It's just a norm. {Mel//closed}

It was just another day. Thalia sat on her “mattress,” so to speak. It was more just like a small sheet with a tiny bit of padding. Anyways, she was reading a book. She was caught up in the story so much, she didn’t realize it. It all happened so fast. Luke, who was over on the other side of the shack of a house, was teasing the cat. He kept pretending that he was about to feed it food, only to take it back. Lucky, the cat, hated being teased. She pounced on Luke. His face was quickly covered in scratches and blood. He ran over the the “bedroom” where Thalia was. Lucky, never having liked Thalia, released Luke from his grasp, and pounced on the bed instead. Thalia still wasn’t paying attention, although she had felt it when Lucky pounced. She quickly took her gaze away, to see the cat, right as it was leaping into the air. He dug his claws into Thalia, who shreiked.
Thalia had finally gotten Lucky off her face. The process had taken nearly ten minutes. She ran into the bathroom before the cat could cause anymore damage to her face. She got a good look at her face in the rusty old mirror. Her face was badly scratched up, but it was nothing that couldn’t heal; she would be alright … if only she could ignore the pain.

Thalia walked outside. It was a little bit chilly outside, but the wind felt very good on her scratches, so she stayed. She needed an excuse to leave the house anyway, so she walked back inside to get her coat.

Thalia walked into a small little shop. On the walk there, she had discovered her small coin purse, with a couple dollars in it, so she walked up to the counter, and ordered something to eat. They told her just to take a seat, and that they would have it ready any minute.
Thalia took a seat at a relatively new wooden table. It looked like it was big enough to fit about four people comfortably, but no one else was there, so she took a seat. District 7 didn’t get a lot of new things, but the peacekeepers here were nice enough to allow the shops in the square to get new necessities if it was made out of wood, like tables or chairs.
A couple of minutes later, Thalia’s older brother brought her the food, because he worked there. He gave her a look. She knew that look. He was laughing on the inside, because the thing with Lucky that happened earlier was just a norm in the Treeguard family. Thalia tried her best to smile back, even though this was not becoming funny anymore.

The third time’s the charm, right? That’s what Mel kept telling herself as the train came to a stop outside District 7. After getting herself into predicaments in Districts 10 and 4, the fourteen year old was dead set on getting in and out of this district as quickly as she possibly could. There would be no stopping to look at the ocean, no getting caught by a peacekeeper, and absolutely no talking to anyone, unless it was to help her get food, which was the reason she was here in the first place.

Right. It was time. Mel took a deep breath, stepped off the train, and made her way through the woods into the district. Her mission was the same as the others: she needed to get food for the people trying to dig to District 13. Which apparently existed. But Mel’s lurking doubts about the existence of District 13 were neither here nor there. All that mattered was that she was helping the rebels fight the Capitol. And to do that, she needed to go into District 7, not get into any trouble, find some food, and be back by the end of the day. She could do this. Hopefully.

After at least half an hour of jogging through the woods, the blonde finally found the trees thinning to reveal what looked to be the town center. District 7 certainly felt much more like home than District 4 had, though Mel had to admit a small part of her had enjoyed her time in the fishing district, thanks to a certain boy the fourteen year old was determined not to think about right now. Who she would most likely never see again.

But right, not thinking about it. After casting her eyes over the town to make sure no one was paying her much attention, Mel slipped out from behind the trees and walked into town as casually as she could. Nothing to see here, just another typical District 7 resident going about her daily business and – Oh gosh, there was a peacekeeper!

Without even pausing to think about the fact that she hadn’t been doing anything she could get into trouble for, Mel’s memory of her incident in District 10 caused her to immediately duck into the nearest shop she could find. The blonde looked around to see that she was in some sort of food shop, which was perfect, and then sat down in the first chair she could find.

The blonde had been so busy worrying about the peacekeeper, that she didn’t even notice her table was occupied until she looked up to see a girl who looked to be a little bit younger than her already seated at the table with some food. She opened her mouth to speak, but then noticed the large scratches on the girl’s face. Whoa. Those looked painful. And fresh, if Mel wasn’t mistaken. "Are you okay?"

The words escaped Mel's lips before she could stop them, and upon realizing that she had just sat down at some random girl’s table, stared rudely, and then asked a question that was none of her business, Mel blinked and said quickly, “Oh, uh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there.” The blonde fidgeted uncomfortably then made to stand up. “uh, I’m sorry, I’ll just go sit somewhere else.” Oh gosh, this was awkward. It seemed Mel was not off to a great start yet, but at least this girl didn’t look too evil. Though judging by Mel’s luck she was probably the daughter of the peacekeeper, and any moment now said peacekeeper would come back and accuse Mel of scratching the girl’s face. Yep, that was probably it.

