Hell hath no fury like an 11 year old

[smarterthanthem]

Who| Clementine and Dave, Clementine and OTA
What| Clementine finds out she's not a victor
Where| the District 6 suite
When| A few days after the Ship mini-arena
Warnings/Notes|

[Open in D6]

[The anger is palpable in Clementine's small frame. All the relief of winning the mini-arena has turned to ashes in her mouth with the revelation that neither she nor any of the other winners are Victors. They won't get to be mentors, they won't get out of the next arena. They're going to have to do it all over again after all.

Sure, she's going to get some kind of special care package in the next arena, whatever that means (and she's curious, she is, just she's so furious right now) as well as immunity but...

They didn't warn them before, they let them all believe they were safe from having to die over and over again for days, they let them believe they had a chance of escape when they were fighting for survival on board that ship.

It's amazing the new depths the Capitol can sink to.

Clementine drops the gift basket on the coffee table in the middle of the District 6 suite. She barely wants any of what's inside, better to let her district mates enjoy what's in it if they can. Especially the champagne, because really? It just shows how little concern these people have for them that they put that in her basket.]

[Closed to Dave]

[It shouldn't have been so hard for the two of them to run into each other, they were to and fro in each others Districts often enough after all. But Clementine and Dave seemed to have managed to keep passing each other by like two ships in the night (and that analogy is not a fun one right now) so far.

The memory of what happened to him is probably the worst one she carries of that day. She can't help thinking that if only she'd been stronger, if only she could have pulled herself up, if she could've just...

There had been six winners, six, and as awful as it is she wishes more of them had been her friends. Even though they didn't get to be Victors this time round it would have at least spared them the horror of dying again.

So when she opens the door out of the suite and Dave's right there she's momentarily frozen in place.]

Comments

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy had seen Clementine's victory and cheered. It was one of the first actually good things that had happened to someone she liked in a long time.

Making her way to District Six she wondered if she should knock and then simply let herself in. She didn't usually slip into other districts living areas but it's not like it was against the rules.

Immediately upon spotting the girl she can tell something isn't right and it draws a look of concern on her features.

"Hey. Congratulations?"

[smarterthanthem]

Clementine tenses up and then realises it's Sandy and oh... oh. She realises the news hasn't spread yet.

She musters a weak smile for her friend, "Thanks." and then because she couldn't lie (and because it would be common knowledge soon enough) Clem wastes no time telling her the truth. "I'm not a victor though."

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy's eyes went wide and then her face fell.

"What!?" There was a cry of indignation and Sandy stormed over to support Clementine. "What do you mean? I saw you win!"

[smarterthanthem]

"I did."

Clementine looks no happier as after a moment she pulls the card explaining everything from her pocket to show to Sandy. She hadn't wanted to let just anyone see it as the mention of a special care package in the arena could draw her unwanted attention but she trusts Sandy to let her read it. "I just got this stupid basket and something in the next arena."

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy read the card once, then again as her face fell from shock into irritation.

Passing the card back her anger turned to sympathy. "That is complete and utter bullcrap! You went through all that and you're not even out? It's like they weren't expecting so many winners or something."

Still at least she'd have a leg up next round. That was better then nothing.

[smarterthanthem]

"Right!" she looks furious as she stuffs the card back into her pocket and creases it with extreme prejudice. "They must have though. I mean, they'd leave us until they got the amount they wanted, right? More of us could have frozen or drowned or been eaten by the sharks if they'd left us longer. They planned this all along but they let us believe we had a chance to get out."

"Creases with extreme prejudice" is my new favorite phrase ever.

[justoutrunyou]

"Yeah I guess." Sandy huffed clearly dissatisfied "Still a rip off. Those other four tributes got to be mentors when they won. And you'd be a much better mentor then any of them!" Not that Sandy actually knew any of them.

haha thanks, I'm proud of that one XD

[smarterthanthem]

Clementine is surprised at the strength of Sandy's conviction. Being a mentor? She's really not sure that she's got what it takes to teach someone else to survive, not that she wouldn't try if she did gain the position. "Sandy... thanks." she tries to look reassuring, "At least I might get something to give me a better chance in the next arena."

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy was cooling off now and couldn't help but speculate some "I wonder what it'll be. Something important, I'm gonna guess probably not a weapon. Probably something unique and tie to the arena. Like a jetpack if we're in a place with lots of tall up perches or a scuba tank in an arena that's mostly water."

