thecapitol | Let's go to the zoo

Entry tags:

Let's go to the zoo

Who: Pruna, Duck and Sandy
What: Pruna takes Sandy to the zoo. Cute happens
Where: Starting in the tribute tower, moving to the zoo
When: After Sandy's death
Warnings: Probably mentions of arena stuff

Pruna had watched Sandy and Mindy's battle at the edge of her seat, worried for Sandy because she knew there was no way Sandy was strong enough to beat Mindy but she was proud of her girlfriend. Because instead of being all leaky eyed and hiding she had went to get revenge and she had been really brave.

She kept an eye out on her room, waiting for her to be brought back. They better bring her back, she had done the best she had ever done Pruna thought, so people better have liked her. Once she realised she was back Pruna went to find the present she had bought her because heroes deserved presents. At least, doing something good deserved treats, Pruna had always got honey cakes after succeeding on missions.

"Be coming on Duck, you will be liking Sandy."

So Sandy probably wouldn't even have time to wake up before Pruna bursts through her door, Duck in one arm, her other hand behind her back.

"Be waking up sleepy head."

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"Gah!?"

She sat up gasping, the world was all color and noise and it was so oppressively bright. As her eyes adjusted squinting the face of Pruna appeared and her mind began to piece together reality again.

She'd died...again.

And she was alive again...and was that a duck?

"Ashley?" She asked dumbly, her hair sticking up in every which way.

Edited 2014-03-05 21:08 (UTC)

"It do be being me." Pruna clambered up onto the bed next to Sandy, putting the duck down between them.

She saw the bag next to Sandy's bed, a goody bag just like the one she had gotten when she woke up and she grinned pulling that up onto the bed as well.

"You do be having cool stuff."

Sandy's head started to clear from sleep and she rubbed the grit from her eyes.

"I...what? Wait why is there a duck in my bed?" Of all the most ridiculous questions she'd ever asked...

The bed was squishy and warm just the way Sandy liked it and to be honest she didn't feel like crawling out of it for a week but with Pruna here it was likely she'd be out and about soon. Best to savor the moment.

"Oh." Of course, she had forgotten to introduce them. Introductions were another manners thing that she wasn't very good at. "This do be being Duck, Effie did be giving him to me. Duck this do be being Sandy." She poked the duck, it was still the only way she knew to make it make any noise. It quaked.

Sandy offered a confused but amused smile "Effie gave you a duck...of course she gave you a duck. Because why not?" and then she laughed. It startled her to hear the sound of her own laugh so soon after an arena.

"He's very cute." She extended a finger to the duck and gently stroked the top of it's head. "Is it a he?"

"Because she did be promising. And she do be keeping her promises." That was important, it meant Effie was a really good ally. Even if she never entered an arena.

"It do be being a he, Maximus said that when it do be earning my respect by doing something cool we should be naming it. But I do still be waiting."

"Yeah. She's good like that." Sandy's smile grew thinking of Effie and how good the woman had been to her since she arrived.

"Alright then, just don't like...try to throw it into combat. He's still a baby." She gave it another pet before turning her attention to the bag and dumping it out onto the empty space of bed next to her.

A squishy toy crow bar made of some kind of foam rubber.

An action figure of herself in stone form, complete with attachable cape, crowbar and a button on the back that if pressed would cause her limbs to pop off.

A baggy of candy bombs. "An explosion of flavor" it read.

A T-shirt with "Sister of Sand" written on it. The troll's knickname for her.

A child's art set with Sandy's face on it...

"Paint by numbers? Really?" The entire goody bag was baffling to be sure. Especially a bottle labeled "Rain on stone." Which smelled pleasant enough.

"Here, smell this." She offered the bottle to Pruna.

Pruna reached out to look at the items, pressing the button of the doll and wrinkling her nose as the limbs came off. The stuff was weird, just like the things Pruna herself had been given.

She took the bottle and smelled it, "I think yours does be being cooler than mine." She said holding out her own wrist for Sandy to smell, one of the prep team had made sure she put some of her own on that morning.

"I did be getting you a present as well." She brought her other hand out from behind her back and handed Sandy a cloak. It was close to the one she had worn in the arena, but had an 'S' on the back.

Sandy took a sniff and found that she didn't mind the scent at all really. Must be a personal preference, or maybe her nose was broken.

The cape surprised her even more then the duck. Her eyes went wide and she accepted it running her fingers over the fabric. "I...really? But why?" Not that she wasn't happy to get a gift. She just felt so undeserving. "I didn't win."

"You did be being really brave though." Pruna grinned, "You did be being awesome, I did be watching you. I did be being scared you would be going all leaky eyed but you did be fighting."

And she had lost, but it was a start.

Her face seemed to bloom red as Pruna explained her logic and by the end she was gripping the cape tightly.

"I just...I felt so angry. I wasn't even feeling that brave I just wanted to hurt her so bad." Saying it now she was struck by how scary it sounded to be that angry.

"I wanted to kill her...I was actually going to beat her head in with a crowbar." Like even Sandy couldn't believe that she had been so angry and set on actually playing the game.

"Well that do be being good." Pruna grinned at her, "We can be training and then next time you do be feeling so angry you will be beating their head in with a crowbar."

