rutagraveolens | Melody 2 : Action

[Morning]

[Ever since the fireworks the previous day, Rue was on edge. The fireworks were too much like cannon fire, each boom a notification of another tribute gone. That the fireworks were to announce the departure of people didn't help any.

Nor she get any sleep the previous night. Rue dreamed of whippings and executions, a reaping she couldn't escape from, a game she couldn't win. She saw the boy from District 1 - Marvel - raise the spear, throw-- and woke up tangled in blankets on the floor.

Silence surrounded her as she had breakfast in House 34. She left Melody sleeping in her room and made sure her knife was on her before she slipped out for the day.

She did her usual rounds - library to return some books, bakery to pick up a snack, convenience store for a drink - before wandering the south path parallel to the river. She'd never traveled down the road before and was curious where it went. Eventually Rue found herself by the Art Gallery. After some hesitation, she entered the building. It was nice and quiet, peaceful inside. She roamed the gallery, taking her time looking over the different pieces of artwork there.

When she came across Peeta's paintings and found herself staring at her own face, her face crumbled. She reached up to touch the paintings, drawing back she realized she shouldn't do that. The wings were the right color; the yellow of her own feathered wings, the blue of the dress she wore on stage in the Capitol. Her breath quickened and caught as Rue burst into ugly sobs.]

[Afternoon - behind Slash 'n Crash]

[After calming down, Rue went to Slash 'n Crash for target practice. Bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on her back, Rue methodically shot arrow after arrow into the targets. Her aim wasn't the best, but she was still hitting the target each time. She remembered Katniss' lessons as she drew, notched, and shot each arrow.

When she shot the last arrow in her quiver, Rue went to the targets, pulled out every arrow, put them back into her quiver, walked to her starting place, and began shooting again.]

((ooc; Now with links! The first painting is the one of her looking over a puddle and her reflection, the second is her holding a bouquet of flowers.))

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[And he'll do that! They're mostly just medical books, or things about modern technology like television and the like.]

Saturdays, but it's fine. It wouldn't be so different if I changed that to Sundays.

Chocolate is the best, but they had a really good vanilla one with orange-flavored frosting once. I don't think I've ever tried the coconut ones.

[Nor is Rue sure she knows what a coconut is. It sounds silly.]

Edited 2014-02-14 02:57 (UTC)

[Honestly, it sounds a little like this place. Or being a Victor. Rue mulls over her words, still uncertain.]

But they aren't free. They'll always have to depend on someone to feed them and take care of them.

[Jack definitely has feelings about what being free actually means, the value of it. What you really, at the end of the day, want to be free from, or free to do. But it seems like a heavy-handed thing to get into with a little girl, and he scratches idly at the scruff along his jaw, offering her a little half-smile.]

Yeah, I guess I just . . . well. The world I'm from isn't very nice, I guess. After coming here, I can sort of see why animals might not mind being in a zoo.

...My world isn't very nice either.

[Her voice is a little flat as she says that.]

But I guess there are a lot of worlds that aren't nice.

[For a second, Katniss is almost tempted to answer without thinking. To tell Rue that she doesn't need to protect her. That Rue's own life and happiness was worth more than anything of Katniss'. But she suspects a moment later that that answer would only upset the girl further. So instead, she pauses to think on what might really be relevant.

Then:]

Prim died. And I'll do anything to make certain nothing ever happens to her again.

[Prim. Blonde, blue-eyed Prim who was reaped once, but spared because Katniss volunteered. Who now helped out at the clinic and was learning Filial magic, and was very kind.

They were in the same place now. Living when they shouldn't but all the more glad for it.

Rue quickly walks over to Katniss and gives her a tight hug.]

I'll protect her too.

Yeah. Unfortunately.

[Quietly, he turns a page in the book, bringing them to a two-page spread of marine life in brilliant blues]

Do you miss it?

[She shakes her head quickly. That's not what it is at all. Not what she wants. Rue needed to understand that Katniss would do anything to protect her sister. She showed that once, volunteering to take Prim's place in the Reaping. And she'd do that again. Die for Prim. Give up her own happiness to ensure her sister had the life she deserved.]

You don't have to do that Rue. Prim - she's my responsibility.

[Rue is quiet as she studies the picture. Were there creatures like those in the oceans of District 4 or the oceans here?]

...No. But I miss my family.

I know, but I want to. We're allies and we have to take care of each other.

[There's no doubting how much Katniss will protect Prim, the length she'll go through to keep her sister safe again. But Katniss isn't alone here and Rue wants Katniss to understand that too. They're allies, they'll take care of each other and all their allies.

It's what people do here. It's how p eople play the game.]

Vanilla and orange... oh, kind of like a creamsicle! You know, the ice cream bar?

[It doesn't quite occur to him that she might not in fact know that that is.]

Yeah. Yeah, me too.

[That, Jack can understand. Even if the people he's found at Abel aren't strictly flesh and blood, they're the closest thing he has to family, any more.

It makes Luceti easier in a way, he supposes. Having already more or less done this once.]

I guess the one good thing is that there's family you make, too. Family you find, not just the one you're born into. I think it's natural, everyone missing their families from home, but at least that doesn't have to be the end of it.

[Rue shakes her head. For someone just learning about the wonders of ice cream, she's yet to discover all the flavors.]

I've never had it, but that sounds really good. Do they have it in the stores?

I know, and I like all the people I've met here. Everyone's been nice.

[Katniss was here, and Katniss was what Rue imagined having an older sister was like. Someone to count on and be cared for, like what Rue tried to do for her siblings. And Prim was sweet and someone nice to talk to.

But it was also a sobering thought knowing not only would she never see her family again outside of Luceti, but if she left Luceti, she would never see anyone again either.]

...I want to stay here. ['I have to stay here.']

Yeah, that's how I first tried it. They don't have it back in my world at all. Actually, my world doesn't have a lot of things that are in the stores here. It's kind of neat.

Same here. There are bakeries, but they're not like this. It's mostly bread and only one kind. Every district has their own kind of bread.

Bakeries only sell bread in your world?

[That sounds... terribly sad, in a way. What about all of the delicious desserts?]

There were bakeries in the other districts, but District 11 wasn't very rich compared to the others.

[Her voice grows a little quiet as she thinks about her home. If there were bakeries, they would be for the Capitol members living in the district. Most of their food was rationed out to them or from whatever she could scrounge up.]

[Emil catches that softening of her voice and senses that he's hit a sensitive subject.]

Oh... well, now you can try whatever you want from the bakery here, since it doesn't matter whether you were rich or not in your world when there's no money here.

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Melody 2 : Action

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