Dreaming of Nightmares: The 525th Hunger Games
Chapter 12: Allies?
"You look ridiculous." Athena mumbled, scoffing slightly.
The two district partners sat soundly at the breakfast table, awaiting their meal. Well, they were sitting soundly until Athena decided to speak to up... with unnecessary commentary in most eyes. She had previously heard all about the kid. Of course she felt bad but.. it wasn't her problem.
She had simply commented on his choice of clothing, which looked horrible if you asked her. A light orange shirt threaded with the number '3' and a pair of pukish colored pants. There was something about the get-up that didn't quite match.
"Okay?" Enlai responded questioningly, cocking an eyebrow. He didn't really know what to say to the girl, all possible comments dying on his tongue. He shifted awkwardly, watching as Athena readjusted herself in her chair. Her gray eyes scanned over his face once more before another scoff escaped.
Enlai sighed, "What now?" he asked, feeling instant regret.
Athena paused, contemplating a response when a few avoxes piled in the room, all carting around different dishes.
Both tributes thought just toast or something like it would be fine, but in the Capitol.. everything acquired the need to be extravagant.
Bowls of strawberries and fruits even Athena didn't know of were placed, along with several different kinds of eggs. Small servings of vibrantly colored oats were set before them, covering their main plate. An avox shakily set down meats of sorts along with a mint like jelly. Soon even more food was placed and it took awhile for them to even get any food.
Athena's gaze skirted over each individual dish, and if she deemed it was alright she would ad some to her plate. To a few of them she scrunched her nose as she looked at the shape or texture, ignoring those completely. Enlai knew Mai-Yee would enjoy all of this, especially in her short time. The small girl wanted was curious about everything, and had a want to try anything her eyes grazed over. He felt a bit bad for enjoying it while his little sister just sat there, awaiting for her older brother to return home and hoping to get a bite to eat.. when possible.
With a slightly heavy heart he took a bite of the oats, a burst of fruity flavor spreading over his taste buds. It tasted good to him, though it's after taste was a bit strange. And the fact that his stomach gave a little lurch when wasn't any better.
Athena paused from her meal, gazing at Enlai as he gulped down water. "You know, that noise isn't very nice." she said, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Straightening her back she continued to eat.
"What noise? This noise?" he asked, placing his spoon in his dish rather loudly.
"No," she began, taking a light sip of water. "That gulping noise. You can't even eat right!"
Enlai snorted, "and you can?"
"Yeah, I know how to eat."
"Sorry, didn't realize you were stuck up." he retorted. 'and rich.' he added mentally.
Athena gave a light gasp. "Well, I'm much more intelligent then you are."
Enlai lifted another eyebrow. "Really? Wow, amazing."
Her eyes hardened. "Yeah, I'll show you. Let's go train soon, we'll see who's more intelligent."
"This isn't an intelligence contest, and I never really said you were stupid." Enlai pointed out, inspecting a strawberry before placing it on his tongue. After a brief moment he added, "also.." he trailed off, placing another strawberry in his mouth. His lips parted again briefly, but he just gave a simple wave as if shooing away a thought.
Athena eyes just narrowed before she quickly stood, nearly knocking over her cup. "I am going down to train now." she said simply, heading back toward her room. Enlai suppose it was to get dressed for the girl was still clad in her pajamas. Or at least he assumed that what they were, he had seen a few advertisements here and there. As Enlai continued his meal is a somewhat awkward solace, Athena was simply opening the door to her room.
She knew it wasn't an intelligence contest, though she was sure she was much more intelligent then everyone there. With a slight clearing of throat she opened her door, stepping in to the plush room.
The floor beneath her slippered feet was a deep red in color, and one of the softest things Athena ever had the chance of touching. When she had first gotten there, her eyes picked up on the apparent texture of the ground. She couldn't help but place her scarred hands on it, taking in the feel. Though, her stupid stylist had removed the before permanent scars and burns that she had gotten from working.
Pretty much removing memories.
It angered her greatly, but she was more so mad at herself for letting them. Even though they hurt when she got them, she wanted them back. They were already going to rip her life away, destroy it. She had seen victors even from one broken.
With a sigh she walked over to the nearby closet and chose what she would wear for the remainder of the day.
Astoria gently fingered her hair, untying it and running her fingers through it. She felt no real purpose in the gesture other then to keep herself busy.. and looking innocent. It always worked well in her district it seemed, with all the people still flocking around her even years after what happened.
