The morning sun rose over the mountains of the Capitol and into the blinds of Ava's bedroom. Ava's eyes were starting to open and immediately she was aggravated. First of all, she didn't feel like waking up. It was strange. After all she always woke up early to head off to work. She wasn't a fan of it per say but it was what she did to keep money in the house. Especially with their mother off doing... Well, whatever. She sighed though. The thought of her family and her life back in 7 was enough to give her the energy to hop out of bed.
She was aggravated for another reason. This was because today was the training day. The day all the tributes would come together and learn some tips before the games. This is usually the day alliances form. Of course, one of these groups would be the careers. However a few others from other districts would probably form a counter alliance. Ava even wondered if 5 was coming up with something. The previous year they attempted a very... strange stunt which ended in complete failure for some unexplained reason. Well, it was pretty clear that the 5 boy died but otherwise it was hard to really understand the full story. Ava yawned before looking around her room. She hadn't really gotten the chance to get a good look at her room since after the chariot parade she just hopped straight into bed with no care. It's just what happens when again District 7's tributes are just trees. Really the whole thing was such a snore. Nothing of note except maybe 3.
Ava looked up. On the door was something she hadn't even noticed. A pair of sweatpants alongside a shirt were hanging on the door, seemingly freshly cleaned. She blinked. Again, she was reminded of what was to come today and she was honestly not looking forward to it. Today would be exhausting.
Cactus, the District 7 mentor and winner of the 89th Hunger Games, was already in the diner eating breakfast alongside Ollie who was also eating too. Though, ollie was still half sleep as he ate the food he was given by the Avox's. He was eating slowly. Probably because he was thinking about his move. It was something he came up with while in the waiting room after the reapings. It was a very risky plan but he was willing to go ahead and try and join the careers. Of course Ollie had a really good chance of getting in. That's why he wasn't going to bother telling anyone, at least today that was. Everyone would just nag him about how dumb of an idea it is or how he'll just be walking into a death trap or some stupid trash like that. Really the best thing he could do was just not tell anyone of his plan since everyone else would just get in his way. Even if it wasn't the case, he assumed it was best to make sure. Ollie figured he could pull it off. Of course, he hadn't been told he was a charming boy for nothing. Everybody around him knew who he was and respected him. He could probably impress the careers with his skills and maybe grab their interest. Hell, Ollie didn't even need to ask them. He just needed to look good and the careers will definitely notice him. Afterwards they'll seek the opportunity to add them to the groups so they'll have less competition to worry about.
Around the time he finished finalizing his thoughts Ava had already taken a seat with them and was putting food on her plate. Catacus figured this would be the best time to give advice.
"So. I assume you two both have some plans for today." He coughed up. To be clear, he doubted either of them were thinking anything. He just wanted to get a conversation about a good strategy onward. As expected, both of them shook their heads. He smirked.
"Well. I have a lot to tell you." He began, clearing his throat.
Cypress and Magma were already in the training area. They weren't the only ones. District 6 was here as well.
Cypress was already training. Practicing with a trainer who could barely put up a good fight with the boy. Magma was sitting down. She was going to wait for a few moments before she did something. Not for any reason in particular she just was going to wait. At the moment though, she looked over at the 6 pair who were both off doing their own things. The 6 boy looked weak. Nothing noteworthy. Same with the girl. She moved her hair out of the way and sat back.
Eventually another pair came down the elevator. This being District 1. Stepping out of the elevator first, Terry looked around the room a little. There really didn't seem to be much he was interested in. At least at the moment it seemed.
Daimon was also looking around. Seeing if there was anything that could be of any use at the moment despite the training she'd already gone through. She looked forward and noticed that the pair from 2 were already in her proximity. She turned back to her District partner, curious to see whether or not he'd be joining. Though the likelness was pretty small so she just went ahead over to the pair without him.
She stepped up to the girl who was just watching her District partner with very little care in her eyes. The girl looked up at Daimon.
"Are you lost?" She asked immediately. Daimon crossed her arms.
