It takes a few weeks but eventually the other victors are all cleared. When Coin has the same meeting with them that she had with us when we first got here, the one where they have to choose between helping out or going back, I'm not surprised in the least that each one of them promises to record propos until they drop. We all concentrate on getting them up to speed, teaching them about District 13s layout, rules, and strange customs. We're a ragtag bunch, but we have the most in common, and spend so much time that eventually people refer to us as the Propo Team, or simply the Victors if Gale and his district 13 comrades aren't around. So when Plutarch officially assigns Joanna, Finnick, Beetee, and Wireless, to our combat training hour it's not a surprise either.
Seeing them in action is interesting. Beetee, while not physically powerful or fast, tends to outsmart his opponents given enough time to learn their moves. Wireless however just bursts into giggles whenever someone tries to spar with her. Finnick is especially impressive, able to disarm or pin all of the District 13 opponents they throw at him. Joanna is at turns vicious and overly sexual. The District 13 soldiers don't know what to do with her after she straddles one of them in hand to hand combat and then proceeds to bite him hard enough to draw blood. Our trainer Jackson, an older no nonsense woman, just shakes her head at her after she orders Joanna off of the completely shocked and slightly traumatized soldier.
"What?" Joanna says with a flip of her long dark hair that's dyed red at the ends. "Alls fair in sex and war." She laughs at her own joke and saunters back to the group waiting their turn to train at the mats. Peeta shoots me a worried look. I know what he's thinking, Plutarch specifically put us in charge of getting them trained. So he offers to work with Wireress if I work with Joanna.
I grit my teeth in frustration, and almost tell him I want to trade, but there's a look in his eyes that begs me not to stick him with the sex-crazed banshee. So I just nod reluctantly, and I can tell he's relieved. I'll have less to deal with than him, Joanna will probably just try to pull my hair out instead of trying to lick my chest like she did her first opponent. So Peeta takes a turn patiently showing Wireress how to get out of an easy hold and when she finally gets it right Jackson gives them an approving nod. Then it's my turn to volunteer to spar with Joanna. Jackson seems surprised by my request, but allows it. She is probably thinking that with a female opponent Joanna might have to put some effort into her strategy.
Joanna's shoulders are shaking in silent laughter as she sidles up to me.
"What's so funny?" I ask her, annoyed already.
"It's just hilarious that you think you've got a chance against me." She says with an arrogant roll of her shoulders. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Actually, what's hilarious is that you would underestimate another victor." I say in a quiet steady voice. Because without her overtop sex tricks she really doesn't stand a chance. We're about the same size, and weight, so neither of us have the physical advantage on the other. And I'm not about to get distracted by her cleavage.
"I don't see a bow anywhere, so what will you do when I pin your skinny ass to the matt?" She says in a menacing tone. I roll my eyes at her.
"I think I've had enough talking, come on let's go." I tell her impatiently. She starts to circle me and I keep my eye on her, rotating myself every so often so I don't leave my back exposed.
She strikes out with her fist and I evade her easily. I try to use the moment to get outside guard but she's fast and doesn't let me get behind her either. She manages to grab the edge of my shirt and yanks me back forcefully. I roll away from her before she can pin me. I carefully get up and turn back to face her and she smirks at me. I faint to her left and quickly redirect my trajectory to aim my first for a shot to her body, but she just repeats the move of yanking on the loose material of my shirt to throw me off balance. I have to sidestep her quickly before she can get an actual hold on me. We're momentarily still, evaluating each other. She's still smirking and I know why.
Like some of the other less self conscious women Joanna spars not in her combat issued shirt but her sports bra. She goes a step farther than everyone else though and doesn't even wear her fatigue pants but some boy cut stretchy underwear that reach mid thigh. I however have been sparing in my grey fatigue pants and a loose grey t-shirt.
That makes it easier for her to get a grip on me and harder for me to get a grip on her. And since we're really supposed to be practicing our grappling today, it's putting me at a disadvantage. I make the decision to quickly pull my shirt over my head, knowing that it's better to get over the embarrassment than to keep giving her the advantage. It's not that scandalous actually, the sports bra's material is thick and covers down to my ribs.
Only a thin line of skin is exposed from the top of my pants to the bottom of the bra on my torso. I keep my pants though because I'm not that interested in winning the fight. She chuckles, and raises her eyebrows at me. Then cocks her head to the side and purses her lips as she nods in a small show of respect. I just take a step forward and drop back into my stance.
I decide to go on the offensive and kick out in the direction of her right shin, but she pivots quickly and rotates into me to elbow me in the stomach. Her sharp elbow takes the breath out of me and she follows it up with a well placed stomp to the inside of my right foot. I realize I have done the very thing I chastised her for. I underestimated another victor. There's obviously more to this District 7 champion and just a penchant for nudity and curse words.
So I clear my mind, and ignore the pain in my gut and foot. I put my weight on my complaining foot so I can turn into her movement and bring my shoulder up quickly against her jaw. I hear her intake of breath and know it hurts. I wrap my arms around her middle and throw my weight into her in an attempt to tackle her to the ground. But she's surprisingly strong, and she throws her weight into the momentum of mine and ends up sending our bodies tumbling over each other as we fall. Instead of me pinning her, she ends up with her knees pressed painfully into the tops of my thighs, her hands trapping mine above my head.
