He wasn't sure what he had expected from Holiday touching her bracelet. It's the first time he's heard of tokens, so he simmers down long enough to listen because it doesn't sound like a lecture or an attempt to placate him. It was just this tidbit he doesn't remember asking for or even leading up to. For a second, Hawkeye replays the past moments in his head. He had stood, angry, told her he'd march off without marching off just yet. She had touched the green ribbon- which he hadn't noticed until then- and then she just told him about a hidden little rule in the playbook of the Hunger Games. He feels an urge to bring his hands up to touch the chain around his neck, but he was dead already anyway and the two dog tags had been separated. Ellie had the other. In the Army's way, Hawkeye was dead.
Right, he thinks. They let trinkets from home into the battle to watch as homesickness seeps into the soldiers in their final moments. He grunts.
He wonders why the invitation, and finds his confidence deflating by the second. He'd better make this quick or else he was liable to find his feet cemented to the ground. "Supposedly I'm in Four," he answered. "But I won't be back. I'm off to Korea. Where I was also taken to against my will. But at least I'll be of some use there. I get paid." And he wasn't sure why he mentioned the miserable excuse for pay in that den of servitude. "And the second I set foot there- and I don't know how but I will- the second I set foot there, I'm going home. Understand? Because I don't take nicely to being told what to do, not when there are things I absolutely refuse to do but am expected to do anyway. So thanks for the drink, Doctor, and thanks for the food but I'm gone. I'm going to walk until my feet bleed and then I'm going to walk some more. I can't stay here and I don't know how you can." He dropped his hands to his side, stepped once back- stepped forward when he remembers he forgot to say something very important and he even ducked his head while saying, "Tell El-- tell Ellie I said goodbye. Now goodbye." But he hadn't been lying about walking off the second he said that. He doubted he'd make it as far as he'd said, but the hell with it. He had to try. So he sighed heavily and stuffed both hands of his in his jacket pockets and sort of shrugged and murmured something he couldn't make out himself.
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Right, he thinks. They let trinkets from home into the battle to watch as homesickness seeps into the soldiers in their final moments. He grunts.
He wonders why the invitation, and finds his confidence deflating by the second. He'd better make this quick or else he was liable to find his feet cemented to the ground. "Supposedly I'm in Four," he answered. "But I won't be back. I'm off to Korea. Where I was also taken to against my will. But at least I'll be of some use there. I get paid." And he wasn't sure why he mentioned the miserable excuse for pay in that den of servitude. "And the second I set foot there- and I don't know how but I will- the second I set foot there, I'm going home. Understand? Because I don't take nicely to being told what to do, not when there are things I absolutely refuse to do but am expected to do anyway. So thanks for the drink, Doctor, and thanks for the food but I'm gone. I'm going to walk until my feet bleed and then I'm going to walk some more. I can't stay here and I don't know how you can." He dropped his hands to his side, stepped once back- stepped forward when he remembers he forgot to say something very important and he even ducked his head while saying, "Tell El-- tell Ellie I said goodbye. Now goodbye." But he hadn't been lying about walking off the second he said that. He doubted he'd make it as far as he'd said, but the hell with it. He had to try. So he sighed heavily and stuffed both hands of his in his jacket pockets and sort of shrugged and murmured something he couldn't make out himself.