Chapter 25:
Score Reveal
Chantelle Wicks, 18, District Two
"God, I need a drink or ten right now," Jory sighs loudly as he flops down onto the couch next to Chantelle and puts a hand over his face.
She stares over at her mentor, her back rigid and her whole body tense as she waits for the scores. She can't really feel pity for whatever is making him want a drink right now – not when she feels like she's standing on a precipice and her score can either send her mood soaring with pride or knock her down into the pits of self-loathing. She has to have gotten a high score – if not the highest score… But she has no idea what to expect with how…untraditional…the private sessions were.
"Why?" she finally asks him, needing the distraction as the time slowly ticks away.
"Because of stupid Drazen," Jory shakes his head at the other mentor and Chantelle raises one eyebrow in silent question. That's all the reaction he needs to start spilling all the reasons he's annoyed with his fellow mentor. "He says he's just messing around with Adonis for secrets but no, I see the look in his eyes! That damn fool is getting attached to a tribute that isn't even ours and it's just going to end in a disaster for him."
Chantelle takes this information in, keeping her face clear as she processes it. "So what you're saying is that Vulcan's mentor is spaced out and not focused on them?"
"Yes!" Jory says loudly and puts his head back, letting out a loud groan of frustration and missing the smirk Chantelle has at that. It will work out in her favor to have Drazen distracted from helping Vulcan. Let her take all the sponsorship for Two and the win for their District. "Kat is going to straight up beat me when I get back home for not keeping him in line."
"No, she won't," Chantelle says with a small shrug as he turns his head to look at her. "Because I will be there with you and therefore, she won't care what happened before, only her new victor."
"I…" Jory sighs at that and shuts his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. "You're not wrong. But that's a big if on you – or Vulcan – returning…"
"I'm going to return," Chantelle says coolly and she clenches her fists on her lap. She takes a couple deep breaths, trying to keep out the nagging voice of her father in the back of her head, always telling her she wasn't good enough and she wouldn't win. It was the last thing he said to her, drunkenly telling her she wouldn't live past the bloodbath… She knows he's wrong, but that nagging doubt has still persisted no matter what she does. And Jory is not helping one bit. "I have to win. I don't think you get it, there's no other option for me. I have to prove I am just as good as you and Drazen and every other victor that has come out of District Two."
"I understand that completely, really, I do. I had to prove myself years ago as well," Jory says slowly, sitting up to face her directly. She keeps her eyes narrowed at him as she watches him and he holds up his hand to keep her calm. Like that will help her not feel like she isn't worthless. "But our tributes say that every year. And do you know how many I have seen actually follow through on that since I won over 25 years ago?"
Of course she knows how many, she's studied all of them to see what they did right over the others who didn't come home so she wouldn't make the same mistakes. "Six and you mentored two of them," she says calmly, trying to keep her internally directed bitterness from leaking into her tone and pushing him away. Wouldn't be the first time she's done it to someone but her mentor is not the person to do that to. "Soon to be three."
"No, it will be one for Drazen," Vulcan says as they walk into the room, shoulders back and head held high. Chantelle immediately sits back up and puts a cold mask on her face, narrowing her eyes at them and wondering just how much of the conversation they overhead. Hopefully not too much… They flop down into one of the open arm chairs before looking around and gesturing at the muted television where they're giving a weather report. "Where is he, anyways? The scores are about to start."
Chantelle and Vulcan both turn to Jory, who sighs loudly and gives them both a pleading look. "Please don't make me go get him. He brought his…friend here."
Chantelle rolls her eyes at that comment and Vulcan scowls just a little bit. She's so happy Drazen isn't her mentor and pulling this shit with her. If he was…well, she would have told him by now that she'll be on her own. "Those two are disgusting," she comments with another large roll of her eyes.
"I think you meant to say handsome," Drazen says with a smirk as he walks into the room and they all turn to look at him, finding him standing there with his arm around Adonis's shoulders.
But the Capitolite doesn't hide his glare towards Chantelle at the comment. "Sounds to me like someone is just jealous," Adonis says with a shrug as he puts his hands in his pockets.
"Jealous of you? That will never happen," Chantelle scoffs and crosses her arms at him. Why the hell would she be jealous of him hooking up? "And why the hell are you even here? Go back to your own mentors and suck their dicks instead."
