Hells yes! We had reviews!
I can't believe it. This is like a dream come true!
I know, thank you Loopy, Hufflepuff and Anon! We are forever in your debt! Please keep reviewing, and I encourage you all to follow their example and review!
Yay, lets all play follow the leader!
Speaking of playing, our tributes are learning about how to play the Hunger Games! Its time for the training to begin!
Ooh training! fun. Hopefully you'll get some laughs out of this.
We both know we did while writing it, mostly from picturing the looks on Shimmer's face, because Orion, Lyra and Astra are doing everything in their power to annoy her.
And when those three put their minds to somethings, you can be sure that is one awful lot of annoyingness.
I almost feel sorry for Shimmer... Nope still don't. Training centre here we come!
Chapter 9: Work out
'In a month, twenty three of you will be dead, one of you shall be alive. The difference between life and death will depend on what you do with your time here. Some of these exercises are compulsory, the rest are optional. I urge to ignore the survival skills, everyone wants to pick up a sword, but many of you will from natural causes not weapons.'
The twenty four tributes that stood around Atala, all of them were dressed identically, white t-shirt, black track pants, and sturdy black boots. They were standing in district order, although no one could fail to notice that in District Ten the girl was the same height as her male counterpart despite a near to three year age gap. One by one they slowly went out to other activities. The careers instantly gravitated to the weapon stands, firing arrows, throwing axes and knives, obviously showing off, intimidating a great deal of the tributes. The only one who went to a non-weapon task was Orion, who was already fiddling with a pair of sticks to start a fire.
Ten meters above everyones heads, Lyra was hanging upside down from intwined mesh on the ceiling. Astra was at the knot tying station, involved in a rapped conversation with Ike as he taught the younger girl how to make a bear trap, which she was catching onto fast and already suggesting different methods to improve it, which had Ike laughing.
'We could make it out of barbed wire!' she said enthusiastically.
'If you enjoy having your hands scratched to bits while making the trap, sure,' he said humoring her.
'I have to deal with Bessie the cow, my hands are very tough.'
The sound of Ike's laughter lit up the training centre, and Lyra dramatically dropped down from the ceiling to stand behind them making both of them jump and in Astra's case squeal and jump into Ike's arms, 'Oh calm down sweetie,' Lyra laughed.
'So you're not going to eat us?' Astra asked.
'No sweetie,' Lyra said patiently.
'Okay then.'
'Ah Astra, do you mind if I put you down now?' Ike asked.
'But you're comfy!'
'Sweetie,' Lyra said forcefully.
'Fine then,' Astra said, getting down but pouting like a two year old.
'Would you like me to show you a rabbit trap?'
'Ooh! Yay!'
Lyra laughed and kept walking through the training centre, and only came to a stop when Orion landed heavily on his back, right at her feet, 'Morning starshine.'
He glared at her, but then at the climbing frame above him which he hadn't realized moved, 'I hate gravity.'
'Of course you do, now up you come,' she said and pulled him to his feet.
He found it strange how helpful she was being but shrugged it off, until she pointed at the climbing frame and said, 'Up you go.'
'Again?'
'Yes again, I'll see what you're doing wrong this time so you don't fall on your fat ass as much.'
He frowned but went back to climbing, but the second the thing tilted he fell straight off, and landed directly at her feet again, 'Wow, your grip is horrible,' she commented.
'Why does it spin?' he grumbled moodily.
'Back up, now.'
'You're enjoying seeing me in pain aren't you?'
'Just a little, now back up.'
He groaned and started climbing up but he was surprised to find Lyra leapt up on the other side of the climbing frame, and pointed to his hand, 'Put your thumb on the other side moron.'
'What?'
'Like I said your grip is horrible, now make the adjustment,' she insisted.
He did as he was told and managed to climb a bit further this time, but when he went to give her a thumbs up, he fell from an even greater height, 'Nice move brainiac,' she said dropping down next to him with ease, 'Next time don't get so distracted.'
He glared at her still, 'How do you keep doing that?' he asked.
'District Seven, this is what I do for a living,' she said and then pulled him to his feet, and dusted off his hair, then led him over to the climbing frame again, holding his hand.
'Ah, what are you doing?' he asked.
'Have you seen the look on dear blondie's face?' Lyra asked innocently.
He glanced over at Shimmer, who had her bow drawn, a shocked, disgusted scowl, looking ready to kill, staring at Lyra and himself in pure hatred. Well until her bowstring snapped that is, and it made a small scratch on her ever so precious face, causing her to squeal and throw the bow at a wall.
Orion turned back to Lyra, a smirk lighting up his face, 'Carry on then.'
'I knew you'd see it my way.'
...
