voice testing }

[demolitionist]

You live in a place where everyone gets to vote for their leaders. I wonder how much of a difference it makes.

( mostly because gale can't conceptualize it. he's never voted for anything in his life, and he doesn't even really know how president snow took power. probably by poisoning everyone above him. those concerns are far beyond the idea of day-to-day survival in the seam. but if people had voices, if they could decide what happened to them, well. that sounds like a step in the right direction. )

Comments

[stillplaying]

[Isn't that the sort of world that Plutarch talked about? A place where the Districts get a say and the Capitol isn't as all powerful as it once was. Where Paylor will make for a real president and where Katniss - Katniss might someday get to be left in peace.

If she ever gets out of this game. If she ever gets to go home.

There's a sad look on her face. She hasn't seen Gale in so long. And the last time she had... Is it still there? That dark, twisted sadness that had sprung up between them? Or is it one of those things time could heal, like so many people she's since met claim.

Quietly,]

I hope it makes a difference.

[Because if it doesn't? If they fought that uprising for nothing? She doesn't know if she could live with that.]

[demolitionist]

( this version of gale doesn't know, not yet. all he knows is the lash of the whip on his back, but that anger is still there. the vitriol that bubbles up when backed in the corner -- gale sometimes thinks in absolutes he thinks, us vs them. he thinks that he would like to rend the capitol in two with his own hands. for his father, for his siblings, for his mother's hands scrubbed raw at the washing board. his anger is destructive, and it's consuming, and it sets him down that path.

but for now, he doesn't understand why she looks at him like that, only that he wishes she wouldn't. )

Hope. That's a new one.

( they don't have much of it in district 12. )

[stillplaying]

[She snorts a little. It sounds a lot like him. Like the Gale she remembers. How many years has it been? Two now? Two since she wound up trapped in that game, in that world where she can't leave? It's not so bad now. Now that Prim's there. Now that she has a reason to live.

A part of her misses this. Misses that fire that easily fueled her own. There's no mistaking the sadness in her grey eyes. The longing.]

It's what they say. [The people trapped with her. The good ones. The ones like Peeta.] I don't know if it's true.

[demolitionist]

Something's wrong.

( he knows, because gale likes to think he knows katniss better than almost anyone, barring except prim. but then, he went off to the games, and things haven't exactly been the same ever since. so maybe he didn't know he as well as he thought, after all.

the idea hurts him even if he doesn't vocalize it. )

You might as well just tell me what it is, Catnip.

( but even her old nickname feels out of place. )

[stillplaying]

[Catnip.

When was the last time she heard that name? She can't remember. She thinks she remembers someone calling her that in Luceti once. She had responded with an angry scowl and a threat to never, ever call her that again. But it's different coming from his lips. It's... almost as if the past three years of her life never happened. No kidnappings, no uprising. No Hunger Games.

The tears are unexpected. They sting her eyes and she brings her fingers up to touch them. It hurts. It hurts almost as much as losing Peeta had. She never realized just how much she misses him, too.

Rapidly, she shakes her head.] You don't want to know.

[demolitionist]

You don't know that.

( he wonders how it got so bad, when she used to be his only friend. gale knows that some of the blame is on his shoulders, he knows that he shouldn't have kissed her in the woods that afternoon. when it was clear that she didn't feel the same way about him as he did about her. the hurt had welled up in his chest. he'd signed up for more shifts at the mine. somehow, something had been broken between the two of them.

but he never thought it'd be this bad. )

[stillplaying]

Yes. I do.

[It hurts to say that. But she knows. She knows too well what'll happen to them. How she won't be able to look at him without thinking of Prim. Even now, a part of her thinks back to their last meeting. To the images that had flashed through her mind then and now of Prim becoming a human torch. Of becoming a firemutt herself.

Oddly, it's tempered a little. Something she didn't expect. Because she has Prim again? Because it's been so many years?]

Gale... [It'll be nothing but a mess again. Nothing but further heartbreak. But he had been her best friend for so long. One of her only friends. How could she lie to him?] Gale, it's been two years.

[demolitionist]

( two years? he feels like he saw her just an hour ago, though it's hard to keep track of time while under drugs to numb the pain. but he remembers their conversation so well, because he was so angry with her.

but she looks older than he remembers, too. )

Something happened.

( he doesn't have to ask. he knows that something must have. and he almost doesn't want to hear, it's true. but that's no longer an option now, anyway. )

[stillplaying]

[Her clothing covers most of the scars. Scars from the burns and skin grafts that cover her body nearly heard to toe. Remnants of being a firemutt. Reminders she's slowly learned to come to term with. She never thought she'd be so happy for winter, for the warm clothing she wears over her body. But it's one last thing to explain.

There's already far, far too much.]

What do you think you're doing here? [And there it is. A glint of her own fire. Anger that fuels her own passion. Anger at the Gamemakers, at her own in particular for having her here. Making her talk to him.] It's all a game to them.

[demolitionist]

Don't you think I know that?

( and all of a sudden he sounds defensive for some reason. maybe it's because she's looking at him like he's some kind of monster, like there's something ugly in him. and he still doesn't understand why. )

[stillplaying]

That's where I've been. In some game.

[Because it's easier, so much easier to focus on that as the excuse. As the reason why everything feels so off between them. She's a coward. As much of a coward as when she tried to take her own life. But it is easier.

Anything to avoid seeing that look in his eyes again. From knowing that sadness is once again reciprocated. It's selfishness, cowardliness. But when has she ever been anything more?]