[smarterthanthem]

"A jet pack would be pretty useful so long as I don't crash into anything." Clementine smiled at that. "Mostly I hope it's a gun, I heard that's happened before. Though... I hope it won't be another water arena. I've had enough of that for a long while."

[justoutrunyou]

A thought occurred to Sandy and it surprised her. So much so it was clear the way the expression popped onto her face.

"You know what? I've been here more then a year and I've only shot a gun once. And I missed." She shook her head smirking. "Have you shot alot of guns?"

[smarterthanthem]

"They can be hard to get the hang of, especially if you're not used to the noise. I've been shooting for a few years." Clementine confirms with a nod, "A hangun usually. My friend she... she has a rifle, it was too big for me though."

Has. She won't say 'had' about Christa yet, Clem still has hope she escaped alive too.

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy nodded and if she caught the subtle change in Clementine when she mentioned her friend, she didn't react to it.

"Don't they have a strong kickback? I heard if you hold a gun wrong you could hurt your wrist." And Sandy liked her wrists. She did alot of important things with her wrists.

[smarterthanthem]

"That's why I couldn't use the rifle." Clementine nods. "It's not too bad, especially if you hold it with both hands like I do. It takes practice but once you get the hang of it you won't forget."

[justoutrunyou]

"And I guess it'd be alot safer to have something you could use to defend yourself from far away." Sandy concluded. "Guns just seem...scary you know? That's alot of power for something people can put in their pockets."

Not to mention all the times people had shot at her and her hoodlum friends back home.

[smarterthanthem]

"It is but so long as you remember a gun's just a thing," it's only a thing Lee's voice echoes warm and assuring in her ear. "an object, it's not so scary. It's the person behind the trigger who's the scary one. How do you feel about a bow and arrow?"

[justoutrunyou]

There was something sort of wise in the way she said those words.

"I guess they're OK. I've gotten to be an OK shot with in training but I've never had to use one in the arena."

In truth she was a really good shot. Katniss herself had trained Sandy in the art of bow and arrow work and Katniss was widely acknowledged as one of the best.

[smarterthanthem]

"That's good. I started learning before the arena too, and Roland showed me how to make one. I'm okay at that." She'd succeeded too in the arena and used it to kill a spider with him. "They're much quieter than guns."

[justoutrunyou]

"And it's alot harder to make a gun." Sandy observed with a nod.

"The only things I've managed to kill..." Sandy took a moment to think. "I guess I killed a rat and a raptor, and that fake monster Pruna." And try as she might she couldn't think of anything else.

"Pruna did most of the killing. I'm better at finding things we can use I guess."

[smarterthanthem]

"I'll teach you, if you want."

Clementine listens, "A raptor? Like a bird?" she doesn't think less of Sandy for not having killed much. "That's a good skill though. You die just as quick without supplies."

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy grinned and nodded at the offer. Learning how to make a bow was exactly the sort of skill she could get behind.

At the request for clarification she looked surprisingly sheepish.

"A-actually um...I meant like...the Dinosaur."

She wasn't sure what brought on this sudden embarrassment at what even Pruna had been impressed by, but it might have had to do with the fact that Sandy had done something almost deliriously stupid to make the kill.

[smarterthanthem]

Clementine's surprise lasted for a moment before she remembered a conversation she'd had with Ellie, shortly after they'd met up in her first arena. "Ellie told me they had dinosaurs once." she looks a little awed. When Clem thinks of dinosaurs she thinks of giant monsters from books she read as a child. "Wow, you killed one? That's awesome."

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy grinned sheepishly suddenly overcome with pride.

"It chased us up a tree and I was afraid it wouldn't leave...so I think I kind of went crazy and dropped down on it from the tree and started stabbing at it's neck till it fell over." She shuddered at the memory.

"I don't know what came over me." she added. "Scared I guess."

[smarterthanthem]

"I would've been too." Clementine assures her. "I think fear can make you braver though. It's really impressive what you did, Sandy."

It's not often she's inspired to look back at previous arenas but seeing Sandy take down a dinosaur? Maybe that would be okay to see.

[justoutrunyou]

With a rare flood of pride making her feel heady and confident she offered her hand to Clementine.

"Come on, they may have screwed you out of your victory but you're still a winner. So let's go celebrate like winners. We'll eat junk food till we pop. Ice cream and cookies and whatever else you like."