thirteenth snare

[fanstheflame]

[so, his girlfriend got knocked unconscious with a cake pan by his best friend's boyfriend - who, by the way, kind of stole her from him back home.

clearly, this is not exactly Happy Time for Gale. he's been spending most of his time at Ino's bedside, even though she's clearly not getting any closer to being conscious. now that people seem to be sane again, and Crowley's awake, and things are slowly edging toward as normal as house life gets, however, he figures he might be able to leave for a little while]

[House Filter]

Could someone please just ... keep an eye on Ino for me, today? I need to get out and grab some air. But I don't want her to be left alone too long, in case she wakes up ....

[/House Filter]

[with that, he'll bundle up against the cold and start a trek up to the castle, to see what's going on now that everything is back to normal, dictating into the journal as he goes]

I'm coming up to the castle ... since I figured I should maybe try to meet some of the new faces, or see if anyone needs my help with anything. Also, it's been a while since I played anything in the game room ... so if you want to come say hello, I'll probably be up there. My name's Gale - I'll be the tall guy with the dark hair wearing the green hunting vest.

[yes, that IS a brand new vest, it is his Christmas present from Ino, and he kind of wears it a lot. pardon him while he puts it to practical use by hunting down Pac-Man ghosts and Dig-Dug baddies. badly. arcade games are one of his Paradisa guilty pleasures, okay, and he can just pretend every little clump of pixels is Peeta Mellark's stupid clumsy dumb oaf face]

Comments

[fanstheflame]

I wasn't, no. But my best friend was. [he sighs] And she won. She and the boy from our district, too, both of them. They changed the rules.

[he doesn't sound happy about that, though, for some reason. HMM.]

[not_mafia]

Th-that's great, though, isn't it? That they both survived.

[fanstheflame]

They survived by pretending they were together, a couple. [he's told the story so many times over the last year that it's lost most of the sting in the telling. plus, well, he has Ino. so that makes it a lot easier.]

And ... well, at the time? I really loved her.

[not_mafia]

But, it was just pretending so they could make it out alive, right...?

[fanstheflame]

It was to start. [like he said, he's lost a lot of the sting. he manages to say that pretty matter-of-factly]

By the time she came home ... well ... she was kind of a superstar. Everyone kept sending cameras and interviewers to the town, wanting to know about her. In order to make sure she won, we ... well. Her mentor didn't want anyone to think Peeta had any competition, so to speak. He wanted it to look like they'd been pining for each other forever.

So I had to pretend I was her cousin. ... It was either that, or risk losing her.

[not_mafia]

Even when you came back... [What awful circumstances. ):]

But, you have Ino now, right? [and let's face it she's probably 100x better than that other girl]

[fanstheflame]

Yeah, even when I came back. ... But you're right, I do. [from the tone of his voice when he says that? it's pretty clear that he thinks she IS]

That's ... what makes it easier for me to talk about home. I know I have good things here to make up for how awful it is, there.

[not_mafia]

[And that tone of voice and words perk him up substantially.]

I'm really glad for you, Gale-san! I'm glad for the both of you. It's... really nice, that you're both happy with each other.

[fanstheflame]

Thanks, Tsuna. ... I'm glad for her, too. She went through so much ... she needs a chance to be happy.

[not_mafia]

Yeah, she really does. [can you tell this kid loves her gale]