I do believe I'm here to kick your ass.
Jeyne had been advised by her mentors to take some time to spend in the Viewing Room. What to do in there, she knew not. Her time in the training center had been always in short spurts, the physical work too tiring in long periods of time. She spent her time at the stations that people strayed away from, camouflage, edible plants, and climbing. She cringed each time she saw other tributes skills in the more strenuous activities, only imagining how capable they would be in the arena.
She stood in front of the large screen, unsure of what she was required to do. She didn’t think that watching tapes of the past games would help her in any way but she didn’t want to disappoint her mentors by ignoring their request. She caught eye of the various tapes and was about to reach for one to place into the machine when she heard the door open and someone step in. Jeyne turned around and smiled widely to see her ally, Marcus. She ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Marcus! I missed you!”
She finally unwrapped her arms from him and looked up at him. “I was just about to put in a tape. My mentors said that I should.” She wanted Marcus to know that she was trying very hard, and didn’t want to be a burden to him. “I’m working really hard, just like they told me to!”
It was hard not to be genuinely happy when Jeyne was around; the little girl was even able to get a smile out of him before she’d even said anything. He had missed the District six tribute as well, the only person he’d met so far who wasn’t crazy. She was innocent and pure and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Jeyne deserved at least that much and had it been possible, she deserved so much more. And she gave great hugs. “I’ve missed you too.” He said sweetly as he ruffled the hair on top of her head. He had missed her, truly Jeyne had to be the only person he felt he still had to be a good person for and not the total monster he thought he was.
“Are you sure you want to watch these? They can get pretty brutal.” He was worried, not wanting to put Jeyne through anymore than she already had been through. He’d seen enough tapes to know they were far from appropriate for a twelve year old. But he had met Regan already and could see her telling the young tribute to watch previous Games. He’d protect her from any scary sights if he needed to. “Good, I never expected you not to.” He didn’t regret having Jey as his ally, besides the fact that it made it very obvious what his weakness was. “Did you have a particular Game you wanted to watch then?” He’d seen every Game for the past 25 years; his father was very strict on watching the reruns and planning strategy after strategy. It had gotten progressively better once Felix won his Games and his father had been allowed to go home, now no longer explaining to him detail the things that the District 2 tributes had done wrong that had gotten them killed and why they should have listened better to him. Those lessons were the only reason he hadn’t given up completely on his mentors.
“It’s human instinct and has nothing to do with being wired differently.”
Fern believed Marcus and knew that it was the truth, but she didn’t want to believe it. She wanted to blame the games for changing her and not herself. She didn’t want to believe that she become so vile and horrid from human instincts, but from the Capitol. She wanted to go back to before desperation had changed her, but she was far too gone for that. If she made it home, she would go home a monster.
“So is pissing off a career, so I suggest you not tell me what is good and bad for me.”
She shook his head at him with a weak smile. Memory of their violent encounter in the viewing room burned in her mind, a reminder of what she was dealing with in the arena soon, but she still felt like it wouldn’t change the fact that she could have a chance against him. Fern knew that she was faster and that she had more tricks up her sleeve than she let on. “Well, you angered me as well so you can say that we’re even.” She wasn’t sure whether she hated him for it or whether she was glad that she finally understood the games better from him. It had originally been a gathering of children to her, but now it was truly a death match. It hadn’t sunk in as well as it did when Marcus had almost cracked her skull against the wall.
She cringed when he threw the ashes to the ground, but she wasn’t one that kept her room pristine, the crack in the wall enlarging each night. She could feel how uncomfortable Marcus was when she leaned against him. Unsurprisingly, he pulled away and she smirked, amused at how easy it was for her to make him tense. “If you hate me so much, you shouldn’t have made that promise to begin with.” She was still angry at him and thinking about it made the urge to hit him increase.
Even the normally relaxing taste of nicotine wasn’t calming him. Being near Fern always sent him into passionate emotions, none of which he wanted to deal with right now. She was such an idiotic girl and now that he was alone with her, and not completely angry he couldn’t help but think of Fern as Annette. They had their similarities. Fern was slowly growing to be more rude and blunt like Annette had been. The only difference that he could think of were physical. It made him sick.
“That was you angry?” He asked with a laugh. If that was her angry, than maybe she was more different than Annette. Annette was insane when she was angry, nothing like Fern. Marcus genuinely feared for his life the few times he had seen her angry. “We’re far from even.” And they never would be, at least in his mind. He wouldn’t quit until Fern was dead, whether it was by his hands or otherwise and he expected the same from her. Even when one was dead, or both, it still wouldn’t be over. The only two deaths that he knew would stick with him was Fern’s and Jeyne’s. Fern would fucking haunt him if he lived, because they would just never be even.
Angrily, he dropped the cigarette and stepped onto it until it was out. The hardwood floors covered in ashes now. Some Avox would clean it up later. “Are you ever going to stop bringing that up? It’s a fucking Game Fern, no one is going to keep their promises at least I had the decency to take it back before I slit the kid’s throat.” He couldn’t hide his rising anger in his voice. Each second spent with Fern was another second he had to somehow find the ability to not hit her. The more he thought about it the more he wished the Games were here already so he could see her blood splatter.
