fandomhighdorms | Salle; Monday Afternoon

Entry tags:

Salle; Monday Afternoon

After recovering from eating doughnuts with Leo, Luke decided a workout was probably in order. He was probably gonna end up going down to the salle anyway out of sheer boredom but he liked having a reason to be down there. Gave him something to work to.

He spent some time doing some simple exercises before getting into practicing against the dummies. As per usual when he was working alone, Luke sort of went into autopilot when it came to training. He sliced through the dummies easily and with a lot of skill, but his head was off somewhere else, thinking about everything from the work he had to do back home to Katniss's problems to what the hell he was gonna eat for lunch later. Before he knew it he had worked up a pretty good sweat and the dummy he was wailing on was worse for the wear.

After a few minutes he took a break and wandered over to the practice swords, inspecting them to see if they were good enough to teach with or if he'd have to go back home and steal another one.

[The salle is open, of course]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'll try to help if I can," he told her. It would certainly make him feel less useless. "Who usually sends stuff in the arena? The people watching on TV? Are they like making bets on you or something?"

The thought of that kind of make Luke feel sick and he was someone who had dealt with plenty of horrible stuff.

"Got it in one," Katniss said with a humorless smile. "They'll test us for our skills before we go into the arena, then release them. They're out of twelve. The higher your score, the more people will bet. And then they'll send medicine or weapons or food. Last time I got some medicine for my skin, and a bunch of food, and something so I could drug someone."

"That's pretty sick." Luke couldn't judge against killing, he had killed plenty--mortals included--and he knew he'd most likely end up killing again for Kronos. But at least he thought he was doing it for a greater good rather than entertainment.

"I hope you and that Peeta guy impress people this time around," Luke said. "Not that I doubt your ability to charm an audience."

Actually Luke totally doubted her ability to charm an audience. Of course he did, he's spoken to Katniss for more than five minutes.

Katniss arched a brow at that, because yeah, no one thought she was the charisma from District Twelve. "Peeta's got that covered. I just stand there, usually," she admitted. "And smile. It's still sort of hard. And last time I scored well, but I can't do the same trick twice. We are the youngest, though. We might get gifts based on that."

"Makes sense," Luke said, nodding a little. He offered her a small smile. "You're gonna do fine, sponsors or not. You just need to go in there trained well and determined to protect your friend. I know I fight better when I'm protecting someone else instead of just trying to save my own ass."

She nodded, looking down at the practice sword. "That's exactly it. I'll fight better, for him. On my own, I was mostly -- defensive? Peeta's a fool, and thinks he needs to save me, but if only one of us can make it out, I want it to be him. And I'm not as emotional as he is. I'll make sure that happens. Thank you for the faith in me, though."

Luke nodded. "I trust you're making the right decision for yourself. I was sort of in a similar situation once, where my friend sacrificed herself in order to save me. And, I gotta tell you, most of the time I wish it had been me doing the sacrificing instead of her."

"I'm sorry," she offered, shrugging a shoulder helplessly. "Was it a long time ago? I've had that happen to me -- that guilt. Knowing it should have been me."

"It was about five years ago. We were on our way to the safe place for demigods and when we were almost there we got attacked. Thalia held them off while me and our other friend Annabeth made it to camp," Luke said, shrugging as well. "She's not exactly dead. She was dying after the attack and her dad, a god, ended up turning her into a tree. You know, instead of saving her life and keeping her human."

Luke still did not get that.

Yeah, Katniss was going to stare at him for a minute there. "Wait, what? Why not keep her alive? And not a tree? What possible purpose does that serve?"

"The tree sort of acts like extra protection for our camp," Luke admitted, hating having to say that Zeus actually did something useful with that. "But I'd rather have her alive and human."

"He's a god. I bet he could have protected the camp without making her a tree," Katniss pointed out. "Sorry, I know they're your parents, but these gods of yours don't seem particularly practical."

"No, you're right. I think maybe they started out trying to do something good but...I don't know, over the years they became more selfish and lazy," Luke said. "Kind of feels like they're doing things for their own entertainment rather than trying to help others."

"Sound like Gamemakers," she said with a little smile. "Making those under their control do things for their favor, whatever that means, and it doesn't seem to matter what the outcome is."

"Sounds like they need to be taken down as much as the gods do," Luke said. "I get that it's not easy, though, especially when they're the ones in power. Most people probably find it easier or safer to just do what they say."

It was frustrating when almost everyone recognizes a problem but only a few were willing to do something about it.

"I've never had a problem letting the Gamemakers know what I think," she assured him. "It's why I've always been a target. But I like to think it's helping." She gave a little nod his way and added, "You need to get your gods' attention, in a way that tells them you're not fooling around. Don't get yourself killed, but people that...vapid and uncaring need to be yanked out of the reality they've created."

"Believe me, I'm working on it. Just...quietly for now," he said, hating the fact that he had to take things slow for now. "Winning over the other demigods is difficult. Even my own boyfriend prefers it when the gods are in power so I can't talk to him about anything. He's had it easier than I did."

"He doesn't even understand based on your experience?" she asked, frowning a little. "Your story is enough to make me believe that something needs to change, no matter how well things go for others."

"He's..." Dense. Thick. A complete idiot. "...incapable of seeing things from someone else's point of view. And sort of a suck up. I say that with affection, by the way."

Katniss quirked a little smile. "I know a few people like that," she admitted. Like herself, really, but she wasn't that self-aware. "He's going to figure things out if you actually do stand up to them, though."

"Yeah, I know," Luke said, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's probably gonna be pissed too. Trying not to worry about that too much at the moment."

"You can't," Katniss agreed, almost gently. "Might talk yourself out of it otherwise. I know how that feels."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Salle; Monday Afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject