make sure you dont miss [Annie; 92nd]

make sure you dont miss [Annie; 92nd] Oct 25, 2022 1:04:21 GMT -5

Post by ryan on Oct 25, 2022 1:04:21 GMT -5

She was in the middle of a meeting in the conference room of the justice building. Her head placed on the crooks of her hands, trying to figure out what exactly they were trying to explain to her this time. Being a mayor was not something that Annie too lightly, but when the conversations involved the same people regurgitating the same idea over and over, she wanted to stab her own eyes out.

One time she had gotten so bored that she decided to pull her own prosthetic hand off and ask whoever was in the room with her to play catch. The person pitching their idea looked in horror as Annie’s assistant had caught it and then proceeded to toss it back to them. After about a minute, the person cleared their throat and Annie simply stared them down. ”so anyway…” they tried to interject ”No, were done here, please leave.” Annie cut them off. If she had to resort to something rather childish during something serious, it meant that she was not bought in.

but… and Annie threw her hand in their general direction. ”I said youre done.” Annie made it very clear that she could still kill someone if she wanted too. Just because she detested being a career, did not mean that she didn’t use her skills to get her where she was now. Of course, years of learning and longing for something more later, and Annie is now in a precarious position where she isn’t needed in the capitol anymore.

And for that she was happy.

But she cannot bring herself to torture herself. The capitol did a great job of that already. She did not need to be there, but they still subjected her to the questions, the scrutiny… the expectations.

Whenever she stepped foot in the capitol, everyone asked what she was going to do to bring another victor home, and Annie would always snap. ”Ill let the youngins take it from here.” it was simple and to the point. but your legacy! reporters cried… ”what legacy? Remember? I didn’t actually kill anyone??” Annie had always know how to make a statement. ”you’ve done so well though” Annie didn’t take too kindly to that one ”Who are you to assume I am doing well.” the tone and the look was enough for any capitolite reporter to walk away.

And they did, and they would leave her be because she was not the same Anatalia that they used to know. The one that tried way too hard in the beginning, but now, is just asking for anyone to cross her the wrong way. She is too brazen, too bold, and now full of anger because she knows the whole premise of the capitol is just a bunch of racoons wearing skin suits. Trash people running a country through fear and propaganda.

It made her sick.

She took some time to clear her head, sitting in her office and going over some building schematics for another career facility to expand in the district. The amount of goods and money that was flowing into the district kept it running by itself. All Annie had to do was keep the wheels turning. She was lucky, and she was grateful to the new Garde of victors that took over all the capitol bullshit in her steed. It gave her a chance to step back just enough to put distance between the person she was out of the games versus who she is now.

The quietness was something that she had gotten used too. However, after hours of looking at documents, she needed something to pass the time. She had about an hour left into her work day, no more meetings scheduled today, so this would be the time to just unwind and think about packing up.

Maybe she would stop by a couple fish markets and pick up some salmon to share with Angel and anyone else that might have been home. She could make a pasta dish and treat her staff to something delicious. Cooking had been something that she poured some of her passion into, seeing as she never really wanted to focus on the career programs when she first got out of the arena. She did not have the same grit as Nixie did obviously. She was a brave girl.

”Can we turn on the radio?” Annie called out to her assistant, thinking that both of them could use something to listen too while they both finished up for the day. It was nice having someone in the building with her that didn’t hold anything against her. ”Might as well catch up with what is going on with the games.” Annie called out, figuring that she would get questions eventually.

The click of the dial, static, and then the tuning.

PATRICIA VALFIERNO DIES AGED 42

Annie shot up from her chair, her facial expression confused and horrified. A victor? Dead? Her first thought is what happened, and her second thought is whose next. She slammed her hand on the table and shoved all the papers off of her desk, her eyes filled with hot tears as they streamed down her hotter face.

Her vision goes black...

make sure you dont miss [Annie; 92nd] Oct 25, 2022 1:51:59 GMT -5

Post by ryan on Oct 25, 2022 1:51:59 GMT -5

Her vision reappears and she saw Patricia standing on that balcony back during the one time that she actually got to meet her. Annie had been through the ringer at that point, Jacinta Salazar hot on her tail, venom around her mouth dripped on her open cuts. Annie took years to figure out just exactly how to compartmentalize her feelings as the outcast victor. The one that people only saw as a gimmick. She would live in infamy and no one would let her forget that she got a free ride to this life.

No one ever knew her trauma, her life before being a victor, because no one cared. When you became a victor, your life started then. The capitol didn’t give a rats ass about what you did before you got there. In fact, they were notorious for ripping every part of your past to shreds. Being under a microscope made Annie apprehensive, and then winning the quell had intensified her microscopic tendency to self sabotage herself. Then each games had a new victor that resented her even more because they did not get a “get out of jail” free card. They did not get to see their allies again, their friends. They were on their own in the world, and Annie wasn’t. Annie could spend time traveling to see them.

Each time a party had been held in the capitol, Annie went, but she become better and better at hiding. It evolved from hiding behind the bottle to hiding in odd rooms until someone came and found her. There were some victors that looked past all of it, because at the end of the day, they did still share trauma.

That night though, the claws were out, because Annie had gotten another tribute out of the arena, and of course, Annie could not be given any grace. Her reputation would not let her. The slightly psychotic, ever so lucky, alcoholic princess got another thing going for her. Another notch under her belt. She could only read so many headlines before she realized that none of them would even be remotely in her favor.

She knew her status as the most polarizing victor, right next to Cricket.

That party was a nasty memory, but Patricia Valfierno had found her way to the very same balcony that she had trying to hide her tears behind. She wondered when she wasn’t going to be gaslit anymore. A part of her wondered if Patricia had been there to rub more salt in the wound. She wouldn’t have been surprised at that point. Had she pushed her off that balcony, Annie would have went peacefully. There was no more fight in her, constantly stomped out and told that she would never truly be one of them.

Annie couldn’t stomach the silence, but Patricia spoke a short sentence and Annies stomach went from somersault to dismount. The night breeze blew through her hair and she looked up at the sky, and then to Patricia, who had held out a half empty carton of cigarettes and offered one to Annie. A peace offer that she couldn’t accept, but one that seemed like it was offered with mutual understanding of what this really was. Annie brought up her hand and waved them off with a thank you.

She was a hand reaching out from some shadow that was able to at least pull Annie back into a safer space. She could have jumped from there, she had thought about it many times, she had already tried to take her own life once. She held out her arm turning it to show just how alone she was. ”I had to give up my vices…” she said to Patricia as she turned around and placed her lower back on the stone balcony, looking at her for a moment before wiping tears out of her face…

And then it all faded again...