Chapter 17:

Aberforth 'Abel' Barringer, 18, District Four

Abel has been doing his best to keep a clear head in training, focusing on building up the skills that have been neglected a bit in the past two years after his accident. He knows his weakness is his lower body and it would be foolish to not work on that now.

It's hard not to compare himself to the other careers when they have been making no effort to hide their skills. Marian has been watching Rodrick, Kaz, and Abel as they work, before putting in even more effort at whatever station she's at, this time destroying dummies with a flail. Seriously, he would not want to be at the end of that flail…seeing the way that spiked ball is destroying dummies, he doesn't even want to imagine what that will do to a tribute.

Kaz has surprised him the most – despite making every effort to make sure the careers know he is the leader and deserves to be it, but Marian might think otherwise – he's spent a significant amount of time at some of the survival stations. But he still has kept up with his spear skills and Abel knows he'll be lethal and the other tributes have seen it.

Rodrick took the time with tridents yesterday, fully establishing himself and showing the others that he can most certainly kill again, but now he alternates between his weapon of choice and survival stations. He sits with confidence, knowing he has shown what he can do and feeling no shame in working on survival skills.

Tiv has spent her time between stations with Marian, chatting pleasantly with the girl from Two, and at the bow and arrows, showing off her lethal ability at a distance. Abel will admit it has put him a bit on edge seeing her skill, knowing he prefers fighting close range. If she were to turn on him…

Not even his District partner has kept up a conversation with him, but Abel has picked up on the fact that Orin really just prefers to be alone. Sure, Orin will give polite, if not blunt, responses when the careers talk to zim, but ze have preferred to work alone, silently killing dummies with knives, slicing them up.

And where has that left Abel? Giving a poor attempt at running with his stiff legs and not even being able to press half of the weight he can with his upper body. His weapon form is sloppy, his movements with the knives slow compared to him in his peak. He knows they see it. He can see the way Rodrick stares at him with that cold look in his eyes, or the way Marian watches and turns to make a comment to Tiv.

It's clear that Abel is the odd man out of the alliance… Even Rodrick with his criminal past is more accepted by the others than he is, all because Abel doesn't have legs that work as well as the others. And he hates the pit of envy that has been forming deep in him towards his allies, along with resentment that they don't think he is at the same level as them.

Can he really do this? Can he really defeat these people that are his allies and have been consistently training up until the day they volunteered while he has been out for two years? Even Rodrick is keeping up with the others after being in prison for a time… Was volunteering a mistake?

No, it wasn't. This has been his dream for as long as he can remember and he is going to do it. Abel needs to clear his head and there's one sure way to do that.

His steps are slow as he starts heading in the direction of the pool, feeling the soreness of working his muscles more in the last two days than he has in the last two years. But it's a good burn in his muscles, reminding him of days long past of being in training, working his body to its limit. But unlike then, Abel doesn't have stupid pride clouding his vision and making him feel invincible. He knows fully well that he is not invincible – his legs are a constant reminder.

A trainer sits by the pool, clearly bored by the lack of tributes swimming, but she looks up at Abel's approach. He gives her a respectful smile before diving right into the pool, not bothering to change into something else. He knows their outfits won't hold water for long. The cool rush of water over his head immediately helps settle the worries in him and Abel stays under for as long as he can, swimming around in the pool and finally feeling like he is doing something that he is truly good at. The water has always brought peace to him and today is no exception, even if it's just a pool and not the ocean.

Abel finally comes up for breath and starts doing laps down the long length of the pool, focusing on his strokes and breathing to steady his mind. This is more than just proving to himself that he can do this, that he can do whatever he sets his mind out to do… He can show the whole country not to look down on people like him – or even Sasha and Artem – and they are still just as capable as the others.

