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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

I guess everyone has their weapon. [Clove had her knives, Katniss had her bows, Johanna had her axe...

Rue had a bow and a hand crossbow, but that was because she was learning from Katniss. They had a better range than a slingshot or sling too. But was that really her's?]

What other weapons could you pick from?

They had 'em all.

[She gives a bit of a grin. After all, it's easy to guess why Rue's using the bow and arrow, so--]

Tell you what.

Let's go to the weapons shop.

[She shifts down, into a position to run.]

I'll race you.

[Rue grins and shifts into a running position.]

Okay! GO!

[She shouts as her little legs take off. Short as she is, she knows it won't take long for Clove to catch up. Which is why she cuts through the yards and hits the trees, scrambling up one and already picking out the next one to jump to. Rue flies, Rue soars. It's no wonder the Careers or other tributes couldn't catch her; no one could climb like her.

No one could fly like her.]

[Clove runs. She watches her 'opponent' out of one eye until she loses sight of her. It's an impressive thing to actually see in action.

For her part, Clove... is all dog. Swift and low to the ground, keeping her pace. She vaults over some obstacles and makes her way to the weapons' shop, breathing hard but not out of breath. Well trained for that run.

She gives Rue a grin.]

You're fast. That's good. We'll need to keep that -- light weapons.

[When the trees give out, Rue drops down the ground and runs the rest of the way across the square. She arrives a bit after Clove, all grins, breathing hard, but also still spry.]

Do you think a slingshot would work?

Maybe.

[A pause.]

Especially if we gave you barbed shots from it. Something that packs more of a punch.

[She nods toward the shop.]

Let's see if there's anything you like, too.

Barbed shots, that would be much better than rocks or the metal balls they had at the training center.

[Rue enters the stop, pausing to look around at everything. The variety of weapons was amazing, both the ones that had come from other worlds and the ones created at the smithy.

She gravitates toward the projectile weapons, the slings, the hand crossbows, the bows.]

I have a hand crossbow too, Asami made me one. But it's slow to load.

Crossbows are pretty good.

[But they lack speed.

Small, barbed shots for the slingshot have promise. Especially if the barbs could be poisoned. A good paralytic, maybe. Something that, in case friend were mistaken for foe, wouldn't have a death on this girl's conscience.

She goes to the blades and picks up a stiletto. As long as her palm but as thin as one of Rue's fingers. Sharpened to a lethal point.]

Here.

[Clove shifted her hold, offering the small wooden hilt to Rue.]

Hold it in your palm, one finger on the shaft to control it.

It's a close-quarters weapon, but I think your best bet would be to incapacitate first and then, if necessary, go in for the kill.

[Rue takes the blade and holds it as directed. She feels the smooth wood of the hilt in her hand, grips it tight. The blade is thin, easily hidden, better for stabbing than slashing, but the point could open up a person's throat in a pinch.

She's still not sure if she can. If she could. If things came down to it.]

If they can't see me, they can't kill me, right?

Right. And that's what you've got.

[A pause. A smirk. A correction.]

That's what we've got.

You have to be invisible and have strong friends.

[It was why she'd blended into the pack, done nothing to stand out in it. Let them all underestimate her among the Careers, overlook her. And why she'd come between Cato and Peeta early on, right after the bloodbath. Why she'd argued that he was their best bet for finding Twelve.

Because Peeta was strong enough to take on Cato directly. Something she didn't have on her side.]

Let them -- like me and Cato and Katniss -- do the hard work. Use your allies. Never hesitate on that point: use your allies.

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