AN- I am so sorry that this took so long. Finals, new job, family issues…the usual excuses apply. Anyway, I'm back now with a shiny new update. My schedule has become more consistent now so hopefully the updates should be more frequent…I promise nothing in the way of them being regular though.
Italics-flashback
I came slamming back into the conscious world much sooner than I would have liked. The exhaustion of the past few days was catching up with me already and it took a considerable amount of will power to open my eye lids and keep them that way. The rest of the night after my run in with Dave, the tribute from District 7, flashed by in a blur. The party had begun to break up shortly after Santana pulled me away and all the tributes were herded to the tower where we were staying until the start of the games. I let Will be excited for us at the accommodations. I had no clue where he got all of that excitement from; wondering if the Capitol put the district escorts through some kind of special training.
Training, that was what Will had told us we would be starting leading up to the games. This was the only time that I would be able to pick up something that would give me an edge in the arena. I used the desire that I felt at wanting to see my dad again to push me out of bed and into survival mode for the foreseeable future.
I tried to walk myself through all the things I felt I needed to try to master in the short span that we had to learn new skills, but my mind refused to be logical. Instead, it was all I could do to picture the things my clearly stronger competitors would be able to do that I could not. Images of strong arms gripping large blades and long spears danced around in my head. In fact, it was the same pair of arms that kept playing out various actions with all the different weapons I had seen on the Hunger Games in years past. They were nice arms, only they happened to belong to a certain tribute that I still couldn't get out of my head the next day.
Why couldn't I forget about David? I refused to acknowledge the fact that he had invaded my dreams the entire night before and now his body kept muscling its way into my thoughts whenever possible. It couldn't be healthy to think about your would be killer like this. Although, if I was being honest, I really did want to be thinking about him. There was something in the way he talked to me that had me craving more of him, this anomaly in a world I thought I knew so well. The only thing I could be sure of was that when I spoke with David, I felt like an equal again; a feeling of control over my own destiny worming its way back into my heart.
"So," Dave began, clearly wanting to make conversation despite my reluctance to. "District 12. That would make you a coal miner, wouldn't it?"
"Hardly," I scoffed, laughing at the mere thought of how useless I would be down in the coal mines. "We aren't all coal miners. It's more like the default. My dad is though." It was a lot of information considering who I was talking to, but I figured the point of this was to get information. Sometimes you need to give in order to get.
"Must be nice. Unless you're lucky and rich enough to own one of the shops, there isn't much of a chance in getting out of our specialty. Maybe it's because there are so many different areas to what we do." I wracked my brain trying to remember what District 7 did, but David offered the information without my needing to ask. "We're lumber, by the way. That's what I do. I basically haul trees around."
"Well, that explains the arms." I blushed immediately, hoping that he didn't hear me. His laugh told me that it was a ridiculous hope. It really wasn't my plan to completely embarrass myself before we even made it into the arena. With any luck, there weren't any cameras around yet. I was supposed to be an underdog wannabe, not a gushing schoolboy.
"I'm glad you think so highly of my arms. I'll be sure to remember that." He started making little poses, and I couldn't help but laugh. Just because I humiliated myself didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the moment. "Do you always just say what's on your mind? I'm just asking, because this could get dangerous."
"I've been told I have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth, now that you mention it."
"Good," he said, giving me a devilish grin. "We're going to have a lot of fun then."
It was so innocent when we started talking, there being no way of knowing that me making a bit of a fool of myself would turn into a conversation that would take us well into the night. Truth be told, it wasn't something I was used to. David gave me his full attention and asked questions about me. We never delved into anything personal, but it was still nice to have someone care enough to ask about my opinion on something instead of just assuming I agree with their view. That was usually the way things went with Blaine.
There it was again, me having to slam Blaine to the forefront of my mind after devoting a fairly good chunk of time thinking of something else. It wasn't that I felt I owed Blaine any substantial amount of equity in my thoughts, especially considering where I was and how things ended when I was carted off to the Capitol. It was more to do with the fact that Blaine was becoming easier to forget, slipping into the realm of distant memory after only a few days' time. I think I was more afraid of the implications of that than anything else.
In all honesty, Santana should have stepped in sooner than she did. I accomplished next to nothing when all was said and done and, therefore, had no use to our little alliance. As close as Santana and I were becoming out of necessity, I wouldn't put it past her to dispose of me in a heartbeat if I was holding her back. I couldn't blame her for it either.
Not knowing how else to handle my David issue, I dressed myself in my training clothes and followed the intoxicating smells of breakfast to the District 12 team, already up and assembled without me. I was falling further behind by the second.
We went over strategy over breakfast. It was already decided that Santana and I would hold back until our private training sessions. I still didn't know what I could show the gamemakers to impress them when the time came, but I would get there when the time came. For now, I needed to build some survival skills. I knew a fair bit about living off the land from what Blaine has shown me, but that was mostly theoretical knowledge with a lacking of the practical skills that came along with it. If I simply looked into ways to keep myself alive, would that keep attention away from me? I wouldn't look like much of a threat that way; just make the others think they will have to actually find me instead of waiting for me to die on my own.
Sue explained that the key to our underdog strategy in order to get sponsors required two main things from us: likability and a possible chance of surviving. The thought was if they loved us enough, they would want to give us every opportunity to succeed in spite of our disadvantages.
"Okay, we get it," Santana broke in around the fourth time Sue was reiterating our strategy. "We have to get people to like as and have some sort of odds in our favor. It will be hard, but we can do it." She was getting frustrated at this point, not one to go over the same details countless times when she would rather get right to work. "Can we move on now? Right now I'm a little more concerned with myself, not some crowd I need to pander to." I was about to agree with her, but seeing Sue's face made me rethink that decision.
"Well, I'm glad you think you have everything figured out. Except, that is only the first level of what you two need to accomplish. Remember the other Tributes? You know, the ones that are going to try and kill you? Well, they matter in this too, believe it or not." Santana shut her mouth and let Sue continue, looking much the part of the scolded child Sue was treating her like. "Everything you two do will be seen by two separate but very important groups. Yes, you know what you need to do to get the sponsors, but how will those actions be seen by your competition? You need to be constantly vigilant and purposeful in your actions because from here on out, everything you do will have a double purpose. Something to endear the audience needs to make those other tributes scoff. Only at the last second can we pull the rug out from under those kids and shine your lights right into their faces. Frankly, it's the only real chance you two have."
She left us to consider her words, giving us time to truly grasp what she needed from us. It was like we would be playing two games at the same time. We had to make the same moves in each game, but the rules were drastically different. Only by winning both did we stand a chance.
"You're right, Sue," I spoke up, needing more from her than I thought she was willing to give. "I know what your strategy is in theory, but we need you. Can we take this day by day right now? What do you want us to do today?" I figured the simpler I could make this, the better our chances. Just like the game we were playing. One day at a time and one move at a time. Sue regarded me for a minute before a ghost of a smirk crossed her features. She spoke and I was relieved that no insults passed from her lips. She spoke with simple clarity, her words having more meaning than before.
"Today is your one and only day to scope and plan. Every single minute after today needs to count so this is all you can afford to not put everything into learning or honing skills. You are going to be in that room with a bunch of people who are bigger, faster, stronger, and, in some cases, smarter than you are." The mood in the room sobered, the acknowledgment of Sue's words hanging in the air like a thick fog. "Like we discussed, I don't want you two showing off. This is the time when everyone is forming strategies and what happens in the training sessions will set a lot of plans into motion. We want those plans to include setting you two up for failure and then breaking them. So, what won't you be doing today?"
"I've been thinking a lot about that," began Santana, sounding almost unsure of how her next words would be received. "I think I'll stay away from anything projectile like knives and bows. I may not have the highest accuracy, but I do have good reflexes. If I can find a way to show off how good I am under pressure, I think I may actually be able to pull out an above average score in the private training." Sue nodded, remembering the way Santana was able to rebuff Sue's attempt at throwing the knife back to us on the train.
This brought it back to me, and the fact that Sue most likely expected me to be a good knife thrower after my little stunt. It didn't do me any good to lie to Sue, I reasoned with myself.
"I suppose now would be a good time to tell you that it was a fluke that I was able to throw the knife like I did."
"Porcelain, I am insulted. Did you really think you could get one past Sue Sylvester? The mere fact that the knife didn't just fall out of your hand and pierce that girly foot of yours was nothing short of a miracle. Now, what can you do?"
