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

[She starts to assemble ingredients again, lining things up on the counter in front of them.]

Well, of course they would! I mean, music makes people happy, especially when it's beautiful! And your singing is beautiful, so I'm sure it would make people happy.

[To her, it's just as simple as that.]

[Making people happy has never been simple to her. It's always been difficult and never really successful.

Still, Peeta's always enjoyed it when she's sung.]

Maybe.

[A maybe is definitely a start, and enough for Rapunzel to work with.]

We could even sing together, if you want! Singing is something I really enjoy, too.

Do you know a lot of songs?

Well, I don't know too many...usually I just make them up as I go along!

[That was something she never tried. She imagines that it'd be difficult.]

My father taught me most of the ones I know. They're mostly native to my District.

I know a few songs my--mother taught me too...did you sing a lot with him?

[She nods again. Today seems to be a day for discussions about her father. It's unexpected. Perhaps even more unexpected is how, ever so slowly, the topic is becoming less and less uncomfortable.]

Yeah. When we'd go out in the forest together. Sometimes even the birds would stop to listen.

[It helps that Rapunzel is willing to talk and listen about anything. She would have been okay with it if Katniss has switched the subject, too.]

You must have made quite the pair. Do you miss him?

[Of course, she's only thinking in the context of being in Luceti for so long.]

[Does she miss him? For a split second there, she wonders how Rapunzel knows. And then she realizes. She thinks that she left her father behind in Panem upon coming here.

She takes a deep, deep breath. No crying. Not now.]

He died when I was eleven.

Oh--

[She sucks in a breath, realizing she's stumbled upon a difficult subject. She didn't mean to, and she hopes Katniss doesn't think she's prying.]

I'm sorry, Katmiss. I didn't know.

[Of course she didn't. And Katniss can't blame the girl for that. She's anonymous here. Not a tribute, not the Mockingjay. Just another girl, currently in over her head trying to run a bakery.

As much as the memory hurts, the mistake Rapunzel made makes it easier. It's a good reminder of the freedom she has here.]

You didn't. [Her lips press together for a moment.] It's okay.

[Rapunzel isn't sure that something like that was ever really okay, but she understands why Katniss says it. She doesn't want her to worry or feel bad, and she can appreciate that.]

It sounds like he was a wonderful person.

He was. [She smiles a little, even if it's hard. Even if the girl is just being nice, the words are appreciated. So very, very appreciated.] My mother gave up a lot to marry him.

[And was then lost, absolutely lost, when he died. She didn't understand it at the time. Couldn't. Not until that day in Thirteen when she realized how Snow would use Peeta against her. How hard it could be when you lost someone you truly cared about.]

They must have loved each other very much.

[It's something she's never quite had to experience. She knew she had feelings for Eugene--she probably always would, even if she never saw him again. And she missed him everyday. But it doesn't quite seem like what Katniss is describing. That thing that makes people want to be together, no matter what the cost.

But it's very romantic, and Rapunzel loves the idea.]

They did. I think she still does.

[But then again, she's still not entirely certain what love is. Romantic love. It's still a mystery to her. The feelings that you have for someone that surpass friendship, that make them the most important person in the world to you. How do you know? How can you ever be certain?]

[It's still largely a mystery to her. Most of what she has to go off of is based in stories, and she knows those aren't always true to life.]

Do you think you love someone like that?

[She frowns a little at the question. She knows someone loves her like that. That she has no doubt about. The way he tossed her the burnt bread all those years ago, how hard he worked to protect her from the Careers, how he was ready to sacrifice his own life in those second Games. He's said it, too. Even if she hasn't wanted to hear it.

Peeta Mellark loves her. Peeta Mellark would die for her.

And she'd die for him. But does that mean that she loves him? Or is it like Gale said? Her own survival is more important than any capability to love.]

I don't know. [She says the words quietly, not quite meeting Rapunzel's gaze.] Do you?

[She's quiet for a moment as she considers this.]

I don't know, either. It's been a long time.

[She looks up at this, at the implication of her words. This kind of talk is unusual for her. A bit strange but not all together unwelcome.]

Did you have someone back home?

[Her mouth thins.]

That's what I don't know. I had a friend back home named Eugene...and I cared about him a lot. But then I was brought here before I really got to figure out how I felt.

[She listens quietly to Rapunzel. She's lucky, she realizes, to have Peeta here. Even if it means he's at risk of being hurt, even if she doesn't know how she feels about him. He's here and he loves her.]

Did he care about you?

...He did. [He'd never said so, but Rapunzel had a knack for understanding people through their actions. Eugene had risked a lot for her. That meant he had to have cared.]

I've heard he was here before...so maybe it's just a matter of time before he shows up again.

Maybe. [She hopes so. For Rapunzel. Maybe everyone deserves that chance to learn what it's like to love someone. And what it's like to be loved. Especially someone as nice as Rapunzel.] I hope so.

...I hope so, too.

[She just hope she doesn't have to wait and hope forever. Then...things would get harder.

but for now, she's content. So she smiles.]

Thank you, Katniss. It's been good to talk about this.

7th Game [action/voice]

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