Rodrick Longfellow

Do you associate with the Black Eagles at all? Have you in the past? If you no longer do, why not?

“Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever associated myself with the Black Eagles. I don’t necessarily agree with everything the capitol does, not to mention in my current position I’m far too afraid to put my own family at risk. Not to mention the violence caused by the rebels associated with the Black Eagles is far too great to ignore...”

If you did work with the Black Eagles, what actions did you take for the rebellion? Why did you feel drawn to these tasks?

“ I did not, but the bunch of fuckers can stay the hell away from my boat. Be creative, go after the fish farms or something next time...”

What was your opinion of Primrose Everdeen?

“She’s dead.” He sighed softly, deciding that was all he could really say. “I really didn’t know her on a personal level...”

Was anyone in your family associated with the Black Eagles?

“Honestly if anyone in my family was involved in such reckless behavior it would probably be my brothers Wade and Pike. Not to mention, they have children to protect from the Capitol...”

Would you turn someone else in for their rebel association?

“No, I might not support the rebellion or agree with it... However, it’s not my place to stand in their way. I shall not be judge and jury for someone else’s political beliefs or wishes.”

What do you think is vital for a successful rebellion?

“Ah, this must be where my years in the Capitol give me a leg up then,” he said. “Maybe one of the few times that can be true.”

He sighed. “Yeah, it was a bit chaotic,” he said. “I ended up chasing cows all around the fields in my area. I live in a small village, middle of nowhere, so not much else happened, but… I feel for the people who were more involved.” Such as Rodrick himself. “I mean, it’d be one thing if it’d all worked…” But of course it hadn’t, it never could have.

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Rodrick chuckled “I think I just tried to grow up to fast... The world hit be, and it just wasn’t fun anymore. It took me a long time to actually slow down and enjoy it again...” Rodrick counted his blessings where he could, his own brothers had to work hard to have the same luxuries. 

“I can’t imagine wrangling cows was easy, not if it’s anything like wrangling my cats back into the house before a storm...” If anything Rodrick felt bad for the poor animals, it was none of their fault that any of this was happening.

Rodrick did his best to defend his own goal, eventually getting a knack for shooting the puck back over to Asher’s side of the court with vigor; not exactly worried about aim yet. “Glad to hear you’re fine.”

“I feel like you can choose not to help. I mean, it’d mean you suck at your job, but after so many defeats from Four, it doesn’t even fucking matter anymore, professor.” Carol shrugged. He’d always felt offended that his district fell from graces, even though it appeared that Rodrick preferred it when the untrained went into the Games unwillingly. He wasn’t going to argue with that logic, mostly because he found it too funny to take seriously.

“I won’t starve. I’ll talk to Sirena fucking Atlantica, and she’ll send me a pretzel. Maybe she actually wants to see Four succeed, and doesn’t just say that everything is stupid all day long.” Carol knew he could rely on Rodrick too, even if those gifts weren’t going to be as enthusiastic as they should have been. And he’d have support even without the mentors vouching for him. He’d make sure of it. What was his forte, if not the promise of a good show? “Who is as skilled as I am? Can you make me a list? They’re rebels. They grew up poor and now they’re setting the whole country on fire. It doesn’t take fine skill or talent. You just have to be a little hateful.” Then, he scoffed. The rebels were none of his concern. He’s been training all his life for this moment.

“Ah, yes, the environment. How did I not think of that? Too bad the arena is the most unpredictable element of them all. Maybe there’s no environment. Maybe they throw us into the void.” He toughened when he spoke next. “I’ll plan what can be planned. The rest I will handle on sight. It’s not like I have any other choice.”

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Rod was dumbfounded, sitting there looking between the horizon and Carol as he didn’t really know what to say. Fucking, if anything at least Carol had the fucking balls to piss people off and be on his merry way. “Fucking Sirena? You think she’s going to be involved? She’s on fucking vacation, running around enjoying the beach... What incentive does she have to help you?”

“A pretzel? Survive on a Pretzel? What happens when the sponsor money runs out on day twenty or so?” The games rarely went on that long anymore, but sometimes the kids survived for weeks at a time. “Oh, you want a list? You need a fucking list really? The Capitol, District one, District two... Your own damned district mate will probably try and kill you.”

“You don’t think the rebels don’t hate our guts? Have you not seen what they are capable of? You know I didn’t have training until I was seventeen and I won, Ashton was reaped against his will and survived. Heck, if being a career mattered a lot more of us would have won by now...”

“Are you... Not okay? Did someone drop you on the head?” He was still dumbfounded by the sheer fucking stupidity.

