Akali Cain, 18, District Two
Her alarm rings too early. She mumbles obscenities to herself as she rolls to the edge of the bed and lets herself drop unceremoniously to the ground. The carpet at least has the good graces to not THUD too loudly. Akali can't manage the same, a muffled groan slipping from her as her face meets the floor.
If the alarm wasn't still incessantly beeping on and on, she might just stay there. The carpet is comfier than any bed she ever had back home, at the very least. But that thing blitzes away so loud it's a miracle her parents aren't getting woken up by it all the way back home in Two.
She staggers to her feet, barely catching herself from immediately falling back onto the ground as she trips over her jeans and lands on one of the drawers. Her hair flops messily around, obscuring her vision as she continues to make the trip over to the alarm she stupidly set on the other side of the room.
Akali smashes the off button when she gets there, disappointment emanating from her when she doesn't manage to crack the thing in half for her efforts. But there's always tomorrow. A full closet of clean clothes is hidden behind one of these walls, but she doesn't feel half the energy required to search for it. Instead, she lazily scoops up her jeans and t-shirt from the day before and slips them on.
Nobody else is awake when she stumbles through the hallway, her bare feet shuffling against the floor as she rubs her eyes and stretches out her arms. A few avoxes are standing by in the kitchen, standing perfectly still by the side to the walls. She wants to feel bad for them, but she can't even bear looking at them when they're standing like that. It reminds her too much of those early nights at the academy, forced to stand on splintered wooden floorboards until her feet bled.
Those memories used to send her into a panic attack. Her chest would squeeze tight and tears would come to her eyes while she gasped for air. Now she doesn't feel anything at all. It's like there's a curtain in place that keeps those memories distant from her. No need to spend more time thinking about them and giving them a chance to push through. Pain is only weakness if you let it be.
She sets a hand on the wall to balance herself, takes a deep breath, and keeps walking. She flashes an unconvincing smile at one of the avoxes as she passes by. There's no telling if he smiles back.
The living room is somehow even darker than the hallways were. The world outside is black through the tinted windows, the faint sound of pattering raindrops falling into the background. One of the many clocks on the floor reads 4:49. More than a handful of hours away until training. Stupid alarm clock.
Akali sighs and brushes a hand through her mess of hair. She turns to one of the avoxes. "Is there anywhere a girl can get some fresh air?" Her voice is a lot more tired sounding than she thought it would be. All the more reason to get under the rain and morning air.
He nods in reply, then gestures to one of the many hallways that their maze of a floor has branching off from the living room. She nods back and mutters a thanks that even she can't hear.
The hallway is shorter than any of the other ones. It quickly leads her to a glass sliding door which takes her out onto a balcony. It isn't much, just a small box of wood and two cheap lawn chairs with a view of the Capitol skyline. If she cranes her head over, she can even see the streets down below. Not that there's much to look at.
A weird thought enters her brain, a sudden realization that she could take one step forward and push herself over the short barricade standing between her and open air. She pushes it away just as she pushes from the edge, letting herself lean up against the glass. The rain is lighter than it sounded, just a few pesky raindrops she can barely feel hitting her head. She wishes it was more. The thought of a rainstorm is weirdly appealing to her. Something about the feeling of standing under a torrential downpour and letting it soak through to her bones just seems weirdly nice. Nicer than this, anyway.
It's better than the stuffiness of inside, at least. Alarm clock or no, she knows that she would have been up soon enough. It's too cramped in her room. Even worse in the training center, with all those people and the constant noise. She can't even hear herself thinking most of the time. Not that she's alone. The rest of her alliance all put together probably has half as many thoughts as her empty, distracted brain has. If only they were all just brainless, too. Half of them can't fight, at least not like she would expect out of people who have trained their whole lives for this. The other half are insufferable creeps.
She hates how similar this all is to the academy back home. The only thing missing is the late nights and early mornings, and here she is willingly choosing to indulge in that second part. She really does hate herself, doesn't she? Why enjoy a comfy bed and a long night's rest when she could stalk through dark halls and sulk in the rain. Stupid.
She brushes her fingertips up against her arm, tracing over the old, jagged scar that cuts across her bicep. Once she knew the story behind each of her scars and could recite the day it happened on command. Now they just all blur together. There are seven by her last count, a map through her life that she doesn't know how to read. One on each arm, one on her right foot and another on that thigh, one on her gut, one on the side of her neck, and a thin, barely noticeable one on her cheek that she can barely even feel when she brings her hand up to it.
Akali can't say for sure what she's doing right now. She could be sleeping or eating breakfast or training or strategizing. Instead, she's out here in the rain tracing over long-forgotten scars. What good is that doing her aside from shooting up her chances of catching pneumonia? No answer calls out in her mind, but she doesn't move either. For whatever reason, she stays out in the rain, pushing her thumb against her cheek, trying to feel the mark that she knows is there.
