X. ARISTOCRATIC VALUES
TRAINING DAY III

AYLA MAXWELL, DISTRICT 5 FEMALE (15)

Ayla had never expected that willingly volunteering for the Hunger Games would be the way she'd go, but here she was. Awkwardly debating whether District 9 was a good choice for an ally while wondering if she'd die from Nico gushing about how awesome the Careers were before she even went into the Games.

Seriously, how could one be that much of a doormat?

Ayla had already strategized and planned and spoken with their too-sweet mentor Rettie the best she could. But as much as she wished she could, she couldn't plan out everything causing her to be irritated and distracted often.

When Nico had asked her why she'd been so rude, she'd snapped back, "Because we're both going to die, you idiot!"

Their escort loved him, and didn't particularly like Ayla, and had happened to overhear Ayla's remark, smacking her in the back of her head with a purse. It hadn't hurt, of course, since their escort had about as much in a smack as she did in her brain, but it still fueled even more frustration.

Ayla was in a sort of resolved-determination stance when they arrived at the training center. Nico immediately headed to the Careers, but Ayla couldn't help noticing where he stood- while the rest of the Careers were in a tight-knit group, chatting away, Nico stood slightly off to the side.

It was observations like this that would save her in the arena, she thought wryly.

But it was who she, not Nico, would ally with that could possibly kill her, so she refocused and directed herself to the weapons stations. Ayla had solely devoted herself to the survival stations previously, so it would be good to get some diversity the best she could.

"Would you like to hear a story, Nine?" Ayla kept her voice sweet. She hadn't forgotten Demeter's name, of course, but it paid to seem careless. Maybe Demeter would underestimate her that way, but the manipulation had to be played perfectly on Ayla's part.

With another person like Demeter, Ayla wouldn't have bothered. Demeter was smart too, but it

Demeter gave her a confident grin. "Whatever you say, Five."

"Well, there once was a seventeen year old from District 3. She lived pretty much a good life, that is until she was reaped," Ayla paused to see if the meaning of her story was registering with Demeter, but it didn't seem to.

"See, she befriended every outer district kid there was to befriend, and they took down the Careers in their sleep. None of these allies knew she was allied with someone else, and the district 3 girl began to take out people in their sleep. But then the boy from ten found out about this and killed her instead, rallying his district partner and the boy from eleven against her. She died when her allies turned on her after she'd turned on them too many times to count. And then she only placed fifth in the 33rd Hunger Games. Familiar yet?"

Demeter looked shocked, but she quickly covered this up with a grin. "Of course. Those Games were wicked."

So it would have to be the hard way with Demeter, it seemed.

She just wouldn't admit what Ayla already knew she was trying to manipulate the district 5 girl.

Ayla had thought she was on her own track, playing her own game, but it turned out she wasn't. And Demeter was going to pay for having the ability to see Ayla's one vulnerability in the district 5 girl's mind, the ability that all the tributes had now.

Her volunteering moment.

It showed she cared about Ella and Brock much more than she'd ever told them. Nonchalance came easily to Ayla. But that didn't mean she didn't care. She cared much more than her father ever would, she thought bitterly.

Demeter was good, though. She had this air to her Ayla was definitely willing to have some fun with.

But it all depended on how they both played the game.

For right now they were circling each other. When they got in the arena and Demeter allied with the midget from 10 should she make it past the bloodbath- why was Ayla being replaced?- they'd be playing a game for snakes. And Ayla, though she had morals, would be fine with stooping to Demeter's level.

Ella's voice from their goodbyes filled her head.

We're your family. Not them. Make it home to us, Li.

And whatever you do, don't get attached to anyone. Don't nurture anyone the way you do us.

Ella was right.

Ayla couldn't get attached. Not to Demeter, of all people. The strawberry-blonde girl who just screamed liar.

Because, hell, she already was.

AUDELIA GLIDDEN, DISTRICT 6 FEMALE (16)

In the past few days, Audi had found herself just questioning why she had to go into the Games.

As she'd told Geare before she'd left, she did not like being told what to do, and that included being forced to kill and hide for a few, and possibly the last, few weeks of her life.

It sucked.

Avven obviously agreed. Audi thought she'd found a great friend, and what sucked even more was that one or even both of them would die soon. They both just wanted to stay at home, even if

Maybe if you win, you'll get to see Mom again, a tiny voice needled at the back of her head.

Maybe she'll be proud. Finally.

Maybe you'll be worth it.

Audi lowered her bow.

