It's time for the training. This is my longest chapter yet of Labyrinth. Before we begin, here is a disclaimer: There may not be too much plot in this chapter, just explaining how different tributes are preparing for their individual sessions with the Gamemakers. As of 7:16 AM EST on August 18, here are the poll results:
Tied for 1st place, with one vote each are Apollo, Aurora, Bryson, Elegance, Isabella, Madi, Margaret, Savanna, and Vixen.
Tied for 10th place, with zero votes, are the other fifteen characters. There was some inherent bias in this poll, because people voted for their own characters. Still, though, I'm glad that there are some people willing to vote. If you have time to visit my Profile page, you have time to vote in the poll. Enough said.
You might be wondering where I got the ideas for the rolls. I give all credit to a Bustle bleogger named Martha Sorren. Thanks, Martha. I've done some baking, but just with my mother mostly, and not really bread. The last time I made bread, was, oddly enough, for a science project for school.
One last thing: The chapter title, 3 Days Of Excess, comes from the title of Chapter 6 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. I think that this is clever, and that is also one of my favorite video games of all time. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review, because there are a lot of little things in this chapter, even though it doesn't ultimately add up to that much plot.
Here we go.
After getting off of their chariots, the tributes were led to the Training Center, a large skyscraper with one floor for each district.
They took the elevators to their respective floors, and then it was time for dinner.
Vixen was shocked by the meal she saw before her. It was like nothing she had ever seen before in District 6, especially not growing up on the streets.
Some type of fish was slathered in a thick pink sauce. To the side, there was a bowl of some fancy yellow grain that looked like a desert landscape. For drinks, there was a large glass of some dark brown, bubbling liquid.
"They call it root beer" Apollo said. "It's good".
Vixen took a swig of the sweet liquid. She immediately recoiled at the carbonation, not expecting it to hurt to drink it so quickly. Once she had recovered, she set her root beer to the side for now.
Also on the side; a bowl of fancy-looking greens covered in blueberry sauce. Vixen didn't know what to make of this.
Once they were done eating, the Avoxes, people who had had their tongues cut out by the Capitol so that they couldn't speak, cleared the plates and then brought out dessert. It was a large yellow cake with white icing and artificial lemon leaves on the top. There was certainly nothing like this back at home!
Even if this was the last week of her life, this was the life.
The following morning, training started at ten o'clock sharp. As Ted looked around at the other tributes, he thought, Probably none of these people have actually killed before. I have. I think I have an advantage in that regard.
Ted sized up his competition. The boys from 1 and 2 both looked absolutely brutal, with their burly statures. They were also extremely arrogant, Ted had realized as they had passed the District 9 chariots the previous evening. Horatio and Hades were tough competitors. But only time would tell if they were truly victor material.
The Head Trainer, a man named Atticus Cyrene, was standing in the middle of the circle of tributes, arranged like a clock, with District 12 being where the number twelve would be on a typical analog clock. Head Trainer Cyrene explained the rules.
"You guys will have two and a half days in here to handle the weapons, try the obstacle course, and work on your survival skills. On the third day, you will go up in front of the Gamemakers-", he gestured to Johan Bainbridge and several other Gamemakers who were in the room, "and show them what you've got. They will assign you a score from one to twelve based on your performance.
"During these three days, you are not allowed to engage in any combative exercise whatsoever with another tribute. If you do so, the consequences will be...bad. We have five assistants on hand. If you wish to practice with a partner, just say the word.
"You got that?"
The twenty-four tributes all nodded.
"Any questions?"
All of the children shook their heads. Atticus Cyrene had pretty much clarified everything they had needed to know.
"Okay" Head Trainer Cyrene said, "here is the edible plants station. Two people can go against each other in the matching game. We've also got camouflage and fire making stations. There's the obstacle course over there, weights stations, and weapons stations in the far corner. You've got three days to get ready for your private sessions. So I suggest you get to it now".
He blew his whistle. The tributes took that as their signal to go out there and start training for the Games.
Miri was working at the edible plants station when Em came up to her and asked her to join an alliance with her.
"No thanks, Em. Let me just do this right now, okay?"
"But would you be okay with any alliance with anyone else?"
"I don't think so, to be honest" Miri said. "No matter how many allies you have, eventually there's only one victor. The sooner you accept that, the better chance you have of winning the Games. It's a wonder the Careers always trust each other not to kill them in their sleep".
