When the roll is called up yonder
I hope you see me there
You're the rose that was called from yonder
Never sold yourself away

It's in the water, It's in the story of where you came from
Your sons and daughters in all their glory its gonna shape 'em
And when they clash and come together, and start a rising
Just drink the water where you came from, where you came from
- Radioactive, Kings of Leon

As soon as I handed Darius the poster he burst into laughter. I glared at him, quite offended. I had spent ages trying to make a poster advertising auditions that was appealing to all. Darius, however, found my efforts hilarious.

"Archery, sword fighting, pretty clothes... Seriously, is this an advertisement for a play or a Capitol army?" he joked.

"Shut up," I whined. I knew not many people would show up so I had to make it as appealing as possible. If we taught archery it would be both fun and relevant to the plot of Robin Hood. Plus, a future tribute may learn some skills needed later.

"And who drew this?" he mocked, pointing to a picture of a tower with a green stick man under it.

"Me..." I mumbled. He laughed again. "Okay, thank you. I did not ask for your opinion!" I said, snatching them off him. I took a tack from my pocket and pinned one to the side of Greasy Sae's stand.

She tore it off almost immediately and looked at it with interest. "What's that? One of those rocket shooters?" she asked. Darius broke out into a fit of laughter again.

"No it's Robin Hood at Prince John's castle," I said snobbishly.
"Robbing who?"

I sighed. "I'm going to leave you guys to it. Thanks for your help," I sneered at Darius. I walked over Ripper's stall but he followed me, snatching the posters from my grasp.

"Apologise for being rude," he said, holding them high above his head.
"You apologise for being rude," I retorted, my hands on my hips.

"I'm a peacekeeper."
"I'm a victor." This could go on all day. We glared at each other for a minute but then the posters were snatched from behind.

Darius spun around to find the source. Gale stood with them in his hand while Katniss flittered behind.

"Thanks," I said, but he did not give them back. Instead he filtered through them looking vaguely amused.
"What is this?"

"It's my talent. I already told you about it," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Please tell me your talent isn't drawing."

Darius burst into laughter again but it was Gale I glared at. I had told him not a day earlier, did he really not listen to a word I said.

I took the posters off him and stormed away. I really wasn't in the mood for teasing. I had only had about two hours sleep thanks to the creation of the posters. I knew they weren't great but they could have at least pretended.

As always when I was in a mood, I found myself at the bakery.
As soon as I entered the door, Tiger groaned. "I'll get Peeta," he mumbled, before stalking out to the back room.
Bannock offered me a small smile but went back to kneading his dough, effectively ignoring me.

"Em, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?" Peeta asked, coming out from the back.

I smiled. "Yeah I'm fine." It was only the second time he had seen me since my meltdown. His precautions were understandable.
I handed Peeta my poster and asked to hang one up in the store.

"These are... Good," he said, filtering through them.
I scoffed. "I've already been to the hob and been slated, there's no need to sugarcoat it."

He grinned at me sheepishly and took out a pencil from his apron. "They can be easily amended."

Peeta rubbed out my stick figure and drew a quick sketch of a man. He then added a few bricks to the tower. Already it looked a million times better.

"Thanks," I said as he quickly finished improving the second one. "Mind if I hang one up here?"

"Yes," Tiger muttered but Bannock and Peeta just rolled their eyes.

"Sure, put it in the window," Bannock said, pointing to the few notices in the window. The other three were just plain advertisements for jobs so hopefully mine would stand out.
Peeta was done in no time but he had to get back to work; he had wasted a lot of time already.

"Thanks so much for your help," I said earnestly. "Are you coming to help next Sunday?"

He screwed up his face in thought but then shrugged. "Why not," he said with a small smile.

I have him a hug and then went to the florist across the street and asked to hang one up.

For the rest of the morning I went from shop to shop in the town, making sure to have a good chat with as many people as possible. My plan to confuse Snow was a lot easier than expected.

After I was done I went to Madge's house before dinner. When I arrived she was staring into space, absentmindedly eating a bowl of strawberries.

"Are they in season?" I asked, making her jump.

"Oh hi Em, didn't see you." She looked at the strawberries thoughtfully. "I don't think they are but I'm not going to question strawberries in November," she grinned. "What have you been up to."

