Chapter 13:
Rodrick Tang, 18, District One
To say the train is tense would be a huge understatement. Rodrick can't stop rubbing his now free wrists as the team sits around the dining table in silence, all because he volunteered when he wasn't supposed to. But what was he supposed to do? Rot in jail for the rest of his life? No, he isn't going to do that. He's already let down his mother enough by failing his initial test of murder. He wasn't going to let his last chance to redeem himself pass by without at least trying to volunteer or keep living in the guilt that was chewing away at him. If he dies in the arena, at least he is dying as a free man and not rotting away in a jail cell. It was kind of just luck that Thetis actually agreed to him being the volunteer.
But now that he's here, he knows what must be done.
"Alright can you just get out whatever you have to say about me being here so we can move on and actually start preparing for these Games?" Rodrick finally speaks up, drawing the attention of the mentors and Tiv over to him right away. When no one starts talking right away, he crosses his arms and leans back in his chair, "So?"
Tiv is the first one to speak up, "That was ballsy as fuck."
"It was dumb," Emilio adds after that and finally the group is starting to talk about this. "You could have gotten in serious trouble if Thetis didn't agree to you being the volunteer."
"So?" Rodrick says with a shrug. "I was already in prison for life, what's the worst they could have done to me?" They both fall silent at this and Rodrick knows he made his point, so he turns to his mentor who has stayed quiet this whole time. "Well? Are you going to criticize your tribute who has already proven that he is capable of killing before the Games?"
Dracana starts nervously picking at her nails for a minute before finally meeting Rodrick's gaze and sighing at him. "No because I know what it's like to have a goal and be willing to do anything to get it. I hate to break it to you, but…reaching that goal probably won't make you feel better."
"I doubt that," Rodrick answers her before shrugging at the group. "Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I'll be honest with you all: I'm here to win, no matter what. I don't really want to work with the career pack but I know it's necessary for winning, so I will. You and me," Rodrick points between himself and Tiv, "We're not going to be friends."
Tiv laughs at this as she pulls her hair to the side and starts braiding it, "I'm not here to be your friend, love. I'm here to win, so I have no problem with keeping you at an arm's length away."
Dracana clears her throat and the two tributes look over at her, "I think you should be more focused on making sure Two and Four take you into the pack. They…don't normally take too kindly to tributes going rogue."
"Which you are the expert on," Rodrick responds to her, watching her start to frown at this. "Don't worry, I'll be a good career from now on and won't go killing the others in the bloodbath."
"That would be appreciated, thank you very much," Tiv says with a scoff. She finishes her braid and tosses it back over her shoulder before leaning forward, folding her well-manicured hands on the table. "Look, I'll vouch for you to be in the pack, but only to a certain extent. If it comes down to me being in the pack or not, I'll choose myself over you any day."
"That's fair and I would do the same, so I respect that," Rodrick answers and Tiv nods her head and gives him a thumbs up. He turns his attention over to his mentor, finding her looking rather displeased about being here. "I'll get into the career pack, don't worry. I have a plan for training to show them that they want me. Besides, if they're going to take the broken one from Four, they would be real stupid to not take someone who has proven they will kill."
"That's exactly why they might not want you to join," Dracana says slowly and Rodrick stares at her, not having thought about that yet. "Would you want to be with someone who has shown they can kill before stepping foot in the arena? Someone who has demonstrated they will kill without much remorse? Someone who is one of their biggest competition towards winning?"
"I don't really want to ally with any of the other career Districts in the first place," Rodrick answers with a shrug. "I'm only going to join them so they don't immediately target me like they would if I was on my own."
"I think we need to consider that being a possibility," Dracana tells him.
Rodrick stares at her for a moment in a blank look before shaking his head at her. "You're supposedly my mentor," he starts slowly and Dracana nods her head in agreement. "Then start mentoring. We have how much time on this train? Let's get a strategy to make sure that District One is fully part of the career pack this year so I can win."
Tiv laughs at this and Rodrick gives her a cold look. "Sorry bud, you're not winning over me."
"We can argue later over which of you will win," Emilio interrupts before Rodrick can tell Tiv just how wrong she is and there's no chance she'll win. The two tributes look at the more experienced mentor, waiting for him to continue. "But Rodrick is right-"
"I know I am," Rodrick interrupts and Emilio gives him a look to shut up.
