(i feel like i've been living in a city with no children in it)

[burnwithus]

Has it really been a year? I wasn’t expecting it to pass by so quickly, not when every day was a battle. But it has to be true, because I counted the days, not knowing why. Something to keep me busy, I guess. Keeping the madness away used to be a priority for me at one point

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[curiously_cora]

"What are you doing?" Coraline asked curiously, peering at Katniss as she clamboured onto a desk and sat cross legged. Pulling her notebook and a flower out of her bag, holding it in one hand and balancing her notebook on her knee Coraline began to sketch it. Making a face as she held the flower, Coraline began to absentmindedly scratch her her fingers and hand as she continued to hold it not realising her hand and fingers were turning a prickly shade of red. "Are you doing homework? Only school's not starting for ages."

[burnwithus]

I have no way of making this look beautiful. My hands are clumsy and my handwriting turns out crabbed and lopsided. I crumple that sheet of paper, reaching for a fresh one, and I'm so intent on it that I don't even notice her there.

When I do it's like looking at a ghost. Except that if the pages in front of me are any proof, Prim's gone and can't be brought back. "I'm not doing homework," I was never good at school, anyways. It didn't matter, in the Seam.

[curiously_cora]

"Well, what are you doing then?" Coraline asked curiously, her face scrunching up as she rubbed her hand a little more insistently. Her fingers tingled but she hadn't quite connected that yet with the rather beautiful flower. "Can I help?"

[burnwithus]

The motion catches my eye and I frown, eyes traveling from her red hand to the plant. I don't recognize it, but it isn't difficult to make the connection. I put my pen down carefully, trying to avoid splotching onto the page but it doesn't work. "Put the flower down. Now," it comes out sharper than I meant it to, but she's reacting quickly to it and I can't help but think the worst.

I'm not a healer, like my mother. But there are things that even I know, and it hurts too much to think about my mother anyways, so I push back the automatic associations that cross my mind whenever someone is injured. Wishing she were here, wishing I knew what to do. Luckily, this doesn't look serious.

[curiously_cora]

Coraline knew that tone. It was the she was in trouble tone and Coraline dropped the plant like it was burning her which it sort of was. Coraline looked down at her red, blotchy hands and made a face.

"They're so itchy. Stupid notebook, stupid drawings. Ow, ow, ow." Coraline said, holding her hands out and looking at Katniss for guidance.

[burnwithus]

I find myself taking her hands and turning them over to get a better look. At home, in District 12, I could have made a salve for this. If I had my plant book, and access to the forest, my mother could have drawn one out for me. But here, there's probably only the clinic. Or aloe, which I'd have to find. "The clinic has lotions, I think." I used to use them for my skin, back when it was still red and painful.

[curiously_cora]

"My mum would kill me, I wasn't wearing my gardening gloves. Handle with care Coraline Jones until you know what it is, that's what she used to say. She worked with plants," Coraline said making a face at her hands as she looked between her hands and Katniss. Coraline tugged on Katniss's clothes more ten than fourteen and looked at her like a little sister would to a bigger one for help. "Can you take me?"

[burnwithus]

The way she tugs on my clothes brings a lump to my throat, and it takes me a few moments and more deep breaths in order to keep from completely losing it. Apparently, I have a soft spot for children. Apparently, I can never stand to see them hurt. Ironic, for a Victor of the Hunger Games. I take her free hand in mind. It's as small as my sister's used to be. "I'll take you. Come on."