CHAPTER XXV. FREE NIGHT
"Why is love intensified by absence?"
-Audrey Niffenegger
SPERRY HOLSTER (16) - DISTRICT 6 FEMALE
Sperry refused to waste a single moment in the Capitol on anything that wouldn't help her make it out of the arena alive, and that meant working for as long and as hard as possible at training, until it was time for her to leave. She was always the first one in, and the last one out, and she hoped that dedication would show.
"Ms. Holster," One of the trainers called out to her as she was finishing up work during the second day of training, "It's time for you to go now."
"Five more minutes?" She said, not loud enough for the trainer to hear her. She'd been working with the daggers that afternoon, and was actually making decent progress, slowly learning the best places to make contact with a body if she wanted to strike effectively.
"Ma'am," The trainer once again called, "It's time to leave."
Sperry sighed and dropped the daggers back where they were supposed to be. There were so many hours in the day for Sperry to train, but they would never be enough. The Careers had basically been training for unlimited amounts of hours, yet she was so limited and somehow expected to beat them. They were so scary, but in a completely different way than the Boss was. While he was somewhat quiet and reserved in his torture, the Careers were loud and proud, openly admitting that they were wicked enough to be looking forwards to killing people.
Sperry knew that being scary was their prime tactic when it came to getting people to do what they wanted them to do, but her awareness didn't mean she wasn't affected by it. Whenever she saw them she could just see her own life flashing before her eyes. It would only be a matter of time before she has to confront them actually, and Sperry was dreading that moment, if she didn't die before it happened.
She thought it could happen, no Sperry knew she was perfectly capable of lasting long enough that her survival could happen and she could go back home and be a completely different person. Sperry could hardly wait for it to happen. It was all that kept her going at times. She knew it would be hard, but she also knew she had the skills to make it less hard.
She spent training learning three skills, and those were the skills that Sperry knew would come in handy in the arena.
The first skill was survival. Sperry spent her mornings at the basic survival stations learning about all the ways she could enhance her chances just through learning basic skills. She learned how to pitch a tent, start a fire, and most importantly, Sperry learned what was and wasn't poisonous. These stations were typically considered the boring stations, so in the mornings nobody wanted to start there, and Sperry used that to her advantage, since she was always alone and never had to share with anybody, and that meant nobody would know what she was focusing on learning.
The second skill was camouflage. After a solid few hours of learning survival skills, Sperry's next focus was learning how to hide herself. All the survival skills she knew were definitely golden, but they weren't everything. Sperry knew that in order to stay alive for as long as possible, she would need to hide herself to the best of her abilities, so she spent a lot of time learning how to do just that. Luckily it came easy to her, her history of painting back at home before she was taken in particular. Sperry became quite quick at covering herself in whatever she found, and when she was hidden, she doubted anybody could see her. The camouflage station was also fairly empty when she chose to access it, but it always was. Perhaps nobody saw hiding as a necessity, but Sperry knew it was.
The third skill was using a dagger. Sperry chose the end of the day to practice using her lightweight weapon of choice because that was when everybody else was tired and she could count on the weapons stations being particularly empty. She wasn't tired though. She saved the most physically demanding activity for last for a reason. The dagger was also quite easy to use, the one Sperry practiced with in particular was extremely light weight, and that meant it was easy for her to make marks on the dummies she practiced with. The lack of people there also meant nobody would get angry at her prematurely so she wouldn't go into the arena with any conflicts.
Sperry had a feeling that she was doing the right thing, since she noticed the Gamemakers who were periodically passing through the training areas would look at her quite carefully. It was sink or swim and Sperry knew that she was swimming, just as she had hoped she'd be.
Perhaps the most important part of Sperry's training was allies, or rather lack thereof. Sperry didn't really want allies, though she said to herself that she would take offers seriously since she didn't want enemies, but the one girl who asked her was a hot mess. She wouldn't have minded being allies with Camber, her District Partner, but he seemed to be spending a lot of time with the kids from 5, and Sperry didn't care to join them particularly. The girl who did ask Sperry was from District 11, and the only thing Sperry could gather from her was a look of sheer desperation. She also seemed to talk a lot and while Sperry initially felt bad about rejecting her, she didn't think she'd be an enemy since she looked like the deadest of meat.
