Another force to contend with. Another power player who has decided to use me as a piece in her games

She says this as if she didn’t try to manipulate things first.  I mean, here, Katniss has spent a month taking naps even while everyone around her tries to point out that there’s a lot of pain and destruction going on, and she won’t so much as help with domestic chores the whole time.  Then, she makes all sorts of demands, starting with a useless trip to D12 and progressing to special pardons. 

All Coin did in return was say “fine, but you’d better actually deliver on your end.”

And for the great sin of trying to actually get shit done in the face of Katniss’s childish antics, she’s being painted as Machiavellian.  The only way this makes any sense is if you actually subscribe to the belief that Katniss, as an “important person,” is inherently deserving, and therefore it’s “wrong” of Coin to not give her stuff freely.  That is the only way this statement makes any sense, because it sure doesn’t cut it over here in reality. 

You know what, fuck it, let’s kick this chapter off with a drink. \~/

First there were the Gamemakers, making me their star and then scrambling to recover from that handful of poisonous berries. Then President Snow, trying to use me to put out the flames of rebellion, only to have my every move become inflammatory. Next, the rebels ensnaring me in the metal claw that lifted me from the arena, designating me to be their Mockingjay, and then having to recover from the shock that I might not want the wings.

The only one of this that makes sense is the first, and even then, just barely.

See, no one actually picked Katniss.  She makes it out as if she’s just so awesome that people were knocking down her door to get to her, but no.  In a sense, the game maker did set her up as a star, but only because Peeta set that ball rolling.  They didn’t single her out until she’d already been established as having a good story.  Then Snow used her only because she was what was available; he didn’t look at all the people in the world and go “you know what, I think I’ll use that Katniss fellow, why not?”  And the rebels didn’t “designate” her as the Mockinjay, she already was.  That’s not a title that can be passed on to someone else.  No one else can “be the mockingjay.”  It’ not a role that exists independently of her that she has to step into, like “general.”  She’s being used because she’s useful, which is compelling enough on its own, there’s no need to phrase things this way.

But she has been the quickest to determine that I have an agenda of my own

Did she figure it out when you walked into the meeting and said “here’s my agenda”?

She has been the first to publicly brand me as a threat.

You are a threat.  When you’re not busy planning how best to wring payment out of desperate people, you’re turning high level officers against each other, or at least trying to.  You legitimately are a threat.

stepped out of bed looking flawless but natural. It means my nails are perfectly shaped but not polished. My hair soft and shiny but not styled. My skin smooth and clear but not painted. Wax the body hair and erase the dark circles, but don’t make any noticeable enhancements.

That’s a lot of work for “natural,” especially the waxing part.

This is all said without a hint of irony, as if the book doesn’t realize that being waxed and buffed and shaped isn’t actually natural. 

As a rebel, I thought I’d get to look more like myself.

You thought that being decked out in make up and an ember suit was “yourself” last book. 

After I rinse the lather from my body, I turn to find Octavia waiting with a towel.

Seriously?  Seriously?  A day ago these people were so badly injured that you could smell their rotting flesh, and then they’re put to work the very next day (without anyone asking fi they still wanted to, mind you) and you’re making them hand you towels?

And you call the capitol folks lazy?  I get that there’s stuff they’ll be doing that takes actual skill, so they’re not there just to do pointless tasks, but you could at least be like “oh, no, I got that, you sit down and rest from your ordeal.  By the way, how are you feeling?  All patched up?”

Or maybe even “hey, I know you can’t go home now, but if you don’t want to actively help the war effort against your former home, we can probably work something else out.  Kitchen duty, perhaps?”

“Do you guys have any opinions on this war at all?  Maybe?  Probably, but we’re not going to get hear about them, because you’re just things and you’ve been given to Katniss, so you’ll do whatever she tells you?  Okay, then.  Wow, that’s sad.”

She is so altered from the woman I knew in the Capitol, stripped of the gaudy clothing, the heavy makeup, the dyes and jewelry and knickknacks she adorned her hair with.

All the changes Katniss notes are material.  No change in her level of energy, her demeanor, how she acts, how she carries herself, or even how healthy she looks, and that last point at least should be a factor.  Nope.  Katniss cares for nothing that makes Octavia a person, only the accessories.  She defines this woman by her stuff, and when the stuff is taken away, she considers Octavia “altered.”

Because Katniss isn’t shallow like those other girls, nope.  She’s got her morals on straight.