The lunch break was welcomed by the now out of breath and sweating tributes who'd been working hard since ten. Orion some how found himself among the careers again, even though he'd made a point of ignoring them the entire morning. Kali and Seir were merely exchanging glances every now and then, jerking their heads in the direction of another tribute and laughing, both clearly having the same thought. Shimmer was moaning to Lilith about her beautiful face being ruined, Lilith was half sympathetic. Botis walked near him, Orion couldn't help but think that not only was Botis six and half feet tall, he definitely outweighed him by at least thirty kilos.
Orion was contemplating how he got stuck with them for the next however long lunch ran for, until he heard a call, 'Oi, Gravity challenged moron, get your ass over here.'
Orion had no doubt at all who was calling, and who they were referring too, but Seir clearly didn't have a clue because he glanced at the nearby Farrow and then muttered to the other Careers, 'Gravity challenged moron?'
Shimmer and Lilith both shrugged but that was until another call rang out, 'Yes, Orion I mean you, get your butt over here now.'
The Careers stared at him and Orion offered them a shrug and a slight wave goodbye but moved gratefully over to Lyra, 'Finally, I thought you were deaf or something,' she said.
Lyra was surrounded by a small group of people, all of which were eating, one why one Lyra pointed to them, 'Ike, you won't be able to get within a twenty meter radius of him because of his bear traps.'
'Yeah keep him thinking that bear traps are the only thing he should look out for,' Ike said but grinned at Orion as he sat down.
'This is Pipsqueak.'
The little wide eyed boy frowned at her, 'Horace.'
'No, Pipsqueak.'
'You are far to much like Joel,' Horace muttered into his stew.
'This is Charix, she talks about the same amount you do,' she said off handedly.
Charix went bright red in the face and tried to sink out of sight, but Lyra clearly wasn't done when she said, 'In fact she probably talks more than you do. This is Sparky.'
'Aren't you are Career?' the little blonde boy said guardedly, positioning himself in front of the little girl beside him.
'Depends who you ask, ask my District, then yes, ask Lyra, I'm simply a gravity challenged idiot.'
'You mean moron.'
'Close enough.'
Sparky sort of half relented and then went back to shoveling stew in his mouth as fast as possible, 'This little sweetie is Iris.'
The little girl looked up at him, and gave him a sweet smile, 'Hi Orion.'
She was frankly one of the most adorable things he'd ever seen so he gave her his best attempt at a smile, 'Oh and this is Belle, I'm not sure which one is more adorable so far.'
Belle gave him a little grin, pushed her hair behind her ear and went back to eating, he remembered seeing her making a hammock before, then falling asleep for twenty minutes, 'And lastly our famous little chicken dancer, Astra Vee.'
Orion turned around and saw the little blonde haired girl sitting directly next to him, choke on her drink and spit half of it onto her plate, she was going bright pink in the cheeks and then instantly spat out, 'Shiny, when did you get here?'
That earned her a laugh from the other tributes at the table, he quirked an eyebrow at her, 'You really need to stop calling me shiny.'
She was going redder by the second but she managed to get out, 'But you were shiny, in fact you're still shiny!'
He had no idea what she was talking about until she picked up a napkin, licked it, and started scrubbing at his eyebrow. He tried to pull her off, but she smacked his hands away and continued scrubbing, before sitting back down and started to eat again like nothing had happened. But he couldn't help but notice that there was a big glop of silver paint which she must have pulled out of his eyebrow.
'Oh right, thanks.'
He heard laughter he recognised as Lyra's but when he glanced at her, she jerked her head in the direction of the careers. None of them looked particularly impressed. One glance at Shimmer told him that if looks could kill he'd be dead three times over. Kali and Seir were exchanging clearly annoyed looks. Botis didn't seem to have even noticed let alone care. Lilith was glaring directly at everyone else at the table apart from him, probably having a violent death planned for them all.
He tuned back into the conversation only to hear Astra yell at Iris, 'Stop being right about everything!'
He glanced at Lyra for an explanation only for her to say, 'Nice choice in girlfriend, she loses arguments to twelve year olds.'
Astra bloomed bright red, and Orion felt distinctly uncomfortable with Lyra's way of putting things, that was when Lyra pretended to sneeze, 'Blushing.'
Ike, Sparky and Horace started laughing, and Iris, Belle and Charix were exchanging knowing looks. Astra then shoved a massive piece of lamb into her mouth and sat there chewing determinedly not looking at him. Orion followed suit and became very engaged by dipping a large hunk of bread into the soup.
...
Astra lay on the floor on her back breathing evenly and deeply, vaguely wondering why no one had stepped on her yet. She was lying in the middle of a walk way for gods sake, and it wasn't like they could see her, she was to well camouflaged. Her wish to be stepped was granted soon enough when Orion walking past, tripped straight over her. He fell flat on his stomach on the floor.
