Dot [Ellie]
The streets have quieted down, likely most of the passersby having gone to whatever jobs they've been assigned to in the community. It made the walk home relatively peaceful, and Ellie's mind drifted between several different things in rapid succession. From Clementine, to the Fireflies, to whatever punishments Tommy and Andrea were working on at the moment, to whatever Lee was doing at the moment. Everyone was off doing something, and she wasn't sure whether she felt excluded or relieved that she would get a moment to just… rest. Mixed feelings, definitely. Granted, it was her decision to go home alone, but boredom was something that she'd never been prepared for, and found herself having to deal with time and time again. With her Walkman working again, at least, she had something to occupy her mind for an hour, maybe two if she could find Riley's cassette in her backpack somewhere. Her backpack had been a chaotic mess for the past couple months, and maybe now would be the time to go through it again.
That train of thought, however, was cut short as her eyes focused on a single person walking down the sidewalk, straight towards her. Ellie's eyes narrowed. Of course it'd have to be Lydia. It could've been literally anyone else, but it had to be her. For a moment, she was tempted to cross to the other side of the street, slip on by, but that'd only tip the girl off. Likely, she'd already seen her, and this would only end in one way. She just hoped that she could avoid another fight, as much as she hated backing down from one. The last thing she wanted was to get kicked out because of this fucking bitch.
LadyLedge [Lydia]
Fucking pissed. That was one way to sum up how Lydia felt this morning. That meeting went nowhere, it was so dumb. She thought Tommy was at least going to give them something else other than a scolding. Now he had to 'talk it out with Andrea.' Such crap. The only satisfaction she got was seeing Tommy shut down those two men that tried to pull the sympathy card with a 'they're just kids' argument. Lydia wasn't falling for that, she knew exactly what they were. And Carl, she wasn't even going to get started on him. They'd argued again after that meeting… about him obviously trying to sit on the fence with this whole thing, it was just annoying at how soft he was trying to be with them. After what they did to her. Nonetheless she had one of her morning jobs to get to, and she needed space from him… From all of them. It took her some time until she finally got to the crop fields. The good thing about being on that job was that people were quiet and usually just kept to themselves, the perfect place to just unwind and try to clear her head. Roughly around an hour passed until she was approached by one of the site managers, they needed help digging out something. She'd volunteered to go and get the tools they'd need for it and help out. Throwing off her dirty gardening gloves and dusting herself off she made her way down the sidewalk, her destination being the tools shed. We needed the trowel, fork and... weeder set right? Should be there.
Her thoughts were abruptly cut short as she saw a figure walking straight towards her. It was her. Just when she was starting to calm down... Ellie had seen her, there was no way she hadn't by now. The redhead wasn't stopping… or even attempting to go another way. Every step her and the other girl took brought them closer. Every step the heat in her chest rose, along with the unease she felt at the pit of her stomach. For a moment, she considered avoiding her entirely and going another way, the apprehension she felt reaching its peak. No. She promised herself she wasn't going to be that shy, weak girl that would just keel over to get trampled on.
Never again.
She planted her feet firmly into the ground once Ellie got close enough, assuming her position in the middle of the sidewalk. The blonde swung her weight onto one side of her foot. Placing a hand on her hip as she rose an eyebrow, accompanied with a smirk. Lydia was going to be the one to say something first, she wouldn't let it be the other way around. "Really?" She spoke up condescendingly, as if she was pretending to be surprised. "I thought they would've taken out the trash by now, not have it walking on the streets."
Dot [Ellie]
Really? Then why are you still here? Ellie thought bitterly to herself as Lydia planted herself in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking her path, then greeting her with what would undoubtedly become her usual rude remark. It took all of her remaining willpower to not roll her eyes, choosing to try and handle this as diplomatically as she could. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around herself, annoyed. "I really don't have time for this. Why don't you just go bug someone else for a change?"
LadyLedge [Lydia]
Yeah, and we don't have time for you. "Wow, tryna turn a new leaf Ellie?" She held the same tone that she'd greeted her with, not for one second buying this bullshit. "Or are you always a lot less confident when you don't have the other one around to defend you." She'll get what's coming to her, too. "I can't tell, but I think I know which one it is." She paused, shaking her head. "Speaking of, where is she? Did they lock her in a cage? Or did she just get sick of you already?"
