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Clementine considered herself pretty good at drawing now, and she was. Her talent was about average for her age, when it all started. Though there are many, many long mind numbing hours to fill between those bursts of walker hordes and maniacs with guns and grenades. Recently Clem had starred filling some of them by figuring out and practicing with the children's bow she had inherited this past winter. Before that and still more often than not, she filled those long hours drawing and coloring. She was no formally educated art student, but the result of her flower toy drawing was far more detailed and naturalistic than you might expect from girl her age.
As she was refining the smile on her dawn dancing flower, she glanced over and watched Kiku. She smiled and wondered aloud, "What're you writing? "
Kiku looked up abruptly, she hadn't realized that she was being watched. She looked at the characters on the notepad in her hands, running her thumb over the characters for family (家族)she answered, "The big character is kazoku, family in Japanese." Her eyes looked wet but no tears fell. She traced her finger over the smaller characters 愛 (love), 理解 (understanding), 信頼 (trust), 正直 (honesty), and 無限 (infinite). "The smaller characters are words that define family in a spiritual way. Would you like me to write your name in Japanese?" She didn't want to be an outsider, and while she was making sure there was an out for her she still wanted to be apart of their world. By offering to share something with this small child maybe she could become something more than a stranger.
Clementine glanced back to her drawing, making sure the smile was just right. She darkened the line a little at the corners of the flower's smile. The flower was no filled in, but the background still seemed so plain. Briefly considering what color to use around the flower, she chose orange. She smiled back to Kiku, looking more closely to the symbols as they were pointed out. Family... flash of faces passed before the little girl's eyes.. people still with her, people long lost, people she hoped were only missing. Misty eyed herself, she nodded, ”That's important. And luckily doesn't have to be just the one you're born with. 'Cuz it disappears so fast now.”
She sat up more straight, ”My name? You can right Clementine like that? Sure, I want to see that!”
Kiku moved to a new piece of paper in the notepad and began drawing each line in the characters very carefully. 久 (eternal) 玲 (clever) 面 (mask) 珍 (rare). She explained to Clementine that each character that was used to make up her name had separate meanings, she listed off the meanings to the individual characters she was drawing. "Not all names are like mine," she explained, "My name has a direct translation, the character my parents choose translates to Chrysanthemum."
Clementine put her crayon down for the moment, her dark gaze staying focused on each of the characters. 久 (eternal) 玲 (clever) 面 (mask) 珍 (rare). It amazed Clem how easy Kiku made it look to draw those intricate symbols. She tilted her head, thinking over how Kiku explained each one had a different meaning.
Turning her gaze back up to Kiku, she smiled again, ”I don't think my parents knew my name had all those meanings hidden in it.”” Clem half wrinkled her face in thought, ”Chrysanthemum... That's a pretty name. That's a kind of flower isn’t it?”
Her lips formed a sad smile as she remembered an old story book her mother use to read to her before bed, she nodded her head as she ripped the paper from the notepad and handed it to Clementine. She took the crayon to the new piece of paper and drew a simple sketch of what a Chrysanthemum looked like. When she was done she wrote the character for Chrysanthemum, her name.
Clementine studied the symbol of Kiku's name carefully. Glancing back to her drawing of the dancing flower toy and painstakingly did her best to copy it by eye. Her self-taught drawing skill somewhat made up for being a beginner at Japanese writing, but not completely. The result was a rough but heart felt reproduction of the symbol for Chrysanthemum. She finished coloring in the background, before holding the paper out to Kiku. "Want to trade? You can still have it if you don't want to trade. i just want to have the page you made with my name on it." Clem smiled at the yellow smiley faced flower on her drawing. "It's not really a Chrys...Chrysanthemum. I think it's supposed to be a sunflower."
Tori took the key chain and glanced it over. The blue reminded her of the lamp she had in her room back home. A big blue lamp with a little blue lightbulb. Regular lightbulbs made it too bright when one wanted to go to sleep. Her eyes turned back to Logan when he made his joke.
“Only in my fanfiction.”
Tori pocketed the key chain for now and watched as Dakota and Shadow ran around the Walmart playing. Reminded her of a simpler time. A better time. All the problems back then seemed so petty now compared to the mangled corpses that moved around trying to eat you.
“I'd love to have energy,” replied Tori. “The way those two play you'd think everything was normal outside. Did they ever find out what happened? What caused all this?” Tori turned to Ash to notice he was rubbing his eyes. “You feeling okay?”
Dakota was probably using reserves better saved for emergencies..then again they did just get out of one. Though she yawned a little, she kept on her little race with Shadow. There was no declared winner as it finally came to finish in front of the baby products.. or what was left of them. With another little yawn, she began to fill the cart with what diapers, formula and jars of baby food she could find. After a night of feeding and changing baby Lee with Clem, she gladly added any wipes she could find too.
The diapers at least proved to be up on the highest possible shelf. Way over her head. She extended her 4'11" height with her arms reaching as far they could over her head and standing on tippy toe. Not even hopping was quite enough to reach. "Everything is normal outside. This is normal now. Even..." Her words slowed down as she talked between hops to try and reach the bags of diapers. "if all the walkers... All the walkers became sleeping dead again... That old world with my mom... With my mom and all the rest of my family would still be gone."
