THG Drabbles: Songs from District 2
Title: Songs from District 2
Author: downbythebay_4
Rated: R (violence, adult themes and language, character death)
Summary: 10 drabbles for Cato and Clove
Notes: A brief and unexpected sojourn into Career territory and fan-mixology.
Respective artists: Roisin Murphy, Britney Spears, Marilyn Manson, Bad Company, Foo Fighters, Cat Power, Jim Sturgess, Rihanna, Godsmack, The Rolling Stones
1.
Could a body close the mind out
Stitch a seam across the eye
If you can be good, you'll live forever
If you're bad, you'll die when you die
Hearing only one true note
On the one and only sound
Unzip my body
Take my heart out
'Cause I need a beat to give this tune
He takes his place on stage beside the girl with obsidian hair and eyes like knives. She is younger, not a volunteer, but ready. He thinks it is a shame that she was called to the arena early, in another year, she could have won easily. But this is his year. He had beaten a classmate to within an inch of his life for challenging his right to stand up today. Side by side they flash the Capitol cameras wicked smiles; they are beautiful and strong. From behind him, Brutus claps a hand onto his shoulder. Sponsors will love them.
2.
There's only two types of people in the world
The ones that entertain and the ones that observe
Well, baby, I'm a put-on-a-show kind of girl
Don't like the backseat, got to be first
Her first time on Caesar Flickerman’s couch she appears demure and put-together. Her prep-team have left her freckles, and Caesar speaks to her as one speaks to a child playing dress-up. He seeks to put her at ease, as with the other young tributes, but she is already at ease. She does not correct him. His condescension makes her 10 in training all the more glorious. She will give them what they want; at her hands, death is more than entertainment, it’s a work of art. The next time she sits down beside him, Caesar Flickerman slides his chair away.
3.
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Training is useless for those who do not know what they are doing. He is surrounded by children who might as well be dead already. The weak cower away from the reach of his sword; the strong flock to him like soldiers to their rightful king. He does not relish the thought of killing worthy opponents; he has met so few, but agreeing to carry a few to the final five or the final six makes is job a little easier in the beginning. There will be an alliance, he will break it; he will not lose sleep over this.
4.
Rebel souls, deserters we are called
Chose a gun and threw away the sun
Now these towns, they all know our name
Six-gun sound is our claim to fame
I can hear them say: bad company
And I won't deny, bad, bad company
Till the day I die
There are two of them. Perhaps her job would be easier if Cato were less noble, or more likely to be killed by another, but in the end she does not think so. She has come to kill; it does not matter if the slaughter is his or someone else’s. At the Cornucopia, he watches as she carves the life out of the boy from 4. She imagines Cato’s belly slit, guts spilling. As the ground drinks the blood of her victims, she smiles for the cameras. She makes certain they would know her by the wreckage she leaves behind.
5.
All my life I've been searching for something
Something never comes, never leads to nothing
Nothing satisfies but I'm getting close
Closer to the prize at the end of the rope
All night long I dream of the day
When it comes around then it's taken away
Leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most
The feeling comes to life when I see your ghost
The pretty girl was dead, which did not concern him. Except that she had been strong and beautiful and alive, like him, and now she was none of these things. Back home, he had snapped the neck of a fawn to prove he could take life. It had been a clean kill, quick and painless; her death had been neither. Afterwards, there was no more laughter; it no longer felt like a game. He would survive, but it would not be fun. He dealt the boy who smoldered a killing blow out of vengeance, not for her, but for himself.
6.
Like I heard her backwards saying
I can take one thousand showers
And never be clean
Of course she lied away
She is ten times heavier
Stronger, then you found the grave
Or ever was
She could drink a river of blood without slaking her thirst. Seven remain. 1 killed the youngest, and the Girl on Fire killed 1. The food was gone, the nights grew colder and longer; she and Cato hunt the others together, for now. She sleeps with her knives clutched to her breast. They are so much a part of her now, she cannot imagine returning to a world without their bright weight for constant company. In the night she can hear them whispering, calling for her blood, to avenge the slaughter they had wrought. She wakes screaming in the darkness.
7.
It's a thief in the night to come and grab you
It can creep up inside you and consume you
A disease of the mind, it can control you
It's too close for comfort
Put on your break lights, you're in the city of wonder
Ain't gonna play nice, watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice, your train of thought will be altered
So if you must falter, be wise
His district partner had never been what he would call sane, and he began to fear he was tending that way himself. His palms burned for the warmth of blood. The thought of running his sword through flesh set laughter bubbling in his throat. There was joy in killing certainly, in following his training, doing as he had been taught. But he had snapped 3’s neck from a place of anger. Every now and then it sent a shiver down his spine, how easy it had been, with all his strength. Yes, this is what he had been made for.
