rutagraveolens | Melody 2 : Action

[Morning]

[Ever since the fireworks the previous day, Rue was on edge. The fireworks were too much like cannon fire, each boom a notification of another tribute gone. That the fireworks were to announce the departure of people didn't help any.

Nor she get any sleep the previous night. Rue dreamed of whippings and executions, a reaping she couldn't escape from, a game she couldn't win. She saw the boy from District 1 - Marvel - raise the spear, throw-- and woke up tangled in blankets on the floor.

Silence surrounded her as she had breakfast in House 34. She left Melody sleeping in her room and made sure her knife was on her before she slipped out for the day.

She did her usual rounds - library to return some books, bakery to pick up a snack, convenience store for a drink - before wandering the south path parallel to the river. She'd never traveled down the road before and was curious where it went. Eventually Rue found herself by the Art Gallery. After some hesitation, she entered the building. It was nice and quiet, peaceful inside. She roamed the gallery, taking her time looking over the different pieces of artwork there.

When she came across Peeta's paintings and found herself staring at her own face, her face crumbled. She reached up to touch the paintings, drawing back she realized she shouldn't do that. The wings were the right color; the yellow of her own feathered wings, the blue of the dress she wore on stage in the Capitol. Her breath quickened and caught as Rue burst into ugly sobs.]

[Afternoon - behind Slash 'n Crash]

[After calming down, Rue went to Slash 'n Crash for target practice. Bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on her back, Rue methodically shot arrow after arrow into the targets. Her aim wasn't the best, but she was still hitting the target each time. She remembered Katniss' lessons as she drew, notched, and shot each arrow.

When she shot the last arrow in her quiver, Rue went to the targets, pulled out every arrow, put them back into her quiver, walked to her starting place, and began shooting again.]

((ooc; Now with links! The first painting is the one of her looking over a puddle and her reflection, the second is her holding a bouquet of flowers.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Then there's the grasshopper cupcakes! [She points her finger down at a set of green-frosted cupcakes with some brown sprinkles on top.] Do you think they taste like grasshoppers?

[He follows her finger with his gaze and studies the cupcakes for a moment. Hmm, they look like chocolate...]

I sure hope not. I think they're supposed to be chocolate with mint frosting on them. I'm not sure why they call them 'grasshopper,' though. Maybe it's because they're green?

Maybe, but, that's not appetizing. Why not just call it mint then? Or mint and chocolate?

[Bakeries, so confusing.]

I'm Rue.

I guess whoever named them must have thought just calling it 'mint' would be too boring. But now you have people wondering if they're made out of grasshoppers instead...

[He just shakes his head and shrugs a little.]

I'm Emil. It's nice to meet you, Rue.

Maybe there's a world where grasshoppers taste minty?

[Rue pulls a face at the idea but also giggles lightly.]

It's nice to meet you, Emil. I should let you decide what you're going to get.

Why don't we get one of the grasshopper ones and split it to see if it tastes minty or like grasshoppers?

That's a good idea. [Though would they even know what grasshoppers taste like? Well, if it's not minty...]

Excuse me! [She asks whoever is on staff.] Can we get a grasshopper cupcake? And can you cut it in half please?

[When Rue receives the two halves, she holds one out for Emil. Well... it looks like chocolate on the inside.]

...Ready?

[If it's not minty and it's disgusting, that's probably a good sign that it tastes like grasshoppers. Hopefully that's not the case.

It does look like chocolate, though. Emil takes the half offered to him and holds it up for a moment to examine it, then sniffs at it. Yeah, that smells like mint to him.]

Yeah. Should we try it on the count of three?

I think that's the best way.

[Rue looks at the cupcake with mild trepidation.]

One...

Two...

...

...

three.

[Rue takes a very careful bite, making sure to get frosting and cake in the same bite. Minty... and chocolate!]

Oh, that's good.

[Emil's own bite is a bit tentative, just because this is Luceti and he doesn't entirely trust it NOT to taste like grasshoppers. Who knows, if the Malnosso overheard, they could Shift it or something.

But then it's in his mouth, and it does in fact taste like chocolate and mint, and he's stuffing a little more into his mouth before he even thinks about it.]

Wow, this is really good!

[It's also rude to talk with his mouth full, but details.]

[The chocolate is nice and sweet and the mint is perfect too. Rue nods her agreement, taking another bite. It still doesn't solve the question of why it's called a grasshopper, but it's good so who cares?]

[This is a lot better than he thought it would be. So good, in fact, that the entire thing is gone within two bites, and then he licks the frosting from his fingers just to make sure that he didn't miss any of it.]

I'm glad this didn't taste like grasshoppers after all.

I am too! Do you want to get another one? That was really good.

Yeah! I think this might be one of my new favorite flavors.

[To the store attendant:] Can we get two more grasshopper cupcakes please?

[Two more cupcakes get! She hands one over to Emil It's hard being in a bad mood with cupcakes and in front of new company.]

Thanks!

[Emil takes his carefully, though he doesn't bite into it just yet.]

So what other flavors do you like besides this one? I really like the coconut ones when they have those, but I haven't seen any of them for a little while.

Chocolate is the best, but they had a really good vanilla one with orange-flavored frosting once. I don't think I've ever tried the coconut ones.

[Nor is Rue sure she knows what a coconut is. It sounds silly.]

Edited 2014-02-14 02:57 (UTC)

Vanilla and orange... oh, kind of like a creamsicle! You know, the ice cream bar?

[It doesn't quite occur to him that she might not in fact know that that is.]

[Rue shakes her head. For someone just learning about the wonders of ice cream, she's yet to discover all the flavors.]

I've never had it, but that sounds really good. Do they have it in the stores?

Yeah, that's how I first tried it. They don't have it back in my world at all. Actually, my world doesn't have a lot of things that are in the stores here. It's kind of neat.

Same here. There are bakeries, but they're not like this. It's mostly bread and only one kind. Every district has their own kind of bread.

Bakeries only sell bread in your world?

[That sounds... terribly sad, in a way. What about all of the delicious desserts?]

There were bakeries in the other districts, but District 11 wasn't very rich compared to the others.

[Her voice grows a little quiet as she thinks about her home. If there were bakeries, they would be for the Capitol members living in the district. Most of their food was rationed out to them or from whatever she could scrounge up.]

[Emil catches that softening of her voice and senses that he's hit a sensitive subject.]

Oh... well, now you can try whatever you want from the bakery here, since it doesn't matter whether you were rich or not in your world when there's no money here.

Melody 2 : Action

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