Chapter 18:

Stark Calloway, 18, District Two

Stark's starting to think he should have listened to Bronn more. But Bronn wasn't a career. He trusts his mentor's judgement, no doubt about it. But what he doesn't trust is the judgement of his fellow careers.

He still cannot fathom that they all just left him for two reaped careers. And then his own District partner! Granted, he hates Ampora, but come on, not even a small sense of District unity?

Stark shakes his head some more as he leans forward on the bench, waiting for his turn to impress the Gamemakers. And he sure will. He'll show them they shouldn't have left him. And as soon as he's in the arena, his first target will be Pride while Keelin goes for Link. Sure, she might get killed in the process, but who cares? That's the only point of allies in the Games. At least Keelin can provide him some fun before the Games start.

Stark smirks a little at that thought, turning a little to glance over at her. Yeah, there's probably worse allies for him to have. But he only has one ally, something he still wants to change.

He glances back at the boy from Nine, still tempted to ask him to be his ally. Not because Garth has shown any impressive skills in training. No, Stark is simply curious about the boy who is so similar to him, yet so different. How did Garth end up as a whore? Stark had his reason and he's here now, having worked hard to reach this point. Yet Garth seems so timid, so nervous. Stark just wants to know more and, well, he won't deny a bit of attraction there.

Garth looks around and when he sees Stark staring, Stark gives him a wink and holds in a chuckle as he watches Garth nervously look away immediately, his face flushing from his attention. Yeah, still got it.

"Excuse me."

Stark slowly turns back around, narrowing his eyes at whoever is talking to him. He doesn't want to talk to anyone near him, not with him surrounded by the careers that betrayed him and the pair from Three. When he looks around, he finds Beta staring at him with wide eyes from behind his glasses, leaning past his District partner that is doing her best to stay as far from Stark while keeping her distance from Beta. The girl is looking between them anxiously, slouching down and trying to avoid being seen by both of them.

"What do you want?" Stark asks Beta, not in the mood to put up with the lunatic. He's seen what Beta's been up to during training and doesn't know how the Gamemakers haven't stopped him yet from running around with his two allies, claiming to be making 'potions' and 'casting spells'. Stark's almost surprised no one got killed during training.

Beta blinks at him, looking a bit nervous for a second as he turns and glances around at the people sitting near them. He moves closer to Stark, making Digit jump up and move away from them, much to Stark's disappointment because Beta is able to move right towards him. "I've heard rumors."

"Oh wow, rumors," Stark answers sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he listens to the announcement for Pride to enter the training center. Stark glares at his back before realizing this means he still has a half hour left. God, he doesn't know if he can handle a half hour with Beta.

"Are you…" Beta starts asking him, glancing around once more before leaning closer, making Stark lean away as he scrunches his face at Beta, yet it doesn't stop him from continuing in a loud whisper. "Are you a vampire?"

Stark stares at Beta for a few seconds before laughing loudly at this. "A vampire? Are you serious?" He keeps laughing at how insane this kid is before seeing Beta's face get filled with rage from Stark's reaction. "Oh my God, you're actually serious."

"Of course I'm serious!" Beta raises his voice and Stark puts his elbow on his knee and rests his hand on his fist, watching him grow angry in amusement. Maybe he can tolerate being here for a half hour. "Tracer says that vampires are real!"

"Vampires?" A curious voice asks him, followed by a giggle, and Stark lets out a sigh as he turns to face Jinx. Of course the psycho giggling girl would come over and ask about vampires.

"Stay back," Beta yells at her, moving away from Jinx but unfortunately closer to Stark. Stark quickly jumps up from his seat before Beta can touch him and he shakes his head at these two crazies. "See that!" Beta says in excitement as he points at Stark. "You moved so fast! Vampires are supposed to move super fast!"

"Stark's a vampire?" Jinx asks, her face lighting up in amazement as she keeps giggling.

"I'm not a vampire!" Stark yells at them, taking steps away from them as Beta also jumps up from his spot.

"Can you bite me?" Beta asks him, stepping closer and tilting his head over to expose his bare neck. "I've always wanted to be bitten by a hot vampire!"

