(no subject)

[burn_with_us]

Today is her birthday. Birthdays aren't usually anything special in 12 and, if it's turning 12, it's usually something to dread. The only birthday Katniss has ever cared about was 19 and she's not there yet. Instead, she's turning 18 today and if nothing had ever changed, she would be lining up for the Reaping for her last time this year. She'd have so many names in the ball that she'd be bound to be picked but Katniss likes to think she'd be lucky. After all, she made it to sixteen without ever getting Reaped, didn't she?

It had been Prim who was Reaped that year, Prim who only had one name in the ball and had the best shot out of any kid in the Seam to never get Reaped. Prim, for whom Katniss had sacrificed everything.

On her birthday, Katniss always thinks of Prim. She thinks about how Prim always made it a point to give her something on her birthday even if she didn't have the resources that Katniss had. Somehow magically, there was good flint for starting fires or a little tinder box. Her boots got patched or there was good, pliable wood for new arrows. Prim always managed to make something out of nothing.

Today, so she doesn't think about Prim, Katniss decides to work. She's taking orders in the dining room, bussing tables, working back in the kitchen. Anything to keep her hands and mind busy so that homesickness doesn't threaten to eat her from the inside out. It's always been the mental things she's struggled with. She can deal with pain, hunger, death but she never, ever has been able to deal with thinking about just how much she misses her sister each and every day.

Comments

[71st_victor]

Johanna has since shaken the confines of the manly self, happy to be back in her own skin. She's been pushing the confines of it, working out until she can't sweat anymore, testing herself as if she's preparing for the Games. She's wearing shorts and a tank top when she wanders into the restaurant, arching her brow when she finds out that her server is, apparently, Katniss.

"Seriously?" she asks bluntly. "This is what you want to do with your life?"

[burn_with_us]

"It's better than going back to the arena and I need money," Katniss says, shrugging.

"I've never minded working hard if I need something. What can I get you? I don't know the specials so don't ask."

[71st_victor]

Katniss working as a waitress, serving the people.

Well, if only they were filming propaganda of the devoted and true mockingjay, serving her people one dinner platter at a time. Johanna shrugs and sits down, figuring she might as well take advantage of this while she's got the chance. "Anything," she says. "It's not like I have to watch my figure for the cameras anymore."

[burn_with_us]

"I'll get something good," Katniss promises and true to her word, she comes back out with two servings of lamb stew and some of Peeta's cheese rolls.

"Peeta made the rolls. They're amazing. Of course, some of us have actual talents and some of us just let our stylists pretend we do."

[71st_victor]

She laughs, bright and sudden. "Of course Peeta is cooking here, too," she says, shaking her head. "And here I thought you two might branch out on your own here, become independent. I suppose if you're sewn at the hip, that's a little harder to do." She settles in her seat, shrugging because it's not that big of a deal. "He always did make a mean roll, though. Some of those," she agrees.

[burn_with_us]

"We have to stick to our strengths, which means that I ride on his coattails anywhere except in the Arena," Katniss says, making a little face and passing the rolls over to Johanna.

"I don't have what they commonly refer to as social skills. As far as Effie is concerned, I've just evolved enough to know how to use a fork."

[71st_victor]

"No, you definitely don't," Johanna agrees easily, when Katniss brings up her poor social skills. "It's a good thing you're good with that bow and scare people half to death. Of course, you have a tendency to make alliances with weaker bodies, but you're lucky their minds are strong," she says, plucking up a few rolls and tearing them apart. "Seen Finnick lately?"

[burn_with_us]

Katniss makes a face. She hadn't exactly asked for Johanna's input on the matter but she guesses she opened herself up for that when she mentioned her poor social skills; it's sort of like the pot calling the kettle black, though.

"Finnick? No, not in the last few days. Why, is there something going on with him?"

[71st_victor]

Johanna sort of wishes that Katniss had stumbled onto it herself, but there's really no downside in getting to be the one to give the good news. "Oh, you know, the usual," she says blithely. "Taking care of Annie, avoiding the arena, suddenly and without any logic turning into a hot girl." She smirks after she's delivered the punchline, gesturing to herself with the roll in hand. "I mean, it hit me too, but I got the male package, so to speak."

[burn_with_us]

Katniss had not seen that and she could not help but laugh, a short and sharp sound that just seemed foreign after two years of living through the Arena and the aftermath of it on her psyche.

"You have to be kidding me. Finnick? Was he as pretty as a girl as he is in the regular variety?"

[71st_victor]

Johanna sighs melodramatically, as if this has been plaguing her ever since it happened. "Unfortunately, he made an absolutely stunning and beautiful girl," she says, shaking her head. "As if it would be anything else. I think he's managed to get back to his normal pretty self, not that it changes the ego any."

[burn_with_us]

"Typical and unfair," Katniss says, laughing a little at the idea of Finnick as a stunning woman. Apparently they made them all stunning over in District 4, based on Katniss' limited experience with it.

"And here they can only barely make me look like a girl and I was born one."

[71st_victor]

"You're more than pretty enough," Johanna says, dismissing any of Katniss' concerns, rarely ever falling prey for that scheme in which people get compliments when they're feeling down. Her own ego makes it next to impossible to ever experience something similar, so she doesn't do it for others. "Maybe you can trick him back through the door and get a good look, yourself."

I am so sorry I'm so late replying to this

[withbread]

It's near the end of her shift that Peeta approaches Katniss. He's got a bag slung across his body. He doesn't know how she thinks of Prim on her birthday, but he wants to do something nice for her and he does know that she's homesick right now.

"When you get off work, meet me outside the dining room in the hall, okay?"

Re: I am so sorry I'm so late replying to this

[burn_with_us]

"I'm almost done," Katniss says, finishing up with bussing a table before following him out into the hall. She's tired and more than in need of a shower after working all day but Peeta has seen her at her worst and this is far from it.

"Sorry. Apparently having a job has somehow become important to me."

[withbread]

He grins at her words. "I don't think that's supposed to be a bad thing." He considers something a moment. "I have two options for you. One, you can go shower first then meet me at the door to the forest we found a few weeks ago. Or, you can come with me now and we'll go to the forest together."

[burn_with_us]

Katniss thinks about it for a moment and comes up with an option that incorporates both. "I could always have a bath in the pond we found in the forest. It would be like home, anyway, since I bathed in the pond more than in a tub. We can go ahead and go now if you let me get my soap."

[withbread]

Peeta nods, grinning a little. "Okay. We'll swing by the room on the way. You can grab some clean clothes if you'd like too, then you'll have something dry and clean to put on after you get out of the pond."

[burn_with_us]

That's not so difficult, really, and it doesn't take Katniss long to get her soap and her change of clothes. Maybe it's a little stupid to want to take a bath in a pond when she has a perfectly good shower but Katniss is nothing if not traditional and sixteen years of living in the Seam has bred habits that die hard.

"Lead the way, Bread Boy."

[withbread]

Peeta doesn't think it's stupid. It's familiar and they all gravitate toward familiarity. It's human nature. While she's grabbing her things, he waits in the hall. He's got everything he needs for this little picnic. He can't help but smile at the nick name. He holds his arm out for her to take.

"This is different. I'm the one usually following you, Girl on Fire."

[burn_with_us]

"You do, and I'm happy to lead but this time, we're changing it up," Katniss says, flashing him a quick grin. "So, what have you been up to today?"

She takes his arm because it's a lot more natural to touch him since coming to the Nexus than it ever felt like in the Arena.

[withbread]

"Sometimes, that's a good thing," he says, catching that grin. At her question, he pauses, considering. "I know you're not big on surprises, but you'll have to withstand a small one." He holds up the basket. "I took the day off to work on this. You'll see in a little while. I promise."

He's been baking and cooking, actually planning this for a little while, buying what he couldn't make. He looks over at her when she takes his arm, that grin on his face spreading to something wider and pleased with her reaction. It is more natural and he likes that. It makes him hope a lot more for a future he didn't think he'd ever get to have.

[burn_with_us]

"You're planning on surprising me? Hasn't anyone ever told you that usually results in getting an arrow to the eye?" Katniss teases. She wouldn't shoot Peeta, she doesn't think, unless he honestly just snuck up on her and Peeta isn't stupid enough to do that.

"Is it worth the potential bodily harm?"

[withbread]

"I'm taking a calculated risk," he tells her with the same sort of teasing grin. He doesn't think she'd shoot him, even if he were trying to attack her, which he can't imagine ever doing. And no, he knows better than to sneak up on her, not that he could with his lack of grace.

"You'll have to tell me," he says with a smug look. He hopes it is, or rather, he hopes she likes her surprises.

[burn_with_us]

"I'm confident you're going to give me something that makes me happy," Katniss says, beaming at him. She has been happier a lot more these days and while she's loathe to admit it, she thinks it might have to do with Peeta more than anything else.

"So now you're going to have to live up to my high expectations."