the kids aren't alright ( closed )

[schnapp]

WHO| beth and joel
WHAT| joel does what overprotective dads do best: getting the shotgun
WHEN|  some time after jason's migraine log
WHERE|  beth's room, D7 suite
WARNINGS|  tbd



Beth's pretty sure that Charlie is perfect. Sure, there are all the usual problems of having a brand new puppy, but he's still perfect. He sleeps curled up next to her in bed, and the tiny warmth of him and his little fluttering breaths goes a long way towards making Beth feel safe for the time being. She loves it when he licks her nose or snuffles around her face like he's giving her kisses, it's like an old childhood dream reborn.

That's what she's doing when Joel knocks. Teaching him tricks - or trying, at least. The efforts to make him roll over don't get very far when he's jumping up into her arms every two seconds. But as soon as he knocks on the door, Charlie goes kind of crazy, running in circles and barking his little head off.

"Shh, it's alright," she tells him, moving over to open the door. Figuring it's probably Daryl checking on her again. Her eyes widen perceptibly in surprise when she realizes that it's Joel. Mostly because she figured he thought she was an annoyance, a persistent figure who wouldn't leave him alone.

"Oh. Hi. Do you wanna come in?"

Comments

[aintyourdad]

"I didn't say anything about dating," Joel says gruffly. If she was, that'd be a whole 'nother kettle of fish, since he knows very well Jason and Swann are a thing - he wouldn't know that except that Swann is his escort and Jason has been spending a lot of time hanging around the district 8 suite - enough for Joel to get the measure of him, anyway.

Which is why he's here.

"I just don't want you gettin' into trouble, and Jason is big, big trouble," he continues. "The kinda guy who'll beat the shit out of you for lookin' at him the wrong way, and then you'd get blamed for it afterwards cause that's how this place works."

[schnapp]

She knows he's abrasive and arrogant and incredibly rude, but apparently he's been giving off a whole other impression towards other tributes. Which is concerning, because Beth doesn't consider herself naive, she just wants to be able to believe the best in people even when she's told that's foolish.

Maybe that's a habit best left behind. Maybe it'd be smarter. The idea's hard to stomach.

"I don't talk to him that much. He makes me go to these sponsorship things and he sends me stuff in the arena, but that's it," usually with rude notes like stop fucking sharing, like that would stop her. "Are you...you're trying to look out for me, aren't you?"

[aintyourdad]

"Well, that's good," he says, shaking his head. "Just - I know he's one of your escorts but... keep your distance. Someone was sayin' somethin' the other day about you goin' to his house?"

Of course he's looking out for her. Psh.

[schnapp]

"He was having a bad migraine and I drove him home. Are they really talkin' about that? I stopped listening a while back," ever since someone started rumors about her and Rick being a thing, which is almost horrendous enough to make her want to vomit.

The puppy really, really wants to get up on Joel's lap apparently, so after a couple minutes of watching him struggle, Beth walks over and picks him up, placing him down on the piano bench so he can clamor all over Joel. "Looks like he really likes you."

[aintyourdad]

"People talk about everything around here," Joel points out, lifting the puppy into his lap dutifully. Very soon, a very happy puppy is getting a tummy rub.

"What's his name?"

[schnapp]

That's true. People are probably already making up rumors about this particular visit at the moment, and she's really only just learned to train herself not to care. "I'm pretty sure he's way too old for me, anyway. My daddy, he'd probably be really disappointed in me,"

She's trying to get herself to talk about him a little more, these days. Trying to get to a point where mentioning him doesn't make her want to shut down. She pushes aside the sad little smile that appears on her face and steps forward so she can rub the puppy's belly too.

"His name's Charlie. And he's spoiled rotten."

[aintyourdad]

"The problem ain't that he's older'n you," Joel points out. "It's that he's an asshole who likes hurtin' people."

He finds a spot that makes Charlie's leg twitch in pleasure, and smiles a little. "Good boy."