Gale felt so out of place.

So alone.

When Prim made her presence known, he motioned for her to stand next to him. "Yeah, it...it really is." He sighed and reached out for her hand, putting his atop hers, their fingers lacing together as he then rested them against the top of the cool stone wall separating them from the edge of everything. "To be honest I was beginning to feel unlike myself, like being here was changing me." He said to her as he kept his eyes set on the view sprawled out before them. "But it kind of feels like home now." He said and glanced down at their hands. He smiled to Prim and leaned against the wall. He was feeling a lot better now. When he had been alone, able to reflect on the city and its people and their weird obsession with the Hunger Games, he felt like he was slowly going insane.

But when Prim found him, when he saw her, everything stopped spinning and even his mind could settle down. He then looked back down at their hands. His were bigger than hers, had more wear thanks to the hunting he did while she stayed indoors. Though that dynamic had already begun to change after Katniss had been taken from them. Prim and Gale went outside more and soon he knew, her hands would be able to reflect how strong she was on the inside. Thanks to the primping of the Capital, many scars and bruises had been erased and it somehow saddened him to think that a person's history, their bumps and scrapes could somehow just vanish. "I miss the cut I had here." He used his other hand to gesture to the line that used to run from the end of his thumb, to the side of his wrist, on the back of his hand. He got that when he had been shooting with Katniss when they were younger, back then the damage served as a firm reminder to always be safe and aware of everything around you.

He then moved his hand that was atop Prim's and traced his fingers to where a small scar would have been. "They're trying to change us." He muttered. He refused to let them turn him into one of them, someone polished and pretty. It made him sick and he longer for home. Rather than dwell on the bit of anger, he looked back to Prim and found comfort in the fact that despite the Capital's meddling, he could still see her for her. He could never look at Johanna and see anything but the Capital's strings attached to her. He knew she may need to be their ally but for now he wanted to push all of that aside. "If they're going to change us, we should change for the better so we can be stronger and help those we care about." Gale said, still looking at her, feeling more warm and relaxed than when he was out with Haymitch, being paraded like some glorified house pet. For now though, he was happy where he was, in his mind, back home with all his scars earned, where they belonged. And he had Prim. "I'm glad I'm here, I don't regret volunteering." He said quietly as his hand went back down, this time curling around her's. 

"You're stuck with me a little while longer." Gale grinned, teasingly.

Since Katniss was doing her best to behave more, she had to limit herself and not let out anymore swear words. She knew Effie didn't like it and she also knew it had to be adjusted for the interviews in a week. Still, she couldn't help but swear in her head but it wasn't nearly as gratifying as yelling it aloud. She hadn't noticed Haymitch was around, as she was preoccupied with trying not to blind herself with the black gunk. Even his words fell on deaf ears, it wasn't until she felt someone sit by her, that she noticed Haymitch was going to witness a moment of weakness, not just weakness though, a moment of stupidity. Katniss blushed and tried to roll her eyes but that proved to be difficult since one of her eyes was glued shut. She heard him chuckle softly and it only agitated her even more, summoning more red to cross her face. "Don't laugh at me." She whined helplessly and let out a huff of tiredness and annoyance. This was how she was going to die, death by mascara.

That would be a hilarious news segment.

Now she was tempted to just fall over and die if it meant having a laugh about it.

Having finally looked up, she glanced to Haymitch who told her to think nothing of what Johanna had done. She swallowed and glanced off, not sure if he was defending Johanna or trying to make her feel better. Katniss couldn't tell and it bothered her, made her anxious and a little worried. Her first instinct was to make a snippy remark at him about his perverted crush on a total psychopath but his next comment caused her to hold her tongue. Katniss smiled slightly. "I feel like she needs to stab her dessert and throw it across the room...only then she can devour her prey." She laughed a little and looked down at her hands, stained with black crud. She glanced back to Haymitch and decided if he was going to sit there, he could at least be useful. "Come here." Katniss muttered and pulled his arm over and rolled down the sleeve so she could use to get somewhat clean. She didn't feel very bad about messing up his shirt, though he did look good in something tailored to him, she Capital could just clean it or get him a new one. 

Katniss used his shirt to get around her eyes and along her cheeks so that most of the muck was off her, she then just wiped her hands on her black pants, not caring too much about appearances. "Thanks." She said as she handed his arm back to him, smiling slightly. "Sorry about your shirt, you do like good in it." She considered and glanced down, her blush nearly gone, hadn't it not been for her comment. "I don't think Johanna's your type." She couldn't help but say out of nowhere. "So you know..." She looked up to Haymitch and remembered hearing a few whispers about what Gale had said about Haymitch's hair. "I don't think she likes your hair but I do, it suits you." Katniss said and decided she would now rather be in a lake filled with mascara because she felt incredibly out of her element. "Just like wearing deadly mascara suits her." She quickly said, trying to hide once again behind a witty comment.

Still, she couldn't help but laugh a little at their current situation. "I'm glad you're not letting them change something about you, even if it's your hair."