Hiding and drying lightly misty young eyes, Dakota set herself to start trying to climb the shelving to the top shelf. Determination alone wild get her there... as long as the lower shelves supporting her weight held out.
Ash quickly moved his hand away from his eye. "Hm? Oh sorry. I've been driving all night to get us away from these people who attacked our group back in Texas." The Texan shrugged and looked at Dakota climbing the shelves. He wanted to stop her but sighed. He was too tired.
Shadow paced under the girl. Ash placed a hand on Shadows head As Dakota talked about her family. "I haven't heard about a cure. Remy was the only person i was aware of that had an interest on a cure." Ash moved towards Dakota wanting to catch her if she fell. Adjusting the light on his crossbow he set it down on an empty shelf. "Where do y'all think we should head to after here?" Ash spotted a box on a shelf and pulled it out. It was a play pen for kids. Ash snorted and threw it under the cart. "I'm thinkin about me and Lilly's plan about goin west."
Kiku looked at the young girl, she took the drawing from Clem and simply said, "I like sunflowers," before handing over the other pieces of paper she had draw/written on. She hoped that by physically handing them over she was conveying properly that she was okay with Clem taking them, she wasn't sure exactly how to form the words that she had no attachment to what she had been writing/drawing. She looked at the drawing in her hands and quietly spoke in a voice that only Clem would be able to hear, "Chrysanthemum is a difficult words to say, if you like you can call me Chrys." She had never been called that before, only a few people in her past knew the meaning to her Japanese name but once when she was in middle school her best friend had said to her that if she was a guy her name would probably be Chris because it sounds like a nickname derived from Chrysanthemum. This statement had been lost in her memories until now, she'd never thought of it as an actual name to go by...until now.
Clementine smiled and thanked Kiku for the paper. She tried to remember what Kiku said the different symbols meant, and write them down as she did. Smiling to Kiku, Okay... Chrys. You can call me Clem."
She realized how silly it might be for her to say that in return, since Clem is what most people naturally shorten her name to no matter what. Clem decided not to add that, figuring it didn't matter if it was redundant or not.
When she finished noting what each symbol meant below it, she showed it to Kiku to make sure she got it right. '久 (eternal) 玲 (clever) 面 (mask) 珍 (rare)' "Did I remember those all right?" She was pretty sure, but she wanted to make sure, since she meant to learn them herself.
Clem studied the paper and its symbols a little longer before putting it, and the dancing flower toy away. She returned the borrowed book to Dakota's pack. She took the chalk and notepad, "Hey Chrys. want to help me find some leaves to make rubbings of? It seems like forever since I used this chalk for that."
Tori sounded surprise by that, but she really shouldn't be. There were more than enough bad people in the world before the walkers, made sense that that wouldn't change afterwords. It's just now there were no laws or anything holding them at bay. Still, you'd think the walkers would be bad enough. Tori's expression saddened at Dakota's story.
“Last time I saw my parents, one was going to work and the other was going to the grocery store. They never came back.”
Not even so much as a body was found. Tori couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. The lack of closure didn't exactly help. Her attention went back to Ash when he mentioned Remy.
“Who's Remy?”
Tori rubbed the back of her head when Ash asked where they should be headed next.
“I don't know. I'd still be at my house if walkers hadn't overran the place. My old group was just moving in one direction in the hopes we'd find something. Anything, really.”
Dakota nearly did fall, nearing the top. The braces for the metal shelving not necessarily designed to support even her weight. The shelf threatened to buckle, and that nearly made her lose her balance and grip. Heart racing, she caught herself and held absolutely still for a couple moments. There would be no repeat performance of her crash in a Miami garden shed.
Balance and bearings regained, she resumed her ascent to the top shelf, where she nudged the bag of diapers to fall free down into the cart. She took the quick way down herself, jumping down back to the floor. Koda looked up solemnly to Tori, ”I'm sorry. That's hella sketch. It's all so fucking hella sketch.”
She grew distant again, and began to explain again a moment later, ”My mom...” This time she trailed off, and left her story unfinished as she seemed to stare at the cart and its current contents. Dakota absently rubbed Shadow's ears, and slipped a protective and sanity preserving smile, ”Nevermind that shit. Crying is for bedtime...“
Dakota hopped back on the cart, giving a little spin half way around. She perked up when talk turned to thoughts on future plans, Dakota checked in on her newly captured pets. ”When we thought you were dead, papa Bear.. we were all heading to Colorado. Then this psycho family of spies came along, and they let the dad be the new leader. Just like that.. I think Tala and Mark are the only ones who believed me..and Clem at least greed we shouldn't trust them so fast...even if she didn't see how psycho they were. That's how you and Lilly found us... I think.. They decided we should head to Colorado, “Just in case we might find the others again. I know Clem still wants to try and get there...at least if Anthony and Vivian were there. I know we both would probably like to see if we can find Tala again.... now too.”
