Chapter 3: Trainer
Katniss looks down at her twitching finger begrudgingly, she feels restless stuck at the trivial stations in the training center. Sure there is merit in Haymitch's suggestion, the stations that teach about how to distinguish plants and how to make fire out of literally nothing could give insight to the geography and characteristics of the arena, but shouldn't she spend her remaining time practicing weapons? After all, she can't exactly win by hoping to survive till the end and hope her opponent just die off from eating some poisonous plant. On the bright side though, Haymitch seems to finally pull himself together after their performance last night during the tribute parade. In his short-lived bout of sobriety, Katniss thinks she saw something akin to hope in his murky eyes.
"Hey," Peeta greets her as he squad down next to her, "how's it going with the plants?"
"Nothing too different from the woods," Katniss answers as her eyes sweep over the trainer at the station, who has long moved on from her to help another tribute who seems to be having trouble identifying the poisonous berry from the harmless ones.
"Right, of course. I should've known that you wouldn't have trouble with things like these." Says Peeta, "My family has been eating your squirrels for years."
Peeta seems to always have a way with words and people, carrying on the conversation easily, when Katniss herself doesn't have much to offer. She could recall the times in school where she would always be off in the corner, either by herself or with Madge, but Peeta would be surrounded by friends and laughers. It's a wonder how the poorest district in the country could produce two individuals so different. "So have you noticed anything unusual in the arena this year?" He asks casually, peeking over her shoulders at the holograms of the various plants on display.
She thought about her answers for a few moments, before swiping to a picture displaying a low bush holding berries in the shade of midnight blue. "As far as I can tell, this is really the only deadly plant on display here, so I would recommend you stay away from any nightlock berries you come across." She paused a moment before adding "even the body of an animal that consumed it could kill you." A weight seems to be lifted from her heart as she gave all of her knowledge on the plant.
"All right, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks, Katniss." Peeta stayed silent for the most part as they swipe through the entire catalog on plants, with Katniss speaking up occasionally to point out some of the less dangerous plants and the edible ones. She reasons with herself that she's really not helping him nor are they really cooperating, all the information is contained on the slides anyway. She half-heartedly continues onto the creature slides, eyes wondering to the weaponry stations again.
The tributes from the career districts are unmistakably all present in that section of the training center, scattered in various different stations. The girl from 1 is at the archery station, she's not terrible, but Katniss thinks she could definitely our rank her by leagues if she could just get her hands on one of those shiny metal capital-made bows. The girl from 2 is throwing knives with an alarming accuracy that sends chills down Katniss' spine. But it was nothing in comparison to the spurring at the sword station between the boys. Her eyes are moving with every slash and thrust the boy from 2 makes, cold and calculated, every move executed by the power coursing through his muscles. He's a real danger, reminding her of an occurrence in her youth when she was chased up a tree by one of those wolves that rarely wander into the woods around 12. She could remember the sweat that soaked her entire back and the racing of her heart as the animal below her jumps and snapped its teeth at her. The fear of being trapped by a predator is something she has worked hard to overcome in the years she spent in the woods, to chase away the feeling of being a prey by becoming a predator herself. But the feeling seems to have come back again as she meets eyes with the boy as he made the final slash that hits the wrist of the boy from 1, effectively disarming him. They locked eyes for a second more before he turns back to face his opponent, or more accurately, his ally in the game.
"Are you looking at the archery station?" Whispers Peeta next to her, Katniss turns her attention back, realizing she's been looking for too long and hasn't made a move to the next slide. "You know what Haymitch has told us, no showing strength." Right, another piece of advice Haymitch crammed into breakfast this morning before they went down to the center.
"I just think it's such a waste of time not practicing with weapons. All the survival stations would be useless if we can't defend ourselves."
"Haha, I'm sure you won't lose touch with your skills with a few days of not holding your bow." Chuckles Peeta, "On the other hand, I will never be able to do more than cut loaves of bread with a knife even if I practice in the two days we have."
"It doesn't hurt to try," She says stubbornly "besides, have you seen what we are up against? More practice could do me more good than you can imagine."
"Well, if you insist perhaps you could try something besides archery after lunch? That doesn't count as showing strength right?" Peeta says with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Hm," Katniss hums in response before taking on the last look at the other side of the room. Who knew the goody-two-shoes town boy had it in him.
Katniss carefully closes the door behind her before turning to face the empty training floor. All the tributes and trainer are at lunch. She told Peeta she's going to the restroom before training starts in the afternoon. Carefully picking up the bow she's been longing to hold all morning, plucking an arrow from the quiver on the side, she knocks it onto the string. It feels slightly off, being balanced differently from her set from home, made out of woods. She aims at the targets at the station and releases the arrow from its place. It misses her target entirely, landing on the shoulder of the dummy instead of the heart. Better miss now than later.
She spent another solid minute getting acquainted with the bow before trying again, it went much more smoothly after she got used to it. Soon Katniss is losing herself in her adrenaline rush, stepping further and further from the dummies before aiming at the ones at different stations. She didn't hear the click signaling the opening doors nor the boy standing behind it, looking at her cooly before stepping out again. She didn't realize anything until she reaches into the quiver again and found it empty. A quick glance at the clock told her she's session is coming to an end. Quickly placing the bow back to its stand, she steps out the room in a hurry to go back to the 12th floor before riding the elevator down again, prepared to tell Peeta she felt tired and decided to rest a bit after lunch.
