General reminder that Theo's pronouns are she/it
VII.
Do the Time
"Let me have a look at it…"
Char hovered over Theo as soon as she and Gunner entered the District Two lobby. Bellatrix was right behind him, both of them anxious and frantic at the sight of the duo. Theo couldn't help shying away, self-conscious of the day's events, and instead focused on seeing where Ajax was. He was part of the group that had attacked Khoi, after all, and the one who'd rammed Theo into the sinks and mirror.
He was nowhere to be seen, and Desdemona picked up on its quiet search for him immediately. She was sitting at the dining table on the far side of the room, dressed down in a loose dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the top and trousers that had no shoes accompanying them. Desdemona looked almost as stressed as Gunner had, her hair a mess and a glass of whiskey in front of her on the table—its bottle counterpart almost empty, save for a final glass's worth left inside.
"He's in solitary confinement for tonight and tomorrow," Desdemona explained. She downed what remained of her whiskey from the glass and poured the last amount from the bottle onto the small cube of ice left in the glass. "You are extremely lucky that there's a witness to backup you and the kid from Four's claims."
"Birdella did most of the work," Bellatrix pointed out. "They basically spelled out his anger issues from the train when the Gamemakers asked."
"Oh, trust me," Desdemona scoffed. "The escort from Four did more heavy lifting than our forever-baby did."
Theo furrowed its brows. Now what did that mean? She looked at Desdemona, confused, but she just waved Theo off and lazed in her chair.
Char was finally able to get behind Theo and look at the stitches, and when he saw them, he let out a pained sound. He took Theo from Gunner, letting the man trudge to the table and collapse into a chair, and Char held Theo's face in his hands as he pressed kisses to its forehead over and over and over again. Theo could feel the concern wafting off of him, mixing with his relief and panic, and Theo sniffed in an attempt to will away the stinging behind her eyes.
What was wrong with her? Worrying everyone like this. Even if Gunner said it was the right thing to do, now Theo had made a whole mess for everyone to clean up. Not to mention the Gamemakers were investigating what had happened—normally Peacekeepers would take statements and send them to the Gamemakers, not involve them entirely. Training probably got cut short too. And poor Saffron—Theo just left her without a word!
Theo whined as Char pulled back. Char was staring at it with a composed, level expression, and then out of nowhere his face crumpled and he whined back at Theo.
"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" he asked, whimpering.
"I'm sorry—"
"You should've taken us with you! Then they wouldn't have gotten the jump on you!"
Oh, that was not the scolding Theo expected. She expected Char to say that she was reckless, that she'd caused trouble; not that he was upset Theo hadn't told him where she was going. And the more Theo thought about it, the more it made sense. Char would've Spartan kicked the duo from Four before they could come back into the bathroom. Hell, even Bellatrix would've gotten a few punches in against Ajax.
Theo furrowed its brows and blinked slowly. If Char wasn't upset that she'd caused trouble, then was everything okay? It looked at Char, searching for answers, and after a moment of holding his gaze, Char finally let out a sigh and let go of Theo's face.
He was smirking, albeit weakly, when he said, "Trying to steal the glory with a scandal already. You're ruthless, Teddy Bear."
Theo laughed, soft and small, and smiled back at him. The throbbing in its head subsided a little, as did the pain behind its eyes, and it looked at Bellatrix to see if she was okay as well. To Theo's relief, Bellatrix had a hand on her hip and was smiling with relief as well.
They'd both been more worried about Theo being okay than about the fight itself.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys," Theo eventually said. Desdemona looked over at the trio as Bellatrix and Char stood on either side of Theo and helped her walk to the table. Standing was fine, better than it was earlier, but moving still required a bit of help. The lightheadedness only came back when Theo looked ahead and walked. "I got really caught up in my competition with Cyanea, and then when Saffron told me she'd seen Khoi leave with someone for the bathroom, I just… got a bit worried. Cyanea was looking for them too."
"Seriously, what are we gonna do with you?" Bellatrix grumbled. "First Fortuna, now Khoi?"