Claude Sagathy, 14, District Eight
It's hard not to feel frustrated. It just feels like he's been trying so hard to keep afloat, to keep doing the right thing, and it's never enough lately. Every morning since he was reaped, he's been waking up in a sweat, a hot fear running through him about what his mom is going through back home. He just wants to be able to help her, to keep her safe the way she kept him safe. But he can't. Not from here. And it hurts.
At first, he felt at peace with things. He didn't want to die, but the concept was no stranger to him. He's seen enough death to know that it comes for everyone eventually. It might have made him sad, but he could be resigned to what was going to happen to him. Instead, he feels like he's scrambling, trying to cling to hope that he doesn't actually believe in.
The first day of training is done and over with, and he's one of the only kids without any allies. Every single other person who's alone wants to be that way. Or well, aside from the boy from District Six, but he tried to join the Careers so that's mostly his own fault. Meanwhile, Claude is still stuck in place, not sure where to go. Gwen offered for him to join her big group, twice yesterday and again over breakfast today. The pair from Nine asked him to join them too, and so did the trio that Tabby, the girl from Six, put together.
But he's still alone. Mostly, it's because he doesn't know what he's even looking for. Is he trying to find someone to protect him? Somebody like Barret that will be able to keep him safe from the kind of threat he can't deal with? Or somebody like Henry? Someone who can make him just feel like himself, like he's a kid and he doesn't have to deal with all the crummy stuff that's going on around him? Or maybe he should be looking for somebody that he can help, the same way he's been able to force himself to stay strong for mom.
No matter where he goes, though, that one piece will still feel off. Back in Eight, he thought that he was the type of person that preserved life. Sure, taxidermy wasn't the same as being a doctor, but it was something. It was a way of respecting all the death that littered District Eight. It was too easy to walk down the street and see all the dead dogs and cats and not even blink twice. He liked the idea of helping those animals be more than just another unnoticed corpse on the street that would wither away into nothing by the end of the week.
Could he really kill somebody?
It's the type of question that he hates. He just wishes he knew if he hated it so much because he doesn't know the answer, or because deep down, he does.
"You okay?"
Claude blinks and looks over to Varys. She's standing beside him, looking at him with what's either confusion or concern. He nods at her.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"Just thinking?" She asks, flashing a quick smile.
"A bit, yeah," he says. He refocuses on his surroundings, pulling the last pieces of his mind out of his thoughts. He's in the training center, at the climbing station, staring up at the wall with a harness half-attached to his chest. Varys is fully strapped in and sweating, curling her hands and pulling in breath.
"I could tell. Florian gets that same dopey look whenever he's thinking about something real hard."
"Where is Florian?" He asks, looking around the room.
She waves him off. "Psh, trying to figure out which bugs are edible. As if he'd ever eat a bug. He's scared of heights, though, apparently, so I guess it's more useful than this. Maybe."
"You sound really convinced," he jokes.
She snorts and brushes a bit of hair out of her eye. "Florian spends half the day back on our floor staring out the window. Doesn't have any complaints about heights then. I think the only thing that really scares him is doing anything anybody could vaguely consider to be athletic." She nudges him on the chest before he can try to reply to that. "You need help getting strapped in?"
"Sure," he says, raising his arms and letting her take control of fastening the straps and clicking everything into place.
"Didn't expect to find you here first thing in the morning," she pulls a bit too tight on one of the straps and he tries not to wince.
"Looked useful, I guess." He shrugs. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing, honestly."
Varys bites her lip as she fastens another strap. "Well, I know I already offered yesterday, so no pressure or anything, but if you want to you could follow me and Florian around for today. We have the whole day mapped out, all the most strategically advantageous stations to visit according to the best victors."
"Does District Nine have the best victors?"
She laughs. "Definitely. Not. It's from some interviews of previous victors they show on the television." She pauses for a long moment, looking over to Florian and seeming like she's in thought. Then, she nods her head and turns back to Claude. "If you want, you could come back to our floor after training today and watch it with us. It would be cool to have somebody else to talk strategy with. I love Florian, but, uh."
"That's not him," he finishes, smiling.
"Yeaaah, definitely not. So, what do you say? It would be fun. D9 floor snacks are the best snacks in the whole building, guarantee it."
"Well, I was gonna say no, but I guess if you have the best snacks. . . ."
She laughs and punches him lightly on the shoulder. "Definitely the best."
Claude pulls the scarf that hangs around his neck, looks up at the towering rock wall ahead of him, and sucks in a deep breath. "Alright. Cool. Sounds like a plan."
