A Game Of False Fates ✭ Cato Hadley

Twenty-One - Vespidae

15th July 74PD

Clio rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands as she peels her head from the fabric of the unofficial careers couch in the victor's viewing room. It's five thirty in the morning and she had barely got any sleep last night, not even remembering when she fell asleep or when the others had left to return to their respective floors. She expects to be alone in the room, but instead she finds Luna, perched on the edge of the couch and nursing a mug full of coffee. Shuffling closer to the redhead, Clio leans over and unwraps Luna's fingers from around the well, slipping her fingers underneath the handle. The redheaded mentor looks up at the thief, smiling to herself when she realises it's just Clio, and releases her grip on the cup to allow the other mentor to take hold of it. The brunette woman brings the cup to her lips, taking a sip before a look of horror covers her face, lip curling and eyes widening as she tastes the drink - vile, bitter and outright undrinkable - before immediately spitting it back out into the mug.

"Fucking hell Luna. I need to understand why you like to be miserable." Clio says her first words of the day while scowling at the redhead and shoving the bitter death liquid back into her hands.

Taking a quick look at the viewing screen, Clio notes that the four careers, Marina, and the boy from Twelve are all in a seemingly deep sleep. Marvel and Ajax are asleep a stone's throw from the rapidly dwindling fire; her sister is curled up in the foetal position a little bit further away, clutching her knives; and Glimmer, who she could only assume was supposed to be on watch, is leaning against a tree, head slumped over. Deciding this was probably as good a time as any to make her own coffee, Clio stands from the couch and makes her way into the small adjacent kitchenette, standing at the window for a moment as beams of peach-coloured sunrise streams through the window. She hears the soft gurgling of the sleek steel coffee machine on the countertop as it brews, still switched on from Luna's use earlier, and releases a dark and fragrant essence into the air. Grabbing a mug, she places it on the tray underneath the portafilter and watches as the hot liquid drips into the mug, filling to the top before she places it back onto the counter and pours a few tablespoons worth of both vanilla and cinnamon syrup into the beverage.

"Clio!" Luna shouts from the viewing room. The brunette rolls her eyes, thinking Luna is being over dramatic because there's no reason the woman would be calling her that insistently - they're not even friends - until she shouts again. "Clio! Something's happening!"

Abandoning her drink on the countertop, Clio rushes back into the viewing room and practically throws herself onto the couch. Luna jumps at the intensity of the girl's movements but an odd sound comes from the tall tree that the girl on fire is perched in; a sound akin to a grating or to the sound of sawing into wood. The girls watch as the camera focuses on Peeta, who is now blinking himself awake as he looks up into the tree. Then, the camera angle changes to show Katniss, her hand grasping a knife as her body shakes in motion while she saws at a branch. The noise increases, and a foggy Marina begins to stir, though her sounds of awakening are quietened by the sound of the door swooshing open to reveal a tired Cashmere. The blonde begins to mutter a good morning but is quickly hushed by the two girls leaning forward onto their elbows as they focus on the screen. As Cashmere sits herself beside Clio, the Capitol's tv show hosts can be heard on the smaller screen broadcasting the coverage that the rest of Panem was viewing.

"Claudius, I think those are tracker jackers. Am I wrong?" Caesar says, as the screen shows Katniss continuing to saw the branch with the knife. The three mentors watch as the young girl clasps at the skin of her neck in an attempt to stop the vespids from stinging her, trying her hardest to suppress her cries in fear of waking the career pack below her.

"Oh yes, those things are very lethal." Claudius replies to his co-host, and the girls are glued to the screens as they watch. Marina pushes herself onto her elbows and notices the tracker jacker nest above their camp before she makes eye contact with Katniss. The girl freezes, having reached a stalemate. She knows that Marina could easily alert the others of the nest and help the entire pack escape the situation unscathed.