"I know" Em said.
Miri was playing the memory game right now. The edible plants lit up as yellow, and the poisonous plants lit up as red. Of course, the colors were only there for a split second. It was then time for her to tap on as many yellow plants as possible while avoiding the red ones. This game was fun, but it got old real fast. Besides, there was really only so far it could get you in terms of impressing the Gamemakers. And that was Miri's goal. After all, she had volunteered in order to get into the Games and gain some glory for her district. In order for that to happen, she had to win, not look like some suicidal eighteen-year-old who didn't know that the only one hundred percent guaranteed way to survive the Hunger Games was to not volunteer if your name wasn't called!
But now she had. And the Careers weren't going to let her into their pack after all. Maybe Miri should focus on stations that the Careers didn't. She could obviously only have provoked them with her bold statement last night. They would be out to get her as soon as that gong rang out on the morning of the Games, which was looking closer and closer every hour. Which, of course, it was.
Eli had already mastered knot-tying. After all, he was from District 4, and being a teen inventor really did require you to be good with your hands. As a result, Eli thought he'd be wasting his time if he spent too much time practicing there.
Instead, he decided to go over to the weapons station. He didn't want to build too much muscle prior to the Games; the more muscle you had, the more calories you burned, and, in an environment where there wasn't too much food to go around, that was not a good thing. However, having some basic skills at weaponry could help.
Eli picked up a trident and began swinging it around. He made sure that he wasn't near any other tributes before doing this. He didn't want to get in trouble with the Gamemakers for accidentally injuring one of them. Eventually, he threw the trident towards the target, ten yards away.
It barely nicked the edge of the target before sliding off. Eli must not have thrown it hard enough.
He went to retrieve the trident and threw again. This time, it was on the borderline of the blue and red circles, southeast of the yellow center.
"Third time's the charm" Eli said quietly. He picked up his trident, aimed a little higher and to the left, and threw with all of his might...
"Bull's-eye!" he exclaimed. He thought he'd figured out what skill he would show the Gamemakers.
Conker and Isabella were working together at the camouflage station. They were both trying to paint themselves to look as if they were part of a tree.
"This is useless" Conker said in his slightly lisping voice.
"Well, if you think it's useless, why don't you go over to another station?" Isabella snapped at him.
"No...I like being with you" said Conker.
"Then stay here, because I'm working at camouflage" Isabella shot back. She continued painting her arm, which she was pretty good at. Being a paramedic really did have its benefits when it came to training for the Hunger Games. Isabella was used to working under pressure. She was used to fixing wounds, starting intravenous lines, etc. All of that required you to be good with your hands, which Isabella was.
She hadn't thought that the odds had been in her favor. After all, she wasn't a Career. She was from District 7, which was the furthest one from the Capitol. And yet, here she was. Hopefully, this would get her a six or a seven from the Gamemakers. She didn't want a nine, or even an eight. And definitely not a 10, 11, or 12. Too high a score from an outer-district tribute like herself could make her a target for the Careers. She'd watched enough Hunger Games to know that. And, she frequently rewatched them, studying just in case she was ever reaped.
"Let's go somewhere else" she told Conker. "Let's practice with axes".
Leo was practicing what he was best at, which was starting fires. He used some tinder and flint to create a tiny little flame, so cute. It was then so satisfying to build around it and watch the little baby flame grow. Right now, it was four inches high.
Leo continued doing what he was doing, building a teepee of sorts for the flame to consume slowly. He was going to see how high he could get it. The fire making station was enclosed in a barrier, so that the whole place wouldn't go up in flames if it got a little bit out of control. Leo just wanted to get a decent training score and have a chance at winning.
Siliconia was also at the fire station, working at the same time as Leo. She wasn't having nearly as much luck, though, which wasn't surprising. She just didn't have the same skill with fire that he did. Leo had asked her if she had wanted to form an alliance with him.
She'd refused.
"I'm sorry, Leo Nale. But there's only one victor. And what if it came down to the two of us? I could never kill you like that. Not after starting an alliance with you. Besides, I don't know if I could ever trust anyone enough not to kill me in my sleep".
Leo nodded, but inside he wasn't happy. With an alliance with Siliconia, his district partner, even a twelve-year-old district partner, he'd started to believe that District 3 might actually have a chance this year. But now these hopes had been dashed somewhat.
