It was finally happening.
Taiya was opening up to Mrs Everdeen.
She was sat in the therapy room with tears streaming down her face as she detailed her nightmares.
"And I just never know what to do," she violently sobbed.
"That's completely valid," Mrs Everdeen reassured.
"I try to fight back but it's pointless," Taiya dropped her head in her hands. "It's an army of fish!" Taiya shook her head. "How are we meant to beat them? They're stronger than we are."
She was completely bullshitting Mrs Everdeen.
"I mean they come out of the water, and they use their fins as weapons. Fins! I don't have fins! None of us do. So the fish always win. And it hurts even more because I call Finnick, Finn, a lot of the time, but fins are the fish's weapons. And so in my dreams, the fish are fighting Finn with their fins and I'm struggling to get to Finn and save him from the fins, and I'm just watching Finn losing the battle against the fins. In my dream, I yell, 'No Finn, no! Watch out for the fins, Finn!' But then the fins get him and Finn is no more. Finn is beaten by the fins."
That was when she lost her self-control and smiled widely at Mrs Everdeen before cackling.
Mrs Everdeen dropped her pen and looked up. This was not the breakthrough she thought it was. Taiya had been messing with her for the better part of half an hour.
"Taiya..." she sighed, it was hard to hide the exasperation from her voice.
"Oh come on," Taiya smirked. "You listened to that rubbish and you're telling me you believed it?" Taiya snorted. "Fish can't come out of the water!" Taiya slapped her leg in amusement.
Mrs Everdeen observed the girl with a mixture of curiosity and concern as the girl laughed. She did have one diagnosis she wanted to put before her.
"I'd like to discuss something with you Taiya if I may," Mrs Everdeen crept forward in her seat, trying to tread delicately enough so that Taiya didn't take off running.
"What's up Doc?" Taiya quietened her laughter but continued to smile a wide grin.
With a gentle, yet serious tone, Mrs Everdeen continued. "As you know I've been analysing your behaviour and reactions."
"And you've been doing a swell job."
"Thank you. I have noticed a pattern of sorts. Have you heard of the idea of arrested psychological development?"
"Of course not," Taiya shook her head.
"Well it's a type of trauma response," Mrs Everdeen laid her hands out on the table in front of her. "I've been doing some research on it and you tick a lot of the boxes Taiya. It's a form of trauma response, in which a child experiences severe trauma and their mental development can get 'stuck', if you will, at the age they experienced the trauma."
"Well, what if it's just my sparkling personality?" Taiya winked.
"You experienced a trauma at 16 when your parents were killed. And then you were sent into the Hunger Games only months later. That's going to have some severe and long-lasting effects Miss Ambersnow," Mrs Everdeen sympathised. "Trauma responses aren't something to be embarrassed by."
Taiya regarded the woman with a perplexed expression before her eyes darkened. "You really just killed the whole vibe, Doc," she stood up from her chair.
Mrs Everdeen, feeling a pang of regret at the shift in Taiya's demeanour, tried to maintain a steady expression, despite the disappointment she felt as the girl raced out of the room. She'd been hoping for a more receptive response. Taiya's dismissive reaction wasn't a surprise, but it left her unsure of how she should proceed with future sessions. Every time the woman tried to get to the real root of Taiya's issues, the girl fled. Every time.
But she had to continue trying. Whilst it was amusing letting Taiya tell her about how obsessed she was with her fiancé or the antics she got up to with Johanna and Peeta, those were just bandaids to the real pain underneath.
*********************
"Do you think I'm childish?" Taiya asked Finnick and Tyler as they stood outside a meeting room, waiting for Plutarch to arrive.
They didn't even get a chance to answer.
Gloss who'd been walking past and heard her question, immediately answered, "Yes," before continuing on his way.
"Yeah like that's helpful," Tyler rolled his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked Taiya.
"Just something Mrs Everdeen said in a session, it's not important," Taiya dismissed.
But Tyler wouldn't let it go that easily. "Did she hurt your feelings?" he frowned. Mrs Everdeen was meant to be helping her, not upsetting her.
"No," Taiya shook her head. "She just has this theory that my psychological maturity got stuck at 16 after I experienced some trauma, blah, blah, blah."
Tyler made a small noise. That was probably quite an accurate evaluation. But Taiya immediately turned her glare on him. "Yeah she's probably wrong," he shook his head. As soon as Taiya looked away he nodded at Finnick who smirked before kissing his fiancee's head.
Tyler let out a huff as he looked down the corridor.
