Shine
Chapter 21
Training & Gamemaker Sessions (Also Cameos)
Warning: This chapter contains mentions (although not descriptions) of sexual abuse, rape, and murder in the backstory of a character. For those who would rather avoid reading about such things, there will be a warning before they are presented again and another indication of when it is safe to read. Thank you.
A/N: This one is going to be long, as it's where Tributes make alliances, friends, and maybe enemies. It's also where some cameos from the writer's life show up. So let's get started…
On the first day of training, all of our brave Tributes woke up, dressed in the clothes left for them by their stylists, and ate breakfast with their District partners and mentors. Only two of these conversations are important enough to reproduce here, as most of them were nothing more than small talk, most Tributes not allying with their District partners.
Giselle Serpentine –16- -D2- POV
"I still think I could win," Ares says, as he stuffs a whole egg into his mouth.
"That's disgusting, you know," I reply. "And so far I've won both times. What, you think third time's the charm?"
"I let you win the first time," Ares replies. I grab a knife and spread cream cheese on my bagel. I hear that the butter isn't that good here. Ironic.
"Really?" I reply, chomping into my bagel.
"Yes," Ares says cockily.
"Want to bet?" I ask.
"Sure," he says, "except we have no money here."
"Good point," I say. "Still…" We lock eyes.
"Children," Iron interjects. We both stare daggers at him. He doesn't flinch. "If you two are going to fight, for the third time in a week, I would suggest that you wait until training has begun. Although you must be careful not to hurt each other."
"Fine. Whatever," Ares says.
"You're just scared I'll beat you on the table again," I say.
"No," Ares says. "I'd rather you not get shot by a Peacekeeper."
"Oh, they wouldn't do that. They'd just blow me up with a landmine," I say.
"Fair point. Either way, I don't want your guts all over me," Ares says.
"Fine. You'll see," I say.
"You'll see," Ares says.
Athena Rye –14- -D9- POV
"I didn't see you after the Chariot rides last night," Isaiah says. We're sitting at the breakfast table with George. I just got up, dressed, and came here. The reason Isaiah didn't see me last night is because I passed out after the Chariot Rides. I was just so tired. I don't think I got up for dinner, which is why Isaiah is asking. I grab a banana from the center of the table and pull off the top, starting to peel it.
"I was just really tired," I say. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Isaiah says. "I was just worried, that's all."
"Oh. Thanks," I say. "Not dead or anything." There's an awkward pause. "Looking forward to training today?" I finish peeling my banana and take a bite. Tasty. "George, where is this from?" I ask.
"District Eleven," he says. "But the Capitol people do something to it to make it taste better than the food we get." Suddenly, he remembers where he is. "Of course, that makes sense. The Districts don't deserve the same level of comfort as the glorious Capitol."
"Ah. Gotcha," I say. "Sorry, Isaiah. Training?"
"Um… I mean, I guess," he says. "I don't know. I want to train, but you know… it's hard to get excited for much now."
"I get it," I say. "Hey, at least we have those nice showers until the Games start."
"You figured out how to use those?" Isaiah asks with surprise. "I couldn't. I got blasted with foam, then cold water, then scalding water, than water that must have been barely above freezing, then I finally turned the darn thing off."
"You haven't showered since we got here?" I ask. "We've been here for two days!"
"Well… no, I guess. Not like the stylists didn't do enough before the rides," Isaiah says.
"Fair point, but… really?" I ask.
"Yeah," Isaiah says. I can't help but smile, and it's all I can do to keep from bursting out laughing. I lose the fight against laughter. Isaiah looks embarrassed.
"So..." I say, trying to talk through laughter. "You're telling me that… that you… didn't see the button, right in the center… the button labeled 'shower'?"
"What?" Isaiah asks. "There's a button for that? How is that funny? It's not to me!" Isaiah looks at George for help.
"I'm sorry, Isaiah," George chuckles, "but she's right. It is sort of funny. I figured that out on the train my first year."
"I wasn't really paying attention to the showers," Isaiah says defensively.
"Clearly," I say. "Look, I'll show you the button later, okay?"
"Fine," Isaiah huffs. "Can we just eat?"
"Of course. If you can find the cereal," I say. "Or, do you need me to point it out for you?" Isaiah rolls his eyes. It's fun to banter with him. I could do this for a while. After all, for a few seconds, I almost forgot that we were in the first day of training for a horrible and perverted game.
Later… after all the Tributes have arrived at training…
Lustero Aldor –17- -D1- POV
After the lead trainer walked us through the basics of training, all fairly obvious details (don't kill anyone else, really? Duh.), I started to head over to the sword training station, ready to demolish some dummies and intimidate some of the lower District scum. A voice from behind me stops me.
"Lustero! Diamond! Falcon! Come over here for a second!" I turn around. It's the girl from District Two, Giselle. She's waving me and the other careers over. Her District partner is standing next to her. I walk over, and so do the other people she has summoned.
"What?" Diamond asks.
"No need to be so brusque, Diamond. We're all friends here," Giselle says, and then, seeing the skeptical looks everyone else is giving her, "For now, at least."
"Okay," Diamond says. "So, why did you ask for us, Giselle?" I can tell by Diamond's tone of voice that she's being purposefully overly civil.
"Because," Giselle says, "apart from exchanging pleasantries, I don't think any of us really know each other. Ares and I do," she smiles at him playfully, "but I don't really know who you are, Diamond. Or you, Lustero. Or you, Falcon." She looks at all of us in turn. "So, I thought we would do a little team-building exercise." Everyone in the circle groans. Nobody likes team-building activities. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun, and we'll get to know the people who we'll kill in their sleep. Sound good?" A few people glance around, and Diamond and I start to take steps backward. "I will kill you in the Bloodbath if you leave, of course."
"Ah, so this is that kind of mandatory team-building," Diamond says.
"It's not mandatory," Giselle says. "If you think you could win a fight against me." She smiles sweetly. "No takers? Okay, then, let's get started. So, I want everyone to introduce themselves, so your name, your District, and something interesting about you. I'll go first. I'm Giselle Serpentine, from District Two, which you probably already know. I'm also only sixteen and recommended to volunteer by my academy, which is the same one that Ares here goes to. Who wants to go next?"
"I guess I will," Diamond says. "I can, of course, tell that you're not bragging, Giselle."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Giselle says.