"Oh. Well, Uncle Leo's going to change your mind at some point, Siliconia Bradley. You just wait!"
Vixen was on the obstacle course, working on her speed.
She scrambled across the cargo net, up the climbing wall, and across the swinging ropes. The entire time, she was looking out for trainers with clubs, who were trying to hit her. Vixen, much like Leo, had decided to work on perfecting the skills she already had rather than trying to acquire new ones with so little time before the Hunger Games started.
It wasn't just speed, but agility that this was helping. So far, among all of the tributes who had run the obstacle course, Vixen had the best record time, at fifty-one seconds. She was going to use these skills to get in and grab something from the Cornucopia. That was going to be her strategy, because she figured that she was fast enough for that. But she'd have to wait a while until she actually could find out if that was really best for her.
At 12:30, all of the tributes were called in for lunch. In addition to the filet mignon, shrimp, and onions, there were twelve baskets of rolls, one specifically for rolls from a particular district.
(I will now talk about the rolls from the SnowLucario districts)
District 1's rolls were golden-brown and shaped like crowns. They were extremely fancy, and the shape reminded them that, besides the Capitol obviously, District 1 were kind of the kings and queens of Panem. There was also edible sugar glitter on top.
District 2's rolls were hard raisin-and-oatmeal bread raised up using cornmeal. It was meant to show that District 2 was strong.
Which, of course, they are, Hades thought.
District 3 had bite-sized, square-shaped rolls. They were pretty good, but of course they were gone early. They were just that popular.
District 4's rolls were very cute, shaped like fish. There was just enough blue-green seaweed to be visible through the dough in certain places. This was another roll that was gone early. So early, in fact, that they actually brought in more District 4 rolls due to the very high demand for them.
District 5 had challah-shaped rolls with small seeds that were made in the shape of lightning bolts. These were not the size of full loaves of challah, and were only a little bigger than the rolls you might find at a Bertucci's, another now-defunct chain.
District 6's rolls were dark and shaped to look like tires. Which was fitting, considering that 6 was the transportation district.
District 7's rolls? They were unique in that it was shaped like normal bread, except there was one key difference. Darker bread was rolled into it so that it looked kind of like a Yule log. It might have been the least popular, though. Aside from the next district's.
As for District 8, they were small, cracker-like wafers. (Obviously, since this is an AU, there is no mockingly symbol on them. Just disappointing crackers. Like, seriously, couldn't the citizens of 8 have come up with something better?)
District 9's bread was standard, considering that it was the grain district. They took bread making much more seriously there, since it was actually their district's industry.
District 10's rolls were little rolls shaped like meringue cookies, except there was a twist to them. Each roll had a spoonful of ground beef inside, to fit more with the theme of livestock. That was pretty awesome.
As for District 11, their bread has been described in canon, so I won't go into too much detail. It's just ration-grain dark bread, shaped into crescent-shaped rolls with poppy seeds added.
And District 12's rolls were super-ugly rolls made from tessera grain. The basket was still mostly full by the end of the meal.
Not that the bread mattered that much. Conker was extremely nervous. All he was thinking about was what the fuck he'd do after lunch. He'd spent the morning at the camouflage station with Isabella. But maybe he should try something else. He would have tried to get some basic weaponry knowledge, but that probably wouldn't get him that far, considering he planned to simply abandon the Cornucopia in the beginning. After all, most people who died in the initial Bloodbath ran in rather than running for the hills. Conker would not let himself be one of those.
Neither would Aurora. Although she no longer had realistic hopes to become a biological engineer, she still hoped to be someone who wasn't just one of those nameless, starving workers from the Wheatlands. Maybe she could do it if she did her district proud, even if she didn't win. But in order to do that, it would help to get her priorities straight in terms of what to do for the last two days of training before they faced the Gamemakers.
When lunch was over, the training continued.
Wheat and Ira were still working at the edible plants station when Vair showed up. The boys were all waiting in line to play the memory game when Vair asked the question that was on all of their minds.
"Are you guys forming an alliance with me, so that it's the three of us?"
Vair worried that this was the wrong thing to say. To his relief, though, Wheat laughed.
"Wasn't planning on it. There can only be one winner, and alliances formed too early in the Games are risky. But so are those formed too late. I guess I'll play it by year, right?"