"Where is Plutarch? We're definitely in the right place, yeah? He's never late."
Finnick let go of Taiya and leaned back against the meeting room door, crossing his arms. "It is odd," he agreed, scanning the empty corridor. "We must be in the right place though, all three of us got here."
"Taiya was the one who gave us the message," Tyler looked at the girl cautiously. "Are you sure you got the meeting room right? We're not meant to be in the conference room are we?"
"Yes I'm sure, we're in the right spot," she huffed. She'd relayed the message about their meeting perfectly.
Before she could sass Tyler for doubting her, the door behind Finnick opened abruptly, causing him to tumble backwards onto the floor with a yelp.
"What the hell, man!" he exclaimed, looking up to see Plutarch who had quickly jumped out of the way to avoid being hit by the falling Finnick.
Taiya let out a quick giggle before she stepped inside to help him up.
Finnick brushed his uniform off before placing his hands on his hips and turned to Plutarch, who was looking slightly taken aback by the commotion.
"My apologies," he held his hand out for Finnick, who sulked one last time before shaking it, accepting the apology. "Why are you all waiting out there? The meeting was meant to start five minutes ago?" he asked them.
Tyler frowned. "Yeah, we've been waiting for you," he replied, a small hint of frustration in his tone.
Plutarch glanced around at the trio, a puzzled look crossing his face. "I was inside the room," he gestured with his thumb. "Did no one knock on the door?"
Taiya turned to look at her fellow victors with her hands on her hips. "You two got here before me. Did neither of you think to knock?"
Finnick scratched his head, realising the mix-up. "I thought you knocked," he immediately passed the blame to Tyler.
"Oh just take a seat," Tyler rolled his eyes, pushing Finnick further into the room. "Sorry, Plutarch."
Tyler walked into the room behind Taiya and Finnick, before quickly pushing them out of the way and racing forward to grab the small collection of pens left in the middle of the table.
He turned back to see both Taiya and Finnick watching him with bemused expressions.
"Should probably clear these before you meet with Tay, Plutarch," Tyler cautioned the man before he took a seat.
"You're such a dork Tyler," Taiya smiled before she and Finnick sat side by side opposite him.
"Alright," Plutarch clapped his hands excitedly as he joined them at the table. "Are you guys excited? I'm excited," he smiled at Finnick and Taiya. This meeting was to run through the engagement party plans.
Taiya stared at him without a smile, whereas Finnick shot him an enthusiastic grin.
"Brilliant," he nodded, satisfied with one out of two. "So," he unfolded his notes and slid them across the table to the pair. "If I do say so myself, I have quite the aptitude for planning."
Taiya just raised her eyebrows. She didn't quite agree with that statement...
Finnick picked up the notes and nodded. "This looks good," he immediately approved, just eager to please the man who'd put thought into their party.
Taiya snatched a sheet of paper from him and looked over it.
"Can I make an adjustment?" she asked.
Plutarch twitched in his seat slightly. "Of course," he agreed, not too thrilled at the prospect of his master plan being altered.
"Can I have a pen?" she held her hand out towards Tyler. "Thank you," she winked as he reluctantly handed her one. She took it and immediately and aggressively crossed out something on the sheet before sliding it back to Plutarch.
He picked it up and looked over her alteration.
"We can't exclude Gale," Plutarch shook his head.
"Why not?" Taiya sulked, handing the pen back to Tyler so he could relax a bit.
"It wouldn't be very nice," Plutarch tried to gently inform her.
"Well Gale's not very nice so who cares," Taiya shrugged. Ever since Buck yelled at the man, he'd been avoiding Taiya, so Taiya was no longer hiding her disdain for him. Being nice to him wasn't getting her anything anymore and her collection of straw was large enough to last a few weeks at the rate the trauma bros were using it.
"Anyway," Plutarch tried to change the subject.
"I'm here, I'm here," Haymitch raced into the meeting room. "I know I'm late, get over it," he cut Taiya off before she could begin to tease him.
"Perfect timing Haymitch," Plutarch pulled out the chair beside him. "I'd love your insight into some of my ideas."
"Argh!" Taiya dramatically groaned, arching in her chair before slumping down. "Seriously? The two of you bozos planning this stupid party?" she waved the notes in the air. "The two of you have to be the worst planners of all time!"
Haymitch glanced over at Tyler, but the man just shrugged. Coin wasn't here so he didn't feel like he had to pull Taiya back into line like he usually did. So long as he kept the pens at a safe distance, he was prepared to let her rant as much as she wanted this time. It was better than him having to hear her complain about everything later.
