Miles Gader (16) - District 9

There aren't enough tables in the lunch area for everyone to sit alone, but I'm lucky to have found one, and that others have allied and are sitting together. On the one hand it's strange not to have people to talk to, on the other hand I don't feel good talking to people who would want to go after my life in only three days. Only three days left.

Kayden would know what to do, which stations to learn from and who to ask for an alliance, how to be effective and not stress out all the time. There have been little conflicts all over the place, and I myslef was involved in one as well, where the youngest from eleven has verbally attacked me, even though all I wanted was to make her a compliment.

She has looked miserable and continues to look miserable, yet a different kind, if that makes sense. Contrary to that, my District partner Marigold has looked better. She likes to be called only "Mari", though I love her full name, since only that can do the beauty of that flower justice. It's in a vase, up in my bedroom in the nineth floor, where it still looks fresh, but I know the leafs will wither away within the next days.

I've sat with Marigold at lunch yesterday, where she told me about her music, and I wish I could hear her play. Now she's over at a different table with the boy from District 8, where they smile and even laugh and I can honestly say that I'm happy for her.

I just wish I could feel the same safety as she probably does now. I know there will be no one who has my back in the arena, at least not to a point where I can trust anyone to save my life and that is good knowledge, says our mentor.

With a sigh I turn my head, as there is noise coming from a few feet behind me, where the buffet is layed out. The girl from District 6 has positioned herself on the floor there, probably because no empty table is available, and she eats syrup-drained pancakes out of her bare hands. Some has drizzled on the floor, right onto even more pancakes she seems to have hoarded there, as she stuffs her face with the baked goods, yet she isn't savage about it, but rather slow in eating.

"Hey, you can sit over here. It's disgusting to see you eating like that" I tell her and get her attention, pleased that she doesn't look offended.

"Ok."

She collects her food and slowly gets up, which seems to be a great effort, though she finally makes it and sits opposite of me.

"You can use my plate, if the crumbles don't bother you. What's you name? I'm Miles." I push it over to her, having only eating some slices of bread off of it, so it shouldn't be a problem, and I'm now busy with the dessert anyways, which is pineapple and chocolate cake.

"Halexa", she answers with a full mouth, though luckily nothing drops out and I regret it a bit to have invited her here, since now I have to stare at her eating all the way until lunch is finished and we are allowed to spend some freetime, before the second half of training begins. She could at least have thanked me.

The plan is to revisit spear fighting, as I have already gotten an introduction to it yesterday and it went reasonably well, not perfect, but giving me the ability to defend myself a bit, getting close combat and range together.

"Do you have any fun facts about pancakes? I'm collecting for a presentation." The sudden wakeness in her voice surprises me, as Halexa looks up from her half-eaten food and the blue eyes sparkle just a little, like they could be beautiful if it weren't for the dark rings underneath. She must either sleep very little, or way too much.

"That's nonsense", I give my opinion on her question, because where would she hold it and why? She does look pretty miserable, but not dumb. The interviews are there to tell about yourself, make yourself look good and likeble, not fool around like this.

Halexa shrugs with a twitch of her mouth, then goes back to eating like it doesn't bother her at all that I haven't given her an answer. It worries me, since everyone else would certainly care – so I think back and try to remember pancakes.

"My mother used to make them for me, but they weren't as special as other sweets. I only really like them with strawberry sauce...and then I wouldn't even share them with the troubled kids I housed in my room."

"Ok."

Amran Hibiscu (15) – District 2

The Capitol is nothing like home, even though I always thought I didn't like District 2 to a point where I could miss it. The rain doesn't sound the same when it hits the streets here and the trees I can see from the balcony of my bedroom are countable on one hand. The voice controled radio has some country music, yet it's all refined and perfect, not like the old disks in Dina's living room.

I sit outside in my training T-Shirt, my body longing for some more activity. The forced training break after lunch might suit some well, for me, it's strange though. The arena won't give us time to digest our food before a fight. Better be able to be at your best with a full belly.

It was hard to avoid Jade over yesterday and this morning, but I am better off doing so, especially because it's not only her who gets angry every time we're in the same room. I shouldn't risk getting into a fight before the Games start. The upcoming bloodbath makes me nervous enough.

