[Voice Testing] [Trying to find a place for bookverse Mockingjay.]

[righthroughtheeye]

[There is about five minutes of hard, cold staring. The young woman is leaning forward, hands on knees, scars old and new stretching over her face, her neck and her hands. Hands that look like they had bad burns, that skin was grafted back on. Yet that face still has a frigid beauty to it - like the woods in winter, or a bare mountain top crusted with snow.]

[Finally, she speaks.]

I'm Katniss Everdeen. I'm eighteen years old. I lived in District 12 until the war. I have no idea why I'm here, but if this is the revenge of District 13 or the Capital for what I've done, then you tell them ... you tell them ...

[Something burns in her eyes, something bright and hard and painful.]

They can't hurt me anymore. They've taken everything. Everything. [Her eyes waver, and go to her hands.] I don't care where they send me. It can't be any worse than where I've been.

Comments

[ironfright]

If you say things like that, someone is going to come along with the sole intent of proving you wrong.

Not THE Puck?!

[righthroughtheeye]

[Puck, meet the cool assessing gaze.]

It won't be the first time.

the one and only~

[ironfright]

[ Like water off a duck, bb. ]

Nor, if you keep inviting such idiocy, will e'er it be the last.

I'm almost feeling Shakespearean...

[righthroughtheeye]

[She's slightly unsettled by how he doesn't seem fazed, but it's only in the pressing together of her lips.]

I don't care.

[Mullish? Always.]

There's nothing left in here - [ and she taps her chest] that really cares about anything out here. [And she gestured one hand around the area.] I'm already dead - body hasn't caught up. Yet.

there are worse things!

[ironfright]

[ Puck just smiles at her... kind of creepily. ]

Of course you don't. Everything you've said thus far has been about you. Why should your death be any different?

Re: there are worse things!

[righthroughtheeye]

[She looks away, because the old guilt is rising like water from a spring. She hates him for that, even if she can't deny it.]

I'm the only one left. I can make it about me, for once. For this. I've already given my life for all of them. [Peeta. Haymitch. The Districts. Father. Mother. Gale. Rue. Prim ...]

[ironfright]

[ Her words elicit a scowl from him. ]

The "only one" you say? Don't throw such a claim around so lightly.

[lover_boy]

You're trying to get her to send you somewhere horrible, aren't you?

[Peeta looks like hell, but the burn scars aren't on his face yet. His hands are raw from the shackles that were just taken off, but his eyes are that same clear blue they were before the venom took over him.]

HI YOU!

[righthroughtheeye]

[The stance changes - startled, at first, that only comes across in her eyes and then her body straightens like a branch being released. Snap, spine rigid, her jaw tightening.]

[Then she looks abruptly away.] ... Go away, Peeta. You're not real. Not like that. Not anymore. [Oh god that hurts to say. Like a burn that never, ever will heal.]

HI YOU BACK!

[lover_boy]

[He knows how to handle this, even if he's going to get punched for it. He reaches over and puts his hand on her shoulder.]

Katniss, I'm real.

Re: HI YOU BACK!

[righthroughtheeye]

[It feels real, that hand. So real. She closes her eyes and she can feel that hand through her clothes, almost see the golden touch of his eyelashes and eyebrows, and those blue eyes that never lie. Never hurt. Not until they took that Peeta away.]

[But that Peeta was gone, along with the Gale that would never hurt innocents and little Prim, scared Prim, growing Prim, Prim the Ducktail.]

[So she shifted back and swung, even if she believed she was swinging at empty air, her words gritted together.] I said. Go. AWAY.

Re: HI YOU BACK!

[lover_boy]

[He does his best to avoid the punch, but he's not trying too hard. Just trying not to get his teeth knocked out. The fist connects directly with his jaw and he twists to soften the blow. He turns back around rubbing his jaw.]

Convinced?

Re: HI YOU BACK!

[righthroughtheeye]

[Her fist connected with bone and skin and blood and her eyes open wide as she took back her hand, and stepped back. She cradled her hand because Peeta's face was as hard as granite, even those his eyes were as soft as flowers.]

[She stared for a moment in silence, before she croaked hoarsely.] It's never real. How are you real? How do you not hate me?

[totallyhisniece]

You're still alive, though. They can still take that.

[righthroughtheeye]

[That smile Artemis sees? It's almost sad.]

No they can't. Not if I've already given it away.

[totallyhisniece]

What does that even mean? And trust me, someone out there can figure out a way.

[righthroughtheeye]

[Her eyes have a strange, fierce glint - fierce and proud.]

I put an arrow in her. Right through her head -- and he laughed ... he laughed as blood spurted out of his mouth. One, two shots, and I fired both. I killed them both and now they're going to kill me.

[She closed her eyes, teeth gritting in hard.] It was worth it. Giving it away after I lost them all. It was worth it - all of it.

[totallyhisniece]

[Wow, okay, this chick might be a little nuts. Artemis is gonna just have to be a little careful with the things she says, maybe.]

Well, if it was worth it. ... What'd they do to deserve all that?

[righthroughtheeye]

[Katniss settles her shoulders, one after the other, calming herself.]

President Snow killed my District, and took my Peeta away. President Coin killed my sister, and made me hate my best friend. [She sighed softly] Together, they killed my father.

[She lifts one hand, because she knows it is shaking, and wipes at her face. She's not sure how she has tears after all this, but there's always one left for Prim, and her father, and she catches them both as they roll down her cheek.]

They took my family and my home. It seemed fair I take their ambitions and their lives.

[knack]

You know, someone once told me this is a good place for second chances.

[ The teasing isn't up to par, really, and his voice is casual as if he doesn't have a rope full of knots in his pocket. ]

[righthroughtheeye]

[Her eyes go wide, and then she chokes a little before she presses her fist to her mouth.]

...You're not real, either. How can you be here?

[knack]

I am real. Trust me, I've pinched myself enough times for the both of us, but you're welcome to take a swing at me yourself.

[ And then he shrugs, gaze dropping if only for a moment as he clears his throat to revisit that teasing tone. ]

Don't tell me you're gonna take me up on that sugar cube now.

[righthroughtheeye]

[She stares at him for just a moment, before a laugh escapes her, choked as it is. She puts her fist to her mouth, as if afraid to let another one escape.]

Only you. [Her eyes narrow, even as her lips curve the tiniest bit.] I'd sooner starve again.

[knack]

[ The corners of his lips tug into an easy smile at the sound of her laugh. It's the little things - it's always the little things. ]

There she is. For a second there, I thought we'd lost you.

[righthroughtheeye]

[She smiles at him - just the corners of his lips.]

I'm still here. [She sighs softly, brushing hair from her face.] Survive - that's what I do.