23rd Throw - [ voice ]

[shenevermisses]

[After two days of the girl not showing up for lessons and not giving her any warning, Clove went looking. A brief discussion with Twelve, and, well, that was enough.

Of the things left behind, she'd claimed the stiletto she'd helped Rue pick out.

Maybe, in the long run, it was better this way. She'd never had to really use it. She'd never had to put the training Clove had tried to give her to use.

Later in the afternoon, Clove addresses the journal.]

Looks like the Little Bird has gone back to the nest. [A nickname for everyone. Something to make them less than human in the Arena.] The kid, Rue, she's not here with us anymore.

["She went home" would be a lie. For Rue, for her, for Cato... There's no home to go to. There's only death.]

This place really has its moods, doesn't it? Sometimes just sends a lot of 'em away at once.

Comments

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[the_dead_pool2]

Hard to say for sure. Best not to think about it too much.

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[shenevermisses]

I don't plan to. Just know she had some friends, and they deserve to know.

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[the_dead_pool2]

Right, fair enough. From the same world and all that jazz?

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[shenevermisses]

Same world, different parts. We got to know each other here.

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[the_dead_pool2]

Huh. There is usually some kind of connection from people of the same world.

[Being a world traveling mercenary, he had seen, interacted, or at least heard of most major and minor heroes and villains in his world]

You guys in rival girl scout operations or something?

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[shenevermisses]

[Rival operations sounds about right, and they were both girls... But:]

What's a scout?

Brings a whole new meaning to Hunger Games

[the_dead_pool2]

Well, depends which context. I am referring to someone who is training in survival techniques as well as seeking to destroy the competition and emerge victorious.

In a military sense, a scout is someone who patrols the outer perimeters, and usually discovers targets for a larger force to engage.

There are moments when the things Clove doesn't know are wonderful

[shenevermisses]

In the context you're talking about? Yeah. We were.

Ah, bad ass girl and boy scouts is the hunger games

[the_dead_pool2]

Huh, so you had uniforms and different tropes and regions you worked out of?

[Rue would look adorable in a scout uniform]

[shenevermisses]

Sort of. I mean, we all wore the same thing. All of the tributes did. They didn't put different districts in different clothes.

[the_dead_pool2]

So you learned camouflage and fishing and sewing and stuff? Do they still do archery and stuff too?

[Just going on the whole normal everyday scouting since no one has told him otherwise. ]

[shenevermisses]

They had a few of those classes in training, but most didn't really have time to learn a lot.

District Two -- my district -- taught us with weapons, though.

[the_dead_pool2]

Eh, fair enough. A lot of places don't have time for the weapons for the most part.

Sounds like my kind of place this District Two. That must have given you an edge on the competition.

[shenevermisses]

I did okay. [Yes, the pun went right over her head.] No one really matters except the winners -- the last one left, or last two in our year. Special circumstances.

Still, I was nineteenth to go down. Out of twenty-four.

[the_dead_pool2]

Fair enough. That is the case of most competitions.

[He cracks his neck]

So, you get some kind of honorable mention or something for that?

[shenevermisses]

No.

If anything, I'll be a cautionary tale in my district about how not to react. I didn't face it like I should have.

[the_dead_pool2]

Like you freaked out or something?

[He raises an eyebrow]

What was the poop?

[shenevermisses]

[That second question is... weird. She doesn't even know how to respond to that. So. First question it is.]

Yeah... Yeah, I freaked out.

We're not supposed to be afraid. Two trains us better than that. But I... [She shrugs. She's never flinched from saying it before. No reason to start now.]

I died screaming for help.

[the_dead_pool2]

[He pauses for a second]

Hold up there a second, little britches. You died in a scout competition?

[That was way more intense competition than at home. Well, he hadn't ever participated but still.]

[shenevermisses]

That's what the Hunger Games are. The competition in my world. Twenty-four go in, one comes out. Two in special circumstances -- only happened once.

[the_dead_pool2]

Seems a little intense for people your age, but whatever floats your world's boat I suppose.

[shenevermisses]

Twelve to eighteen -- that's the range of ages for tributes.

[the_dead_pool2]

Stupid age for people to fight to the death. Haven't even fully developed yet.

[He shakes his head. ]

[shenevermisses]

It's tradition in our world.

[the_dead_pool2]

Traditions are often stupid.

[He lifts his hands up and shrugs]

Just the way of things. Basically its someone doing something, and saying you got to do it this way, after years and years, people just sort of get accustomed to it. It doesn't mean it wasn't initially stupid.