XVIII. PARADISE

DAY 3

DEMETER JARNIVEN, DISTRICT 9 FEMALE (16)

It was the third day.

And almost half of the tributes were gone.

Somehow the tough boy from 6 had died, meaning his miniscule threat of district partner was still alive. Demeter was surprised, but it only forced her to be even more cautious. Then again, a threat was gone, which meant she was supposed to celebrate.

Should she?

It wasn't morally correct, but even so early in Demeter felt emotionally detached from it all. So to be honest, she was glad 6 was dead. It was an advantage for her. The other half of his district would probably be cold and buried too soon.

It didn't make her a terrible person, though.

Demeter was on the move as much as she could, and to her relief, she hadn't met up with Reyena. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was scared of the District 10 girl. No matter how low Demeter went, Reyena would go just a centimeter lower. How was she supposed to keep up with that when it just made Demeter feel like the bad guy in the scenario?

She wasn't broken yet, though, and of course never would be. Daughters of rebels always stayed strong and knew how to flash a smile at any time. Or even on cue.

Demeter had never really considered she could've been an actress if she'd been born in the Capitol. She hated the Capitol now, being a common district girl, but what would life be like if she had been a citizen of the Capitol? If one had thing had been different, would everything be different?

It was too theoretical for Demeter to muse over, especially because thinking about being a Capitol citizen, or even considered one, gave her a sour taste in her mouth.

Luckily, the District 9 girl had not run into any tributes just yet. Her pack which she'd retrieved at the bloodbath contained next to nothing, with one apple, an empty water glass and snare materials. She'd somehow managed to provide for herself so far, and finding a most-likely clean stream to refill her water had definitely helped, but the apple was gone and the snare hadn't caught anything in a while.

So now Demeter had nothing to eat and nothing to defend herself with.

She was probably in the worst place of all the competitors, unless you counted her numerous sponsors (who hadn't even given her anything yet, which Demeter definitely found frustrating).

What was she supposed to do to get their attention- do a flip? Sing? The latter would get her killed, she thought wryly, and besides Demeter wasn't very good at either. Plus, she wasn't here to impress. She was in the arena to get out.

Just like everyone else.

Demeter had been hiking for a while, but was making sure to stay close to the stream where she'd found water earlier. It was easy to get lost in the mess of an arena, though, and Demeter swore she was constantly going in circles. At least the other tributes were probably, hopefully doing as bad as she was.

12 kids left to go. Of them all, the Careers were probably the biggest threats, considering all six of them were still alive and probably going strong. Then there was the female duo from 3 and 11, who hadn't amounted to much. Demeter wasn't too worried about 11, but 3 was probably a moderate threat having gotten a 6 in training. Additionally doubted the girl's anger had run short yet. But then again their luck was too strong so far, and it was going to have to shatter sometime.

The girl from 6 was weak, and Demeter could easily take her out if she had actually managed to grab a weapon at the Cornucopia. Then there was Reyena, who was probably well liked in the Capitol now because of her kill. But Reyena was too arrogant. With one slipup, with one fall, Reyena could run into a Career and be killed. Demeter, despite Reyena's young age, would do the deed herself if it meant she'd win. It wasn't a cowardly idea, because everyone else probably had the same train of thought as Demeter did with their respective alliances. Backstabbing was the key to survival in Games like these.

And then finally, of the tributes left, last and definitely least were the kids from 12 who were still alive probably to everyone in Panem's shock (Demeter included herself in that statement). Given they'd only gotten a three and a five at training, they would be dead soon enough, and Demeter obviously didn't have to worry about them much.

Demeter stopped to rest and sat down on a large boulder, digging in her pack for her water bottle. She took a large sip, sighing as she realized there wasn't much water left and she'd probably have to go back to the stream soon enough.

Hearing a small tingling, she snapped her gaze to a parachute which was slowly descending from the air, a box attached to it.

A sponsor gift.

"It's about time," she muttered, scaling the tree and seizing the gift.

What had they gotten her? Food? Demeter's stomach growled. She was starving, so food would be awesome. Demeter unfolded the fancy green envelope attached to the gift hastily.

She made sure to keep her voice low as she read, "Bring home the crown…." she wrinkled her nose, "...Demmie!"

What was up with people calling her Demmie?

Like everything in the world, it was probably Reyena's fault.

Demeter moved on, reading the last words on the note, "Love from Trish and Marie."