She soon was looking all over the room for potential allies and weaknesses. She didn't want to seem desperate, nobody liked a person like that. Well, except the ones that could feel your pain and felt guilt for no reason. Or did they? Did they really like her or just pity her? The latter made more sense and the other thought made her snort in irritation. At herself of course. With the heaviest of sighs she began to walk toward a rather muscular male who was demonstrating his shooting ability half heartedly.. with a dart gun. As he continued to shoot with boredom heavy on his face, she tilted her head in thought. There were many ways she could dare-say win him over.. though given his reapings she assumed he was protective and caring. Or some crap like that.
Quickly she began to braid her shoulder length brown hair, and began to scoot toward the male. For another moment she pondered her options.
"Hi." she said sadly, giving a light wave. Henry Green gave the lightest of jumps and turned around, giving the girl a warm smile. Immediately he recognized her from her reaping, the little girl from 5.
He felt the familiar temptation to get down to her height and talk to her, yet he resisted. He highly doubted a girl as young as this could prove to be harmful in any way, but he didn't know who was looking out for her. He knew he volunteered, well, was actually reaped for this. He still had to be careful, very much so as he'd always been. Astoria watched as he faltered lightly and awaited his next words.
"Hey there, I'm Henry." he said giving a wave. Astoria allowed herself to give a dopey grin as he continued. "What's your name?"
Innocent, quiet, sad, scared, determined.. the angles were endless. And Ria hadn't really thought of which one she would actually go with.
"Well.." she began, her mind racing with possibilities. She paused briefly before allowing a small smile upon her face, cocking her head she said, "I'm Astoria, nice to meet you!" she held out small pale hand.
Henry gently took it and gave a firm shake, which she tried to return. "Do you like my braids?" she asked, lightly pulling on one to draw attention to it.
"Oh, it's lovely. Who did it?" he asked.
"Me.. my mentor taught me how."
"How to braid?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah.. didn't yours?"
He chuckled running his fingers through his hair. "Sadly, no."
"I can teach you some time!" she beamed, briefly standing on her tip-toes. 'Naïve, innocent.. this'll do.'
"I look forward to it.." he said, quickly looking to the side. When his eyes reached the small girl, he got down to her level with slight anger at himself. "Do you have an ally yet?"
"Ally.. We need those don't we?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Yeah, do you need one?" he asked simply.
"Well.. sure! Sounds fun!" she exclaimed, giving a smile. There was a pause before she spoke again. "Should we find someone else too? Three's a charm.. something like that, right?"
He shrugged. "If we find someone."
Astoria's smile widened. "Good!"
She had to stare at the boy with slight discomfort. Well, not really discomfort. More so nothing at all, just a blank stare. The boy seemed rather bent on getting her to be his ally, and she wondered why. There were many awkward pauses as he tried to keep the conversation going(which was one sided), and straightened out his orange shirt.
The boy was tall..what made him tower over her as such?
"Well.. um.. sound good?" he asked for what seemed the thousandth time. Rowena gave a quiet sigh, quickly looking to the right. Her eyes spotted the boy from D9 and the girl from D12 working together to successfully identify species and plants. The boy seemed to say something which made the girl's eyebrows furrow, and Rowena could feel the tenseness from where she was standing.
"I don't mean to be impatient.." he drawled, running his fingers through his black hair.
She reluctantly shifted her gaze back on him, her blue like eyes blank. After about a minute she gave another sigh and scratched her head. She didn't particularly want an ally, and she wasn't sure why. Yet another thing to questions. She looked at him and gave a slow nod. "Sure."
A wavering smile broke out onto his face. "Don't know what to say now.. but, you remind me a bit of my sister... sorta."
Cocking her head she blinked. "How so?"
Enlai paused, staring at the child before him who looked rather ill. No.. he wouldn't say. He couldn't, especially to his new ally. Mai-Yee.. well, the only real resemblance was their cheekbones.. and their frailness...and practically everything else. He highly doubted Rowena had a lung disease though, she seemed to be breathing just fine. "You just..do."
Rowena nodded her head slowly, accepting it in Enlai's eyes. She was still curious, yet she figured she could find out why soon enough. Hopefully. Rowena turned her gaze to the right yet again watching as the pair from before set off to another station. With no real plan she headed towards the station, hearing as Enlai walked behind her. Which was a bit weird if she thought about it, but she didn't exactly care in the moment.