Sometimes I think it would be better to go alone, like I've always done, because I had to, but here no one knows me and to my surprise, Jade hasn't tried to drag me down in the eyes of the other tributes. She might have told her allies, no more. Most still stare at me, a career who isn't with the careers, and most still are afraid of me, for obvious reasons.

They better be. I'm going to win this, yet I think it's wise to make some allies at least for the earlier part of the Games. Maybe the careers will be out to hunt me – I could take two of them, maybe three, but not all. A human only has so many arms.

After considering my options carefully, and with the help of my mentor Cain, I came to the conclusion that the biggest alliance would be the best possible option. For a while, I had in mind to ask the guy from seven, Wolf, but now he'll be my backup option, should the first plan fail. It will not fail, though.

There has been a hiccup, in which the twelve boy went to train with Jade, and somehow I though she had spied on me, got ahead of me and joined their alliance first, which would leave me without option, yet she hasn't, because she isn't clever enough for such a thing. She has just robbed my potential alliance of a member, which is bad in itself, though the damage isn't drastic and we will live. Quite literally.

The clock tells me that it's time to return to training, finally. How am I going to go about getting myself into that alliance? I know myself well, therefore I know of my weaknesses in talking. I just didn't get much practice back home, where Dina and Merrick were my only friends, and everyone else avoided me.

Maybe I should have used my situation more to intimidate the others – but there is still time left, in the interview for example, and I might not like it to pride myself in horrible actions, yet the Capitol might see it as an asset, and I won't need to be specific.

My potential alliance might like it as well, that I can bring some experience with me. It's well known that many outlier tributes are shy to get their hands dirty, so I can do that part, because I'm not afraid to kill. I won't loose myself in it, and it will be fine.

I will be fine. I will be fine.

I push myself off of the chair, leave the cool air behind me and make my way back down into the training hall fast – better get this over with soon. Better get some certainty soon.

Blairoxx Alvena (16) – District 8

My lungs are burning and I gasp for air, but it can't stop the acid in my stomach from making me spit on the floor like I was some savage old man who lives in a street corner. I stare at the white bubbly substance with disgust and fear, as it crawls into my head that this performance won't save me from death at the cornucopia. Getting away is one thing, but the coach also gave me the thought to consider, that there might not be an immediate hiding option.

I might have to run for my life for several minutes, and I just can't do that. I can barely manage the quater of a mile track in a decent amount of time, yet as I'm experiencing right now, there's not much more in it for me. If just the careers had taken me in, I now wouldn't have to bother with sprinting at all...

"Breathe steady. Don't sit down or your circulatory system will give you trouble."

The trainer hands me a bottle of water and I take small sips, keeping them in my mouth for a moment like she's shown me, before I swallow. A part of me wants to be thankful, then again, she's part of the Capitol and I remember she will soon be in front of her TV like all the others, having fun to see me fight for my survival. I resist the urge to spit out the water, instead calm my breathing even more until I feel secure on my feet again.

"I'm going to go refresh myself at the water fountain", I tell the trainer, who nods and walks away.

When I thought the Capitol had given us a luxurious lifestyle back home, I couldn't have imagined what it would be like here. This fountain works with a sensor, so I only need to hold my hand underneath and the cool, clear water starts flowing. Careful not to ruin my light make-up, I dab my wet palms on my cheeks and temple.

"Are you afraid of water?" asks someone beside me and I jump in surprise, only to scold myself inwardly for it. Don't look like a coward...then again, I did decide that being scared would probably keep the other tributes off my trail for a bit.

"No...I'm not", I answer the question, which came from a short guy with tanned skin, green eyes and blonde hair. He has a smug smile on his face, not hiding his interest in my curves at all. Even though he turned me down, that Gnaeus from one was more respectful. "Please don't stare", I add, making my voice silent and sweet, in the hopes that shyness will still convince him.

It doesn't. I want to frown, but stop myself. What good is it to be a great actor if I don't know about psychology? It's frustrating, really. I've squinted my eyes, I secretly stared at people from a hiding place for a long time, I've watched their body language during conversations, but I'm none the wiser about what I need to do to make them act as I want them to.

"I was just thinking how it would be a pity to cut you open like we do in the butchery, but I could spare you for a bit of time if you were to be my ally."