"Anyways," Emilio says sarcastically before continuing, "We need to make sure One is established in the career pack. If we don't get Rodrick in the pack, they'll target him first and then Tiv because they'll make some sort of argument that you'll betray them for killing your District partner, regardless if that's the case or not. So from now on, we put Rodrick's past in the past and make sure we get a victor for District One. Are we clear?"
"Yes, we are," Tiv answers him right away.
Rodrick nods his head, "Finally we're doing something worthwhile."
Marian Lilley, 18, District Two
"Hmph, I'm glad I'm not in One or Four," Flannery says with her arms crossed as they sit on the couches surrounding the screen, finishing up watching the recap of the Reapings. "What a mess."
"It sure is," Marian agrees with her, the high of finally volunteering and sticking it to her asshole parents slowly starting to fade and put her in reality of the Games, placed on a fast track by One and Four's interesting situation this year. "But what is it going to mean for the pack?"
"We'll still have the pack," Kaz tells her with a nod of his head, but Marian isn't too sure about that. She doesn't want to be allies with a criminal if the Capitol is going to target him, and she's really not sure that Abel won't be more of a hindrance than help. But, there is some benefit to having both Rodrick and Abel in the pack with her. She can use a scapegoat or two in the arena.
"We'll see what happens in training," Marian answers him, making a slight frown start to form on his face. "They might not even want to be part of the pack considering they're rogue volunteers."
"I'm sure Jory and Zephyr can give some advice on this," Flannery tells the pair before looking around the train compartment, taking note of the obvious lack of mentors in the room. "At least, whenever they decide to join us and do their job," Flannery mutters under her breath, but both Marian and Kaz still clearly hear her.
Marian shrugs at the escort, a mix of amusement and annoyance starting to build in her towards their mentors. If they were just going to go off and do whatever instead of mentoring them, why are they wasting Marian's time? She could have had Kat or Viola or even Roxanne mentoring her instead and they wouldn't have been doing this. But does she really need them? She has the skills to get through the arena. Kat wouldn't have chosen her if she couldn't win.
So why does she have to sit around waiting for men to tell her what to do? If she wanted that, she could have just stayed home in Two and been an obedient daughter to her misogynistic family.
"Flannery, you've been escorting for District Two for many years," Marian speaks up, watching the escort sit up with pride and also a small mix of concern over her age getting brought up. "Surely you must know some things about mentoring and can give us some advice in the meantime."
"Well, yes, but…" Flannery trails off, torn between the praise of stepping up and sticking with her job description. "No, we should let Jory and Zephyr handle it, but I'm done waiting for them," Flannery says as she slaps her hands on the armrests of her chair before standing up and storming out of the room on a mission to find the missing mentors.
"What do you think they're doing?" Marian asks Kaz, trying to get him to open up some more since he hasn't seemed to want to talk to her that much aside from very blunt formal answers since they got on the train. And Marian can respect that but with the mess in the other career Districts, it's more important than ever that they are a unified team.
Kaz thinks about it for a moment, not making very much eye contact with Marian as she waits for his answer. "I don't know, maybe strategizing?"
"Yeah, maybe," Marian answers with a shrug, choosing not to mention the looks she saw them giving each other ever since they got on the train. She doubts they are…strategizing. Marian looks around the room, finding herself growing bored waiting for the team to get there. Why should she be wasting her time now? "You know what, we don't need to wait for them to get here to figure out our strategy."
"We don't?" Kaz asks in confusion, meeting her gaze for longer than normal before turning away from her to pick at the velvet chair he sits on, growing uncomfortable with it by the passing second until he stands up and moves to a wooden chair off to the side. Once comfortable again, he looks at Marian for a moment and bites his nails as he thinks over his answer. "But they're our mentors… We should listen to what they have to say."
"I agree wholeheartedly," Marian tells him as she moves to sit closer to him, giving him a reassuring smile. "But when we're in the arena, it will be just us two and the only contact with our mentors will be one way. We need to make sure we're unified and have each other's back."
Kaz nods his head and sits up taller, meeting her gaze as he answers her, "I want to be leader of the career pack."
Marian silently raises one eyebrow at this statement, knowing if it was anyone other than Kaz making the statement, she would cuss them out and argue with them until they agreed that she would be leading the pack. But Kaz…she knows he's coming from a good place in wanting to lead the pack, not wanting to spite her. Yet a part of her deep down is still bitter at the thought of another man leading the pack like it so often happens…
But…the leaders of packs always have a big target on their backs… And Marian does not want that target on her. Sorry, Kaz, but…
Marian smiles at him as she puts out her hand to shake his in agreement, waiting a moment for him to accept it, "Of course, leader. We'll make sure District Two is leading the pack and gets the victor."
