On Any Other Day

[earthborn]

Who| Shepard And Her Adoring Fans
What| The Customer Complaints Desk Is [OPEN]
Where| A lovely little park outside a lovely little café on a quiet day when the sun is shining, just after a certain network post
When| The morning after Shepard's Exposé goes live.
Warnings/Notes| Talk of murder, genocide, cussing, and political discourse. God help us all.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, she's got a rail-thin barrista with a shock of violet-pink hair, and he keeps bringing her coffee from all the way across the street. On any other day, she'd call it perfect— he keeps sarcastically saluting her and she keeps sarcastically thanking him as 'private', and the coffee is damn good in addition to cheap and hand-delivered. On any other day.

But despite the shining weather and the convenient caffeine-drip, she's not set up here with the empty chair beside her own for the sake of simple joys.

Come at me, bro.

Comments

[earthborn]

"Ellie's tough and smart," that was the worst of it, the kids who always needed to be stronger than they should have had to be. Mindy included, though Shepard was a pragmatist.

After all, the younger self she could easily imagine in Mindy's place would have accepted nothing less than to be treated like an equal, "She'll either figure out what's the truth, or she'll get over it. Right now, we all just need to keep our heads, and not do anything we haven't thought all the way through."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I know," Mindy said, even though she wished that Ellie didn't necessarily have to keep dying in the games. She knew damn well that she could show people what she was made of, but after the Aunamee thing, a part of her hoped she wouldn't have to deal with another awful death again.

"Knowing her, she might not care. She kinda worships the woman, so she might just start cursing out the Capitol for doing their shit in the firs place. Glad I didn't jump to conclusions though."

[earthborn]

"Which is fine until it goes too far, and then it's a good way to get yourself lynched," Shepard replied, Mindy's scenario was an easy lead, "I don't know her too well, but even I can see that restraint isn't Ellie's best skill."

That would...have to be an understatement. Ellie had a mouth on her like ten truckers combined.

"You say anything to her?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Lynched? Nah. They don't do something that stupid unless they have no choice, from all the stories I heard. If you run your mouth like Ellie can, they do something better, in their case anyway: they make an example of you. Don't believe me, just ask Ian. Either one."

She shook her head. "I'm not gonna bother her. She has enough shit to think about."