#saevacorvum

His world may have well stopped turning after the results of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. He had worked so hard to give Clove as many advantages, and had done things he wasn’t proud of so that she stood a chance in the competition. And what had happened? She’d gotten herself killed. She had gotten cocky, and overconfident, and wound up with her head bashed in. And Alex had lost his only friend in District 2. 

Could he even really have called her a friend? One or two half-decent interactions at various social events when she was drunk and less violent didn’t exactly constitute friendship, but she had still been the closest thing he had to one. Even if she constantly threatened to stab him all the time, and he was kind of afraid she would kill him in his sleep if given the chance.... he still wanted her to succeed. Instead, he had returned to Two alone, while those cheaters from Twelve both got to leave the arena alive. 

“locked in a room” meme

          he was not a good actor.  he preferred an uncomfortable truth to a comfortable lie, preferred bluntness to subtlety  —  which perhaps explained why he and clove got on so well  —  and while he was capable of being deceitful in an emergency, it did not come easy.

          his smile was a bit too tight, his laugh forced, his tone not quite as casual as it should have been.  his hand lifted to the small of clove’s back, but stopped just before touching her.  hopefully the proprietors of the inn wouldn’t notice.

          ❛  just had our first anniversary, actually.  had a nice, quiet holiday.  we mostly keep to ourselves.  ❜

          there was no doubt that was what the elderly woman had meant by the slight raise of her eyebrow and the question of ‘and you two are…?’ that followed the revelation that there was only one room available.  they seemed the old-fashioned type, and there was no other inn for miles.  he didn’t mind sharing with clove, so long as she was willing to play along.