Note: Sorry for the lack of updates – been dealing with a bit of writer's block with this one.
"How'd it go?" Jay asked when I emerged from my room the next morning.
I pulled a hair tie off my wrist and pulled my hair into a ponytail. "She seemed to be doing better after we were done talking," I replied as we sat down at the table.
Jay poured himself some juice and I reached for the pitcher of water to pour myself a glass. Sarto and Jay's stylist joined us at the table, followed by Mira.
"Now, today's the first day of training," Mira announced as she peeled the skin off a small orange. "You'll be reporting to the ground floor in half an hour to meet the other tributes and the training center representatives. There will be multiple stations for survival techniques and…weapon training."
"Um are we required to go to all the stations?" Jay asked as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
Mira frowned as she tried to remember the rules for training. I broke off a piece of a muffin and told Jay that someone in the center could probably answer his question. Jay spooned the last mouthful of his fruit parfait into his mouth and announced that he wanted to head down now. I picked up the rest of my muffin and pushed my chair back, excusing myself from the table.
"I can escort you to the center," Mira offered as she wiped her mouth with her napkin. She started to stand up but Jay told her that we had it figured out before heading for the elevator.
"So, you think Crestley's ever gonna help us?" Jay asked as the elevator descended.
I finished the last piece of my muffin and dusted my hands off. "Probably not," I replied. "Seems like we're better steering clear of him when he's drunk."
"I'll second that," Jay muttered before the elevator stopped at the third floor.
The doors opened and Joule sauntered in, Watt trailing behind her. The poor guy had to duck his head as he entered and he moved towards the back of the elevator as the doors closed.
"You're that girl who volunteered, aren't you?" Joule said as she turned to look up at me.
Her district partner turned and looked curiously at me. I shrugged, trying to look modest as I shoved my hands into my pockets. Joule tore her gaze from me and moved closer to Jay.
"Wow, your eyes remind me of cobalt!" Joule blurted out as she stood up on tiptoe to get a closer look at Jay.
Jay blinked and backed up to put space in between them. Joule flushed and started mumbling a long string of apologies to Jay. Watt cast a glance over at his district partner before shooting me an amused look.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing as the elevator doors opened to the training center floor. Watt gestured to me to exit first while Jay stumbled out of the elevator, his ears turning a vivid shade of red.
"What's wrong with your face?" a sharp female voice asked from behind.
Jay and I turned to see it was the hawk-eyed girl from District 2, Quartz, talking to a flushed Joule who had left the elevator last. Joule mumbled something incoherent and the District 2 girl cast a glance over at us.
Watt paused and spoke up, "Her face is flushed due to blood rushing to her face, which is the result of–"
"Spare me the details nerd!" Quartz snapped before joining her district partner and brushing past us to enter the training center.
Jay dug his fingers into his palm and narrowed his eyes at the swinging doors ahead of us that the pair had gone through. "I really hate that one."
"Let's just avoid her," I said as we pushed open the doors. "She's just looking for trouble."
One training center rep stepped forward and introduced himself as Xano once everyone arrived. He explained that training was meant to help us prepare for the challenges of the arena and that we were welcome to explore whichever of the stations we wanted. At the end of training, all of us would undergo a private session with the Gamemakers to show them our best skills for a score. He advised us to try all of the stations and not focus solely on weapons, which fell on deaf ears once he finished talking.
The Careers wasted no time rushing to the weapon stations and showing off their skills with swords, archery, and other miscellaneous weapons. Jay made a beeline for the herbs and edible plants station. I started to head to the knots station, when Jay caught my arm.
"We don't have to do the same stations together," I reminded him in a low voice.
"Look Anthea, the way I see it, we should try teaming up together for the beginning of the game," Jay reasoned. "I know I don't look like much but I do know medicine and healing techniques, which would help should any of us get hurt." He nodded over at the Careers and whispered, "I'll bet that they wouldn't know the difference between a bandage and a tourniquet."
I sighed and conceded defeat as I followed him to the herbs and edible plants station. The attendant showed us examples of what we could encounter in the arena and had us touch, taste, and smell the safe ones. He pointed out characteristics of the ones that would be poisonous or could make us sick before suggesting we try the identifying quiz on the machine behind him. Jay stepped up and tried it first while I waited for my turn. I hadn't thought about teaming up with anyone, especially since I hated the thought of having to kill my ally once it got down to the last few tributes. Yet Jay made a valid point – I could probably fare better with someone who knew medicine very well since Xano pointed out that many tributes were going to die due to poor knowledge and care of cuts/burns/injuries in the arena. He could probably learn a thing or two about knives from me.
"Go! You're up," a voice behind me said.
I turned to see it was Joule standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest. Her district partner was on the other side of the Training Center learning how to make fire with sticks. Guess they weren't thinking of teaming up…
"How'd you do?" I asked Jay as he stepped away from the machine.
"Got them all," he said with a proud smile on his face. "I'll be at the knot tying station – come find me there." He walked off to the station as I stepped up to the machine and waited for it to restart.
After the screen flashed a countdown, I began matching plants up to their properties as best as I could. Once the matching part was over, it switched to quiz questions about which plant fit the description listed in the question. I hemmed and hawed over one answer before remembering what it was before time ran out. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and I saw that Joule had left the herbs and plants station to join Jay at the knot tying one.
I rolled my eyes and I input the last answer on the machine. It thought for a minute before pulling up my results, which were pretty good – not a perfect score but I was happy with it.
"Could I review those plants that I missed?" I asked the attendant as I moved away from the machine. He nodded and began showing me the ones I missed. A few other tributes from the other districts, mostly 5 and 6 came over to take a closer look at his demonstration. Once I had them all clear in my mind, I thanked the attendant before heading over to the knot tying station.
She better not think about joining us, I thought as I neared Jay and Joule. It probably wasn't fair to judge her, but I had a feeling that Joule joining our alliance would mean her slowing us down to flirt with Jay instead of focusing on survival.
"Can you show me that knot again?" Joule asked Jay as she leaned closer to him.
I walked up to the station and greeted the attendant, asking her how to tie some secure lure/trap knots. She took me to one of the tying posts at the edge of the station and began demonstrating how to tie one that could string up an opponent or two in a tree, making it difficult for them to break free without falling on their back, neck, or head.
"How's it going Anthea?" Jay asked as he looked up from his knot.
I nodded as I secured the end of the knot. The attendant checked my work and nodded in approval before moving over to help another tribute with knot tying. Jay walked over to my knot tying post to check out my work. Joule followed close behind.
"Looks good," Jay murmured as he straightened up. "Now what?"
I pointed to the fire making station and Jay followed, Joule trailing behind us. I tried to resist the temptation to roll my eyes again as we walked away. Jay leaned close to me and muttered, "She keeps following us. You think that means she's hoping for an alliance?"
"Probably," I said as we approached the fire making station.
When we took a break for lunch, Joule slid into a seat next to Jay without waiting for an invitation. Jay blinked before concentrating on cutting his sandwich in half. I scanned the room to scope out the other tables. Most of the other tributes sat with their district partners or alone, with the exception of the Careers who were sitting at the same table debating about the better weapon to use.
Watt was leaving the serving line when I locked eyes with him and, probably out of pity; I waved him over so he wouldn't be sitting alone. I ignored Joule's fixed stare as he walked over and took a seat in between Jay and me.
"How's the first day going?" I asked Watt as he began to break the crusts off the sandwich.
Watt looked up from his plate and murmured, "Not too bad I'd say. Learned a lot at the plants station – crucial if I want to make it past the Cornucopia of course. I was never very good at nature – see I work in my dad's tech repair shop and often had to fix things, tinker with others, that kind of thing."
"I see," I murmured as I cut a piece of groosling into smaller pieces. "I worked in my family's butcher shop."
Watt looked up from his plate and tilted his head towards me. "I'm guessing you're proficient in knives?"
"Well why weren't you practicing them earlier?" Joule demanded as she looked up from taking a sip of her juice.
"Maybe it's 'cause I don't wanna show off," I muttered as I focused on trying to finish lunch.
"A wise move," Watt spoke up as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. "It's not an unusual tactic for the games – probably a good one to consider." He picked up his tray and excused himself before leaving to clear it.
Joule folded her hands on the table and she glanced over at Jay and me. "I think we should team up for the beginning of the games," she said. "Strength in numbers right?"
I resisted the urge to say something back about the fact that we weren't Careers and that didn't always pan out but thought better of it. Jay nodded through a mouthful of beef and Joule beamed.
"What about Watt?" I spoke up as I watched him leave the dining hall.
Joule frowned as she picked up her glass and took a sip from it.
"Am I missing something?" I asked as I watched her.
Joule put down her glass and sighed. "No it's just, he would slow us down. He's brilliant, well who isn't who lives in District 3 to some degree, but he's gangly and slow. Not a good combo for a survival game."
And you wouldn't slow us down? I thought as she left to clear her tray.
Jay waited until she left and he wiped his mouth before leaning closer to me. "I'm sorry Anthea," he said. "She sorta…cornered me at the serving line and asked if we could team up. I already told her that we had an alliance and she tried to talk me out of teaming up with you –"
"I figured," I sighed. "Whatever – as long as she doesn't slow us down or try to slit our throats the first night, it's fine."
Jay relaxed his shoulders and shot me a grateful smile. "I think Watt should be allowed to join if you think he could help."
"Well I'm not entirely sure to be honest," I admitted as I looked around the room. "Really hard to tell who we should work with and who we should avoid."
The Careers were starting to carry their empty trays to the disposal area and some of the other tributes were retrieving more for lunch, probably because they never had much to eat back home. My eyes fell on Rye's back and I saw that he had been sitting alone off to the side, observing the other tributes. When he picked up his water glass, I saw the scars on his wrist and tried to see what they could be.
Knife? Something sharp obviously but not an axe – axes were common in District 7 not 9. I gave up trying to decode his scars when Jay started to clear his tray and I followed behind him.
"What do you think Mira's going to do when we get back?" Jay asked as we headed for an elevator.
I bit my lip as I tried to remember if she said anything at breakfast. "Umm, she did mention on the train that after training she wanted to work on our angles for the interview part. That won't be until the end of the week but she thought it would be better to start that now. Technically, Crestley should be coaching us now but I highly doubt that's gonna happen."
"Is it bad if I wish that he would die from too much liquor?" Jay muttered as the elevator doors slid shut.
"You shouldn't say things like that," I scolded him as the elevator ascended.