Adonis laughs loudly at that suggestion while Drazen's eyes narrow and his grip on Adonis tightens a bit. "Tempting suggestion, but I am quite happy here," he says as he puts his arm around Drazen's waist and leads him over to the other couch. "Besides, the scores are about to start. I wouldn't want to miss anything in the time it takes to get back to my floor."
"Speaking of, where's Lotis?" Jory asks and as he starts looking around, Chantelle gives a shrug. She has no idea where her escort is currently sulking and doesn't care, as long as at the end of the day she puts in the work to make sure Chantelle gets sponsors. "Lotis! Get your ass out here, the scores are about to start!"
She can hear a door slam shut followed by Lotis storming into the room, her arms crossed and grumbling to herself. She leans up against the far wall, away from all of them, but at least she's gotten past just flat out glaring at them. Chantelle can somewhat understand her unhappiness at doing something a parent has forced her into…but damn does she have an attitude to rival Chantelle's. "There, I'm here, are you happy now?"
"So very thrilled," Drazen replies lazily and puts his arms on the back of the couch as Adonis snuggles in next to him. "Now lets get this show on the road, shall we?"
Jory glances at all of them for a moment before unmuting the television, filling the room with Kora's voice as she goes on about how the tributes were all assessed today and they've been given scores to assess their odds.
"We'll start with the tributes from right here in the Capitol! First, Adonis Sylvester."
"Starting with the best," Adonis says smugly but he still leans forward a bit, a hint of nervousness in his eyes that makes Chantelle smug. His score could make or break his part in their alliance.
"With a score of 7!"
"Not bad, I'll take it," Adonis says with a grin as Drazen rubs his shoulder in praise, but Chantelle isn't that impressed. There's been plenty who have gotten 7's in the past outside of Districts One, Two, and Four.
"And Bezel Dorsey with a score of 8!"
Case in point. Chantelle turns to Adonis at that and watches the smile slowly start to fade from his face. "We could have had them in our alliance if you hadn't been such a dick to them."
"Like you're one to talk-"
"Both of you shut up!" Jory snaps at them and the two glare at each other for a moment before turning back to the screen for District One.
"From District One, we have Ardent Sterling with a score of 7! And Mercy Mersaille with a score of 9!"
Neither of those are much of a surprise. But Chantelle can't bring herself to comment on them, suddenly nervous as Kora gets to District Two. What if her score isn't good enough? Will her father be right…?
"Vulcan Adamos with a score of…11!"
"That's how you do it!" Drazen cheers for Vulcan and reaches over to give them a fist bump, while Adonis watches on with a forced smile. Chantelle tries to give them a smile of acknowledgement at the score, but she can't with the sinking feeling building in her stomach. There's not a chance that she will score a 12…can she at least score the same as him?
"And Chantelle Wicks with a score of…10!"
She tries to smile at that score as Jory congratulates her on it – and it is a good score… But it's not the top score so far. She didn't prove to the Gamemakers that she's the top competitor… She just keeps the fake smile on her face as she listens on, just hoping no one else will earn the same as her…or better than her.
"From District Three, Ryam Driver with a score of 4! And Riley Roomer with a score of 2!"
"From District Four," Kora starts and Chantelle makes herself focus on the screen again, having to know if they are better than her. "Juno Ladair with a score of…9!" She holds her breath, waiting for the other score. "And Valletta McClellan with a score of…8!"
Chantelle's shoulders relax and she lets out her breath, relieved that the pair didn't score better than her.
"Overall not too bad for the pack," Vulcan comments and Chantelle makes herself nod her head, still too wrapped up in her failure to get the highest score to comment on them – not even to comment about Adonis having the lowest score.
"From District Five, Morris Holmes with a score of 4! And Ciana Devereaux with a score of 5!"
She focuses again when Kora gets to District Six, knowing they're their adversaries thanks to Bez. "From District Six, Farren Masou with a score of 7! And Kasada Masou with a score of…also 7!"
"Guess they couldn't decide which sibling is better," Adonis says with a snicker. "They both should have gotten lower scores."
