Nebojsa Imanji (18) D10M

The Training Center closed at six o'clock. Everyone was ushered out of it to continue training the next day. None of us knew why, and only the Careers seemed to care. The rest of us were content with just moving on and continuing our training tomorrow.

I knew that it would be foolish not to train. I also knew that the Capitol was full of luxuries. That being said, the Center's closing didn't matter to me that much. Since it was closed, I could have some fun without simply slacking off. Like the majority of the tributes, I could continue my training tomorrow.

Finding myself missing my District, I wandered around the Games building for anything to calm my heart. I didn't think that the Capitol would have much that reminded me of Ten, but it was worth a try. If nothing else, I might be able to find some more stuffed animals to use. They were childish, but still calming. There was nothing wrong with being immature on occasion.

It turned out, the Capitol had a zoo. I didn't even have to go inside it to know that there would be tons of animals in there. There would likely be animals I had never even seen, like the famed giraffe my family sometimes talked about. I could only hope that I would be able to see a legend.

I wandered from exhibit to exhibit, treasuring each moment I had with the animals. I pitied them, since they were stuck behind bars, but I still loved to see them. There were many amazing creatures like I expected, but I wished I could touch them. All I could do was stare at them and wish.

Turning around, I noticed a strange animal with brown spots. It was mostly yellow, and it had a long neck. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it was a giraffe. All of the lions and elephants I saw were nothing compared to this. It looked like a fancy horse, and I wished I could take care of it like I took care of my old horse. A worked appeared beside me, and I jumped. "Who are you?"

"I'm Zazzle. I work here. It's about time for us to feed the animals," she explained.

My eyes widened as she offered me a bucket. "You were talking to yourself. You want to feed the giraffe?" I nodded. I was going to meet the wildlife!

Zazzle told me how to get inside the cage without spooking the giraffes, and I promptly did so. I took the bucket and, standing on a ledge, offered it to the beautiful beast. It came over to me and ate a few of the leaves from my bucket. I reached out, unable to restrain myself. I knew it wouldn't touch me, but I wanted it to so badly!

It kept eating from the bucket, but one time its tongue slipped. It licked my hand a little bit, and I smiled. Zazzle goaded me onwards, and I reached out again. I gingerly touched one of its horns before it got spooked and left. "Sorry," I whispered. I wished the mutts could be as nice as the mythical giraffe. If I make it back, I'll be a legend.

Kia Steer (13) D6F

Like many small tributes, I knew I needed an alliance to have any hopes at survival. My problem would be finding someone who was interested in a tribute like me. I was small and likely somewhat useless. Even I knew that. However, I could try to find people who either pitied me or were just as small as I was. My task wasn't very hopeful, but it was far from hopeless.

Mustang quickly revealed himself to not be a viable ally. He wanted a fair maiden, which I could respect. I would simply have to travel outside of my District, which was no big deal. I had watched the Reaping recaps, and I knew who I would want to ally with. There were plenty of small tributes this year. Of course, some wouldn't be interested, but I didn't need all of them. I only needed one or two. "Hey Smudge!"

Smudge's head popped up and she backed away. "What do you do?"

I backed off a little bit and continued. "Wanna be in an alliance?"

"Ok ask Dove. Dove and Evie need say yes."

"Oh, all righty then. Never mind." Dove had already rejected me. There was no way a Career would ally with me, and I hadn't expected it. Smudge and Evie were now out of the question. I had to move on to the next person on my list, which was all right. It was a long list. "Hey Redd!"

"Not here!" Magpie yelled.

"Well then, hey Magpie! Wanna be in an alliance?" Magpie just shrugged and told me I'd need Feris' permission. "Hey Feris! Can I ally with you and Magpie?"

Feris shrugged as well. "You'd need Redd and Andres to agree, though," he informed me casually, as if a four person outer-District alliance wasn't huge. Two people was weird.

"All right, thanks!" I wandered off to find Andres. "Hey Andres, can I ally with you?"

Andres considered for a while before answering. "We already have four people. It would probably hurt you more than it would help you to ally with us. The Gamemakers would target us with mutts since other tributes couldn't do too much damage. Anyways, we probably can't really provide for five people. Sorry."

"Oh, that's all right. I'll just ask somebody else," I replied, shrugging it off. I was running out of people, but I wasn't done yet. There was always another option, after all. I just had to keep finding it.

Simmons Hall (13) D5F

There was no way a kid like me was going to get any allies. All of the big tributes would find their own people, and most of the smaller kids had an alliance that was too big for me to join. I had to accept it as a fact of life that I would be headed into the Games alone. I hoped that I would win, but I knew it wasn't likely. I was thirteen, and I didn't want to hurt anyone, let alone kill them.

Kia was making her way around the Center calling for people. It took me a good five minutes to realize that she was looking for allies. I didn't know why she hadn't come to me, since I obviously needed an ally, but I could accept that, too. She probably just had higher priorities. When Andres rejected her, I knew she might come to me soon. I got there first. "Hey, Kia?" I called, approaching her.

"What is it?" she replied, turning to me.

"Do you want to be in an alliance? I don't want to go the Games alone," I requested hopefully.

"Well sure!" she said, seeming delighted. "I was hoping to find a good ally. What have you learned so far?"

"Not much," I admitted. I had done a little work on blending in, but I wasn't very good at it. I was just small enough that I could sorta disappear. "I was thinking that we could work together in whatever station we went to. Then we could be great at the things we learned."

Kia nodded. "All right. I was thinking traps and survival, since it's obvious neither of us are interested in killing. Do you mind learning survival while I work on snares?"

