Got halfway through and wanted to go to bed but I thought I'd let you all read what I had so far anyway.


Allure Beldam, District One female (18)

I was afraid I'd have to kill all my allies but so far things were looking okay. Nailah could have been pretty if she'd wanted to but her cropped hair was clearly for business and not attraction and she wore generic and utilitarian outfits. The guys were all alright. Anthony and Nero were both okay. They had a very average "Panemian good-guy" look that was probably popular but never did much for me. I preferred a striking and modelesque look in my partners. Dionysus was kinda ugly in my opinion. Ceto was the only one special enough to attract my attention. She had a classic beach bombshell look and was tall enough for modeling. Even worse, she knew it. Ceto was the one I saw myself going for in the Career breakup. There was nothing worse than someone who thought they were just all that.

My arrows thudded into the center of the target as I pretended to train. I already knew everything I was going to know. For Careers the training periods are about networking and intimidation. I let everyone see how confident- almost careless, really- I was as I made my perfect shots. I wanted them to think I was strong but more subtly, I wanted them to think I was arrogant. My showboating would paint me as the shallow One girl who cares more about how she looks than how she fights. And at the same time my showboating would show I could hit bullseyes twenty times in a row.

The girl from Three would be one of my targets. I didn't ever remember seeing anyone with red hair and gray eyes before. It was a striking combination I was jealous I'd never thought of. The girl from Eight was out- she carried herself like an ox and she had a limp. Des would have been high on my list with her long legs and easy smile but there was just something about her that didn't work for me. Kjole had a cold austerity that intrigued me and just might end up getting her killed. She needed a better haircut, though. The girl from Nine was grossly thin, like not slender but skinny. The girl from Ten was too... square.

There was no misogyny intended by my focus on the girls. It was simply that I'd never seen a man as handsome as a woman could be pretty. I was looking at the fellas too. The ladies were just prioritized. But as for the men, Connor, RJ and Culter were on my list. Connor not so much as the others, since Ceto already had it out for him. No reason to get in her way and make her mad before I had to.

Some people might have said it was shallow to make a Hunger Games hit list based on who was the most attractive. Call me shallow then, I don't care. I didn't want anyone in the Arena to be better-looking than me, simple as that. It did have some strategic value, though. Anyone who watched the Games could see who got the most sponsor gifts. Was it the smartest? The strongest? It was the pretty ones. Fewer pretty people in the Arena meant more ugly people, which would make me look even prettier, which meant more sponsor gifts for me. I wasn't so arrogant I didn't know I couldn't win the Games on my own. Even more than allies, I needed admirers.


Nero Inculta, District Two male (18)

Allure was at the archery lane racking up bullseyes. She kept peeking around to see if anyone was watching. I wondered if she knew that the other Careers knew that bullseyes thirty meters wasn't very impressive with a bow. Allure was very confidently hoping that everyone would notice that she was... mediocre, actually, if you knew what you were looking at.

It was harder to show off when you used a morningstar. It pretty much just looks like you're swinging a club around no matter what you do. My more impressive skills, like the long-distance running I'd been working on for years, were similarly unspectacular. I didn't see the need to show off anyway. I knew what I was capable of and I didn't really care what other people thought. I was just here to win the Games and live my life. I didn't care about the audience.

I found Anthony at the weaving station. "Hey, what are you up to?" I asked. I wasn't even trying to be all nosey or scope out the competition. For the first part of the Games, the Careers were allies. It would be good for all of us if we knew each others' skills and how we fit together.

"I'm honestly just making a basket, man," Anthony sighed. "I felt like training more at this point was pointless and I got bored so I just started weaving a basket."

"Yeah, tell me about it," I said as I sat down next to him. "I'm ready for the Games already. All this sitting around is killing me."

"You wanna have a strategic discussion about strategies or something?" Anthony joked.

"Uhh, my strategy is... don't die," I said.

"Woah, that's my strategy, too!" Anthony said.

"I can't believe everyone else didn't think of this," I said.

"So what are you trained in?" Anthony asked.

"Morningstars," I said. We shared a knowing look at how superfluous it would be to practice.

"Yeah, I do trident," Anthony said. "It's like, you just... stab. I pretty much got it down."

I picked up a handful of grass. "I think I'll just make a basket."


Anthony Morgan, District Four male (18)

"What do we want for the Bloodbath? Should we kill as many people as we can? Should we focus on securing the supplies so they all starve?" Nero asked. There was no one officially leading our informal little strategy meeting but he just had that sort of natural presence.

"I guess it depends on the Arena," Nailah said.

"If it's a really inhospitable Arena then I think we should secure the supplies," Allure said. "It just makes more sense."

"Anyone have dibs on any particular Tributes?" Nailah asked.

Ceto raised two fingers and I rolled my eyes. "Fives," she said.

"What did Five do?" Nero asked in honest confusion.

"It's a long story," Ceto said with a tone that shut down further questions.

"I have my eyes on a few but I don't care who kills them. I just want them dead," Allure said.

Outside of the normal strategizing, I hadn't been paying much attention to the outliers. Not as individuals, anyway. I thought of how best to win the Games and how to find Tributes and all that, but I hadn't been thinking of any one of them in particular. All of this was easier if I just thought of them as a group. Hopefully I could get by without even knowing their names. When I looked back on the Games I would have nothing to go on but half-remembered faces blurred by the passing years.

Dionysus' hand was shaking where it lay on the table. His whole body seemed to be vibrating when I looked a little closer. I thought back over the meeting and realized he'd barely spoken a word.

"Hey. You feeling all right?" I asked, turning to him.

"I'm fine!" he snarled, catching me by surprise.

"Woah, sorry," I said.

"No, sorry, it's just..." Dionysus started. He lost his train of thought and took a few breaths. "It doesn't help that this room is so hot." The room wasn't even hot. It was the same perfectly temperature-controlled air as the rest of the building.

"Someone needs to take his medicine," Allure said with a smirk. It came to me then, how Dionysus had mentioned his mentor telling him to lay off the drinking until the Games. If that was what this was about, I was more disappointed with Allure than with Dionysus. Withdrawal was nothing to smirk about. Breaking an addiction was one of the hardest things on the planet and those people didn't need judgement added to all their other problems.

"Whatever," Dionysus said. He stood abruptly and left the lounge.

"He's a liability," Ceto said. No one disagreed. I fought the urge to run after Dionysus and check on him. I couldn't light myself on fire to warm someone up. If I comforted him I would look weak in front of the Careers and the target might broaden from him to me. And it wasn't anything new anyway. All Careers wanted to kill each other from the start. Even if we feel bad for them.