Training Day 2:
Weller Worthen, 18
District 11 Male
Seeing all sorts of weapons lying out for people to just use was jarring for Weller. The Gamemakers were going to make them fight to the death with spears and swords, not guns. He didn't mind that part. He hoped to never touch a gun in his life ever again.
He remembered training to use weapons like these before, but that was a long time ago. It wouldn't hurt to freshen up. And if Weller recalled correctly, knives were pretty easy to pick up on, so he headed there first. There were a few tributes practicing with the knives, which didn't surprise him.
If anything, Weller actually felt relieved. Nobody here knew what his life was like before he was Reaped. When nobody had anything to say about him during the first day of training, he felt a little more relaxed. It was his fresh start, a chance to make a new first impression to potential allies, where he could be judged off his actions, not his past.
In District 11, he may have just been a solider.
Here he was just...Weller.
The knives felt a bit unfamiliar and very sharp, almost like daggers. Weller tossed one at the nearest target, landing on a ring closer to the middle. So, he still had it in him after all. This kind of training was very hard to forget.
A couple more throws to warm him up and Weller did feel a little more confident in himself. Yeah, if he needed to, he'd be able to throw a knife directly at someone. Watching the little boy from 3 next to him struggle, Weller felt a slight pang in his stomach.
Next stop was the axes station, just in case knives weren't an option for him in the arena. They were a lot heavier, throwing him off balance a little bit. Weller was able to swing the axe, but compared to the girl from 7, cutting through dummies like a pro, it was practically nothing.
"Hey, you're pretty good."
The girl nodded, pulling some hair out of her face. "Thanks. I have practice. I'm Darra, by the way."
"Weller, I'm from District 7."
"I saw you with the knives. You any good with them?"
Weller gave her an awkward shrug. "I suppose so. I have had practice before."
"Well, that makes you a little more competent than most of the kids here. And I don't have time to babysit my allies."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Darra chopped off a dummy's arm. "Well, I want to win. And I'll do what it takes. The Games have already caused my family to go through enough shit as it is."
"Would you like to form an alliance, then?"
Darra flashed him a small grin. "Hey, why not? You seem pretty capable."
Weller slowly offered his hand, which Darra grasped in a firm shake. "Well, it's nice to have you on board. Are we considering anybody else? Your district partner, perhaps?"
"Veles? He said he doesn't want any allies. He's a lone wolf."
"I see. Do we want anyone else?"
"I wouldn't oppose the idea," Darra said simply. "But they better carry their weight, or else they're not worth my time. There were a lot of people I was considering, but now that I think about it, they'll probably just drag us down."
At lunch, the two of them sat together, discussing things among themselves. Surprisingly, Darra already had a list of people she was planning to work with. As she went over it with Weller, they were interrupted by the boy from District 6.
"Sorry. Do you mind if I sit here?"
Weller shook his head as the boy sat down across from him. "Oh, thanks. I'm Charles."
"I'm Weller. And this is Darra."
"Hey. Are you looking for any allies?"
"Depends." Darra looked up from her tray, where she had been stabbing her mashed potatoes repeatedly with a fork. "What do you bring to the table?"
"I'm really talented with poison."
"Poison," Weller repeated in a slow voice. "Why...poison?"
"Oh, toxicology has always been a passion of mine. I've been toying with the idea of crafting poison darts to use as a weapon."
"I'm gonna find it hard to believe that the Gamemakers are just gonna leave random poison lying around for us to dip darts into and stab each other with." Darra went back to stabbing her mashed potatoes.
"I know that. That's why I've been practicing with throwing knives!"
"Weren't you talking with the kid from 5?" Darra asked. "I don't remember what his name is."
"Oh. Corbyn." Charles folded his arms and Weller noticed his voice was suddenly very flat. "Yeah, I tried approaching him, but he doesn't think I'm the right ally. So, whatever. It's his loss and i swear I have nothing to do with him."
"I don't mind having you join us," Weller muttered, sliding his tray across the table. "Darra? What do you think?"
"Eh, why not. You're in."
Charles giggled. "Wow, really? Thanks guys!"
Darra dropped her tray onto the table, almost splattering the remains of her mashed potatoes everywhere. "Well, this has been a very pleasant conversation. What an alliance. Anyways, I'm gonna go and chop some shit up with some axes. See you guys later."
"What were you planning on doing?" Charles asked.
"I was gonna go practice some more with the throwing knives."
"Oh cool, I was planning on doing that as well. Mind if I join you?"
Astrid Balan, 15
District 3 Female
Astrid never knew training could be so miserable.
Maybe she was just miserable because Mark had cut her off completely. He had given the Avoxes strict orders not to let her drink any alcoholic beverages and locked up all the pills in a cupboard in his room. God, Astrid needed a drink to deal with all of her mentor's bullshit. And she couldn't even do that!
