thearena | i have no clever title; closed;

Who| Joel, Ellie, Riley, Clementine in various configurations
What| The zombie survivor family finally meets up/combines forces.
Where| Some abandoned house near the center of town probably.
When| Backdated to towards the end of week one.
Warnings/Notes| Probably just the usual stuff that comes with these guys - cussing, talk of violence and children doing violence, etc.

Joel hates that he can't do much moving or scavenging in his current state. He does as much as he can get away with (without Riley yelling at him, anyway), but in the end, Riley has to do most of the supply runs once they get settled in an old building that's sturdy enough that it won't collapse on them at any moment. Joel mostly just keeps track of their supplies and paces - carefully - on his injured ankle, and tries not to worry too much about Ellie.

She hasn't been listed among the dead yet. She's still out there, he'll find her. Or she'll find him. Whichever. Joel has to keep believing it'll happen, because otherwise he'd go crazy.

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It's like he can breathe again, when Ellie walks through the door, Clementine tagging along at her heels. He's glad to see the younger girl, too, but all his attention is on Ellie, needing to know she's okay, that she's unhurt, that she's still her.

Riley and Clem seem cognizant that he needs some time with her, because before long, they're just sort of gone, melted away into the mist, probably to go scrounge for more supplies.

He perches carefully on the edge of a creaky old chair in what was once a living room, his eyes narrowing a little as he inspects the girl in front of him. "You sure you're okay?"

Ellie wasn't happy. She was okay - Clem was okay - but in the few days she'd been separated from Joel, he'd managed to go and get himself completely fucked up. She was furious, half with him, half with herself for not being there, but mostly just against the Capitol and everyone who played by their stupid rules. She was grateful that Riley gave them some space - she wanted to be able to check Joel over for herself.

"I'm fine, Joel," She says for the fifth time as she starts pulling the supplies she managed to snag out of her bad. Most important - the litre of water. She holds it out for him. "You want to tell me what the fuck happened?"

Hey, Joel wouldn't say he was completely fucked up. He's had worse, after all. Far, far worse. Ellie's been witness to it.

He takes the water bottle, though, and takes a swig, just enough to cool his throat, before handing it back. "You're actin' like I got attacked on purpose," he points out almost wryly. "A kid with a sledgehammer got mad when I told him I'm a person. I'm not kiddin'. And everyone and their goddamn brother has already looked at my ribs - including your buddy Hawkeye, and Shepard. So really, it'll be fine."

Clementine had been happy to leave Joel and Ellie alone to their private reunion, both for them and to escape the small tight feeling their obvious affection for each other provoked in her chest.

"So, Riley, right?" she looked up at the older girl after the door closed behind them.

"The original and still the best, that's me," Riley replies, her tone almost offensively upbeat and self-assured. She's walking in a jaunty sort of way, giving her crowbar an idle swing or two every so often, letting off some of the steam hissing inside her at the way Ellie and Joel just - fucking clung to each other. As long as they're not making noise, there doesn't seem to be any harm in screwing around in this fog. "Clementine, right? Clem sounds better, so I'll call you that. You seen much of the arena yet? I've been looking after Walking Wounded in there, so my mobility's been kinda shit the last few days. I've been trying to map out what I can, in this fog."

She smiles over at the younger girl. "So, this your first Arena too? You seem like you can handle yourself pretty well."

"Clem's good." Her lips quirk up in a small smile at the spirited introduction Riley give, focusing her attention up at her. "Me and Ellie wandered around a lot, we thought it'd be best to keep moving but I still don't think we've seen it all."

Clementine shrugs a shoulder at the observation, "It's not so different from home. Have you been in one before?"

She relaxes, slightly, but she's still wound up - like a spring knowing it's going to have to snap alive at any moment.

"Yeah?" She asks, hopefully. If Hawkeye survived the bloodbath, was well enough to patch people up-- "Alright. Sorry. We just - had a bit of a hell of a time getting here, Joel, and I don't want anyone croaking on me."

She was still mad, but now it was just with herself, and that she could keep from him easily enough. She replaced the water bottle carefully. "You going to show me?"

Joel sighs, but instead of arguing with her, just lifts his shirt to show her the makeshift wrapping around his ribs. It's clearly been tended to.

"Satisfied?" he asks, tugging her close and putting his arm around her shoulders. "I've been worried sick about you."

"Yeah, I'm satisfied," she murmurs as he lets the shirt fall down again and pulls her into a hug. She puts her arms around him, but loosely, as if holding too tight would break him.

"I'm fine. That fucker Aunamee's gone, so nothing to worry about, right?" She pulls back to meet his eyes. "Joel, there are... things. Here. Like infected, but not. Have you seen them?"

He doesn't even give her first statement any acknowledgement. Aunamee might be gone, but there's always someone else. Always. And they both know it.

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Rabid dogs, too, or somethin' like 'em. Riley helped me out of a tight spot with those things. This is gonna be one hell of an arena."

"Nah, it's my first time, but it really isn't so different from where I'm from. Kinda feels more normal to me than the Capitol, to be honest." She smiles down at Clementine. "Thanks for looking out for Ellie for me."

Ellie can handle herself, of course, but Clementine seems like a tough kid, and it's always nice having someone recognize you can look out for yourself and other people even when you're small.

"Thought I saw something that looked like a Ferris wheel over this way the other day. What d'you say we go check it out? I think those two'll be busy a while."

"Yeah, I agree with you." and she gives an acknowledging nod, wondering how close Ellie and Riley are that she'd say something like that. "It's okay, we looked after each other plenty." Clem's not about to take all the credit for them making it this far.

The mention of a ferris wheel gets her attention. "Really? Yeah, I'd like to see that." Clementine won't get her hopes up that it'll still be working but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to see.

"The last one was a cakewalk, compared to my first. This seems more in line with the usual," She muttered sarcastically.

"I got a shit ton of stuff, Joel. Just-- grabbed it and ran. If I'd looked for you, instead--"

"We can't know what was gonna happen," Joel points out firmly. "I'm fine, we found each other, it's fine. I got a bunch of supplies, too. We're doin' good, far as I'm concerned."

She looks at him, brows furrowed and raised in the middle, craving that validation, that assurance.

She lets herself be reassured, despite everything.

"Yeah," She says softly. "Yeah. Okay. We're doing good. What's the plan now?"

Joel shrugs. "Hide out here, I suppose. This building is sturdy, easy to defend, we can use it as a base camp. Go out in pairs for supply runs. Stay alive."

There's no point moving around if they don't have to, especially with his injuries.

i have no clever title; closed;

For Ellie;

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For Riley;

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