This is the moment when I drop the act, because it honestly won't matter at this point. I need an alliance and for sure it's not someone like him. My face returns from scared to normal. I might be insane, yet this apparent death-threat doesn't rattle me. Afterall, we're in the Hunger Games, so of course he would want to kill me. It's just that someone that keen on murder, and so cocky about it at that, doesn't make for good alliance material.

In other circumstances I would value his honesty about that, though here it is apparent that he'd betray me the second it gets dangerous. He'd use me as a shield, if even that, or just straight up slit my throat in the night.

"No, sorry", I say and grin at his reaction. "There's a high chance we won't even meet in the arena, so keep expectations low."

I turn and walk away, the dreadful sprinting station suddenly way more appealing than before. I will make sure that when we do meet, I'll be ready to make him look like a fool.

Jade Dove (18) – District 1

"He has a right to be here, he's good enough! And you can believe me if I say so."

We have gathered about an hour before training ends and after today, I brought Austin with me. As promised – and I still can't believe he upheld it – we went to the knife-throwing station this morning, where he tried to explain his technique to me. Cornfirming my picture of twelve, he chose a makeshift knife out of wood and sharp stone, with terrible balance probably, but for whatever reason, the trainer squealed in excitement when she saw him hit the target with it. In the middle of our session she came over to me, whispering how I should 'keep this one at any cost'.

So here we are, Eleanor being her typical bitchy self, even more than before, as she throws her arms up in fury.

"But look at him! He's dirty, he's ugly, he's probably stupid, what good can he be?"

Austin, who stands beside me, opens his mouth, but is cut off from whatever he wants to say by Gnaeus. Even I can tell that his chuckle isn't an expression of amusement.

"I'm confused – wasn't the dislike for outlier tributes the only thing you had common ground on?" he asks.

"Well I changed my mind", I shoot back, feeling the need to underline my point. I have good reason for it, he better believe that. Why is it that no one seems to respect me here?

"We're down one person anyway, so why not consider it?" Talise throws in and I smile, finally someone who understands me. She's been rather reserved, though a better ally than both from one.

"I'd be fine with him", Tanzan shrugs and I see how this can go the right way now. Three against two should totally work.

"If you let him stay, I'll leave – that's why not. I'm not gonna have him run back to his former friends and betray us."

"You what?", Gnaeus turns his head to look at his District partner in surprise, but she stares at me like this was a challenge. Does she think I'd care if she left?

"So leave!" I tell her right into her face, gulping down the lump in my throat about that she might not take me seriously afterall. But I'm not joking – if the trainer tells me to take Austin, I will. He might be strange, because he said a lot of strange things today, but he is useful.

"She isn't going to leave. We're not going to take Austin in, sorry", Gnaeus words sound like they are final, as he directs them at Austin himself, who flinches, but seems to have finally found his voice again.

"I swear, I don't plan to betray you", he starts as his different coloured eyes wander hectically between the pair from one. "I left my original alliance, they won't take me back after this. Jade promised me I could join you, so I definetly left them for good. But why don't you let your leader decide?"

"We don't have a leader, sunshine", comes a counter from Gnaeus.

"Then we vote on one. I vote Tanzan", I interrupt with a winning grin, looking at the District four boy as he doesn't even seem to realise what's going on.

"I vote Gnaeus!", Eleanor shoots back.

"Stop. I don't want to be leader."

No it is my turn to stare at Tanzan in disbelief. He shakes his head vehemently, damn him. Refusing such an honour as to lead the careers? And I would have taken that task in a heartbeat for myself, but right now I can best benefit to have someone else, who will be on my side.

"You serious?!" I shout, anger rushing into my head as I step towards him, gaze firmly locked with his, who didn't seem to expect that reaction.

"Woah, calm down", I hear Austin whisper from the side, but of course he can't know how we handle things here.

"I'm dead serious. Now back off. Also, if it breaks the alliance, I'm against taking your friend."

"I won't calm down if everyone is against me and has lost all their good judgement. You know what? Austin and I are going to leave and if you come to your senses, we can talk."

Now it's pride that I feel, for getting this out so straightforward and calm. I know it's a decision on a whim, but there is no other option. I couldn't stand Eleanor one more heartbeat and if she isn't leaving, I'll be. I'll take my asset with me, and tomorrow they'll come apologising anyway – they'll see they need me once they start the strategy talking.

Find a real author's note at the end of next chapter – since this was posted as part of a double chapter :)