Date: Year 9, August. Ten days after Mags' victory. Part 2
Previously:
"How old are you?" She inquired, her interest piqued. "What's your name?"
"Plutarch and I'm eight and two months." He jumped to his feet and puffed up importantly. "Have you ever seen the zoo?"
Mags cocked her head to the side. "What's in a 'zoo'?"
Was it a fancy children's playground?
"Loads of animals that don't exist anywhere else," Plutarch explained, looking both proud and delighted to be able to teach the older girl something. "If you take me to the zoo, we'll both have fun. I've already seen it, but you haven't, and since I'd owe you for taking me about anywhere, the zoo is the neatest place and it's close."
Mags smiled. A part of her was just as eager to leave the sterile hospital environment and the zoo sounded intriguing. Animals that didn't exist anymore? Like the animals mutts were based off? She willed herself to dampen her enthusiasm. She couldn't forget where she was.
"I'm not saying no," she said slowly, endeared to see his face light up, "but why didn't your parents teach you not to trust strangers like that? And why isn't even a single nurse supervising you?"
Plutarch huffed. "They've got better things to do. Dad didn't pay them to walk me places. He says he's keeping the money to buy me a present when I get out if I behave." Plutarch tilted his chin up. "I'm behaving. You're an adult, so you can take me outside. I'm too hot in here and it's boring." He then glared at her as if she was slow. "Besides, you're no stranger. You're the victor, Mags. I saw everything. You're nice."
Mags stared. I saw the recaps and you're nice said in that childish accented voice clashed like fire and water. Mags knew little children didn't process violence and death in the same way, her sanity had rested on that during the rebellion, but a part of her still reeled.
"So?" Plutarch asked, hope written all over his round features.
Mags smiled helplessly. She wondered why her brain was so screwed up that she suddenly felt more affection for a brainwashed Capitol boy that thought she was nice rather than for the hardworking decent citizen of her town who were understandably suspicious of her.
"You're the one who knows where to go, Plutarch," she said gesturing at the door.
The stout boy rushed out with a triumphant grin.
Mags wryly wondered which nurse was about to lose her job.
Plutarch had not exaggerated about the whole hospital being occupied elsewhere. The few nurses, avoxes and technicians they encountered were hurrying through the corridors. Security let them out without blinking an eye and yet Mags knew she had been recognized. The realization that no one thought her a threat slowly sunk in and while a part of her was miffed, she had to hide her smile of triumph. These people felt untouchable, they believed Achlys' propaganda.
"You know, the zoo sounds great, but if you want to go somewhere else, I can take you," Mags said kindly, taking in the tall glittering spires all around her.
The hospital seemed to be in a residential part of the fortress city. There were few people in the streets and it was nothing like the crowded plazas she had glimpsed the last time she had been here. Everything seemed more solid, less flashy, more elegant. Mags suddenly could imagine people living here and glimpsed what day to day life for the working citizen had to be, as opposed to the permanent decadent partying of the elite.
"Yeah right. Don't think I'm a fool because I'm little," Plutarch said with unexpected hostility. "You district people don't do anything unless you have to, everyone knows that. That's why there have to be so many peacekeepers."
Mags stared again, a part of her good mood evaporating. She was painfully reminded this was a young Capitolite. She decided not to comment.
"So this zoo is really awesome?" She said, keeping her tone cheerful.
"You're nobody if you haven't seen the zoo!" Plutarch exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're lucky you're a victor so I can bring you."
What was she, some rare-breed prize dog? Mags schooled her expression. Plutarch was genuinely enthusiastic about this and just repeating what he had heard.
Strange noises, a mix of screams and squawks, soon reached Mags ears.
"Is this the zoo?" It was closer than she had thought.
Plutarch nodded. "Monkeys, they scream all day long. And the parrots are so loud too, but the best is when the lion roars even if you're not allowed to make him because then he gets angry and attacks the people who keep his cage clean."
A childish part of Mags now itched to make the lion roar.
The zoo, which was for now a loud walled enclave with trees inside, was more crowded. People stared as she passed but still didn't bother her. Mags could hear them whispering, asking who the little boy was, until the name Heavensbee was thrown around. It wasn't murmured in awe or fear, which made Mags realized it was Achlys people were wary of. They didn't dare bother her because they thought she was doing something important. Mags stifled a laugh.
When the entrance gave way to a path amidst the trees, Mags' eyes widened in awe. Pleasant flowery scents filled her lungs and her eyes were drawn to a nearby rockpool. Furred animals with short webbed limbs and sleek bodies were in the water… playing. There was no other word. Otters, she remembered with a smile. Those were supposed to exist in Four too, but Mags had never seen one. She delighted in seeing the fool around.