"Okay, well, I'm Diamond Knowles, from District One. I had a boyfriend in the Games last year, Topaz, and I'm planning to avenge his death, not only by winning but by killing the girl from District Eleven, since it was the girl from District Eleven who killed him and won last year," Diamond almost spits the word won out like it's some sort of vile insect that flew into her mouth. "And if I get lucky, I'll kill her namesake too." There's an awkward silence around our circle for a few seconds before I decide to speak.
"Uh, thank you, Diamond. I'm Lustero Aldor, I guess. From District One. And, um… that's it, I guess," I say.
"Come on," Giselle says. "Something interesting about you."
"Uh… I don't know. Pass?" I ask.
"Fine," Giselle says. "We'll come back to you. Falcon?"
Falcon signs something, and his translator speaks for him. "My name is Falcon Lockdust, from District Four. As you can probably tell, I'm mute, so I use sign language to talk to people. Right now, I have this wonderful translator, thank you, because apparently most of you don't know sign language, so don't expect any scintillating conversation from me in the Games, unless you want to learn to speak sign language. And yes, I did say scintillating."
"Thank you, Falcon," Giselle says. "Ares?"
"I'm Ares Moretti," Ares says. "From two, just like Giselle. And I'm a Peacekeeper's kid, so that's something, I guess."
"A Peacekeepers kid from Two. Not much of a surprise," Diamond says.
"Shut up," Ares says.
"Are we done, Giselle?" Diamond asks.
"No, Lustero still needs to tell us something interesting about himself," Giselle says.
"Uh… I guess I confessed to my crush in the Justice Building. Can we be done now?" I ask, trying to say the first sentence as quickly as possible.
"Wait, you did what?" Giselle asks, with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Can we just go train?" I ask.
"Only if you don't want to talk about it, Lustero," Giselle says.
"Yup, nope, bye," I say, and head off to go punch something.
Diamond Knowles –18- -D1- POV
After Giselle's ridiculous team-building exercise, I decide to finally do something I had wanted to do since I stepped off the train in the Capitol. I walk over to where the red-head is slicing her sword at a dummy.
"Hey, Tribiani," I say. She turns around.
"No one's called me that in a long time," she says. "Everyone just calls me Brianna. What do you want, Knowles?"
"I just wanted to tell you," I step closer to her. She puts up the sword in a defensive position. I step forward again and grab the blade of the sword. It's only a training sword, it's not sharp. She looks surprised. "I'm going to kill you. I don't know when, but as quickly as I can, I'm going to kill you. Because by all accounts, your little b-h of a mentor shouldn't have won last year. I'm going to get revenge for the people she killed." I twist the sword out of her hands, and it clatters to the floor. I hear a voice shout and footsteps running towards me and Tribiani.
"Hey! What's going on over here?" The boy from seven asks as he runs over.
"None of your business, Ochs," I reply, pronouncing the boy's name as o-shiz.
"It's Ochs," he says, pronouncing it as oaks, like the tree.
"See if I care," I say, and turn away. From behind me, I hear Ochs talking to Tribiani. So the little ginger has found herself an ally. It won't matter in the end. I head over to the ax station and casually throw one into a dummy behind me.
Brianna Tribiani –16- -D11- POV
"See if I care," Knowles says and turns away. Aster comes over to me.
"Hi, Brianna, right?" He asks.
"Yeah," I say. "Aster, right?"
"Yeah," he says. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," I say. "She just threatened me. She's not stupid enough to do anything before the Games."
"Why did she threaten you?" Aster asks. "She's the girl from One, right?"
"Yeah," I reply. "Apparently she thinks that Athena shouldn't have won last year, and she's going to make sure I don't win this year or some crap like that. Personally, I hope she gets ripped apart by mutts after that."
"Yeah, me too," Aster says. "That's weird. I guess careers are just like that. Just make sure that you have some allies to help you if the rest of the careers don't kill her first."
"That's a good idea," I say. "Haven't been able to find any yet. I was planning to talk to some people at lunch."
"Was I on your list?" Aster asks.
"You could be," I reply. "What skills do you have?"
"Well, I can write poetry, I can use an ax fairly well, and I'm ridiculously attractive," he says. I laugh.
"Of course," I say. "That must be your best qualification. Well, you're on the shortlist then."
"How long is that list?" Aster asks.
"Why do you want to know?" I reply.
"I just want to know who the beautiful girl is considering for allies besides me," he says, with a charming smile.
"Currently, you're number one. Of one," I reply.
"Ouch, that hurts," he says, pretending to wince as if he was punched in the stomach. "Quality burn right there, Brianna."
"Show me your ax skills, and we'll see about moving you up on that list," I say.
"Okay," he says. We walk over to the station with axes, which Knowles has since moved on from. Aster hefts an ax in his muscular arms. He walks to a dummy, and in one swift motion, the dummy and the dummy's head occupy two different places separated by about five feet.
"Wow," I say. "But in real life, the target isn't just going to let you walk up to them. I mean, probably."
"You're right," he says. "Still, am I in?"
I pretend to consider the matter for a moment. "Can you promise me you won't kill me unless we're the last two left?"
"Done," he says.
"And you understand that if we're the last two left, I will kill you without looking back?" I ask.
"I wouldn't want it any other way," he says.
"Sure," I say. "Okay then. Shake on it?" I extend my hand. He changes the ax to his left hand, and we shake.
"It's a deal," he says.
"Call me Bri, then," I say.
"Nice to be your ally, Bri," Aster replies.
Aster Ochs –17- -D7- POV
Before I went over to talk to Bri, I was watching her from across the room. Her pretty red hair and blue eyes were… well, pretty. Pretty enough to write a poem about, which I was doing in my head.
Hair of fire,
what lies beneath that long mire?
An ocean of blue in those eyes of joy
A sky of red in that hair a-play.
(Author's note: I am not a poet. Aster is supposed to be a good poet, so pretend that what you just read was Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman good, okay? I know it's horrible.)
Just as I was considering what the fifth line of my poem should be, I saw Knowles walk over and stand close to Brianna. She looked like she was threatening her, so I decided to head over there. And then it turned out that Bri and I would be allies. In about half an hour, I think I've done pretty good. I've made an ally, a cute, funny, girl at that, and I've written a nice poem. Of course, my ally will be hunted by the career pack, but that's okay. We'll find a way out of it, or the careers will kill each other first. For that matter, we need to talk about strategy. So, at lunch, we do. We had trained separately. She learned to use an ax and a bow, and I worked with swords.
"So, what should our strategy be?" I ask her.
"I think we should grab what we can, run, and try to hide until the careers kill each other off," Bri says.