I try to become acquainted with the District 13 Octavia. Her real hair turns out to be a nice auburn. Her face is ordinary but has an undeniable sweetness. She’s younger than I thought. Maybe early twenties. Devoid of the three-inch decorative nails, her fingers appear almost stubby, and they can’t stop trembling.

Even as she tries to “get to know” this woman, still all she can think to point out is her appearance!

Because this book is feminist, and don’t you forget it!

the spot on my arm where Johanna dug out the tracker. None of the medical team was focusing on looks when they patched up the gaping hole.

JFC, what did Johanna do?  A single straight cut should have been all that was needed.  She wasn’t clawing Katniss open with her fingernails, after all.

And why take the tracker out?  It’s not like her leaving the arena was something to keep secret, and it could have been taken out more safely once she was in the flying ship thingy.  They had medical equipment in there.

“Are they bringing your food here?” I ask.

“No,” says Venia. “We’re supposed to go to a dining hall.”

…but being around easy-to-grab food is what got them in trouble in the first place…

The covert glances and quiet murmurs I usually evoke are nothing compared to the reaction brought on by the sight of my bizarre-looking prep team. The gaping mouths, the finger pointing, the exclamations.

Why?  There are other capitol people here, all of whom look vastly different from the D13 population.  Why are these three so special?

“It’s meant to be pretty,” whispers Octavia, and I can see the tears threatening to spill over her lashes.

Posy considers this and says matter-of-factly, “I think you’d be pretty in any color.”

The tiniest of smiles forms on Octavia’s lips. “Thank you.”

Telling someone who is in fashion that their fashion is pointless is not actually a compliment.

I mean, Posey’s only five, so she gets a free pass, but I still feel like pointing that out, since the book doesn’t seem to get it.

I hate this sort of line when I dress up for stuff, too.  I mostly get it from clueless guys.  Last time I went to a military ball, I got to do it sans uniform (yay for dry cleaners who ruin stuff at the last minute!) and I got all decked out for it.  I got ready in a hotel room with a bunch of guys (didn’t want to drive in my dress) and asked them if I looked good when I was done.  They got awkward and said I always looked good.  “Well no shit, Sherlock, I’m sexy in pajamas.  I’m asking if look like a sexy lady who did a good job of getting ready for the ball.  Did all this effort I just put in turn out well?”

We argued last night after he suggested I’d left Coin no choice but to counter my demand for the victors’ safety with one of her own.

I like Gale; he’s making sense.

“Katniss, she’s running this district. She can’t do it if it seems like she’s caving in to your will.”

“You mean she can’t stand any dissent, even if it’s fair,” I’d countered.

If you were worried about fair, you wouldn’t have asked for pardons.

A pardon is, by definition, unfair.  It means that a person did something bad and deserves punishment, but they’re getting off the hook for whatever reason.  That is literally the definition.  You basically went up and said “hey, even though our version of law (for some reason) says we should punish these people, I demand that you don’t, because I said so.”  There is nothing about that situation that is fair.

Fair would be arguing that they didn’t do anything wrong, which no one said that they did in the first place.

I really need him to be on my side, not Coin’s. How can he not know that?

There is no your side.  There is no Coin’s side.  THERE IS THE REBEL SIDE AND THE CAPITOL SIDE, YOU DO NOT HAVE A SIDE, KATNISS, THIS IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU.

At least, it shouldn’t be.

And Gale seems to understand that.

Must be why he lost the love triangle race: he didn’t put Katniss at the center of the whole frikkin universe and then throw the rest of the world under a bus for her sake.

Gale is too good for her.

Inside is the first beautiful thing I’ve seen in the District 13 compound: a replication of a meadow, filled with real trees and flowering plants, and alive with hummingbirds.

…wasn’t D13 all about not having any waste?  Because this seems like a huge waste of space to me.

I have to wonder what sort of fluke allowed such a pleasing place to be built here.

There is no logic in this world.  Things do not happen for a reason, or as a result of other actions, or according to a plan.  Nope.  Pretty rooms just appear by accident.

“Aren’t they magnificent? Thirteen has been studying their aerodynamics here for years. Forward and backward flight, and speeds up to sixty miles per hour.

And this necessitated a whole medow?

Also, you have hovering airplanes, what else are you hoping to learn?

While they’re feeding, snap the mouth shut. They’d fly away from the noise but only encounter the far side of the net.”

Does it really matter which way they’d fly after they’re already in it?  I mean, if they fly towards the mouth, doesn’t matter, because that’s already snapped shut.  How is this “preying on their vulnerabilities” when no matter what they’re still stuck?  The only “vulnerability” being used is their desire for the bait.

Beetee, in the moments that led up to his victory in those long-ago Hunger Games, watched the others die. Not his fault. Only self-defense. We were all acting only in self-defense…

But those career kids, man, what monsters, right?

I find the whole thing bizarre because I can’t imagine anyone raised in District 13 being a threat the government would have to guard against. Have these precautions been put in place because of the recent influx of immigrants?

Weapons are a thing you want to keep under lock and key even if your people aren’t about to go traitor.  People get curious, and people get stupid.  You don’t want someone getting at a weapon they know nothing about and setting it off by accident, or screwing up an experiment, or even just having access to basic firearms when there’s a chance they could use it to off the guy in the next compartment.

I don’t know where a simple bow and arrow could possibly find a place in all this high-tech equipment

Nowhere.  That is your answer, full stop.  Everything after this statement is pointless.

I’ve played with a lot of the Capitol’s weapons in training, but none designed for military combat.

That’s because there aren’t any.

This goes on for a while, so go ahead and take two shots for not understanding how utterly useless bows are, then belaboring the point. \~/ \~/

“That doesn’t seem very fair to the deer,” I say.

GOOD FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU EVEN SERIOUS, WHO SAYS THIS WHEN THEY’RE HUNTING FOR FOOD WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT FAIR YOU’RE NOT IN A SPORT YOU’RE TRYING TO EAT THERE IS NO FAIR THERE IS DEAD AND NOT DEAD WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SAY NEXT THAT A TRACTOR ISN’T FAIR TO THE CORN NO ONE WHO HUNTS FOR SURVIVAL IS GOING TO CARE WHAT WHIT ABOUT THE DEER GETTING A FAIR SHOT YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEER GET A FAIR SHOT?  YOU DON’T EAT, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS GOD FUCKING DAMNIT I HATE YOU KATNISS I HATE YOU SO MUCH.

I hate everything about that statement, even when it’s applied to hunting as a sport, but it severely misses the mark in Katniss’s case.  No one is trying to be fair to the deer; we’re trying to eat the damn thing because venison is delicious.  And also because what you’re really competing against is other hunters, to get the best/most game, and that’s even if there’s a competition at all.  Usually there’s not.  There’s just you, and nature, and doing what hunters do best.  Implying that there is or even needs to be fair is like saying that paintbrushes aren’t fair to the canvas, as if the point is to see the artist and canvas get in a brawl and see if we’re going to have pretty trees or blank space this round.

But I don’t know what to tell him about the aftermath of killing a person. About how they never leave you.

You don’t know because you’ve not had to deal with it.  You’re exactly the same selfish, shitty brat we met way back in book one.

I have to hold very still to make sure I’m not imagining it. No, the bow is alive in my hands. I press it against my cheek and feel the slight hum travel through the bones of my face.

And this means…???

No, really, they go on to talk about how the bow recognizes her voice and “wakes up” or “goes to sleep” at her command but then it…does…um…what?  What advantage does it give?  What is the effect of ‘sleep’ mode?  What does it actually mean!?!?!?!?!?!

To deactivate the bow’s special properties

WHAT ARE THE SPECIAL PROPERTIES?

She mentions going to the range to try it out, but she shoots it like a regular bow.  She has special arrows, but those are the arrows, not the bow.  So what the fuck is it doing?

Well, nothing.  It’s doing nothing.  The bow is “alive” just so that it can be uberspecial for Katniss.  Because heaven forbid she have some plebian bow. \~/

I watch the woman on the screen. Her face smudged but sexy.

Because, of course, when it comes to promoting the idea that Katniss is fighting for your freedom, just the right amount of sexy smudge is so vitally important.

Everyone’s so excited, so pleased with their work.

Yes they are.  \~/

“People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!” That’s the line. I can tell by the way they present it that they’ve spent months, maybe years, working it out and are really proud of it.

Considering this is their entire job and chose specialty, you’d think they could come up with something better than that.

“And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies.”

Right, because it’s not like people are already embroiled in the revolution, already know what they’re fighting for, already are determined to win.  I mean, this is a war for survival, where everyone knows that losing means death, because they were dying before they started this, but hey, that’s not good enough!  No, we need a lovesick teenager in a pretty costume to say the right lines, or else this whole thing will flop like a house of cards.

Because Katniss is the center of the god damn world and nothing else will do.

\~/  I don’t even know if that’s something off the list, but we need another drink.

Episode of MASH you should be watching: The Gun