Dot [Ellie]
"Do you really have nothing better to do?" Ellie retorted, resisting the urge to clench her fists. She knew what Lydia was trying to do, trying to rile her up. She'd let others do this to her before, back at the orphanage, and that's how she'd gotten scrubbing duty a couple dozen times. Nevertheless, wiping that stupid grin off their faces was always worth it, no matter how much shit and gore she had to scrub off of their trucks. Here, though, she wanted to maintain a low profile, at least until they can leave for the Fireflies. Lydia, of course, wasn't going to let that happen. "What she's doing is none of your goddamned business, so back off." She knew she wasn't going to, but she wanted to make her intentions clear. She wasn't going to take this shit, even if it meant shoving past the girl. Clearly, she wasn't as intent as Ellie in trying to forget about the whole fucking affair, so she could just kiss her ass, preferably from a distance.
LadyLedge [Lydia]
"Or what? You gonna get mad, is that it?" She prodded again. She was confident Ellie wasn't going to risk doing anything. Not after getting into the shit with Tommy and Andrea already. But all Lydia needed was one excuse, and she wouldn't mind if Ellie gave her one. Like hell she was going to let some outsider tell her what to do. "I don't take fucking orders from you." She retorted, leaning her head in a little. "So either take a hike back down the path or get out of my way. I don't care which one it is."
Dot [Ellie]
Ellie's knuckles turned white as her fists clenched. She forced herself to relieve the stress, unball her fists, and stare down the girl. Fuck this. She isn't even fucking worth it. She took a step to the side, gesturing for Lydia to pass with a wave of her hand, like a greeter inviting a patron into an event. "By all means, princess." I wish Clem buried your face in the dirt.
LadyLedge [Lydia]
She was a tad surprised at her next move, but she couldn't say she wasn't satisfied. Lydia practically bathed in the fact that this confirmed it all. The redhead knew what would happen if she did one thing out of line. Lydia knew she was on a time limit here, they'd be expecting her back at the crop fields pretty soon, there was no point sticking around. She shrugged her shoulders at the 'princess' remark, acting like it didn't bother her. "Good job. Servant." She spoke, holding the eye contact as she passed her, before finally taking her attention off the other girl as Lydia continued to walk down the sidewalk.
Dot [Ellie]
Don't punch her in the face don't punch her in the face don't punch her in the face don't punch her in the face-
The girl passed her, breaking eye contact as she continued down the street. Ellie felt herself going hot with rage, focusing every ounce of strength she had in simmering down. Now wasn't the time. Once the girl was out of earshot, she whispered her next statement vilely. "...Dickhead."
She continued her walk to the house at a quicker pace, hoping that'd be the last she'd see that bitch today. Next time, she probably wouldn't be able to hold back.
Kentucky [Joel]
Joel ran his hand along tables, knuckles knocking on baskets of fruit and cardboard boxes stuffed with flours and fresh milk and slabs of expensive meat. He imagined there was some sort of trading around here; it was what just made sense to him. He shuffled past others with the girl behind him, parting the sea with toned arms and glancing back to make sure Clementine wasn't getting lost in the ocean. The calamity of all the people talking, the uproar at the quality of some of the food items. It was too... familiar. He wasn't that big a fan of it. "You see anything you think they'll like?" He turned to Clementine, swallowing his pride and asking for help.
Art [Clementine]
Being there, surrounded by people, laughs and shouting… it was different, for sure. Clem stuck close to Joel the whole time, worried that she'd get crushed between a pair of passersby otherwise. The thing about picking what to eat was that she didn't really know what they were having, which only made her question Lee's choice to have her tour the food market with Joel, who looked just as unsure. There was a stand nearby with carrots in it, lots of them. She felt almost drawn to it, reminded of the times she used to harvest those with Mom. Clementine held one of them close, pondering over Joel's question, before taking two more with a smile. "Carrots might be cool, what do you think?"
Shadow Boy [Dan]
Dan walked, damn near crawled through the swarm of people passing through Jackson's marketplace. In his arms, a basket of apples just recently harvested by the agronomists who worked like hell to keep everyone in that place healthy and fed. The last few weeks had been very kind to them, enough fruit to make carrying that basket seem like a workout, and Dan was well on his way to getting those to their destination.
But there just had to be a bumbling kid stumbling around devil-may care… of course there was one.
The girl, distracted by something or other, bumped into him while backing away from one of the stands, his left hand compressed between the basket and the girl's back, until it just couldn't hold onto the thing anymore. Before he knew it, the apples were all rolling through the pavement, Dan only having enough time to let out a short, frustrated gasp, before directing a bitter look towards the girl. "Goddamn it, look what you did!" He shouted indignantly, waving one of his arms around. The hat-wearing girl looked surprised, maybe even sorry for fucking up the only job he had, not that he'd give her the chance to express it.