"Those are cool, but they're girl animals. You have to see the tiger," Plutarch said, dragging her further along.
Mags was almost tempted to tug the black-haired boy back but decided keeping him happy was more important than staring at the adorable otters like a child.
"It's a little cage," Plutarch said as they stopped. "I feel a little bad for the tiger, but there isn't anywhere else to put him. They can run really fast, I saw it on TV."
Mags stared at the tiger. She'd only seen a black and white image in the school picture book. It hadn't done any justice to the magnificent prowling beast flexing its sinewy muscles with every graceful step. She wished the TVs in Four would show them what the extinct beasts and the land before Panem looked like, beyond a few pictures and grotesque mutt imitations. For the first time, she found she envied the Capitol. They had access to so much more knowledge and their children seemed so well fed and happy. And spoiled, she amended wryly, seeing a flushed mother dragging her wailing child behind her while the tiny girl howled about ice-creams and goats.
"The cage is bigger than my old house was," she muttered absently, trying to make Plutarch feel better about the caged tiger.
The boy started and turned huge blue eyes towards her. "But… we don't get to eat that much fish because fish is expensive. How can you not be very rich? I saw it on TV, there's loads and loads of fish in a net."
Mags frowned at the child's words. Plutarch was either bright for his age or repeating what he'd heard. It seemed the Capitol liked to pretend district people weren't so poor, and that bothered her a lot.
Nevertheless she knew that whatever she told Plutarch would be repeated.
"There's lots of it, so it's cheaper in my town. It doesn't have to get purified or travel like it does to get here, which costs a lot," she answered carefully.
"Yeah Dad said you were different from us and liked to eat all kinds of disgusting stuff that would make proper people sick. So like cheap fish I guess."
Mags shut her eyes briefly, trying to quell the anger bubbling in her chest. She decided she should feel lucky. For the first time she had a chance to find out what a Capitolite grew up hearing.
"Dad also says there has to be peacekeepers everywhere because district people are really violent. That they attack each other and would attack the Capitol if they could because they're greedy. Julia, she's the maid, she told me reaped kids have tesserae, because their parents are so greedy they don't care if their kids get in the Hunger Games."
Mags decided to focus on the one surprising detail before her temper snapped. How could any adult consciously plant such horrible notions in their child's mind? Were all Capitolites devoid of critical thinking? And Plutarch had yet to learn that people didn't like to hear their homeland insulted, regardless of what was true or not.
"You have maids?" She asked through clenched teeth, trying to look pleasant and interested.
Mags had though avoxes did all the work. Maids meant some Capitol citizens worked for others.
"Yeah," Plutarch said with a shrug. "Lots of people do."
But not everyone apparently. "So some people aren't rich?"
"Everyone tries to look rich," Plutarch said, with that self-important puffed up look that Mags was learning to recognize as him reciting something. "Julia has real pretty purple and red feathers growing from her head, right here," he said, bending forwards to show Mags the hairline on his neck, "and girly stuff that makes her hair sparkle and move by itself, but she's not rich. They all work for others in her family. It's 'cause they're a bit stupid and had bad marks at school," he added in a loud whisper. "It's rude to say that poor people are poor because they're stupid even if it's true," he finished solemnly, making sure no one was eavesdropping.
Mags imagined glittering snakes instead of hair and kept her eyes on the tiger to hide her distaste. The 'poor people deserve being poor' rationale didn't surprise her at all, and maybe in the Capitol it was truer than in the districts, even if she doubted that the stupid children of rich, influential parents would ever end up cleaning someone's house. She didn't dare ask Plutarch if he'd heard anything about the rebels that had been captured on TV. If the Capitol had already made them 'confess', surely the districts would have been made to watch. She swallowed, wishing for a way to know if Teal, Sylvan or Chickaree were still alive. Sorrow invaded her. The tiger was suddenly much less fascinating.
"I want tiger claws when I grow up, except bigger and made of steel!" Plutarch announced, awe glittering in his blue eyes.
Mags hoped he'd grow out of it.
As they started walking again, they passed a box saying 'Food for monkeys'. Plutarch slowed, his eyes ostensibly stopping on the sign.
"You want one of those?" Mags offered.
"Yes please," Plutarch said eagerly.
There was enough intelligence sparkling in the eyes of the furry humanoid creatures that Mags was sad to see them in cages. Yet had the Capitol not caged them, would any be still populating Panem? When one of the bonobos reached out to her, well after they had finished feeding them food, Mags gently caught its hand through the bars and thought she saw a glimmer of empathy.
