Denton Paine, District Twelve male (12)
The chair under me was covered in some kind of sticky plastic. I didn't like the way it rubbed against my legs so I stood up.
"What's wrong?" the man asked. I'd been playing cards with Nubu when a man came into the room and Nubu told me to go down the hall with him. The man was setting out all sorts of things that didn't interest me on a desk.
"No!" I said, spreading my arms wide in an emphatic refusal.
"You don't like the chair?" the man asked.
"No!" I said.
"All right, you can stand," the man said. He spread out a pile of papers and I moved my cards out of the way so they wouldn't be covered. He pointed at a paper with a circle and some lines on it.
"Can you tell me what this person is feeling?" he asked.
I didn't look up from my cards. I didn't care what the paper had on it and didn't really care about the man either. From what I saw of the paper it didn't even have a person on it. It was just a drawing of a face with a curved line for the mouth.
"What about this face?" the man asked. He asked some more questions I didn't pay attention to.
"Denton, would you tell me about your cards?" I looked up at that question, though I didn't look at the man's face.
"Playing cards were first used in China during the Tang dynasty. They were printed on woodblocks. The first card game was called 'leaf'." I kept talking while the man wrote some things down and leafed through a book.
"Denton, have your parents told you you're autistic?" the man asked. I didn't know what that meant so I kept talking about cards. The man said some more stuff and then looked at his tablet.
"Also, your leukemia. Have you been taking any home remedies or therapies for that? It might affect the treatment we give here in the Capitol."
"The modern four suits of playing cards are derived from the 1300s-era Mamluk cards which used cups, coins, swords, and polo-sticks..."
Toddward Howard- District Nine male (16)
As cool as I thought I was, I wasn't going to get through this alone. There were six Careers banded together to systematically wipe out everyone in their way. I needed to make some friends fast. Luckily I was good at making friends.
The boy from Twelve was sitting on the floor in one corner of the training room playing solitaire with an Avox. I tried to focus on more promising allies but my eyes kept going back to that lonely little and the Avox hanging out with him when usually they did chores and then disappeared. My curiosity got the better of me and I went over to look.
"Hey, what you up to?" I asked the boy.
"Solitaire," the boy said without looking up.
"You just gonna play that all day or what?" I asked.
"Yes," the boy said. He had a strange uncanny quality to his posture and actions. He sat weirdly formally and though his face was turned downward I could see it was expressionless. His voice was flat, too.
I looked over at the Avox who was sitting next to Denton. They weren't supposed to interact with us but if I was asking a question about a Tribute it might be okay.
"What...?" I asked, gesturing at the boy. I wasn't sure how to phrase the question. It seemed like something wasn't right in his head but I didn't want to say it rudely.
The Avox took a notepad from his pocket. Denton is autistic, he wrote. He cannot interact with others and does not understand the Games. He is unable to care for himself so I am his caretaker until the Games.
"Oh," I said. There was an autistic girl who played chess in my league sometimes. She was pretty good and chess and she could have a conversation and stuff. She just always had to sit at the same table and she would shrink away if you offered your hand for a handshake.
It did something to me looking down at Denton. It was clear his autism was a lot worse than the girl I knew. Denton couldn't take care of himself. Even in the Capitol he couldn't take care of himself. In the Games he wouldn't even know what was happening. I looked down and saw a little boy twelve years old playing cards. He was just a little kid. He should be home with his family and no one should hurt him. It wasn't fair at all.
"Can I play cards with you?" I asked. When Denton didn't say no I sat down next to him.
"I'm Toddward. People call me Todd," I said.
"My name is Denton Paine," Denton said.
"Hey, let's put this red ten on this black jack..."
Christobal Chanel- District Eight male (16)
The weapons stations terrified me. They were a glimpse of what life would be for me in a few days. I looked at tables carrying sharpened metal meant to pierce a body and cut out a soul. It made me sick to even think about using something like that against another person. Even the mannequins looked back at me with judgement. I saw some of the other Tributes smiling as they made a good shot and it turned my stomach. Those weren't just mannequins. Those were representations of people. To fire an arrow at a mannequin was to prepare to fire an arrow at a human. It's like they're just shooting a deer. People aren't animals. When you shoot a person you don't eliminate a competitor. You end a life. I knew that kind of thinking would get me killed in the Arena but I didn't think I could justify violating that, not even for my life.
"Hey!"
The sudden shout jarred me. I turned and saw Toddward waving as he walked toward me. Toddward was definitely an eccentric. He was wearing a leather jacket even though the training room was air-conditioned to provide a cool environment so we wouldn't overheat during intense training. He had a confident energy to him that gave off the idea that he was aware of his short stature but completely unlimited by it. On another boy his features wouldn't seem very attractive but he seemed to believe in his own looks with such confidence it made me unsure of my own first impression.
"Christobal, right?" Toddward asked. "I'm Todd."
I wasn't sure how to respond. I wasn't used to other people talking to me so easily. Usually if someone engaged me it was to tease me or exclude me. I hesitated and was grateful when Todd went on.
"Hey, I'm looking to make some allies. Safety in numbers, right? You interested?" he asked.
Yes! Yes, I am interested! It was a dream come true for me. Before I even got to the Capitol I knew I'd never make it by myself. I was terrified of the thought of being alone in the Arena with no one to talk to or face the dangers with. The only thing I was more scared of was asking to ally with someone. I didn't know where to start and I was afraid of being rejected and even more afraid that asking someone would put me on their radar and they'd come after me first.
"Yeah, I've been looking for allies," I said with a nervous smile.
"Great!" Toddward broke in. "One thing, though. I'm also allying with Denton so you gotta be okay with that. We're buds now so we're a package deal."
"Denton?" I asked, looking across the room to the boy sitting by some playing cards next to an Avox. I'd noticed there was something off about him but that was about all I knew.
"He has autism so he needs an ally. But he knows a ton about playing cards so we have that going for us," Toddward said.
"Sure," I said. "He seems nice." On the one hand I wasn't going to let an alliance slip out of my hands. On the other... Denton seemed like a nice kid and I didn't want him to be alone either.
"Great!" Todd stuck out his hand and I shook it. "I've been training on the whips. You can do another weapon if you want or otherwise you can do water purification and stuff like that."
Perfect, I thought. An alliance and an ally who would do the fighting. It just kept getting better.