Sperry knew what she was doing, and while it was exciting to know that she had somewhat of a chance at survival, she was still worried. Everything would be different once she took to the arena, but Sperry knew that as long as she just remembered to run, everything would be okay.
DIANA VERA (25) - VICTOR OF THE 19TH HUNGER GAMES - DISTRICT 7 MENTOR
This POV contains content regarding sexual exploitation. Please proceed with caution.
Diana found herself to be completely out of breath during her time at the Capitol. Everywhere she went, people would talk to her, begging to hear about her next work, asking questions about her life at home, doing whatever they could to peak into the life of the woman who tried so hard to keep her personal details as private as possible, even though she had a career where privacy was seldom the option. Her Tributes were actually lovely though, Marcel especially reminding her of a younger version of herself. If she won somehow, Diana knew she'd have to take special care of her in order to avoid her own history repeating itself with her. Diana couldn't help but feel dangerous. When she walked, people stared at her. As dirty as it was, Diana knew people enjoyed her work, they just would never admit to it out loud, and that was the big problem. It had gotten a bit better though, as whenever Sapphira Starlett of District 1 appeared, the attention shifted to her, and Diana loved having those breaks from the spotlight, even though there was no escaping the life she had been thrust into.
"You need to speak with me after training tonight," Coriolanus Snow, the newly elected President of Panem approached Diana in the morning while she was eating a bowl of oatmeal, "Okay?"
Diana nodded, but she was deeply dreading the meeting regardless of what it was going to concern. She'd heard mixed things about President Snow, but he was nice to her after her Games, and nobody could possibly be worse than Aaron Ravenstill.
Strangely, Diana had been told to meet the President in his own house, as opposed to his office which was located in closer proximity to where she was staying, but Diana didn't question it. Who would she, a washed up adult film star be to question the ruler of the country who had so disgustingly enslaved her?
"H-hello," Diana couldn't help but stutter as she knocked on the tall oakwood door that led to the President's penthouse apartment, "It's Diana, Diana Vera. You wanted me to come over."
Diana was compelled to shake as she heard loud footsteps approach the door. Something about the aura he was already giving off was unsettling and Diana had no idea why.
"Yes, yes," He opened the door, wearing the same white shirt she'd seen him in that morning, the buttons now loosely undone up top, "Please, come inside."
"Right away, sir." Diana walked through the door, trying her hardest to not gasp at all the golden artifacts inside the penthouse. She'd been to the Capitol many times before, so most of the things she saw lost their prestige, but the President's penthouse was incredibly stunning, "You have a lovely home."
"Thank you," Coriolanus sat Diana down on a leather sofa in the center of the entrance room in front of a coffee table with a bowl of grapes on it, "Care for some?"
"I'm good," Diana gulped, nervous to be in the presence of so many nice things, "Can I ask why you called me here today?"
Even though that question was going to be answered, presumably soon, Diana was incredibly curious and needed to know the answer as soon as possible.
"Impatient are you not?" The President grabbed a handful of grapes from the table and shoved them into his mouth, chewing deeply before speaking once more, "I wanted to talk to you about your career."
"My career?" Diana was flustered. Why exactly was her career so important to him?
"I have a new opportunity for you," He spoke almost creepily monotone, "Some people have been speaking to me lately, and they were wondering what you would think about becoming a courtesan for me."
Oh heavens no. Nothing was wrong with prostitutes of course, but that was exactly the opposite of what Diana wanted to be doing.
"Am I allowed to say no?" Diana awkwardly laughed.
"Well, you're allowed to say whatever you want," The President leaned back into his chair, "I just recommend working for me if you don't want to see any major changes in your life."
"Such as?" Diana questioned him.
