- THE BIG LEAGUES -
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SHE FORGOT HOW suffocating the parade was. All these people cheering for one, rooting for one to win a game that left twenty-three others dead. It was just a television show to them, strictly for their enjoyment.
Nadia and Apollo were headed straight for the elevators after the parade, both feeling overly tired from the amount of smiling they had forced.
As they walked, Nadia's brows turned down and her hand came up to Apollo's chest to stop him. There by the elevators, Cyrus stood talking to Plutarch Heavensbee, the head Gamemaker after Seneca Crane was killed.
Speaking of, Nadia knew exactly what happened to the previous Gamemaker as one of the many forms of payments from her clients were secrets. Things she aught not to know.
"What is he doing talking to him?" Apollo questioned more to himself, the two sharing a look as Plutarch handed the man an envelope, rather secretively by the looks of it.
Just as Cyrus tucked the suspicious letter into his coat pocket, Nadia and Apollo came walking over, their expressions obvious in showing them they saw it.
Plutarch smiled as he looked between the two like nothing happened, nodding a hello. "Ms. Holloway, Mr. Clarke. It's a pleasure."
"Wish I could say the same." Apollo grinned sarcastically tucking his hands into his bright and shiny pockets.
"What's that?" Nadia smiled passively, crossing her arms over her chest with a nod to Cyrus' pocket. The look shared between the two men was not at all helping with Nadia and Apollo's growing suspicions.
Instead of answering, Plutarch only snickered and stepped a little closer so his hushed voice could be heard between the two. "You'll find out soon enough."
"That's reassuring, thanks." Apollo's lips formed a tight line, irritation mixing with mistrust.
"You know, being vague gets you nowhere." Nadia assured the man.
He didn't answer, the only thing close to a response was the smile he offered in continuation to ignore their questions.
"I better get back to work." He said with this underlying urgency to get away. There weren't many people who could get past Nadia's ability to read a person.
In succession to Plutarch's absence, Apollo and Nadia were like hunters tracking their prey in the way they were on Cyrus' heel in a second.
"What the hell was that?" Apollo inquired, all three stepping into the elevator.
Cyrus rolled his eyes, lazily leaning against the wall of the elevator. A chuckle passed his lips, and after years of observing him, Nadia knew she wasn't going to get a straight response. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
The elevator dinged signaling their floor and Cyrus wasn't helping their worries as he rushed out and towards his room.
"I realize helping is a new thing for you, but is it really necessary to tease us?" Nadia unclasped the straps around her ankles and kicked off her heels before she started taking apart her hair, all the while keeping her stare on the man in question.
"Look..." Cyrus sighed lowly, his shaky hand pointed at her. "You're just gonna have to trust me."
Apollo and Nadia seemed to share a simultaneous scoff, both their faces contorting in a peculiar way at the outright humorous words Cyrus spoke.
The man only watched them like they were fools, smiling menacingly as he pulled the letter from his pocket and held it out as if it was a prized delicacy.
"Believe it or not, this is me helping." He spoke in all seriousness. "You can take it or leave it."
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It was too dark. Everywhere in The Capitol was. She's been around long enough to know she couldn't escape it.
She wasn't only up because of the lack of lighting in her room, but also the thought of what could've happened to Emory was lingering in her mind and making her more restless than usual.
Her eyes were pointed out the big window in the main room of her floor, her knees tucked against her chest as the sound of footsteps came from behind her.
"Hey." She turned to find Apollo with tired eyes and messy hair, a smile finding her lips as he'd missed a few spots taking off his makeup from the parade.
He sat across from her, looking out the window as her eyes remained in a focused gaze upon him. Apollo was one of her best friends and knowing she might lose him left her taking in his appearance every chance she got so she could remember him forever.
"You read the letter?" He asked, meeting her stare. She nodded, the man referring to the envelope from Plutarch.
Cyrus had shown them the letter a few hours after having read it himself, the contents in the pages making this year's games a hell of a lot more complicated.
