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09. mentor and tribute
When they exit the hall and are on the way to a short debriefing at the biology lab before lunch, the interview is still fresh on everyone's minds.
Especially the results — or in most cases, the lack thereof. Junia, for one, decided she's proud of herself for breaking the rules (although they were never properly set in the first place so she still finds the idea of a punishment questionable). If she hadn't done it, her interview with Treech would have been a lot more awkward.
"I thought you were exaggerating, but he was really on guard, you know?" Clemmie says, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "All I've got is his name and it's exactly what I had right after the reaping. Reaper Ash. Can you imagine naming your child Reaper and them ending up in the reaping?"
Lyssie sighs, "There was no reaping when he was born, Clemmie. That's just a farming name."
Clemmie hums. "I suppose you're right."
"Well, you did your best," Junia says and smiles at her friend. "I'm sure he'll come around eventually. Just give him time."
Cas nods. "Exactly," he agrees. "At least you talked normally and didn't do anything stupid. Gaius made so many jokes I thought Panlo might eat his way through the chains just to get away from him."
A shame she couldn't see that. Junia knows their classmate and fellow mentor, Gaius Breen, always has a good joke and witty comment at the tip of his tongue. He's well-liked but she can't blame his tribute for finding that sort of behavior even more unsettling, given their current situation.
Clemmie's spirits seem a bit more lifted at his words and she has to stifle a laugh. "Did he? That almost makes me wish I could've sat a little bit closer to you two," she says. Then, she rubs her arms. "When I tried asking Reaper for more than his name, he slammed his hands on the table. Just to see what I'd do! That was terrifying."
Junia blinks. "He did?" she questions in confusion. Surely she would have heard that kind of commotion but Clemmie has no reason to lie about something like that either. She believes her.
Festus looks at her in disbelief, "How could you have possibly missed that?"
"You wouldn't be surprised if you were in my shoes," Pup says and she shoots him a warning look. Undeterred, he goes on, "They were talking the entire time. I didn't know June had it in her to be so chatty."
Junia can't help but be a bit defensive now. "He was just answering my questions," she mutters and makes a conscious effort to avoid her brother's questioning gaze. "He seems to trust me. Well, as far as trust goes in this situation."
"Yeah, 'trust'. If that's what you want to call it," Pup scoffs.
Then, he turns towards his friend, her brother. "They held hands," he says.
"Pup!" She looks at him in disbelief and doesn't miss the looks some of their classmates shoot her. Even worse, the way her brother's eyebrows raise.
Somehow, she feels like this is simply Pup being petty that she got the more talkative tribute from Seven. Just a little bit of petty revenge.
"It was just a pat on the hand!" She quickly says and sighs. "It was because of the marriage question."
Pup rolls his eyes. "She looked like a clown's nose. I don't think I've ever seen her like that."
Even Lyssie hides her smile as she glances to the side, her and Clemmie exchanging a look.
Cas shakes his head in mock disappointment, unable to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't let them catch you like that. You're already on thin ice."
Yeah, Junia thinks, this is definitely not the end of it.
"Exactly," Festus agrees. "Just because you get along, it doesn't mean you need to act all lovey-dovey," he says. "Remember, he's still district. What are your parents going to say?"
"You should know better than to think someone like her cares about that, Festus," Arachne interjects with that usual self-important tone of hers. "Or have you forgotten that June and Sejanus are pretty much glued together?"
Junia wants to protest but in a way knows Arachne is right. Kind of. But what's so bad about that? Sejanus is her best friend, she should be allowed to spend time with him.
Sejanus' tone is unsurprisingly grim when he speaks up. "I'm amazed that you're still able to speak so easily, Arachne. I was under the impression that you were a little bit pale around the nose earlier," he says, only looking at her when he's done speaking. "It was pretty obvious, you know?"
After his whole interaction with Marcus just a few minutes ago, he has been lost in thoughts, not really paying attention to the conversations. It seems he tuned in just at the right time. It's always incredibly satisfying to see him talking to Arachne like that.