“If by mess, you mean the fact that you’re morally bound to try to help out Finnick Odair’s grandson, even though he is dumber than I am, then don’t worry about it, professor. Do whatever your conscience tells you to do.” With that line, he smiled. Carol didn’t even mind, not really. “As in for my plan, I was thinking of starting basic. Maybe killing a few tributes, maybe surviving in the arena. Or was I supposed to do something else? I’m not sure,” he mock-frowned, more interested in what Rodrick had to say than in what he was saying back.

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“That’s where you’re fucking wrong... I’m not morally obligated to help either of you, you both did this to yourselves.” Rodrick was far less sympathetic to career kids, Ashton and other kids reaped from four often earned his undying sympathies but volunteers? Well, they needed a good kick in the pants for signing up for the damned hunger games. 

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. All of this, isn’t worth it... Not unless you plan to die anyways. Surviving isn’t a guaranteed, you have at least seven other kids just as skilled as you are.” He then paused for dramatic effect, to let it sink in “-then at least ten of which, you’ll need to hunt down before you potentially starve to death.”

“You need to stop focusing on killing other tributes, and focus on what the environment can do to kill you...” He cared about Carol, he needed him to snap out of whatever murder revenge fantasy he had created in his head.

He had no god damned idea why he decided to volunteer without a recommendation, and why he decided to volunteer at the same time as the Odair boy either... He was being reckless with his life. Rodrick approached the young man on the beach outside the resort, scratching at his head and sighing deeply as he stopped next to Carol.

“Alright then genius... Tell me what your fucking plan in, because from my perspective this seems like one giant fucking mess.”

@caroleyre​

“Not like shuffle board at all,” he told him. “Have you really never played it before?” He tsked his tongue. “It’s straightforward. Get the puck in the goals. Block it from the opponent. Let’s go.” He hit the puck towards Rodrick’s side.

“Glad that was the only injury,” he told him, genuine. “Hopefully things will be calm for… awhile. Or forever.”

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“They don’t really have this type of stuff back home... I come from a small fishing village originally, then after I came back home I was ‘too old’ for these things.” He argued, he was sure Sirena had grown up with this type of thing. When Asher explained the concept and rules, he nodded his head “Alright... pretty easy concept.”

“Did you end up affected by the rebellion back in ten? I was a tad too absorbed in the chaos here to really watch the news...” He said preparing himself from a puck attack from the other side; he seemed a tad tense. 

“I should have,” he said, not telling him that he’d been in Four before, had in fact lived here for a few months a couple years back. That was just for long enough that he could learn how to pilot a boat, buy a couple dozen, and have them sent to Ten, where he used them to facilitate escape across the border.

“Oof, sorry to hear about that,” he said, picking up the puck and tossing it into the middle of the table, not wasting much time before starting the game. “Hope you weren’t mixed up in anything too bad?”

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Rodrick never pressed really, but he had a feeling that Asher didn’t tell him everything. He respected the man’s privacy however “If you think the weather is nice, you should meet my mother... She’s a little ray of sunshine.” Sagittaria Longfellow, how on earth she had raised a man like Rodrick... No one would ever know.  “-she also makes an excellent loaf of seaweed bread.”

“Well... You know me, always dying for action.” Rodrick mused, shaking his head as he stared at the table for a moment, not entirely sure what to do really. He hadn’t really bothered ever playing air hockey. “-is this like shuffle board?” “The academy was attacked and I only got hit in the limbs... I take that as good.”

“What can I say,” he replied, “I’m turning over a new leaf. This weather is good for me.” There was also benefit in avoiding his responsibilities, pretending that they were in fact not here at the start of 127 at all. He handed him the other striker. “Your leg still bothering you?”

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“Maybe you should have come visit district four sooner... The weather is almost always lovely.” It was true, minus the occasional storm it was pretty peaceful along the coast and the temperature was generally pretty warm across the district minus the far north.

“Oh yeah, I never told you... I was shot.” He said, taking the striker, before moving over to his respective side of the table.

Prue narrowed her eyes in contemplation, but gave a small nod. “Well where was the navy when the rebels were attacking Panem’s premiere coast?” It just seemed unfathomable that if their navy was indeed still patrolling to wrangle any lingering rebels that they hadn’t been there when the luxury vessels had been attacked. 

“It seems the rebels attacked the wrong boats… ships… whatever. If they really wanted to hurt the Capitol they’d have attacked the fishing ones and the cruise ships. In fact it seems the rebels did more damage to the everyday people of Panem than those that they claimed to be fighting against.” The rebels decisions had never made much sense to Prue, but she’d also never tried to actually understand their objectives. 

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“Well in my experience, no one is going to take up a fight they don’t think they can win... We aren’t fighting an army, we are fighting a band of disorganized ruffians.” He started, helping her to better understand their motives or at least from what he understood. “Let me ask you this, would you prefer fighting an armed opponent or an unarmed opponent Ms.Doré? If the rebels had attacked an armed opponent like the navy, then they would have been mowed down...”

