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

"Mmm, I'm pretty sure she was right on that one. I haven't seen any evidence against it yet." Clementine smiles more softly, remembering what she can of her parents for a moment (and Lee, always) but nods, "So, hey, is his name really Bro?" because who actually gets named 'Bro'? This is an important question.

Clementine is used to only interacting with adults as well. Since Duck died she hadn't seen another kid for two years and that girl, Sarah? she thinks her name was, she'd been kind of odd. Dave was fun, Dave didn't expect a lot of her and she had fun with him, she got to be a kid around him more than she had since she was eight years old.

She laughs and focuses on unwrapping a slice of cheese with a plan to do something weird as soon as she can get to the pickles when he asks her that. For a moment Clem freezes in place, teeth gently set to her lip.

God, she's given that more thought than she wanted to, turns out the more you try to avoid thinking about something the more your brain is determined to throw it up there for you to focus on. So really she hadn't stopped thinking about it since she woke up. "I never expected her to do that." Clementine answers, snagging a pickle and wrapping it determinedly in the slice of cheese. "Not that I know her well but that..." she sighs, shoulders slumping. "I'd never do that to anybody."

"I think you're just not looking for it." He says in an accusatory tone, raising an eyebrow at her for the question. More people should probably ask it, but surprisingly she might be the first. "Something like that, yeah. Why's it matter?" He shrugs. Recently he had come into possession of Bro's Real Name, but he knows better than to share those deets around.

Dave puts the end of the pickle in his mouth and, true to word, tops the length of it with whipped cream before he starts to eat it just like that. It tastes weird, but anything to confuse people is worth the effort. He wonders if he probably would have done better to avoid bringing up the topic, but he wanted to give her the option to vent.

"Mindy said she was kind of nuts. But then. Mindy is kind of nuts." He says that ever so nonchalantly. "Of course you wouldn't, you aren't crazy." He gives her a long look. "Well I mean, mostly. Anyway."

"It seems a weird kind of name. Uh, well not a name I ever heard someone called before. Like a real name." Stop digging yourself deeper, Clem. No insult meant against Bro's name, it was just odd. "I mean, is it short for something? I'm just curious, really."

Clementine watches him eat pickle with whipped cream and feels outdone on her pickle with cheese, however she's not about to try that particular combination without him daring her to do it. A bite of pickle with cheese does her just fine in the meantime, it actually tastes good (to her anyway).

"I'm not mostly crazy as far as you know." she jokes weakly, taking another bites and chewing determinedly, thinking over what she was going to say next. "It's... strange. I keep thinking I shouldn't be surprised, it was survival and she obviously cares about Sandy more than me, which is okay, but I still am. Surprised and... angry, I guess. Back home... that sort of thing happens all the time, you can't save everybody, you have to make choices, bad ones sometimes. Seems like understanding something doesn't help make it better though."

"It's a weird name for a weird guy. I dunno. Guess it's like if your Dad was actually named Dad, isn't it? It ain't like I ever asked, though." He can't help letting out a faint laugh at the way she keeps pressing at it, the big man should be listening in. "I dunno- brother? Broderick? Ask him." Not that he expects she'll get a less vague answer from him of all people.

"True, you're completely crazy." He nods along in response to her joking, deciding that pickles and cream isn't exactly a match made in heaven but he's too far in to stop eating it now. "I was surprised." He points out blandly as he can. "I knew she was a little shit, but I figured she looked out for her own. I dunno. I thought you were a clique." He rambles a little, trying not to make it too awkward. "Whatever, she doesn't exactly exist on moral high ground. I threw a bin at her, by the way." He's not sure if he should be proud, but he is.

"Back when I was really little I did think that actually was his name." she confesses, grinning at the memory. It's probably not uncommon so she's not really embarrassed over it. "Okay then, I will".

Clementine will follow through on that, don't you worry.

"I didn't, I guess. I like Sandy, she's nice so I figured anyone she's friends with would be okay." Wrong though, it seemed. "We only met a couple times before." in the arena so Clementine couldn't really call her and Pruna friends, she guessed. Certainly not enough to avoid herself being cut loose for the survival of others.

A surprised snort of laughter escapes her and damn it, Clem smiles. That shouldn't please her as much as it did. "It hit, right?"

"Maybe it was. I had a friend whose Dad was named Dad. It's not as unlikely as you might think." He pushes the rest of the pickle into his mouth so he can crunch it down and swallow, reaching for the canned cream and a candy bar so he can work on combining them as one.

"I thought Sandy was alright too, but then she elbowed me in the gut for the bin business. Should've fucking donked their dumb heads together instead of playing the damn mercy card." Clearly she isn't the only one bitter about this.

"Sometimes a good person having a shit friend doesn't make the shit friend good, they just show the good person how to be a jackass. Like what you did to me." He gives her a nudge with his foot. "Of course it hit, I'm a goddamn marksman."

"Urgh..." Whether that's at Sandy's actions or the way Dave just shoved that pickle into his mouth is up for debate. It's mostly the former though and a little the latter. Clementine gets it but at the same time she's still annoyed to hear it.

She shakes her head, "I guess. I wonder why someone would be friends with someone like that though." but Sandy and Pruna had been here way longer than she had so there must be a reason, a good reason somewhere for it. Pruna had protected Sandy and -- "You're right though." she nudges Dave's foot back in return, "And I'm glad you hit her with a bin."

Children are resilient [closed]

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