Power Over Me ↦ Cato Hadley

xvi. painted berries

"You alright?" Cato checks, already setting stones into a circle to create a fire. I hummed, massaging my back as I open Cato's pack to pull some wire free for snares. "Hey. You done something to your back?"

"Bruised it during the bloodbath, and then sleeping in trees didn't help it."

"Let me see." Cato offers, setting the stones down and motioning for me to turn.

"It's alright."

"Mitzi." Cato hums, standing behind me as I reluctantly pull my windbreaker off. With Cato's help, I manage to pull the shirt up to my shoulders, hissing as I stretch out a particularly painful area. The man hums, soothing the spot gently before reaching past me for his pack as he pulls something free. 

"What's that?"

"Injury cream." Cato explains, undoing the lid and showing it to me. "It helps to heal bruises, cuts and all that. Used it all the time back in Two."

"We didn't have that. Just had to let injuries heal on their own at home." I shivered as a cold gust of wind hit my back. Cato's hand splayed across the small of my back, keeping me steady as he knelt and began to cover the bruises in the cold ointment. "Cold, cold, cold."

"Almost done." Cato chuckles, his fingers gentle across the damaged skin. He finished quickly, before pulling the shirt down and squeezing my shoulders. "You're all good."

I shiver again, prompting me to tug my wind breaker on, before picking the wire up once more. I decide that taking my spear with me might also help.

"Want me to come with you?"

"I'll be alright." I wave him off, before heading around the clearing to set some basic snares up, hoping that we'll be able to catch some rabbit. The whole process takes me about half an hour, possibly an hour, but time moves different in the arena, and by the time that I'm done, it's growing dark.

The night falls quickly, and I hurry back to the little clearing by the river to settle down beside Cato. There's two fish by his feet, and he's sitting cross legged watching the fire. Despite the griminess of his hair, the fire makes it look like gold and he watches me with warm eyes as I skid down the bank to join him.

"What have you been doing?"

"Fishing." He snarked back, and I grinned, before taking note of the blue stain covering his fingers.

"What did you do?" Cato hummed, looking at his hands.

"The blueberries stained by hands." He chuckled, before letting me examine them. "I ate a lot."

"You're used to having a lot to eat."

"I would have more. Except my food supply was blown up." Cato mumbled. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"

"Of course not. I'm completely innocent."

"Sure." Cato rolled his eyes. I chuckled, before lying back onto my pack as he handed me some of the fish. "We should train tomorrow."

"No."

"Mitzi..."

"Do I look like a fool?" I chuckle. "Train with District Two's killing machine when I can barely fight with the spear."

"What do you use it for then?"

"Swing it around, look threatening?" Cato chuckles and shakes his head. "What? It's a solid technique. It's good when herding cows."

He laughs even harder at that, and I kick at his legs gently. He dodges, catching my legs and dragging me over until I lie against his body. 

"We'll teach you some basics then." Cato grins, pressing a very soft kiss to my head. "Can't have you now knowing how to fight."

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

The next morning, true to his word, Cato wakes me.

"No."

"Come on, it'll be fun." He pulls me to my feet easily, despite me trying my best to get out of it.

"We need to check the snares."

"Already done." I scowl again, before finally grabbing my spear from the ground. He laughs at that, walking to a clear area of space as I continue to grumble at the possibility of having to do this. Cato spins his sword around his hand with expert prevision, making it look incredibly simple, before he turns back to me. "Alright, let's see what you can do."

He barely gives me time to react, before bringing his sword up and slamming it down. I jump back, dodging as I twist the spear around until the sharp end is facing Cato. Jumping left and right, I try and avoid his strikes, before jabbing at him to see what he'll do. As predicted, he easily bats it away.

Despite him taking it easy on me, I was sweating profusely the longer and longer that it went on. Cato twisted, bringing the sword down as my hands finally gave up cooperating with me and the spear fell to the floor. The tip of Cato's sword pressed against my neck, as he smirked.

"I see what we need to work on."

"Great." I huffed, walking to the stream to tip the water over my head. Cato chuckles, following after me as both of us cool down from the mornings training session. Above us, the trumpet blare once more, and Cato and I are on our feet. It's the announcers, talking about a feast. 

"Butthis is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs somethingdesperately." Cato and I furrow our eyebrows, sharing a look as we try to think of what we would desperately need. "Each of you will find that something in a backpack,marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia atdawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some ofyou, this will be your last chance."

I turn to face Cato, both of us thinking.

"What do we need?" I mumble, as Cato seems to ponder over it.

"A way out."

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

Hiya,

So, we're coming  closer and closer to the end of the games. First of all, Cato and Mitzi are sweethearts, and also her just shouting 'cold, cold, cold' as soon as the healing salve went on is a mood. I also like them training together, and Cato's so sweet with her. We love to see it,

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx