Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

1.06

That next morning Livia woke around seven to Augusta shouting for her to get up. With a groan Livia shoved her face into her pillow, which she promised herself that if or when she got out of the arena that she would steal before she went back home with how comfortable it was. All she longed for was just a few more moments in comfort. She longed for the protection from what she knew would come in a few weeks time.

But she knew that if she didn't get up and get ready for training that the end of those few weeks would come even sooner than she anticipated. So with an internal protest building inside of her mind, she unwillingly pushed herself out of the king sized bed and dragged her way to her bathroom that was connected to her room.

When Livia reached the sink she took a moment to observe herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was tangled and stuck out in some places, her eyes were red and puffy, and her shirt was pulled up slightly showing part of her stomach. With a look of disgust towards her own figure in which she had never been fond of, she pulled her shirt back down and turned on the sink, cupping her hands to gather water before splashing her face with it in hopes that it would wake her up.

With the, what seemed to be, freezing cold liquid running down her face Livia was instantly pushed into a shock at the touch of the water. Not to say she was completely woken up and ready to seize the day but it was just enough to keep her awake until she had food in her system. The blonde surely wasn't considered to be a morning person and that was clear to anyone who had the 'joy' of greeting her in the mornings.

Later on once the girl was dressed in the black bodysuit with gray and red accents and had her hair up in two neat dutch braids, she was rushed to the elevator to head to the training room by Enobaria. Livia made it to individual training just moments before the doors to the extravagantly sized room opened. The shorter figure quickly spotted Cato talking to two other tributes when she neared the group of twenty three kids.

She immediately recognized the pair to be Glimmer and Marvel from District One meaning that they were careers. Livia released a breath that she was unaware laid in her throat when she had processed who the two were. She didn't have to worry about them. Not only were they allies but they also looked a little too confident for people who didn't seem to be special in any way.

Uncertain to where she was supposed to place herself within the group, Livia stood awkwardly a few feet away from the large group. But her district partner took immediate notice of this and waved the girl over. "Livia, come here." he called out, now not only his gaze on her but Glimmer's and Marvel's as well. As if it was completely normal, the blonde put her game face on within seconds, not wanting to show a single sign of weakness and walked over to the trio.

"Hi. I'm Livia." she introduced with a smile that only appeared for a split second. Glimmer smirked in her direction, almost to silently inform her that she had already taken a liking to the shorter girl and that she had a good feeling they would get along. Marvel on the other hand just slowly eyed Livia up and down, making her shift in an uncomfortable manner.

"I'm Glimmer and this is Marvel." the girl with the fishtail braids said politely before eyeing something behind Livia. The pale girl gave a look of disgust towards whatever she was staring at. Livia turned to see what she had set her eyes on and found the one and only Katniss on her own far behind the group just as Livia had been moments before. "God, I hope I'm the one to kill her." the taller girl spoke sharply, her eyes not leaving the District Twelve tribute.

The short girl smiled slyly at the comment. "That makes two of us. I guess we'll just have to do it together." Livia commented before turning back to the three as her and Glimmer chuckled. Cato and Marvel snickered but tried to stay quiet so as to not draw any sort of attention to the group. "Alright tributes, let's get in! Quickly please!" a man shouted at the large group. Everyone quickly shuffled their way between the doors and into the room heading towards the platform in the middle of the room.

On the platform stood a woman in a black jacket, leggings, sneakers with a mix of black and white, and a bob cut. The woman held a straight face, watching each tribute carefully as they gathered around the platform. Once everyone had entered the room and had all attention on the woman she started speaking, clearly not too enthused with the current situation she was in.

"In two weeks, twenty three of you will be dead, one of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days. Particularly to what I'm about to say. First; no fighting with the other tributes, you'll have plenty of time for that at the arena." she spoke in a monotone voice as she sighed out what seemed to be a suppressed laugh at her own words.

Livia uncomfortably stepped towards Cato as everyone listened to the woman. She was slightly unnerved by the woman. Not that she exactly liked the muscular boy but she much rather preferred him in the moment. The shorter girl hoped he wouldn't notice but to her dismay, he took immediate notice and laughed internally, throwing a comforting arm around her shoulders.

The blonde tensed at his touch momentarily, slightly startled by the act of affection but uncertainly relaxed her boy and continued listening to the woman. "My advice is don't ignore survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes, ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." she explained in her partially fearing voice.

When the woman was done speaking and the twenty four different tributes went to separate stations Livia couldn't be happier to be rid of her. Ultimately the four careers decided that throughout the day they would go to multiple stations together based on who could do what best, giving them a chance to perfect their skills and the others a chance to try and learn new skills.

The four first waltzed over to the swords, Cato's choice of weapon. Livia wasn't one for swords so she opted out of this station along with Glimmer and watched Cato and Marvel slash the swords through dummy's like they were a slice of cake. It slightly terrified Livia at how much he seemed to enjoy slicing off the heads of the dummy's yet she couldn't help but find the focus and determination on his face slightly attractive.

Glimmer saw Livia in her trance and followed where her eyes were set, noticing that they were practically glued watching Cato's constantly moving figure. "Are you staring at Cato?" Glimmer whispered sheepishly, trying her best not to speak loud enough for the boys to hear. Livia snapped her head to the platinum blonde girl and squinted her eyes, confused by her question.

"What do you mean? I'm just watching them practice." Glimmer, of course, didn't buy it but let the thought be pushed away as it slipped to the back of her mind. "Never mind." she said as both girls turned their attention back to the boys as they trained. Next the four went to spears for Marvel. For a split second the shorter girl almost considered not participating with the spears either but figured she could use at least a bit of practice so she hesitantly grabbed a spear from the rack and held it firmly within her right hand.

Taking a moment to relax and focus on the target, Livia kept repeating the same phrase in her head over and over again. 'It's just like a big knife.' 'It's just like a big knife.' And that's all it was. Now not only were the three other careers watching the hesitant girl but so were a good chunk of the other tributes which put even more stress on her to throw the spear properly or else she'd seem weak.

And no one wants that when they know it would just make them a target. So with one last deep breath Livia threw the spear at the target and quickly turned to face where Marvel stood behind her so she wouldn't have to see the spear most likely yards away from where she meant to hit. But when she turned her three allies all had a look of utter shock at the sight in front of them. And when she turned around she had that same look of utter shock on her face as well.

Bullseye.