A/N: Hey! So, PM's still aren't working. Thanks to SnowandJames4eva for pointing out that I needed to change this story from complete to in-progress! As always, please Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
Note: My tumblr is likesblaine for anyone who is interested :)
I stare at the metal ceiling above me, the regulation for District Thirteen. I can faintly see my reflection is the shiny silver. I sigh and avert my eyes.
I'm not anyone important to this war really. At least, not yet. The best name we could come up with for me yesterday was Daddy's Girl. What does that say about what resources we have access to?
I sigh and push myself out of bed as my wristwatch begins to buzz. Expecting it to be near lunch time, I realize it is buzzing for a different reason. It's only 9 A.M.- I've overestimated how long I've been lying here.
I slowly trek down to Pod F18, trying to delay what is about to happen. All I do is annoy everyone. When I get there, they are all sitting impatiently around the table.
"Took you long enough!" Haymitch says sourly. I ignore him and slide into the seat on Plutarch's right.
"So, we have several things for today," Plutarch begins, but he is quickly interrupted by Coin.
"We have a surprise for you," she says but her voice is a flat monotone. She gestures to her guards and one of them quickly opens the door. I grin when I see who is behind it.
"Cinna?" I ask in disbelief. He smiles and walks forward, arms outstretched. For some reason I can't understand, I find myself falling into them. A second later we let go, and Plutarch pulls up a chair between my chair and his. He sits down, smiling gratefully.
"And now for the second thing," Coin continues flatly. "We have found a name for Katniss."
It's as though everyone is suddenly alert. We all turn our eyes to Coin. She smiles slightly, just the slightest glimmer of gloating before she regains her flat mask. "We have decided on-" she pauses for a moment, trying to be suspenseful. "Fire Mutt." She smiles, as though waiting for the cries of excitement to start to ring out. All we do is stare at her in disbelief.
"Fire- fire mutt?" I repeat hesitantly.
"Yes. It'll remind the districts of the terrible games you suffered through as the girl on fire."
Haymitch starts to laugh. "Wow."
Coin glares at him. "We have a commercial to tape later today. Beetee thinks he can break the barrier between the districts. We'll do a few short commercials and a longer one if he can break it completely."
I just nod, my mind still consumed by the ridiculous name they have invented for me. Fire Mutt. I repeat it in my head, as though that could make it sound normal, or at least halfway decent.
Coin leads me down the rickety metal stairs used only by officials and marked with a EMERGENCY ONLY sign. We go down deeper and deeper, my ears popping over and over again. Eventually she turns and we enter a level labeled with a large red sign declaring this to be LEVEL WW. We're 49 levels underground. I finally realize. The hallway is lit with a red glow, squares on the wall as a result of the metal cages around the fluorescent lights.
Coin takes the first right, leading us to another hallway full of doors. The pathway continues to twist and turn until we end up in a room lit with a bright white light. A dark green backdrop extends to the floor, covering it entirely. Black cameras on tripods are perched in various locations around the room, and a small window at the back of the room reveals a small version of the Control Center, with a computer, a desk, and a single gray swivel chair.
Plutarch directs me to a room nearby, where Cinna meets me with another surprise- a whole set of makeup and costumes similar to the ones we had in the Capitol.
Cinna gives me ripped clothes and weapons, giving me fake, attractive scars. He ushers me back into the green room and sets me in front of the backdrop. There is a small screen that scrolls through the words I am supposed to read. A man in black poses me and the words begin to run by. I read along with them.
"I am the fire mutt! We will fight for our freedom and you, the people, will fight for me, the fire mutt!" The words sound wrong coming out of my mouth but I just use more energy, try to be more dramatic. "I will light your fires. I am the FIRE MUTT!"
Haymitch has a liquor bottle up to his mouth for a swig, but suddenly he starts laughing hysterically. He laughs so hard he drops the bottle. It hits the ground with a crack and glass flies everywhere. Alcohol pools on the ground. Finally he manages to spit out, "Way to kill the rebellion, sweetheart."
