𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Lucy woke at dawn, allowing herself the morning to prepare. She slipped straight out of bed, into her slippers, and she stretched and curled her lithe body, her long black braid brushed the floor.
Once she had gotten dressed and washed the sleep from her face, Lucy practically hopped across the hall to wake Skinner, chuckling as she took in his disheveled state: face down, hair sticking in various directions, and drool pooling on his pillow.
"We should go early," she whispered, pressing her fingers into his shoulder to wake him. "I want to get a head start on the stations"
"You know half of them won't even show up, right?"
"But today marks the start of Operation Friendship" Lucy pouted sarcastically, bouncing on the mattress.
Skinner made no attempt to smother his sleepy smile as his eyes adjusted to the room, and he attempted to take her in without the haze of rest. Her face was still dewy from her moisturizer, and a redness had overtaken her cheeks and nose, showing where she had been just a little too overzealous with her face scrubs.
"I haven't seen you this excited in a while. Blink twice if fern slipped something in your juice this morning, you lunatic"
"My muscles are beginning to atrophy, I need to do some actual work" inch by inch, Lucy moved closer and closer until he was finally within her grasp. Something she took full advantage of, planting a series of soft kisses upon his skin, first on his cheek, and then another in the corner of his mouth. "Pretty please, I don't want to head down there alone"
And as she slipped off the side of the bed and skipped back toward the door, Skinner sat up and rested on his elbows, scoffing at her uncharacteristically cheeky countenance, "You know that's bribery, right?"
At the door, Lucy stuck her tongue out mockingly before running out.
When they finally did make their way down to the training centre, it was as a pair, both dressed in matching purple activewear, walking side-by-side. Skinner's hair had been pulled back into a small bun, and Lucy's one braid now had a twin, her hair pulled taut against her scalp.
Skinner's earlier predictions had been correct, for half of the tributes had not bothered making the trip down. But then again, there were others who seemed to share in Lucy's enthusiasm, navigating around the training centre mindfully. Lucy noted the presence of several of their friends.
