lt. baines || d13 fin

Deleted 0 POSTS last seen Apr 27, 2024 12:29:52 GMT -5	lt. baines \|\| d13 fin Jan 26, 2022 13:02:11 GMT -5 Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2022 13:02:11 GMT -5 when u get accepted to cryowake early harriet baines, lieutenant, 49
	Last Edit: Mar 9, 2022 20:15:50 GMT -5 by Deleted

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lt. baines || d13 fin Mar 9, 2022 17:48:51 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2022 17:48:51 GMT -5

( original concept )

↳ that's an order, baines!

She never expected her life to lead her here. A woman made from grit and force, raised in a commune by two older parents. Harriet always knew there was life outside of Panem, outside of the confines of District 13 -- outside this continent, there were children who laughed and smiled and never feared bombings and reapings. War meet Harriet; back then, she just got angry.

At the world, at the capitol, at thirteen. She became a soldier to save people, but the selfish pit in her chest wanted to see the world. The terrible state of it first hand, outside that of the district of rubble. She learned to scout, to investigate and watch. It's almost all she could do, watch and listen - take commands. District 13 put discipline in her bones and fight in her blood.

Harriet always thought that would end some day. That the Capitol would fall, the Districts of Panem would see unity before she could retire. Twenty eight years of service pass, Harriet never sees the day.

Last Edit: Mar 9, 2022 20:34:12 GMT -5 by Deleted

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lt. baines || d13 fin Mar 9, 2022 20:15:01 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2022 20:15:01 GMT -5

► ► ►

Harriet marks another tally on her calendar, head propped in her hand with the only thing keeping her awake being the cold cup of coffee to her left and her nightly cigarette break calling her name. This is the calm, the time to buckle and prepare and plan ahead of the plan. It sits in her stomach as she drafts practice drills for B squad, 4:37 a.m. staring back at her as she loses focus.

One day closer to re-launch, one day closer to war again. She takes another sip of her mug and leans back in her seat, pulling the mess her hair's become into another military bun. It's hard to focus on the now when she knows what's coming, how much danger these kids are putting themselves in all for a chance to fight. As much as she hates it, she understands - she's been there.

Harriet started this war at 9 years old, and fighting against the world never ends. She'll give the Capitol that - they know how to make it feel hopeless. 41 years of tactics and resources and grit and here she is, in a stainless steel basement chamber tacking battle plans together with a handful of next generation children soldiers. It's impossible not to feel their lives in her & Abraham's hands; one mistake unaccounted for could cost 3 lives.

She's wagered more, and lost much harder.

Abraham reminds her of that - that they are soldiers, but do they know what they've signed up for? Elliot's the first failure in a short list of no successes, and she can hardly visualize Alessandro under the bridges of District 3 being anything other than a martyr. If shit hits the fan and they die under her watch, can she handle that?

Damn it, I'm getting too old for this.

4:52 a.m. comes around with the threat of sunrise, and she tries to swallow the rest of her hesitations. They're kids - they're soldiers with a cause. They've chosen to be here, whether it's courage or recklessness, and Baines would be lying to say she hasn't felt that. You don't make it to 50 years old on the frontlines though, death comes and it comes and there's no time left to bleed.

If she still had it in her, if her body was as quick as her mind, she'd be behind the suit. Thirty years ago, she'd do what this kids are doing without it, lost in the dunes of District 2 trekking deserts just for a chance at breaking into Capitol Surveillance. She'd pick up the gun tonight if it meant protecting that next generation, yet here she is.

In the basement, hands in her hair, sending them off to her and Abraham's war.

"Okay," a sixth minute goes by, the cycle she's stuck on playing through her mind, "I am getting nowhere." And nowhere quick but the spiral of do better, damn it, do better, Harriet. Maybe it's just the exhaustion, maybe she just needs to heat her coffee back up. The marble mug sticks out in her discolored hands, years of scarring and aging mark her body in swirls like patches of history in her skin.

She can still make out some of them, even the brand of her childhood academy still lives somewhere faded on the back of her hand. Some vanishing Troop 282 tattoo's fight to be seen through old burn marks that trail up her arms from working on hovercrafts in her twenties. Harriet's body changes over the years, but the grit's always there.

5:00 a.m.

The motivation, just a little bit of hope that it'll be over before her lifetime's up. If it means what could have been her grandchildren won't be raised in mech suits, bombings and firing squads, it'll be enough. Hell, if it means never living underground again, she'd take it. Harriet takes an elevator from the chamber up to the rest of the warehouse, her mug in hand as she makes her way to ground level.

Just like always, another day comes. She can see the peaks of sunlight coming through the south-side window, the beginning orange of a new morning barely noticeable through what's left of the night. Her recruits will be up any minute, gearing up for more sync tests and motion training, the eagerness is almost infectious.

And so, the work begins.

Deleted 0 POSTS last seen Apr 27, 2024 12:29:52 GMT -5	lt. baines \|\| d13 fin Mar 9, 2022 20:15:40 GMT -5 Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2022 20:15:40 GMT -5 fin \| dibs to anyone in cryowake!

[ retro gm ] angel lí ✨ Advertiser 8,153 POSTS Pronouns: she/her last seen Apr 27, 2024 6:21:28 GMT -5 bloomtodeath	lt. baines \|\| d13 fin Mar 10, 2022 16:18:21 GMT -5 via mobile Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by [ retro gm ] angel lí ✨ on Mar 10, 2022 16:18:21 GMT -5 mother
	“and men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins.”