"The Fork"

A/N: This chapter is short, but I've been hitting some writer's block and really just wanted to get something out, so here we are!

~I feel like new sunglasses, like a brand new pair of jeans

I feel like taking chances, I feel a lot like seventeen~

Juniper Lourdes, 16, District Seven

How far are you allowed to go to avoid dying? That question had been eating Juniper alive for the previous three days. It bounced around her bring, echoing and reverberating with every action she took, every careful word she placed. She hadn't chosen to be reaped, she didn't want to go into the arena. But she was, whether she liked it or not. And the options were to either let it happen, or to stay on her feet and fight. She didn't have skills with a weapon, or sticky fingers that allowed her to climb on walls, or a calculator of a brain that could solve any problem in an instant. Her talents came with people, and getting them to do what she wanted. It wasn't a gift she asked for, but it was the gift she had. Was it so wrong to use the only weapon she had to keep herself alive?

She wished that she could reason herself to some sort of answer, preferably a reassuring one. But there was nobody to bounce her thoughts off of. No Harlow to chat with on a quiet summer day in the forest, no mentor to give her the necessary advice she needed to win. It was just Juniper. Nobody was here to decide for her, or tell her what was right or wrong. If she did something evil because nobody was there to warn her otherwise, was that an excuse or an indictment?

Too many questions and not enough answers, that just about summarized Juniper's last few days. She really thought that life couldn't get any more complicated, any more muddled or morally disguised than life in District Seven already was. The universe seemed to have taken that as a joke, and it had delivered the punchline.

And now here she was. The previous night she had been highlighted as one of the standout tributes, and she was soaring up the popularity rankings. The enigmatic beauty from Seven, that was what the Capitol had taken to calling her. The other tributes were all just as interested, and in just a day of training she had found herself showered with alliance offers.

Her district partner Vesa was the most enthusiastic of the three, looking to add her to the large Career alliance spearheaded by the District Four dimwits. She had also spent some time with the large outlier alliance, spending a particular amount of time next to the popular boy from Twelve, Denver. And then there was the other Career pack, led by Talon Olympus. He hadn't outright offered her a position. He appeared out of nowhere while she was at a station, and started what was practically an interview session. The guy seemed smart, competent, and she had no doubts that this would be the strongest alliance in the arena. But still, something about talking to him. . . it was like he could see directly through her. She didn't like the feeling. While he expressed interest in her joining the alliance, she played her cards calmly, and told him she'd consider the offer.

Vesa chatted with her in a way Juniper was sure he thought to be charismatic the whole way down the elevator. He talked about he had originally intended on only allying with one or two people, but the Career opportunity was too good for them to pass up on. He told her how he needed someone he could trust with him in the alliance, and she was the only one he could be sure was actually trustworthy. She almost wanted to scoff at that, but nodded her head and pretended to be concerned. She would be sympathetic and friendly with the boy, even if she didn't end up joining his alliance. After all, he had been training, and there was a good chance she ran into him in the arena. If that happened, she wanted to be on his good side and meet him as a friend, not an opponent. It was amazing the effect a smile and a twirl of the hair had on people sometimes.

They arrived down on the training floor, and the second day of training began. Most of the serious competitors were already down, all of the Careers and the rest of the tributes that had set themselves aside as serious threats. Marquise, the girl from Five, even the young boy from Ten, Jamie, were all early.

Juniper took a moment to weigh her options. A night of thinking had left her with an idea of what she had to do, but she gave herself a moment in the midst of everyone to rethink her choice. This wasn't a simple decision she could go back on. This was life or death. The right decision could carry her all the way to the finale without having to get her hands dirty even once. The wrong one could see her carted away in a coffin before the canons started firing.

Talon Olympus was far too clever. He knew who she was. Yet he wanted her near him anyways. Maybe he could see beneath the manipulative surface she wore, but maybe he saw even deeper than that. Juniper wondered if the boy could somehow know that beneath everything, Juniper didn't want to hurt anyone. She did what she did not out of choice, but out of necessity. Panem was a dog eat dog world, and she intended to be feasting, not left out to scrounge for scraps. Surely someone who volunteered for the Hunger Games would understand that, of all people.

Yet still the risk remained. If she was wrong, if he didn't see that, then the alternative was far less sweet. He saw her as a risk, and wanted to keep her close in order to take her out as early as possible. That didn't sit well with her, and the chance of it being the truth was far closer to fifty percent than it was to zero. So no, she couldn't join with the boy from Two. It may have been the highest reward, but it was also the biggest risk, and she wasn't going to take risks with her life if she didn't need to.

Then there was the gaggle of outliers. Denver was loved by the Capitol, and actually pretty clever, and the girl from Eleven joining his side only added more brains to their alliance. But what the alliance had in brains, it fully lacked in brawn. Not a single person in the group weighed more than one-fifty pounds soaking wet, and in an arena with more than a handful of deadly killers, that was a problem Juniper wanted to avoid.

