Uhmm. No effing clue where exactly this came from. But I think I will continue it. For a little while at least.
"This is your room." The words are like music to her ears. But as she is about the majority of things in life, Johanna is suspicious. "Really mine, or oh-yeah-I-forgot-to-mention-one-little-thing mine?"
And Gale has bigger things to deal with than Victors with trust issues who've questioned every single thing he's told them so far today.
"No Johanna," he tells her in the voice he uses for explaining things to Posy, "It's really really yours." She feels a wave of fury roll through her at his tone, but forces herself to keep a level head. This is the first time she's been allowed a room of her own in six months now, and she's not going to blow it.
Well, not before she's even gotten a chance to use it, anyway.
She grits her teeth and silently forces herself to remember that he's trying his hardest to be patient. It works.
Sort of.
"Thanks, Gale. You've been just a wonderful tour guide of District Two. I'm sure I'm going to love my new life here, hammering away in the quarries!" The sarcasm is almost a bit too much.
It's enough to make Gale sigh and pull his hand over his face, "I'm sure you'll be hammering up a storm in no time, Johanna...just as soon as you become certifiably stable enough to actually hold one."
Though he says the last part a bit quieter, she still hears it in full and flinches as though he's struck her. Regret fills Gale as for a second, Johanna's composure slips and he's allowed a glimpse of the girl hidden behind the towering facade. But just as quickly as it's lost, it is regained, and Johanna's smirk has returned.
"In the meantime, I think your skull is thick enough to make a nice replacement."
To her surprise, and disappointment, he doesn't get angry and storm out (as was the desired effect). He laughs. It's a loud, caught off-guard 'HA!', but a laugh nonetheless. They are both silent for a moment, each trying to figure the other out. When it's clear that any progress isn't being made, Gale breaks it. "Dinner's in twenty." And he walks out, leaving Johanna muttering furiously to herself about how too much coal dust can affect one's mind.
Johanna feels as if she's five again. As if it's the first day of school and she's trying to decide who to sit with at lunch. Except the other five year olds were a hell of a lot nicer than her current meal-time companions. Given their short supply as of late, Victors have become the social-equivalent of Capitol folk. No matter how much torture they've had to endure.
She sits alone at a table facing the wall. She can feel their eyes on her back and can hear the whispers, but she ignores them and tries to eat as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, she's only halfway through her soup when the tray drops down across from her.
"Well, well, well," a familiar voice drawls, "look who they finally let out of the crazy-house." Johanna bristles and says nothing. She was taught that ignoring a problem can sometimes make it go away.
"What, did you loose your ability to speak, like what's-her-name? The crazy one who killed her sister?"
For some reason that she cannot pinpoint, this causes the rage that's been building up to boil over.
"Katniss didn't kill her sister, Enobaria. I know this may come as a shock, but most people don't attempt to murder the people they love."
Enobaria's grin is so wide that Johanna can see all the way back to her gold-coated, sharpened molars. "Really? Well then, I guess you're not most people, Johanna."
Her fist is slamming into Enobaria's nose before the sentence is even finished. Because no matter what she's learned about ignoring, Johanna knows for a fact that pain works just as well when it comes to shutting people up.
"So, tell me again what exactly happened?"
Gale isn't even bothering to keep the fury out of his voice. He vouched for her. He stuck his neck out to get her out of the hospital when he didn't even know her that well, and this was her form of repayment.
"I was sitting there, having a nice time eating alone, when she came up and started saying things. So I hit her." Johanna repeats for the seventh time in that same listless tone she's been using since Gale came to get her from District 2's detainee facility.
"And you only hit her once?" His voice is getting even louder now, but he doesn't care. Johanna rolls her eyes and nods.
"Then," he says through gritted teeth, "Can you explain why she has a broken nose, a sprained wrist, and a giant gash on her forehead that's going to take, at the very least, thirty stitches to fix up?"
Johanna blinks up at him, as innocently as she can manage. "After my first punch knocked her over, she fell into my butter knife. Would you believe it?"
He grabs her shoulders now and jerks her to her feet, "No! I don't believe it! And you know what else I don't believe? That you would risk everything over some petty argument! You might've just gotten yourself a one-way ticket back to District 13's hospital!"
"I don't care, I never wanted to come here, anyway," she yells right back, viciously shaking off his grip, "It was the only place they'd let me come to!"
If he was angry before, Gale is now livid. "And do you know why they let come here? Because I fought for you, Johanna! I told them that I knew you and that you were a good person! I told them you could be trusted, that if any more mental relapses happened you'd be able to handle them yourself! I lied for you, Johanna, and now my family is just as much on the chopping block as you are. The only difference is that we have a life here, now. My siblings have friends, my mom has a job, I'm helping rebuild their government system. And you might've just undid all of that over something stupid that Enobaria said." He doesn't shout the last part, merely says it quietly.
"She said that Katniss killed Prim," Johanna snaps.
Gale's eyes widen. Just the sound of her name is enough to make his heart thump painfully and his mind go blank.
"What?"
"She. Said. That. Katniss. Killed. Prim." Johanna says this slowly, drawing each word out.
Gale sits for a minute, processing. "But...I didn't think you liked Katniss that much."
"Yeah? Well neither did I, until my fist was smashing Enobaria's face in," she says. "Oh." is all he can manage. He can't really think of anything else to say. Thank you for defending the girl who I once loved, but who now I think might never talk to me again because I'm actually the one who may have killed her sister?
He keeps quiet.
They don't say anything for a while, just stand in silence. Then Johanna admits, grudgingly, "And she insinuated some other things."
"What about?"
"None of your business," she growls. But now Gale's curiosity is peaked.
"If you tell me what she said, I'll have a better chance of convincing the board to let us all stay," he points out, but Johanna shakes her head. "It's stupid,"
He shoots her a doubtful look, "So stupid you had to break her nose?" Again, they're both silent. Then he adds, "You're lucky she didn't bite you,"
The corners of her mouth quirk up in a pathetic imitation of a smile, "She never had the chance. I'm way to quick for her."
"District Two's tributes never were known for their agility," he says, and the corners go up a bit more.
"I see why Katniss and you got on so well," she says wryly.
The words are like ice entering his vanes. Ice or fire. He can't decide.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he manages to choke out, but she's already gone, sauntering down the hallway.