A/N: Update! As always, enjoy!
It was the final day of training, and Terkast was calmer than he was the first two. He took Maylin up to the older part of the building once more yesterday to spy on the tributes. The amount of stress was nearly killing her, but it was fun to live on the wild side. As a girl back in District 6, she did nothing out of the ordinary, and now she threw that away.
"Come, come," Terkast muttered as he bustled around his office. The neatly stacked papers were in random places amongst the desk, for he had just ruffled through them. He opened the door hastily, a notebook clutched tightly in his hands.
"We're late," he said to himself as he power-walked through the halls. The Head Gamemaker jabbed the 'down' button with much more force than was necessary, upset at the lack of leisure time.
The elevator zipped up, and Maylin was ushered in by Terkast, who was still muttering. The doors closed with a 'bing' and Maylin closed her eyes, listening to Terkast with a small smile.
"They knew today was the Final Training! Why would they send me the report on the arena and demand that it be done by today? Why?" The Gamemaker threw his hands in the air. "I have no time at night, and not nearly enough in the morning. I swear, if this wasn't my last year, I'd quit." He said the last part vehemently, as if it was the worst insult one could offer.
The doors opened up, and Terkast swiftly walked out the doors and into the street. Maylin tagged behind him, her thoughts wandering as she watched his back. "And the buildings are so far apart! If they had any sense, why they'd… make them closer!"
The blocks passed quickly, for Terkast nearly ran there. The doors were opened, and a guard politely said good afternoon to the pair. "Yes, yes. Get us up to the Training Room, stat," Terkast snapped, breathing heavily.
Taken aback, the guard hesitated for a second, but was set into motion by the Gamemaker's snaps of impatience. "Yes, sir. Follow me." Many sounds were coming from around them, but the guard waded through them, creating an entourage. Rattling predicted the arrival of the elevator, and they both got in. "Have a nice day, sir," the guard said, and Terkast managed a weak smile this time.
"I'm going to rip my hair out. I hate Quells. Why, they're mighty interesting, but to organize them? Bah!" Terkast was once more muttering to himself.
Earthy browns greeted Maylin as she exited on the Training Center floor. This was the room the tributes waited in before they performed. It was probably brown to ease their troubles.
She'd never been on this floor before. Usually she was stuck on the District Floors, where she'd cater to the tributes. To think of it, she'd only really catered to District Ten and Seven.
A wide open room waited behind two doors, which was filled with deadly weapons. "'Bout time," someone muttered. However, when Terkast looked closer, his subordinates looked innocent and occupied.
An Avox – the same Avox Maylin saw in the elevator the other day – pulled out the center chair for Terkast. "You'll stand behind me," he whispered to her as he sat down.
"Terkast," Juniper Telle said, drawing he papers closer to her, "the tributes will be in within five minutes. Jet will start it off. Was there anyone in the Waiting Room?"
The Head Gamemaker shook his head in response. He was too busy with his notebook to fully notice his Second in Command.
A door slammed in the next room. "That would be District One, most likely," Baheera muttered, and pressed a silver button on the table in front of him. Terkast shot the Gamemaker a dirty look, for an identical button in front of him blazed orange.
"I press the buttons," he said curtly, before pressing a green one. What happened next surprised Maylin. A shimmery wall seemed to fall from the ceiling, but disappeared seconds later. She could tell from a faint hum that the force field was still there, just invisible.
"Jet Vermeil," Juniper read out, and Terkast pressed a light green button. The locks on the entrance doors snapped open, and Jet stepped casually inside with a grin. "Show us what you got, kid," a Gamemaker down the line said.
The boy inclined his head slightly, and then proceeded to a rope in the center of the room. He was soon at the top, and touched it lightly before he was off on the floor once more. The strangest thing about his performance was that his footsteps didn't make a sound.
Jet brushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes, and quickly separated poisonous plants from edible ones, and then ran towards the Close Combat rack. He picked up a short, jade blade and began hacking pieces off a dummy. The blows weren't necessarily precise, but each swing took an enormous chunk out of the dummy.
He decapitated it with a final blow, then laid his weapon on the floor. Jet calmly walked back to the panel, and inclined his head once more. "That was quick," Terkast muttered to himself, scribbling furiously in his notebook. "You may leave," he said louder, waving his hand in dismissal. Jet left with swagger in his step, as if he did the best in the world.
"What was that weapon?" someone down the table whispered, which was quickly answered by a harsh "That was a mere. It's been here longer than you, how could you not know what it was?"
The first speaker muttered incomprehensible words into their goblet, and it was then Terkast realized that there was food in front of him. It was just starters, like a heavy plum stew and lighter, creamier corn chowder. He took a small bowl, and pressed the unlocking button once more.
"Cree Sooke," Juniper read once more, and the girl stepped lightly into the room. The contrast between her and other District One females was startling, as she was clearly the opposite of their light hair and eyes.
"Begin," Baheera said, his spoon in his hand. Cree didn't even acknowledge the Gamemakers ahead of her, but went straight to the Close Combat rack, like Jet. She grabbed a few tomahawks off the shelf, and began swinging them in a tight-knit circle. Pieces of foam from the dummy flew off, but the weapons moved so fast that they were just blurs.
She then took the two she had, and proceeded to the Range, where multiple targets were set up at varying distances. With a sharp flick of her wrist, Cree launched the tomahawk, and it landed blade down in the center of the deep wood.
A brief smile flickered on her lips before she chose the farthest target. The District One tribute took a deep breath, and with a motion much like before, she flung it. This one also landed in the center, with a satisfying thump.
The seconds were ticking by, but nobody seemed to notice as Cree held their attention. She sprinted a few laps around the room, and was then dismissed by Terkast. "Get an Avox to clean that up," he said, barely paying attention.
A swarm of the tongue less servants busied the field, taking away old dummies and replacing them with new. One took time in dislodging the imbedded tomahawks, but it was all done within a minute.
"Floyd Barabe," Juniper said, her papers shuffling. The boy was sturdy, and smiling pleasantly at the panel in front of him. He went forward at Terkast's wave, and scoured the room. It wasn't terribly interesting, Terkast thought as he helped himself to some bread.
Floyd was a typical District Two male. He threw some heavy things across the room, and hacked up the replaced dummies with a cruel blade. "You're dismissed," Terkast said, and wrote small words on his paper. The bread from District Ten, Terkast decided, was clearly superior. It had chunks of meat in it!
Juniper said another name, but Terkast missed it in his decision of the bread. The girl gestured forward the Hand-to-Hand expert, and then started an interesting fight. Tamara included street fighting moves, and seemed to draw enjoyment from setting up the expert, only to have him fail in the end.
"Finish it up, you're time's almost up," grumbled a Gamemaker, and with a flourish, Tamara punched the expert in the face. He stumbled, and she swiped his legs out from underneath him. "You're good," the same man rumbled, and Tamara left with a sneer.
"Erm, this one's Asher Decon, from District Three." The boy was smaller, and looked geeky, even to Maylin's District Five standards.
Asher looked up to the panel, and waited for the signal. When Terkast gave it, he headed over, and constructed a simple noose with several attachments. "Can you… uh, let something, I don't know… go? I want… to show you my, uh, trap."
Baheera nodded, and snapped his fingers. A light brown doe stepped forward from a metal cage near the edge of the room. She treaded lightly, and headed straight for the noose laid on the ground, completely oblivious. One fatal step, and she was hoisted into the air, and her beautiful, innocent head rolled across the ground.
Maylin gasped, but Terkast nodded appreciatively. It was a nice trap. "Marielle Bernstein." She had curly hair, and an overall sweet face. The Servant Avoxes brought several large pheasants that were roasted, and smelled delicious. His mouth watered at the scent.