Char stopped Bellatrix from continuing with the complaint. "Actually, I heard from Saffron how good Cyanea was," he explained. "If we get on her good side by helping Khoi, maybe she'll join us."
"I did bet on her joining the alliance if I won," Theo mumbled.
"There you have it! She's joined us!"
Oh boy, here we go again…
"I, um…" Theo sank down into the chair Bellatrix and Char brought it to. Sitting down felt heavenly after everything from the infirmary, and somehow the wooden dining chair was comfier than the cot. "I told Cyanea she didn't have to join the alliance. After I won the bet, I mean."
Char and Bellatrix groaned in tandem. Theo quickly tried to recover and point out that Char was right about getting her to warm up.
"W—We still have two more days to get her on our side!" Theo insisted. "And like Char said, helping Khoi probably made her ease up! She was very adamant on making sure I wasn't trying to separate them, and when I told her not to worry about joining, she assumed it was because I didn't want Khoi in the alliance."
Desdemona sipped her whiskey loudly. Bellatrix glanced at her, but Char kept his gaze on Theo.
"I guess," he sighed. Char reached up and pinched his brow. "You know, this is not how I imagined recruiting allies would go."
"This is very par for the course," Desdemona chimed in. "My alliance formed by everyone just eating near each other and silently never drifting away. We never even outright asked each other to ally."
"Mine told me my fly was down for the whole interview," Gunner mumbled. "It wasn't. He just thought it was funny and wouldn't leave afterwards."
"That was pretty funny," Desdemona laughed, mostly to herself.
Gunner made a face at her, once again looking like a sad sausage dog. Desdemona waved him off and downed the rest of her whiskey.
"You're all missing the most important part, though," Desdemona pointed out. Char finally looked at her, brows raised, and Theo looked as well. Certainly, there was a lot to take in, but Theo wasn't sure what she meant by the most important part. "Theo, who else was in the bathroom? The ones hurting the kid."
Theo blinked. Right, it was a decent-sized group in there. Theo crossed its arms over its chest and frowned.
"Ajax," it listed, starting with the obvious. "And Montresor and Fortuna. But also the other duo from Four. They were all crowding Khoi. Fortuna was the one to run off with Khoi, though."
Desdemona set down the glass and let out a sigh. "There you have it. You guys need to work on your alliance—a career pack's been formed, and it's not yours."
Everyone was silent as the words sank in. Another career pack, one that none of them were part of. Theo looked down at the table with furrowed brows. This was a Quell with twice as many tributes, just like the Fiftieth Games, so it made sense for there to be two career packs. Twelve people weren't expected to get along swimmingly, which meant they'd likely split into groups of six to clash with each other. Or, worst case, three groups of four.
If the duo from Two and both Montresor and Fortuna were in the group, that was two of the career Districts' halves allied together. Add in Ajax as a straggler, and he balanced the alliance that Theo already had with the twins and the rest of the District Two team. Numbers hinged mostly on where Cyanea and Khoi went, and while there was little chance Cyanea would side with the other career pack, Theo hadn't done much to win her over yet either.
If Cyanea and Khoi were smart, they'd stay independent and let the two packs wipe each other out.
With a small nod, Theo was able to at least map out the basics of what they were up against now. She'd just challenged four out of the five members of the group, and the twins had told Char and Theo Fortuna's capabilities, so now it was up to Theo to coach the alliance on the career pack.
"The duo from Four were easy to throw around," Theo said, breaking the silence. Desdemona and Gunner leaned forward in their seats. Bellatrix and Char pulled out chairs and sat down near Theo to listen. "I think they're more glass cannons than proper fighters. And you were right, Char—Ajax isn't as good as Ebony. He didn't brace himself properly when I kicked him into the cubicle. He was winded for a while, too."
"So we can brute force most of them," Char muttered.
"What about that Montresor guy?" Bellatrix asked.
Theo reached up and rubbed her jaw. During the walk with Gunner back to the lobby, it'd been surprised to find all of its teeth still in place. Theo's jaw was a little swollen, but that was it.
