1st Design [voice]

[threadthefire]

[There’s a wry male voice, albeit a slightly confused one, speaking over the Network.]

Well, this certainly isn’t the Capitol, the fashion on the streets isn’t any I recognize and I could have sworn I was in a studio audience taking my bows just a moment ago.

...pity you couldn’t see the reason, it was absolutely perfect. She was perfect.

All of that aside, if someone could just tell me what District I’m in, that would be appreciated. I really should get back, I have more work to do.


[ooc: Sorry, guys, I was supposed to be off work three hours ago!]

Comments

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ And this comes on the heels of her last statement, as when one meant to say this part first and the other part second, realizing one thing is more important than the other ]

Oh---it's.....it's kind of [ STUPID comes to mind....traumatic....bizarre.... ]...it's called 'The City' and it's not in Panem.

They keep calling it a place where people from all kinds of worlds meet. I don't think I can explain this as well as---

Re: audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[There's a significant pause, because she should know why he was taking a bow, she was just there, but he's not sure who's listening.]

So I've gone from the Capitol to the City? I haven't heard of it.

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[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ a pause of her own.....something's not right, something she should have given more attention from the start but perhaps she's gotten lax here...strange as that is to say after such a whirlwind of a month it still isn't The Games where things seem pitted almost at the same level of tension from start to finish ]

...neither had I before getting here.

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

What do you see around you? I can find you.

audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

...Curious.

I was near a nice fountain, but it's sunny outside so I decided to stop in at some sort of, I think it's a cafe.

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ .....a pause, because okay she hasn't really frequented the City Proper that much....but... ]

...which one? I know there's one called Cafe Juliet.

[ though in this here silence there isn't so much silence as there are footsteps ]

audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

Ah, a moment, please. [There's a slight pause and sound of movement.]

Yes, that appears to be the name on the menu.

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[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ Running draws attention so she doesn't run but her footfalls are brisk, certainly. ]

Don't leave. This place is big...bigger than the Capitol from what I can tell...but I should be there soon.

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ There are too many questions adding up from what he's told her, from what he said at the beginning there...from the mention to Peeta about The Quell of all things...

It's building a feeling both sharp and heavy that threatens to lock her in place, which is just one more reason to focus on moving. The faster she gets to Cinna, the sooner she can ask him....well she doesn't know where to start.

But asking over the network will never feel safe to her, not about matters concerning home. Concerning them.

Except there is one matter she can address while walking. ]

We're not from the same time....you and I, I mean. Peeta and I are, but...

[ And trailing off speaks for itself sometimes. ]

audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[He's reluctant to say much.]

Yes, he mentioned something about that. About coming from the photoshoot. Is he referring to the wedding dress photoshoot?

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ Direct address of the matter is cause enough for a pause in her stride, audible but she keeps going, annoyed more than anything else by stopping at all. ]

Right before it. When Gale--- When---

audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

That's quite... incredible to believe. I'm beginning to think someone slipped me something.

[And he sure as hell isn't telling her any of what came after that.]

audio ][

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

I thought I was dreaming. At first.

[ There are more sounds in the background as she wasn't far from the City Proper to begin with, for once, and in this pause her sigh gets lost in the other din. ]

But I swear to you, it's not a dream. Not a trick.

[ The danger is real. We are real. She isn't as good with words as Peeta and that isn't kept to the realm of public speaking. Katniss has always been bigger on gestures, actions, and in that sense it is part of what she has liked about Cinna so much. He channels his passion into his work but also something of him, and it doesn't need to be talked about though it is certainly what many people do talk about since all this began.

As for what isn't being discussed---when he is from, what has happened---she does have a partial intent to pursue it, but finding him at all comes first of course.








ooc; action in my next tag if that's okay or would you prefer to assume? <3 ]

audio ][

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

Not a dream, perhaps, but it's certainly a neat trick.

[ooc; Action is fine by me.]

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[ When she arrives she is not out of breath but the feeling of being breathless has come along for the ride anyway; caused, she has little doubt by Cinna's arrival and the scattered evidence that big things are happening back at home, or that big things will. It's the weight of suspicion that colors everything, the Quell, the dress, the bows. What has happened? And yet even before she sees him, before she can ask anything at all, Katniss has a quiet feeling that her stylist may not tell her.

Stepping through the doors of Cafe Juliet, she peers around, her face that well-learned neutrality from years of not wanting people to be able to read her. ]

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[His face is its usual perfect mask, completely belying the inner chaos of his thoughts. How have Snow's Peacekeepers managed this? How does one simply disappear in one location and end up in another? Why don't Katniss and Peeta know about the Quell?