And of course when she says that, Marian means she'll be leading behind the scenes to make sure it's her that's the victor.
Sasha Kolster, 16, District Three
Sasha really couldn't stop thinking about how this whole situation is such bullshit. Life really loves to fuck her over. Sure, let's send in the person who has physical disabilities and already suffered a life threatening stroke into the Hunger Games. Let's doom the person who has already survived something that nearly killed her.
And she knows she's doomed. No one is going to want to ally with her. Samis has already made that clear from the start, staying quiet on the train and when he did speak up, making poor jokes that made none of them laugh, until he gave up and let the stress of all of this keep him quiet. At least by him staying quiet, Sasha doesn't have to try to push him away from her so she doesn't bring down both of District Three's shots at victory.
Sasha's accepted that no one is going to want to ally with her. Well, no one that's able-bodied. A small, stupid part of her is hoping maybe there will be two people that won't immediately count her out from being an ally… Two people in similar situations to her. But then the rational part of her brain reminds that part that she can be fine on her own. And one of those people is going to probably be part of the careers…and the other surely doesn't want to be with her.
She'll just be on her damn own and count on herself. Can't get betrayed or bring down allies with her if she doesn't have any allies. If only her mentor would realize this already.
"You both really should consider finding allies," Matla sighs again, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head at the two of them.
Sasha and Samis share a look before Sasha shrugs at her and Samis shakes his head. "I don't think I want to," Samis answers quietly, repeating what he's already told them both. "Alliances lead quickly to getting attached and I don't want that to happen. And sorry, I can't have that happening. I'm the only one caring for my mother…hopefully someone is helping her while I'm gone…"
Samis might not have meant it, but his comment makes Sasha start feeling guilty right away, realizing she's been so wrapped up in her own head and how unfair the situation is that she hasn't thought about her poor parents back home… Why is she always so damn selfish and only thinking about herself?! Her poor mother has sacrificed everything for her, given so much into her recovery, and Sasha is sitting here in a pity party for one. Her mother was in damn hysterics when she said goodbye, yet Sasha's being selfish and only thinking about the negatives.
Sasha shuts her eyes for a moment, trying to put herself back home in Three and picturing the sass her mother would give on a normal day. She needs the annoying comments right now that make her stubbornly try to fight against them. Yet she can't imagine anything, can't force herself into feeling stubborn and make herself motivated to try. It's so hard to do that when she's facing the Hunger Games without being able to physically move like she used to.
"Sasha?" Matla asks her, bringing Sasha's eyes open as she narrows her eyes at the people at the table, silently daring them to question her.
"No one is going to want to ally with someone like me," Sasha answers Matla, knowing no one is that good to ally with someone like her in a death match out of the goodness of their heart. In fact, they're probably already thinking about how she'll be an easy death in the bloodbath. "Don't even try to deny it, you know people are looking at me and thinking I'm someone they could beat if they ran into me in the arena."
"Not everyone," Matla points out and Sasha knows who she's referring to.
"Artem isn't going to be helpful to me. I…" Sasha hesitates, not wanting to sound like a stupid idiot in front of Samis, but then she realizes that she has no reason to feel shame for asking questions. After all, she's gone through a lot more embarrassing situations. And who gives a damn what he thinks when they'll both probably be dead in a few days? "What are the odds that the careers will refuse Aberforth and he'll want to ally with someone like him?"
"You really want to ally with a career?" Samis asks her in disbelief and Sasha gives him a glare.
"Yeah, why not have someone as an ally that knows how to kill?" Sasha questions him. "If you're looking for an ally, you want the strongest one you can find. Doesn't get much stronger than the careers. And maybe he'll find some unity in being with someone like him."
Matla sighs as she leans back in her chair and crosses her arms, before staring up at the ceiling for a minute as she contemplates her response. Sasha's glad she's genuinely considering it, making her feel a little less like a stupid idiot for asking it. "Well," Matla finally says, turning her gaze back to Sasha. "I'd estimate 50-50 chance of them taking him or not. If One wasn't in an equally uncertain situation, I'd say higher chance of them rejecting him, but I'm guessing they'll take both Rodrick and Aberforth to keep their numbers up."
