Forests? There’s a forest in my dreams, too. Only, it’s forbidden. Who: Pansy Malfoy and Katniss Everdeen When: Sunday, November 18 Where: Fast Food What: Meeting Rating: PG-13 for coffee and mild flirting Status: complete
Pansy had a lot of things going on in her head. These dreams were really messing with her. They had her completely convinced that Narcissa wasn’t her birth mother, Lucius wasn’t her birth father, and Draco and she weren’t blood related. It had her so much convinced that she went out and got her hands on a DNA test. She had the box, but hadn’t even opened it yet to read the directions. There was a guilty feeling deep in her gut when she thought about sending it in and getting the results.
She went to the restaurant for a quick bite, but found that what she was desperate for was some conversation. Anything to take her mind off of the box sitting on the passenger seat of her car.
Katniss' shift was almost over. She was tired - she rarely slept well as it was and her dreams had been a constant loop of training and interviews and culminating in the first brutal day in the games.
She found she had a deep aversion to ketchup today.
So Zombie!Katniss shuffled over to Pansy's table, forced a smile on her face and asked, "Would you like the special?"
“What’s the special?” Pansy asked, then turned to look up at the girl taking her order. She could see right through that forced smile, and saw the tiredness behind it. That poor girl looked about as awful as Pansy felt. Maybe a little more.
"Chef's salad and roasted chicken." Katniss replied, struggling mightly to inject a good mood into her tone. She was terrible at acting. The dreams only drove that point home. What were Haymitch and Peeta thinking...
Fuck Peeta.
Fighting the frown that almost took over her face, she added. "The salad is really good."
“Okay, sure,” Pansy said, her face falling even more as she watched the waitress struggle to maintain composure. “That sounds fine. You all right?” She asked, cocking her head to the side a little.
Katniss grit her teeth, a nervous sweat dripping down the back of her neck. Happy, think happy. Happy to have a job and help get her sister through school. Even if she hated the place. Even if guilt for some of the things she did outside of work was weighing her down. "I'm fine. What do you want to do for a drink?"
It wasn’t every day that Pansy took an interest in strangers. She raised both eyebrows at the sight of her waitress now, though, curious as to why the girl was so...
“Water’s fine.” Pansy said, softly. It was nice to have something to think about besides the dreams. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
"Water. Okay." Katniss glanced around, her shoulders sagging a little. Still, she forced out some cheer. "I'll be fine. But thanks. It's just been a very long day. It's almost over though! Let me get you your drink and put the order in. Oh, I'm Katniss." She should have said that part first. Doh!
“Hi, Katniss.” Pansy said, giving her a small smile. “I’m Pansy. You just... look as tired as I feel,” she said, the little smile growing a bit more genuine. “You don’t want to sit and have a cup of coffee with me, do you?” She added. Okay, that sounded kinda weird.
“I mean, I’m just... having these weird dreams.” And now she was babbling at a stranger. Great, Pans. Where’s the straight jacket when you need it?
Sitting down and having some coffee sounded utterly fantastic. Katniss checked the time. "Let me get your order settled, okay? I'm off in ten and I can sit down then." She wondered if Pansy was hitting on her.
At the mention of weird dreams, a haunted expression crossed her face. She excused herself, and went to turn in the order, check another table, and then bring back Pansy's water.
Pansy gave a little nod. What was she doing? Inviting some strange girl to sit and have ciffee? It was one of the stranger things she’d done lately, but not the strangest. Pansy sat back in her chair and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She set it on the table and closed her eyes for a moment.
Katniss got Pansy her water, then a few minutes later brought her her food. "Enjoy!"
She was quick to depart, then, heading into the back and pulling off her apron. She changed in the bathroom, wearing jeans, old sneakers and a faded t-shirt. Katniss almost walked out, right past Pansy, but changed her mind at the last minute, and plopped down across from her.
Pansy gave Katniss a little smile as the food was set in front of her. She picked up her fork and poked around the plate for a few minutes, then started eating. It was slow, thoughtful and deliberate. She chewed carefully, then jumped a little when Katniss plopped into the booth. She lifted her napkin to wipe her lips.
“...finished working, then?”
"For today anyway," Katniss replied, smiling tiredly. She wasn't scheduled for the evening shift at the Wal-mart today, which was both a blessing and a curse. She decided she'd have to feed Rita another fake story about her and Peeta again. Rita didn't have to know her source, she'd pay anyway, and the money meant less pressure on her and her mom. It was better than asking for handouts (so why did she feel nauseous at the thought?)
"It's a good job, just leaves you wiped some days."
“I can imagine,” Pansy said with a nod. Though, she couldn’t really. Pansy didn’t have to work. She didn’t have to do anything, and her parents’ money would take care of her. Though, she was going to school to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She probably would end up working after school to keep herself busy, anyway.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee?” She asked, setting her fork down.
"You don't have to." Katniss replied, in a tone of voice that said she could really, really use a cup of coffee and she probably would accept the hit to her pride to have one right now. She leaned forward, resting her chin on the table. "But thanks."