Her first reaction was immediate disgust at her own naiveness. She'd never cared about Lexi, so why now? Geare and Audi and Pilot made their own rules yet formed their own clan, and Audi was fine with being the only girl in the bunch. Sure, all three of them were eccentric, but they loved each other and that was what mattered.

Right?

Audi didn't even know her mother and hadn't since long ago, and even when Lexi had lived with them she still hadn't. So the fact that she cared now of all times was borderline frustrating.

Actually, maybe that was why Audi's brain was resorting to that. Maybe it was a yearning for the shallow mother she'd never had and never get to have, even if she won.

While Lexi was off with the rich and famous, her daughter was sent to her death. Lexi had been on that stage when Audi got reaped and had the audacity to ignore her. They had ignored each other with a cold chill even when Audi's name had been called. Lexi hadn't even registered shock or even a sign of depression that she was losing her only daughter.

Audi supposed it didn't matter, then. She'd never cared about Lexi and wouldn't start now. She'd be able to hold her head up high in her mom's presence, even after she (hopefully) won.

Audi glanced at Avven yet again, who was chatting with the District 9 boy by the camouflage. They'd had an argument, which Audi supposed was bound to happen, but she hoped it hadn't hurt their alliance in any way.

The district 6 girl fingered her bandana again, taking in deep breath. For the first time the truth that she was going to die sunk in for the first time since the reaping. It was so surreal that after watching kids die on TV, she'd be one of them.

Again, why her?

Audi had observed some other people and they seemed to feel the same way. Avven as well, from the way he carried himself these days. None of them wanted to kill, except the blade wielding demons currently laughing and exchanging high-fives.

The thing about the Hunger Games, Audi thought, was that it was just genius. By no means did she admire it, but the Capitol found a way to keep their hands clean and at the same time stain the souls of every kid who went in, then watch them act nearly unrecognizable.

It didn't matter if you even had morals- those morals would always go out the window. Audi would kill if she had to, anyone would.

But Audi just hoped she'd never become one of those killing machines.

NERO BLASTARIES, DISTRICT 2 MALE (18)

A way to describe Nero was fast. Fast on his feet, fast with words, fast-minded. Tempest was too, which was why they got along so well and often left the other Careers in the dust with their quick and fiery mental sparring.

When Merlot had said he was already on the road to winning, Nero was quick to correct him. "There's seven other Careers who all want it too, though."

Merlot blinked red lashes, the same color of his curls, surprised he'd been questioned. Of course, every one of the Careers wanted to volunteer and in the end, the irony that six sevenths of them were deluded was not lost on Nero.

The fact he was counting the outer district volunteers as Careers was shocking in itself, especially since one or both of them would be first to go at the bloodbath via Hestia's idea. Nero personally thought they should just keep Nico and Tesla around a little longer, for the sake of humoring them.

Nico was pleasant enough, but Tesla was a different story. He was so sure he'd win- the subject of who'd claim his kill was a subject of great interest within the group.

"I'll do it," Hestia had volunteered.

"No," Merlot had disagreed, and relentless bickering had started. Nero's district partner and the girl from 2 argued like children, constantly and incredibly funny to watch. Lux was the most neutral of the group during these arguments, since Tempest often sided with Hestia and Angelo with Merlot.

"Who are we targeting in the bloodbath?" Nero had asked to break up the argument.

Tesla had a lot of thoughts. "District 6 crossed me. We should take them out. And then the mute girl from 7, and probably the boy from 12 as well."

Tempest had rolled her eyes. "We're trying to take out the threats. Not weak ones we can kill later."

Angelo was observant enough to point out what Nero had thought, "The girl from Seven isn't half bad with an axe, though. She could be a threat."

"Fair. What about the nonbinary from 11? They're allied with District 10, plus they look strong enough to survive the brunt of it all."

"Why don't we just wing it?" Lux interjected. "It's sick to strategize like this."

This was the group's cue to ignore the girl from 1 and start striking up other conversations.

Nero had made his observations- District 8 seemed weaker this year, but the girl looked strong enough. He made a mental note of her. Tesla's district partner and the girl from 11 had allied from the looks of it, but they were weak enough to fly under the radar.

Then there was the question of the Careers. In the end, they were all plotting against each other and ultimately one or the other would be the backstabber.

Whoever set it off would ensure that only one of them would come out alive, and by far giving themselves a death wish. Nero wasn't confident he could be the one to come out, that would be fucking stupid, but then again he did consider himself likeable enough to not be the one who was killed first.

A big part of the Hunger Games was charm, he guessed. Merlot had it by the dozens and held the seat of #1 on the popularity rankings and was highly envied because of it.

