Ethel Delian's POV:
I've been watching the other girls in this room all day yesterday and this morning too, studying them to discover who I can use in my alliance.
Grace from Eleven was pretty friendly yesterday, I've discovered she can swim and has a brilliant knowledge of plants, mixing her survival skills with my combat skills we'd make a good team but I feel like we'll need a third person. Someone to ensure that no-one gets killed in their sleep till I decide it's time.
As I scan the room I catch a glimpse of Sussex and the deaf boy from Six throwing some knives around and as the see way in which the two of them seem to be working silently together I'm reminded of the way me and Dax would communicate silently in the kitchen fearful of waking dad up from his sleep in the next room. Thinking of my brother brings out a whole host of emotions I'd been hiding till now, sadness of the memory of our last goodbye, fear of what Dad will do to him once I'm dead.
I focus back on the room, banishing thoughts of home from my mind. From the boy from Six my eyes wander to the girl, a pretty thing, she should be able to get us sponsors but I really do need more than a pretty face on my team, Grace has a good body and I've been told by my escort that I'll scrub up well so I guess we don't really need that. I watch her over on a balancing beam, she's agile I suppose.
Too pretty I decide eventually she'll take all the focus of an alliance, I need a plain girl, one with some brains. I think about the girl from Three but she's a bloodbath for sure she's back in the same corner she was hiding in yesterday scrunched up in a ball.
Amber and Auvita might be good candidates but I can't remember which is which, they're both swinging axes around and getting on pretty well and I don't need two more allies so I leave them to it.
"Hey there, you not practicing with anything?" Grace walks over and stands beside me "I thought I might find you over at the throwing knives you were so keen to try yesterday."
"I'm looking for a third member of our alliance" I say
"Our alliance?"
"Sure, I wouldn't be talking to you otherwise" I remain cool though inside I do have a little freak out, what if she turns me down.
She chuckles "Okay cool, allies. I think we should ask Christine?"
"Christine?" I look around the room, is there even a tribute called that here?
"Yh the girl from Five, over by the trap making station"
I look over and see a girl with copper brown hair fiddling with a length of rope and tying a few simple knots. "I'm after a smart tribute" I say "One who can keep us alive"
"She's smart" Grace replies "I've seen her eyeing up the mechanical stand where the boys from Three and Five are."
"Maybe she just has a crush on one of them"
"Have you seen them" grace chuckles "No there's something interesting about her, I can tell. I'd like to find out more. Trust me on this ally?"
I do kind of trust her and Christine does look like she'll be easy to beat when the time comes, like the two of us she's kinda pretty and should pull in a few more sponsors. "Okay" I agree "Let's go make a new friend."
Pleb Solvent's POV:
I grab a tray from the Avox in the dining area and look around the room, picking a table to sit at. I swear they've purposely given us so few tables so we have to socialise. Over in one corner, the careers are making a load of noise and sitting themselves as far away as possible from the noise are the other tributes. Some seem to have formed alliances when I wasn't paying attention, I notice the three girls from Eleven, Ten and Six chatting away and the boys from Two and Five seem pretty close too.
I wasn't planning on even thinking about allies till tomorrow morning, but what if that was too late. Miller hadn't given me much mentoring advice as far as allies go, just told me to buckle down and learn something new. I've mostly been focussing on the agility courses and survival stations, avoiding the fire making station of course. I don't need any flashbacks not today.
I notice and empty space over by the boy from Seven, I suppose he's from a similar type of District to me so I decide to join him.
"This seat taken?" I ask as I step over towards him, he shakes his head and I sit down.
We sit in silence as I begin to eat, the meal is good, a thick stew with meat and grain and vegetables of all colours. Ten times better than anything I'd eaten before visiting the capitol, even back when we had our farm. It pales in comparison to what we'd eaten the two evenings before though, large platters of fish and meat joints and about ten deserts were all laid out in front of us.
"Have you ever seen food like this before?" I ask Seven and he shakes his head again.
"We had Lamb last night" I say "and this Chocolate mousse thing filled with small pieces of cake"
"I had the mousse" he says "I'd never tried chocolate before."
"I used to get a small bar each birthday" I reply "Before we couldn't afford it anymore"
"Hmm" he sighs and looks back to his plate.
"Names Pleb" I say
"Lem"
"Nice to meet you."
We continue to make small talk as we eat and after tidying up our trays I find myself following him over to the axe throwing station. He picks up a small axe and tosses it towards the target, it misses.
"You not had practice at this?" I ask
"I'm under a bit of pressure okay" he snaps back
"Okay I'll go, forget it." I sight turning away; my stupid mouth ruined this chance of an alliance.