“I know I really wanna go somewhere where no Jeffs.. no masked men, no walkers and no one with grenades and machine guns can just come out of nowhere. Somewhere like.. Alcatraz I bet if people couldn't get out in the old days they couldn't get in now. Or like my uncle's ranch with all the booby traps he put up around it. Those kept most of the walkers and bandits away.”
“But it feels wrong ta leave family behind too. What if they all get to Colorado? Or what if... “ The little girl's rambling finally trailed off not sure if she helped clear anything up or not. She finally added quietly, ”Maybe it's time to go back and figure that out with everybody... but what else did we need from here first?”
Last Edit: Jun 7, 2015 1:51:45 GMT -5 by Dakota Snow
Kiku watched Clem write the meanings to the characters down, nodding her head when Clem ask her if they were correct. When Clem asked about rubbings of leaves she got unsure of how to answer, she wasn't sure if it was okay for the to go outside of the RV. Plus they might have to wander to find leaves. "I'm not sure if we can," she spoke softly, "Why don't we wait until the others come back first?" She waited to hear Clem's reply or if the other two would speak up after over hearing the request. She placed her hand on her bag, if Clem appeared to become upset she was ready to pull out the leaf she was using as a bookmark for her book.
[OOC: Sorry about the late reply, I've had a busy weekend.]
Clementine's face shown mild disappointment, but Kiku was right. It would be better to wait until the others got back. She still wished she could go sooner, but it could be something to look forward to. Clem nodded, "Yeah, I guess we better stay here. We don't want to get more split up."
That started Clem thinking back over the night before. It had been such a long night with baby Lee to look after. She realized it before, but it struck her a little harder this time how she might not see Tala or Castle again. The thought wore more heavily on her young face more heavily than postponing her leaf hunt. Clem was no stranger to people coming and going from her life, but this recent string of them made her want to try... something to find some of them again. "I hope we're still going Colorado."
It was where everyone she knew from Anthony to Tala should hopefully end up. Slim as it was, it was the only chance Clem could think of that had any hope of letting her see any of them again. She smiled back up to Kiku, glad she was lucky enough to keep finding new friends... And old ones too as glancing over to Lilly. If she happen upon Lilly after all this time, surely finding Anthony, Tala, Castle and the others couldn't be completely impossible.
Ash wished he could have been with the group. The bad people. Tala and Mark getting them away. He crouched down the little girls height and wrapped his arms around her. "I can promise you. We won't find any other Jeff. Promise." The memory still fresh in the Texans mind.
It started back in Vegas. Their group was attacked by a group that had taken a few of their people which brought Ash to meet Matt. After firing six shots into the bikers leg Ash left him taking the mans Magnum Revolver he now still carries. Mark's friend and lover Jeff came after him kidnapping Dakota and shooting Ash. The wound still hurt if he breathed too deep.
"I don't think we need anything else. Unless you got something you need to find?" Ash stood up and looked at Tori with a smile. "Unless anyone has any objections. Shadow." Ash looked to the husky who was laying down wagging his tail at the group. "What do you think buddy? Should we get you some food?" The dog quickly got to his feet at the mention of food. Wagging his tail the husky barked at Ash then Dakota.
Kiku removed her hand from her bag. She looked out the window in the door to the RV. She thought about what Clem said about going to Colorado. A few months ago she was in Oklahoma and she'd heard from a group she'd spent a night with that nothing good came from visiting Colorado, something about an occult disguised as a safe zone. When Ash came back she silently told herself that she'd have to have a talk with him about Colorado and how if they go that direction they'll have to be careful to avoid that particular group.
While looking out the window Kiku noticed something, and it didn't look good. She slowly stood and walked over to the door to get a better look. "Kuso...," she swore under her breath.
Tori listened to all the shit they've been through and it started to make all those walker encounters she and the old group had look tame in comparison. The redhead could only offer a look of sympathy to the girl while Ash consoled her.
“Did we find all the human food we could?”
Tori looked inside the cart to review everything they got before smiling down at the dog.
Post by Clementine on Jun 11, 2015 11:41:46 GMT -5
Clementine's thoughts drifted back over a few of the other people that had come and gone from her life. Taking back the notepad, she began to draw to a man named Clay with another man named Damon and his young sister, Sarah. She briefly glanced over to see how Mark and baby Lee were doing, when she heard Kiku. Clem had no idea it was a swear, but the tone of Kiku's voice that went with it was more than enough to convey alarm. Leaving her coloring for later, Clem snagged her gun from her pack. After last night's trouble, it was hard not to be a little paranoid at potential trouble.
She went the short way to Kiku, "What is it?" Clem glanced between Kiku and Lilly, hoping the answer would be it was nothing to really worry about. She cast a worried look back at Mark and baby Lee.
Shauna Kelly: That helped, thank you
Oct 4, 2021 14:40:44 GMT -5
Ayita Hunt: dang, January was my last post.. Jeez it's been a hot minute. o7 guys, sorry for the complete disappearance, life got.. a little interesting this year.
Oct 18, 2021 22:34:19 GMT -5