A/N: Hey everyone! Hopefully this got out quick! Today we're revisiting Soya Chaffer from District Eleven and Gaylord Parthenia from District Twelve. They're allies, obviously, and here's how their training is going! Enjoy!

Trigger Warnings: profanity and sexual innuendo

(If you haven't noticed by seeing the songs yet, the theme of the day is Hamilton ;)

Helpless!

Look into your eyes

And the sky's the limit

I'm Helpless!

Down for the count

And I'm drownin' in 'em

I'm Helpless!

Soya Chaffer, 17

District Eleven Female

"Are you sure that I can't wear something besides my training uniform today?" I ask Phemia as we chow at the breakfast table.

"Not if you want to go to the training room," Phemia mumbles after swallowing a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "You could go to the Fun Floors and do whatever the heck you want. Ride a roller coaster, drink a million slurpees, play dodgeball, feed animals at the zoo, or canoodle with your new friend."

I roll my eyes, but not fully. I'm not the type that really rolls her eyes. "Yeah, he's my friend. Leave it be, Phemie." I can't believe she'd let something like that slip! I thought Phemia and I had explicit trust! That is what is supposed to happen when you're someone's confidant.

On the mention of my ally, Lord Parthenia of District Twelve, Pumpkin's head snaps up from the newspaper she's skimming. She narrows her eyes a little at me, and she folds up the newspaper and sets it down. Omri also looks at me, his interest piqued. I groan internally. When the two uptights are interested in something, it doesn't normally turn out that well. Pumpkin leans forward, almost knocking over a tray of bagels.

"You have a friend?" Pumpkin quips, raising her eyebrow. "As in an ally, or as in a romantic interest?"

"J-just an ally," I quickly splutter before Phemia can say anything. Pumpkin rises her brow again, and I quickly continue. "Omri has allies, so why can't I have any?"

"Hormones and the Hunger Games don't mix well, Soya," Pumpkin sighs. "Just ask Oakes and Serephina's little friend." Everyone looks at her, rather confused, and she just shakes her head quickly, standing. "You guys need to get down to training within the next twenty minutes."

Omri follows her. He's quieter and respectful up here in the hotel, but down in the Training Center he laughs raucously with the Seven girl and chats sometimes with the Threes. He even fraternizes openly with the trainers, and isn't afraid to walk past the Careers. Yet he rarely even looks me in the eyes, not to mention talk to or joke around with me. I always thought District partners had some sort of unspoken understanding, some sort of inherited bond. I didn't seem that way with Omri and I. I guess that's alright, however, since I was going to win due to the fact of already facing the biggest loss one could face. It didn't do well to get too attached. I had to distance myself from Lord, if I can. No use in falling in love during the Hunger Games.

Soon enough, I finish my own breakfast, and I walk over to the elevator. Omri's already gone, and I hit the button to go down. The little screen below the button indicates that the elevator is on the ground floor, dropping people off. I turn around, and I see Pumpkin scurrying into her room with an armful of paperwork. Phemia waltzes over, and I refuse to look her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry Soya, you know I'm a dodo brain," Phemia sighs, folding her arms across the crystalline blouse, the fabric crinkling a bit. She smooths it out, and leans forward to tuck some of my hair behind my ear in a peace offering. I let her do so, and she smiles softly at me, murmuring, "Your hair is the bomb dot com this morning."

"Only because you did it," I reply, quirking a small smile, and Phemia giggles.

"Good thing to know that we're all good. Now I can go gather sponsors without feeling guilty the whole day," she laughs.

The elevator doors ping open, revealing one other tribute standing inside, the boy from Six. His darker skin shines in the fluorescent light that the elevator emanates, and he smiles a little at me, stretching out his muslced arms tiredly. He's cute and seems pretty nice. I step into the elevator, and I grin at him.

"Hello, I'm Fender," he tells me, extending his hand. I shake it as the doors slide closed behind me.

"I'm Soya," I whisper in reply, drawing back my hand from his tight grip. We keep rising; someone from Twelve must be coming on, too. Hopefully Lord. Or Fender might be going to the Fun Floors. I doubt that; he sure was working really hard at weights yesterday, tossing around those heavy kettlebells like they were nothing.

