𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚢
"Your immediate focus should always be to know everything about everyone. About your district partner, about your mentors, about your competition. They are all vital to you, so don't discount a single one. Your mentor could give you life-saving advice. And even the smallest of tributes could turn out to have a trick up their sleeves."
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Upon waking up, the first sight Delilah met was Caspian's cloudy eyes. It would be a lie to say she always loved them. When they first met, she thought them rather odd, so unlike the vivid blues and greens you typically found in District Four. Then she thought them dull, uninteresting... the eyes of someone who just faded into the back of your mind. But somewhere along the way, she found comfort in the grey of his eyes. The grey that reminded her so deeply of the clouds that often settled over District Four.
He was like that overall... someone she once upon a time paid no mind to, but somewhere along the way, Caspian Gilbert had become a comfort... a friend... someone she would happily wake up to every day for the rest of her life.
He had a face she could study for hours without complaint, whose every version since she started caring was burned deep into memory... Whose every mannerism was something worth taking note of. Whose every twitch of the nose was something she could know about him.
Often she wished she could go back and slap her younger self. Knock some sense into the girl who never once looked this boy's way. The girl who ignored someone that would someday weasel into her life and only bring good.
Though... her younger self would have just slapped her right back. Her younger self would have plain and simple have reminded her of the most cardinal of rules. Given her a snobby "Well, you should have listened" to this exact moment...
Because now Delilah was being directly met with the consequences of noticing a boy...
Having to watch him look at her with that love-sick smile... those eyes filled with nothing but adoration, and just knowing that it was mirrored onto her face the moment she saw him. Having to know that he had sealed himself into her heart all those years ago, her vulnerable teenage heart... and knowing she was in his. Having to experience all this love... and knowing that it would all soon be ripped away...
Why couldn't you just listen?
She must have been frowning, for his eyes grew sad... almost as if just guessing what had brought her mood down. Caspian brushed away some curls that had escaped into her face, then he rested his hand against the side of her face, his thumb tracing a circle, "Was able to pretend for a bit... that we weren't here."
But they were... here. On an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, on a train that was taking them to the Capitol... Where they would spend one week being introduced to the country before being sent into a game of life and death. A game where only one of them could get out...
Stop.
Delilah moved her eyes down, reaching out her hand to pull at the rope around his neck, pulling out a necklace from beneath his shirt as her fingers dragged to the pendant. A piece of blue sea glass in a shape loosely that of a shark tooth, wrapped in the wire it held to the thin rope. She didn't say anything, just fiddled with it.
Caspian smiled as she did, letting his hand drop down to the mattress while he watched her, "Remember how embarrassed you were to give this to me."
Her gaze briefly shot up in a glare to him, "I wasn't embarrassed. Awkward," she looked back down with a quick smile, "I was unbelievably awkward."
"Ah, yes. Just thrust it in my face and told me that I could stop staring into your eyes and just look at the 'rock' instead." He laughed, shaking his head, "Still can't believe you gifted me back something I gave you."
She pulled a face at that, pulling back to really make her point clear, "You gave me a piece of sea glass and said, 'Reminds me of your eyes' as if I had any care that it matched my eyes. So I did the logical thing and made it into something you could always keep as a reminder for yourself."
Caspian lifted up a bit, plopping down an elbow as he rested his head in a hand, his lips quipping into a smile, "Fair... but remember how I painstakingly collected all those pearls from all those clams... and how we made a necklace of them together... and then you just turned around and sold it."
Delilah didn't react, still... even after all this time, not seeing how that is a bit cold-hearted. But Caspian's smile didn't drop... unbothered by what many would have not been able to be okay with, "The irony in being a jewelry maker and having no grasp on sentimental value."
Many would shame her for that, call her strange detachment from physical reminders... well, odd. Call her cold and uncaring... Caspian never did. He teased... just as she teased him for placing too high of sentimental value into every little thing... but he never shamed her.
He just accepted her. It may have thrown him for a loop at first... but he understood that all her little differences from him were just her... and well, he had long ago decided that everything about Delilah Calamari was something worth admiring.
"How long have we been in here?" Delilah had rolled onto her back, looking around the room blandly, spotting the covered windows, killing any concept of time.
Caspian hummed, closing his eyes, "I moved us here when you passed out after a bit... and Florence came by a few minutes before you woke up, said dinner was about ready."
She looked back at him, eyes narrowed as she studied his face a bit better... "Didn't sleep."
"Being able to look at you has always calmed me better than any nap."
She wasn't entirely sold on that cheesy little line, eyes rolling as she sat up, soundlessly stretching out her limbs before swinging her legs to the ground, bare feet hitting the cool floor.
Caspian was on his feet in an instant, following her to the door that should lead to the bathroom, a cheeky grin jumping to his face—
"No, you may not join."
And yes, that was a reoccurring ask of his that had still yet to receive a yes. But that didn't kill his grin. And why became apparent when he grabbed her wrist, spinning her around before expertly pinning her to the door she had almost managed to reach.
This was something Delilah should have really been more used to... but no, every time, those same stupid flutters in her stomach went wild. Seeing him leaning over her, a hand on her waist... so close. Every damn time she just melted.
Caspian was a sweetheart. Sentimental, emotional, caring, much softer, and much more trusting than she. But it was the more aggressive boy in him that had caught her eye, to begin with(granted, in a much different way)... and that same boy she watched grow into a man. The man leaning over her then. He was strong, tall... and just, quite simply... attractive. And so yeah... when he towered over Delilah and was just the right amount of aggressive... it was worthy of causing one to melt.
But again, a sweetheart. So after relishing in the quick shock of the moment, he just leaned his forehead against hers... very quickly growing more serious as his grin fell, "Can we promise to not have any more crying about us? I just... I want our last memories with each other to be okay... not fighting or broken. I want to be as happy as possible for as long as time allows, even if it means living in ignorant bliss; I don't want us to be consumed in all pain."
Well, don't start fucking crying now.
Delilah had to close her eyes, adjusting to the sudden mood shift. She lifted a hand to rest against his face, her turn to trace a circle... and it was quiet for a moment. She needed to get a grip on her current wave of emotions before she could promise him anything. She needed to embrace the pain for just a moment longer...
And with time, she would push through and find the ability to nod, "Yeah... we can promise." She opened her eyes, seeing his once more already on her... and without thought, whispered, "I love you."
His same love-sick smile and eyes held nothing but adoration. He pressed one lingering kiss on her lips before pulling back with a whisper of his own, "I love you."
xxxxxx
Caspian had been waiting outside her door when she left her room. They both dressed ready for bed as he escorted her to dinner. And they were the last ones there, sitting at the table mid-conversation between Florence and Finnick. Ignoring the quick glances thrown about as the two just started filling their plates.
Nothing was said about the breakdown from earlier, and Caspian had managed to nudge himself into the conversation with Mags.
Delilah wasn't as sociable... it wasn't her natural state to talk with near strangers. And at the same time, these weren't people she had to act around. She didn't need to be anything but herself in that moment because everyone at that table... even Florence, was on her side. They were all loosely a team... a team she spent all of dinner studying.
Mags and Finnick were mentors. One old and one young.
Mags was in her mid-70s and, by this time, should have been living her life seeking what peace she could. She had already devoted so much to the games. From winning to years of being in the Capitol's favor to helping train the tributes of four. She was to thank for the career program, one that produced a career often enough for a district that was without the same brainwashing of one and two... saving the unprepared even if not the tribute themself.
She had been able to step away for quite a while, 20 years ago... when Ariel Calamari had won. Mags was still so young back then and was far from real retirement, but she did receive that break... one that eventually ended. With Ariel gone, Mags was the last female mentor left... and she didn't have the heart to leave tributes to one mentor... so she kept mentoring.
She was nice... and so oddly... okay. She was proof that victors had a chance to someday find inner peace. Had a chance to still live their lives to have some form of meaning. She loved and was loved. Maybe she never went on to marry or create a family of her own... but District Four... the children she watched grow and train... they were her fulfillment.
Finnick was only 17. Won just three years ago in the 65th game. The youngest ever Victor. He was in the career program and, even at 14, was already up there with the older kids. So when reaped, he was able to push through... horrifyingly though, he was largely helped by being a favorite of the Capitol... looks wise. The last year he spent more time in the Capitol than he did at home... so despite his age, he was quickly becoming quite knowledgeable of society in the country's center.
He had been mentoring since he won a child who was helping other children. In districts with more winners, that wasn't common. He should have had a year or two to step away as best he could. Should have acted as a third to mentorship and worked alongside Mags and the male mentor. But with Kai Calamari gone... and Bazar Highmore unwilling to ever mentor again... it was just Finnick.
He was strange. Despite their year-age gap, Delilah didn't know much about him. She was always horrible about paying any mind to anyone not important to her, so before he was a victor, he was just another face. And after he was Victor, her parents were already gone, disconnecting her from really being around him. Rumors existed, naturally, that he was a flirt and cocky and overall just an attractive oddball... but he seemed natural enough at dinner. So clearly, to her, Finnick Odair had mastered an act... one that consumed him after he became a victor... few people could understand...
A young and an old... one fresh to the scene and the way it works, one with all the wisdom life could offer... it actually made for a duo that would give the best range of advice.