Umber Carraway, 18, District Eleven
It's halfway through training and it already feels like things have fallen into a routine. Everybody has their groups figured out. Nobody is spending the day scared of where to go. It's like the weird fog that hung over everybody the first day is gone and they can all see where they're going. Umber has a hard time imagining that it's like this every year. Most years the Careers probably make it a living hell for everybody, but this year they're hardly even noticeable. Most of them are just quiet. Kian is the only one ever making noise and that's just him laughing and trying to annoy the other Careers.
It's almost enough to make Umber believe he might actually have a chance at winning this. Why not, after all? On the day of the reaping, he may not have gotten onto the train he wanted to, but maybe he's still heading to the same place, just with a little detour first. But that's too optimistic for even Seeder to believe in, much less Umber.
He'll let himself start to believe that he can win, but nothing more than that. No dreaming about what that would mean. He just has to take this one step at a time. Which means for now he needs to focus on wolfing down this meal and then get back to training. After that, a few more hours working at his aim with the blowgun and then a little bit of time running the agility course. A trainer suggested to him that he should try his hand at a sickle, but he ignored that without much extra thought. He may not be the weakest tribute in here, but he's far from the strongest. Besides, something about not having to worry about getting his hands dirty makes this all much more bearable.
The mashed potatoes are far too soft and mushy and doused in way too much salt, but it's still just about the tastiest thing he's ever eaten. He shovels another spoonful into his mouth, pushing away the worries of training for a minute to just let himself soak in this simple pleasure. A good, warm meal is a thing that ought to be enjoyed.
The cafeteria is a lot louder than it was yesterday. The Careers still are pretty quiet, but there are other alliances now to fill the void. Tabby and Timi are practically shouting at the table next to him, while Leona is squished silently in between the two of them, looking as intently focused on her mashed potatoes as Umber is trying to be, but for wholly different reasons. The people in the big four-person alliance are all in the middle of some animated conversation that looks close to an argument with how heated Ellie is getting. Nobody else seems all that bothered though.
The table to Umber's right is quieter. Varys and Claude are chatting while Florian rests his cheek on his palm and stares off into the distance, his spoon swirling around his bowl of soup. Even Ashani has found an ally in the girl from District Three, Ani. They're a bit of an odd duo, but Ashani seems to like her. She asked Seeder and Chaff about it yesterday at dinner, but her doubts seem like they're gone now. Umber is happy for her. He wanted to ally with her, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. No matter how much he thinks he can trust her, it would never really be enough. All his life, people haven't been anything but trouble for him. He can't bring himself to trust anybody with his life, not in here.
There's a whole bunch of things he could worry about because of that, but it's easy enough for him to just block out all that noise and focus on the here and now. The taste of warm, soft, buttery mashed potatoes definitely helps with the grounding. Hard to wander too far with that waiting for him in the present.
While he's distracted with that buttery goodness, somebody else drops a tray on his table, scooting up beside him until the two are almost shoulder to shoulder. Raya flashes him a friendly smile, or at least what the girl from Four must think seems friendly. Hard for a shark to smile away the sharkiness.
"Umber, right? Eleven?" She asks, even though she clearly already knows the answer to those questions.
"Yup," he says awkwardly. "That's me. And you're Raya. District Four."
"Right and right," she says. "Off to a good start."
"If you say so."
"Say, Umber, how would you like to up your chances of surviving these crummy games by about one-hundred percent?"
He shovels a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth and shrugs. "I like to think my odds are higher than zero right now. But I guess that'd be cool."
"Very cool," she affirms. "Well, it's your lucky day then, because that's what I'm offering you. A chance for your odds to shoot from zero to, well, at least something. One in. . . to be determined."
"Still not sure what you're really asking," he says in a muffled voice.
Her smile flickers for just a fraction of a second. "I am offering you a chance to join the Careers. The best alliance in the arena. The only one that has any chance of winning."
Another mouthful of potatoes. "No, thank you."
She tilts her head. "What do you mean, no? Are you stupid?"
He shrugs. "Maybe a little. Answer's still no, though."
"You haven't even heard my full offer."
"I don't want to waste your time. I'm not really interested in an alliance. I appreciate the offer, though."
She bristles, pushing her tray over the edge of the table as she snaps to her feet. She turns, then spins back around and leans in close to him, her mouth practically touching his ear. "Watch your back, Eleven. You die in the bloodbath as soon as we finish with the traitors."
She slaps the table loudly, half the room stopping from their conversations to watch her as she stomps away back to the Career table. From just a moment's glance, Umber can see that the table looks like it's split into halves. He doesn't waste any time looking closer, though. He scrapes the edges of his tray, scooping up the last bits of mashed potatoes and shoving them into his mouth. He checks the clock. Still seven minutes left before lunchtime ends.