And more importantly, how can he keep them from finding out?

His eyes on the door, he stands when she enters, waving that familiar cascade of beautiful hair and balanced features over to him. It's the only relief he's had since arriving over an hour ago. Well, mostly a relief, because if he's been sent here along with them, it meant his fate was sealed as well.]

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[Spotting him as he stands, it takes her a little more effort to keep a regular pace of steps, to not hurry to him, but they don't need more of an audience than any world already is, so best not to draw more attention by making any kind of fuss. With Cinna there is a relief in a familiar face and voice but more than that, those of a man she trusts, one of very few. On the other hand the renowned stylist has brought with him the hard-hitting reality of District Twelve, of Panem on the whole and all it might mean for them when they return to it.

How to explain this is never an easy task, and Katniss most often does not bother, leaving it to those who know better or can at least say it better.

But in this case it is up to her. Her and Peeta maybe.

When she reaches him, she looks up, not sure what she should do or even of what she wants, only that she cannot read Cinna's expression for the life of her, cannot tell all the things he is not saying, or has not said. She remembers her own paranoia about the network well enough however, just another reason she has hastened here. ]

Hi.

[It is the most basic of starts, but she feels tongue-tied for anything else.]

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[Always the eloquent one, his girl of fire. It brings a smile to his face, even if it's one tinged with worry. That Peeta is around somewhere gives him some peace, she's not here alone, but there's no one else on the team here, or so he's told and that gives him an odd feeling of... responsibility. Above and beyond anything he ever expected when he was angling for a position in the Games.

Still, the smile remains and he places his hands alongside her face.]

You wretched thing, you've let your eyebrows grow out again. What am I supposed to do with you, Katniss?

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[For a moment all her sudden tumult of worry and uncertainty holds its collective breath and she only feels the kind of relief one can only define by experiencing it. When he says that it is all the more reason to be relieved rather than alarmed or aught else, though she wrinkles her nose at him before the slightest shake of her head, cheek pressing to palm one then the other as a result.]

Send me out just as I am?

[It is a joke, and here too is a dividing factor between Cinna and almost anyone else. All that talking on the phone, developing her 'talent' maybe. Something else, a common ground even if she isn't sure of what that common ground is except to be new and a surprising victor, or in Cinna's case, a hit. Only as the words leave her mouth does the brief burst of warmth thin, but it thinks quickly as she realizes the meaning of them; send her out, but to where? Why was he bowing? The photo shoot wasn't meant to be public, not live, not in a way that would call for bows anyway.

What has happened? She doesn't want to know, but ultimately she may need to.]

Except I don't know where you would be sending me out to.

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

And have that be a reflection on my talents as a stylist? Hardly. Besides my little protege, you know better than that.

[He's not fond of the pretense, knowing how little she cares for the games she's forced to play, but if the Capitol was watching, somewhere, the old facades must stay in place. There's a time to be defiant, an art and a style to it, and now is not that time.

He motions to the seat at the small table he'd been at, they could at least sit and talk as best they could. Disappearing off into... well, somewhere else would look suspicious.]

A girl like you might be sent anywhere, the champion, the pride and joy of the Games, you should always be prepared for anything.

[Words with double meanings, you could be sent into danger, you could be sent to a party and if you're not ready...]

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[The first thing that is clear, perhaps twice over to her, is that Cinna yet believes they are still in the sights of the Capitol here. It isn't unreasonable and it took quite some convincing--she remembers, it wasn't all that long ago really--for her and Peeta to believe it themselves.

But after a while of no one at all knowing who they were or what Panem even was, it was difficult to operate on any other system of understanding. She does as directed however, seating herself at the table, the chairs closer to each other rather than directly across. Folding her hands in her lap, all too aware again of how even the smallest of fidgets can show up on a camera, it is telling that the second-nature returns so quickly, that of the public face and what one shows, and what one never will.

For instance, when she is labeled the pride and joy of the Games it takes everything in her not to scowl, not to furrow her brow, not to look away angrily, but she manages. This time for her it isn't because of cameras that aren't even there as far as she knows, however, but because it's habit.]

I tried to---- I try to be.

[It sounds a bit hollow to her, and she glances out the glass window to her left and his right and it is a minute or so before she says anything else, trying to pick her words with as much as care as she knows how, which isn't much but it will have to do.]

What is going on...at home, I mean?

[If anything will drive home the concept of not being anywhere in Panem, maybe it is the utter not-knowing of its goings on.]

