Dangerous Charm - THG [2]

08

|COWGIRL|

Once they returned to the tunnel, Roland and Enoch approached with Venable accompanying them as Knox and Lenox hopped down from the chariot, the latter immediately removing his hat from his head while Knox opted to leave it where it was so that the braids in her hair weren't as visible.

She felt someone's eyes on her and glanced around before locking eyes with a round-faced blonde girl dressed in shiny armour. She couldn't have been more than a year or two older than Knox and had an intrigued look on her face that wasn't quite friendly.

"Great job out there," Roland praised, pulling her attention away from the girl who kept on watching her, "The crowd were eating it up." He glanced up and top noticed the girl and so he placed his hand on Knox's shoulder and guided her to walk with him, "Let's go upstairs, we can talk strategy once you've washed that crap off of your face." He said and Enoch and Lenox followed them with Venable towards the exit.

⚔️

The makeup was a hassle and a half to remove, though that was mostly due to the fact that Knox had never worn any before. Her mother had died before she was old enough to wear it and she had never had any female friends so she had never been interested in it, not that she'd be able to afford any if she was.

The tenth floor of the tribute building, much like everything else that they'd seen so far in the Capitol, was like another world to District Ten. Knox had never seen so much marble in her life—that was really just any marble at all—than in the bathroom alone.

The sink, the shower, the bathtub—Knox was surprised to see both in one room rather than an off-white plastic tub with a shower head in it like back home—the walls and the floor were all shiny white marble making the room extremely bright and a little overwhelming. Knox was scared to touch anything in case it got dirty, forgetting that she herself had been cleaned within an inch of her life and possibility of which being an issue was minimal.

After managing to remove the god-awful makeup from her face and changing into some normal clothes, which somehow managed to be a thousand times fancier than anything she owned at home despite Venable apologising for them being such poor quality, she joined the others around a long glass dining table that was overflowing with enough food to feed an entire town for a week.

"Lovely of you to finally join us," Lenox grinned earning himself a smack to the back of the head from Knox as she pulled out the chair beside him, "Get lost or something? Wouldn't blame you, this place is huge."

"No kidding," she muttered.

She glanced around the table at the array of hot food, a little overwhelmed by how much there was, "Special occasion?" She asked, glancing over at Roland who was sitting at the head of the table. He seemed to be the most inclined to interact with her of the three mentors.

The man shook his head but it was Venable who answered, "We like to have only the best for our tributes." He declared hautily, "eat up."

Knox nodded in realisation, "Oh, you're fattening us up,"

"Sorry?" Venable asked, tilting his head.

"Like with livestock. You feed them more before they are slaughtered so you can get more meat from them." She clarified, "that's what this is. You're fattening the tributes up, only instead of for more meat to sell, it's so they have more of a fighting chance before they die in the games."

Venable opening his mouth and closed it again, reminding Knox of a fish, "Well, um— not exactly—"

"I would know, I'm a cattle farmer." Lenox kicked Knox's foot beneath the table but she just kicked him back. Sitting back in her seat she shrugged, "It's understandable, nobody wants to see a malnourished twelve-year-old fighting for their life, it's just too sad."

Venable seemed quite taken aback
by her bluntness but the others who, unlike the curly haired man, were not Capitol citizens, were rather amused. Nobody ever had the gall to challenge the Capitol's traditions so blatantly, much less a fifteen-year-old girl from District Ten who was weeks away from her potential death as a result of said traditions.

"Either way, get some food in you, you'll need your strength." Roland spoke up, pushing a plate of luxurious-looking roast potatoes towards her. As she reached over to scoop some of the potatoes onto her plate, she noticed Enoch eying her arms. She jumped slightly when he reached over the table to grip her bicep firmly, "Not that you're lacking in that department." He commented as he squeezed her arm, "How much can you lift?"

Slightly taken aback by his forwardness, Knox almost knocked over Lenox's glass with her elbow, "I'm not sure. A lot." She answered, pulling her arm from his grip.

"It's just the two of us on the farm so Knox has the job of wrangling the herd alone, it takes a lot of strength," Lenox informed the others, "I manage the maintenance mostly, cleaning the barn and horse's stable."

"Horse?" Enoch questioned, looking amused as he gazed at Knox, "You're a real life cowboy."

"Cowgirl," Knox corrected, "Hat and all."

Enoch laughed, "Sweet." He mocked.

Roland sat forward as Lenox glared at the man, "you'll start your training tomorrow." He informed them, "For now, eat."