The Lady Of The Lake
So here we are again!
This chapter features the tactics of Finnick Odair and the beginning of Tribute Training. It also features Sky and Cato's first real interactions, as well as Darrien being protective.
Thank you to Guest for reviewing Chapter 2.
Please Read and Review.
Chapter 3
Morning dawns and finds Darrien and I sitting at the dining table of our District apartment, picking at our food.
I'm exhausted, wrung out from a night of tossing and turning in my extraordinarily comfortable Capitol bed and worn out from fragmented dreams of the District 2 boy hunting me through an empty District 4. I'd bolted for the sea, sure that if I could get to that water I would be safe, but I never made it, and woke up screaming.
I decide not to go back to sleep after that and so slip out of my messed up bed and pad over to the bathroom off the room. The shower is hot and washes away the cold sweat that was sticking to my skin after the dream. The clamminess flows away, and I just lean against the smooth tiles, letting the water rush against me.
Soon enough however I have to get out and after being dried by the Capitol contraption, I head back out into the bedroom to pull some loose clothes from the cupboard.
Darrien is already at the breakfast table when I get there, and he shoots me a weak grin.
"Good night?" I ask him, seeing the bags under his eyes.
"The best." He replies dryly as I sit down opposite him, "I see you had a fun one too."
I give him a look and can't help but smile back when he grins at me.
We eat in pleasant silence until it's broken by Finnick's charming drawl.
"There the two of you are!" He joins us, sitting at the head of the table beside us both. "Good, I want to discuss training, and tactics."
At once he has both of our attentions and I pause in my pushing of my food around my plate.
"So, what's the plan?" Darrien asks, glancing at me and then back at Finnick.
"You both need to act like you have things up your sleeves," Finnick pops a grape into his mouth, "And you need to act like you're part of the Career pack Darrien."
"What about Schuyler?" Darrien frowns, his face darkening slightly, "You expect me to just…"
"I expect you to do what you have to, to ensure you both survive for as long as possible." Finnick's voice is firm, "You will be a Career and Schuyler here will be doing her own thing."
"You want me to pretend I'll hunt her down?" Darrien snarls it, and I can see his fork bending slightly in his grip.
"Sitting right here," I murmur, feeling my stomach clench.
"Not at all." Finnick shakes his head, "Even Careers know about loyalties to District partners. You can be protective of her, just tell them she's off the cards until later. By then the odds should be much more in your favour to work together."
"What should I do?" I ask him softly, and those sea green eyes meet mine.
"Focus on the survival stations. Pick up everything you can, anything that will keep you alive as you stay away from the other Tributes."
"Shouldn't she be able to defend herself?" Darrien still sounds a little cross, but he's been mollified now he knows he doesn't have to hunt me down.
"I can defend myself." I reassure him, "I did learn the same things you did in school Darrien, spears and tridents and the like." I didn't add that I had been the absolute worst at all of these skills in my class, but Finnick's smile is a knowing one.
"Defending herself won't be worth anything if she dies from exposure or eating something poisonous." Finnick tells Darrien, "You'll have the Career supplies at the Cornucopia, but she'll have to rely on her hunting skills and wits."
"I'm doomed." I say dryly but see Darrien's concerned frown. "You just worry about your own Game Darrien." I say gently, "Those Careers will be cut-throat…and you won't have someone there to watch your back, they will. Two from 1 and two from 2."
"And 1 from 4, and if I can help you I will." He says to me firmly, giving me a stern look.
"And I you." I smile slightly.
"Good, now that's settled." Finnick claps his hands together, "Please pass the cheese…"
We head down to the training gym, neither of us speaking.
Felvia has put me in a training uniform that has a blue shirt and flexible pants and Arterius has dressed Darrien similarly but not so much that we look like a united front. We are obviously the District 4's but with our shirts of a different blue we look like we're forging our own paths.
"Finnick's had a word to them." Darrien had muttered in my ear as we entered the lift.
It was a fair point.
The doors slid open and we walk in, stepping away from one another, both of us keeping our heads raised, proud as we walked over to where the head trainer was gathering the Tributes. We step onto our allotted disks and wait, not looking at each other. I look at the ground, but I hear the District 2 girl greet Darrien.
"4." She nods, a small smirk curling up her cat like mouth, "Welcome."
"2." He replies, voice steady and bored.
My neck prickles and I glance up.
The male from 2 is eyeing me again, those cool blue eyes considering me. When our eyes meet, his lips curl up into a crooked smirk and he mimes throwing up.
My cheeks burn and I look down again.
Jackass.
I hear the girl from 1 laugh and then the last two tributes join us; the two from 12, dressed identically.
