Fourth Dispatch: It's Not What You Think. Voice.

[trinkett]

Dear Fellow Residents of Luceti,

Wouldn't it be entertaining to put on some Games here in Luceti? Not that the Cultural Fair wasn't amusing, or any of the other activities going on here -- but true gladiatorial games. The pitting of one creature against another! Think of the thrill and drama and the release that goes along with that sort of entertainment! And here in Luceti we are ideally suited for a very exciting Games indeed.

Who would you sponsor or volunteer for this entertainment? Or would it all be...

[There is a pause here.]

Pokey-mans? I find human beings MUCH more interesting to watch, personally.

Comments

[Voice]

[trinkett]

A war that people watch, gleefully. And buy t-shirts and other promotional tie-ins.

[Sounds like a GOLDMINE to Effie Trinket.]

[Voice]

[swordprincess]

...People gleefully watch wars? Why?

[Maybe it's like the arenas back home? Karla never understood the entertainment factor of those either...]

[greenjacketed]

"...How is it, I wonder, that a woman like you is so damned daft?"

Honestly. It confused him. There were some moments, around the house, where Effie's certainties shone. And she could make a decent roast, Sharpe decided. But he wondered how, even now, she could cling to the notion that anyone would be financing anything. Of course, if he only thought about it a moment longer, he would have remembered all the officers he'd met who were so daft about some things while being good at others.

He sighed. "Your audience has nothing to pay with, ma'am. And your Malnosso bastards don't need to bankroll anything if they care to see us fight. They only have to ship us off. And even if these things weren't true, the local population doesn't stomach violence well. You'd be better off doing what any other twisted entrepreneur does and get yerself some dogs..."

As a young boy, Sharpe had worked the dog fighting pits. It hadn't been a kind scene.

voice

[descrier]

Even though Luceti can make lives expendable with the way death works, it doesn't mean people are still willing to let themselves or those they care for die for the sake of sport. Accomplishments are a reward for winning, not the ending of lives.

It's my personal belief that threatening someone's life isn't exactly productive, but if you or someone you cared for were in this situation, wouldn't you be adamant in the defense of your life? Of their lives?

voice

[trinkett]

[Hmmmmm. Whom does Effie actually care for? That's a really good question. Anyhow, Effie doesn't do empathy very well. Very few people in the Capitol do. It gets trained out of them at a young age.]

I very simply would not be in that situation; my status prevents it, and my other qualities and talents. I'm still not sure where I ever threatened ANYONE'S life!

[trinkett]

"Oh. I am! Getting a dog, I mean." It seemed necessary for self-protection, at this point. "A big one."

[Voice]

[trinkett]

It would seem that they attach their egos and identities to a particular team, and then go on to root for that team for an entire season. If the team wins, they become self-gratified.

I'm not entirely certain how that part works, but I believe I can accept such a thing has happened in the past.

[greenjacketed]

"You're getting a dog..." Dry. God, he missed the days when the only people he shared quarters with were those to whom he could issue orders. "Bloody hell."

[trinkett]

"You don't LIKE dogs, I gather." Also dry.

[greenjacketed]

"I don't dislike dogs..."

But no -- he didn't like them, either. Animals in general found little sympathy from the rifleman, though he nurtured a private preference for stray cats. Prim's goat -- named for his own India -- was endured because it brought milk and cheese to their pantry and a smile to Prim's face.

[trinkett]

Effie hated Prim's goat. It smelled so bad. Why didn't they just get their milk at the store like everyone else? Ugh.

"This dog would stay in my room. With me," she was quick to tell him. "I want a big, loyal one."

[greenjacketed]

"Stay in your room. With you."

How unlikely that sounded. His hackles rose. "Tell me, ma'am, have you ever lived with a dog?"

[trinkett]

"No..."

She'd never needed to. Her security in the Capitol had always been assured by Peacekeepers.

[greenjacketed]

"They're like any other man or beast. They get mean when they're cooped up."

[action]

[stillplaying]

She shook her head. They hadn't necessarily talked all that much in the past but they had talked enough to know that he wasn't a hypocritical blowhard. That he meant what he said and did what he thought was right without hesitation. She could easily see Clint shooting at Effie. Not necessarily to kill, but close enough to scare. He'd be good at it, too. Just an inch off from her head.

"Don't you get it?" Said with a somewhat disappointed sigh. "You have no station here. And even if you did, he wouldn't care."

[trinkett]

Great. Jack Horner had mentioned something about her hand being chewed off. Bah.

"I don't mean we would never come out, Sharpe. You're taking things to extremes again."

Said as though he did that habitually.

"My dog and I will walk all through the village together. To the store; to the salon; to the clothing shop. Everywhere. And back again."

[greenjacketed]

"And when you come home you'll trot it back to your room -- your room which, if you'd had have a heart in your chest, you would have offered up to Prim when she arrived..."

Sharpe had tied himself into a knot trying to insist that Prim should take his room. Anything to keep Katniss from sleeping on the sofa, as she now was. It took agreeing to cooperatively build an extension on the house to calm his ruffled honour.

[trinkett]

"There's no heart in my chest." She smiled at him coldly, repeating the line that most of Luceti had fed to her all morning. "But the house could do with more space anyway."

And honestly, why couldn't they simply get another bed and have Prim and Katniss SHARE a room? Everyone made everything so complicated, here.

[action]

[trinkett]

Effie hummed cheerfully as she pulled free a second silk iris and pinned both in her silver wig.

"Now, now. No one ever 'gets' a station without earning it, first. I've done quite a bit since I've gotten here, and I have still more to do. But loose cannons like him need to be stood up to if anyone expects anything resembling civility in Luceti."


Civility was so VERY important to Effie. Always safest to be civil, and most profitable, too.

[greenjacketed]

"...It's like this, Miss Trinket," he went so far as to shake a finger. Perhaps his earlier falter with Sokka was getting his back up all over again. Sharpe wasn't a man who liked to lose, but Luceti had taught him to see his battles in new and perplexing places. "You damned well moved yourself in when no one was looking. Bit of a shite move, if you ask me, but so it is. However, this house is Katniss's. It ain't mine and it ain't yours and you will speak to the girl first before you drag any kind of a mutt in here."

[ruthlessismore]

If Effie's eyes could throw ice lasers at a man, that man would be Richard Sharpe.

"If the dog is not welcome here, then neither am I. The dog is a necessity."

[greenjacketed]

"A necessity," he repeated -- not even touching the part about how she was definitely not welcome to begin with.

voice

[descrier]

[ Marita isn't all that entirely surprised to hear this. After all, she spent all that time with the Syndicate and they had no issue using her for experiments while saving themselves and their own families. She knows very well that people with such prestige have an easier time knowing it will ever happen to them. The politics of Effie's world are no different than her own, it seems. ]

Have you tried to put yourself in their situation? A situation where one is entirely frightened for their life, trapped with no exits, only to be either used for some means of further gain with the only option of death... to kill or be killed and nothing more. Only to be repeated over and over for the sake of pleasure and entertainment.

[ She pauses, although she sounds unusually calm for speaking of something so heavy. ]

Remove yourself from your status, from yourself, and look into the life of someone else. The threat of someone's life... comes from the threat of their own life. Wether it personally be theirs or their family and friends. You don't have to outwardly say "I'm going to end your life" to send someone into a defensive stance against danger. Putting another life in danger is a threat on it's own.

[happyhungergames]

"Indeed! You've likely heard the threats of the rabble!"

voice

[trinkett]

I'm sorry -- I can't quite visualize what I think you want me to visualize.

[Or else she does not want to try.]

I suppose that is my shortcoming, but it is what it is.