The Odds are Definitely Not in My Favor

Spark: Interlude I

Spark - Interlude I:

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Prim smiled softly as she patted the rump of her goat, Lady. The animal was old,but it did its job well. She got the goat as a birthday present from Katniss and Solanum the other year so she took care of it as best as she could.

They were really the best older sisters a girl could have.

Katniss with her overall protectiveness, reliability and the bottomless affection. Her calloused hands brushing her hair every night and tolerated Prim's incessant need for cuddling.

Solanum with her subtle ways and actions that screamed out care and love in equal spades. Jaded gray eyes identical to Katniss' own flashing fondly as she tried to teach Prim to defend herself as much as she could.

She honestly wouldn't exchange them for anything in the world.

Prim admitted it was...difficult and infuriating sometimes when they baby her or tried to spare her from the realities of life - something she's already familiar of despite what her sister's might think - but that's alright. They were together. As long as three of them were with each other, well-

Everything would be alright.

The blond-haired girl just finished getting milk and making cheese from her goat. Her mother called on her a while ago to dress and get ready for the reaping, but Prim was stalling - rather preoccupied about how she would give the gift she painstakingly saved for weeks to Solanum.

It was a bit late, for about several months give or take, but this would a good way to cheer her older sister up. Solanum's birthday had always been a sad affair with the death of their father and all, so no one was in the mood to celebrate the event - least of all the birthday girl herself.

It was her way of saying thank you too for giving her the comfort she needed after being the focus of Katniss wrath when she persistently brought up the subject concerning tesserae that other month.

It was admittedly...impulsive of her to bring it up. Prim, at that time, was illogically fed up of being the baby - of being the youngest that needed to be taken care off while her sisters do everything they could so they wouldn't go hungry every day. Despite Sol's comforting words - about how she was their inspiration and "innocence" during the first and last time she went beyond the fence, Prim couldn't help but feel like a burden to both of them.

She didn't have Katniss strength and cleverness or Sol's intelligence and cunning. Even with her work with Lady, it felt like she wasn't doing as much as she possibly could.

However, Solanum really did have a way with words. Her attempts were clumsy - as if she was trying vainly to emulate another person - but it did the trick. After a talk with her, Prim felt a little bit better.

It was a pleasant surprise considering the older girl always liked to keep to herself even from before.

Solanum used to scare her, actually.

Prim could remember asking her mother or Katniss why Solanum was always screamed in her sleep and well-

No one really knew or understood what's Solanum's going through.

And if she was being honest, no one really cared or put enough effort to get to the root of all the tortured screams and ceaseless crying. They soothe, yes. They hug and wipe the tears but-

Her father was too busy, her mother too tired and her sister, Katniss, too preoccupied by how unfair their life was.

And well, Prim just got into line and ignored how Solanum was pushing all that unexplainable grief down and repressing it the best she could.