Day 1:

So, so you think you can tell

Heaven from hell?

Blue skies from pain?

Can you tell a green field

From a cold steel rail?

A smile from a veil?

Do you think you can tell?

The dust finally clears.

On my monitor, Sara's still safe. And she's got plenty of supplies. But the cameras are following the Careers right now, who have retreated to the Cornucopia now that all the bodies have been cleared. Elaena counts something down on her hands. Hydra just folds their arms. Siren looks around while swinging his arms, bored.

Then Hydra walks up to him and smacks him on the shoulder. "Hey! I don't wanna to see any slacking round here, and especially not from you. After your district partner just had to go and get herself killed."
"Well, that's not my fault, is it?"
"Is it!?" Hydra snaps. "Did you even see who got her? No, you're just too busy prancing around on your imaginary throne-"

Siren looks offended. "Imaginary? I am the leader! Who died and made you king? Or...queen? Or..."
"No, I'm leading! Not you, ocean boy! We all agreed upon that."
"Since when?"

"I didn't agree to shit," Pryce suddenly says, leading to both Hydra and Siren glaring at him. Elaena nods along. "How many times do we have to say we don't care who leads?"
"You all are stupid," Urzelynne scowls. "This is dumb and we're wasting all our fucking time."

Siren sticks his finger in Urzelynne's face. "You stay out of this, you little shit. You're the only one who's not supposed to be here."

Urzelynne's response is to poke Siren right between his eyes with her middle finger. Roman snorts, just shaking his head and trying to bite back a cheeky smile. Someone's sleeve brushes my back as Royal hands me a cup of juice. "Welcome to the wonderful world of Careers."

"Do they fight like this all the time?"
"Man, you should've been there during the training! It's amazing Hydra and Siren haven't torn each other to shreds now."
"I suppose it's good that your two tributes are mostly staying quiet."
"Yeahhhhh, that was Mariette's idea. 'Cause I think Pryce should lead, between you and me."

I shrug. Urzelynne's screaming at Siren, who hasn't calmed down at all. Pryce pulls Elaena to the side and they begin to whisper. "I don't think Pryce would want to anyways."
"Meh." Royal takes a sip from whatever's in his cup. "I will admit this is pretty entertaining. Better showing than your year at least."
"Fuck. Off."
"Seriously, that Hydra kid could give her a run for her money. What was her name again? Started with a C. Was it Cindy? Cathy-"

I give Royal a push and he spits a mouthful of orange juice all over the ground. "No. I don't wanna hear it. Don't you have sponsoring to take care of?"

Royal just smirks and saunters off. Meanwhile, things are starting to heat up between the Career mentors. Aramon just holds a hand up to his face. "I thought we were done with this argument a long time ago."
Spinnaker folds his arms. "Clearly there was misunderstanding. You were supposed to talk to them."
"Was I. This wasn't my doing..."

Mariette taps her fingers against the armrest of her chair. "But I don't see how this works out to anyone's advantage. Four, you don't have the numbers anymore. Two has a big target on their backs. This won't end well for either Siren or Hydra."

That turns all the Career mentors quiet, with the exception of Royal who just sips loudly from his cup.

Things have calmed down a little, especially since a couple of people have packed up and left for home. The District 8 and 11 teams are gone. Gardenia just sits with her head in her hands. She's been like that for a few minutes. Rutabarb left the second their beer ran out but the District 12 escort, Dimitri, has stayed back for some reason. Spruce left too once the initial carnage was over, leaving Ivy alone to watch over 7's last surviving tribute.

While the escorts aren't responsible for the same duties as the mentors, many of them still stay with us. Melodie I know for a fact won't leave until 4 is out of the running for good, standing behind Dane with a hand on her husband's shoulder. Goodness, every time I see her, she's always pregnant. Although she'll probably be due in a few weeks. 3 has a new escort, whose name I didn't catch, but she's happily chirping away with a sullen Ira in the corner. I don't think Rosie has noticed she still has a tribute left.