"Sounds good," I say. I had been thinking the same thing. "What about our Shine moments?"
"Shine mome- oh, right," Bri says. "Something brave or in love or whatever?"
"Yeah," I say.
"Uh, I don't know. I guess just defend each other selflessly?" Bri says. "Hope that works? What do you think?"
"I don't have a better idea, so I guess that's what we'll go with for now," I say.
"Sounds good," Bri replies.
Giselle Serpentine –16- -D2- POV
After my wonderful team-building exercise, I start to head for the sword station, but Ares stops me.
"Ready for a rematch?" He asks.
"Sure," I say. "Unless you're too chicken?"
"Nope. Are you?" He asks.
"Nope. Let's go," I say. We head over to the wrestling area, and the instructor warns us not to actually hurt each other, and that if we do there will be consequences, etc, etc. Whatever. Finally, he lets us fight. I go on the offensive, aiming to punch Ares in the crotch, but he grabs my hand.
Ares Moretti POV
Giselle starts to punch me, but I grab her hand. She didn't see that coming. Good. I attempt to flip her over me, but she manages to break free of my grasp. She was still forced downward though, and she stumbles as she attempts to recover. I raise my foot and kick her in the chest. Her small stature had worked for her when I was unprepared, but now it works against her, as my powerful kick sends her careening back onto the mat, sprawled on her back and out of breath. I step forward.
Giselle Serpentine POV
Ares's kick was powerful, but I'm not out of this fight yet. And he makes the mistake that so many people make. Rather than quickly going to the side of my torso, or above my head, where only my comparatively less useful arms could reach him, he steps forward, right into my legs, spread out from falling on the floor. Idiot. He made the same mistake on the train. When will he learn? Of course, if he doesn't, and he makes the same mistake when we're fighting for real, I'll be happy. I snap my legs closed, bringing him down on top of me. But instead of falling uncoordinated, he falls so that his hands rest on my arms, pinning them to the ground.
Ares Moretti POV
Giselle thought I would fall for the same trick twice. Not so much. I knew what she would do if I stepped forward, and I used it to my advantage. There would have been less risky ways to win the fight, but this is the most fun. Using her own tactic against her. I pin her arms to the ground, and knee her in the crotch, forcing her legs to spasm. I pull my legs outwards so that I'm now kneeling over her.
"I think I won," I say.
"How would you kill me, though?" Giselle asks. "Both of your hands are used. You can't choke me, and if you had a weapon, you couldn't use it."
"If I was carrying a knife, it would be through your hand right now, meaning that I could leave it there and have a free hand to choke you with, or, if I was quick enough, I could slit your throat and leave you there as you choked on your own blood," I reply.
"Who says you would be quick enough?" Giselle asks.
"I think we'll have to wait until the Games to figure that one out," I say.
"I see," Giselle says. "Except that you made one critical mistake." Crap. Just as she says it, I know what I've done wrong. It doesn't save me from a painful crotch as her knee meets it. She takes advantage of my pain to roll me over so that she has the advantage. In theory. I manage to raise my arms and push her off of me. She stumbles backward but manages to regain her balance. What I do in the next few seconds is critical for me. She's faster than I am. So what can I do? I manage to jump to my feet, in a way that makes me knees hurt from the sheer force of impact, but it gets me up quickly. I realize that I need not have worried. Giselle is curious now, waiting to see what I'll do next. I don't plan to make the first move though.
Giselle Serpentine POV
Ares is more clever than I gave him credit for. And he's going to force me to fight first now. Oh well. He'll get what he wants. I jump at him. The plan is a kick that uses my force, landing on his chest with both feet. That's the plan. What actually happens is that he extends his arms in front of his chest. Not all the way, but he anticipated my move. That's not good. Leaving the ground means I'm vulnerable. His arms moving forward means that instead of him going backward, I do. I end up falling in front of him on the mat. Again. That's not good. I attempt to roll to the left, but his kick connects with my foot anyway. I feel another kick in my back, this one rolls me onto my stomach. Then I feel the light pressure of his foot on my neck.
"Now I've won," he says.
"Still one of three," I reply. He releases his foot. I roll over and he extends his hand to me. I take it and lightly spring up to my feet. "Good job," I say. Then I kiss him. Just lightly, just a quick peck. On the lips. "Thanks for the training. See ya later." Then I walk away from an Ares whose reaction I can't judge, ready to go demolish some dummies with a sword.
Clear Palatino –12- -D3- POV
After breakfast and instructions, Bec and I start training. I focus on the survival and knowledge stations, well Bec focuses on the weapons training stations. We don't talk to any other Tributes. By lunchtime, I've learned which Arena plants are and are not edible, and how to camouflage myself in virtually any terrain. (Except for an ice sheet, on which anything that isn't stark white stands out and there is no material to use for camouflage. I hope that won't be our arena, although I doubt it. That Games was much too boring and over much too quick for the Capitol's taste.)
Becquerel 'Bec' Grey –15- -D3- POV
I spent all of the before lunch period training with various weapons. Swords, daggers, throwing knives, and a few minutes with a bow. At lunch, Clear insisted that I try some knowledge stations while she learned how to use a dagger and throwing knives. When Clear insists on something, it happens. So after lunch, I went over to the traps station, where a pretty girl with brown hair and hazel eyes is clearly the instructor.
"Hi," I say. "Uh, I'm Bec, and uh, can you teach me some stuff about traps, I guess?"
"Sure," the girl says. "My name is Ella Daniels." She holds out her hand, and I shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Ella," I say.
"You too, Bec," she says. "Okay, so for traps, concealment is key. Did you see the trap that Athena and Sofie set last year?" I nod. "That was a brilliant piece of work, but you can build all kinds of traps, and a lot of them are much simpler to set up than that. First, there's the pit trap..." She coaches me for the next few hours on the different types of traps and how to build them and even has me build a few scale models. When I ask how she's so good at this, she says that she's also an engineer in her day job, designing stuff for the Capitol. Makes sense.
"Thank you," I say, when it's time for me to leave because she's taught me everything she knows, "this was actually a lot of fun. At first, I thought traps would be boring, but I actually really enjoyed myself."
"No problem, Bec," she says. "You caught on naturally. Glad I could help, and good luck!"
"Thanks!" I reply as I walk away.