Chantelle rolls her eyes at that, knowing they deserved that score and he's just saying that because he doesn't want to have the same score as them. She tries to relax back against the couch as Kora goes through the rest of the Districts, knowing there shouldn't be anyone that comes close to her score now that they're passed Six.
"From District Seven, Karter Orion Beckwith with a score of 6!"
"From District Eight, Kazuyuki Ikeda with a score of 5! And Rhiannon Collier with a score of 3!"
"Do we know if Ardent is allying with her?" Adonis asks, looking over to Vulcan.
Vulcan shrugs their shoulders, clearly not caring what Ardent does. "Juno said he's sticking with Bez."
"Smart move," Chantelle says quietly under her breath. Not that it will change much – he's still one of their top targets, regardless of who he allies with.
"From District Nine, Lobo Mirazul with a score of 7! And Inutil Vaquero with a score of 2!"
"From District Ten, Cimmerian Hart with a score of 3! And Shams Seif-Eldeen with a score of 6!"
"Now that's surprising," Vulcan says and Chantelle nods in agreement.
"I figured she'd be right down there with Rhiannon," Chantelle comments with a frown. What did she miss? "Did she train?" she asks, getting met with shrugs.
"And finally from District Eleven, Frederick Baldwin with a score of 4! And Sonya Starling with a score of 5!"
Jory shuts the screen off shortly after that, leaving them in silence for a few seconds. Silence that lets Chantelle start to think even more about how she wasn't the best. "Well, that was interesting," Jory says with a chuckle. "Some obvious scores and some not as obvious. But overall, well done you two."
Vulcan preens at the praise from Jory and Chantelle just nods her head as she stands up. She stretches her arms above her head, trying to keep a casual air about her. "I'm going to go relax for a bit," she tells them, starting off towards her room, but not before missing the concerned look Jory gives her. She doesn't need his concern. What she needs is to be better.
She can hear footsteps following after her and picks up her pace while steeling her face, refusing to let any of them see her being weak. Or rather, weaker than they already think compared to Vulcan.
"Hey, wait up!" Jory calls after her and she stops at her door, hand on the doorknob. She should just go in and ignore him. Nothing he has to say to her can change how she's feeling…
Yet she still stays there, waiting to at least hear him out. "What do you want?" she asks, keeping her face turned towards her door as he stops next to her.
"I wanted to talk to you about your score," Jory answers carefully and she can't help the twitch of her lip in anger at the scores. "You don't seem happy about it and I wanted to know why…"
She earned the second to highest score out of everyone – out of a group of entirely volunteers. She should be happy with this, but…
"I didn't score the highest," she says quietly to Jory, finally admitting out loud what is eating away at her. She opens the door and steps inside, refraining from slamming the door in his face. He steps in after her and closes it partially to give them some privacy as she sits down on her bed, staring down at the floor.
Jory stays near the door, leaning up against the wall and crossing his arms. She looks up to see him tilt his head to the side at her and she shakes her head and blinks back tears, refusing to get emotional about something dumb like this. "But you got the second highest score. A 10 isn't easy to earn and usually only one or two careers score that or higher each year. You should be proud of it."
"But I wasn't the best!" she snaps at him and takes a shaky breath, trying to get herself to calm down. But she can't, not when she has the burning need to be doing something with her time to better prepare for the Games. She shouldn't just be sitting around here, she should be training.
"Tell me how many times the tribute who earned the highest score actually won the Games," Jory says to her calmly and she glares at him, but he still continues on. "I'm sure you could give me an exact number but I know it's less than half the victors. Could you even tell me what the scores were of the last five victors?" he asks and Chantelle crosses her arms, knowing she can't answer that. "You can't, because no one cares about the scores once you're in the arena and start proving that you can fight and kill."
"It doesn't matter," Chantelle says, shaking her head at him. "Right now, they don't view me as the strongest. So I'm going to stay in here and work out until I can't move anymore and then keep going. There's no other option."
"Chantelle, I hope someday you realize how strong you are," Jory tells her and while he sounds honest, she can't believe him. Not after years and years of being told by her father how worthless and pathetic she is. Hear it enough and it starts to become true.
She picks up her head and meets his gaze, hardening her face and keeping her emotions locked down. Emotions will just make her weaker. What she should be doing now is finding ways to get stronger because clearly she's not strong enough right now, not enough to win. "I'll believe it when I win."