"What are you talking about sweetheart?" Haymitch took the bait.
"You two and your planning," Taiya threw her hands in the air dramatically. "Name me one plan you've had that's worked!"
"I can think of a few," Plutarch frowned. Not understanding what she was getting at.
"Name one," Taiya reissued her challenge.
"The plan to stick together in the arena had merit," Haymitch frowned.
"You're kidding me! That was not a good plan. Your plan was a half-baked disaster," Taiya scoffed. "Beetee, who was meant to be the genius to blow the force field up, ran straight into it and almost barbecued himself. If wasn't for Katniss and her arrow, we would all be pushing up daisies right now. Not to mention the fact you obviously miscounted when you went in for the rescue and you missed a couple of us on the way out. Remember that?"
Plutarch just stared at her dumbfounded. A part of him wanted to reason his way out of it, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"Fair point," Haymitch agreed. "You got any other examples for her?" he looked across at Plutarch.
Tyler and Finnick sat there with baited breaths. This could very easily turn into a very sour meeting. Luckily Taiya was easily distracted.
"Hey, why's just Buck's name down for cake making?"
"He said he'd do it," Tyler told her.
"Yeah, but I want Peeta to join in the fun too. They can make it together," Taiya pushed the sheet towards Tyler, gesturing for him to add Peeta's name to the plan. "He'd love it and he already made me a promise he'd do it. He's planning on making the icing look like waves," she smiled widely at Finnick. "Peeta the baker boy," she winked at Haymitch. "Seriously Plutarch though, these plans are boring. I expected more from you."
"President Coin had me scale it back," he grumbled. "She didn't want a party, she just wanted a public announcement."
"I'd be down for that," Taiya nodded.
Plutarch's eyes widened as he looked at her appalled. "Taiya, this is a celebration! I wanted a masquerade party!"
Taiya visibly recoiled in her seat. That sounded awful.
Finnick on the other hand, nodded appreciatively, at least until he looked at Taiya, and then he began shaking his head to agree with her sentiment.
"If we were in the Capitol we'd have fireworks," Plutarch reminisced on the kind of parties they used to attend.
"But we're not in the Capitol," Taiya fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Shame."
Plutarch, now a touch exasperated, turned to Taiya. "Alright, what did you have in mind, Taiya?"
Taiya's eyes lit up with mischief as she leaned forward. "A piñata."
Haymitch just sniggered, as he glanced at Plutarch, eagerly awaiting his reaction.
Plutarch stared ahead numbly for a moment as he processed this. "A piñata?"
Taiya nodded enthusiastically. "That's exactly what I want."
"We don't have access to candy here to fill it."
"We don't need an actual piñata with candy," Taiya shook her head. "Gale's a good substitute."
Tyler groaned audibly, rubbing his temples. "Looks like Mrs Everdeen's diagnosis was right."
Taiya shot him a glare while Finnick tried to hide his smirk.
"No human piñata's," Haymitch shut down.
"You're just mad you didn't think of it yourself."
"I don't think that's it," Tyler rolled his eyes.
"I have two people," Taiya held her fingers up to show him. "Two smart people who'd be thrilled by this idea."
"I don't think we should be using Johanna and Gloss as two examples of good judgment," Tyler immediately knew who she was talking about.
"Fine!" Taiya pouted. "We'll just do Plutarch's stupid idea of a party and dancing. So boring!"
"Don't worry Plutarch, it probably won't be boring," Finnick smiled.
This didn't particularly comfort Plutarch though.
A mischievous smirk played across Taiya's lips as her mind began working on a new idea.
"You think President Snow will be tuning into the propo?" Taiya inquired a hint of intrigue in her voice.
Plutarch nodded thoughtfully. "It's likely. Snow will want to know everything he can about the rebels, I'm sure he's watching all the propos we have out there."
Taiya's smile widened. "You should get Katniss to sing 'The Hanging Tree' again at the party. But this time, before she starts, she should give a dedication to, 'all the girls you loved before'. Don't worry, Snow will understand. It's an inside joke."
Plutarch hesitated, uncertainty flickering across his face. "Is there any particular reason for this suggestion?" he asked cautiously, not knowing Taiya's underlying motive.
Taiya merely grinned and shrugged innocently. "I'd rather not say." The only other person in the room who knew exactly the reason was Finnick, and she preferred to keep it that way for now.
Plutarch glanced at Tyler, seeking some form of insight. Tyler studied Taiya's expression before he turned to Plutarch, his voice carrying a sense of certainty.
