shenevermisses | 28th Throw

28th Throw - [ written ]

Looks like we're a pretty big drain on this community.

[She's wary as she writes it. Most of the people who'll see this, she hopes, are from the same Luceti she is. But there's no guarantee.]

So I'm organizing a hunting party.

Anyone who doesn't know how to hunt and wants to learn? Meet me at six in the morning by the stable.

Those of us who do know how to hunt will pair you up with a buddy. We'll leave at six-thirty sharp.

Hunting'll be Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Fishing'll be Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

[If there's one thing she learned in Luceti -- learned from Katniss -- it's how important these skills are.]

If we're going to strain these folks' resources? Least we can do is try to help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like trained animals.

[There's definite distaste to his voice as he says this. This is something he knows all too well, because he'd experienced it himself once he'd made the choice to defect from Demon Card.]

They only care about you as long as you're useful to them. Once you outlive your usefulness, they'll discard you... or worse.

They make sure we're useful. Or entertaining.

[He... understands. To some degree.]

Every year, they take twenty-four of us -- two from each district -- and put us in an arena. Twelve boys, twelve girls. Ages twelve to eighteen. We have limited food, limited supplies, weapons, and each other.

The last alive? Wins.

And they televise it. To every district. Every second of the day, there's something on those screens.

Until there's only a Victor.

Your world considers people fighting to the death to be entertainment?

[Shuda has seen his share of brutal things in his world, but this is a new low even to him.]

I take back everything I've ever said about Demon Card being cruel. Even they don't go that far. They'll slaughter innocents without cause, but they won't turn it into entertainment. If anything, they do it to strike fear into the hearts of others.

[There was Georco, but...]

It's only entertainment for the Capitol. Their children don't go into the Games.

For the rest of Panem? It's a reminder. That the Capitol remembers their failed rebellion. And that, if they chose, they could kill everyone.

Instead, most years, they settle for twenty-three kids.

[Because in her two years in Luceti, that's what she's accepted. They are kids. They're just kids. All of them. Career eighteen-year-olds and outlier twelve-year-olds alike. They're all kids.]

I'm not sure what it says about either of our worlds that the government in yours sounds like it has a lot in common with an organization that terrorizes the populace in mine.

And that's not even touching on the 'kids' part.

...How long's yours been doing it?

A couple of decades by now. I didn't join it until it had already been around for a while.

Took someone seventy-five years to overthrow mine.

Heh. We're working on it.

I hope you manage it.

I won't get to see what Panem's like without the Games, but the idea's enough for me.

[That's a bit of an unusual thing to say, but Shuda is pretty sure he understands what she means by that and isn't going to ask about it.]

Thanks.

Name's Shuda, by the way. What's yours?

I'm Clove.

Good to meet you. I'm looking forward to hunting with you.

Same to you. It'll be fun to learn something new and useful, and a lot better than just practicing against artificial quarry.

Definitely. And it'll be good in case our benefactors ever turn against us.

Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised. If anything, I'd say it's just a matter of time.

Especially with how much people seem to like to defy them.

Don't get me wrong-- I'd defy them too if given the chance. I just know how to pick my battles.

I wouldn't. I'd rather work with them -- for them, if I could.

Take them down from the inside?

No. Be part of their organization.

You'd willingly work for the people you compared to the government in your own world?

[He doesn't quite get the logic here.]

Compared to. But they're not the same.

[And she's a creature of contradictions.]

So, yes, I'd work for them.

Especially if the alternative is leaving this world.

I can't say I understand your reasons, but I'm sure you have them. I won't ask why. At least you realize that they aren't as benevolent as they like to pretend.

There's nothing in my world to go back to.

They want to find a way to send us back -- if I'm working for them, they won't send me back.

Heh. You have a point there. I suppose just asking them nicely not to send you back wouldn't have quite the same effect.

28th Throw - [ written ]

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