"Hell of a strike with his elbow," she recounted. "Quick to react, too. I think the only flaw is misjudging how far he needs to pull back to avoid a hit and not bracing himself properly—I think he bit off some of his tongue when I got him on the jaw by accident."
Everyone in the room let out pained sounds as they recoiled. Theo watched, surprised, as each of them had varying reactions to the news that Montresor had lost a portion of his tongue in the scuffle. But most notably, Desdemona looked proud and feral, grinning from ear to ear, and Char was slowly emulating that reaction as he began to laugh in disbelief.
"You're so brutal," Desdemona said with excitement. Theo recoiled a little, taken aback. Was the violence really so necessary to praise? It looked to Gunner for support, but Gunner was holding his face in his hands, slumped over on the table tiredly. "How'd it feel? Did he cry? I bet he's the type to cry when someone dishes his bullshit back at him."
"He didn't cry," Theo insisted. She looked at the table, anxious, and wasn't sure what to say. Fighting didn't feel good, either. Theo wanted the glory of the Hunger Games and the recognition of being the best, but being seen as brutal for it and having people assume she enjoyed hurting others—Alamo was right to worry that Theo could be twisted as a bloodthirsty tribute with a single misstep. "And I didn't enjoy it. What they were doing was wrong, and I just wanted to put a stop to it."
Desdemona deflated with every word that came out of Theo's mouth. And by the time it finished speaking, Desdemona's face had fallen so much that she looked almost disappointed. Desdemona sat back in her seat with a click of her tongue, no longer looking at Theo now, and Theo couldn't help feeling like she'd disappointed Desdemona. Was it so bad to dislike violence? To feel guilt over hurting someone?
"I'm not a bully," Theo went on. "I'm not like them."
Char propped his chin on his hand and hummed. "I couldn't see you being a sadist," he agreed. "I picture you more as a warrior of vigilante justice. You're too protective of the little guys to enjoy seeing them get beat up."
"Not just the little guys," Theo mumbled.
Char barked out a laugh.
"You're right," he chuckled. "I vividly remember you kissing a scrape on my knee better when one guy tripped me in training. I was a gangly bastard when puberty hit."
Never mind that they were still going through puberty, and that Theo was just as tall when it was that age. They both just bulked up in different ways—Char with his muscles, and Theo with her cushiony belly and thick thighs.
"I cannot believe," Desdemona grumbled, "that a chance of a sweeping, brutal victory lies with Ajax."
Bellatrix shot her a harsh glare, immediately provoked by the statement. Even if Desdemona wanted a victory for Two, saying that Ajax was the key to it was a bit much. It was discrediting everyone else on the team, especially Bellatrix and Char. And Theo didn't want to stay silent when Bellatrix was clearly hurt by the statement.
"Ajax is a bully who only picks on those weaker than him," Theo said, loud and firm. "I don't like speaking ill of people, but he's proven this entire time that he has a serious attitude problem and is in dire need of discipline before he seriously hurts someone—"
"Hurts someone?" Desdemona laughed loud enough that it echoed through the room. "Sweetheart, you're in the Hunger Games. You don't stop at hurting someone—you kill everyone and then go home feeling good about it!"
"But I won't!" Theo snapped. It jumped out of its chair and glared across the table at Desdemona. "I won't feel good about it! I understand that people die in order for the victor to come out of the arena, but I'm not about to make it a sport! What prize do I get if I go wild and just start taking lives for the fun of it? The exact same prize as the scenario where I don't do that!"
The whole time Theo was shouting, Desdemona watched it with a blank stare. No thoughts behind her eyes, no particular like or dislike of what she was hearing, not even a reaction to Theo's logic.
Just nothing.
