❝Do you always act like you've got one of your beloved tridents stuck up your ass? Or is it only when I'm around?❞
In which Venus Andeva wants more than the life she's been dealt.
↳extended summary inside
↳catching fire
↳finnick odair x fem...
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"ABSOLUTELY NOT."
Porter snorted at Venus' words, perhaps hoping to swallow them down with the next swig she took of her liquor. She smacked her lips together, swishing the almost-finished liquid around in its glass. "Well, it's nice to know good old-fashioned nobility still exists."
Venus folded her hands in her lap to refrain from throwing something. If Porter wanted to take this as a joke, fine, but Venus had left her house for a reason. "I'm not beating around the bush. Porter, I owe you my life. Astrid, we've never been close."
"You're not the only one with a debt to her," said Astrid, her voice making it sound like she had a cold. She seemed to remember her hand was still in the air and placed it on her knee instead. "She saved my life, too, and took you off my hands after I had years of failure."
"Exactly. She got me through the Games as the the first female winner from Five in six years."
"Ah, don't sell yourself short." Porter winked. "You were quite the survivor all by yourself."
The sheer carefree nature of her voice made Venus want to shout in her face. Did she not understand the depths of the situation? Had she been drinking too much earlier and not sobered up in time for the broadcast? Or perhaps the Games just made everyone crazy in the end, and it was finally Porter's time.
"I'm sorry, are you finding this funny?"
Porter shrugged, spilling a little drink over the rim of her glass from the gesture. She looked down at the stain on the chair in disdain, but made no move to get up before it seeped through the fabric and got the leg of her pants. "Funny. Ironic. Foreseeable, really, if any of us had actually ever given any thought to it."
"What do you mean?" Astrid asked quietly.
"Well," she said, pursing her lips, "this is the first year that every district has had both a male and female tribute still alive. Lined up perfectly with the Quarter Quell, which was a nice little touch."
She was right, of course. Only a year ago there had been victors in every district except for Twelve, which had only seen Haymitch Abernathy victorious in the last twenty or so years. And with a special twist on the upcoming Games, Venus felt stupid for not seeing it coming.
"And not to mention that Snow has a vendetta against both of last year's victors from Twelve," she muttered, remembering the look on Snow's face from less than a year ago, when he had crowned both Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. The president had a certain gift with acting for the cameras, especially in front of his beloved Capitol, but Venus had met the man on several occasions. She had learned to watch for the cracks in his mask.
Porter nodded at her, as if Venus was a student correctly answering a question. Then she placed her glass down on the table by her armchair and fully leaned back into the cushions. "And what do you two expect of me?" Porter raised an eyebrow. "If either of your names get called? Because we are all well aware you two won't be volunteering for one another. You like each other fine, but not enough to give up your lives."
