6/19/17
…..
The Manipulation Games 3: Rebellion
Chapter One: Card Houses
…
Trust. It's such a fragile thing, really. Like a house of cards. Have you ever built a house of cards? It's not nearly as easy as it looks. Trust me, I've been watching Peeta and Annie do it half a million times over the past few days. The thing is, cards are flimsy and small, hardly a decent foundation for a masterpiece. Kind of like people.
But eventually, you do build that trust. It starts small, only a few rows of cards high perhaps, but eventually it begins to grow. Before you know it, you've made something spectacular. A house higher than any other you've ever built. A friendship more precious than any other. But as hard as it is to build these card houses, all it takes is a slip of hand to destroy them forever.
I'm painfully reminded of this as the card house Peeta and Annie have spent the past forty-five minutes on collapses at it's base, sending cards flying off the table in every direction. The two younger victors scramble to do damage control, but it's already too late. Far too late. Just like it is for me.
It wasn't Peeta's fault the cards fell, even though he was the one about to place a card. Nor was it Annie's fault for not catching it on the way down. Sometimes, it's the cards' fault. Which sounds crazy when you think about it. I mean, you were the one building it, so you should take responsibility for your actions. But still, not your fault. You were careful, meticulously placing cards at just the right places and angles. You treated your creation with utmost care and attention. No, it couldn't possibly be your fault. It must have been the cards, buckling under the pressure of the world.
But sometimes, it wasn't the cards' fault either. Sometimes, they too were trying their best to accomplish the task given to them. Perhaps they got confused, and assumed they were supposed to be somewhere you didn't want them to be. In that case, the blame goes to neither of you. It must have been the fault of an outside source. Maybe it was the wind, maybe it was your little cousin running into the room and startling you, but whatever it was doesn't matter. The house, or trust, is gone forever. And even if you rebuilt it, it will never be exactly the same as it was.
Maybe that's why I don't blame Enobaria and Brutus for what happened in the Quell anymore. Sure, I'm angry at Enobaria for allowing herself to be tricked so easily. For all the damage the ignorance of her and her husband caused. But I'm more angry at Plutarch, and ultimately he is the one to blame for all of this.
Ever since I found out how Plutarch manipulated the career victors into thinking that our plan to break out of the arena was in shambles, I've found it hard to believe I ever trusted him to begin with. But it all makes sense now. Enobaria and Brutus's kills in the bloodbath, Nero's ominous phone call, even Plutarch reassigning Blight and I to ally with District 3 rather than District 1. All for the sake of realism, to trick the Capitol into thinking these Games were real. He played us all like puppets, the same way Snow does.
And who's paying for it? Not Plutarch, who is safely tucked away in District 13, safely supervising the rebellion from a distance while Enobaria, Annie, Peeta, and I are trapped in the Capitol, forced to be Snow's pawns in whatever way he so chooses. While Shey, Angus, Mags, Cashmere, Gloss, Brutus, and the others are dead. Even my father, the only person in the world left that I truly loved, is dead because of him. Sure, there are still those who I care about. Finnick, Annie, Ava. But it's not the same. Blight may not have been much, but he was still family. And even though he'd messed up in the past, we were still able to love and forgive each other.
I doubt I'll ever be able to say the same for Plutarch.
…
Hi again! For those of you who read the other fics in the series, it's good to have you back! I hope you like this one even more than you did the others.
For those of you who haven't read my other fics, it's nice to meet you! This story is technically part of a series, but I'm going to try and write it in a way that it also works as a stand alone, so you shouldn't necessarily need to go back and read the others. I tend to info dump in the author notes anyways, and if there's still any details you're unsure of just ask!
Due to the nature of the source material, I'm going to start putting trigger warnings at the beginning of particularly graphic chapters (although there probably won't be anything horrifically graphic, given that my mother would kill me if I were to write anything above a T rating). So with that in mind, if there's anything you need a heads up on just let me know and I'll take note of it.
Quote of the day!
"This too will pass. It may pass like a kidney stone, but it too will pass." -Tumblr post
May the odds be ever in your favor,
~Spectrobes Princess
