"We already had our voices raised because he got angry at me for striking an Avox. He started spewing all kinds of shit about how I'm an embarrassment to my family name and-" Jason feels his temper flaring again, feels the blood pounding in his temples that still feel tender from yesterday, and pauses, takes a breath, untangles her arm, and gets up off the bed to pace.

"They shouldn't be allowed to talk to us, Districters. I don't care if they win the Games. We might as well cut all their tongues out too, then at least they wouldn't be crashing our security grids or spitting up bile at natural-born Citizens." He hipchecks the bed as he paces, stumbles. Catches himself on his hand.

He stops and takes the bandage off, revealing the wound to Swann. "Here, see. Four stitches. Four goddamn stitches."