thecapitol | Come away little loss, come away to the water [open]

Who| Clementine and OTA
What| Catch-all for Clementine things since the end of the arena, Clementine dealing with her canon-updated memories
Where| The Tribute Center and out in the Capitol, choose from the prompts or make your own
When| Anytime between the end of Arena 12 and now
Warnings/Notes| Talk of violence and children in harmful situations probably.

It's been a strange few weeks for Clementine, how do you describe the sensation of waking up with a whole new bunch of memories in your head? It made the usual disorientation in coming back from the arena pale in comparison.

The memories were... good, bad. A lot of bad. The good was Kenny, alive, really alive. The bad was everything that had happened after that discovery, Carver and his camp, the things Clementine had done and witnessed in the span of just a couple of days. Things she now had to reconcile and fit in with her memories of Panem, ending with everyone surrounded by Walkers and Sarita...

So it's not all surprising that Clementine has been a little reclusive since coming back. She hasn't actively avoided people, far from it, but she has taken a little more time to herself and her thoughts.

Prompt A: District 6

There's nine people living in the District 6 suite (not counting their support staff) and only one big television to share between them in the big lounge area. That can lead to some squabbles over what to watch and a general first-come, first-serve attitude to grabbing the remote whenever it was spied outside of someone's hand.

Clementine takes advantage to temporarily being on her own to set up the gaming system she'd asked for after spending hours at the arcade downtown, putting in a rather bright and colourful racing game which has nothing to with violence or horror. She'll settle for racing against the computer controlled characters for now but if anyone else wants to join in she probably won't say no.

Prompt b: The park

It's extra cold out in the Capitol today and despite that Clementine still ventures outside of the Tribute Center.

She's wrapped herself up in a thick coat and scarf, got a cup of hot chocolate from one of the many, many coffee shops dotted around the Capitol and come to the park with a bag of bread in hand. The ducks here are probably pretty spoiled already by visitors, looking well-fed despite the season, but they still come swimming over the moment Clementine crouches by the bank and sets down her drink on the frozen ground.

"Alright, hang on." she mutters at their insistent quacking, opening up the bag of bread to start tearing off small pieces and throwing them into the water where the ducks immediately set in on squabbling for the food.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clementine had once heard it said that children were better at adapting to things than adults were, something she's not sure is entirely true. She wouldn't say she dealt with this well, ever, but it wasn't like she had a choice not to.

This time with all the extra memories that had been swirling around her head it had been even harder.

"Hi Nick." she says reflexively, looking up at him when he speaks to her. Her teeth nibble at her lip before she steps forwards to him, thinking of the lodge, of Walter and Matthew, of-- "I... are you okay?"

That question is never going to stop sounding helplessly dumb in this situation.

Nick makes a note of her reaction, wondering what's going on in the mind of someone who has lived through this so many times.

"I'm all right, I guess." As time goes by, he's come to appreciate that question that he realizes he's been taking it for granted for so long. Whether he answers it one way or another, the truth comes out either way. And the truth is that he's not fine and hasn't been for a while. He's been broken, but the pieces are still there and he's hanging on.

"Listen, I - " He fidgets, looking away for a bit to put the words together in his head before looking back at her, hanging his head low. He's never been good at that on the spot. "I'm sorry. For what happened in the arena." He swallows, fisting his hands in his pockets. "We should've been there for you."

Clementine should have known something like that was coming and from the moment Nick says that he's sorry she's shaking her head. "Nick, no..."

She ventures closer, peering up at him when he's hanging his head. Clementine wishes she could do anything to stop people feeling this way over her when they did what they could against an overwhelming force that was looking to kill her. To kill all of them. "You guys did your best, I know you did.

"I tried to get to the meeting spot but something... it's not your fault." she wasn't sure what killed her exactly and she wasn't about to go looking at the tape. Clementine has the horrible feeling that whatever it was didn't get her in the head... "That's what the arena does."

He lets out a sigh. He can't find the words to respond, but the guilty twist in his gut when she said they did their best is too much for him to think of anything to say at all. It eats at him knowing that Clementine's right about nothing could be done. But it's still wrong to him that she died after how many times he dodged death in the arena. He knows that it won't be the first either. And with there being only one winner for each, the future being bleak has never been more apparent now.

God, as if their lives aren't shitty enough.

He opens his mouth to say something, but that's when the ducks decide to remind Clementine just what she was doing before Nick came along by crowding around them both.

His foot switches when one of them pecks at his boot. It's a welcome distraction, actually. "Uh, you got any bread left in there, Clem? A pissed off army of ducks isn't somethin' we'd want."

Clementine's eyes are stuck on Nick's face, she's no mind reader but she knows her words of assurance are probably not good enough. She knows this because when the situation has been reversed she's felt the same way. Guilt doesn't just stop, it takes time and that's only if you're lucky.

The guilt that Clem carries has been with her for years.

"Yeah, I've got more." she holds up the bag to Nick with a small quirk of her lips, "Do you want to feed them?" It might be a good distraction for what he's feeling.

Clementine doesn't think you can ever be too old to feed ducks.

Neither of them are at fault for feeling the way they feel and he knows at. Moving on has been hard enough for him as it is to the point where he doesn't even know if it's possible anymore, because moving on isn't the same as brushing things aside to focus on something else. They've been doing that a lot lately and this time isn't any different.

Oh well.

"Sure," he says as he takes the bag. The ducks are eager for more and don't care who's handing out the food. He spreads the pieces of bread around, just a little further away from them just to keep them at bay.

"Hey, it's been a while but have you picked up on the guitar since last time?"

"Not yet." she perks up a little when Nick mentions the guitar. To be honest after waking up and dealing with what she remembered playing the guitar had completely flown her mind, which was bad after she'd been so determined to keep practicing at it. "I forgot." she admits with a tinge of guilt.

Taking a sip of her drink Clementine continued, "There's been a lot to think about but I want to keep learning, I really do."

"Don't worry about it," he says with a wave of his hand. "Just figure I'd ask." It's usually him that's one to feel guilty in conversations so hearing it from Clem is strange enough. It's not like she owes him anything, especially after what they went through.

He shifts his foot when one of the ducks start pecking at it. "What do you say we go find you a guitar?" He gives her a smirk, a weak one, but he's trying. "One that you can actually carry."

They both could use the distraction. And Nick'll take the sound of guitar strings over ducks quacking any day.

"Can we?" she perks up, then it occurs to her they actually can. Especially now that in the wake of this last arena the Capitol has finally unlocked the restrictions on Clementine's credit card so that she can buy things for herself.

Her very own guitar is a way cooler purchase than a cup of hot chocolate.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go!" Clem smiles at Nick, the beginnings of childish excitement showing in her face.

Nick never really pegged himself as great with children. It's not that he hates them. It's just he has learned that for all the times he has rolled his eyes at rude comments made by them, he realizes that it's those comments that end up staying with him. Other adults got too much baggage in their heads to make judgement calls sometimes and Nick's no exception. Kids on the other hand, seem to see things as they are.

The fact that she still smiles and even cares...he'll keep it in mind for the rest of his time here. He dumps the rest of the bread for the ducks to have at it before gesturing to Clem to follow while they have the chance. He doesn't dare to say it out loud, but the smirk turns into a smile as if to say that maybe there's still hope too.

Come away little loss, come away to the water [open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject