ataraxion | 003: [video]

[ Instead of the usual stern look of challenge, the face Mattie presents to the network looks young, younger even than her fourteen years, wide-eyed and uncertain. She's had time to recover from the effects of the tear gas, and did so quietly and under the watchful eyes of friends, but it has become clear to her that simple stubborn determination will not send her home again, nor will it make her current surroundings any less foreign. ]

If I am to stay here, and despite my personal feelings about the situation it does seem that I must, then I would endeavor to find something useful with which to fill my time. Regrettably, I know nothing about ships, neither those that go on water or those that go in the air. But I am good at keeping books and have very neat penmanship, I know how to bargain for a good and fair trade, and I can handle horses and livestock, though I have not seen that there are any of either here. I can garden and farm, mend, wash dishes, and cook good plain things.

[ She bites her lip, hesitant and frowning. ] In return I hope someone might teach me better about how to use this communication machine correctly, and about how air-sailing ships work. I am not fond of ignorance, nor of idleness.

Additionally, I do not know how one addresses a message within a message, so I must apologize for making them public instead:

Mister Abernathy, I am sorry for shooting you.

Mister Snape, I would like to arrange for that meeting, if you please.

Bran...have you learned any new stories? I fear I am much in need of a good one.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ That was absolutely not the answer she was expecting, and it's very clear that she's somewhat taken aback by it. Tom Chaney is a murderous thief as a man, she has never even considered what his boyhood was like. ]

He may not tell you if he did. He may be a liar as well as a murderer.

At home, he drinks so much it's a bit of a miracle that he gets out of bed each morning. Murdering people? That would really be something. It also doesn't leave him in a state to do much lying.

In my experience, a proclivity for drink does not present an obstacle to other ill-advised activities. I have known a drunkard who could be a fine shot when he was prepared to be. [ Still, it's useful information. ]

If it turns out I am mistaken, however, I am prepared to offer further apologies. [ She won't like it, that's obvious, but she will do it. ]

[he may have been exaggerating a little to get mattie off haymitch's back. or a lot. but he still doubts haymitch could be particularly effective at his most drunk. but he shrugs it off.]

If you're truly worried about Haymitch going off on you at any time, let me know. I can try to intervene.

[ One of these days, Mattie might actually start believing the things people tell her instead of clinging stubbornly to the way she wants or expects things to be. ]

I do not think that he will do so, but...I am grateful for your offer, and will take you up on it if the situation arises. Though it would be easier to do so if I knew your name.

Neither do I, but I wouldn't want you to worry. I'm Finnick. Finnick Odair. And you are ... ?

Mattie Ross. And I am not prone to worrying about things I cannot control. [ Not that there are a lot of things in Mattie's life she feels that way about, however. Neither are there many things she's not willing to throw herself headlong at and pummel into submission. ]

That's smart. I know far too many people who fall into the trap of worrying too much. [he is one of them.]

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