mingle mangle

[takeabow]

Who: anyone!
Broadcast: why not!
Action: sure!
When: Whenever!

[ what are you up to, flooters? passing the time playing cribbage? watching Die Hard with a Vengeance, or maybe trying to repair friendships and perceptions of people that were dashed by invasive dreamscapes?

This is a mingle, so enjoy! ]

Comments

[takeabow]

I... don't know. I've thought about it a lot. I didn't have anything when I got to Aather. Well, I had one memory, and it sucked. I didn't want to take them. But then I remembered Prim. Prim, and Gale, and Peeta. Cinna, Haymitch... Rue.

I'm better for remembering them, I think. But... sometimes I know it'd be easier not to.

[reconstitution]

I'm trying to decide still. I want to know what I've done- what they've made me do. Maybe if I take enough of them, I'll get something good in return..

[ Maybe it's naive, but Jim has such wonderful memories of before it all started. Winter can't help but be a little jealous of that fact. What he wouldn't give for a solid memory instead of these irritating, nonsensical fragments. ]

[takeabow]

I hope so. I really do.

[reconstitution]

[ He offers a small shake of his head. ]

I'm not so sure yet. But it can't all be bad?

[ It can. Mostly. ]

[takeabow]

Nothing can be all bad. Otherwise, what's the point?

[reconstitution]

I don't know.

[takeabow]

There's always something worth fighting for. Or someone. There's a reason we do what we do, and bad people do what they do. Otherwise there wouldn't be any sides.

[reconstitution]

No, I know that..

[ He pauses, brow creasing as he tries to put his thoughts together into something concrete. ]

I'm just not sure when it gets to end.

[takeabow]

What do you mean?

[reconstitution]

It's difficult to explain.

[takeabow]

Try me.

[reconstitution]

I've been forced to work for a cause I was tricked into believing.. They took everything that made me a person. Turned me into their machine.

[ He pauses, watching the plates of his left hand shifts as he clenches his fist. ]

I killed innocent people and I couldn't-- can't do anything to stop it.

[takeabow]

...I'm sorry. I... kind of understand that. A little, I guess. I wasn't controlled but I was... lied to. A lot.

[reconstitution]

Lying was just their way of controlling you..

They tell you that you're doing a good thing-- they can't do their job if you don't do yours. That you're doing something to better the world. They tell you what you need to hear to believe them. That you don't matter in the scheme of things.

[takeabow]

Yeah.

But you do matter.

[reconstitution]

..Yeah. To someone, at least.

[takeabow]

It just takes one.

[reconstitution]

Yeah.. I guess you're right.

[ There is a pause much longer than necessary. ]

Thank you.

[takeabow]

[ places her hand on his metal one, briefly ]

I have to remind myself of that, too.

[reconstitution]

I'll have to remember it.

[ His metal hand has no sensation of touch, but he can feel the gentle pressure before she pulls away. ]

[takeabow]

[ wryly ]

May as well start remembering things with that.

[reconstitution]

Only if you do the same.

[takeabow]

Well, okay. If you insist.

[reconstitution]

I'm going to have to.

[takeabow]

Well, thanks.