"So?" Plutarch asked testily as they stopped to admire the bickering parrots, flapping their resplendent wings as they shoved the others for food and space.
"So what?" Mags said, tearing her eyes away from the magnificent birds.
"So what do you want for having bought me the monkey food?"
Mags chuckled. "Nothing, Plutarch. I want you to be nice to me if we meet again."
The boy crossed his arms, a wary expression entering his eyes. "What do you mean by nice?"
Mags didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad at his diffident expression. Were there no gifts given in the Capitol? "Just like you were today."
Confusion creased the little boy's face. "You're weird. Weirder than everything Dad says."
"I'm from the Districts," Mags replied gaily. Weird could only be a compliment from a Capitolite.
Plutarch's whole body relaxed as if everything made perfect sense again.
A stern voice made the two turn. "Abalone!"
A broad man in an elegant black and red uniform was taking long steps towards her.
"Uh-oh," Plutarch whispered, looking suddenly guilty as he latched onto her.
"I'm Peacekeeper Frey," the man curtly said. "You are out of bounds, Victor Abalone. What are you doing here?"
"I promised I'd take her to the zoo," Plutarch said, straightening bravely.
Mags bit back a smile, repressing the urge to pat the boy on the head. The peacekeeper looked more annoyed than hostile, as if he'd had to track her down from the hospital, which was entirely possible.
"You are, young man?" Said the man, with the stilted politeness of someone figuring Achlys might have a favorite nephew he hadn't heard of.
"Plutarch Heavensbee, Sir, and we still have to go see the snakes."
Mags was finding it harder and harder not to smile.
The blonde officer turned to Mags but kept silent, his thick brow furrowed. He hadn't reacted to Plutarch's name so Mags guessed the Heavenbees were a well-off family but not one of the more powerful ones.
"Meet me in the entrance in fifteen minutes," he finally said, shaking his head slightly. "Don't cause trouble."
"No, Sir," Plutarch solemnly promised.
Mags laughed as soon as the man was out of hearing range.
Plutarch stuck his tongue out when the young woman tousled his hair.
*scenebreak*
Achlys didn't bother to mask her disbelief as Mags was finally allowed into her office. Mags decided there was nothing to be nervous about, she'd done nothing wrong. Her body decided differently, and she felt her hands grow clammy from stress.
"The zoo?" The President said, slight contempt twisting her lips into a small smile.
"Plutarch asked me to come." Mags blushed, feeling stupid now. "The child in me was just too tempted."
Achlys rolled her eyes. "You never asked who his father was."
Mags bit her inner lip. Of course they'd talked to the boy. No wonder she had been made to wait an hour outside. She hoped they hadn't talked Plutarch out of seeing her again. It would be nice to know someone non-threatening in the Capitol.
"I didn't see how it mattered. Plutarch talked of him like a decent father, so I wasn't worried for him."
A small smile creased Achlys' painted lips. "Good," she muttered.
Good what? Good that Mags has no political ambitions in the Capitol and had only wanted to have fun? If only Achlys knew. But Mags had to admit that she'd indeed accepted to go to the zoo because after her near brush with death, she had needed the distraction.
"I overstepped myself, Madam President, I apologize," Mags said with downcast eyes, not wanting to take any risks.
Achlys chuckled. "The zoo is fine. The Heavenbees are a respectable middle-class family with more influence than means, and their boy appears to be as spirited and aware of what he wants as his father is," the white-haired woman paused and brought a hand to her long ruby earrings, as if she was making a mental note.
Mags hoped she hadn't gotten Plutarch in trouble.
"I'll have someone with you when you come from now on," Achlys informed her after a pause, "to tell you what is appropriate. I understand there was an emergency today but do give me a little more warning on your coming and goings."
A weak chuckle escaped Mags' lips, as she struggled to hide her dread at the idea of being shadowed by one of Achlys' minions. "Of course, Ma'am. I truly hope it won't happen again."
Achlys gave her another small amused smile.
Mags swallowed, hoping her courage wouldn't fail her. "Mrs. President, about meteorology and water purification?"
She instantly regretted her question.
Achlys tensed, anger tightening her features. "Are you aware of the cost of a parabolic antenna powerful enough to cover a 500*500 miles zone?" The woman asked in poisonous tones.
