Drinking cinnamon coffee, or decaffeinated tea.

[seestheman]

WHO | Clara and OPEN
WHAT | The first meeting of Clara's breakfast club.
WHEN | Present time.
WHERE | District 10's suite
WARNINGS/NOTES | None right now, will add any if they crop up!


Clara's been meaning to do this for a couple months now, round up her collective of friends/various adopted kids/Districtmates and have breakfast. After waking up far earlier than she has in weeks and shooing a couple Avoxes out of the kitchen, she sets to work, getting the prep stuff out of the way and organizing all the various ingredients on the counter so she can knock out each dish as she goes.

Depending on when they wake up, residents of 10 will most likely smell something cooking, whether it be hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, a variety of breakfast meats, or other breakfast staples. The sight that will meet anyone who comes into the kitchen is one of organized chaos (that will most likely devolve into something much more unorganized as more people join in the food-fray).

Comments

[seestheman]

It's been a long time since Clara last felt at ease. Sure, she doesn't feel as at ease as she would if she were having this breakfast at home in Detroit, but she also doesn't have this fear gnawing at her that a group of Peacekeepers will burst in at any minute to drag them away on trumped up charges (or at least not as sharply as she usually does). She isn't trying to assuage her nerves that the next person to walk past isn't going to put her in cuffs and drag her away (or tase her into submission and carry her out like Alex had on the night of the Cornucopia).

Instead she heaps food onto a plate, a little bit of everything, and passes it over to Albert.

"I've been well for the most part," she says, trying not to dwell on the fact that she didn't just have to go to watch parties and smile for the Capitol while watching her loved ones die. Or that she couldn't help but rage at the fact that she couldn't even get them sponsored and felt useless as both a friend and a Mentor. "I've been working a lot. I never expected victory to come with a job." She shrugs nonchalantly, as if trying to wave it off as no big deal. "And the Capitol decided to bestow a fabulous gift upon me," she says airily, trying to keep the bitterness out as she motions slightly to her bionic eye. "Alex agreed to it on my behalf, so I guess that makes us even now." Or something closer to even.

It suddenly hits her how much of a Debbie Downer she just pulled and tries to force a smile back on her face. "What about you? What've you been up to, other than the obvious?"

[silberfuchs]

He takes the plate graciously and sets it in front of himself, tucking in but still listening in that way he has of really listening, hearing all the things Clara says and all she doesn't say.

"They do like to give 'gifts', don't they?" He agrees with a conspiratorial smirk, bobbing his fork before he brings it to his mouth to indicate his metal hands. "But I'm sure Alex was just looking out for your well being, as he saw it."

Nevermind that Alex is so far gone that he shouldn't be looking out for anyone, let alone Clara. It only hurts her and the other cyborg can't even tell. Albert has to repress a shudder and bury the thought so he doesn't inadvertently hurt Clara all on his own.

"Me? I've mostly been... Well, since District 3's destruction, we've been lacking in sponsors at times, and with Eddie gone and Jessica in a downward spiral, I've had to do some drumming up support of my own." He shrugs, seemingly not all that bothered by it, but it does eat at him. Being purposely in the public eye like that, forcing himself to smile for the cameras and support products he knows are manufactured through slave-like labor in the Districts. He feels dirty every time, as if he's sold out, and his only solace for it comes from being able to use the sponsor gifts on other Tributes, the ones who deserve it more.

[seestheman]

Despite the fact that she occasionally grabbed something here and there while cooking before hand, she doesn't realize just how hungry she is until she takes a bite of her fluffy scrambled eggs before beginning to cut up a waffle.

"Yes, I'm sure he was," she murmurs before taking a bite of the waffle. She doesn't like to focus on how hurt she feels towards Alex right now and tries to ignore the roiling feeling in her stomach that almost puts her off the maple syrup drenched piece of waffle.

"That's very generous of you." Honestly Clara's more than a little impressed by that. She's not sure she'd be able to do the same if she were in his shoes. There's a difference, in her mind, between being obligated to do it as a mentor and choosing to do it due to the resident mentors being absentees (whether literally or emotionally). "How's that going? I'm sure it can't be easy considering..." she isn't sure how to finish that sentence. The circumstances? The public opinion towards District 3? All of the above?

Instead she decides to switch gears and focus on a lighter topic. "So how are you finding married life?" He got married recently, right? It was before they'd really met, but she does remember hearing about it.

[silberfuchs]

"I hate it, frankly, but it's necessary and I've had modest success." He shrugs, not having much else to say on it.

As for the subject of marriage, he'd sort of been avoiding that topic, given Clara's marital situation. But if she wants to ask then perhaps she can handle it. And he can't deny he does like the share that happiness, after having gone so very long without it.

"Aside from the venue, it's..." he chews, thinking of how to phrase. "It's as if nothing's changed, yet everything is different."

He can't help but grin at his own paradox but it's true regardless. Their behavior is the same, their feelings remain unchanged, but being married carries a weight to it that suits Albert. It looks good on him, makes his eyes wrinkle at the corners and his smile come more easily.

"He does still leave his socks everywhere but that's nothing new."

[seestheman]

"I'm sure your districtmates appreciate the work you do." There's a thread of slightly forced cheerfulness, as if she's trying to convince herself that doing that much work when it isn't necessary is worth it.

Clara isn't sure why she wants to torture herself like this. Hearing about other couples being happy hurts, but at the same time, she wants to hear that it's possible to be happy in this place if the Capitol doesn't ruin things too much. Maybe it makes her something of an emotional vampire to hear that a relationship here can work.

If she really thought about it, she'd wonder if part of the reason why she dwells on it is the eternal hope that she and Alex could be a real couple again, even here.

"Take it from someone who's been married for years, that never changes, no matter how much you pest him about it." The smile she shoots at him is somewhere between knowing and hurting, as if the thought of Alex leaving clothes laying around stings. "At least with Alex's shirts it was usually easy to keep track of where it wound up on the floor." It's weird to talk about Alex and shirts to casually, considering the last time was weeks after the bombing and she almost broke down sobbing in the middle of a Starbucks. The only reason the wobble she can feel doesn't turn into something else is because she quickly takes a swig of her coffee in an attempt to dispel it. "At least you don't have to worry about doing laundry here and trying to match them."

[silberfuchs]

"I'm certain yours do as well. It's not only District 3 that needs the help. I think the other Districts have something of a disconnect with the Tributes since we are not from Panem, even if our victories mean food for them." But if the Capitol doesn't carefully plan and oversee all contact between the Tributes and the Districts themselves, there would most certainly be trouble. Frankly, he wishes there was more of it. The situation is growing untenable.

But that's not a conversation to be having now.

"There is that." He's quiet for a moment, then sighs. "We don't have to talk about this, Clara. Don't force yourself. I should't have brought it up."

Not that he did bring it up in the first place, but he'd rather let her admonish him than feel she'd shot herself in the foot, so to speak.

[seestheman]

"But I'm expected to do this, you aren't," she points out gently. "Anyways, as nice as it is to try to appeal to the Districts, at the end of the day..." She doesn't want to say they don't matter. Of course they matter, but they don't have the funds to assist the Tributes that the sponsors in the Capitol do. "...the people who live here don't think of District 3 as highly as I'm sure some of the Districts do."

Which is the best way she can think of putting it since they probably have someone watching them.

"No, no, I need to..." She doesn't want to say move on, because she doubts she'll ever really be able to move on. Especially not while there's still a chance for her to bring Alex back from the suppression. "It's natural for people to want to talk about their relationships and I need to be able to handle it. "