Original storyline and characters of course belong to Suzanne Collins.
Reviews are welcomed, and thanks for the reader's time spent.
From the very moment his strong and much larger hand enclosed over hers during their brief handshake on stage—and straight up to the point when they boarded the Capital Monorail, departing from their homeland—her fellow competitor, so-called Thresh, remained unconditionally silent and strictly controlled as he ignored the situation moving in over their heads, like a darkening thunder cloud altogether.
She couldn't fathom being that brave. He never let his guard down once in front of the crew of camramen.
At first, Rue naturally couldn't help but to take his aloofness personally. And even though they ending up sitting side by side as their car spead forwards upon its track, she'd gathered enough to figure that privacy was the best thing (or just about the only thing) she could offer Thresh for the time being.
Clearly someone of his conduct and stature wouldn't be in the mood to be bothered at all, from any angle. Hence, as talkative as she liked to be on regular occasion, Rue decided to press her lips together and to seal away her growing wonderings deep within instead.
...Eventually, however, Thresh had actually turned his head in her direction to speak up. "Rue, isn't it?"
And amazingly in a matter of seconds, Rue had somehow managed to swallow down her fear of not knowing what (threat) he was going to mention next. "Uh, yeah."
"Don't worry—" Certainly these were the last sort of words she'd been anticipating on hearing. "—I won't go for you."
But then again, even boys like Thresh weren't meant to be judged so hastily, for he pitched her a quick, yet humble smile.
And after receiving this, a fraction of Rue's anxiety instantly vanished. So, apperently the beast possessed some courtesy inside of him after all. "...I don't want to go after you either, Thresh."
"Just keep out of trouble, little one."
The Hunger Games were filled with nothing but masses of trouble. To avoid it was basically an impossible goal to reach. Nevertheless, the sentiment beneath his last statement wasn't any less meaningful. With that in mind, it was pretty safe for Rue to assume, that he had predicted her more-likely-unfortunate fate already, seeing how young she was and such.
But all the same—she had been forced to play the responsible eldest sibling of six for so long...it was a good feeling to have when realizing someone this bold would be looking out for her for a change.
Asking for nothing more and nothing less than that very idea, Rue finally returned Thresh her sweetest smile. "I'll try my best."
Personally, it was clear to me that Katniss wasn't the only one who adopted Rue as a temporary little sister.
I always had a soft spot for Rue. (And Amandla Stenberg was all too perfect for this role.)