DISCLAIMER: HG CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME
A/N: The green stuff is a liquid/smoothie type of thing, the stuff she smokes is not weed per say, but a weed like substance if anyone needs a visual (ha)
Chapter 138-Birthday
February 5 (Sunday)
Katniss grins as she watches Juniper open up her birthday presents. It was her 12th birthday, they were in the Capitol, in a rented room in one of the many tall buildings in the Capitol's entertainment district. They were of course in the family friendly section of the district, were families could see shows, plays, and do more interactive hands on activities such as bowling, mini-golf, laser-tag, etc. Katniss had proposed to Gale doing a bigger celebration for Juniper this year, when they asked Juniper what she wanted to do, she said she would like it if they all came to the Capitol and asked if she could bring a few friends. Katniss and Gale decided to have the celebration in the entertainment district and rented a party room, for it would be easier for Sienna to join since her school was only a short 5-minute train ride away. The harder part was getting Avery there.
While he did not usually spend so much money on a birthday party, he knew why he had to make this particular birthday special. While renting the room was costly enough, their party had access to unlimited games, bowling, mini-golf and laser tag in the package he bought, plus it included pizza and drinks. They purchased a cake at a nearby bakery and brought it with them. And Gale had spent even more money on the hotel room for all of them the night before-he and Katniss in one room, with Juniper, and three of her closest friends in an adjoining room with Jack in his own room on the other side. Not to mention he also had to purchase for Avery a commercial hovercraft ticket in order for her to be flown into the Capitol from District 8, for she had told her father she had an exam on Monday morning and would not be able to make it to the party traveling by train. Knowing Katniss would be sad if the whole family could not be together, he purchased Avery's ticket. Commercial hovercraft travel was extremely expensive in Panem. With the advancements in the rail technology most residents didn't mind traveling this way, it was now quicker and still the more affordable option. Another reason a lot of people didn't travel by hovercraft was due to the fact it was still new way for residents to travel. While hovercrafts have been around for many, many years, this method of travel was only available to Peacekeepers and District 13 soldiers when they were hidden underground. After the war when Panem was in its restructuring years, hovercraft travel was still primarily reserved for the military. About five years ago District 6 had announced that a fleet of commercial hovercrafts had been built for residential travel. Unfortunately the high prices have kept ticket sales low, Paylor admitting to Gale and other government officials once in a meeting how disappointed she was that more people were not using the new method of travel. If more people flew, the prices would come down. With so few people flying, the ticket prices have remained high.
Katniss watches as Juniper is about to open the next gift, a small bag with a box wrapped in soft pink tissue paper. She opens the card first, reading it aloud and seeing that it is from her parents. Inside the box was a gift card that could be used at multiple restaurants and shopping stores in the Capitol. Sienna comes up to Juniper and says, "How about when I am on my break from school in March you come here for a visit and you can use this card then? It will be a girls weekend, just you and me."
"That sounds great" Juniper says brightly.
"Are you ready to bowl now?" Katniss says, everyone in the group already finished eating birthday cake.
"Yes! But-I should help clean up" Juniper says looking at all the left-over cake, pizza, and plates on the table.
"Don't worry about that Juniper, someone will be in soon to clean up" Gale says, motioning for his daughter to move to the adjoining room. She quickly hugs Katniss and Gale, thanking them for the gift and the wonderful day. Gale tells her the night is not over yet. They all go in, it is a large room, Gale going over to the control pad located off the side and selects from the menu the bowling option and the room transforms with the bowling alley emerging. A holographic scoreboard lighting up near the ceiling, the words 'Happy Birthday Juniper' emerge in the background. Since there were nine of them, they decided to split up into two teams with four on each, Katniss opting to sit out.
"Are you sure? I can sit out" Gale says to her pulling her off to the side.
"No, go ahead, I don't need to bowl, have fun" Katniss says giving him a reassuring smile.
He is about to say they can take turns but then hears Jack yell "Dad we have started!" so he quickly touches Katniss on the shoulder as he walks away. Katniss hearing Jack say to Gale, "We are so going to beat you guys" for which Gale replies, "We'll see about that".
