning. "Not fun."

Good point. "True. So we can go and get it somewhere downstairs, or I could try my hand at making it. Don't know if we have anchovies though."

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