"But there's still a 50% chance they won't," Sasha points out, hating that she can feel her hopes getting up. Every time she lets that happen, she just gets completely crushed.
"If that happens…" Matla shrugs at Sasha, clearly showing she is just speculating at this point. "A rogue career is going to be looking for strong allies, so you'll have to show him you're worthwhile to ally with, a strong and suitable replacement for careers."
Well fuck…that's impossible.
Aberforth "Abel" Barringer, 18, District Four
Abel and Leith both knew that there would be consequences to face from Abel volunteering in his friend's place, but he really didn't expect Okeanas to swear off mentoring at all this year, leaving Muir to step in with Delmar. The walls of the Justice Building weren't thick enough to deafen the angry shouting rant Okeanas had, going off about him.
He'll admit, it hurt some of the things she had to say about him. Yet as he sits on the train, heading to the Capitol to complete the dream he's had his whole life…he can put her comments in the past. It feels so worth it to be sitting here. And even with him volunteering unexpectedly, he still has support. He just is waiting until he can ask Muir alone why she decided to step forward and mentor for him.
The only downside to his rogue volunteering is the crash course of getting to know each other that Abel, Orin, and the mentors have to go through. Leith has told Abel a few things about Orin here and there, things he picked up in training, but Abel doesn't know much about zim. And Orin is proving that ze aren't that willing to open up to Abel and the mentors. At least ze didn't outright refuse an alliance with him, as far as he can tell from zir noncommittal shrug. And Muir and Delmar, well, they know nothing about him aside from his training accident.
"We need to build some sort of narrative for your volunteering," Muir tells him, tapping her chin as she thinks about it. Abel watches her attentively, ready to follow her guidance, but also knowing he will politely voice any disagreements he might have and hopefully they can discuss civilly. Delmar sits by her side, studying her intently and seemingly also learning from her. And Orin…well, ze have sat as far from the group as ze can while still being part of the conversation, clearly content staying separate.
"Can't we tell them the truth?" Abel asks her, already uneasy at just the thought of being dishonest about his reasons. "I've persevered through an injury that could have left me paralyzed and here I am, ready to complete my dream. That should be enough."
Muir contemplates this for a moment, before sighing, "You're right. Sorry, I'm trying to think like Okeanas and what she would do." Muir coughs out a last part, "When she isn't yelling."
"I think you should mentor your way," Delmar offers to her, so supportive of his fellow mentor. "And I'll follow your lead with Orin, right Orin?" Delmar looks to his tribute, who gives another silent shrug.
Muir is clearly uncomfortable at everyone looking to her for guidance, but she doesn't tell them to stop. "Alright, fine," Muir tells them, crossing her arms and resting them on the table in front of her. "You can give the narratives you want, as long as you're not going to cuss out Okeanas on live television for what she has said."
"Of course not," Abel reassures her immediately, frowning a little that she might think he would do that. "That would be completely disrespectful and I…I don't agree with her anger, but I understand why she would feel that way. I took a risk, and I'll prove to her it was worthwhile."
"Good, good," Muir nods her head before turning to his District partner. "Orin? What about you?"
Orin gives another shrug at them, clearly wanting to just keep to zirself. "I'll tell them about how I'm the child of two dentists. There's not much else to me. I know I am capable and that's it."
Muir slowly nods her head, looking like she wants to get zim to say more, but chooses not to push Orin. "Okay, sure, we'll work with that. Just as long as you two work together…"
"We will," Abel answers for them, glancing to Orin to get a slow nod of agreement. He turns back to Muir to reassure his mentor, "I know I'm a rogue volunteer, but I'm not doing it to cause trouble. I'm doing it because my best friend was chosen and knew he wouldn't be able to win and this was my lifelong dream. So here I am, ready to prove myself. I'll gladly work with Orin and the other careers, if they accept me. If not…I'll make do on my own. Wouldn't be the first time I had to work on my own and prove I'm still just as capable as before my accident."
"I'll work with you until it's time to split," Orin adds as ze stand up, letting out a yawn as ze stretch zir arms above zir head. "I'm going to sleep now. You need to talk to him more than me."
"Night Orin," Muir calls out to zim as ze are already heading to the door, not waiting for the group to respond.
Abel watches Orin leave, waiting until the door is just behind zim until he turns to look at Muir. He's waited until they were alone, not sure if it's something he wants Orin knowing…but he has to know. "Muir?" He asks softly, watching his mentor give him a pleasant smile at him mentioning her name, but pain is not quite hidden in her eyes. "Why…why did you step forward to mentor me? Surely Okeanas isn't happy with you for that."