"It's best you don't know," The President laughed maniacally, "Think about it, but I'd seriously recommend doing this to give back to the community who has done so much for you."
Diana was at a loss for words. She had no idea just how serious he meant his little "job proposal," but the prospects of it were horrendous. She had fought so hard and for so much, and she didn't know what would happen if she were to lose everything now.
"It would be my pleasure to work for you," Diana bit her lip and finally delivered the verdict of the excruciatingly painful situation she was somehow in.
"I knew you would make the right choice," The President rose from his chair, shaking Diana's hand, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."
FILA OLLARIS (18) - DISTRICT 1 FEMALE
Thank Panem there wasn't another party after the second day of training, because Fila was still feeling the side effects of her little incident from the last one. Perhaps she had too much to drink, no Fila definitely had too much to drink, but in all fairness she had never consumed alcohol before, and she really didn't see herself doing it again, even if she survived the arena. It was a bit exhilarating though, not having to care how people perceived her, but it did surely affect her performance at training the next day, and that was bad news. Fila had a bit of trouble walking in the morning, and she was still slurring her words, and while most of the other Careers understood, Lana from District 4 was absolutely furious, screaming at Fila for being "foolish." Fila could admit Lana was extremely physically attractive, but that didn't mean Fila enjoyed being brutally yelled at by her. At least they had that night to themselves, and Fila chose to spend it with Eros and Moira from District 2. It would be an obvious change of pace from the previous night, sure, but that didn't mean the three of them couldn't try to enjoy themselves.
"So, what are we doing tonight?" Fila walked into Eros' room to see him sitting on the couch in the back of the room, Moira next to him, "You do have ideas, right?"
"Moira brought us an activity, yeah!" Eros exclaimed, gesturing for Fila to sit on the chair across from the couch, "It should be way more relaxing than last night."
Fila sat down on the chair and looked at the coffee table between it and the couch to see vials of liquids in various colors, "Are we painting our nails?"
"Yeah!" Moira exclaimed, it was the most excited Fila had seen the girl, "I borrowed all of this from my Escort."
Embarrassingly enough, Fila had never painted her nails before. Her parents always said that nail polish was bad for her since it was "toxic," or something like that, but she never bought that rhetoric. She sure was excited to see what she would look like with fun colorful nails, similar to the ones the fancy ladies in the Capitol had.
"I can't wait!" Fila examined the bottles of polish, "I honestly have no idea where to start."
There were many beautiful shades, different brightnesses of all the colors of the rainbow, and also some more neutral tones, though Fila didn't want to use any of those. This could very well be the only time she ever painted her nails and she wanted to go all out.
"Do you need help choosing a color?" Eros laughed at her and the serious look on her face, "I think that blue would look great with your eyes."
Eros held up a bottle of electric blue nail polish next to Fila's eyes and smiled. It really was a nice color.
"I'll second that!" Moira exclaimed, setting the bottle onto the table after grabbing it from Eros, "Fila, you should definitely use that blue."
"I will then," Fila laughed, opening the bottle and then looking at the other colors on the table, "What colors were you guys thinking."
"I'll probably stick to my usual black," Moira said, matter-of-factly.
"Oh you can't do that," Fila held up a bottle of bright pink polish, "If I'm going with a crazy color, so are you."
"Well, I guess if you insist," Moira chuckled, "Pink it is!"
Seeing Moira light up as she carefully coated her nails with the electrifying color was soothing to Fila. She looked completely in her element, even more so than when she was training. Yeah yeah, Moira was amazing with a sword, but seeing her artistic side was equally incredible. Eros was extremely focused too, opting to paint his nails a vibrant purple. Fila's nail painting was a bit messy though, especially when she tried to paint her right hand, since her left hand wasn't her dominant one.
"Aw shit," Fila groaned as she once again missed her nail and splattered polish on her skin, "I'm so horrible at this."
"You are so not," Eros poured out some nail polish remover and put it on a cotton pad, helping Fila to remove the stain she had caused, "This is only your first time and your nails look amazing."
