A stroke of luck: Chapter 4: We found love in a hopeless cave
Clove came back to the trench with a dead goose in her hands, "Yo Marvy! I caught dinner!"
Marvel looked up from his spot on a fallen log, "Sweet! You caught it?"
"Fuck yes I did!" Clove announced proudly.
She placed it down beside him. She was about to start a fire to cook it, but Marvel intervened. "Let me do this," he stated. "You saved my life, I feel like I owe you something."
Clove raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you wanna cook this thing?"
He nodded, "Sure, I can cook that shit. I'm a somewhat good cook."
Clove shrugged, "Okay Marvy, if you really want to."
Marvel smiles as he gets to work. First, he used his survival knife to cut and skin the goose. Once the meat is separated from the bones and feathers, he then started to make the fire.
It took him a while but soon he got the goose cooking. As he worked, Clove continued to practice her knife throwing as usual. But she soon lost interest long enough to stop and join Marvel on a rock a few feet away. "How's it looking?" she asked.
"Just a few more minutes," he answered. Deciding that there was ice, he felt a need to break it. "So… what's life like in district 2?"
"Well…" she started. "I guess it's good. School ain't so hard, we're not in poverty like the other districts, so I guess it's good. What about district 1? Aren't the streets made of diamonds with golden fountains on every corner?"
Marvel chuckled, "Ha. No, not really. The cities are great, and living in one is awesome. To be honest it's not that different from the capitol, except people there dress normally. I work at my mom's art studio. She taught me how to paint, so now I do commissions for the Capitol."
"Did she force you to be a career?" Clove asked.
Marvel nodded, "Yeah, she did. I enjoyed it a lot, but sometimes, I'd skip training to paint."
"Lucky," Clove said in awe. "When my parents made me a career, they'd make sure that I never missed a knife-throwing lesson. Sure, it pays off today, but I never really had any time for myself. You're so lucky Marv."
Marvel smiled, "Yeah, it was fun. But I got slapped for that…"
Clove felt the clench of regret in her stomach, "Oh, sorry for that."
Marvel shook it off, "Naw, it's fine. My ma's all I have."
Clove kept the conversation moving, "Don't you have a dad?"
Marvel looked down coldly, "No. He left when I was 7. But I don't really need him, he was a fucker. What about you? Your parents still in one piece?"
"They are, but they hate each other," she started. "And they don't really love me. They just use me to get back at each other. Mom tells me to follow my heart; dad makes me train to be a Career. Dad says that boys are distractions, Mom sets me up on a blind date."
"Finished," Marvel suddenly stated.
"What?" Clove asked in a stunned tone.
He edged towards the goose on the fire, "Not your parents, the goose."
"Oh, silly me," she said.
He picked up one of her throwing knives and stabbed a piece of goose. He handed it to her, "Bon appetite mademoiselle."
"Merci monsieur," she thanked in French. She accepted the goose-on-a-knife with gratitude. Immediately, she started to dig in.
Marvel stabbed his piece of goose with his trusty survival knife. As he held it up, he couldn't help but notice Clove eating her piece quite barbarically. She was just happy that the food in her mouth wasn't dried. It was fresh.
She paused for a second and noticed his staring, "What?"
"And you say I have bad table manners," he said with a smirk
"Look away Marv!" She snapped before sucking a scrap of meat off of the end of a bone.
He smirked again, "Is it bad that I got turned on by that?"
As a girl with a temper as sharp as her knives, Clove threw the bare bone at Marvel's head. "Look away Marvy-cakes!"
"Okay then," Marvel said before taking a bite of his own meal.
As they ate, they talked more. Mostly about life stories and hobbies.
Though Clove's only hobby seemed to be knife-throwing, Marvel learned that she had a love for horror movies for obvious reasons. He also discovered her passion for music, something they both shared.
Clove learned more life stories about Marvel. She learned about the time he lived in District 4 for a few months of his life, and the time one of his ex-girlfriends tried to rip his family jewels off. She spit out a mouthful of goose in laughter when he told her this.
The story telling had ceased when their fire had went out. Marvel poked the glowing embers with a stick, "Rest in pieces warm fire."
The sun had set by then. "You should turn in," Clove advised.
"Good idea." Marvel got up on his good leg and started to limp down to the cave. "You coming?"
She shook her head, "No, I feel like staying out a bit longer."
He gave her a quizzical look, but then shrugged it off. "Whatever Clove, I'll see you in the morning."
"See ya," she called to him as he crawled through the small cave entrance.
Once he was inside, Clove stood up and approached the berry-stained tree. She took one more attempt at throwing her knife at it.
Plunk!
She was still of by one inch. "Dammit!" she cursed to herself.
She sat back down by the fire; the only other thing to do at that moment would be to stare at the embers.
As Clove stared, thoughts flew around in her head. She wanted to do something, something that might ruin her life, or make it better beyond measure. After debating with herself on whether to do it for quite a while, she eventually decided to.
She took the first step by standing up and walking towards the cave. She ducked her head as she crawled through the cave entrance.
Marvel was lying in the sleeping bag with his jacket off; he didn't seem sleepy at all. He looked up with his beautiful emerald green eyes. "Hey," he greeted softly.
Clove crawled over to him before kneeling beside him. Her eyes remained glued to the cave floor. Marvel knew something was up, so he placed his rough, dirty hand on hers to provide comfort. "You okay Clove?"
She didn't look up. She only did when his rough, calloused hand found its way onto her soft, smooth face.
Taking the next step, Marvel moved his face closer to Clove's. He soon felt the smooth feeling of her skin rubbing against his own. She was hesitating, she didn't know why, but soon, she finally did it.
Clove kissed Marvel. Panem watched in utter surprise as two tributes from different districts locked lips rather passionately.
Marvel pulled away the second he found himself feeling for second base. "I'm sorry! Was that too much?"
Clove shook her head, "No, it was just enough."
She leaned in and attempted a kiss, but Marvel pulled back, "What's wrong Marvel?"
"We're not alone, Panem's watching us," he explained. "It just doesn't feel right."
"I don't give a fuck, let them watch, I could care less," Clove stated. And before Marvel could reply, Clove pressed her lips against his once again.
... AND LET THE REVIEWS COMMENCE! (Please?)
Anyways, I hope this isn't too rushed though. Tell me if it is because I'm working on that! And I also hope that Clove isn't OOC.