"Do you think it's real or could it be some odd joke Plutarch is playing on us?" Apollo inquired, wanting so badly to believe it.
She shrugged, a humorless snicker sounding before she spoke. "I'm sure he's already planned several ways to torture us during the games. That would just be cruel if he gave us a phony letter explaining a way to keep us alive."
"Would you really put it past him?" He raised his brows, looking at her like she was crazy.
"No..." She muttered, a sigh falling from her lips. "Then again, trust isn't something I've ever been good at giving up, so my doubt isn't saying much."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Apollo shuffled from beside her, repositioning himself to get more comfortable on the windowsill.
"Isn't it?"
He shook his head drastically. "Not at all. In my opinion, trusting too easily can end with a worse pain than living in doubt."
She chuckled, never figuring her inability to trust people was a good thing. "You're pretty wise for someone who's only thirty-one."
His smile widened. "I get that a lot."
"Oh, please. Who else do you shower with your expert advice?" She asked through a chuckle.
"You'd be surprised."
She was glad to see his smile again, another little thing that could bring her so much comfort. She felt horribly for making him upset the other day and now was as good a time as any to make up for it.
"I'm sorry." She said, gaining his attention. "For bringing her up."
He huffed, but he wasn't irritated or angry. "That's okay."
"No it's not. It wasn't fair." She stated and the man was slightly amused that she seemed offended by him not being mad at her.
"No, I can understand where you're coming from. I know Emory means just as much to you as Tilly did to me. It's nothing I should be upset about." He assured, leaning forward now against his knees. "Especially not with you."
The amount of relief that swept through her system was almost embarrassing. She hated making people sad or angry, especially people she cared so greatly for.
"Well... you mean a lot to me too and I shouldn't have said anything." She said as one last jab towards herself, hopefully so he could see how sorry she truly was.
"Apology accepted." He said getting to his feet, half because he didn't need her insulting herself anymore and he was extremely tired.
"Get some sleep, Nadia." He patted her shoulder, starting back towards his room. "We've got training in the morning."
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The next morning Nadia walked down the hall in her light blue and black training uniform, making her way towards the training center.
The automatic door opened up alerting the three people already in the room, of her presence.
Brutus, from District Two was at one of the holographic stations that formed orange figures charging at you, the man easily getting rid of them with a throw of the sharp spear. She hated spears.
Enobaria was looking over the selection of swords and machetes she could use on her awaiting training partner who was there to spar with whoever might want to.
And the last person was Mags. A small smile came to Nadia's face as she walked over to the old woman who was starting to work on a fish hook.
"Mags." She made her presence clear as to not startle the older woman. As she looked over, an immediate smile stretched from ear to ear.
"Hi." Nadia signed 'hello' having taken the time to learn sign language after becoming friends with her making it all the more easy to communicate with her. She made Apollo do it too so they both knew it and could even sign to each other if they didn't want to be heard.
Mags set down the hook and placed her hands on both sides of Nadia's face to get a good look at her. She patted her cheek before letting go, but still kept the smile and her eyes on the young woman who she had grown close to from their mentoring visits over the years.
"It's good to see you." She said to which Mags nodded as Nadia gestured for her to continue on crafting the beautiful hook like the ones she so often made back in her district.
"Mags, is this woman bothering you?" They both lifted their heads as Finnick strode over with a wide smile. The older woman huffed, hitting his chest as he offered her a little hug.
"Actually, you're interrupting us. Mags was reminding me of how she makes her fish hooks." Nadia stated matter of factly, Mags looking in between the two as they stared at each other.
Mags sighed, listening as they playfully bickered. She could tell by the way they looked at each other that they loved each other. And the countless times she's heard Nadia's name from Finnick's mouth when he gets back from his trips.
It really made the games a hundred times sadder. She practically raised the man and seeing him unable to be with the woman he so clearly loves, truly hurt her.
However, that didn't stop her from attempting to force them into spending every possible second they could together before the games.
