The Masonry Academy for Conditioning Intellectuals Guide to Becoming a Tribute
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."-Theodore Roosevelt
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:District 2 of Panem:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
Gale's POV
"Are you sure?" I ask Havana, doubtful that she's really alright. I'm not sure just how close she and Slone were, but she's taking it hard. Losing your district partner I suppose would be kind of a strange and horrible thing because they're your only link to home in this arena, but she's taking it harder than I think I would. How would I act if Clove died? I'm not sure I'd be crying, but it would feel a bit like a loss I suppose.
I glance over to Clove who is sharpening her knives in preparation for leaving to go tribute hunting while simultaneously glaring at Glimmer. We don't know each other very well-heck, she was little more than a stranger before we started training together. I'm not really sure if we're friends. Actually, no we're definitely not. And I plan on killing her myself if someone else doesn't do it for me.
No, Havana must have known Slone well. Clove may be my district partner, but ultimately she's in my way of victory. I sound like an ass thinking that but it's true.
"Yeah I'm sure. I can't stay here tonight." Havana answers, subconsciously scratching at her arms where the poison ivy has spread. She keeps doing it, as if she's trying to scrub her arms off. I should warn her scratching at the poison ivy is only going to make it worse even with the medical cream we found for her to put on, but I don't think she'll listen. She's been…I guess mourning is the best word all day until Marvel mentioned going out to hunt again tonight, and then she was alert and insistent on going.
I study her carefully, realizing exactly why she wants to go. This place reminds her of Slone and if she just sits here guarding and doing nothing all night she might very well go crazy from it. At least hunting tributes gives her mind something else to focus on. Heck, it might be good for her even if they don't find anyone.
Not to mention it fits in with my plans. I'm not one to waste such an opportunity that presents itself to me on a silver platter, but I have to at least appear to protest the decision. Wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious.
"You're right." I nod, giving her an understanding smile. "Go. I'll guard tonight."
"You?" she replies, seeming taken aback. "I thought it'd be Glimmer or Marvel tonight."
Yeah, she would have hoped it was Glimmer. Not only would it get her out of Clove's way but out of hers for me. I give her an apologetic shrug.
"I'd love to come with you. But someone needs to stay here and I haven't had a turn yet." I insist, which has the desired effect. She blushes slightly underneath the small bit of poison ivy on her cheeks before shaking her head.
"You're whole being fair thing isn't very fun." She comments, which makes me chuckle. Oh if only she knew.
"Character flaw I suppose." I smile back, holding back on laughing at the irony. The character flaw definitely has to do with fairness, but it's more the fact that I don't play that way. I don't exactly cheat. It's more like…manipulating. Yeah, let's go with that. "I'm just glad I could make you smile. Forgive me if I don't hug you too."
This only makes her smile more before laughing again. "God, I can't believe I'm laughing after what happened this morning."
"It's good for you. It means you're allowing yourself to heal." Is my response, one that sounds like another person.
"No, I think it's just you." She blushes again, smiling a little again.
I smile back a little, pretending to be embarrassed but I'm not really. In fact, this is just where I want her. And if she and Glimmer get into a fight on the hunting trip then all the better for me. Guess I'd know if it got physical if Glimmer came back with poison ivy too. I could pretend it was my disease spreading to all of them, getting them to trust me before I permanently break it.
"I'm not sure about that." I shake my head, changing the subject. "If you're going to go hunting you better get ready."
"Alright, I will." She agrees and turns around, taking a few steps before turning back around. "Gale?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." She answers before walking quickly away again.
As predicted, Glimmer isn't thrilled with the fact that I'm staying behind today and Marvel seems perfectly happy with it as it's him with the girls tonight, meaning he's the clear muscle of the team. Or at least he thinks he is. Something tells me Clove will probably be the real leader of that group but who am I to decide? Besides, I have more important things to worry about. Like the boy currently in front of me on the other side of the fire, fidgeting with his spear that seems uncomfortable in his hands. I don't think he's ever really been a creature of violence and doesn't appear to want to be either. No wonder his plan probably involves mines-little effort on his part but a big effect. He could just blow us all up one day when we were standing around the mines and we wouldn't stand a chance.
