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[Johanna flicks on the video with a glare. The room around her is dark; the screen lights her face from below. When she speaks, her voice is a little rough and hoarse, like she's been shouting a lot, very recently. (She has.)]

Hi, friends. [She bites out the word.] Just a little message for you all. You've all gotten really comfortable on this hunk of junk you're calling a ship--or what's passing as a ship-- [And she manages a little smirk at that--] --which, come on, it's crap. But I get it, it's not yours. You're all just prisoners here, it did some horrible things to you... yeah.

And that's where this comes in.

[She holds up her arm, where her tattoo is clearly stamped out, fresh and new.]

See this thing? This isn't a fashion accessory. This is bullshit. The last time someone shoved something in my arm and told me to smile and get on with my life, I didn't put up with it. I'm getting this thing out of myself, and if any of you have any sense--you'll do the same. You wonder how they get to you? It's things like this. But I'll bet you already knew that.

Well, fuck that. Fuck all of it. I'm not doing that again.

You want us to join up and help you run this ship? --Or resist this ship, or fight whatever you think is here? Here's my offer. First person that tells me how to get this thing out of my arm without dying, I'll join whatever they're running. And you want me on your side.

[JOHANNA OUT.]

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I've been learning to hold very still. They were teaching me before I came here. But I'll give you a little struggle if that's the way you want it.

[ what does she even say to this. ]

[Patiently--or, really, not--she waits.]

Nothing? [Another sigh, disgusted.] You're so boring, brainless.

Come and cut off my arm already.

[ it's hard to say if Johanna was joking or not, but this is honestly something katniss would do for her, so she walks down the hall to Johanna's room with her little knife. this would be better done in medical, with morphling and sutures and prosthetics, but she thinks people would stop them. ]

[ this is better talked out in person, either way. she knocks on the door, hair back, jaw tight, expression closed. ]

[Johanna is wary, when she opens the door--but it's only Katniss, and that tense and focused expression on her face is quick to fade into something drier.]

Oh, it's you.

[She doesn't stand aside right away, but gives Katniss's knife a quick glance, and a grin.]

And I didn't you'd come. Think that'll cut through it?

I don't know.

[ she looks at johanna's arms; they're nice enough arms, slender, a little muscle. katniss doesn't really want to cut one off, figured surely someone would talk her out of it, tell her it wouldn't work. but katniss also feels that if Johanna really wants to cut it off, then katniss owes it to her to offer that help, despite her own misgivings. ]

I'm also concerned that you'll die from the bloodloss. My mother was a surgeon. I'm not.

[If this is a test (and it is), then Johanna isn't backing down from it. Not anytime soon, anyways. She stares, steadily, at Katniss, with a little smirk at the corner of her mouth that she doesn't totally mean.]

But you're good at thinking on your feet. If there's anyone who I should feel comfortable holding my life in their hands--it's supposed to be you. Right, Mockingjay?

[She turns on her heel and goes back into her room, leaving the door open for Katniss to follow. She rolls up her sleeve as she walks--she's wearing the ship uniform and not the Arena outfit that had been waiting for her in her locker. That, she's got stowed somewhere to be burned.]

[ katniss is the same, dressed in the practical tranquility uniform, though she has her good boots from home, the one she's spent many blisters molding to the shape of her feet. and for the same reason: her only other option was the arena outfit. ]

I'm going to need a tourniquet. Maybe something to cauterize it.

[ is her response. ]

There's no morphling here, but if you head down with a chopped off arm they'll probably offer you something.

[ or if katniss carries her down. she still doesn't think she has the precision to sever an artery without killing johanna, with shock if not bloodloss. ]

[Right to business. Johanna can appreciate that, sort of. She smirks at Katniss as she sits down on her bed, and shoves her bare forearm toward her.]

Will you walk me there when it's over, or are we not good enough of friends for that.

[Her smirk hitches just a little higher, as she studies Katniss. Same braid, same stubborn expression. It's nice that some people don't change. Or maybe it's bullshit.]

Are you really going to do this?

[ deadpan: ]

I'll carry you.