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[Cinna takes his own seat, watching Katniss' careful movements. He will have to get her somewhere she could relax sooner rather than later, but for now... Now the conversation becomes trickier. The last thing he wants to do is tell Katniss how badly she and Peeta will be punished for their success, but he realizes that he's already mentioned certain things that must be explained. The young woman next to him might not be as good at reading and playing to crowds as her partner in defiance, but she's far from foolish or stupid.]

The Quarter Quell mostly. More of the same only bigger, brighter and with more... interesting designs from some of the teams. You and Peeta are still the talk of the Capitol, though.

[It was only true. They were. Peeta and Katniss, the star-crossed lovers who never had a chance. Would either of them survive the Games again?]

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[She listens carefully, for the things they could never say over the phone to the things lately even in person she would have hesitated to address. It is Katniss' worst fear that those she cares for are harmed because President Snow sees her as a threat, or sees what she could stand for as a threat when all she thinks she meant at the end of the Games was to leave with Peeta alive. It wasn't intended as an act of rebellion, though she knows it would be too ignorant to say she couldn't see how it was taken as such.

The Quarter Quell makes her sick to hear about, and this much she has difficulty disguising entirely for a second but just as quickly she masks it again, toying with her napkin instead. Fidgeting, but better to focus on something than to give herself away entirely. Something in her friend and stylist's voice has her look up again though; Peeta and her are still the talk of the Capitol. Not surprising, as much as it frustrates her that even the safety of coming out victors has become more of a life-sentence into the custody of their government. Not that the people know this. To them it is all very, very real. As real as a television show can be, though it may not be fair of her. To be so critical.

They don't know any better, she reminds herself.

And not for the first time she thinks, as she looks at Cinna, trying to guess everything he isn't telling her: but you know. How, she wonders, realizing also not for the first time how little she knows about him. But maybe that is on purpose too.

There are just too many wrong ways to step in Panem and sometimes less knowledge is a gift even where other times--she thinks of District 11--it is a death sentence.]

They haven't picked new favorites yet?

[It is a weak reply for all he has given her to work with, but she is yet sorting through the idea of mentoring anyone, still trying to get over how terrifying it is to think she is sending some girl who could be as young as Prim or Rue, into...

...she can't even finish the thought, choosing to focus entirely on the glass of water she now drinks from.]

[threadthefire.livejournal.com]

[He realized early on how Katniss felt about the Capitol and those that lived there. In many ways, he agreed with her, there was much to despise, the artifice, the slavish devotion to whatever fad. But there was potential there, in only it could be encouraged. And if not encouraged, he was well aware how it could be harnessed. The government had done it for seventy-five years, and with a single act of defiance, the girl, woman next to him had turned it all on its ear.

It was a dangerous Game Haymitch and the others were playing with these kids. He hoped they could handle it if they could survive long enough.

But the fidgeting is a clue that she is anxious about something and he reaches out to place what he hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder.]

They'll always find someone pretty and new, but you're their girl on fire. They will always have room for you.

But enough about home, tell me about this place. Or if you're up to a stroll, you can show it to me?

[Playing tour guide would be give her something else to focus on and give him time to sort out his own thoughts.]

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

[A hand on her shoulder makes her both worried and at ease all at once, a contradiction that she is glad to shake herself free of as she stands, nodding to him at the comment concerning a stroll. What he says of her, about the girl on fire, well that she can only nod to briefly, acknowledgment that she heard but never full acceptance of what that has come to mean to the outer-lying Districts...and maybe the others too.

She makes for the door and holds it open behind her toward him, glancing back as if half afraid he'll disappear. This place is beyond strange, filled with something too beyond her for a word to define. It's a power not of man's make, no President, no government, no Capitol. How to explain it is still elusive to her however, and it is helpful to be able to point and explain a thing rather than the whole idea that worlds meet. Something Katniss can't even quite digest even now. Worlds?

Her world has for so long been District 12, The Seam...Panem.

It's just never occurred to her that there might be more; there has never been time.]

This...I can show you where we've been staying.

[ And other things along the way, but she figures he caught onto that part. As they walk, she glances up and over at him, between him and their surroundings intermittently while trying not to look like her nerves don't know what to do with themselves, even though this is mostly the truth. ]

Who is she?

[ She pauses here, surprising herself by having asked now that they're in fresh air and moving. Maybe it loosened some of the apprehension, and maybe it's the opposite and she just needs to know now rather than later----the opposite of Peeta, but this is not too surprising. ]

The...tribute.

[ In case she needed to clarify, she does, though it probably wasn't necessary considering how she verbally seems to stumble over the word like it's foreign to her when that is the last thing it could be. ]