stillplaying | 18th Game [action/video]

[She's been so busy lately that she hasn't noticed the time fly by. Busy with teaching Foo Foo, busy with hunting and providing for her family, busy helping Richard finish the extra wing to the house before first snow, trying to learn filial magic, busy stealing every spare minute of time with Prim and Teddy and all those others she holds there. She hasn't noticed the time pass. Hadn't realized that it's already November.

It's been a year since Peeta's left. Over a year now. And though she misses him every day, misses him even more when she wakes up on the couch screaming from night terrors, she's... still alive. Found something - someones - else to live for. And maybe that boy who had asked about finding a way to bring others here might actually succeed. Maybe she could bring him back. The boy that loves her. Where everything is actually real.

More than that, though, she's realized what time of year it is again. Has it really been two years, then, since the end of the rebellion? Since losing Prim?

But Prim's no longer lost. She's here. And if Katniss has her way, she'll stay here forever.

It's this realization that makes her more reluctant to leave that morning. But she has responsibilities. Things she has to do. Including teaching that stupid sabertooth moose lion how to actually hunt his own food rather than snatching her squirrels from her bag. Foo Foo has, at least, grown incredibly skillful at that. So at some point mid-morning, Katniss makes her way to House 56 to pick up the beast and continue their way in the Eastern Forest.

Once again, her hunt with Foo Foo isn't nearly as successful as her hunts alone. She loses more squirrels to him than she manages to retain. And when she finally spots a rabbit - perfect for tonight's dinner, perfect to make one of Prim's favorite stews - he lumbers in the way of her shot. Frightened, it runs into the bushes. Annoyed, Katniss lets her arrow fly into the trees.

Some seconds later, she pulls out her journal. With the video feed on, she focuses on Foo Foo.]

How is anyone supposed to teach something this stupid to do anything?

[She doesn't even feel remotely guilty when the young animal looks up from his interest in the rabbit-clad bushes and gives her a goofy, happy grin. It seems one enjoys these outings more than the other.]

Dumb mutt.

[Sometime later in the afternoon, she's back in the town. Having to pick up food is becoming more and more an uncomfortably common task on the days she tries to train Foo Foo. But this week more than ever, the week of her sister's death, she feels the need to spoil her. To go to the items shop and find little gifts that might make her happy. Or pick up fresh bread at the bakery and sweets at the grocery.

Anything for Prim. Anything.]

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[It's a frown he gives often enough to Sokka whenever he's mean to or trying to eat animals. But it's a light one at least. And he goes into a meek smile at her question.]

I've tried playing with Foo Foo...

[Playing with Foo Foo. She can't even begin to imagine how many squirrels that would cost her. She doesn't want to. Attempting to get this damn beast to hunt has been costly enough. He'd probably expect a treat every few minutes.

...so, perhaps, no different than the situation she's found herself in now.]

Sokka's spoiled him.

I don't know. Sokka can be pretty harsh with him sometimes. That's why me and Ikki like to give him extra treats sometimes just so he knows we're not mad at him.

[She sighed. Audibly and visibly. Prim could be bad enough, what with the way she had defended Buttercup when Katniss had tried to kill the kitten. Better than having another mouth to feed. But Foo Foo shouldn't be anyone's pet. At least, not a pet meant to be spoiled.]

That's not going to make him any more likely to hunt.

So what? He doesn't need to hunt to be a really good companion!

What if you leave? You and Sokka and everyone else who knows him?

[Because it happens. You wake up one morning and they're gone. No chance for goodbyes. No chance for mending any ills between them. They're just gone. Returned to their own world. How many times has this happened? To her? To the others here?

Maybe it's silly to take all her worry out on Foo Foo. But it's better than living each day waiting for the moment Prim's no longer in her life again.]

[He frowns at the very idea.]

That... that would be really bad.

[He tries to pipe back up.]

But he'd come back home with us! Wouldn't he? [That's how it seemed to work with pets.]

[She had no idea. Clint had left. She knows that. She had spoken to the woman he often spent time with, Natasha, over the journals. But she's still seen the one eyed dog around town. Katniss can't bring herself to care enough about Buttercup to wonder what would happen to the cat if she and Prim left. But she's certain that he'd be resilient. He had, somehow, made it back to District 12 from District 13.]

I don't know.

Animals usually go home with the people they came with. [He remembers Roku's dragon egg.] But maybe sometimes there are exceptions. And... Foo Foo isn't with Sokka at home, either.

[She nods. At his age, she suspects that Foo Foo isn't as adorable as he once might have been. If she hadn't known him, she'd think him a muttation. A monster. Not one of Prim's orphaned animals. Something like Buttercup.]

I don't want him to starve.

I wouldn't want that either. But if he goes home... he should be okay. He won't have Sokka, but he'll have his momma.

[She shakes her head. That's not the point she's trying to make. It's not about Foo Foo going home. It's about Foo Foo staying here. Staying here and having no one who cares for him. How would he possibly survive that?]

What if he doesn't go home?

[He thought she might have meant that; but it was easier to focus on the question that had the easier answer. He frowns.]

I can't tell for sure. But... Foo Foo's a strong kid. It'll be hard, but... I believe that he can make it.

[That's where she's not so certain. Whether he's strong enough. Or whether he's become too dependent on humans for his food. Buttercup, somehow, had found the thin line between independence and dependency. He learned not to count on Katniss for food, unless she was in a particularly good mood. But Prim?]

Just in case, he should know how to hunt.

I guess... but only if he wants to learn it.

...it gets him squirrels.

[She grins a little as she says that, amused by the memories. He'll do anything for an extra squirrel or two. It's perhaps been the only reason why she's managed to get Foo Foo to come this far in their outings.]

[It's a little sad for Aang because of the squirrels, but he still gets the soft chuckles.]

Then maybe he can learn enough for that, at least.

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