She grins down at me in triumph and I see red. I strike out and headbutt her as hard as I can. She is dazed momentarily and I try to flip her off me by getting my legs out from under her knees and pushing against her arms. She recovers quickly and even though I do manage to partially unseat her, she just counters by trapping one of my thighs between her knees, and then she throws her full weight into me and slams be back against the mat hard, my head making a thwacking sound as it hits. It's my turn to be stunned, as the lights get a little fuzzy and bright at the edges of my vision. The next thing I see is her face coming at me and I brace for a retaliatory headbutt.
But instead of a bone rattling impact of her forehead on mine I feel her mouth lock over my lips, kissing me. I think a strangled sound comes somewhere from the back of my throat. But she doesn't let go. I'm still shocked and pinned when I feel her tongue snake into my mouth. My eyes widen as far as they can and I hear Finnick's voice cut across the training room from wherever he is.
"Joanna!" It's a reprimand, and a warning but she ignores him.
Oh God, people are watching this. I quickly lose all reservation and try to buck her off wildly, pushing against her hands and trying to wriggle out of her grasp desperately. Then someone is pulling her off me and I'm scrambling to get away as fast as I can. I can hear her laughing as I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
Jackson is yelling loudly, something about how this is a training room not a wild Capitol party. I turn my back on them as I pick up my shirt and drag it on as fast as I can. I pull on my jacket over my shirt for good measure. There were a lot of eyes on us when they pulled her off me. Practically the entire room had stopped to see what the fuss was about. I know there's a few minutes left in the hour but I don't care, I head straight for the door.
I pass Gale on my way out and he just stares at me incredulously. I guess he can't believe that just happened. Well that makes two of us and he wasn't even the one who had to swap spit with an axe murderer. I hear Peeta's voice call my name, but I don't turn around. This is all his fault. And next time he wants to try and play nice with the chemically imbalanced he can do it on his own. I escape quickly wanting nothing more than to brush my teeth until my taste buds fall off.
Peeta
Katniss rushes out of the combat room and doesn't even turn around when I call her name. Gale didn't bother to try and stop her. Jackson tells Joanna to run laps for unprofessional conduct and when Joanna doesn't move she threatens to take away her food rations. That gets her moving. Beetee shakes his head as she leaves and Wireress doesn't even seem to be aware that anything out of the ordinary happened. I pinch the bridge of my nose.
If Plutarch expects us to whip these people into rebel soldiers he's going to be greatly disappointed. Finnick is the only one who takes training seriously sometimes. Joanna seems more interested in starting fires just to watch things burn. I had thought she would do better with another female to train with, since she seemed so bent on unnerving and even injuring any of the men.
It seemed to be going well at first, both of them had seemed serious about sparing. They were both strong and fast and Jackson had murmured that it had been a good idea to pair them up. But then she had manipulated Katniss into taking off her shirt, and I had felt an inkling of misgiving sneaking into the back of my mind. I didn't say anything, hoping in an even playing field Katniss would get the drop on her.
And okay maybe I was a little distracted by the way Katniss's chest expanded back and forth as she caught her breath before diving back into the exercise. But so was almost every other guy in the room. Eyes had turned then, to watch the two deadly and attractive girls battle it out on the mats. The combat room had gone still and people held their breath unsure who would win.
When Katniss's tackle back fired I thought it was over, but then she headbutted Joanna and I thought there was still a chance for her to win. We all got the shock of our lives when instead of striking back Joanna started kissing her, with tongue. It was bizarre. Almost like watching one of those badly written Capitol tv dramas where people go around kissing each other for no reason.
But nobody could look away, and nobody tried to break it up until Finnick spoke up. He had strode over, not shocked, or interested in letting the scenario play out like most of the other guys in the room, and wrencted Joanna off Katniss with a well placed yank. Then he's started lecturing her on appropriate teammate behavior, and consent, and a lot of other things Joanna just laughed at.
I watched in confusion and wondered why he had to explain what she had done wrong, as if she was some kind of alien who didn't understand the basics of human society. Then Jackson had started in on Joanna and I'd turned to see Katniss had pulled her clothes back on and was walking out.
It had all gone so wrong so fast, and now there would be so much damage control that needed to be done. Gale strode up and we shared an exasperated look. We only had until the end of the week to get the team ready for the first on location propo filming. Katniss and him had pushed to be able to actually go out into the field and film where the fighting had really happened. But if we couldn't work out the team problems then no one was going anywhere.
"I'll talk to Finnick," I say to Gale, "He seems to be the only one she listens to. At least part of the time anyway."
"I'll try to find Katniss." Gale agrees and then heads out.
At lunch there's an uncomfortable silence as Joanna makes chitchat nonchalantly with Beetee and Katniss ignores everyone and every attempt at conversation with pointed determination. Gale may have convinced her to eat lunch with everyone as usual but she was clearly not happy about it. Finally Finnick shoots Joanna a look and she tries to ignore him, but he just stares her down until she stops talking. She sighs loudly and in a very irritated manner. But then she turns to Katniss with a clearly fake smile.