Stopping before the table and devices of sorts, she reached a hand out and set it on the table, which contained berries, leaves and more. Enlai was about to open his mouth to protest, yet stopped before he did as such. With two fingers she plucked up a berry and smelled it, noting it has no scent. At least with the pink flesh surrounding it. Gently she began to use her thumb nail to cut it open.
"What a great idea." he grumbled sarcastically. There was a temptation to take it away from her, and he nearly acted on it. Especially when she smelled it again, yet a trainer got to it first.
"That's not a toy!" the trainer exclaimed, smacking her hands. The berry fell out of her grasp and the trainer scoffed angrily. Using two fingers he picked it up and popped it in his mouth. "It's edible." he said, making a disgusted face. He had suddenly come to the realization that the small child touched the berry. He thought about spitting it out, yet it soon slid down his throat.
"You really thought that one through didn't you?" Enlai commented, feeling annoyed. The man's eyes narrowed as he shook his head, mumbling something under his breath.
"Hm?" Enlai asked.
The trainer's eyes only narrowed further, as he said nothing.
"How do you know?" Rowena questioned quietly, reaching for the same berry as before. The trainer tsked and grabbed her hand, and began to explain.
She looked at Spinel with an unnerving gaze, her green eyes watching him as he attempted to throw another knife. Since the previous day, he had been at the knife station as if trying to prove something. He was doing alright, Calista had to admit, but it was nowhere as good as she was. He's aim was a bit sloppy and his force was too rough. You could see the concentration lining his face and the anger flooding his veins as the knives missed their desired target.
She would have spoke up, but in the moment she was enjoying just watching the boy. He seemed rather young to her to be in their giant career alliance, but Calista had to admit she was glad it was big. It would provide her more cover in the bloodbath, and she was nearly positive their given leader would off a few of them.
Besides, whenever a trainer would try and approach the boy he would shoo them off, seemingly muttering to himself. Calista watched for another moment or two before she let out a slow clap, causing the blond to stiffen. He turned around slowly as Calista walked closer, fetching a few knives along the way
Spinel glared at the dark haired girl as a smirk lightly grazed her lips. With a sly look she threw a knife blindly, a light thud signaling it met its target. Spinel quickly gazed over to the targets, noticing that the girl had only managed to get the outside ring.
He opened his mouth, a light smirk appearing. He was going to say something but settled for a slow clap of his own as she threw another one. This time, it hit the third ring. Spinel's smirk grew slightly as the girl looked at him, her gaze unwavering. For a moment it was as if they stood staring at one another, and truth be told Spinel was becoming uncomfortable. He shifted slightly, narrowing his gaze and broadening his shoulders.
Another smirk appeared as she stroked her chosen weapon. "Have you ever trained before?" she spoke up suddenly, looking to the side for if only a moment, and threw another knife. This time it hit the second ring. Her smirk grew as the boy's eyes widened slightly before he set his feet apart. His shoulders seemed to tense.
Giving a brief frown, he parted his lips, finding the question to be somewhat offensive. Surely he wasn't that bad? "Of course." he spat, eyes narrowing.
"Really?" she began, cocking an eyebrow. She looked over again, throwing another knife. This time the thunk was much more satisfying as it hit the bulls eyes. She smiled briefly before looking at the boy again. "That's interesting." she smirked, turning on heel.
"How?!" Spinel exclaimed.
Calista paused, smirking. "You're just so clumsy I can't see you as the training type." he began to say something else yet she completely disregarded it. She headed towards Dylan and Valiant, and watched as Valiant tried multiply times to stab a dummy with a short sword. Dylan was behind her trying to help her, yet it only seemed to make things worse.
"Is it that hard to stab something?!" he exclaimed letting go of her arm. Placing a hand on his forehead he grumbled. "Sorry-"
"For what?" Calista injected approaching the two. Valiant seemed to be a bit down trodden as she set the weapon back.
Dylan glared slightly before speaking."Valiant, I apologize for snapping like that."
"It's cool." she responded, crossing her arms. A light glint of hurt showed in her eyes however.
Calista waited a brief moment before speaking. "Don't be sorry, it's a good question."
"Not really," Dylan frowned. "It was rather rude."
"Please, she's in our alliance. We have to know what she can do, and know if she doesn't mind mussing up the purple mop of hers." she turned and looked directly at the Capitol girl. "Can you handle a short sword?" she asked condescendingly.