Junia has to bite the inside of her cheek so she doesn't laugh. Cas, on the other hand, doesn't even bother. The scowl on Arachne's face is worth it.
"Pale? I thought it was more green than anything. Keen eye, Sejanus," Cas says.
He looks at Arachne. "What did your tribute say that made you look even more ghastly than usual?"
The girl slaps his shoulder and even Festus barks out a laugh at the interaction. But the jab gets Arachne talking anyway and it sounds like she's been holding that in for the entirety of the conversation, just waiting until it's finally her turn to complain.
"Well, if you must know, she talked. A lot," she says loudly, making sure everyone can hear her. Like her booming voice is hard to miss in the first place. "And I really, really almost wish she hadn't."
Clemmie shoots her a mildly concerned look, trying to decide if the other girl is exaggerating as always or not. "Why?" she asks. "What did she say?"
"She spends most of her time butchering hogs, apparently," Arachne recalls and visibly shudders. Then, she makes a gagging motion. "What am I supposed to do with that? I wish I could make up something better."
She keeps on talking, telling everyone her brilliant plan of making up something much better than what Brandy has talked about. Since Arachne's family used to travel around a lot in Panem, she thinks she'll be able to find something very quickly, too. Junia stops listening even though she has to put in an effort since the other girl's voice is so loud, it's hard not to.
"You're still better off than me, Arachne," Pup says and Junia looks over at him. "Even if it's hogs, at least it's something. Mine wouldn't stop crying for the entire fifteen minutes." He lets out an exasperated sigh. "If June's tribute hadn't mentioned working with mine, my questionnaire would be completely empty."
"Well, you tried. She's just frightened, Pup. Give her time," Lyssie says. She gives him a onceover. "You'd better button your jacket before class."
Junia can't help but think it's the universe's revenge when Pup's top button comes off in his hands.
She's not petty. But that was karma.
Junia's good mood after the interview with Treech is slightly ruined when she sees Dr. Gaul in the lab. She's used to Dean Highbottom and by now knows how to act whenever he's present but she still can't help but feel on edge whenever she's around Dr. Gaul. The woman unsettles her, even more so after she so passionately agreed with Coriolanus' ideas regarding the games.
Thankfully, it's a very very brief debriefing. They discuss how their individual interviews went, how the tributes interacted, and it once again is proven that Coriolanus and her have an advantage. They're the only ones with entirely filled out questionnaires, and even she has noticed the slightly sour look on the young Snow's face when Dr. Gaul praised them both for it in front of their classmates.
He clearly doesn't like sharing the spotlight. Not that that's her problem because she would gladly give him all of it. It's not her fault the Capitol's attempts at getting the mentors and tributes to interact are clumsy and full of errors.
That happens to be brought up in class as well. It seems Dr. Gaul has mulled Sejanus' words from the previous day over and now almost encourages the mentors to approach their tributes with a similar compassion as him. It's no surprise that this does nothing to brighten his mood though, especially since she only does so for her own selfish purposes. If the tributes trust their mentors, they might be more willing to listen to whatever advice they can get. And maybe, since that's all she cares about, some of them might even be more inclined to perform.
It's a bit funny, though. Even though Treech clearly trusts her, she doesn't doubt that he would immediately shut her down if she brought it up. Why wouldn't he? Him and the other tributes all think they'll die anyway, why would they put on a show for people that don't even see them as human beings?
Sejanus even tried appealing to her directly, asking her to replace him as a mentor, but was shut down immediately.
Overall, Junia is glad it's over so soon. The next thing on their schedule is the lunch break and it appears Dr. Gaul's words have left a mark in some of the other mentor's heads as well.
When Junia and her brother leave the Academy grounds to visit the tributes at the zoo, they're accompanied by Hilarius Heavensbee. Coriolanus and Sejanus have also managed to sneak some food out of the cafeteria, still the very last leftovers from the reaping ceremony, and even Festus and Felix are trailing not too far behind them.
