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a/n: I'm absolutely in love with this mood board made by @orangewafers !!! ahhh it's amazing
also sorrryyy but part 2 is being stretched to 15 chapters instead of 10 bc I literally forgot Arachne died before the bombs LMAO (but it works perfectly bc Sejanus and Liville get in a huge fight soon and her being emotional from seeing Arachne die makes it make more sense 😭) so sorry the slow burn is a little longer than I meant for it to be
*****
Liville couldn't eat the next morning. She was too caught up in her own head. In her own thoughts, her own worries. The kitchen staff made a plate for her, but all she could do was push the food around.
She hoped they'd save what she didn't eat. She hated wasting food. But she felt almost nauseous as she sat next to Sejanus.
She couldn't focus on anything except the fact that all of last night, he had ignored her. Still today, he'd barely given her a 'good morning'.
At first, like she always did, she tried to tell herself he was just being quiet. Mad at the world, not at her. Because his father and mother spoke so much at breakfast, and he didn't respond to them either.
But the moment the mentorship was brought up, he found his voice.
Of course he did.
Because it seemed nothing and no one was as important as Sejanus making his hatred of the games known.
"I spotted your tributes on the news," Strabo began, so far into breakfast he was nearly done eating. "Putting them in a zoo enclosure is quite an...interesting decision."
"Interesting," Sejanus said with a low scoff. "Interesting-"
"Oh, cut it out," his father said, rolling his eyes. "I'm getting really sick of this. As is Liville, can't you tell?"
Liville had been keeping her eyes on her food only. She internally sighed as she was brought into the conversation.
Why must she always be brought into things she wanted no part of? And why did it seem it always landed on her the worse?
"I'm fine, Mr. Plinth," she said, even though she wasn't. She was tired of the whole idea of the Hunger Games.
"How did things go with Coriolanus?" Mrs. Plinth asked her. "Did you learn anything useful? Make any strategies?"
Liville looked back down at her food, picking at it with her fork. "Yes. It was helpful," she said, trying to keep from being asked any more questions.
"And the alliance?" Strabo asked. "Is that on?"
Another plain, "Yes." She kept her head down.
Sejanus hesitated. And for a moment, she thought he'd criticize her for something.