"Well, of course." was her simple answer. She was going to add more, yet decided against it. She already felt the doubt creeping in.
"Hm, well.. I'd ask you to show it, but I already saw. It hurt." turning to face Dylan she continued. "Does our self proclaimed leader know of one of her allies incompetence?"
"I'm sure she can do something." Dylan gritted.
"I can, more then you realize." Valiant spoke up, pouting her lip slightly. "I'm a great addition, darling."
Calista's lips peeled back into a cruel smile. "Enjoy the time you have then, you won't be here long." Dylan said nothing as Calista just walked away, heading towards Vince and Aqua, as he spoke to her fervently.
Velvet wrung her hands nervously as the red headed girl continued with the fire. For the past day or so the girl, Blye or something, was furiously making fires. Velvet felt nervous that was for sure, she wasn't the best with people at times. And the fact that this girl gave off a tough aura.. didn't help with the growing ball of nausea forming in her stomach. Her hands sweated as she watched the smaller girl, and she tensed when she turned around.
"Are you watching me?" was all she asked. A light smirk doted the girl's features and Velvet had to crack a nervous smile.
"Umm..n-no?" she offered, eyes wide.
"I think you are." Blye said, rubbing her hands together anxiously. She gave an awkward cough as she shifted, her body soon going rigid. "What are you watching me for?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. Blye wasn't one to typically be so blunt, but with the world she was being thrown in it seemed necessary. Besides, she remembered the girl from yesterday. She said nothing the day before because she was a bit scared, but now.. it seemed like a good time because Blye was sure the girl would be there the next day.
"I.. well. I was just watching you build fires and thought it was interesting and stuff." Velvet offered shyly, her eyes flitting to the side.
"That's.. different." Blye said, another light smirk appearing. "Well, I'm pretty good at it, eh?" she glanced to the now burned out fire, and glared at it angrily.
"Yeah.. I can tell." Velvet gave a nervous laugh, pointing at the smoke wafting toward the ceiling.
"It started though so..." Blye trailed off, looking around.
Velvet nodded slowly and took a seat next to the girl, offering a smile. Blye looked at her oddly, and slid over just a tad. The girl felt to close for comfort. Velvet frowned, wringing her hands together yet again.
"Um.. do you.." Velvet gulped and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her lips felt stiff and her heart hammered against her chest. "Well, I.."
"I what?" Blye asked, poking at the burned out flame.
"Partners?" Velvet blurted out, hands clenching into nervous fists.
"Allies you mean?" the red-head questioned.
"Well, yeah. Wanna be like.. allies and stuff? I mean.. yeah." she gulped again.
"Why?" she shot, eyes narrowing slightly.
"N-nobody wants to go in alone?" she offered, brown orbs reflecting confusion.
Blye's jaw seemed to tighten. There was a minute long pause before she spoke. "..fine."
Velvet gave a shaky smile and held out her hand. "Sounds like a plan."
"That seems sloppy."
Apollo sighed, and set the sword down. He wasn't sure what to expect, though his mind thought of their given leader. Then again, the voice who was behind him sounded nothing like Aqua, who's voice held a different kind of confidence. Turning on heel he came face to face with the gray eyed girl, who's shirt read 'D3'.
"Do you just casually start conversation like this?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow. The girl's gaze bore into his as she spoke, her arms crossing over on another.
"No, but I couldn't help but notice how sloppy you are with it.. Capitol boy. You know, I figured you would be decently good for the fact your.. kind seem to enjoy the games so much."
His eyebrow raised even higher. "Our kind? Darling, we're all human here." he smirked, watching as the girl just scoffed.
"So you claim. As you guys just send boys and girls to their deaths. I'm surprised they included you Capitolites into the mix this year."
"I'm surprised they didn't double the district scum." he replied smugly, amusement lighting his eyes as anger tugged at her. Though, within a moment she seemed to regain herself and stood tall.. as she always did.
"I'm not one for competitions-" Apollo scoffed at her words, crossing his arms briefly. He decided to allow the girl to talk, already guessing what she may ask. Actually, he knew what she would ask, at least he was fairly positive. "but, would you like to see who's better at making traps?"
He cocked his eyebrow again. Well, that wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but it was pretty close. He pondered it for a moment.
"Why should I?" was his simple question, as he smirked slightly.
