I was supposed to write this for Splinter in the Capitol and forgot (surprise, surprise). So I thought I'd do it as a flashback in the Games. But then people voted to kill him in the Bloodbath, which actually WAS a surprise. But I shall not be deterred! What I have promised, so shall I deliver.
Splinter Ironwood
The Capitol had ways of training I'd never even imagined. One of the newest additions was virtual reality. The word was that eventually we'd be able to practice fighting with entirely manufactured opponents that could be exactly as difficult as we wanted. This year, we were still in the embryonic stages. The apparatus was an egg-shaped pod, and programs were simple skills like climbing. The sensors connected to the portions of the brain active in the activity, allowing Tributes to train in reality by practicing in fantasy through muscle memory and neuroplasticity.
That was all very high-tech and fancy, but really I just wanted to learn how to swim and not have to worry about drowning. I climbed into the pod and an assistant helped hook me up. He told me about how the electrodes would stimulate the REM centers of my brain, simulating sleep. As soon as he closed the lid it was pitch-black, so I didn't even notice a change until the world suddenly lit up around me.
I'd dialed in a coral reef program. I wanted to learn to swim, but I'd also always wanted to see the ocean. I wasn't in the water yet, though. I was standing on a cliff at the edge of the water, looking down at all the colors and shapes. I jumped in, hoping the AI was either advanced enough to clear the sharp coral out of my way or primitive enough not to know it would hurt me. It turned out to be the first alternative. I landed in the water and the coral curled back in around me. At first I sank to the bottom and floundered in the sand. Slowly I learned how to push the water aside and move around like I was in the air. It didn't matter how long I stayed underwater, since I wasn't really breathing in water. I could take my time and see everything.
We had a lot of colors in Seven, but nothing like this. There was every color of the rainbow in that reef, whether on the coral or on the fish swimming around in it. Some of them scattered when I got close, but others didn't care. A giant green eel swam past me like I was rude for getting in its way. I swamp up underneath the surface on my back and watched the sun dance on the water.
I never wanted to get out. I only did because training time was over. If this was the embryonic stages, I really wanted to see the finished product.