Show Me Something Worthwhile [Molly/Lucas]

Everything is a matter of perspective. A fresh loaf of bread could be utterly worthless to someone with a mountain of food in front of them, mildly interesting to someone considering whether or not to eat a sandwich for lunch, or a gift from Ripred to someone whose stomach hasn’t been filled for days.

Molly was starting to believe the same principle could be applied to the Capitol. On camera, it looked like paradise, an area where everything glimmered at the slightest touch, where even the lowliest of citizens could spend their days marveling at stunning articles of clothing. Molly had come to the Capitol expecting to be showered in shinies. Instead, she’d been shown this alternate version of reality. Darkened rooms painted dull colors, the best shinies hidden from view. Her fellow tributes, some of them at least, had provided more entertainment than her hosts. (Aren’t you supposed to be courteous to your guests instead of keeping them confined to such drab quarters?)

Molly yearned for training to be over every day, so she could go up to her room or explore the rest of the building. They had to be hiding the shinies somewhere, but all she’d found so far were items of other tributes’ making, or tokens like her own. Unfortunately, there was still an hour to go before the tributes were free to leave for the day, and Molly was bored of training.

As she wandered around looking for something to catch her eye, absentmindedly playing with the vial around her neck. She looked up from her garment just in time to stop herself from walking into a fellow tribute sitting in front of her. Curiously, he seemed equally oblivious, his eyes focused on the pages in front of him. The boy’s hand moved at a furious pace, yet every line seemed sketched carefully. She realized with a start that he was drawing out the scene in front of them. Unfortunately, it was too realistic, such that every boring brown and black in the training center found itself onto the page. The clay-colored components of their setting were all too clear, and all too boring. With a sigh, Molly exclaimed, partially furious and partially curious, “What’s the point of drawing if the result is as boring as the original?”