Well, at least I'll have a chance. Or I will very soon.
"Do you miss it?" I ask him, startling him out of his daze. He seems surprised I'm actually talking to him though I don't know why. I am the one who brought him into the group, after all.
"What?" he questions back quietly.
I pause for a moment before putting the word out there. "Home." Somehow it doesn't come out as bold as I wish it would, my voice barely concealing the emotion behind the tone. Probably not good for the viewers or sponsors outside of here, but it will probably be more effective in getting Teddy to do what I want him to. Besides, no one else in the arena would have heard it anyway.
Home. I miss it. I haven't been here long day wise, but it seems like a lifetime. It's as if this is my world now and home is just something in my memories. Earlier when I thought I was sounding like another person, it took me a few minutes but eventually after Havana left to go prepare for the night it hit me who I sounded like. My mother. I sounded like mom when she was trying to make me feel better or if she was reading my emotions like she's always been so good at doing.
And thinking of mom made me immediately remember the most random odd things, like how she had a habit of putting pepper on her scrambled eggs but salt on them over easy. Or how Rory would follow me around when I was younger, almost like Teddy would at first when he came here. As if it made him feel safer. Or how even Katniss would always smile at the most random times in the woods.
I never asked, but I think it was just because she was happy. We were always at our happiest in the woods, especially when it was just the two of us. We went quite a few days a week, but Sundays were our days. Most of the time our dads joined us in the woods but we would predominantly split up and go with our respective hunting partners. Most Sundays all Katniss and I did was hunt and didn't even talk much, but sometimes if we got a lot in early we would go to our special spot.
It's not much really, just a part of a small creek with a little waterfall where clay covers the rock on the bottom. It's also hidden by bushes on all but one side, and that one has multiple trees to block the view to it. Frankly, we found it by accident one day about four years ago. We were tracking a deer through the forest and it wandered near the bushes when Katniss and I simultaneously shot it, mine in the neck and hers in the eye. The deer kind of stumbled and fell into the bush, bending it. When we got to the deer to collect our kill and figure out how to track down our dads to figure out how to get it back to the district I glanced over where the deer had fallen and found the creek.
Even when we go there we don't do much special. Just take our shoes off and put our feet in the creek, the clay squeezing between our toes. And we talk, mostly about random things like school or our families or the academy. Nothing special.
And yet it seems so special now that I'm here, when I'm remembering all kinds of things about home when I'm in a whole different world. I think I just miss my family and my best friend. But that's something of a problem for me. I need them to keep me going, but I can't think about them too much. I'll go crazy if I do. I need to do what I came here for, and do what I can with where I am. I'll keep Katniss and I's rock close to my heart and the memories in the back of my head, saving them from making me vulnerable. Because I know exactly how to abuse that vulnerability, and I refuse to have it turned on me.
"Yeah." Teddy nods with a frown, looking down to his spear. "I think about it all the time." He admits.
"Me too." I agree, but quickly turn it from myself. "What's home like?" I ask. I vaguely know about District 3 from the people in the woods, but that's something definitely not appropriate to share with Teddy, much less the entire population of Panem. I may not quite understand why they are choosing to live outside of the District but I don't want to be their doom either. After all, the second I mention anything not only would I get in trouble for admitting to leaving the district and keeping that information from the Capitol and peacekeepers, but they would surely die. The first thing that would happen would be hovercrafts and peacekeepers scouring the woods outside the district for them and they would surely die. That doesn't sit too well with me.
And so I keep my mouth shut and listen to Teddy tell me about the district I should know nothing about, how schools teach them skills in technology be it programming or fixing or whatever, how they are relatively poor from the sounds of it. It seems like most people there are reserved, but they are brilliant and smart. Well, everyone knew that-it's not a secret that District 3 has brains. That's pretty much the only way someone wins from their district, outsmarting everyone else. But not me. I can sympathize all I need to, but this kid will not outsmart me.
And so I nod and hum in agreement, leading him to where I want him to go before asking the question that doesn't seem so frightening to answer anymore.
"So did you learn how to reactivate the mines in school? I wish my school taught me that." I question, getting a smile from him at the jealous comment.
