not dead yet! THE HUNGER GAMES

𝖎𝖛. 𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎-𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖈

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𝖎𝖛. 𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎-𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖈
┗ ━━┅━━━┅━━ ┛

When Julia woke up her ceiling was alight with artificial clouds and fluorescent hues of cerulean blue, and her head ached at the sight of it all - a feeling that was only intensified as Ravenna shouldered her way into the room.

"Julia! You were supposed to be up hours ago! Callie's been looking for you all morning - "

"Fuck off, Venna!" she groaned, rolling over onto her stomach. Whatever odd concoction of pills and alcohol she'd swallowed down the night before had decided to make its side effects known. "Five more minutes!"

"Five - five minutes? Julia, it's lunchtime! You'll be expected to be seen collecting your tributes, starting on their sponsors, making sure Woof doesn't end up in a maintenance shaft again!"

Julia groaned as Ravenna tipped her off the bed. "What's the point? They won't make it."

Ravenna knelt down at her side. "And neither will you if you don't make proper appearances. I don't see Finnick or Enobaria making as much of a fuss as you do, honestly!"

Julia grumbled a string of half coherent curses, finally sitting up and stripping off her sleep shirt so Ravenna could push her into the shower. "Finn and Enobaria's tributes aren't destined for a gruesomely quick death every year, are they?" She asked. "Nor do they have to play pretty for the President's nephew."

Ravenna sighed and gingerly pushed some buttons so that all Julia could smell was cinnamon. "You know, no one though my you'd make it when you were reaped. I thought you were a runt of a girl - and look at you now! My most lucrative victor."

Julia groaned and rolled her eyes - she was doing so well till she ruined it all with that last line. "Glad to know me whoring myself out is paying for your wig maintenance, Venn."

"Oh hush," she tutted viciously. "You know that's not what I mean. "Make sure to scrub your cuticles; saints know where they've been! I can't believe I found you out drinking with Haymitch Abernathy of all people! You're not exactly helping your image."

Julia groaned and turned the water pressure high enough that Ravenna bolted out of the room in fear of dampening her shoes. Julia wasn't an idiot; she knew exactly how harsh she could be - but she hadn't always been this way. No, her cruelty had been forged, forced upon her in the cruelest manner of survival.

"Here's to you, Cain," she muttered bitterly into the flowing water. "You would have hated this just as much as me."

By the time Julia made it down to the communal level of the Training Centre she was about ready to punch something or someone. Lunchtime was long gone and it was time to pick up the tributes and take them back for personal mentoring.

Without Aurum and Ravenna to dress her up she'd let Woof pick her clothes, choosing to sprawl herself across her bed in her towel. Surprisingly, the older man wasn't all too fashion forward and she now found herself roaming the building dressed in nothing but a long fur coat and the fluffiest slippers she'd ever seen.

"You look ravishing," Gloss laughed as he strolled past her, tributes in tow. "Aurum pick that out for you?"

Julia flashed him a bitter smile and flipped him the finger, barely stopping to acknowledge him and his sneering companions. With a bright pink pill buzzing through her veins, not much else mattered.

Turning around, Julia sighed, finally noticing Woof's absence - oh well, he couldn't have gotten that far. Her priority was her tributes. "Where could they be?" She muttered, squinting around at the crowd of tributes and mentors.