Marielle did nothing much, but went to the table and carefully picked out some edible plants. She even showed her daring by tasting those she deemed safe. But it wasn't interesting, and he didn't write much for her.
The District Four tribute, who Juniper introduced as Joss Summers, walked in very confident and happy. Terkast happily watched him while chewing his pheasant. Joss expertly threw the tridents through each of the dummies heads, and also threw spears.
He was dismissed, and Terkast picked up his notebook once more. "Goo' at losh ov wepunz," he muttered, the pheasant sticking in his mouth. Some spittle and chewed meat flew out as he wrote it down.
Caddis Tipper also walked in confidently, and did almost exactly what Joss did. This was the point where it got boring. District One and Two focused mainly on swords and hand-to-hand, but each was different. District Three was interesting because it was the first one that used traps. District Four used tridents and spears, and it got annoying after a while. There was nothing truly great about anything after District Four.
Corson Livington created a trap much like Asher, except it added a trace amount of fire, so it charred his doe. He looked very proud as the trap went off, and it amazed Terkast that he could create a trap like that in such few time.
"Frankie Heathome," Juniper read out, and a small girl shuffled in. She parted her hair for a second, and waited for a signal. When Terkast gave her the go, she shuffled over to the traps that were just cleaned up, and built one of her own. However, it was a messy one, and didn't even catch the doe. Frankie began to cry as the doe leapt away in fright.
"Oh, they've gotten the roasted tiger. I've always loved that exotic flavor of the big cat," Baheera muttered, paying more attention to the large plate of sliced meat. Wolf Spanes was a 12-year-old who gave a weak smile to the panel. They weren't really paying attention to him, though.
The child created a small trap, but Terkast eyed the pumpkin juice that was brought in. Wolf was only twelve, it's not like he could do much with them, anyway. Terkast's suspicions were confirmed as the doe that escaped Frankie was captured, but not given a bloody death.
"Very nice, very nice," Terkast said, dismissing the boy. Wolf looked disappointed, but left without complaint.
"Linea Navy," was a small girl, who gave a winning smile. As the tributes went on, they tried more tactics to get the Gamemakers to like them. She went to the rope in the center of the room, and swiftly climbed the rope. Then, she grabbed some spears and threw them through the hearts of all the dummies. She was soon dismissed, and Terkast stretched out in his chair.
It had already been an hour and a half, and they were only halfway done. This was certainly the worst part about it – having to watch the children perform.
"Time for a break," he said, his voice sounding croaky. "Now, the scores for the first twelve?"
"Jet Vermeil," Juniper said, and immediately an argument broke out. Some decided that he deserved a 9, while two others were saying 10. Terkast himself has written down 9, and slowly interjected that Jet would get a 10. Baheera grumbled to himself, but kept his words incomprehensible.
"Cree Sooke?" Unlike Jet, the District One female was nearly unanimous. She received an 11.
"Floyd Barabe," Juniper said. Most Gamemakers decided that he was a large Career, and deserved one of the biggest scores, but he wasn't very accurate. To his surprise, they figured it out on their own, and Floyd also received a 10.
"Tamara Lively," received a 9 after arguments. Terkast was beginning to believe they enjoyed being at each other's throats.
"Asher Decon," got a 6 for his efforts, and "Marielle Bernstein," a 4. District Three never did well during training. It was the stronger tributes who had something to show off.
Both of District Four got 9s, and Corson received an 8. However, Frankie was more on par with the usual for her district, and received a 2.
"Last but not least," Juniper stated, "Wolf Spanes." Many shouts of 'Three!' filled the room, and it was marked down on everyone's scorecard. "Linea Navy?" Linea got many shouts of all different numbers, but it was finally settled on a Four.
The Avoxes swarmed as they cleaned up the room to make it look brand new. "And we're only halfway through," Terkast muttered, daintily sipping his cup.
A/N: I almost used ginormous, but I don't think that would be very professional. Expect an update soonish, as I'm going away for softball and school. I swear, I'm going to stab someone with a blunt spork. Have a nice day!