"No, they wouldn't dare give us actual explosives to work on in school. But I did learn how in a book that I found in the library." He admits, and I raise an eyebrow. A library, huh? I mean we have one in Two, but it's boring stuff like textbooks. Then again, District 3 kids probably read text books for fun so maybe that's not so weird. What's weird is that a book on how to reactivate explosives is available to the population and not heavily guarded. But I don't ask and he doesn't go into more detail. Maybe he has secrets of his own to keep.
"Did the book show you how to make that controller too?" I ask.
In response Teddy shakes his head before replying. "No, controllers are something they do teach in school. It's pretty simple really. I just adapted it to accommodate the mines instead."
Well I'm not entirely sure what his definition of simple is, but it's clearly different from mine. I wouldn't know the first thing on how to make that controller. Then again, I'm not meant to. That's District 3's thing. District 2's is supposed to be stone masonry but that's more of a cover than what everyone actually does. Something tells me the Capitol wouldn't be fond of everyone knowing that most of their behind the scenes work goes on in a district. Makes it seem like we're their favorites. Which we are, but that's beside the point.
"You're a smart kid, you know that Teddy?" I praise him, actually impressed. He looks down and mumbles thanks, but I push it again, getting him right where I want him to be. "No you are, really. I liked you from the first time you talked to me in training. You seem like a man with a plan."
"Really?" he asks, clearly warring with trying to hide that he actually has a plan and that he's shy about being praised.
"Yeah." I nod, and then lean closer. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Um…sure." He shrugs, clearly not knowing where I'm going with this. All the better.
"I trust you more than the rest of them." I let him know, and he gives me a skeptical look. "No really, I do."
"Why would you trust me over your alliance? You're all Careers." He questions. I let the Career thing slide by for now. I never really understood why people called those of us who trained Careers, especially since that's not what we call ourselves. Besides, a Career is something you do for a lifetime, to bring money home. We pay for the Academy back home and it's only until someone is eighteen, not a lifetime.
"Why would I bring you into the alliance if I didn't trust you?" I ask him, and it's supposed to be rhetorical but there's the hanging, obvious answer that neither of us bother saying. Because I could easily kill him at any time with my superior strength and weapon skills. But now isn't the time to bring that up, or ever really.
"I...don't know. It just seems strange to me that you would trust me over them." He points out, and I hold back the answer I want to say-Hardly. If anything, I trust the rest of my alliance enough to guard when I sleep and not to kill me in the present time because it's smart not to kill each other off yet. Other than that I don't trust them at all. They want to win just as much as I do.
"Don't be so sure." I shrug. "In fact, I trust you so much that I need you to keep a secret with me from them. Can you do that?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
I smile in encouragement before looking to the mound of supplies. "I want to re-hide the controller. I don't want them to know where it is."
"Why?" he questions, suspicious. Great, maybe he's too smart. But I can't stop now.
"Because then only we know where it is. And there's going to come a time soon when that's going to be the key to everything. I won't tell you more for your own safety but…it's important." I inform him. He studies me long and hard before saying anything, probably trying to find any ulterior motives. But there isn't. And just as I suspected, he goes along with it by nodding and not because he's naïve. It works with his plan as well.
Figures. Well I suppose if I get the gist of his at least part of its aligned with my own interests so might as well let him think he has the upperhand.
So we go in the dark of the night while the rest of the alliance is hunting probably in vain for tributes, rehiding the controller on the opposite side of camp in a convenient location where one could find it without being seen by the camp. Then we go back to the fire and guard the rest of the night in silence, the others coming back around dawn predictably emptyhanded, instantly falling asleep.
I let Teddy go to sleep too for a while before I get up and go to the controller where we have now hidden it, turning the mines off before going to the mound of supplies and getting a choice amount that won't be as noticed to be missing-a backpack here, some food from here or there, a few unused knives. Then I go back to turn the mines back on before walking a ways to a tree, climbing up it and securing it a good forty feet up, protecting it from animals and weather before going back to camp completely unsuspected of doing anything at all with the rest of them fast asleep.
Sitting at the fire I don't smile to myself, but I feel pretty damn smug. Let the Hawthorne Games begin.
