itwillbeokay | (no subject)

It'd been inevitable really. The school was in decoration mode for Easter, and it got Clementine thinking about egg coloring. It'd always been something she'd do with her mom around the holiday, and it was something she'd like to do here, too. So she asked Andrea, and she'd been fine with the idea - even helped her pick out the coloring kit and buy and prepare the eggs. She thought it might be nice if Spike could help too, since he was there a whole lot. Andrea had invited him, so she made sure to do all her homework early so they could color eggs a little later. That's when he could visit.

They were almost all set up by the time he showed up. She sat at the table as she dissolved the blue tablet into the liquid they poured carefully into the cups the kit provided. Andrea just had to get the hard boiled eggs out of the fridge.

"Have you ever colored eggs?" she asked Spike, curiously. She knew he was her age a long time ago, so maybe he hadn't. If he never did, she hoped he'd have a lot of fun making these too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

bloodyanimal

He'd officially gone soft.

Sure, he'd done his share of playing boardgames and gossiping about boys with the Lil Bit, while her sister was six feet under, but never egg dyeing. Something about all the religious imagery, sunshine and chocolate crosses put him off the holiday, but Clem had asked, and so he'd come, package of blue marshmallow Peeps in hand.

He'd gone soft. A long bloody time ago, if he was honest.

"I don't remember, love. If I ever did, it was a long time ago."

From:

uncannyaim

Andrea was trying her best not to laugh. In all the time she and Spike had been together, he'd done more than prove she could trust him to take care of Clementine if need be, but she had still never expected him to come over to dye Easter eggs with the two of them. It was sweet, but it was also sort of funny and as she passed by Spike to get to the fridge, she squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"I haven't done it in years either," she admitted, getting the eggs out and returning to the table with them before she slipped into her chair. "So long, in fact, that I forgot to buy marshmallow chicks, so it's a good thing someone else remembered."

From:

itwillbeokay

She hadn't had Peeps in a long time. He even brought the ones that looked like little birds, which she liked more than the rabbits.

"We had a big hunt every year," she said, though not really in any sad or wistful way. There were good memories of her family she liked having, and this was one of them. Making a good memory with Andrea and Spike was nice, too. She was glad he decided to help, since she knew Andrea liked him a lot. Anyone she liked Clem liked too automatically. Looking up at Spike, then at Andrea, she asked, "Can I have a Peep?"

It was considered late for sugar, she knew that, but maybe she could at least have just one.

From:

bloodyanimal

"Knock yourself out, Nibblet," he said, pushing the package toward her and dunking an egg into a cup of blue dye with an almost comical look of concentration. Even hard boiled, the eggs were fragile, and pairing fragility with super strength often had unwanted consequences.

From:

uncannyaim

"Don't eat them all or you'll be up all night, bouncing off the walls," Andrea added, but it was sort of hard to say no to Clementine whenever they were doing something this normal, something this far removed from what they'd both lived with for so long. "And then Spike will have to stay up with you all night and keep you entertained."

From:

itwillbeokay

She took one out of the package carefully, even though she'd been tempted to take two. Andrea had said not to eat too much, so she wouldn't. After finishing it off, she picked up one of the metal dipping devices and put an egg on it.

"I think staying up would be fun," she admitted with a quiet giggle, her face having a similar look of concentration as she dipped it into the red dye. She liked making hers multi-colored, so she was only dipping the tip in at first.

From:

bloodyanimal

"Well, technically, I sleep during the day, love. She wouldn't be keeping me up," he said, smirking as he popped one of the Peeps into his mouth whole.

He didn't make a habit of putting his foot into how Andrea raised the girl. That didn't mean, however, that he couldn't tease them both a bit.

From:

uncannyaim

"Oh, yeah?" Andrea asked, looking over at Spike in amusement before she reached over for one of the marshmallows herself. "I think that sounds like permission, Clem, so any time you want to stay up all night with Spike, you should just ask him."

She paused, then added, "As long as he doesn't take you on patrols."

From:

itwillbeokay

"You go after bad people on patrols, right?" she asked. It was one of those things she just assumed instead of asking much about. She felt safe knowing someone might be keeping an eye out - especially with the things that happened in the past here.

She dipped the other end of the egg in yellow. Once it dried, this one would be one she'd put stickers on.

From:

bloodyanimal

"Bad, but not always people," he said, lips pursed in concentration as he carefully lifted his egg from the dye for a peek: It was an odd, mottled violet color and he dropped it back into the dye to cure a bit longer.

From:

uncannyaim

"And we need to make sure you can take care of yourself before we start taking you out hunting," Andrea added, although she had no intention of taking Clementine with them. Lately, though, she'd been thinking a lot about how well Carl had known his way around a gun and that she should probably teach Clementine, too. Especially with all the firearms she kept.

"But we'll get there," she promised, grinning a little. "Spike's a good teacher."

From:

itwillbeokay

Clementine had never really considered learning to do the kind of things Andrea could do. Even when she'd protected herself when she was with Jesse, it had been more of a lucky accident than anything else. But considering all the scary things that had happened besides that, maybe it was a good idea.

She didn't know what she'd do if it was up to her to protect someone she cared about. She put one egg aside and took another before she spoke.

"I'd like to learn one day," she said, though even as she did she didn't sound entirely sure. She remembered watching as the people around her got all the walkers and kept her safe - the noise they made - and it'd been pretty scary. But they all did it even though they were probably scared, so why shouldn't she?

From:

bloodyanimal

"No need to rush into it, pet," he said, offering Andrea a faint smile over the top of Clementine's head.

Removing his egg from the dye, he muttered, "Bloody hell," at the utter disaster it turned out to be.

From:

uncannyaim

"We'll figure it out," Andrea agreed, but she was thinking about it now. The gun club probably wouldn't let her teach Clementine, but that didn't mean she couldn't take her out to do some target practice outside of the city. It would be good for her to know how to safely handle a weapon and Andrea made a mental note to talk about it more with Clementine later, letting out a snort of laughter at Spike's reaction to his egg.

"It's not that bad," she offered, even though she was still laughing. "Right, Clem?"

From:

itwillbeokay

That was enough for her for now, and she nodded her head to show she understood. Besides, Spike's reaction to egg coloring pulled her attention away from any of the thoughts in her head about less happy things. In her defense, Clementine tried to hide her giggling, just because she knew Spike was trying really hard to make a nice one. She wouldn't want anyone laughing at hers if it came out bad, after all.

"There's stickers if you want to put them on it," she offered. Maybe he could hide the coloring with them if he really didn't like how it came out.

From:

bloodyanimal

"Oi, now why would I want to mess with perfection?" he said, playfully affronted, "I'm insulted you'd even suggest such a thing."

Turning the egg to show off its very ugliest side, he smirked and said, "That egg, there? Deserves a place of honor, it does."

From:

uncannyaim

"We should have built a stand for it," Andrea agreed with a laugh. "Found it a place on the mantle, right? Unless, of course, Clementine makes one that's nicer..." She trailed off with a teasing grin. "But it would be hard to top that."

From:

itwillbeokay

"It would be," she agreed, still smiling. For what it was worth, she liked all the eggs they were making. The point of doing it really wasn't to make nice looking ones as long as they were having fun. "Maybe I can make one once we're done. We do lots of crafts in school like that!"