babe // resub wip

"Well, Babe," she always starts.

Every time she plays the vinyl again, it's her mother's voice on the first track. Something burned for her years ago that was never supposed to be so... symbolic, perhaps? It hurts in a way that loves her, and she only hates it because it always brings up that question. Why can't her mom's voice just relax her like it used to? Before she passed, it was like a song to Babe, the way her mother would speak words that felt like they built up her bones. 

Gave her support, brought structure into her soul. Growing up, there were a few hours each day that Babe would be alone for, and it was the few times she had ever been alone. It's something that should only be scary to young kids, and here she is -- 26, still seeking out her mom's voice. And when she hears her name in her mom's old recording, that warm "Babe,"  bringing orange to her ears. Red to her cheeks, the way color moves in her blood is something her mom must have given her.

It couldn't have been her dad, that's for sure.

Something as simple as her name was entirely her mom's doing -- maybe that's why she misses her so much. Her dad doesn't understand her, doesn't know how strong she is; every bit of her identity was built her a woman named Desiree. And when she lost her fight and passed on, she took the only bridge Babe knew of to get to her dad. To get him to understand, to just shut up and listen. 

They- well, she, named Babe because it represents a fighter who wins. One of the first Victors, it was different back then, Babe Adroxis was one of the first fighters in Panem. An underdog with too much fight, who never knew how to stop fighting, and here she is, Babe Nelson, and that's what she knows best.