Katniss's POV
"You're up early." Rory comments, and I glance up to him where he's just come out from his room. Even Hazelle isn't up yet, and Marc must have left for work an hour ago. It wasn't my intention to sleep at the Hawthorne's again, but Posy was insistent and Mom and Dad didn't care. Besides, I was in no mood to go home after mom's smug smile about knowing I was somewhat annoyed at Gale's…flirting with Havana. There was no way I was giving her a chance to say anything so it seemed like a blessing to stay here.
But no sooner than she'd fallen asleep I ended up back here in the living room, breaking my promise to Dad about not having to watch Gale constantly. I can't help it though-not when he keeps doing things like last night and I have to figure out what the hell he's doing for my own sanity.
"I don't sleep much." I excuse it, hoping he thinks it's because of hunting. It's not as if Rory has never been hunting-he just hasn't gone as much as Gale and I have. Besides, he enjoys hanging out around Prim on Sundays and helps her with her animal rescues, though I suspect it's more because he likes my sister lately as more than a friend than anything. Not that he'd ever admit it nor would Prim.
"What's Gale so happy about?" he asks, looking to the screen where in the newly risen sun Gale is staring into the fire hiding his smile but I can see the smugness anyway. Apparently so can Rory. I don't know why that surprises me because it shouldn't-Rory is his brother.
"He got Teddy to rehide the controller sometime during the night and they agreed to keep it secret." I inform him, leaving out the fact that I know pretty much the exact time that happened-around 2 AM. "And then he just turned off the mines and hide supplies from the pile in a tree while everyone else is sleeping."
"So what's he going to do then?" Rory asks, sitting down in the chair to my right and looking eagerly to me for answers.
I shrug in response. "I guess…leave the alliance at some point and he wants to make sure he's supplied."
Rory gives me a suspicious look before widening his eyes. "Wait…you don't know what he's doing? He hadn't told you before he left what his plan was?"
My eyebrows shoot up at the response. "Um no, didn't I tell you that?" I question, distinctly thinking I had talked to Rory about this before. Or at least I thought I had. I guess my mind has been more on Gale and the arena lately than what I've actually told people.
"I thought you were just keeping it to yourself!" Rory admits. "I never thought he'd not tell you of all people."
"You and me both." I snort, and we both go back to watching the television screen for a while. But it quickly gets boring as nothing is going on what with most of the predators sleeping at the moment. I decide while the sun is rising I better get home and change for school before Hazelle gets up. I'm not sure how many talks from her I'm going to be able to handle without cracking about something I don't want to admit, like Gale asking for that damn kiss or why I've been hanging out with Cato lately or anything.
But before I leave, Rory stops me. "Wait, Katniss."
"Yeah?"
"I've been…thinking. So…I know Dad won't, especially with working and so worried about Gale even though he won't admit it. But…would you…you know…take me hunting on Sunday?" he questions, and before I can say a word he keeps going. "I won't get in the way or anything, I just want to…I don't know, do something other than watch the Games."
"You don't want to watch the Games?" I ask, astonished. Rory loves the Games, and I know he's loving the popularity that he's acquired now that his brother's in them whereas I hate it. But I'm addicted to the Games this year-I can hardly unglue myself from the television. It's just strange to me that he wants to not watch them.
"Just for a while. I just need a break from the reality of it." He admits, looking ashamed.
"Reality of what?" I ask, though I'm not entirely certain I want to know the answer.
"That he may not come back." A solemn voice answers for both of us, and we're startled to find Vick standing by the opening of the hallway. "And I'd like to come too if you don't mind taking Rory. I know I don't know how to hunt, not really. But I'd like going in the woods I think."
What has this world come to? Both of Gale's brothers are doubting him and looking to me as their older sibling now. I can't say I'm not terrified Gale won't come back, because I am. I think it's the real reason I'm glued to the screen though I'd never admit it to anyone much less these two. But Gale isn't here to help them get through this, and Marc's too busy. After all, they are young, and they need help. My help. What else can I do, especially if I'm the one here right now?
"Sure, I'll see you both at the opening of the fence before dawn on Sunday." I inform them before waving goodbye and going home, knowing that this will be an interesting Sunday for sure. You know, if I make it that long.