What a shame she's fucked in the head //Thomas&Xaa day 2

The antivenom hidden among the decaying branches wasn't an easy find. We aren't supposed to die boring deaths by poison, so it wasn't difficult to figure out that there must be something to help us out. The pain subsided almost immediately, and the discoloration in my veins began to dissipate. The clothes given to me are ragged and torn to shreds because of the snakes.

The bodies lay still on the ground, and they no longer form a writhing mass. They have cuts through them, stomp marks where my shoes connected, and some- well, I can't really say exactly what Luna did to them. I knew I didn't want to cross her, but the holes riddling the serpents cemented that.

Luna is dangerous. I can only hope someone else kills her before I need to fight her. Or, at least, before she has the opportunity to execute me. Maybe I should have just left her in the bloodbath with her broken leg and let Elise deal with her.

The snakes will only be the start of Luna's blood-soaked story.

"Hey Tommy, darling!"

Speak of the snakes.

Her feet dangle in the murky water, sending mud swirling away from her. She must think the world is hers to rule, there are no creatures hidden in the depths of the lake that can hurt her, and there are no pathogens lurking in the dirt that can harm her. Even when the mutts were attacking, she thought she could spend her time admiring them rather than fighting them. The rock is her throne, and she summons me, her subject, to her court. Xaa Mahdavi is the queen of the serpents.

"Get your feet out of the water before another snake bites off your feet," I grumble to her as I loyally make my way to her. She's kept me alive this long. Despite how I'd prefer to leave and make my way to the end without her, I know she and Luna will be the deciding factors when we eventually run into other tributes.

Besides, Will seems convinced Xaa is safe enough to cuddle with.

She smiles at me, and I eye her warily. At least she doesn't show her tongue. I know it's meant to be off-putting, but if I have to see it again, I might dive head first in the water just to get away.

The wounds from her slithery compatriots haven't stopped bleeding. The venom from whichever snake bit her probably is inhibiting her platelet production, but the antivenom will kick in soon enough.

I kneel next to her, inspecting the wound. It definitely needs help closing before her body will heal. Pulling the needle and thread from my bag, "You know this is going to hurt, so just make sure to stay still."

Just as the needle nears her skin, she nudges me, and I have to pull it back quickly to avoid stabbing her in the wrong place. I pause for a moment, the needle near her skin. Xaa and I haven't talked much about home before. Honestly, I haven't talked too much about it since I got out here. Will probably knows at least a bit about my family, and everyone else probably can't relate.

"Stay still," I say, resuming my work and starting to thread the needle through her skin. And then, to keep her still, I continue. "My older sister works in the mines, and my younger brother works with me and my parents. We're kind of sanctioned unsanctioned medics."

Talking about home with Xaa is definitely weird. But calling me like her cousin Yannis is definitely new. Xaa doesn't seem like the type of person who'd say you're like her family if she's going to stab you in the back the second you aren't useful. At least, not if they don't hate their cousin.

I thread another loop into her.

"What about your family and Yannis? Do all Mahdavis split their tongue in two?"

[picks up antidote, uses it, more actions to come in maint]

If anyone told me that Xaa Mahdavi comes from a toy shop, I'd tell them it makes a cruel kind of sense. We're all toys in her eyes; we're just pieces on a chess board where she makes the rules. She twists her words and her actions until we all fall in line. It worked with Will and Luna. Now, she's clearly gunning for my begrudging loyalty out of necessity to become more willing.

Besides, a toy shop doesn't sound like it's the truth. It seems like some unassuming backstory to something much greater. I don't know what district one high life is like, but darling rolling off her tongue in the way that it does doesn't seem like it's coming from someone with small-business money. I don't normally treat wealthy patrons back in twelve, but there's a clear difference in how they talk and how the rest of district twelve talks.

Then she opens up. For once it's hard to tell if it's calculated or if the venom got into her brain.

I don't want to respond to her question on live tv. I'd prefer not to have my parents here that, honestly, I don't miss them. Yes, I miss my life and don't want to be dragged from it. However, my parents were never the loving sort. It got passed down to me too, I guess. If I lied and said that I miss them for the sake of the sponsors, Xaa would probably know also, and I don't want to be called out for lying about it either.

Instead of answering her, I evade. Taking a moment, threading the final loop in through her skin and pulling it tight, I detach the needle and try to wipe it clean. Nothing here is really clean, though. It all has an irremovable layer of grime in the humidity.

"The greater good thing is the same in my family," I put the needle back into my bag and look out over the disgusting water. "My parents are good people. All they want to do is help people who can't find help anywhere else." It's an interesting phrase to use, though. A toy store doesn't sound like it's a part of some higher calling.

"What does the greater good look like in your family?" Maybe he answer will help me dig past the layers of mystery around her socialite accent.