Theo pursed its lips and sucked in a deep, steeling breath. Was she so wrong to feel this way? It wasn't like violence was all everyone said it would be. The whole time Theo was throwing around Montresor's alliance, it didn't feel a shred of enjoyment throughout the ordeal. And then the whole comment about Ajax being the chance of a sweeping, brutal victory—why was brutality so necessary? If a sweeping victory was all Two needed, any one of the trio could do that. Bellatrix was Desdemona's tribute, the one she was in charge of training; there was a far greater chance of Desdemona nabbing a victory through Bellatrix than through Ajax.
When Theo opened her mouth again to speak, Gunner loudly pleaded, "Can we please not do this tonight?"
Desdemona let out a small scoff. Bellatrix rose from her chair with a sigh. She was by Theo's side in an instant, easing Theo back down into its seat, and shook her head.
"Gunner's right," she told Theo. "You've been through enough today. Let's just wait and see what the Gamemakers say in the morning, and then we'll go from there. Don't get caught up in everything happening like Ajax does."
Theo almost recoiled at the comparison. It was true, Ajax did get carried away with his anger about things—but was Theo really acting like that right now? She looked away from Bellatrix, mostly ashamed, and when it saw Char's face, it could tell he was unhappy by this discussion as well. Char stood up and tucked his chair into the table, and then he was by Theo's other side and pulling her out of her seat gently. Bellatrix let go of Theo without much resistance, only watching them as Theo was led away from the table by Char.
"We're going to bed," he told everyone. "Tell the staff that Theo needs something light for dinner, like soup. And no stringy shit or corn in it, you hear?"
He didn't slam the door behind them, but the soft close of the door still gave Theo a small amount of dread. He was upset. He was probably upset with Theo, because there was bound to be something she'd done that was a misstep somewhere. That was par for the course, right? That Theo made some big mistake somewhere?
No scolding came, though. Despite his silence, Char was gentle as he pulled Theo's blankets down the bed and patted the mattress. Theo anxiously moved to it, sitting down where Char patted, but as soon as it sat down, Char pushed her slowly onto the bed until she was laying on her side with its head on the pillow. Theo was confused, bewildered to the max—but Char just continued by tucking it into the bed and bundling Theo up in blankets.
Before Theo realised it, she was sufficiently burritoed on the bed and left in a warm bundle to simmer down.
Theo scrunched up its face and sniffed.
"Hinging the hopes on Ajax," Char was grumbling as he sat down beside Theo. "Desdemona went too far with that. She knows he's too stupid to follow instructions."
"Was I wrong?" Theo asked, almost too quiet to hear.
"Absolutely not." Char patted her through the blanket burrito and sighed. "You made a fair point. No one gets extra goodies for being ruthless, and there's plenty of victors who won without ever killing someone. You remember that one lady from Four? Annie Cressida? She swam through a dam collapse while everyone else drowned. You think she got less for doing that?"
Theo knew Annie's story well. It was part of what reassured it that embracing brutality wasn't necessary to win, and that Theo could remain relatively innocent when it came to the lives lost in the arena. The only blood on its hands would belong to Char, and Char alone, and that was if they both made it to the end together.
Theo buried her head into the pillow and let out a slow breath. "Mmhm," she hummed. "I remember. But I think everyone else wants to forget."
"Screw what everyone else wants." Char scoffed and threw his head back, frowning up at the ceiling as he did so. "Everyone else vying to volunteer didn't want you to. But you did. No one liked that I'm a campy gay. But I still am. To hell with what other people want and believe—they have their own agendas and we're not conforming to it. If you want to win without killing someone, then you better hope some Rube Godlberg machine-type of accident takes me out and keeps you kill-free, you hear?"
Now there was an idea.
Theo smiled a little and bit back a laugh. Char relaxed a little more, and when she looked up at him, he wasn't frowning anymore.
"C'mon," he urged. "Where's my Mama Bear at? There's a salmon and a jellyfish that need catching."
Okay, that got a laugh out of Theo. It tried to hold in its chuckles as it asked, "A salmon and a jellyfish?"
"Yeah! Khoi and Cyanea. Khoi because they're a fish, and Cyanea because that's a kind of jellyfish. Ain't I a wellspring of knowledge?"
