POST 09 - [Video]
Jan. 2nd, 2013 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
districttwo[Cato is dressed very formally. This should be the first clue that something's wrong because he's reaching for something normal. His uniform looks like This. Shifting from foot to foot he's clearly upset.]
Thank you all for the gifts.
[His tone is stiff, formal. Hands clasped behind his back he's the very image of trying to look like "the man". Trying to reach for the authority that he saw, or sees, is his right.
Even if he was just a sacrifice.]
I'm sorry that I didn't think of anything for all of you but traditionally we in District Two don't offer gifts. Everything that we have we earn in the form of promotions or in the form of benefits from the Capitol. Our district has the highest number of winners, we produce the best soldiers and no matter what we might be missing we still have that to our credit. That we're not bound by giving gifts, we give our lives.
[Never mind how that's all he's good for. And he's realizing that. Never mind how he is trying to find common ground with a bunch of people and realizes that he does not have it.]
And it's not...history or or hope or some stupid childish capitol toy but that's something. We're not like 12 or 10 or one. We're not monsters either and we're not stupid. If we didn't keep the capitol's laws then no one would. Not everyone can have everything. Fancy...useless things. That's how the real world works.
So. You don't have any gifts from me, but...my life. [Not because you deserve it is not said, but heavily implied] even as an inmate. And that's not something useless. It's all I have.
[He doesn't break composure. Instead he nods and turns off the feed. Dignified and correct. Like his father. Like his mother. Like all of the people who ran from all the floods and all the horrors. He turns it off.]
[SPAM FOR BARGE]
[It's so childish and stupid. Walking around London and seeing how people were, then reading all of the other posts on the network and seeing how happy people have been and would be and will be. He hates it. He has things too, he can have a life too and it's a good one.
So he slips into what he was trained to do. What he would have done if he hadn't been chosen for the stupid games. He's meat and that's fine. So here is Cato, still in his uniform standing in a corridor. That's what he does. Stands straight, stands patrol just like his father, his mother, his uncle, and then moves to another corridor.]
[SPAM FOR DYLAN]
[Oblivious, to his histrionic and passive aggressive fit over the network - here is Cato knocking on Dylan's cabin door urgently because he hates himself for not having ancestors or traditions or all of these other things that people have. He's a cog in a machine and he hates it and he's thinking that maybe he hates the capitol too.
But they're all he has, that and this man. Which is why he gets included. The moment he opens the door the soldier straightens.]
I wanted to thank you for the bike personally sir.
Thank you all for the gifts.
[His tone is stiff, formal. Hands clasped behind his back he's the very image of trying to look like "the man". Trying to reach for the authority that he saw, or sees, is his right.
Even if he was just a sacrifice.]
I'm sorry that I didn't think of anything for all of you but traditionally we in District Two don't offer gifts. Everything that we have we earn in the form of promotions or in the form of benefits from the Capitol. Our district has the highest number of winners, we produce the best soldiers and no matter what we might be missing we still have that to our credit. That we're not bound by giving gifts, we give our lives.
[Never mind how that's all he's good for. And he's realizing that. Never mind how he is trying to find common ground with a bunch of people and realizes that he does not have it.]
And it's not...history or or hope or some stupid childish capitol toy but that's something. We're not like 12 or 10 or one. We're not monsters either and we're not stupid. If we didn't keep the capitol's laws then no one would. Not everyone can have everything. Fancy...useless things. That's how the real world works.
So. You don't have any gifts from me, but...my life. [Not because you deserve it is not said, but heavily implied] even as an inmate. And that's not something useless. It's all I have.
[He doesn't break composure. Instead he nods and turns off the feed. Dignified and correct. Like his father. Like his mother. Like all of the people who ran from all the floods and all the horrors. He turns it off.]
[SPAM FOR BARGE]
[It's so childish and stupid. Walking around London and seeing how people were, then reading all of the other posts on the network and seeing how happy people have been and would be and will be. He hates it. He has things too, he can have a life too and it's a good one.
So he slips into what he was trained to do. What he would have done if he hadn't been chosen for the stupid games. He's meat and that's fine. So here is Cato, still in his uniform standing in a corridor. That's what he does. Stands straight, stands patrol just like his father, his mother, his uncle, and then moves to another corridor.]
[SPAM FOR DYLAN]
[Oblivious, to his histrionic and passive aggressive fit over the network - here is Cato knocking on Dylan's cabin door urgently because he hates himself for not having ancestors or traditions or all of these other things that people have. He's a cog in a machine and he hates it and he's thinking that maybe he hates the capitol too.
But they're all he has, that and this man. Which is why he gets included. The moment he opens the door the soldier straightens.]
I wanted to thank you for the bike personally sir.
