Title: Inconstancy
Summary:Because so much can be conveyed in a name. And in the end, it was the simplest things that mattered. Prim-centric. A collection of drabbles and one-shots, in non-chronological order.
Notes: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or the opening quote.
Gladiolus
strength, integrity, infatuation
"Gladioli also represent infatuation, with a bouquet conveying to a recipient that they pierce the giver's heart with passion. Striking and colorful with towering stems, this August birth flower and 40th wedding anniversary flower evoke the drama of Roman gladiators."
That year, they all went to the Town Square to watch the Games. Everyone went-the bettors, the Merchants, the Seam people-minus two families. It is the only time District Twelve is united; they are not the rich and the poor, the healers and the merchants, the Hob traders and the pastry bakers. At that time, that place, they are District Twelve: the coal district, the unlucky, unfortunate ones.
The Everdeens, like all others, arrived at the Square with the others. The four of them stood at the back of the crowd, the place where the latecomers were. Prim was eight and too short to see over the heads of the throe of people before her. She arched her neck, stood on her tip-toes. Nothing helped. Neither of her parents offered to let her ride on their shoulders, and she didn't ask. Still, she wondered what this commotion was all about.
"Katniss," she said.
Her sister had gone through her first Reaping the week before. If anything, she looked relieved. "Yeah, Prim?"
"Can you tell me what's happening?"
Katniss kneeled down beside her so they were shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye. Prim took this as a yes.
"Nothing's happening yet," Katniss began. "They're all waiting for the gong to sound..." Her voice trailed off. They both waited.
A gong clanged, and the sound of running, feet against loose gravel reverberated. "What now? What now?" Prim asked eagerly.
Katniss stood up to see clearly. "They're running...some of them are going to the Cornucopia, some are running the other way. This one guy found a sword there and he's..."
A sickening sound followed. It was the kind that Prim despised, of knife to flesh, the kind she associated with pain. (And death)
Katniss fell silent. She knew Prim didn't want to hear any further. She understood, through the whispers arising from the crowd.