"I can bite you!" Jinx says to him, taking steps closer to him as he quickly takes steps back. She shows her teeth to him as she giggles once more, "Come here!"

"No! Stay away from me!" Beta yells as he starts moving among the benches, the other tributes quickly moving they're feet out of his way as Jinx follows after him. He covers up his neck with both hands as he turns back to her, "You're not a vampire! You can't bite me!"

"Holy fuck," Stark mutters to himself, shaking his head at the two. "I'm surrounded by fucking lunatics."

"Tributes! Please stay away from each other!"

Jinx stops chasing after Beta at the announcement from the Gamemakers, still giggling as she stares over at him. "Are you sure you don't want me to bite you?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Beta yells at her, only making Jinx start giggling even more. Beta covers his ears at this, shaking his head over at her. "Get out of my head!"

Stark tries to ignore them, moving away from his spot next to Ampora to go sit with Keelin. "They're crazy," he mutters to her as he sits down, watching both of them carefully to make sure they're not going to come over and keep asking him to bite them.

"Should I tell them that you do bite?" Keelin says with a wink, but Stark isn't amused by her comment.

"Don't you dare," Stark says lowly, not masking the threat in his voice. "Tell them and you're on your own and my first target."

Keelin holds her hands up defensively at this, "I was just making a joke. Besides, you can't say that it isn't true."

Stark scoffs at this, but he glances down at Keelin's exposed neck, able to see the start of marks forming. "It is true," he says as he smirks at her before shaking his head. "But they don't need to know that."

Stark turns to look back at the crazy tributes, watching Jinx return to her seat, still watching him. She giggles and waves over at him, seemingly not scared at all that he's a career. It gives him a crazy idea and he turns back to Keelin. "She volunteered, right? Anyone know why?"

"Probably because she's crazy?" Keelin offers and she isn't wrong. "She almost got kicked out of training yesterday for holding weapons out to people."

"Hmm," Stark responds, looking back over at Jinx. The girl is now staring at Beta who sits facing her, clearly not trusting her to not sneak up on him again. She keeps waving and giggling at him and occasionally chomping her teeth at him, and he keeps alternating between covering his ears and his neck. She totally is crazy, both of them are. But she must have volunteered for a reason. Maybe she volunteered to kill people.

And maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"Hey Jinx," Stark calls over to her and Keelin immediately hits his arm, but he ignores her. Instead, he focuses on the crazy girl from Ten as she looks over at him with wide eyes, continuing to giggle but Stark can tell this one is a nervous one. Good, she at least recognizes that he's a threat to her. "Come here," he says and waves her over.

"Stark, what the hell are you doing?" Keelin whispers angrily to him, clearly in disbelief at him.

"Stay quiet," he tells her and she opens her mouth, ready to speak again, but she stops, knowing better than to cross him. Stark waits until he knows she won't say anything, before turning to the giggling girl approaching him. "Hi Jinx."

"Hi," Jinx answers with a nervous giggle. She looks between Stark and Keelin, eyes showing her concern but smile still remaining on her face. "Do you want me to bite you?"

"That won't be necessary," Stark says quickly, watching her face fall in disappointment, yet the smile remains. God this girl is creepy. She's like, the definition of every creepy kid he's seen in horror movies from the Capitol. But he'll tolerate her if it means having someone to take the fall for him. "So Jinx, you volunteered, right?"

"Yep," she answers with a giggle, nodding her head rapidly and sending her short brown hair flying around her face. "I volunteered for Sally!"

"Sally, huh?" Stark asks, no fucking clue who Sally is but he'll keep asking if it gets Jinx to work with him. "Who's Sally?"

"Sally's my best friend!" Jinx says happily, smile growing genuine as she thinks about her best friend. "I volunteered for her!"

"But why would you volunteer for the Games for her?" Keelin asks curiously and Stark cuts her a look to let him keep doing the talking.

Jinx starts to nervously giggle once more, looking between the two of them. "Yeah," Stark continues, trying to understand this girl. "You're going to have to kill to get back home to Sally."

