where the ivy grows [svet + yael]

[ryan]

﹙   s v e t l a n a   f o r r e r s t e r   ﹚

svet had been taking her time making her way through the stations. someone told her she should focus on the stations that she didnt feel confident in before she tried to throw herself into the ones she was familiar with. dont skimp on the survival skills, that replayed in her head. she though, wasnt one to completely fall in line. her survival skills were the backbone of who she was.

the forresters lived off of the earth, they hunted the animals that preyed off it, they gathered the plants that had been born from it, and they made their choices based on the seasons, or the shape of the moon. she learned everything at a young age and then had lived by it violently. that is why people never understood, or even went near the forresters when people knew they were around. they were too unpredictable.

but here, the unpredictability was taken out of the equation. now svetlana had to prove to panem that she could do exactly what all of her male counterparts couldnt. she was the first female forrester to volunteer herself into the games, and she did hope that she wouldnt be the last. she also hoped that she made it out. she had so much riding on her shoulders.

but the world felt light as she carried it.

she had walked to the plants station, just to do a light refresh on exactly what she needed to look out for when in the arena. she knew quite a bit about plants because of her mother. she wanted to take the time to go over as much as she could before she needed to move onto the next station. she was not alone though, the number two clearly showing on the girl that had been trying to figure out the differences between two plants that she had been holding in her hand.

both of those plants could kill if not handled properly.

maybe svet was feeling a little more kind today. she hadnt really given most people the time of day here, but she figured that trying to at least share some knowledge could win her some favors when she was actually in the arena. "one of those plants will kill you in an instant yknow?" she said to the girl. she stood over the other as she pointed to one of the plants that she had been holding up. "want to know how?"

svet had a wicked smile on her face.

[fox]

Y A E L

► ► ►

The PK handcuffs her to bed every night. She comes in the morning and releases the metal cuff. She walks her to the training center and leaves her there until it’s night again.

And then, it starts over. It's like she's back in that room, the facility, the days dissected down to hours. She sits in the corner of the center and just thinks. There's nothing there. Her head feels waterlogged.

The first year, she'd resisted. She spent too long as a civilian compared to the others. They put her in solitary for over a half of the year. She'd spend whole months scraping her nails against the walls, screaming until she'd taste blood, pounding on the door until the skin on her fists broke, then healed, and broke again.

There was only one thing. She thought of the glimpse of the uniform from the closet, light scattered on the floor as he'd left.

But she's gone from Two. She might never go back.

She stares at the soil and the plants. She picks one up, she picks up the other, both woody stemmed with a cluster of purple flowers. She thinks maybe one might kill her. She thinks about slipping it into her pocket and shoving it into the mouth of the peacekeeper. She looks up and stares at the blinking red eye of the camera that watches them.

"One of those plants will kill you in an instant yknow?"

Yael turns, and it's a reflex she hadn't been able to shake no matter how many times it gave her away, the clenching of her fists. She bristles at the Forrester approaching.

She looks at the flowers and then looks at her. She wants to know which one. She wants to know how.

Reluctantly, she stays, guesses and holds out the flower in her right hand.