stillplaying | 7th Game [action/voice]

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7th Game [action/voice]

[Action]

[The bakery is a mess. She never meant for it to end up that way. It just sort of happened. Flour covering hair and body, the smell of something burning from the kitchen, flecks of pink frosting teasing her cheeks. Peeta's normally presentable window displays are less than ideal; a poor attempt at recreating the alluring cakes that always caught her attention back in District Twelve. The frosting's melted from the summer heat on one that's sat out since Friday. Another is poorly covered with a grey color -- an attempt at mixing food dyes gone horribly wrong.

Ingredients for various baked goods have somehow escaped the kitchen, piled up on the counters, half covering the note cards Peeta had left for her. Cookbooks borrowed from the library lie open elsewhere, pages now far from pristine. Half baked pretzels stock the shelves along with burnt chocolate chip cookies. Deformed cheese breads and crumbled brownie bites still in their trays sit nearby. Even Buttercup, easily pleased by any free food, ignores the easy pickings.

She tried. She had tried so hard. Peeta had left her recipes. Had tried to teach her how to bake on lazy days when she was more content to spend time with him in the bakery than go about her own thing. It seems that every lesson has been forgotten. Any skill she might have had in the kitchen, utterly gone.

The rain pours outside as she plucks at the rock hard shortbread cookies she's recently retrieved from the oven, trying her best to peel them from the tray. It's a halfhearted effort as she leans her head against her hand and stares out the window. She'd rather be hunting. But it's been raining ever since Peeta left for his mission, raining so hard, all she's been able to do is check a couple of the traps in the river behind their house. And she had promised, hadn't she? Promised she'd look after the bakery?

Look how miserably she failed, the worry making it hard to breathe, harder to concentrate. Shouldn't he be back by now? Shouldn't he?

Every few minutes, she checks the journal for signs of life. Ignores Buttercup begging for real food. Glances at the door to see if Peeta's finally return. No luck. No luck at all. He's supposed to be back today. Why isn't he back yet?]

[Voice]

Why do you bother? [The words aren't meant to be recorded in the journal, but they are, anyway. It barely processes to Katniss that she's left it laying open, close enough to pick up any mutterings.] Going on these missions? Being a piece in their games?

It's stupid. This is all stupid.

[ooc: timed to after mission is over, when people start arriving home. but if you want to tag during -- feel free to have katniss in the bakery making a mess from friday on!

also, edit for warning of sexual content in the Peeta thread.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Having just come from a mission, Sokka has quite the opinion on this. One he can't really share in public like this, but one he can partially voice.]

Because it's better than doing nothing. And because you have to play the game to win. Even if they're the ones making the rules.

[Maybe he's right in that respect. A little. She had to play the game to win. Both times. Though it was never exactly by the rules. Not at all.]

Do you follow them? [A pause before she adds in:] The rules?

Of course I follow the rules. Every single one of them. Like the "don't talk about the rules where anyone can hear" rule. That's a big one that I follow. Kind of a favorite, actually.

[She rolls her eyes a little at that. Not that he can see it. Not that she cares if he can see it.

Maybe he hasn't played any games before. Not like her games anyway. Still:]

I doubt that's one of theirs.

Well, we have our own rules too.

Those weren't the rules I was talking about.

Well I generally follow their rules too. yeah.

[If she had followed the Gamemakers' rules, Peeta would be dead right now. If she had followed Coin's, the president of District Thirteen would be president of all Panem.

Life would be... very different. Maybe it's a good thing she's never been good at following the rules.

Genuinely curious,] Why?

That depends. Do you want the quick reasons or the good ones?

[When it comes down to it, there's things he doesn't intend to talk about here.]

The good ones.

[Even if it means waiting for later. She's too curious, determined to understand. It'd be worth a wait. At least, she hopes.]

Gotcha. So. Anywhere you like to hang out?

I spend a lot of time in the woods.

[Not so much hanging out as hunting, though. Hanging out is... not something Katniss has ever been very good at.]

I've been known to do that. How about Watch Station A?

[That being the nearest new feather station to the village. A nice and remote meeting point.]

[She's never been inside but she's passed by it enough to know where it is. She can find it without a doubt.

But she's not leaving now. Not until she knows Peeta's back. Alive and in one piece.]

Tomorrow?

Tomorrow. I'll be there in the morning.

[True to his word, Sokka heads there after his morning practice. Still in his training clothes, he hangs out outside the New Feather station, idly flipping through a notebook filled with strange diagrams for alchemy.]

