thecapitol | 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

"He looks as smart as the Duck I knew was." Clementine smiles, complying with Duck's demand for attention with gentle strokes down his head and back. She means it as a compliment, even though those who knew her Duck might have said he wasn't the brightest kid around. "I think that'd get me in the bath too."

"I think I might have been afraid of getting bitten if it was a normal duck." Sandy joked kneeling down to watch as Clementine pet Duck. "But he's so mellow I don't think I've ever seen him attack anything. Pruna tried to teach him you know." Ah that name again. Every time she said it her heart hurt.

But it was hurting a little less each time as well.

"I don't think ducks are mean, they're also friendly when you feed them bread." though she didn't think the ducks at the ponds when she was younger would have taken to being petted like this one does. "Like you'd teach a dog?"

"You should have seen the one in my second arena." Sandy smirked ruefully.

"It was as tall as a grown man, and it had teeth like a shark." She brought her hands up to her face to mime a mouth full of teeth.

"Yeah I guess like a dog. Except she wanted an attack dog...or duck I guess."

Duck was looking more like a dog now though as it rolled onto it's back and displayed it's downy white belly.

"... there was a killer duck? Who came up with that idea?" she stared a little, fingers idly tickling at the soft downy feathers on Duck's tummy (and being completely charmed by his behaviour).

Really, what went through these Capitol people's minds? All the technology and power they had and then they used it for stuff like that.

"I dunno." Sandy shrugged and smiled to see how well Clem was getting along with Duck who let out a happy quack.

"If we ever actually got to meet the people who come up with the ideas for the arena I imagine they'd get punched in the face."

The only one she'd ever met was one of the game masters and she hadn't been terribly focused at the time since it was one of her first arenas and she was still scared of everyone and everything.

"I'd definitely punch them. Like a lot." Clementine says and if they're listening in, well, she doesn't care. She's an upset kid, kids say all kinds of dumb stuff don't they, they're allowed to say it where adults can't.

That was enough to turn her smile into a grin.

"Where'd you learn how to punch stuff?" Sandy asked in a slightly more conversational tone. "Shepard taught me. Said I'd break my fingers if I hit anyone the way I was punching."

"I'm not sure. I think I taught myself, out of necessity." Clementine looks up at Sandy, interested. "Who's Shepard? How did they teach you to do it?"

Sandy held up her fist in response showing the way she held her thumb on the outside of the curled fingers.

"Shepard is this really strong, really tough woman with red hair and scars." She explained as she drew back her fist and in slow motion mimed throwing a punch.

"She acts scary and tough, but she takes care of her people. And I guess she takes care of kids too because she just decided to start training me ya know? She's not even a mentor."

"Yeah, that's right." Clementine nods in approval to the way Sandy does it. It's the same way she punches after all.

"She sounds like a good person to know."

Sandy put her hand down and folded her arms thoughtfully.

"See that's the thing...the Capitol wanted fighters. Monsters I guess...but they can make monsters if they want. So I can't figure out why they bring in people like us. At first I thought they wanted helpless victims...but then they bring in people like Shepard or Mindy or Max. They're all perfectly capable of fighting and they have good hearts. They defend people weaker then them and they hate being told what to do." She explained.

"So wouldn't they know that having people like that around would be trouble? Why not bring in more people who enjoy causing pain?"

Clementine blinks and listens, her fingers gently running over Duck's feathers as she thinks about it.

"I think... maybe they like to see people broken down. Maybe they like to see good people forced to do bad things more than already bad people. It's a better show for them to see good people suffer."

Something about that line of reasoning upsets Sandy. It makes her angry in a way that she hasn't felt before. It all makes sense of course but she's never really ruminated on how sick it is that they would be doing it on purpose.

Because of course they were.

"Well I guess that's one more reason not to give them what they want."

"Yeah." Clementine takes no pleasure in exposing that particular truth, it's too much like them not to be true. They built this thing up as a show, as entertainment. It's about whatever will make the best story for them.

She gives Duck a final pat and stands up, she likes Sandy she finds, in a way it makes it worse what happened but at least it seems she may have made a friend. "We won't let them break us down."

As she says it she feels a sense of determination set in against the despair that she'd woken up with.

Sandy considers her for a moment and nods sticking out her hand.

"We may be small, but we're survivors. And we've got each other."

She wasn't Pruna but she was a good person. And sometimes that had to be enough.

"You're right. As friends and allies." Clementine is able to give Sandy a smile as she takes her hand, shaking it firmly. Next time in the arena she decides she will do her best to help Sandy out if they comes across each other.

Sandy took her hand back after the shake and looked like she was chewing over something she wasn't sure if she wanted to say. Finally it blurted out.

"Do you maybe wanna go get some ice cream?"

It was a tradition for her and Pruna after each arena, and maybe the tradition shouldn't die.

"That sounds nice. Yeah, I'd like to." Clementine nods, surprised by how much she'd like to.

Seems she's not too old yet that she can't be comforted by the idea of a familiar treat and especially with the company of her new friend. Or friends, she thinks, glancing at Duck with a smile smile.

Little girl, little girl [open]

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