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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 14, 2009 22:14:27 GMT -5
Djali's face didn't change, though he'd been thinking along the same lines. He agreed with Katniss-- with the right sponsors, and the right attitude, Fitz could survive. The fact that her survival guaranteed his death was a fact he didn't dwell on.
He glanced blankly at Katniss. "I could go find her."
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Post by Jules on Mar 14, 2009 22:39:30 GMT -5
"Well I'm certainly not chasing after the brat." Petra shot Katniss a reproachful look and sighed. "I'll help. I'll go to her suite, she may have gotten an Avox to lead her there, if I don't find her there we'll just have to do it floor by floor, we'll catch up to each other eventually and hopefully one of us will have found her."
He couldn't quite say why this felt like a search and rescue mission. Katniss rolled her eyes and left the room before they broke out the torches and booby traps.
-----
Fitz was standing on the ledge now, feeling surprisingly calm. Her thoughts, which she would've thought would be in a whirl, were actually sanguine and simple. One step forward and it's over quick, one step back and it takes longer. Did she really have any reason for it to last longer?
She could no longer recall was 'it' was, but 'it' certainly was important.
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 15, 2009 22:44:16 GMT -5
Djali nodded and left the room. He doubted Fitz had any desire to find her suite, which left the floor by floor routine. A pang of... anxiety, maybe?... pricked him somewhere between his heart and his gut. How many floors were there? It would take too long. (Too long for what?)
Petra would start from the ground up. If Djali started from the top, they'd cover more ground faster. He found the elevator (with a little help from one of the Avox assistants) and pressed the button for the roof.
It pinged open and cool, outside air brushed his cheeks. He stepped onto the roof, eyes on the sky, until they spotted the figure poised on the ledge. His usually mask-like face broke into an expression of horror. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.
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Post by Jules on Mar 16, 2009 18:36:50 GMT -5
The ping had alerted her to the approach of someone, and she was hardly surprised when it was Djali. "Technically, I'm doing you a favor." She reminded him and looked over her shoulder at him, not stepping back from the ledge. It was thrilling, even if she didn't do it, to know she had the option. She hadn't lost control of her life so blatantly as she had when they'd called her name and she'd ended up here completely against her will. This was a way to reclaim that control.
"Don't you feel robbed of a mind? We mine as well be objects to them, the way they've placed us here without our permission. Maybe I just want to prove I'm not under their thumb. Like Katniss and Petra did with those berries. I might not like her, but that was pretty brilliant." She grinned and peered over the ledge again. "I'm going to die anyways."
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 16, 2009 21:25:50 GMT -5
"No," he said, a bit more curtly than he'd intended. "I feel in full possession of my mind, thanks. Not that I can say the same for you." His eyes flashed as he moved to her side. "Get off the ledge." He wasn't sure why he was being so bossy, why it mattered so much that she not die.
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Post by Jules on Mar 16, 2009 22:02:48 GMT -5
Fitz shrugged, "Then maybe some part of you wants to be here, some part of you is looking forward to this. None of me is, so why should I stay? This is my only way out." She dangling one foot over the ledge as if testing the water, as if teasing him, before sliding it back.
The command made her shoot him a glare hard enough to cut, "Don't boss me around. I have had enough of that. Why should you care anyways. One less competitor."
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 25, 2009 20:09:42 GMT -5
"Or one less ally," he tried, guaging her reaction but trying to pretend like he wasn't. He inched a little closer and held up a hand, palm up. "Please. Get down?"
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Post by Jules on Mar 25, 2009 21:02:43 GMT -5
She stared at him, bewildered. "An ally? Don't kid yourself, we'll eventually have to murder each other to survive, if we're not killed by someone else first."
She didn't want to be humiliated, caught in some trap like a rabbit like she was bound to do. She didn't want Mica to see her ripped apart on screen. If it happened quietly, off screen, off national television, it would be less painful for everyone involved. "I'm not your ally, I'm not your friend, if you were smart at all you would push me right now."
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 25, 2009 21:14:23 GMT -5
His eyes narrowed coldly. "Fine," he said, then came around behind her and shoved her forward with two hands on her lower back-- hands that immediately moved around her waist once she'd been rocked off balance, snatching her out of the air and hauling her back onto safe ground. He let go before waiting until she'd gotten her footing, and stalked angrily to the elevator. After jabbing the down button, he turned over his shoulder and said, "I'm sending Effie up with cameras, so if you want to take the coward's way out, you'll have to do it with a live audience."
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Post by Jules on Mar 25, 2009 21:33:27 GMT -5
Fitz screamed, she couldn't help it, she hadn't been expecting him to actually push her. And then she was on the cold roof, a little shocked. She had that shaky feeling of having just been scared and her cheeks flooded red for embarrassment. Just because she'd screamed didn't mean she woudn't have done it. It didn't.
She stood up from where she'd been dumped and brushed herself off with quick, angry strokes before she chased after him, motivated by rage and embarrassment. When she reached him, she tackled into him from behind, sending them both into the elevator in a tangle. When they were sorted, Fitz was sitting on his chest, fist raised threateningly. He could probably throw her off easily, but not without her putting up a fight similar to that of an alley cat. "Why do you even care?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 25, 2009 21:48:37 GMT -5
Not paying attention, Djali tumbled to the floor with ease as Fitz collided with his back. When at last the panicked adrenaline that accompanies a sudden fall stopped, he stared up at her, eyes dazed, and blinked.
After a moment, a soft snort of amusement passed through his half-open mouth. "What? You're going to hit me if I don't ramble off a list of reasons why I don't want you to die?"
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Post by Jules on Mar 25, 2009 21:51:08 GMT -5
She thought about that a moment, fist still posed. "Pretty much, it doesn't have to be long. Are you playing at something? Is this some kind of plot? You shouldn't bother, I'm not going to be a contender." She didn't like the idea of someone thinking they were pulling the wool over her eyes, which was the only reason she could come up with for why Djali was being nice when she'd been anything but.
"Start rambling."
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 25, 2009 21:57:15 GMT -5
He sighed, rolling her eyes. Everyone in District Twelve was cynical, that was the way it was, but this girl was one of the worst cases he'd had to encounter. He debated thinking up a fake plot to let her stew over, but finally sighed.
"Look, you have a family. People that love you. Do you really want to get sent home with a note saying you didn't even try to live for them?"
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Post by Jules on Mar 25, 2009 22:02:59 GMT -5
Fitz flinched. She hadn't thought about it that way, at all. Would that really be how they perceived it? That she hadn't cared, or even tried? She kept her fist up, and shook her head. "They know, they know about me, and even my brother, even Mica...he didn't want me to try. He knew it was hopeless too."
That they were both chronically inept of looking at the bright side had not occurred to her.
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Post by Miss Jack on Mar 25, 2009 22:58:40 GMT -5
He studied her face for a moment, keeping quiet, wondering whether to believe if they really knew it was hopeless.
"That's sad," he said at last. "Next time I won't stop you."
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