"Just putting these up around town," I said, showing her the last poster. She looked at it appraisingly.
"Wow, this is really good."

"Peeta did it," I said blankly.
Madge grinned. "Ah that explains a lot."

I glared at her and snatched away the bowl on her lap. "My strawberries now," I said, taking a handful.
She glared back but continued to help herself from the bowl. "Have you written the play yet?" she mumbled, her mouth full.

"No, have you written the music?"
"No, I need something to go on. What are you doing now?" she asked.
"Nothing, I need to go and get some dinner though." and feed Haymitch, I added silently.

"Just eat here, we've got plenty."

Madge and I spent the rest of the afternoon planning out the play. It was a little dull but it would have been a lot worse if I had to do it alone.
By four o'clock we had two acts and nineteen characters planned, with room for more if needed.

"Now Emery, what is your homework?" Madge asked with a giggle.
"Script," I said dully. "And yours?"

"Music. Are you coming to school next week?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Maybe, it depends whether I can get up. Friday killed me."

"Okay then, see you next Sunday!"
I grinned mischievously. "Next Sunday."
I don't think any of us knew what we were letting ourselves in for.

:-:

The turn out was a lot bigger than I expected. We had to open up the French doors and have half the meeting in the garden and since it was cold, a lot of people were not happy about it.

"What's up Abernathy? All this money and can't afford heating?" a boy called, gaining a few sniggers. I ignored him.

A lot of kids my age had accompanied their younger siblings, most of them just to goad or have a nose around the house.

Gale was standing near the back with Rory and Vick. There were a surprising amount of boys here. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the archery, but it was too late now. Anyway, it was better to have more people than less.
Once everyone had settled down, I awkwardly walked out into the small free space at the front.

"Hi," I said my voice sounding rather small. "Thanks for coming."
A group of girls giggled at my lack of confidence. I used to have loads of it, maybe it was too soon to do this.

I scanned the crowd, my eyes landing on the third row. It was Thor's brother and one of his sisters; Skandar and Rowa. They looked so much like him, especially Skandar, he had his pained eyes and straight mouth.
I almost lost it there and then but I felt Peeta's hand on my shoulder. I wasn't in the arena. I was here, I was safe and I had to help these people.

"So the idea is to put on a production of Robin Hood, a play about a guy who steals from an evil prince and gives money to the poor," I continued.

"But most of you will need lessons in archery, fencing and maybe hand to hand combact." This made the boys in the room perk up considerably.

"Today I just wanted to take down names, see what roles people are interested in and what can you do. So if you could just-"
The ring of the phone interrupted me. I, along with everyone else, looked around in confusion. Who would be calling me here?

"Could you start with the names please?" I asked Peeta and Madge walking out to the hallway.

I felt quite apprehensive. It was common knowledge that the Victor's houses were bugged. What if Snow had heard my plan and figured out the real reason of the play was to teach the kids combat skills. He could easily pull the plug before we'd even started.

"Hello?" I said warily into the receiver.
"Jesus Emery, do you know how hard it is to get a hold of you?" Finnick's voice boomed down the line.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry Finn, you know I don't really live here."
"Well you need to get Haymitch to get a new phone. So, what'cha up to?" he asked.

I narrowed my eyes but then remembered he couldn't see me. "I'm sorry Finn but I'm kind of in the middle of something: my talent."

"You've found your talent!?"

"Yes, I'm putting on a production of Robin Hood," I said proudly.

"I love that story. A little controversial though, don't you think?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Oh well. I'm surprised you've even heard of it."

"Are you kidding, it was one of my favourite as a kid. I even- nevermind." I could hear the smile in his voice. He was up to something.

"What?" I asked impatiently.
He laughed. "Nothing. I won't keep you, but remember to call me back. I have some couples debriefing for you."

"Will do," I groaned. "Bye Finny-Winny."
"Laters Emmy-bear."

A second later, he hung up. I put the receiver down and turned back down the hall, but Gale was leaning casually against the wall, an impatient look on his face.

"Your boyfriend," he sneered.
"I don't have one," I said, holding my head high and walking past him. I couldn't deal with his mood swings now, I had too much to think about.

"So what's your plan with all this anyway?" he continued. "Who's going to teach them archery and sword fighting?"
"I am," I said, coming to a definite halt in the doorway.