Ira agreed with him. He said, "Assuming I survive the Bloodbath, I might align with someone if I come across them. But until then, just like Wheat said, I'm not planning on it".
Vair nodded and stood back to watch the boy from District 2 practice with an axe.
Hades was using the axe to chop the heads off a line of dummies. It was hard work, but Hades Blackett was a strong boy. He cut through all of their heads in record time. By the time he had reached a hundred, he was soaked in sweat.
"Good job, Hades" the trainer said. "You did the dummy line faster than anyone ever has. Five minutes and forty-seven seconds".
Hades laughed to himself. The Gamemakers would be impressed. After all, Hades had been using axes ever since he was a little boy. It was as though he should have been in District 7 rather than District 2. The axe might be Hades's key to victory, to triumph over the other Careers.
"Can I spar with you?" he asked the trainer.
"Sure, Blackett, of course" the trainer said back.
Hades got his axe at the ready. The trainer readied his. Both of them were much fancier than the ones Hades was used to back in District 2. Those ones were partially overtaken by rust, but these axes were sleek and black, so clean that Hades could see his own reflection in them. He looked at his dark brown eyes and his greasy black hair. He sure looked good, a ruthless killing machine. Just the type of person who had the greatest chance of winning these Games.
When the trainer gave the signal, Hades swung his axe at the trainer, careful not to decapitate him. Hades was brutal, but he wasn't that brutal. He wasn't supposed to kill this grown man. He had to kill other teenagers to make it back home and get the fame and fortune for his district. And himself, of course.
Hades swung the axe wildly, but with deadly precision. It was going to be hard for anyone to overcome him. The trainer tried to get him to ease off, but Hades didn't know his own strength.
Eventually, the trainer collapsed. Hades had caused a large, gaping wound to his stomach.
"Everyone, stop what you're doing right now!"
The twenty-four tributes all looked at Head Gamemaker Bainbridge. He'd been watching the whole time.
"Hades Blackett here has wounded one of our trainers. He is headed to time-out. He will not be allowed to work on training until tomorrow".
There was a little bit of mumbling. Hades had overstepped the line a little bit? Wow, that was news.
"Everyone, QUIET!" the Head Gamemaker shouted.
The tributes, at Johan Bainbridge's booming voice, settled down.
"You may now go back to whatever you may have been doing. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"
After Hades's departure, Savanna and Ash were working at the knot-tying station. Savanna mastered this quickly, but Ash's hands could not stop shaking. He would be absolutely useless in that regard, Savanna thought. But then again, District 12's tributes could usually be written off almost right away.
Savanna thought about asking Ash for an alliance. But she almost immediately decided that he'd be more of a liability than an asset to her team, if she intended to have one. Which she didn't.
Elegance, meanwhile, was apart from the other Careers, running the obstacle course. She was not particularly quick, far more methodical and steady. She did make a few stumbles along the way, though. From far away, Horatio said, "She's no Career. I doubt she gets an eight, let alone a ten".
"Well, should we still have her, then?" Margaret asked. "If she's as weak as you say she is?"
"I don't know" Horatio said. "It all depends on how she does in front of the Gamemakers. If her score's anything below an 8, she's out. The blood earlier..."
Margaret didn't need him to finish the sentence. There had been an instance earlier in the day when Elegance had pricked her finger a little bit with a mace she had been practicing with. There had barely been any blood involved, but still the girl had turned pale. If she really was that squeamish about blood, there was no way that they could keep her.
"I know" Margaret said. "I just wish Hades was here..."
Hades was currently being kept in a small, circular room, much like a dungeon that his namesake might have kept prisoners in. For people from outer districts, this was essentially a dungeon. But Hades didn't see it that way. He saw it as the key to glory. And he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way.
Yes, sure, maybe he should have been a little more careful with that axe. But he didn't see that as his fault, not really. The trainer was just really bad with an axe compared to him. That was what Hades thought.
He'd be in this room until dinnertime, when he'd eat with the rest of the tributes. The next morning, he could resume training as normal, but having lost several valuable hours of training time.
This wasn't the way he wanted to start his run at the Hunger Games, but he'd made his bed, and now he had to lie in it.
Ash and Madi from District 12 were working together at the weapons station. This was not likely to help them too much unless they ran into the Cornucopia, which neither of them really intended to do. They could only hold out hope that they would somehow acquire a weapon later on.
