IX. COLD CATASTROPHES
TRAINING DAY II
AVVEN HERRO, DISTRICT 6 MALE (16)
"I want to do the archery station," Audi declared.
"No, let's do the camouflage station!" Avven argued his case.
"That's not even gonna come in handy in the arena. Weapons will, though," Audi said sweetly.
"We're both so terrible with weapons- namely you- that any practice will just waste our time. Camouflage can hide us from the other tributes."
"If we're good enough at hiding, we shouldn't have to camouflage ourselves," Audi scoffed, crossing her arms.
Nothing much had changed since Audi being incredibly blunt and establishing their alliance after the reapings. They were definitely keeping each other sane while driving each other crazy at the same time, and arguments like these were even more common than the exasperated looks they received from other tributes tired of their debates.
"I want to do the camouflage stuff cause I'm good at art, and you want to do archery because you suck with any weapon and want to improve. Meanwhile District 1's doing god knows what at the archery station, and going over there will probably get us killed. So let's do neither camouflage or archery and do something else!"
Audi pouted like a child. "I want to do archery."
While both he and Audi were both incredibly stubborn, Avven often found himself bending to Audi's will more often than not because somehow she always won.
"Fine," he sighed. "But don't blame me when One murders us."
The girl from One, who was excelling with a bow at the archery station, actually seemed like the nicest of the Careers in Avven's opinion. She always had a bright beam for everyone in the room, even non-Careers, and Avven recalled a conversation Audi had previously had with him about her:
"Why is she smiling at me?" Audi had grouched to Avven.
Avven chuckled. "It's either a I'll get you in the arena smile or a I think anybody's awesome smile. I think it's the latter."
"Even if it is, she should cut to the chase! She wants to kill us, we want to kill her! Why with the pleasantries?"
From then on Audi was positive the girl from 1 was a manipulator though Avven was sure her smile was genuine.
As they took one of the booths at the archery station for themselves, One gave them a smile and Audi scoffed again before taking up a boy. Avven gave her an apologetic look as if this wasn't a death match where only only one of them would come out alive.
But then she speared a target through the heart and Avven gulped, turning to face Audi.
"How do you work this thing?" Audi mused. Avven fought a laugh as she fiddled with the bow.
"Audi, it's backwards." He took the bow from her and fixed the arrow, Audi having accidentally pointed the blade part at herself.
"What would I do without you?" Audi mocked.
"Probably get yourself killed."
"Damn straight."
District 1 was being pretty intimidating with her bow, getting countless bullseyes, so Avven and Audi backed out of the archery station.
"Now can we do camouflage?"
Audi gave Avven a glare.
"Please?"
"Fine," Audi moaned, letting Avven drag her over to the camouflage station. "But don't blame me when I end up looking like a bush from outer space."
"You won't," Avven took up one of the spray cans, grinning at the familiar feel that would always remind him of home. "But how about we make it a competition?"
He knew Audi wouldn't want to give up the chance to compete even Avven would clearly win.
She smirked. "Show's on, then."
As it turned out, when Avven and Audi compared their camouflaged arms, Audi did end up looking like a bush from outer space.
"I'm not good at anything," she snapped at Avven after he declared his win. "You can actually handle a weapon, and you're great with this artsy stuff, but I'm failing at everything I do!" She crossed her arms- again- and pouted.
Avven wasn't sure if she was being serious. "You're Audelia Glidden! Daughter of one of the best technicians in the whole district!"
"I suppose that's true. But-"
"And," Avven refused to give up, "You're probably just as good as him. Look at your token!"
Audi fingered the geared bandana on her head silently.
"Do you want to put that to the test?" Avven offered hopefully.
A small smile grew on Audi's face. "Yes."
And as it turned out, Avven could not build a drone, but Audi's was flying in minutes.
"Do I win this one?" she asked sweetly as her drone circled around the boy from 2, who swatted it away as the District 6 pair snickered.
Avven groaned. "Fine, I guess you do."
"We're gonna be a force to be reckoned with in the arena, you know that, right?" Audi grinned, piloting her drone back to them.
Avven gave her a high-five. "You bet."
TEMPEST TRINIDAD, DISTRICT 4 FEMALE (18)
Tempest was now perfectly calm and under control.
The aftershocks from Mags's news were definitely frustrating, especially since she felt even more isolated than before and replaced, but she was ready and back in her diplomatic, charismatic personality, embarrassed for losing face the previous day.
But brashness was definitely a flaw of hers and it had caught her in its web yet again.
While Tempest, again, had never wanted to lead and thought herself mediocre at doing so, anybody would've been better than Merlot, who, to Tempest, was all talk and no delivering, the latter of which she actually valued. Was she supposed to let the pack go to the dogs by letting Merlot take control? No. Any good Career wouldn't.
And while the District 1 boy now seemed to think her stiff and uptight, while Tempest thought herself just the opposite, being naturally carefree and free-spirited in demeanor.
She'd taken to calling her future sibling a brother because honestly to her it just felt so right. Tempest Trinidad was going to meet another Trinidad when she got home.
"So, you're from District 4," Lux had brought up a topic Tempest had been dreading when they were at the spear throwing range, "What's the ocean like?"
Tempest cringed, but focused on the targets. "I dunno; never seen it."
She ignored Lux as the girl from district 1 turned to face her in shock, her spear clattering out of her hands.
"You've never seen the ocean?"
Tempest remained nonchalant. "No."
Lux was horrified. "Can you swim?"
Here Tempest turned to look at Lux with an incredulous look. "Of course. The training center has a pool, you know."
Lux gaped at Tempest and shook her head soundlessly. "And here I thought by asking District 4 I'd get to know all about the ocean…."
"Ask Angelo. I'm sure he knows." Tempest scrunched her brow then threw the spear, but Lux's questioning had jarred her and the spear landed an inch from the bullseye.
"Tempest… why?"
Tempest hesitated with another spear in midair. Lux was nice of course, but you didn't know who you could trust in the arena. Even Careers backstabbed.
Especially Careers.
Truth was, Tempest cherished her freedom and her time alone, and being in a large group was borderline frustrating. When they got into the arena, everything would go down, and since the Hunger Games were supposed to be an escape, they were looking a lot less like it with every passing day.
So Tempest lied a partial lie. "Because back home, if you want to be on top, you've got to work for it. There's tons of other people who will steal your spot at a moment's notice, and to beat them all, you've gotta be the best dang fighter in your district." It was maybe 10% true.
Lux nodded, probably 100% believing Tempest. Tempest loved Lux to death in the few days since they'd met, but naiveness didn't get you anywhere in the arena. Loyalty too.
When lunch came and the Careers pulled some tables together, Tempest made her way for the boy from 5- Nico. He'd been training with a weapon and was definitely a threat, and although he seemed pleasant he'd probably be backstabbed. The volunteer from 3? Not so much. For being pleasant. Not for not being backstabbed.
On the Career pack Tempest found that she'd befriended them much more smoothly than she thought she would've. Nero and Tempest found similarity in the fact they both enjoyed debating and playing devil's advocate, and meanwhile Angelo was a sweetheart and Lux was Lux. Merlot was the only Career that seemed truly vicious, if you asked her.
While Tempest was probably about half a foot inches shorter than the hopeful Career who somehow reached a whopping 6' 4", she hoped and was pretty sure she looked intimidating as she stared down (or rather up) the district 5 boy.
"Congratulations," the words flowed off her tongue eloquently, "You've earned yourself a spot with the Careers if you achieve a high score at your private session."
Nico looked flat out excited. "Thanks! You're Tempest, right?"
Tempest nodded. "Well, see you around," she said somewhat awkwardly before heading back to the Career tables.
Merlot and Lux were talking about the boy from 3 while Hestia, Nero, and Angelo listened. Tempest took her seat, staying silent as Lux said, "Aw, Merlot, we really should give him a chance."
Merlot laughed. "Lux, you'd give the runts from Twelve a chance if you could." Lux shrugged her shoulders, apparently uncaring.
