OOC: Luceti Appointments

[victorbychance]

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[victorbychance]

Because you can't be anyone else. However you've changed, you're still you. And you're still more important to me than anything.

[stillplaying]

[So, so simple. Life can go on for him. It can always go one for him, no the losses. No matter how bad everything's been before.

She doesn't deserve him. This. But she's selfish enough to accept it. She tightens her grip on him.] I don't want you to leave.

[victorbychance]

[He relaxes in her arms then. No more arguing about what's best for him. Finally, she understands that going home is the worst thing that can happen to him right now.]

I love you. The real me could never stop loving you, okay?

[stillplaying]

[She knows that. If his words were to believed once, he's loved her since their first day of school. But knowing that and hearing it aloud. It's not the same thing. Not at all. Especially after long resigning herself to accepting that Peeta might never love her again.

She stills in his arms. Freezes like any prey caught in sight of her arrow. Her heart thumps loudly in her chest. But she can barely leave, let alone speak.]

[victorbychance]

[He hesitates.]

Sorry.

[Not for loving her, or even for saying it. For saying it when she's not ready. For not perceiving that she's not ready.]

[stillplaying]

[She feels the guilt as soon as he says the word. As soon as he apologizes for something he should never have to apologize for.

But how can she explain that her emotions have been manipulated for so long? For the past two years, most of what she let herself feel had been at the urging or advice of someone else.]

I need to know what's real. [Explanation. She owes him that.] Learn what's real. I've been a piece in their games too long. I don't know anymore.

[victorbychance]

Well, that's real. [He twines a lock of her hair around his fingers.] Apparently it's more real than anything they did to me, because I still stopped you.

[stillplaying]

[From the corner of her eye, she glances down at the hand entwined in her hair. Real. What he feels for her is real. But what about anything she might feel towards him?

That's what she doesn't know.]

Can you sleep down here tonight?

[victorbychance]

[He doesn't say anything. He merely nods, holding her closer.

It's okay, Katniss. He's always waited for you. He can wait longer.]

[stillplaying]

[Maybe someday she'll know. She'll know whether she picks someone because she needs them to survive or because she truly wants to love. She hopes so. Now that there are no more Games, now that life might be different in Panem, she thinks it might be something she wants.

But for now, she's content with being in Peeta's arms. Content in knowing that when she falls asleep tonight, she'll be back in his arms again. Kept safe. Comforted if the nightmares come again.

She reaches for the blanket and pulls it up over their legs. Eyes close as she snuggles against his chest.] Gonna go back to sleep now.

[victorbychance]

I'll be here.

[And, if he goes to sleep as well, he can't be blamed. It would be the first good sleep he's had since he arrived]