16th Game [video]

[stillplaying]

[She's spent the last week hiding. Skipped guitar lessons with Teddy and archery lessons with Henry, barely showed her face in public. Most of her time was spent in the far reaches of the woods away from any areas she knew Sokka might hunt. When she could bother going on her forays. But in the past week, they hadn't felt quite the same. She hadn't been able to lose herself in the hunt as she normally did. Not when there was a fear in her belly that she might see him.

At least Gale had been smart. He'd put that space between them by moving to District 4. This town was too small. It lacked that space she had had in Panem. And because they had been so damn open about their relationship at Prim's party... People knew. So many people knew.

If there was one thing that Katniss couldn't stand, it was humiliation. She didn't want to see their pitying looks. Hear their echoed apologies. She had already had to go through that once. When she had lost Peeta, when her heart had truly broken. This? This didn't hurt as much. No, it was the mortification and the self-disgust that really bothered her now. At least she hadn't been so stupid as letting herself fall in love. But if it had gone on longer? If he hadn't had his death penalty removed, would she have?

Better to have them all hate her, despise her, than pity her. At least that she knew how to deal with, felt as if she could accept. Because they'd be right not to like her. All of them would be right. This likable girl her friends thought she was? That was a lie, only a part of whatever charisma it was she held over others. And today? Today seemed like the perfect day to do just that.

Effie's last post remained fresh in her mind as she turned on the video recorder in the journal. Her hair was neatly braided in its custom side braid. The mockingjay pin pinned high on the chest of one of her nicer blouses, displayed where everyone could see it. She stared resolutely at the camera for a minute before she nodded.]

Today, back in my home of Panem, would have been the first time in seventy-six years that a reaping of contestants for the annual Hunger Games would not have occurred. As many of you know by now, every year, on this day, the names of two children from each district - a boy and a girl between the years of twelve to eighteen years of age - would be selected to fight to the death in an arena days later. The Hunger Games served as entertainment to those who lived in the Capitol. People like Effie Trinket who didn't know better. An honor to those in the richer Districts, the ones favored by the Capitol. For the rest of us, it was a punishment, a reminder of the cost that came with rising up against our government.

[She took a deep breath, lips pursed together for a quick second as she remembered. She spoke without thinking. Determined, she only realized later, to take the heat off of Effie for her suggestion of games here in Luceti. Her mockingjay wings twitched behind her. But once she started speaking again, the words tumbled out. She held her gaze steady, grey eyes showing all the emotion her stoic expression hid.]

Many of you were angry when Effie suggested the idea of gladiatorial-like games here in our prison. But Effie was only acting like everyone else here, trying to make the best out of a horrible situation. Looking for something that would make her feel more at home. Just like the rest of us. You have no right, no right at all, to judge her for that. You don't know our world. You don't know what it could be like.

The 75th Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell, were the last official games held by President Snow and the Gamemakers. But they weren't the last Hunger Games. Because after the second uprising ended, after we won, the surviving victors of previous Games met. There were only seven of us left. Me and Peeta. Our mentor, Haymitch. Johanna, Enobaria, Beetee, Annie. We were given a choice by President Coin - the new leader of Panem, the leader I executed in revenge for my sister's death. One last Hunger Games, this one played by twenty four children directly related to those who held the most power in Panem.

I think the way the vote fell was obvious. Peeta and Beetee and Annie voted no. The better of us. Johanna and Enobaria voted yes. And Haymitch and I? We had the last votes. But he's as unlikable, as bitter as I am. I suspected how he'd vote. And I voted to kill those Capitol children anyway.

I am not a good person. Maybe... maybe I thought I could change. Maybe I thought I could put all this behind me. The Captiol, the Hunger Games, Peeta... But girls like me don't deserve to be happy. They don't deserved to be liked. Or loved.

So do yourselves all a favor and think before you make a judgement about someone. Because as wrong as you are about Effie? You're just as wrong about me.

Comments

[Video] [Locked 90% to Katniss]

[asthehawkflies]

[Now that's something to think about. But in the end, would he have done anything differently? Probably not.]