Maybe if he asks nicely they'll let him have seconds.
Dawn Maconson, 18, District Ten
Something happened to the Careers. It boiled over and became obvious to everybody at the end of lunch, but it's clear that there's been something going on beneath the surface for a while now. She can't say for sure what it is that's going on, but at least one thing is obvious. The one Career pack has become two. And at least one of those packs is recruiting.
She was almost starting to worry about alliances, too. The Careers seemed a sure thing at first, at least until they completely stonewalled her from joining their pack. It didn't matter that she's twice as strong as half the pack and more willing to do what it takes to win than all of them put together. They were just going to block her out. Then to make things worse, the outliers are all weak this year. There were a few people she thought might be worthwhile, but they all ended up being worthless in the end. Umber is too soft, Crispin and Solaar too full of themselves to notice their own glaring weaknesses, and Gideon is somehow more infuriating than all of them put together. Self-righteous asshole.
Now, though, everything is falling perfectly into place. All she needs to do now is make sure she ends up on the right side of the two alliances. She purposefully dodged Raya while she made her rounds at lunch for that very reason. She's seen enough to know that half of the Careers aren't worth allying with. Reed, Ivory, and Raya are just glorified outliers and Kian is in that same category as Crispin and Solaar, completely blind to their own incompetence. If Akali and Kai have both fallen into the same half of the two alliances, that's the pack that's going to be the real Careers. That's the pack that Dawn is going to join.
It's been five minutes since lunch ended, and the training center is in chaos. All of the Careers are scattered, each one of them going up to every individual and group to make their pitch. Most of the outliers are trying hard to avoid them. A few like that sniveling mayor's kid from Six are begging to be let in. Not Dawn. Let them come to her and be the ones to beg for her to join them after they thought they didn't need her.
She finishes wrapping her knuckles, steps up to the punching bag, and lets loose. She takes all her anger and frustration and even that nagging guilt that she's trying so hard to bury and lets it all out with each swing of her fist. It only takes a minute before not one, but two Careers are there.
Dawn lets them wait for a minute, wrapping up her workout with a few more hits before grabbing a towel, dabbing at her forehead, and walking up to the duo with an unbothered look. Kai is leaning against the railing and smirking smarmily, he greets her with a nod that she ignores. Raya huffs and crosses her arms, glaring up at Dawn.
"What do you two want?" She asks roughly.
Raya jumps in first, Kai looking entirely unbothered and uninterested as the District Four girl blurts out her pitch. "You said you wanted into the Career pack? Here's your chance. You'll be with the real Careers and we'll even give you first dibs on which one of the traitors you want to take down at the bloodbath. All you have to do is join us."
"Us?" She asks.
She huffs, taps her foot, then finally blurts out in quick succession, "Me, Reed, and Kian. With more on the way."
Dawn laughs.
Raya clamps her mouth shut, fuming as she glares her down. Dawn snorts and turns her attention to Kai. He looks more amused than anything else.
"Glad you can tell who the real Career pack left is here. We kicked them three out because we decided not to drag around any more dead weight than necessary. We can make room for four if you're interested, but if not three will do just fine."
"Four sounds like a good number to me," Dawn says. "Who's taking who at the bloodbath? Doubt they find a fourth worth shit to join them."
Raya growls and stomps her foot as she spins around and marches away. Dawn just shrugs and looks at Kai expectantly.
He shrugs, still unbothered. "Akali and I will take down their top two, which will probably be Raya and Kian. We'll figure out the exact details once training scores come in, but we were thinking we could put you to better use than taking out the worthless trash that Reed is."
"Like what?"
Kai steps in closer to her, his voice lowering for the first time even as that icy exterior remains in place. A slight smile creeps in at the corner of his lips. "What would you say about removing your lovely district partner from the equation?"
He nods behind her and Dawn takes a step back, nonchalantly slipping a peek back at where Kai's eyes are glued. Crispin is at the sword station, heaving the thing around like it's a butter knife and slashing it through dummies with ease. That's all he has though, a bunch of brute strength without a single brain cell to match it.
Dawn almost smiles. But her face is a steel curtain when she turns back to Kai, matching that same cold iciness and deflecting it right back at him. "I think it would sound like we just became allies. Looking forward to working with you."
The two shake hands, Kai's smile still not reaching those icy eyes of his that refuse to break away from her.
"Me too, Ten. I'm sure we're gonna do some great things together, you and I."
Hi everyone! I feel really good about this chapter, so I hope that it was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write! I know I missed the update day the last couple of times, but I have a stockpile now, so I think Tuesday and Saturday should start having updates every week! Thank you so much for reading! Next Chapter is the third day of training (including the private sessions and scores!)
-Avery