"That's the thing, I'm not sure yet."
"Then you had better figure it out before your private session." She had said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. "Just mess around with the things they have in the center and don't excel at anything until then. You had better be ready to deliver when the time comes though." That was all that was said on the matter and I was still as lost as I had been since I woke up that morning. It was going to be a long day.
"So, did you find anything else out about the others last night?" I asked, trying to make conversation with Santana. She was clearly still upset with me over the whole David thing; however, still keeping up the air of neutrality and respect we had established, she gave in and told me what she knew while we waited for the other tributes down near the training center.
"I got some names. Nobody was really up for talking. Although, quite a few were bragging about being the next winner. That was mostly by the boys from Districts 1 and 2. The guy from 2 with the weird haircut goes by Puck, and I have no idea if that's his real name. The big girl with him is Lauren. She doesn't really talk much, but she has the power to back up that intimidation factor. Even that Puck guy looked a little afraid of her." I laughed a little at this, finding a great deal of humor in someone as tough looking as this Puck guy being afraid of Lauren. I couldn't blame him though.
"The slime ball from District 1 is Sebastian. He has this way of talking like he owns everyone here. The blonde bitch is Quinn," Santana said, putting a great deal of disgust in her tone at the mention of the District 1 girl. I wondered what had happened when the two girls met, but was afraid to suffer any kind of wrath that came from Santana.
"Did you find out anything about the non-careers?" I prodded, at least wanting to be able to identify some of the other tributes.
"Just some more names. People were suspicious." Santana went on to fill me in on the names of most of the other tributes. The guy in the wheel chair from District 3 was Artie and the girl with him was Becky.
"That girl was a little...off too. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I got the feeling that she wasn't all there." That was the last thing I needed to hear, adding more sympathy I felt to the doomed duo from District 3.
Santana also told me that the big guy from 6 was Azimio, who was here with Brittany, the cute blonde, over Quinn being the bitchy blonde. I noticed the way she lit up a little at the mention of the Brittany girl, but I let it go. District 8 was represented by some recluse named Jesse and a girl who went by Mercedes. 10 had the giant, Finn, which Kurt had seen a few times in line ups. He was here with some peppy girl named Rachel.
"That midget is seriously getting on my nerves and I only met her once. She would not shut up about herself. I seriously just wanted to hit her." She shrugged off her frustration, although I felt sorry for this Rachel girl if Santana came across her in the arena.
"Anyone else?"
"Well, there's Trouty Mouth in District 4."
"Did you just call someone Trouty Mouth? Somehow, I really don't think that's his name." I said with an amused chuckle.
"You didn't see his lips," was all she mumbled as more tributes started to file in. I began matching the names to the few tributes I knew about from Santana, making a list of who needed to be avoided like the plague.
When David came off the elevator, I felt my stomach twist at the sight of him. As much as I was trying to keep him out of my mind, I would be lying if I said I didn't find him attractive. It was simply a matter of taste, and he filled my tastes well. However, I underestimated the effect that seeing him in a tight training outfit would have on me. The self-adjusting clothes these Capitol people wore left nothing to the imagination. I managed to draw my eyes away from his broad chest only to be drawn in by the arms of my dreams. Apparently I had a thing for arms. What took me away was when our eyes met, and I was greeted with a smile that took me to a place I've never been; never with Blaine anyway.
"If you're done drooling," came Santana's voice, breaking through my fantasies of David, "they're letting us in now."
"Oh, right." I made my way with Santana, reluctantly breaking contact with the Dave. It was still baffling me as to why this man I barely knew was having this effect on me. I was forced to think of Blaine and how it was never like this. There were mutual feelings, some burning cheeks and that was about it. This was searing heat all the way. Whatever it was, it was out of control and I didn't like it.
When we were all gathered in the room, someone came forward and explained to us how the training sessions would work. Essentially, we were free to do whatever we wanted as long as we didn't actually spar with any of the other tributes. Outside of those scenarios, we could train in any way and with whomever we wanted. We were also informed that the gamemakers would be wandering around from time to time, assessing our skills.
"How do you want to do this?" asked Santana, looking to me to take the lead on this one.