Then there's also Livia Cardew and Arachne. Persephone is also there, but Junia decides to stick with her brother and Hilarius for the time being. She's not in the mood to deal with Coriolanus' dampened mood and even though she worries about Sejanus, there's a look of determination on his face that reassures her all the same. She checked in with him briefly and when he assured her he was going to be okay, she really wanted to believe him.
Still, she might walk with him after school. Or perhaps she'll even give him a call in the evening because his desperate attempts to get Marcus to speak are breaking her heart, too, and she knows it must be even worse for him than she can imagine.
With leftover lamb and fresh fruit hidden in her bag along with a bottle of apple juice she was able to get her hands on, she walks in between her brother and Hilarius. She can't help but feel like they're making themselves taller on purpose. She's not even that short.
Hell, the thought of Hilarius as a possible suitor immediately leaves her mind when she realizes how much she needs to crane her neck just to look up at him. She would need to hire a chiropractor just two days into that relationship, that's for sure.
It's even warmer than the previous days. Even the short walk has all three of them unbuttoning the top buttons of their blouses because they might suffocate otherwise. Junia is just glad the Academy uniform isn't dark. For once in her life, she's grateful for the vermillion colour.
Then there's also the fact that it definitely helps them push through the crowd, too. It's not very late but even for the zoo, it's quite busy for this time of the day.
"You know what surprises me?" Hilarius finally says, looking over at his friend. "That your questionnaire isn't filled out entirely. It looked and sounded like you were talking the entire time."
"Please tell me you didn't ramble again," Junia adds on and looks at her brother as well. "I haven't even spoken to her and I feel like I owe her an apology just because of what you've told me."
At least Sheaf didn't see him at his worst, when he was hungover. He looked decent in the evening, albeit tired. And he didn't reek of cigarettes either.
While Hilarius is polite enough not to laugh, Cas only rolls his eyes. "I'll have you know, I had everything except for her district address and the names of her family members," he quickly says, trying to stop his sister from jumping to conclusions. Then, he shrugs, "I'm not sure why. I assume she might be worried something will happen to them if she tells me."
That seems reasonable. Junia sighs when she realizes once again how much Treech seems to trust her. He accepts food she gives him, shares personal information and jokes with her. In a saddening and yet comforting way, she'll have to live with the knowledge that, if the circumstances were different, they might've even become very good friends.
She swallows the lump in her throat. "Then what did you talk about?" she asks. "Because what got Treech to talk was his family," she explains. With a little smile, she quietly adds, "I thought it was rather endearing, actually."
Junia is grateful that Cas hasn't heard that last part but Hilarius clearly has. He looks down at her with a raised eyebrow, a smile tugging at his lips. She's not sure if it's a look of disapproval or if he simply finds it amusing when she blushes and averts her gaze.
"You're right, we did talk a lot. But it was mostly about food, actually," Cas confesses. He sighs. "I was trying to find out if there's anything she might dislike or can't eat due to allergies. But when I asked about her favourite food, she gave me an in-depth description of the way her mother bakes oatmeal cookies."
Cas runs his fingers through his hair and Junia wonders if he's trying to make himself look neater for Sheaf.
Hilarius hums. "That sounds like you're going to bake again," he says, shooting his friend a pointed look. "Without the posca this time or are you going to put yourself through another hangover?"
Junia doesn't even bother hiding her laughter from the both of them.
"Please, I've barely even recovered from yesterday. And my father strictly forbade me from drinking any more," Cas quickly waves him off. "I wrote down the recipe, too. I should be fine."
They walk past the Ring twins who greet them as cheerily as ever. They're headed out of the zoo, meaning they must've gotten a headstart on the other mentors somehow and already brought food to their tributes. It's not all that surprising though, Junia wasn't in a hurry back in the cafeteria either.
"I was wondering, by the way," Hilarius says, glancing back at the retreating pair of twins over his shoulder for a moment. "A lot of us seem to agree the mentoring assignment wasn't exactly..."