“Instead they took the opportunity to destroy mostly undefended property. All of the larger ships, anything owned by the capitol is well guarded and defended... The boats attacked were private property only guarded by paid security staff and everyone in four knows that anyone who owns one of them; is probably involved with capitol business.”

“They are attacking what they know they hate; which is the capitol but also the hunger games and by extension the victors, our possessions and the Academy.” He paused for a moment, sighing deeply “We are simply collateral to them, and they are a threat to our peace.”

Slate blinked at him for a second. Like, yeah, he was definitely a dick first, just with his stupid pranks, but also, the dude’s response felt like an escalation. “I mean, if you want to talk to Hestia about how hard her life’s been, let me know, I’ll get a front row seat,” he said. “And then I’ll tell her you suggested I should go die in a coal mine. I bet that’ll go great. You know, a full-grown adult picking on an 18-year-old shithead, it’s always a good look.”

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“She already knows I’m a murderer and that I volunteer to do so for money... So threatening an eighteen year old isn’t exactly much of an abnormality for me. I’ve defiantly done much worse... So let me repeat myself when say, don’t be stupid and get yourself killed. Even Hestia has killed people, as nice as she looks...” Rodrick said casually before pulling out a cigarette from his pocket.

“Well then Mr. Canary, you enjoy the rest of the ball and may the odds be ever in your favor this January.” He said casually before lighting up his smoke and moving away from the insufferable shithead as he put it.

“Rodrick,” Auri smiled to greet the other mentor, setting her drink down on the table in front of her. “It feels that way sometimes,” she chuckled, though she knew a party like this really had almost nothing to do with the Victors at all. The way Auri saw it, it was all about optics. The party that went on despite everything that had happened over the last few months, the public display of Primrose Everdeen’s execution, the location of the ball– it was all, as usual, very calculated. “I have to admit, I was curious about Thirteen, but actually being here is a little unnerving.” The idea of being underground was enough to creep her out, and it didn’t help to have to the trip sprung on her. “I’m alright, though, as long as I don’t think too hard about how the sky is fake,” she tipped her head to the side in a soft shrug. “How are you?”

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Rodrick knew that parties like this were all for show, if anything they were to parade around the capitol’s victors for the sponsors and show off their power. The president could heard them around where she wanted. 

“When I was younger I was curious about places like this... Then I turned eighteen, then all I could do was dream of home.” He said before then licking his lips as he thought about it some more. He had heard rumors that the recent victor, Nvidia hadn’t returned home to three and he was curious as to why. His icy blue eyes looking up at the electronic sky “-It’s a tad unnerving, I’ll agree with you on that.”

He shrugged his arms “I’ve been better, but I think most of us feel that way...” Rodrick was just happy to be off crutches, even if he was occasionally limping around. “You? How have you been..?”

“Did I do anything fun?” Cain narrowed his eyes at Rodrick. Did he really not know, or was he just trying to be nice enough not to bring it up? “My house got burned down, and my fish died. Now, we’re all stuck in a hotel in the Capitol until my dad’s out of the hospital and we’re not homeless anymore,” he answered dryly before waving an Avox down to get a sparkling fruit punch. “Other than that, no, the break was pretty boring.” Despite his very real fear at the time, Cain was able to talk about it now with a matter-of-fact annoyance. “What about you? Anything exciting happen in Four?”

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“Alright, so I take that as a no then.” Rodrick looked exhausted just listening to Cain’s answer to his innocent question. To be fair, Rodrick hadn’t been keeping up with news outside of four since all the insanity started, so he had no idea Cain had suffered so much.  “Sorry to hear your fish died?” Did people keep pet fish? Rodrick had seen aquariums before, but he thought it was some strange capitol entertainment thing. He didn’t think other districts also kept fish... 

“Got shot in the leg, had a few friends murdered and lost my boat... If we want to talk about the break.” He started, maintaining his stoic tone as he was mostly unpassed by Cain’s own annoyance. “Other than that, I retreated to my old house, where I mostly spent time with my parents and my cats.” Ash was also there, but Rodrick wasn’t going to let anyone suspect anything was up between them.

“Good time...”

“I cannot believe you don’t understand. I understand,” Lysander huffed. As usual, he sought all sides and perspectives – but even though he did, the side he was on still felt the most reasonable at the end of the day. “Both sides essentially say – there are things more important than all of the human lives lost. The Hunger Games do it for peace and a controlled, civilized society. The rebellion militates for freedom, for the right of anarchy.” He explained it as plainly as he could, keeping a pragmatic voice on.

“I wouldn’t know where this silence you’re talking about could even be.”

