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Fourth Dispatch: It's Not What You Think. Voice.
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.
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.
[action - sometime before 6?]
That was the fear the notion of the Games still put into her. The idea of being a part of them again. But it wasn't just that. Because she had recognized so many voices, so many of the little pictures. People whose opinion actually mattered to her. And, for the first time, she had to wonder if she had done the right thing in casting her vote.
The 76th Annual Hunger Games would have come and gone by now if time continued to move in Panem. The children of the Capitol would have played. Would have died. Because, despite Peeta's pleas, she had voted for that.
Would they think less of her then if they knew that, for one minute of one day, she had thought exactly like Effie? Had wanted others to participate in the Hunger Games?
She might not have returned at all to the house that night if it hadn't been for Clint's challenge. Effie had her pride, just like she had her notion of the Games being entertainment. She was an idiot at times, yes. But still someone Katniss had promised to protect. And Katniss knew just how lethal Clint could be with a bow. One of the only people she had ever met that was better than her. Even if she disagreed with Effie's idea, she still felt some duty to protect the woman.
Rather than greeting anyone upon arriving home, she walked straight up to Effie's room. Katniss didn't bother knocking, didn't bother doing anything aside from quietly pushing the door open and saying:]
Don't go.
[action - sometime before 6?]
"Don't go where?"
[action]
There was a serious tone in her voice that contrasted Effie's brightness, a look of worry on her face instead of a smile. Didn't the woman have one shred of survival instinct? She must have, in order to survive in the Capitol during the uprising. Not to find herself thrown in a prison - or worse -under Snow's command, like so many of the other chaperons from the Hunger Games.
And yet? Was she really all that oblivious with the response her message had garnered? Did she not realize that Katniss had been here over a year now? Clove and Cato, too? People knew about the Hunger Games here. Knew what it did to the children that participated.
"He's good with a bow," she continued, trying to find some reason to convince Effie otherwise. "As good as I am, if not better. You'll be putting your life at risk."
[action]
She turned away from the girl, rummaging through a nearby drawer for one of her silk iris hair accessories. It was a small action, really, masking quiet, nascent turmoil. The girl was being so protective! Really. SO not necessary! Possibly not even seemly.
"He needs to be shown that someone of my station will not be cowed."
[action]
"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."
[action]
"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.
[action]
And not for the first time today, she felt a little stab of panic. What would Clint think if he knew that she had voted for that last Hunger Game? For children to die so their parents could learn a point?
"He can kill you," she retorted, hands balling into fists. "Without you even realizing."
[action]
That didn't mean she wasn't somewhat afraid of that very thing happening, though. She just found it unlikely.
[action]
She had been stupid. So very stupid. And so full of grief and loss.
"It's not permanent," she finally says, voice quiet. Because she can't meet Effie's eyes. Not as she talks about this. "But you die. And you come back and you lose something. Something important to you."
[action]
"Yes, yes. Three months, I've been told, and you can get it back," she responds in her most efficient voice. "I'm not concerned this man presents that sort of threat. He needs to be civilized."
[action]
Katniss trails off, watching Effie fiddle with the pins. It's almost easier. Fading into the background. Not being noticed. She wish she could have spent more of the last few years like this. Not in the spotlight. Not their Mockingjay. And, more than that, not so stupid as to let herself fall in love. Because wasn't that the whole reason she had allowed Clove to kill her in the first place? To make that pain go away?
"Four months. But that time goes a lot slower than you think."
[action]
Effie pauses; it's awkward -- this spontaneous feeling of wanting to give the girl a hug. Some show of thank you for caring if I live or die; you might be the only one.
[action]
There's an odd feeling of disappointment mixed in with the worry. And in the end, it's just easiest to be angry. "You better not."
[action]
And she left.