Gale scoffed cruelly. "You? You can barely hold a bow."
"I won the hunger games, didn't I?" I was getting tired of his attitude. I went back into the living room but he still followed me.

"That seems to be your answer for everything lately."
I spun around angrily. "Seriously, what's your problem. You've been downing on me all week."

He laughed. "'Downing on you?' Did fish boy teach you that?"
I was about to retort but then it all fit into place. "You're jealous," I stated.

"I'm not," he defended.
"That wasn't a question." He was jealous, even if he didn't know he was. I should have revelled in the fact but I just wasn't in that place yet. And neither was Gale apparently.

"How about I help with the archery?" he suggested, red faced and eager to change the subject. Rookie mistake, but I'd let it slide.

"That would be good thanks. Peeta, Madge and Clary are helping out too."
"Clary?" he asked.

"She's from the seam, she makes clothes."
"I know who Clary is," he interrupted. "I was just surprised."

I was too. I had never spoken to Clary before Wednesday. I had occasionally seen her sulking around looking intimidating but I barely noticed her. But as I walked through town she offered her services and I was in no position to refuse.

After the meeting, Gale had to take his siblings home, as did Clary, but they promised to come back once they were done.
Peeta, Madge and I gathered around the fireplace with cups of tea, looking through the names.

"I have no idea who these kids are, what did you think of them?" I recognised a few last names but I couldn't really put any faces to them, excluding the Hawthorne's and the Reynolds.

"Aren't we holding auditions?" Madge asked.
I shook my head. "We don't have the time. It's not like a big massive thing, it doesn't have to be perfect. I thought we could just cast it but then if they're really awful, we can fire them."

Peeta narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that a little cruel?"
"What's cruel is staying in this house for days, watching twelve year olds acting," I said riffling through a list of Maid Marion's. "Primrose Everdeen?" I read out, I knew the name.

"Katniss' sister," Peeta said.
"What's she like?" I asked, looking at Madge but Peeta answered again.

"She's really cute and well mannered. I think she'd be good."
I look out my pen and a new piece of paper. "Primrose for Marion then?" They both nodded.

We worked through names and characters for the next hour. Unfortunately, Peeta and Madge couldn't remember a lot of people so those forgotten had to be discarded. We had a good cast so far though, with Ryan Cartwright playing Prince John and Skandar Reynolds playing Little John.

So maybe I was being a little biased there. But Skandar was very tall for his age, he'd be a perfect Little John.

The only character left to cast was Robin. Gale and Clary arrived just as we were arguing over choices.

"Simon Kyler would be great," Peeta said. "His dad owns the fruit mart."
"Exactly, he's too fed. Robin should be someone from the Seam, someone who knows hardship," I argued.

Madge rolled her eyes. "You're being prejudice. Simon would be great or even Ryan Gould."
"Ryan's too cocky," I dismissed, pushing away the paper in front of me.

"Oh my God. Please can you just choose," Clary interrupted.

I groaned and flopped my head onto the table. I said casting wasn't important but it was. Well, Robin was anyway. He had to be perfect.
I picked the notes back up and flicked through them. On the last piece of paper, there was a name we'd missed.

"Rory Hawthorne," I read out. My head snapped up and looked to Gale. "I didn't know he signed up?"

"Neither did I. He told me he came to mock," Gale said with a grin. "Now I'm going to mock him."

I glared at him. "Don't you dare. Besides, I'm going to cast him."
"What?" Peeta, Madge and Gale asked simultaneously. Clary just watched the exchange; bemused.

"He'd be good. And you could teach him to shoot and stuff. It would be so convenient!" I argued.

Peeta and Madge expected my reasoning and added Rory's name to the list. However Gale wasn't done. "No, I don't want my brother to be humiliated."

"He's not going to be humiliated but why'd you bring him in the first place," I huffed. He was back to Mr Moody-Pants Mood-Swings.

"I don't know. This entire things stupid. I don't want my brother to be paraded in front of the Capitol. I'm out too." He took his arrows off the table and marched out the door.

I gave the others apologetic looks. "I'm sorry. Carry on, brain storm. I'll go sort him out."

I didn't even bother to hide my anger. As soon as made it into the hallway, I started. "Gale!"