That left her with only one choice. Aphrodite and Logan were dumb as bricks, the both of them. Udon, Inesa, and Vesa all thought themselves clever, but none of them really were, for one simple reason. None of them had to put their brains to the test against anyone else. They got their way back home, she was sure. They probably were able to swindle and twist and poke and prod at family members and friends and make them do what they wanted. But to them that was just a game, just a little trick. For Juniper, it was her life. Her identity. Who she was. Juniper embraced it, even when she would rather be someone else.

Juniper knew who everyone in that alliance really was. What made them tick, their weaknesses and their strengths, and not a single one of them saw her as anything more than a pretty face. It was a familiar situation that Juniper had run through a thousand times before, and with everything going on, Juniper could go for some familiarity about now.

She allowed Vesa to meet up with the rest of his alliance at one of the stations before sauntering over, an effortlessly charming smile in place as she announced her presence to the group.

"My friend Vesa tells me you all are looking for one more member," she said.

"You interested?" Logan asked bluntly, and Juniper just smiled and twirled her hair, her eyes flirting up to the ceiling.

"I am," she said, and a slight purr slipped into her voice. "I can just tell looking at you all, we're gonna get along just great."

Marquise Clifton, 18, District Eleven

A part of Marquise always knew that he would be headed for the arena. For all the good he had tried to do, weighing out the bad he had down before still seemed impossible. His karmic scales were out of balance, and what better way for the universe to tip the scales to be more even? He saw the talking heads discussing his chances, predicting his odds at victory, placing their bets, they were even calling him a favorite. It was all temptation, urging him to try to fight for victory. Winning would mean survival, wealth, fame, adoration, all the things he had spent so much of his life obsessed with. But he had grown past those desires. Marquise was going into the arena, but he would not be heading out.

That didn't mean giving up. Giving up was never a luxury that Marquise had allowed himself, and now wouldn't be the time to start. He would fight, and do what he could to do right by others in the Games. In an arena where everyone and everything was obsessed with killing and harming one another, a single soul who was there to help was something they all needed, whether they realized it or not. This was his way to finally balance his scales, wipe away his debt, clear the ledger.

He was at the flexibility station, legs crossed and eyes closed as he focused on his senses. His bare feet on the mat, the humming of electricity in the air intercut with screams and grunts of exertion, he was a mist of calm in the midst of a chaotic ocean. A few people had already come up and tried to strike a conversation with him early in the morning. The boy from Two had asked him a few questions, and it had been a good chat. There was no talk of alliances or strategy or the arena, just philosophy and morals. The boy seemed genuinely interested in what Marquise had to say, and left him after a half-hour of talking, seeming a mix of pleased and disappointed. He must have not needed to ask to know that Marquise wouldn't be joining into any alliance with him.

There were a few others, but none of them had stuck with him in the same way. They had all been far more blunt and forthcoming. They wanted to ally, Marquise did not. The conversations were brief. They had all seemingly gotten the memo, though, and now he was left alone to sit in calm and silence. Loneliness was a familiar comfort, and he found peace in it. The rooftop had become his favorite place to visit once the day of training came to an end. He could stay at the training center, but there seemed to be at least somebody there at all hours of the day or night (most often the small girl from Two or either of the pair from One), and even when it was empty it didn't offer the same peace that the rooftop did.

There was a calm up there, looking down at the world from above, everything seemed so small and minute. His problems were far away, distant both in time and place. His memories could still haunt him, his scars still reminding him of the pain he caused, but ever since his name had been called those old bruises had felt less painful. He had worked to pay back the debt that he owed the universe for as long as he could, and now he was being pulled away from this life before he had the chance to slip back into evil or complacency. There was a simplicity and peace in his looming fate that he hadn't felt in a long time.

The world was one, and he didn't fear what came beyond life. The unknown of the future was far less fearful than the known of the past.

He spoke with Ciera for a while earlier in the morning, she was an early riser and caught him before he could go down to the training center. He didn't know what to make of her. It was hard for him to tell who she was, whether she was kind or wicked, truthful or dishonest. It's always hard to know who someone is when they don't seem to know themselves.

Marquise would keep an eye on her, though. She was District Eleven, just like him, and he owed a debt to anyone from the district, regardless of who they were. It felt like the list of people that he ought to look out for in the arena was growing by the day. It both sickened and relieved him that the list would be much shorter by the end of the first day.

He still didn't know what to do about the bloodbath. Would it be right for him to stand and fight, protecting those who would get caught in the crossfire of the warring Career packs? Or should he slip away, living to fight another day and protect those who were without protection? It was easy to philosophize and imagine, but reality tended to be much more abrupt and uncontrollable. No matter, though. Whatever came for him in the arena, he would be prepared. He had seen death before.

Gauze pads covered the palms of his hands, hiding his scars. The hospital bed kept him propped up so that he could see the rest of the room. He was supposed to be getting rest, but sleep wouldn't come. Every time he closed his eyes the same images would flash before him. Aledia, blood pouring from her chest, Célésie gurgling up blood as she gasped for air that wouldn't come, Lurita hanging from her bedroom window, bed sheets wrapped around her neck. And the image that stuck with him most of all; the sun beating down on his bloodied body, death completely surrounding him. Yet there he was, still alive. Forced to witness it all. One final punishment before he met the same fate.