He doesn't need to finish the sentence. Sejanus' assigned tribute, the way the Beaumont twins were seperated even though the Ring twins have tributes from the same district, Coriolanus being assigned the girl from Twelve — it's all too calculated. Junia and Cas know how the first came to be, are clueless about the second and presume the third was a calculated move on Highbottom's part.
He must seriously hate Coriolanus if he's going to such lengths just to make sure he doesn't have a shot at the Plinth prize.
"You mean people say it was rigged? Yeah," Cas says. They get closer to the monkey enclosure and much like in the previous evening, the crowd already begins to thicken. "A shame June and I don't have tributes from the same district."
"Yeah, my anxiety and your unhealthy habits would've been a lethal combination," Junia remarks sarcastically and though she's surprised by her own words, she laughs soon after. "I'm not too bummed about it. I was but I think I've managed to get over it."
"Is what Pup said true?" Hilarius questions and raises his hands defensively when she glares up at him. "It was just a question. I imagine it's... easier to bond with someone your age, isn't it?"
When she remembers Hilarius' tribute, Wovey, Junia's eyes soften. "I assume so," she says. "She didn't talk to you?"
Hilarius shrugs half-heartedly. "I managed to at least get her to tell me some things about her family. Well, her brother mostly. Her parents are dead," he explains. When he sees both of the twins looking at him rather sadly, he quickly continues. "She said she likes climbing, too. Maybe that will help her."
"Poor girl," Junia mumbles weakly. "When I see the younger tributes... you know. It just makes me think."
"Of Max?" Cas asks grimly and she nods. "Yeah, me too."
Truthfully, while it's still painful to see all of the tributes, Junia can't handle looking at Mizzen. Out of all of them, he always reminds her of Max. With his brown hair and big brown eyes, they could even pass as brothers, too.
"You've grown soft, Cassie." Arachne's grating voice interrupts the conversation and Cas groans. It's that same damned nickname the girl would always use to tease him with when they were younger and he loathes it. He doesn't even want to know how much of it she heard anyway. "Don't tell me you're also turning into a district sympathizer now? Here I thought at least one of you had the brains to acknowledge we're better than those animals in the districts."
Junia knows it's a jab at her, too. However, when Livia Cardew's giggle reaches her ears, she decides she's not going to give the girls a reaction.
Cas, however, does. Just like always, the sound of Arachne's voice makes his blood boil. "Not everyone has fun draining the life out of people and making them miserable, you know? There's people that consider it rather unattractive, actually," he replies dryly. "This might be the last week of their lives. No need to make it even worse than it already is."
Arachne scowls. But thankfully, Persephone is quicker. She shakes her head, "I'm not sure if I like thinking about it like that. It seems rather grim, don't you think?"
Cas shrugs. He can't answer, however, as they're as close to the enclosure as they can be and he's already looking for Sheaf.
And Persephone's attention is quickly grabbed by Festus. "I found them," he informs her, motioning for the girl to follow. "Come on, let's talk to them."
Junia is sure the red tint on both of their cheeks isn't only due to the weather and smiles to herself. She's not too close with either but she finds it endearing.
This time, Flickerman isn't present ‒ Festus must be doing cartwheels inside of his mind when he realizes ‒ but there's still a TV crew. They don't seem to be interacting though, only letting the camera show what's happening in and around the monkey enclosure.
Junia parts from her classmates who are beginning to scatter out as well, muttering a quiet "Good luck" to Hilarius and her brother, before she slips through the crowd. People are letting her through quicker than yesterday, as they recognize her from TV by now.
And, thankfully, Treech and Lamina are almost sitting in the same spots as yesterday. She's sitting on the rock, has her knees pulled up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees and refuses to look at anyone in particular. It seems Treech has lent her his hat to protect her from the sun.
Treech, however, catches Junia's attention. He's juggling three walnuts for the people at the bars and she tilts her head to the side, staying silent for the time being. There's something strangely entertaining about it and it seems the crowd agrees because a little boy is holding an apple through the bars for him to take. In general, it seems even the other tributes are now being approached by the crowd as well. Some of them simply have their heads lowered, their hands raised in silent hope of someone giving them something edible.