I slump in the hard metal chair, defeated. Cinna smiles at me, tweaking my hair just the tiniest bit. "It'll be fine, Katniss." It seems like it's the first time anyone has called me Katniss in days, instead of 'sweetheart','Catnip' or 'Fire Mutt.'
"What were they thinking?" I wonder. "I mean, who would follow a Fire Mutt? It seems like I'm just another thing the Capitol corrupted turned against myself. And no one would want to follow something the Capitol bred." My voice catches on the last word and my mind flashes through all the mutts they created. Jabberjays, tracker jackers, the jumping wolves with the tributes eyes, the mockingjays...
I realize something though. The mockingjays weren't created by the Capitol. They were the jabberjay's instincts of survival the Capitol didn't count on them having. I glance up at the small mirror in front of me and see Cinna smiling at me through it.
"You have an idea, don't you?" I slowly nod my head.
Moments later I'm standing in front of Coin, Cinna by my side. I glance over at him and he nods encouragingly at me. I clear my throat and begin to speak.
"Fire Mutt is the worst name for a rebellion." Expecting Coin to be shocked, I'm surprised when she simply nods her head. "It makes me seem like someone the Capitol changed into someone to help them. I think I need a new name." Coin's slight smile turns to a snarl.
"Well, unless you can think of one, we're sticking with the Fire Mutt."
"So if I had a better one, could I use it?"
"We'll vote," Plutarch decides for Coin. She glares at him, but he returns her grimace with a cheeky grin.
"Mockingjay,"I announce. For a moment the room is silent, before Coin breaks it.
"Mockingjay?" she snorts. "Why? That's something the Capitol manufactured. Fire Mutt is unique."
I gulp but continue on. "Mockingjays were not created by the Capitol. When they Capitol tried to get rid of the jabberjays they mated with mockingbirds, as an instinct of survival. They created the mockingjays, a race the Capitol never intended to exist. The Capitol never intended for there to be rebels either. But here we are." Slowly, people begin to nod their heads. Plutarchs smiles at me.
"I think we've found a new name." He says. "All in favor?" Everyone's hands but Coin's and her guards go up.
"Very well. Hello, Mockingjay."
They repose me in front of the black backdrop and I re-read the lines as this- "I am the mockingjay! We will fight for our freedom and you, the people, will fight for me, the mockingjay! I will light your fires. I am the Mockingjay!"
I slump down before the take is over. Even though the name is better, the words still sound wrong. I don't need to point it out. Beetee does.
"That sounds awful," he says, coming in from the door connecting us to the Control Booth.
"I agree," Plutarch says.
Coin isn't happy. Neither is Krystal, the woman who worked so hard on the slogan, although she tries hard not to show it. She smiles tightly and sinks lower in her seat.
"We need to send Katniss out into action, slogan or no slogan," Haymith points out. All eyes are immediately on him. "Watching the Mockingjay fighting for our cause instead of just telling us to fight will boost people's morale."
Eventually it is decided that I will go out into combat tomorrow on the mission to help secure District Eleven. We need the food source- and so does the Capitol. If we could rob them of food, it would be the next best thing to putting them under siege.
I stay the night alone in our Pod, as my mother and Prim both have hospital duty. They are tending to wounded soldiers. I went into there on of the first days we were in District 13 and was instantly appalled by what I saw. I assumed that since I hadn't heard about any major battles that there weren't any fights at all. It was a naive assumption.
Soldiers came in every day, bloodied and broken. The majority showed signs of the use of bombs and guns, but occasionally one would show up with evidence of knives or torture.
The second day we were there, there was a large battle, and when I came into the hospital it was overflowing. People lay moaning everywhere, and nurses took the places of doctors. One man lay lying on a cot with half his leg cut off. A fourteen year old med student was trying to give him a tourniquet, and failing miserably. Before I knew what I was doing, I had taken the materials away from her and made on properly and quickly around his leg. I had glanced down at the blood covering my hands, flashing back to the moment on the Cornucopia when the blood on them had been Peeta's. I had stood up and ran back to my Pod, my hands shaking.
I almost relive the moment now, but as I lay in bed I decide not to visit Prim at the hospital. Who knows what I will find.
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