"You forgot actual koi fish."
Char clenched his hand into a fist as he smiled tightly down at Theo. "I am a wellspring of knowledge," he repeated.
Theo grinned and didn't bother trying to hide its laughter.
"Okay, you're a wellspring of knowledge," she giggled. Char preened as he smiled more proudly this time, flicking his hair as he did so. It was a smug reaction, like he'd been genuinely validated, and the childish display just made Theo giggle harder. It was difficult to keep believing she'd done something wrong when Char was being silly like this. He made it so obvious that he wasn't upset, that he was fine with Theo, that Theo wasn't doing the wrong thing.
This felt better, Theo thought. And it was easier to relax and doze off after such a rough day. At some point during the nap, Char unravelled Theo from the blanket burrito and woke it up to have some soup. And then a night of restful sleep came next, and Theo could dream without the weight of a burdensome mistake on her shoulders for a time.
The Gamemakers' judgement came swiftly and fairly at dawn. Ajax was still in confinement, and Desdemona hadn't come out of her room to join the rest at breakfast, so it was Birdella who had to make the announcement when Peacekeepers knocked on the door.
"So," Birdella said slowly, looking over the letter with narrowed eyes. "There's good and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"Start with the bad," Char called. He was still fixing his training shirt, having put it on inside out by accident and not noticing until Bellatrix had pointed it out. "The good always lifts the mood."
Birdella made a dubious expression and glanced at him. Theo stopped chewing its toast with a concerned sound. The bad news wasn't that bad, was it?
"Well… The bad news is, Theo is being punished for taking matters into its own hands instead of calling for Peacekeepers," Birdella explained. "You have to miss a day of training."
Ah, so it was that kind of bad. Theo let out a sigh and resumed eating her toast. At least it wasn't something worse, she decided, and at least she could just do basic stretches and exercises in the lobby. Short of arming itself with a weapon, Theo was allowed to do anything within the confines of the lobby.
"B—But the good news!" Birdella tried. They were doing their best to act like the good news was enough to make up for a day of training. "Gamemakers found Montresor Tuttle, Ajax Formido, Magellan McCarthy and Sebastian Thule to be the instigators of the incident! They all are in confinement and also miss a day of training, but they'll also have points deducted from their private training scores!"
Bellatrix was wiping at her mouth with a napkin when her jaw dropped at the news.
"Birdella, that's pretty good news," she said. "This'll hurt their sponsorship prospects, and some of them might get rusty without a day of training."
"It would be good news," Gunner chimed in, "if they aren't skilled careers who'd score high regardless of tampering. If Montresor were to be granted an eleven without tampering, a reduced ten is still a score sponsors will back."
"We're only really crippling the ones from Four," Char agreed. He looked at Theo as he sat down and added, "Sorry, Teddy Bear. It feels like this was for nothing."
Theo was still silently munching on its toast as it processed everything. Bellatrix was right—reducing their scores and stopping them from training for a day was a good punishment, but it wasn't enough to discourage them. But most important of all, and what Bellatrix and Char didn't seem to notice, was that Fortuna's name didn't come up in the list of punished tributes. She was part of that group in the bathroom, but Theo was just about the only one who knew she'd surrendered immediately and got Khoi out of there before Montresor could chase after them.
It wasn't like the Gamemakers had come to interview Char about the events, either. Birdella had handled everything, but Birdella never asked Char what had happened. Which meant someone—someone aside from Khoi—had backed up the claim that Theo was acting in self defence on Khoi's behalf.
Fortuna was coming around to the alliance.
Theo smiled and swallowed the last of her toast.
"This was a pretty good outcome," she mumbled.
Char gawked at it. "What—"
"When you're at training today," it told Bellatrix and Char, "fill the twins in on the situation. And let them know that we might get more allies. The twins will be able to tell you what the read on Fortuna is, but also keep your eyes peeled for Cyanea. I'll go through self defence drills tomorrow with Trixie, so for now, practice with a weapon you feel most comfortable with."
