Trigger Warning- Mentions of animal abuse and animal testing)
The Grandman was in hospital overnight. Doctor's claim it was a stroke. No matter. With the Plinth's money, she'll be comfortable and well treated. Waking to the sound of Tigris crying was not on the agenda, and she wouldn't let me comfort her. That was Mrs. Plinth's job anyway.
Nothing left to do be go to my classes. With no lecture in gamemaking, I made my way to the Citadel for my extra private lesson. I walked a little slower. Not because my shoes were too small anymore, those days were over. No, my mind wandered to Grandmam. For an old-fashioned, diseased crone, she did risk a lot raising Tigris and I. Her dying would rid me of my concern for her.
This is approaching the last time I wonder what her face looked like in youth. Could she sing better then? I know her and Grandfather were not married for love, and she hated who she called an old bat. Where Tigris and I lost parents, she lost children. A grief I never saw her express. Did she try to be strong for Tigris and I? Or where her children are a necessity like her marriage? Like my children and marriage will be...
Livia wanted to come to the hospital. Something about my family will be her family. I didn't let her make an excuse that Grandmam needed the space. Naturally, she came anyway, crying too much to make it look like she cared. At least she can act, but it's hard to shape her into an ideal First Lady when she refuses to listen to me. Even harder when I can't stay near her long enough to work on her behaviour. Always more malleable than Lucy Grey, but less tolerable. There were so many distasteful women, and I was going to meet one more.
~~
Kallista is a gamemaker, but she must have a specialty in the war department. Something she focuses on, like Gaul and her mutts, Dr. Kay and her Jabberjays. The location of her office gave no indication what that specialty might be. The door itself had no plaque or sign indicating whose office it was. The Fire Woman's words in my mind, "Coriolanus, I'm not a display here, hence why I have no plaque telling you everything about me. "
Over my knocking on the door came a rude and abrupt, "Fuck off!" Rarely have I hear such vulgar and unintelligent language. Especially from and educated woman. Maybe she learned such vulgarity in two. Ignoring her I knocked again. Her being in a bad mood was not going to stop me from my lesson.
Once the door flung open I stepped back. "I swear..." Kallista looked shocked I was standing there. How unprofessional of her to be wearing Pjamas at work. "Oh... Snow, I assumed you'd be at the hospital with, the Grandmam," her lip curled into a smirk.
"Oddly enough, I have no reason to be there as far as I'm concerned," I shrugged. Kallista made no motion to let me in. Instead she flung the door closed in my face. Before I could knock again, that always annoyed voice came through the door telling me not to. To be patient. When I'm president she better not dare to speak to me like this. In fact, I saw no reason why I should take it now.
Turning the handle, I heard her suck her teeth in a Tsk sound. "Hey, I have a lesson with you today so I expect to get my worth. Unless you think that little of me," ignoring her as I stepped inside. The room was quite luxurious. A couch and chairs faced a television screen in the left side as I faced it. The center had a large desk with bookshelves to the ceiling behind it. A wall separated the right side from the rest. Looking in the part the wall didn't shield a door was open to what looked like a bathroom. This was much more than Gaul's office which had part of small lab and a desk for meetings and paperwork. This felt... comfortable.
Assuming she was on whatever that wall hid I walked to my right. Getting closer I could see it wasn't just a toilet attached to the office, but a bath and shower as well. "You must work quite a bit if you need a full bathroom," even as I passed the wall I was still inspecting the bathroom. Peering in it was full of towels, makeups, soaps, and toiletry items. Her red hair was visible in the corner of my eye. I turned you her, "It's almost like you live..."
Kallista was leaning against a wall near me. Behind her was a bed, dresser, nightstands, and a patchy tabby cat flicking his tail at me on a cat tower. "Because I do. Knowing this, please don't let yourself in again. I was changing," she threatened as she pushed off the wall and headed back to the open part of, her room I guess. Changed she did though not that it was much different from her sleepwear. A tight green t-shirt was tucked losely into a black track pant to try and look more sophisticated than it was. Still no shoes.
Desperatefor a distraction I turned to the feline eyeing me, "You have a cat?" The pet was much less dainty than Bo Bell, but just as soothing as it allowed me to approach and pet it.
Kallista's stomps could be heard as she came back to the otherside of the wall. The carpet made sure to stop the sound of her bare feet slapping tile like in that main areas of the war department. "I guess," She guessed? "She was going to be used for genetic harvesting to make mutts, however poor beast has a fatty liver disease. Not a prime specimen for recreation, creation of new life, testing, or study. As her records were labelled."
Adopting a rejected lab animal was not something I thought this woman would do. Much less be allowed to do. "What is the proper procedure for rejected lab animals?"
Her browser raised, "You really want a lesson, huh? Rejected specimens are especially... useless. What do you do with a broken vial?" Of course she thought I was asking for a purpose, not just out of curiosity.
Taking the hint she didn't want me in her room, I walked towards the office part of her room as I answered, "Dispose of it, but she came in diseased?"
"Did she?" I stopped to consider her works,"Did she develop it while she was beening assessed?"
"No, she was purposely given the illness. A liveable condition if you give her a special diet. But it was that or death either way so I'd call it a win for the cat. Now she's used to find cures for that particular liver condition that doesn't involve removing part of the liver by surgery or lifestyle changes to 'manage it' so it doesn't get that bad." Did she do this? To save a cat? Also, how does one give a cat a liver disease?
As if seeing the questions swirling in my head, Kallista continued, "The liver disease was caused by diabetes which I discovered after she was labelled usuable. The diabetes was caused by... giving the cat the wrong food and medication. Also made her really fat in general, let alone her liver. The little beast endured abuse to live. Now she's a good weight, diabetes are under control, as is her liver. Living and dying what some might call, the good life. Rather than being on a chopping block while they... harvest her." I couldn't see in her face as she sat at her desk it made her sick to talk about it. The way she sneered, her eyes closed as she sighed saying 'harvest'. "She's my Lucy Grey."
This I understood. If only Lucy Grey was as appreciative of me as this cat was of Kallista. In a way, this is how the Capitol cares for the districts. Abused to live a life better than they'd have without it. This was my lesson for the day. My mind flashed to Tigris, remembering the thought of her face inviting abuse to feed us. Even my... even Livia Cardew would endure me to live as First Lady of Panem.
Taking a seat on the other side of the desk I nodded, "Does it have a name?"
Kallista chuckled, "I Don't Know."
"You didn't bother to check her papers or give her one yourself?"
"She had none on her record. Easier that way when your experiment materials don't come with a personal label beyond cat. All lab specimens lack a personal name as do mutts. Just a species. As for giving her one myself, I Don't Know," her soft naturally smile suggested cold cruelty. But her tilted head and narrowed eyes suggests more but I couldn't decipher what. "Or Idoe for short."
The stupidity of naming one's pet as a joke. The cruelty in making its live and almost death a joke at your expense. Yet, this is part of what the Hunger Games must be. A joke at the expense of the district's suffering for our own amusement. However, I was unamused, "Idoe it is."
The thought of using nameless animals to make mutts didn't sit well with me. That is not a job for me, but making mutts was never my thing. That was Gaul's thing. Only she has the kind of mindless power to dissect an animal and put it back together as easily as people. This Kallista and I agreed on even if it came without words.