[005] a good team
❛ AFTERGLOW ❜
BEATRICE WALKED BACK into the District Nine apartment after lunch. Her, Finnick, Johanna and Mags all sat together and chatted. It was nice to pretend things were normal for a few minutes. Just old friends catching up.
As she strolled towards the table, she saw Thatch, Vaughn and Venus sitting.
"Oh, there you are, darling!" Venus exclaimed. Beatrice winched at the loud sound of his voice but still sat down. She was next to Thatch and across from Vaughn.
"How was training?" Thatch asked as he put a grape in his mouth. The man was always a no-nonsense, serious type of person. She never knew him to be very warm, but he had his moments. He helped Beatrice through the aftermath of her games, letting her stay in his house almost every night for the first year.
"It was pretty good. Nothing exciting," Beatrice said as she poured herself a cup of lemonade.
"Nothing exciting, huh? 'Heard you were talking to the pair from twelve," Thatch said and gave her a look.
Beatrice whipped her head around to look at Vaughn. "Traitor," she whispered at him. He just let out a small chuckle.
"You know that's a bad idea, right? Sweetheart, they're practically walking targets," Thatch said and shook his head. Beatrice suddenly remembered that he probably wasn't informed of the plan. She wondered if she should tell him. Not here, not now, but at some point before the games. She decided that she'd talk to Haymitch about it.
"Yes, I know. But they're going to get a lot of sponsors. And I quite like them," Beatrice said matter-of-factly.
Thatch let out a chuckle, "Oh, you like 'em? You like everyone, Beatrice. Quite the optimist, you are."
"Yes, I do like them! I mean, Katniss is a little standoff-ish, but I'll be able to crack her soon. She's a bit hard to read. But Peeta's great. You've seen the games, he's a nice guy," Beatrice defended them.
Thatch looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Alright. If you think it's a good idea, then I guess it's okay." Beatrice smiled at him before sipping her lemonade.
The pair always had a father-daughter relationship. Ever since her parents passed, she was solely raised by her sister. But after the games, Thatch stepped up. A little reluctantly at first, but he still did. He was afraid to let people in. But Beatrice broke his walls down. He was happy she did.
"Alright, you next," Thatch pointing at Vaughn, "What'd you do in training?" Beatrice looked across the table at her district partner.
"Well, I mostly just worked on my sword skills. I also went to the combat section and sparred with Gloss," Vaughn explained.
Beatrice's eyes widened when he said Gloss. Gloss was a career. Careers don't associate with tributes from lower districts. They basically saw them as walking corpses.
"Gloss? What were you doin' with a career?" Thatch said what she was thinking.
"Well..." Vaughn said awkwardly, "They asked me to ally with them. And Beatrice too."
"Absolutely not," Beatrice exclaimed immediately, "I'm not joining those arrogant assholes."
"Aren't you all buddy-buddy with Finnick? What's the difference?" Vaughn said and rolled his eyes at Beatrice.
Beatrice's eyes narrowed at Vaughn. "You know exactly what the difference is. Finnick is a good person, not a fucking killing machine!" She couldn't believe he even had the compare the two. She wasn't one to swear, so everyone knew that she was mad. No one talked about Finnick that way in front of her. He was her best friend.
The nerve this man has.
"She's right, Vaughn. Finnick may have his flaws, but he protected Beatrice when we weren't there to. Going with One and Two is a suicide mission," Thatch said, immediately agreeing with Beatrice. This is usually how arguments between the three of them go.
"It's different this year!" Vaughn exclaimed, "We aren't all scared tributes now."
"Yes, but they still see us the same way! As things they can use and then throw away when they don't need us anymore. It's how it always goes," Beatrice said, trying to reason with him. She didn't always like Vaughn, but she still didn't want to see him die. Especially at the hands of the Careers.
Vaughn just shakes his head. "I'm done with this conversation," he said. He stood up and rushed to his room. Beatrice and Thatch just share a glance and continue eating.
What a child.
It was the next morning now. The second day of training. She awoke by Venus throwing the cover off of her and rushing her to change.
What a great way to start the day.
She strolled back into the training room. There were still not a lot of people today, but more than yesterday.
"Beatrice!" someone exclaimed. She turned around to see Peeta by the camouflage station. "You still up for a camouflage lesson?" the blond man asked.
