Musebox!

[bravelittlehero]

A place for random threads with Clementine for practice! Hit me up with any prompt you want! 

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[under_the_wire]

[He's not sure what peroxide is, but she seems to have the situation well enough in hand. He reaches into his robes and pulls out a small, neatly tied bundle of fabric, removes a few strips and hands them to her.]

I'll give you any help you need. Don't worry about being a bother.

[And since she's at least not openly hostile--]

My name is Ja'far. What's yours?

[bravelittlehero]

[She takes the bandages from him and pushes her sleeve up. The gash in her arm is brutal. A gaping wound that's been stitched with five loops, poorly spaced apart. It's going to leave a huge scar. She starts wrapping it with the bandage.]

I'm Clementine.

[under_the_wire]

[He nods and watches as she bandages herself.]

That's going to leave a very big scar. What happened?

[She's not eager to speak, but he's afraid that she'll go off on her own if he doesn't keep her talking.]

[bravelittlehero]

[He's not wrong. She needs to regroup, and she hasn't had a chance to do that in a little while.]

I was bitten by a dog. Just a dog.

[She finishes and uses her teeth to tie the knot.]

[under_the_wire]

[That worry about being bitten again...]

You seem very worried about being bitten. Does that mean something different in this place?

[It's not something he's noticed himself since waking up here, but that doesn't mean he hasn't missed something. He's not sure if she's one of the other people who's been magicked here or not. Her clothing isn't the same as what he's seen on the townspeople, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's not from another island.]

[bravelittlehero]

Zombies. I wasn't bitten by zombies.

[Clementine drops her sleeve and glances at him again.]

Thanks. For the bandage.

[under_the_wire]

[Zombies? He's not familiar with the term. Something poisonous, perhaps?]

You're welcome. Where will you go now? I assume you're by yourself?

[He'd at least had the rest of Sham Lash when he was her age. They'd tended to keep an eye on him whether he wanted them to or not.]

[bravelittlehero]

I'm just going to get out of the way.

[Clementine backs away. She's not sure where she is, not yet, and she can't stay there with him. She doesn't answer his questions, she just steps back until she's comfortable to take off at a run, into the woods on the island.]

[under_the_wire]

[After very little consideration at all, Ja'far decides to follow. It's the exact sort of thing he would have screamed his lungs out at Sin about 12 years ago and here he is doing it himself. The irony isn't lost on him, that's for sure. Still, because of that foul-mouthed little brat he'd been and how things turned out for him, he can't just let Clementine go off on her own.

When he catches up to her, he doesn't approach her immediately, but doesn't make an effort to keep his presence hidden.]

[bravelittlehero]

[She can hear him chasing her. Her eyes dart back and forth, looking for an escape route.

Never let yourself get trapped.

There's a low hanging branch and she grabs onto it, scrambling up the tree slowly. Hopefully he can't climb.]

[under_the_wire]

[Climb? He could probably jump that. Instead, he just stops at the bottom of the tree.]

There's no need to run. I don't know what it is that you're afraid of, but you'll be at at disadvantage facing it alone. Do you even know where you are?

[bravelittlehero]

[Clementine sits on a branch breathing hard, leaning against the tree. She looks down at him from above, frowning at him.]

I got what I needed from you. Just let me go.

[under_the_wire]

Go where, exactly? Are you familiar with this island? You don't seem to be.

[He's not budging.]

[bravelittlehero]

[There's a crack as Clementine breaks off as big a branch as she can hold and she holds it with the broken end pointed at Ja'far.]

Just let me go. I don't want any trouble.

[under_the_wire]

If you can answer my questions, I will.

[He won't, but she doesn't need to know that.]

[bravelittlehero]

I'm not answering anything.

[Well she can just wait him out. Clementine isn't budging from the tree.]

[under_the_wire]

Then we shall be here for quite some time. I hope you're comfortable in that tree.

[He sits down at the foot of the tree and folds his arms in his sleeves.]

[bravelittlehero]

[She is, relatively. She drapes the branch over her legs and slouches a bit. Clementine is quiet, she can wait. In the meantime she's looking around. She hasn't exactly seen this forest before. She isn't sure where she is, but she doesn't hear any zombies. That's a good sign. At least, they'll get Ja'far first.]

[under_the_wire]

[Since she seems content to wait him out, he starts talking, faking a bit of cheer. Yet another thing that always irritated him to no end with Sin, but it worked.]

How old are you, Clementine? Ten? Eleven? I know a little boy your age back where I come from, but he's not nearly as responsible as you. I'm sure if he was here right now, he'd be back in that town square talking to everyone and trying to wheedle food out of them and not even giving a single thought to where he was. I'm sure he'd notice he wasn't where he'd been a few minutes before, but I'm not sure he'd care. Caring is for people like you and I, I suppose.

[He pauses and surreptitiously looks up to see if she's listening.]

[bravelittlehero]

[Clementine hasn't moved, he probably can't tell if she's listening or not. She's not watching him, at least not directly. She's focused on looking around. She does hear him though, and if he's somewhere he wasn't before, then she might be back in that place. She thought it had been a dream.]

[under_the_wire]

[She's doing a very good job of ignoring him completely. He's sort of impressed. Nevertheless, he keeps chattering away.]

I'm sure when I was your age, I would have done what you're doing. I would have found somewhere no one could see me and watched everyone until I had an idea of where I was and what was going on. Then I would have found somewhere where I could be by myself to figure out what to do about it.

[He reaches into his robes and pulls out the book he'd found when he'd arrived.]

I wouldn't have looked at this book like I did today. I couldn't read back then. Has anyone taught you to read, Clementine?

[bravelittlehero]

[Clementine frowns a little. She finally looks down at him and sighs, shaking her head a little in the middle of his speech. So far the coast is clear.]

I can read now.

[The journal is familiar.]

I know where I am.

[under_the_wire]

[That gets him to look all the way up at her.]

Do you? Would you mind telling me, because I've never been to this place before.

[bravelittlehero]

I know the world. Not this particular place. I don't know that much about it. We had to sail from the first place we came into within a week. That's all I know.

[under_the_wire]

I see. So that would be this island. The book did say something about needing to find a crew.

[He heard that "we."]

Did you lose yours? Is that what happened?