And who were Trish and Marie?

Probably some people from the Capitol.

They weren't all bad eggs, then, Demeter thought reluctantly.

She didn't wait to think about it anymore, instead ripping open the package. Demeter let out an audible gasp, grasping the sickle and examining it. Immediately Demeter mentally gave a prayer of thanks to Trish and Marie, as obviously the sickle was top of the line (having it been painted gold only gave it more glamour), but more important was the fact that she wasn't defenseless anymore. It was beautiful, yet deadly.

Just like her.

Had luck returned to the side of the District 9 girl?

She looked up from the sickle, her head held a little taller than earlier as she flashed her charismatic grin, "Well, my name's not Demmie, but thank you for the gift!" she called, then realized it probably wasn't the smartest idea to yell when there could be other tributes around.

Whatever. Demeter was armed now.

And maybe even though the sickle had gotten to her head just a bit, Demeter could make it to the end. People did like her, and Reyena hadn't been able to steal that popularity away.

She was the Capitol's darling, and nobody could change that.

Not even the manipulative know-it-all from 10, a psychopathic Career, or anybody else.

Demeter had a crown she'd chased after and desired for years, and was ready to show it off.

DEIONDRA ASHEZ, DISTRICT 11 FEMALE (17)

Arden was too confident.

Yeah, they were doing pretty well, but too much confidence could jinx them. Especially since the jungle showed very little signs of life, and they could be walking right into any other tribute at any time.

And then it had occurred once again to Deiondra that Arden didn't care about death.

Deiondra's ally was slowly dancing across the line of utter carelessness, but with that came a bitterness. Obviously, something had been suppressed or neglected in her life, but it was more likely for Deiondra to die before Arden would tell her. Especially given their current circumstances. But there was just something wrong about how broken the fourteen year old seemed, and how warped that was. Arden was almost the youngest tribute in the Games this year, yet her mental stance seemed more mature than that of older, stronger tributes.

Deiondra couldn't fathom just not caring. There was so much for her to do if she could get home, and besides, the very notion of death itself sent shudders through Deiondra's body. She was merely human, and being scared of death, paranoid even, only emphasized that fact. Oh, to not care like Arden. Deiondra couldn't imagine being free of the worry that something was constantly creeping up and attacking you when luck escaped your grasp.

It was hard not to think about, but Deiondra did try.

She just rarely succeeded.

And to get back home to Amber her paranoia wasn't necessarily a bad thing, right? It just meant she was more than careful, and that was never a bad thing with rebels.

Safety would come if she could escape the arena, and those chances were getting higher and higher with each death no matter the impact it made on the kids' families.

She could only imagine the impact it would have on hers if she died.

Deiondra supposed her uncle and the rebels would be upset, but they'd move on. Deaths happened all the time with them, despite the uniqueness hers would have. The sisters did have to sustain themselves though, so maybe it would just be one less burden to watch. Amber wouldn't move on so easily, as they were each other's rocks, but she'd be forced to.

It was possible, that with all of the constant moving, she'd lose memories tied to places and safe houses the sisters treasured so dearly.

And the District 11 girl couldn't let that happen.

But neither could she let her ally, who was so lost at this point, fail for another chance at life.

After hunting and successfully killing a rabbit, the pair had headed back to their camp to burn off some time before eating dinner.

In some ways, Deiondra reflected, the Hunger Games were a saving grace for those that escaped it. Even for Deiondra and Arden- especially for Deiondra and Arden. Winning would be a fresh slate.

Then again, losing would be a fresh slate too.

Deiondra didn't care if the desire to survive, a second instinct since the Peacekeepers stormed her home three years earlier, led to the deaths of others. She needed to get out, to breathe freely.

Or maybe she did care, Deiondra supposed, because within every tribute there could've been an Arden who wanted to be unlocked but refused to be. And was better at hiding their anger.

Arden was similar to Amber in some ways, but then again completely different. Whereas Amber's worldview was still somewhat positive, given her younger age had only encouraged Deiondra to shield her from the harsher aspects of it all, Arden's worldview was completely tainted and stained.

From what, though? The District 3 girl held her secrets close to her chest as Deiondra had learned to do, but she just wasn't relenting even through Deiondra's gentle pushes.

Arden's voice jolted Deiondra out of her thoughts, "Are we roasting this?"