Trainign with all these badass weapons wasn't the problem. Going cold turkey was.
But Astrid wasn't going to just brush Mark off, since he didn't talk down to her or treat her like a little kid, the way most adults did. And he actually had some pretty good advice. Maybe it was because Mark himself was still a teen, just with authority, that made him tolerable in Astrid's book. Her district partner was a little annoying, the mutable agreement being that neither of them cared to ally up with each other.
She was sitting alone at lunch, watching all the other tributes do their business. The chatty boy from 10 caught her eye, but he and his district partner were practically attached at the hip. To Astrid, it wasn't worth it, knowing a potential ally was closer to someone else over her. That just made them way more likely to stab her in the back.
No big deal. She could probably find tons of tributes who wouldn't mind working with her.
Astrid quickly polished off the rest of her food. Damn, the cooks in the Capitol were amazing. She decided to try out the climbing wall next, which looked really big. As it turned out, climbing was easier said than done.
Astrid slipped back down the wall for the fourth time. Already sitting the the top, was the girl from 9 just laughed. "Hey, you see those knobs? You're supposed to grab those!"
"Thanks for the brilliant advice, Captain Obvious," Astrid snarled. "I never would've been able to figure it out by myself."
"No problem! You're Astrid, right? I'm Lily."
"You're that random girl who volunteered. What's the deal with that?"
"It was a dare. And I never back down from dares."
Astrid finally pulled herself onto the top of the wall. "Well, that's kinda stupid, don't you think? How the hell did you get up this thing anyways?"
"I like a challenge." Lily flashed her a cheeky grin. "It's pretty easy, actually."
"You know what, I don't need to hear it."
Lily's grin was even wider. "You're funny. I like it."
Astrid just nodded. Maybe this girl would make a pretty decent ally, especially if she was so easy to read. "Do you have any allies yet?"
"Not yet. My district partner's doing his own thing and everyone else seems to be avoiding me."
"You and me then?"
"Yep!" Lily said quickly as she backed down the wall. "That sounds good."
Once she carefully climbed back down the wall, which was a lot harder then going up it, Astrid went to find something that didn't require as much physical activity. The popular edible plants station was empty for once, only occupied by the girl from 11. She had already sorted the cards into different piles.
For Astrid, it was impossible to figure out which plants were edible and which one weren't; she couldn't even recognize half of them! The trainer just watched, just to hide her smile behind her hand. Even the girl from 11 looked up, then shook her head. "Do you want some help?"
"I'm fine. I can do it."
Acacia neatly stacked the cards and pushed them to the side. "Alright, if you insist."
"Eh, whatever." Astrid tossed the last card onto the table. "I'll come back to this later."
Acacia's reaction caught her by surprise; the younger girl folded her arms, turning her back to Astrid. "The nerve of some people...just giving up because things didn't go their way..."
"I'm not giving up! I'd just rather spend my time on something that I'm good at!"
"Suit yourself," Acacia snapped, reaching for Astrid's messy pile of cards.
Astrid wanted to bite back, but something inside her told her not to. Acacia would make a pretty valuable ally if she knew about plants and shit, because Astrid was clearly clueless about it. Then again, they started off on the wrong foot, so maybe Acacia would actually say no?
"Are you looking for any allies?"
"Well, it depends."
"What about me and Lily?"
"Who is Lily? The girl who volunteered?" Acacia sounded a little nervous. "Are you sure about that?"
"Oh relax, she's harmless. And totally crazy. In an awesome way!"
"I don't know..." Acacia looked a little uncomfortable. "I don't want to mean I've got to pick up the slack."
"That won't happen. I promise."
"Oh...well okay. I don't have anyone else approaching me, so I guess this works out."
"Nice!" Astrid gave Acacia a quick fist bump. "Now, do you really plan to stay here for the whole day?"
"That doesn't sound as bad as you think."
"That's a shame. You're gonna go climb the wall with us."
Current Alliances:
Careers: Stravos, Elise, Toren, Bellona
Babysitter Stryker: Gear, Amelia, Cleveland, Stryker
D4 Loyalty: Haruhi, Adella
D8 Loyalty: Twill, Claodis
D10 Loyalty: Red, Argen
Odd Pair Out: Corbyn, Zilla
Brains, Brawns, and Badassery: Charles, Darra, Weller
I don't have a clever name for them oop: Astrid, Lily, Acacia
Loners: Veles, Clair
We've got some more alliances coming together! Will the two trios we've seen in this chapter work out? What's the deal between Charles and Corbyn? Did Acacia make the right call in allying with Lily and Astrid? Which alliance is your favourite right now?
We got one more training chapter left, this one featuring the POVs of Elise and Cleveland. It'll be coming out later this month!
Stay safe everyone!
-Vr