Training Day 2

Davina Gage, 13, District 5

I shouldn't have been surprised that Atom ran off to join the Careers the moment they recruited him yesterday afternoon, although to be fair, who could blame him? Working with the careers gave him a severe advantage, one that some shy girl from 5 couldn't even begin to compete with, but to be honest, I already hated his guts, so there was that, too.

Despite my nerves when it came to talking to others, I did have a few things going for me. I had a fair amount of prior experience with a bow and arrow. My family owned a thriving food stall in distict 5, where we sold whatever meat my siblings and I could catch. Unlike the meat which was imported from district 10, which was far more expensive, our locally caught game (though sold smaller portions), was much more affordable for the working class of district five, allowing my family's business to be quite successful.

After focusing yesterday on practicing my weaponry skills, I figured the best plan of action was to focus on finding allies today. I had made a mental list of some of the people I wanted to work with after observing them yesterday.

Finding allies with the exact same skills as me was pointless, so I knew I had to find people who seemed trustworthy but with skills that were different than mine. First on my list were the boy from 7 and the pair from 8, who after yesterday had already joined up together. After speaking with my mentor, Monet, this morning, we both agreed that Kent, Lisle, and Tennor would be a good allies.

The boys both had the sociability I lacked and from observing them yesterday, they had skills in different weapons. I also had no doubt that having Lisle in my corner would be beneficial, in the long run. She was clearly intelligent, which I personally could relate to and appreciate.

While I had a full and complete plan in my head, the hard part was approaching the people I wanted to work with. It was easy for me to come up with plans- I always tended to think 3 steps ahead, but communication was not a skill I had ever possessed.

Deciding to talk to Lisle first, who seemed to share my quieter nature, I approached the crossbow station, which also happened to be the location of the bow and arrow station. Watching Lisle aim the crossbow, I picked up the bow and arrows I had used yesterday and aimed for the target to the right of hers. Letting go at the same time, I couldn't help but smile as I noticed we had both hit bullseyes on our respective targets.

"Nice shooting," I commented, nervously, wiping my sweaty palms against my nylon pants.

Lisle looked over at me, at then at my target, "Not so bad yourself."

As I was about to reply, I noticed Tennor and Kent wander over, who had appeared to be talking in the corner earlier.

"Hey, you're the girl from 5, right?" Tennor asked with a wide smile, which somehow seemed to put my nerves at ease.

"Yeah, that would be me," I replied with a slight chuckle.

If it were possible, his smile seemed to widen even more, "I noticed you and your district partner don't seem to be working together," he noted, as he squinted, trying to recall my name, "Davina, was it?"

"Yes, and yes. My district partner had decided to go an join the careers, but to be honest I don't really mind. He was a bit of a pompous, arrogant jerk, who for some crazy reason, really hates his own district, which is a little ridiculous if you ask me," I replied, eliciting a laugh from the both of them, a slight smile from Lisle.

Kent nodded, "Yeah, I didn't exactly get 'nice guy vibes' from him. But since you're not working with him, maybe you'd like to work with us?" he offered.

So, this was going far easier than I anticipated. Tennor and Kent were doing all the heavy lifting and I couldn't have been happier.

"Yeah, I'd love to. That's actually the reason I came over to talk to Lisle in the first place," I responded, with smile.

"Well then, it's official, we have the perfect team," Kent declared, and I couldn't have agreed more.

Aisling Shepherd, 16, District 10

I watched in the distance as the girl from 11 and the girl from 12 seemed engrossed in deep conversation, looking far older than their respective ages. It made sense that the two youngest tributes would align, but I really couldn't see either of them making it far, despite their alliance.

It wasn't long before they before they began chatting up the boy from 6, who responded to their request- no doubt about allying- quite eagerly.

I had decided to face the games alone. Unlike the girl from 6, Cassie, who had made it a point to announce to the entire training facility that she would be training (and supposedly winning) alone, I had mostly kept to myself.

My district partner, Dakota, had made the similar choice to work alone, so while we both agreed to make a pact that we wouldn't be the ones to kill each other, we both decided we were best off not working together.

Not having allies gave me the freedom I needed to win these games and as a runner, I needed that freedom to survive.

My mother was a runner during the rebellion, the fastest woman in all of district 10, who would deliver message the rebellion needed, by foot. I happened to be lucky enough to inherit her running abilities, which I knew could really help me during the games, but being in the Capitol was hard, especially without my mother.

My mother was one of the few people out there that truly understood me and the longer I spent in the Capitol, the more I realized I really didn't belong here.

According to my mentor Crispin, whose bluntness had only increased since our first meeting, I wasn't doing so well in the Capitol's eyes. Everyone here either thought I was weird or completely forgettable, meaning I had to really focus on getting a high training score if I was going to have a chance at getting sponsors.

Dakota and I had already completely frustrated both Crispin and Gloriana by refusing to work with allies, but they had only known me for all of five minutes. I knew myself well enough to trust myself, so while Crispin's complete and utter frustration unnerved me, I knew it was for the best. I had to do what was necessary to give myself the best chance I had at winning, even if it meant ignoring Crispin and Gloriana.

Crispin's words echoed in my head: "If you aren't going to listen to me, then prove to me why I should listen to you." In a strange way, he reminded of my best friend Holly, back home. Holly was equally honest, although far more sarcastic than Crispin could ever be. Thinking about Holly I smiled. Everything about Holly reminded me of the home I missed so much, especially the ability to run freely outside.

Unfortunately, there wasn't too much space to run around in the training center, save the agility gauntlet, which I had already run 6 times, making training on it, no longer effective. My only remaining option was to practice with some of the knives I had tried out yesterday.

Looking around, the knives station was currently too crowded from my liking- the boys from 6 and 8, silently working with the daggers the Capitol had set up. Set up a bit to the side, adjacent to the small knives section, a few cleavers were pinned to a board.

Heading for the cleavers, I was surprised by how balanced it felt in my hands. Unlike Dakota, who came from a family of butchers, I had never really used a cleaver before and was always more comfortable with a dagger. Nevertheless, I remained with the cleaver in my hand, moving it back and forth between my hands, getting used to the weight of the weapon.

Part of the games was adapting to the unknown and if the cleaver was any indicator of what was to come, perhaps I did stand a chance after all.

a/n: Yay another chapter up! Who loved that slight throwback to Crispin (who was sorta back by popular demand)? Anyways time for questions!

1. What did you think of Davina?

2. What did you think of Aisling?

3. What do you think of the rising alliances, so far?

- The Careers- Gemma, Valour, Dillon, Kraken, and Atom

- Brigid, Azura, and Sloane

- Darryll and Creed

- Davina, Kent, Tennor, and Lisle

- Raft, Corinne, and Janelle (more on next chapter)

- Going at it alone: Cassie, Aisling, and Dakota

Hope those of you on break are having a happy holidays and those of you who aren't quite yet there, keep up the hardwork! All my love! - Cass