Training Day Two, Tribute Center

Radiance slipped out of the apartment before Silk even stirred. The clock pointed right after the 5, Radiance had heard the large timepiece in the dining area chime. Copper was staying in the guest lounges; her train had come in two or three days earlier but there hadn't been a chance to talk. Doctor's appointments had eaten away at her time.

An avox was running the elevators, Radiance didn't realize how everything was so quite this early. Normally the elevators were busy, tributes, mentors, staff. Now it was just Radiance, and the silent Avox.

Radiance waved her id, admitting her to the guest quarters. "Room 257," Radiance muttered the words, finding the door easily. She pressed the button, hoping Copper had seen her late night message.

The lock clicked, the door opening. Radiance stepped inside the entrance hall, noticing dim lights in the living room. Copper reclined, the smell of coffee thick.
"Good morning," Radiance whispered, "Sorry it's so early."

Copper yawned, "No problem, I have to be a Victor Mercy's at 8. I'll be there all day, skin graft repairs."

Radiance winced. The attack was nearly 4 months ago, but Copper was still getting treatment. Her face was pink, the newly grafted skin had just been unwrapped yesterday.

"Is it strange?" Radiance sat down on the edge of the couch.

"I think I need to stretch it out some," Copper grinned, "Sometimes feels like I'm pulling on it. But I'm looking forward to getting my arms unwrapped."

Radiance nodded. Copper sipped on the coffee, "But you didn't come here to talk about my new skin. You mentioned trouble last night?"

"Yeah," Radiance pulled at her sleeve cuffs, "It's the tributes, Silk injured Heath."

Copper sighed, setting down her cup, "Oh, Rad. That is a problem."

"I know," Her voice almost broke, and she crossed her arms, "I've been a failure, Copper. I can't even help my best friend."

"That's not your fault, Radiance." Copper leaned forward, "How Silk chooses to behave is her own responsibility. You've shown her the right way; you can't force her to listen."

Radiance rubbed at her eyes, "I know this is going to affect her time in the arena. Won't they punish her?"

Copper looked down, "I won't lie to you. The Gamemakers will not be pleased."

"It was such a stupid thing," Radiance groaned, "I just want to lock myself in my room till this is all done."

"Oh, Rad," Copper shook her head, "Don't give up so quick. Punishment won't kill Silk, she has as much a chance as anyone."

District 9 Compartments

Alena rolled over, fingers touching her hair. It was weird having it so short. She remembered several of the tributes yesterday, one of them had even gasped. One of the girls had tried to apologize, asking her if the stylist had made a mistake.

That had made Alena a bit angry. She loved her hair cut, why couldn't they see how awesome it was? She heard the escort, coming out of Rust's room. Alena rolled her eyes, did the woman have to be so infernally loud?

She sat up, reaching for the glass on her nightstand. The door opened, the escort's purple wig coming into view.
"Good morning," Her voice ended in a screech as Alena threw a full glass of water into her face. The escort's eyes widened as the liquid ran down her carefully painted face. Her fingers frantically touched her cheeks,
"You evil slut! How dare you assault me!"

Alena smirked, the purple cheeks were now beginning to smudge with the green eyebrow paste. "Maybe if you learned some manners you wouldn't get assaulted."

"Manners," The escort gasped, "You impertinent whore," She dashed from the room, screaming.

Rust peaked his head around the corner, "Any you complain that I'm uncivilized."
She glared at him, "That was perfectly civilized. If she hadn't fussed about my hair so much,"

Rust raised his hand, "I know. Just hope you don't get in trouble."

Trouble? Alena found that amusing. The escort was just annoying, she couldn't do anything about Alena's assault. It was hard to imagine anyone caring what the shrieking freak cried about.

Training Room

Virginia crouched behind the bamboo plants, watching tributes enter the training room. Several rubbed at their eyes, yawning. Virginia was relieved she had slept well last night; she didn't need to worry about fighting off sleep during the day.

Several of the careers walked into the room together, Virginia felt her heart rate spike. Even looking at their menacing muscles was frightening. The boy from 4 was whispering to the girl from 2. He kept pointing at his own partner. Virginia knew the girl had been reaped, maybe they were going to kick her out of the alliance. Though Virginia thought, that was stupid, if she was a Career, she would be clamoring for as many allies as possible.

"Hiding behind the bushes isn't exactly training." Virginia jumped at the voice, neck twisting to see the speaker.

"Who are you," Virginia swallowed, noticing her dry mouth for the first time. She sat up, "What do you want?"

The girl shrugged, "I don't want anything. Just noticed you sitting here."

Virginia stood up, rubbing her hands clean on her jeans. The girl was fairly dark, really tan. Still couldn't place her name, "Are you from 11?"

A slight smile, "Yeah, we're practically neighbors."

"Hardly,' Virginia snorted, not sure whether to be friendly yet, "My district goes on forever."

"So does mine." She pulled a curl back from her face, "My name's Robin."

That's right, Virginia remembered her name fit her district well. She glanced at the careers, they seemed to be arguing, again

Robin followed her eyes, "At least they're not fussing at us. Though it's kind of pitiful."

"Pitiful?" Virginia couldn't quite see that word matching the dreaded careers.

"They're killing each other before they ever step into the arena." Robin glanced at Virginia, "Didn't you hear what happened to the guy from One?"

A slight shake of the head, as Robin continued, "His district partner got mad at him and burst his ear drum, now he's deaf on one side."

Virginia blinked, "That's awful. Is he ok?"

Robin nodded, "Going to stay deaf, it's an expensive operation." She smiled, "But at least our chances in the games are higher now."

Virginia couldn't disagree. She pulled on her ear, thinking about how fractured a team they were, "I always thought the careers were unbeatable. They always seem so put together, but now," her voice trailed, and she shrugged.

Robin nodded, "I think you're right. These guys are really lousy. Any of us might be able to take them down." She looked at Virginia, "But we'll have to do it together."

Virginia pursed her lips, "I see where you're going. But I need time to think about it."

"Of course," Robin smiled, her brown eyes lighting up, "Not even sure who might be interested."

Sadira stepped away from the daggers, that was enough practice. It had been fine, until Robin came over. She kept whispering to her about creating an alliance. Between every throw, pointing out the benefits of an alliance.

At first, Sadira had been kind of flattered. Robin was nice, but the memories from Reaping Day rushed back. Sadira knew her reaping was a punishment, if she made allies they would be punished too. She had to tell Robin no.
Tears threatened as Sadira thought about it, she brushed at her eyes angrily. Robin turned from the rack of daggers, "Are you walking off?" Her voice showed her surprise.

Sadira swallowed, "I need to look at the traps." She took another step, but Robin followed.

"I think we have a really good chance." Robin's voice was feverishly excited, "Just think about it, I know you're young but I've seen how determined you are."

Sadira stopped, turning to face the taller girl, "You don't want me in your alliance." She exhaled the words, syllables tumbling over each other.

Robin blinked, "What? Of course we do, there's strength in numbers."

Why couldn't she get it? Sadira took another breath, but took a step forward. "Robin, listen. I have a reason; I just can't tell you why. If I join your alliance, the Gamemakers will kill all of us."

Robin opened her mouth, then shut it. Her eyes narrowed, studying Sadira. She bent forward, whispering, "Are you saying the reaping was intentional? Why do they want to kill you?'

Sadira tipped her chin up, back straightening. "I hope you find enough people for your alliance."

The two girls were gone, off talking or something. The others were messing around with the swords, not really paying attention to her.
Blair picked up the small dagger, balancing the blade. She took a breath, aiming at the target. She threw, exhaling when the blade hit the target in the leg.

"Not too bad," Blair turned, glancing at the speaker. His hazel eyes seemed to be laughing, Blair felt her cheeks reddening. She picked up another dagger, hoping he would leave soon. "I never really worked at this back home."

"Admitting to training," He took a step closer, "You people make me sick." He picked up a dagger.

Blair's fists clenched around the dagger, "I never trained and I didn't volunteer."

He cut her a glance, "Oh, that's right. You were reaped." He smiled cockily, "You're still better off than most of the people in here. Better fed, spoiled, in love with the Capitol."

She was now shaking, "How am I any better than you? We're all in these Games."

He grinned, "Not really better than me. But I know the truth."

The truth? Blair glared at him and he kept grinning. She jumped at Bjorn's voice, "Talking to one of our actual volunteers, baby Blair."

She turned towards him, noticing his smirk. She briefly wondered if he ever did anything but smirk. "Not exactly talking, Bjorn."

He shrugged, stepping closer. "I forget your name, mine's Bjorn."

"Roran." He looked over Bjorn, "Going to practice with these," He held up a dagger.

"Nah," Bjorn grinned, "The spears more my thing. Just babysitting."

Blair snorted, "I don't need you to watch me."

"Yeah?" He cocked an eyebrow, "If it's just you out here, the rest of the tributes will realize how lousy you are. Then they'll think they can bring down our alliance."

"It's not me who's lousy, it's your stupid attitude." Blair hissed back.

His eyes narrowed, voice tone lowering, "Don't say that to me."

"And why not?" She pointed the dagger at his face, "You're too much of a chauvinistic pig to see my skills."

He grabbed her wrist, speaking through his teeth, "You may not have noticed, but Heath doesn't have much say anymore. Alex and I are going to kill you."

"Not if I'm not in your stupid alliance," She pulled her wrist away, "Instead, I'll kill all of you guys."

His face reddened for the first time, "You're not getting away with this. You threatened, you're out."
"Fine," She shrugged, "I don't need you guys, anyway."

