Hiya (: Remember me? (Looks at floor sheepishly) I'm baaaaaaaaack and ready to write lots of depressing stuff! Waiiit... that came out wrong... Just to clear things up in advance, I know the mockingjay sumbol isn't meant to be out until the games are finished, but I'm playing with the idea that there was already a revolution in swing and Katniss was just chosen to be a part. PeanutButterQueen AKA Jassy Smiley PS yes I know the fonts retarded, I had to keep it cause it kept deleting parts when I changed it :( sorry
MountainAir: no probs (: It was fun doing different POVs, and I think Prim's that sort of person who just brightens up every room she walks into. She's so cute hey? :) Hope you like the chap
Bella-sk8er: I almost forgot to add it :( But I did. Personally, I would have liked him to throw the table as well, but I felt this was more suited to the relationship between the two. Hope you like it!
Vanity Storm: naww (: thanks for the PM btw, is it fixed yet?
She-Who-Stole-The-Cookie: First off, welcome to the family of reviewers who are epically epic because they are epic. ;) Thankyou sooo much for all your awesome reviews! You're so sweet! I'm not from the UK sadly, though I wish I was. How cool would it be to live in Europe? Anyway, yeah, my vocabulary's a little weird sometimes :L Yeah, Gale pisses me off too. He's annoying. And Irritating. And not very likeable. :( Poor Prim. ahwell
ihateturkeys: naww (: hmmm, I feel that is a suitable request. Rory could be an interesting component... I shall think about it :D
Honey Bea 1859: Rofl, have your parents let you into the kitchen again yet? Plus, last year you were fine at cooking!
Sam's VampireGirl: ROFLOL! I should add that in somewhere! They're stealing my legwarmers too :'( I had really cute ones and all.
crescentrose22: Ty very much (: laptops ALL fixed now thank goodness. My school sent out a whole bunch of faulty chargers, but its all good now. The whole top of the charger fell off and all :L ahwell I love Gale and Prim's relationship too (: Except he annoys me. Why do I make him so annoying? hmm
yas1703: Welcome to the family of awesome reviewers (evil laugh) nah jokes, I'm not evil. Or am i... This is making my head hurt. You know that mood where you don't even think, you just talk? Yeah. Except in this case I'm just typing. Weird. I didn't even know it was possible to babble via fanfic. This has gotta be a world record! Stopping babbling now rofl. Thankyou for the review (: Yep, purple monkeys are awesome. And mushrooms and unicorns too.
Narcissa-Weasly: Ikr? Ms Everdeens family are horrible people! :( Poor ms everdeen. Ahaha, the second quote is my fave too (: Prim's so cute ^_^ aha, Hazelle is very intimidating. I shall put more of her in the next chappie (:
superamazingawesomeness: why thankyou kind reviewer (: Welcome to the family
Cheerleader95: ROFL! How did you find that out? Now I kinda feel like going around saying 'tilda' all the time. Tilda tilda tilda tilda tilda tilda...
Serious Vampire: Thankyou very much (: I think I shall, I was going to mainly talk about Prim and her life, but I'm putting alot of description about the Games than I though I would. I shall change the rating soon-ish (If its already changed when you read it then I already changed it... that was probably very obvious)
shadowangel999: :( you too? I only just got back from holidays and I'm DROWNING in hw! :'( wahhhh!