The rest of the Careers were a bit lower, but Lux was #3, and Angelo #5 with Tempest, Nero, and Hestia getting places six through eight respectively. Somehow the girl from 9 had placed second. She could be a threat in a sense, since anybody able to compete with Merlot probably had his large amounts of charm in simply smaller quantities and would be a sponsor magnet.

District 6's boy was a threat too, since his size gave him an advantage. But his undoing would be his camaraderie with the girl from his district, who wouldn't last five minutes if it hadn't been for her remarkable skills with tech that she'd been bold enough to tease Nero with a few days back. He hadn't let it show that it had bothered him, because nobody respected a Career who couldn't keep his or her temper. But Nero was more than ready for the girl to go, and so was Tesla who had basically attacked her.

Nobody respects him, Nero thought wryly. He doesn't even try to suppress it when he gets angry.

Silently Nero vowed to keep his brains in the arena. In the end, it was what would crown him Victor. And then he'd go back to the auction hall, maybe even train some tributes.

Nero would always be on the road to winning, and it wasn't a cocky frame of mind.

It was just a fact.

ASPEN MEREDITH, DISTRICT 7 FEMALE (16)

Aspen was glad she'd found allies so quickly, because she wasn't sure if she could've approached anyone by herself.

Luckily, Lyana had happened to accidentally knock Aspen's knives over when taking a place at the station. She'd apologized and Aspen had signed back hopelessly, knowing that the girl wouldn't understand her, "It's okay." And when she did it was practically a dream.

They conferred in sign language, and from the way Lyana's shoulders were held, it was pretty easy to say that she had been anxious too. But the district 7 girl felt that her words- er, her signing- just flowed with Lyana.

Then there had been the mentor meeting.

The district Eight and Seven mentors, Woof and Blight, had apparently talked to the new interviewer, son of the previous one, Caesar Flickerman about the upcoming interviews.

Not surprisingly, he didn't know sign language.

So then Blight had taken a leap and made it a mile by suggesting that Lyana and Aspen should sit in on interviews so they could all communicate with Flickerman. Lyana would be Aspen's mouth and Aspen her ears.

So she'd have to do two interviews?

The sentiment was sweet and all, but Aspen didn't know if she could sit through six minutes without having a complete mental breakdown. To sit on that stage, and just try and answer probing questions that people only cared about to see how well you'd fare when put in a cage to fight until your dying breath…

Just like the Games, it questioned everything you had, but in the sense you had to choose between death or having your privacy exploited.

She'd been bullied in Seven by tons of kids, most of them older, and when she wished she could fight back, she didn't know how to embody herself without words. Shy Aspen had never been one for physical fighting, and now more than ever she was at a lower rank than the other tributes. Yet Euan didn't tease her when they had been on the train, during the tribute parade, or even during the previous days of training.

It was probably because Euan had a crush on her.

She saw it in the way he talked to her, the way he glared and gave her a protective stance saying he might as well die for her, quite literally. It was sweet, but Aspen didn't want him to. She was the weak link in their group- Tristan, though he was unwilling, could use a dagger well. Even though they were both from Seven, Euan was much better than Aspen in the trees.

Peri's optimism, which had rekindled itself according to Tristan, helped cheer the group up any time, and her organization would set them back on track if they needed it. Lyana was strong, though Aspen didn't know why she was surprised because the girl possessed a muscular figure and was pretty tall. She was the best with close combat in their group, and almost a natural with throwing knives.

So it would make sense for Aspen to feel like she wasn't pulling her own weight, and she did, despite the fact she was practicing with weapons at the current moment.

Why did it have to be her fault she preferred gathering food to using a weapon? Euan had told her she was good with an axe, and Aspen guessed she was. Despite her petite stature, Aspen was willing to kill if it meant getting home. To play notes on her violin once again… sure, she had a wood carving of a violin as her token that her mom had made for her, but it just wasn't the same.

Lyana had told Euan that Aspen wanted a violin, and he'd told their escort. Now Aspen had a fancy Capitol one she could play, but it felt so terribly formal she couldn't bring herself to play it.

Poor Euan was the most innocent Games-driven kid Aspen had ever seen, though he did have an advantage considering she actually knew him now. It was weird, knowing she was going to die. Not yet, though. As of now they were being pampered. How ironic.

Aspen willed the axe to sink into the target as she hefted it over her shoulder and threw.

It landed in the ring close to the bullseye, and Aspen sighed with relief.

Maybe she did stand a chance.

While she was labeled as cold-hearted from time to time, since communication was hard for her, now she had companions. And while they could only be temporary, it was nice to have a friend. Or four.

Alliances

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

Lone Wolves: Leon, Linteum