Back to normal

[gardienne]

Who? Eponine and whoever wants to talk to her
What? Eponine returns to the Capitol and (for once) the stylists have listened to her requests and just left her alone.
Where? wandering the streets
Warnings? I can't imagine that there will be too many.

It had taken her a lot of staring into the mirror in her bedroom to convince Eponine that she was not hallucinating. It had taken her a lot of pinching and prodding and poking her finger through the gaps in her teeth to convince her that it wasn't a dream. She was back. She looked how she had done in France, sunken cheeks, matted hair and big bags beneath her eyes and scars from living rough, and her Pa's belt when he was cross. She wasn't beautiful any more, but then, what did it matter? Men refused to love her, beautiful or no.

Rather, she was elated. FINALLY, someone had listened. FINALLY someone had given her even a little bit of control over some aspect of her life. She didn't like how she looked - but it felt a little bit more honest at least.

Having dressed in just a simple brownish pinafore dress, Eponine wandered out into the Capitol to find food and a friend.

It was so lovely to be able to walk along and not be stared at for a change.

Comments

[iflipmyhair]

"Precisely. I have not won."

Homura paused to let the words, spoken so softly, sink in before she spoke again, this time a little stronger.

"Most of the deaths I caused...three of them, including my own, all of them were to ensure my defeat. Had I not killed one of the females from District 5, the other would not have had reason to try and pursue me. And the other was well aware the danger I posed, but she still managed to wound me close to fatally beforehand, just as a 'favored' Tribute might. So, the Capitol denizens will certainly aid her in the future, so she may have another chance yet to strike me, even while they may aid me as well."

At this, Homura looked down at her tea cup.

"Dr. Klim...for him, I only did it to ensure that his end would be quick and somewhat painless. I promised to find him aid, medicine and food, to nurse him back to health. Yet by the time I found him again...that was the only merciful route left. In all other ways, I failed."

[gardienne]

"Why do you want to keep playing when you know you can win?" It seemed stupid to Eponine. Why, if you were willing to kill, would you ensure your own death as well?

"I do not care that you killed Monsieur Sigma, or your reasons for doing so. You do not have to explain your actions to me, Mademoiselle."

She felt empty when she thought of Sigma. She hadn't dared to go and see him since she returned, frightened that he would not want her any more, despite what he had said. But his death - she wasn't angry, or sad or anything at all. Someone would have killed him. At least his death was peaceful. More than what most people got anyway.

[iflipmyhair]

There was silence before she responded.

"Because my winning would be a far worse fate for all, than if I lost, which only affects me." Her ring gleamed just that much brighter as she spoke, her voice almost a whisper. "Not immediately. But soon enough, a future that a victory of mine would bring would be bleaker even than the Arenas. When the crown is placed on my head...Panem's fate shall no doubt be sealed, no matter what the Capitol might think to try."

A wind began to softly blow through the streets. A cold, bone-biting wind.

"The Capitol seeks to control what they cannot even begin to understand, for little more than the sake of control. Because of this, they have brought in creatures they do not fully comprehend and cannot hope to fully appreciate. If they knew what they were doing...they would not have decided to allow someone like me into their game."

[gardienne]

Eponine shivered as the wind blew through her dress. Though it was well made by the Capitol, it resembled the costume of a district, rather than the gaudiness of the big city, and it did not really protect against the cold. Still, she laughed uneasily.

"I think you speak out of turn, Mademoiselle. I think you think of yourself as too important - and excuse me, please. I do beg your forgiveness, Madame. Perhaps you are more important than I, but I do not believe that any tribute here is truly valued by the Capitol."

[iflipmyhair]

"I am aware that I am not valued. But it isn't value that I refer to. I don't think myself important at all. But, I also know, if I win...one day I will truly give up."

Homura's fist clenched slightly, her grip on her teacup tightening slightly.

"But...I know you don't understand or believe me. It's not your fault my words make no sense or sound pretentious; it can't be helped."

[gardienne]

"But why? When you win, you can do as you like. You can... only..." Well. Eponine remembered what Eva had told her. And she looked at Homura, and she thought of Eva's words of what awaited for a victor. Perhaps it would be better for Homura if she did not win?

Eponine was nettled by her response though, and narrowed her eyes.

"I might be stupid, Madame. But if you explained to me, perhaps I would understand. I am not as stupid as I look."

[iflipmyhair]

"Its not a question of intelligence." The grip which Homura held that cup threatened to crack it, if not cause it to rip apart entirely. "The explanation is such that...no matter how I explain it, no one believes me."

Her voice began to dip into a strange, quiet tone. Even quieter than before, but one which made her sound younger than her age.

"Even if I dispensed with words, and showed them...their horror would preclude them from wishing to know more, for by that time, they would be...to far gone to care."