Chapter 16:
Asha Kader, 18, District Nine
"You may begin."
Asha stays back as she watches the careers head off first, the two girls from One and Two chatting as they head off to the weapons while their District partners are silent as they head to their weapons of choice. The boy from Four lags behind them, slowed by his braces, yet he has a determination in his shoulders as he heads over to the large swimming pool, while his District partner seems to be avoiding conversation with the rest of the pack, choosing to work alone for the time being.
Soon the other tributes being to find their place as Asha slowly begins walking towards the stations, Laine by her side and seemingly just as confused and unsure of where to begin. A few other tributes have decided to try to learn some weapons, daring to be near the careers. Margaery from Five and Grant from Eleven have both gone over to the knife station and Asha watches them for a moment before her gaze is drawn over to some of the other weapons nearby, one taunting her and calling out to Slash…
No…Slash isn't her. Asha is here, not Slash…
"How about we start at some of the survival stations?" Laine finally asks her and Asha just nods her head, going along with the suggestion because she's afraid of the desire building in her to go over to the barbed whips…
Laine keeps up a friendly conversation with her as they sit down at the camouflage station, yet Asha can barely focus on what he's saying, her mind focused instead on the one skill she already knows that can be applied towards winning.
"Do it," Slash whispers in her mind, playing the sound of the cracking whip, the sound of her clients crying out first in pain and then in pleasure…
Asha bites her lip nervously, shaking her head as she tries to focus on the camouflage. This is what she should be putting her effort into, not fulfilling the deep want in her to feel the whip in her hand, the weight of it giving her a power rush and the crack of it on skin making a smirk form on her lips.
"Excuse me," Asha says suddenly, cutting off her District partner midsentence as she stands up quickly and walks away from him, taking deep breaths as she tries to calm her racing heart. "Fuck," Asha mutters under her breath as she keeps walking away from people, focusing so much on just getting away from her thoughts that her subconscious leads her right to the station she was trying to stay away from.
"Hi there," the trainer says as he approaches Asha, amused smile on his face at the prospect of her attempting to use the whips. "Would you like me to demonstrate how you use this weapon?"
Asha blinks a few times, trying to focus on his words and feeling embarrassed for a second that he is judging her, thinking she's weak and unable to use the whip. She'll show him. Asha puts her shoulders back as she steps up to the rack of whips, running a hand over them slowly, picturing a client on their knees in front of her, begging her not to hurt them. "I don't need help," Slash tells him as she picks one of the whips, finding it fitting comfortably into her hand. She eyes out the barbed tips of the whip as she steps up to the line several feet away from the dummy, a smirk slowly forming on her lips.
"Stomach," Slash says before lashing out with the whip, a crack sounding in the training center as she hits exactly where she said. "Head. Shoulder. Dick," the last one has Slash letting out a cackle as the whip strikes precisely where she said, blood appearing on the dummy from the spots she struck. She stands still for a moment, studying her work, a smirk of satisfaction on her lips as she imagines a client – no, a tribute – being the one that she hit with the whip, bleeding out in front of her.
"I stand corrected," the trainer says as he approaches her, studying the dummy and letting out a whistle. "Would not want to be the one you hit in the dick."
"Some don't complain about it," Slash answers and when the trainer gives her a confused look, Asha blinks a few times, realizing what she is doing. No, she shouldn't be feeling this rush of power from using the whip on a dummy while imagining it's a tribute. She shouldn't be enjoying the praise from the trainer. "I need to go," Asha says quietly as she shoves the whip into the trainer's hands and quickly gets away from there, trying to ignore the looks some of the careers are giving her.
Damn it, Asha, way to put a target on your back all because you couldn't stay weak.
But you liked the power, you liked being Slash.
Asha can feel an anger in her that she needs to let out, anger that she can't fight off this need for power. She needs to do something to get it out before it just festers in her chest and Slash comes out again. So she storms over to the weights, needing to do something that will make her feel like she's accomplishing something. She doesn't even care that the crazy bird boy is there, she'll just ignore him.
"Kinky weapon of choice," Sissel says to her as she sits down in front of one of the weights, watching her as he continues to silently lift more weight than one would expect from the scrawny boy.