Amelia Fensa, Survivor of the Sixth Quarter Quell
All of this is just starting to get to be too much for Amelia and she just needs a break from it. A small reprieve from the constant worry and fear, the impending doom of knowing the Games are just always getting closer and her tribute has some of the lowest odds…
What she really needs is her best friend.
She knows the others didn't mean to make her feel alone right now and she can't blame them. They're all going through this same hell together. But seeing Odyssey with Misha just constantly reminds her that her boyfriend is back in Five – thankfully safe with his family minus his mother – but mainly, not here with her. And Anastacia and Elias have just a different bond that she can't get between, not even with how close her and Anastacia have gotten in the last year. Which left Fox…
Who's been actively avoiding all of them and she has no idea why. And it hurts… He's her best friend and to have him not letting her in and telling her what's wrong… Fuck, she can't have that on top of everything else going on right now.
"Are you sure you're fine with me being unavailable for the rest of the evening?" Amelia asks Riley once more, feeling guilty that she wants to take time for herself. She feels like she should be devoting every waking second to helping Riley, but if she doesn't get this taken care of before the Games, it will keep eating away at her and distract her.
"Yes, I'll be fine," Riley tells her, just the slightest hint of exasperation finding its way into her voice. And Amelia can't even blame her, she knows she's being a bit overbearing. "I'm just going to relax and try to go to sleep early. If I need anything, Matla and Rosalina are both her."
"Okay but don't hesitate to send one of them to come get me if you need me," Amelia replies, glancing at the clock and knowing she should be trying to sleep soon too, but too many long nights at university have royally fucked up her sleep schedule. That and the whole impending doom makes it a tiny bit hard to sleep. Riley nods her head and motions with her hand towards the elevator, before heading back to her room and leaving Amelia on her own.
She sighs for a moment and her shoulders hunch over, exhausted by trying to be strong and there for Riley at every waking moment. She's not even fully recovered from everything she's been through with the Games and the wounds have just been reopened… That's it, she's bringing wine with her. If she's feeling this way, she's sure Fox is feeling the same – and he is not getting away with not talking to her now.
A quick stop in the kitchen and soon she has wine in hand as she steps into the elevator and presses the button for the District Ten floor, still feeling a little guilty for leaving Riley behind right now. But if she really needs her, she knows where to find her and the others are willing to help. The doors slide open and she steps out, searching for any sign that anyone on his team is out of their rooms right now.
Amelia heads towards the sound coming from the living room and stops in the doorway, blinking back a bit of surprise. She didn't expect to see that many escorts piled together on the couch watching a movie and sharing a big bowl of popcorn. She can't help but smile at the four of them cuddled up together, but the smile soon falters when she realizes the reason why they're all desperately clinging to each other. What's happening is clearly effecting all of them involved and for them…this is probably the first time the Games has made them fear for their lives.
She doesn't want to disturb them at all…but she doesn't want to go knocking on everyone's doors until she finds Fox. "Excuse me," she says quietly, clearing her throat. Mord jumps at her voice, accidentally spilling some of the popcorn in his lap, and Sloan gives him a slight shove at that while Lucky shakes his head.
Roo jumps up immediately from his spot next to Sloan, noticeably the only one still fully dressed up and not wearing pajamas. "Amelia! What can I do for you?" he asks quickly, wringing his hands in front of him and seemingly looking guilty at being caught relaxing with the others. "And I'm so sorry if you were here waiting for a while, I should have been paying closer attention as an escort and-"
Amelia holds up her hand gently to stop him and smiles at him. "Please, you're fine and don't think you have to be on duty 24/7. I sure as hell can't be on duty that much and it's why I'm here with a bottle of wine. So all I need from you is to know which room is Fox's and for you to keep having fun with your friends and eat lots of popcorn."
"Hey not just friends!" Sloan calls over to her, making Roo's cheeks start flushing immediately.
"Get some Roo!" Mord says loudly and Lucky slaps him on the back of the head, which only makes him start laughing loudly.
Roo looks like he could just about die from embarrassment at that and Amelia spares him by pointing with her thumb over her shoulder to the rooms. "How about you show me which one?" she asks, seeing his need to step away for a moment.