I shook my head. "I'll learn stuff like shelters, then. We should have it easy since we're tiny."

"All right!" Kia walked off to learn snares. I hoped I would be useful with my shelter knowledge, since I didn't want to drag Kia down. I didn't think shelters could be too hard, since they were just getting a cover over your head, but if Kia thought I was useful I must be decent.

Shelters head a lot more to them than just getting a roof over your head. The assistant told me that getting off the ground was important, and I quickly saw how that made sense. The ground could be cold, and that was bad. She also told me that sides were important, which I thought I knew in the back of my mind, but it never really came up. Some of the most obvious things could remain hidden.

I worked the rest of the day putting together shelters of various difficulty. I started with the most basic of shelters: a layer of pine boughs and a makeshift roof of sticks. I slowly made my way to things that were more comfortable and useful, things with smooth bottoms and roofs. I was far from perfect at shelter building, but I came out a lot better than I went in.

Giselle Parkfields (17) D7F

The Games would be hard going. I needed to get as much practice in as possible before the Games started. I didn't see many tributes going for cool weapons, and I couldn't blame them. I wouldn't, either. I was going to stick with what I knew and hope to improve my skills there. It might not get me through the Games, but it was better than not making any progress at all.

The first place I went to was the trident station. I couldn't go to the axe station, since Carver was being a maniac, and the survival station was packed. Tridents weren't too complicated, and I knew a bit about them, so they were my third choice. I slipped into a deep concentration like I so often practiced and started working on my jabs and blocks. The assistant didn't come over right away, so I practiced what I knew. When he finally came, he told me that I needed to restart, as if that was possible. He offered to teach me how to properly use a trident, and despite my taking a bit of offense at his harshness, I accepted.

Hours passed as I learned proper form. I didn't know there was a proper way to jab with a trident. I always thought it was a pointy stick that you used to attack people and move hay. Apparently, it was much more complicated than I had expected. If you didn't hold it right it could chip, which was weird but I wasn't going to fight the assistant on what he was trained in. It was also surprisingly easy to lose your grip, which I quickly learned. My previous misinformation didn't really matter, though. I knew the proper information now, and that was that.

I was approached by the easiest assistant, who offered to spar with me. I accepted and started doing what the teacher had taught me, jabbing with the proper hold and trying not to let it slip. I noticed someone trying to get my attention out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored him. I was training now. I could focus on other people later. I had to learn this spar properly so I could win the inevitable fights in the future. The fights would be harder, sure, but sparring an assistant would be closer to the real thing than whacking a dummy.

I lost, but I didn't mind. The man helped me learn from my mistakes and keep going. He showed me everything I did wrong, which was a bit humiliating, but it was certainly useful from it. I recalled something my mother had said about school, how everything you did wrong would help you in the future. You would never do that wrong again. I hoped it was true, because then I would be amazing at tridents. The list went on and on.

Mustang Colbolt D6M

Giselle was ignoring me. I could handle that. I would just train until the day was out. I had already trained a lot, but I would just continue. It couldn't hurt to learn some more about making fires. There was only one other tribute there, which was nice, and I figured it would be a useful skill to have. Fires kept you warm, purified water, and could be used as weapons. There were pretty much all-around useful.

The most basic method of fire making was rubbing two sticks together. I learned that one, slowly but steadily. It had taken me a good chunk of the day before I let myself move on to the next one, as I had made myself a small flame. The next method was a bit more complicated but a whole lot easier. You just tied a stick to a rope and made a spark by rubbing the stick quickly along another stick. It took less physical effort than the other method, which would matter in the Games.

I was jolted from my training by an assistant coming over to me. "It's time to go, the Center's closed." I nodded and thanked her for her information. It was kind of her to usher me out instead of simply waiting for me to realize I was all alone. She helped me put out my fire, which was also nice. I wished all of the assistants and Capitolites were as nice as her.

Giselle was already leaving the Center, and I had to run to catch up to her. "Wait a second, Giselle!" I called out, reaching out a hand. She turned and looked at me expectantly. "Do you want to be an alliance?"

"What do you bring to the table?" she asked immediately.

"Well, I can help with fire," I told her. "It's warmth and it's water."

"Why do you want to ally with me?"

"Well, first of all, having an ally would be nice. Secondly, a lovely lady such as yourself shouldn't have to go the Games alone. No maiden should. I would love to be able to help you out wherever you needed it, assuming you ever do."

She seemed a bit taken aback by my comment. "A lovely lady? Help me out? I can handle myself."

I facepalmed before continuing. "I didn't mean it like that, sorry. I just meant that you know a weapon and I know water. I fill in one of the spots you don't have, and we would work well together. I do consider you a lovely lady though," I added, blushing. "Not that I'd ally with you for bad reasons," I continued. "I have a girl waiting for me in my District who I can't leave. I just want to fulfill my duties as much as possible."

She considered my offer for a while and then nodded. "All right, I guess. But if you start to treat me like crud I'm out."

"Oh, of course I won't! I want to be a gentleman," I explained. "I couldn't ever belittle a woman. I don't think you're useless, either. I just think that I'm a bit more imposing than you, which could scare people away, and some people are sexist and think ladies are dumber than men."

Giselle nodded. "All right then, Mr. Gentleman. I'll see you in the Games."

Notes: Giselle is by no means tiny. She's 5'7". Mustang was simply referencing that many people didn't think women could fight. Also, Mustang isn't very sexist. He does think that men are often physically stronger, but he thinks women are just as important as men. He just thinks that ladies deserve men to be gentlemen to them.

Also, these are alliances that I threw together (except Neb who's suddenly a loner). If any of the owners don't like the alliance, message me and things will be settled.