"No, she isn't, but she'll deal with it," Muir answers with a heavy sigh. She starts fiddling with her glass on the table, delaying giving him an answer. "The honest answer is…well, you're obviously adopted."
Abel gives her a confused look at this, knowing it's not something that he goes around advertising to the world, but maybe she knows from the training records. "Yes I am… What about it?"
Muir meets his gaze, giving him a sad smile. "Stel and I foster kids all the time. Usually babies so the kids don't get upset when they are adopted and leave a victor's house. And nearly 18 years ago, we fostered a pair of twin babies."
"Oh," Abel says softly, putting it all together right away. "My mothers never told us about what happened after our biological parents deaths and before we were adopted…" Abel reaches into his pocket and pulls out his biological father's monogrammed handkerchief, watching her face as she recognizes it.
"Yeah…" Muir says quietly, trying to hide her hurt at this situation. "So when you volunteered and Okeanas refused to help you…I knew I needed to step in again."
"Thank you, ma'am," Abel tells her, feeling content at knowing this little bit of his history. And with it…more resolution to do this properly, to make sure he wins. "I'm not going to let you down."
Artem Nobyl, 14, District Five
Artem feels awful as he watches Letha fret about, trying to do whatever she can to help him out. She's just…so kind and he doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve someone treating him like this, someone who doesn't know him and is probably doing it just because she's obligated to do so as his mentor. And Iris is just the same, holding onto Letha's baby for her and cooing at him, looking so happy to be holding baby Leandro, all so Letha can have a moment to do her job. Letha should be paying attention to her baby, not him…
He just can't believe any of them are being genuine. Not when he's spent the last few months surrounded by people that act friendly to his face and then turn around and treat him like shit. And she's doing all this while she has a baby with her? No, she shouldn't be wasting her time on him and just focus on her baby. Or better yet, on Margaery since she might actually give District Five a chance at winning.
"Here we go," Letha says cheerfully as she sets down two mugs of hot chocolate in front of Artem and Margaery, but Artem makes no move to take it. He just…cannot bring himself to feel much about this situation, still just numb from being chosen to enter the Games. It's hard to feel anything but numb when facing what surely must be his guaranteed death. He's not fooling himself. He's a crippled freak who no one is going to want to be allies with. Because why would they be allies with someone crippled like him?
"Thank you," Margaery tells Letha before sipping her hot chocolate, making Artem looking bad without intending to just by taking the drink and giving Letha a friendly smile.
Artem starts to frown as he stares down at his drink, hating the feeling of obligation building in him to keep up the act he's built around his fathers, the act that he's okay and hasn't felt numb and unable to feel any sort of happiness in the past couple of months as his mental state was slowly chipped at by his classmates, destroying the view he had of himself until all he can view is the freak that they always call him.
"Would you like water or something else instead?" Letha asks him and Artem slowly brings his gaze up to her before shaking his head in response. Letha continues to give him a kind smile that has Artem on edge, questioning how she could possibly be genuine to him. She has eyes, she can see how disgusting he is. "Okay, no problem. Just let me know if you need anything."
"Let me know if I can do anything too!" Iris chimes in cheerfully, bouncing Leandro on her lap as she smiles over at the pair of tributes. "I want to help however I can."
Artem can barely bring himself to give a small shrug of his shoulders at this, can't bring himself to say anything. He knows he should be grateful for their help and looking out for him – his fathers raised him to be respectful of adults – but…he just can't care about anything when his death is imminent.
"So," Letha says as she gets comfortable in her chair, Aion sitting quietly next to her and letting Letha take the lead, even if she's younger than him. Maybe he's like Artem and just can't bring himself to care anymore about tributes after years and years of watching them die. And this year will be more of the same, thanks to him… "We should talk about the group of tributes reaped this year and potential alliances. Do you two want to pair up?"
Artem shakes his head as Margaery gives a shrug of her shoulders, still looking pleasant despite Artem's immediate rejection of her. "I'm open to it but also want to see all of my options first in person," Margaery answers Letha, glancing over at Artem and somehow not looking at him with disgust or weird fascination like people usually do.
"Artem?" Letha asks gently, getting his attention.