He was already at the bottom of the steps that led to the victors square. He glanced back but then carried on walking, his posture hunched, his hands in his pockets.

"You are such an ass!" I threw the pen that was in my hand at his head. My aim was perfect.

He angrily spun around. "What do you want from me?"
"You said you'd help," I said simply. "You voulenteered."

"And you said before you could do it yourself. Why do you care?" he asked harshly.

He had caught me off guard. Why did I care? Gale smiled at me triumphantly and stormed away into town.

Oh, I wasn't going to let him win that easily.
I chased after him down the lane. I was getting a little chilly and all I was wearing was a skirt and a tank top. I hadn't even any shoes. But I couldn't let him win.

"What about your brother?" I asked, running beside him.
"There were plenty of kids that signed up," he said, not even looking at me.

I wanted to scream. Why was he being so difficult all of a sudden. It just made no sense. I knew Gale suffered PMS more than a thirteen year old girl, but that was no excuse for his behaviour.
I followed him all the way to the Seam, begging him for answers that he would not give me.

I protested until we Blank End. That was when the cries began.
Gale stopped walking and put his hand out in front of me, a look of confusion on his face. I stopped too and listened carefully.

It was an animal whining, followed by a gruff mans voice hailing profanities.
I ignored Gale was walked into the street, following the sound of the pained wails.

"Emery, stop. You don't know-"
I hushed him and carried on walking. I wasn't going to pay any attention to his protectiveness when he was being so mean a few minutes prior. He sighed heavily but followed me down the track, taking out an arrow from his sheath. He was completely overreacting but I kept quiet, not wanting him to get angry again.

As we stalked down the street, it was easier to hear where the sound was coming from. As we rounded the corner at the bottom of the road, a scruffy man stood with a small puppy, holding him by the scruff of the neck. The puppy cried as the man brought him toward a barrel of water. He was going to drown the little thing. I couldn't stop myself.

"What are you doing?" I asked, running towards him.
"Ain't none of your business girly," he replied, lifting up the lid to the barrel.

I slammed my hand on it, preventing it. The mans face turned bright red in anger. Gale ran forward and tried to tug my arm away.

"Emery he's a runt. It's fine, it happens all the time."
I looked at the puppy with pity. He shouldn't be killed just for being small.

"I'm little and pretty useless, you going to kill me?" I asked no one in particular. I turned to the man. "I'll take him."

"You want the runt?" he asked in disbelief.
"Sure." Gale watched the exchange with wide eyes, though he couldn't believe my stupidity.

"Three bob," the man said, revealing a very gappy smile.

My face fell. "But you were going to kill him!"
"And now I want three bob. Maybe even four." He dangled the puppy over the water.

Gale grabbed his arm then looked to me.
I dug into my pockets and handed him three coins. The man snatched the money off me and handed Gale puppy.

"Pleasure doing business with you, now get off my land."

We didn't need telling twice. We ran back down the street, Gale still carrying the puppy, until we were out of Blank End.

"Are you nuts!?" Gale asked handing me the puppy.
The little guy put his front paws on my shoulders and licked my face.

"Gross," I grinned, pulling away. He really was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen. He was white but the top of his head was grey. He was a husky I think.

"Did you not think this through. This dog is yours now. You have to look after it. And that guy was clearly not right. He could have easily hurt you," Gale continued.

I narrowed my eyes at him again. "Are you done?"
He glared at me and came over to stroke the puppy. He jumped from me onto Gale, licking his face like he did mine. Gale smiled slightly. I had a feeling my new cutie would be a great softening tool.

"So, what you going to call him?" He asked, seeming a lot more relaxed.

"I have no idea," I said thoughtfully. "How about runt?"
He smiled again. "That's perfect. You're going to need a lot of stuff. Food, milk, he's only little..."

And just like that, the tiny little orphan that no one wanted had melted the ice king. I just hoped his good mood lasted.

Sorry about the slight delay, it seems that an illness has fallen across everyone and work and I had to fill in.

Next chapter should be the play, then the Capitol, then the build up to the games.

This story was always supposed to be an introduction before the sequel so please bare with the slowness. It all happens in 'War Games' which will be posted in the next few weeks after I've finished this.

Thanks for reading and reviewing, let me know what you think :)