"You look nice this morning," he says kindly. There really isn't much hint of flirting in his voice; it's just a simple compliment from a nice guy. However, the doors snap right as he starts saying that, and Lord looks at him, half-furious, as he steps onto the elevator.

"Who looks nice this morning?" Lord questions, striding to my side and standing close to me, towering a good half foot above me. I look up at him, and the inner flood of conflicting feelings that have been toiling around inside of me since he first kissed my hand yesterday in greeting rise to the surface. I don't need this distraction, but I don't have many other options, and I'd really like to have an ally. It'll make my destiny of coming out Victorious easier in some ways, but it will also be detrimental emotionally. But I don't think I could be alone for the something-in-the-teens amount of time the Games usually last, especially in the wilderness. It's a confusing plethora of emotions, so that's why I confessed them to Phemia. I really do need a confidant, so I'm happy she actually cares.

"I was," Fender replies, his voice faltering a little bit. "Just making kind small talk."

Lord harumphs. "Small talk. Stay away from my girl." The elevator seamlessly starts to head downwards, and doesn't make a stop the entire way down. Fender looks like he's itching to ask a question, probably about the two of us, but he keeps his mouth shut, and he is the first off of the elevator once we reach the Training Center. He makes his way down the short tile hallway that connects the elevator to the Center, and he disappears through the doors. Lord and I step out, and he takes my hand gingerly, stroking his thumb carefully over the back of it.

"Where would you like to go today, my dear?" Lord inquires, arching his brow cutely. I bite my lip to avoid blushing. I don't like the sway he already has over me. But he's just so good at flirting and he's also pretty good looking, especially for a Twelve kid, so his effect is amplified compared to if it was someone like Fender. I don't like feeling defenseless or like the damsel in distress. I'm not in distress. I'm winning, or that's at least what's destined to happen. Destinies can sometimes be broken like they are in books, but this isn't a book. This is real life, and I've already had the brunt of real life, so I must get a free pass here.

"I don't care. We spent a lot of times at throwing knives yesterday; how about we do...edible plants?" I answer in a hushed voice. I don't know why, but I feel like something deep inside me implores me to be silent when Lord is towering over me, his eyes smoldering with delight.

"Sure," he replies, cracking his knuckles as we begin to walk forward. He stops a few feet from the door, and turns to me. "Let's play a little game. We each get to ask each other a question. I'll ask first. Have you ever kissed a boy before?"

"Of course not," I chuckle in response. "All the boys that go to my school have buckteeth or they never shower. No one cares a lot about looks in Eleven, especially boys. I guess there's some good ones like yourself, but they've already been snatched up. The good boys and girls, the pretty, popular ones, get married usually before they're out of Reaping age."

"Surprised no one ever married you, you're so pretty," Lord mumbles huskily, and I feel the heat flush my face. "If you ever want to have your first kiss, just let me know girly." The burning tide of red on my cheeks intensifies once he mentions kissing, and my throat gets dry. "Do you have a question for me?"

My curiosity is too strong, and suddenly a question pops into my head. I've been fighting it back for a while, because I cannot contradict myself. I can't ruin my destiny. I cannot shake off the core value keeping my inner tenacity burning bright. I ask it anyway. "What's the worst thing you've been through in your life?"

He cocks his head at me, and stares deep into my eyes. "It was when-" He stops to think, and then restarts. "I guess when Angelica broke up with me? Or maybe Ember. You know, they were all horrible girls, none of them anywhere near as kind or pretty as you."

That makes me smile, and we walk into the Training Center together. I feel so much lighter. Lord comes from somewhere as terrible as Twelve, and I've had a worse life than him. I've had a worse life than all of these people I bet. I have this. I have to have this, don't I?

How does the bastard, orphan, son of a whore

Go on and on

Grow into more of a phenomenon?

Watch this obnoxious, arrogant, loudmouth bother

Be seated at the right hand of the father

Washington hires Hamilton right on sight But Hamilton still wants to fight, not write

Now Hamilton's skill with a quill is undeniable

But what do we have in common?

We're Reliable with the Ladies!

Lord Parthenia, 16

District Twelve Male

I watch as Soya walks a step ahead of me, a cheery smile on her face, and I know I've said the right thing.

Breaking up with a girl as the worst moment in my life? Laughable. Sure, I fall hard, and my heart breaks harder, but my life's been a fucked up mess since the start, really. I never knew my true parents. They either died or left me to die myself, or both most likely. I lived in a dingy orphanage for the first five years of my life, barely staying alive with not enough food and not enough nurture. Then Mom and Mama adopted me. I never think about them. Why should I think of the two women who loved me, who both died only a year apart? They raised me well enough and they gave me love, and then I lost them. Then I began to drink at 12, when Mama died and Mom was gone for a year. Tears were never really for me, and I had no other way to express my pain. I had to start working or sell the trinkets and the house my mothers left behind. They were rich, but I don't want to touch their story, their lives. It sits unblemished to this very day, everything the same as it was when Mama died. Then I started drinking and all that crap, having sex and watching strippers like Cressilda and binge drinking. So yeah. I've lost four parents, and I never had a childhood innocence no matter how hard my mothers tried. A stupid girl furrowing a divot into my heart isn't anywhere as terrible as that. All Soya did was lose one parent. But I can't shatter her bubble, or she might lose it all, and I need an ally. I'd also like to have company in the arena. It gets boring talking to yourself after a while, you know?

"Lord?" Soya inquires, flicking me on the cheek. "You're staring at the Loft. What is it?"

I quickly clear my head, and look over to her, flashing a smile. "I thought one of the Gamemakers looked like you," I grin, and her cheeks flood with heat and color once again. This poor girl is especially pliable. I could snap her in a moment if I wanted to. I could get her to shed her pants right here on the sweaty Training Center floor. I could get her to fall in love and marry me. I could get her to die for me. But I won't. She's pure. She's innocent. She's not the drunken whores who stumble through my bar, groping for someone to wipe away their pain, even if it's just for a single night. I don't take advantage of girls. I only let them take advantage of me. At least, that's what I usually intend to do.

"Come on, let's go to the edible plants station," Soya announces, grabbing my hand and tugging me softly to the left. Usually this station is crowded, but only about half of the tributes are done here at this point, so there's only one tribute there. It's the girl from Eight. She's spent most of her time here, and I watch as her fingers fly across the screen, matching plants and marking the pairs as edible or inedible without trouble. I let out a low whistle upon the sight of her completing an entire set of fifty plant pairs in under five minutes, and she falters a little bit and accidentally shuts off the touch screen. Soya smiles up at me as the girl turns and looks at me, confused a little, before turning the touch screen back on and resuming her game of practice.

I withhold a second whistle as the instructor stands to greet us, and it isn't because of her plant identification skills. She is a hella curvy woman with an unnaturally beautiful face, and she looks like she's only a few years older than me. She runs her eyes unabashedly across my form, and I involuntarily flex all of my muscles, my body tightly coiled as she stares right at me. She winks, her long, silver dusted lashes fluttering as she does so. My breath catches in my throat. I've rarely viewed such an exquisite specimen of the female body, and I feel my entire body burning to life.

"I'm Ambassa," she chuckles, shaking my hand firmly. Confident and strong, too. Soya makes to shake her hand, but Ambassa doesn't even look at her.

"I'm Lord," I reply, quirking my mouth in a small smile. I stop myself before I can make a flirtatious comment; I need to focus. Soya...I'm supposed to impress her and flirt with her and cement that we're going to have an alliance today. I can't be stuck staring at...all of that. "This is my good friend, Soya."

"Ah, your friend," Ambassa hisses, extending her milky white, smooth hand and clasping it lightly with Soya's for all of one second. "A pleasure."

I've never really had two girls fighting over me necessarily, but it's one of those situations playboys live for. Instead of you being the one that has to do all the work to score the girl, they have to do all of the work; it's a refreshing role reversal. And it can even lead to an infamous threesome if you play your cards right. Animosity and mutual hatred toes the line with lust and sexuality. That's the reason why you find yourself panting over the girl or guy who makes you furious. It's just human nature. But I don't need to have two girls trying to tear off my pants. I'm not breaking Soya's innocence no matter what, and Ambassa is probably secretly fifty years old or some crazy crap. And I need to train. I really need to at least learn one edible plant so I don't starve to death in the arena. That's a cruel fate, even for someone the likes of me.

"Could we start learning some plants?" I pipe up. Ambassa is looking into Soya's eyes with a frightening ferocity, and Soya is equal parts confused and wary.

"Did you say learning some pants?" Ambassa inquires, grinning. "I'd love to teach you about my pants."

"I think we already know stuff about pants," Soya barks, crossing her arms.

"I said plants," I pronounce clearly. "We need to learn plants. It's sweet of you to get all horny over me, I seriously appreciate it, but we need to learn this stuff."

Ambassa sighs, handing us each a little foldable. "Here's a booklet with the most common plants types. Review it, and then try and play the matching game that Gaia's playing." She looks up and calls out to Gaia. "You better give some others a turn today, honey!" Gaia nods dutifully before turning back to the screen. "If you have any questions, come see me." She turns to me, and whispers in my ear, "Questions about anything."

I quickly step away from Ambassa, my knuckles white from gripping the booklet so I won't spout back something flirty and endearing. Her body is like a pendulum, and if I keep looking at her, my will is going to dissolve, and I'll end up ruining my alliance and probably never even touching Ambassa.

Soya and I sit down a couple of feet away from Ambassa on a fluffy green rug. Plastic models of dozens of plants are strewn about the place. Soya picks one up and studies the intricate structures of its white blossom and slender light green stem. She flips through her booklet and pinpoints the location of the plant's entry.

"Snowblossom," Soya whispers. "Never heard of those before."

"Weren't they in Kenyan's Games? On the mountains, in the really snowy parts? The girl from Twelve ate them and hid up there and managed to make it pretty far. That's why I remember them," I utter, wringing my hands as I take the rubbery snowblossom from Soya.

"I wonder what plant will be our snowblossom this year," Soya murmurs, picking up a matte white root, turning it over in her hands thoughtfully.

"So we're allying for sure?" I inquire.

"Of course, silly!" Soya giggles. "I wouldn't be spending so much time with you if we weren't. Pumpkin would kill me."

"Alright. That's good to know," I reply, smiling a little. I hand back the snowblossom, and her hand squeezes mine as she takes it from me. Her innocent eyes gleam with something more. She cuts away instantly, and her posture relaxes, but I saw the look in her eyes for that moment, and it was enough. No matter what her head's telling her, be it to stay clear of me or to not get too attached, her body wants me. I've seen the look she just gave me too many times from other girls over the years of my bartending and drinking and whoring about. I don't know if I can give her what she really wants, though. It might cost her the Games.

A/N: It was fun to revisit this pair! I always like to write romance, and this is a little different from most of the romance I write, so it was enjoyable. I know a lot of Soya's wasn't actual training, but I feel like it would have gotten boringly repetitive to have Lord and her flirting and all that two POVs in a row. And I liked the transition to Lord's part. Who thought this dude had that depth? Sorry for the backstory dump a little, I just realized I never shared that, and I couldn't think of a subtle way to rewrite it after I finished it all up. So don't start demonizing him because of a lot of backstory or him being a sudden sympathy sue because it isn't that bad, I was just terrible and forgot to mention it in previous parts and I felt like this was a really good part to weave it in XD

Good news: I got a new dog and track season starts tomorrow! Bad news: that means updates should be slowing down a little bit. I'm hoping to stick to the once-a-week regimen I've been doing lately out of habit, but I can't always guarantee that will happen, especially with the bigger chapters like Girls Meet World, Showstoppers, Interviews, etc. :)

Trivia:

Soya (1 pt.): Who says she looks good on the elevator?

Lord (1 pt.): What is the name of the trainer who hits on him?

Until Next Time,

Tracee