the bigger picture // puppy

[charade]

A M E L I A

Lighting a fire was so much easier when you had access to gasoline and a lighter. Rubbing two sticks together though? Who knew generating friction would be such a pain in the ass? Amelia was frustrated. Her whole plan was to survive by using her wits, her street smarts and guile. The only problem was that there were no streets in sight.

Even so, she knew she had to treat the other tributes like the gangs back home. Learn the players, the disputes, what lane to stay in and most importantly, which of them were followers and which were leaders. If you fucked with the wrong people back home it could mean getting shanked, but if you didn’t fuck with the right people it made you look weak.

Which also usually led to someone getting shanked.

As Amelia was allergic to being shanked, she’d begun compiling whatever scraps of data were available while she planned her next move. She’d already decided to stay away from the other volunteers. From what she could see, they were happy to be in the games, which either meant they couldn’t be trusted not to snap like saltine crackers under pressure and go full psycho, or that they had a death wish and wouldn’t be much help in the arena away.

District two was the standout for the careers though. No volunteers and an eightieth alumi was facing the games a second time. Now that was just fucked up, but the rules did state that only victors were exempt from future reapings. Still, fucked with a capital F.

Then there were the lower districts to worry about, like the girl one station away, Neysa if she was remembering the reaping re-runs on the train right. Despite constant assurances by the media that the real power in Panem was in the upper districts, the tributes from the lowest three proved them wrong time and again. Not nine though.

Nope, all they had was Colgate. Who was almost as useless as Cricket Antoinette. Whoop-de-doo. Amelia left the tinder where it was and got up, swaggering quietly over to where the girl from eleven was. She’d volunteered too, but was it for anyone she cared about? It was something Amelia needed to know.

“Hey,” she said, jutting her chin up and out slightly in acknowledgment. A sign of respect, at least until if she knew whether or not the girl was worth respecting. It was strange, slightly melancholy even, not having Audrey by her side. Her twin was the more intimidating one. Amelia could picture it now, if her sister was with her, she’d have casually leaned on the station in just the right place to trip the girl if she started to get testy.

Amelia missed her.

“Volunteer, eh?” Amelia sucked at her teeth, curling her lip in thought as she folded her arms across her chest. “Those rumors true? Eleven training careers in secret or something?” If it was, then Amelia would have to very quickly add that district to her list of people to run away from very fast. “You got a name? I’m Amelia.”

H A L E

kaitlin

[pup]

Flipping through the book filled with illustrations of the different plants, I began to match each one to it's real life counterpart sitting in front of me. The most important question, though, was whether it would kill me or if I could survive off of it.

Toxic, Toxic, Edible, Toxic, Medicinal, Edible.

The overall trend seemed to be that the more toxic a plant was, the worse it smelled. That follows with the whole idea behind not eating stuff that smells bad. One in particular smelled especially disgusting when I leaned down to smell it. My face contorted, my nose scrunching upward as I pulled myself away, waiting for the stench to dissipate.

I cough, waving my hand in front of my nose.

It would be so much easier for them if they just got rid of all these extra stations, to just through us into the arena with a set of knives. That's what they did originally, right? But, then again, maybe no one would want to watch the hunger games if there wasn't anything interesting going on.

As I began to push myself away from the foul plants, I hear a voice from behind me.

"Hey." The girl, I'm pretty sure from District Nine nods at me, another volunteer I think.

"Volunteer, eh? Those rumors true? Eleven training careers in secret or something? You got a name? I’m Amelia."

Amelia, that was it. Hopefully I could remember her name if we ever ran into each other while we fought for our lives.

"Neysa," I say, my face filling with a conspiratorial grin, "And if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret anymore, right?" I wink, placing the book filled with the depictions of plants down on a counter.

"What about nine? You didn't walk in here as a trained assassin, right?"

яose

[charade]

A M E L I A

Amelia could feel a smirk stealing over her face, Neysa had some guts for a farmer. Although now that she thought about it, it was weird that someone from eleven wasn’t studying plants? Shouldn’t she already know that sort of thing? Ah, who knew. Amelia had never been one to care about anything outside of her district. As long as she had her sister and their plans to come up in nine’s underworld she hadn’t spent to the time to put her brainpower toward anything else.

“Nah, I’m not a member of the guild, though I have run packages for them.” Amelia grinned, wondering whether the other girl would take that as a joke or at face value.

Not that she’d ever tell.

Somehow, she got the feeling that telling everyone she’d been committing crimes since the age of fifteen might be detrimental to her health. It wasn’t a good conversation starter when she needed to convince a few people to trust her. Soloing was out, she’d decided that the previous night. It was like wandering the streets of district nine at night alone; asking for trouble, to get mugged or worse, depending on which gang’s territory you were strolling through.

But Neysa’s answer wasn’t a real answer. That was fine. Amelia was cagey too. It was important not to put too much of yourself out there, or people you thought you were friendly with would use that as ammunition to riddle your confused corpse full of holes.

Nothing wrong with talking about public knowledge though.

“But okay, Ms. not a secret career,” She said with a conspiratorial wink. “We can talk about other things. Why’d you volunteer eh? If you don’t mind me asking. Looking for glory or that cash prize at the end of the rainbow?” From what she could tell, none of the other volunteers were related to the people they’d saved, and it was a guarantee that Luke Hailsham was only in it to win it. Yeah. Career families wanted multiple victors, didn’t they? Not that it had ever happened.

“Me? Had to save my sister, give the rest of you a fighting chance.” She chuckled, but her heart wasn’t in it.

H A L E

kaitlin

[pup]

After Yuki's camera and Zeus' testosterone filled rage, Amelia was a dose of fresh air. Someone who finally understood how to joke and how not to be on a deathly warpath twenty-four seven. It was hopefully refreshing, even though her poise did mark a deadly opponent rather than a friend.

Ms. not a secret career, she calls me, winking next to my grin. It was as if we had our shared secret, and for a moment, it all felt so normal. Just two friends sharing a joke, no impending death. If we were back in district eleven, I probably would have brought her back to the orchard, sat among the trees with her, helped her find the right apricots to pick and eat the ones that were ripe.

But that will never happen. There's no chance for reincarnation here. No way for us to be brought back to life. Look at Shy, he's been brought back once already just to be sent to death again.

But that's when she asks me the million dollar question. The one everyone's been asking me.

Why did I volunteer.

That's when my face falters for a minute as I think, she talks, explaining how she wanted to save her sister. She makes it sound noble even as she jokes about saving us from her sister through a strained chuckle.

I don't know if I saved anyone from Ilana Harvest. If she was anything like her brother, then I really don't think so.

Harbinger's voice cuts through my head, "Nah, I'll sit here and listen to your grand plan of winning the games just so you're involved in things-" and then in merges into Katelyn's "-You don’t plan on dying, I see."

It's a growing cacophony that's been driving me insane since I volunteered. Their words slicing through me, acting as if all I am is a stupid child. They act as if they know better, sitting on their thrones, sitting on their wealth and doing nothing with their power.

All I want was to do something different, to destroy those who hurt everyone the most with the power that comes with becoming legendary.

All I want was for the Capitol to put me on a pedestal so I can tear them down.

But instead of saying all that I want to say, I just shrug, "I guess I was just sick of not being taken seriously. There's so much you can do when people take you seriously, and with what I want to do, that's not going to happen without this."

I'm not sure what else to say besides spilling my life story to this girl: close with victors, watching them be rebels and pushed to the side, watching them lose their rebellion and succumbing to the capitol. But she wouldn't want to hear that. She wouldn't want to hear that I'm a rebel in here meaning to rebel when she probably wants to just get home to her sister.

So instead I just chuckle, "So you're telling me that you're the lesser of the two evils or should I still be afraid?" I smile, my tone still jokingly conspiratorial.

яose

[charade]

A M E L I A

“I don’t know if lesser is the right word,” she said with a wicked grin. “More like equal but opposite.”

But Neysa had given her food for thought. The farmer girl was in the glory after all. Maybe not quite the same way a career might be, but she was looking for clout all the same. With fame and notoriety came respect, was that it? Amelia nodded, more to herself than the other girl. It was nice when her suspicions had merit to them. She chewed her lip for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Audrey would already have gotten bored with the conversation or found a way to insult her, but while Amelia often felt the need to flex, she saw no point in needlessly making enemies.

She’d seen Neysa palling around with Domitia from two over the course of the week and the pairing intrigued her. Like-minded individuals were drawn to each other. So what did it say about this girl from an apricot orchard, that she had found kinship with a career? It was probably the safest option too. District two had the worst track record out of the three career districts, so how dangerous could Dom be?

“Well, you know something? That’s cool. Real cool.” It was. Maybe a bit of an extreme way to get noticed but hey, you had to that bread by whatever means necessary right? Amelia smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s a worthy goal, climbing to the top. I hope you find you’re looking for.” She laughed, not forced this time, but genuine mirth at the absurdity of the situation they were all in.

“Good luck! I mean, I’m still going to kill you if you get in my way, but you’re cool.” A buzzer rang and the voice on the intercom instructed them all to go eat or otherwise head back to their rooms for a bit.  Amelia held a clenched hand out for a fist bump. “Here’s to being memorable, yeah?”

H A L E

kaitlin