Prim's POV
The Games are resumed early – eight o'clock. We fill into the stuffy living room, sprawled out on the floor. Mother and Hazelle sit on two half-broken wooden chairs Father carved before he died. It's freezing outside, but I feel almost overheated. The measly fire in the corner threatens to smoke out the room, but omits hardly any warmth. It must be just me. My ears are ringing, my head aching and my stomach has a constant stabbing sensation. I bite my lip, trying to ignore the voice in my head that says the odds are against her. My sister is very likely to die today. The television flickers, and suddenly we're absorbed in the games. My hopes are conflicted. I know that Peeta and Katniss receive more sponsors as a couple, but I don't want to see Gale hurt. Soon enough, Katniss will kiss Peeta and Gale will storm out, like he always runs away from everything. I just didn't expect it to be the first thing. It starts off with a small clip of Katniss kissing Peeta. Her eyes are closed and she looks almost happy; either she's gotten to be a very good actor or she actually likes him. My eyes widen as it freezes, and a string of pink flowers frames the two in a heart, with the words 'The Starcrossed Lovers From District 12' written across it. The image is tinged pink and Claudius Templesmith's voice is in the background, exclaiming how sweet the two are, and that it was such a pity their first kiss occurred during offtime, but thank goodness they'd managed to capture it anyway. I quickly look over at Gale, who's glare depicts the phrase 'If Looks Could Kill'. I know he's fantasising about killing Peeta right now. He looks at me and abruptly throws a vase from the table at a spot next to the television. He picks up the table as well, but I lay my hand on his arm. He looks at me with a pained expression, freezing for a moment. This is the most contact we've had in days. I plead with him with my eyes, and the spell is broken. He drops the table and storms out, and I glare at his retreating figure. "Running away again?" I call out cruelly. He doesn't stop, continuing walking. I attempt to shove the incident to the back of my mind, and turn my attention back to the screen. Everyone's staring at me wide-eyed, but a glare from me means they turn around quickly. Hazelle shakes her head, looking as though she wants to laugh. I huff and sit back down, focusing on the Games. Cato and Clove are still working together. They're an odd match, but I suppose you can't choose who you're in the Games with. Their sponsors obviously tried to mimic the 'Star-crossed Lovers' image Katniss and Peeta are depicting, but they're failing miserably. It's obvious Clove detests Cato, try as he may to please her. I have a feeling the kiss they shared before was planned. They're still running extremely low on supplies, since Rue and Katniss blew them all up. They're continuously foraging for food; last night they were eating worms. Thresh is hiking up the side of a mountain in the east section of the arena. He never stays in the same place for long; every night he sleeps somewhere different. He's always on the move, always calculating. I bet the Careers are sorry they weren't able to convince him to be one of them. He's very resourceful as well; making traps and lures to catch food, finding the edible plants, filtering water using his own method. The girl from five is coping pretty well. She is able to set a decent snare, and is pretty handy with her knife, but she mostly relies on her speed and agility and acquires most of her food and supplies by stealing. The only one she hasn't stolen from is Thresh; he always seems to be watching his pack. She's stolen from the Careers numerous times in turn, also creating conflict between the two. Katniss and Peeta are too tired to notice, and when they do, they're mostly confused. She slips in at times when Peeta's asleep and Katniss is hunting and drinks the leftover stew, or breaks off pieces of bread, before disappearing quickly. Katniss and Peeta are, for all intents and purposes, doing the worst out of the five. Peeta's condition is continuing to deteriorate at an alarming pace, putting both his and Katniss' life in danger. While Katniss stays to look after him, she isn't watching the entrances properly, or hunting for food enough. They've been sent some food from the sponsors – at times where they showed more affection, I might add – but its running low. Gale creeps back in just before Katniss pulls off the bandages, trying hards not to be noticed. I ignore him completely, folding my arms and glaring at the screen. Katniss strips Peeta's leg of the bandages from yesterday, and pales visibly. I can see why. She may not be as good as Mother and I at identifying infection, but blood poisoning is fairly easy to identify. She gasps loudly, her eyes widening. I mentally calculate the amount of time Peeta has left. Even Gale looks at the pair pityingly, though I think the pity is directed more at Katniss than Peeta. She makes a feeble attempt to cover her own alarm, telling him that it isn't really that bad. Peeta gives her a pitying look, as though he really doesn't want this to be harder than it already is. After a second of hesitation, debating whether or not it would make it worse, he sighs gently and tells her "I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss." A look of panic crosses her face, and she babbles on, trying mostly to convince herself that the situation isn't hopeless. Peeta agrees, though it's clear he realises the unlikelihood of him making it home. I realise that Katniss tends to pretend everything is okay; it's her way of dealing with things. She figures if she can't