Mel Fray / in the rafters

[slayer_fray]

Mel is dangling from the underside of one of the rafters, holding a knife between her teeth. Which she occasionally takes out, to rub at the wood, during which time she jams a steel wire sponge into her pocket.

If you happen to be close, you might hear her muttering.

"When was the last time anyone tried to clean this, goddamn dried on... is that

Comments

[onabirdswing]

"What are you doing up there?"

The question comes from a small girl standing below Mel and looking up at her curiously.

[slayer_fray]

Mel looks down - the angle she needs to do so to see the girl talking to her bends her backs and upside down, but she doesn't seem in any risk of falling.

"Cleaning."

[onabirdswing]

Color Rue impressed. "Did you climb up there?" she asks, quickly looking around for footholds of any kind.

It also keeps her mind off of just what could be up in the rafters that would need cleaning, or could be being cleaned off.

[slayer_fray]

"No," Mel says cheerfully. "I jumped. You need a hand up?"

[onabirdswing]

"Please?" She can't see any other conceivable way up to the rafters. And climbing up there would be wholly unlike climbing up into one of the trees of the orchards in District 11.

But the thought of being up high again excites her more than anything has in a long time.

[slayer_fray]

"Get on the table then."

Seriously, the rafters are high.

Mel sticks the knife in her belt - through her pants, and drops down, so the rafters are between her ankles and her arms drop down.

Rue is just going to have to trust her.

[onabirdswing]

Nodding, Rue does as she's told.

She trusts Mel, like she trusted Katniss back in the Games. True, the situations are completely different. And Mel is a completely stranger, unlike Katniss who Rue knew at least a little about going into the Games. But still, Rue trusts her anyway.

When Mel drops down from the rafters Rue reaches her own arms up, either to grab or be grabbed.

[slayer_fray]

Mel grabs her, above the elbows to avoid pulling wrists and elbows and swings her upwards in one rolling arc. At one point, her nakles let go of the rafter before her feet find the top, and she sets Rue down in front of her.

"There."

[onabirdswing]

It happens so quickly, Rue doesn't have time to catch her breath. One moment she's standing on the table and the next she's up.

The view from the rafters isn't the same from the view from the orchard trees in Eleven; there's no outdoor pub, after all. But the perspective is familiar.

Rue looks over at Mel and beams. "Thanks!"

[slayer_fray]

"No problem," Mel says, now sitting cross-legged on the rafter, watching her in the poor light up here.

"You like heights?"

Duh.

[onabirdswing]

The smaller girl nods. "I had to do a lot of climbing trees for work back home," she answers "although I don't think any trees were as high up as this."

It's getting easier to think or speak about District 11 without hesitating or getting choked up, Rue notices. She hopes it means that she's adjusting to being here.

[slayer_fray]

Some of the ones outside are," Mel says. "I bet you could climb them. Not the Willow."

[onabirdswing]

"What's wrong with the Willow?"

[slayer_fray]

"It whomps."

Mel is unhelpful.

[onabirdswing]

Very unhelpful.

"Like...it hits you?"

[slayer_fray]

"Yeah," Mel clarifies. "Hits hard, and hits a lot. I go out there when I need a serious work out."