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Post by Haymitch Abernathy on Jan 4, 2013 15:04:23 GMT -5
If he had not been out of liquor, Haymitch would have never left his home. But he was, so here he was, stumbling along the streets of the Capitol's toilet known by one and all as district twelve. Like almost everything else, he despised it. He hated the buildings, he hated the people, hell. he even hated the blasted smell. That ever present mixture of sulfur and gas that seemed to permeate everywhere and clung to everything.
As a victor, he lived in the nicer parts of town, but anything was an improvement over the rest of the slums that made up the district. That, and since he was the districts only victor, he lived a solitary life in an empty neighborhood, which is the way he liked it. No one bothering him.
It was currently late in the afternoon and he had been working on what promised to be a good drunk when he had run out of alcohol. Cursing loudly, he had thrown the empty bottle against the wall of his living room, getting smug kind of satisfaction hearing the glass crash. The little things in life amused him sometimes. He had debated on letting it go and sleeping of what little drunk he had, but in the end, his demons had won out and he had started his trip to the Hobb to see if he could con someone into selling him something cheap.
The trip normally took only about fifteen minutes, but at the pace he was going, it was going to take four times that at least. He shuffled along, eyes to the ground, not caring who or what he ran into. He was a man on a mission, and nothing was going to deter him. That is, until he knocked into someone, knocking them straight to the ground.
Shit. This kind of thing always seemed to happen to him. |
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Post by Katniss the Mockingjay on Jan 4, 2013 21:22:54 GMT -5
 Katniss carried a smug face as she walked through the merchant streets of District 12. She carried her hunting bag with her; a simple leather version of her school bag that her father once carried his own game in. It was full of her usual catch; a few pigeons and a couple squirrels, even a rabbit for the Mayor. It swung rhythmically as she walked, bouncing against her thigh with each long stride she took. She took in a deep breath and clutched the strap of her bag with her right hand, eager to be on her way. It wasn't often that she felt comfortable in this part of town. In fact, she despised going into the merchant area. The clothing shops, the sweet scent of the bakery, every tiny detail of the so-called "rich" part of town made her blood boil. It wasn't because she came from The Seam and couldn't afford such luxuries - oh no. It was because of the people. She saw how the other girls her age looked at her. While they dressed in their hand me down frocks, Kaniss preferred instead to wear her hunting attire. Hiking boots, a simple t-shirt and most importantly, her fathers leather jacket. Sure, it was a little big on her and probably didn't flatter her body very well. But it belonged to her father, and she would never let it go.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked to her side, meeting the gaze of a young girl she went to school with but hardly knew. Katniss eyed the faded sandals she wore. Probably suede and valuable - at some point in time but not now. Nothing was valuable here. Not even the coal, and especially not a pair of stupid, strappy sandals.
With a snort, Katniss marched on quickly, almost breaking into a jog just so she could get as far away from the girl as possible. She looked back over her shoulder and glared once more. Damn merchants. Always thinking they're better than everyone else. She let her gaze drift over to the Mellark bakery that she could smell the moment she stepped into the square. Closing her eyes for a moment, Katniss turned back around and broke into a run, eager as hell to get her trading done for the day. It was only a few seconds later that she hit something - or someone. And hard. With a hard thud onto the concrete below her, Katniss fell to the ground. She didn't waste time in glaring at whoever she made contact with.
"HEY. Watch where you're going!" |
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Post by Haymitch Abernathy on Jan 5, 2013 17:36:53 GMT -5
Through bleary eyes, Haymitch looked at who he had ran into. He did not recognize the girl, but then again, that was not all that surprising, he did not get out much and as a consequence, he did not know much of anyone in the district, and that was just fine with him. He did not want to be bothered with anyone or anything. He looked down and tried to make out what she looked like at least.
She was pretty nondescript. She appeared to be aged somewhere in her teens, sixteen perhaps and wearing what could only be described as hunting clothing. This got his attention as hunting, strictly speaking, was forbidden. Not that he cared, it was simply worth noting. The bag she had dropped when he had bumped into her probably contained some kind of game. She kept her long dark hair bound and her eyes were dark and haunted, a look that matched her face and one that most residents of the seam seemed to posses. However, there was something else there that not many other residents had. She had a kind of fire on her face, a kind of determination that Haymitch admired but would never admit to anyone.
She also looked pissed off royally. He supposed that he deserved it. He had knocked into her after all. But still, he was definitely not one to apologize for anything, and he was not about to start now. "Well, sweetheart, if YOU had been looking where you were going, then we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we"? He had chosen to go with the smart ass remark, his trademark. It was one of the many reasons that he did not have any friends. He simply did not care what other people thought of him. He was going to say what he wanted, and he was going to speak the truth. If they didn't like it, then oh well. He always had the bottle to turn to.
He could have turned and left, but he chose to stay and get her reaction to his rude remark. Something about this girl got his attention and his curiosity aroused. |
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Post by Katniss the Mockingjay on Jan 8, 2013 14:54:35 GMT -5
Katniss scrambled to her feet, clinging onto her game bag tightly with one hand and brushing dirt and grime off of her fathers leather jacket with the other. She took in a deep breath and glared up at the stranger, feeling a fury rising in her chest. She could hardly see his face through his tangled hair, and she nearly shuddered at his obvious lack of personal hygiene. Katniss herself wasn't the cleanest she could be right now after a full days worth of hunting, but she didn't think she ever let herself get as bad as whoever this bum was. Her nose wrinkled in response to the strong smell of liquor that he emanated, and she held back the choking sensation that was quickly building in her throat. Disgusting. Why did people choose to drink such a vile liquid? Who could even afford such a -
Katniss exhaled a long breath, finally realizing who was standing in front of her. Haymitch Abernathy; District 12 Victor - and the town drunk. She wasn't alive when he was in the Games, but every child in District 12 was well aware of his victory. Although if he was always this drunk and stupid, Katniss had no idea how he made it through the cornucopia much less how he won the damn thing. She snorted in his direction. All that money and food for what - holing up in his flea infested Victors house while he drank the entire towns stock of booze away?
"Do I look like a Sweetheart to you, Mr. Abernathy?" Katniss asked, forcing her frown into a bemused chuckle as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Looks like you're having a bit of trouble standing, there."
With a cheeky smirk, she waited for his response. The poor, drunken old man. Just for calling her Sweetheart, she was going to try and get right under his skin.
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Post by Haymitch Abernathy on Jan 8, 2013 19:08:27 GMT -5
"Do I look like a Sweetheart to you, Mr. Abernathy?" He was right, she had an attitude. He was going to have a lot of fun with this. He also had the feeling that this girl could give as well as she could get. His kind of person. Haymitch had no friends at all, but if he did, that would be the kind of person that he would be around. Tough, and not shy about saying what was on their mind. Just like him.
She knew his name too, he guessed he should be surprised at that, but then again, he was well known around this shit hole of a district, so it really was not all that shocking. He watched as she pulled herself up and brushed the first off of her clothes, well as much of it as she could. He was going to stay and verbally spare with her as long as he could. There was so few entertainment options here in 12, so he was going to take whatever he could get whenever he could get it.
He saw the disgust and revulsion on her face and really could not blame her. He was the district drunk. He only put the bare minimum needed to take care of himself, most of the time and he barely got out his hovel...home. Yes, the citizens of a poor, poverty stricken district were bad off. So bad off they looked upon HIM with disgust. That was pretty bad.
Still, he had no desire to change. He had very little else to hold onto to, but he sure as hell was going to hang on to that. He turned his attention back to this girl...he did not know her name nor did he care what it was, and gave a smirk. "You sure do SWEETHEART. Care to prove me wrong?" It wasn't much, but he wanted to bait her, to test her out. |
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Post by Katniss the Mockingjay on Jan 11, 2013 12:01:16 GMT -5
Katniss felt her ears get red as she clutched her game bag even tighter. She looked down at the knuckles at her fist that were slowly turning white. How he frustrated her! Had she been back at The Seam, she probably would have walked away from this drunkard, but she was already feeling quite uneasy walking along the Merchant side of town. Uneasy and already a little angry, especially after strappy sandal girl gave her such a stare. She was slowly but surely losing her usually well-composed temper; a feat that rarely happened, much less to a random stranger she literally bumped into. Though she was silently chastising herself for getting so easily irritated, Katniss had to commend him for being so proficiently annoying. Katniss let out a deep breath in hopes that it would calm her down. She couldn't hit a drunk; even with her being a tiny little girl and Haymitch being much bigger than her, it would still be very unfair. It looked to Katniss that he could hardly stand.
Oh, but it was so tempting.
"My name isn't Sweetheart, it's Katniss. Katniss Everdeen." Katniss fumed, seeing a smirk play on his dry lips. She stared at him for a moment, taking in his mocking smile as her conscience had a mini war inside her head. She slung her bag strap over her head and held it in one hand, feeling the bag drop with a thud on the cold concrete below. "You asked for it, asshole."
With a small grunt, she raised the game back over her head and spun it around in the air. Katniss aimed for the shoulder of the poor, drunk stranger that was in front of her. Dead animals weren't light, and neither was her sense of humor.
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