"That's okay! The Games are just legal murdering!" Jinx answers immediately, giving a shrug of her shoulders before suddenly looking around nervously.

Now Stark is so curious about her. Legal murdering? Who says that about the Games? Jinx keeps nervously giggling as she waits for Stark to speak up. "Do you have any allies, Jinx?"

"No," Jinx answers and starts nearly starts frowning at this. "Sally told me to be a good girl and find people to work with. So did Johan. I want to be a good girl for them!"

Stark forces himself to smile at her, something that is returned immediately by Jinx. He looks around at the tributes near him as Ampora is called into her session. He can tell Muir is not so subtly listening to the conversation so he stands up, motioning for Jinx to follow him towards the corner of the room and away from everyone else.

"I don't have much time before I get called in," Stark leans down to whisper to the girl that's got to be more than a foot shorter than him. "How would you like to be part of a plan Keelin and I have?"

"Like allies?" Jinx asks, her giggles growing in volume.

Stark shushes her, pointing up a finger to his lips to get her to quiet down. She lets out a small giggle at this, huge grin on her face as Stark nods his head. "Yes, like allies. Do you think you can be part of the plan?" Jinx nods her head rapidly at him, eyes looking way too excited about what he might have planned. Hopefully this means she'll do what he asks and not do anything dumb. "At the bloodbath, I have a very important task for you. I need you to make sure Ampora doesn't make it out alive."

"You want me to kill her?" Jinx asks him, glancing over at the door that Ampora had just gone through. When she turns back to Stark, she once again giggles. God, that giggling is going to drive him crazy in the arena. She's going to draw everyone towards them. Well, assuming she survives past the bloodbath. He isn't too hopeful she'll survive Ampora but who knows. Maybe she's crazy enough that she'll succeed or at the very least injure his District partner.

"Yes, I do," Stark answers her, giving her what he hopes is an encouraging smile. "Do you think you can be a good girl and follow the plan?"

Jinx perks up immediately in excitement at getting called a good girl and Stark holds in a chuckle at that. All he needs to do is tell her she's being good and he'll get her to do whatever? That's great. "I can! I'll be a good girl just like Sally always tells me!"

"Good," Stark smiles down at her and stands up straight. He pats her on the head, getting a giggle from her as she grins up at him. "Now be a good girl and don't mention this to anyone."

"Not even Johan?" Jinx asks in confusion, starting to look sad that she might not be able to tell her mentor about it.

Stark shakes his head no at this, knowing that her mentor will certainly tell her not to ally with him. Not after he was nearly killed by one of the District Two tributes his year. "Not even Johan." Stark notices her smile faltering and starts frowning at her, hoping she'll believe that he's actually upset at her. "Do you think you can do that? If not, well…I guess we can't be allies."

"I want to be a good girl," Jinx responds, clearly conflicted on what to do. "I like Johan…but if you say I can't be a good girl if I tell him, then I won't."

"Good," Stark answers her, giving her a fake grin that she genuinely returns with a giggle.

"Stark Calloway, please report to the training center."

"Now be a good girl, Jinx." Stark says before starting to take steps backwards from her, watching her giggle while nodding her head. "And remember," he says before holding up a finger to his lips, motioning her to stay silent.

"I won't tell anyone your plan to attack the careers!" Jinx says excitedly before slapping a hand over her mouth, realizing she spoke up a bit loudly. "Sorry," she mumbles through her hands, giggling again. "I really won't tell anyone!"

Stark gives her a stern look before turning around, shaking his head and not quite trusting her to stay quiet. But at least Ampora is already gone and won't know he was talking to Jinx, unless Muir or Link tells her. But he doubts it. Why would they try to help out their competition?

"What did you do?" Keelin asks in a harsh whisper, walking with him over to the door.

"Secured that one of two threats will be taken care of," Stark responds, giving her a wink so she calms down. "I'll tell you about it later."

"You told her to lie to Johan?" Bronn asks in disbelief, pinching his nose as Stark keeps telling him about his plan. "Don't do that to him, he's a nice guy."