Evelyn just sighs, her eyes glazing over as she just stares at her screen. "Ira. We should consider sending Academia a first aid kit."
Ira shakes their head. "No. We need to wait."
"Seriously. She could die."

"She'll be fine," Ira insists. "She has medical supplies. Again, we need to wait and conserve funds."

Judging by the soft yellow glow on her face, Evelyn's screen has lit up. "Sponsor gift."
"What is it?"
Evelyn shrugs. "I don't know. Never seen it before."

The District 3 team crowds around the monitor as the cameras pans to the trio of Academia, Thea, and Esmerelda. Sitting in the living room of the house they're in, their main focus is patching up Academia's wound and while they do a pretty okay job, I can tell it isn't fatal. She'll live.

"Hey." Thea pats her ally on the shoulder. "Relax. You're fine."
Academia lets out a short breath as Esmerelda offers her a hand. But when Academia begins to squeeze the District 9 girl's fingers, Esmerelda's face immediate blends into one of pure discomfort. But her ally seems to catch it and lets go. "Sorry."

BEEP.

The sponsor gift slowly floats down outside the house the girls are staying in. Thea is the one to retrieve it, and hands the thin envelope to Academia. "It's for you."
Academia frowns at the yellow envelope before ripping it open to reveal a red and yellow paper inside. "What the...what is this thing? An Express Pass?"

The girls crowd around to check out their new gift. Academia hands it over the Esmerelda who curiously flips it about in her hands. Then, the girl from 9 packs it into her bag and shrugs. "Well. Guess we'll hang onto that."

Thea glances up uneasily at a female mannequin carrying a basket of laundry, permanently frozen at the bottom of the nearby stairs. "God, I hate these statues or whatever. They give me the creeps."
"They're mannequins," Academia says helpfully.
"Whatever. Still hate 'em."

The cameras soon leave the three girls alone, finding the duo of Sara and Lavender instead. They're currently tiptoeing through a house. Lavender is shaking like a leaf. Sara gently offers out her hand, which Lavender grabs tightly. it seems to bring some comfort to the District 7 girl.

Upstairs are four bedrooms and a bathroom. The first bedroom, the largest, belongs to the two parents forever stuck in a waltz as a phonograph plays very faint tunes behind them. The second bedroom has a teenage boy staring out the window.

And the third, where Sara and Lavender go to hide, is a bright blinding pink. Complete with a tiny little girl mannequin holding a stuffed bunny to her chest and staring up at her two new visitors, like she was expecting their arrival.

Those mannequins give me the creeps. They're just so human and so realistic, but they're not real and they never will be. None of the tributes will ever be completely alone, not with those beady painted eyes watching every little move.

"I think we're okay," Lavender finally says, breaking the silence. "Would you like me to carry anything?"
"No..." Sara trails off. "I'm okay..."

The poor girls must be shaken up from the thirteen cannons.

They slip past the girl mannequin and sit on her bed. Lavender idly swings her legs, kicking her feet up. Sara leans up against the wall and starts mumbling to herself. I manage to catch a few of her words even if the cameras don't; she's naming a couple of flowers.

Sniff.

Lavender wipes a tear from her eyes. "I can't believe we lost Velour."
Sara stops mumbling and just gives her ally a sympathetic look with those big wide eyes of hers.
"I feel so bad," Lavender continues, dropping her head in her hands. "We should've helped her. I could've treated her if she was hurt."

Gardenia makes a choked up sobbing noise.

Lavender just looks up at Sara, stains from her tears running down her cheeks. "Are we bad allies?"

"I..." Sara pauses. "Um...I don't know? It's not like we got Velour killed and we were trying to help her. We wanted to help, we just...didn't get there in time. But that doesn't make us bad, right? I don't think she'd say we're bad."
"You don't?" Lavender trembles.
"I guess. I think you're a good ally. And a friend."

Lavender wipes at her cheek and a tiny smile plays onto her face. "Thank you, Sara."

