"Wake up! Wake up!"
Saoirse would have groaned and rolled over in bed but for the heavy weight bouncing on her chest.
"Get OFF, Victor!" she snapped, bucking her hips and knocking the smaller child sideways. He fell onto her bed and continued to bounce as she pulled a pillow over her head and pretended this wasn't happening. Her brother simply grabbed the pillow and pulled, excitedly talking - or rather yelling - as he did so. Victor hadn't yet grasped the concept of an indoor voice.
"Wake UP, Saoirse! It's morning and today we get to meet all the other tributes and some of them will want to be allies with us and we get to try out all the cool weapons and find out how we're going to win the games!" he paused for breath, giving Saoirse time to hit him with the pillow as she sat up.
"What time is it?"
"It's morning!"
"No its not. It's hardly even light outside yet, look" she gestured towards the curtained window, but in the gloom of the bedroom her gesture could only just be seen.
"But we want to be there FIRST! And we want to have breakfast, and talk to Uncle Eller, and..."
"Victor, want you want right now is a shower. Go and have a shower in your room and I'll have one here. And make sure you really wash and don't just run the water because I'll be checking to see if your towel's wet like Mum does"
"Showers don't count in the games!"
"We're not in the games yet..."
As Victor left the room Saoirse tried to lie down and go back to sleep, but it was no use. She was wide awake now, not just mentally, but her heart was pounding and she knew she couldn't lie still any longer. A small, selfish part of her was glad that Victor was here with her so she wasn't alone, but the sensible part knew that while she didn't have much of a chance of winning, he had no chance at all.
She got out of bed before she could think about that. While this clearly wasn't a brand new building, the showers were just as well-equipped as the TV shows had said and her whispered order of apple juice down the fabled kitchen communication pipe came through in under a minute. There were clothes laid out for her; light blue long-sleeved top, dark blue trousers, black sneakers, and she managed a smile as she imagined the 18 year old tributes wearing the same outfit as her six year old brother.
It was a smile that lasted just as long as she remembered yet again why they were here.
Victor had no such concerns, of course. Saoirse was still styling her hair when he burst back into her room and took a flying leap for her bed. "It's light now, can we go and meet the others?"
Saoirse put down the hairbrush and sighed. "Where are your shoes?"
"In my room."
"Go and put them on."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"They've got laces. I can't do laces yet."
Her little brother was going into the Hunger Games and he didn't even know how to tie his shoelaces.
Saoirse had no appetite for breakfast, but sipped at her glass of juice and nibbled on a croissant while Victor devoured half his own bodyweight in bacon and eggs, talking excitedly all the time about what they were going to do. He was halfway through a description of how he was going to be the best swordsman the world had ever seen when Saoirse turned to their mentor.
"Mr Bright? What do you think we should do today?"
The man had been looking at both children as if they were sacrificial victims ever since he'd seen them, and Saoirse remembered that he'd had a son in the games who hadn't come home. Maybe she shouldn't have asked...
"Learn how to stay hidden. Sponsorship is going to work differently this time. People are going to vote for their favourites, and the tributes with the most votes will get the most sponsor tokens. Your brother's bound to get some votes because he's the youngest, so..."
"So I need to be cute, or fun or something to make people notice me, but not so much that the older kids notice me." Saoirse was no fool, she knew how the games worked.
"Yes. And you might find safety in numbers is the way to go, if you can find some allies"
"I thought about that already. I was going to ask the boy from District Thirteen because..." she halted abruptly, realising she was going to ask him to be her ally because he was handsome and had famous parents "...and some of the younger kids as well. The girl from District...eleven, maybe" she'd picked the number at random, wanting to make it look like she had a her mentor didn't seem to notice.
"You should eat more, too. We don't know what the arena's going to be like. My boy..." he trailed off. Victor had got down from the table and was dancing around, talking loudly as he demonstrated an imaginary spear.
"He was Aunt Cyra's friend, wasn't he?"
Their escort and mentor looked uncomfortable and Saoirse recalled what he'd said the previous evening. She bit her lip and hesitated. Then "That's what we called her when she used to visit. Except...she didn't visit because she wanted to. Mum paid for her. Every year. That's why Victor and...I mean, that's why I'm here."
The man looked sadder than ever, his gaze wandering to Victor. "They were allies. He had his fifteenth birthday the night before his games started. We gave him his birthday present early when we..." he paused and took a deep breath "when we said goodbye. It wasn't Cyra's fault that he didn't come back." Another pause. "I'll do whatever I can to help you."
Saoirse supposed she felt reassured, though the closer they got to the time they were supposed to go down to the training suite, the more nervous she felt. At school she had lots of friends, but now she had to approach complete strangers and form an alliance with them, knowing that...knowing that only one of them was going to win. That was the part she was trying not to think about.
Victor was still as excited as ever, right up until the moment they got out of the elevator and came face to face with the first trainer. Then he hid his face behind Saoirse and she practically had to drag him into the waiting room. Getting there early hadn't been a good idea after all, because now they had to sit and wait for everyone else to arrive. Sitting still was something else Victor hadn't quite got the hang of yet. One of his shoelaces had come untied and Saoirse was down on her knees retying it for him when she heard footsteps behind them.
"Oh look, little volunteer's got big sister to tie his shoelaces for him!"
Saoirse tied a double knot and took a deep breath before standing up, turning around as she did so. It was the pair representing District Three; the girl's lilac skin and diamond-inlaid cheeks contrasting oddly with her simple uniform was the one who had spoken. Saoirse felt like she did when some older girls had sneered at her essay about a fashion show she'd attended, but she was determined not to show it.
"Well he didn't cry when he got up onstage, so I guess that makes him braver than you!" she snapped, feeling a little braver because there were several adults in the room. The girl looked like she wanted to say something. Saoirse turned away and sat down next to Victor, keeping her back straight and folding her hands neatly in her lap, her face expressionless and heart pounding.
From across the room, a younger boy caught her eye and smiled.
It seemed to take forever before twenty six tributes arrived and were escorted into the training suite. It was one huge room, but because it was split into a couple of dozen stations it was difficult to see everything at once. Saoirse held onto Victor's hand to stop him running off to look at the axes. Another of the older girls giggled, and she glared until the girl looked away. Good. Let them see she wasn't someone to be messed with. She tried to look interested and tough as a man who called himself the head trainer explained the stations, telling them which ones were compulsory and which ones wouldn't be available until the afternoon. Saoirse's lips twitched in amusement on hearing that nobody would be using weapons until the afternoon, even as Victor hung off her arm and whined his disappointment.
"Come on, let's go and learn how to make a shelter" she told her little brother as soon as they were released.
One of the smallest girls didn't go anywhere when the tributes were dispersed. Despite her nervous district partner trying to pacify her, she simply stood, small fists raised to her face, sobbing pathetically. After a few minutes the boy shrugged and walked over to the closest empty station, leaving her alone.
Jupiter felt sorry for her, but he was more interested in the District Five siblings. If he could persuade the girl to ally with him and Aspen, the four of them would have a better chance of getting one of the older tributes to join their alliance. That was his theory, anyway. Telling himself he didn't feel nervous he headed towards the shelter building station.
Aspen thought Jupiter's idea of having as many allies as they could find was a lovely idea. She looked around the room, trying to decide who to talk to first, when she spotted the little girl. She couldn't remember if this girl had been on Jupiter's list, but she was crying and Aspen never could bear to see anyone feeling sad. She barely hesitated before approaching the girl.
"Hello, I'm Aspen. What's your name?"
The child continued to sob, but she peeked out between her fingers at the sound of a friendly voice. Aspen decided that was a good enough introduction and gave the girl a hug. For a moment she continued to cry, but then her sobs grew quieter. She'd wrapped her arms around Aspen and finally sniffled, taking a step backwards and rubbing her cheeks with already wet hands. Finally she said
"I'm Viola Dupont. My Daddy..." her lip quivered and tears threatened again. There was a pause, then Aspen said
"I miss my Mum. I bet you miss your Dad"
Viola nodded.
"Do you want to be friends with me and Jupiter?"
Viola wasn't so young or naive that she hadn't got some idea of what was happening. She was small and frightened, and having allies might make her feel a bit less small and frightened. Her voice was weak and shaky as she said "Yes please."
The matter settled, Aspen took her hand and looked around the big room. "Mrs Oakley said we had to learn new things today. What shall we learn first?"
By lunchtime Jupiter and the Rudolphines had not only built a shelter but also learned how to make a trap to catch rabbits, though none of them would have the slightest clue what to do with anything they were lucky enough to catch. Still, they were allies and Jupiter liked Saoirse. True, she was pretty obsessed with her appearance, but she was also fairly sensible and she had had the same thoughts about forming as large an alliance as possible. When they met up with Aspen and Viola though, his heart sank a little. The girl was only a year younger than him, but Jupiter ranked her chances as even worse than Victor's. At least he was actively trying to learn stuff - even if he didn't really understand what was going on - and he probably had the sense to run away if someone tried to hurt him. She'd stopped crying now Aspen was looking after her though, and it felt nice to be eating lunch with four other people who actually liked him. That hadn't happened since before the war.
"We aren't the only alliance" Saoirse said as they shared an enormous plate of sweet potato fries. Aspen turned around in her seat to look, making it immediately obvious that they were talking about the four older teens who were eating together at the other side of the room. One of the boys waved in what Jupiter judged to be a sarcastic way.
"What are we going to do?" asked Viola, her voice very close to a whine.
Jupiter, sensing danger and knowing it would look bad if she started crying again, said quickly "We get more allies this afternoon. And we should each try and learn something different as well"
"Swords!" yelled Victor.
"Yeah...or Victor, why don't you try out the climbing nets? If there are trees in the arena you'll be able to climb higher than anyone, because you're the smallest" Jupiter suggested with a quick glance at Soairse.
"And then I can drop rocks on their heads!" he yelled.
"Sure, if you want..." Jupiter hadn't expected to feel like he was...well, in charge, but at least disaster was averted. "I think I'm going to learn to build a fire" Viola said uncertainly, and the older three were quick to praise the idea.
Aspen went to collect enough desserts for everyone but they could see her talking to the short boy representing District Two who had been on his own all morning. Again, Jupiter doubted his usefulness in an alliance, but as they watched, he shook his head and walked away. Aspen returned with a tray filled with cakes and bowls of ice-cream.
"He didn't want to be friends. He said..." she paused, apparently thinking hard "he said we were all going to die anyway."
Viola's lower lip trembled. Jupiter was trying to work out how to answer that, but Saoirse beat him to it.
"Well, if he doesn't want to join our alliance, that's his problem" she said, quickly avoiding the subject "Anyway, what are you going to learn next?"
Aspen smiled.
"I'm going over there" she said, pointing to the archery station. "That's what Katniss did, and she won two games."
There were a hundred discouraging responses to that, not least that most people believed Katniss had been practising archery for years prior to her games because nobody got that good so quickly, but nobody wanted to think about their own chances, and they all agreed it was a great idea as they worked through their cakes and ice cream.
"Can I go and play now?" Victor ran off happily towards the agility stations. Aspen carefully carried their tray back, oblivious to smirks from the older tributes, and then went over to the archery station. As Jupiter headed towards the knife throwing station which was currently free of tributes, Saoirse escorted Viola to the fire starting area and then looked around for what she could do.
The District Thirteen boy was talking with the edible plants trainer. He was tall and good looking, with black hair that swept across his forehead and a sapphire earring in one ear. Saoirse's heart began to race as she went over, feeling more awkward and nervous than she had all day.
"...true that tributes can guess the arena from the plants at this station?" the boy was asking. The trainer looked amused.
"I'm not supposed to tell you that..."
The boy smiled. "Thank you" he said. Saoirse couldn't see why he was saying thank you for a vague comment like that, and she frowned.
"Are you coming to join us?" the trainer asked, noticing her.
"I...um...yes. Yes, I am" she said, forcing herself to walk the rest of the way over there. It was a simple enough setup; a selection of plants laid out on a long table each labelled with their name and whether they were safe to eat, and then a small indoor garden that contained the plants in what would be their natural habitat. Saoirse picked up a misshapen root and examined it.
"You'd want to clean the mud off first"
She jumped slightly and turned to look at the boy - Arctic. She'd known his name all along, but it was easier to pretend that he was just another random tribute. Now he'd actually spoken to her, though...
"I'd probably want to cook it too. One of my allies is learning to start fires" she said, trying to sound confident.
"The little girl you were eating with at lunch?"
Saoirse nodded, glancing over to where Viola was standing, her small body trembling. Clearly she was frightened of getting burnt, and Saoirse wished she'd suggested something easier before dismissing the thought. It was obvious the girl was the weakest of their alliance, whereas the pair from District Seven - they were young, but had a better chance. Jupiter was flanked by the older teens representing District Eight, but he wasn't even flinching.
"I was wondering...would you like to join our alliance?"
There was a momentary pause.
"Why?"
Of all possible responses, Saoirse hadn't expected that one. She opened her mouth and closed it again, realising she had no idea how to answer. "Because..." she glanced over at Aspen, who was smiling, wide-eyed as the trainer showed her how to hold a bow "because I think this whole thing's scary enough, and as many of us should stick together as possible" she cringed inwardly as she spoke, pretending to examine some red berries that were marked poisonous.
"I got asked to join the other alliance this morning."
Saoirse's heart sunk. "Oh...okay then..."
"I said no."
"You...why?"
"I don't think I should be here at all. I'm nineteen in another month, and I'm representing District Thirteen. Two years ago we didn't even know it existed, so I'm really an afterthought. So I'm planning to just vanish into the background so everyone forgets about me until the end."
"Oh. I see..."
"For what it's worth though, if I wanted allies, I think I'd prefer you and your friends to them" he smiled, and Saoirse decided the afternoon hadn't been entirely wasted.
When they gathered together for a snack in the middle of the afternoon, Viola was taken away by her escort. Saoirse and Jupiter exchanged nervous glances. Her district partner was also nowhere to be seen. It was unsettling, and Jupiter didn't want to ask anyone where she'd gone in case he didn't like the answer. Conversation had dwindled to Aspen describing how she's managed to hit the archery target on her eighth try.
"What are you doing with your hands?" Victor had been watching Aspen speak. She looked confused.
"She's talking. Her Mum's an Avox, so they talk with their hands"
Victor's eyes went wide. "How do you say my name?"
There was a long pause, then Aspen clenched her hands into fists and waved them either side of her head. "Victor!"
The little boy copied with unnecessary enthusiasm, and then asked "How do you say your name?"
Aspen demonstrated the sign, and he tried that as well. Jupiter could see a couple of the solitary tributes beginning to take an interest.
"I think we should all go back to shelter making" he announced "I've had an idea."
Saoirse opened her mouth to protest, but he looked fiercely at her, willing her to agree. Thankfully she did and the four of them headed over into the fake woodland where they'd met that morning.
"Okay, so this was my idea" Jupiter whispered before anyone else could speak "Aspen, can you teach us how you and your Mum say some words? Things like 'run' and 'hide', and..."
"Then we can just talk with our hands in the arena, and nobody else will hear us!" Saoirse interjected, getting the idea at once.
"And we won't tell anyone else, so they don't find out. It'll be our secret" Jupiter added.
"We'll tell Viola though. She's our friend..." Aspen added thoughtfully.
"Of course we will" Jupiter said "We'll tell her as soon as she gets back." He led the way into the thickest part of the station, picking up a branch and pretending he was building a shelter "Okay, so how do you say "help"?
A/N Dialogue...not my strong point. I really wanted to show the interactions between my tributes though, and I feel like this works. I hope you agree! Next chapter we're going to be meeting a very familiar character as one of our tributes meets their mentor. I'm excited for this one so hopefully it won't be too long before I get the nerve up to finish and post chapter 7!