scootch | [video]

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[video]

[The journal clicks to life - shaky at first, then clearing up to show Ellie's excited face.]

Oh man- is this what used to happen during Christmas? The whole surprise-gifts-under-the-tree or whatever... it's kind of late, and yeah, there's no tree, but--!!

[She turns the journal around to show her sparsely-decorated apartment at first, and then, when she fixes it, a big, box-style arcade machine, the game title of "The Turning" splashed across the front in faded letters. It looks kind of beaten up, but not in too terrible a condition.]

Does anybody know about this game? It's supposed to be so cool, I heard all about it from a friend back home. I can't get it to work, though... they're supposed to be plugged in, right? It's in the middle of the room, so the cord won't reach anything.

Can somebody strong come over and help me move it? I wanna give it a try! ...And if it doesn't work, would anybody know how to fix this kind of thing?

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They used to be. There were whole stores just for playing games like this. Kids would come in and play for hours, or at least until they ran out of money.

[At least, that's how the stories went.]

That sounds amazing! Where did kids get the money from?

[It sounds like the sort of thing they would have in the Capitol.]

From their parents, I guess. When they had them.

[Back then it was kind of normal to have at least one, for the most part. Or so she's heard.]

Oh, okay.

[Rue's voice is a little soft since the idea is pretty foreign to her. They had rations and food lines in District 11 with a bonus given once a month to spend on extra supplies. Money for playing, that was unheard of.]

Do you think there will be more games like that in Luceti?

Maybe. I haven't really been here long enough to know what to expect. But I hope so? I mean, I'd love to play every game I can get my hands on.

I would too. If I see any other games around, I'll let you know, all right? But you have to let me know if you see anything too.

It's a deal!

And you should definitely come over and play it when I get it working, too.

I'd love to! Where are you staying?

Heart building, room 7! Just knock and let me know it's you, and I'll let you in.

Okay! I can't wait! Let me know when it's working!

[Aaaaand a few hours later because Ellie has good luck for once-]

Rue! Hey, Rue! Oh my god, you've gotta try this!

[A response comes ten, fifteen minutes later:]

You got it working?

Yeah! Just plugged it in and it worked like a snap! And it's awesome, for the record. Wanna play?

Yeah! I'll be right over!

[Action]

[Rue leaves a note for the rest of the household before she hurries out, Melody flying along after. Some time later, she arrives at Ellie's door and knocks.]

Ellie, it's me! Rue!

[The door is opened almost immediately, Ellie grinning at her behind it. Inside the apartment, the noise of the game can already be heard.]

Come on in!

Hi Ellie!

[Rue enters the apartment and hurries over to the arcade machine. She stares wide-eyed at it.]

Wow! Did you figure out how to play it? Is it hard?

Kind of! I hear a lot of the old games are tough. Just a way to get kids to spend more money. But it's on free play right now! Someone told me you could do it that way, too.

[She looks at the faded graphics on the panels, at the looping attract video on the monitor.]

It'd be hard getting people to spend money here when there is no money.

It's not like anything's stopping us from making money. Or fake money, anyway.

Oh, I guess not, it just wouldn't be worth anything.

[Rue giggles.]

But wouldn't it be fun having lots of money and pretending to be rich?

Maybe we should try it. I've never met a rich anybody, but I've read enough about it that it sounds fun.

I've never really met anyone that was rich either, but they were lots of people in the Capitol. They all had brightly colored hair and lots of makeup and wore fancy clothing.

Sounds about right. Must be nice to have the time to do all that crap.

Yeah. We had to work all the time and all our food went to them.

[Rue frowns a little, but cheers herself up.]

But now that we're here, we can pretend to be rich and we don't have to work unless we want to! And we can play games all day too like I bet they could.

[Wow, sounds like home. Rue's last words make Ellie perk up, though, and she prods the other girl towards the game.]

Oh, yeah! Come on, you still need to try it! It's super hard, though. I love it!

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