Asha winces at the comment, turning her face away from Sissel for a moment, before realizing she has nothing to be ashamed about for using a whip and using it well. She meets his gaze, staring down the boy as she puts her hands on her hips and her shoulders back, knowing it shows off her chest proudly. "At least I have a weapon of choice, bird boy. What do you have? I haven't seen you at the weapons. And don't you dare even think for a second that I'm some sexual object for you to stare at."
"Good for you, I'm ace as fuck," Sissel answers with a roll of his eyes, not stopping from his weight lifting as he holds the weight out to the side at 90 degrees for an extended time. Asha relaxes a little at his response – albeit a bit offended at his tone – knowing he isn't just talking to her because of Slash. "As for a weapon, well…" Sissel glances over at the Gamemakers before answering, "I have something in mind that requires their approval. If not, I've been making animal traps for years. Can't be too different for humans. But I am aware I need someone with weapon skills."
Asha sighs as she sits down at one of the benches near him, her rush of energy draining from her and leaving her confused and conflicted on what to do. "That whip is the only thing I know how to do," Asha says quietly, putting her head down in shame that she is useless. She has no other skills to offer anyone, no skills to keep her alive. "I can't find food, I don't know how to build shelters, I'm…worthless."
Sissel sets down his weight loudly, bringing Asha's gaze up to him as he tilts his head to the side, studying her for a long moment before finally giving a noncommittal shrug. "I don't think the weapon skill is worthless."
"Are you proposing an alliance?" Asha asks him, surprised that someone is even considering taking her as an ally. Part of her is sure Laine is only working with her until he finds someone better.
Sissel just gives another noncommittal shrug as he stretches out his arms, still staring down at her with his head tilted to the side as he studies her. "You're the one that said it first."
Iroha Kinoshita, 18, District Six
Iroha isn't a dumbass. She can recognize the signs of when someone is keeping an eye on her, having spent years under the watchful and oppressive gaze of Kayden. And now in the Capitol, training for the Games, her nerves are on edge and she's hyperaware of everyone.
But she thinks anyone would start to notice when a tribute keeps showing up at the same stations that they are going to.
Iroha thought it was just coincidence after the first two times it happened. After all, she's been at the survival stations. Lots of the tributes are going to these stations and she's had some conversations with some of them, seeing who might be a good ally for her. Dresden has ended up at some of the stations with her and while the conversation is polite, they're certainly not going to be friends. At least he's a bit more cordial than Samis. The boy from Three immediately shut down any possibility of conversation and left, clearly refusing to have any allies.
She's kept her distance from that Grey from Eight and the tributes he's put his sights on. She saw the signs in him, heard the comments, and knows he is the last person Iroha wants to be near. A part of her pities Gwenith and Artem, knowing they fell for his honeyed words, and part of her wants to give a warning to Sasha to keep refusing him, but then she reminds herself that she is in the Games and she cannot be wanting to protect these tributes.
That's why she's stayed far away from the pair from Seven, joined by Ally from Ten rather quickly. They're all too young, too much like children and remind her of her own baby back home. Ally seems to be the one in the alliance doing the most effort to get them training, dragging Pascal and Betula around to most of the stations, the pair from Seven mostly goofing off and cracking morbid jokes at each other, clearly accepting their inevitable doom.
But when Iroha went to one of the more obscure stations and the tribute followed her there, she realized there's no way it wasn't just coincidence.
So now, at the fourth station she has ended up with the same tribute at today, Iroha finally decides it's time to let some of her meek demeanor drop and talk to the woman. "Hello again," Iroha says pleasantly with a small smile, glancing up a little bit from her work on building a snare that could be used on tributes.
The girl from Eleven looks a little surprised at first at Iroha speaking up, but soon smiles at her pleasantly. "Hi, I'm Jenny," she says politely as she holds out her hand to Iroha. "I guess I should introduce myself since we've wound up working at the same stations together quite a bit today!"
Iroha nods her head slowly as she takes Jenny's hand, both of them firmly grasping the other. "Iroha," she answers quietly, trying to study Jenny and figure out just why this woman from Eleven has been following her around today. Does she trust the friendly and warm smile? Of course not, but Iroha doesn't trust anyone but herself. And if for some reason Jenny wants to be allies with the pregnant woman, Iroha won't turn her down. She doesn't exactly have options lined up.
"You familiar with traps at all?" Jenny asks as she nods her head down at the pitiful attempt Iroha has been making.