When I was seventeen, I murdered a man. Not to survive, not to protect someone, not because I was hurt and scared. Certainly not to change the world.

I did it because I got paid.

And maybe I don't deserve to be happy either. I have killed so many people for the highest bidder. But guess what? The world doesn't care what you deserve. So you seize what you can.

And people change. But it doesn't happen if no-one speaks up to spark that change.

[Video] [Locked 90% to Clint]

[stillplaying]

[She had expected responses to this. Maybe nearly as many as Effie had gotten to her own post about games. But, like with Effie, she expected the majority of the responses to be negative. Clint had been furious with her. So much so that Katniss had actually been worried for the other woman when she had agreed to meet Clint in person.

She would have expected him to be angry with her, too. At least Effie had only proposed gladiatorial games. Katniss had cast a vote knowing full well the consequences. Maybe others would have phrased it differently. Maybe they would have mentioned how the Districts were out for blood. How, in a strange way, this last Hunger Games prevented further bloodshed and war.

But that would only make her image look a little less tarnished.

She listened carefully to Clint's words, frown deepening just a little.] You were an assassin?

[Voice]

[rashness]

[Wow no that's unforgivable? Horrifying, even? This is Silver's shit about how you have to kill people (or Clove's, or others he's heard) but times a million. Voting a bunch of kids to their death? But the weird thing is that it's an admission and the weirder thing is that this is some girl he was over at the house of a few months ago and whose sister he works with now.

And that's when it hits him - why is she saying this? And what's more, why is he hearing it? He doesn't know her at all, really. And then he looks around the entry, getting more pissed off as he goes (and has to listen to it on repeat a few more times) as he tries to find a filter or something. But ultimately, he doesn't find a filter. And even if the actions she's describing are horrible, something else pisses him off more in the immediate moment:]

What the hell're you doing?! Are you trying to cause problems for your sister or somethin'?!

[He knows he's no one to talk, with that Satan admission he made so long ago. But that, at least, was only to people it would matter to. Only his personal business.]

[Video]

[stillplaying]

[It was the picture on the screen she recognizes more than the voice itself. She hadn't really talked to this boy since Prim's birthday. More often than not, her trips to Seventh Heaven were timed with Prim's work hours. Not just so she could continue to keep an eye on the other girl but because it made her happy to see her sister live such a normal life. Working because she enjoyed it.

Regardless of the person speaking, this was the sort of reaction she had expected. Not calm and almost thought-provoking like Clint's. No, this was the anger, the disgust she wanted. That she never seemed to garner back home, even after killing President Coin. That she should have earned.

But the moment he mentioned Prim, she felt something inside of her snap. All she had ever done, since the day she had volunteered to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games, was cause more and more problems for her sister. She didn't need the reminder.]

Being- [Said behind gritted teeth.] -honest.

[greenjacketed]

It had been a week since Katniss had thrust his buttons back into his hands. A week since she'd drawn back into herself in a way Sharpe had never quite known -- for the last time she'd lost someone, regardless of how, had been before he knew her. And for that whole week, he hadn't dared to mend his empty jacket. The silver buttons stood on the stand next to his bed -- some of them regimental, and some of them spares he'd picked up in a small shop in Lisbon.

And in that week, he'd done little but brood all on his own. Wondering if, perhaps, he ought to have spoken up. Perhaps he should have played the villain and split the pair up long before this could have happened. Bugger it, he was not cut out to play the patriarch. He was good for a small scope of things: killing and leading men to the fight and bowling fiendish at cricket. But this strange pseudo-fatherhood? Maybe it wasn't for him. Maybe both the lasses would be better of if he'd left. Maybe Effie, too, now that he thought about their strange meeting in the barracks.

But after a few days of thinking thusly, and when confronted with his dreary self-pity, Sharpe did his best to shake it off. He was not that sort of man, he told himself, and on a balmy Tuesday night he took to the front porch with his jacket and his buttons and a scrap of thread. A thick needle. With these tools, he would build himself back up from the depths of his own criticism. For when a man questioned himself...