And there's Sheaf. Junia sees the girl doing a back handspring in front of the bars, her efforts immediately met by applause from the people that have gathered around her. Cas joins in when he pushes through to her and even though Sheaf receives a carton of milk from a little boy, she passes it on to her district partner. Panlo is watching the entire ordeal with an unreadable look on his face but even he stands up when Cas approaches.
Apparently, much like Junia has been able to gain the trust of the District 7 tributes, Cas has managed to do the same with the pair from Nine.
Smiling, Junia manages to catch Treech's attention when she crouches down until they're at eye level with one another. "Hey," she says. "I didn't know you could do that."
Treech catches the walnuts, placing them on his lap along with the apple he got from the little boy. "You didn't ask," he merely replies with a little smile on his face as well. The heat is visibly getting to him, his dark curls sticking to his forehead. "What did you bring us this time?"
"I managed to grab something from the cafeteria," she says and reaches into her bag. She pulls out the lamb that she put into a ziplock bag and hands it through the bars. Then, she reaches in again and takes out the fruit and apple juice as well. There are a few plums, grapes and even two bananas that she hands over to him.
By now, she almost doesn't notice the crowd anymore. She grabs her handkerchief as well and starts spreading it out on the ground when Treech whistles, clearly impressed. "This is a feast," he says. "Apple juice, too? Is this my reward because I answered all of your questions?"
Junia shakes her head. "No, I just thought it'd be nice to have something other than water and sandwiches for once," she says. "Do you still have the other water bottle I gave you?"
Treech is still inspecting his lunch but he understands what she's getting at. "Smart", he says. If he adds the apple juice to the water he and Lamina have shared, they'll be able to savour the fruity taste longer than if they drink it all in one go.
"Lamina, do we still have some water?" he asks and turns away from Junia for a moment.
Lamina blinks, lifting her head. She shakes her head but still leans down and reaches for the water bottle which they've hidden in the shade beside the rock they've claimed for themselves.
"I'll go refill it," she informs him softly and approaches the faucet, hesitating only briefly when she sees Tanner from District 10 is drinking out of it. She decides to wait.
"Only halfway!" Treech calls out to her and even though she's confused, she nods.
"She's not drinking enough," Treech says grimly when he turns back to Junia. "And she cried a lot this morning, too. The only reason she hasn't fainted yet is the food you've brought her." He pauses, opening the ziplock bag carefully. He swallows when the aroma of the lamb hits his nose. "Thank you. Like I said this morning, the only other mentors doing this much are Lucy Gray's and Marcus'."
"I'm sure the rest of them will be coming here more often now that they got to meet their tribute, too," Junia says. "And we've got more than enough food at the Academy as well... that reminds me..."
Even though she's fishing the fork she managed to steal out of the Academy out of her bag, Treech doesn't really seem to care. His hands are covered in grime, dirt under his nails, but he still reaches for the lamb with his hands. When Junia looks up at him and sees he's already eating with his hands, they both feel embarrassed.
Treech because he forgot his manners in front of a pretty girl and Junia because... well, she's not sure. But he seems so comfortable eating with his hands, she only chuckles and shakes her head.
"What?" Treech questions. There's leftovers of a very flavorful sauce clinging to the tender meat. It's so good, he simply continues eating like that.
"Nothing, nothing," she quickly says, not wanting to offend him. She clears her throat and fishes out some napkins instead, handing them over to him. "That just reminded me of something." When she realises that also sounds bad, she quickly adds, "you didn't hear this from me but another mentor ate it with his hands, too. That's why I laughed."
That catches his attention. His eyebrows raise in surprise. "Really? A Capitol citizen, eating with his hands? Scandalous," he says and Junia laughs again. A sound he could get used to, really. "It's just better this way though." He glances around, wondering which one of these Capitol elite students she could mean. "Who was it?"
Junia hesitates for a moment. "Well... I'm not naming anyone but...," she trails off and she gazes along the bars. To her surprise, she catches a glimpse of Coral and Mizzen talking to their mentors. For some reason, they both turn around in her and Treech's direction, say something and turn back to Festus and Persephone.