"Whatever she's talking about, she's serious. Get Katniss to sing," Tyler advised, acknowledging this was Taiya trying to be helpful, and not causing trouble, even though he was unsure of the context behind her suggestion.
Plutarch, although unsure about the implications, seemed to accept her advice and he nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll talk to Katniss about it."
Taiya leaned back with a satisfied smirk, her mind already envisioning the potential impact the dedication would have on Snow.
"While I have you all here, I should inform you," Plutarch tapped his pen against the table. "Johanna has officially been given clearance to leave the hospital."
Taiya squeaked loudly in excitement, grabbing onto Finnick's hand as she bounced in her chair. "Johanna's finally getting out? That's awesome!" Taiya exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. "We'll be able to hang out wherever we want now! And next, it'll be Peeta getting released," Taiya smiled widely. Her excitement peaked when she eagerly inquired, "Is she going to be in a compartment near mine and Finnick's? Can we be neighbours?"
Plutarch hesitated slightly before replying. "Actually, she'll be rooming with Katniss."
Taiya's expression shifted from excitement to sheer confusion. She checked in with Finnick beside her to see he looked just as confused as she was. Her brows furrowed as she snorted in disbelief. "Johanna and Katniss? I thought you needed Katniss alive?"
Plutarch attempted to reassure her. "I think it'll be fine."
Taiya couldn't help but laugh at the idea. "But Johanna hates Katniss. Good luck with that one buddy."
"Yeah," Finnick agreed with Taiya. "I'm with Tay on this one. Are you sure you've thought this through?"
Plutarch nodded, although he was trying to remain optimistic about the situation, he couldn't deny the high chance that tension might arise between Johanna and Katniss.
*********************
"So," Taiya held Finnick's hand as she skipped down the hallway. There was a mischievous look in her eye that had him on edge. "I was thinking, that on the day Johanna gets released from the hospital, she probably won't want to spend it with Katniss. So we should totally invite her for a sleepover in our room. It could be nice."
Finnick couldn't help but grimace, doing his best to hide his reaction from her. "Ah yes," Finnick nodded, his lips curling into a smirk. "Because nothing helps you get a good night's sleep like Johanna's delightful company."
"Come on Finnick," Taiya chuckled, holding his arm up so she could spin under it. "It'll be fun! We haven't had a sleepover in so long! It'll be like a mini-reunion. And contrary to your sarcasm, Johanna's company is delightful"
"Oh absolutely. I'd love to have a sleepover with someone whose attitude is so cold she could chill the whole room," he laughed softly.
Taiya playfully nudged him. "She's not that bad. Beneath that tough exterior, there's a soft spot somewhere. I think. It might be buried deep, but I'm pretty sure it's there."
Finnick pretended to ponder. "A soft spot? Do you mean under all those layers of sarcasm? Sounds lovely."
Taiya just rolled her eyes. "It'll be like a throwback to the good ol' days when we used to stay up late, singing and dancing."
"Good ol' days?" Finnick groaned. "You two would just spend the night torturing me with your singing."
"Don't diss the singing my love, we could've been stars. Anyway, I'm sure we can handle a night of Jo's 'charm'. It'll be fun."
"Fun indeed," Finnick smirked. "Maybe she can give me tips on how to perfect her signature eye-roll."
"Oh that she could definitely help you out with," Taiya nodded in all seriousness. "Your eye-roll needs some serious work. Oh, and side note, you'll have to sleep on the top bunk and she shares with me."
"Oh, come on. Seriously?" Finnick whined. "You're kicking me out of our bed?"
"It's tradition. You can't fight tradition babe," she smiled as she leaned forward to kiss him. "I promise I'll make it worth your while?"
"I'm listening."
"Uh uh," Taiya placed her finger between their lips, keeping them separate. "We should probably get out of the hallway. If Buck walks down here and sees us he might throw you through the wall."
"Why me?" Finnick complained.
"Because he's so desperate to climb up the ranks in my friend list," she smirked. "So he's being extra nice to me."
"Is it working?" Finnick asked.
"Well him screaming at Dale is going to be hard to top," Taiya admitted.
"Katniss thought Gale getting yelled at was hilarious," Finnick told her with a smile. "I think they argued about something in District 2. She said it served him right when I was giving her the run down."
Taiya couldn't help but frown. Katniss being potentially Team Anti-Gale... "Is Katniss Everdeen... cool?"
"All my friends are cool Tay," he flung his arm over her shoulder. "Yours are nuts. Mine are cool. It's just the way it is."