I feel a pit in my stomach, just watching those two girls on my screen. Someone brushes behind me and gently pats my back as they do so. Gardenia mutters a soft "thanks" before returning back to her seat.

Bit by bit, the activity of my fellow mentors dies down. Sometimes, your best bet is to let the cards fall and see what happens next. As the Careers pull out sleeping bags from the Cornucopia while the other tribute settles down in beds, it's clear that tonight is going to be quiet.

Then the faces appear in the sky.

First up, William. Academia folds her arms and Esmerelda glares, but both are silent. Then, Tansy. None of the Careers are happy to see her up there; Careers never fall this early. I don't look at Dane because I know for a fact he's not over it. Hiding in the attic of a yellow house, Ace leans up against the window and cackles to himself.

Both from 6. Echo. Lavender lets out a little gasp at seeing her district partner. Both from 8, Swift, and Micah.

"No..." Sara's mouth drops open. "Micah!? How...but...but I thought-"
You and me both, I think to myself, sparing a glance at Cheyenne. Her face is stone cold. I guess years of mentoring does that to you. Not say that District 10 is instant cannon fodder all the time, but it's clear the odds have never been much in our favour.

District 11, District 12. And then the first day of the 22nd Hunger Games is over.

My eyes are start to struggle to stay open. It looks like the Careers are too exhausted to go hunting at night, but I don't want to come back here and learn that Sara was killed while I was absent. I know she'll be alright for at least a few hours until someone wakes up, but I can't shake the paranoia.

"Go to bed," Cheyenne tells me. "Come back in five hours."
"But I need to keep watch."

"Last thing that girl needs is a mentor falling asleep on her because you won't listen to me. Get some rest. We'll rotate out in five hours and then you can keep watch."

Clearly I'm not going to win this argument. Rhiannon is on the phone, so I just whisper goodnight to her and trudge off to the sleeping quarters with some other mentors. Last year, I wouldn't have made it this far. I'd be all packed up and on the next train home, left to dwell on my disappointments.

Not this year. I already have a tribute in the top half and 24 hours haven't even passed. Perhaps I might be able to pull this off and have Sara home safely before I even know it. Is it wishful thinking? Perhaps. But it's not impossible. She has a chance.

After grabbing some fresh blankets and pillow from a storage closet, I set up on one of the alcoves in the wall that act as beds. Half of them are above the others and require a ladder to get up to, so it's no surprise the lower beds go faster. Once I dump my stuff in, I grab a nearby sticky note and write something down to stake my territory.

VR's bed. Do not touch or I will stab you.

It takes me about half an hour to finally fall asleep. I try my hardest not to toss and turn and potentially wake up everyone else, but the nightmares make me want to wake up and scream. Mannequins the size of skyscrapers, towering over all the tributes who are crushed into bloody pulps. One holds Sara and Micah in front of me, dangling them like toys. Then it squeezes its hands shut and all I can hear are screams. I can't run, can't flee. The sticky red hands looms over my head-

I finally open my eyes, then force them shut again. I try not to think of anything else before I finally drift off.

Current Alliances:

The Careers: Pryce, Elaena, Hydra, Urzelynne, Tansy

Girls Get It Done: Academia, Thea, Esmerelda

Wallflowers: Lavender, Sara

Lone Wolf: Ace

Kills:

Pryce: 1 (Sawyer)

Elaena: 2 (Lockhart, Elsorian)

Hydra: 3 (Echo, Brea, Petra)

Urzelynne: 2 (Micah, Matzo)

Siren: 2 (Velour, Nileen)

Tansy: 1 (Swift)

Ace: 1 (Tansy)

Esmerelda: 1 (William)

The rest of Day 1 passes by without incident. But that doesn't mean all is fine and dandy for the the tributes.

Not much else to say, but I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Where I'd normally be written 2 or 3 different characters POVs, we just have one instead.

See you all next chapter,

-Vr