calloway-johnson:

lilavictorof7:

Lila looked up at the Capitol every few minutes, the rest of the time glided her pencil against her paper.  She was bored, after being determined to help her tributes and having both of them die, and then going crazy and killing 2 people, Lila was forced to wait to find out what her consequence was going to be.  It didn’t surprise her that they were waiting, making her anxious as to what they would do, more compliant to obey whatever it was they would say.  Chances were they would wait until after the Hunger Games were over, or at least almost over, to tell her the punishment.  Lila, just had to try and avoid making any more trouble.  She couldn’t afford to have her punishment grow. 

So she drew the cityscape.  But all that it did was remind her of everything that had happened so far.  The children who were killing people, the way that people’s lives were used as entertainment.  Lila knew that it wasn’t right, and even with how backwards her morals had become, her hate of the Capitol never seemed to wane.  She thought of the way that Harrison seemed so determined to fight against them, but Lila could also tell it was mostly thoughts, that there was nothing in place yet.  And if he did have some sort of plan he hadn’t shared it with anyone yet.  So in the meantime she just sketched, and waited, and watched, until she heard the sound of somebody come up.  Lila quickly closed her sketchbook and sat on it, hoping whoever it was would see her and leave her alone.

So it was just her luck that Calloway Johnson did exactly the opposite.

Lila hadn’t turned to see who it was that had come, and jumped a little when she heard his voice.  Instantly she whipped around and shot her most murderous look at him.  Calloway had told Harrison about her second suicide attempt even though he knew the consequence, and now he was talking to her as if he seemed almost happy to see her.  And there was something wrong with that, like he wanted something from her. 

“Oh you don’t have to worry,” Lila smiled, though her eyes continued to glare at him, “I have no plans to jump off of this building.  However this is your one warning that if you get within an arms-length of me I will throw you off the building and pray that for some reason today the force-field was turned off.  Because I had an interesting conversation with Harrison.  Want to guess what it was about?”  But she was pretty sure Calloway could guess, after all she had threatened to kill him, and if it wasn’t for the fact he had saved her life Lila would have gone through with it with it without a thought. 

“And to answer your question no we haven’t,” Lila continued, “because I’ve been busy watching my tributes die, and having a mental breakdown, and explaining to my boyfriend why I didn’t tell him that I almost committed suicide hours after he stopped me from doing it the first time.  Why do you ask?  Or better yet, why are you asking me instead of Harrison?  Because he likes you.  I don’t.”

Oh…
Calloway observed the anger emanating from Lila’s expression and subconsciously took one step back, holding his hands up with palms out. “Hey, sweetheart. I didn’t say anything to him about that,” He commented, which wasn’t entirely a lie. He’d subtly hinted he knew something, by complete accident, and it was Harrison who’d run away with it. He hadn’t actually told Harrison anything. Besides, her threat wasn’t all that bothersome. If she did happen to throw him off the building, then the force field would be there to save him. If not? Well. He wouldn’t be put under the stress of trying to make people happy anymore. That was a plus, he supposed. He was a failure as a mentor; he hated the fact that he was probably never going to be replaced from this silly fate of his.
He never should have won those Hunger Games.

It was intriguing to see that Lila had committed suicide twice in one day, though. It almost made him feel more sorry for her, and added to the craving to get something forming. Clearly something was wrong if majority of the mentors he’d spoken to had mentioned suicide at one point since winning their games.
Certainly most of them wished they could go back and die in their respective arenas.

“I spoke to Harrison already,” Calloway commented, folding his arms over his chest and seating himself down on the ledge, turning his eyes away from the woman. “He seems to not be interested in sharing his supposed plan with me, or even really if he has one or not. So I was hoping you might be able to enlighten me on his plan.” He shrugged a bit, “But seeing as you haven’t spoken to him, I suppose you can’t help either.”

His head turned to stare down the twelve story drop, watching the small ant like figures moving across the pavement, toy car sized vehicles moving along the roads.
“Were you even interested in his idea, or were you just supporting him because he’s your boyfriend?” Calloway questioned, honestly curious if she were even interested at all.
She had to be. She was obviously suffering under the Capitol’s demands. 

Lila didn’t quite believe Calloway’s insistence that he didn’t say anything.  It may not have been on purpose, or point blank telling, but he still said something. And as a result Harrison had asked about it.  And to Lila that was enough of a reason to watch him fall over the edge.  But he didn’t seem as concerned about it.  For a second she wondered if she would be doing Calloway a favor.  Maybe he also had considered jumping, maybe he still wanted too. But considering the conversation that he wanted to have Lila decided to hear him out, it could end up being worthwhile.

The fact that Calloway had already talked to Harrison about it didn’t really surprise her, because they would have had to of talked at some point.  And it didn’t surprise her that Harrison hadn’t shared his plan.  He probably wouldn’t until he had more details under wraps.  Lila could already tell that he was meticulous when it came to planning, Harrison probably was working things out in his head.  And while Lila was content to let him do that, it was obvious that Calloway wasn’t.  “Even if I knew something I probably wouldn’t tell you,” Lila smirked, “because I know Harrison, and if he is planning something he would want to be the one to share it.”

Calloway’s last question surprised her a little bit, as it was something that Lila hadn’t actually thought about.  Of course she had imagined what it would be like without the Capitol dictating everything.  What it would be like to not have a Hunger Games every year.  But would Lila have gone along with the idea should it have been someone else to bring it up? Probably not.  She was to distrusting to believe that it would work.

“Both,” Lila finally answered, following Calloway’s gaze to the ground below, watching as the people walked past, “after the disaster that was my Victory Tour I’ve wanted to see things change.  But if this idea had been brought up by someone else, say someone like you, I don’t think I would have gone with it. I don’t work well with groups, and for this type of thing it’s obviously needed.  So the fact that Harrison brought it up made it easier for me to want to support it, because there’s at least somebody that I can go to in the group without wanting to kill them.”