"No. District 1." She said to the dark haired girl, expecting her to figure out she was joining them. However, the girl from 2 just shrugged.
"Okay I guess." She said, giving a brief waving off motion. Daimons eyes arched in anger. Who the hell did this girl think she was. Clearing her throat, she squared up to the girl. The 2 girl looked up at Daimon, still barely giving any care.
"I'm here to join the careers." Daimon looked down on the girl who even then didn't seem to acknowledge the 1 girls existance.
"Okay. You've made it clear already. You're here to align with us but I don't care. Do whatever. Stop bothering me." The 2 girl got up, now looking a bit angry. Instinctly, Daimon stepped back. She realized she shouldn't have as it made her look a little scared but looking at the other girls face she understood why she did so. The girl from 2 gave off a very... Dangerous feeling. However, Daimon ignored it and told her her name.
"Daimon Fletcher." She said to the 2 girl. She just scoffed.
"Magma Stryker." Magma seemed to be squaring up too now, looking almost like she wanted a fight. However, before anything could be started another tribute seemed to walk between them.
"So. You fools are the careers this year?" A voice said, catching both of the girls attention. Now their anger seemed to both turn towards whoever had said this. It was a tall boy with a short, curly black hair. Harry didn't seem to be too bothered with the nasty looks he was getting. It got their attention.
"What do you want? Four?" Magma said, putting her elbow against the boy and pushing them both into a weapons display, now looking VERY aggravated. Harry could barely breath not to mention the fact that they were surrounded by weapons made him very uncomfortable.
"What the hell, can't you take a joke?" He coughed out, trying to convince the girl off of him. Considering she began elbowing him harder in the throat afterwards it likely seemed it didn't work. At this rate, she was actually about to kill him via suffocation so Harry quickly began pushing her off of him. However she was tough and he was really having a tough time. As Harry struggled, the girl glared down at the boy making no sounds and seeming almost emotionless.
Eventually Harry pushed the girl from 2 off of him. The girl jumped back, still glaring. Harry quickly started catching his breath.
"The hell was that all about?!" He shouted at the 2 girl.
"Nothing." She said, walking off as if nothing had just happened, leaving both Daimon and Harry to question what the hell she had been trying to accomplish by nearly killing him.
Magma walked by the District 6 tributes who had just been watching. Ayana looked down at the ground. So these were the careers this year? Jeez.
Tobias was shaking a little. That girl was dangerous. More so than the other careers he was looking at at the current moment. This worry spurred on an idea. Maybe asking for assistance from his District partner in the form of an alliance. However he looked down at her. He looked away. He'd have to think on it...
Riyal sat at the fire making section quietly. Her eyes were arched with anger though as she angrily beamed around the room. There was a few reasons she was sitting at the fire section. Nobody was at the station at the moment aside from her. Well there was no instructor at the fire making station and Riyal was purposely blocking the view to the reading instructions on the wall. Anytime somebody dropped by and asked for her to move, she'd simply ignore them until they left. On top of that most other people were elsewhere honing their skills on other stations so really there were only a few kids who dropped by, those being 3, 8 and 12. Otherwise both the big and small tributes were trying their hands at things like weapons or in the case of the 5 girl, doing the rope alone.
Riyal blinked. Then she blinked again. District 5, over at the ropes? Her face went from annoyed to pure anger at that moment. That's where she was huh? Don't the 5 tributes remember. They were supposed to meet up at the fire station spot, make sure nobody else came by and then they'd talk over their plans. She growled and got up, deciding to head over to the girl.
Atom was reading the instructions to the rope since there was no instructor at the station at the moment. She kind of wished there was though. It could take her mind off of reaping day and help her prepare for the upcoming games. However she was starting to feel restless again. So much she had to do before the games in less than a week. Plan out a strategy for the games. Come up with a plan for the upcoming interviews and possibly find something that could get her a decent score. Normally she'd tackle the hardest of all plans first. However with the Hunger Games in mind she just couldn't bear leaving the thought alone. However she didn't have a good idea in mind for the games. Go towards the cornucopia and hopefully grab something? Or... Maybe run away and have a larger chance of surviving. But that wouldn't work. She'd die sooner or later if she left without anything so what was her plan...