Deiondra looked over, seeing Arden gesturing to the rabbit. Surprisingly, dusk had fallen while Deiondra had been reflecting.

Her voice quavered as she said, "Arden, it's not safe."

Deiondra's ally sighed, turning away.

She was restless, Deiondra knew it.

But to stomp through the arena, making as much noise as possible? Lighting a fire, the biggest mistake of the Games you could make?

It was just a risk Deiondra couldn't afford to take.

And to ensure silence, she had to make Arden want to live.

Easier said than done.

ANGELO MARRIS, DISTRICT 4 MALE (18)

And Hestia and Merlot were arguing again.

"We're running out of food!" Hestia shot at Merlot. "We have to ration it, and lunch is an unnecessary luxury!"

"Five of us are gonna be dead before it runs out, bitch," Merlot snapped.

"Yeah, and you'll be one of the five, I guarantee," Hestia retorted hotly.

Angelo and Tempest literally had to stop Merlot from killing Hestia.

All of the Careers were poised for flight, except Angelo.

It wasn't because he couldn't ready himself for the inevitable that would spawn from the already broken alliance (even though he'd expected this to happen) it was simply because Angelo wasn't fleeing the Careers until he had gathered more than enough evidence of a future betrayal. He had never preferred leaving with a moment's notice, no matter the situation.

Tension in the pack was higher with every passing day, with Merlot and Hestia's arguments exceeding screaming level and any outer district kid who had their wits about them was smart enough to evacuate the area. It was probably why they weren't catching anyone, Angelo thought wryly, and Merlot and Hestia knew it too, but they wouldn't admit it. At least Angelo could admit that was where they were similar: in their stubbornness.

The pair were still arguing fiercely as the other Careers lounged around the camp simply watching. Merlot and Hestia's fights were top-notch entertainment at the Career camp, except for Lux, who was always trying to stop them.

Lo and behold, Merlot's district partner stood up from her seat on a crate, calling to the pair, "Let's all calm down!"

Nero involuntarily snorted and Lux gave him a dirty look.

Angelo hadn't expected the arguments to get as frequent as they were now between the pack, but now even some of Angelo's allies who weren't part of the Hestia vs Merlot divide had snapped as well.

Lux herself hadn't been able to hold a grudge for long, especially over something that wasn't going to matter in the long run such as Nico's life, but she did occasionally throw glares whenever District 5 and/or Nico's name were brought up.

Angelo had been lucky enough to avoid crossing anyone yet, even though tempers were rising while the numbers declined.

It took everything you had not to question if you could actually make it to the finale because of this, and the constant whispering between other Careers about inter-alliances were sickening.

Merlot had approached earlier in the day Angelo too, asking for a "secret" alliance, and Angelo had said he needed to think about it. Sure, Merlot was cute, but he was also unpredictable and dangerous, but Angelo would for sure be dead if nobody allied with him.

That was the thing: they had all volunteered to win, being confident enough to volunteer, and in the end five of them were wrong and one person was right.

Chances had never been something that Angelo found luck in.

The facts were reliable, so he stuck to them.

The Careers had managed to kill the boy from 6 yesterday, and Merlot's "genius" had probably only increased the willingness of the sponsors to line up for the Career pack. It had been a calculated game, only killing the boy from 6 as his district partner was such a small threat. Her ally's death had probably shocked her as well, and if she'd considered herself prepared, well that only undone that.

If it hadn't been her skill with mechanics she'd displayed freely at training, Angelo would probably have to say he had agreed that she would eventually be an easy get- and, to be fair, not many of the remaining tributes were major threats (discounting the Career pack).

Except for the girl from 9, who had somehow almost managed to beat Merlot for the spot of most popular and had probably received sponsor gifts already which were lifelines for weaker tributes. Her confidence she didn't bother to veil and differently well concealed wits had been an interesting combination. Though none of the other Careers seemed to care much, it was the smartest tributes that were the biggest threats in the end.

Well, not always, Angelo admitted to himself. Almost every year was a Career year because they took out the threats, which were the strong tributes. They didn't care about the brainy ones, who could be defeated in hand to hand combat and often were.

But despite that, it was a continuous game of analyzing, guessing, and figuring everyone else out.

That was what the Hunger Games were.

Well, may the smartest tribute win.

REYENA JENSEN, DISTRICT 10 FEMALE (13)

Reyena wasn't confused anymore at the arrival of the seventh bowling pin.