Hestia poked at her food, unwilling to eat anything. Tempest passed her a concerning look. In the past few days Tempest had definitely noticed Hestia had consumed practically nothing, but to be fair they'd only had lunch at training two times so far. It was probably just nerves.
When Merlot paused, Tempest butted in, saying, "Remember the boy from 5?"
"What did you do, Tempest?" Merlot grinned.
Tempest was immediately on the defensive side. "I told him if he was good and got a decent score he'd have a spot in the pack. Remember?"
The others nodded.
"Well, in case you've seen, he doesn't seem absolutely terrible."
"He still has to get at least a seven, though, right?" Nero asked.
Tempest shrugged. "Of course."
"Nobody cares about 5. What are we going to do about District 3?" Merlot broke in.
Lux gave him a disapproving look and he held up his hands in surrender.
Hestia smiled slyly. "I have an idea."
LINTEUM ARK, DISTRICT 8 MALE (15)
The training center was just as terrifying as going to school alone when Opus was sometimes sick, but with deadly blades that made the experience a whole lot worse.
Honestly, why did the Capitol keep bringing outer district kids if they knew they were just going to die? Maybe they could just do an incredibly cutthroat Games for Careers and volunteers. Yes, that way everyone would know what they were getting into. Or they could train every district in fighting and that way everyone would be a Career!
In the end, even if 8 ended up being the fiercest district in Panem, Linteum would probably just continue to sit on the sidelines.
He was fine with it.
But everyone here seemed to be so good at something- the Careers with weapons, the girl from 11 and the boy from 6 with art, and the latter's counterpart was skilled with anything that required building or technology. District 9's girl had a charisma that would wow the sponsors, and then there was Linteum who didn't even have any allies.
Lyana, however, had already found some, closest with the girl from 7 but also part of a large alliance with 12 and her friend's counterpart.
Why people found it so easy to make friends was beyond Linteum, especially since he'd heard Lyana confess to their escort on the train that she struggled with shyness and anxiety, like Linteum.
However, that didn't stop her from finding friends, whereas everyone already seemed to be allied.
While mentally Linteum moved faster than most, socially he just did not.
Had Opus been here he wouldn't have needed to worry about making friends.
The boy from 9 had made a point of talking to him even though Linteum would be pretty useless if it came to allying. He'd tried weapons, and failed, tried with berries, failed, tried with everything, and failed!
Why did some people get to be so good at everything and others just not?
Linteum had a brief interaction with the girl from 11 at the snare station. She'd cried a bit before the parade before regaining a charismatic smile. Linteum had wished he could do that.
"Hey, do you want to be allies?" he brought up hopefully.
"Sorry, I'm already allied," she sighed. "I hope you find someone."
Neither did the boy from 5, his district partner, or even either of 12.
Linteum sat on the bench as he watched older and more experienced tributes train, knives piercing skins of fabric.
It was just too much.
He buried his face in his hands. Treaties still existed, right? Maybe the Capitol and the districts would sign one.
Because Linteum didn't want to die.
He knew his life purpose was far from achieved and Opus was supposed to help him just find it. She was supposed to make him braver! And now, from the looks of how District 2 was handling swords, he'd stay shy even in his grave.
It just wasn't fair.
If I make it out of the bloodbath, I can hide for the rest of the Games then take out whoever's last. Easier said than done. Thoughts ran through Linteum's head but all of a sudden he felt nauseous.
Take out whoever's last?
They say the Games changed you, didn't they? Linteum hadn't even hit the Games, and his brain was subconsciously thinking about killing.
No, he vowed. I won't take a human life if my very own life depends on it.
It probably would.
But wasn't it better to be good than evil?
TESLA MILLER, DISTRICT 3 MALE (15)
If the boy from 5 could do it, so could Tesla.
Seriously, who thought they could beat him? Like the Careers, he'd been training his whole life, and the boy from 5 just seemed like a poor kid with dreams too big to fit the shoe.
Tesla, however, had been born just as grand as any District 1 male, had dreams that were actually realistic. He had both brains and brawn and while Arden didn't agree, who cared what she thought?