"I guess that's true," Fila sighed before trying again. She wasn't necessarily a perfectionist, but seeing Eros and Moira have such nice nails, and her not so much was kind of frustrating.
"Do you want me to help you?" Fila glanced at Moira, who's nails had a beautiful floral pattern on them, "I could make yours all flowery like mine."
"Oh, I would love that," Fila was still admiring Moria's work, "It isn't an issue for you, right."
"Not at all!" She exclaimed, opening a green bottle of polish so she could paint flowers on Fila.
One by one, Fila's nails blossomed from plain blue to multicolored works of art, each one having a slightly different pattern. It was just about the prettiest thing Fila'd ever seen.
"Those are incredible, Fi," Eros stared at Fila's nails, "Moira, you're so talented."
"Seriously," Fila echoed, "You're so talented."
"I really appreciate both of you," Fila couldn't help but notice how bright Moira was smiling, "This truly is the best change of pace."
"I agree entirely!" Eros exclaimed, "Thank you both for being cool to hang out with me."
It really was the best and as much as Fila was enjoying herself, she couldn't help but be petrified about the upcoming days. Sure, Eros and Moira were friends now, but in the Games, that could change in an instant. She didn't know whether or not to be savoring these moments, or to be praying that there would be more of them if she could survive the Games and find more people to make memories with.
"It was my pleasure," Fila smiled, "I hope we can do it again sometime."
SAFFRON "SAF" ALDENIZ(17) - DISTRICT 9 FEMALE
Maybe the Capitol would have been more interesting if Saf saw Rey again for some reason, because so far it had been so excruciatingly boring. Was it supposed to be fun? That was debatable, but Saf really thought it would have been more than simply sitting around and learning about weapons which she doubted she'd use since the bloodbath was something she planned on avoiding at all costs. She tried her best to learn survival skills, but they too were extremely boring and Saf just wished there was something she could do to entertain herself. Maybe if she had allies it would be alright, but Saf didn't make any of those, since all the other Tributes looked either extremely intimidating or they already had allies and Saf didn't want to intrude on something that had already been established. Rey was the worst, but at least she was entertaining, but that didn't matter since Saf hadn't seen her since the train, and maybe that was for the best.
It was the second day of training now, and Saf was almost wishing there was another party because at least it would give her something to do, but instead she was simply sitting in her room and thinking about how completely different her life had been just a few days ago. Maybe it was even more interesting. Saf really was clueless about what to do, so she decided to get up and see if there was any desert downstairs. There always was some sort of food to be seen at the Capitol, and it was better to be fat than to be bored.
Saf turned off the lights in her hotel room and walked outside to the elevator when she saw a somewhat tall girl in the hallway, walking one of the younger boys into his hotel room.
"Goodnight, Al," The girl's voice sounded sweeter than the finest honey Saf had ever tasted.
Saf had seen the girl before, just as she had seen everybody, and she couldn't help but notice how utterly attractive she was wherever she went. She had a warm, maternal almost energy to her, and whenever Saf saw her, her eyes were locked on her stunning blue eyes.
"What are you looking at?" The girl caught Saf staring at her and seemed to be somewhat distraught.
Saf didn't know what to say. Even though the girl's voice was definitely more stern than it was when she was talking to who she assumed was her ally, she still sounded lovely.
"I just wanted to say that I like your outfit," Saf bit her tongue, nearly turning herself into an Avox after she spoke. Why the fuck had she said that? They were both wearing the exact same Capitol provided pajamas. What a disaster.
"It looks good on you too," The girl laughed, clearly aware that her outfit was not the reason Saf was staring, though it did make her look nice and there was no denying that, "I'm Piper, District 10. Why were you really looking at me."
Oh, she was a smart one. Saf didn't know if that made her more or less attractive but she was leaning towards more.
"I saw you with the lasso at training today, and I thought you would be somebody worth talking to," Saf was in disbelief at how cocky she sounded, but there wasn't any going back now, plus she did actually see Piper with the lasso and it was definitely something Saf was glad she saw. Not only did she have mad skills, she looked almost angelic with the sweat dripping down her face, "I'm Saf, well Saffron, by the way. District 9."