Madi had talked to Ash earlier to ask if the older boy wanted to form an alliance with her, but he had said no.
"Only one victor, Madi. The sooner you accept that basic fact, the more likely you are to be that victor".
Madi knew that was true deep down. Other than the Careers, there were often no major alliances formed before the Games. If you ran into another tribute who wasn't a Career, you'd usually either form an alliance, or one of you would end up killing the other. That was just the way the Hunger Games were played.
Ash nocked an arrow, but it was clear that he was untrained with a bow. He missed the target by miles, and the only thing he could think about was how unlikely it was that he would ever see District 12 again.
The following morning, Hades was allowed back into the training room.
His presence raised some eyebrows, and people were definitely intimidated by him. After all, he'd wounded the trainer and probably not lost any sleep over it. Hades was definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with in the arena. Which, of course, the District 2 boy was every year. Like everything else in these Games, that was just how it went.
"Don't worry, guys. I've learned my lesson" Hades said.
He ran a hand through his greasy black hair, making sure that the other tributes saw that he looked nervous. In fact, Hades Blackett was barely nervous at all. The only thing he was worried about was catching up on lost time.
On the other side of the training room, Apollo was working on his skills with building fires. He'd grown up in District 6, so he could definitely use a certain level of survival knowledge, in which he was sorely lacking. He just wished there were guns in the Hunger Games. He laughed at his own joke. Gunner. But, of course, there were never any pistols, rifles, or anything else with a trigger at the Cornucopia. He guessed that the Games would be over too quickly that way.
Apollo had gone into this with little or no experience outdoors. As it turned out, though, he was a fast learner. It was after only fifteen minutes of carefully constructing a tower of tinder that he managed to get a small flame perhaps two inches tall. He continued gingerly nursing it until he had an inferno that, if this was Survivor, would have easily cut the rope to get him into that final three.
He'd really picked up fire making quickly. He decided to move to something he was better at: knife throwing.
Apollo hit the targets easily. It felt like a rhythm to him, as it always did; once he got one knife into the target, he hit his stride and was therefore likely to get many more. There were some tributes, however, who were not having as easy a time with the knives as he was.
He was just picking up his ten knives when a tall boy with shaggy blonde hair came in. Apollo recognized him as the boy from District 10.
"What's your name again?" the District 6 boy asked.
"I'm Bryson Holstein, District 10" the other boy said.
Apollo and Bryson exchanged small talk for a little bit longer before a girl came up. Bryson recognized her as the girl from District 9. What was her name again?
As if reading Bryson's thoughts, the girl said, "Aurora Baylor. That's my name. I'm from District 9, and I worked long hours in the fields of the Wheatlands. I wanted to be a biological engineer before...you know".
"Yeah" Apollo said. "That kinda sucks. But what made you want to be a biological engineer, whatever that is?"
Aurora said, "I wanted to be able to grow more food to feed the citizens of 9. I wanted to be someone other than the nameless, starving masses who work in the wheat fields. And now, those hopes have been dashed".
"What if you win, girl?" Bryson asked in his best flirtatious tone of voice.
Aurora seemed very turned off by Bryson's flirtatiousness. She turned around angrily and left.
"Dude" Apollo said. "That's not the way you talk to girls you just met".
Those words hung in the air. Apollo and Bryson both knew that the problem wasn't that there wasn't enough food, but that the Capitol hogged it all. So Aurora's growing more wouldn't do jack shit for the districts.
The following afternoon, Horatio Jewel walked to the front of the line. The arrogant Career tribute from District 1 would be the first to demonstrate his skills in front of the Gamemakers. He could only hope to do well.
Okay. I THINK I covered just about everyone in this chapter. I finished this at about 7:49 AM on the morning of August 19. I did make the poll a blind poll to remove any bias. But, in case you are wondering, here are the current results:
Tied for 1st: Elegance, Isabella, Savanna, and Vixen with two votes each.
Tied for 5th: Apollo, Aurora, Bryson, Madi, Margaret, and Miri with one vote apiece.
Tied for 11th: Anna, Ash, Cam, Conker, Eli, Em, Hades, Horatio, Ira, Leo, Siliconia, Ted, Vair, and Wheat, all of whom have yet to get on the board.
All right, guys. The next chapter is the tributes facing the Gamemakers. Hope you look forward to i!
SnowLucario out.