#robyn006

With his interview behind him Twig just feels—drained. This whole Games season has felt like that. Like there’s nothing left of him. And like maybe that’s been true for longer than he’d like to admit. All these years going through the motions, keeping himself safe because he doesn’t know how to do anything else, like survival is nothing more than a habit, not a real desire for anything.

If he wants anything now, it all feels just like he said in his interview: too little, too late. He can’t undo the past. He can’t go back in time and make himself a better man. Or a braver one. And whatever’s happening now, he knows he has no effect on it. He’s just swept up in it. Like, no matter where he is, he’s destined to be a pawn.

The space between the Mentor and Tribute interviews feels cruel. Not enough time, and yet still too much of it. Harbor keeps his own counsel, his thoughts and his plans as opaque to Twig as they’ve been from the moment they reunited on the train.

Robyn is still there, though, like clockwork. Also like clockwork, Twig wonders if Harbor is any more forthcoming with them. “Glad to see you’re still with us,” he says, something he can’t imagine saying to Robyn before this year’s games. “Caesar seemed to stop just shy of calling for your public execution on stage last night.”