"Why don't we start on survival skills training and see where that takes us? Let's learn what we can from there and then we can each try and find some other things we're good at." With a nod of agreement, Santana and I took off together to work on skills like snares and surviving off of things found in nature. These were probably the least visited stations as most of the other tributes went straight for whatever their favorite weapons were.
It became apparent quickly that I knew a bit more than I thought I did about taking care of myself in the elements. It took me a few tries, but after some practice I was applying skills I had seen Blaine use hundreds of times on my own. My skills were unpolished, but they could keep me fed. It also became apparent that Santana would need to spend more time learning the basics of survival than I would, so we agreed to separate from there.
Staying with the general theme that we started with, I continued within the natural stations and stayed away from weapon training for the time being. While I felt comfortable with my ability to identify things that were edible, my knowledge was limited by what populated the area directly surrounding District 12. The attendant of the station walked me through the program on the computer that ran through teaching sessions followed by tests to rank skill. The sessions were all filled with random plants, roots, and berries so as to not give away anything that would be available in the arena.
"Keep in mind that your scores can come in handy later when the gamemakers are giving you your individual score. These little things that they can evaluate can make all the difference between a good score and a mediocre one." The attendant left me to my own devices after that, leaving me to work on a computer terminal for the first time in my life.
The system was easy enough to use, and I soon found myself being tested at the simplest level. I aced my way through three tests before I was tapped to step aside, other tributes deciding to give the station some attention. Feeling confident that I had a good place to start and work on in later training sessions, I gladly moved away from survival skills to get a better handle on what else the training center had to offer. Unfortunately, aside from the weapons training, there weren't a lot of other stations for me to spend my time at. I suppose I may have been putting off the inevitable, but I was very hesitant to pick up one of the weapons. There was a difference between knowing what I was here to do and practicing to do it. I promised myself that I would get to that stage of training after lunch was served, not entirely convinced that I would.
Santana and I met up for lunch, keeping up our unified front. There wasn't anything to report, nothing to strategize, and nothing to do. We could only hope that something panned out over the course of this training that would give us what we needed to survive. If the first day was going to be any indication of things, then it could mean trouble for us.
After lunch, I went back over to the weapons stations to fulfill the promise I made to myself. Everything was either too big or required too much precision for me to be effective with. Regardless, I tried out everything I could get my hands on. There were some weapons I had never seen before, being of a much larger tech grade than would ever be seen in the districts and therefore I found myself baffled at how to use them. I made full use of the station attendants who showed me how to use something they called an automated crossbow. I had always seen bows as something that required a lot of skill to be able to use in combat since the reload time it takes for someone without skilled hands could become a large disadvantage. This thing was able to immediately replace the arrow as soon as one fired. I wasn't the best shot with it, but it was something I could work on and add to the list of things I hoped I could get my hands on in the arena.
I tried working with some of the smaller swords, but it wasn't going well when I saw the other larger tributes using the things with such skill. I would keep the practice up, but it was starting to look bleaker for me as far as being able to fight was concerned.
When it was called that we only had another hour left in the day. I decided to do a last rotation to an area of the center that had remained largely ignored by the rest of the group. There were tables set up with various things that looked like games. There were also a couple of computer stations set up much like the plant recognition station. In the entire day, not one person had come over to work at any of the stations, leaving the attendant looking rather bored. I walked over to him and saw the surprise on his face at seeing a tribute interested in his games.
"Need any help with the stations?" he asked, peaking up at the attention.
"What are these for?"
"They're strategy games," he said simply, earning a blank expression from me. "They're here for you guys to exercise your minds and learn some basic strategy." I nodded, seeing the limited use something like this possessed. In the end though, how far would strategy take you without the muscle?
"Okay, I see. So, what are the games? How do I play them?" I couldn't see these things keeping me alive, but I was determined to end the day on a bright note, even if it was a useless win that the high note was on.
The mechanics of the games were simple enough. In fact, by the end of the hour, I had already mastered the rules of the three table top games. It was the strategy of them that had me stumped. In a matter of minutes each time I started the games, the computer would make moves that were perfectly timed, having been set up as soon as I started moving in any pattern. The things were designed to see our methods and counter them. Perhaps I, like the others, had discounted the usefulness of such practice. If I could learn to do what the computer was doing and rip apart plans before they were even fully laid out, what types of things could I accomplish? I would be sure I didn't forget about these stations in the future.
