Chapter Four
Marinette doesn't bother to open the box just yet. From the sounds of it, she has to look normal and act like she had just met a mysterious woman from a secret organization that plans on ending the Games because otherwise she is going to sound insane. She returns to the room that Alec has left her in, only to curse at the broken glass on the floor. The alcoholic scent has already filled the room and now she has to pick up all the shards on the floor. Today has really not gotten off to the best start.
She bends down and picked up the larger of pieces of glass and threw them into a garbage bin behind the bar. She was still cleaning up the mess when Alec, the avox, and another man entered the train car. Alec, high strung and keyed up seems to be the norm with him, rushes over but stops before the spilt drinks can touch his shoes "Marinette! What happened?! Put that glass down right now! You could get yourself hurt!"
She shrugged "I'm sorry, but it's okay, I was just cleaning up the mess now." The dark haired girl rises up and as she does, she finds the avox girl in front of her, pulling the glass pieces out of her grasp and disposing of them for her. The sharpness of her bright orange eyes could cut her better than the glass ever had the chance to. Marinette has to catch herself not to say thank you again. Alec would be sure to have a fit.
Alec reached a hand for her and Marinette carefully stepped over the glass, while the avox girl sets to work pulling out a mop and broom from behind the bar to clean up the little mess she made. Once Alec has helped her over, another hand reaches out for hers. The man with Alec, significantly taller than him, has her hand at his mouth, where he is pressing a kiss to her knuckles "Already causing a mess? Looks like this year is going to be full of fun." He lifted his head up and relinquished her palm. His hair is black, swept back and held together with gel as if it would get too wild without it. His skin is dark, he looks like he has recent family from some foreign country in the Mediterranean, but nothing sets off his model like looks like his green eyes. She has a vague memory of him, but as more than just a tribute. She can't place her finger on it "My name is Plagg, I'll be your mentor for the Games."
"Very nice to meet you Plagg. I'm Marinette."
"Ooh, I know all about you little girl. Alec has told me so much you but I like to make my own first impressions." His acid green eyes flickered to the mess on the floor "You a klutz or something? What happened here?"
Her blue eyes followed his "Um. Uh, no. Well, I mean I am a klutz but, that wasn't what happened." What a terrible liar has she become. Come on, at least pretend you know what you're doing. After a quick breath, she is quick to recover "I went looking for a water bottle and I just, saw a bug."
He rose an eyebrow towards her "A bug?"
"Yea, a bug, you know. Just out of the corner of my eye. And without realizing where my hand went, I went to smack the bug and then one bottle tipped over another." She gestured to the mess and then rubbed her arm "The domino effect really does cause a much larger ripple."
He hummed, "I've had my fair share of spilled wine. Just as long as it doesn't land on my cheese, I've been doing just fine." His eyes catch something before his lips stretch, cat like and amused "I believe I found the culprit of you little scare. Plagg reached a hand out to her shoulder and pulled back a single digit to show Alec.
The escort pulled back in disgust, not wanting to get touched by the bug "What is that?" He bothered to look closer as the tiny creature flapped it's wings "A ladybug?"
"Looks like it." Her mentor comments before the small dotted bug takes off from his finger to land on Marinette's shoulder once more "It's taken a liking to you." The ladybug took off, it's small body disappearing in the large room "You must have amazing luck little girl. Let's sit down and talk. You probably have a lot of questions and I'm the only one around here to help, so let's make it quick. That Agreste kid is going to work me and my connections to the bone once we get to the Capitol. God, I need a drink."
Lunch turned out to be much more revealing than Marinette thought it was going to be. Yet, her mentor hardly took her questions very seriously, even if Plagg was very forthcoming with anything regarding the Games and the Arena. The man tended to say the first thing that came to his mind with a mouth stuffed with a mountain of cheese or a glassful of wine.
Around a cracker, that was topped with boursin cheese, he answered a question of hers "Whell, it's bad fwo main-" He swallowed, leaving crumbs on his lips. Alec politely ignored the rude table manners of her mentor for whatever reason "Bad to main any weapon. The arena will have a-" Plagg coughed, reaching for his white glass of wine, taking a few heavy chugs. He smacked his lips and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Alec went a little green around the gills, but bit his tongue "They'll have various kinds of weapons in there. And you don't know what resources you'll have. If you were a career, that would be a little different. But since you're not, I won't bother going into the details for that."
She was sick of getting half assed answers. He was giving her just a taste of what she needed to hear, but he shot down most her ideas without giving her much other reason other than that she shouldn't. Marinette was losing her edge and at this point she just wanted to say anything to shock him. So she did "Okay. I get it. But what if I was a career? Or at least joined them?"
Both dark skinned men rose a brow to her. Plagg was the first to respond "You wanna join the career squad?"
She pushed at her food, a piece of smoked tuna. She had only taken a few bites. She needed her mouth free to ask questions. Even if she was hungry and the food was delicious, she was too pent up full of energy to eat "Well, maybe? I don't know yet. But it is an option. The careers nearly always make it towards the end. The numbers say my best bet would be to get in with them."
"What, what, what?!" Alec's hands banged repeatedly on the table "You can't do that! Actually, you could.. But you can't! Careers stick with their own. They almost never bring other districts into their fold. And if they do, it is only so that they could stab them in the back in the middle of the night. It's way too dangerous. And to think I was thinking about placing some money on you. Tsk. And if I think back on it, the only time that plan has ever worked was when-" His dark brown eyes flickered to the man beside him.
"I am a victor you know." His head hangs towards Alec with a newly assembled cracker with cheese. He chewed "I had to have won my Games somehow, Cataldi." His green eyes, burning like the acid they remind her of, turn on her "Your plan, it's not bad. It's just been done before."
She blinked "I'm guessing you did it."
"Bravo, get the little girl a prize." He took another bite of his cracker "You probably never watched my Games. It happened somewhere like, what, gotta be going on 14 years ago? So you were just a baby little girl." Plagg chuckled in the back of his throat "Funny. That makes you and Adrien my 13th batch of tributes to train. Hell, maybe that'll be my lucky number."
Marinette has to keep her mouth shut about Adrien. He is just gonna keep flooding back into her mind if she doesn't.
"Anyways. I was the winner of the 11th Games. I am also the youngest victor of the Games thus far. I was 13 when I won. So you can see why it might be a lucky number." His cheshire grin takes over his face and it makes her uncomfortable.
She shrugged and looked away "Or maybe you are just a black cat with one too many lives."
"Me-ouch." He purred "That hurts. If you didn't want to hear about my Games, you just had to say so."
Her eyebrows drew in, in mock concern "Sorry."
"Don't worry little girl, I can take a hit."
"That's the thing though. I don't care if you can take a hit. I know you can. You're the one who survived the Games, but I haven't." She dropped her utensils. She wrapped her arms around her middle "Don't you get it? You really shouldn't be acting like this is all just.. A game. It's not, no matter what you call it. It's my life." Adrien's name nearly slips out so easily, but she refrains from it "It's 23 other kids lives. And now with whatever the President has up his sleeve with this Quarter Quell thing, it's more serious and scary and confusing than ever."
Plagg's leg bounces on his knee, where he was it propped up "Sooooo, your point is?"
She has to take a minute to give him an exasperated look "My point is that I'd like it if you took this seriously. I want you to want me seriously. I get that you main concern is always going to be Adrien, I get that, and he should be your main concern. He is just more important than I am. But when I do have time with you, I'd like it if you were honest with me and actually taught me how to have a chance at any of this."
He puts down his half done cracker in favor of looking towards Marinette. His leg comes off of his knee and he plants both feet on the ground. Alec swallowed his bite of tuna quickly in order to give the moment the silence Plagg seeks "You want me to be honest?"
"Yes." She dares.
"Since you asked little girl." He smirks, like he has been waiting for this all afternoon "Alright. The reason I've been, really, just been making small talk with you is because I think it'd be a waste of time to teach you anything."
His words have the desired effect. Her pride is hurt, and now her insecurities are festering at the open wound.
Plagg rubbed his ear momentarily before continuing "You're just not worth my time. You're an unimpressive girl. You're small, pretty thin, surprising for the daughter of a baker. Or maybe not, can't go eating the merchandise your father spends his pretty pennies on. And this passive aggressive thing of you trying to get me to help you isn't really working out. Actually, it's pretty pathetic. Maybe if showed me something other than your tits, that I'm sure all your little middle school fan boys must adore, than I would-"
The second he opened his mouth again, her blue eyes turned downcast but it wasn't because she was holding back tears or the hurt. No, her bright eyes were scanning her surroundings. The table was relatively small. She could reach her arm across the table with only a little assistance once she was standing. That fork she just dropped looked like it would be the right length. And the wine bottle that he has been drinking from all afternoon is nearly empty. Still, it looks like the glass should be weighted enough.
So it's within those few seconds that the dark haired girl, her bangs shadowing over her eyes, stands up, a hand on her fork already. Marinette holds the fork like it's an ice pick and she hurls her fist towards Plagg. The fork catches on his suit's jacket and pierces the skin near his clavicle. With strength he can't imagine how she poses, she yanks the man with her hold on him. He yowls as he is forced up and out of his chair and bent over the table. The table cloth is thrown askew and so is half the food and dishes. They clatter on the floor. A moment later, shattering follows the sound and Alec jumps away from the table, shrieking.
Marinette dropped the broken bottle of wine that she smashed over Plagg's head "Should have warned you-"
Plagg doesn't give her time to finish. His long arms wrap around her thin body. He tackles her across the table, taking it down with them. When she lands, her head hits a fallen platter and she can see white dots in her vision. The man that claims that he is her mentor, slides up her body and his large hand closes around her throat before she has time to react "Warn me about what?!" He huffs, acid green eyes chemically burning her.
She can hardly breath with his hand on her neck, let alone speak. It doesn't stop her from swinging her legs forward and kicking from so hard in the back that he falls forward onto her waiting mouth. Marinette bites his neck until he screams out. Alec screams for them to stop, but doesn't move closer to the two.
Her bite victim struggles to remove himself from her clenched teeth. He squeezes her throat harder. Once he has a good grip maintained, he pulls his weight up, bringing her with him and slams the two of them down. The blinding pain is enough to make her lose her bite on him. She gasps with what little breath she has left.
She struggles, her nails digging into the fingers at his throat. She is able to break one of his fingers away, but then he applies his second hand to her throat. He glares down at her, watching her scratch at his arms. A moment after the panic sets in, he releases her throat and pins down her wrists to keep his hold on her "Eh. Not bad. Very unexpected." He huffs between each of his breathes "We can work with that." He lets go of her wrists and stands.
Marinette sat up on her elbows to glare at him. If looks could kill, Plagg would be an icy statue under her blue stare and Alec would certainly be frostbitten too.
Her mentor extended a hand out to help her up. She pointedly ignored the hand and helps herself up. Her dress has half of her tuna, or maybe it's Alec's, stuck to her. It's too hard to tell in the mess the two of have created. Plagg wriggled his nose, displeased with the wine that his wet the back of his jacket "Alec, call the avox to clean this shit up."
The clean man huffed and put his arms across his chest "I will, but don't start getting use to ordering me around like some handmaiden! You're lucky I can't stand the smell of fish on my clothes." Alec moved around the broken glass and ceramic, careful with his white leather loafers.
Once the doors closed behind him, Plagg picked up his fallen chair and turned it to sit down properly "Let's talk about this while we have a moment. Pick up a seat, there is plenty around." He gestured to the ones turned over on the floor.
"I'd rather go take a shower and ignore you, so let's just make this quick." The teen crossed her arms. Her voice sounds rough from being choked and she refuses to admit that it hurts.
