stillplaying | 2nd Game [action + voice]

[The rain has finally stopped. It comes as such a relief to Katniss, that she slips out of the treehouse village with her bow and arrows and hunting bag so very early in the morning - earlier than she's been awake in days.

It's been a whole day of exploring the woods. Gathering edible plants and resetting snares that were damaged by the storm. And just wandering. Wandering amongst the trees, sometimes climbing up one to get a better look of the area. Here, by the edge of the lake, she feels far enough from the town that she might actually be safe.

Safer, at least, than in those past few days. Maybe she spent too much time in the treehouse after that gathering. Too much time alone with memories and thoughts that made her heartsick. Nightmares that here, something will happen to Rue, something she won't be able to stop - just like she couldn't stop that District 1 boy from spearing her in arena. Lost days that she tried to hide so she wouldn't worry Rue.

But today? Today she almost feels like herself. Especially after a whole morning's and afternoon's worth of hunting and gathering. If you've been in the forest near the western lake today, there's a chance you might have run into her.

Maybe she hasn't been as successful as she's been in the past, but her bag still speaks of some results. A wild turkey she shot early afternoon, herbs and roots gathered not too far from the lake, and a couple of small squirrels from her snares. They weigh her down and she considers returning to the treehouses, but she doesn't want to leave the sanctuary of the forest. Not yet.

A flash of yellow catches her eye and she turns, arrow notched in it's string. And then it meows, indignant, and her arrow flies to land in the dirt right next to the beast.

She stares. And scowls.

A while later, she's back in her treehouse room and glaring at the stupid creature that followed her home. Of everyone to find here from District 12, of course it has to be Buttercup.

She reaches for the journal to ask a question.]

Has anyone else here found a pet from home?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't even know how I got here.

No one does. But I meant the pets can't be coincidence.

[Like in the arena. Nothing was coincidence then.]

What do they think they can accomplish? Make us happy? Make us forget where we are?

I don't know. Pets usually do make people happy, though.

It's not going to work.

They don't make you happy?

That's not the point.

[She's not going to become complacent. She won't be a pawn.]

There's no point making yourself unhappy.

There's no point in being too happy, either. That'll make it too easy for them.

[...] Easy for who?

The Gamema- [And then she remembers what they're called here.] Malnosso.

["Gamemasters" is probably what she was going to say, right?]

We're not in a game.

They experiment on us, don't they? Keep us trapped here?

Sounds like Gamemakers to me.

[well, he was off by a syllable. Still close.]

Only if you think that way.

[How can she not? After everything she's been through. Used first as entertainment for the Capitol, not once but twice. And then used (however willingly) as a symbol for the uprisings.

But she doesn't know how to say that aloud.]

I do.

They don't, though.

[....] We're living here. It's not perfect, but there's no point in not trying to be happy.

[She disagrees. Survival still comes first. Even before happiness.]

What do they think?

The Malnosso? No one knows for sure.

[Even the Gamemakers communicated with them. Announcements in the arena. Projections in the sky at night of who had died during the day.]

Don't they talk to us?

Sometimes. But it's not always helpful. Or truthful.

[Course not. If they're that cruel or that selfish, well. Why would they?]

What do they say?

Mostly trying to convince us to work for them.

Why would anyone do that?

For the reward, I guess.

What reward?

(no subject)

emp3thy - 2012-04-15 18:18 (UTC) - Expand

stillplaying - 2012-04-16 23:15 (UTC) - Expand

emp3thy - 2012-04-17 03:28 (UTC) - Expand

stillplaying - 2012-04-17 17:00 (UTC) - Expand

emp3thy - 2012-04-17 18:23 (UTC) - Expand