"And here's to good health to the 95th Rifles,
the first in the field and the last from the fray,
when Bonaparte's armies are banished and beaten,
they'll talk of the 95th winning the--

oh, shite." His song was interrupted by a string of curses as he pricked his thumb. A dark blossom of blood coloured his skin, and he instinctively sucked on the small wound -- thinking, again, to what had happened with Effie a day earlier. And as he scowled at his bleeding hand, he heard a familiar voice shoot forth from his open journal. Aha. He listened -- stoically -- before deciding it was high time he went inside.

With a groan, he tossed his half-finished jacket over his arm and meandered his way back into the house -- looking for a scrap of rag to clean his cut and wondering whether he might capture a glimpse of Katniss now that she'd come out of hiding.

[stillplaying]

With the extra wing to the house not yet finished, there really weren't many places Katniss could hide. The couch had become her bed, her room one shared jointly now with Prim. She had made that announcement from the bedroom. There was some sort of sanctuary within there, one she refused to let be tarnished by the one time she and Sokka had had sex in there. The bed smelled like her sister. The mural on the walls a warm reminder of both Peeta and the forests of her home that she loved so much.

She sat on the bed, back propped up by pillows, as she stared at some of the responses on the journal. Some she had already responded to - got into heated arguments, reluctantly wound up searching her soul for some understanding of her own. Of how she could relate to some of the stories shared. How she could manage with some of the losses she had now forced.

When Richard walked in, she looked up. Stared at him, bracing herself for a verbal lashing. Because there was no way he could care for her now, let alone even like her. He'd be moving out now, wouldn't he? Wanting absolutely nothing to do with Katniss Everdeen or any part of her screwed up life. He'd leave her now rather than... than sometime in the future when he got sent home. And... and it'd be better.

It'd be so much better to... to lose him.

Tears pricked her eyes for the first time since Sokka broke up with her. Letting the journal fall down on the bed beside her, she curled her knees up to her chest and finally started to sob. She'd lose Richard. She'd lose Richard just like she lost her father once. Not to death, but to something far, far worse.

Because of something she caused.

[voice] [Locked 25%]

[theboywiththebook]

[When he heard about the hunger games, what they were all about, Henry instantly found the idea horrible. It didn't matter whether or not if it was to help certain people cope with being here in Luceti it didn't matter. Anyone who was good, who had some sense of conscience or heart would know games played with peoples lives, children or not, was awful.

Even if Effie didn't know better one would have thought that she could have at least imagined how it would feel if she or someone from the capitol as shoved into a bloody game like that and made to kill each other.

But, finding out that Katniss, the girl he kind of looked up to and how he thought she was so good and honest...was really just the same as the people who would make these games? He almost doesn't want to believe it. He can't believe it. Why would she teach him how to use a bow? Promise to sing to him when she finally had her voice? These were not acts someone who was evil would do. But, the way she sounds it's almost too hard not to believe.

In the end, he's really not sure what to think. It's not as easy when you don't have a book telling you the history of people or their motives. And right now he doesn't want to deal with Katniss. He needs time to process all this, to maybe come back and talk to her when he doesn't feel so betrayed.

But, he has to say something, so he puts on a quick filter and the first words that come to his mouth:]

I don't want your bow anymore.

[At least until his anger has lessened.]

[video] [Locked 25%]

[stillplaying]

[She had been bracing herself for responses like this. For those who had considered themselves her friend to decide to cut their ties with her. That had been the whole purpose behind the announcement, after all. Cut the ties now rather than letting them grow. Because she had put herself at risk of being hurt again only to discover that the relationship she thought she was developing wasn't even real to begin with.

But no matter how much she had prepared herself to hear this, the words stung. Maybe more so than Clove's knife had. He didn't want her bow. The small bow that her father had made for her as a child, that she had given to Henry with promises of lessons so he could protect herself.

It'd be better this way. Better he find lessons from someone else. She wasn't the only archer here, not anymore. And she wouldn't put any more children at risk by knowing her.

She took a deep breath and nodded.] Okay.

[voice | locked]

[halfnhalf]

[Yes, it's a little shocking to hear a few of those things in particular. But rather than feel the distance that Katniss probably wanted him to feel (and maybe it would've worked, had this been a year ago when he wasn't exposed to people like this), Teddy just feels concern. Something happened that sparked this sort of confession, he knows it. Especially one on such a public network.

