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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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.

[Use your allies. Rue nods. It was what her mentors had said too, to find strong allies and hide by them for as long as she could, then run fast and far once things had thinned out.

And it worked, hadn't it? She'd survived far longer than she would have at Katniss' side.]

I've been making good allies. People that can fight, people that are smart.

[Katniss. Clove. Laura. Loki. Thor. Johanna.]

If you can, leave the dirty work to them. But always have something on you that you can use. Something that is right at hand and you can kill with if you're trapped.

[Like the stiletto.]

I think what we'll want to do is commission barbed shot for you. Maybe see if we can find a poison to coat the spikes in. Something that'll act as a paralytic.

[It doesn't work well with knives, and she has no mind for poison making and that kind of thing, but it's a good strategy. Especially for a small girl who is fast and young. Someone who Clove isn't sure she could ever teach to be a killer.]

The people at the smithy could probably make the shot, but do you think any of them would know about poison? Or anyone in the village? It sounds like something you have to be careful asking about.

[People getting the wrong impressions and all. Or asking too many questions and not understanding the answers.]

I'll see about figuring that part out.

Enough of them already don't like me, so the worst that can do is make them like me less.

Only if you're sure.

[Rue looks down at the stiletto in her hand.]

How do you carry your knives?

[Clove kneels down and shifts her pant leg up, revealing the handle of a hunting knife tucked into her boot.]

This one, I rigged up here.

[Then, she opens her jacket, showing the vest she'd claimed in the arena and the throwing knives fitted into it.]

This one found me.

For that, though? We'll rig something for the wrist, I think. That way, when you need it, it's right at hand.

[Rue looks at both sheath and vest with interest, then looks down at the stiletto again. It's just the right size to fit inside something strapped to her wrist.]

Okay. [She turns it around in her fingers, getting used to the feel of it in her hand.] I like it.

[Clove considers for a moment then stands fully. She tilts her head, considering it for a moment.]

Now. Think.

Here, you have all the time in the world.

You have the opportunity. You have to strike. Where do you put the blade?

[Rue looks at Clove, a frown falling across her face. She chews on her lower lip as she thinks. She's not a Career so thinking on how to kill, where to strike is hard.]

Um... Stomach. Or thigh.

Thigh'll slow me down. Stomach will bleed to death -- in a couple days.

[She reached up, touching her throat.]

Here. Or. [Her hand touches her side.] Here. Between the ribs. Up.

I'm too short to reach someone's throat, I could miss.

[But the side, up into the ribs. It's not necessarily doable for her, no easier than sticking her knife into a person's stomach or thigh, but she'll remember that.]

Not if they're coming at you, coming down. Because they have to go down to get you.

[Rue nods, though still uncertainly.]

What if I miss?

Then keep stabbing. Keep inflicting pain until they let go.

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