"I can apologize to him after I win," Stark answers, not really sure if he will apologize. But, if Bronn wants him to, he will. Anything for Bronn.

"And she just agreed?" Bronn asks him, moving his hand away so he can stare at Stark with disapproving eyes. "She agreed to try and kill your District partner?"

"Yep," Stark responds smugly, really quite proud of his plan. "No matter what outcome happens, one of two possible threats will be taken out while I'm free to get rid of Pride."

Bronn just keeps shaking his head at Stark, making him wonder if he messed up with this plan. "Kat is going to kill me when I get home."

"Not if I'm with you," Stark offers, making Bronn stop shaking his head at him.

"Are you just unable to listen to any of my advice?" Bronn asks him, running a hand over his face in exasperation. "And Stark, the way you act in that arena reflects back on me. I'd rather not have Kat be pissed off at me."

Stark genuinely starts frowning at Bronn's reaction, not having expected this from him at all. "I'm sorry if I upset you, but I'm just doing whatever it takes to make sure I'm the victor. And right now I have quite the challenge ahead of me since the other careers all ditched me."

"Well you weren't exactly welcoming to them and their ideas," Bronn offers, staring at Stark expectantly for his response.

"There's no way I was going to be allies with Pride and Link," Stark says defensively. "I don't care if they've had training, they weren't picked by their victors and they're going to end up being an embarrassment to all careers."

"Yeah but you could have at least stuck to your word about giving them the full day of training to prove themselves and been kinder with your rejection." Bronn raises an eyebrow as surprise fills Stark's face at his response. "Yeah, don't forget that I have friends that I talk to. I know what went down."

"Whatever," Stark grumbles, not liking the hint of disappointment in Bronn's eyes. "It's done and I've done my best to get allies that will at least listen to what I say."

"Yeah, an innocent giggling girl and a flirt you spent time with last night," Bronn responds, really not sounding thrilled about Stark's allies. Stark now fully raises his eyebrows in surprise at this statement. Not embarrassment that Bronn knows, just surprise. His mentor chuckles as he taps the side of his head, "I'm not telling you all my sources of information among the victors."

"It's kind of creepy," Stark mutters, watching Bronn start smiling at him, making Stark have to fight off his own smile.

"It's my job as your mentor to keep track of everything going on with you," Bronn gives him a shrug at this. "Now can you please save me the trouble of finding things out from other victors and just trust me?"

"I do trust you," Stark says quietly, feeling like he disappointed Bronn and that's the last thing he wants to do. "I just didn't think I needed to say 'Hey I'm going up to the roof to have sex with Keelin' last night."

Bronn groans at this statement, making Stark chuckle a little at his reaction. "Unfortunately, yes, you do need to tell me that." His mentor starts shaking his head again at Stark before jumping off his stool and going right to a cabinet to take out a glass. "I need a drink."

"I thought you said you like mentoring?" Stark asks him, watching his mentor move about the kitchen with no hesitation to where he needs to go for his drink.

"I do," Bronn calls back as he takes out a bottle of liquor. He turns towards the fridge, pausing to look over at Stark before grabbing ice cubes. "But I like it a lot more when I'm not trying to keep my tribute alive and make sure Kat doesn't kill me when I get home."

Stark scoffs at this and hops off the stool to also grab a glass. "Please, everyone knows that you and Clemont are her favorite victors."

"That's beside the point," Bronn says before staring down at the glass Stark holds out to him for a few seconds before finally taking it from Stark. "She's not going to be happy that you two are trying to kill each other from the very start."

"Well I guess we just have to make her happy a different way," Stark watches Bronn pour the whiskey over the ice in both glasses, waiting for his mentor to pass his drink over to him before continuing, "We make sure we get her a new victor."

Bronn starts chuckling at this and holds up his glass to Stark. Stark lightly taps his glass against his mentors as Bronn says, "Now that I can drink to."

Tanelai Dorvet, 17, District Seven

Tanelai is being an idiot. A nervous, scared for her fucking life idiot. Two days of training and she still hasn't gotten an ally. She did exactly what Stefan told her not to do and she doubts she made the others believe she has some crazy axe skills like Daram told her to do.

