paradisa | (no subject)

Are they nice?

They were most kind and generous to my cousin. I have only met one myself. Gimli, a jolly fellow.

That sounds like a jolly name.

[ Except for when he discovers his cousins in Moria, and all the other dark things. Frodo nods and picks up another red apple for Clem. ]

Would you like another one?

[She shakes her head.]

No thank you. You can have the rest.

[ He smiles to himself and starts slicing apple pieces for himself, now that he isn't so famished as to want to gobble it all up. ]

What did you do after Legolas threw that snowball at you?

I talked to him for a while.

And then I threw one at him.

[ Frodo manages to swallow before he breaks into laughter. ]

I hazard you have good aim!

[A knowing grin.]

I do have good aim.

[ He chuckles to himself some more, still popping apple slices into his mouth. ]

Is it better than mine, I wonder?

[She can manage headshots with a gun. Is it?]

Are you that good? We could always find out!

[ Hobbits are legendary, at least with throwing stones! ]

Even if I do say so myself! You must give me time if it is to be a proper challenge however, I am not quite myself yet.

I can wait until you feel better.

[She's sure she'll kick his butt :') ]

[ NUH UH.

Frodo just smiles to himself and finishes his second apple. ]

Why don't you tell me more about Georgia, Clementine?

Okay.

It's really big. We have a big city, Atlanta, but we have a lot of farms, too. I've been to a few... but I lived a lot closer to the city. I used to go there with my parents.

[Talking about home was difficult before, but it kinda sucks even more, now.]

I miss it. The way it used to be.

[ Frodo was going to move on to the next apple, but he stops and steps closer to her instead, reaching to hold her hand if she lets him. ]

What happened to it?

[She lets him.]

I don't know. Nobody does. One day, people just went crazy and started eating each other.

[ The frown just carves deeper into his face. That's terrible beyond even his imagining. ]

Was it a famine?

No, it wasn't that. Dead people come back now, and they become walkers. If they bite you, you get really sick and turn into one, too. But... even if you don't get bitten, and you die, you turn into one unless your brain is destroyed.

[These are facts. Sad, but facts, and Clem is used to them by now. She looks sad, but it's definitely an under-reaction for something like this.]

It's horrible.

[ Frodo grimaces at the thought, then tries to hide it for her. He wonders what orcs would do to them when captured, eat them too? But even then they would not be anyone he knows chasing him down for his flesh.

He sighs and moves to pull up a chair next to her. He climbs up and just watches her, keeping her hand in his. ]

You are very brave, Clementine. Though I wish you did not need to suffer such horrors to become so.

[A tiny smile. She doesn't know how brave she is, because Lee had been there for so much. She wouldn't have lasted very long in that treehouse. But she appreciates his kindness.]

It's why I didn't mind that you smelled. Walkers smell worse.

[ Frodo chuckles. ]

You've learned at a young age what I've only just realized, dear one.

What are you talking about?

That some things may appear foul when they're not. And pity may yet rule the lives of many.

[She's quiet, thinking about that. Pity was kind of scary, now. Pity was killing someone before they turned, or ending someone's life so that they didn't have to suffer being torn apart or being so miserable and sick before dying, and then turning.

Something like that, anyway. She looks at Frodo.]

Mmm. That's a grown up thing, then?