8.
So you tapped the smack for romance
Now it is your steady job,
If your nerves and veins can take the pain
Then our hats are taken off.
So don’t talk to yourself
A don’t talk to me,
There’s a river running through it
The Devil’s not my enemy
She had been waiting for this moment all of her life; a childhood spent plucking the down from baby chicks and putting the eyes out of stray cats. By the time she enrolled at the center, she had been untouchable in her ruthlessness. Singularity. Their announcement had stolen even that from her. Cato saw it as his duty to protect her, to honor their district. Two victors were better than one. She did not want victory; she wanted to be important.
“Stay with me, Clove. I’ll save 12 for you; we’ll hunt her together. Just don’t leave me.”
That fucker.
9.
Tragic visions slowly stole my life
Tore away everything
Cheating me out of my time
I'm the one who loves you
No matter wrong or right
And every day I hold you
I hold you with my inner child
Unhinged or not, he had kept his district mate alive because there was a fire in 12 he knew he could never quench on his own, no matter how much blood he had spilt, no matter how much pleasure he took in it. She had died in his arms; he stayed with her until her corpse went cold. Unwisely delaying his hunt for 11. He couldn’t protect her; he had always known that, but he had tried. Because what he really wanted to be was not a victor, but a champion. Now he was quite certain he would die neither.
10.
Living in a fantasy but it's way too far
But this kind of loneliness is way too hard
I've been wandering, feeling all alone
I lost my direction and I lost my home...Well
I'm so sick and tired
Now I'm on the slide
Feeling so despised
When you laugh, laugh
I almost died
He had not expected to see her again, unlovely, in the eyes of his murderer. Still, he would have given anything for one more moment. Even life’s lingering agony was preferable to the numbness that followed. Nothing he had learned at the center could have prepared him for this moment. There was no honor in death. The star-crossed lovers had their triumph; their followers would rejoice in his suffering. There was no wisdom he could summon up to assuage that pain. Instead he cried, like he hadn’t since his infancy, closed his eyes, and tried to imagine his mother’s face.
Author: downbythebay_4
Rated: R (violence, adult themes and language, character death)
Summary: 10 drabbles for Cato and Clove
Notes: A brief and unexpected sojourn into Career territory and fan-mixology.
Respective artists: Roisin Murphy, Britney Spears, Marilyn Manson, Bad Company, Foo Fighters, Cat Power, Jim Sturgess, Rihanna, Godsmack, The Rolling Stones
1.
Could a body close the mind out
Stitch a seam across the eye
If you can be good, you'll live forever
If you're bad, you'll die when you die
Hearing only one true note
On the one and only sound
Unzip my body
Take my heart out
'Cause I need a beat to give this tune
He takes his place on stage beside the girl with obsidian hair and eyes like knives. She is younger, not a volunteer, but ready. He thinks it is a shame that she was called to the arena early, in another year, she could have won easily. But this is his year. He had beaten a classmate to within an inch of his life for challenging his right to stand up today. Side by side they flash the Capitol cameras wicked smiles; they are beautiful and strong. From behind him, Brutus claps a hand onto his shoulder. Sponsors will love them.
2.
There's only two types of people in the world
The ones that entertain and the ones that observe
Well, baby, I'm a put-on-a-show kind of girl
Don't like the backseat, got to be first
Her first time on Caesar Flickerman’s couch she appears demure and put-together. Her prep-team have left her freckles, and Caesar speaks to her as one speaks to a child playing dress-up. He seeks to put her at ease, as with the other young tributes, but she is already at ease. She does not correct him. His condescension makes her 10 in training all the more glorious. She will give them what they want; at her hands, death is more than entertainment, it’s a work of art. The next time she sits down beside him, Caesar Flickerman slides his chair away.
3.
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Training is useless for those who do not know what they are doing. He is surrounded by children who might as well be dead already. The weak cower away from the reach of his sword; the strong flock to him like soldiers to their rightful king. He does not relish the thought of killing worthy opponents; he has met so few, but agreeing to carry a few to the final five or the final six makes is job a little easier in the beginning. There will be an alliance, he will break it; he will not lose sleep over this.
4.
