notyourutopian | [Action throughout the day and Open!] Playing in the rain.

Of all the things Eleanor had discovered in Luceti that had been impossible in Rapture, the rain was probably her favorite one. It had taken her some time to adjust to the idea of it, to be fair, since in Rapture the sound of falling water generally meant something horrible had happened and a section of the city about to flood, but up here on the surface it was just...normal.

Weather in-and-of-itself was a new concept, honestly. Occasionally the big storms up on the ocean's surface would cause churn in the water around the city, but never anything more than messy water and unhappy whales. She'd loved the snow too, and bright sunny days and brisk, windy days, but rain was her favorite. Maybe it was just how it was a callback to home without being so close as to make her dwell on the negative things.

Which was why she didn't particularly find any reason to try and avoid it the way so many other people seemed to. In fact, she made a point of going out in weather like that, with the large, old-fashioned purple umbrella she'd acquired last summer. It hadn't rained all winter, which she knew was normal but had still been a bit of a frustration, and now that it was doing it again, she'd practically bolted from school at the end of the day to go for a walk.

And that was where she could be found for the rest of the afternoon, wandering about in her long black skirt and simple red jacket, her umbrella resting on her shoulder, a faint smile on her face. She would stop for a while to sit under one of the awnings by the shops and read, listening to the rain, then head back out for another walk. She'd picked up a pair of heavy-duty boots, and someone might happen to catch her hopping into a puddle with them to send up a splash and then laughing softly to herself.

Even during the height of the thunderstorm itself, she was (probably foolishly) walking around with her umbrella.

[ooc: People can run into Eleanor anywhere in the village during the rain, or yell at her to come in out of the lightning if they like. She might even listen!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eleanor had a feeling that wasn't exactly true. Too many years of being raised by a psychologist had made spotting things like that second nature. But she wasn't going to push, not right now.

Still, she shrugged. "I...mostly fine, I suppose. Keeping busy."

Keeping busy. It was something. Katniss wasn't certain if she believed it. But she wasn't going to push it. She cared too much about her own privacy to pry into that of another's. Especially someone she'd almost consider a friend, even if it has been an awfully long time.

""That's good." She looks around the village, noting the lack of people around. "Enjoying the rain?"

"Yes," Eleanor said immediately, and her smile was much more genuine then. "Snow was nice, but I was getting rather tired of it. Rain is...much better, I think." After living on the ocean floor, all weather was a nice change, really.

"Are you heading home to dry off?" She asked suddenly. "I could walk you." And keep her under the umbrella so she didn't get more soaked, but she didn't add that part.

Rain, at least, means things will grow. It means that animals are no longer hibernating. Even if rain means that she won't be able to hunt as much as she'd prefer, it's better than the alternative. Better than waiting months on dwindling food supplies until conditions are good enough to venture outdoors again.

It's the better choice of the two. By far.

"I am," she answers, glancing in the direction of her house. "But you don't have to."

Not if she doesn't want to.

"I want to," Eleanor said with a shrug. "Honestly, I've been wandering around for rather longer than I'd like to admit." She looked a bit sheepish as she admitted this.

"So having somewhere to go would be a nice change," she turned, waiting for Katniss to fall into step with her before she started towards the other's home.

She doesn't want to get close to anyone here. Even this girl that she's already been there for in the past. But favors ought to be reciprocated. And it is kind of nice to no longer have the rain falling on her as she walks.

"Would you like some hot chocolate?"

It's the least she can offer if the other girl is willing to walk her home.

Eleanor wasn't really expecting anything from Katniss. She could tell the girl was being distant, but wasn't going to push. This place tended to breed that feeling.

So the offer surprised her, but after a moment she nodded her head and smiled faintly.

"That sounds nice, yes."

The faint smile was returned as they walked in the rain. She tried to remember if the girl had tried the beverage before. Matters were different where Eleanor came from. Food supplies weren't the same. It was part of the reason she had offered to teach Eleanor how to cook in the first place.

But she couldn't remember. Two years and so many people who had come and gone. The more distance she put between herself and others, the better. Still, she wanted to respond with something.

"It's one of my favorite drinks."

"I..." She remembered having it, she thought, though she didn't remember anything about it. "I think I had it before. When I was very little." She hesitated. "At least, I remember the name..."

She looked a tad embarrassed then. "It was a very long time ago."

"I had it for the first time almost four years ago."

Has it really been almost four years by now? Four years since the 74th Hunger Games, since hearing Prim's name called and volunteering so desperately to take her place. She doesn't know where the time's gone. Two of those years back in Panem, two trapped here. And yet... it really has been four years, hasn't it?

"My family was poor, growing up. We couldn't afford something like that."

"Mine wasn't," Eleanor said. "Though I remember wishing we were. The children I met when I snuck away, most of them were from poor families. They just...had so much fun." She frowned.

"I mean, I know now that it was stupid to want that. In some ways I was fortunate. Small ways. But still..." She gave a little shrug.

Fun... wasn't exactly something that most children from the Seam had growing up. Not with Hollow Days and Hunger Games always looming over their heads. They might not have had the same responsibilities as those children from the merchant class, but life was far from from.

"It was different," she says quietly, glancing at the girl for a brief second. "That sometimes things like a good thing."

"Maybe," Eleanor wasn't sure she'd agree, but everyone's life was so different, it seemed like a silly thing to try and argue over. Instead...

"Well, it doesn't matter so much here, right?" A small smile. "Everything being free and all."

She doesn't now how to respond for a moment. The girl has a point. It doesn't matter as much here. Everything is free. But she still remembers the time that they had refugees from other locations here. Things were still free but scarce. Very, very scarce.

It was why she still remained prepared. Still hunted and tried to gather as much as possible from the forests rather than relying on the stores.

"We still need to be careful."

"I suppose," Eleanor wasn't quite as doom and gloom about the future as other people here. But perhaps that would change.

"You can only stockpile so much, though. Or prepare for an eventuality that might never come before it's just frustrated insanity."

She shakes her head. It's not something that's become a frustrated reality to her. It keeps her busy, provides her with something to do day in and day out. A chance to forget, for a few seconds, all the miseries of her past.

"It's still better than the alternative."

"I suppose," Eleanor wasn't sure she agreed, but she couldn't really disagree either.

"Do you have a stockpile somewhere?"

She shakes her head. If just because she wouldn't call it a stockpile. Just a modest storage cabinet with stocks mostly depleted from the winter. Much like what she had in District 12 for the winters. If not maybe just a little more. Because life in Luceti is far more uncertain than life in Panem ever was.

"It's not a stockpile. And most of the winter supplies have been used up."

"Hmm," Eleanor knew she probably should've prepared for the worst, but it was hard to ignore how nice this place could be, at times.

"With the store replenishing all the time, you could probably fill an entire bunker if you really wanted to."

[Action throughout the day and Open!] Playing in the rain.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject