Second Floor Common Room [Friday evening]

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss and Rue had, on the floor before them, a truly bizarre assortment of food: several different kinds of fruit, a couple loaves of bread, a box of Twinkies (she had to prove they were real), and as much candy as Katniss had been able to carry.

"Even I haven't been able to try all of these," Katniss admitted, tentatively pulling a Twizzler.

[open open open! Katniss will share her very moddable food. :D]

Comments

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

A bad Rue the day pun popped into Peter's head, but he thought better of it. "Nice to meet you. Both, actually. I'm Peter."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Katniss said, still a little frosty. She didn't appreciate reminders of Prim, generally, even if he had no way of knowing. "Are you visiting, too? Or are you a resident I haven't met?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Resident," Peter explained. "Though technically you could say I'm just visiting. Given I might be leaving the school in October."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Katniss didn't really care to find out why, but it seemed polite. And she was supposed to be polite here. "Why is that?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Eighteenth birthday," Peter said. "The golden age of adulthood and freedom to drop out of school when you want to and go live a real life. Though the school does have its benefits, really."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

That got a raised eyebrow. "You don't like it here and would want to leave?"

Though now that she knew that, Katniss would be looking forward to the May after next. Not that she didn't like it here.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"That's not what I said," Peter said, raising a finger. "But it was the original plan. My mom thought sending me here would mean I would actually stay through my senior year. Sometimes I think I shouldn't give her the satisfaction that she's probably right."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Why would you leave if you do like it?" Katniss asked, thinking herself fairly logical. "Because you can? What else would you do?"

The privilege to choose to leave somewhere that she was happy seemed bizarre to her.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Because it's better to leave while it's still good before it has a chance to go bad," Peter said. "But really, it'll depend on how good the class offerings are in the fall. If it keeps my interest, I'll probably stay."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"If you assume things are going to go poorly, they will," Katniss replied, frowning. "Besides. You have a roof over your head here. You have food. No one here has abused me, at least. I see no reason to leave, but that's just me."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter took that in for a moment. "You must come from a place pretty harsh if those are your greatest hits of Fandom," he said, not unkindly. "Can't say I've ever had to worry about a roof over my head or starvation."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"You're lucky," she replied curtly.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter nodded. "Sometimes it's easy to look past the priveledge of middle-class America," he said. "I've got to look like the most ungrateful son-of-a-bitch right now."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she said simply. Though, he got points for admitting it. "Not everyone has the things this school offers. Not everyone even gets to go to school. Something to remember."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough," Peter said with a little bit of a nod. "So tell me where you're from, if you'd oblige me. I've got a feeling it will sound a lot more interesting than Boston."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I don't know where Boston is," she told him. "I'm from a country called Panem. And about a hundred and fifty years in the future, I think," she added, since that usually clarified the 'I've never heard of it' issue.