The Careers were hanging out by the weapons, just another sign of their (and Tesla included himself in that statement) utter superiority. The outer district kids could ally as much as they wanted but they'd die in the end was honestly hilarious.
He was making his way over to his future allies before he ran into a petite blonde girl.
"Watch out," he snapped irritably.
The girl crossed her arms and gave him a glare. "Shut up. You bumped into me."
He sneered. "Pathetic. You're pathetic. Watch out in the arena, 'cause I'm gonna kill you."
The girl's face paled considerably- outer district rats- but she smirked. "Oh, you're that delusional victor from Three, right? The one who thinks he's better than everyone in his district because he's upper class? You know, you remind me of someone-" she spit out, but Tesla lunged for her.
Her blonde ponytail swung as she duck out of the way of his punch, and then the Peacekeepers grabbed Tesla's arms, pulling him back.
He then remembered he wasn't supposed to kill the tributes just yet and gave the girl a look of mock remorsefulness. She shook slightly, but returned his glare and followed her worried-looking district partner into the shadows.
The Peacekeepers released Tesla and he shot one last glare at the girl- District 6, he thought. The Careers were snickering now, the impression he hadn't wanted to give.
So he straightened up haughtily and approached them.
"I'm Tesla Miller, the future victor of the 49th Hunger Games. Do me a favor by letting me in your pack and I'll make your inevitable deaths easier."
The pack's reactions were not what Tesla expected them to be (full disclosure, he'd expected them to grovel). The boy from 2's eyebrows shot up so much they were practically reaching the sky, and the girl from 1 fought to contain giggles and mainly succeeded, but the other Careers either burst into hysterical laughter, smirked as if he had no chance, or, in the boy from 1's case, did both.
"I'm serious!" Tesla gave them all a dirty look and felt like stomping, though that was childish and not to be accepted.
The girl from 2 had regained control of herself and said elegantly, "Of course you are," before snickering again.
The girl from 1 broke in. "Seriously, guys, we shouldn't laugh-" yet a smile pulled at her lips.
"And there's Lux being too sweet for her own good again," her district partner moaned, and the boy of District 4 elbowed him.
"We need to appreciate Lux's kindness, cause all but one of us will be dead soon." Obviously, he was only half-joking. A loose smirk pulled at the girl from 4's lips. For some reason they all seemed to know he would come up to them and had a plan for it, was his plan really that obvious?
"So am I in the pack or not?" Tesla was growing impatient.
"Same deal as with District 5. Get at least an eight in training and we'll consider it," the girl from Four said, her companions giving her a strange look at the number.
"But I thought we said sev-" the girl from 1 began but Four elbowed her.
She gave Tesla a sarcastic smile. "Go prove you deserve to win, then."
And he would.
Those Careers would be just so sorry they'd doubted him.
Only one came out, and if- no, when, forget he said if- Tesla won, he'd build a training academy in Three to rival Two's.
It was all a matter of wealth and fame, and Tesla wouldn't ever have enough of either.
Alliances (italicized are implied and/or previously established)
Charming and Sardonic: Deiondra, Arden
My Spirit Animals: Peri, Tristan, Aspen, Euan, Lyana
Manipulation 101: Reyena, Bailey, Artemis
Careers: Merlot, Lux, Hestia, Nero, Tempest, Angelo
Still Hopeful: Tesla, Nico
Let's Go Home: Audelia, Avven
On Thin Ice: Demeter, Reyena
We Both Be Using Each Other And Know It Too: Demeter, Ayla
I Just Realized There Are No Lone Wolves So These Two Are Gonna Stick That Way Even Though I Love Both Of Them Tons: Leon, Linteum
A/N
Hey everyone! Sorry I got this chapter out a bit later than expected. Congratulations to firedawn'd, winner of the sponsor thingie, and LC, you're the runner up, so I gave you 100 sponsor points of my profile. Firedawn'd, you can use your gift at any point in the games, PM when you want to use it! Also, did anyone get the Among Us hack a few days ago?