act it out long enough, it'll come true. Insecurity runs in our family, and I guess even my sister can't escape it. Once again I'm struck by the cruel nature of life in the districts. Families are torn apart every day by the poor conditions, the famine, the disease, the lack of money and resources. And if you manage to escape all that, there's always the Hunger Games. Katniss goes out of the cave, obviously desperate to escape it and go hunting. Peeta's expression falls; it's almost as though he blames himself for the entire situation. His face shows both physical and mental pain, mingled with exhaustion. I feel a pang of sympathy for him. He'd do anything to make Katniss happy. The television flicks to Cato and Clove, once again finding my sister's situation boring. They seem to be making a poor attempt at traps. I snort; even I'm not that hopeless. Gale grins at me and I recall our brief partnership where we'd make traps and hunt together. Okay. He'd hunt, and I'd watch. It was still fun. Cato is taking advantage of the 'starcrossed lovers' act again, making goo-goo eyes at her, while she tries to grit her teeth and ignore him. I wonder if he actually likes her, or if their mentor suggested it. I choose the latter. Clove is decent with her knife, and Cato is good with brute strength, but both are used to human combat. They completely miscalculate their movement when they try to catch their prey, and their feeble attempts at snares catch a grand total of nothing. It's almost amusing to watch them fend for themselves like all the other tributes, rather than having everything virtually handed to them at the Cornucopia. They have no other food whatsoever, and they can't exactly Clove finally has enough; she cries in rage and frustration, throwing her knife blindly into the trees. She stalks off without a word to Cato, who looks just as frustrated. He glares in her direction for a good two minutes before he realises he's meant to be in love with her. Quickly, he rearranges his expression into one of sympathy and love. Or, at least, his interpretation of it. Gale laughs at the attempt. The girl from five is sitting up in a tree, lazily slurping some of the stew she stole off my sister. Gale glares at her image on the screen, knuckles turning white. She licks her lips after, and pulls out a whole loaf she managed to steal from the Careers. Their sponsors sent them three this morning, and when Clove discovered one was gone she cried with rage. They are very obviously blaming each other for the disappearances of the food, so Five is gradually able to take more and more. It's a clever theory; I just wish she would only steal from the Careers. Katniss' and Peeta's supplies are running low as it is, can she not let them alone? She's not exactly in the best condition though; her arm's angled in an odd and slightly sickening way. I remember her twisting it as she swung down from a tree. She's tried to use her jacket as a sling, but she's done it all wrong. I shake my head at her poor first aid skills. Thresh is surviving the best out of the five. He doesn't have to rely on anyone else for food or supplies. He's able to create a spear out of a rock, a branch and some algae he found in the lake. He already has two knives he took from a couple of dead tributes. Despite his brute force and obvious ability, he has hardly killed any of the tributes. The girl from District 3 picked a fight with him, and he killed her off and the same deal with the boy from four. Other than that, he really hasn't had to murder anyone. I think he feels the same way about the Games as my sister and Peeta. He's sitting on the ground, drawing in the dirt. It's as though he's trying to comfort himself. Many of the children in the Districts write or draw in the dirt, so as to avoid wasting paper. I've seen Rory and Vick create maps of entire cities. He deliberately traces a particular shape, first the body, then the head, then wings... I frown at the picture. He's drawn my sister's mockingjay. The image only lasts a second, before it smashes to that of my sister and Peeta again. For some reason, it sends chills down my spine. I can't help but feel that the symbol holds some sort of significance. I look up and smile at the screen; Katniss is telling Peeta the story of when she bought Lady. I cuddle Buttercup to my chest, smiling at the screen. I feel an odd urge to reach out and touch the screen, see if I can put my hand through and stroke my sister's hair, hold her hand. I am startled to feel someone's hand on mine. Gale is looking at me, his expression one of sympathy and compassion... and apology. He's not good with words; like Katniss he doesn't say stuff, he does it. And I know by the way he's looking at me that he's saying sorry. I give him a small smile in return and return my gaze to the screen... just in time for another announcement. The screen displays five windows, Claudius Templesmith in the centre. He's babbling on in that irritating way of his, inviting them all to a feast. "This is no ordinary feast," he says, eyes sparkling. "Each of you needs something desperately. Six packs with your District numbers will be placed on a table at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing my invitation. For some of you, this will be your last chance." Oh God. I put my head in my hands, and hear Gale groan next to me. Mother whimpers and Hazelle pats her arm. Rory and Vick are staring at the television, open-mouthed. Even Posy seems distressed. Because whether she loves Peeta or not, there is no way Katniss is missing that feast tomorrow. I look up at the television and watch my sister's calculating expression as she thinks out her plans.