(no subject)

[quintessenceofdust]

[Hamlet whistles a tune pointedly.]

Shall we, shall we gather at the tree
Where they never hung the fraticidal king?

[He grins dementedly.]

Many thanks, dearest mun. You shall not regret this. My homicidal uncle will not survive the trap we shall set for him. Panem cannot survive his poisons for long.

Comments

[stilest]

Oh my lord! Is President Snow really your uncle?

[quintessenceofdust]

Nay, he is a fishmonger.

[stilest]

Wait, what? Did he have to get a part time job to pay for all the roses? Seriously?

[quintessenceofdust]

No more than you did to pay for all the foppery. He owns the prison. Why should he buy his prisoners?

[stilest]

Okay, I am really confused. What does fish have to do with prison?

i don't even know, but i'm sorry. i'm so, so sorry. (also, your concept = oh fuck yes)

[ofinfinitespace]

[Something about this rings too close, some familiarity, some—

Oh, no. No, no, no.

But is it really any surprise? Reason was tossed aside long ago. If there can be ghosts, if murder may pass unnoticed (and, more recently, if men can earnestly proclaim themselves magicians), what might not come to pass?]

Set to catch a mouse, are we?

[quintessenceofdust]

A mouse? Only if a mouse can wear a crown and a tailcoat.

[quintessenceofdust]

Prisoners must eat. And my would-be stepfather favors District Four.

[stilest]

But I thought you were saying the fish were his prisoners?

[ofinfinitespace]

A mouse may wear any manner of finery it chooses or might cozen. We train ourselves to unearth rats, while many a mouse slips to the very top and parades before our eyes.

[bandybox]

Dear prince, are you yet mad today?

[quintessenceofdust]

No, of course not. They are my uncle's guards.

[quintessenceofdust]

Which is why we must become the princes of cats.

[quintessenceofdust]

Only when the wind is north.

[ofinfinitespace]

Or become cats, ourselves?

[quintessenceofdust]

That is only natural. There are no others, after all. It is most unfortunate that building a mousetrap is useless without sufficient bate.

[ofinfinitespace]

True.

The costs are unfortunate. The results... No better than may be expected.

But man is nothing without reaction (and perhaps is nothing with reaction, though this is not for present thought). And effort flourishes not without cost.

[quintessenceofdust]

And costs never flourish without effect.

Perhaps a snake. They also eat mice. A cat in the house and a snake in the walls.

[ofinfinitespace]

And our predators remain to, what, devour themselves?

We are an uncommon and all too common lot.

[quintessenceofdust]

No, indeed. We become the predators and devour them.

Heirs or sons of murdered men?