He presses his fingers to his temple in thought for a moment before he speaks up to her.]

Is this why you called off the lesson? [Not this specifically, but - whatever happened to make her want to say this.]

[video | locked]

[stillplaying]

[The question caught her by surprise. That wasn't exactly the sort of response she had expected. If anything, she had thought Teddy would just call off all future lessons. Push her away like Henry had, like she had intended all her friends to do by making this admission.

But this question was so utterly normal that for a few minutes, she had no idea how to reply. She blinked and stared at the screen. Where was the anger? The dislike? She had deceived him, eventually let them all think her the hero of her story when she wasn't that. Wasn't that at all.

She couldn't vocalize a response, voice caught in her throat. But she did nod. It was.]

[Voice -- locked]

[onlyeffie]

[What...what.....what...Katniss] EVERDEEN.

[Wow that part came out as kind of an explosive hiss.]

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

[Voice -- locked]

[stillplaying]

[She had briefly thought that maybe - maybe Effie might appreciate her attempts at defending her. But no, like everything else, it seemed as if she had messed this up, too. Because that wasn't the reaction of someone pleased. No, that was very much the same tone of voice Effie used whenever Katniss had done something to embarrass her.

But she wasn't playing the part of the diligent tribute right now. She just... wanted everyone to go away.

Dryly,] Celebrating Reaping Day.

[shenevermisses]

[Clove isn't happy. It's a fitting message, perfect for the day. Reaping Day. She doesn't even care about most of the content.

But one part sticks in her head. The surviving victors of the previous Games met. There were only seven of us left. Me and Peeta. Our mentor, Haymitch. Johanna, Enobaria, Beetee, Annie. She'd wanted to hide that from Cato so badly. That only a few victors were still alive back home.

She'll have to deal with that later. She'll have to face the consequences of what Katniss has chosen to say.

For now, though:]

It was justice.

[Which, for her, is a foreign concept, but one she can feel in this.]

[stillplaying]

[Clove was only one of a handful of opinions she would actually value listening to today. Because Clove was one of only three only people left here who really understood what today meant. A girl from Panem who understood what it was like to face the reaping year after year. Understood the horror that Katniss voted to inflict on those Capitol children.

And she had more right than anyone else to judge her. Especially after the way she had used the other girl to commit suicide.

So there were no arguments, no disagreements. Just a simple nod.]

It was.

video | private

[deadalready]

[Cato usually doesn't talk to Katniss, and Katniss usually doesn't talk to him. It's a weird, silent agreement between them both that he doesn't quite understand - and he really doesn't want to.

But this? This he can't just ignore or play off. He'd never heard anything about what happened to the world after their Games and it's just as well. He didn't think he needed to know because what would be the point? He'd still be dead there and it wouldn't affect him at all.

At least he thought it wouldn't.

He doesn't sound like he's angry, or even sad just...blank when he poses the question. There's a bit of himself in it but no emotion. It's like he's doing a poor imitation of himself during the Training Week. A very poor imitation.]

Only seven, huh?

[He refuses to think about his parents directly. But with his mother being a Victor, and his father being who he was.... he knew both of them were probably dead from what Katniss said.]

video | private

[stillplaying]

[She was almost surprised to see the response from Cato. They rarely talked, not like she talked to Clove on a surprisingly regular basis. But it was his home, too. Didn't matter if he'd never return to it. Like Prim, he didn't live long enough to see the consequences of Katniss' decision to take her sister's place in the arena.

But he didn't live to see the uprising. He didn't live to see the Nut in District 2 broken, the Capitol fall. All he knew of his world were the little bits and pieces Katniss had been willing to share with the public. She never once thought he might want to know more. That she had no idea herself how his or Clove's families fared in all the trouble.]

President Snow killed all the rest.

video

[relictusdeus]

[To be warped by the world and unable to twist oneself into the shape of something kinder and pleasing and worthy of love, and sick of living a lie – -

These words, these sentiments cut far deeper than he means to allow them and for a moment it takes all he has not to snap the journal shut and set his jaw fiercely, pretending he hadn’t heard a stinging reminder of his own feelings from another’s lips.

