thecapitol | Children are resilient [closed]

Who| Clementine and Bruce Banner, Clementine and Jet, Clementine and Dave
What| Clem spends time with her friends after they get out of the arena
Where| Numerous locations
When| Through week 3/4
Warnings/Notes| Possible depressing conversations but also cute stuff!

Waking up like this again... at least it had been quicker, at least this time she had a previous experience to go on.

Clementine doesn't cry now, though she feels queasy as she sits up from the bed and resists the urge to retch -- not that it would do any good, her stomach is completely empty of anything to throw up. After a few minutes of sitting and letting herself settle though she feels marginally better, enough to get up, change her clothes (of course putting her hat back where it belongs on her head) and contemplate going out to face the Capitol.

She's trying very hard not to think about the minutes leading up to her 'death', not even to consider it now. It feels like she's fighting a losing battle though, trying so hard not to be resentful or angry and failing.

Clementine knows that if she stays inside it'll be worse, the tribute centre and the Capitol will be a better distraction than sitting and brooding in her room.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's no words to make better what happened to him, Clementine learned that after her first arena. It takes moving on, living, keeping going... a lot like getting by at home, to be honest, maybe that's why she's doing so okay. She's too used to how bad the world can be to let it break her.

"Yeah, actually, that's what I was thinking about coming down here." she tries a smile and finds it sits alright on her lips, "I think I could eat a whole chicken by myself."

That's what happens when you get set back to how you initially arrived in this world, at least in Clem's case thanks to a lack of steady meals before coming here.

"Then let's get something to eat."

He marks his page in the book before shutting it. He stands up, his joints cracking softly with the movement, and glances around the floor, eyeing the people milling around warily. He's not sure if she needs to be around people or if she would rather just be alone. He's not sure if he trusts this place enough to eat in an area just anyone could access, especially when they both have cuffs around their wrists. Call him paranoid, but his paranoia has kept him alive thus far.

"Do you want to eat upstairs? I'll make you something in District 3. I can show you how they cook in the countries I've visited, if you like."

"You can cook?"

There's definite interest there. Clementine herself can't cook at all, never much opportunity to learn and most of what they ate back in her world just needed to be heated through (she thinks she's eaten just about canned everything by now) if you could find the means to heat it at all. After a while you stopped really tasting anything and it just became the means of keeping going a little bit longer.

"That sounds better than the restaurant."

"Yeah. I've been cooking myself since I moved out of my parents' house." He gestures for her to follow him to the elevator, tucking his book under his arm. "And when I left the United States, a lot of people took me in and taught me what they knew about it, or they'd give me family recipes in exchange for medical help."

He presses the button for the elevator. "You'd be surprised what people are ready to barter for medicine. Have you ever had Bolivian food?"

"You travelled a lot? What countries have you been too?" Clementine walked at his side, face lifted to look at him as they headed into the elevator. "I never got to go to another country." she remembered vacations in other states but never actually going out of the country, much to her disappointment.

She smiles, "I never heard of anyone trading recipes for it before." Medicine was a whole lot more valuable than that she thought. "No, never have."

"I've traveled mostly on foot, so down through Central America and most of South America. Then I went back to the US briefly before going to Northern Africa."

The elevator opens up and he guides her in before pressing the button for District 3.

"Then I walked through the Middle East to South Asia, and I got all the way to West Bengal. So if you want food from any of those countries, I could probably make it." He gives her a little wink. "Bolivian is pretty good, though."

The elevator slides open again and he walks out slowly. "People will trade all kinds of things for medical help. Possessions, services, information... anything they can offer." He once had one guy offer to let him marry his daughter, but he had respectfully declined and he doesn't think that's a very appropriate story to tell to a little girl.

"That's a lot of places." Clementine responds, clearly impressed. "Asia's the other side of the world, isn't it? When it's night in America it's day there." she remembers some things from beginners geography clearly.

She grins up at him, "Bolivian sounds good to me." she has no idea what Bolivian food is like but again she trusts Bruce to know what he's doing and come up with something tasty for the two of them.

"It's usually food, or bullets back home." Ammunition was becoming an increasingly rare commodity, just as valuable as medicine. Of course that's when people didn't just try to take it without trading.

"Yes, it is. All the way on the other side of the world. West Bengal is part of India, where cows will wander around on the streets and no one bothers them because they're holy to Hindus."

There's a lot more to India than just the cows, but it's one of the many things that stick out to him, and probably one of the more distinctive features. One doesn't see cows walking on the road in Brazil, for example.

"I'm guessing paper money doesn't really cut it anymore where you come from."

As they get to the kitchen, he pulls up a chair for her to sit in if she wants to while he starts rummaging through the pantry. "Bullets don't last forever, especially if there's no one around manufacturing them. Has anyone considered trying to make a more sustainable weapon? There's a reason why things like bows and arrows stayed in use for so long."

"What's holy about cows?" she questions, biting back the I saw a cow once she wanted to say afterwards. Clementine definitely doesn't want to tell him about licking the cows salt lick.

She shakes her head. "No. Medicine, food and bullets are the most valuable stuff you can have. Everybody wants them, they don't always ask nice." especially as those things got rarer and rarer.

It seemed so strange to be running out of something that had always been so plentiful before.

Clementine obligingly hops up onto the chair to watch Bruce cook. "Some people have crossbows and things. My old group got attacked by bandits who used them."

"What isn't holy about them? They give us food, milk, and fertilizer, and they have gentle tempers. They're a symbol of life. Or at least, that's the logic behind it. The point is that they give a lot, and in comparison, they don't seem to take much, and that's considered admirable."

He rinses off the vegetables and fruits he takes out before putting on a pot of water to boil. "Bullets aren't a renewable resource. They're going to figure that out. The people who learn how to use sustainable weapons now will have an advantage later." He starts chopping, and his hands are quick with the knife. "But I doubt you want to hear about what I think about survival. I can't imagine it's a lot of fun to think about."

"Huh, I never thought about it like that." she says thoughtfully, "I though holy stuff was like God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost." she remembers that trinity from Sunday school. "I think cows are happy so long as they have grass."

Clementine leans slightly forward in her seat to watch what he's doing. "Yeah. I think that's starting to happen." she shrugs a little, "Not really fun, useful though."

"For Christians, that's how it works. Different religions and philosophies hold different things to be sacred."

He doesn't move his eyes from the knife, but he does arch an eyebrow. "If we find a way out of here, you don't have to go back to your own world. There are a lot of people here who can take you to a world that isn't so... unsafe." He pauses, then puts his knife aside long enough to pull another smaller one out. "Have you ever helped your parents cook before?"

"And Hindu is the religion in India?" she asked to be certain. "Did you like it there?"

Clementine shifts a little in her seat when he mentions leaving for another world. "Yeah. I mean, I hope so. There's nothing really to go back to in my own world." she says it quietly but matter-of-fact, everyone she'd ever known was gone. "I'd like to..."

She perks a little, smiling at memories. "We bakes sometimes, cookies and cakes and things."

Children are resilient [closed]

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