Marquise opened his eyes, pushing aside the memory and focusing himself on the present. The mat pressed firmly against his feet and the palms of his hands. The artificial light hummed and cast down on him. Twenty-three children wandered the room. He was in the present, not the past. And soon, those scars would not haunt him anymore.

Talon Olympus, 18, District Two

Finding allies was proving to be more difficult than Talon would have imagined. It wasn't that there was a lack of good candidates, there were plenty of good options, it was just that all of them seemed determined to not get into an alliance. Troy and Vivian were already big losses, and Marquise could have been a perfect replacement had his moral code not gotten in the way of any chance for that. Ty and Julie from Three were decent options, but they were avoiding him like the plague and seemed content with their small alliance they had. And then Juniper and Ciera, his next two choices, went and found themselves separate alliances as well. He was glad to have a solid foundation with Maya and Lana, but it was beginning to look like slim pickings beyond them, and with seven people in the opposing Career alliance, he needed some more members desperately.

Nikola was still lurking nearby. Talon was keeping an eye on the man. He was dangerous, far more so than he appeared to be. The fact that he still wanted to be a part of Talon's alliance didn't sit well with him, but it was beginning to look like it may become necessary. He hoped it didn't come to that. There was still one more person that could salvage the alliance.

The girl from Five that had become known as River sat alone at the bow station, imperceptibly silent as she tip-toed around the course and poked holes in the targets. Lana shadowed him, following his gaze to the girl with a curious look in her eyes. He had managed to peel the daggers away from her for a short while, and that gave him enough peace of mind to approach the girl from Five without having to worry about Lana slitting her throat open like she had nearly done to Nikola earlier in the morning when he attempted to talk to them.

He approached River as she was standing at the firing range, loosing arrows against targets, her eyes narrowed in concentration. She didn't turn to face him, but her feet shifted in the subtlest of ways, her fingers clenching around the wooden frame of her bow.

"You're a good shot," Talon said nonchalantly. He leaned his back up against the wall, and flashed a friendly smile. Lana stood awkwardly and continued to glare.

River stopped for a moment, still holding the bow tight and staring across the range. She nodded her head.

"Who taught you to shoot like that?" Talon asked. He was fairly sure she knew how to speak, Nikola had said as much, but as his response continued to be met with silence, he found himself doubting that.

At last, she pulled away, her arrow facing the floor as she turned to Talon. Her eyes shined with curiosity. "Wanderer," she said simply.

Talon took a moment to take that in, then hesitantly said, "Wanderer, this is a person?"

She gave him a peculiar look, then nodded her head. "Yes." She turned back to the range, and knocked another arrow. Talon walked up beside her, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"How much of what's going on do you understand?" Talon asked, half to the girl and have to himself. "Do you even know where we're going?"

River loosed an arrow, and it hit the dummy in the eye. "Survive," she said quietly.

Talon nodded his head, and grabbed another bow, tracing his fingers along the wooden frame. "Survive, yeah. That's the goal." He peered over to her. "Tends to be hard to do alone."

"No," she said firmly. Her next arrow hit the target in the neck. "Alone."

"Are you sure about that?" He asked. "Lana, Maya, and I would all love to have you with us. We're stronger together, right?"

She set down the bow, and looked down at the ground, shaking her head grimly. "No. Bad."

"You think that we're bad people?" Talon laughed. "Trust me, I make sure there's no bad people in our group."

"No," she said again, with more emphasis this time. "Bad."

Talon eyed her curiously at that, but before he could get a chance to ask her to elaborate she was gone, hurriedly walking over to the elevator. Training ended in a few minutes, but still, it was odd. The girl had stayed late and woken up early every day so far, so why the sudden exit? There were too many questions about the girl from Five to even begin to search for answers, and as much as it troubled him, Talon forced himself to set those questions aside. He had to focus on the now, and what could be. If River wasn't an option, that narrowed the field considerably. He didn't want to play the game dangerously, he'd much prefer to keep a group of safe, trustable people around him. But if he needed to play the Games on the edge, he could do that too, and he could do it better than anyone else.

And luckily for Talon, he had somebody who was the perfect candidate for the new structure of his Career pack. Talon peered back over to where Nikola Surge looked on discreetly, and flashed the man a smile.

The Career pack was about to get far more dangerous.

A/N: Yeah, shorty little chapter. Gotta break that writer's block somehow, though. There won't be any Nightly Recap chapter this time, but I'll still be posting all that info on the blog, so check that out if you want to. I'm streamlining the pre-games just a little bit, because I was realizing that a few of these POVs were just filler and weren't actually necessary. Next chapter (and the final training chapter) just so happened to end up being the kiddos: River, Julie, Lana, and Sparrow. See you all then (hopefully next week)!