Artem lets out a low sigh before he picks up his arm, using it to point at his leg. "I'll just slow Margaery down. No need for me to bring down both of Five's chances of winning…"
"That's nonsense," Letha tells him right away, but he can't believe that she is being truthful. "Just look at this year's group of tributes. There's a few in similar condition to you, including a career! I think you definitely have a shot towards winning and shouldn't count yourself out yet. And…maybe you should talk to Sasha."
"Why would she want someone just like her as an ally?" Artem asks bitterly as he leans back in his chair, wishing he could just melt down into the plush chair and disappear already. "Anyone that allies with me will just be putting themselves at risk. I'm better off alone."
Margaery studies him at this statement, while Letha's frown slowly deepens. Aion is the one to speak up next, not sugarcoating or trying to pretend with his tone. "Kid, I've seen tributes in worst condition than you go into that arena. Tributes with cancer and only months left to live – and one of those won. Yes, you have a physical disability, let's not beat around the bush and pretend we can't all see that. But you have lived with that for fourteen years and know how to adapt. You're not physically weakened by an illness. So please, I thought we were on a train to the Capitol, not a pity train."
Artem stares at Aion for a moment, his brain slowly processing the hurtful words he just told him, sending him back home in that moment to his school, the people who say worse to him and hurt him. He can't move for a moment, kept in place by the painful reminder that even the people who are supposed to help him are going to treat him exactly like everyone else. "I'll just go then so you can focus on the tribute who might actually win."
Artem stands up, wobbling for a moment to gain his balance on the moving train, before heading out of the train car, tears forming in his eyes as the only sound is the soft click of his crutch with each step, reminding him that he is broken and going to die…
"Artem!" Letha calls after him as he gets into the next car, breaking the silence and making him pick up his pace to get to his room sooner before she can see just how pitiful he is.
"Leave me alone," Artem tells her bitterly, trying his hardest to move faster to get away from her. And he does keep a fast pace, but Letha catches up when he fumbles at the door to his room, struggling to see through his tears. "See, you caught up to me when I was just trying to walk. I'll never outrun someone in the arena."
"Artem…" Letha says gently, putting a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but it's no use. He knows he's going to die. "No matter what you tell me, I'm not going to give up on helping you. I can see you are capable, but you don't see it… I don't know what has happened to you in Five, but I am not whoever hurt you before."
"They pretended to be nice at first," Artem turns his head to glance over his shoulder at her, trying to ignore the tears forming in her eyes as she watches him. "Just like Aion said, I'm pitiful. So just let me die."
With that, Artem yanks open the door and steps into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He tries to hold back a sob and he slowly crumples to the floor, unable to muster the energy to get over to the bed before he breaks down. He's going to die. In just a matter of days, he's going to be dead, probably before the bloodbath ends.
"Artem, I'm not giving up on you," Letha calls through the door, but Artem just shakes his head, not believing that at all.
She needs to give up already…he has.
Iroha Kinoshita, 18, District Six
Getting reaped for the Hunger Games is both a blessing and a curse in Iroha's eyes. She hasn't felt this free in…years, really, but the fact that this freedom was brought by the Games… On the one hand, she's finally away from Kayden and knows one of her children is safe. But on the other hand…Noah is still back home in Six with Kayden and will be stuck with him if she doesn't make it out. And there's one big problem getting in the way of her survival.
And it's the big stomach she has blocking her from even seeing her damn toes.
Since boarding the train hours ago, her mind has raced through all the ways she will survive this ordeal. She didn't know who to trust – who to tell the truth about her plan, if anyone. And so she kept up her act of the scared naïve mother trying to protect her baby, able to keep the lie going easily from the partial truth in that. She's absolutely scared shitless at the thought of not helping Noah escape Kayden, but she's not going to cower in fear.
Iroha is counting on everyone else underestimating her just because she's pregnant. If they do, they have never seen a mother in a desperate situation.
She wasn't quite sure if she was fooling her mentors or escort. But she noticed the quiet conversation between them and then Bee disappearing for a while. As for her District partner… Dresden was quiet for a long time, observing Iroha and the mentors just like she was doing with him. But he started opening up sooner to the mentors and when he did, well, Iroha wasn't too impressed by his conceited tone. But she suspected that before he even talked to her, recognizing the money present in the clothes he wore to the Reaping. He didn't ask about an alliance and Iroha was glad for not needing to deny that alliance to his face. He doesn't seem like a bad option, but if Iroha allies with anyone…it's going to be someone that is a bit more gullible. And she already has found herself slipping up a little with her act around Dresden, her body constantly on the verge of going into fight or flight despite no immediate threat. Just the ever looming threat of being put in a death match while eight months pregnant.