Falcon Lockdust –17- -D4- POV
After Giselle's… interesting team-building exercise, I decide to head over to the wrestling station. I quickly work my way through the Capitol supplied partners. Boring. Then I look over to the other wrestling station, where, now that the pair from District Two are done love-fighting, the girl from seven is steadily working her way through the wrestlers too. You know what, I want a challenge. Or at the very least, something interesting. I walk over to her as she finishes another match. Another victory.
"Hey," I say, through my translator. "Falcon Lockdust, this is my sign language translator. Mute, not deaf. Anyway, I see that you've been taking out these Capitol people quite handily. Want to try going against me?"
"Sure," the girl says, wiping the sweat off her brow. "I'm Vallory."
"Nice to meet you, Vallory," I say, stepping into the ring.
"Nice to meet you, Falcon," she says. We shake hands, and the fight begins. I throw a punch, and she blocks it. Nice. She throws a punch, and it contacts with my stomach. I stumble backward a little bit but block her next punch. I recover and throw a punch at her face. It makes contact, and she stumbles backward. I decide not to punch my advantage. I don't know her well enough yet. It's probably a good idea, as she apparently decides to stop boxing and start fighting. In a flash, she comes towards me. I can barely block her punches, and I miss her leg sweeping out and back in. Under my legs, toppling me to the ground. I manage to recover though, scrambling backward and pushing myself up. She only looks moderately surprised. I run forward, throwing a punch at her face and-
Val Stensland POV
Falcon is an interesting fighter. He recovered well enough from my sweep of the leg, something some people wouldn't be able to do. Then he decided to rush me. Bad idea. He should have waited for me to make the first move again, where he could have snuck in a small move that threw me off balance. But he didn't. So, I duck his first punch. It looked like it could have broken my nose if it had landed. I reach my arm up and grab it, twisting him around me, and throwing him flat on the mat behind me. I release before he can drag me down with him and spin around, ready to fight again. This time, he doesn't recover as quickly. But he does recover. I'm honorable enough, I'm not going to kick somebody while they're down. In the Games, I guess I might have to. But not here. So I wait for him to stand up again. He looks at me questioningly. I shrug. He throws a punch, and I do the same thing I did before. This time, I put my foot down on his hair, and pull upwards, just a bit.
"Aim for the center mass, Falcon. Nice fight though," I say, and offer my hand to help him up. By unspoken agreement, the fight is over.
"Thanks," he says. "You're a good fighter, Vallory. One more time?"
"Sure," I say. He throws a punch.
Falcon Lockdust POV
My punch collides with Vallory's stomach, sending her stumbling back. To her credit, she doesn't shout anything about it being unfair, she just takes it in stride and starts to recover. This time though, I do push my advantage.
Val Stensland POV
Falcon's punch caught me by surprise, I won't deny that. At least he learned to aim for center mass. He comes towards me, and I raise my hands to defend, but I'm still off-balance. I step to the right a little bit at the last second and Falcon doesn't notice, until my extended hand collides with his stomach.
Falcon Lockdust POV
Vallory is tricky. She dodged my attack, and know I'm hanging from her fist. Not an ideal situation. She knows it, and I know it, and she knows I know it. So she brings her fist around, and me with it, holding me against her body. She brings her other hand up to my neck.
"I won," she says.
"Yes," I sign. She releases me. "Good job, Vallory. You're a fun and interesting fighter."
"Call me Val," she says. "You too, Falcon. Hope I don't have to fight you again."
"Me too," I say, turning around to look at her. Her amber eyes sparkle at me, and her brown hair is free-floating around her head. Despite being sweaty, she looks pretty. Before I can help myself, my eyes run over her figure. She is a pretty girl. And she can fight well too. She's smart and thinks fast on her feet. Plus, she's just as strong as I am. Maybe stronger. She would be a good ally. And she is pretty. My eyes return to her eyes, which are still sparkling. The nice thing about being mute: no uhs. "See you around, Val," I say, and walk away. As I do, I can't help thinking about the pretty girl who's a good fighter from District Seven. No, Falcon. No. You cannot develop feelings for anyone. They are all your enemies. Even the really pretty, smart ones. No, Falcon, no. No feelings. Here, feelings are death. If only you could tell that to my feelings.
Vallory 'Val' Stensland –16- -D7- POV
After my fight with Falcon, it's time for lunch. And at lunch, I decided I should scope at some of the other Tributes for allies. I noticed the girl from five training at some of the knowledge stations, and she looks competent enough, so I decide to go over and talk to her. After asking Sophia what her name was again, of course.
"Hey, Serena. Mind if I sit here?" I ask. She's sitting with the boy from six. Interesting.
"Uh, no. Vallory, right?" She asks as I sit down.
"Yeah," I say. "Pleasure to meet you, Serena."
"Pleasure to meet you too, Vallory," she says. "Oh, and this is Andrew." I had sat next to Andrew, and across from Serena, so the resulting handshake with Andrew is a little interesting, but we get it done.
"Nice to meet you, Andrew," I say.
"Nice to meet you as well, Vallory," he says.
"So, Serena. What's life like back home?" I ask.
"I'm an exile from everyone, all because of my stupid brother. Look, Vallory. You want something. Spit it out. I'm not really in the mood for small talk," Serena says.
"Okay then," I say. "Do you want to be allies?"
She thinks for a second, then answers, "As long as you're okay with Andrew coming along with us, then yeah."
"Sure," I say. "How did you know so quickly?"
"You seem like a nice person, Vallory. Also, you're strong, and I'm not that strong, neither is Andrew, so we could use someone like that in our alliance," Serena says.
"Thanks," I say, "And please, call me Val. You seem like a good person too. I just sort of got that impression, you know?"
"Yeah," Serena says. "Thanks."
"So, how did you and Andrew become allies?" I ask.
"Well," Serena says, "it's a long story..."
Serena Holden –16- -D5- POV
At breakfast, Ashley told me to be social if I wanted allies besides Emery. To talk to someone. She suggested, of all people, the boy from six.
"I think you two will get along," she said. "Just talk to him, Serena. Okay?"
"Okay," I had responded, and now, I have to follow through on that promise. It's the morning, right after breakfast and orientation. I head over to talk to Andrew.
"Hey, Andrew," I say. My goodness, it's been a long time since I tried to start a casual conversation with someone.
"Hello, Serena," he says. "How are you?"
"Uh," I'm put off by his niceness. Once again, it's been a long time. "Good enough, I guess. Uh, how are you?"
"Good, under the circumstances. I know that I need to talk to Athena Feere, I need to make allies, and I know what I want to focus on in training," he says.