She thought about allies for a moment. It was tempting but she truly couldn't trust the people in the arena. 12 to 18. Well, possibly her District partner. The boy who's name she hadn't even thought of remembering despite sharing the floor. Her district partner had managed to get a stiff hello from her earlier that morning. She felt bad she couldn't bring herself to say anything to him on the train. She'd never been socially awkward or anything. She wasn't really into talking to people. Her small group of friends in 5 were all she needed. She wasn't sure if she could tr-,
She looked up once she noticed people moving towards her. After a moment, two girls were surrounding her. They didn't seem to have done this intentional because one of the girls glared down at Atom before turning away and moving. The other girl reached to stop her but stopped herself and shook her head. The girl stopped for a moment before sitting down next to her. Her large curly brown hair took up a little bit of the view as she read the instructions. She took a pair of purple glasses out of her pocket and began reading.
Henrietta wasn't really sure whether or not she wanted to converse with the girl next to her but she at this point she was bored and out of things to stare at. She had done pretty well with the traps in a short amount of time, the careers seem to be slowly getting together around a lot of the weapon stations and then on top of that the girl from 9 was sitting in front of the instruction monitor at the fire station and refused to even acknowledge her. Really she was bored enough to wanna interact with another tribute.
Here goes nothing...
Kolton groaned as he watched the careers practice. Well, he knew it wasn't really practice. It was more like just showing off for the rest of the tributes. Of course the ones that didn't stand a chance against them. Watching them reminded him of the bleakness of his situation. Their was a large possibility that he wasn't coming home and this was starting to annoy him. He took his place at the fire station. No instructor was there at the moment and he wanted to hop down at this area just to clear his mind.
However he wasn't alone because immediately after he plopped down, the District 11 male joined him. He dropped down and looked over at the careers too, giving them the exact same look Kolton gave.
"So 12. What're you doing wasting your time over here." He said, shifting his attention over to Kolton. Kolton just gave an annoyed look. He had no idea what this kid was doing nor did he understand why he was desperately trying to get a conversation out of him.
Kolton planned on ignoring him but another tribute dropped down next to them as well. This was a girl. District 9 apparently. She looked over at the two with a look of disdain.
"And what do you two want? Does this involve... I don't know, rebellion." She asked, whispering on the last line. Koltons eyes went from annoyed to downright lost. Before Kolton could even start she coughed.
"Fire is a signal. If nobody is here but a tribute sitting in front of the instructions like a moron then it means you're here for allies. I was told the District 5 tributes did this last year." The girl said quietly.
The District 11 boy nodded without even looking at her. However he turned back after a moment, now looking both curious and annoyed.
"You mean the tributes who attempted double suicide? Ahh. I see. I see how this dumb idea was put into place after all." He said, joking. Of course, he was directing this potshot at the conclusion of the previous games. They couldn't have been any less subtle with their plan.
"So... You with me?" She asked, trying to be subtle about her true motive. However he put her hand in front of him.
"No... Or maybe. I don't know. Depend." He shrugged.
Riyal groaned. Took her a while but it was starting to become obvious 11 and 12 weren't apart of the alliance despite some hinting from Oam. This was a problem. If they at all hinted that she'd possibly be at the helm of the new rebellion she was doomed. She got up to leave.
"Don't say anything about this. Not even in the games okay. If I catch a glimpse of it I'm killing you. Don't even try and cross me." She said, giving a awful glare at the two.
Kolton wasn't intimidated but he understood so he didn't say a word back. The 9 girl accidentally bumped into another girl on the way out though. She was shorter and on top of that looked better fed than some of the other tributes. Probably 3, or 5.
"Huh. Nobody here either?" She looked around.
The 11 boy cleared his throat which got the girls attention. However she looked back up for somewhere else to look.
"We're here too ya know." He said.