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“History is known to repeat itself, and who knows what might happen; but I assume a war is brewing in the distance. We must only be prepared to protect our families and maintain safety at all cost...” Rodrick had learned over the years that the capitol functioned a particular way, navigate it successful and one could truly gain enough power to control their own fate and the fate of others if they so wished. He had earned that right, blood on his hands and damned to hell but earned it non-the-less. “Status quo might not be perfect, but it’s better than the unknown of rebellious chaos...”

“There is this one place, out in the middle of the ocean... When you are all alone on a calm night. Everything goes absolutely silence if only for a moment... It’s utopia, but I have yet to find it.”

He may have squeezed a little harder when Rodrick spoke. Ash didn’t mean to he’d just, really needed to hear that. “I don’t hate you, either. And, I’m not mad at you, the whole situation is just, fucked. It never should have happened.” ‘The fight or the academy.’ These words weren’t hard for him to say. They were almost commonplace. He wasn’t great at thinking before he spoke when he was upset, which was often.  

“I’ll give us the benefit of the doubt.” The hand wrapped around his gave him a bout of reassurance. “That’s supposed to be a good thing, I think.” Ash plucked a berry out of one of the small trees lining the hallway as the two walked by. “Like we had something better to do…” he paused, glancing at Rod. “Which, I can think of a few things.” He tried and failed to stop a grin, nibbling on the stem of the berry, before popping it in his mouth. Every plant was edible, right? 

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Rodrick nodded his head, but remained quiet as he squeezed  his hand being mindful to listen to Ashton. He shook his head “I don’t want you to change your life’s opinions or who you are... You are a good man Ashton.” He said offering a quick peck on the cheek as they walked down the hall, passing all the fake and real plants along their path. 

When Ashton plucked an un-identified berry from one of the bushes however, Rodrick looked horribly unimpressed. “By Poseidon, you don’t eat random fucking plants... How did you ever fucking survive the arena I have no idea.” He said before dragging him along, towards the door, still nagging him like a grumpy old partner.

“Yeah, something better to do not involve me preforming CPR or anything...”

“Well, it’s good you have a say” Abel smiled. Some people didn’t, and some people looked so uncomfortable in their extravagant outfits that did not suit their personalities. It was a real shame. 

“I think you could definitely pull off some colour” he nodded encouragingly. There was never a point in his life in which he didn’t want to experiment with his clothing, but he was definitely getting more bold as he got older. “Oh that’s brilliant, I still have to visit, maybe I can bring my daughter, she loves animals”

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“I like having some control over my life...” Rodrick remembered the many times he was dressed as mermen and mythical creatures of the sea, one time he was even painted and dressed up as a palm tree. Something he was willing to do even into his mid twenties, however as he started to gain more influence he put his foot down in certain places.

“I really like purples and blues, maybe I’ll only wear a little grey just so I don’t overwhelm myself too quickly.” He thought about wearing a tad more color, maybe something not as dark and gloomy if possible. Maybe...

“Huh... You never mentioned her before.” Rodrick had remembered the last ball, he had asked about family then but Abel had never mentioned anyone beyond his parents. “-either way, you’d both be more than welcome. I’m sure the cats would be happy to have more friends.” How curious, he wondered why he was mentioning it now.

His comment earned him a roll of her eyes, though the amusement in it was obvious. He was right, though. It had taken a couple of years after her victory for her to even see Rodrick as an actual person as opposed to just some former Career asshole, and a couple more for something even resembling a friendly rapport to build between them. “Will you ever let that go? A decade’s passed, I’m a better person now.” In all honesty, she did not know if she was a better person per se, but she was certainly no longer as quick to judge.

“She is,” Ash agreed, letting Rodrick convince her for the time being. Her gaze then instinctively followed his down to his wounded leg. “Once we get back to the Capitol, you can get it fixed and you’ll be good as new, I’m sure of it.” The question that remained, of course, was when they were going to go back, but with the rebellion having been squashed, it would probably be sooner rather than later. “Just try to stay alive until then, alright?”

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Rodrick was not necessarily the best with first impressions... Especially with high strung personalities, or anyone whom was quick to assume things about him. Rodrick wasn’t exactly easy, he did keep an heir of mystery pretty well. “Not until the day we die...” He teased, before then shaking his head and mouthing the word no. “We are both much better people now. At least I’d like to think that we are...”

Rodrick thought of a witty comeback, but suddenly the idea made him a little warm, he hadn’t felt this nervous around a woman in a long time. “I was going to ask you to dance, but given my current state that might be the final nail in the coffin.” Of course, a single dance probably wouldn’t kill him but it might hurt his dignity a tad.

“I’ll need to remember to ask again, when I can actually attempt the task properly.” He said, before offering Ash a small smile. For once, Rodrick’s eyes didn’t seem so cold and harsh.