"Why do you need to talk to Athena Feere?" I ask, puzzled.
Andrew points to his leg brace. "Someone needs to make an appeal for me to be able to wear this in the Games. My mentor won't do it for me, so I think that Athena should."
"Oh," I say. "Uh, how about I go with you and we do that now? While we try to find her, you can tell me how you got that brace."
"Sure," he says, "but only if you tell me about yourself afterward." We walk towards where we had last left our mentors. "It's not a very interesting story," he says, "I was working on a- oh, there she is!" We walk over to Athena, who is standing at the edge of the training room, watching from a distance. "Mrs. Feere?" Andrew begins.
"Hm? Oh, Andrew. Athena is fine. Uh, why are you over here?" She asks.
"Athena. Do you know my mentor, Adam Kane?" Andrew asks.
"I can't say I've had the pleasure," she says.
"There's probably a good reason for that," Andrew says. "He doesn't really care about any of this. He doesn't care if I win if Harper wins, anything. He just wants to go home."
"Oh," she says. "Okay, what do you need from me?"
"I have to wear this brace to be able to move at a normal pace," Andrew says, pointing to his brace. "The rules say that I can keep wearing it, if I have someone, like a mentor, appeal it to the Gamemakers. I need you to that, Mrs. Feere. Please?"
"Of course, Andrew," Athena says. "This is just my first year doing this, but I'll look into it, I promise. I'll do my best to make sure that you can wear that in the Arena. And also, if you or your District partner want any actual mentoring, feel free to come over to me, okay?"
"Of course. Thank you," Andrew says.
"No problem," Athena says. Then we leave.
"So, Andrew, you never did tell me how you got that brace," I say.
"You're right," Andrew says. "I was working on the tracks one day, and a coal car was out of control, it came barreling towards me before I could get out of the way. My leg met the wheel, and the wheel wanted to meet the track. I built this brace myself."
"Oh. Wow, I'm sorry. But you're an engineer?" I ask.
"Yes, I am. I could go on for hours, but first, you promised to tell me something about yourself, Serena?" Andrew asks.
"Right," I say. "I guess I should tell you that I'm pretty much an outcast from my District because of some things my brother did. I… I don't really want to talk about it."
"Serena," Andrew says, stopping to turn and look at me. We're still on the far edge of the room, far away from any Tributes who could hear us. "I don't know you that well, but I do know that if you want to move on from something, sometimes the first thing you need to do is to talk about it with someone else, someone who hasn't been through it. And that no one here will judge you by the actions of some guy we don't know. Okay?"
"You're right, I guess," I say. I've never told anyone what happened, everyone just… knew. I might have commented to people about how horrible it was if they would listen, but I never told anyone the full story. I guess now might just be the time. "It was a couple of years ago. I was fourteen, and my brother, Dermot, was nineteen..."
Andrew Spayler –16- -D6- POV
Warning: This next paragraph contains mentions of rape, sexual abuse, and murder.
"Dermot was nineteen," Serena starts her story, "and he was always the best big brother. He would listen to me sing, he would braid my hair, I know, I know, it's a silly thing," she smiles, "but I liked it. He would make me read my poems to him, I used to write poetry. Anyway, two years ago, people in District Five started disappearing. Nobody really knew why, and it seemed to be all sorts of people. It was sort of a scary time. Then the people started coming back, but not in the way you would think. The first one they found… she… they found her in a warehouse. Mutilated, tortured, raped. The Peacekeepers had no leads though, despite the best efforts of the forensics people." Serena laughs harshly, with no real humor. "Ironic, isn't it? They could tell us what happened to her in more detail than you would ever care to know, but they couldn't tell us who did it. At first, it wasn't a priority for them anyway. Just some weird murder. Some random girl with a poem carved into her chest. Part of one, you know. Weird, horrible, perverted, yes, but a big priority, no. Not for people who would much rather execute 'traitors'," she makes air quotes around the word, and I subconsciously look around for Peacekeepers, "than do real police work. Then another body showed up. Same things done to him. Raped, tortured, poem carved into his chest. Then another one, an old woman, same thing. Then another one, another young girl, same MO. The part that was the scariest, at least to me, was that I knew the poems that the 'Ripper' as they called him, I recognized the verses that he carved into them. They were my poems. My poems that I only shared with Dermot. Of course, I didn't think it could be him. I told myself it couldn't be. He must just be sharing his poems with someone who knew the Ripper. That's what I told myself, anyway. I tried to ignore how he had been taking more and more walks, disappearing for longer and longer. He was even absent from work, but my parents thought that he had finally found a girlfriend. Well," she laughs, that same, mirthless laugh, again, "he was spending time with a girl. A lot of them, in fact. Anyway, I ignored my suspicions, for a while at least. Until I couldn't ignore them anymore, really. That was when Lysette, my best friend, that was when she disappeared. And then I couldn't ignore it anymore. I went to the Peacekeepers, told them I thought I knew who was behind it. So they started a search, found footage of him leaving town going west. They followed where they thought he went, and… and they found him. They found Lysette too, but..." Serena is starting to tear up. I gently pat her back in what I hope is a comforting gesture. She wipes the tears away and continues with her story. "But she was already dead. Same as all the others. Raped, tortured, one of my poems, my poems, carved into her chest. They executed Dermot later that day. He was laughing about what he had done. I watched the execution of… of whoever that was. It wasn't my brother, not anymore. Dermot would never brag about… about what he did. Anyway, after that… everybody thought that I might be like him. Maybe because I didn't cry at his execution, maybe because they thought my parents must have made him that way, maybe because they thought I must have known for longer than I did, I don't know. But now everyone resents me and my family. They have for two years. And… that's it, I guess. That's the interesting bit of my life. That's why I don't really talk to people, nobody has talked to me in a while." She still has tears in her eyes, but she seems happier now as if a weight has been lifted from her chest.
If you're here from the warning, you're good past this point.
"Well, I'm not going to judge you by your brother's crimes," I say. "You seem like a nice enough person, and I'm sorry that you had to go through that, Serena."
"Thanks," she says. "You're a nice person, aren't you, Andrew?"
"I don't know," I say. "I try. I don't really have any friends, though."
"Oh," she says. "I see. What about your family? What do they think about you?"
"They're all dead, so…" I say. "Not much, I guess."
"Oh," she says. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"It's alright, Serena," I reply. "You didn't know."
"Thanks. Sorry," she says, flustered. She pauses for a moment, then, "Do you want to be allies, Andrew?"