She didn't have any qualms about teaching Sandy this, obviously. With training Sandy would be stronger and more in control. The anger would be focused.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." She drew the cape around her shoulders and clipped it on. Having deep emotional discussions about fear and morality was not the sort of thing you did with Pruna. Maybe in a few years but for now she'd have to try and bury her concerns.

"Is Mindy back yet?" She asked next as she took up the action figure and began reconnecting the pieces before presenting it to Duck to see how he would react.

Pruna grinned, "You do be looking cool." She crossed her legs and watched as Duck nudged the toy with his beak.

"She do still be being in there." Pruna wrinkled her nose, she was still angry that she had lost the fight with Mindy. It had been a good fight, but she had made a critical mistake. She wasn't supposed to make mistakes she was supposed to win and if she had won then her and Sandy would have still been in the arena.

Sandy groaned and fell back into her pillow with a muffled thunk.

"All those bombs and she still didn't die. What the hell?" She wondered out loud. A part of her was glad though, at least she hadn't let Mindy make a murderer out of her.

Yet.

"She did be flying, like I did be being when I did be shooting X5-452." Pruna wrinkled her nose and crawled up the bed to be next to Sandy.

"Come on, we do be going out." Because she was not going to let Sandy sulk and become sad and leaky eyed over anything. Sandy was going to keep on being strong and Pruna was going to help her.

"Be getting dressed."

"We're going out?" Sandy questions and sat up again though under a groan of protest. She shifted the toys to the other side of her bed along with duck.

"Where are we going? Ice cream?" That was their tradition after all. She swung her bare feet off the bed to the carpet and sat there still unwilling to take the next step.

"Yes." Pruna grabbed Duck, moving him to her lap as Sandy got out of bed.

"We can be getting ice cream on the way, but we do be going to the zoo."

Surprises weren't really a concept Pruna got, at least ones kept longer than hiding a present behind your back.

"The Zoo..."

Sandy felt like she'd been punched in the gut as the memories of her last few moments continued to spin along the surface of her mind. She forced air into her lungs and tried to visualize the emotion clenching up her insides. It wasn't that different from embracing the emptiness really even if Sandy hadn't yet really managed that. Repression was alot easier.

When she blew out her breath, she tried to force the unpleasant feelings out with it.

"Yeah, let's go to the Zoo." It's not like they had to wait for anyone else to take them. And they'd had plenty of fun just the two of them in the past. There was no need to change that either.

She rose to her feet and stiffly moved to her closet to pull on some more appropriate clothes. Peering out the window she determined long pants were the best choice and held her hand out so Pruna could throw her the shirt from her gift bag. Sure it was a gift half mocking her, but it was still a cool nickname.

Finally she pulled a long brown jacket on over it before returning to the bed to pull on her socks.

"We're not gonna let duck get too close to anything that might eat him right?" She had a momentary flash of Pruna putting Duck in a shark tank to see if Duck could fend for itself.

Pruna grinned, glad that Sandy liked the idea. She watched as Sandy began to get dressed, and threw her the T Shirt when she asked for it. She unzipped her jacket to show Sandy her own T Shirt. I will be taking your motherf***ing eyes.

The prep team didn't like it much but she had wore it as much as she could manage.

"I do no be knowing, he do still need to be proving his worth." She poked the duck again, it squawked.

Sandy grinned and laughed when she saw the shirt. "Oh that is awesome."

Once she was dressed she went back to the bed and laced up her shoes. "Usually pets are supposed to make you happy and keep you company. That's how they prove their worth."

She didn't know much about animals but she knew that ducks weren't fighters. Then again she had almost been eaten by an evil duck in the theme park.

"Well..." Pruna wrinkled her nose, "He do be keeping me company I do be guessing." She poked him as well. "But that do no be meaning he can no be doing cool stuff as well. He do be being a good swimmer."

Pruna jumped up, slipping on her own shoes. They were soft, more like slippers except for the sole. Another promise Effie had kept.

"Do you be being ready?"

"Yeah, lemme just get these."

She leaned over the bed to gather up her gifts from the arena and take them over to a shelf where she had placed a few other keepsakes. Her Christmas gifts, a picture of her and Pruna at the Ice cream parlor. When she returned for the gift bag she found something stuck in the bottom she hadn't noticed before.

It was a replica of the mask she'd worn in her final battle with Mindy. A hideous and scary thing. That lump in her stomach seemed to throb at the sight of it.

With a look of resignation to her fate she took it to the wall and hung it on a coat hook.

"Let's go."

Pruna's eyes widened at the mask and she watched Sandy carefully, wondering if her friend was about to stop working and go all leaky eyed.

But she didn't and Pruna was proud, she zipped her jacket back up and grabbed duck, they stopped at her own room for her to grab a heavier coat and two hats; it was still quite cold outside.

She led Sandy out of the tribute tower until she found a transport thing that could take them to the zoo.

The zoo was...like everything in the Capitol, flashy and over the top.

Each habitat was designed in such a way that you felt like you were walking along side the creatures, when in reality you were protected by a force shield, much like the kind they used to keep people from jumping off the Training center roof.

The first creatures were more tame things, Lamas, sheep, deer, but not too far away they entered a forested setting where wolves were on the prowl.

Sandy's eyes were wide with delight as she felt the grass and pine needles under her shoes. She kept shooting glances back to Pruna to see how she was enjoying it.

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