prims | first flower. ACTION & VIDEO.

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first flower. ACTION & VIDEO.

action; locked to sharpe; early morning
[ Primrose remembered dying. Or - she thought she did. She was almost sure she did. She could recall the child, could see herself taking off her jacket, could hear her name being shouted from behind her, almost drowned out in the chaos (you're imagining things, Prim, but she'd turned anyway) - her name in her sister's voice, which couldn't be the case because after everything Katniss had died, they'd seen it on the television, after Prim had watched two Hunger Games glued to the screens and praying that would never come, and then after the Games...

She remembered seeing Katniss. She remembered saying her sister's name. She remembered -

She didn't remember what had happened after. Or she did, but - she'd been in a city, and now there were trees overhead, and the quasi-familiar sounds of the forest. She'd only ever been outside the gates with Katniss, and each of those times had been years ago. But the shadows on the ground, the crunch of leaves and branches underfoot - these things she could remember.

A forest. It didn't make any sense, and Prim stood shakily, and realized that even less than that made sense: a white dress she'd never worn or seen before, and something on her back. Prim bit her lip, reaching back and - wings. Like some sort of capitol person, or - a muttation? Or what? And a book. Why? She picked it up, turned a few pages, and then shut it at the strangeness. As unsettling at the wings, really.

No city. No children, no healer's uniform, no - ] Katniss? [ Shakily, uncertain. The last person she'd seen, but Katniss wasn't there.

In the absence of any sense of where she was meant to be, Prim chose a direction and began to walk, stepping carefully. ]

action; open; afternoon
[ While she spends a good portion of her morning at her sister's house in her sister's room reassuring herself that Katniss was, in fact, alive and here (if not here), Prim eventually goes to tentatively explore. She makes a foray into town to pick up clothing that isn't borrowed and might actually be hers, Buttercup hot on her heels. The cat apparently isn't letting her out of his sight, for whatever reason.

Prim's grateful for that, although she nearly trips over the cat twining around her ankles several times. Eventually she gives up and picks the tomcat up to tote around, just so she doesn't fall over.

She can be found at the clothing shop, outside the bakery eyeing the decorative cakes and cupcakes displayed inside, or sitting and flipping through her journal on the front step of house 43. Or just walking along the route to or from any of those places - take your pick. ]

voice; evening
[ It doesn't take too long to work out how the book functions. It's strange, certainly, but after playing with it for a while, reading things - listening to things - Prim thinks she can use it. Try to figure things out a bit more. She can't make sense of what she's read and listened to; maybe it's just because it's so everyday compared to where she just was, or maybe it's just that the events and people discussed aren't ones she's familiar with.

She liked listening to the voices, though. Looking at the pictures. The video clips. It was sort of soothing, even if it was all nonsense. Eventually she works up the courage to say something, though. To turn on the video.

Prim is sitting cross-legged on Katniss' bed. It's the place she feels safest, and there might be a shot of the forest mural in the background, but mostly it's Primrose Everdeen, blonde braid falling over her shoulder as she leans in, Buttercup purring madly in her lap. She's petting him absently, and he mews like a kitten whenever she stops. ]

Hello. [ That's said too softly, barely there, and Prim has to clear her throat. Try again. ] Hello. [ This time the greeting is louder, more solid. ] Sorry, I didn't mean to...I'll try to speak up. [ Prim feels awkward, talking to a book, even knowing what it does. She would have written, but Buttercup seems to need the attention, and...well. ] I only got here today, but it's...not a bad place, is it?

[ That sounds tentative but eager. She is, after all, in one piece. And Katniss is, apparently, in one piece. And Buttercup is in one piece. Prim has never asked for much, but all of those things have always been included in what little she wants from life. ] I'm even in time. Just. May eighth is only in...seven days? My sister - she's going to turn... [ Prim's suddenly unsure. How old is Katniss? How long has she been in this place? ] ...a year older. [ And Prim does smile at that, although it's small and shy. She knows that sounded silly, and she's still not entirely comfortable where she is - probably won't be until the moment she sees her sister alive and whole - but she's trying. ]

Normally I'm the one who wakes her up, then. So...it's a good thing I'm here. To do that? [ Breakfast. She'll make breakfast, and maybe a cake. And while Katniss is the one who mockingjays quiet to listen to, Prim will sing her sister a song. ] Just like at home.