Bellatrix stared at Theo with wide, surprised eyes. She glanced at Char, and when Theo followed her gaze, it saw that he was slightly less surprised. If anything, it looked like Char was recognising the other benefits outside of crippling the rival pack's scores. It didn't matter that they punished Montresor's gang—what mattered was that it meant something to someone in need.
Char nodded after a moment and fixed his collar. "Sounds like a plan. I was going to ask Truffle to spar with me today anyway."
"We're just fine with this?" Bellatrix asked.
"I'm pretty alright with it," Theo said honestly. Char nodded in agreement. "If the Peacekeepers are here to watch over me, maybe I can go over some theory with Gunner. I can't learn everything in a physical sense. I can probably spend some time taking notes on the reruns they play on TV, too."
Birdella and Gunner both looked over at the Peacekeepers by the door. One of them nodded, seemingly confirming Theo's declaration, and Birdella relaxed a bit.
"Yes," they agreed, sounding more hopeful. "Yes, this is pretty alright! You three haven't had time to study the tributes outside of training, so of course it's a good thing Theo can do that."
"Then that's my day planned." Theo picked up its plate and walked towards the kitchen. She always tried to rinse the dishes after using them, and Theo was grateful for the sink included in the District Two lobby. Avoxes would come in and collect used dishes and cutlery, but until it was collected, Theo felt it prudent to rinse off any crumbs for easier cleaning. "You two go to training. I'll be fine, I promise. And make sure you let the trainers know if you hurt yourselves! Accidents can happen at any time!"
There wasn't much left to say after that. Bellatrix and Char left after more reassurances from Theo, and Theo settled in on the couch as Birdella switched on the TV. The Peacekeepers never moved from their spot, stationed by the door and watching Theo like hawks, and Desdemona didn't come out of her room after breakfast was over.
The host and announcer were back to speculating again and giving updates on the relationship chart when Birdella turned the TV on. Theo was very pleased to see the red line linking it and Char now coloured purple, but that happiness quickly turned to concern when Theo saw just how many tributes were linked by blue lines. The District Seven girl whose whole team consisted of twelve- and thirteen-year-olds was the older sister to the youngest boy, labelling her as his chosen partner, and the other two boys were step-brothers who, according to the host, were now known to be bullying victims whose parents were their only friends. In District Ten, the little girl who'd played with the horns of her partner's costume was linked to him with a blue line, and it was revealed that the boy was a recluse who rarely left the house, so the only verifiable relationship of reaping age was his little sister. And there were more—best friends in District Twelve, one of whom volunteered to save the reaped boy the trouble of picking among his friends to take; ex-lovers in District Nine who split amicably, according to their reaping introduction; a thirteen-year-old boy in District Three who singled out an eighteen-year-old girl, linked by a black line that came with the word "alleged" underneath.
"I didn't realise how many younger tributes brought older siblings," Theo mumbled. Gunner was in the kitchen and checking his watch habitually. Birdella was curled up atop a throw pillow and hugging a larger one to their chest. "It's a shame to see so many families lose two children instead of just one this year."
"I've got my eyes on that boy from Three," Birdella said. They were nursing a mug of hot chocolate and took a loud sip between speaking. "What'd that kid do to make the boy hate her so much? Why is it alleged?"
Theo looked at Birdella with a guilty smile. "You know, it's weird hearing you call people kids when—"
"When, what?" Birdella asked, innocent.
Theo sniffed. "You look very young," it said eventually.
"Aw, shucks! You're gonna make me blush!" Birdella held their head up high and took another sip of hot chocolate. A bit of whipped cream was stuck to the tip of their nose, and Theo didn't hesitate to reach over and swipe it off. She licked it from her thumb, humming at how sweet it was, and considered asking for a hot chocolate if Birdella went for seconds. "You wouldn't believe the amount of surgery and hormone blockers it took to stay like this. In my biz, you need to look young and cute and marketable if you want to stay relevant."
"Aren't you supposed to take something to replace the hormones you're blocking?"