"Sure, Serena," I say. "I always want someone who won't kill me."
"Me too," she says.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just agree not to kill each other?" I ask. "Just all band together and make the Capitol kill us?"
"It would be," she says, then, more thoughtfully, "it would be. Unfortunately, you'd never make it work. Even if you pulled it off, the careers would still want to fight, and the Capitol would just kill everyone else off, let the careers fight among themselves until they got a victor. You'd have to kill all the careers first, and even then, the odds that the Capitol wouldn't find out what you're up to, and a way to kill most of the people who could pose a threat before the Games began is low. Heck, they're probably listening right now."
"Fair point," I admit. "You know, I do have some ideas for survival equipment that I might be able to make us in the Arena. But, we should probably start training. How about I look at some of the knowledge stations, see what more I can learn, and you work on weapons training?"
"Sounds good," Serena says. We shake hands. "Meet back up at lunchtime?"
"Sure," I say. Then I head away, towards the knowledge stations. I look back and see that Serena is looking at me. For some reason, she blushes when I turn back and acts as though she was looking somewhere else. Odd. Ah well. Time to see what I can learn.
After lunch, wherein Serena expands our alliance to include Vallory, an idea that I wholeheartedly agree with, I and Serena switch, with her going to the knowledge stations and me heading over to the weapons stations. I decide to head over to the throwing knife station first. I grab some knives and throw them at one of the dummies. They impact center mass, just where I wanted them. I doubt I have the aim to hit someone's neck or head, not that I need to anyway.
"Nice shot," a voice from behind me says. I turn around to see a brown-haired, brown-eyed man standing behind me.
"Thank you," I say.
"It's true," the man says. "Hi. Lucas Mikhailovich, throwing knife instructor. A pleasure to make your acquaintance…," he pauses, holding out his hand.
"Andrew Spayler," I reply. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Mikhailovich." I shake his hand.
"Please, Lucas will work just fine, Andrew," Lucas says. "So, you want me to show you how to improve your technique a bit?"
"Sure," I say. "I always like ways I can improve myself."
"Me too," Lucas replies. "Okay, so first off, throw like this, not like this..." Over the next few hours, Lucas shows me various ways to improve my technique, so that now, I can throw three knives in six seconds, all of them landing within two inches of each other on a target five feet away. Okay, so, range isn't my strong spot. But the rest of it, is, in my opinion, pretty cool.
Emery Colt –17- -D5- POV
After breakfast with Serena, I start training at the sword station. I grab a long sword and slice at a dummy, cutting its cloth neck.
"Ooh, style! Good stroke," A voice says from behind me. I carefully lower the sword before turning around, don't want to stab anyone, to see a pretty young woman with brown eyes and straight brown hair behind me. "Nice," she says. "The Tribute from your District last year almost killed me with one of those things. Now I stand at least five feet away from anyone who doesn't know I'm there who is also holding a sword," she smiles. "Hi. Danielle Hawkins, sword instructor. How are you doing?"
"Good enough," I say. "What about you, Danielle?"
"Good," she says. "So, I have a few tips for you on how you can improve. First..." And for the next few hours, Danielle coaches me on sword training. By the end, I feel like I'm the best sword fighter ever. Probably not, but I can win against her in a training match. I'm sure she's not fighting to the best of her ability, but I've certainly improved. I'm now, better, faster, stronger.
At lunch, the boys from Ten and Eleven come over to my table. The boy from ten starts.
"Hi, Emery. I'm Kayne, Kayne Lytch. From District Ten. Mind if we sit down?" Kayne asks.
"Uh, no," I say. The boy from Eleven pulls a little book out of his shirt pocket.
I'm Tontu, the book says. I'm mute, although I can hear you just fine.
"Hi, Tontu," I say. I shake hands with both boys across the table. "So, are you two here to chat, or do you have a proposal?" No sense in making our lunch awkward.
"We," Kayne motions to himself and Tontu, "are allies. I was going to come over to you first, but I saw you working with that sword instructor, I didn't want to bother you. Although people say I can be quite annoying sometimes," he smiles, "when I want to. And towards authority figures, especially. Anyway, we were wondering if you'd like to join our little outlier alliance here." I consider for a few seconds, holding up a finger to give myself time to think. I don't really know these boys, but an alliance would be good, and I don't know how many shots I'll get.
"Maybe. Answer me a question first. You two seem awful chipper. Why do you want to win?" I ask.
Kayne answers first, simply. "To get back to the girl I love. To see her again."
Then Tontu answers. Same. I want to get back to the, he has to pause for a second to write something down, girl I love also. Her name is Noami.
Kayne smiles. "Yeah, her name, the girl I love, I mean, is Kylie."
"That's it?" I ask both of them.
"I don't have any family left. Suicide, both my parents, my brother's in prison," Kayne says. I nod.
I'm an only child, my father is dead, and my mother blames me for it. It's a longs story, Tontu says.
"Wow," I say. "You two are oddly similar to me. Pretty much my only reason for going home is the girl I love. Her name is Mia, and she's got the most beautiful brown eyes and caramel hair you ever saw. My family's alive, but… I don't really get along with them that well."
"Huh. Kylie has brown eyes and hair too," Kayne says.
So does Noami, Tontu says.
"I guess we're like three peas in a pod then," I say. "Allies?" I offer my fist to bump.
"Allies."
Allies.
Both of the other boys bump my fist, and our pact is sealed.
Kayne Lytch –13- -D10- POV
After breakfast with Harold and Kayra, I head down to training. I remember my priorities for today. Get good training, but also see about making an alliance with the boys from five and eleven. I hope they'll say yes. I head over to the boy from eleven first, as I see that the boy from five is getting help from the sword instructor.
"Hey, Tontu," I say. He grabs a notebook out of his shirt pocket and opens it to a page. I read it.
Hello. I'm Tontu. I'm mute, although I can hear you just fine.
"Ah, okay, Tontu," I say. "I'll get right to it then. Do you want to be allies?"
He considers for a moment, then, Yes. Alright then, that was easier than I thought.
"Uh, so, I think I'm going to try to do some ranged weapon training, maybe some bows, so why don't you focus on some knowledge stations? We can talk more at lunch," I say.
Sounds good, he says, so I head over to the longbow station, grab a bow and an arrow, and carefully notch the arrow, aim precisely at the target, and release the arrow.