[She's usually better than this. Better at keeping her word and arriving at places when she says she would. But today's an exception. She never meant it to be. She'd scold Peeta when he arrived at the bakery, they'd go home and crawl into bed and sleep. And then she'd wake in the morning to hunt, and to meet Sokka by the Watch Station.

Except she kissed him. Kissed Peeta and kissed him again and again, until the kisses led to much, much more. She doesn't wake up early this morning. And when she does awake, she's loathe to get out of bed. To leave his side.

It's an unusual feeling for her. To maybe actually be in love with someone.

But, eventually, she does remember her discussion with Sokka. It's some time in the afternoon, while Peeta's in the shower, before Cato announces anything on the journals. She doesn't want to leave the warmth and safety of the house though. For once, traps and hunting can wait a day.

She does scribble a note in the journal, though. A reply to his comment from the other day.]

Something came up. Tomorrow? Will be there.

[After hanging around for about five or ten minutes and seeing no sign of her, Sokka pops open the journal to get an idea of what's going on and--

Oh. Well that's nice. He sighs and scribbles in a reply:]

Tomorrow.

[He complains about it a bit, but ultimately he gets over it and gets on with his day.

But tomorrow, before their scheduled meeting he'll make sure to write a message before taking a detour to the woods.]

Will you make it?

[The next morning, she's still reluctant to get out of bed. To leave Peeta's side. But she doesn't try to fight the sun this time. Doesn't fight against her normal routine. Today is a hunting day. The honeymoon is over.

She places a light kiss on Peeta's lip before slipping out of bed, showering, dressing. She checks on the condition of her arrows and restrings her bow, determined to make up for the lack of work yesterday. It's only last minute does she think of checking the journal - making certain Cato hasn't announced anything else - and sees his message. She scribbles one back:]

I'll make it.

[True to her word this time, she's at the station when she said she'd be. Earlier in fact. She leans against the building, fingers running against the fletching of an arrow as she waits. She looks up every now and then, not one to be taken by surprise.]

[Well she'll be the first, then. Skeptical, a bit, Sokka arrives a little later. And unlike yesterday, he has an inkling of why she's late. A certain message from a certain Cato fellow had tipped him off on what a Miss Everdeen had been up to.

He couldn't begrudge her for not wanting to ruin the moment. Even if some jerk had went and ruined it for them. He still remembered how it was with him and Suki.

Either way, he doesn't look annoyed when he showed up. Just typical sarcastic.]

Nice of you to decide to show up this time.

[The arrow is placed back in the quiver when she sees the boy come closer. There's no hint of annoyance on his face, not that she would have cared much either way. Still, it's easier. Especially after dealing with Cato.

Knowing Cato's message though, and just how public it was, makes her blush when Sokka speaks. Did he see it? Probably. It was hard to miss, wasn't it? She ducks her head and tries her best to forget everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours. Otherwise, she might never make it through this conversation.]

Something came up yesterday.

Yeah, I uhh. Heard.

[Yeah. Awkward. He could tease her about it, but that's not what they're really here for, is it? So he settles for a simple:]

Congrats. Cinna's a nice guy. Really handy with makeup too. In a very manly way, though! Like, you know, I bet he'd be great with warrior paint.

[Unfortunately Sokka only knew him through the mission.]

Cinna?

[She's almost thankful to hear that name. Almost. It gives her a chance to forget everything else. Forget that he heard, for that stupid, stupid congratulations. Forget how much she still so desperately needed to harm Cato in revenge for what he did.

Her head snaps up and she's almost primed to strike Sokka instead. There's a threatening look in her eyes. The kind that promises retribution if her answers were not met. Forget that the context in which the name was used was completely and utterly wrong.

Distracted with events, Peeta never mentioned the fake name he used on the mission.]

Cinna's here? But... it's not time yet, is it? For the newcomers to arrive?

[It occurred to him he didn't pay attention to the names in that conversation. He just recognized... Cinna. That was all.]

I... but. Isn't Cinna the guy that, you know, you hooked up with?

No.

[She says the word quietly as pieces start to click together. She doesn't full understand, not yet. But for some reason, the boy thinks that Peeta's Cinna. Even though he isn't. Could never be. And the thought of... of doing that with Cinna is just...

...just...

...disgusting.

She shakes her head, frowning.] No. Peeta... Peeta's my... [Boyfriend. It would be so easy to say the word. And yet she stumbles.] That's Peeta. The boy in the bakery.

Where did you hear that name? Cinna?

It was the name he used at the Keep. We all had to use aliases, so... [A beat.] Yeah, I'm an idiot.

[He sighs.]

Mutual friend from back home, huh?

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voice > action?

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