halfbloodhill | First Loaf [IM/Action]

Sorry it took so long to get back here, guys - some, uh, things came up that I couldn't control.

[One would never know that Peeta spent the better part of the summer in the hospital or got attacked over Thanksgiving by the slightly sheepish grin he gives the rainbow - he'd had a few chats with Jehan and Finnick while he was away so he's been kept generally up to date on what's happened, but he isn't about to go spilling his own story so soon after arrival. It's not that important in the grand scheme of things.]

Looks like things are getting kind of crazy around here, with all the different pantheons showing up now, but, it's Christmastime, so we should be able to relax and focus on good things for awhile. Things were getting kind of hectic at the bakery, but I did bring a huge tub of gingerbread, chocolate mint cookies, and hamentashen if anyone wants to drop by Cabin 4 for some later. [He gives an eyeroll here.] Don't worry Finnick, I brought your croissants, too; you don't have to go hounding me about that. Even though you're probably going to.

So yeah, it's good to be back, and welcome to all of the new guys I haven't met yet - and, uh, when you get a chance, let me know if you've got any food allergies. I need to update my list since we've got so many new people.

[So he doesn't accidentally kill anyone. With a smile and a brief wave, Peeta breaks the connection. If anyone wants to find him, he'll be unpacking in Cabin 4, with stacks of baked goods to hand out to anyone who drops by.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's good! I'm glad everyone's safe, now, including you! We should send you home with ambrosia and nectar to keep you from dying from wasps and other accidents, I think.

I had some. That's how come I'm not dead now. I always take some with me, just in case.

[Because he's needed it even before that. He's glad to see the nails he put in the wall a couple years ago are still there, and he starts hanging the pictures in their old positions.]

So what's this I hear about you and a Roman girl not getting along? You get along with everyone.

[He groans, flopping on an open space on Peeta's bed dramatically. Cue rant.]

I do, yes, unless they are a rude, bratty, insulting [expletive in French here that he won't translate] of a girl who thinks she is better than us simply because she is Roman and we are Greek, despite allowing them into our home and letting them live with us in our cabins and not in some shantytown just inside the camp borders or even worse, outside of them. She's never met us before while...well, I told you about Zane, I believe, but if I can move past personal betrayal, she should be able to look past her stereotypes.

[As far as Jehan rants go, that one's pretty short. At the very least he's heard his half-brother go on for a few more sentences. And the dramatic flop doesn't make him blink an eye at all.]

So that's what that's all about? She's being ungrateful for our hospitality? [He pauses for a second, straightening one of his pictures before continuing.] She really doesn't know anything about the Greeks, does she.

Not in the slightest. Ven, one of the Jupiter boys, did say that they're apparently told stories about us since Romans are descended from Trojans? Which is just absurd--the stories, I mean. That was a different time in a different world with different people! And you cannot honestly expect be to believe that a single one of the Romans in our camp are descended from those Trojans. It is absurd.

It's probably not completely impossible, but yeah, it's really unlikely. But you know as well as I do that cultural memory isn't so easily changed.

[Look at your own country and England fighting back and forth for over three hundred years, Jehan. Sometimes shit just sticks.]

People tell stories and hand down what they see as the truth to their children, their children remember it and pass it on to their children. We did do the Horse; everyone in the Western world knows about it, so it's not just Romans that have passed it down. Why they'd still be so angry about it after all this time, though...

[He gives a shrug.]

They probably just don't know any other way to be at this point. At least not until their camp got destroyed and they had to come here at deific swordpoint.

Still. She has no excuse to be a brat about it all.

[Munch munch bread]

Oh, your Christmas gift is here early. Do you want it now or later?

No, she really doesn't. [At least not from the way Jehan describes it. From their brief conversation earlier Peeta's fairly sure there's something else going on with Callie, but he's also not going to pry into her business. Her friends, or allies, or whatever she has on the Roman side are definitely better prepared to handle her than he is.]

Whichever you want. You know it's not really that important to me.

Now, then!

[He grins and hurries over to his bunk, pulling out a wrapped book. It's a collection of French bread, pastries, and other baked good recipes]

Merry Christmas, Peeta.

[And since Jehan's obviously so happy to give him this present, Peeta doesn't waste any time in ripping open the paper - and he grins when he sees the title on the cover.]

Is this a hint about what you want me to make next?

Well...

[He laughs]

Perhaps.

Sounds like it. Thanks, Jehan. [Considering Peeta's of the firm opinion that you could never have too many cookbooks, this is a welcome present. Especially since he couldn't bring most of his with him.]

So which one do you want me to try first?

Oh, any! You're the baker.

Yeah, but you're going to be the one eating it and you're the one who knows French food. You don't have any preferences?

Nope! I trust you.

First Loaf [IM/Action]

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