covert narcissism, disguised as altruism // circe&flynn

[circe murdock d4b 🌊 minie]

The victors from district four had all proved themselves to be gossips. Mor interested in my life back in four than helping me get back home and my life after the games. Their help had come scarce, and I needed to search elsewhere for what I had required. Theo Horner had been a good start, a spar I was not prepared for. His fists landing a punch when I struggled to get in my first throw. My takeaway: just maybe my size would prove to be a disadvantage after all. However, there was still time to prove that the years of torturous training had been worth it.

Day three of training.

I was used to getting up at the crack of dawn. The sun rising orange on the east, greeting me as I would make my way down to the windy beach. Ice cold water from the ocean greeting me with its harsh conditions. Old habits died hard and each morning I had found myself to be the first from four to be awake. The silence in the kitchen reminding me of home, those moments in the middle of the night when everything would stop. For a short second I would be alone. But that second never lasted and soon the quiet would turn eerily. Unexpected and scary.

When I could not longer tolerate hearing my own breath a song would escape my lips to fill the silence. Soon I would soon find myself alone on a kitchen top singing a melody that did not belong in the capitol for it told the stories who defied the laws. Tales of little girls I would never be, but some part of me found comfort in their lives. A confusing paradox I had no explanation for. After a cup of coffee, brewed in a machine just as a fancy as everything else in the suite I would make myself down to the training center. Normally amongst the first few to arrive and always amongst the last to leave. Not only allowing for a maximum amount of training but granting me access to as many people as I got get.

No one knew better than me, no one cares who you are, but it matters who you know. How had I been able to watch my mother drag my father down by the belt.

As the elevator opened before me, someone was already inside. Flynn Garner, just another name on my list. After Adam had dropped the hint about Annie being one of the sponsors I had done my due diligence, allowing myself the privilege of knowing which victors were sponsors this year. Lucky for me, two of them hailed from my own district and another came from the district of one of my allies. Sera proving to be more useful with each day.

“Good morning” I smiled politely as I stepped into the elevator. There would not be much time to convince Flynn that I was worth his time (and money), and the clock was already ticking.

“Y’know Sera, she’s got potential. I mean why else would Portia and I bother with her” I knew what people thought of me, I knew that Sera believed I was…how did she put it? A nasty bitch.

I couldn’t care less.

There never was a point in playing nice in a game that involved your life, there never was a point at all.

“I’m Circe Murdock from district four” my smile sly, lips curled like a snake as I held out my hand. “Sera’s…friend”. I expected Flynn would see through the lie; the title friend was a formality at most. It meant nothing, only that I would not be going for district six’s throat the second I had the chance.

[d1b portia maybach 🏆 frankel]

F L Y N N G A R N E R

I am not even sure what I am supposed to be doing with the sponsorship role this year. It comes with the perks of the decade anniversary. I was handed the title, and the escort keeps whispering instructions now and then, but I have been handed no manual. Usually, I am shaking the coffers for my own mentees, not the entirety of the tribute pool. It is odd suddenly having the attention of the tributes from the eleven other Districts. Apart from Antigone a few years ago, it is rare that I ever interact with the others. They have their own teams and victors to take charge of them.

This morning the stylists did well to make the scars vanish beneath makeup for an anniversary photoshoot. Before heading back downstairs, I spend thirty minutes in the bathroom mirror scrubbing away the layers caked on my face. Everyone in the training center may as well see me for my raw self.

Everyone else from Six is already downstairs, the journey in the elevator is a lonely one…just for two floors. It stops on the fourth floor; I hope it is Annie or Nixie (minus the kid) but it is one of the tributes. I can see the dollar signs light up in her eyes, what a great place to trap a sponsor. I exhale, bearing myself for whatever excruciating form of begging I am about to get from a charismatic career type – not that I know anything about this one, other than the famous name and the team mentioning that she is getting close to Sera.

”Friends? After just three days…” I ask. I rub my thumbs on my index fingers, my arms hanging down past my waist as I shuffle over so Circe can step into the elevator.

It must have been less than three days for me to call Nanette Carter, a friend from District Four. But does Circe seem the type as caring as Nan was? I can doubt but I know nothing about the girl who I am sharing the confinements of this metal box with right now, I will have a word with Sera later. ”Just make sure you have each other’s backs. There might come a point when you need Sera more than she needs you.” Portia and her bother with Sera? Portia is another career, Sera’s done well to bag two of them, but I trust careers as far as I can throw them. Which isn’t very far. I watched Silk, a career, kill her own ally so I know they treat their friends.

”If you are here to deliver some spiel on why you should get my sponsorship,” I look over to the LED panel beside the buttons that seems to be ticking by slow as ever. ”You have about two floors to get it over with. I am fond of District Four so I am listening…”

ELEGANT