She's a failure, all because she was too nervous to ask Garth to be her ally.

He's the only one she really wants to be her ally… Probably because the guy reminds her so much of Daram back home. Of course she would be drawn to the one person in the Games that reminds her of her boyfriend. So why couldn't she just ask him already? What's the worst he'll do? Say no? Okay, that would be pretty bad for her since she handles rejection poorly…which is probably why she hasn't just asked him already. Even if he does say no, he'll probably at least be nice about it and not try to purposely target her in the arena. He's too nice for that…which is why she shouldn't want to be his ally. Nice people don't end up being the victors. Well…Letha did win last year. But that's beside the point.

Tanelai nervously taps her foot as Ryo is called in for his private session, knowing that she's going to be up next. She watches him stand up from where he was sitting out of line next to Gwenith instead of next to Tanelai, chatting away with his ally and keeping the young girl calm as she waits for her turn. He grins at his ally and gives her a fist bump, making her laugh a bit and get a tiny smile, "Just do what Beta showed us and you'll get an awesome score!"

"I will," she answers timidly before Ryo walks quickly into the training center.

Tanelai stares after the boy, filling a pit forming in her stomach that she doesn't have an alliance like that. She's so terrified of going into the arena alone. She's not fooling anyone with her odds of winning on her own. Yet…she doesn't want to get close to Garth and call him a friend, just to watch him die if she's to win and get home to Daram…

But maybe…maybe it's not too late to ask Garth. The Games haven't started yet. But she's running out of time before she gets called in to her private session. After today, who knows when she'll get a chance to talk to Garth?

Tanelai glances back at Garth and finds him staring ahead, eyes full of sadness as he fiddles with a watch in his hands. A few seconds pass before he looks around and when he sees Tanelai looking over, he gives her a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. Tanelai recognizes the nervousness on her face, knowing it matches her own. But at the small smile from him, Tanelai takes a deep breath and finally gets some courage, knowing this is what she has to do.

She stands up, smoothing out her pants before walking over to Garth, trying to give him a smile but knowing it probably looks like a grimace with how nervous she is about going in front of the Gamemakers right now. He looks up at her curiously as she approaches, tucking the watch into his pocket before she stops in front of him. "Hey," she says tentatively, not quite sure what else she's supposed to say. Is she supposed to just walk up and say 'Hey sorry I've been awkward and haven't asked yet, but you remind me of my boyfriend so want to be allies?'? No, she'll scare him away and then she'll be completely doomed.

"Hi…" he says quietly, his nervousness creeping in to his voice. He glances to either side of him at the young girls and decides to move closer to Gwenith, leaving enough open space for Tanelai to sit between him and Jinx.

Tanelai would have preferred to not sit so close to Jinx, especially after seeing her earlier start believing vampires were real and offering to bite Beta's neck. She giggles at Tanelai hesitating and pats the spot next to her. "I won't bite you. I'll wait until I'm in the arena!"

"Oh I'm so reassured by that," Tanelai sarcastically responds as she sits down, making Jinx giggle once more. The girl grins at Tanelai, showing off her teeth and pretends to chomp a bit, only making her start laughing more at Tanelai's wide eyes.

"She gives me the creeps," Tanelai whispers to Garth, getting a small chuckle from him that he tries to turn into a cough as he glances over at the girl. Jinx gives him a little wave at this, making Tanelai scoot a little closer to Garth while trying to stay out of his personal space.

"You don't know how glad I am to have someone sitting between me and her," Garth answers quietly, now making Tanelai snort in laughter. Garth starts to genuinely smile at her reaction, making Tanelai relax a bit and forget just a tiny bit that she's about to be going in front of the Gamemakers. She can just tell he's a good guy and it makes Tanelai's resolve to just ask him to be allies already even stronger. "So what's up?"