"Yes, absolutely, I can do that!" Roo says and immediately moves to her side, sending a look back over his shoulder at his friends and pointing his finger at them. "No one cause trouble while I'm gone."
"I'll keep these two in line," Sloan teases as they put their arms around their shoulders, but the grin on their face has Roo sighing loudly. "Now hurry up before Mord eats all the popcorn!"
Roo makes a face at that and turns back towards Amelia, giving her a forced smile before gesturing to follow him. "Right this way," he says, setting off towards the rooms. "Do you need anything else from me?"
"No," Amelia answers quickly, already able to tell he would drop anything to help if she asked. "Please, enjoy some time with your friends. I know I sure could use a break from this so I'm sure you could to."
"Of course," Roo says quietly, clearly not believing that, as they stop in front of a door. "Well, here we are. Again, don't hesitate to come get me if you need anything!"
"Thank you Roo," Amelia smiles gently at him before giving a shooing motion. "Now go chill!"
She watches him leaves before the smile fades from her face and she lets out a small sigh as she turns to face Fox's door. She holds the bottle of wine behind her back and bites her lip for a moment, afraid that he really doesn't want to talk to her right now… But no, this is Fox she's talking about! So something must be really bothering him if he isn't talking to her or the others much.
With that, Amelia knocks on the door.
"Be there in a second!" Fox calls out and she waits as she hears rustling on the other side of the door. When it opens, he doesn't even hide the surprise on his face at seeing her. "Amelia! I was expecting Shams or Johan or Roo…"
"Nope, it's just me," she says, trying to smile at him as he leans up against the door frame, tucking his hands in the pockets of his robe.
"So," Fox says awkwardly and she sighs a little bit, hating how weird things have seemed to get out of seemingly nowhere – at least, she has no idea of anything she did to cause this. "What can I do for you?"
"Fox…you've been avoiding me," Amelia says, putting one hand on her hip as she stares down her friend.
Fox clears his throat, his ears turning a little red in embarrassment at her calling him out on it. "Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, that's why I'm mentioning it," Amelia tells him, hurt that he doesn't think he can come to her with whatever is bothering him. She moves her other hand from behind her back, revealing the bottle of wine she holds. "So we're going to drink this bottle and we're going to discuss whatever is going on with you."
Fox stares at her for a few seconds before sighing and running a hand through his hair, before gesturing for him to come inside. "I'm sorry, I haven't wanted to worry you when we have enough going on right now…"
"Well, you've been making me more worried by not just telling me what's bothering you," Amelia tells him as she flops down on his bed as he grabs a couple glasses from the side table. "Shit I didn't grab a corkscrew to open this."
"I'll go grab one," he says and Amelia gives him a look, prompting him to sigh and hold up his hand. "Yes, I will come back. You are kind of in my room so where else am I supposed to go to hide?"
"True," Amelia says with a laugh as he steps out, leaving the door open. She slouches over once he's out of sight, exhausted by everything. Before Fox gets back, a figure walks by and stops, giving a confused look. "Hey Shams."
"Hi Amelia," she answers slowly, an unreadable look on her face as she takes in Amelia sitting there. A look that Amelia doesn't have time to figure out before Fox is back, holding up the corkscrew.
"Hey Shams, do you need me?" Fox asks, stepping into the doorway and partially blocking Amelia from seeing the girl. What's up with that…? "Amelia and I are just gonna chat and drink some wine but if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
"I was just going to get a snack…" Shams answers him, peering around him to look at Amelia. She gives her a smile and she soon ducks back behind Fox. "Don't mind me."
"Alright, but still, just knock if ya need me!" Fox tells her, grinning as he watches her head down the hallway before closing the door gently. When he turns back to Amelia, she's surprised by the look on his face.
She waits until he sits down next to him before starting to question him. "Okay, what was up with that?" she asks as he opens the bottle.
"What was up with what?" Fox asks innocently as he pours their wine, right up to the top of the glasses. He passes her a glass and she raises an eyebrow at him, only making his cheeks start flushing. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I sure think you do," Amelia says, gently bumping his shoulder with hers. She takes a sip of wine, giving him an expectant look, before gesturing with her head towards the door. "What's going on with you and Shams?"
