ivy fortuna | arcadia, day 4

To become a killer, you have to get into the head of a killer.

I force myself to breathe deeply as the video starts, expecting a lesson in bloodlust to play, but instead I’m given a lesson in poisonous plants.

Dude. What the heck.

I could have just got Tigs to tell me about this shit – heaven knows she’s already tried. Medicine and plants and the dark art of poison had always seemed like things too far below me to bother learning. If you’re untouchable, you don’t need to know how to heal yourself. You don’t need to resort to hidden weapons. But I’ve learnt more than I thought I would from Tigs. Nessa, too. And once again, I can clearly see why it has been so long since District One had a Victor.

Why none of my cousins ever made it home.

As the woman on the screen talks animatedly about how quickly poison can penetrate a person’s bloodstream, her eyes take on a glint that reflects the one in Tigs’ eyes these days. Maybe there is something to be said about bloodlust after all.

The video ends, a portrait of crimson-stained leaves, and I dry heave the minimal contents of my stomach onto the floor beneath me.

learns poison holo-lesson