How odd.
Junia keeps on looking until her eyes land on Felix Ravinstill. He's standing at the bars, too, and seems to be handing Dill a bottle of water. Or at the very least offering it to her under Reaper's watchful gaze.
"He did?" Treech's voice is also hushed and he looks back at her. "Dill said he's related to the President," he scoffs. "You'd think someone with that much money had a better haircut."
She clasps her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud.
Their eyes meet again and despite the fact that his mouth is covered in grease and sauce, she notices that he really does seem relaxed around her. There's a cheeky little grin on his face, something mischievous glinting in his eyes. It gives her a good feeling, too. Even though he might be acting carefree on purpose because he doesn't want to lower his guard too much, she thinks she's okay with that.
It's not like she can force him, and they've barely known each other for more than a day. They get along, that is all that matters.
Junia can see Sejanus, still trying to talk to Marcus. He's holding the sandwich he brought through the bars, pleading with his former friend to take it. But, just like before, his efforts are in vain.
Lamina returns, making her way over to the pair with a now full water bottle in her hands. Her stomach rumbles again at the sight of the fruit on Treech's lap. There's a few water stains on her pants around the knee area but thanks to the blazing heat today, it will dry soon.
She eyes the way Treech is digging into the lamb and Junia swears she sees Lamina rolling her eyes for a moment. But when she sees the apple juice, she understands and crouches down next to him. She unscrews the cap of the water bottle, then does the same with the apple juice and begins pouring the fruity liquid into the water.
"Go on," Treech urges her. "Take something. June brought plenty."
Lamina looks at the mentor that's smiling at her. She nods, muttering a silent "Thank you" and reaches for the grapes when she's done pouring the apple juice into the water bottle. Slowly, so as to savour the taste, she begins eating the grapes one by one, though she chews longer than necessary. She glances around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her own mentor but is left disappointed.
Noticing the way her face falls, Junia sighs. "I thought he said he'd be coming, too," she tells her. "Lunch break is still a little longer. He might still come around."
"He doesn't seem that bad, you know?" Treech says. "Better than that one over there." He nods in Brandy's direction and eyes her mentor with visible disdain.
Junia follows his gaze and feels both disgust and anger at the same time. Arachne is crouching in front of Brandy, holding a sandwich with a thick slice of cheese on it out for her to take. But whenever she reaches for it, Arachne pulls it away again and even goes as far as giggling about it right into the camera while taking a bite herself.
For once in her life, Junia can't make out what Arachne is saying. She does, however, see from the way Brandy's shoulders begin to tense and how she clenches her jaw, that she's getting understandably impatient.
"Is she stupid or something?" Treech asks in both genuine disbelief and annoyance.
Junia frowns. She's about to call out for Arachne to stop teasing the poor girl when her eyes spot the butter knife just at her feet, right within Brandy's grabbing range. All it would take is for her to lean over, reach beneath the bars and take it.
And then she does. Before Arachne — before anyone else — can react, Brandy grabs ahold of Arachne's pigtails, yanks her closer to the bars and slits her throat.
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a simple truth?
we'll never have today again.
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(dramatic music) dun dun dunnnn! cliffhanger. just kidding, we all know what's gonna happen lol
i remember i had a lot of fun writing this (which was like... two weeks ago? i think) and editing it earlier was more fun than i expected too.
i know there's a lot of the mentors in this and less treech than i remembered but it's still! something! they're making progress! i always enjoy writing them together. and writing treech is so much fun too
the last one or two chapters might be a bit sadder and i'm curious what you guys think when you read the next one particularly because i've never written anything with blood and death in it
prayer circle for cas and june, they're gonna be going through it :( i'll also miss writing cas and arachne, the beef they had was funny
ANYWAY i'm posting the next chapter tomorrow. just need to edit a little bit ^^
have a nice weekend!!!!<3
(if anyone has looked at the yapping on my profile... maybe coral fic one day. it's a rough idea)
and memes;