I watch Lyme training her soldiers, sitting off to the side with a sixteen-year-old called Aurelius. He's one of them brains that is suppossed to help us figure out how to take down the Mountain, and Beetee as well as I have taken quite a liking to him. Beetee's kind of mentoring him, and I just really enjoy hanging out with him.

"Nero's got him now,"Aurelius remarks, sipping his drink. I watch as Gale has his opponent in a chokehold, my eyebrows raised. "Nero looks pretty got, actually."

"Nah,"drawls Aurelius, holding up one hand between us, slowly lowering one finger after the next. Just as he makes a fist, Nero crouches down slightly and yanks Gale off his feet in a manouver to quick for me to follow. Once he has Gale on his back, he places a foot firmly on his chest while holding down his arms.

I let out a low whistle. "How'd you see that coming?"

Aurelius shrugs."I was in an Academy for a bit, from eight to thirteen. Then Lyme finally convinced my parents I wasn't suited for the Games and I got to get into engineering. But the knowledge stuck, even if I can't do that myself."

It's hard to imagine skinny, slightly awkward Aurelius as a Career, but I guess that's why he dropped out of the Academy again anyways.

"Cool,"I reply, as Lyme declares Nero the winner of the sparring match. The second it's officially over, Nero not only instantly releases Gale, but helps him to his feet, clapping him on the shoulder. "Good match, Gale!"

"Thanks, you too,"Gale answers, brushing the dirt of his clothes. Lyme gives them each a nod, and waves them to the side so the next pair can take up their spot. Aurelius waves Nero and Gale over to us, pulling two cans of soda from the cooler at his feet and chucking them to the other two once they're close enough.

"Don't you get bored watching us without doing anything?"Gale asks. Nero grins, opening his drink and taking a few big gulps."Dude, they just love staring at us."

He does a few ridiculous muscle poses which make me laugh but also cause my face to flush. I quickly down my drink to cover that up. Aurelius scoots closer to me so Nero can sit down next to him on the wall we're perched on; the slight hint of red to his cheeks not escaping my notice. Gale sits down on my other side and together we continue watching the training. The teens from Two are falling over eachother to prove themselves, seeing as Olive's there with them. She's the happiest I think I've ever seen her, joking around and beaming.

I still heard her wake up screaming in the next room over last night, though, and she's still wearing her Mentally disoriented bracelet. She's been refusing to take it off, even though here, there's no doctors forcing her to keep it on.

Now Olive's up infront of the group, demonstrating an exercise with Lyme. Something about using your opponents strength against him, which I guess couldn't be illustrated better than with petite Olive and tall, muscular Lyme. Nero's smiling, reaching across Aurelius to get another soda. "It's so good to have Livy here. Just look at the cadets. They weren't this motivated since everything first started. The Mountain's really crushing everyone's spirit."

"Speaking of,"Aurelius says,"There's another meeting 'bout that later, so you might wanna go have a shower before hitting up Command."

"Not again,"I groan, burying my face in my hands. We've been here a week and I've already sat through ten meetings on the subject of the Mountain. It's always the same thing over and over and over. Today turns out to not be any different.

As the afternoon wears on, talk keeps returning to a strategy that has been tried repeatedly - the storming of the entrances. I can see Lyme's frustration building because so many variations of this plan have already failed, so many of her soldiers have been lost. Finally, she bursts out, "The next person who suggests we take the entrances better have a brilliant way to do it, because you're going to be the one leading that mission!"

Today, after days of silent contemplation, Gale speaks up."Is it really so necessary that we take the Nut? Or would it be enough to disable it?"

"That would be a step in the right direction," says Beetee. "What do you have in mind?"

"Think of it as a wild dog den," Gale continues. "You're not going to fight your way in. So you have two choices. Trap the dogs inside or flush them out."

"We've tried bombing the entrances," says Lyme. "They're set too far inside the stone for any real damage to be done."

"I wasn't thinking of that," says Gale. "I was thinking of using the mountain." Beetee rises and joins Gale at the window, peering through his ill-fitting glasses. "See? Running down the sides?"

"Avalanche paths," says Beetee under his breath. "It'd be tricky. We'd have to design the detonation sequence with great care, and once it's in motion, we couldn't hope to control it."

"We don't need to control it if we give up the idea that we have to possess the Mountain," says Gale. "Only shut it down."

"So you're suggesting we start avalanches and block the entrances?" asks Lyme.

"That's it," says Gale. "Trap the enemy inside, cut off from supplies. Make it impossible for them to send out their hovercraft."

While everyone considers the plan, Boggs flips through a stack of blueprints of the Nut and frowns. "You risk killing everyone inside. Look at the ventilation system. It's rudimentary at best. Nothing like what we have in Thirteen. It depends entirely on pumping in air from the mountainsides. Block those vents and you'll suffocate whoever is trapped."

"They could still escape through the train tunnel to the square," says Beetee.

"Not if we blow it up," says Gale brusquely.

The implications of what Gale is suggesting settle quietly around the room. You can see the reaction playing out on people's faces. The expressions range from pleasure to distress, from sorrow to satisfaction.

"The majority of the workers are citizens from Two," says Beetee neutrally.

"So what?" says Gale. "We'll never be able to trust them again."

"They should at least have a chance to surrender," says Lyme.

"Well, that's a luxury we weren't given when they fire-bombed Twelve, but you're all so much cozier with the Capitol here," says Gale. By the look on Lyme's face, I think she might shoot him, or at least take a swing. Nero actually does.

Gale's on the floor, holding his jaw with a bewildered look, as Lyme wrestles Nero away from him, "Nero, get out of here."

"My mother is in there!"he shouts back, struggling to get out of her grasp. Lyme shoves him towards the door."That was an order, Soldier Hadley."

Nero goes, but not without turning back to glare at Gale."I thought you could be trusted."

There's an awkward silence when Nero's gone, and I clear my throat."President Coin would be in favour of blocking the tunnels, I think."

"Yes, I think she would,"Boggs agrees, sadness evident in his gaze. Gale gets to his feet, turning to me, looking shocked at his own idea now. I know he's frustrated and just wants to get back to Madge, but I can't let a suggestion like this slide. He adresses the room at large."It was just an idea."

"I'm against it,"Olive says instantly. Lyme sighs heavily."We'll let this sink in for now. We needn't bother General Coin with 'what ifs' and 'maybes' at this point."

Here in Two, while they give Coin the highest military titel as de facto leader of the rebellion, no one refers to her as President. I find myself quite taken with that. Lyme regards the room at large, then dismissed everyone." If there is no new ideas by the day after tomorrow, we shall revisit Soldier Hawthorne's suggestion."

When Olive brushes past me and Gale on her way out of the room, she makes sure to ram him with her shoulder as hard as she can manage.

)o(

it's almost mockingjay part 2 week aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

i'll see it wednesday so no spoilers until then pretty please xx

(prayer circle for hayffie to become canon)