"Did you get yourself stuck in the toilet seat?" Asks Peeta incredulously after she showed up to practice fashionably late.
"No, I just wasn't feeling it and went back upstairs to take a nap," Katniss responds halfheartedly, knowing it was a harmless lie that her conscious would allow for the boy with the bread.
"You okay?" Peeta asks again, voice lacking the jest that laced his words moments ago.
"Mhmm, just didn't sleep well." She answers while eyeing the weaponry section again. A fresh set of dummies were already on display, the avoxes probably changed it for her since she couldn't recall flicking the switch in her haste to leave.
"You go ahead, I'll be at the camouflage station." Says Peeta as he read the desire blatantly written in her eyes.
"Okay, see ya." Katniss begins towards the knife station, being the only one currently free of careers. The girl from 2 that was there all morning was now engaged in a hand to hand combat with the girl from 1. She's not all bad at it, given her size, she is definitely less threatening without her knives.
She isn't completely clueless at throwing knives, remembering the few lessons his dad gave her in her youth. The stance wasn't too far from archery and he had her practicing her aims with knives before she was old enough to pull open a bow. But it was never serious, she was so eager to begin shooting like her dad in her youth, and then never really saw any use in throwing knives when she had her bow and arrows at her convenience.
But after a few tries that all went amiss, she couldn't help but feel frustrated. She's almost certain she's doing it right, the knives were sticking, but always a few inches away from where she intended for them to land. It was then she notices the presence next to her. All the tributes were fairly spread out, never standing in the spot directly next to others, which makes her wonder what on earth Cato out of all people, is doing there. She backs away from her spot by a few steps, pretending to be getting a new set of knives while trying to glance at the boy next to her lane inconspicuously.
He stood there purposefully as if waiting for her to return. Katniss knew she couldn't drag it out any longer and walks back uneasily. She knew her feeling was right when the boy suddenly moved and a knife landed on her target with a thud. A Bullseye. What does that suppose to mean? Is he doing this as a threat? Why would a career suddenly be bothered with her, she stayed low on the radar as Haymitch told her all morning? Was he doing it as a revenge for her stealing the spotlight at the parade? She watches him with trepidation, but he didn't turn to say anything to her. Just kept on throwing until the last knife landed on the target on the dummy's head. She saw a flash of triumph in his eyes and the corner of his mouth quirks up with satisfaction. He turned around and pins her in place with his cold eyes, there wasn't a trace of the emotion he just displayed in his eyes anymore, but there wasn't any hint of the threat she was expecting either. "And that's how you throw 12." It is the first time she heard his voice, a deep tenor that sends a shiver down her spine.
Before she opens her mouth to ask him what he meant, he was already off to the sword station again. Perplexed, Katniss turns back to her targets, looking at the dummy with a knife in all the bullseye on its body. She tried to recall his movements and notices certain differences between the way they stand and release. Her knives landed much closer than before, surprising even Katniss herself who was just trying to mimic Cato's movement as an experiment. Was that his intention? It mustn't be, there's no way he was trying to help her.
Saving her confusion for later, Katniss continued onto practicing before they were due back on their floor for dinner.
"Didn't I say not to show your strength at training this morning?" Haymitch asks irritably as he walks into the dining room, a bottle of questionable liquid in his hand again. It was a miracle he lasted through the entire breakfast sober.
"Technically she didn't since she wasn't at the archery station." Peeta grins cheekily as he took another spoonful of his lamb stew.
"Oh really now, because that's not what I heard from the other mentors before dinner." Haymitch says sharply, without even spearing a glance at Peeta, "do you have an explanation for me sweetheart?"
"I… I didn't know I was any good at throwing knives," Katniss begins before realizing how unbelievable she sounded, "I wasn't any good when I started, I guess it just got better?" She finishes with a question, uncertainty lacing her voice.
"Mhmm," Says Haymitch as he sat down at the diner, disbelief written all over his face. "Well, maybe try not to be good at anything until the arena."
"Why?" Katniss asks defiantly, "I need to be good to survive this game."
"Yes, sweetheart, to survive. So focus on surviving." Says Haymitch, exasperation blatant in his voice
"How could I do that when the careers are all so well trained and skilled?" Katniss questions again, voicing the concern that was nagging other all day, even though she knew that it was Haymitch's game plan for them. To stay off the radar and surprise the crowd in the end.
"Don't let them affect you. You know there are careers in every game whose trained years for this. Don't compare yourself to them, you have to stay focused on yourself and god damn it sweetheart, listen to my advice so I can help you." Haymitch snaps at her after taking a large gulp from his bottle.
Dinner ended in a heavy note, leaving Katniss in her room for the rest of the night, mulling over what Haymitch said over dinner and Cato, before falling into the lull of sleep. Tonight, she dreamt of a pair of ocean blue eyes, hard as ice, blocking her out as she tries to reach for all the hidden things behind it.