As they quietly finish up dinner, Iroha watches everyone with her head down, studying the way they interact with each other and trying to figure out if she can trust her own mentor. Jarle's not much older than her and not a parent himself. How could he possible understand what she plans to do? Or how desperate she is to know if she can trust him to tell him about Kayden so Noah can get taken out of there? But then again…he did take desperate measures to safe himself.
Maybe he's not that different from Iroha.
Bee's phone starts ringing and they leave the room quickly as they quietly answer the phone, glancing back at their table with concern as they leave. Iroha tries not to acknowledge the fact that they were looking at her, but before she can think long on it, Dampero is clearing his throat and Iroha and Dresden bring their attention to him. "So…" Dampero starts quietly as he looks between them. "Should we just assume now that you want to work separately based on the lack of attempts to be friendly with each other?"
"I'm neutral on allies in general," Dresden says with a shrug at Iroha. "No offense to you…but I don't think you'd be helping me out in the arena."
He's right, she'd be willing to put a knife in his back to make sure she wins for Six over him.
Iroha gives a nod of her head and lets out a side sigh with a frown. "I understand," Iroha says softly, glancing up at Dresden and over to the mentors. "I know I am not in the…best condition for this. I really just want to protect my baby."
Dampero and Jarle share a look at this before Jarle gives her a gentle smile. "Bee has been working on figuring out what the Capitol can do for you. They've gone into full protective parent mode. I guess in the meantime, we should split to discuss strategies right away?"
Dampero nods in agreement, "Yeah, Dresden and I can go elsewhere." The older mentor stands up and motions for Dresden to follow him, the boy only looking slightly annoyed that he's the one that has to move, not Iroha. Iroha holds in a scoff at his attitude. Conceited asshole, not wanting to move and make the pregnant woman move instead.
Jarle moves so he sits directly across from Iroha, who still keeps her head down a little, not trusting him yet. Jarle stays quiet for a minute, studying her before leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingers on the table. "You're not hiding the desperation in your eyes."
Iroha immediately picks up her head to meet his gaze straight on at this, giving him an accusatory look. "How do you know that?" She demands as a hand moves protectively to her stomach.
"Because I had that look in my eyes when I went into the Games," Jarle says with a smile as he continues to take in Iroha. "So I guess my question is if I'm going to be working with the weak mother or the woman who would fight tooth and nail to get out of there alive."
Iroha carefully considers her response, so used to keeping up a lie back home and not showing her true self that it's…unsettling her to try to open up to someone. But this is her mentor, not Kayden… Jarle is going to be her lifeline in that arena, her biggest help in getting out of there alive. "I need this baby out of me before stepping foot in that arena."
"Bee is working on that," Jarle responds right away, glancing down at her stomach for a second before returning his gaze back to hers. "Let them work on that while we work on a strategy to get you out of there."
Iroha hesitates to agree to this, so used to counting on just herself for survival. If she only counts on herself, she can't get disappointed when people don't follow through on their word or try to hurt her. So she'll respect Jarle and what he has to say, but she's not going to believe what he says about her baby until she sees it happen. "To start, know that I will do anything to survive. Anything."
Choo choo, train rides time! Let me tell you, these two chapters took me so much effort to push through them and write them XD It was a struggle to make them all different enough from each other. I hope I did well with this one, but hard to do when you have the three career Districts together and Sasha, Abel, and Artem together lol.
But we get to see some more of our non-featured tributes! That's the main reason I chose to write train ride POVs for each featured tribute, to see them some more. And also we start to see some of the wheels turning of strategy for the arena!
RQ #13: What District pair interaction surprised you the most?
That's all I have to say about this chapter lol. OH! I remembered what I wanted to say lol XD Not Legacy related, but starting this Friday, April 24th, I am opening up tribute subs for the sequel to Senseless, Renegades: The 151st Hunger Games! There's been a lot of changes made and I have info up on my profile about the subs (just beware spoilers for recent Senseless chapters) and I hope you consider submitting a tribute :) In addition, escorts subs are open as of yesterday and all escorts needs to have a new form submitted, so there are lots of opportunities to get in!
Alright that's all I have to say for real now lol. I'll see you next Monday with the second set of train rides!