He doesn’t know why he keeps it open across his lap.

Maybe it's because he can agree that it’s far better to be hated for what one is than loved for what one isn’t.

Sitting and gazing into empty space with worn, heavy eyes, he can’t help but remember Julia. How she’d begged and pleaded time and time again for him to search deep inside himself, so desperately believing there was something left untainted by bitterness. Some small trace of the brother he had once been hidden away past brambles and crumbling stone walls. You can change, she had said, even when he's shut down and his eyes would darken. It doesn’t have to be this way.

But it had been this way for a long time, and he's sure he’d have died long ago if he hadn’t changed. Though changing in the way she never had wanted.

Had he more of a moral conscience, perhaps he would feel disgusted with what Katniss had confessed. But he knows what it means to burn with a near-insatiable desire for vengeance and to see to it that other suffered, even those not directly responsible for his own pain. His hands dripped with blood of the lives he’d taken too readily and too willingly, and for reasons far beyond self-defense. He had killed and he would again.

All humans are beasts, he muses, and at least Katniss has it in her to be honest about it. That he doesn't open with a teasing remark is a form of approval.]

‘tis man’s nature to pass judgment, and very quickly. [His eyes narrow.] Let them hate.

video

[stillplaying]

[Was it man's nature to pass judgement? She had never considered that question much before. But even now, as she stared back at Issac through the journal, she barely considered it. She was more curious about the man bothering to answer. She didn't think that he liked her very much, for all the few times they had actually interacted.

But he was someone Zevran valued. And though she so very wanted to push Zevran away like all the others, she still trusted his opinion. Still cared for him, the whole very reason she wanted him out of her life.

She wouldn't - couldn't - get hurt again.

In response to his statement, she nodded.] I'm not afraid.

[originaljackass]

Sounds like Old Testament kind of justice to me. You're being pretty dramatic for something most normal people would do.

[stillplaying]

[Was she being dramatic? She wasn't certain. Possibly. Probably. But she didn't care. Not if being this dramatic was effective in accomplishing her goal.

No more friends. No more chances of being hurt. Of losing people or of being used.]

So?

video;

[ex_tessen852]

Are you just trying to gain people's sympathy? [There's so much bitterness in her voice.] I thought once that I should give you sympathy, but you're not worth it.

video;

[stillplaying]

[This? This was exactly what Katniss wanted to hear. The bitterness, the anger. The confirmation in her own head that she wasn't worth it. Wasn't worth anything nice, anything good.

She met the girl's words with silent acceptance. Though she wasn't trying to gain anyone's sympathies - just the opposite, it seemed that her words had been effective at least with Suki.]

I know.

[Voice, locked to Katniss 100%]

[complicatedliar]

It sounds to me as if you made the tactically correct decision.

But I would hope you are already aware that I am the village pariah because I do not think like humans do.

If Effie finds enough people foolish enough to participate in her blood sport, I do not particularly care. But she is quite an empty little creature who puts on airs.

[Video, locked to Katniss 100%]

[stillplaying]

[She wasn't aware that he considered himself the village pariah. Nor did she really think she cared all that much. That wasn't what she was seeking. She didn't care what the village as a whole think. Mostly just those who would think of befriending her or already had.

Those were the people she wanted to push away. People like Loki, for all he had been relatively nice to her in the past. And that makes it easy enough to argue with him.]

She can't help how she was raised.

[Video]

[mountain_sage]

...

[Saleh has to think long and hard about this one, but he can't let this go. He has to say something...it was finding the words that was difficult.]

...So you are seeking to be judged negatively?

[Is he understanding this correctly?]

[Video]

[stillplaying]

[Her eyes widened as she stared at the journal, caught off-guard by the blunt way in which he asked. That was exactly what she was trying to do. Get all those here who previously considered her a friend to despise her now. Push them away before taking any more risks in trusting, caring.

She was through with that. Through with opening herself up to hurt again.

It was best not to answer. At least, not answer with anything more than a shrug.]

[video]

[swordprincess]

[What-what-what?]

