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.]
[voice]
[She wasn't dumb. More than that, she knew a thing or two about what it was like to avoid others. And that was exactly what Effie was doing right now. Did she think this gave her any right to enter her room again? Because it didn't. Not in the slightest.
The only other person allowed in there was Prim. No one else.]
And you're not allowed in there, either! Bedrooms are supposed to be private!
[voice]
[Back at the house, maybe. Effie has a surprise for Katniss.]
[voice]
[Because it wasn't okay. Not even in the slightest. She didn't trust the woman. Not after returning from the draft to see her house completely changed. New furniture, different colors. Cleanliness. Makeup and wigs everywhere!
No. She had absolutely no reason to trust Effie Trinket. At least when it came to the house.
Which was exactly where she was heading. Right this very moment.]
[action]
[OOC: Is it okay for Effie to have framed Peeta's portrait and hung it in K's room? If not there can be a different surprise!]
[action]
She flings the door open without much grace and looks around for new unexpected and unwanted changes.]
Effie!?
[ooc: completely okay!]
[action]
[The wig is back on Sharpe's eagle. That can't be a good sign.]
Welcome hoooooooooooooooooome!
[action]
No. The wig didn't belong there at all. But she was, at least, somewhat considerate. And placed the wig carefully on the coffee table instead.]
Where are you?
[action]
[HOW BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL SHE SOUNDS!]
I have a surrrrPRISE!
[action]
From now on, she would have to make certain both she and Prim locked the door even when not inside.
Quickly, she crossed the remaining space to her room. Her eyes went wide when she saw the painting. Peeta's painting. The one he did of her. That she had stashed in the closet after he had left.]
[action]
[There is the slightest lurch of Effie's stomach when she watches Katniss's reaction to the painting. She hadn't realized how much it would mean for the girl to like what she had done. To appreciate it.]
It's YOU, you see? The most wonderful version of you. Better than any of the promotional materials that were scattering about the streets before the Games started.
[No, no -- mentioning the Games was not perhaps the thing to do right now.]
I thought it might............add. Something. To the decor.
[Weak, Effie. Weak weak weak. What she'd meant was I thought it looked wonderful and you deserved to have it hanging on the wall in a beautiful frame. She just wasn't good at being that genuine.]
[action]
And hearing about the Games. Thinking of Peeta. Peeta, who she still missed so, so very much. Still loved even as she desperately tried to move on from him. She wanted to think that he'd be okay with her decisions since. Happy to know that she was enjoying her life, even if it meant being with another boy.
But she didn't know for certain. How could she if he wasn't here?
She barely heard the rest of Effie's explanations, still trapped in her own thoughts. In memories and worries. And then quickly, she rushed over to the painting and started to remove it from the wall.]
[action]
Effie's smile froze on her face. Did Katniss not see how flattering and wonderful this painting was? How it captured all the best things she could be, even better than herself or Cinna or even Haymitch could ever hope to manage?
"Stop!"
[action]
She hated it as much as she loved it.
"It doesn't belong here, Effie. It belongs in the closet."
[action]
Honestly! Katniss probably WISHED she could look as good as that painting! Effie could not understand this. She moved to fix the painting she had so carefully hung from the wall.
"And in this light, it is purely perfect. Stop being difficult."
[action]
"Please, Effie." She doesn't expect the words to come out in a sob. To sound as if she was begging. "I don't want it up here."
[action]
She stares at Katniss for what feels like a full minute. Finally: "Fine. Fine then. We can hang it someplace else."
[action]
And she couldn't afford that. She couldn't really afford that here, either.
But somehow, it seemed to work. And when Effie agreed, Katniss looked surprised. "We can take it down?"
[action]
[action]
"It's going back in the closet," she stated quietly, already walking towards the door.
[action]
And Effie was also walking toward the door. She had every intention of rescuing that painting from the confines of the closet, later. It didn't need to hang in Katniss's room, but it DID have to go somewhere. No closets.
"Enjoy it."