Abel pulls himself out of the pool, shaking the water out of his hair as he picks up a towel and dries himself off, sitting down to take care with his braces. He glances over at the Gamemakers sitting high above them, noticing a few of them looking in his direction curiously, especially the young one next to the Head Gamemaker. He hasn't stopped watched Abel, Sasha, and Artem the whole time. The Gamemakers are the ones he needs to prove himself to, the ones that can control what fate he has in that arena… He has to show them that he is just like the other careers.

Abel glances around the training center, finding his allies easily scattered around the room. A plan forms in his head – a somewhat dumb plan, he can admit that – but a plan nonetheless to show off his skills as well as make sure the others know the career pack is going to be united and a threat. Because right now, they've barely spent time together in training except at lunch, and even then, they weren't talking much. Abel needs to get them friendly with him because that will make it a little less likely that they will turn on him first when things go south – after all, who would want to attack their friend over someone they barely know?

"Hey Kaz!"

The boy from Two looks up at the sound of his name and glances around the room until he sees Abel waving for him to come over. Kaz contemplates for a few seconds before heading over to Abel as he finishes up drying off. He stands up as Kaz approaches, putting the towel around his neck to catch any water dripping down from his hair and smiles at his ally. "Hey Kaz, I have an idea."

Kaz nods his head, struggling to meet Abel's gaze as he asks, "What is it?"

"How about we have a little friendly competition with our allies?"


Sasha Kolster, 16, District Three

Why can't he just let her stubbornly stay on her own and accept her impending doom in peace? God, he's even worse than her mother has been over the last few months and Sasha really didn't think that was even possible.

She's finally gotten a break from his insistent pestering and claims that she needs his help after snapping at Grey over lunch. But like, she didn't need someone to carry her tray of food for her! And it's safe to say that she's a bit stressed out and on edge from the whole death match they're about to be thrown into. So yeah, maybe she shouldn't have snapped and probably made an enemy out of him – based on the way he's currently sulking as he hovers over his two allies – but maybe he should have just taken her first answer of no. She was mad that the careers had taken Aberforth and also…as terrible as it is, a part of her doesn't want to talk to Artem, afraid that being near someone like her is just going to make her be unable to keep pretending that there's nothing wrong with her…

No, it's not her fault for snapping at Grey.

"Who does he even think he is?" Sasha asks Samis in disbelief, her District partner just sitting there quietly as she rants to him, focusing on the trap he's building. "Like dude, get over it, we're about to go into the Games! Why does he even want to get close to people right now? All but one of us is going to be dead soon, you know?"

Samis nods his head in agreement at this, glancing up briefly at Sasha before turning back down to his trap, staying silent. Sasha shakes her head at this, letting out a loud sigh before slumping over, throwing down the supplies she was using in vain to make a trap. "Was it wrong to snap at him? I was just so frustrated because I want to be alone to simmer in all of my bitterness…"

Sasha glances over at Grey and his allies for a moment, finding Grey looking in her direction and frowning, just so much disappointment in his eyes. She quickly turns away, unsure of the pit forming in her stomach at the look. She was expecting anger over her outburst, not…disappointment.

Fuck, Sasha, stop.

"It's fine," Sasha says in a huff, grumpily picking up her supplies to try to get back to building her trap. "He's allowed to be sad or whatever. I'm not obligated to say yes to the first person who asks me to be their ally."

She says that like she's had plenty of options to be her ally. Grey's the only one that has asked her…and probably will be the only one. She thought she wanted to be alone, depend on only herself and stubbornly show she can still do it…but shit, she's scared at the thought of actually being alone in the arena…

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Sasha glances up at the person standing next to her and starts scowling, quickly turning her head back down to her work so he doesn't see it. "Did Grey send you over to make me feel bad?"

"Actually, no," Artem responds, still standing next to her and waiting for her to say yes or no to him joining. "I suggested I come over at talk to you."

"Oh," Sasha says quietly, unsure how she feels about Artem wanting to come talk to her. She tries to look to Samis, but her District partner is keeping his head down – but his body is turned to them, clearly listening. Sasha sighs and gestures to the station, "I'm not the training police, you can go wherever you want. And I'm not going to run away, that requires more effort than I feel like exerting right now. Sorry, no one legged races ahead."

