Pyromania | The 60th Hunger Games

NINE

Martial and Gia were sitting on the sofas watching the interviews when we entered the room and I exclaimed how I wasn't tired. They looked over at us, watching as I turned to Nero with a frustrated tug of the wig.

He brushed the fringe back and gave a testing tug which pulled at my stitches and earned a disgruntled noise from me. We retreated to his studio briefly to peel the wig from my head and clean my stitches before joining everyone at the dinner table. We watched the interviews from there, eating a three course meal in silence for the most part. By the time district ten finished their interviews, we were also done.

Lys cleared her throat, brushing down the top of her jumpsuit and looked around at us with a smile.

"Well, since that's nearly done, we best be off to liaise with sponsors. Beatrix?" Turning her head expectantly to Trix, who was sitting next to her, we watched as Trix considered the statement, as much as it had been presented as a question. This was her decided role as our mentor. The games had messed her up enough that she could barely talk strategy with us, but she was efficient enough to find sponsors for us and the interviews afterparties were the perfect place to do so.

As they prepared to leave, I wondered briefly if my token had been assessed yet, since Trix had requested our tokens on the train this morning. But there would be time to ask tomorrow.

Nero retreated to his room, but Gia spread jam onto her scone and glanced between me and Martial.

"I was thinking we could rewatch some of the last few games when Trix is gone, she's sensitive but it'll be important for you two to be prepared for anything." We nodded, taking a drink simultaneously.

I changed into cotton-soft pyjamas and, once I situated myself comfortably on the couch, Lys and Trix had left.

Cuddling a cushion against my chest, I rested my cheek against it and felt my eyes drifting shut. Martial dropped next to me in similar pyjamas and smiled kindly.

"I can't wait to go to bed," I told him, leaning my head back. He hummed, resting his arm behind his head and looking down at me with raised eyebrows. He smiled, and I think our minds both wandered back home, to sleepovers with Flo after a long day. His smile dropped when Gia came into the room in a silk jumpsuit and sat on the armchair beside us.

"We'll start with Beatrix's so we don't get caught up and she walks in on the end. Suppose you two remember watching it so we'll just watch the important bits."

For Gia, the first bloodbath of these games were unimportant. It was the same as any other, the careers took the cornucopia and half of the tributes had been killed. But, it was the second day of the games, where she stopped the tape and pressed play.

We watched Trix, hair dirty and pulled back into a ponytail, keeping watch with the male tribute from Two. She was twice the size she was today, much more confident in herself. But, as was common with the most confident of tributes, the slaughter in the opening of the games was enough to strike fear into all of the tributes. And I could see her arms trembling, not from the weight of the axe in her hand, but from the fear so plainly in her eyes. Gia informs us that throughout the first day there had been bickering among the careers, that they hadn't been able to get along in training and tensions had only grown from there. It was an alliance for the sake of an alliance and keeping an image.

I jumped when the arrow struck her district partner in the chest as I had when the games were playing live. It was unheard of for so many tributes from the other districts to form an alliance, but the ambush on the career pack was sudden and the cameras had missed most of the planning.