Saf had an odd tendency to introduce herself by her full name whenever she found somebody attractive.
"Well, Saffron," Piper cracked a somewhat wicked smile, "What makes you think I'm worth talking to."
Saf couldn't tell if Piper was amused or annoyed with her, but she seemed to have her wits about her and hopefully she was the former.
"I was wondering if you would like to be my ally," Saf stammered, immediately wanting to eat her words back, "You seem really cool."
Why the hell did Saf have to ask like that? Piper already had allies and Saf knew that, the boys from 10 and 12. They were way younger than she was, but they seemed to stare at her with puppy-dog eyes and it was kind of adorable, even though Saf didn't see the two of them lasting that long.
"I already have allies, as I'm sure you know," Piper stared up and down, Saf feeling a tingle in her chest when their eyes once again met, "Would you want to be with all of us?"
Saf really didn't want to be with them to be honest. She wasn't sure if it was because she wanted Piper all to herself besides just having met her, or if it was because she knew the boys just didn't have a chance and she didn't want to waste her tears on getting to know them, only for them to perish nearly immediately.
"I don't think so," Saf sighed, mentally hitting herself in the sides, "I suppose I'll just be alone. I don't know why I asked."
"Oh alright then," Piper bore a somber grin upon her face, "Maybe having somebody closer to my age would be nice, but I understand completely."
"I'm glad you understand," Saf murmured, trying to get out of the conversation, "I'll see you around I guess."
Saf didn't wait to hear from Piper before sprinting through the hotel aisle and catching the elevator. She had no idea what possessed her to be the way she was or why she felt a tingle in her heart whenever Piper spoke, but she sure as hell had no desire in thinking about it ever again.
CHALLIS LAM (15) - DISTRICT 8 MALE
Since the chariots, Challis had been enjoying his time in the Capitol significantly more, and that could all be attributed to him being able to make some incredible allies. When Alarico, the boy from 9 initially spoke to him before the Parade, Challis really didn't think much of it, but now that they had spent the past few days together, Challis felt like he had brothers in a sense. Alarico was so over the top and hilarious at any given moment, but he also knew how to be serious, yet training was never dull. Edison, the boy from District 3 who was Challis' other ally was just as incredible, and had the same goofy but stern vibe Alarico had. The time they spent together was oddly enjoyable even though they were in a place that was designed to prepare them to die.
"Boys, take a look at this," After their second night of training, Edison decided to take Challis and Alarico on top of the roof of the hotel, "We're the kings of Panem!"
Alarico was giving Challis a ride on his back, something that had become typical since Alarico was built like a tank and Challis was the very opposite of that. Alarico followed Edison towards the edge of the rooftop where they saw what was probably the most amazing view any of them had ever seen.
"Holy shit," Challis' jaw fell to the ground when he peeked over the Alarico's head to see the sight. It was ethereal, and almost unreal in a sense. They could practically see the entirety of the Capitol, all the bright lights shining just as they did during the day. Challis doubted that anything could be as magical as the Capitol was when he first entered on the train, but somehow this was even more beautiful.
"I went here last night," Edison wiped a single tear from his eye, "It reminded me of back home in 3."
"It's bright like this?" Challis hopped down from Alarico's back.
"Not necessarily," Edison leaned against the safety railing, "It's for sure more colorful here, but I didn't really have anywhere to stay ever back home, and this gives me the same feeling that it's me against the world, though this time I guess it's not me, it's us."
"Us against the world?" Alarico chuckled, ignoring Edison's sentimental testimony, "What do you even mean by that."
"I get it," Challis sighed, "Edison means that while we're just three guys from outer-districts, we still have a chance. The Careers may be tough, but that doesn't mean that we're not allowed to dream."
"I wish we met at a different time and we could all know each other forever," Edison wiped his face, "I wish everything was different."
