you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now

[flagitate]

[ After a hell of a trial, Katniss needs to focus her energy into something. So, the afterparty it is. Since she's not good at this kind of stuff, she's had some help. She'll pass out invitations to anyone she passes by, or she'll slip them under the door. ]



[ There is some food set up, but it's very much in sealed containers. Cookies, specifically, along with anything else she could scrounge up. There are very tightly sealed bottles of drinks, too. After that whole thing, she figures it'd be best to tread with caution. She won't blame anyone who brings their own food, of course.

There are fixings for smoothies, just in case someone's feeling it. Katniss has set up a couple of blenders around the game room. There's also some surf 'n' turf food, to honor Mack, too.

There are some decorations--courtesy of the guys, of course, because how the heck do you decorate for anything. ]

Comments

[flagitate]

[ Terrible is how she copes. ]

I wonder if he'd died, I would've been on trial, too.

[hesperos]

If Juri tried, he'd have to go through everyone there to make it happen, and I doubt he's gonna want to kill everyone.

[ Well, Yuri's not counting Terumi in here but shh. ]

Would interfere with his fun little "game".

[flagitate]

[ ...? ]

Everyone? Why?

[hesperos]

[ He realized he got so caught up in what he was saying, he raised a hand to rub at the back of his head. He and Katniss are friends so he doesn't like the idea of a fictional scenario where she'd die. ]

Well... now that I think about it, it might not work out that way. But I don't think either of us would want to go along with another trial, even if you did kill the guy.

Remember how many people like Brady and Mack?

[ He liked Brady too and Mack seemed nice, but yeah. ]

[flagitate]

Yeah. I think that's why everyone had such a rough time.

[ Truth be told, she's a lot more exhausted after this one for a variety of reasons.

She eyes the smoothie. ]

Maybe I'll make a smoothie. In his honor.

[hesperos]

I think he'd like that, actually.

{ ... }

I mean I didn't get a chance to really know him, but. You know what I mean.

[flagitate]

Yeah. He was crazy about the stuff.

[ She gestures to his smoothie. ]

You want another one, or you still working on that?

[hesperos]

...

I guess I'd say yeah, but I'm not really hungry or thirsty. And having two unfinished smoothies sounds like a waste.

[flagitate]

Yeah. I guess a lot of people don't have much of an appetite. And wasting food isn't a good thing.

[hesperos]

Yep. I guess what's best at times like these is to stuff my face.

[ Like the cookie monster. Look at him finally devouring that cookie. RAWR.

He's almost done with it when he speaks again. He has manners, really! ]

At least it tastes pretty good.

[flagitate]

[ You devour that cookie, Yuri!! ]

Yeah. They're really good. [ She's eating another one. ] Better than I could make.

[hesperos]

[ Huh. ]

You're learning how to cook stuff here, right? I'm sure you'll eventually be able to whip up some really good tasting cookies.

[flagitate]

Yeah. But I'm pretty sure they'll be nothing like Peeta's.

[hesperos]

Peeta? Is that person a friend of yours?

[flagitate]

Oh. Yeah, he's-- [ A little more than just a friend, honestly, but. ] We survived the Games together.

[hesperos]

...The Games? What were those?

[ Did they ever talk about this. He certainly doesn't remember. He remembers "The Hunger Games" on her profile though. ]

Some kind of difficult trial?

[flagitate]

[ ... ]

Kind of, I guess. It's a fight to the death with twenty-three other people.

[hesperos]

[ ... Well, damn. ]

...I'm going to guess you two were kidnapped and forced into it? And I'm going to hope whoever thought that was a great idea got their ass kicked.

[flagitate]

[ ........ Nnnnnnnot exactly. ]

It makes more sense if you know Panem's history. It's the only country left in the world--a huge disaster took out everywhere else. Panem's made up of districts, thirteen of them. The districts got mad and fed up with how they were being treated, so they staged a rebellion. Except they got cut down really fast, and District Thirteen got destroyed. Or so they thought.

So the Hunger Games are our punishment for the rebellion seventy-six years ago. Kids twelve through eighteen get put in a drawing--it's called the Reaping. You get more names put in if you sign up for tesserae--stuff like grain, stuff you need to survive. My name was in there a lot, but not as much as someone else I know. Anyway, each year, the Reaping takes place. Two kids--one boy, one girl--get drawn for the Games. They're called Tributes, because that's pretty much what we are. Sacrifices. Pawns in a stupid, sick game that should never have taken place.

So if you get drawn, you get to go to the Capitol. Sure, you're treated great. The food's amazing, and there are people there to listen to your every need. Too bad it doesn't last long, because before long, you're training up for the Games. Then you get thrown into them, and hope you don't die too horribly.

Most people don't volunteer. But I did. So I guess I went of my own will.

The Games are over, back home. Both the presidents are dead. One of them died from all the poison he'd been ingesting for years and years, and the other got an arrow through her heart because she wanted to continue the Games with the Capitol's children.

[hesperos]

[ Yuri falls silent as Katniss recounts her tale of her country, including the horrid games she was supposedly a part of. For the record, he's pretty attentive all throughout, when he wouldn't be for other things, and his lips curl down into a frown as his expression hardens a bit there. When she's finished, he definitely has a few words to say. ]

That's pretty shitty. No wonder you have "rebel" listed on your profile.

[ Because. Yeah. ]

...Good thing those bastards got what was coming to them too. I don't know what the hell was wrong with them or what they were thinking, but people have gotten away with doing enough stuff like this.

[flagitate]

It wasn't even intentional. My first Games--there was a change to the rules. They told us if two tributes from the same district were alive, they'd both be crowned victor.

... So when Peeta and I were the last two left, they announced something else. They never intended for there to be two victors. So I took some really poisonous nightlock berries we'd picked, and we were about to eat them. That forced their hand, and we both got out alive. They have to have a victor, after all.

[ ... ]

Snow didn't like that. But the districts did--they took my desperation to save both our lives as something more than it was. So they acted on that. They were inspired.

[ She shrugs. ]

It was a control thing. Can't have your sheep thinking they can be something more.