[ she draws the knife, skims her thumb over the blade idly. her expression is blank. she's not taking any particular pleasure from this, but she wants to prove to both herself and johanna that she can do this. not just for loyalty's sake, but because she won the games with grit and perseverance and blood just as much as anything else. ]

At least I won't have to kiss you to get medicine.

[ she murmurs, taking a hold of johanna's wrist in fingers made bowstring-strong. is she really going to do this? it seems so. but no-one ever accused katniss everdeen of making good life choices. ]

[Intently, Johanna watches Katniss. She doesn't look at the knife. She doesn't look at the grip on her wrist. She looks right into Katniss's face instead, hard, still with that knife-sharp edge to her smile, but something more unreadable in her eyes.

Katniss doesn't flinch away. She has the knife in her hand and her grip is good and sure, and she's strong enough that she could hack at Johanna's arm until she had it off. All of Panem was watching when Katniss took the nightlock berry between her fingers. All of Panem saw two love-struck teenagers, willing to die together so they would never be separated by death. All those fevered kisses in the cave, it only made sense. But Katniss preparing to eat the nightlock: that was the most interesting thing she'd done in the whole Game, in Johanna's opinion. Fuck the kissing. Fuck the sacrifice and the tears and the explosions. The nightlock berry was the second that Johanna thought maybe she could like Katniss Everdeen.

And that's what this moment is, too. Johanna stares at Katniss, ready to cut off her arm, and Johanna smiles.]

You are something else, Mockingjay.

[She tugs her wrist out of Katniss's grip, shaking out her hand like it's got a cramp in it.]

You could have at least asked to borrow an axe. They're way better for chopping off limbs.

[ johanna pulls away, and katniss lets her, letting out a relieved breath despite herself. was this all just some kind of test after all? it doesn't matter. what's important is that she's not going to have to saw someone's arm off. ]

I'm not very accurate with an axe. I might have missed and split your chest open.

[ and then where would they be? ]

I thought you were supposed to be good at everything. If you want me to teach you, you just have to ask.

[She shoves her sleeve back down, tugging it over the tattoo and her wrist, and fixes Katniss with a smug little smirk. It isn't exactly disdainful, and it isn't displeased, like maybe she's done something right, but that's not expected to happen again anytime soon.]

I'd love to teach you. It'll be a real treat.

I'd like you to teach me.

[ it's a partial untruth. katniss wouldn't like johanna to show her up at anything. she doesn't like to admit she needs to learn: it's too vulnerable, a weakness. but her tone is flat and even, nothing more than a simple request, although without a real question mark because johanna's already said she'd love to do it. ]

Do you have an axe here?

[Would she actually teach something to Katniss? It could be fun. It could also piss her off. It will, probably, do both. But Johanna smiles at Katniss, blithely, like nothing would make her happier.]

Two. It's your lucky day, Mockingjay, that's one for me and one for you. Not to keep. And I don't let just any one touch my axes, but for you... I'll make an exception.

If you're actually interested.

I'm interested.

[ katniss shrugs, her tone incredibly disinterested. ]

I'm already learning how to use a gun. And I wouldn't want to deprive you of the chance to take a swing at me.

You're so thoughtful. That's what I've always liked about you.

[That is not what she has always liked about Katniss. Pretty much the opposite. But the structure of that proposal is more than tempting. Johanna gives a hmmmm of consideration, as she twirls a short strand of her hair around her index finger, and lets it go again.]

Deal. It can be our weekly date, just you and me. And you better make sure your reflexes are good, because I'm not dulling the blades at all.

I wouldn't expect you to.

[ it's more petulant than she wanted to sound. johanna always brings out that petulance in her. case in point: ]

Can I go now?

[ her friendship may extend to sawing off arms, but it doesn't cover extended chit-chat. ]

Yeah, yeah.

[airily, she waves a hand at Katniss, dismissing her.]

I'll see you around, Mockingjay. Thanks for coming up here all ready to save me from my tracker, I really appreciate it. Maybe I can repay the favor someday. Oh, wait, I already have.

[remember that time in the Arena? she smiles at Katniss, and wiggles her fingers in a wave.]

'Bye.

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action because I don't wanna log.

action good bc i support laziness!

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