Katniss didn't think her comment would have annoyed him so much but for whatever reason, it did. And that annoyed her. She clenched her jaw and made a quick remark. "Fine, fuck off then." She snapped. She wasn't a kid and if anyone was acting immature, it was him. Katniss decided to give up on being patient with him for the rest of the night. She was insulted and mentally threw her hands in the air, frustrated. There was another comment lingering on the tip of her tongue, that Haymitch would probably be a horrible friend but he'd never know because he probably never kept any and that she didn't want to be his anyway. That stayed with her because even Katniss knew it was pretty mean and being a bit anti-social herself, she didn't have much to stand on herself. At any rate, the two had something new to focus on. She could feel like like Gale, that's why their bond was so tight, they were rather in tune with nature around them. The girl moved closer to the edge where she last saw the two, trying to swallow her lingering anger directed towards the jerk known as Haymitch Abernathy.
Gale held his breath and quickly spurred his thoughts together, collecting them.
He pulled the bow as well as an arrow out but did not set it up as Prim bent down to retrieve the knife, as if able to read his mind. Prim had asked if he could get it from here. It was dark, so it would be a challenge. His best choice would to lure it close with the knife and then shoot it down as it got closer and thus easier to see. In the back of his mind, he knew Katniss was close by and would be able to handle things if they somehow got out of hand. But Gale, at the moment, felt collected and calm. Now they were both armed. Good. "Don't worry, you're strong." He told her quietly and took the knife from her and gave her the bow and arrow to hold though he didn't think she would use it. From time to time, he would help her practice but the situation was different now. He felt a strong need to keep Prim safe just as he had done many times before. That feeling hadn't gone away like it had with Katniss. It wasn't that he considering Prim weak, no. He just wanted to make sure she was safe and happy, simple as that. "It needs to get closer." He whispered to the girl. "I'll hit it and then you shoot." He said.
Having heard Gale's voice, she followed it. "Yeah, come on." Katniss said to Haymitch, even though she was still upset with him. The girl moved slowly but with purpose. She saw gale and Prim off to the side in front of her. She had taken her bow and arrow with her and was ready to take a shot when she saw Gale launch the knife at the deer. It rose on its back legs and she saw that one of its front legs was bitten by something, possibly another, more dominant deer in the area. From the look of it, the poor thing really needed to be put out of its misery. "Gale-" She was cut off by him holding up a hand to her, signalling her to wait. She bit her lower lip and looked to see Prim with a bow and arrow. Katniss mentally willed her sister to land a good shoot but as the deer came closer, she began to worry and pulled her string back. There was a sudden woosh of air and the deer fell down.
She retracted her string and threw it down, absolutely stunned that Prim could shoot.
"That was amazing, Prim." She hurried over and Gale moved so Katniss could pull the girl into her arms. Katniss was so surprised and so proud to see her sister shoot that well. "I had no idea you could shoot. Did Gale teach you?" Katniss felt a little bad now, that she had not been the one to bring out the best in Prim. "I am so proud of you." She grinned, her chest warming up with pride and love in her sister. She let go and glanced to Gale, her grin turning into a smirk. "Thanks." She felt guilty for missing out on so much and she knew when she was gone, she'd miss Prim and her achievements even more. He smiled to her and saw Haymitch lurking with an ax, looking rather unhappy. Katniss looked back and rolled her eyes, not willing to let Haymitch spoil her mood for a second time that night. "Let's get this thing cooked huh?" She suggested and helped Gale drag it closer so they could skin it and take the parts they needed. Since food was hard to come by, at least for Gale and the other non-victors, they decided to take back the leftovers with them.
"You did really well, Prim." Gale said as they now sat around the fire while the meat was cooking.
The dark haired boy had already retrieved the knife he threw and had used it to skin and carve the deer. For now, it was tucked away where Prim had found it. In his mind, Prim had done a lot of growing up in her sister's absence. In a horrible way, Katniss volunteering saved Primrose in more ways than one. It pushed her to be strong, to take care of her mother and to learn real survival skills. As he turned over the meat, he could tell Katniss' silence was due to some kind of issue but he could only assume it had something to do with Haymitch, since otherwise, she was thrilled with her sister's impressive aim. He got up from where he was sitting and moved deliberately around his best friend, not wanting her to lash out at him, and stood by Haymitch. "I'd like to talk to you." Gale said, trying to assure himself that Haymitch was harmless and that if he ever needed to, Gale could protect Katniss for whatever reason.
When the two moved away enough for Gale's comfortable, he began. "Look, I know your relationship with Katniss is weird but believe it or not, she does look up to you and cares about you." Gale said. If Katniss could hear him, he'd probably get kicked for sure. "I know you like to hate everyone and that's fine but Katniss is important to me and her being sent back out there again is the last thing I want." He said. "She's taking this seriously and it might do her some good if you didn't put more pressure on her." She had a hard enough time with eating and sleeping, though ever since she had begun training with Haymitch, she had been getting better, but Haymitch didn't need to know that. "She's going to want to save you and whoever else has to go in for 12 but you have to make sure she-" He stopped himself before he misspoke. "Just please look after her...and cut her some slack."
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