'What the heck?' he muttered.
For a long second Astra tried to stay quiet, before she couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing, Orion rolled over to look at her and found her, painted like the carpet, giggling like a moron, how had he not seen her?
'Astra? What were you doing?'
'Sleeping... and lying in wait for someone to trip over me.'
'You're lucky it wasn't Lilith, she'd probably spear you,' he said.
'Really?'
'Mhm.'
'Oh... Icky.'
He hid another smile but instantly she asked him, 'Why do you hide smiles? You look cute when you smile... Did I just say that out loud?'
'Yes, yes you did,' Lyra commented as she swept past, a smug smirk on her face.
Astra blushed and looked back over at Orion, 'Sorry.'
'Ah... no problem. Particular reason why you were sleeping?'
'Couldn't sleep last night, the room was too quiet.'
'Huh?'
'I'm used to sleeping with eight other people in the room,' she said casually.
'Eight?' he asked.
'Mhm, Mum, Dad, Alec, Carter, Roy, Sera, Hayden and Hunter. Dad, Alec and Carter snore, Roy sleepwalks, Sera sleep talks, Mum whistles, and Hayden and Hunter fight while fast asleep, I guess its a twin thing.'
'...You have a big family,' was his only comment.
'Yeah, I used to have another brother though, but he died,' she commented like it was nothing, 'How big is your family?'
'...I'm an only child.'
'Really? That would suck!'
But he couldn't help but ask, 'What exactly happened to your other brother?'
'Finn? Killed in the bloodbath at the Cornucopia five years ago, some guy from District Four impaled him,' Astra said far to casually.
He instantly regretted asking it, and hurriedly changed the subject, 'My mentor snores like a wild hog, I could record him if you want.'
'Really?' she said sounding far too excited.
'Yeah and maybe I could mix it in with Shimmer's mumbling, she sleep talks, I could hear her through the wall last night, muttering about carbs and cholesterol.'
'Would you? Would you really?'
'Yeah, anything for blackmail material,' he offered.
'Cool, thanks,' she said happily, 'I'm going to go wash off so I can play with some sharp things.'
Orion watched her as she skipped off, and couldn't help but think to himself her with sharp things? I think we should all be concerned. That's when he realized he was still sitting on the floor, and glancing around awkwardly, he picked himself up and decided he might as well go over to the katana now.
...
Lyra walked towards the knife throwing station, and went to pick up one of the knives when out of no where she felt her legs get scythed out from underneath her, 'Oh I'm so sorry,' came the voice Lyra recognised as the girl from District Two.
Kali was even more intimidating than her picture had led her to believe, Kali was trying to unnerve her, but the thing was she didn't know about Lyra's temper, she was forced to duck as a knife flew through the air striking the wall, sinking it in up to its hilt, where Kali's head had been moments before, 'Oh I'm so sorry,' Lyra mimicked, 'My hand must have slipped.'
She heard a choking laughter she recognised as Ike's and turned back to face the knife throwing station only to see the trainer gaping at her, 'What?'
'You clearly have some skill in throwing knives already,' the instructor said.
'Well I've never been trained... oh well who knows,' she picked up another knife and flung it at the target.
It sunk directly into the bullseye mark and Lyra blinked at it, only to hear Kali's haughty voice, 'Beginners luck.'
Lyra determined to prove her wrong picked up another knife and sent it spiraling through the air where it sunk into another target, another perfect bullseye, 'You were saying?' she said innocently, despite having no clue how she'd managed that.
'Double beginners luck,' Kali spat.
'Oh really, how about we see if you can duck twice?'
Kali glanced at her then walked off to join Seir and Lilith, and instantly they started muttering and murmuring to each other, Lyra felt them keep glancing at her and went back to the targets. And then flung all of the remaining knives in quick succession, each hitting exactly where she'd aimed.
'You know what? I think I'm going to keep a few of these.'
...
'No no no, you doing it all wrong,' the instructor once again grabbed Astra's hands and pulled the sword away from her, 'you hold it like this.'
'Ohh, like this,' she snatched the sword back and tried to copy him.
'No, like this.'
'I just did that!'
'No you didn't, you did this.'
'That's exactly the same thing!'
'No its not!'
'Yes it is.'
'No its not!'
'Yes it is!'
'No its- Just go and stab the dummy!'
'Fine,' Astra said and crossed over to he dummy, continuously poking it with the tip of her sword constantly making little, 'Meh,' sounds.
'You're doing that wrong,' Orion commented suddenly appeared behind her.