A team then, I think with surprise, meeting the girl's impassive grey eyes before looking at the blond boy beside her. He meets my gaze and smiles slightly and I quickly look away, confused. We're competitors in the Hunger Games, smiling at your opponents doesn't seem logical.
The head trainer, Atala, gives us all the run down and then dispatches us to do as we please.
The Careers head straight towards the Weapons stations, Darrien moving with them. He is playing it perfectly, not even questioning that he would be a part of their pack. The boy from 1 glances at the one from 2 but 2 just nods. He's the leader then…figures….and he's accepted Darrien.
Satisfied that my partner will be alright I head straight over to the fire starting station.
I spread my time between the survival stations and find there are things I can do quite well. I'm good with traps and snares, being patient and rather methodical in movement. The trainer is pleased, and gives me more complicated traps as the time passes. Eventually I have to move on, as others need to use the station, but it is with reluctance. I'd enjoyed myself there, felt like I had control of something.
I haven't felt that since the Reaping.
I'd been passable with the fire starting, despite the trainer making a few quips about fish and fire. I ignored those and started a good blaze with a variety of different materials.
Surprisingly I'd also been good with the edible plants station. Slow to identify, but accurate, which I figure is the important part. As long as you take your time and don't panic and you get it right, that's what counts.
Buoyed by this I am feeling quite content by the time lunchtime rolls around. As all the tributes filter out of the gym, along with the trainers, I glance towards the weapons stations.
Slowly I move over to the racks there and look at the assorted weapons. Swords, knives, throwing knives, spears, a bow and arrows…and many others of various shapes and hefts.
Carefully I pick up the spear and heft it.
"Can you even use that?" a voice purrs from nearby and I almost shriek in shock, dropping the weapon as I spin.
2 stands there, arms folded across his chest and a smirk curling up that handsome mouth again. He barks a laugh and strides forward.
"You really are useless aren't you; and they told me District 4 would be a challenge."
I scramble back as he picks up the spear, hefting it for a moment before sending it slicing through the air and through the dummies' heart. He turns to me as I stare at the skewered training aide and then suddenly I find myself pushed up against the wall of the station, his hand wrapped around my throat.
My eyes widen, but he doesn't strangle me, just holds me there to look at me with those intense blue eyes.
"Your boy says we can't touch you until late in the game." He murmurs at me, thumb tilting my chin up, as his large hand still cradles my throat warningly, "I wonder why that is."
"Haven't you heard of loyalty to your District partner?" I manage to get out, heart thundering in my chest from how he towers over me, and manages to overwhelm me so easily.
I was right to fear this man, but…there is something. He is not hurting me, just, restraining me. And my body is reacting to his proximity, the warmth of his skin as he stands close, his warm smell, and the way his breath feathers across my temple. It's sensory overload and for someone who responds well to physical contact, this is filling me with confusing signals.
It doesn't help that his voice is low, rumbly and rather attractive either. I've always been a sucker for striking eyes and pleasant voices. Although I've never done anything about any attractions I've felt before, other than to stay away.
A strategy that I should use here, my fogged up brain shrieks in warning.
His chuckle rumbles through me, and I shiver at the sound, "I'm loyal, because Clove is worthy of such loyalty. You are not."
"You don't know me." I breathe, my eyes finally meeting his, "I might surprise you."
Another chuckle, "That so?" his lips brush the top of my ear and I jerk slightly with surprise, breath hitching, "Twitchy little thing aren't you?"
"You are holding me by my neck." I point out quietly, "I think most people would be twitchy."
He smirks, "Most people don't throw up just because they are Reaped for the Hunger Games."
And there it was.
My eyes close slightly as he laughs mockingly, "Nothing to say?"
"I'm not ashamed." I whisper.
"What?" he murmurs, a note of surprise in his voice. My eyes open and meet his.
"I'm not ashamed. It means I'm not a heartless killer like you. It means I don't glorify murder…" and my voice cuts off as his hand tightens, cutting off my air.
"Well, well…" his voice is forcedly even, "Looks like you do have a spine after all little fish."
His hand loosens and I gasp in air, staring at him in shock.
"What do you want from me 2?" I ask softly, voice a little hoarse.
"Cato."
"What?" I blink in surprise.
"The name is Cato."
"I would rather call you 2."
"And I would rather Cato." His hand tightens very slightly.
"Why?" I breathe, "You're just a Career tribute. Why would your name have any meaning to me?"
His lips curl up again and he leans in, unbearably close.
"Because you're mine. Now say it 4."
My breath hitches at his confident words, and the claiming of them. He must mean his kill, I've heard the other Careers claiming kills, he must mean I'm to be his. I lick my lips and whisper,
"Schuyler."
"That's not-" he begins but I interrupt him.
"It's Schuyler, not 4."
"You think you get to dictate to me?" he chuckles in my ear, "Oh sweetheart you are very wrong."
