I forgot if this alliance had a name from the creators, so if it did, I'll change it. Brad's with the five-man band, btw.
LOL I forgot the best part of Brad's parade experience!
Brad Simpson- District Seven male
My stylist was an idiot. I designed a better costume when I ripped off that stupid tree and let the audience see my muscles. I knew I looked good, but I also knew sponsors would be interested in someone so obviously fit. You win the games with strength, not kindness.
I also knew strength alone wasn't enough. I needed allies, even if I had to play nice to get them. I needed the best, and that was Kio and Bronze.
"Why would we want to ally with you?" Kio asked when I gave them my spiel.
"You've seen me train. You know I'm good," I said. Every day, I practiced with axes for half an hour. I wasn't really getting any better. I already knew my way around. I only did it so the others could see I was no one's target.
"Congratulations, you can throw an axe. So can any grandma in Seven," Bronze said.
"You must have also seen me using the throwing knives and traps," I said. "I can kill them, and I can also catch them if you'd rather."
Kio gave me a look of disgust. "Do you think we enjoy this?" he asked.
"I think you volunteered," I said.
"You'd never understand," Kio said.
"Whatever. You know I'm a good ally to have. Make the right decision," I said. Kio and Bronze's allies weren't even present, but they weren't important. We knew who the valuable players were.
Kio and Bronze exchanged a glance. "Sure. Why not?" Bronze said.
They thought they had it figured out. They took me on so they could get through the Bloodbath and then stab me in the back. They thought I didn't know, but I knew more than that. I knew I was planning the same thing.
Mak Jonson- District Eleven male
I didn't need to train. I was strong enough to win and smart enough to do what I had to. It was the only reason I was still alive.
"Hey, kid," I said to the feeb who kept falling asleep in the middle of training. "You know you're gonna die, right?"
"Why would you even say that?" the boy asked.
"Because it's true," I said.
"You don't have to-" the boy started. He stumbled over his words, then started breathing faster. "You don't-"
"Now you can't even breathe right?" I asked.
"Leave him alone," a girl said from behind me. She circled around and I saw it was the girl from Three. Meanwhile the boy was panting and wiping tears from his eyes.
"What do you care?" I asked, looming over her.
"You're a bully. Go away," the girl said. She didn't even seem to notice I was twice her size.
"Yeah, I am a bully. And he's nothing but a little wimp," I said.
"You're the one who picks on little kids," she said.
"And you're the one who's going to be dead in the Bloodbath," I said. I left to comfort the snot-nosed boy.
Hlenn Rambutan- District Eleven female
You can do it. Come on. You're going to do it.
I was trying to psyche myself up to conquer my fear: the rop course. Yes, it was funny that a girl from Eleven was afraid of heights. I'd heard it before. We didn't all pick fruit from the trees. Some of us stayed on solid ground and dug potatoes. Some of us were ephemeral butterflies, and some of us were lowly moles. But even the most beautiful butterfly came from a crawling caterpillar.
You're going to fly like a bat. You always wanted to fly. You always imagined having wings and soaring high up in the air. So go do it.
I stuck my feet through the cargo net and bent my knees so I'd be caught if I fell. I started creeping up, like a slowly blooming flower. I didn't want to look up at how much higher I was getting, but I didn't want to look down at how far away the ground was. Each step felt more precarious and they were exponentially, not linearly, worse. I tried to make up a little story about me sprouting wings and floating, but they always ended with the net snapping and me going splat.
I wonder if anyone has died at the training center. Surely it had happened at some point. Someone thought a little too much about what was coming and painted the white marble in the bathroom red. I wondered if at the end, they felt as cold as the stone. Would it feel the same way on the padded floors in the training room? They were meant to keep us safe, but if I fell from all the way up, it would probably just make my death more slow and mangled.
I was so distracted by morbidity that I didn't notice I was at the top. I hauled myself flat onto the hammock-like mesh at the top and saw another girl looking back at me.
"Hey. You made it," she said.
Adira Baelyn- District Six female
I'd been watching Hlenn. Not super close or anything, or at least more than I was watching everyone else. She just seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, and she didn't seem to be out to get everyone else. I was looking for a good alliance, and I liked what I saw.
"I noticed you're kind of different," I said.
"Everyone thinks that about themselves," Hlenn said. She was obviously uncomfortable up so high, since she kept shifting around and looking through the net.
"I also noticed you're brave," I said. "You're scared of heights, aren't you?"
"Who are you, William Legrand?" Hlenn asked.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"He's a detective. Haven't you heard of him? I thought he was famous," Hlenn said.
"I don't know any Eleven detectives," I said. What kind of weird assumption is that?
"No, he's from a book. Edgar Allen Poe wrote it. I thought he was famous," Hlenn said. I shrugged.
"I'm putting together an alliance," I said. "I want you and Theodosia."
"Why Theodosia?" Hlenn asked.
"I heard her talk about her sister dying in the Games. She doesn't seem like the type to betray people. You either," I said.
"What about you?" Hlenn asked.
"I don't think so. I won't really know until it happens," I said honestly.
"You're honest. I can work with that," Hlenn said. We shook hands, Hlenn wobbling as the netting under us shifted.
Theo Mulroy- District Twelve female
The Reaping was behind me. Everything that happened then was the past. I was thinking about the present and the future, because looking back wouldn't do anything but break me down. I was already close enough to the edge.
"Me?" I asked when Hlenn introduced herself and Adira. "What, were all the strong people taken?"
"The physically strong ones aren't the morally strong ones," Hlenn said. "We're in this for the long haul, not to betray each other."
"Like a sisterhood," I said.
"Exactly," Adira said.
I smiled wryly. "I don't have a good track record with taking care of sisters."
Hlenn's eyes bugged out, and she gasped.
"It's okay. It's been a long time. Of course I'm still sad, but you have to laugh or cry, right? Always choose to laugh," I said. I left out the part where I cried almost a day straight right after what happened with my dad. Sometimes you laugh and cry.
"So what are you ladies good at?" I asked.
"I've been working with the scythe," Adira said.
"I'm learning some first aid, and we're both studying plants," Hlenn said.
"Guess that leaves offense to me," I said. "I've had my eye on that cool forearm knife for a while."
"Sounds good," Hlenn said.
"Sounds good, sisters," I said, and I winked.
Mak's scene was separate, but he's with the sisters. I assume as a red herring or something, I don't really know. Adira had to be a little OOC this chapter because she doesn't talk much and is usually aloof, but I needed conversation to get the alliance together.