Spam
Date: 2013-01-03 06:00 am (UTC)You're welcome. I was figuring we could go on a bike ride in the CES sometime. If you've never done it before it's a little tricky at first, but I'm sure you'll pick it up quick. You have a good sense of balance.
[He doesn't want to spook Cato off by getting too serious too fast, but they definitely need to talk.]
D'you want to come in for a minute?
Spam
Date: 2013-01-03 06:03 am (UTC)I was standing guard.
[by way of explanation] ...it's all I honestly know how to do.
Spam
Date: 2013-01-03 06:42 am (UTC)You know how to do a lot more than that. Doing a job well is good, but you're more than just your job.
Want something to drink?
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-03 07:42 am (UTC)[He flinches] I'm not. I don't have...ancestors, I don't have hobbies. I don't have pets. I don't have anything but my job and I want to do it.
[Petulant child act is go.] No. Thank you.
Spam
Date: 2013-01-03 10:11 pm (UTC)Hobbies come and go. And a lot of people don't have pets or know anything about their ancestors. But your mind and heart are always with you. They are you.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 03:16 am (UTC)[He looks haunted, but he doesn't sit. He doesn't waiver.] And I did.
Even if I was just...just a good death.
[But that bothers him more then he can say.]
Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 03:29 am (UTC)[He puts a hand on Cato's shoulder.]
If that's all the capitol could see in you, then they were blind.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 03:38 am (UTC)I have nothing but what they gave me and you and what happens when you go? What happens when you go away?
[He draws in a deep breath and lets it go, reaching for calm, reaching for calm] I was descended from fighters. From those same people in the movies who held their own ground and they...they let themselves be taken in. I understand why but I hate them too.
I hate them. I hate the capitol. I hate all of it.
[he doesn't realize until the words are out of his mouth "I hate the capitol." Four words. Like "down with big brother" in the tradition of all great dystopias.
He withdraws from Dylan like the other man has the plague - wide round eyes, chest breathing hard.]
I didn't mean it.
Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 04:03 am (UTC)I think you did mean it. But it's okay to realize that your civilization has flaws and to wish it was better. And to want to make it better. The best fighters don't take orders blindly and are willing to go against even their own nation when it's gone astray.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 04:06 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 04:26 am (UTC)People don't just need a leader, they need a good leader, one who cares about their well-being more than their own power. Just because someone's a leader doesn't mean they've got the best interests of the nation in mind.
Panem does need a government. But it needs a good government. One that answers to its people.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 04:36 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 04:47 am (UTC)I'll get you some books from the library. And there are some pretty good historical movies, too.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 05:09 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 05:32 am (UTC)Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 05:33 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 05:37 am (UTC)The guy who fought in World War Two was pulled here from the 1940s. To him it's not ancient history, it's now.
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 06:31 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 07:13 am (UTC)Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 05:38 pm (UTC)...The soldiers...who you're talking about. Who are brave and who fight for these causes... [That's a pipe dream btw Dylan] that's not me. That's not us. [We're cops, not soldiers. The soldiers are in essence all gone.]
I don't want to be unconsciously judged anymore. [pause] Or feel judged.
Whatever I might be, I'm from District Two. Whatever we might have done, when the capitol had the rebellion we stood loyal. We enforce the laws and maybe...maybe they're not perfect but someone has to try to enforce them.
Spam
Date: 2013-01-04 11:07 pm (UTC)Do you think they're good laws? Not necessarily perfect, there are always things that slip through the cracks, but good. Do you think justice works in Panem most of the time for most of the people?
Re: Spam
Date: 2013-01-05 05:01 am (UTC)and my father -
[He's wearing his uniform. He cannot be upset about this.]
When my father was arrested, he took bribes. bribes to look the other way so people could get food and the stoners could feel important. Even if he did it for the right reasons, as he said...
[He looks very, very confused for a moment]
...That's in my file? What he did?
Spam
Date: 2013-01-09 04:31 am (UTC)Do all the people in Panem really have what they need? Food, shelter, safety, respect, self-determination?
[video]
Date: 2013-01-03 06:55 am (UTC)[She's a bit on edge, kid. Dissing District One was not the right thing to do today. Her eyes are narrowed and this is, perhaps, the most anger he's seen her have....
Except if he watched her victor's reel.]
Re: [video]
Date: 2013-01-03 07:42 am (UTC)[video]
Date: 2013-01-03 07:47 am (UTC)[Ouch, Cashmere....]
Re: [video]
Date: 2013-01-04 03:17 am (UTC)You were raised to be pretty and Glimmer was raised to be...to be pretty and... I was raised to die for my country and that's all I have. That's all we have. You're just some rich slut and I'm just a guard - not even a stoner. I don't build anything. All I have is my life and all you have is your face.
[His expression is hard] You were Glimmer's mentor.