IN THE EMBERS ━━ the hunger games

CHAPTER 4

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the 72nd annual
hunger games
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"You both look... Joyful." Marigold turned her head to the side to see her mentor, Briar Hemlock, and she scoffed at the same time as her other mentor, Johanna Mason.

"He's just predicting our death at this point." Marigold said, crossing her arms over her chest.

For the tribute parade, the district seven stylist had dressed her and her district partner, Jack Barker, as a tree this year. Just like he did every other year that he had been the district seven stylist. It made her mad, Johanna getting mad alongside her due to seeing the reused costumes she had to wear the year before.

Briar Hemlock was a nice enough guy, drunk most of the time but in a way that made other people laugh around him but not at him. He was genuinely doing his best but every time she tried to ask him for advice, it was like the lights weren't on, but his mouth kept moving.

Marigold wanted to do her best to win, like any other tribute in the games but she wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible and go home. She had the perfect person to talk to about it, but he just wasn't around in his own damn head for her to get advice from. He had said in many interviews that he flipped a switch and went into a raging kill mode, that he didn't remember any of it due to instincts and adrenaline taking over. He kept defending this side of the story when rumours went around saying that he didn't switch off, that he remembered everything he did with a complete sound mind, but Marigold didn't care which at this point, he'd learnt to switch something off by now and she needed him to teach her how to do it.

"I have to agree with that." Briar turned around to the victor from district eight, Juniper Mullgrove.

She was a powerhouse in the capital, the most sought out fashion designer since she won her games and she gets to design the outfits tributes wear in the games every year meaning she gets an upper hand when mentoring her tributes.

"And why's that, Juni?" Briar asked sarcastically.

"There's an axe stuck into her neck." She deadpanned, pointing the axe and making Briar turn to look at it.

"Hey!" Briar called the stylist over. "Why have you got axes sticking into their necks?"

"It's symbolic of the lumber you work!" He spluttered. "The axe is stuck in the neck of the tree!"

"Tree's don't have necks, moron." Briar waved his hand at him, unimpressed. "It's too late to change it now, just go. I can handle it from here."

The stylist huffed, walking away at a fast pace and Marigold turned to Briar and Juniper again just as they started their conversation.

"Oh, so he talks to you like that as well." Briar hadn't noticed Marigold come up beside him and she saw him frown.

"Talk like what?" He asked.

"Like you're not actually there."

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"Okay, how do you want to do this?"

Marigold was awoken suddenly by a bright light in her room, and when she opened her eyes, she saw who she assumed was Briar standing over her.

"You look like hell." She said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes to see if it was her imagination.

He had bags under his eyes, flushed cheeks, his hair out and in messy curls that reached below his shoulders, and a five o'clock shadow.