"Wait" Lem calls after me, "I'm not that bad when I'm up close chopping wood, I was just never that good throwing the axes. I never did anything the other kids could do, do you know I'm scared of heights. I was training to be a lumberjack and I'm terrified of climbing trees." He rambles the last part quickly and as I turn back to face him he turns away embarrassed.
"I'm terrified of fire" I blurt out, "Ever since a fire destroyed our farm and killed my mother"
"I'm sorry about that" Lem says a little confused. He looks back towards me as I turn around and head back towards him, it's now or never I decide.
"It's just we all have weaknesses okay Lem" I say and he nods "It's good that you know yours so we can work together okay, that's what alliances are all about working together."
"Till you all have to kill each other" says a voice behind us, turn around to see Auvita stood there arms folded. She'd been acting all tough and high and mighty since we'd first met a couple of days ago and it was driving me nuts. "Now if you're done yapping can me and Amber have the axes again"
I look behind Auvita and see another red haired girl about my age she looks awkwardly at the floor.
"Hi Amber" says Lem
"Hey" she mutters
"You don't have to talk to them okay" says Auvita
"Okay" mutters Amber
"Amber" says Lem "Do you want to be allies with me and Pleb?"
"Well I told Auvita" she says.
"Auvita isn't invited" I say and she glares at me
"Great District solidarity there" she says "What would Kasha say"
"Don't care" I reply "I'm only allying with people I trust and I don't trust you okay"
Amber looks between the two of us and Auvita who just continues to glare. "I'm sorry Ari" she whispers "but he's from home." She steps out from behind the younger girl and towards us.
"Fine" Auvita snaps "You'd just have been dead weight to me any way, before you died at least" She storms off in the direction of the careers. I watch her as she leaves, was that the smartest thing to do I wonder, she's a wild card Auvita and I might have been safer if she were on my team. But these two from Seven both seem reliable and I can't change my actions now, I just have to hope Kasha isn't too mad at me.
Lem gives Amber a quick hug around the shoulders "That was really brave" he says and she smiles.
The three of us train continue to train together for the afternoon and I learn that Amber can throw axes some distance and has an excellent knowledge of edible plants, almost as good as mine. I discover neither of them had ever shot a bow and arrow before and take them over to that station "I used to shoot at birds eating our crops" I tell them when they ask how my aim is so good "A perfect shot to the head, meant less of the meat was ruined and I could sell some of them back to the butcher if we didn't need them at home."
"I trapped rabbits Amber" says "and we have a vegetable patch"
"All good experience" I say with a smile, I look over at the careers who were all in one pack watching some of the others try the obstacle course "I bet those six have never skinned an rabbit in their lives."
Auvita Farrow's POV:
I couldn't believe how Pleb had blown me off like that. We were supposed to be a team right, we were district partners and now he's off with that sappy little Seven girl and her dumb district partner. I watch him now showing them how to shoot an arrow and find myself wanting to scream.
It just wasn't fair, none of it was, my whole life I'd been thrown aside like a piece of trash. I'd finally felt like I'd found a family with Marcia and it had been torn away from me. I'd acted strong so far but it was starting to hurt. Kasha had told me that tough girls do better and young tough girls are such a rarity I was bound to pick up some sponsors so I had to hold it together. I couldn't let rumours of me bursting into tears in the training sessions get out to the capitol.
I need an ally, someone I can boss around, if only there were some younger tributes I could use. But apart from the disabled girl from Twelve I was the youngest here. If only they'd reaped me when I was sixteen or seventeen at least then I'd have had a fighting chance.
I'd thought Tek was younger than she was, all hidden away in her little ball still and Amber had been so quiet and mouse like, I'd liked her.
I flick my leg towards the table I'm passing in my frustration and knock over the perfectly balanced trap on top of it.
"Sorry" I growl at the boy making the trap, he looks at me and shrugs
"Hey it won't be the worst thing to happen to me this week" he says.
I look up at his face and notice his small grin, "You should calm down kid" he says "Save that anger for the arena."
"You have no idea how much anger I have to spare" I reply
He smiles "Wish I could offer you a cig, but I only have five left and I'm saving them for the arena."
"Wish I still smoked" I reply raising my eyebrows for emphasis
"You're like twelve" he laughs
"Thirteen and I've had a long life" I was exaggerating of course, I'd never smoked in my life, I'd breathed in enough of the nasty stuff though hanging out with Humber over the previous few months. But this kid seemed cool, like some of the lads who hung out with Humber, they'd always seen me and Marcia like little pets though, this kid seemed to see me as a person.
"Names Cecil, District Eight."
"Auvita Nine. Looking for an ally?"
