Appointment Post!

[stillplaying]

For any interaction that you want to happen with Katniss, anytime and anyplace within the luceti world that do not fit into a given post, please use this!

Just give a date and place, and whether this will be via journal or in-person!

Comments

[shenevermisses]

[Clove keeps just a few feet behind. Enough to make it clear she means no ill-will, yet not near enough to presume any sort of friendliness. They, at best, allies. But that's better than being enemies. Still, Clove doesn't know how to explain what's happened. Why she isn't near Cato. Why she doesn't want to be near Cato.

She wants to be back in the Games, but she knows not to say that to Katniss. It doesn't mean the same thing to them. For her, the Games were a time of simple survival. There was no hope for a family, no dream of a different life. It was straight-forward, and Clove misses that.

At the pause, she just resists the urge to break into a run. Not to anything or away from anything, but just a run. She checks herself, though, because that might upset the other girl's actual intention to hunt. Clove doesn't really care about prey today. It's about not being alone and not being idle.

Quietly, desperate for some sound other than her own thoughts, she speaks.]

What sort of game is out this time of year?

[stillplaying]

[The words startle her at first, though Katniss manages to refrain from any physical signs of surprise. This might not have been the Games but there were some things she still refused to let Clove see. The girl had seen enough. She wasn't going to allow Clove to be witness to any more signs of weakness.

She slows her steps until they walk side by side. It's easier to talk like this, easier to use the hush voices that won't scare game away.]

Squirrels are the easiest. Even in the cold, they're still out trying to gather any lingering nuts. There's hare and foul, too. Small animals but if you catch enough, it's still a decent meal.

[shenevermisses]

[Clove nods. It will be a good lesson, she thinks. Gathering enough little creatures to make a meal. The patience and planning. It leads naturally enough into another question...

...but it's a question that she fears is too telling in itself, and too weak.]

If we catch enough, can I eat with you tonight?

[stillplaying]

[That question might be the most surprising thing she's heard from Clove all day. More surprising than the other girl's silence, more surprising than her appearance in front of Katniss' door that morning.

Can I eat with you tonight?

Sharing a meal was something friends did. Something that further belayed a trust and understanding between them. It's... not as awful a proposition as she would have once thought.

But still, she has to ask:] Would Cato be joining us, too?

[shenevermisses]

[It takes a moment for an answer to come, and Clove's eyes are fixed straight ahead. She could be watching for movement of brush, for either prey or predator that might be out. It would be easy enough to assume that was her intention, certainly.

Or she might be just be honing in on nothing to not look at Katniss.]

No.

[stillplaying]

[Being married. Having a child. Even more than that, being still alive. The hijacks here can leave someone with terrible repercussions, much like the hijackings from home. She can understand, then, Clove wanting to be away. Needing that time to sort out her thoughts.]

Okay.

[shenevermisses]

[It was bad enough when it was just her. Seeing a vision of what her life could have been. No more nightmares, no bitterness she can't quite admit or accept, no questions she doesn't know the answer to. Sure, she'd been bitter still, but, then, she could define it. The memory of a dream that never happened? Only made things chaotic.

And Clove likes her life in order.]

Okay.

[Thanks.]

[stillplaying]

Even if we don't catch anything, [The sentence is paused as she turns to look at Clove again. Catches the silent thanks in the other girl's response and offers a 'you're welcome' in her own.] I have stock saved for the winter.

[There's another pause. A pause as she thinks, really, just how much she can trust the girl who killed her. But there's no one else here, no one else who understands all they've been through. Who can comprehend how difficult these hijackings can be.

Trust doesn't come easy. But she's trying.] You can still come back with me and eat.

[shenevermisses]

[That trust. Those words.

Clove takes awhile to respond, swallows hard as she makes herself speak. Her eyes close briefly, but they open again as she follows Katniss.

When she speaks, it's very low. Her reply is difficult.]

Thanks.

[stillplaying]

[When there's no reply right away, she looks over at the other girl. She won't pressure her for a response right away. Clove will come to her own conclusion, will decide whether or not the offer is worth accepting. Maybe it's wrong of her to be this trusting, especially to the girl who had killed her. But here in Luceti, they didn't have anyone else. There was no one else who understood.

And in that, she could understand the need to form an alliance. To make certain the other survived. Because it could be worse. They could be alone. Because no one else here will ever understand what their world is like.

When the response does come, she shrugs. Tries to play it off with indifference.]

You're welcome.