Having stayed in the same hollow for a day, it had left her time to get situated and salvage some more supplies. She didn't dare go back to the Cornucopia just yet, because more often than not the Careers probably stayed there and meant to bait out the rest of the tributes that way.

One of the sponsor thingy-parachutes dropped a bowling pin her way, just a single pin with the letter K attached. It had been early in the morning, and Reyena had found a hollowed, rotted tree she had curled into the hollow to sleep in. Of course, she limited herself to only a few hours each night, but this came at the expense of her face, which was puffy and sleep-deprived. The tree had been her second location: after finding a rabbit trapped in someone's snare the previous day, she'd stolen the rabbit and ran away. She'd rationed it so that it would last two days, but today was the last day Reyena had any food, so she was a bit nervous for what the next few days would bring.

After receiving the bowling pin, she'd shrugged and debated keeping it. Since it took up space in her pack (but was relatively light nonetheless), it was probably a bad move to lug it around. But then again, that could be taken as offensive to the sponsors and then deter other attempts to give her gifts.

So she packed it in her sack anyways.

Then, maybe an hour later, the second bowling pin was delivered in the same fashion, a few minutes later, except with the letter N this time.

The second bowling pin had gone into her pack as well.

The mornings for Reyena were generally lazy, because she had very little to do than staying out of the way of the other tributes and hunting. As were the days too, since she hadn't run into Demeter since the bloodbath. As such, some time passed before the next bowling pin came, this time with the letter O again. Reyena stacked them in her still nearly empty pack, curling her knees into her chest in utter boredom.

She hadn't wanted to move just in case there were more bowling pins coming, because it would be harder for them to get to her if she was on the move. But the thing was she was just so incredibly bored of sitting in the same hollow. She'd never thought the Games would be all about waiting and waiting and waiting.

So she had waited, skinning a stick into a spear with her knife. Reyena admired the sharp point- given the thin arena uniform she'd thought they'd be in a desert but a jungle was far more beneficial.

Two more bowling pins were delivered in the time before she finished the spear, with C and K attached.

So that spelled out what? She gathered the letters and placed them in the order they had come in.

So just knock? What was she supposed to knock? Unless there were more coming. Reyena smirked- if there were, it only proved her utter superiority to the other tributes.

The distance the pins had been spread out so far had probably been a margin of around an hour, maybe give or take a few minutes.

And being restless, Reyena had decided to go hunting.

So now, over three hours later with three new bowling pins, with the letters E, M, and D respectively, Reyena's nearly full pack jostled against her back, the District 10 girl having journeyed west where she'd been on day 1 and found the snare. Maybe it hadn't been the smartest move considering she knew there were people there, but Reyena needed the food and whoever had been stupid enough to leave out a snare to be stolen would be stupid enough to do it again.

Luck was with Reyena once again, because she spotted a rabbit caught in one of the snares, probably the same as the one she'd found earlier. She was glad to find it, because now she could use the snare as well.

She'd escaped trouble, and was relieved on her journey back to camp.

Then the next bowling pin came.

It was a bit exasperating for her, because she had so many and they were taking up clearly valuable space in her pack which she could need. This time the bowling pin had the letter O.

Reyena arranged the letters again.

O (A/N: glitch that it won't let me fix, should spell "knock em")

Well, now she knew about how many more she'd be receiving.

Two.

Probably with the letters W and N.

Two hours later, as Reyena cooked the rabbit as quick as she could and shielded the smoke from rising before stomping out the fire, she had received two new bowling pins just as she'd predicted.

Together, the letters spelled out N.

Knock 'em down.

Reyena grinned.

Oh, she sure would.

—

A/N

And here we have Day 3! No deaths, which is a relaxing change. I wonder how long this peace can last though... Also, sorry for the delay, I wanted to get this out on Monday, but I've been drowning in homework recently. Also shoutout to Marie464 for determining your victor, and to Trish, Marie, and Plat for sponsoring!

A few sponsor questions!

1. Demeter got her first sponsor gift- what's your thoughts on that?

2. We got some more Deiondra backstory and hopefully some setup for Arden's- what are your opinions on the pair right now?

3. Some more Career pack tension, though arguably funnier. I really tried to portray Angelo better this chapter- do you think I succeeded?

4. Reyena got a sponsor gift too, courtesy of Plat! What's your thoughts on that?

That's all for today, thanks for reading!