Rebel souls, deserters we are called
Chose a gun and threw away the sun
Now these towns, they all know our name
Six-gun sound is our claim to fame
I can hear them say: bad company
And I won't deny, bad, bad company
Till the day I die
There are two of them. Perhaps her job would be easier if Cato were less noble, or more likely to be killed by another, but in the end she does not think so. She has come to kill; it does not matter if the slaughter is his or someone else’s. At the Cornucopia, he watches as she carves the life out of the boy from 4. She imagines Cato’s belly slit, guts spilling. As the ground drinks the blood of her victims, she smiles for the cameras. She makes certain they would know her by the wreckage she leaves behind.
5.
All my life I've been searching for something
Something never comes, never leads to nothing
Nothing satisfies but I'm getting close
Closer to the prize at the end of the rope
All night long I dream of the day
When it comes around then it's taken away
Leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most
The feeling comes to life when I see your ghost
The pretty girl was dead, which did not concern him. Except that she had been strong and beautiful and alive, like him, and now she was none of these things. Back home, he had snapped the neck of a fawn to prove he could take life. It had been a clean kill, quick and painless; her death had been neither. Afterwards, there was no more laughter; it no longer felt like a game. He would survive, but it would not be fun. He dealt the boy who smoldered a killing blow out of vengeance, not for her, but for himself.
6.
Like I heard her backwards saying
I can take one thousand showers
And never be clean
Of course she lied away
She is ten times heavier
Stronger, then you found the grave
Or ever was
She could drink a river of blood without slaking her thirst. Seven remain. 1 killed the youngest, and the Girl on Fire killed 1. The food was gone, the nights grew colder and longer; she and Cato hunt the others together, for now. She sleeps with her knives clutched to her breast. They are so much a part of her now, she cannot imagine returning to a world without their bright weight for constant company. In the night she can hear them whispering, calling for her blood, to avenge the slaughter they had wrought. She wakes screaming in the darkness.
7.
It's a thief in the night to come and grab you
It can creep up inside you and consume you
A disease of the mind, it can control you
It's too close for comfort
Put on your break lights, you're in the city of wonder
Ain't gonna play nice, watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice, your train of thought will be altered
So if you must falter, be wise
His district partner had never been what he would call sane, and he began to fear he was tending that way himself. His palms burned for the warmth of blood. The thought of running his sword through flesh set laughter bubbling in his throat. There was joy in killing certainly, in following his training, doing as he had been taught. But he had snapped 3’s neck from a place of anger. Every now and then it sent a shiver down his spine, how easy it had been, with all his strength. Yes, this is what he had been made for.
8.
So you tapped the smack for romance
Now it is your steady job,
If your nerves and veins can take the pain
Then our hats are taken off.
So don’t talk to yourself
A don’t talk to me,
There’s a river running through it
The Devil’s not my enemy
She had been waiting for this moment all of her life; a childhood spent plucking the down from baby chicks and putting the eyes out of stray cats. By the time she enrolled at the center, she had been untouchable in her ruthlessness. Singularity. Their announcement had stolen even that from her. Cato saw it as his duty to protect her, to honor their district. Two victors were better than one. She did not want victory; she wanted to be important.
“Stay with me, Clove. I’ll save 12 for you; we’ll hunt her together. Just don’t leave me.”
That fucker.
9.
Tragic visions slowly stole my life
Tore away everything
Cheating me out of my time
I'm the one who loves you
No matter wrong or right
And every day I hold you
I hold you with my inner child
Unhinged or not, he had kept his district mate alive because there was a fire in 12 he knew he could never quench on his own, no matter how much blood he had spilt, no matter how much pleasure he took in it. She had died in his arms; he stayed with her until her corpse went cold. Unwisely delaying his hunt for 11. He couldn’t protect her; he had always known that, but he had tried. Because what he really wanted to be was not a victor, but a champion. Now he was quite certain he would die neither.
10.
Living in a fantasy but it's way too far
But this kind of loneliness is way too hard
I've been wandering, feeling all alone
I lost my direction and I lost my home...Well
I'm so sick and tired
Now I'm on the slide
Feeling so despised
When you laugh, laugh
I almost died
He had not expected to see her again, unlovely, in the eyes of his murderer. Still, he would have given anything for one more moment. Even life’s lingering agony was preferable to the numbness that followed. Nothing he had learned at the center could have prepared him for this moment. There was no honor in death. The star-crossed lovers had their triumph; their followers would rejoice in his suffering. There was no wisdom he could summon up to assuage that pain. Instead he cried, like he hadn’t since his infancy, closed his eyes, and tried to imagine his mother’s face.