Hunger Games commentfic: why Clove uses a knife
(fun commentfic ficathon)
my first entry for there:
Clove, Do you know why I use a knife?
title: Reason to knife.
author: Keenir.
fandom: The Hunger Games. (movieverse - minor AU)
characters: Clove (District 2), Katniss (District 12)
disclaimer: NOT MINE.
rating: PG-13.
I thought her name was spelled Cloe.
The balance of power in the alliance shifted yet again, and Clove found herself the one on the run.
When they re-encountered one another, Katniss volunteered to help Clove set her hand to rights. Katniss looked at the way Clove's hand moved. "You'll have to keep out of range for a day while..."
"Why?" Clove asked her. "Why are you doing this? So viewers will sponsor you?"
Katniss made a noise that told Clove exactly what the 12-er thought of that theory.
"Do you know why I use a knife?" Clove asked Katniss as the sun went down. After the next cannonfire, and after Katniss indicated a desire to hear this, Clove said, "I was not brought up to be a Career. I was brought up for a career in the arts - if your aim is off, if you can't gauge distance, they smash of your fingers every year. If you can't throw, you die." Using a knife isn't that different, really. Otherwise I would have been dead less than 12 hours after this Hunger Games began.
"I'm the first in my family in 70 years to be in the Hunger Games," Clove said. "The Capitol has a rule that keeps my district and 1 from only sending Careers to the Games. Even so, the odds are stacked against non-Careers being selected," Clove said without a trace of irony.
And yet you're here, Katniss thought. "The odds were against my sister's name being drawn," was all she could offer.
Clove nodded, appreciative. In her district, an expression of sympathy meant more if you involved an analogy.