[ She's quiet for a beat, before going to end the missive - although then she realizes she forgot the important part. ]

Oh. I nearly forgot. My name is Prim. Primrose, I mean. Primrose Everdeen.

[ That should do it, just about. Prim ends the message, with another shy smile. ]

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[ he clears his throat -- uncertain. cautious. but where certainty fails his voice, it excels in his stride. he knows the way back to the main path and he heads in that direction with nary a doubt about his head. ]

There are some men. Some women, too, I suppose. And they see fit to keep us here for their own...[ don't scare the lass, sharpe. ] They see fit to keep us here, which no one seems to care for. Only the place ain't that bad, see? There are roofs and there's food. Good hunting -- [ he lifts the rabbit. ]

[ A wince. Not at the comments about this place, or how it wasn't bad - just at the rabbit. Again. At least she wasn't in tears, but then again it was clear she couldn't save this rabbit. ]

I...I can work, if there's a clinic. Or animals. I'm good with animals.

[ Work for a roof, because she can't hunt. She's proven that time and again. A roof was important - she knew that much. ]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Miss Everdeen. You only just arrived, eh? Set aside all chatter of work. Dinner, first. I suppose it's on me, tonight.

[ although the girl wasn't to know it, he isn't normally so friendly with strangers. nor so willing to provide for their bellies. ]

I can cook for you another time. After I - [ Figure things out. Sorted out how to get things on her own merit, although she thought she could, maybe.

Got ahead of herself again. And that got a sheepish grin from her. ] - I'm doing it again, aren't I?

[ There would be at least two people who would recognize her, at Sharpe's home.

One of them was a cat. ]

Aye. You can cook for me some other day. I'll allow it.

[ he pulls aside a low-hanging branch and invites her out of the woods and onto a well-beaten path. ] Are your feet orright, miss? I promise the walk ain't much further.

[ at least not relatively speaking. ]

I'm good at it. I had lessons. Well - they were my sister's lessons, originally, but I got to take them, too.

[ Prim ducks under the branch at Sharpe's gesture, and she definitely looks relieved to be on a path rather than in the woods. Besides the obvious benefit of not being lost, it's easier on her feet. ]

They're okay. [ She'd managed to avoid the worst of the forest floor, at least. ] I didn't always have good shoes at home, so it's not too bad, comparatively?

[ That was meant to be pacifying, somehow. ]

I believe I might know the feeling -- [ he tells her with a growl of a chuckle ] -- us soldiers rarely get good footwear on the march. I suppose no shoes are better than ill-fitting ones, aye? For the ill-fitting ones just rub you raw.

[ he knows he should be telling her more about this place and why they might be here, but he always finds himself so tongue-tied when he tries to explain the politics. ]

You're a soldier? [ The uniform, of course - but it wasn't one she'd recognized or pinned down. It could have been a strange fashion statement from the Capitol, although Sharpe couldn't look less Capitol.

Prim almost wants to ask what he fought for, but she thinks better of it, and says instead: ] I prefer being barefoot, but at home I'd just wear the ones that didn't fit, anyway. It would have worried my family if I hadn't, and they worked really hard to get what we had. We all did.

[ So she didn't mind the badly fitted shoes. At least, not much. Then, veering back to her first topic, ] I was a medic.

[ Was? ] Am. I am one. In training.

[ he wrinkles his nose at the 'was'. ]

Handy skill, that. [ bloody hell, but the everdeens were just brimming over with resourcefulness. ] How old are you, anyway? Can't be more'n...what? Fourteen? Fifteen?

I'm thirteen. [ She's not sure what tense to use, and it's been at the back of her mind ever since she woke up. So the next part is a tad reluctant. ] I was born in May, and it wasn't far off, back home.

[ Before. ]

My sister was, too. Born in May, I mean. [ And then she shrugs, smiling a little wistfully. ] My mother taught me a lot of what I know - and other things, I learned from the doctors in Thirteen. They were going to train me to be a doctor, I think.