He shrugged "Fine. Don't talk to me then. But remember, you need me more than I will ever need you sweetheart."
The fight blared in their eyes once more. She concedes only because she knows she can't win. Her father always did comment on the stubbornness of Cheng women. She pulled up a chair from the floor, wiped down the seat and crossed her legs as she sat down.
"Good choice. Proves that you can set aside your feelings to get what you need. You'll need that in the Games. At least the more important part of this fiasco." He sighed, his eyes trailing the female tribute. He wedged his thumb between his teeth "You're dangerous, you know that, right?" He muttered between his teeth and thumb. Before she could answer, he popped his thumb out of his mouth in favor of leaning forward, on the edge of his chair "What were you going to warn me about?"
"What?" She questioned, leaning back further into her chair.
"After you hit me with the bottle. You should you have warned me about something."
Marinette smirked "You probably already noticed it. I have a bad temper."
"Ha!" He laughed genuinely "I don't think I've heard anything truer."
She rolled her eyes, but her mirthful smirk stayed anyway.
"Look, I get it, you and me, we are not going to get along. That's fine by me. I got plenty of friends and I don't need you but on the other hand, training you is my job. And since you don't seem like a whiney 'peace and love and no more games' crybaby.. well, two outta three ain't bad. I can tolerate working with you, as long as you can tolerate me. So as long as you can do that and promise me you'll give it hell in the Arena, I'll tell pretty boy that he can go fuck himself. He gets treated like every little boy and girl that has walked in here before." Plagg held his hand out to Marinette "What do you say little lady? We got a deal?"
She considers the offer and it sounds so good. She needs every advantage she can get and having her mentor actually train her would be amazing. And if she really wants to even contemplate joining this strange group of rebels that Tikki has given her a sneak preview to, then she actually has to be in a good position to help. Rebels want numbers but they will not want people in their ranks aren't worth it.
The bluenette also has to let her mind dwell on the fact that if Adrien joins Tikki too, that she has to be useful. She has already let him down once and if she can't help him in the games either, that will be another crushing blow that she can't handle.
Nodding, Marinette has her mind made up. Part of her thinks it's way too early and she has not had enough time to process anything, but she goes for it anyway "Okay." She shakes his hand "Deal. Quick question though."
They drop their joined hands "Yes?"
"When did I get promoted from 'little girl' to 'little lady'?"
"Sometime between you stabbing me with a fork and you smashing a glass of wine over my head. But I was also thinking of changing it to bitch."
"Pfft." She smiled but it's short lived because outside, she can see and feel the train slowing down. She got up out of her chair, and walked to a window, looking around "We can't be there just yet, can we?"
Alec and the avox Marinette had met, followed by two more come into the room just as the train is coming to a stop. They've arrived at another station, but it looks nothing like the Capitol Marinette has seen on TV.
Plagg does not move from his spot as he answers "No. This is just the refueling stop. We'll arrive tomorrow before noon." He stopped one of the avoxes by grabbing her wrist "Get me a bottle of Merlot, anything from the 70s, and a platter of Gouda. Have it brought to my room." He stood and nodded to Alec and Marinette "I'll be in my room if you need me. Don't need me. And do us all a favor and take a shower Marinette. You still smell like the district and it does not go at all with the fish."
"Who's fault do you think that was?" She mockingly glared at him as he left.
"He isn't wrong." Alec stayed by the door, not wanting to dirty his shoes.
The glare that comes his way is short lived. She is tired and a bath does sound nice "Alright, I get it. Where is my room?"
The two avoxes left are busy cleaning and Alec doesn't look like he wants to bother them "I'll show you to it. The better it'll be for me once this disaster is cleaned up. I'm so stressed, I wish there was a masseuse on this wrecker."
Alec took out the door first, since he stood by it but before Marinette could join him, out the window, she can see something. The rumble that followed the movement down the tracks, let her see a train coming down the opposite side towards them. The other trained slowed, stopping beside them.
"Marinette! Let's go!"
She looked away from the train and followed Alec down the hall.
