PARADISA

[There is a faintly embarrassed clearing of one Mockingjay's throat.]

... so. If I shot you - while I, ah, didn't remember who you were - I'm sorry.

[Pause.]

Really.

[Another pause.]

... I hope you're all okay.

[The journal falls open, and a faint burn marks show on the edges of the page. There are sounds - sounds like crashing and slamming, and yes. Cursing. A great deal of cursing that suddenly became words.]

Come - back ... down here you damned bird! No, stop! Stop! Not the curtains! Don't set fire to the curtains! Sit! Stay! ARGH!

[Then there is the sound where she turns and yells across the room.] ANNE! Get out here and help me! You have got to help me! This thing is setting fire to everything!

[There was another crash, and Katniss sighs as a few more burn spots appear on the page.]

...I hate this castle...

What... the hell is happening?

[Is the only mutter you hear, as Katniss pulls back another shot, and then curses quietly.] Circles! All my arrows are going in circles in mid-air! What kind of ... weird gravitational nonsense is going on now?

[Katniss stood at the window of the room where Mark's radio equipment was, looking out to the middle distance of the snow-covered grounds of the castle. She flicked her eyes to the sky, then to the radio again, before she sat down at the desk, looking at all the buttons and switches with a sort of sad glumness. She ran her fingers over what looked like a music player, then one of the speakers, before she spoke softly to the journal sitting open.]

...I don't suppose anyone who knows how to work Mark's music would be willing to teach me, would they? I ... I miss the music.

[A sigh, as she put her chin down on her hands. Thinking all the friends who are gone - thinking of the nameplate she had found missing earlier. Once. Gone. Another one who had floated on home.]

I hate the silence.

[And for her at least, those words hold weight. There are too many ghosts, in Katniss Everdeen's closet.]

[There's the creaking sound of a journal being opened, as if it has been closed for some time. Then a pen dips down on the page, and Katniss's precise handwriting starts to appear on the paper, her words flowing quietly.]

It seems more friends have left, since I went off ... [The words trail off, as Katniss looks at her letter from Mark, from Gale, items she received from friends who are now gone. Her grey eyes narrow a little, but she lifts her chin. She's done this before. She's walked this road. She can do it alone, if need be.]

[But she is not alone, is she? That's what she has to keep remembering. So when she writes again, her handwriting his stronger.] But I'm back. So talk to me, Paradisa. What do I need to know?

( Specifically To The One Who Attacked Me - his allies and his friends )

[She looked down to what she had written, rubbing her forehead briefly. Honestly, she had read the books. She knew how people felt about mutts - how she did - but this was different. They didn't choose this. She had to find him, and she had to help him and his friends. It was the right thing to do.]

[Katniss has the journal flipped open, as she ties up her boots for practice, making sure the laces were good and tight, before speaking into the journal.]

Calling the pitch for Slytherin Practice. If you don't have it reserved, too bad.

[She paused for a moment, before saying a little more distinctly.] You can't miss us. Green. Silver. Some pink.

[Just a remind - she knows. She knows one of you did it. And she doesn't like being humiliated.]

Filtered to the Slytherin House

Did you all know that certain combinations of herbs and vegetables in a high dose will change a person's skin color? Fascinating stuff, Herbology.

[Somedays, all Katniss wanted to do was find whoever ran this playground gone mad, and shoot them through the throat with her sharpest arrow. Bad enough she had to keep around the Castle to make sure Emma stayed safe. Now, to add insult to injury -- she'd changed into one of the damned elves. With the pale make-up and glitter and the pointed ears and the ridiculously tight green leather and a cape. A frigging cape, in the middle of summer!]

[She's grumbling as she sticks to the shadows of the Castle, clearly heard through the journal hanging on her side.] ...most ridiculous ... can't believe elves wear this ... could get shot right in the stomach who wouldn't armor yourself there? ...

Filtered from the First Gens, their allies, and any who would do them harm.

[Katniss is sitting on the floor of her cabin, looking a large, and badly drawn, map of the area. She is frowning as she marks all the spots she knows near the Castle and in the town itself, and what few areas she knows in the Dead Zone. After she's done with this careful marking, she turns to the journal.]

Does it disturb anyone else that we don't have any real clue what is outside of our borders? I mean - at least I don't know. It's all some sort of ... land-blob, where our enemies live and wait to destroy us. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not comfortable with that. I want to know where they are - because they know where we are.

[She looked at the map, and scowled.] Mostly, I'd just love an accurate map of this place. So we could know where we can start protecting our borders.

Added on a little later...

So, does anyone want to go on a cartography trip with me?