Athena smirked right back. "Then don't." and with that she turned on heel. Apollo said nothing, yet his features faltered slightly, before being replaced with another grin.
Eleanor had to give an angry sigh as she sliced into the dummy's midsection. It wasn't her performance that was bugging her, which was practically flawless. Yet, it was her lack of allies. She knew from her families games that allies got you far.. until you had to kill them off. Which didn't seem to bother her parents as much as it did her.
She saw nothing right in back stabbing, yet was willing to do it if she had to. Preferably at the last possible moments. She felt like it was all wrong, yet her want to be the third victor in her family overpowered it all. She would succeed, and impress them.
With her shoulders straightened she carefully placed the sword back and began to walk around. She gave off an air that suggested she knew what she was doing, but in truth she did not. She knew the basis, find someone who is ally-less and convince them to join her. She was looking for perfection yet at this point anyone would do.. as long they had skills of sorts and could use them properly. Her ears listened into conversations as she walked, and soon a particular one sparked her interest.
Veering toward the source of the noise she found herself at the trapping station, littered with wires and ropes of all sorts. The one female was bickering toward the male seemed to be just taking it. He had spoken of nothing yet, but seemed tor try and smile. Which he failed miserably at.
She watched for a moment as the girl began to craft something with wires and an electrical box of sorts, and soon she approached them until the boy met her gaze.
"Are you two in an alliance?" she asked simply, sitting down as the boy opened his mouth to speak. Yet the blonde girl seemed to beat him to it.
"No, he can't even make a good knot." she spat, still crafting.
"I can't do much." he deadpanned.
Eleanor could feel herself frown. Clearly he wouldn't be doing much, at least with that attitude. Then again, maybe he would surprise her? She supposed it could happen, but by how the boy was fumbling around with his hands, she doubted it. He wasn't even trying to make another knot, he already given up it seemed. Eleanor thought of getting the girl alone, to ask her individually to an alliance. The boy seemed like he would just follow them around. The girl didn't seem too friendly, yet she seemed to know what she was doing.
Yet, the strength in numbers mantra crossed her mind and she swallowed her then doubts. Besides, he could get picked off early perhaps. The thought made her physically sick, yet she pushed it aside.
"Would both of you care to be in an alliance?" she asked, looking from one to the other. Athena stopped, set aside what she was doing currently, and turned around. She looked from the boy to her side to the girl who sat with fantastic posture.
She needed allies.
But she didn't want these ones.
"I'll pass, thanks." she said, clearing her throat. Looking to her side she saw many possible candidates, and looked back to the girl. She seemed..dangerous, and Athena was positive she couldn't overpower the girl. Maybe she might make an enemy by declining the girls offer.. but the boy.. just.. it all seemed like a bad idea.
Eleanor cocked her head. "What about you.. Wurk, is it?" at this point she hoped he would say no, she'd ask the girl about it later, why she said what she did. It annoyed and bugged her honestly. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Athena get up and head to who knows where. She could also make an exit.
Wurk scratched his nose, "Well, uh.. are you sure?" he asked. It felt too late now.
No. "Yes."
"I might ruin things.." he mumbled mostly to himself.
"I'm sure you can do something," encouraged Eleanor. And possibly he could. The idea of a human meat-shield came to mind and made her feel nauseous, but it may have to do. Nobody really like a loner that much. At least from what she'd seen.
Woo! another chapteh done! Took a long time though.. goodness. Well, it's summer! And I hope to be able to use this time and stuff. Oh, my explanation skills! I think the next chapter will be the last of training, training sessions(should I show everyones'? They'd be short but just wondering) and then seeing the scores.
Then I'll do interviews, how do you think I should go about them? Hm. Oh, and then a possible last look until they are thrown into the arena! Yeh!
Thanks for reading! No real questions except the ones above. I'll just list current alliances! This chapter was about cementing them basically, if ya didn't notice ;D
Careers: Apollo, Valiant, Spinel, Octavius, Melody, Rosemarie, Vince, Bronze, Calista, Bianca, Dylan, Mason, Cascade, Aqua
Alliance 1: Bud, Claudia, Wivellatro
Alliance 2: Lese, Dano
Alliance 3: Astoria, Henry
Alliance 4: Enlai, Rowena
Alliance 5: Velvet, Blye
Alliance 6: Rai, Rayleigh
Alliance: Eleanor, Werkenworth
Others: Athena, Dangan, Amaryllis
