Chapter 6
I'm used to waking up early, so getting up for seven o' clock didn't bother me in the least. During the school year back home, I usually get up at the crack of dawn so I have time to hunt and do the shopping before I head off to school. My dad thinks that I take on way too much responsibility for a thirteen-year-old, but I don't mind having a lot to do each day.
Breakfast is a giant buffet of pancakes, eggs, sausages, fruit, cereal, and any other breakfast food you could think of. If I'm going to be a contender in the arena, I need to start putting on some pounds, so I rack up all of the protein I can onto my plate.
Before I even have a chance to sit down, Mulvain has already started coaching me in what to expect during the training process. "The Careers are going to be going for all the big fancy weapons right off the bat just to psyche everyone else out. Make sure you only focus on yourself and what you can do. Don't give into their mind games."
"Um, what do you mean by Careers?" I ask, as I have never heard that term before.
"The Careers refers to the tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4. They train in a special academy until they're eighteen, and then they volunteer themselves. By that point, they are very dangerous." Hold on a minute. That's why they always win and always volunteer themselves? I thought they were just overly cocky and fed properly.
"Isn't getting proper training before the Games cheating?" I ask him.
"Yes, technically it is, but they always get away with it" Mulvain says with a tone of resentment. It figures they'd get away with something like that. Districts 1, 2, and 4 have always been good at kissing the Capitol's ass, so of course it would be prefered that their favourites are pushed to win.
"I had meant to ask you earlier. Is there any sort of strengths of yours I should know about?" Mulvain then asks me, changing the subject.
"Well, my dad taught me how to use a crossbow when I was a little girl. I use his old one to hunt for game to sell" I tell him.
"Well, if you've been shooting for that long you must be pretty good" he says.
"I'm ok" I reply. My family and friends have always said that I'm way too modest, and that I'm excellent with a crossbow. One time I took Bil with me on one of my hunts, and he was buzzing about my shooting to Cress for weeks after. I was super embarassed.
"You got anything else other than the crossbow?" Mulvain asks. As I'm about to shrug my shoulders and end the conversation, Farley intervenes.
"She's lightning fast. One time our whole grade had a race for Field Day, and she beat everyone without breaking a sweat" he says, and I immediately start avoiding eye contact in embarassment.
"Is that true?" Mulvain asks as he turns back to me.
"I guess" I say in the softest voice imaginable. I remember that race, too. I was surprised when I turned around and saw everyone trailing behind me, as I thought I was going just as fast as everyone else.
"You definitely have skills that will serve you well in this game. All I'm going to say to you is, do not show them off during training. If the Careers see you even coming close to upstaging them, a target will be on your back. Instead, try to focus on survival skills, such as building a fire and tying knots" Mulvain tells me, and I nod in understanding.
The outfits they're having us wear for training are weird. Everyone has to wear these red, silver, and blue shirt and leggings with their district number on their backs. I've never worn a tighter outfit in my life, as these things are hugging me in all the wrong places. I'm used to wearing comfy clothing that moves with me and not against me.
As soon as the elevator brings Farley and I to the training floor, we see that everyone is already there, and that we're the last two to show up. All the other tributes turn to look at us as we finally join them, and all I want to do is crawl into a ball in the corner as I feel all of the Careers' intimidating gazes fall on me all at once.
The Head Trainer then begins her introduction by telling us about each station, and how it is important not to ignore survival skills over weaponry. She then sends us on our way, and everyone gets to work.
The Careers all head for the stations that have the deadliest weapons, and automatically pick them up and handle them with ease. Typical. Everyone else just heads for whatever catches their eye first.
While I'm trying to decide what I want to do, I feel a tap on my shoulder. "You want to come and learn how to build a fire with me?" Farley offers. I had completely forgotten that I had offered to train with him today.
"Yeah, let's go" I reply, and we head over to the fire station.
While we're building our fire, we talk for a bit. "I know you're probably raring to go over to the big stations and obstacle courses. You'd totally own them too, those Careers aren't shit compared to you" Farley says.
"Nah, I'd rather work on survival stuff, plus Mulvain warned me in saying that showing off my skills too early would make me a target to others" I say while eyeing the Careers now lined up at the big obstacle course in the back.
Farley follows my gaze, and automatically knows what I mean. "Keeping it mysterious, I get it. Don't want to come off as a threat too early on" he says as he nods in agreement.
I look down and see that Farley is now trying to start the fire, but is moving his hands way too slow. "You have to be a bit faster than that" I say, as I take his stick and start it myself. After a bit of quick rubbing, the fire bursts into life in front of our eyes. "Thanks" he says in response, and I shoot him a quick smile.
I look up to the north left-hand corner of the room to see the Gamemakers up in their chairs, who are supposed to be watching us train. In the middle is the new Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, who appears to be telling a funny story to the guy next to him. His beard has been trimmed into the shape of flames, and he wears a red ensemble to go along with his fiery theme. They all have drinks in their hands and are not paying attention to what is going on below them, which mildly infuriates me for some reason.