Then, as soon as the day had started, it was over. A full day of training down and I still didn't feel very confident. At the very least, I knew where I would spend my time. It was a small comfort to know that much, but I would take it. I was pretty short on comfort as it was.
The next day, the room was filled with more purpose for everyone. Reporting back to Sue on our first day had gone better than either Santana or I had thought it would. Where we thought we had wasted a full day, she must have seen potential. We were told to keep working on everything we had started to learn and go from there. That had me once again starting at the identification computer, raising my rank on the tests with relative ease. It was a much needed boost to my very fragile ego.
"Wow, Fancy. I never would have thought you were good with this kind of thing." Dave's voice came out of nowhere, shaking me from my little personal victory. I turned around and there he was, big grin in place. It was only after stopping my heart from bursting out of my chest that I could recall what he had said to make me jump in the first place.
"What did you just call me?"
"What? It's something about the way you carry yourself. You're just very fancy." It was a simple matter to him, the question thrown off with a shrug.
"Fine, I'll keep that in mind, Ham hock." It was the first thing I could come up with, and I would be damned if he didn't get an equally humiliating nickname. He gave a pointed look but let the name slide off his back with a shrug. "Is there something I can help you with? If not, this is a really bad attempt at spying."
"Like I need to spy on you. I think I could get you to spill all your secrets with pretty minimal effort."
"Oh sure, think so little of me. You'll regret it." Against all better judgments, I found myself laughing with him. David was easy, in a way he shouldn't have been. If I was a cynical person by nature, I would have assumed that he was just being friendly in order to gain some kind of advantage in the arena. No matter how much I threw the possibility around in my head, I couldn't bring myself to accuse him of such things. I was ready to fight my own mind to keep the image I had of David so far as clean and innocent as possible. I couldn't let go of this only good thing I had been given since being whisked away from District 12. I would risk being called a naive fool to hold on to my David as long as I could.
"So, were you just planning on hogging this for yourself all day or were you actually going to do something useful?"
"I'll have you know that this can be very useful. You won't be laughing when I'm nice and fed and you're choking on a poisonous berry." In any other situation, there was no way this could pass for humor. It was interesting to note all the things that the Hunger games changed about us. Regardless, we laughed and before we knew it, we found ourselves going through the training stations together.
For the rest of the morning, we moved together around the various stations. We never actually did anything together, having enough respect for the fact that we were each other's competition that we didn't want to appear nosy. We would stay in the general area and we wouldn't move on unless the other was ready to do so. When I broke it down in my head, we were probably wasting more time than was necessary. There were some areas that I wouldn't have kept at for long if I wasn't waiting for David and I'm sure he felt the same way at some points. It was the talking we did between stations that made it all worth it.
We made it to lunch with each of us having spent a good amount of time with weapons we were getting comfortable with. I was becoming more comfortable with the crossbow, despite the fact that my accuracy wasn't improving as quickly as I would have liked. From what I could tell while I was doing my best not to watch David, he had a good arm for swords and spears. It was a good thing to note for the future.
We walked into the lunchroom to find twenty-two sets of eyes watching us intently. I noticed Santana sitting where we had been yesterday, looking at me with concern. I felt uncomfortable, almost like I was betraying her. I chanced a glance at David, and he looked about as uncomfortable as I was. We walked to an empty table in silence and sat together, the mood in the room taking a shift at the action. The room felt oppressive under the intense scrutiny, when I finally realized what we had just done. David and I formed the first inter-district alliance of the games. None of the supposed careers had formed a group as of yet, meaning we had just made a very strong public statement.
I didn't want to look, but my eyes did eventually drift over to Santana. She looked livid, no doubt accosting me in her head for how stupidly I had ruined what we were working for. David was looking across the room to another lone tribute, the girl from his district who pulled him away from me the other night. If Santana looked furious, she looked murderous. Suddenly, leaving with Santana at the end of the day didn't seem so bad.
"I think we're in trouble, Fancy." I could only nod in agreement.
A/N- If you have the time, I would love a review.