Katniss Everdeen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stillplaying) wrote2013-05-05 07:23 pm
stillplaying) wrote2013-05-05 07:23 pm
13th Game [video]
[There's a bashful look on her face when she opens the journal. It's been a whole day now, a whole day since she returned from her kidnapping. Since she had discovered Prim had arrived in her absence, since she had gotten to once again spend the whole day and night in the company of her sister. It had been amazing. A dream that she had never thought possible. Prim was dead and yet... yet, for whatever reason, she had been brought here.
Perhaps she should have alerted those outside of her household that she had returned. But all she had wanted for that one day was to spend it alongside Prim. To tell her everything that had happened in the months - year - following her death. To tell her about Commander Paylor and the new government of Panem. To tell her of all those she had met here, of Peeta and Richard, Teddy and Sokka and Zevran and Rapunzel. It had been the wee hours of the night by the time she had gone to bed.
But sometime in the mid-morning, she remembers promises she had made. To the man who had helped her in learning how to get her voice back. To the boy who was now suffering from a death penalty of his own. She had promised them both a song. And it seems now like such a small price to pay to gaining not one, but two, important parts of her life back.
She ducks her head for a second, fingers playing with the buttons and beads on the handmade necklace Sokka made her. And then she clears her throat and begins to sing with a voice that, as Peeta once claimed, would silence the birds:]
As I look at the valleys down below
They are green just as far as I can see
As my memories return, oh how my heart did yearn
For you and the days that used to be
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
Well, I wonder if you ever think of me
Or has time erased your memory
As I listen to the breeze whisper gently through the trees
I wonder if you ever think of me
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
High on a mountain top
Thinking about the days that used to be
And I wonder if you ever think of me
[When she's done singing, she smiles sheepishly and shrugs.] I promised a song to a few people. I hope you enjoyed it.
[She opens her mouth a second later to say something more. And then she pauses and, for once, actually takes the time to construct a filter. To make certain that Prim cannot see what follows. Because even though Katniss' own birthday is only a few days away, she's not thinking of that day very much. It pales in comparison to a much more important day approaching at the end of the month.]
Does anyone have much experience throwing birthday parties? My sister - Prim - she's here now. And her birthday's in a few weeks. We could never afford a proper celebration growing up. I'd like to give her that. Give her everything that she couldn't have back home. [She frowns for a moment, brow wrinkling in thought.] I also need to build an addition to my house. Where'd I go about getting the material for that?
[ooc: for those interested in what the song might sound like. though this isn't exactly how i picture katniss' voice. nor does she have musical accompaniment in this post.]
Perhaps she should have alerted those outside of her household that she had returned. But all she had wanted for that one day was to spend it alongside Prim. To tell her everything that had happened in the months - year - following her death. To tell her about Commander Paylor and the new government of Panem. To tell her of all those she had met here, of Peeta and Richard, Teddy and Sokka and Zevran and Rapunzel. It had been the wee hours of the night by the time she had gone to bed.
But sometime in the mid-morning, she remembers promises she had made. To the man who had helped her in learning how to get her voice back. To the boy who was now suffering from a death penalty of his own. She had promised them both a song. And it seems now like such a small price to pay to gaining not one, but two, important parts of her life back.
She ducks her head for a second, fingers playing with the buttons and beads on the handmade necklace Sokka made her. And then she clears her throat and begins to sing with a voice that, as Peeta once claimed, would silence the birds:]
As I look at the valleys down below
They are green just as far as I can see
As my memories return, oh how my heart did yearn
For you and the days that used to be
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
Well, I wonder if you ever think of me
Or has time erased your memory
As I listen to the breeze whisper gently through the trees
I wonder if you ever think of me
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
High on a mountain top, standing all alone
Wondering where the years of my life have flown
High on a mountaintop, wind blowing free
Thinking about the days that used to be
High on a mountain top
Thinking about the days that used to be
And I wonder if you ever think of me
[When she's done singing, she smiles sheepishly and shrugs.] I promised a song to a few people. I hope you enjoyed it.
[She opens her mouth a second later to say something more. And then she pauses and, for once, actually takes the time to construct a filter. To make certain that Prim cannot see what follows. Because even though Katniss' own birthday is only a few days away, she's not thinking of that day very much. It pales in comparison to a much more important day approaching at the end of the month.]
