Liberosis - The Hunger Games

31

"Aurora Darling!" Titan exclaimed, floating over to us, and trapping me into a strong hug, "How's our Pearl?"

I shrugged in response with a short chuckle, "She's figuring it all out,"

"Most unfortunate circumstances that dreadful accident," Venus said conversationally, lifting my hands, "A little scarring, but we've dealt with much worse," I flinched at her words as the Capitol woman began to busy herself with examining the frail body of Annie "A little on the skinny side, but no matter, this beautiful hair of yours will have you standing out!" The woman exclaimed, tugging gently at Annie's red locks. The younger girl squeaked nervously.

"We will need to fix up those split ends of yours though, darling," Titan nodded over to a chair, snatching one of her hands and examining the cuticles of her finger, "Not to worry, a fresh manicure will cover up all those grimy bite marks," He dropped her hand as if it were diseased, "We'll just have to wait for Blaze to return, the crafty child ran out on us before we could catch him,"

"He's coming back with macaroons for you I believe," Venus giggled, and my smile widened in excitement, Annie eyed me in amusement before lying back into the hot water Titan had prepared to wash her hair. "Those piercings have healed up nicely my dear," the pink-haired woman mentioned to me as she prepared hot wax for poor Annie's legs.

"No piercings for Annie, not unless she is fully complicit," I instructed them, giving the red-haired girl a wink, she smiled gratefully in return. Venus groaned in defeat before returning to Annie's legs. I could not help but picture myself in that chair, a child being groomed for her final days alive only to exit the arena covered in blood, mine, and other people's. I knew I would struggle to be back here; I just didn't think It would be so vivid.

Titan began to snip away the split ends in Annie's hair, allowing tufts of red to float to the ground around them. A sudden thumping caused both Annie and I to stand up on edge when a brown-skinned man with gold tattoos on his temples rounded the corner. A silk button-down sat half-open on his chest, a black skirt around his waist and a weaved basket full to the brim with pink and blue macaroons. "Blaze!" I exclaimed, hurtling over to the boy, and tackling him into a tight hug.

"Rory!" Blaze exclaimed, squeezing me back just as tightly, "I brought you some snacks, you and I both know that you didn't eat on the train,"

I touched his cheek fondly, "You know me so well," I smiled, taking a pink cookie from the basked and allowing the sugar to melt into my mouth. Annie was flushed a bright red colour at the appearance of the new man, only in her undergarments it was understandable.

"Blaze stop frolicking around and start on the poor girl's fingers," Venus chastised the man, Blaze looked over to the girl on the chair and I noticed his eyes widen slightly, I suppressed the smile on my face.

"Hi," His voice broke as he gave the girl an awkward smile.

"Hi," She whispered back fearfully, gripping the chair so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

"I-I'm Blaze," Blaze introduced, wiping his hands on his skirt, "I won't touch you u-unless you want me to,"

Annie looked taken aback at the gesture, but she smiled, a genuine yet subtle smile that reached her eyes, "My name's Annie- it's ok, you can do what you have to," She responded shyly. Blaze cleared his throat and nodded, picking up a macaroon for Annie to eat while he worked on her fingernails.

"I'll go check on Pluto," I stated, taking a few extra macaroons for the trip. For some preposterous reason, Pluto's prep room was on the complete opposite side of the building, luckily for me, it gave me time to scope out some of the other mentors that I could tolerate. Enobaria sent me a sharp glare as a passed her, followed by a smile playing at her lips that I was highly confused by. Wiress and Beetee from District Three were conversing in the corner, their laps laden with plans and statistics. Haymitch Abernathy from Twelve ruffled my hair jokingly, allowing me to take a swig from his liquor bottle.