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Gnawing at the Corners of Your Mind // [Kate/Harb/Navya]
Aug 28, 2016 22:10:25 GMT -5
Post by garnet beauford d8 [earthling] on Aug 28, 2016 22:10:25 GMT -5
NAVYA RHODES
The victors returned early to District Eleven and everything was wrong.
A Peacekeeper had arrived on her doorstep not an hour before, demanding that she and the baby (just the baby, not her name, like she was a prop or baggage) be ready for photographs when the victors disembarked from the train. "They're here?" Navya asked, her voice strangling on the words. He nodded impassively and in the reflection of his face mask, she saw the terror in her eyes. She scrubbed her face long and hard to be rid of it.
In the end she dressed plainly, in a simple dark shift and unpolished boots. She had nothing better to clothe Vera in than her every day onesie. She'd planned to buy more once Harbinger was home and could give his opinion. She'd planned to ask him about her name, to tell him all about the long and difficult birth, to rejoice in seeing him seeing her for the first time.
She'd planned so much.
She waited at the train station, Vera tucked against her chest. She was not permitted to stand with her family and friends. Instead she stood apart, ahead, directly in the path of the victors as they stepped off the train, one by one. For the first time, she felt that three were too few. Her brown eyes flushed with tears even before the Peacekeepers herded Harbinger to her side, his first glimpse of his daughter captured and packaged for all of Panem to see.
They walked, as though in a parade, back to victor's village. The Peacekeepers stopped at Katelyn's home. Next would be their home (the house she'd occupied without him for a month, the only home Vera had ever known). Navya swallowed the lump in her throat and rather than continuing the few feet on, she rushed up into the house after Katelyn. To her relief and horror the Peacekeepers remained outside. Without their blank gazes, she no longer felt she could hold the scattered pieces of herself together. In the kitchen, she turned abruptly to her husband and placed Vera in his arms.
"I need a moment," she said, her large dark eyes going to Katelyn, before she fled. She ran up the stairs (she realized only then she wasn't in her own home and she'd never actually been upstairs in Katelyn's home and what sort of sanctuary would she even be able to find here?). She leaned against the wall, sucking in deep breaths, fighting against the tears. She wiped her lower lashes when she heard light footsteps on the stairs.
"I'm sorry they made you go through that whole - whole contest," she said quietly, her voice nearly controlled. Her gaze picked over the carpet (clean despite her absence) while she groped for more words. "It's not you, Katelyn. It's how he looked at you. Or maybe it is you, something - you are something. Anyone who's ever met you knows that. I just don't know how to reconcile the thoughts in my head."
At last she forced her gaze up to meet Katelyn's. "Help me?"
A Peacekeeper had arrived on her doorstep not an hour before, demanding that she and the baby (just the baby, not her name, like she was a prop or baggage) be ready for photographs when the victors disembarked from the train. "They're here?" Navya asked, her voice strangling on the words. He nodded impassively and in the reflection of his face mask, she saw the terror in her eyes. She scrubbed her face long and hard to be rid of it.
In the end she dressed plainly, in a simple dark shift and unpolished boots. She had nothing better to clothe Vera in than her every day onesie. She'd planned to buy more once Harbinger was home and could give his opinion. She'd planned to ask him about her name, to tell him all about the long and difficult birth, to rejoice in seeing him seeing her for the first time.
She'd planned so much.
She waited at the train station, Vera tucked against her chest. She was not permitted to stand with her family and friends. Instead she stood apart, ahead, directly in the path of the victors as they stepped off the train, one by one. For the first time, she felt that three were too few. Her brown eyes flushed with tears even before the Peacekeepers herded Harbinger to her side, his first glimpse of his daughter captured and packaged for all of Panem to see.
They walked, as though in a parade, back to victor's village. The Peacekeepers stopped at Katelyn's home. Next would be their home (the house she'd occupied without him for a month, the only home Vera had ever known). Navya swallowed the lump in her throat and rather than continuing the few feet on, she rushed up into the house after Katelyn. To her relief and horror the Peacekeepers remained outside. Without their blank gazes, she no longer felt she could hold the scattered pieces of herself together. In the kitchen, she turned abruptly to her husband and placed Vera in his arms.
"I need a moment," she said, her large dark eyes going to Katelyn, before she fled. She ran up the stairs (she realized only then she wasn't in her own home and she'd never actually been upstairs in Katelyn's home and what sort of sanctuary would she even be able to find here?). She leaned against the wall, sucking in deep breaths, fighting against the tears. She wiped her lower lashes when she heard light footsteps on the stairs.
"I'm sorry they made you go through that whole - whole contest," she said quietly, her voice nearly controlled. Her gaze picked over the carpet (clean despite her absence) while she groped for more words. "It's not you, Katelyn. It's how he looked at you. Or maybe it is you, something - you are something. Anyone who's ever met you knows that. I just don't know how to reconcile the thoughts in my head."
At last she forced her gaze up to meet Katelyn's. "Help me?"
table coding (c) ghosty