Mags couldn't repress a frown. There were three antennas to rebuild. One in the Capitol and two in Four since the other places were not strategic enough to warrant it. The material cost was what the Capitol would pay the districts for it and either the technology still existed or it didn't. If it did, the Capitol wouldn't ruin itself by paying the citizens of Three, Five and Six to build their machines, and if it didn't, Achlys could simply say so.
"Four is still a rebel's nest, Abalone," Achlys spat in disgust, "they would sabotage it. If you want I'll allow you to make a district wide statement saying exactly this: I'm refusing meteorology because it would be a waste of money. If there are no acts of vandalism aside the very minor in Four for a whole year, I will come back on my decision."
Mags suddenly understood and repressed the urge to slam her head on the table. Vandalism was almost a tradition. All the anger that the teenagers, and a fair few older citizen, felt against the government, especially when reaping period approached, crystallized in a crashing wave of destruction and chaos. Those gestures were screams of rage by people terrified to be silenced forever. Through petty vandalism people wanted to remind the world that they were still alive, that they refused to be treated as disposable pawns. Reason proved such actions were useless, but reason had never been a driving force.
"Pay more attention to the black eyed peacekeepers that walk your District," Achlys began, cold fury still blazing in her golden eyes, "to the ripped pipes and broken windows where the fish is purified, to the smell of rot where waste disposal units have been upturned. I will give you meteorology and I will give you better sanitation, Abalone, but only when Four will have given me order and peace."
Mags nodded. "I understand, Madam President, I'll do my best to convince them."
Not just her town, the whole district. Mags almost sagged at the amplitude of the task. How to convince oppressed people that violence, no matter how satisfying, had to be proscribed? That giving the Capitol some order was not offering it their souls? Some peacekeepers would take advantage of it and, with no outlet, some people would go insane.
"You must, you care more about their lives and happiness than I do," Achlys said with a small predatory smile.
Mags swallowed. She had never been more aware that this was the woman who had invented the Hunger Games.
It was pitch dark when the hovercraft landed next to the mayor's house, with only the lighthouse and a few lampposts illuminating the paths.
Mags blushed as the carrier left again, making enough noise to wake the whole district. The people who had to wake up before dawn to sail out would hate her.
Movement made her start. "Precisely on time. Let's go," her mother said, wrapping an arm around her, while Esperanza grabbed her other hand.
The woman freed a hand to wave to the mayor but kept dragging her daughter away before anyone could catch up.
Mags grinned as her mother and sister efficiently kidnapped her, she kissed their cheeks, happy to be home. "Don't you have a test tomorrow, Esperanza?"
"Didn't you just almost die, Big Sis?" The dark haired girl shot back before mumbling something about priorities.
Mags affected a shrug, not wanting them to know how terrified she had been. "How dramatic! No, I'll be fine. I've got a list of drugs I need to take."
"There's just medicine in that huge backpack you have?" Angelites said warily, lifting the bag by the handle to estimate its weight. It was heavy.
"Don't worry, Mama. There's loads of different stuff because I breathed in lots of different fumes but it's very well explained in that sheet the doctor gave me. We'll read through it tomorrow." Mags smiled when her sister's hold on her arm tightened forcefully. "We'll wait for you, Esperanza, I promise. Doctor Alexanders apologized because I may die at eighty."
A hearty chuckle escaped Angelites' lips. "That sounds acceptable," she said, relief thick in her tone as she slowly caressed her eldest's amber hair.
Author's note
This chapter was rather lighthearted. The next will be more… stressful. Time will start moving on more quickly in a couple of chapters.
The "*scenebreak*" ugly thing was because for some reason the doc manager won't let me insert horizontal lines half the time
Thanks to everyone who has expressed interest in the story from the beginning. A special thank you to my regular guest reviewers: Well of Wishes, Iacopo, Lollipop, Flibidi, Supernova18 and Gingerfluff. Thank you for your feedback and your loyalty despite the lack of answers you receive from me. I love reading your reviews and you all give valuable insight.
Lastly, always remember that Mags is smart but uneducated and the Plutarch is a child. So when you read:
"the best is when the lion roars even if you're not allowed to make him because then he gets angry and attacks the people who keep his cage clean."
Of course the lion's claws and fangs have been removed for safety reasons. But Plutarch was told by his parents (who wanted to scare and impress him and to stop him from tapping the lion's cage) that the lion was as fierce as it would have been in the wild (also because Plutarch would have been upset had he learned those awesome lion claws had been cut). And Mags is not going to ponder how animals are treated and kept in zoos at length because it's not her priority, so she believes Plutarch (who might also be exaggerating things to impress her).
Just saying that the narration is colored by the narrator and that people are sometimes wrong and sometimes lie.
Please review^^.