FOUR

DELICATE

The journey to the train station in the hovercar was possibly the most difficult 10 minutes of Talia Riverthorns life, so far. She knew the Capitol would be a much more difficult game to play, and the game that waited beyond that, well...Talia didn't even want to think about that.

Once inside the train and the doors were closed, she turns to look at her fellow victim, Ethan Bomer. Talia recognised him from school, he'd always been tall and strongly built, and she was slightly suspicious that he may have been a career. He looked way older than he was, and honestly, he frightened Talia to the bone.

Thelan offers both of them a wide, pearly white smile, "Come with me,"

The two tributes follow, Talia first, and Thelan leads them into one of the cabs, he immediately reaches for one of the bottles of wine. Talia had never tasted wine, it was seen as a delicacy that was only ever used in District 4 during wedding ceremonies.

Thelan pours himself a large glass of white wine and takes a seat on one of the armchairs, "Help yourself to drinks or snacks, my lovelies, your mentors will be along shortly, they're just discussing the plan of action,"

"Plan of action?" Talia asks, a little more confident when Ethan's back is turned, he was filling a glass with a deep red wine.

"Yes, for your time in the games of course," He replies, his plump lips seemed to be in a position of constant pouting.

"Oh," Talia mutters, she watches Ethan sit down opposite Thelan and decides to get herself a drink.

She picks up the bottle of red wine that Ethan taken and she wonders if it'll even be nice. She pours herself a glass anyway, and sits down in the armchair beside Ethan, holding the glass between her fingers.

Silence fills the air as the three of them avoid eye contact, its another 10 minutes before the mentors enter the room, Ethan rises to his feet, and Talia copies- unsure of how to react to the situation as the two mentors walk forwards.

"I'm Coral Harper, and this is Finnick Odair, and we'll be your mentors for this years games," The woman says, she's tall, taller than Talia and Finnick, and probably the same height as Ethan. She's slender, her face chiselled to perfection, as if carved by the gods. Her hair is blonde and cut short to her head, shaved at the back, her eyes a gorgeous blue and her lips coral pink- fitting for her name.

The man beside her is the most beautiful man Talia has ever seen, of course, she's seen his propaganda year after year, and as he stood before her, she could see he'd kept up with his fitness unlike so many other victors who had wasted money on food and alcohol which turned them into loathsome lumps. Finnick Odair was tanned, his gingery brown hair curled at the ends and his eyes, beautiful sea green eyes that glimmered as he looked at her.

"We have decided that we would prefer to train you separately, and I have chosen to mentor Ethan," Coral says, glancing at Talia and back to Ethan.

Talia suddenly felt small and inadequate- Coral was about 10 years older than Finnick, meaning she had more experience with mentoring and the Hunger Games, and she had no doubt had the rule over which of the tributes she would mentor, and she had chosen the stronger, more promising of the two.

"Which means I'll be mentoring you, Talia," Finnick says and Talia nods, the wine glass in her hand suddenly felt like it weigh a ton.

"For now, we'll eat and rest, we have another day before we reach the Capitol," Coral says, "The dining room is this way,"

Thelan jumps from his seat and moves ahead of the group, "Please, allow me,"

Thelan Phoenix leads them into the dining arena and orders one of the Avoxes to bring in the food. Talia sits beside her mentor, opposite Ethan, who seems to have finished off his wine, while Talia hasn't even taken a sip of hers.

The Avoxes bring in food, placing it on the table and Talia breathes in the heavenly scents- it makes her lightheaded as she leans back into her seat, if only her family could eat this well.

"Enjoy the food, its the Capitol's finest," Thelan smiles over his wine glass.

Talia discovers pork ribs, dripping in a strange sauce thats oddly sweet, her tastebuds erupt at the sudden flavours- you would never find anything so delicious in District 4, or any District for that matter.

"Have you seen much of the other tributes?" Ethan asks, sucking the meat off a chicken leg.

"Myself and Finnick were reviewing the Reaping's from the other Districts, so far District 1 and 2 have the strongest looking, with District 8 also looking good- weaker Districts are as usual, 6 and 12," Coral says and Finnick nods in agreement.

"And you can tell all this, just from Reaping footage?" Talia cuts in, and Coral nods at her from across the table, "And the other mentors, will they have analysed us in the same ways?"

"Most definitely," Coral replies smoothly.

"And what do you think they'd have to say?" Talia asks, eyes fixed on Coral, she was asking her to analyse what she saw, though Talia wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"In Ethan, strong and built, he's tall, probably the tallest of this years tributes, and he's handsome- he'll have the vote of the people," Coral says, avoiding Talia's eye as she speaks.

"And in me?"

Finnick glances at Coral before turning to Talia, "Honestly?"

"Honestly," Talia breathes.

"Delicate," Finnick replies, "You were slouched, slow, you lifted your head only when you were asked to shake Ethan's hand, and everyone heard your mother weep- though that might bring pity- and you're so thin and small, and your clothes show how poor you are...Capitol people are more likely to sponsor Ethan,"

Talia doesn't know how to respond, so she just nods, looking at her food.

"We're going to work on your weaknesses, and I'll show you how they become strengths," Finnick tells her and Talia pushes her plate away.

"I'm fine, actually, I think I'll manage without your help," She says and she stands up, "Which way are the bedrooms?"

"I'll show-" Finnick goes to stand up but Thelan beats him to it.

"Right this way, dear," He says, gesturing for her to follow. She does so and after travelling along two more carriages they reach the room given to Talia, she thanks Thelan with a nod of the head and locks the door behind her. She slips off the dress, kicks away the shoes and climbs into the bed, her eyes close almost instantly, and she falls into the land of nightmares.

_______________

Its been a long time, but we're back!

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed, honestly can't wait to start writing this properly again

~lachys-loch
❤️