"Not at all," Iroha answers with a chuckle, hoping that keeping up a friendly attitude will keep Jenny around. She could use someone to take the fall for her instead. And if Jenny is willing to ally with a pregnant woman, then she surely must be gullible and naïve. But the smile soon fades from her face at a kick from the baby and she curses under her breath in pain. "Damn it."
Jenny's smile also drops as Iroha puts her hand on her stomach, rubbing the spot in pain. But in her eyes, Iroha can see her own bit of pain there. "Are they doing anything about your baby?" Jenny asks her quietly, leaning in closer as she looks over at the Gamemakers discretely, not wanting them hearing the bit of anger in her voice. "If not…" Jenny just shakes her head, letting Iroha know just what she thinks. But when Jenny's hands start absentmindedly moving towards her stomach and she stops herself, Iroha raises an eyebrow as she studies her, but soon relaxes her face into a sad frown when Jenny looks her way.
Interesting. No wonder Jenny has been talking to her.
"Yeah I've been doing everything I can to get them to do something," Iroha finally answers her quietly, turning back to looking down at her trap to hide the look in her eye as she figures out how to keep Jenny in an alliance – assuming she wants one. "Bee and the mentors have been talking to the Capitol a lot and they agreed to deliver the baby before the Games, thankfully. So I won't be as much of a liability in the arena."
Iroha glances over to see Jenny nodding her head at this, looking pained at the topic. "That's good. I'm glad your baby will get to live. But…what will happen if you don't win? Do they have a parent to go to?"
Iroha can't help the fear and anger flashing on her face at just the thought of her baby going to Kayden. She cannot let that happen…and she has to get Noah out of that situation. If Iroha doesn't win…fuck, what will happen to her children? She has to say something, but who can she trust with the knowledge of what Kayden has done to her? Iroha carefully chooses her words, not wanting to let Jenny in on all her dark secrets, knowing someone could use it against her. "I think…it would be better for them to stay with me than to go to their father."
Jenny lets out a 'hmm' at this and then stays quiet, working on her trap in silence. Iroha glances over at her, trying to figure out what she could be thinking, but the girl keeps her face a blank mask. It's clearly she's deep in thought, but just like Iroha, she's not exactly opening up. "Well let's hope they have someone to care for them."
"Indeed," Iroha answers, knowing she's going to do everything possible to be that person for them. Even if it means killing her own ally or sacrificing them to get away from a threat. And her gut isn't giving her any immediate red flags as she sits with Jenny, telling her that she can work with Jenny, use her to get her farther in the Games. "You know…if you're willing to work with a mother desperately trying to win for her baby…"
"I know a bit about that," Jenny mutters under her breath, surprising Iroha a bit, but Jenny turns to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I think maybe we could work together."
It's not a yes for sure, but really, Iroha doesn't blame Jenny not agreeing immediately. After all, they just started talking to each other and Iroha has probably the biggest trust issues around. Jenny is not at all who Iroha was aiming to have as an ally…but she isn't going to complain. After all, better to have an ally than no one at all, and she didn't even have to go out of her way to find one.
And there we have training day one! I always love the training chapters and getting to set up the alliances! And this one had alliances form that I've had planned for a long time now - Jenny and Iroha has been an idea since I first saw their forms and Sissel and Asha was also an early idea. How well will these new alliances work together? Guess you'll all find out the answer to that sooner or later lol, I already know and I'm excited for arena plans I have.
Next chapter we'll check in with Abel and Sasha for training day two! That will be up next Monday because the stockpile is still going strong! At the time of posting this, the next thing to write is the bloodbath so I anticipate having that done before the next update :3 But of course, we still have a lot of time before that chapter will be up so don't start panicking yet. Okay it's actually only four more updates and a little over a month away, so maybe start worrying a bit.
RQ #16: Who would you pick as an ally in this group of tributes?
And how about an updated alliance list:
- Pissing Contest Time (Rodrick, Tiv, Marian, Kaz, Abel, Orin)
- The Sassy Pre-Teens (TM) and Mom (Pascal, Betula, Ally)
- The Babysitter Club (Grey, Gwenith, Artem)
- An ornithologist, a dominatrix, and a farm boy walk into a bar... (Asha, Laine, Sissel)
- Can't get manipulated if you manipulate them first (Iroha, Jenny)
- Loners (Samis, Sasha, Margaery, Dresden, Grant)
Okay I will see you next Monday with the rest of training! And in the meantime, keep an eye out for this Friday because I will be posting the first prologue for Renegades!
