{ queen } & lionheart .| emberly + koalers

Leo nibbles on her shirt and sniffs her hair, while Zuzu appears to be dozing off. Ever since she and Zuzu met, the koala had often insisted on latching onto Emberly's leg. She was a stubborn little thing, indeed, but for now, she seemed to be feeling rather lazy. (Not that Emberly was complaining.)

Emberly continued on for a little while, but then glanced over her shoulder at the seven other tributes on the yacht. She shouldn't go too far, she supposed, as she had no idea what lie beyond. Instead of venturing any further, Emberly takes a seat by the springs. Leo seems to disapprove of her stopping, as he pokes her cheek with his nose and then swats her head.

"Stop that," she commands, picking up Leo from his perch on her shoulder and into her arms, cradling him like a baby. He makes a whining noise at first, but then settles into the crook of her arm.


[emberly attempts to catch a koala]
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[success]

Once Leo has grown bored of being cradled in Emberly's arms, he climbs off of her and onto the ground to join Zuzu. They make little noises at each other, sounds between little cheerful chirps and grunts. Zuzu pokes Leo in the nose with her paw, and he flinches away in return. Emberly giggles at the two.

"You're always bickering, aren't you?" she comments. As they continue to tease one another, Emberly gets up and moves a few feet away to a patch of flowers that grow by the springs. The patch is multicolored — its inhabitants are white, pink, blue, orange, red, and purple.

The only thing she liked about the Arena so far was the koalas and the variety of flowers that seemed to grow everywhere she looked.


[emberly attempts to catch a koala]
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[fail]

Once she has finished Ree's flower crown, she sets it down on her lap to admire her work. I hope that it fits his head, she thinks, since she has no way to measure its diameter in the Arena.

It feels strange that this is what she is doing in the Games, making flower crowns and playing with koalas. She imagined it to be more . . . chaotic. She expected fighting all day and all night, hardly being able to rest or chat with her allies. It lived beyond its expectations when it came to suffering — yes, the Hunger Games had already caused Emberly Lowe enough agony for a life time, and they had barely begun.

Leo emerges from the spring and shakes his fur dry, spraying Emberly with a shower of water. "Hey!" she exclaimed. Her koala pranced towards her, but instead of giving her a wet cuddle, he stole the flower crown she had made and began to run towards the pool of water again.

"No! Leo, that's not a toy!" she called to him, but Leo pays no mind.


[emberly attempts to catch a koala]
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[fail]