“Sure. It’s no problem.” Pansy watched the poor girl melt until she had her chin resting on the table. “I mean, Mummy and Daddy are picking up the tab, anyway.” She gave Katniss a wink, then flagged down another waitress to bring out a couple cups of coffee.
"Lucky." Katniss muttered. Her mother was useless. She didn't know what Prim would go through if Katniss were gone and only their mother was to care for her. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She'd probably never find out anyway - she'd be dead.
Pansy gave a little shrug of her shoulder. She’d learned early on not to compare her situation with others. The waitress brought out a couple of coffee cups and some cream and sugar, then went away. Pansy was glad for it, she didn’t need any more company.
“How long was your shift?” She asked, putting some cream and sugar into her coffee cup.
"Six hours today. It's shorter on school nights. I'd work more but I'm not allowed to." Katniss didn't lift her head, staring at the coffee cup as if willing the liquid into her blood stream. When the coffee refused to obey, she lifted her head and stirred in some cream and sugar.
Funny. She hated coffee in the dreams.
“...School nights? Do you still go to school?” Pansy thought she was older than that. High school? If she wasn’t allowed to work... Pansy lifted the coffee and sipped, then made a face. “Not the best coffee in the world, is it?”
"I'm sixteen," Katniss explained, plaintively. She took a long sip of the coffee and exhaled. "Better than my mom makes, at least. She'll just turn on the maker and forget about it."
"Holy cow," Pansy said. Her face was shocked first, but then fell into a grin. "You don't look like you're sixteen."
Katniss narrowed her eyes at Pansy. "Really? This job must make me look thirty then."
“No, no, sorry,” Pansy said, shaking her head. She hadn’t meant to offend. “I just thought you were my age.”
"..you're not sixteen?" Katniss asked, sipping her coffee again. "I thought you were my age."
“I’m nineteen. But I’m old for my age.” Pansy said, smirking into her cup of coffee.
"You hardly look it." Katniss replied. "You look like jailbait."
Pansy gave a good natured snort. “Gee, thanks.” She shook her head. “I’m definitely not jailbait. Definitely not.” She took a bite from her salad. Katniss had been right, it was very good.
“So, Katniss... what do you do when you’re not exhausted at work or accepting cups of strangers from strange, jail bait girls?”
“You’re protesting too much.” Katniss said slyly. The coffee was perking her up. “Take care of my sister. Read. Dream about forests.”
“Forests? There’s a forest in my dreams, too. Only, it’s forbidden.” Pansy said, with a little smirk. “I’m not sure I’ll ever go into it. It’s a little bit terrifying.” She sipped from her own coffee. Katniss seemed like a pretty cool girl.
"Ours was too. On pain of death. But it was that or starve. My dad taught me to hunt. I loved the forest. It was... Good memories."
Pansy nodded. “We had food outside the forest,” she said. “Our forest was full of scary creatures and dangerous things. I’m not even sure what all is in there, but I hear there’s Centaurs in there.” She said, then shrugged. “I’ll never go in there.”
Katniss shrugged a shoulder. “The worse things were the muttations. Mutated creatures genetically modified to be deadlier or nastier than the real thing. Avoid those and you’re golden. Avoid the peacekeepers and you’re golden.”
She’d rather face a centaur.
“Genetically modified? That sounds... sci-fi.” Pansy said. Though, she wasn’t smiling. “Why wouldn’t you want to tango with the peacekeepers? The name makes them sound good.”
Katniss smiled grimly. "That's the point. Make them sound good. I got along with most of them. They looked the other way when I sold my game meat. They need to eat too."
Pansy was starting to think that the place in Katniss’ dream was a lot worse off than the place in hers. Afterall, she was in Slytherin with Draco, they had plenty of food and drink, and even though the classes were a bit of a pain sometimes, her life wasn’t in true danger. “I see. Do you... um... have any special powers in your dreams?”
"If you count shooting a squirrel through the eyes with an arrow, yes. Just a lot of practice shooting and hunting. And learning how to survive on very little." She frowned a bit. "When I have those dreams I realize how lucky I have it for real. Even if I have to work hard."
“Through the eye? Wow.” Pansy nodded. “Maybe archery is your superpowers.” She thought about that next thought for a moment. She was a spoiled, little, rich girl in both the dreams and in reality. She didn’t have it anywhere as bad as others. “I’m a witch in my dreams.”
"I would love to be a witch? Could you conjur food?" The question was almost automatic. Certainly ingrained. Even in this world there'd been many nights when she'd gone hungry.
Pansy’s face fell a little. “Actually... no. See, there’s this law of Elemental Transfiguration. Food is one of those things you can’t conjure out of thin air. If you have some, you can make more... or if you know where it is, you can get it... but you can’t make some food out of nothing.” She said, a little sadly.
“That first thing. Making more from some you already have. That alone would be fantastic!”
“It’s possible. I’ve seen my mom--” Pansy’s voice cut off. The strange part was that that wasn’t her mom. That was some dream woman, not Narcissa Malfoy. It was confusing. Her face fell a little.
“What is it, Pansy?” Katniss tilted her head, setting her coffee down. She didn’t know why she was talking even this much. She hated sharing herself.