Does anyone have much experience throwing birthday parties? My sister - Prim - she's here now. And her birthday's in a few weeks. We could never afford a proper celebration growing up. I'd like to give her that. Give her everything that she couldn't have back home. [She frowns for a moment, brow wrinkling in thought.] I also need to build an addition to my house. Where'd I go about getting the material for that?
[ooc: for those interested in what the song might sound like. though this isn't exactly how i picture katniss' voice. nor does she have musical accompaniment in this post.]
[Video]
That hadn't been something she really expected when coming up with this idea.
At least she still had a few weeks. That her own birthday was in four days hadn't even registered. So quickly, her world had become about Prim again.]
Slow down! [Because she can't write that fast. Nor can she think that fast. Not about something like this.] Decorations- decorations would be good. But I think dances should be the ones from home. The ones Prim already knows. I can teach you, though.
[And then, at the party, he could help her and Prim teach the others. Much like she and her sister had done at Finnick and Annie's wedding in District 13.]
And you can really do that wind trick with other things, too? What elements?
[Video]
I like that idea. I always like to learn new dances! [And he knows some familiarity would be very helpful for someone so new to Luceti as Prim.]
Well I can also bend water, earth and fire.
[Video]
She jotted down a note about Aang being willing to help with the dancing and then lifted her head back up when he mentioned the bending. Another frown crossed her face, a frown and a haunted look.]
No fire. [Burns all over her body. Becoming a fire mutt. Prim's death. She nearly shuddered.] Fire wouldn't be a very good idea.
[Video]
He remembered the charred skeleton of Gyatso. The burned hands of Katara, mixed with some lingering remnants of guilt and shame. The scar that marked Zuko. And what he had only recently learned about what happened to Katara's mother - as well as that alternate version of Katara who was in Luceti just a few months prior. Through it all was a reminder of Jeong-Jeong's warning. That fire brings nothing but destruction and pain.
Aang is paused for just a moment before he speaks, almost automatically.]
I agree. I wouldn't do any fire unless I was asked specifically about it.
[Because he remembers all that pain, but he's been moving past it since the last leg of the war. The Guru had gotten him to confront that - that as ashamed as he was of accidentally burning Katara, nothing could change the fact that being the Avatar meant that he was a Firebender. And then the Sun Warriors taught him that it was not necessarily a bad thing. Fire could cause destruction, like Jeong-Jeong said, but it was also a symbol of life and the warmth that sustains it. He could bend fire without hurting people.]
[Video]
Living when Prim died.
She took a deep breath and forced aside memories of an explosion. Of a sister becoming a human torch. And she smiled in relief.]
Thank you, Aang.
[Video]
[Video]
Green. [Like the forests she loved so much. It probably wasn't all that surprising.] What about you?
[Video]
That's a good color. Mine I guess would be yellow. Orange is real close. [Air nomad colors, naturally. He brightens up more] Hey, if we put our favorites with Prim's, we'd almost make a rainbow!
[Video]
It didn't hurt as much as it used to. Thinking of him, remembering the times they had spent together. She still missed him more than anything. But she really was starting to move on, wasn't she? Finding other people to take care of here. And finding others to enjoy herself with.]
Peeta liked those colors, too. [She said the words quietly, smile turning a little rueful.] The colors of sunset.
[Video]
But at least he knew there was hope. Just like that Peeta guy wanted - if anything, that there was hope for them in Katniss's world, as messed up as it seemed to be.
Aang tries to keep up his smile and a light tone]
I can't blame him. Sunsets are really great. And they're the colors that're associated with my people, too. [He's not sure how to comfort her - to bring back that smile that was there. But he tries.] I... I bet he'd be glad to see how much you've been smiling lately.
[Video]
[She remembered the primrose bushes he had planted in front of her house a few weeks before she had arrived in Luceti. How he had done so in honor of the sister she had lost. Remembered how important Prim was to her, even with the hijacking still addling his mind.
He'd be so happy for her now, if he knew Prim to be here. Happy to see she was slowly finding a family among people like Richard and Zevran and Teddy. But some of the other things that had made her smile lately? Probably not so much.]
[Video]
That's good. And it's another reason to make sure her party's special. It'll make him happy in spirit!
[Video]
It was probably a good thing that she didn't believe in spirits. Because she was much, much happier not trying to even attempt to figure out how those three could be here.]
Yeah.
[Video]
[Video]
If I think of something, I'll contact you?
[Video]
[Video]
Don't forget about those dance lessons.
[Video]