"Nice aim," a sweet female voice from behind me says. I lower the bow so that it's pointing at the ground, although it doesn't have an arrow in it. I turn around to face the voice, to see a beautiful woman standing behind me. Not as beautiful as Kylie, no one could be, but still beautiful. She has mid-length frizzy blonde hair, streaked with brown, brown eyebrows, and blue-gray eyes that are full of depth and twinkle with a humor that reminds me of Kylie's. She smiles at me and extends her hand.
"Katelynn O'Neill, longbow instructor," she introduces herself.
"Kayne Lytch, from District Ten," I say, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Katelynn."
"Nice to meet you, Kayne," she says. "That was a good shot, but you can work on it a little bit. Mind if I help you for a bit?"
"No, of course not," I say.
"Okay," she says. "Grab another arrow and aim again, but don't fire." I do as I'm instructed, and she stands behind me, holding my arm. "Okay, keep it nice and steady. Pull back, and take in a deep breath. When you let it out, release the arrow. Try it, and remember to keep your arms steady." I inhale and exhale, releasing the arrow with my breath. The arrow hits the target, closer than before, but still not perfect. And this is only the closest target. "Good. Now, stand a little wider," I do as she says, "good. Now, use three fingers to pull back the arrow, good… Now, for targets further away, aim a little higher than you want the arrow to hit, it's a ballistic trajectory, right? Good..." And over the next few hours, Katelynn makes me from someone who's never picked up a bow into a semi-decent archer. She's a good teacher. When the five-minute warning bell rings for lunch, I put the bow down and thank her.
"Thank you, Katelynn," I say.
"No problem, Kayne," she says. "You're a nice guy. Good luck." She gives me a short kiss. "See you around, Kayne."
"See you, Katelynn," I say. I start to head to lunch but turn around to see her hugging another guy. I listen to their conversation.
"Yos, Julian, what's up?" Katelynn asks. "Good to see you, honey."
"Nice to see you, Katelynn," the man, Julian, apparently, with red hair and blue eyes, says. "But did you just kiss someone who's in love with a girl back home?"
"So?" She tosses her hair. "I'm in love with you. I told you I always kiss one of the guys randomly each year."
"Yeah, I guess that seeing it in person is a bit different," Julian says.
"Well, you have my permission to kiss one of the girls, assuming you can be sufficiently charming," Katelynn says playfully.
"I'll keep that in mind," Julian says. I walk away. Katelynn is an interesting person, that's for sure. Someone I'll probably never see again, but very interesting. I smile as I walk to lunch before I refocus on my priorities. Talking to that Emery kid, and getting home to the girl I love.
Tontu Heinburg –18- -D11- POV
After Kayne, Emery, and I talk at lunch, I spend the rest of the day rotating throughout training stations, trying to focus on what will compliment my ally's skills the most. I focus on the knowledge stations more than the weapons stations. I'm not that strong after all, and I wouldn't be much help unless we can see the fight coming, as anyone could sneak up on me from one side, and I can't warn anyone. So, traps will probably be the way to go for me. I work on survival skills until my time is up.
Harper Satin –16- -D6- POV
I've found two girls who I think will be good allies. I've memorized their names. Thia Zollis and Rhylee Kaski. Four and Eight. I go over to Thia first.
"Hey, Thia," I greet her.
"Hi, uh… I don't remember your name, I'm sorry," Thia says.
"It's fine. Harper Satin, from District Six," I say. Thia looks at me suddenly.
"Wait, Satin, like Hailey Satin?" Thia asks.
"How do you know my sister?" I ask. A thousand thoughts are racing through my head. How could this girl, this random girl from District Four, how could she know Hailey?
"I didn't, but I knew someone who sort of did. Austin Fallon, you know him?" Thia asks.
"Um… wasn't he in the 69th Games?" I ask. My memory of those Games is hazy. I tried not to pay too much attention to the Games in the past. Maybe not my best decision, now that I'm living them.
"Yeah, he was. And he was my best friend before he died. Hailey, your sister, you said, right?" I nod. "Yeah, Hailey. She killed the girl, Annabelle, she killed the girl who killed Austin. I rooted for her after that. Your sister avenged my friend," Thia says.
"Wow, really?" I ask. "I mean, you're right, I remember that, just… it's surprising. I guess it makes what I'm going to ask you next easier. You want to be allies?"
Thia Zollis –15- -D4- POV
When a cute girl walked up to me, I was not expecting to find the sister of the girl who avenged my friend. But I did. That also meant that even if I wanted to, I couldn't reject her offer of an alliance. But I don't want to reject her offer. So I don't.
"I would like that very much, Harper," I say. We shake hands, and she smiles at me.
"Awesome," she says. "Want to help me recruit someone else?"
"Sure," I say.
Rhylee Kaski –16- -D8- POV
The girls from Four and Six walk over to me as I'm training with a sword.
"Hi, Rhylee," the girl from Six starts.
"Hi..." I struggle to remember her name. "Harper. What's up?"
"I and Thia wanted to ask if you'd like to join our alliance," Harper says.
"You get right to the point, huh?" I ask. "Um..." I consider it for a second. These two girls could be good allies. I had sort of wanted to talk to the one from six, so… I don't think it can hurt. I'm unlikely to go talk to anyone by myself. "Sure," I say. "I'm in. So, what are the rules of this alliance?"
"Uh… I don't know," Harper admits. She looks at Thia. "Ideas, Thia?"
"I guess don't kill each other unless we're the last three left, don't kill anyone in their sleep, and don't leave the others without telling us, but ideally go everywhere together," Thia says.
"Sounds good," I say. "Harper?"
"Sounds good," she says. We all shake hands.
"So, what should we all focus on in training?" I ask.
"I'll work on the knowledge stations, I'm pretty well off physically," Thia says.
"I'll work on learning daggers and knives," Harper says. "And maybe some knowledge stations. Definitely throwing knives."
"I'll work on those daggers and knives with you," I say. "And I'll work on a sword, maybe. I can't aim very well, but I know my plants, so I'll leave that to you guys."
"Sounds like a plan then," Harper says. "Talk again at lunch?"
"Sure," Thia and I say simultaneously.
Athena Rye –14- -D9- POV
During training, I start with daggers, which I'm actually surprisingly good at. I also train with some throwing knives, which I'm decent at. I can't help but look at Isaiah during training, in between sets of weapons, and often during the survival stations later in the day. I shouldn't be looking at him. It's just because we're allies though. Just because I need to monitor how he's doing. That's all. A few times I think that he's looking at me, but I imagine it's just because he wants to see how I'm doing.
