Ava's in the alliance but she already had a POV.

Ruby Lalonde- District One female

Usually, Careers wanted another Career to win if they couldn't. This time, there were enough Tributes that I could afford to be more picky. If it couldn't be me, I wanted it to be District One. We hadn't been doing as well as we could lately. We were doing all right, but more was better. Mostly it was just old-fashioned patriotism. I loved my District, and anyone that came from there had an instant connection to me. Everyone but Charming.

Ava wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but she was an asset. Fable joined in so she wouldn't be targeted by the other Career pack, Jayden joined just because she was a Career, and Madison joined for whatever reasons. Just like that, we were a dominant force.

"All right, everyone, I think we should plan the Bloodbath," I said as we gathered in the One lounge.

"Obviously the biggest worry is the other pack," Jayden said.

"Exactly," I said. "And I think I have an idea. This sounds weird, but I don't think we should go after the non-Careers during the Bloodbath."

It must have sounded less weird than I thought, since no one reacted. They probably knew more was coming, and it was.

"There are five of us and five in the other pack," I said. "We need to gain dominance right away and keep it. Instead of killing Tributes, let's all clump together and go after a single member from the other pack."

"That sounds good," Fable said. "But who should we target?"

"Onyx is the most dangerous," Fable said.

"Cierra is the weakest," Madison said.

"Which one would be the biggest loss?" I asked everyone.

"Arielle," Jayden said. The others indicated their agreement.

"Arielle then," I said. "If she's close to the others, we should go after whoever's on their own. Otherwise, we're gunning for Arielle."

Madison English- District One female

"Hold on," I said. I hadn't wanted to sat much, since I wanted to be overlooked, but there was something very important I had to address. "They're planning the same thing with us."

"Oh shoot, you're right," Fable gasped. "Who do you think they're targeting?"

"I don't think it's me," Ruby said. "No one got to saw how strong I am or not, since my Games were weird."

"It's me," Ava said confidently.

"Not Madison. Not because she's weak- she's just a dark horse," Jayden said.

"I think it's you or Fable," Ruby said to Jayden. "You both lasted a long time and are really fierce fighters."

"Honestly I think it's Jayden," Fable said. "She's just so ripped. She looked like such a strong player."

"Great," Jayden said. "Well they better think twice."

"We should do a buddy system," I said. "No one should be alone in the Bloodbath."

"I like that," Fable said.

"We should pair up based on fighting styles. Someone who uses close-range weapons should be with someone who uses long ones, so the long-range fighter can set up and start shooting."

"Me and Fable are the long-range fighters," Ava said. "The rest of you use short ones."

"I can go with Ava, if that's okay," Ruby said.

"Can me and Fable be together?" Jayden asked.

"Wait, there's five of us. What about Madison?" Ava asked.

"You wanna just pick a pair and we'll be three?" Ruby asked.

"Okay. Put me with Fable and Jayden, if you two don't mind," I said. I liked Ruby, but Ava was not my first pick.

"What about when we're done with Arielle?" Jayden asked. "We should rank the others."

After some debate, we settled on an order: Arielle, Karyssa, Dylan, Cierra, Onyx. The plan was based mostly on team dynamics, and we stipulated that the order could be changed at discretion if the target wasn't easy to reach. We had a plan for everything, and I was glad I could contribute without calling attention to myself.

Fable Anders- District One female

I was really sad about Jessie. We'd grown together during the Games. I understood she would go with her sister, and it was really for the better. Neither of us wanted to lose the other again. It was better this way. All our allies knew we wouldn't fight unless we had to, and I made it understood that we wouldn't seek out Jessie and Chrome. We would fight if they fought us, we would even fight if the moment presented itself, but we weren't hunting for them. Both of us quietly hoped the other would die before our paths crossed.

We'd done enough training. None of the Careers really had much more to learn, and that left us with a lot of leisure time. I used mine to gather stories. There were a lot of mentors for One, and each one had a different background. I went to one after another, asking them to share a story someone told them. Kazuo shared a rather disturbing tale called The Tongue-Cut Sparrow. Estrella told a even spookier story called La Llorona. Hyden told a thinly-veiled story of him falling in love with Estrella, which was not what I asked for, but it was all right. Azure told The Emperor's New Clothes, which I already knew, but I didn't want to be rude. Peridot told a Brer Rabbit story, which was really cool. Jerky told me stories were for babies and swatted at my butt as I left. Blake told this really cool story about a book that never ended. Then I got to our latest Victor, Ravi Waterford.

"A story?" she asked, looking vaguely disgruntled. "All right, I do know one."

"When asked why he practiced zen, the student said, 'Because I intend to become a master'. His teacher picked up a brick and started polishing it. The student asked 'what are you doing?". The teacher replied, "I am trying to make a mirror." "How can you make a mirror by polishing a brick?" the student asked. "How can you become a master by doing zen? If you understand sitting Zen, you will know that Zen is not about sitting down. It you want to learn sitting Master, know that sitting Master is without any fixed form. If you practice sitting as Master, you must kill the master. If you are attached to the sitting form, you are not yet mastering the sitting form," the teacher said The student heard this admonition and felt as if he had tasted sweet nectar," Ravi said.

"What kind of story is that?" I asked.

"It's a koan. It's supposed to teach you something. My teacher told it to me," Ravi said.

"What does it teach?" I asked.

"I have no idea," Ravi said. "I never was good at them."

Jayden Chadsey- District One female

We were planning the Bloodbath, which made me think about what came after. There was a lot to plan for, and if I left anything out, it would get me killed. No pressure.

A District One alliance was nice. I wasn't kidding myself we'd be holding hands and painting each others' nails until the end, but it gave us something to rally around. Also, it meant I could be apart from Chrome without any awkwardness. We'd each killed each other once, which made us even. Best to quit before it got any worse. Since Fable didn't want to fight Jessie, we probably wouldn't meet up. We could go our own ways and die separately.

Fable was my Bloodbath partner, so it made sense that we should train together for a while. We just needed an action plan for the Bloodbath. After that, we were all a big alliance again. I was also partnered with Madison, but she was more of a floater. Nonetheless, the three of us met up to train.

"It's like football," I said. "Part one is that when the gong sounds, I run out in front and everyone gets out of my way since I look strong and I can fight without a weapon. I run in front of you two until we get to the weapons. Me and Madison get our weapons and we all go after Arielle. On the way, Fable gets her bow. We kill Arielle and then Fable can start shooting at our other targets. We keep killing until the Bloodbath's over and then we can start hunting. Sound right?" I asked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Fable said, and Madison nodded.

"The most dangerous moment is the first seconds of the Games, when we're not together yet," I said. "Let me show you a few simple moves in case someone gets in your way before we're together," I said. I modeled an instep stomp and a nose smash. Madison and Fable both knew those, of course, but it was good to refresh and practice more fully. If either of them were by the other Careers, they would be better able to get past and meet up with me. Until the Bloodbath was over, we were family and had to take care of each other. After that we could start the countdown to the breakup.