shenevermisses | 22nd Throw

22nd Throw - [ voice ]

There are some things you just can't teach. Not after a certain point.

[She doesn't sound frustrated or upset. Just... interested, in a way.]

It's weird, in a way. Trying to teach someone to be like me and finding out that's not possible. I mean, we're doing good. Great student.

[For Rue's sake more than anything, she's not going to name her over the journals, not going to divulge what they're doing.]

But there's just something different. How we were brought up. You can't teach that.

Which I guess is why they start us young. Start training us when we're five, where I'm from. Parents who think their kids have potential agree to send them off to the Academy, where they'll only see them maybe every weekend.

Usually less than that.

From there, they weed out the undesirable. The weak, the emotional, the nervous. Every year, there are fewer students your age. By the time we're sixteen or seventeen, there's only the best left.

At that point, only the girls who are stupid enough to get pregnant get sent away.

I guess I never really thought about it, but trying to teach someone else what I grew up with? You realize that some things just can't be taught. Not after a certain point.

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Even once they know -- when someone explains it to them -- they think the same thing about Careers that every non-Career district does.

That you're monsters. That it's not fair.

[Her voice grows quiet; Rue thought the same once, before Luceti.]

...They still don't understand. Even if they say they do, they really don't if they think that.

We're not... like others our age, and we do have an unfair advantage, but it's not one we ask for.

[Just another way to survive. To make it one more day. They did what they had to.]

I don't think you're a monster. Or a bad person.

...It's not your fault you're a Career. It's just how things were.

Oh, I'm a bad person. But, you know what? I'm okay with that. It kept me alive pretty long.

[Rue still doesn't think Clove is a bad person. Maybe not a nice person, but not quite a bad person. But she doesn't try to argue the point.]

I hope it keeps working then.

It's worked better here than the Arena, at least.

Probably because we don't have to fight each other here. And if you go on a draft or mission, there's people fighting alongside you.

...What are they like?

The missions? Or the people?

The missions. Or drafts.

[The missions are by choice and Rue's pretty sure Katniss would never let her go, but the drafts... you have to go if you're called.]

Not too bad.

I've been on a few missions, more of those than drafts. They're usually violent, dangerous... but you've got a team. And if you don't fight? There's other things you can do.

I read. There's research and cooking and training too.

...I don't think Katniss will let me go on them.

Even on the drafts, there are medical places and other things on the camps.

Places where I can still be useful.

[As long as you're useful, you can stay and be alive.]

Exactly.

[She smiled a little at the sound of it.]

They make it easier than the Capitol. Be useful -- you don't have to be a fighter. But I do want to teach you enough in case you get caught somewhere.

And that's why I want to learn too. In case... in case things happen. Or go bad.

It happens here. It happens in the Games, too. That sudden change. Where things just go wrong.

I'll make sure you're ready in case that happens.

Like the fireballs in the arena. Anything can happen.

[Her voice grows quiet and trails off as she remembers the Games again. The crackle and boom as the fireballs hit the trees, smashing and burning everything in their path. The sting of her eyes from the smoke and flames, the pain of the flames.

She pulls herself together.]

Tomorrow at ten?

((ooc; Do you want to transition into action?))

[Fire. The whirring sound and then a blaze, black smoke in the air. Choking her. Crippling all of them. Leaving the pack barely able to breathe, just outrunning it.]

Like the fire balls.

Tomorrow at ten.

(Transition sounds good!)

[It's a long walk from the top of the village to the bottom, but it's one Rue's made enough times to make it fast. She keeps to the trees when she can, swinging and leaping without any effort, her laughter trailing after her.

A few minutes before 10, she arrives at Wind Building and knocks on the door of room four.]

Morning, Clove!

[And Clove is dressed in black pants and a dark green shirt. The same basic thing she's been wearing. Academy style clothing.]

Hey Rue.

[It's strange, calling her by name. By the name that got her killed.

But she tries not to think about that.]

Let's go for a walk.

[Activity, now. The basics of physical training.]

[Rue nods, also dressed for training. Dark pants, a t-shirt, and a light jacket, her folding knife tucked into her back pocket.

She waits to follow Clove, to listen and observe.]

[Clove leads the way out to the path and gives a bit of a grin.]

From five to ten, we did physical endurance training. Stamina, strength, and speed. At ten, we picked up our first weapon.

Were knives your first choice?

They tried to give me a staff first.

Something to extend my reach.

I do okay with one, actually. A staff, short sword, and knives is what I ended up doing well with. Best at knives.

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