Thea has never been a people person, but that's only increased tenfold since her time in isolation. Where she was once cold to strangers, she is now downright rude, and the nurses that care for her have been getting the brunt of her irritation. She's completely prepared to unleash it onto this particularly chipper one, but once she introduces herself, Thea can't help but pause. “Twelve.” Instantly, her mind shifts to Peeta, whom she hasn’t seen since their time together in purgatory. Does this girl know him? If so, she pities her almost as much as she pities Katniss — Thea had watched with the rest of them how Peeta had gone from the sweet boy they all saw win the Games through sheer will, to a ravenous version of himself. It broke her heart, knowing all too well how it feels to lose parts of your mind without the ability to stop it, but there was something different about Peeta’s descent into madness — something much more terrifying.
Truth be told, she wants badly to ask how he’s doing, but to ask this young woman might be to bring up something painful for her and even Thea isn’t that socially unaware. So she simply nods, smiling just the slightest bit (although truthfully, it’s more of a grimace than anything.) “I'm alright. Well — am I allowed water yet?” For days, they’ve had her on nothing but ice chips and parentarel nutrition, but slowly Thea is gaining back her strength and hopefully she’ll even be given solid foods soon enough. “My mouth is always so dry. I think it must be the medicine.” Her mouth is dry, her eyes are heavy and her head is foggy in a way that’s reminiscent of how she’d feel when the Capitol used to pump her full of anti-depressants— a feeling Thea despises. But she tries not to take it out on this poor nurse, even if bitterness laces her tone. “Do you know anything about when I’ll be discharged?”
Delly noticed the way that the nurses shot her a look when she approached Thea. She had gotten quite the reputation in the medical ward with the way that she spoke to the nurses. But Delly didn't blame her. After everything that she had been through...everything that all of the captives had gone through...they deserved to react however they wanted to. And there was nothing that Thea could say that was worse than spending time with her best friend whom she didn't recognize anymore. And it wasn't Peeta's fault. It was the Capitol's fault. They had turned Peeta into something unrecognizable and Delly wasn't going to stop until she found a way to fix him. Thea Ellis could tell her to go away, could call her anything that she wanted and it wouldn't feel nearly as terrible as watching Peeta. Delly had thought that things would be better when they rescued Peeta but nothing could have prepared her for what they rescued.
She offered Thea a small smile in return for her own attempt to smile. What had Delly done that the other nurses hadn't? But she certainly wasn't going to complain about it. "You are in luck they signed off for you to have water this morning," She informed Thea. "Would you like it sort of cold or mostly room temperature? There aren't a lot of options," Delly told her softly, glancing around to make sure nobody heard her comment. "I think that that's normal, but it sounds terrible. I'm sorry," Delly apologized, even though she wasn't the one giving the medicine, and the medicine was for Thea's own good they said. She shook her head. "I'm not really a nurse so they don't tell me much. I'm just a volunteer. I like to stay busy," she explained. Especially now, she didn't add but she wanted to. Thea had been there with Peeta. Did she know what they had done to him?