"Oh you know, just came to talk about the weather. Lovely day we're having while trapped inside," Tanelai jokes and she's able to picture exactly how Daram would shake his head at her while fighting off a smile before telling her she shouldn't cope with humor. The thought brings a sad smile to her face, making her heart ache and her eyes start prickling. She so badly wishes she was back home right now… She should be back in Seven, safe in Daram's arms as they can relax, knowing they both made it through another year of the Reapings and now only have one year left. But no, she's stuck in this terrifying place alone and Daram is probably in Seven, anxiously waiting for later when the scores will be revealed, waiting to get a bit of information about her… She has to get home to him.

"Okay, joking aside," Tanelai finally says, turning towards Garth and trying to get some courage just to ask him already. "I probably only have a couple minutes left before I'm called in. And I should have asked this yesterday before training ended but I was nervous you would say no and I really don't cope well with rejection." Garth watches her curiously, only making Tanelai get more nervous. She starts staring at her hands as she keeps going, unable to stop herself. "And now I'm rambling because I'm nervous but…uh…I was thinking that we work well together and I can tell you're a good guy…"

"Are you asking to be allies?" Garth asks after Tanelai trails off from running out of breath. She nervously looks back up at him, trying to figure out what he's thinking, but he's keeping his face clear, except for the sadness in his eyes that Tanelai is starting to realize is just always present, whether Garth knows it or not.

"Yeah," Tanelai answers sheepishly as she nods her head at this. "Daram always tells me I ramble when I'm nervous."

"Tanelai Dorvet, report to the training center."

"Shit," Tanelai curses, feeling her heart start racing at the voice. How have fifteen minutes gone by already? And she never even got an answer from Garth. She stands up, anxiously glancing between Garth and the door into the training center, wanting to push off going in until she has an answer.

"Tanelai Dorvet, please report now."

Tanelai sighs at this and takes one last look at Garth, hoping he will give her an answer. But when he stays silent, Tanelai has her answer from him. "Just forget I asked," she says quietly, feeling dejected as she starts walking over to the door. She finally got the courage to ask him and he rejected her… She had thought for sure he would agree since they were working so well together…

She feels her eyes prickling and shakes her head at this, trying to tell herself not to get so upset about Garth's reaction. She shouldn't be caring so much about him being her ally. After all, he will have to die if she is to become victor. But who knows if that will even happen now that she doesn't have any allies.

She's so fucking screwed.

"Tanelai."

She stops at the door, blinking her eyes for a second to fight back any tears, before turning back to face Garth. He's standing up, looking over at her and nervously biting his lip before nodding his head at her. "The answer is yes."

Tanelai starts grinning at this, giving him an okay sign with her hand before turning back to face the training center and Gamemakers, now feeling completely ready to take them on. She did it! She finally got an ally! Daram and Stefan are both going to be so proud of her when they find out.

"I totally blew it!" Tanelai yells in frustration as she steps off the elevator onto the District Seven floor. "Ugh!" She yells as she kicks off her shoes, sending them flying into the wall before thudding to the ground.

"What are you yelling about?" Stefan asks as he rounds a corner. When he catches sight of her stomping past him, he lets out a sigh of annoyance that only makes Tanelai's anger grow. "Please tell me you didn't blow your private session."

"Well I didn't exactly have a great showing like I'm sure the careers did," Tanelai calls back to him as she stomps over to the living room. She can hear him following after her and she's not sure if she wants to talk to him or not. But, at least she knows he'll be just as bitter as her. She snorts a bit at that thought as she flops down on the couch before sighing dramatically as Stefan sits on a chair next to her.

"What are you laughing at?" Stefan slowly asks her, the boy clearly full of trepidation at whatever she might say.

Tanelai stares over at her mentor, her anger starting to diffuse a bit as she realizes her situation isn't nearly as bad as what Stefan has been going through for the past two years. The more time she's spent with him, the more she's started to realize that she likes the kid – well, he's not really a kid since he's only a year younger than her. But he's similar to her and she knows that's why they butted heads the first day. Yet she could see herself working well with him to mentor…

Well, that's if her failed private session doesn't ruin her chances.

"I was just thinking I might be more bitter than you right now," Tanelai finally answers him. She watches as Stefan shakes his head at her, but can tell he's trying to hold back a smile. "Don't lie, you know it's true."