Dan held the sleeve of her jacket, not only so she wouldn't try running away, but also to make sure she was listening to him. "You're gonna pick every one of those up, y'hear?"
She pulled her arm away in response, answering his demand with an equally heated "Back off!"
Dan rolled his eyes, frowning at the haggard-looking old man staring at the two of them.
"You two together?"
Kentucky [Joel]
"Carrots? Huh. Could be good." Joel spun around, now glaring at the encountered man with a wild fervor. He squinted, taking a step towards the man and frowning. "Yeah, I am." He answered his question, fingers wriggling and stretching in preparation. "Maybe don't grab her. We don't want a scene here." He bit, clenching his teeth with anger. This goddamned community was getting on his nerves, and it just seemed that trouble was looking for them. Or maybe it was the other way around?
Shadow Boy [Dan]
Dan blinked, his brows propelling downwards in anger as the man took a step closer to him. He knew the guy, or at least he'd heard of him. When Tommy's brother came knocking on their door, everyone in Jackson was bound to. But that wasn't the only thing he'd heard, no. Dan had heard rumors about Joel, that he was scum. A killer. Probably thought they'd all welcome him with open arms just because he used to be close to the guy leading the place. Dan adjusted his round glasses, facing Joel's glare with one of his own. "Maybe tell 'girl wonder' to watch where the hell she's going." The man spat back, pointing at a flustered Clementine before getting down on his knees, shaking his head. Some apples looked fine… most didn't. They were scattered throughout the entire courtyard, stepped on by the crowd of people, riddled with dirt. That dumb kid had just reduced months of waiting for those old trees to bear fruit into a complete waste of time.
"You have any idea how important these are? How hard these people work every day to feed you fucking newcomers?" Dan couldn't help but ask as he picked up the apples from the ground, riled up by the older man's dismissive behavior. Amidst the turmoil, an apple had landed right beside Joel's foot, Dan's frown then turning into a grimace as his gaze met Joel's once more. "What're you standing around for? Pick that up."
Kentucky [Joel]
Joel watched him in a blur of emotions. His eyes narrowed, disrespect thrown at him and Clementine. He listened to the man ramble on angrily, adjusting his round glasses in a flush. Joel felt some guilt; guilt for what, he wasn't quite sure. Yet there he was, glaring down at a man picking up apples from the dirt. When one of the apples rolled into Joel's toe, he winced and listened to the man's cries. He supposed it was fair; if the man hadn't been so awful about it all.
He crouched down, picking up the apple and dropping it into the man's basket. There was nothing nice he could say to the man at the moment, grabbing another apple and dropping it into the basket. "She's a little girl. She didn't mean to spill your damn apples."
Shadow Boy [Dan]
Dan found himself giving Joel a grateful nod, seeing as the smuggler did what he asked. It might've been the old age, but for a crook, he seemed pretty reasonable. More so than the girl, anyway. The abashed-looking kid helped too, eventually, picking up some of the apples not too further away from them. Joel's remark brought about a scoff from Dan, who echoed the man's words in a mocking manner, while still reaching for the fruits lying on the ground. "Just a little girl." Everyone liked throwing that excuse around nowadays. Next she'd burn down the crops and no one'd say a word because she's 'just a kid'.
What a load of crap.
It did get him to think; wonder, rather. Why the girl? She looked no older than twelve, strolling around with a guy like him. Wasn't his kid, that's for sure. There was another man with them at the gates who looked like he fit that bill. Her guardian, or just another smuggler? Was that little girl involved with them? Maybe it was none of his business… but as a parent himself, Dan felt the urge to question it, despite the nagging feeling at the back of his head begging him not to. May as well break the ice while they were gathering apples.
"Who's she to you?"
Kentucky [Joel]
Joel's brows furrowed with indignance. He dropped another apple into the man's basket, one knee on the ground, one pointed up, and an arm resting on that which darted into the air. He considered the man's question then; a hell of an icebreaker if he had ever heard one. His confrontational nature was not lost on Joel, who was busily trying to dodge the question in his mind. Who was this other girl to him? He had Ellie to look after for her immunity; but the other one was something different. Clementine was angry at the world for something. The world being every person she came into contact with.
It seemed as if they hadn't really talked much these last few months of life, especially strange given his mild friendship with Lee and his somewhat paternal bond with Ellie. He looked at the man, running his tongue along his teeth. "I'm looking after her, for a friend."
