fandomhigh | Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, June 14, 2011]

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try not to die

Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, June 14, 2011]

A visibly annoyed (but at least he wasn't a kitten any more) Anakin stood in front of the Danger Shop's door waiting for his class to arrive, playing with a ribbon that had, until a few hours ago, been decoration around his neck. "Since we did the Old West last week, I decided to program the simulation with a scenario that is more familiar to me," he said, opening the door. "Welcome to the forest moon of Endor. Try not to die."

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Gabrielle should have known he'd remember.

"Better," she said quickly, a little abashed. "It aches a little bit in the morning, but it's mostly healed up."

"Good," Anakin declared. "You're seventh, by the way."

". . . huh." Gabrielle brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "You know, as fast as those flying horses of yours go, they're not very cooperative."

It was worth noting that Argo (or more specifically Argo's mouth) wasn't fond of Gabrielle's tendency to be too heavy on the bit.

"Well, they aren't actually sentient," Anakin had to admit. "Oh! I have news about Katniss."

Gabrielle had been about to postulate at length about the theoretical sentience of the speeder bikes (because she was pretty sure hers had been giving her attitude when she wanted to turn left right by that one tree with the extra-gnarled roots), but her head snapped up when she processed what he'd said.

"From her family, or . . . ?"

He shook his head. "From the Capitol. They splashed her face all over the monitors declaring her to be a wanted and dangerous terrorist, which seems like a strange move for someone who supposed to be dead."

For a moment, Gabrielle thought of Flora, the Black Wolf, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

"That's . . . that's unusual," she said, trying to remember her lessons from Xena in thinking strategically -- which was hard when the hope she thought she'd suppressed had just flared back up again. "That's as much as admitting they were wrong about something. I don't think they'd risk that if they weren't really afraid of something."

Anakin nodded. "That was my thought too. To admit vulnerability--I think that must mean the Districts already know that something's not right."

"That mockingjay image, at least, is next to impossible to forget," Gabrielle mused, and sent a quick, silent prayer to the gods on Cinna's behalf. "This is a warning, isn't it? To anyone who's thinking of defying them?"

"Definitely," Anakin said, "and they aren't being subtle."

"Because there's no time for subtlety?" Gabrielle guessed. "Or because they're just that scared?"

Either way, it was a good sign.

"I'm not sure yet," Anakin said, "but I don't think Snow believes in subtlety."

"The Games aren't exactly subtle," Gabrielle agreed. "If there's a chance that she's alive . . ."

It had looked pretty dire, but death-defying odds were, after all, part of her everyday life.

"As soon as I know something for sure, I'll call you," he promised, "but I think there's reason to hope now."

Gabrielle nodded, looking like she desperately wanted to hope for the absolute best but was holding back from it just in case it turned out to be too much of a disappointment. "I'd appreciate that. I'm glad you told me, sir."

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Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, June 14, 2011]

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