"Yeah, whatever," he responds before clearing his throat and trying to change the subject. "So how bad did it go?"

Tanelai sighs as she kicks her feet up on the table in front of her. Stefan soon copies her actions, crossing his arms as he waits for her. Tanelai turns away from him, not wanting to see him disappointed in him when she tells him. "I accidentally threw an axe into the wall instead of a dummy." Stefan is quiet for a minute and Tanelai grows anxious as she waits for his reaction. She finally glances over at him, finding an expression on his face that she has never seen. "It's not funny!"

At that, Stefan starts laughing at her and she starts pouting and crosses her arms stubbornly at him. "That's what you're so worried about?" He stops to laugh a bit more before sitting up to be closer to her and try to get her to look at him. "Did it at least stick into the wall?"

"You're making fun of me!" Tanelai says in disbelief, only making Stefan laugh even more. Despite being upset at the outcome…she'll admit his laughter is cheering her up a bit. But she's not going to admit that to him. Not with how he's teasing her. "And yeah, it did, at least a little bit."

"Well that's something," Stefan answers, trying to stop laughing. He clears his throat, finally getting a bit serious. "Maybe they'll overlook your lack of aim and still recognize that your throw would have hurt someone a lot."

"But in the arena, missing someone could mean my death…" Tanelai says quietly, starting to feel abysmal about her shot at winning.

"Then don't throw your axe at anyone," Stefan responds as if it's obvious, and Tanelai supposes he's right. But when she keeps stubbornly looking away from him, still upset at how her session went, he sighs and stands up. He pushes her feet off the table and sits down in their spot, right in front of her. "At least you tried to show you can use weapons. I bet there are tributes that don't even pick up a weapon during the training session. So stop overreacting to it. The score will mean nothing once you're actually in the arena."

"I suppose…" Tanelai grumbles, still not wanting to accept that her blunder isn't going to bring about her downfall. She hears angry footsteps walking past them and they both look over to see Ander angrily storming past the living room, surely heading off to his bedroom to keep sulking. "How's mentoring him going?" Tanelai asks as she turns back to Stefan.

He lets out a loud sigh at this and shakes his head, "About as well as you expect. He's angry but tries to at least listen a little to what I say."

"Hmm," Tanelai hums, not really sure what else to say about her District partner. She understands why he's angry at this situation because she is too. She starts picking at her nails, trying to stop thinking about how badly her private session went. She suddenly sits up, realizing she didn't tell Stefan about the one good thing that has happened so far today. Stefan raises a single eyebrow at her but stays silent, waiting for her to speak up. "I did at least get an ally today."

"Hopefully someone who doesn't throw an axe into the wall during their private session," Stefan snorts and Tanelai throws a pillow over at him, only making him start chuckling at her. "You know I'll never let you forget that, right?"

Tanelai groans in annoyance at him, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling. "Great. I'll forever be known as the tribute from Seven, of all places, that threw an axe into the wall. Lovely."

"I mean, hopefully I'll be saying it was the victor from Seven that did that," Stefan offers and Tanelai glances over at him, finding him watching her with a mix of hope and sadness. "So who's this ally you got?" He asks quickly, clearly trying to change the subject.

Tanelai doesn't mention his comment about her being a victor, knowing by now how badly he just wants to have another victor with him so he doesn't have to keep doing this alone. She really hopes she can be that victor for him, yet she's not that hopeful… But at least her odds are better than before now that she has an ally. "Garth."

"Garth?" Stefan asks, scrunching his face as he tries to remember who Garth is. After a few seconds, realization crosses his face. "Oh, the boy from Nine?"

"Yeah," Tanelai nods her head at this before picking up her head to look at Stefan. "He's a nice guy – and don't even try to say that nice people don't win, I am aware. But…he reminds me of Daram and I like working with him."

"That's…not what I was going to say about him," Stefan says slowly, making Tanelai very curious by his hesitation. "There's been a rumor going around the mentors about him…"

"Tell me," Tanelai sits up at this, really growing curious about the rumor. "I like some spicy drama."