She whipped around surprised, forgetting about the sword in her hands, there was a loud clang of metal on metal as he blocked her with surprising ease, a sword in either hand, 'Oops, sorry shiny.'
'Do you need help?'
'He's supposed to be helping me, but he keeps telling me I'm doing it wrong when I'm doing it the exact same way he told me to,' she said innocently.
Orion glared at the instructor who looked scandalized, 'You really shouldn't confuse her.'
'Excuse-'
But Orion had already turned back to Astra, 'Do you want me to help you?'
She went a little pink and nodded, 'Yes please.'
He put the katana he'd been using down and looked at the way she was gripping the sword, he smirked and came around behind her, placing his hands over hers, in a slight bear hug, causing Astra to go bright red, 'Ah...'
'Here, move your hand there, and hold it like that,' he said moving her hands for her.
The only comment he got from Astra was another, 'Ah...'
'Now try stabbing it,' he said with another smile.
Astra still bright red in the face, crossed to the dummy and poking it with the tip of her sword into the chest, Orion rolled his eyes, and came up behind her, 'You aren't going to stab it if you do that. If you're a beginner, I would recommend stabbing through the stomach.'
'But why not the chest?' she asked.
'Because there's bone there,' he said tapping his own chest to demonstrate, 'There's nothing protecting the stomach. Unless you go from behind, but we'll avoid that.'
'With your abs there's plenty of protection for your stomach... I said that out loud again didn't I?'
Orion nodded slowly, making Astra go even redder but Orion was trying not to laugh, unable to stop thinking how cute she looked when she was blushing, 'Now try stabbing it in the stomach.'
Astra continued to turn back to the dummy, but the same, 'Meh, meh, meh, meh,' barely scratching the paint on the dummies stomach.
'Astra?'
'What?' she asked, turning around and beginning to poke him in the stomach, 'Meh, meh, meh.'
'Astra that doesn't even hurt,' he told her.
She frowned and began poking him a little harder, 'Meh, meh, meh, meh.'
'Astra you're supposed to do it as hard as you can.'
'Oh like this?' she said beginning to draw back her arms but he jumped out of the way.
'Preferably not at me, at the dummy,' he told her.
'Oh right,' she said realizing what she had been about to do, 'My bad.'
She turned around to the dummy and then thrust her sword at it, the tip of the sword went in about an inch and she grinned, 'I won! I won! I won!'
He stared at her, 'that's actually easy to survive, you need to go in further.'
'Have you survived it?' she looked slightly put out, but then noticed the expression on his face, 'You have haven't you?'
'That's for me to know and you to find out,' he said.
'How much harder do I need to do it then?' she asked curiously.
'Here,' he said and putting both arms around her again, pulled her arms back and then combining his strength with hers, he forced the sword forward.
It buried itself up to the hilt in the dummy's stomach and Astra promptly let go of the handle, 'Woah.'
He smiled at her, 'That's how hard you need to do it.'
She looked stunned and a little scared for a second before suddenly smiling like a maniac and asking, 'How do you decapitate someone?'
It was Orion's turn to look a little scared but he eventually managed a laugh and picked up his katana again, 'Watch very carefully.'
But before she could even blink he had spun like a ninja and suddenly two dummy head lay at her feet, 'Woah... I completely missed that, can you do that again in slow motion?'
'It doesn't work in slow motion,' he told her, conscious of the fact that the instructor's mouth was hanging wide open.
'Aww... I want it in slo-mo.'
'You can't, you have to be fast, strong and deadly, you can't hesitate at all,' he suddenly realized he sounded exactly like his father then cleared his throat and said, 'well in any event, you've got the wrong grip for a slice.'
'I do?'
'Yes, it changes a little bit here,' he said and both arms wrapped around her again, only to make a very slight adjustment of her hand.
'Ah... You know you can just fix it from the front.'
'What's the fun in that?' he said distractedly.
Orion didn't have a clue that Astra didn't know he was pissing off Shimmer on purpose. He didn't know that without that context, how flirty that actually sounded. He didn't seem to notice how bright red Astra had just gone, or that Lyra hanging from the ceiling nearby, was laughing her head off.
Naww can they get any cuter?
Ahhh, i'm going to die of cuteness overdoes. So adorable!
I know, his ignorance is adorable, her personality and incompetence is adorable. I can really see why Lyra couldn't stop laughing.
I think we all would if we were there. 'Meh, Meh, meh'
Well I know you would, but then again so many sharp things, you could live there happily for the rest of your life.
Indeed I could. Muhahaha.
Well see you lot next time, and please review so we can keep posting, ta ta for now
~Selina
Hey, that's my line. Goodbye our dear readers, we will be back
:) Ally
