What you Don't See // Cato
Jul 18, 2016 2:30:33 GMT -5
Post by charade on Jul 18, 2016 2:30:33 GMT -5
KATELYN PERSIMMON
It was surreal, being back in the arena. A hovercraft ride instead of a tube.
It was aggravating.
Rage-Inducing.
Melancholy.
Forever ago and yesterday.
It was clean. Pristine. Silent.
The cornucopia was empty but she could still remember how it looked when it was full.
No blood. But she could smell it.
No noise, but she could hear it.
She looked at the placards scattered on the ground in front of the Cornucopia, monuments to the fallen marking where they fell. Hedvig Fabre. The career girl she’d been afraid of in the training center, back when she was still capable of being afraid of people. Cut to pieces by the frantic tributes around her. Levi Izar-Krane. Her district partner. A boy she had wrongfully associated with a relative, head spilt open by Lexi because he’d gotten too close and he hadn’t been one of them.
Here she had killed Dillon Hartman.
“I didn’t mean to.” She said quietly, more to herself than to Harbinger.
“I felt something graze my knee and swung out of reflex.” The redhead thrashed in the snow beneath her, missing limbs and bleeding from more wounds than Katelyn could count. "Sometimes I wonder if she was just trying to pull herself up from the slush. She was more than half dead at that point.” There was one other placard by the Cornucopia that she forced herself to look at. She pointed at it. When she turned to her fellow victor a deep sadness was evident in her eyes. Velocity Rush.
“You know, she, City that is, was going through withdrawal during the brief time I knew her. Most of what she said didn’t make a ton of sense.” The ruthless blonde from one drew her fist back and then City was on the ground, a skull fracture forming an odd depression in her head. “I’m pretty sure she just wanted some friends though.” There was one other placard by the cornucopia, and she dismounted from her horse to view it better. She stood by it with her hands folded and mouthed a small prayer for a lost soul.
She was battered, bleeding. Dying. Down to her last throwing axe and barely had the strength to hurl it. But it was enough. Lord have mercy it was enough. CRACK. Katelyn winced in spite of herself. Chaske Parks vambraces had taken a hit for her in the finale but they hadn’t done anything for him. He had lost his mind before losing his life. But in the end he’d been the same as all of them. A poor confused kid caught up in things too big for him. Nobody deserves to die alone.
Katelyn drew her lips together tightly, internally cursing Charles Tinselton and his stupid show. He was crossing a line, making her do this, sticking her in the hell she had survived for drama. At least she could spare Harbinger a walk through the tribute statue garden.
Her arena held phantoms for only her. That other damnable tourist attraction held too many ghosts. She wondered ruefully if Iona and Weaver had already been added to it. Her steed nickered softly and she rubbed its mane. At least they didn’t have to walk through her memories. Katelyn stared at Harbinger and noted his uncomfortableness. Well. It could have been worse. Like a one on one hot tub date.
Katelyn could only imagine the outfit that would have entailed and the look on Navya’s face to see the two of them so close and wearing so little. But beyond that, Harbinger looked scared. She figured this was dredging up memories for him, though at least his arena had lacked snow. And this one lacked a fallen sibling for him as well. If this unsettled him, she was glad she had spared him from seeing Crusader and Iain in stone effigy.
The cold was slightly uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Though she wished she wasn’t wearing stockings. Sometimes, the Capitol was anything but practical. Most of the time, actually. She sighed, and locked eyes with Harbinger. “I have my reasons for doing this show.” She stated offhand. Most of them are back home. One’s in the Capitol. One’s right here.” She hoped he got her meaning and shoved away the thoughts of how outsiders might interpret that statement.
“It’s tougher than I expected.” She said, scrunching her face up in thought. “There’s so many things to consider. So much I can’t account for. “Katelyn shook her head. "I sent two people home yesterday. One I’m not sure deserved it.” The problem with some of the contestants was not immediately being able to determine whether they were government plants, hiding their own agenda, genuinely being real, pandering to the cameras or just trying to pander to her. And if they were being real, would they put themselves in a position where being in a relationship with her would only give the Capitol more leverage to make her do what they want?
Katelyn suddenly felt very, very cold, having realized that whenever she did enter a relationship, the Capitol could come for them. Hurt them to hurt her. Or worse, turn them and use them to hurt her. And then of course, Charles constant little hints about what the more…preferable outcomes would be at the rose ceremonies. The show was a lot more insidious than the viewers at home might have thought. But she quashed the thoughts and looked to the horizon, and another area of the arena, one she'd seen her first games day.
“I hope you’re doing alright Harb. This is only the first of many stops.”
"It breaks my heart, all these stories,
brings me to tears all this grief;
And I feel so fucking helpless
when I can't be your relief."
table coding (c) ghosty