After the first day of training, Mulvain discusses the importance of the Training Evaluation over dinner. "You will be evaluated on whatever skill you present to the Gamemakers on a scale of one to twelve, one being the worst and twelve being the best. This is quite possibly the best time to show off your skills, as getting a good score can attract a lot of sponsors. If someone helps you out, they want to be sure that you'll win, so give them something to work with" he says.
"But what about the Careers? Surely if I do manage to get a good score I'll be one of the first ones they'll want to hunt down" I inquire.
"That's the good thing about showing off then. No one will see but the Gamemakers. You still have the element of surprise, as they won't know where exactly your strengths lie" Mulvain reassures me.
The rest of the week goes by pretty quickly. Farley and I spend our time learning useful things such as tying various knots to make traps, learning about safe and dangerous flora, and making fish hooks in case we need to fish for food. I notice that there is a station for shooting weapons, and I let my eyes wander to the various crossbows they have lined up for practice. These ones are way fancier than my dad's old one back home, and I'm curious to see how they shoot. Even so, I restrain myself, and return my focus to the other things I'm learning instead.
The Careers are way cockier than I ever could have imagined. They all stick together like some bitchy clique in school, and often laugh at other tributes when they are struggling with something. Also, I don't like the way that District 1 boy looks at everybody, like we're just a bunch of fresh meat, especially the girls. I've caught him staring at me a couple times, and try my best to stay away as much as possible.
While almost all of the poorer district tributes are struggling, the District 10 girl seems to know what she's doing. She passed all of the obstacle courses just as easily as the Careers, and can even handle a spear really well.
I stood and watched her train with the hand-to-hand combat trainer for a bit, and I must say she really knows how to fight. Her lean body moves so swiftly against the trainer's, and she seems to always know where she is and how she can counter him. For whatever reason, watching her made me feel hot and lightheaded, so I took a bit of a break before taking on one of the climbing obstacle courses.
Sleep doesn't come easy the night before my Training Evaluation, as I'm starting to doubt my abilities. I haven't shot in a while, what if I'm rusty? I think to myself as I sit on the windowsill near my bed. There is a lot riding on getting a good score tomorrow, as it could potentially mean life or death once the Games begin.
As I'm mentally fighting with myself, Farley comes in for a chat. We've made a habit of checking in with each other every night to avoid losing our minds over this whole thing. Being groomed for a death game isn't the best on one's mental health, so it's good to get my feelings out sometimes.
"What'cha thinking about over there?" Farley says as he takes a seat on the other side of the windowsill.
"I just can't stop fretting about tomorrow. I don't know, I guess I'm just being overly worried, like always. I just want to do well is all" I confess. While I love our late night talks, I hate that I'm getting so attached to Farley. At least one of us is going to have to die for the other to have a chance of going home, and I don't plan on being the one that dies.
"I think you're going to blow those Gamemakers away tomorrow. I've seen you in action, and you're damn quick. You're an excellent shooter, too" Farley says.
"You haven't even seen me shoot" I say with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah I have. Well, not directly, but don't think it went unnoticed when my father brought home a big turkey that was 'shot by this amazing little hunter with a crossbow'" he says as he does an impression of the mayor's voice. I giggle at his silliness
"But seriously, I can't remember the last time my dad bought anything from the Market. Anyone worth his money must be something special."
"Thank you" I say. I will admit, that made me feel kind of nice.
"Well, what are you planning to do for the Evaluation tomorrow?" I ask in an attempt to take the focus off of myself.
"You know, I haven't actually decided yet. I've been going over with Hestia what stations went well in training, so hopefully we can come up with some sort of plan over breakfast" he says. In all honesty, he should really have something mapped out already.
"I meant to ask you, how good is Hestia with the mentoring? Does she give you good advice?" I ask him. I had been wondering about Farley's mentoring situation for a while now, as I always seem to be better informed than he is.
"Honestly, I think the woman's mind has been gone for years. She's pretty absent a lot of the time, and always seems either dazed or confused. Even so, I manage to squeeze something out of her every once and a while" he says. Man, the odds are really not in poor Farley's favour.
"You deserve a lot better than that, though. Every tribute should have equal access to information, not just bits and pieces whenever their mentor feels like it. Mulvain always makes sure I know what comes next and how I should prepare" I say.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. Up to this point I've just been leading by your example. You always seems to know what you're doing, so I figure I'll be alright if I copy you" he says. I never thought of myself as the role model type, so that took me by surprise.
"Well, I've just been doing what Mulvain tells me" I admit.
"He's a really good mentor. You really lucked out with him, huh?" he says.
"Yeah, I guess I did" I say, and I can't help but feel guilty. Poor Farley hardly has any skills and is stuck with a shitty mentor, while I at least have something to build off of and a mentor who actually does his job. That doesn't sound very fair to me.
"Well, we better get to bed. We have a long day ahead of us, so it'd be good to get some rest" Farley says as he gets up.
"Ok. I'll see you in the morning. Good luck tomorrow" I say as he moves towards the door.
"Same to you, I know you're going to knock 'em dead" he says, and I feel a slight blush creep onto my cheeks.
Before he can leave, he turns back and says, "Good night, Rina," and closes the door. I could've sworn he looked at me in a way that was different than before. It's probably just my imagination…