"Tanelai," Stefan warns her, making her just even more curious what they could possibly be saying about Garth that he doesn't want to tell her. "I don't want to ruin your opinion of your only ally."

Tanelai shrugs at this, not really knowing what would make her change her opinion on Garth. "Come on, it's not like he murdered someone, right?"

"Of course not," Stefan scoffs at her wild guess and shakes his head at her.

"Then just tell me, it can't be that bad," Tanelai says as she pulls her legs up and crosses them on the couch, leaning closer to Stefan. "And it's just a rumor, after all. Doesn't mean it's actually true."

"Well…" Stefan hesitates but as Tanelai keeps staring at him, he sighs and shakes his head at her. "Rumor is that he slept with Fonio. And the rumor is already spreading to the escorts and it's probably only a matter of time until everyone knows."

"Huh," Tanelai answers as she stares at Stefan, eyebrows raised in surprise. It's the only thing that she can say right now as that was not what she expected Stefan to say. Wow…Garth slept with his mentor? "Spicy," she mutters, nodding her head and starting to be impressed by Garth. That's a ballsy move, sleeping with his mentor. "Can't say I blame him."

"Tanelai!"

"What?" She asks defensively, once more watching Stefan shake his head at her in exasperation. "Come on, you can't deny Fonio is hot."

"That's beside the point," Stefan answers her, continuing to shake his head at her, something he seems to do a lot. But at least it's not from him being mad at her like at first. Now it's just from her being her normal self that jokes at inappropriate times. "It's kind of smart, I'll admit. The Capitol loves Fonio – which, if you actually worked with him you would not understand. So perhaps you'll be in luck and benefit from some sponsor gifts from him. They're going to love this rumor."

Tanelai gets a gross thought and suddenly points her finger accusingly at Stefan, "Don't you dare get any ideas!"

"Ew, gross!" Stefan says quickly, shaking his head completely at the idea.

"Gross? Wow, I didn't think I was gross," Tanelai sarcastically responds, not really offended by Stefan's response. She would react the same way if the situation was reversed. "Maybe average looks, but certainly not gross."

Stefan just stares at her with an exasperated look, but Tanelai finds herself slowly grinning at his reaction. He starts shaking his head at her, trying to hold back his laughter. "You're something else…" But he trails off, smile fading as he stares at her. "I really hope you make it out."

"Me too…" Tanelai says quietly, growing sad thinking about her odds of winning… "I have to get home to Daram. And I don't want you to be alone…do you have anyone at home?"

Stefan's cheeks start turning pink at this question and Tanelai slowly gets a shit grin on her face at his reaction. He points his finger at her, "Stop that question right now."

"You do!"

"Nope!" Stefan says as he quickly stands up, trying to walk away from her. "I have no one!"

"Don't avoid the question!" Tanelai laughs as she gets up and follows after him.

She nearly runs into him when he suddenly stops and turns around to face her. "Tanelai, stop. I don't talk about them because they don't want everyone watching them because they're dating Seven's only victor… So please stop asking me about them and just focus on winning, okay?"

"That's fair…" Tanelai says quietly, feeling a little bad that she was pushing him for an answer. Will that be Daram if she wins? Surely he'll deal with it because it means she'll be home. Stefan looks relieved by her response, but that's until she starts grinning at him. "But when I win, you're totally introducing them to me!"

Okay we have the private sessions but not really lol. Sure, I could have shown some of what they actually did, but when you have a bunch of tributes that are this fun, well, you gotta write some more of them interacting!

Yeah so this was half memes and half serious stuff but that's just the Wayward Mood (TM). But thoughts on Stark's plan? Are we surprised at all by Beta and Jinx's shenanigans? Will Tanelai and Garth be good allies? And any guesses on who Stefan might be dating? (I'm totally not asking for ideas because I have no idea right now, nope)

RQ #16: What's the craziest rumor you would have your mentor spread about you to get sponsor points?

Next chapter we're going to check in with Garth for the scores! And of course that won't be all that happens in the chapter lol. I'll have the full list of alliances up with that chapter! That chapter will probably be up next weekend after the next chapter of Senseless so see you then!