Thalia immediately dug into her food. It was the best food she had had in a long time. Her parents didn't afford to buy food anymore, and they were nearly mad anyway. She rarely even saw them anymore. The warm steam coming up from the stew was overwhelming, especially since it was filled with the scent of beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, and green beans. Thalia thought about how the stores even got this, because townspeople sure didn't, and they couldn't even buy it at the store.

She smiled. Just a few more days. she whispered, for she would be turning 13 in just a few days. In the Treeguard family, 13 was the age of complete freedom, without anyone looking over you. Thalia already had this privilege, since none of her older siblings cared about her, and because she never ever saw her parents anymore, but the thought of being "of age" just made Thalia happy.

Thalia was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even realize more people come in.

One girl walked over to her table. She had beautifully fair hair and skin. She obviously didn't look like someone who lived in District 7. Even Thalia didn't look like she was from District 7, but with this girl, there was a distinct difference.

The girl looked at Thalia, and a look crossed her face that said something like she was taking pity on her. Thalia realized it was probably her face. Yes. It was her face. She got that same look many times. As if she needed an absolute answer, the girl's next words answered.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked. Before Thalia could answer, she spoke again, her words spilling out of her mouth all jumbled up together. “Oh, uh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there.” The girl said, for some excuse. She fidgeted, and tried to stand up.“Uh, I’m sorry, I’ll just go sit somewhere else.” Thalia tried to find some words. Eventually she found some.

"No, please don't leave. I know it may freak you out, but honestly, it's nothing. It's just my cat ... he hates me. It's just a norm nowadays." Which was true, for every time her scars healed, Lucky just dug in some more. "Please, sit down with me." Thalia smiled her most winning smile, even though it hurt her cheeks. She wanted to be nice to this girl, and she wanted someone not to ignore her for once, but most of all, she wanted to find out if this girl was from her district or not.

Was it possible that Mel’s luck had changed? Just when she’d been expecting to get yelled at by the girl she’d interrupted, the brunette did exactly the opposite. She’d gotten scratched by her own cat? Mel winced. She’d dreamt of having a pet dog or cat for most of her life, but those dreams had never involved said pet hating her and scratching her on the face. She couldn’t help but wonder what this girl had done to make her cat hate her. In Mel’s opinion, animal were cute and cuddly, and not-bitey, so she doubted the cat had attacked the brunette without reason.

But then again, the girl did seem rather nice, and that was confirmed when she asked Mel to sit with her. The blonde hesitated. After running into problems in each of the districts she’d visited so far (though she didn’t totally consider District 4 a problem, for reasons she wasn’t thinking about), Mel was eager to find some supplies for the diggers on the railway and get the heck out of the district. Before answering the brunette, Mel looked over her should out the window as discreetly as she could, and grimaced upon seeing that the peacekeeper was still out there.

It hadn’t escaped Mel’s notice that her fair hair and skin didn’t exactly blend in around here, so she wasn’t exactly eager to run outside while the peacekeeper was hanging around. And if she was going to wait around in this shop, she might as well sit with the brunette. It couldn’t hurt, right? At any rate, it would probably be even more suspicious if she refused the girl’s invitation. With that, Mel hesitantly lowered herself back into the chair she’d been occupying.

“Oh, uh, alright, if you’re sure you don’t mind.” Mel looked over her shoulder out the window again, determined to leave the shop the moment the peacekeeper was gone. He seemed to be taking his time chatting with a pretty girl, though, so Mel would probably be stuck in this shop a while. She turned her gaze back to the girl (who was smiling way too big for someone who had just been attacked by her own cat), and asked the girl the first question that came to mind. “Why does your cat hate you?”

Immediately after the words left her mouth Mel wished she could take them back. This girl probably thought she was incredibly rude. First she'd interrupted the girl's meal, and now she was asking nosy questions. That was, Mel supposed, one of the advantages of the railway: the odds of her seeing any of the people she ran into again were so slim, it didn’t really matter how much she embarrassed herself. Unfortunately, she was going to be stuck sitting with this girl for a while, so Mel had wanted to avoid that. And, oh! She’d forgotten to introduce herself! Without giving the brunette a chance to answer her question, Mel quickly tacked on, “I’m Sasha, by the way.” After 2 districts, Mel had decided to switch the name she used to that of her next oldest sister. It was lucky she had four older sisters, because she had plenty of names to choose from. She just hoped the one she’d chosen for District 7 wouldn’t stick out too much, but she'd come to realize there was no way of predicting what was normal in each of the districts until she actually visited them, at which point she was too late. For exactly that reason, Mel had started writing notes to herself about each of the districts she'd visited, so she could blend in more easily if she found herself in them again.

((I'm so sorry for the slowness! <3 ))