Katniss Everdeen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stillplaying) wrote2012-05-08 11:11 pm
stillplaying) wrote2012-05-08 11:11 pm
4th Game [action]
[Today is a day that Katniss Everdeen never should have lived to see. Today - give or take the few days difference between Luceti's calender and Panem's - is the day she turns eighteen.
Life in the Seam. Two arenas. An uprising. Becoming the Mockingjay. Acting as assassin. Her own attempts at suicide. The bombs that took the wrong life.
The odds were never in her favor. Today was a day she never should have lived to see.
It's like any other day. She wakes up in her bed, shaking and sweating from a nightmare that lingers in the back of her mind. Watching Prim die again and again. Being physically incapable of rescuing her sister each and every time. And then panicking when she wakes up in a still unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed.
Peeta had won. Maybe she hadn't fought this argument hard enough. But earlier this week, they packed up their treehouse shelter and moved into town. To house 43. Where Peeta's leg won't make it difficult for him to travel to town or climb up ladders. Where they live close to a bakery he could work at. Where Rue could more easily attend school.
Where she could wander around the village for the rest of the day, trying to forget every little event that led to today even as she reminds herself of all the deaths that led to her being able to turn eighteen. She carries her bow and arrow, but she has no intention to hunt. Today is an amnesty. Even if she never considered the game killed for food a part of her death toll, she can't bring herself to kill anything.
Instead, she explores the town in a way she's never bothered to before. She spends time inspecting the river and parts of the north eastern woods not too far from the house. Studying the other buildings. Going in and out of shops. She goes to the bakery and the library. Returns to the welcome center and the clothing store. Even steps into the Seventh Heaven restaurant to look but not eat. She has no appetite.
Her final stop of the day, before heading back to her new home, is at the item shop. It's easy to lose herself inside of there. To examine strange objects from other worlds that she's never seen before. And then to find something unexpected: her father's plant book.
As she flips through it, each page earning a careful caress as she studies her father's handwriting. And wonders what he would think if he were here in Luceti with her today. Would he be proud? Or would he be disappointed, loathe the girl she grew up to be?
She clutches the book to her chest before heading out and quietly whispers:] Happy birthday, Katniss Everdeen.
Life in the Seam. Two arenas. An uprising. Becoming the Mockingjay. Acting as assassin. Her own attempts at suicide. The bombs that took the wrong life.
The odds were never in her favor. Today was a day she never should have lived to see.
It's like any other day. She wakes up in her bed, shaking and sweating from a nightmare that lingers in the back of her mind. Watching Prim die again and again. Being physically incapable of rescuing her sister each and every time. And then panicking when she wakes up in a still unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed.
Peeta had won. Maybe she hadn't fought this argument hard enough. But earlier this week, they packed up their treehouse shelter and moved into town. To house 43. Where Peeta's leg won't make it difficult for him to travel to town or climb up ladders. Where they live close to a bakery he could work at. Where Rue could more easily attend school.
Where she could wander around the village for the rest of the day, trying to forget every little event that led to today even as she reminds herself of all the deaths that led to her being able to turn eighteen. She carries her bow and arrow, but she has no intention to hunt. Today is an amnesty. Even if she never considered the game killed for food a part of her death toll, she can't bring herself to kill anything.
Instead, she explores the town in a way she's never bothered to before. She spends time inspecting the river and parts of the north eastern woods not too far from the house. Studying the other buildings. Going in and out of shops. She goes to the bakery and the library. Returns to the welcome center and the clothing store. Even steps into the Seventh Heaven restaurant to look but not eat. She has no appetite.
Her final stop of the day, before heading back to her new home, is at the item shop. It's easy to lose herself inside of there. To examine strange objects from other worlds that she's never seen before. And then to find something unexpected: her father's plant book.
As she flips through it, each page earning a careful caress as she studies her father's handwriting. And wonders what he would think if he were here in Luceti with her today. Would he be proud? Or would he be disappointed, loathe the girl she grew up to be?
She clutches the book to her chest before heading out and quietly whispers:] Happy birthday, Katniss Everdeen.
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There's more she needs to say but right now, she needs to calm herself first. His comment on the cake is a good start. Shoulders shrug slightly, wings flutter against his chest.] Rue'll like it.
[Just like Prim would've.]
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He's definitely sleeping here tonight.]
Yeah, she will. But it's not her birthday.
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Both dead. And her, still alive. Eighteen, now.]
I'm eighteen. [She shakes her head, almost disbelieving. When did this happen? How did this happen? She doesn't get it.] I should be dead, Peeta.
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She falls quiet again, leaning against his chest, just staring at the painted wall in front of her.]
There was an uprising. [Her voice is quiet. Words matter-of-fact.] We never finished the Quarter Quell.
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[Beetee did, too, didn't he? Even poor Wiress and the morphlings. She doesn't know for certain. Now, she doesn't really care.
Her voice remains monotonous.]
Panem's... rebels were working with District Thirteen. The Capitol lied to us. It hadn't been destroyed. It just went underground.
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There aren't any more Games.
[Won't be, anyway. Not after the final one. The 76th. The one that'll be with the children of the Capitol.]