"Nothing!" Fox answers too quickly and keeps himself busy by taking a few sips of wine as his cheeks burn red. "There is nothing happening between us."
Amelia sighs and pats his arm, giving him a gentle smile, even if just the thought has her heart hurting for him. The chances of this not ending well for him… "Fox, I haven't seen you happy like that in months. So just tell me already."
Fox sighs loudly and sets his glass down before flopping back on the bed. He lets out a groan of frustration as he rubs his face. "Everything about it feels wrong," he finally says, his voice filled with anguish.
Amelia sets her glass down too and lays down next to him, realizing he needs her more than wine right now. "What's wrong about it? Certainly wouldn't be the first time a mentor and tribute caught feelings for each other. Or a tribute and someone related to a mentor," she adds, getting a small grin thinking about Argos. "You're only a year apart, it's not that weird."
"Most of the time the mentor doesn't have three kids and is desperately trying to keep their marriage from a disastrous end for their sake," Fox answers and Amelia moves closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder to give him some comfort. His voice wavers as he continues, "Even though at this point, I'm almost certain a divorce is going to happen because I just can't forgive her for what she did. Yet I still feel guilty for feeling anything for someone other than her."
"Hey, don't you dare feel guilty about that," Amelia says firmly, leaning up on her arm to look at him directly. She pokes him in the chest and he rubs at the spot, making her wince for a moment at pushing him harder than she meant to. "Sorry… But you two are separated and besides, she made that choice first when it was wrong to do. There is nothing wrong about you getting feelings now."
"But there is," Fox answers sadly and shuts his eyes for a moment. "In just a couple days, she's going to be in the arena…and we all know how that turns out for most tributes."
"We do," Amelia replies quietly, laying back down so he can't see the pain on her face over that. They were lucky ones to have managed to all live…but there were so many who didn't. Her own brother didn't make it out… "Is it wrong to hope that something happens to allow more than one to live like what happened to us?" she asks quietly, afraid to even say that out loud. "I don't want the rebels to attack but…"
"But if more than one lived, it wouldn't be the worst thing?" Fox finishes for her and she nods her head. She wasn't rebellious at all, not after all the Capitol has done for her…but she sure is wishing for more than one to make it out of that arena alive. "I get it," he says with a sigh. "But, I also don't want to put them through what we went through."
"I agree," Amelia tells him, but damn it, she wants to hope for greater odds of Riley getting out alive. "God, this already fucking hurts and they're not even in the arena yet."
"Yeah it does… Which is why I need to just focus on keeping her alive and my kids right now. They all need me to be strong right now," Fox tells her sadly and she frowns, able to see how much he cares about Shams. "Not on hypothetical situations that might not even happen."
"You deserve to be happy, Fox," Amelia says quietly, her eyes starting to prickle with tears. "Seriously, after everything you've gone through – more than most people go through by the time they're 30 – you deserve it."
"I don't know if the universe wants us to be happy," he answers with a shrug, the pain in his eyes betraying the casualness of the action. "If it did, why would we be here, getting attached to people who might be dead in the next few weeks and there's nothing we can do to stop it?"
"I don't know…" Amelia says, frowning at his suggestion. She wants so badly to hope for a happy outcome of these Games, yet her happiness will mean her friends losing their tributes…and how could she wish that on them? Maybe he is right… "Well, you don't have to go through it alone. We're all here for you, you just have to not push us out."
"I'll try not to but it's hard," Fox replies, giving her a sad smile. "I have so much else going on in my life and so do all of you. It doesn't seem fair to put that burden on you when we're already going through the Games. But…" he sighs loudly and shakes his head at her, "I don't know how I can do this year after year."
"The Games aren't going to last forever," Amelia says quietly and shuts her eyes as tears start to fall. "They promised that they're going to end them in a few years." A few years too late for them and her brother.
"Do you really think we can last a few years of this?" Fox asks her, sounding like he genuinely wants to know the answer. "Because I don't. And I also don't think the rebels are going to sit back and wait a few more years."