Katniss gets her coat on and goes outside to the balcony attached to the room. It is cold out, a consistent snowfall still coming down. It is part of the reason they had gotten a hotel here the night before for they didn't want any delays getting into the city.
She leans out against the railing, looking at all the bright lights and tall buildings. Every time she comes here, she notices how the city has the same vibe as the first time she set foot into the Capitol, but yet it is so different. She thinks about how Juniper is now 12, the age a young girl or boy outside of the Capitol would have had their name entered into their first reaping. When she allows herself to think about her past, about the people she had to hurt, Prim's death, and killing Coin, the only relief she has is knowing that the sacrifices that were made resulted in the present. A future with no games, and a Panem with no borders.
But she did not believe this new Panem was perfect by any means. She thought it was interesting that Paylor was still the president thirty years later, while she understood the reasoning behind it, she thought the idea was the after so many years the people of Panem would elect a new leader. She also thought the same about Gale's job, even challenging him on it. She remembers how she caught him off guard recently saying to him, "Is your job a lifetime appointment as government official? Because I didn't realize it was."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he responds in a defensive tone.
"Paylor's government, I'm not saying it is anything like it was before, or what it would have been under Coin, but I find it interesting once the war ended and Coin died Paylor put all of you into your positions and no one moved out of them. It gives the appearance one had to fight in the rebellion to reach the highest level of government and pay around here".
"You know that's not true, engineers now get paid what they should have been getting paid a long time ago, same with nurses, doctors, farmers. All of the jobs in the districts are compensated at the rates they should be."
"Last I checked Districts 9, 10, 11 and 12 were still pretty poor to me" she says flatly.
"What exactly do you want me to do? Resign so someone else gets a new opportunity? No offense, but we would have to sell the house, I can't support a family of six, two of them away at school that I'm paying for on a military salary only".
"Exactly my point" she says with a smirk.
He rolls his eyes at her and says, "Whatever you say Katniss, I'm not going to argue the politics of Panem with you. Not after everything the two of us have been through and witnessed during the war. I don't see why those of us who fought and risked our lives in order for Panem to be what it is now shouldn't have been rewarded with higher pay and more secure jobs. I didn't exactly know what the job was when I accepted it-a new government was being built. And the President still sends to the poorer districts whatever they need-she's dedicated to training programs; I shouldn't have to defend what she is doing to you".
"Just remember not all of us got those great jobs" she says dryly.
"I know, but she did pardon you".
"I'll always be thankful for that, though at the time I didn't want to live. I just think-it may be time for some-reform in the Capitol. Things have been stable for a while, I'm not saying Paylor has to step down as President, but, she is in her mid-sixties, maybe she could think about-I don't know-seeing how the districts feel about putting laws into place that the President only serves for so long?"
Gale laughs and says, "I don't have as much influence with her as you think I do, Heavensbee has more influence". Even though Heavensbee was in his eighties, he still served as an advisor to Paylor.
"Well, you may want to still try, because otherwise-the Capitol might someday regret it".
Katniss had no idea if Gale ever did bring the subject up with Paylor, but she guessed most likely not. She knows they were not on the same page when it came to the new Panem. She doesn't fault him for his beliefs, he has now lived away from District 12 for more years than he lived in it. While a part of her will always remember how hurt she was that he never came back to help the people of 12 rebuild, she knows part of the reason he didn't was due to his own internal struggle and guilt of not being able to save more people that fateful day. Even though he often traveled and stayed in other districts for work, she knows that he dealt with issues at a much higher level, and doesn't see the day to day problems the residents still had. She herself had only learned about them due to her travels when she worked for PES as a recruiter.
Trying to clear her mind about the past, she looks down at the people walking the streets, bundled up and trudging in the snow. She sees a robotic snow sweeper come down the street and begin to clear off the sidewalk, quickly making the ground clear and less slippery.
As she leans back-up she begins coughing, a short cough at first that then intensifies. Having brought a bottle of water outside with her, she quickly begins drinking, hoping to relieve the cough, but it does not help.
She unzips her coat pocket, relieved to find one of her herbal supplements inside. She quickly rolls it and lights it. A few minutes later, her coughing subsides. She continues to slowly inhale, until none is left, then heads back inside.