[demolitionist]

( he likes to think that he knows her, but right now, he doesn't know her at all. he doesn't know what she means, more importantly, he used to think that it was never their thing to hide secrets from each other. but knowing katniss, she's not going to talk. not when she's already made up her mind.

he still loves her, though. no matter how frustrated she might make him. and maybe that's a stupid thing to do, but he can't really help it. )

Alright. What kind of game?

( there's a concession there. you win, catnip. )

[stillplaying]

[She used to know him so, so well. Her best friend. The boy she thought would always have her back. When she needed him most, he hadn't. When she had begged him to shoot her after Peeta had prevented her from choking down the Nightlock pill, he hadn't. He hadn't had her back.

But right now? Right now, he's conceding. She knows him still well enough to recognize when he's willing to give in. Even if it's just a little thing, it means a lot to her. That he still cares for her enough to deny his own stubborn willfulness.

It makes her smile just a little, a small, fond smile reminiscent of the way she used to look at him. It makes her want to run into his arms and hug him tight and never, ever let go.]

It's not like the Hunger Games. But... they hijack us sometimes. They make us fight in their war. It's still bad.

[But Prim's there. Alive, thriving. And as long as she has her sister, Katniss won't dare do anything to anger another set of Gamemakers.]

[incendie]

It's not going to matter.

[ Not when their lives wouldn't change, not when the Hunger Games are still present, and Snow is still running it all. When their lives are threatened, when their every move is watched. Hope doesn't get them far, or even help. She'd tried hope before, and it hadn't lasted ]

[demolitionist]

How do you know that?

( he's not hopeful either. it seems like a flimsy excuse, more bread and circuses. gale doesn't know that term, he doesn't know about the ancient romans. but he understands why the capitol acts in the way it does. but he's also given a lot of thought as to what the world might look like if the capitol wasn't there. pipe dreams that just now might be realized. )

[incendie]

Because we're not there. No one gets to vote.

[ No one's going to be able to get to either, not while the Capitol still has control over the districts. Not unless something changes it, and what can? No one has power ]

[demolitionist]

Haven't you ever thought about what things might look like after the revolution? The kind of world we might build. I know it sounds optimistic.

( but gale, in his own way, is an idealist. he wants to believe that a better world can be built out of the capitol's ashes, because what's the point of anything if that isn't true? he has to believe. )

[incendie]

It would have to work.

[ And they didn't even know if it would or not. The Capitol had more power and resources, the revolution just had hope, and not everyone had as much ]

I don't know what it would be.

tiptoes in

[nock]

[ none, katniss decides. not really. many put their faith in coin, would have trusted her to give them a better panem when handed snow's power -- leaders will still lie, serve themselves like everybody else. people won't change. ]

What if they're all Snows? [ or like coin. ]

smooches

[demolitionist]

I think it's a trick. To make people think they have a say. People don't give up power unless they have to.

( and then there's that underlying thought, fierce and clear: so we'll make them. )

[orator]

One vote per person, right? No matter who they are.

[All Peeta knows about elections is discussions in class about ancient history, or the way people in Capitol like to vote over the most inane things, like which wedding dress Katniss will wear. But his Tour of the Districts has given him other ways to think about what a vote would mean.]

There's more people in the Districts than there are in the Capitol. If every one of our voices mattered as much as every one of theirs... things would change.

[demolitionist]

( he wishes he could hate peeta. he really, really wishes. the fact that he seems to be an actual decent person is frustrating on some days, but he bites his tongue. )

They're not going to give us a voice unless we take it. Why would they?

[orator]

Maybe you're right. [He knows he shouldn't have this conversation with Gale. Katniss would hate it, for one. But he's been in the Districts, and the Capitol. He's felt the anger which won't be contained by pretty, scripted words. He's heard the way children's deaths serve as casual dinner topics, seen how wastefully they consume all they take from the Districts.

Besides, what else is there to think about? The fact that they won't think twice about using the Quarter Quell to kill even the people who played their Games by their rules?]

I think the problem with the Capitol is they've been brainwashed into not seeing us as people. Our lives aren't real to them, except as entertainment. But how do you change that? How do you make someone listen to you, by force?

[demolitionist]

By tearing the Capitol down. By starting from scratch.

( he knows that katniss probably thinks he sounds crazy. he knows that she struggled not to tell him off during all those rants in the woods. but 12 hour shifts in the mines have given him a lot of time to think about the kind of revolution he'd like to take part in. )

[orator]

And that means... what? Killing everyone who won't go without a fight? [Peeta shakes his head, slowly — not because he disagrees with Gale, but because for once he doesn't know how to articulate his thoughts. These past few months, he's been consumed with just getting them— getting Katniss through this. Any anger he's felt toward the Capitol, he's had to push down, reminding himself to smile all the while.

But unlike Gale, he's actually been there, and spoken to them. Leaving the Capitol a smoking crater isn't a solution either.]

If this turns into all-out war, it's not just the people who want to fight who'll get hurt. The Capitol didn't hesitate to wipe a whole district off the map during the Dark Days.

[demolitionist]

So what's your idea? Holding hands? Singing songs?

( if there's a revolution, people are going to die. but people die every day under the reign of a brutal and repressive regime that kills their children because they think it's fun. gale can't walk to the hob without seeing someone dead from starvation on the street these days, and it makes his jaw tighten, fuelling the anger inside him until it's fit to burst. )

The Capitol's already killing us. If I had to choose, I'd rather die trying to make a difference.

*laaatest tag but eek gale???*

[andproper]

They make it sound very different.

I don't understand most of it, though. [And she's scared to ask. Being in The Games means she's still under the Capitol's thumb.]