"Me too," Alarico chimed in, "And I wish you guys could meet my boyfriend Atticus. I'm sure he would love you all."
"And I'm sure we'd love him back," Challis added.
"Woah, why are we so sad all of the sudden," Edison began to laugh, "I know I was all sentimental a moment ago, but we still have a few more days to spend time with each other."
He was right, but they all knew the coming days wouldn't be the same. The next day they had training once again, and while it was happening, they'd be pulled out individually to do their private sessions. The day after yeah they would have time to themselves in the Capitol to do whatever they wanted, but then would be interviews, and surely those would be emotionally exhausting and once all that was done, they would have just one more night before they were off for the greatest fight of their lives.
"Hey, could you get out of here?" The boys' sentimental moment was soiled by a loud female voice, "I'm trying to do something here."
"Excuse me?" Alarico wasn't afraid to be snappy with her, "I'm trying to spend some time with my friends, and this balcony isn't exactly your property."
"Hush," Edison whispered, "Those are Careers."
Edison was right as the girl from 4 appeared, followed by the boy from 2 who wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Lana, what's going on?" The boy from 2 moaned, "What happened to getting out our anger together."
"Give me a second," She snapped at him before turning over to Challis and his friends once again, "Get off this balcony or I'll fucking kill all of you."
"It's not yours," Alarico protested, "I won't hesitate to kill you first."
"Run," Edison grabbed Challis' arm and sprinted down the stairs, "Alarico please follow us."
"Fine," He scoffed at Lana, "But don't think that this is the end of us."
"Oh it won't be," Lana let out a roar.
The boys ran down the hotel hallway until they reached Challis' room and walked inside. It appeared as though they were finally safe.
"Dude," Challis grabbed Alarico's arm, "You can't be messing with the Careers like that. You're going to get us all killed."
"I know, I know," Alarico put his head down, "I just don't want her to think that she can do whatever she wants and we were having so much fun together."
"We can have fun here, you know," Edison sat down on Challis' bed, "We don't need the fancy rooftop if we have each other."
"I can still do this," Challis picked up a pillow and whacked it at Alarico.
"Hey!" Alarico picked up another pillow and whacked back.
Edison joined in and the boys once again began to have fun. The times they were in were devastating, and they were the first to admit it, but that didn't mean that a pillow fight wouldn't fix nothing.
Thank you for reading Chapter 25. I hope you enjoyed this fun little glance into what the Tributes did after training since they didn't have a party like last night. We're so close to the Bloodbath, so I'll reveal the upcoming Chapters.
26. Training Day III
27. Private Sessions
28. Mentor Interviews
29. Tribute's Free Day in The Capitol
30. Tribute Interviews
31. The Night Before
32. Launch
33. BLOODBATH
I'd love to hear some predictions so feel free to drop them below in the reviews! Speaking of reviews, I had a contest for people who've reviewed every chapter since the end of Reapings, and the winner of the random drawing is Fire Dawn'd who will be getting a sponsor gift of her choosing. I'll have another contest soon!
Take care everybody,
Lindsay
Current Alliances:
Career Cult/Pack: Eros Fortuna (D1M), Fila Ollaris (D1F), Bellerophon "Bell" Cristos (D2M), Moira Mikkel (D2F), Kingston Havlock (D4M), Lana Lotus (D4F)
Academic Rivals: Clancy Dietrich (D5M), Ares Krishnan (D5F)
The Fraternity But Less Toxic: Edison Montparnasse (D3M), Challis Lam (D8M), Alarico de Oro (D9M)
Lone Wolves: Liana Taylor (D3F), Sperry Holster (D6F), Palmer Adams (D7M), Saffron "Saf" Aldeniz (D9F), Dephra Kirk (D11F)
Fuck Men: Marcel Hemlock (D7F), Teresa McClean (D8F)
Babysitting: Alabastor Contreras (D10M), Piper Sanderson (D10F), Morgan Barrow (D12M)
Unknown: Camber Yaw (D6A), Pith Plastid (D11M), Etta Wiseman (D12F)