Mariner's Threnody

Yeah, sorry to be a total tool and just stop posting for a while, but I haven’t really had time to sit down and crank out a post for anything. PO is kinda stagnant so I am aswell. So, I’m taking a short hiatus until my muse returns. Could be a week, could be two. Just pretend Tallon’s working really hard or whatever floats your boat (hurr hurr D4 pun). Thanks for sticking through all this time and hanging around on this character blog, it still means a lot to see the occasional liked post or reblog or whatever. You guys have been great c: <3

• Day 7: Does your character have any interests or hobbies?

Yeah, I have a few hobbies. Not many since I don’t have a huge amount of free time, but they’re what I like to do. I like to play chess and checkers with the old guys that hang around the wharfs and bars since they’ve had the most experience.

I also like a draw a lot, it’s a major stress relief and I usually have a small little sketchbook stashed away in my things on deck for when the waters are calm and we have our small lunch break. I used to do some painting in our art classes, but I haven’t tried at it in years so I probably wouldn’t be any good anymore.

This isn’t really a hobby but I do like to help and mess around with my siblings. Circe and I like to draw together and I teach her rope-work and knots and things on little scraps of cloth or rope. Merill loves taking photos with our old camera so he, Circe and I take walks around the coast and the caves and things like that so he can take interesting pictures of stuff.

• Day 5: Does your character have any enemies?

I’d like to be that person that has absolutely no enemies, but that person isn’t me so yes I have a few. Mainly that one Peacekeeper that got me busted up and this one group of kids that was in my class back when I was in school. They’d do all sorts of shit things to other, younger kids like steal their food and stuff. Most of them live on the Beach (not that I think all Beachdwellers think this way) so they probably think they’re entitled.

Other than that I abhor Lillith and Clint’s father on all fronts. If I didn’t have other people to take care of I’d make that man’s life a complete living hell. He’s just….I need to calm down, hah. That fucking son of a bitch makes me see red just thinking about him. He’s another one of those people that makes me feel powerless. I hate that fucking feeling.

There’s another thing I hate and consider it my enemy, but saying it out loud over a public communications system can be dangerous and a liability. 

• Day 6: How does your character feel about the Hunger Games?

I hate them. Almost a century of killing children systematically every year for one rebellion? I don’t want to know how long they’ve planned out Games, it’d probably drive me to madness. The Games just make me feel powerless and more like some animal than a human. It’s like we’re just getting sent into the slaughterhouse to remind us we’ve made one mistake in a long span of time. More than that though. I’m just outright afraid of them. Of what they do to us. They pit us against each other, when we’re supposed to be a single unit. It’s just…unnatural.

Today was the Reaping. I forgot how it feels to be that scared, even though I knew that somehow in some way we would be safe. I guess the fear freshens each year, it never gets better.

I woke up and shut down. It’s better to be detached than to be hysterical, keeps you sane. We all slept in for a few more hours since work is suspended for the day. A light breakfast of fish and some fruit. Simple enough so that Ma didn’t really have to think. Thinking makes you get worse and worse as the day progresses. I didn’t want to have to take her away as she cried over whichever kids got Reaped.

Lillith and her little brother Clint dropped by before to just sit around with us. Their bastard of a dad decided to take out his fear and nervousness by either ignoring their needs completely or becoming violent, so they take up refuge whenever the Reapings roll around.

We were all dressed up, nice and pretty to go off and send some kids to die. Before we left to go to the wide-open area next to the marketplace, Lillith nudged me with her elbow. Her look told me volumes. Our Plan’s been confirmed since she turned 12, and it only takes a simple nod to recognize it again this year. If any of our siblings are Reaped we are to volunteer for them. One will stay behind to take care of the families. In the catastrophic chance that we’re both Reaped, we’ll make it quick and painless. No blood would be shed. I put my arm around her shoulder in order to comfort her a bit, even though it probably doesn’t help. I can see the way she looks at Clint.

She gives me a short, chaste kiss on the cheek before we leave. Tells me it’ll be okay no matter what happens. I nod and tell her back that everything will be fine. All of the kids under 18  gather up front, everyone over that sacred age limit crowds around back, a nervous bundle of people. Our Capitol-bred paper picker is overly colorful and too loud. He shows too many teeth in his smile. He makes a flamboyant deal out of drawing names, but only after our Mayor gives his usual legal speech about the Capitol and the Games.

Two names. A boy and a girl.

They’re people I don’t know, a younger looking boy I’ve seen around sometimes and a girl that I think lives on the Beach. I let myself relax, not having noticed how tense I was. It was probably palpable. We clapped like the dead, no feeling. Emptydull thuds of palms connecting. The bouncy Capitolite grinned and held up the arms of the Tributes, who actually didn’t look all that affected. Seems like we weren’t the only ones who just went numb to keep from breaking down.

We go home as I silently cherish my family. Lillith and Clint come over for our usual post-Reaping dinner. My mother and I share a drink, as we celebrate the children’s lives that will be snuffed out in the next few weeks. It’s the least we can do to honor them, despite the fact they’re complete strangers. The hard liquor burns just a little bit, and Ma tells me she’s never wanted Dad to be here so bad as she does on Reaping nights. I make some noise of agreement and she leans over and kisses me on the forehead.

I’m in bed now, but I can’t sleep. I hear Lillith telling Clint stories of far-off places in the mountains, where they could escape to and bring me and Merill and Circe and Ma and all of our friends. A place where we could grow our own food and till the land and have a small, nice farm. An Eden that I’m not sure exists anywhere anymore.

I let the wall of indifference crumble for a moment or two and I put my pillow over my face.

History repeats itself every year, a wound that the Capitol only leaves long enough before it reopens it and lets it fester once more. 

• Day 3: What’s the best thing you like about your District? The worst?

Well, not to be cliche, but the ocean. I know, I know, it’s just the overarching best thing of D4, but I really think it’s the greatest. It gives us food, a challenge, freedom, exercise, comfort, you name it. It’s like an extremely powerful parent. Sometimes it gets upset and other times it’s just nurturing and nice.

As for the worst I’d have to say the the fact that we’re considered a Career district. Automatically makes us targets in the Games and gives us some “mystery” about us when we’re pretty much in the same boat as everyone else.

• Day 4: Does your character have anyone special to them?

I think I already answered this earlier? Unless it means in the more than “oh I consider these people very important facets to my life” sort of thing. If it’s that then no, not for now. I’m trying to concentrate on getting my family through the Reapings and Games until we’re all safe before I head into any romance of any sort.

• Day 2: Do you have any special people in your life?

Well, obviously my family, since they’re the people I love the most. Ma, Circe, and Merill are the ones that give me a purpose, you know? Blessed to have ‘em.

But I do have a few very special people in my life, mostly very close friends.

There’s Lillith, who’s pretty much my best friend and confidant. We’ve been friends since we were young and we’ve grown up together through hardships. I’m really glad I’ve gotten to meet her and know her, she’s been a good balance for me throughout the years.

Also Sewell, who’s been a close friend for around 4 years, we work on the same ship and are practically blood relatives by now.

And finally, I guess there’s Den. Den and I were really close, almost as much as Lillith or Sewell. He…hah, man, still gets to me. He…didn’t make it when we were swept overboard in a nasty storm a few years back. I got saved, but they just couldn’t find him. He was really special, a genius in pretty much everything.

That’s about it, in terms of people I truly love and are really special to me, I guess. Not the longest list but it’ll do.