I wasn't judging her. I can see what she was trying to do. And I can see why people were angry.

Do you really feel bad about what you've done?

[video]

[stillplaying]

[Katniss could more than easily see why people were angry, too. Maybe if matters had been different, she would have been just as furious. But after everything she had seen, everything she had done during the uprising, she just couldn't bring herself to be. Especially now, when she realized just how effective defending Effie would be in terms of angering those around her.

But she kept quiet on that. Just as she kept quiet about the guilt she felt. Admitting to that would just defeat the purpose of this confession. It would give people a reason to hate her a little less.]

Does it matter?

[Voice]

[unseenspy]

[Well, this sounds all too familiar. It brings back some of his own awful memories, and he hates it. But he might as well speak up, because if he can change, anyone can.]

It is possible to change. I say this as someone who once thought it was impossible.

[Video]

[stillplaying]

[Reassurance. Another one of those things that Katniss didn't want to hear. Didn't understand why anyone would bother sharing with her. Didn't they get it? Didn't they listen to everything she said?

She wasn't a good person. And she didn't care to change. Not if changing meant taking the risk of letting people in again, if changing meant risking getting hurt again.]

I don't care.

voice;

[trashed]

Are we supposed to be feeling sorry for you and the other person you were talking about? Some of us don't care.

video;

[stillplaying]

[She almost wanted to ask why bother then? Why bother responding to her if he didn't care? She wouldn't have bothered. Just skipped straight past the entry like she did with so many here. But she couldn't bring herself to care enough to ask. Instead, she just shrugged.

No, sympathies were the last thing she wanted. Sympathies of any sort.]

[Video]

[crimsonblade]

[This girl....she's so young, but it's easy to see through her post and word choice that it was a hard, cruel life. One that Nel hadn't lived through, but sympathized with regardless. Which was something new for the spymistress.]

Choices that are made, things that are done, in a time of war and rebuilding are hardly ever easy. It is the strong that make those decisions to protect the weak. Killing should never be for sport. It devalues life far too much. Perhaps that is why your friend was treated so harshly. As for your self-worth, that is something that you'll have to find for yourself. Outside of others.

[She'd lived her life as a tool, thinking she would die in service to her queen and country, to bring peace to her beloved nation. Just like her father had. And yet, she'd survived and still had a purpose, a place.]

It's not an easy thing, but it's worth doing. Living your life hating yourself is pointless.

[Video]

[stillplaying]

She's not my friend.

[She spoke without thinking, much like she had with almost everything else she had said today. Effie wasn't her friend. Effie was... Effie. Someone Katniss owed for all the work she had done, in her own way, to keep her and Peeta alive in the arena. And not just once, but twice. She had never thought much about Effie's job growing up. Not until she had seen everyone's reaction to her suggestion of games here in Luceti.

It couldn't be easy, could it, selecting children year after year to die. Doing your best to keep them alive only to find all your actions futile in the end.

She didn't quite ignore everything else the woman had to say. But at this point, making the same argument again and again seemed as pointless as living your life hating yourself.]

She's just... someone I owe.

[Voice]

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke can understand and relate to it, a bit. So many people here laud him as some great hero, but he had fallen pretty far, and not all that long ago. Byss hadn't been a pleasant chapter in his life, and he still wasn't sure Palpatine's influence had completely left. This was, of course, saying nothing of his father, Mara, Han, Kyle, Kyp, and the countless others he knew who'd put their pasts behind them and grown into...well...the heroes that they were.]

Miss. Effie's suggestion may have been something acceptable in your own world, but as you've obviously seen it's not in so many others. Organized gladiatorial arenas have been outlawed in mine for over a thousand years. I knew Rue when she was here, and she explained some of what these...games were like and I found it jarring to say the least. But I don't look down on Effie for what she suggested, I just can't agree with throwing people into an arena to fight for entertainment.

As for everything else, I would disagree with you. Everyone deserves to be happy and everyone can change. I don't know you, I don't know all the details of your situation, but I know that much. I've seen people who've done far worse than anything you've described change and become positive, driving, and dynamic forces for good. My own father and four of my best friends among them.