Still... Delilah was sure she would just default to the many years of personal mentoring from her parents. But having a good pair of mentors was never a bad thing.
Florence was a Capitol Escort. Purely just there to add to the looming presence of the Capitol in your life. But the thing was that they were only that for the Capitol leadership. For victors... they were a direct view into the Capitol's eyes. Someone respected in society that would be handling most networking and press. Victors needed them... but they also needed victors. Their prestige comes from being an escort to Capitol favorites. To being sorta the brand manager. Can't do that if they die... so the escorts found their interests very inclined to be a helping hand to their tributes. And, more importantly, keeping tributes' secrets so as to not ruin any built images.
Florence had been an escort for many years... she never looked it because of all the work Capitol citizens get, but she was in her later 30s or early 40s. Older, used to the games, and surprisingly manageable. She was still from the Capitol, so still that typical airheaded and insensitive way of life... but she could have been worse. One could at least expect her to do her job well.
Which was fantastic because she was easily the most crucial tool to Delilah. Because in the Capitol, image is everything.
xxxxxx
"Decided how you are taking down the boy from 2 yet?"
Delilah didn't move her attention from the screen as Finnick plopped into the armchair off to her side.
She had gone straight to this compartment and turned on the re-runs of the day's reapings immediately after dinner. Her eyes were glued to the screen as she took in every moment, from the first name being called to the handshake being shared. Everyone else had scattered to wherever... but clearly, for Finnick, it was not off to bed.
"Magnus. He's big, but not my biggest worry. Terra, his district partner, has this look in her eyes that says we need to watch her."
Finnick raised an eyebrow, "Already have them all memorized? And here I was, hoping you just had a poor memory. I sparred with you for months on and off, and you still continued to get my name wrong."
She blinked, an eyebrow of her own popping up while she continued to watch the screen... "We sparred?"
Finnick looked quite a bit offended at that, "Fantastic. Spent months getting knocked on my ass for my face to not even stick to memory. Maybe you'll remember if I-"
"Don't take it personally," Caspian laughed as he sat down, throwing a blanket over Delilah as she absently leaned into his side. "When did we meet Lila?"
Unfair.
She frowned briefly, knowing this was a trick question... one she just had to give in to in defeat, "When we were ten."
Caspian smiled at Finnick with a shake of his head, "We met when we were seven on the beach. And ran into each other many times afterward. She just didn't care I existed until I gave Drake a big black eye when we were ten."
Finnick had hesitated a moment, watching Delilah's reaction closely to her late twin being brought up... but when all she did was hum in response to the new information she had seemly just now learned... it seemed to be a topic that could be talked about, "Sister went for revenge?"
Delilah answered before Caspian could, "No, Drake and I wanted him to show us how to throw that good of a punch."
Finnick couldn't stop the bubble of a laugh, "And then the rest is history."
Caspian's smile lessened, growing softer as he dropped his eyes to the girl who looked nowhere else but the screen, "Nah, it took a long time to go from training buddies to forming any real bond. Back then, all she thought about was training... friends didn't fit into that. But if I knew giving her brother a black eye was all I needed to get her to remember my name... would have broken his arm long before then."
Delilah pinched at his leg, her own smile settling onto her lips... at least a sign she was dividing her attention from District 11 on screen and the conversation in the room.
"Spent your whole life chasing a girl who didn't know your name?"
Caspian just shrugged, joining Delilah in studying the tributes they would be matched against, "Just who she is... Drake was the same. As everyone has always said. The Calamari twins weren't raised to be kids; they were raised to be Victors" He squeezed her arm, "At her core, Delilah knows how to survive better than anyone. It's just how she was raised to always be in survival mode... and I decided the moment I saw her that I would love everything about her."
Finnick stared at them for a moment. Watching how freely he talked about her. How calm she was about being talked about. Watching as they both studied the tributes on screen, Caspian picked her brain for all the silent notes she had been making. Watching how relaxed she was in his side, the pair so comfortable.
Finnick was very aware of the survival mode of the Calamari... and he was very aware of the love Caspian held for her. All of four was aware of those two things. Because in public, she was the composed girl whose life was spent training. In public, she was distant and uncaring of anyone but herself... even the boy who was always attached to her hip. The boy who always looked at her with hearts in his eyes.
In public, no one understood how he, a boy with so much love, could stick with someone who hardly looked his way.
But there, in private... Finnick could see the small signs that, hidden away...beyond the image and the strict life she had been raised into... she was a girl equally in love. Life just permitted she wasn't as obvious about it.
Turning to the screen himself, joining in on Delilah's need to get ahead on studying... Finnick just frowned. Because he knew just as they did... that this was gonna hurt.
But focusing on it would do nothing for anyone.