Birdella laughed casually. "Oh, nothing a few hospital stays between shows can't fix. I've been doing it for decades! And my group is on hiatus during the Quell, so I can rest and relax before my next show."
That… didn't sound good. But Theo supposed Birdella looked happy with it. She looked back at the TV, ready to continue watching the host speculate on alliances that rumours among sponsors have proposed, but Gunner was still hanging onto Birdella's offhand remark.
"Decades?" he asked. "How old are you?"
"How old do I look?" Birdella asked innocently.
Gunner looked uncomfortable as he answered, "Like, twelve?"
"I thought the same thing," Theo chimed in.
"How old do you guys think I really am?" Birdella went on, and this time they looked mischievous as they smirked at Gunner and Theo.
Theo wasn't sure what to answer. If Birdella had been performing since around the age they looked, maybe they were only around thirty? Theo held back its answer, though, and gave Birdella a helpless look. Gunner was a bit more confident.
"Sixty," he said, and it was obvious he was throwing out the oldest, yet most reasonable, age he could think of.
"HA!" Birdella threw their head back and spilled some hot chocolate on their throw pillow. Theo hurriedly took it from them and carried it to the Peacekeepers, whispering to them to get it washed when they left tonight. They didn't reply, but one did take it and held it behind their back. "You wish I was the grandpa of the group! I'm younger than you!"
Gunner deflated, genuinely disappointed.
There wasn't much else to parse from the speculation by the host, Theo found, and most of what was shared was the lives of the tributes back at their home Districts. Standard stuff it remembered seeing from home, of course, and overall not a lot to work with outside of who would likely ally with who based on research done on the tributes' home lives. For crying out loud, they speculated Theo would ally with Montresor because they were both skilled volunteers. Not a lot could be taken at face value with this program.
Theo sighed heavily and watched as they did reruns of the reapings again. She glanced over at the kitchen, over towards Gunner, and Theo spied him sifting through the fridge. There were salt and pepper shakers on the bench behind him, as well as a small glass and a bottle of sriracha sauce.
Gunner let out a delighted sound as he withdrew from the fridge, and Theo saw him holding an egg in one hand and a bottle of tomato juice in the other.
"What are you doing?" it called out. Birdella got up from their spot on the couch, and they shook their mug at Theo. "Oh, yes please."
"I'm making a prairie oyster," Gunner declared. "For Desdemona."
"You know those things don't work, right?" Birdella pointed out. Gunner looked at them with that sad sausage dog expression as he cracked the egg on the benchtop and separated the albumen from the yolk with the shell. "It's a placebo effect."
"But Desdemona doesn't know that."
"Trust me, Desdemona knows that." Birdella hummed to themselves as they made more hot chocolate—this time pulling a mug from one of the cupboards that was decorated with the words DO I LOOK LIKE I RISE AND SHINE? on the front. Theo bit back a laugh at the mug. Whoever used it last in the lobby probably wasn't a morning person. Maybe it was one of Ursula's mugs, it thought bemusedly. "How many sugars, hon?"
"How many did you have?" Theo asked.
"Far too many for your healthy constitution. We'll start with three."
"I think Desdemona will appreciate it," Gunner tried again. He dabbed some sriracha into the glass, atop the egg, and then dabbed some worcestershire sauce from a bottle Theo hadn't seen him grab. "This one tastes nicer than you'd think."
Birdella scowled at him. Theo leaned over the couch and asked, "Won't she get salmonella?"
Gunner waved her off as he shook some pepper into the glass. "Nah, that's rare. One raw egg yolk won't give her salmonella."
"One bite of the raw cookie dough won't give me salmonella," Birdella drawled.
Gunner actually turned around and glared at Birdella. Birdella glanced over their shoulder and poked their tongue out at him.
"Well, I think she'll love it," Gunner insisted, "because it also has gin in it."
"Oh, of course. My mistake. The gin will disinfect the egg of all bacteria. Carry on, then."
"I know you're being sarcastic, Birdella."
They gave an innocent giggle as they continued to make two mugs of cocoa.