Beatrice smiled and walked over, "Duh!" The two sat together for a little while. He taught her different techniques, how to blend and layer the colors together.
After about ten minutes, Katniss walked over to the pair. Beatrice looked up and smiled warmly at her. The blonde received a small smile back. It wasn't much, but Beatrice considered it a win.
The older girl looked back down and followed Peeta's instructions. Katniss took this time to study Beatrice. Beatrice was undeniably beautiful. Her bright, platinum blonde hair and dark brown eyebrows would look unnatural to some, but to Katniss, it was the perfect contrast. Her eyes were a light shade of turquoise, like a crystal clear ocean. Small freckles were dotted around her face and she had a small scar running through her left eyebrow.
Before Katniss could move to look at the girl's lips, Beatrice sat up excitedly. Katniss thanked whatever God there was that Beatrice didn't catch her looking at her like a creep.
"Look Katniss!" Beatrice exclaimed and flipped her hand around to show the brunette. It was decorated by what seemed to be a forest floor.
"Thanks Peeta! I gotta show Finnick," Beatrice gave Peeta a side hug before rushing up to find Finnick.
Katniss watched the girl go to the District Four man before turning back to Peeta. The blond wore a smirk on his face.
"What?" Katniss asked when she saw the look on his face.
"You know what," Peeta said with a sly chuckle.
"No, I don't. Care to inform me?" Katniss said with exasperation.
Peeta gave her an are-you-serious look. He let out a sigh, "The way you were looking at her. Like she was the only person in the room. You weren't very subtle about it."
Katniss whips her head around to look at him. "What? I was not!" Katniss exclaimed a bit louder than intended. A few people turned around to look at them.
"Your reaction just told me everything I need to know," Peeta said while chuckling, "It's okay to like someone, Katniss. Just go talk to her."
Katniss looked down at her hands before saying, "How? I'm not very good at talking to people, you know that."
"Yeah, I know. Trust me," Katniss rolled her eyes at his statement, "Just go offer to teach her how to use a bow or something."
Katniss thought it wasn't a bad idea. She thanked Peeta for the advice before getting up and walking over to where Beatrice was.
"Beatrice," Katniss said to get the blonde's attention. She looked away from Finnick and to the brunette. The blonde smiled a bit unconsciously. Finnick smirked at the sight before walking away.
"Wanna learn how to use a bow?" Katniss asked. A bit awkwardly, but it was progress. Beatrice was starting to get her to open up.
"Sure! Sounds fun," Beatrice said with a giggle, "But, be warned, I'm very bad at it. Vaughn tried to teach me and I almost took his eye out."
"Of course you did," Katniss said. Beatrice got deja vu from the previous day when she said that exact line to Katniss.
The girls walked to the area where the bow and arrows were. Katniss stood behind Beatrice as she showed her the correct form. Beatrice could feel the breath from the brunette on her neck, but said nothing about it.
After about 20 minutes, Beatrice finally got a bullseye. Beatrice threw her arms up in triumph. "Thank you, Kat!" she said and circled her arms around Katniss' neck. She was a bit stiff at first, but relaxed into hug and squeezed her waist.
"Wanna go try it out?" Katniss said as she pulled away, pointing to a dark room. It was the room with the animated holograms.
"Nah, I'm good with my scythe. You use the bow," Beatrice said. Beatrice walked over the scythe and picked it up. She got a feel for the weight before going to the controls, Katniss following behind her.
The two walked into the room. It was dark at first, but then an orange hologram appeared behind Katniss.
"Katniss, behind you!" Beatrice yelled. Katniss immediately fired an arrow behind her.
The two girls spun around, effectively 'killing' the holograms. Eventually, the girls ended up back to back. To observers, it seemed like they were doing a violent dance. As the last hologram ran at Beatrice, she fiercely sliced it with her scythe. The room went dark yet again before all the lights came on.
The only sound heard was Mags clapping. The two girls turned around to see everyone looking at them. Literally every single tribute. Johanna gave her a wink and Finnick smiled proudly.
Beatrice turned away from them awkwardly and towards Katniss. Beatrice held her hand up for a high five. "We make a good team, Kat."
"Yeah, we do," Katniss said quietly. The two left the room before venturing out to different people. Beatrice couldn't drop the smile on her face
MIRA SPEAKS :: i couldn't help but write another chapter. progress between beaniss?? katrice?? idk but i love them!