"I wasn't really, wanted some peace and quiet you know"
"I suppose" I shrug and look back to the floor, why get my hopes up like that hey District Eight. Now I was mad again.
"Oh come on" he sighs "I don't want you to go all mad at me, look keep me company for the next couple of days and I'll see okay."
"What if I've changed my mind" I say and he laughs
"You're a stubborn little kid" he says "I think you might have it in you to make it to the end"
"You not aiming for the top spot yourself"
"Well of course, but I'm old and ugly and not very friendly"
I didn't think he was ugly or that old really, but I wasn't going to say anything about it. Not if he was willing to help me win this thing and go home to Marcia again.
Miller Knights POV:
The arena can be a lonely place Thorne was telling me, just you and your thoughts. Allies are useful to an extent but if you're planning on winning you will have to prepare for the loneliness that comes with being alone in the arena with only survival on your mind. All grim stuff he'd told me with one of his signature loud laughs and a smack on the back as he'd sat me down for a talk after we'd returned from training.
Willow had taken Grace to one side too and they were also talking strategy. Grace had managed to secure two allies so the two of them were probably talking about how to work in a team while I was getting the get used to being lonely till you die talk.
"I don't expect to be lonely too long" I tell Thorne, "I'm no victor am I?" I ask the question knowing the answer but hoping for a different answer than what I got.
"No you're not and the capitol isn't looking for another young victor from Eleven right now so Grace won't be either. Right now mine and Willows job is to minimise the suffering of our two young tributes."
I sigh and gaze out of the window, on almost the top floor our view is one of the best in the centre, I can see right across the capitol, to where the high-rises level out and you can see patches of grass between the buildings "I hope the arena is green" I muse out loud.
"I'm so bad at this" Thorne groans he sinks down in the couch "Killing little kids, I was good at that. Smiling for the crowds I love doing that but comforting a fifteen year old whose going to die not my scene."
"What about the other times?" I ask "What did you say then"
"Well it was easy with Cane, we're pretty much brothers but he survived. Of course Willow still hates me as do most of the other Victors who lost loved ones, but it's not my fault is it? Anyway, thinking back the year after my own games I got so sucked into the life of it all I partied every night and don't even remember the kids name, Willow won though so that's good I suppose and the year after well that guy was a bit of a dick"
"Kraut"
"Yh that was him, you know him?"
I shake my head "Just remember names Malus was the guy who lost to Willow."
"Yh I remember now, he was an alright guy I suppose"
"Is that all I'll be in the end an 'alright guy?' I sigh, I really wanted to be remembered for more than that. Well that and the Tracker Jacker thing"
Thorne chuckles "Yh you were the kid who survived the hive" he says "I remember we all thought you were the coolest back in school"
"Most kids did" I reply "Till they met me of course"
"Well I suppose you are a bit of a survivor, you can certainly take a bit of pain, maybe you could do it" he says with a shrug
"Well now you're just lying" I reply my eyes are beginning to weep and I swipe away a tear.
Thorne looks over to where Grace and Willow continue to chatter away before he turns back to me and wraps me in a hug "I'm so sorry this happened to you Miller" he says with a sob and I wish I could tell you it'll be okay, but I'll not lie to you."
"I appreciate that" I reply as we let the hug end slowly.
"I..." Thorne begins before stopping himself, he sighs and we sit in silence for a moment before he starts to talk again "I should go to sleep I have to be up early tomorrow for an interview."
"Should I go too?" I ask him, not sure of a proper response.
"Nah kid" he replies "enjoy the rest of your life, don't sleep through it. This place has a roof garden if you want to get some fresh air."
I watch him head to his room and stay put, I did miss the outside, But didn't fancy the trip up to the roof. The last time I'd been outside was during the tribute parade and I'm not sure if that counted with all the walls and the explosion and everything. I don't go to bed either, I don't want to sleep through the few hours I do have left.
After a while Grace and Willow head to their rooms too, Willow tells me to get some sleep and I smile and nod and tell her I'll be there soon.
Five minutes pass, then ten, then thirty, and then at least an hour and I just sit there. Not moving. I don't even have any coherent thoughts, just silence and fear. I don't remember falling asleep on the couch but I must have as I woke up there the next morning to the sound of Charm Bowers exclaiming about something to do with his hair and how late Thorne will be as a sleepy looking Thorne emerges from his room. Seeing Charm he throws on his trademark grin.
"Oh Miller" he laughs "The capitol set up this lovely bedroom for you and you sleep on the couch"
"Oh you district folk" laughs Charm "so Qwaint"
A/N: Hate most of this chapter but it's took me too long to write already so I'm throwing it to the wild. Let me know what you think.
