thecapitol | Calm Like a Bomb

WHO| Mindy, Open
WHAT| General hope for CR interaction, basically
WHERE| I'm going to have her in the training center/tribute tower
WHEN| This week
WARNINGS| Swearing and likely dialogue of the adult situations. Mindy just rolls like that.

1. The training room was becoming her home away from home.

Which, honestly, it HAD to be. Home was where dad trained her, home was making herself ready, finding the tired, aching in her bones welcome after the drudgery of the games forcing her to be alert almost constantly. That had happened too soon after her attempt to conform to real life. Even in her "roll with it" personality demanded the switch, it still left her in a hard place, untrained for fucking wilderness and traps.

She knew better now. She'd eaten more, even allowed herself to get dolled up every so often (two random days) so she could regain a little bit of herself. It just helped her regain a foothold back to what she did best: training her body to shatter some bones. A run n the gymnasium cleared her head. A few choice weapons of the stabbing variety kept her senses sharp. A rundown on long ranged weapons told her how much more she had to go. Everything she did, she recorded on a notepad for herself.

There was no more dad here to keep tabs on her: kill or be killed. Mindy wasn't going to go into the latter category easily.

Right at the moment, she was suspended from a rope, her eyes closed. One of the exercises she had set for herself was sensing everything around her. She had lost the previous games because she blundered into a set trap. That had been reckless, and made her feel even dumber for falling for it. She'd make sure that didn't happen again. This meant sensing everything around her, disciplining her body in the case someone or something had to be detected. This, she knew, would be harder to do suspended like this.

photo LOVE-9-S-S-2013-chloe-moretz-33517801-1024-1536-1.jpg

2. It was hard to get to sleep sometimes. Between nightmares of her father and her leg getting torn up, her head was becoming a space of unpleasant imagery and that was not something she needed. She was in a faux lap of luxury suite, she didn't need her mind reminding her how desperate everything was: all of this was wrong. So she regressed back to her over sized shirt and walked out of her suite, trying to gather her thoughts.

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It was said, at least by Katniss, that Prim had inherited the best qualities of all the family: their father's level head, their mother's healing hands, and Katniss's will to fight and move forward. Not to mention her own patented insight.

She could also be a lot more forthcoming than Katniss, though she was eternally concerned about the Capitol watching. Any questions asked would be answered carefully, cautiously... but answered.

"Okay," she promised.

It was weird, but there was something about the girl Mindy liked: more that, she could see some of Katniss in her, and not. There was something...good, really, the only word that came to mind, that surrounded her. It was another reminder of how Mindy was NOT like girl's her age, at least when it came to the simpler things.

She busied herself with the hot chocolate, adding a fair amount. If they were going to be watching something pretty sobering, better to do it with a sugar rush first.

Prim, good though she might be, was already plenty sober. She had little innocence left after everything she had been through - she knew what sights awaited her. Though she did have some hope of Katniss surviving... She had no hopes for the nights to follow this arena.

There would be nightmares. And Prim didn't know if she'd be able to help with them.

Mindy brought the drinks into the room, getting comfortable on the floor. It was gonna be hard to watch, because, while Guy hadn't made it, she at least hoped that Katniss would. Granted, she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that she didn't lose next time, but still.

"Sure you'll be all right?" She passed her the hot chocolate.

Katniss wouldn't win, though. Prim was certain of it - with a cold dread that had sunk deep into her stomach. The Capitol would not allow her to win a second time. It would ruin their game if she managed to pull that off. Not to mention the credit it would give Katniss.

There was a ticking clock over Katniss's head - and the more tributes fell around her, the more Prim worried aver what would become of her sister. And worse, what nightmares would follow when - she had to believe when - Katniss was returned.

Prim took the coco quietly, though, hoping the warm liquid would do something to counteract the cold dread. "I watched her last time," Prim responded.

Mindy watched the girl a moment. She never had any siblings, so it was hard to imagine what was going through the girl's head right now, seeing her sister have to fight to stay alive. What was more, she had already guessed what Pruna knew too-Katniss would not win a second time. The whole point of this bullshit was keeping them in line, Katniss was a disruption in that whole order. She wasn't so stupid she couldn't see that.

"I bet you did," Mindy said. "She was brave enough to go for you. Of course you'd want her to live."

She sighed. "But after this she might not have to do it again, right?"

She nodded glumly. But there was the word, right in that statement - "Might." There really wasn't any telling when it came to the Capitol. If they ever wanted to put her in her place, more brutally...

"She's my sister..." But that didn't really explain it. Katniss had always been there for her - practically raised her. She loved Katniss more than anything.

"I know," Mindy said. "She mentioned you when I was back there. Still would be, if I were paying any attention. For what its worth, I can see why she won the first time. She's...good. not just as a fighter or a hunter, but as a person. I can already see she's not as jaded as she could be."

In fact, if Mindy had ever had an older sister, she could see Katniss as being one of the best you could get. In this place, anyway.

In any place. Prim couldn't imagine a better sister, period. Though as for jaded, Prim wasn't sure. Her sister used to be a lot less... this. Before their father died.

"Do you think they'll bring her back?" It was a question she hadn't wanted to ask out loud, before now. It still hurt to say it. It was as if she made the fear more real.

"Of course," Mindy said. "She's the star of the show. In a way, she was what made the Quarter Quell so memorable. She lasts pretty long in these things, and she IS a mentor. Still have to keep the viewers happy, up until they get more and more people."

Might as well be honest. Katniss was likely on borrowed time, but time nonetheless.

"They've killed stars before," she pointed out. They used to do it all the time. Kill off the favorites... of course, not the mentors. And this would be the perfect way for her to tragically go out.

Prim didn't really think they were prepared, just yet, to get rid of Katniss. But the possibility seemed valid enough to worry her.

"I'm not saying they WON'T. I'm saying they can't, not yet. Unlike anyone else, Katniss changed things, right? There's damage control to consider. So no, I think they're gonna wait with her, for the right time. What Katniss can do to stay alive is pretty simple: stay interesting. Shake things up."

She shrugged. "We have dumb shows like these back home. But they have something in common: marketability."

"Then why did they put her in?" They wouldn't have another chance to so easily let her die. Potentially even blame free. Just a mentor who went proudly to her death.

She was scared that they didn't want her shaking things up, at least not this badly.

"I'm scared."

Edited 2014-01-17 13:03 (UTC)

"They put everyone in though. I figure it was just random. They want the ratings to get juicier, throw together all the mentors and see how they deal with all the newbies and where they rank. From a televised perspective, its just smart. From our perspective, its just a shitty thing to do."

Mindy looked around. "I don't know who isn't. Anybody risking their lives in the arena can't be feeling too good."

Calm Like a Bomb

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