"Then I have nothing to say…2."
He pulls back, and eyes me thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging and walking off, "Have it your way 4. I'm sure we'll talk again real soon."
I hear him leave the gym and I slide down the wall, letting the air out of my lungs in a great whoosh.
Oh my…
After a hurried lunch I head over to the camouflage station and find that I am not the only one to have this thought.
My eyes meet the boy from 12's surprised blue eyes, before he grins slightly.
"I think we can share, don't you?" he says eyeing me carefully, and the smile widens as I nod. He offers a hand, "Peeta Mellark, District 12."
"Schuyler Cavendish, District 4," I reply, shaking his hand.
We settle in to paint, and it soon becomes very obvious who is the better at this. Peeta's painted arm seems to vanish into which ever scene he chooses to slip it into. His eye is incredible, and the detail is flawless on each of his creations. He is quick and neat with his brush, and I find myself watching him, fascinated.
"How did you learn to do that?" I ask eventually, too intrigued to stay quiet "Yours are incredible, mine are…well I'll be lucky to pass as anything other than a weird coloured human."
"Oh.." he just grins slightly and shrugs a shoulder, "It's nothing…I used to decorate cakes back home. I guess the skill set translates. Besides, you're District 4…" he smiles at me dryly, "You won't need to camouflage yourself you'll be in with the Careers."
"Do I look like I'm in with them?" I say quietly, wincing slightly as I hear the girl from 1 laugh at something, "I'm not in with them."
"Why not? I thought District 4 usually is…"
"We are. Usually.." I glance over at Darrien who is throwing a spear with a fisherman's precision.
"Your partner is." He points out softly.
"My partner didn't throw up when he was Reaped." I look at him, and see something like understanding and sympathy in those blue eyes, "The Careers do not tolerate weakness. They value strength."
"I wanted to throw up." Peeta admits, painting a final line across his arm, "I think I was just too shocked to."
"Peeta." A voice speaks up from beside us and we both look up to see Peeta's district partner standing there, "I thought we could try some snares again."
"Katniss," Peeta's face lights up, "This is Schuyler."
I wave slightly and she nods, "District 4."
"That's right." I nod and she purses her lips before turning back to Peeta.
"Let's go."
"I'll see you round." He pats my shoulder briefly before heading to wash off his arm, Katniss following him.
I feel the familiar prickle across my skin and look around, my eyes meeting Cato's over at the sword station. He is frowning slightly, eyes moving between me and the boy and girl who just left. Then his eyes meet mine once more and he starts walking over.
Quickly I turn away, heart thundering in my chest. I hope like hell that he has stopped, has gone back to his training, but a moment later he's there, the warmth of him like a furnace behind me.
"That looks like shit." He informs me, and I glance up at him. He nods at my arm, "Is there anything you're good at 4?"
"None of your business 2." I say, standing and moving away. He grabs my arm and tugs me back to face him.
"It's just a question 4, why so hostile?" he smirks down at me.
"Yes well…" I give him a fake smile, "Strategy you know…don't tell the enemy things he doesn't need to know? Sorry…" I try to move away again and he yanks me back. We're closer now, and he towers over me.
"So you and 12 huh?" he flicks a gaze up and then back down at me, "What did they have to say for themselves."
"Peeta was just being friendly," I try to tug sharply away but his grip is like iron, "Let me go 2."
"Peeta, huh?" those blue eyes lock with mine, "And yet you won't call me Cato."
"I like him better." I retort, staring back at him, "He doesn't hold me by my neck."
"Where's the fun in that sweetheart?" and he leans in, overwhelming me with his bulk, and warm smell, "Say it."
"Cato." It's not my voice that says the name, but Darrien's, and he sounds angry. Next thing I know, he's there and his hand shoves Cato away from me, pushing me back, behind him, "What the fuck man? We had a deal. No one messes with her."
Cato's blue eyes stare into my own before he looks up at Darrien. My district partner is smaller than him, but he's tough, standing there solidly, firmly between him and me.
"Just getting to know Schuyler." His use of my name surprises me, as it does Darrien, "She's interesting."
"Find her less interesting." Darrien snaps back, "Let's get back to training."
Finally Cato nods, and heads off, with a final long look at me.
Darrien glares after him and then looks at me, worry replacing the anger on his face, "You alright?"
"I'm fine," I reply, "Go…go back to training Darrien…I'll be fine."
"Alright Schuyler…" he touches my cheek and then begins to walk off.
"Darrien…?" I call after him, on an impulse, and he turns back, "It's Sky…call me Sky."
He grins and nods, before walking back to the Careers, clapping the boy from 1 on the shoulder and ignoring Cato, who is watching him speculatively.
I shiver as his gaze meets mine once more.
Things just got a lot more complicated.