As if on command, or perhaps sensing she was the topic of conversation, the door to Desdemona's room slid open and the woman in question stepped out. She was still dressed in just a bathrobe, her hair a bird's nest that was in dire need of grooming, and she was genuinely confused to see Theo sitting on the couch. Desdemona looked at the clock on the far wall, squinting, but quickly gave up when she wasn't able to read the time.
She trudged to the couch, giving Theo a soft grunt in greeting, and Theo waved back hesitantly. After the argument last night, Theo was a little anxious about facing Desdemona. Admittedly, it hadn't thought about that inevitability. Of course Theo would have to interact with Desdemona right after the argument; they were confined to the room together until Theo was allowed back to training and the arena launch began, respectively.
Desdemona didn't seem to be angered, though. She just looked tired and hungover, and Theo wondered just how much she'd drank yesterday before Gunner brought her back from the infirmary.
"I smell cocoa…" Desdemona was slurring as she trudged to the kitchen.
"I'm making a mug of some," Birdella said, voice quiet out of respect for Desdemona's hangover. "Would you like some?"
"Put some hair of the dog in it," she groaned.
Gunner perked up as he measured out some gin from the bottle. "I'm handling that already!" he chirped. "Got a nice prairie oyster for you!"
"A what?"
He triumphantly held out the glass of egg yolk floating about a mixture of tomato juice and gin, and Desdemona was visibly disgusted by the sight of it.
She looked at Birdella as she set the glass down and said, "Six sugars. No whipped cream on top."
"And one shot of whiskey," Birdella added with a nod.
Desdemona practically collapsed into the couch, right beside Theo, and she looked it up and down with a puzzled expression. And then she looked over at the Peacekeepers, and Desdemona's expression became even more confused.
"Why're you still here?" she asked. She pointed to the Peacekeepers. "What do these bozos want?"
"It's my punishment," Theo told her. "I'm not allowed to train today. But me and Birdella have been watching the broadcast for notes."
Desdemona let out a grunt and nodded. "Ajax still isn't back?"
"He's still in isolation and not allowed to train either."
"I guess there is some justice in this godforsaken place." Desdemona reached up and ran her hand through her hair, further pushing it up in the air. She didn't seem to mind, though, and yawned as she did so. "They punish the kid you got in trouble for, too?"
Theo shook her head. Desdemona blinked and seemed genuinely surprised. She opened her mouth to say something—but quickly got distracted as her gaze flicked to the kitchen, and she screeched out, "Gunner, spit that out!"
When Theo turned around, Gunner was choking as he lowered the prairie oyster glass from his mouth. He thumped his chest while Birdella slapped his back, and while it looked like he was trying to cough the drink back up, it was far more obvious that he'd swallowed it all and was more choking on his spit than on the egg yolk.
Theo was quick to jump off the couch and rush into the kitchen. It moved around Birdella and Gunner and pulled a glass from the cupboard, and with a rushed flip of the faucet handle, Theo filled half of the glass before shoving it in front of Gunner. He took the glass and drank from it in small sips, completely red in the face, but eventually the choking stopped and the coughing subsided.
Both of them were squatting on the floor by the time he was able to breathe again. In that time, Birdella had finished the mugs of hot chocolate and had delivered Desdemona's in silence. Desdemona, in turn, sipped at her drink with an unamused expression. Theo just continued to rub Gunner's back as they both waited for his face to go back to its normal colour, and for a brief moment, Theo was almost ready to laugh at how familiar the situation felt. It reminded it of times when Romulus had been a bit too gung-ho with drinking for the first time, patting his back as he threw up the next morning in the midst of his hangover. Or when it had given Daphne the Heimlich when she'd swallowed a grape wrong after Betty told a particularly funny joke.
Despite only knowing these people for a couple of days, and despite the conflict of views brought on by recent discussions, Theo could already feel some walls coming down. Could relax a little more. And it was just the thing needed to keep Theo's hopes up for the final day of training and the private sessions tomorrow.