wonder what would be | {reggie/raven au}

wonder what would be | {reggie/raven au} Jun 25, 2015 19:01:16 GMT -5

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Post by dars on Jun 25, 2015 19:01:16 GMT -5

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[presto]

R A V E N B A R K E R

One thing keeps playing over and over and over again in my mind. It's sitting there, soaking up my attention span, making it hard to even notice anything else.

They were here, once.

They were here moments before they died. In the Capitol, in this building. They slept on this very floor, possibly in this very same room. A knock on the door signals it's now late enough that I can pretend to wake up and go on about my day. I open it to find Jacquelyn staring back at me. I hate her. She was here with them, with gavin and with Rowan, and I wasn't. I was stuck back home, eyes glued to a television screen no one else in my family cared to watch. I was all alone, just as they were. Twice I have lived through this already, but I like to think they both knew they weren't all alone, that I was there for them. I like to think they would be there for me, too, but it's too late for that.

I'm alone.

I'm always alone.

"You should start training soon. Eat breakfast and then we'll head down by 10:20."

I look at the plate of delicacies in front of me and I can't do it. I can't eat. Not when I shouldn't be here in the first place. Not when they were here. "I'm not hungry." Everyone in the room eyes me but no one says anything. Good. Because none of them can force me into anything. My death sentence has already been sent to me. They can't hurt me.

Jacquelyn finishes her food quickly in order to escort me to the Training Grounds while the others are still finishing up. I like that I am at least allowed to travel by myself. The others... The others make me realize how hopeless my chances are, even if I found Gavin's secrets out -- even if I saw to it that I carried them out. There will be people in the arena that have been doing this as a hobby for their entire lives.

Attacking a few trees in the woods where no one can hear my screams or see the tears is different.

I'm also surprised that I am the only tribute in the center except one girl. I have heard her story already. Mace's sister.

Elon's sister.

I can't pass up the opportunity to speak to her. Not when she knows what this pain is like. (Or does she?)

"I'm Raven," I say, putting on a brave face and holding my breath.

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wonder what would be | {reggie/raven au} Jun 26, 2015 11:49:59 GMT -5

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Post by [earthling] on Jun 26, 2015 11:49:59 GMT -5

After the war we said we'd fight together
I guess we thought that's just what humans do, letting darkness grow
As if we need its palette and we need its colour
But now I've seen it through

Everything is so much better than the cameras make it out to be. For one, you can't really feel or taste or smell the clean of the Capitol through the screen. If she could only somehow hire the staff who kept it so clean, she wouldn't have to work again a day in her life. It occurred to her, as she daintily picked at her turkey panini (wow, what a word that was!) that it probably wasn't a Capitolite Janitor cleaning the halls, the way she mopped and swept Mace's mansion. It was probably one of the creepy avoxes, and she really couldn't be responsible for having any of those around Juliet, Mason and the little one.

She would just have to keep cleaning if she finagled a way to get herself back to Ten.

Belly full, Reggie was on a mission to find the other tributes. She briefly considered pouncing on Indigo and Paige in their apartments, but she'd already spent so much of the previous day with them on the train. Best to give them a break, she thought, and wondered if Mace's call for moderation was finally rubbing off on her. If she wasn't going back to her apartment, there was really only one place left to go.

She sauntered into the Training Center, with no plans for the day, beyond making a new friend. Mace had been insistent that she learn how to handle at least one weapon. She already knew a decent amount of first aid from patching up after "practice spars" with Julian, and she could identify all of the poisonous and edible plants in Ten. That was worth a lot, as it turned out. Sadly no one cared that she could scrub a toilet to a mirrored sheen. They only cared if she could heft a spear or string an arrow.

She took one look at the line of weapons and shuddered.

" I'm Raven," the girl said, face tightly closed.

"Damn right you are! All that hair. Oh, shouldn't touch. Right. I'm not very good with boundaries." She smiled as though to smooth over the faux pas, her gapped front teeth on full display. She extended one calloused hand. "I'm Reggie, from Ten. Your last name is Barker, right? You wanna walk while we talk? I need to work off some of the calories from lunch." Reggie flared out the elbow of the hand that touched Raven's, to offer her arm to the other girl.