A Game Of False Fates ✭ Cato Hadley

Seventeen - All The Small Things

An hour after dinner, Clio leads Cato back downstairs into the viewing room, approaching Enobaria and Brutus who, having come down from their floor immediately after finishing their own meals, sip on their drinks watching as the pack of six tributes walk through the woods. Sitting on the couch, they watch their flashlights turn on one by one as their visibility worsens with the trees hiding them from the streaks of moonlight that struggles to filter through. They can see on the screen that the trees are thick and the shadows of the dark branches make web-like projections on the ground as wild creatures shuffle through the bed of leaves on the floor. Ajax leads the group, choosing the easiest way around the trees that cross the paths in front of them. Peeta and Marina are sandwiched in the middle, discussing the logistics of their group in hushed whispers, with Glimmer and Marvel leaning on each other as they walk slowly whilst Clove has dropped behind to watch everyone's back.

As Clio steals Enobaria's drink, she watches her sister disappear out of the view of the camera. The rest of the group stalls for a second, shining their flashlights into each other's faces and gasping in faux surprise at the bright light, until Clove leaps back onto their path holding up her largest throwing knife.

"Look what I caught." Clove brags, waving the knife in front of her allies' faces. Over the tip was a brightly coloured bird, skewered and with several feathers falling from the point of contact. Coming to form a circle, Ajax shines his flashlight onto the knife and turns his nose up at the bird, complaining of how small the catch is.

"You'd know about small things, wouldn't you?" Clove sneers, the sarcastic remark causing the three girls in their group to laugh whilst Ajax simply shrugs it off.

A snort bursts past Clio's lips which quickly escalates into full-bodied laughter; the sound reverberating through the room as she clutches at her stomach. The sheer hilarity of Clove's quip causes Clio to curl over, hands trying to contain the explosive laughter within as she surrenders to infectious humour. Enobaria soon joins her and as Cashmere returns into the room after her dinner, the three of them find themselves convulsing on the couch as they ignore the comments of the men around them. Tears begin to blur her vision but she manages to catch a glimpse of her sister on the screen, her eyes sparkling with mischief and delight as her witty one liner has become a catalyst for the group to share a moment of joy as they search for either somewhere to camp for the night or another tribute to kill.

"Hey, Clio. Here!" Luna says, appearing behind the couch and passes Clio a glass filled with a piña colada; the white slush and little umbrella skewering a chunk of pineapple a dead giveaway. "You can do with it."

Clio smiles at her and takes a sip. "Shit," she chuckles after wrinkling her nose when the amount of alcohol in the drink hits her. "How much did you put in this?"

Luna hums before innocently musing, "only a little."

"You're a dirty liar." Clio laughs through another sip. Then, she thanks the redhead from Four before returning her attention to the screen.

The chill has started to cause the tributes to shiver, and their breath can be seen in front of her faces as they continue on the path that Ajax is clearing with his sword. Clio notices that Clove seems the coldest, being the smallest tribute amongst them, she is yawning and rubbing her hands up and down her arms to try and bring back any last bit of warmth she can; whereas Marina and Peeta stumble at the back of the group, clearly tired and she wouldn't be surprised if all the tributes have blisters from their boots that look quite uncomfortable. Ajax appears angry that the hiding tributes aren't flinging themselves into his way; angry that they're inconveniencing him and causing him more irritation the longer he walks without any signs of human life. As Clio stands, ready to try and see if she can talk some sponsors into providing the alliance with something warming like one of the hand warmers Cato received two years ago or the flasks of hot drinks that she knows have been gifted to various tributes before. She stands but Enobaria pulls her back down again when Marvel's voice rings out across the speakers and brings the hunting group to a halt.