Found a Way To Escape the Day // [Topaz/Argo]

Walking into the training center was like stepping back in time. Topaz Ross could almost forget about the two toddling one-year-olds who were back at her apartment with Maverick, the babies that belonged to her and even after over a year, she still couldn't get that straight in her mind. She could almost forget about the fact that she was twenty-six years old and it had been a full ten years since she'd first stepped foot in this place. She could almost forget about all the people she'd loved and lost over the past decade. She could almost forget who she'd become—someone her old self wouldn't even recognize.

Because there were three recent victors from One, and probably because she had toddlers, they'd given her the choice of whether or not she'd like to mentor this year. Last year she'd taken off because Media and March were only months old, but this year, the seasoned victor strangely wanted to do it. Her life had been consumed by her two little girls for what seemed like forever, and she was eager for the chance to escape for a bit, even if the escape was coaching children through Panem's hell on earth to their deaths. She loved her twins, she really did, more than she ever thought she would. But she knew she was too selfish to be a proper, doting mother. So Mav had valiantly offered to watch them for the duration of the Games while she lived in the training center.

She'd requested the Shore boy specifically. Obviously Opal wasn't going to be allowed to mentor him, and she knew it would have made more sense to give him to Peri, but she felt some connection to the Shore family after mentoring Opal two years before. And it probably had a lot to do with the fact that she felt she needed to make up her inattentiveness as a mentor to Opal in some way. So she would try and keep her brother, Argonite, alive. It probably wouldn't happen—the Capitol would love the drama of another Shore dying—but she sure as hell would try.

The morning training began, Tope was up uncharacteristically early; it was strange not having to deal with one screaming baby or another. For a while she simply sat on her bed, staring at a picture of her daughters and wondering why it was so easy to feel so separated from them when they weren't with her. I love them. I know I love them. But did she love them enough? Did she love them like she was supposed to?

"Yello? Anyone home?" The mentor sighed as she heard Argonite's voice ring throughout the apartment; it was time to begin training. Time to coach yet another child to his death. If she tried hard enough, she might even be able to forget how many had come between Argo and York and Ana, her very first set of tributes who were ancient history now. Topaz tucked the picture of Media and March into her pocket and left the room to seek out her charge.

"I'm here," she announced, walking into the sitting area. It was almost spooky, the way it looked exactly the same every year. She grabbed her usual piece of toast and sat down in her usual chair. Even though years had passed it was still difficult to look at the television in front of her without replaying her sister's death in her mind. "You're probably wondering why I picked you." It was a statement, not a question; she stared at the Shore boy closely, waiting for a response.