Madge Undersee | The Hunger Games (maundersee) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2017-05-02 21:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, ~2017 may, ~25 points, ~~ash lynburn (ashlynburn), ~~madge undersee (maundersee) |
WHO: Madge Undersee and Ash Lynburn
WHAT: Meeting at the pizza place
WHEN: This evening
WHERE: Jendry's
WARNINGS: Nah
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Madge was settling in to Madison Valley. Every day she seemed to be feeling stronger, although the months it had taken her to heal (from injuries that had been fatal back home) had been frustrating. She’d wanted to be stronger, to be able to do more, to be active and alive. But every time she’d tied to do something she'd been so tired.
She still was, if she pushed it too far, but it was getting to the point that she could almost make it through a day of shopping and walking around town without utterly collapsing.
Today she'd gone to do a little shopping, and was now picking up s pizza to take home for herself and Gale. As she stepped into the store, she noticed a familiar face and smiled. It was Katniss’s boyfriend, Ash.
“Hello,” she said warmly. “It’s good to see you.”
She didn't know him well, but he was Katniss’s boyfriend and that was all she needed to know.
***
“Hey Madge,” Ash responded, with his patented Golden Boy smile. It was the smile he gave to people he'd met but didn't know that well, the smile that had grandmothers taking him home to feed him and children offering him their favourite toys to play with.
“It's great to see you too.” He gallantly stepped back to let her go in front of him in line. “Here to pick up some food?”
***
Madge blushed a little, as she really wasn’t used to people trying to charm her. But she took her new place in line, smiling at him warmly.
“Yes. Gale and I like to go out at least once a week. It’s kind of our treat for the week.”
She looked at him closely.
“Katniss is very fond of you, you know.”
***
Ash’s smile grew more genuine at that. “I'm very fond of her, so it all works out.”
And things were going well between them, even with Rowan and Michael showing up. It had been hectic, but they'd managed. And as great as the kids were, Ash hoped it would be a while before they came back.
“Are you more or less settled now?”
***
“Yes,” she said. “It wasn’t that hard after my wounds healed. It’s a much better place than Panem...i'm sure Katniss told you that.”
She smiled at him. It was easy to see why Katniss liked him. He was very good looking and seemed nice.
“Katniss, Gale and I are all from the same district. We grew up together.”
***
“Yeah, she mentioned it before we first met,” Ash said as the line shuffled forward. “She doesn't like to talk about Panem much, but when she does…”
He shook his head. As messed up as his family was, he'd had a pretty good childhood. He couldn't even imagine growing up in the conditions Katniss and her friends had.
“I'm glad you guys are here now.”
***
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I was never in the Games, but I died just before I arrived here all the same. When they attacked District 12.”
She didn’t know if Katniss had told him about that.
“Most people in the District died, except for the ones that Gale saved.”
He’d been a hero that day, even if he made mistakes afterwards.
***
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ash said, quieting as well. He knew that Katniss’s own sister, Prim, had also been a victim of the tyrannical regime back there.
“It’s great that you’re here, and having a chance to live a life you wouldn’t have had a chance for back home. What’ve you been up to?”
***
“Well, I spent a lot of my time healing, actually. I was hurt really bad and it took me several months to get over it. I’m still pretty tired a lot of the time, but I’m getting much better. I’ve been accompanying the choir at the high school and spending time with my boyfriend, mostly.”
She shrugged a little.
“Not much, really. At least, it doesn’t sound like much when I put it like that. I must sound very boring.”
***
“Healing’s a pretty big job in itself,” Ash pointed out with an encouraging smile. There it was again, that golden smile. “I don’t blame you for not being able to do much else.”
Again the line shuffled forward.
“Have you been working with any of the healers here? Seems like there are a lot of people who can heal illnesses and injuries.”
***
“Yes,” she said softly. “They’re the reason I’m alive at all. I wouldn’t have survived my injuries without Lissa. But I don’t want to overtax her - I know her healing isn’t always an easy thing on her.”
As long as she would get better, Madge could be patient. And they said that she would now, even though it might be a long road.
“Magical healing is...I never imagined anything like it. That someone could heal you just by touching you.”
***
“Magic is pretty neat that way.” Ash’s smile faded as he felt the ache of wanting - needing - to give in to his own magic. Not the nice, healthy magic he used now to commune with the earth, but the dark blood magic he’d briefly had a taste of.
He pulled himself out of the memory and looked ahead. “Do you know what you’re going to get?”
Somehow, he managed to make the subject change smooth.
***
“The doctor tells me I should eat as much as I can. Since I got here, I haven’t been very hungry. The injuries ruined my appetite, apparently.”
She sighed, and looked at the menu. She still didn’t want much to eat, but she’d force something down because she knew she needed to if she wanted to get back to 100%.
“Chocolate malts are good. I’ll have one of those.” They had lots of calories too. “And a couple cheeseburgers, I guess.” They were really small.
Once they ordered, she looked back at him.
“So, how serious are you and Katniss? Am I going to have to give you the ‘if you hurt my friend’ talk?”
***
Ash had to laugh at that. “I guess it's comforting to know that no matter how screwed up the world is in the future, there are still ‘if you hurt my friend’ talks.”
Because that meant friendship was still a thing.
“But to answer your question, we’re serious enough that I know if I ever hurt her, she'll stick me with so many arrows you can roast me on a spit.”
***
Madge smiled a little. Katniss was, indeed, a far greater threat than she herself would ever or could ever be. But she’d had to throw that in there, for friendship’s sake.
“She’s pretty tough like that,” she agreed. She always had been. You had to be to survive what Katniss is. “But she’s also more sensitive than she lets anyone know.”
***
Ash’s smile softened. “I know.” That juxtaposition of brutal practicality and protective loyalty was one of the things he loved about her.
“Believe me, my intention is to make her happy. She didn't get nearly enough of that back home.”
***
“No, she really didn’t.” Growing up in the Seam had been miserable to start with. Then her father had died, and her mother had lost herself to despair. They’d nearly starved every winter. Then Prim had been reaped, and Katniss had volunteered, and it was just misery for her after that - at least everything that Madge could remember.
“I’d like to have you guys over. The reason I haven’t asked, well...I don’t know if she’s told you, but things are a bit uncomfortable with her and Gale.”
***
“She did, yeah.”
It was a heinous thing that Gale had done, to kill innocent people just to harm his oppressors, but Ash wasn't sure that if push came to shove, he might not have done the same thing. He was extremely good at playing the part of the perfect boyfriend, but there was a darkness in him he knew he'd never be able to shake. Katniss understood that, and she still wanted to be with him.
“I think you'd have to ask her,” he said gently. “I'm happy to have dinner with you guys, but she's the one who's going to have to make the call on it. It's her sister.”
***
“Gale never intended to hurt Prim, you know,” she said, speaking up in his defense. It was easy to judge what he’d done, especially if you hadn’t grown up in Panem. But she had, and she knew how hard it was. Those like Gale, who had grown up less privileged than she was had every right to be furious. He’d wanted to break those who’d broken his family, who’d tried to grind him into the dirt. And in theory at least, she couldn’t blame him.
“Yeah, I should ask her about it. Maybe I will, soon.”
The cashier brought her pizza up from the front, and called her name.
“It was nice seeing you,” she smiled. “Hopefully we’ll see each other again soon.”
***
“Good luck,” Ash said, and he meant it. Katniss could do with more friends, especially those who understood what she'd gone through, but it was entirely her call to not want to be around the guy whose actions had gotten her sister killed. “I'll talk to you later, Madge.”