Room 221 [Saturday morning]

[thegirl_onfire]

Katniss was pretty sure she shouldn't have even tried, because now she was so incredibly disheartened that she didn't know if she could stand it. It was like the end of summer all over again, her grief crippling her entirely, and the hopelessness killing all functionality

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[wesleynotponcy]

Oh, no.

Wesley had listened to the phone call from the pile of books research station he'd set up at Katniss' desk, and now the look on her face said it all. He got to his feet, wanting to hurry to her side but forcing himself to be calm, steady as he slid down to sit beside her and put a hand on her back.

"I'm so sorry."

[thegirl_onfire]

"The last people I care about in Panem are gone," Katniss murmured after a moment. "We have to fix this."

[wesleynotponcy]

"We will," he vowed, with more certainty than he'd felt for a while. Every book that didn't have the answer, or, indeed, any of the right questions, had only served to add to his trepidation, the growing feeling that this couldn't be overcome. But now whatever this was had hurt Katniss, and maybe it was petty, but that did what research hadn't thus far: it reinforced Wesley's growing desire to hurt it back. "We can -- look at the books I brought, or go to the library..."

[thegirl_onfire]

"We've already looked at the books," Katniss said, exhaling in frustration. "What good are books going to do? I wish I knew how to fight this."

Katniss would be changing her 'libraries are stupid' tune in a week or so.

[wesleynotponcy]

Well, Katniss, the idea was that the books might go into that.

"I think that's a fairly universal wish at this point," Wesley pointed out gently. "I was thinking I might stop by at the shooting range later. It might help, ah. Relieve frustration."

[thegirl_onfire]

"Shooting a target won't do much," she grumbled. "The woods have to be safe, right?"

No, Katniss.

[wesleynotponcy]

"I... well, I..." No, Katniss. "You'll recall that last time there were problems of, er, nearly this magnitude, the problem appeared to stem from the woods?"

So NO CLIMBING TREES FOR SAFETY.

[thegirl_onfire]

"...fine," she sighed, pulling her knees to her chest. "Fine. Find me something to kill, though. Because books aren't doing it for me."

[wesleynotponcy]

"We'll go out tomorrow," he promised. "See if we can find anything." He rubbed a gentle circle on her back, hoping it would help at least some small amount.

[thegirl_onfire]

"I'm sure we can. The animals must be scared, too. Makes for easy hunting," Katniss observed, and if she was keeping her mind on this rather than anything else, well, she couldn't really be blamed.

[wesleynotponcy]

Noting the opportunity to get her mind off of the other things going on, Wesley picked up the subject change immediately. "Really?" he inquired. "Do they come out into the open?"