Davina Sterling, 18, District One Female
She's been waiting to enter the room ever since Benny had walked in, a brave smile on his face as he hoped to display his mediocre skills over the sword to the game makers. Truthfully, Davina knew that he didn't have a chance. Fourteen-year-old Benny didn't have the strength to impress with the raw skill, the power that the game makers wanted to see from the tributes. Every year, her parents had watched the games with her, pointing out tributes and noting their strengths, but more importantly, their weaknesses. If you knew a person's weakness, her mother had always said, you could manipulate them into turning their strengths against themselves in an effort to make up for their weaknesses. It was the only way to win the Games - at least, the only true way to win the Games. According to her parents, if Davina was ever reaped for the Hunger Games over the starving children whose mothers had gone blind years before and fathers were crippled from their work in the mines, the only way you should win the Games was with honour. There was no grace in slaughtering twelve-year-olds.
Now that Davina came to think of it, her mother had always found an excuse to take a walk or go into the town while Davina and her father watched the Games together. And she had always come back with an excited smile on her face, almost as if she had experienced an adrenaline rush through that run.
She shakes her head fiercely, her red curls tumbling over her face as she throws away the memory. She would not have her memories of her family tainted by secrets already revealed last year. Her mother was a good person, even if she made mistakes, and she and Dad were going to remain together. Davina was going to come back to them.
The door opens slowly as Davina jerks her head up in anticipation, and the pre-recorded voice rings throughout the room. "May the District One Female enter the room?"
The small boy from Four cringes at the tinny voice reverberating through his ears, and Davina smiles in pity for the poor guy. He's been coughing badly through the past few days, and she even offered cough drops that her escort had been kind enough to give. But he pushed them away, croaking that his mentor only wanted him to eat certain things in order to recover, and she walked away in defeat. But she's not going to get tangled up in the lives of the other tributes. She's going to show the game makers that she's stronger than any of these other tributes, however nice they may be. And she would beat the forming alliances with the other tributes. Relying on others would just hurt her, and Davina doesn't want to be hurt by anyone else. She wants to win.
She walks in and throws herself at one of the instructors, furiously pummeling them as hard as she can. The instructor grunts in surprise as Davina sneaks in a jab to the eye, jumping away and attempting to recover from Davina's ferocity. But Davina won't stop to let the woman recover. She can't afford to show mercy in a game of life and death.
Alexis Telle, 17, District Two Female
Alexis needs to move from her seat, to run, to hit something, to do anything but sit in this blasted chair. It's been ages since Sidney went in with that confident grin which hid everything about him but his charm, and now she's alone with the remaining twenty kids. Hey, at least she is the next one up to perform her private session. She wouldn't be able to make it through the private sessions if she was from District Twelve. No wonder the game makers always gave low scores to those outer districts, they just didn't want to pay attention to another teenager displaying their attempts to impress them.
The boy from Three rubs his fingers together nervously as he looks at the doors, and Alexis studies him. He seems like the type to be friendly, the type to be part of Adira's alliance. But, then again, it was Adira who had recruited Alexis after she saw Alexis use the pickaxes as if they were an extension of her arm. It was good to be a part of an alliance, especially this one. It gave some… comfort, some reassurance to the group. If they were attacked, their allies would likely help them.
Unless they didn't want to bother with saving a tribute who's about to die anyway…
She fingers her pendant, feeling the golden ball that the men from the mines had given her. Greg hadn't told her exactly how they had acquired the expensive pendant, instead dodging around the question by leaving the room when the peacekeepers had ordered them out, but Alexis suspects that the acquirement of the pendant was a bit shadier than the men would like her to believe. But they gave it to her to remember her home, and remember her home she would. If she tilts it just right, she can see the colour of her brother's hair…
The doors open once more, and she can see in the background that the instructors are hauling something covered in red and black away into the back of the room. It seems… almost human. Could Sidney have… could he have killed someone to demonstrate his skill? Could he? What in Panem's name had Sidney done during his private session?
No, Sidney wouldn't have done that. Even if Alexis hadn't been able to figure out what he wanted, it didn't mean he was that sadistic. He wouldn't kill for fun, would he?
She walks into the room confidently, grabbing one of the heavy weights inside of the room and lifting it over her head. She can almost hear a murmur of approval from the game makers as she tosses it towards a dummy, causing it to crash down onto the floor. That's good. She wants their attention all on her. She smiles and grabs the bow and arrow, aiming it carefully at the target before releasing the arrow, letting it fly towards the dummy. She is going to get a good score in these private sessions, even if it means she has to kill to do so. She's not going to be overshadowed ever again.
Ava Barkley, 15, District Ten Female
She's been waiting patiently as the tributes before her walk through the doors and to their judgment, watching some saunter in leisurely and others bite their nails as they creep into the training center, but it's almost her turn. And Ava will finally be able to move from her spot and do whatever she has planned for the game makers.
But what has she planned? The past few days in the training center had just been checking out the ax and the survival stations, learning how to make a fire and to detect poisonous berries in preparation for the arena. How was that supposed to factor into her private session? How is she supposed to interweave her seemingly miscellaneous skills with one another into a seamless performance? Damn, if only she worked on this last night instead of watching that movie with Joel! The actors weren't even that good anyway!
Joel had already walked into the training center, waving goodbye to Ava nervously before he disappeared from view and assumedly performed for the game makers. She hadn't made allies with him, only really interacting with him by fawning over his cooking ability - especially those croissants, she never realized that anyone in District Ten could make anything better than her mother's bread - and watching bad movies together at night, but he seemed like a nice kid. If she had the choice, she wouldn't kill him in the arena.
The other four tributes fidget together in the large room, crossing their legs and biting their lips nervously, but Ava looks around at all of them. The girl from Twelve is silently mouthing something to herself, something that almost sounds like… singing? Anyway, it sounds great, and the girl is smiling to herself as she does it. Maybe it's to calm herself down for the private sessions, maybe it's just because she likes it, but Ava's interest is now piqued. She wants to find out more about this girl. She scoots closer along the bench to her, smiling kindly as she startles the girl from Twelve. "Hi! Your voice sounds so good, I'd never be able to do something like that. My name's Ava! What's yours?"
"Ashira," the girl whispers, and she looks down at her hands in embarrassment. "Is it, is it good? The singing, I mean?"
"Sure!" Ava laughs, nodding and pointing at the doors. "If you just did that for the game makers, you'd probably get a three for sure."
Ashira smiles slightly, biting her lip and looking up at the ceiling. "I - I don't know what I'm - I'm going to do for the ga - game makers. Maybe the pickaxes, I guess? I mean, I am from District Twelve…"
Ava nods, scratching the side of her neck as she turns towards Ashira. "You're going to be fine! Just stay calm and remember that you'll do well, and nothing will stop you. Good luck!"
Ashira's about to say something, but she's cut off by the opening of the doors and the robotic voice of the intercom ringing once more through the room. "May the District Ten Female please enter the room?"
Ava waves goodbye and runs into the room, looking around to see what she's going to do. Maybe she'll do well, and maybe she won't, but she's just going to wing it. After all, what else was thinking on your feet for?
Hello everyone! I'm glad to have finished this chapter, and now we are officially only a few chapters, three, to be accurate, until the bloodbath! We'll have the score reveals next chapter before the night before, and then we'll do the day of the Games before the bloodbath chapter. Exciting! I hope you enjoyed this, and it'd be cool to see some of your predictions for the featured tributes' scores! Well, here are the sponsor points ;)
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Enjoy summer! (I've got one more day to go XD) until next time, TheAmazingJAJ