"I'm convinced you're trying to turn her against me." Finnick shot back to whatever Nadia said, Mags too focused on figuring out a way to get the two alone to know the context of their 'argument'.
Nadia crossed her arms pridefully, her smile making Finnick's heart clench in a horribly wonderful way. "I can't help it if I'm more lovable than you."
Mags smiled deviously to herself, a plan coming to mind as she grabbed ahold of both their wrists and started pulling them towards one of the hologram simulators.
"Mags?" Finnick looked down to the woman but she ignored him, his eyes then meeting Nadia's as they shared a look of confusion.
Nudging them both towards the simulator, Mags brushed her hands together with a satisfactory look taking over her features before she left them to their own regards.
"I guess we were too distracting." Nadia shrugged, browsing over the selection of silver throwing knives on display. They were much better than the ones she had at home, that was for sure.
Finnick's silence led her gaze back to him only to find his eyes were taking her in like she was the most delectable sight. "Understandable."
She rolled her eyes, shaking off the oncoming blush as she picked up a trident for him and three knives for herself.
"Not so fast." He stopped her as she offered him his signature weapon. "I can't just let you learn all my secrets now."
"Just throw it." She stated, voice seductively low with means to tease him. Reluctantly he took the trident, her voice and dark eyes making him all the more willing to comply.
"So bossy." He clicked his tongue, smirking as he raised the trident once Nadia had turned on the hologram.
His arm shot forward expertly, the trident launched straight through the chests of both the holograms that then shattered into tiny cubes.
Nadia didn't meet his eyes that looked at her all presumptuous, her smug facade not backing down for a second.
"Not bad." She spoke like she was bored and she couldn't help but laugh taking in the look of offense covering his face.
"All right, show me what you got." He stepped back with one arm behind his back as the other gestured for her to take his position.
Nadia stood before the simulator, her left arm positioned perfectly inline with where she memorized the holograms to appear. Finnick turned it on before folding his hands behind his back and watched her closely.
Once the two orange holograms turned on and started charging at her, she whipped a knife at the first one landing right where its chest would be, swiftly yielding another.
She threw the silver blade with means to land in the other's head, but she'd only been using her left hand for eight years and instead the knife slipped past, nearly hitting its ear.
Nadia's jaw clenched in distaste for her inferior performance before she quickly sent two more knife at it, this time the hologram crumbling to the ground.
Clearly unimpressed with herself, she stepped aside and gestured for Finnick to go again. But once he saw her frown he tilted his head at her instead.
"Why the long face? That wasn't bad at all." Finnick said with a 'pfft', stepping closer as she shook her left hand about to loosen it up.
Shaking her head, she took the spot in front of the simulation again. If he wasn't going to, she'd take all the practice she could get.
"It was bad. That wasn't a shot that could save my life." She said as she lifted her arm again.
"We must not have been watching the same thing, 'cause you're crazy if you think that was bad." Finnick complimented as she again threw her knife, missing the oncoming figure the first time, but the second time she sent the knife right through its stomach.
She sighed, setting down the weapon before looking to him. "You're turn."
He only shook his head, reaching up to grab her shoulders, the man pushing her towards one of the enclosed rooms that made the simulation more realistic and much more difficult.
"This is no time for jokes, Finn." Nadia said, wiggling in his grip, but to no avail, he was much stronger than she was.
"I don't know why you think I'm always joking." He chuckled, only stopping in their path once realizing that most of the tributes were already gathered outside one of the simulations.
Nadia and Finnick shared a look, the pair weaseling through the small crowd where they found Apollo and Johanna standing, everyone's eyes trained on Katniss shooting her arrows perfectly on the other side of the glass.
"She's good." Apollo said with his arms crossed, the man almost sounded a bit scared of the clearly dangerous seventeen-year-old. "Really good."
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hi guys! just dropping a li'l note to let you know that i think i'll be able to post every tuesday and thursday! at least up until act two, aka mockingjay pt. one
thanks for reading!
—Cj