[Video]

[stillplaying]

[She listened to everything he had to say without interruption, doing her best to keep emotions away from her face. She needed to be stoic, as shadowed about her fear and grief as she had been that Reaping Day three years prior. The day she had volunteered to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games. She couldn't afford to show any weakness then, not when each reaping had been recorded, something all the other Tributes could easily access.

And now? Now, she didn't want people to see the guilt she occasionally felt for these children she sentenced to death. Sometimes, their faceless cries would haunt her nightmare. But showing guilt would be one of those things that made her likable, the hero she didn't want to be.

When he was finally done speaking, she remained quiet a few minutes longer. Then, she quickly shook her head.]

I'm not one of them.

[text]

[not_a_troll]

You judge people for judging other people who think games like that are suitable for the Village of Luceti.

Are you familiar with their worlds?

A: No
B: No
C: No
D: All of the above

My guess is that your answer is no, right?

[video]

[stillplaying]

[There's a quick glance at the picture that accompanies the text. An image of a boy that she doesn't particularly like, hasn't since his damned mutt interrupted her hunt. And hearing his response - even though it was probably true - doesn't put her any further in her good graces.

Why was he even bothering to respond to her? He already didn't like her. She knew that. He wasn't someone she had to push or warn away. He was one of the smarter people here in Luceti, capable of understanding that she wasn't someone that ought to be bothered with.]

I don't care.

video;

[degleamed]

[ This...is a lot to hear and take in. It's not the first time Rapunzel has heard about the Hunger Games, and maybe it was just the day that was bringing this out in Katniss, but she can't help but wonder if there's something that she missed. It had been awhile since they talked...what could have happened? Prim didn't go home, did she?

And then it clicks. The leader I executed in revenge for my sister's death. Oh. Oh no. ]

Everyone deserves to be happy, Katniss. Even people who have to make hard decisions.

video;

[stillplaying]

[She couldn't imagine Prim leaving. Even if she kept reminding herself it was inevitable, that she needed to enjoy the time she had now with Prim because it just wouldn't last, she couldn't bring herself to fully picture that day in her head. Today was hard enough as it was, remembering every Reaping Day past. Knowing that, perhaps if she had voted differently, last year could have been the day the marking no more lotteries. No more tessara and no more unnecessary deaths.

But she hadn't voted that way.

All the more reason for people to dislike her. To treat her like Sokka had when he had lost his soul. At least, that was how she rationalized it. Rationalized pushing people away so she wouldn't get hurt ever again.

She eyed Rapunzel with some frustration. This wasn't the response she wanted to hear.]

It wasn't a hard decision to make.

[The Capitol had needed to suffer the way the Districts had. And it would have cause the least amount of bloodshed, the least death in the end.]

[Video]

[savedtheworld]

[Throughout the entire message, Aang's heart feels heavy. And breaking.

"I executed in revenge for my sister's death."

Prim.

"I voted to kill those Capitol children anyway."

His face is strained with the pain from this stress. He doesn't even notice that the video is flipped on. He gives a startled gasp, but no other words can form yet.]

[Video]

[stillplaying]

Aang?

[Maybe she shouldn't have spoken. Maybe she should have just pretended that she hadn't seen heard his gasp, seen the way his expression seemed strained by the words she had to share. It would have been easier, wouldn't it? To just have him disappear from her life rather than actually have to talk to him?

But... but this had to be better than the alternative. Having Aang hate her rather than pity her. Had Sokka mentioned anything to him? She didn't know. Didn't want to ask.

She should have ignored this. So should have.]

[voice]

[ura_no_ura]

Ah, so children are expected to kill each other for sport where you're from, huh.

[ That isn't all too different from the Chuunin Exams of his world, though death isn't exactly the goal. ]

[video]

[stillplaying]

[She gave a brief, sharp nod in response to his statement. It was sport, in a way. Entertainment. The highest form. At least to those who lived in the Capitol. To the rest of them, to the Capitols, it was meant to be a reminder. A penalty for fighting against Capitol rule.

But that didn't matter. Not anymore.]

It's over now. Last year was the last year. There'd be no reapings today if I were home.

