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[ a haggard looking young man sits on a bed, his hands wringing together over and over again as he speaks. There's a hollowness to his stare, and he takes a little longer than most between his sentences, thoughtfully ]

I was working...on having responsibilities again. I baked bread starting at four in the morning until noon. At noon I fed the geese. Depending on the day, I might have free time after that, but by dinner I helped Katniss cook and I would dead-head the flowers in the garden.

The schedule...helped.

[ his hands spasm erratically for a moment, then still as Peeta clenches his jaw ]

And now I'm here. [ he offers a tight smile ] And that means I'm not feeding geese and the garden's not going anywhere anytime soon. Not to mention there's a possible deer overpopulation problem in District Twelve.

[ he sighs ]

So there go my responsibilities. And schedule. I guess this serves as a fair warning for you all.

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By the dead people. Have they...attacked anyone? Or soldiers. Does the Emperor have Peacekeepers?

No, the dead people are the same as the rest of us, except for... being dead back home. [They're her friends even if they're dead back home]

There's a police force, but for the moment they seem to be on our side so long as we don't break any laws. And there are criminals within the city who don't like us very much; there was a gang war a couple of months ago, but things are calm for now.

What kind of laws does this place have? [ back home, shooting a deer was cause for public whipping, after all ]

The regular ones; don't kill or steal or destroy people's stuff - [a summary of the law by a vigilante, this may say a lot] - and there's a bunch of kinda weird laws that the kedan have, but they understand that we're not familiar with them, and mostly just let us off with warnings.

Warnings? Like public whippings? [ it's hard to tell if he's joking ]

[Her eyes widen in horror, and she looks visibily taken back.]

What? No! Warnings like they tell you what law you're breaking and ask you not to do it again.

[Okay she knew their world was awful but public whippings?!]

[ he looks surprised. ]

...and that's it?

That's it. I'm not the biggest fan of the cops, but the ones here are mostly concerned with keeping the public safe, not hurting people.

You're really lucky here, then. [ spoken like it has just occurred to him for the first time ]

In some ways, yes. [She knows Keeliai is a lot nicer than a fair few worls, but it's not perfect]

What don't you like about...[ the words are awkward when he goes to say them, and slightly mispronounced ] Tew Shanshoe?

[She'll leave the mispronounciation alone, since it isn't really important and correcting people can sometimes come across as a dick move.]

We're here against our will, mostly. They might've prettied the place up for us, but we were still dragged here without being asked and kept in the dark about why the Emperor decided to do this.

And not all the kedan are friendly towards, there have been attacks against us, though nothing recent.

[ he gives a small shrug at that ]

But some of the people here are better off. Especially the ones who...wouldn't be at home, otherwise.

Attacks? For what?

They are. [Her expression is a little sad, as she thinks of Rikki and Bucky and the other people who don't have a home to go to. She's not sure what will happen to them, once they've all served the Emperor's purpose.]

For being different. And - I don't know, some of them tried to sacrifice Foreigners for god knows what reason.

[ his expression hardens at the word "sacrifice" ]

To show that they could, maybe. It's always the same lesson with those types.

I don't think so, it seemed too fanatical to be a show of power.

[She wasn't there when they tried to sacrifice the Foreigners on the turtlehead, but she wishes she'd been able to help.]

Not all demonstrations of power has to make sense. If there's enough force behind it, no one will think it's fanatical.

I know, but-- generally there's a difference between people doing something to make a point, and doing it because of a personal belief, no matter how misguided or cruel it might be.

[ he shakes his head ]

I don't see it. Too often beliefs and agendas get mixed together.

Sometimes it's not easy to see. [There's no criticism in her tone, it's just a simple statement of fact. Though she's worried she's talking more like Batgirl than Steph right now. Secret identities are hard.]

Maybe. But I can't assume otherwise until I'm proven wrong. Trusting in the wrong thing is a fast way to get you killed. Or others killed.

I get that. I think most of those involved were taken into custody anyway, and the Emperor's prison is inescapable.

[Which hopefully means that specific situation isn't one to worry about too much.]

[ his eyes glaze over a little at the mention of the word prison, and his tone goes flat ]

They say that about all prisons.

[Oh, she knows what that look means.]

Not always, but yeah, I'm sure the Emperor's just talking herself up.

[She thinks about her conversation with Annabeth, and whether inescapable just means there's no one trying to escape.]

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