“‘I’m busy, Perri. Go hang out with the micronations, Perri.’ IDIOT!”
She punched the wall. It hurt, quite a lot, and when she examined it the bricks had taken most of the skin off her knuckles.
“Damn you, Alfred,” she muttered. “This is your fault.” She shoved her bleeding hand in her pocket and stalked off. There was yelling already coming from the conference room. They’re all idiots, she thought.
Startled, Perri looked up, and saw a young man hurrying down the hallway, looking about as pleased as she felt. Behind him followed a girl about Perri’s age, walking rather more sedately and wearing a frilly red dress that looked horribly girly and didn’t really match either her shaggily-bobbed hair or the blue ribbon in it. Perri had to scrabble around a bit to remember who they were - she’d had to teach herself, and Alfred was awful at geography anyway.
“You’ll be alright out here, won’t you? I’m sorry this is such short notice, the pack of fools has no concept of timing, I swear…”
“Yes, bruder, I’ll be fine,” said the girl - Luxembourg? No, Liechtenstein. Heidi… something-or-other.
“You’re sure? I don’t have to go-”
Liechtenstein laughed sweetly. “Yes you do, Vasch, you know what’ll happen if someone’s not there to keep them under control. I’ll be fine.”
“You have your phone? Text me if you need anything.”
Perri felt her fists clench. How was it fair for this pair to be so perfect? She would give anything to see America look at her the way Switzerland was looking at his sister. Why couldn’t America be the kind of guy who would worry about leaving her alone? To say 'text me if you need anything’ instead of letting her eat microwave meals in a dark kitchen at nine-thirty at night because he’d forgotten about her again?
She decided that she hated Heidi Vogel.
She still followed her, though. She didn’t have much else to do, and the halls of the U.N. building were surprisingly creepy when you were by yourself. Even this stupid, girly, brother-complex wuss was better company than Perri’s own thoughts–
Okay, stupid girly wuss who apparently could draw a gun really fast.
Perri looked down at the cold muzzle pressed against her jaw and tried not to breathe.
Liechtenstein looked her up and down, then pulled the gun away and laughed.
“Oh, it’s just you,” she said, and somehow her soft voice managed to make it sound like the observation it was and not an insult. “Panem, right? America’s sister? Sorry, I didn’t recognize your footsteps - I thought maybe terrorists had gotten in again.”
The gun disappeared somewhere in the folds of the dress. “Anyway, why were you following me?”
“No reason,” Perri said hastily. “I’m just… bored.”
Heidi looked at her steadily, blue eyes flickering across Perri’s stiff stance and carefully neutral face, and she said, “Are you alright, Perri?”
Perri froze for a moment.
B-but that’s crazy, Panem! Mr America is amazing and really nice, so how could you feel–
“I’m fine,” she said loudly. Too loudly, maybe, because the other girl didn’t look convinced. Heidi caught Perri’s gaze and held it, and the gentleness in her tone as she said “Really?” held the promise of listening, but the last person who had listened–
Heidi regarded her for a long moment. “Well,” she said finally, “if you ever want to hang out, or just talk to someone… my door’s always open.”
Perri turned away wordlessly. She wanted desperately to run back, to say something, anything, but she didn’t know how. So she kept walking, and her solitary footsteps echoed in the narrow hallway.
@shadows-in-the-light-of-day this is maybe an AUish thing? or not? idk… but here. uvu