[ private, video ]

[touchofrogue]

Rogue's initial reaction, after disgust, indignation, and fury had run their course, was exasperation.

Oh Lord, save me from self-pitying dramatic heroics.

And then she shut the book. Because she was sure, in a town like Mayberry in Space, there would be plenty of people to comfort this girl she only vaguely knew, plenty of people to tell her that she deserved a second chance because everyone deserved a second chance, and even a few people to tell her that she was a horrible, hideous excuse for a human being, and how dare she do something so genuinely wretched.

She didn't need to interact with this. She didn't need to deal with it.

But it bothered her.

It gnawed in the back of her mind, it aggravated her psyches, it bothered her. So she opened up the journal up the journal and she skimmed the other responses and Rogue found that she had something to offer after all.

She thought about making this anonymous. She wanted to make it anonymous. She didn't want to talk about it at all, but if she was going to do this, talk about something so private and personal, even if the other girl had felt the urge to be so blatant about this, it would only be fair to show her own face.

What's the worst that could happen? Everyone found out? She'd survived that before and she would again, if she had to. But she could, at the least, make it as private as she knew how.

Rogue sighed and started her message, "I don't go about makin' it my business to poke my nose into anyone else's. But since you decided to ya decided to use the journals like a public confessional, I figure you made it my business. The question is if you'll listen to what I've got to say."

[ private, video ]

[stillplaying]

[A public confessional. The words made her frown, made her shift a little bit uncomfortably against the back of the bed. She brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. She hadn't meant to make the journal that. She had only meant to... honor the day and the reapings past. And to make certain no one would ever want to talk to her again, to shut herself away from the rest of Luceti. To protect herself, in a way, from ever setting herself up for hurt again.

One final blow. That was all she wanted. And maybe, just maybe, she had meant to make this all a public confessional in the process.

It made her dislike herself just a little bit more.

But she made no attempt to to turn off the video feed. Or even look away. Her gaze remained steady on the page and she inclined her head just a little. She'll listen.]

[Video]

[yourfononsarewhack]

[Jade listens carefully and intently - a very vivid picture of her world is painted for him. Perhaps on some level he does feel some sympathy. But on the whole, he's more drawn in by all the pure information on the world - this ceremony, this recreational war game, these political upheavals. It's delicious for someone as invested in politics and military as Jade - and for the scientist in him who simply strives for research.

There may be pride hidden somewhere deep down as well. If there's one thing Jade can respect, it's someone who can own up to their mistakes, no matter what those mistakes might have been.

His face is less teasing or cruel - a bit closer to stoic. But he keeps a slight smile on, all the same.]

I have to say, I wasn't expecting to actually hear your life story. [And his grin becomes somewhat crooked.] I seem to like you much better, now.

[Video]

[stillplaying]

[The stoicism made it difficult for Katniss to really judge his reaction. Was that smile supposed to be amusement? Ridicule? Sarcasm? Something else entirely? Whatever it was, she doubted it was anything good or nice. Why would anyone be nice to her after everything she had just shared? That was the whole point in sharing this part of her life. It was so people wouldn't like her anymore, so they'd know to stay away from her.

And as soon as he mentioned liking her, she scowled. They had only talked once before, yes. But the whole point in this wasn't so peple would like her better.]

Then you're an idiot.

action;

[prims]

[ Prim listens to the whole thing. All the things Katniss says, which she'd never known about - because how could she, after she died? Some of this was after. That Katniss had killed coin, that she'd voted for a last hunger game. Things that had happened after Prim had died.

After, she goes to rap on the frame of the bedroom door. The bedroom that belongs to Katniss, although Prim sleeps there these days. ]

Katniss? [ Quiet, gentle. But firm enough to be heard. ]

action;

[stillplaying]

[Even though she heard her sister's voice, she couldn't bring herself to respond. For a moment, she was almost tempted to flee. Rin had been right. She didn't even stop for a second to consider how this post might have affected her sister. It wasn't just how others might treat Prim in the future, knowing she was related to Katniss.

What would Prim think of her now, knowing all Katniss did in response to losing her sister?

She really was a horrible person.]