Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

1.07

Later on in the day the four careers went to the archery station, catered more towards Glimmer and her strengths. More so what she wanted to rather than what she was good at. The poor girl almost always missed the target and when she didn't it was only a matter of millimeters inside of the target. The two boys didn't seem as interested in archery as the girls did so the pair shot a few arrows and went on to another station, leaving Glimmer and Livia to fend for themselves.

By now Livia had become quite fond of archery and she was becoming quite good at it as well. Every time an arrow left the girls grasp it hit right on target. The taller girl was astonished at how well her new friend was doing at each station. It seemed almost abnormal to be as good as she was at so many different things. "You're really good at this." Glimmer told the girl curiously.

"Are you sure archery isn't your thing?" she asked as she let her own arrow fly towards the target, finally hitting it. Livia shrugged as she set down her bow, letting out small breaths of exhaustion before looking up at the girl. "I didn't think so until just now. I've only shot an arrow a few times so I don't really know what's happening." the smaller girl admitted.

Both girls laughed lightly at the comment as both of their cheeks became a soft shade of pink. Livia peered over her right shoulder at the station across the room that instantly drew her in. Knives. She had worked with knives her whole life so naturally she had to at least try out the station. The blonde turned back to the girl from District One and smiled up at her sweetly. "I'm going to the knives. You're welcome to come but if you want to stay here you can." she offered kindly, pointing towards the station.

Glimmer thought for a moment before shaking her head and grabbing another arrow. "I think I'll stay here. I need a bit of work with archery anyways if I want a good score." the taller girl explained, pulling back the arrow in her bow. Livia nodded in understanding and said her goodbyes to the girl, making her way over to the eye-catching set of knives that laid out efficiently on top of a cold metal table.

Each knife was the same size and there were very few differences in each. Livia swiftly picked up the small weapon from the end of the assortment and took a moment to prepare herself. There were five targets and six knives so her goal was to only use five of the six knives. After a moment the girl started chucking the knives at each target more focused on getting the knives out of her hand. She was quick on her feet and was finished within seconds.

Upon a moment's inspection it became clear that each knife that left her hand had hit the center of the target. All of them. She had somehow made it dead center every time. Statistically speaking, she should have missed at least once but she defied the odds. "Where's my knife?" the blonde heard across the room. Livia flinched, slightly startled by the noise, and turned to see what the commotion was.

Behind her was Cato and the boy from District seven. Her district partner towered over the boy angrily, stepping closer to him, the smaller boy stepping back in fear. Livia was now less focused on her training and ran to him concerned. "What's going on?" the girl asked as she neared the two boys. Cato sighed angrily, glaring at the boy. "He took my knife!" the blonde yelled, his finger pointing at the boy.

Livia rested her hand on Cato's chest, pushing him slightly away from the boy as the blonde looked at the small girl's hand on him and let her push him back a few steps before continuing. "I put my knife right the- Don't touch me!" he yelled, throwing himself forward and towards the girl as a peacekeeper went to grab him. "Cato! Calm down!" Livia shouted. His eyes instantly fell onto the girl, focusing only on her. The blonde took a deep breath and calmed himself down before throwing a glare at the boy from Seven.

"It's fine. I'll wait for the arena. You're the first one I get so watch your back, huh?" he yelled once more. Livia had seen enough by now and grabbed Cato's wrist, dragging him out of the Training Center. Just outside of the door on the right was a secluded hallway that no one ever seemed to bother going down so she led the blonde into the hallway forcefully. Once away from the large doorway, Livia let go of the boy's wrist and looked at him angrily.

"What was that?" she whispered in case anyone was watching or listening. Being in the Capitol there were cameras just about everywhere you went so you always needed to be cautious of what you say or do. There wasn't really such a thing as privacy in the Capitol and Livia knew that. So if she had a serious matter to deal with, Livia had to be careful choosing where to deal with it. "I just got angry, okay?" he said guiltily, looking to his feet in slight remorse.

The past few days the smaller girl had gained more confidence, though she wasn't sure why, so she used this to her advantage. "If you do that again you're going to get yourself killed! Damn you." she sighed out the end of her sentence, not even considering ripping her eyes away from his own. Although as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, he looked anywhere but her eyes, not so casually avoiding her gaze.

The girl cleared her throat causing Cato to look back at her so she could gain his attention again. "Just don't do it again, okay?" she warned calmly, Cato nodding slightly embarrassed in response. But the moment was interrupted when the two tributes from District One came from around the corner. Livia could tell they had been goofing off, possibly making fun of what had happened moments before.

"Hey are you two-" Glimmer immediately cut herself off when she saw the two. Neither had realized how close together they were until they saw Glimmer's and Marvel's faces. The pair awkwardly stepped away from each other, Cato now pretty much on the wall and Livia now in the middle of the hallway. "Did we interrupt something?" Marvel asked, somewhat joking as he was unsure if there was actually something going on between the two.

A chorus of 'no's and 'of course not's came from the pair as they shook their heads awkwardly and frantically in response. Marvel and Glimmer snickered at their reaction and waved them over. "Come on. We all need to go get changed. Apparently we're having dinner in you're penthouse tonight to discuss strategies." Glimmer told them.

Around an hour or so later, Livia was slipping on her shoes as she sat on her bed so she wouldn't have to worry about losing her balance. After her shower, Livia had decided on wearing something simple but still appropriate for dinner. She had put on a light blue and white plaid skirt, a fitted, white, cropped tank top, and a light blue, cropped pull over on top with her white vans which she had just slipped on her feet.

Once she was finished getting ready she went to the living room which was conveniently just in front of the elevator and sat on the couch a few feet away from Cato who wore dress shoes with a nice pair of jeans and, coincidentally, a dark blue button up shirt. The two had barely spoken a word since the hallway situation. They, of course, knew that they would eventually have to speak to one another but with the new found awkwardness between the two, they saw it best to not speak to the other unless it was needed.

Thankfully on their end, it wasn't long before the pair from District One walked into the penthouse. Marvel wore a blood red colored shirt with black pants and dress shoes, which Livia found the dark red color of his shirt ironic, and Glimmer wore a light green dress with sleeves that fell off of her shoulders and small white flowers all over the material. "Well, Livie. Look at you." Glimmer smirked, wrapping the small girl in a friendly hug.

Livie. That's what Chloe used to call her. Her poor sister who was at home, most likely losing sleep at night thinking about her older sister never coming back to her. Just like how Livia stayed up at night thinking those same thoughts. Tears brimmed Livia's eyes at the thought and she quickly pushed back her tears. "You look wonderful too, Glim." she complimented before turning her attention to the two boys. "Now, let's get started then."