Isaiah Lemont –15- -D9- POV
I wasn't just looking at Athena because we were allies. I really wanted to make sure she was okay, more than an ally/friend level of caring. And she's not hard on the eyes either. I thought she was looking at me a few times, as I trained at knowledge stations and with swords and axes.
Kayra Dawnbreeze –13- -D10- POV
During training, actually, at the beginning of training, the boy from Twelve comes over to talk to me.
"Hey, Kayra?" He asks.
"Oh. Uh, hi. Uh, what's your name?" I ask. I'm a little nervous, I don't talk to people much. I'm sort of shy, I guess. It's never been a problem. Maybe it will be now, depends on who you ask, depends on if they think I need allies or not. Personally, I don't know. I guess I'll see. Or not.
"Char. Char Alfand, District Twelve," Char says.
"Oh. Hi, Char. Uh, why did you want to talk to me?" I ask.
"Allies? Yes or no?" Char asks. He's a brusque person, isn't he?
"Uh… I don't know," I say. "Give me a second."
"It's a simple question," Char says. Wow. He could get irritating quickly, but I can sense that he's nicer on the inside. I can do that, tell what people are thinking, read them. It's helpful sometimes. He just doesn't think before he talks.
"Hey. Give me a second," I say. "This is a life or death decision. How about this? Will you kill me if we're not the only two left?"
"I guess not," Char says.
"Okay then. It can't hurt," I say.
"Sounds like a plan," Char says. "So, what are you good at?" See, nicer already.
"Not much," I say. "I can tell what people are thinking like I know that you're going to think that's weird, but that might not be much help. I'll probably focus more on the intelligence stations. You can focus on the combat training, you seem like you'll be able to do better on that."
"Okay," Char says. "Sounds like a plan."
Char Alfand –14- -D12- POV
After talking to Kayra, I follow her instructions, focusing on weapons stations, daggers, and axes. Then it's time for the Gamemaker sessions.
Silk Daisly –16- -D8- POV
I start at the knowledge stations, but I realize that I know most of them already, so I transition to the weapon stations. I work with daggers, knives, throwing knives, and bows and arrows. I don't have a lot of strength naturally, so I decide that I'll try to grab what I can from the Cornucopia and then hide as long as I can. I'll probably try to work on a trap to get my Shine moment. That's my plan. Hopefully, it'll work.
Camelia Lloha –12- -D12- POV
During training I work on a few knowledge stations, plants mostly. Then I train with daggers and knives until it's time for the Gamemaker sessions.
Peter Mallard –36- -Capitol Resident- -Head Gamemaker- POV
It's time for Gamemaker sessions again! More roast pig eating and more boring Tributes who will try to make us excited. Let's get started.
Boy, one. Throws some axes around. Seven. The girl punches some stuff. Seven.
Boy, two. Wrestles somebody to the ground, throws an ax, swipes some swords. Seven. The girl does some stuff with a sword. Seven.
Boy, three. He uses some swords okay. Five. The girl tries some stuff with daggers. Three.
Boy, four. He uses a sword. Seven. The girl uses a trident and is surprisingly good with it for her age. Six.
Boy, five. He also uses a sword. Lots of swords today. The pig is here. Delicious. Where was I? Oh right, boy, five. Six for him, surprising. The girl uses a sword fairly well herself. Five.
Boy, six. He's slow-moving but uses throwing knives well. That leg will be a problem though. Four. The girl uses throwing knives too. Five.
Boy, seven. He uses a sword. Five. The girl uses an ax. She is surprisingly strong for a girl from seven. She'll get an eight. We're almost out of roast pig. Mm. I'll send for some more.
Boy, eight. He uses daggers and throwing knives fairly well. Six. The girl, the one we're supposed to kill, she uses a sword and a dagger fairly well. Six.
Boy, nine. He uses an ax fairly well, six. The girl uses daggers and throwing knives. Six.
Boy, ten. He's surprisingly good with a longbow. The roast pig is out, and the next one still hasn't arrived. All we have is apples. Who wants to eat apples? Uh, right, boy from ten. Seven. The girl doesn't do much at all. Three.
Boy, eleven. He uses a sword fairly well. Six. The girl uses a bow fairly well, six.
Boy, twelve. He uses an ax fairly well. Five. The girl uses daggers, but not well. Three.
Lauren Presley –40- -Capitol Resident- -Gamemaker- POV
"Report," James Noble, a Senior Gamemaker, asks me and my husband. I pull up a hologram of our latest design. A holographic 'wolf' appears on the table in front of us.
"Here is what we have so far," I say.
"It seems a little… disappointing," Noble says, running his eyes over the hologram. I silently move my hand upwards along the touchscreen display, pulling up a list of the features that we plan to add to the creature.
"This is what it will have by the time we're done," I say.
"Amazing," Noble says. "Excellent work. I have not seen a new mutt like this since… in a very long time. Remember, it needs to be ready as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sir," I say, and he leaves the room.
Training Scores:
Lustero Aldor: 7
Diamond Knowles: 7
Ares Moretti: 7
Giselle Serpentine: 7
Becquerel Grey: 5
Clear Palatino: 3
Falcon Lockdust: 7
Thia Zollis: 6
Emery Colt: 6
Serena Holden: 5
Andrew Spayler: 4
Harper Satin: 5
Aster Ochs: 5
Vallory Stensland: 8
Silk Daisly: 6
Rhylee Kaski: 6
Isaiah Lemont: 6
Athena Rye: 6
Kayne Lytch: 7
Kayra Dawnbreeze: 3
Tontu Heinburg: 6
Brianna Tribiani: 6
Char Alfand: 5
Camelia Lloha: 3
A/N: What did you all think of this chapter, and with the new training scores, who do you think is going to win? Stay tuned for interviews, and see you all soon! – JStar14H
And edit, I almost forgot: Thank you to the people who inspired the trainers in this chapter:
Danielle Hawkins/Hawkmaid: One of the first Tribute submitters to my original story and a good friend.
Lucas [Redacted]/AspiringSteampunk0909: A good friend and Tribute submitter.
Ella [Redacted]: Someone interesting and inspiring, who could be a good friend.
Katelynn [Redacted]: Someone very special to me.
Oh, and also, about the use of 'ginger' to refer to a redhead: Redheads, including myself, tend to dislike the term, as more often than not, it is used in a derogatory manner, as it was here. Preferably, use redhead to refer to a redhead, unless you have asked if they okay with 'ginger' before unless you're a redhead yourself (and even then). Just a fun fact.