"Oh. Sorry I meant somebody to teach me the basics." She apologized before walking off. Kolton looked back at the 11 boy, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something about his attitude. However he just shook his head and got up to leave as well.
Ugh...
Zircon was pretty tired after all the training and interaction done that day so dinner was a welcome after all of that. He was sitting next to Atom, his district partner who seemed to be talking a little more every now and then. Maybe she was starting to see something in the people around her finally. The others eating with them were the two of the five living District 5 tributes. Cellia Winroe, victor of the 75th Hunger Games. And Nina, victor of the previous Hunger Games. Cellia was pretty talkative and nice. She seemed to be getting close to them in an almost comforting manner. Nina was a lot quieter and shy-like but she was warming up in a manner similar to that of Atom.
"So. You make any allies or anything?" Cellia asked the two tributes while they ate their brunch. They weren't really paying much mind for the moment but Zircon was the first to speak.
"No. I don't think I really need any allies." He said. He figured that wouldn't bold well with his mentor. Allies were a double edged sword in the Hunger Games but honestly it was one of the best options in the games. He'd never seen his mentors game in full but he recalls that Cellia chose not to rush to the cornucopia at the start of her games. Of course, that was probably because she had her sister there with her who ended up running straight into the cornucopia and grabbed a bunch of supplies herself. She even grabbed two bags. Of course being the oldest in the games with some real handy fighting experience did that for Sky Winroe. She lasted until the very end, making sure to die before he sister could and to secure Cellia's victory. At least in the case of her alliance, she figured it would never break. They were sisters but despite that they loved each other the best any sisters could and lasted until they couldn't last any more. When it comes to alliances otherwise, you're always teaming with kids you don't even know so half the time they could be out to get you first chance it seems you'll get in the way. Because of this, Zircon didn't understand why Cellia was giving an annoyed look.
Nina seemed a lot more quiet on the idea of allies. After all, earlier in the day she had encouraged him to do without allies. However he was still up for it. Maybe he could trust his district partner. However he wasn't sure if she'd be up for it.
He looked over at Nina. Looking at her face, the half there half gone look in her eyes, it caused him to reminisce about the previous year and the games.
How she and her District partner lasted to the end and attempted a clever double suicide. It actually could've worked. Wyatt died out of nowhere though. Like, he grasped his heart in pain and collapsed. It didn't seem to be the tracker or anything? It was...
Zircon had come up with a pretty good theory. Since the food that grew off trees and things like that are artificial maybe they could've done something to the food that he ate and killed him with it? Haphazard at best but personally Zircon thought it made sense. However there was one other thing that bothered him about the ending... And considering he was sitting next to the flaw itself-,
"I have a question... Nina. It... It's about the Hunger Games last year." He asked his mentor who now looked pale. She gave a quiet "go ahead and ask."
"Why didn't you... Eat the berry too?" He asked. Zircon looked back up towards Nina. Her hair covered her face now and he could not see her reaction. She dropped her fork down and stood up. For a while she just stood there looking emotionless and almost out of it. Eventually though, she just walked away, making a sound of disgust while she was at it.
"You shouldn't have bothered..." Atom said looking away from Zircon. Zircon was quiet before he stood up and pushed in his chair.
"Yeah. I think I'm full too. I'll see you tomorrow. Cellia, A-Atom." He waved off and left.
This just left Cellia and Atom. Cellia sighed.
"Things just keep getting better and better." She said to herself.
Atom looked out the window. She wondered what would've happened if there were actual plans for a rebellion this year. If somebody had taken her place in hopes of jumping into the games. Jumping into the games to die... Likely for nothing. She wanted to imagine that she'd remain at home. Remaining with her old friends and in her old house and in her old bed... But she couldn't bear it.
Hm...
Didn't expect my lazy behind to get to work so fast huh? Well yeah, felt bad about wasting half of my summer doing nothing so another chapter. At this rate, the games will probably be ready by October at the latest. Thanks for reading, I'll see you all again soon enough.
- AlphaZero21