“It’s just... in the dreams I have a mom. But it’s not my mom here.” Pansy said, then leaned in across the table conspiratorially. “I think... I think my mother and father in this world aren’t my mother and father. Not really. I don’t look anything like them, and... well, now I’m dreaming about a completely different set of parents. Isn’t that strange?”
“My mom is still my mom. Lazy and stupid.” Katniss sighed. “But...they’re completely different parents? Not even a little bit the same? Like my sister is a bit younger in my dreams..but she’s still the same.. most of the people are. I’m so sorry.”
As much as her mom pissed her off and as often as she wished that the woman would get out of her funk and actually do something to help the family for a change, she couldn’t imagine dreaming of another person being in her place.
“Completely different people.” Pansy said with a nod. “People I don’t know outside the dreams. And my brother isn’t my brother... he’s a guy I know at school. A guy I’ve...” got feelings for. “Known for years, I suppose, as we run in the same pureblood circles.” Pureblood. That was strange to say outside of the dreams.
"Ew." Katniss said, " that's all kinda incestuous. What's a Pureblood?"
“...No no, it’s... well.” Pansy frowned a little, then took a big gulp from her coffee cup to try and steady her nerves. “...yeah, I guess it is. Not like I’ve got those feelings for him in the real world, anyway. And he’s gay, so it wouldn’t...” She shouldn’t have said that. Pansy cleared her throat. “I don’t know.” She focused on the other question.
“There are two types of magical people in my dream world. Those who are born to witches and wizards, and those who are born in the non-magical community and yet can do magic anyway. I was born to magical parents, making me a pureblood.”
Katniss shrugged a shoulder. "Still, what if you dream about..you know..with him." Sex. She couldn't even SAY the word. She didn't like that word. It made her think weird things about Peeta. She didn't like thinking weird things about Peeta (in fact she was incredibly pissed at him after her latest dream).
"Sounds elitist."
“No. No no,” Pansy said, shaking her head. “In my dreams I’m like, twelve. Eleven. Whatever. There’s none of that.” The dream Pansy would have loved his attention. She had to admit that she’d traced his name over and over in her notebooks with her quill, but the eleven year old Pansy was dreaming about kissing and cuddling, not sex.
“Yeah. It’s definitely elitist.” Though, Pansy couldn’t help but buy into it. She’d been raised in that frame of mind.
"That's a relief. What are you going to do about it?"
“Do about what? I don’t think I can change the elitism of my people in the dreams.” Pansy said, poking at what was left of the food on her plate with her fork.
“Here, though.” Katniss set down her drink. She was sitting straighter, and felt more awake now. “I mean..with the...can you really do magic? Does it translate here?”
Pansy shook her head with a little shrug. “No. I don’t think so.” She paused. “I don’t think magic exists in this world. Then again, I could be wrong. I don’t have my wand, don’t have potions making supplies...” She paused again, briefly. “Why? Do things from your dreams translate?”
"I've been too scared to pick up a bow. I could try to make one but that was my father's skill, not mine."
“Do you... have access to one?” Pansy asked. “I’ve always thought it would be kinda fun to practice archery.”
“No.” Katniss shook her head. Bows were expensive. She had to eat. Maybe if she sold another fake story about her and Peeta. guilt
Pansy shifted her weight in her chair, fiddling with her salad again with her fork. Finally she set it down and leaned in a little. “...do you think... I know we’ve only just met and everything, but I’m on this learning new things kick. I learned to fish. Do you know how to fish? Unimportant, anyway,” she spoke quickly.
“If I was to get my hands on some bows and arrows, do you think you could teach me to fire them?”
"I know how to fish!" Katniss said, excitedly. She blinked and sat back, looking around, embarrassed at her outburst. "I..if I can shoot as well as in my dreams, sure."
“Great.” Pansy was going to have to figure out how to get her hands on some bows and arrows now. She gave Katniss a grin. “We could go fishing sometime, too.”
"You have no idea how much I've missed getting out into the wilds. My dad and I used to camp, and fish and all that. I haven't see a tree that wasn't in a park in years!"
“Well, that’s just sad.” Pansy said. “We’ll need to fix that little problem.”
"I just need to get some time off." Katniss sighed. Her drink was almost empty which made her a sad panda, on top of it all. "Which will probably happen after the holidays, like every year."
“Well, here.” Pansy pulled an old receipt out of her pocket, something she’d gotten when she purchased some nail polish at the drug store. She flipped it over and scribbled her name and telephone number on the back. “When you get some time off... give me a call. Or text, whatever.”
Katniss took the receipt and tucked it into her pocket. She didn’t want to look at the cost of the nail polish. “I will, thank you. I need to get going though, I need to make dinner. Thanks for the conversation. I think I needed that.”
It was incredibly cheap nail polish. From the dollar bin at Target. “No problem.” Pansy gave her a little wave. “Really, anytime.” She smiled softly. “You’re great. Really. I’d love to have made a new friend tonight.”
Katniss found herself blushing. Was Pansy flirting with her? Did she like it? She wasn’t sure. It made her feel GUILT though. She hated feeling guilt, especially when she couldn’t place it.
“Yeah..I think I’d love that too.” She waved, and then FLED! To collect her thoughts.