Shadow Boy [Dan]
Looking after her? Dan's blank expression immediately twisted itself into a frown, the man once again shaking his head, as though trying to unhear what the smuggler had just told him. To think they'd even let this Joel guy near a kid… it was insane. He didn't know what to think, which thought was the most disturbing one; that of the girl travelling with Joel unaware of any of it… or that of her being conscious of what that man really was, involved in his atrocities, convinced somehow that he was a good person. Both shook Dan to his core, the conclusion that the kid was being taken advantage of being the only logical one he could come to. Once the basket was full, Dan rose to his feet, sighing heavily in preparation for what he was about to say. He didn't intend to dance around it. He'd say his piece and move on, regardless of what Joel had to say.
Dan walked up close to the old man who nearly towered him in size, his fierce gaze unfaltering and incessant. "I know what kind of man you are… I know the things you've done." There was little point in hiding that fact for any longer than he already had. The stories verging on horrific, from before Tommy left that man to join the Fireflies and build the community they all lived in. He only knew chunks, most of it too absurd to treat as anything but rumors, but Dan knew how to tell apart fantasy from reality. He could see it in that man's eyes, just how many defenseless innocents he'd murdered in cold blood.
"These two girls, they're not for someone like you to look after. It don't matter how much you wanna keep telling yourself otherwise." He tried to keep his voice low, to address only Joel directly, but he didn't much care if the girl overheard it. If anything, she deserved to.
"I don't care what you do, just stay away from them. Before they get dragged into your shit and end up dead because of it." Dan held the basket close to his chest, finally stepping away from the older man, saying his parting words before turning his back to him and walking away. "We both know it'll happen sooner or later, so long as they stick around with you."
Art [Clementine]
Clementine had spent most of that exchange looking sideways at the man she'd bumped into, clumsily picking up the apples off the stone floor, while holding a batch of them in her arms close to her chest. She felt bad at first, mainly for Joel, who was left having to deal with the mess she made… that is, of course, until he pulled the 'little girl' card, to which she scoffed to herself in silence.
Maybe they deserved each other...
Clem continued with the apple collecting, a faint glower in her expression as she kept her gaze averted from the other two. The really weird thing about what ensued behind her was that… the guy with the apples looked pretty pissed off at Joel too, maybe even more so than he was at her. The girl didn't dwell on it much, not until she made her way back to them, carrying roughly half a dozen apples between her arms. Apple guy was in the middle of spouting something about Joel and her, which she initially found herself dismissing as just him being a baby over losing his harvest. It wasn't until she stopped in her tracks to listen, that the girl figured it would've been best that she hadn't. She pretended not to, anyway, but the words stuck with her all the same, gnawing helplessly at the back of her mind. Clem did nothing but bite her lip in discomfort, hoping they wouldn't notice the pair of wide eyes directed at them.
After he was done talking, Dan stared at her with a look resembling pity, that soon warped itself into one of disapproval. Clementine rolled her eyes, letting the apples plummet over his basket before turning away with a frown, the man walking away without saying another word to her.
It was just the two of them again, minus the crowd, obviously. Clem wanted to say… a lot of things, at least some of them involving the word 'sorry', yet the large majority of those things ended up stuck under her throat, the girl sighing quietly at her own lack of initiative. One thing did come to mind, something she didn't particularly intend to share with Joel until then. While the guy with the basket was busy talking to him, Clem had taken a few apples for herself, something of an attempt to get back at him for being an asshole.
Clementine walked up to Joel's side, trying to snatch the older man's attention by pulling an apple from her jacket pocket. The girl then tossed it upwards, catching it in mid air with a grin as she flaunted her plunder.
Kentucky [Joel]
Joel looked down at the girl, frowning. It wasn't as if what the man had said to him was a surprise. His character wasn't hurt; much. After all, he had been called a lot worse by people he actually respected and knew. This man, a complete stranger who had tried to perpetuate like he knew Joel. The man had grimaced as he walked away, the conversation doing little to effect Joel's already small amount of self-esteem. We both know it'll happen.
"We both don't know shit." Joel had called to him before he left, narrowing his eyes. As if he were going to let this man guilt trip him, with his stressed demeanor of freaking out over a bunch of spilled apples.
Joel was still looking down at Clementine, working things over his mind. He wanted to apologize for the conversation. If she had been as close as she was now during that conversation, she'd probably heard a few things he wouldn't have wanted her to hear. And that was just the thing, wasn't it? He had spent so much time hiding his thoughts, hiding his dirty laundry away from them. It was only so long before somebody else aired it out.
He smirked at the apple she had caught. "You shouldn't have taken that." He glanced away, looking at the busied vendors and dispersing crowds. "But you'd best hide it, before he figures it out." He looked down at her, smiling a tad. It felt... nice, in a way.