Bjorn stormed off, though Blair was sure he was relieved she was out. She took a shaky breath. At least she didn't have to worry about them killing her in her sleep.

"You really want to go ally less?"

She'd forgotten Roran was still there. "Not really. But they make stupid, dangerous allies."

Roran nodded, "Maybe, we can work together."

She raised an eyebrow, amused by his sudden friendliness, "I thought you were better than me."

"Yeah, well." He chuckled, "You broke up with them. So you're pretty cool now."

Lucina touched Maxwell's arm, scowling as he flinched. He pushed her hand away, turning his shoulder into her face. She paused, but spoke anyway, "Aren't you tired of this? It's not like you're getting better."

He grunted, pulling back on the bow, "I'll get better."

Lucina rolled her eyes, snorting as he let the string go. The arrow bounced against the foot of the target, the trainer began another monologue. Hold the arrow this way, nock it like this, blah, blah, blah. It wasn't like her advice was helping Max get any better. If anything, he was worse.

"I'm going to go walk around," Maxwell didn't even glance her way as she strode off.
She had tried out daggers yesterday, those were fun. Easy to imagine driving one into Maxwell's heart.

That wispy girl was over there now; Lucina knew she was a loner. Her long blonde hair was braided back, showing how thin back was. The training uniform looked big on her.

Lucina walked up behind her, "Think there'll be enough daggers for everyone?"
The girl sent her a short look and Lucina continued, "I've seen everyone over here today. Some of the careers, that outer district volunteer. Kind of weird, right?"

The girl shrugged, "I shouldn't be here. I'm no good at these." She set the dagger down before beginning to walk away.

Lucina scowled, "You can't just do that."
"Why not?" The girl tipped her head slightly.

"I would just kill you in the arena. You should stay and try to make allies now."

The girl smiled, her blue eyes glassy, "You don't know me. I don't make friends."

"It's not friendship, just helping each other out."

She shook her head, "Go back to your boyfriend. I don't need your help."

Lucina crossed her arms, "You're skinny and awful at everything. You really think you can survive without help?"

The girl blinked slowly, "I didn't say I don't need help. Just not your help."

"Yeah, I see." Lucina rolled her eyes, "What's your name?"

The girl shrugged and continued to walk away. What a weirdo, Lucina thought to herself. She began to walk back towards Max, when another tribute stopped her. "That's my district partner, Riley."

Lucina nodded, glancing at the taller boy, "You're Demetri, right?"

"The very same," He ran a hand through his black, spiky hair. "She's a creep."

"I kind of gathered that." Lucina smiled, "Didn't want to talk about allies."

"Nah, she's never had many friends." Demetri glanced at Riley. "One of my friends dated her on a dare. When he finally told her, she just snapped. Need been the same since."

Lucina looked at him again to make sure he was serious, "She snapped?"

"Yeah," He nodded emphatically, "Almost killed him, Walls had no idea what hit him."

She wrinkled her nose, "That's kind of disgusting. I mean, I would have been mad. But not that insane."

He grinned, "At least she's never boring." The two laughed over this, and then Demetri pointed towards Maxwell, who was still at the archery station.

"So how long have you two been together?"

Her eyes narrowed, laughter dying in her throat, "We're not really together." The words came out clipped, more harshly than she intended.

"Seriously?" Demetri stared at her, "He's like joined at your hip half the time."

"I know," She rolled her eyes, endeavoring to sound more light-hearted, "But he wants to kill me. Force me close just long enough to get rid of me."

Demetri chewed his lip, "That's disgusting." He glanced at Maxwell again, "You have a plan." Lucina wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question.

She looked down, "I'm trying to think of something." Her chin trembled, "But he's so cruel and I just don't know."

He touched her shoulder, "Don't worry, Lu. We'll think of something."

She sniffed, amused that he was already calling her a nickname. "Really?"

He nodded, "You better get back over there before he gets suspicious. I'll talk to you more tomorrow."

Her fingers waved slightly as he walked away. At least he was charming, and willing to work with her. She practically skipped over to Maxwell, who didn't glance her way. "Learn any better way to shoot that thing?"

He grunted, "If they have a crossbow in the arena, bet I would do better than with this stupid recurve."

She held back a snort, saying as sweetly as she could, "I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Go ahead and kill me for taking so long, but this summer has been so intense! I ended up in the hospital, working too much, and struggling with balancing all of my writing.

BTW, if you are interested in reading my completely original story, PM me. I have it on Google Docs right now, and can share it via email. It kind of is mind consuming, I'm just at 30,000 words. But this semester, I'm going to try and update this every two weeks.

Love to hear any thoughts on the alliances that are forming :-)

Hope everyone's summer was awesome, kudos for reading this long author's note, and thanks for sticking with my procrastination!