"No, I don't think so either…" Amelia agrees quietly, sitting up to grab her glass of wine at that thought. Her hand shakes a bit as she takes a sip and she clutches the glass, until it shatters in her hand. "Shit!" she cries out as wine spills all over her and her hand starts bleeding from broken glass. Her eyes start watering, not from the pain that she can't even feel, but the fact that this is something she still has to deal with one year later. "We're never going to get our senses back."
"You don't know that for sure," Fox says as he jumps up and grabs a shirt from the floor to press gently against her hand. He pulls it away, wincing at the pieces of glass there. "Let me go find a first aid kit to patch you up. Try not to get blood everywhere."
"Are you going to clean up my boo-boo and kiss it better?" Amelia can't help but ask him and he gives her a smile over his shoulder before leaving the room quickly. She sighs once he's out of the room and looks at her bleeding hand, picking some of the larger pieces out while she waits. But she soon has to stop as her vision blurs from her tears and she sniffles, barely holding in a sob. Even if all of this ends…she's always going to be reminded of the Games every waking second because she can't feel a damn thing. Always checking for injuries she didn't notice. Not able to feel Argos…
"Oh I'm gonna cry if you keep crying," Fox says and she tries to brush away her tears with her arm as she avoids his gaze. He quickly moves over to her and takes her arm to lead her into the bathroom with a small sniffle, proving his point exactly.
"I'm sorry," Amelia tells him, sitting on the counter and letting him rinse her hand off before grabbing a pair of tweezers to pick out the glass. "It just hit suddenly, you know? The feelings about…all of this," she waves with her free hand, gesturing around them.
"Yeah I get it," Fox says quietly, focusing on her hand. "That's happened a couple times to me already, even before…" He doesn't finish that, but she knows what he means.
She nods her head in agreement and they fall into comfortable silence as he takes care of her. He's such a dad in that moment that she can't help but grin a little bit at him. "Thanks for patching me up, Dad."
Fox chuckles at that, even if his eyes show his sadness at being away from his kids right now. "You're not getting a lollipop for being a good patient, just saying."
"Oh damn, and I tried so hard not to cry!" Amelia says, laughing as she currently has tears falling down her cheeks. He shakes his head as he wraps bandages around her hand, but the corner of his lips are turned up in a smile. "But seriously…thanks for taking care of me."
"It's no problem," Fox answers softly before finishing up the bandaging. He holds her hand between both of his and smiles at her. "As someone reminded me recently…we don't need to go things on our own."
"So are you not going to keep pushing me away from now on?" Amelia asks him, hopeful about his response. "You know, in just a couple days, we're going to really be needing each other. And I don't care if our tributes aren't allies, I'm going to be supporting you."
"Yeah, I won't do that again," Fox tells her and he meets her gaze, silently showing that he means it. "As hard as it is to put my pain on you…I don't want you feeling worse because I'm keeping you out."
"Good," Amelia says and jumps off the counter before opening up her arms to him. He hugs her immediately and she just knows it's one of his big bear hugs, even if she can't fully feel it. She hugs him back, so happy to have him close again. She needed her best friend back. "We're going to need each other more than ever before once the Games start."
And there we have the actual scores! And of course, we needed some more survivor emo because I love that kind of emo! Yeah, I forgot last week that my plan was to update this today and not next week, so here we are lol. Much more reasonable scores compared to the chaos of Julian and Calisto's scores. Also, I love making lists of things so here are the scores in a list:
1 -
2 - Ryam, Inutil
3 - Rhiannon, Cimmer
4 - Riley, Morris, Ricky
5 - Ciana, Kazuyuki, Sonya
6 - Karter, Shams
7 - Adonis, Ardent, Kasada, Farren, Lobo
8 - Bez, Valletta
9 - Mercy, Juno
10 - Chantelle
11 - Vulcan
12 -
Seems biased towards 7 but the average is actually 6.04 so hooray for the average being right in the middle XD
RQ: Any surprises with the scores?
Also, thanks to everyone that checked in last chapter. It's good to know who is still around and if you are, you know who you are so thanks for being the mvp. It was just about what I expected but still good to know for sure going forward into the Games. I'm really excited for everything I have planned and I hope those of you that are still reading are also excited!
Next up, the interviews, focusing on three tributes who have Things to say. See you in two weeks (actually this time lol) for that!