first snare

[fanstheflame]

[everything was fire, and noise, and ash, and chaos. but still, he kept his head, making sure that everyone else was out of harm's way, first. his mother, Rory, Vick, Posy -- but he hears the sounds overhead and he knows it's coming - that this is it and he's got to move. Gale has only a few seconds notice as he breaks into a run down the road, trying not to trip over debris, and launches himself toward the only cover he can see.

behind him, it seems like the whole world erupts, and in a sense, it has. but somehow the flames don't touch Gale, and he lands face down, covering his head with his hands, hoping against hope that he'll make it out, too, and be able to join his family at their rendezvous point outside the Victor's Village. but for now, all he can do is wait for it to pass. he puts his head down, breathes in, expecting to smell the familiar peat-and-metal scent of the District's earth --]

[but the ground is sand. suddenly, inexplicably sand. warm, and fine, and smelling like sun and salt. he opens his eyes and sits up despite the protest in his ribcage, sand sticking to the undersides of his forearms, getting into his cuts and the wound on his cheek as he blinks against the sudden sun and looks around.

a beach. he's on a beach. sudden fear grips him]

No. They didn't.

[and then the fear is replaced by hot, familiar rage. he cranes his head up, searching for the skycams, and even as he starts to bellow, he's calculating what time it is, how long he has before the next horror he'd seen on the TV, how much time he's got to come up with a plan and find the others that are left. to find Katniss.]

LOOK AT YOU! YOU'RE SO DESPARATE THAT YOU BREAK YOUR OWN RULES? What do you think I'm honestly going to do? Scream for help? Break down and cry?

[he casts around in the sand with heat-blistered fingers until he finds a rock. it's the only thing he's got right now - as he hasn't noticed the journal just yet - but he'll sure as hell use it]

You picked the wrong guy, you know that? YOU PICKED THE WRONG GUY!


[sorry, Gale, this isn't the Quarter Quell arena. it's the Seasons Room. ... someone please, please tell the new guy to calm his shit down?]

Comments

[fanstheflame]

[sorry, no, fixated on the cake. thank goodness]

Okay.

[he eyes it for a moment longer, then tentatively takes a bite. instantly, his eyes slide closed in bliss. there is no cake in District 12. not like this.]

[shadow_immortal]

You seem to be enjoying yourself. There's also a kitchen here, if you want to make your food without wishing.

[fanstheflame]

[no, really, he's a little lost in the cake.

once he swallows, he opens his eyes and rewinds so that he can remember what Dainn said]

So ... seriously, no one goes hungry here?

[shadow_immortal]

Not really no, unless you find some amusement in deliberately starving yourself. [his smile is crooked, wondering where, exactly, this boy was from that he would ask this.]