"Finnick wants me to tell you I'm sorry for earlier."
"Oh yeah?" Katniss says, looking up at her with clear undisguised aggression. "And do you always hide behind what someone else wants to say when you make an ass out of yourself?"
"Nope, because I don't really see what there is to apologize for. The only one who made a spectacle out of themselves was you, Mockingjay." Joanna says with snarky condescension. Finnick groans in exasperation.
"I think maybe we all better just settle down." I cut in trying to stave off another fight between these two.
"I think maybe we should tell Plutarch that the only ones putting in any real effort to be ready for the next mission are Finnick and Beetee." Katniss spits out angrily.
"Are you kidding? I've shown up to every practice! I can dismantle my gun in my sleep. I've run so many laps my feet are about to fall off!" Joanna shrieks.
"You can't follow orders, and your teammates can't trust you." Gale replies.
"Can't trust me? Because of a little kiss? That's why you're going to leave me behind?" Her voice is high and disbelieving, but the snark has left. She turns to Finnick and he just shakes his head at her, as if to say I told you so. She turns back to Katniss and narrows her eyes at her.
"This is all because the precious little Mockingjay got her feathers ruffled. Well you should be honored, I bet that kiss knocked some of the cobwebs loose from your giant chastity belt!"
"HONORED? I had to spend an hour brushing my teeth and gargling with saltwater!"
"You prudish, boring-"
"Well at least I don't lick people's faces and walk around in my underwear!"
The screaming match dies down when Finnick pulls Joanna away just as she's about to reach out to grab a hold of Katniss's braid. He's talking softly into her ear and she reluctantly lets him lead her away.
The table is quiet except for Haymitch's deep chuckle.
"So, I take it she planted one on you in training today?" He asks Katniss with a bemused smirk.
She just rolls her eyes at him and takes an aggressive bite of her bread. He turns to me, a silly grin on his face.
"How'd she react?" He asks and I find I have no desire to comment or get beaten to a pulp. So I stay silent, shaking my head 'no' at him.
But Finnick has rejoined us without Joanna and he seems to have no problem discussing it, or any fear of Katniss for that matter.
"Oh she put up a good fight, but I could tell by the end Joanna had her more than a little flustered." He offers with a slight raise of his eyebrows. This makes Haymitch guffaw. Chaff joins in with loud roarus laughter. Katniss just growls angrily at them. Beetee shoulders shake quietly and I can even see Gale smirking. And here is the truth of why Joanna probably kissed Katniss earlier, because she's too easy to tease.
"Get bent." Is Katniss's only reply, and it's directed at Finnick.
"That's rude to say to a teammate, unless it's an offer." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her and then I heard the sound of a boot making contact with someone's shin.
"Ahhh!" Finnick exclaims and Katniss just picks up her tray without batting an eyelash. She walks away and I pick my tray up to follow her out. She doesn't realize why they're all acting this way around her and someone has to say something before the victors start their own Hunger Games against each other here in District 13.
"Katniss, wait, calm down will you!" I call when she quickens her steps after we pass the mess hall doors.
"What? You have something to say now too?" Her expression is angry and her eyes say she's clearly not in the mood for a pep talk.
"Don't you see? Why they're all acting like this?" I ask her, trying to get her to stop and think for a minute.
"It's because they're all crazy! I'm starting to think anyone who survived the Games can't help but go off the deep end. It may just be a matter of time before you start trying to lick people's faces, or I giggle like an idiot whenever someone tries to ask me a question." She throws up her hands in frustration.
"No, it's because you're making it easy for them to get under your skin. You're too innocent, too pure. They're teasing you." I tell her flat out and she eyes me with disbelief, she turns away thinking for a moment. When she turns back to me I can tell she's a little calmer.
"Show's just what they know." She says quietly, glancing at me.
I swallow, not knowing how to respond. I haven't brought up what happened between us back in 12 since we got to 13 and for good reason. She said she wanted to start over, so I figured that meant completely wiping the slate clean.
"You know what I mean, compared to the rest of them we're still like kids." I finally say, trying to brush off the implied stuff.
"Shows how much we know I guess." She says with a dry laugh. I can't help but chuckle quietly with her and she smiles.
"So, if Joanna walks in on me showering or if Finnick propositions me during breakfast, I'm just supposed to ignore them?" She asks, turning fully toward me.
"Has that happened?" I ask, really concerned. She shakes her head and grins bemused.
"They'll get bored when they stop getting a reaction out of you." I say, patting her shoulder a little bit awkwardly. She looks at my hand and then looks at me, a quizzical expression on her face.
"Just trying to be friendly." I say with a shrug, removing my hand.
"Peeta, if you really want to be a friend, next time pull her off me before she cleans my molars with her tongue." She says seriously, and starts walking away again.
"I was in shock!" I call out after her.
"Yeah, I'm sure you would have reacted the same way if Finnick or Chaff had tried it. Had nothing to do whatsoever with watching two girls kiss." She says the last thing quietly as I watch her walk down the corridor. My face heats, and I just stand there for a moment. Well she's not not right…..