Artem lets out a snort of laughter at her joke and Sasha looks over at him curiously as he sits down next to her with much more grace than she does. Envy flares up in her that he can move so much better than she can with her disability, even when he has an amputated leg. "How are you doing with all of this?"

Sasha throws down her supplies again in frustration, the question making her eyes well up from tears of fear and anger that she can't just be like everyone else and she's almost guaranteed doomed. "I just want to be able to do this on my own."

"But you can't…" Artem says quietly and Sasha starts to glare at him for telling her flat out that she can't, but stops when she sees the pain on his face reflecting what she's been feeling. "I've been trying my whole life to do things on my own. I get it, it's tough asking for help…but sometimes, there's nothing wrong with asking."

"Are you telling me that or telling yourself?" Sasha asks him, trying to avoid answering him. She…doesn't know how she feels about asking for help. It just…feels like she's giving up.

"Both, I suppose," Artem gives a shrug at her. He lets out a small sigh and shakes his head at himself before meeting Sasha's gaze, trying to give her a small smile. "You should give him a chance," Artem tells her quietly and Sasha lets out a 'hmph' at that. "I'm serious…he's being genuine."

"Sorry, I can't quite believe that someone who volunteered would be that selfless to ally with tributes like us," Sasha shakes her head at Artem. "What is he going to do next, make an alliance of all the youngest kids and be their babysitter?"

"I don't think he will," Artem tells her, uncertainty in his voice as they look over the trio of younger tributes.

"Gwenith makes sense because they're District partners," Sasha points out. "But us? Why us?"

"Because he volunteered to help his cousin who is like us," Artem answers, starting to make Sasha feel like a real ass if Grey was being genuine with wanting to ally with her… "Just give it a thought, okay?"

"I suppose," Sasha grumbles as Artem slowly stands up and she sits quietly, watching him head back over to Grey who looks so happy at his ally's return.

"It's a bad idea," Samis finally speaks up and Sasha looks over at him curiously, finding him shaking his head at her. "Any alliance in the Games is a bad idea. It doesn't take much to get attached to them. That's why I'm staying alone and you should too."

Sasha sighs at this, wishing she had the liberty to do that. But she can't…her legs don't work like Samis' legs. Even Aberforth with his leg braces can move better than her… "I don't know if staying alone is an option for me."


And we have the second day of training with our expected check in with the career alliance, as well as some insight into just what Grey is up to! So a lot of people are thinking the careers are shaky this year and you're absolutely right lol. Abel sees that too and is trying to do something about it XD and of course, Sasha is stubbornly trying to do things on her own, but we'll see how long that lasts for.

We're going to be kicking it into high gear with updates for the next couple weeks to get through the remainder of the pre-Games in-between the prologues for Renegades! The schedule is on my profile but we'll have two updates this week, regularly scheduled update next Monday, the Night Before chapter will be a Friday, and then there will be a two week respite before the bloodbath! Yeah, the bloodbath is approaching very soon with just three more chapters to go (wild) and just about a month away - June 19th! I have that written now which unfortunately means I can't stockpile more of this story because of sponsorship, but good thing it's just a month to go XD

As mentioned above, Renegades, the sequel to Senseless, is now up! Subs are open until June 24th for tributes and this is a full SYOT with the rare inclusion of the Capitol! So if you're interested in that, definitely check it out and consider submitting :)

And 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)

- Don't question it, it's a thing (Margaery, Dresden)

- Loners (Samis, Sasha, Grant)

RQ #17: Last chapter I asked who you would most want to ally with, but let's ask this week the opposite: which tribute would you not want to touch with a ten foot pole? XD

Alrighty, that's all I have to say this chapter! I will see you on Friday for the Private Sessions/Scores with Lisia and Jenny, and let me just say that Lisia has...quite the plan in store for this tributes. See you then!