It's May, today. Very first day thereof, miss.

[ well, christ. ] And you say your sister's born in this month as well?

[ it's rude of him, but he finds himself following up a lead about katniss instead of politely inquiring about her training. ]

[ Luckily for Sharpe, Primrose doesn't find it the least bit rude - she lights up, in fact. There's no one in the world she loves better than Katniss, and she doesn't mind talking about her sister. ]

She was! On the eighth. Twenty days before me. Once my father said I was a late birthday present to her. We were little, then.

Normally I'll wake her up just to be the first to say happy birthday. It's hard, because Katniss always had to get up early to do all the things she had to do, but - I always managed it. Or she let me manage it. [ And she still didn't know if she'd dreamed her sister being alive or not. Had Katniss survived that explosion only to die in another? ]

[ katniss. once the name is out in the open, he starts to feel legitimate guilt for hiding what he knows. but just a moment or two longer is surely no sin: ] What is it they say in those street plays? Something about May being merry.

[ o the month of may the merry merry month of may! ] I imagine your sister appreciates it, eh?

[ he hopes so. ]

I've never seen a street play. [ She's never actually seen anything except the Games. Maybe an educational video or two. Street plays just don't happen on the streets of Twelve. Nor were they really the thing in Thirteen.

It sounds like something fun, though, and again Prim wonders what District this man could even be from. Soldiers and street plays. ] But I've always liked May.

[ Their birthdays and spring. Hope. ]

[ buildings are starting to take shape in the distance; the town is in sight.

and sharpe damns his pride and drowns his worries: ] As months go, she ain't so bad. It's a fine thing to feel the sun again after a long winter. And the winters here are dreadful long and filled with snow.

[ Primrose perks up at the sight, scanning the horizon. What sort of place, exactly, was Luceti?

Another shrug. ] Twelve was cold. I don't mind that.

[ What she minds is more...being alone. That's never been a thing that's been true, for Prim. ] Although I've never...

[ Survived a winter without her sister; provider, protector. ]

Never what, Miss Everdeen?

I've never been alone for a winter. [ She's not sure if she could do it. ]

Well, Miss Everdeen, our next winter is a long way away. And somethin' tells me you needn't be alone for it.

I won't? [ It's nice to hear, but...they just met, and while dinner and help into town is one thing, that implication is another entirely.

Mostly, she's confused. ]

[ christ. he can't contain it any longer!

as they turn onto a firmer cobblestone path: ] Your sister, Miss Everdeen. She's here. Katniss is here.

[ just not here. not immediately so. ]

[ Katniss. Your sister is all Prim needs to light up, hopeful and wistful and thinking she's really alive, I wasn't wrong - she had seen her that day, hadn't she? And somehow, Katniss had -

But no, Katniss could be the same as her. They could both be here only because this place was - Luceti. With all the weirdness that came with it.

But Primrose didn't really mind, or care. Katniss had always been there for her. Even when other families would have parted, or abandoned one another - even on the reaping day when her name had been called - Katniss had been there, solid and steady. If Katniss was there, she would be okay. Because if they were together, things had to be okay. It was a law of the world, from Prim's point of view. ]

She is? She's - where is she? Can I see her? [ Could she hug her, make sure she was really breathing and it wasn't all a dream? ]

Soon, miss. Soon. [ but not as soon as he'd like. ] In the meantime, let us you and I focus on gettin' you back to the house, aye? Your sister would have my guts if she thought for a moment that I didn't treat you proper.

[ Prim would contest that statement, but...well, it was patently true.

And that, if nothing else, convinced Prim that this man knew Katniss - at least enough to know how Katniss was about Prim. ] Okay. I mean, that's fine - I can wait.

[ Although she'd prefer not to, and didn't know why the answer was "soon" - maybe Katniss was at the house? ]

[ knowing why katniss is gone...

ah -- well. he ought to let the girl tell her sister that all on her own. ] I suppose I should inform you that I share a billet with her. She had a spare room, and was generous in letting an old soldier take up some of her space. But with you here...

Well, it's bloody obvious who should make room for you.

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