-Iridesce, D1F-

The Career alliance this year is kind of… Garbage.

I'm the only one that should really rightfully be here- an Academy flunkie, a 16-year-old, and a boy that was reaped!? I feel personally offended.

The 4 tributes aren't so bad, or so I thought, as they're both 17-year-old volunteers, but they both declined the alliance. Who does that!? Who do they think they are!?

But, on the outside, I remain calm. As always.

However, if the flunkie and the reaped boy think they have an in because of their Districts, they're mistaken. I'll put a knife through Callum's head to earn my victory. I would've done it to Gravity, and I'll do it to him too.

Maggie isn't so bad. She is only 16, but she volunteered. She may have a good reason for it. We'll see.

I can't say I haven't been searching for some other options, though. If some of the outer District tributes have the balls and the skills, maybe I'll consider them.

I look to 7 and 10 first, the Districts that take the hardest work. Neither of the boys this year looks like much, but the girls could be fighters. The 10 girl volunteered, after all. It'd be stupid of me to not give her a look.

Training is my chance to survey the tributes and form my alliance how I want it.

I feel Nautica from Eight's eyes on me as all 24 tributes stand in a line.

I talked to him last night at chariots. He's one of the definite Career hopefuls. He was talking a big game last night, but he reeked of lies. It'll be interesting to see how much of his bragging is bluffed, and therefore how much he'll be bullshitting.

Callum has fear in his eyes, apprehension more than anything. Maggie looks confident. I can't read the look on Vidarr's face as well, but he looks determined and headstrong.

The little girl from District 9 makes eye contact with me and quickly looks away, holding her little bunny plush close to her.

This is what a Career should be. If the tributes from Four are stupid enough to turn down the opportunity to be the predators, they'll be hunted by the prey in the end. Simple as that.

The Capitolite in charge of training gives the rules. Not a lot of tributes listen anymore, because it's the stuff that's really common sense.

When Diesel speaks up, though, from the top balcony where the Head Gamemakers are watching, his voice booms across the whole Training Center. "Give us a good show, tributes! Make your Districts proud, and leave us gobstruck by your talents!"

The Captiolites up above all affirm the statement, and I hear the clanking of glasses. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

Well, I intend to impress them alright.

They release us to train, and I meet up with Maggie before anything.

"So… What's your District partner's deal?" I ask her, glancing over to where Vidarr sits at a survival station. "Who was supposed to volunteer?"

"Justus Fiore," she says, picking up a knife. "He didn't show. For some crazy reason."

"That's… Odd." I start to stretch to warm up for a day of hard work. Stretching is important before a day of training so that no muscles are sore after putting in a day of work. Maggie follows my lead wordlessly.

"Were you… Chosen?" I need to figure out if she's really a possible threat. She's young for a Career at 16, but District 2's put out crazy and horribly vicious and bloodthirsty 16-year-olds in the past. Is she one of those, or just a scared little girl?

She seems to be a scared little girl, but I refuse to let my guard down. Sometimes scared little girls are just psychopaths in disguise.

I finish stretching and go to the knife station. Knives aren't my best, but I figure that starting out simple is the best way to go. I'll have plenty of time to scare the other tributes shitless as we go on. Maggie doesn't seem thrilled to start here, but it's a good warm-up as I work my way to the throwing spears.

The girl from 2 reminds me of my best friend Diamante, a little bit. Following me around to boost her score.

"So your District partner is out?" He's probably lost and scared shitless by now.

Maggie nods. "What about yours?"

I turn to find him, spotting him easily because of his full purple hair. "If he can prove he's Career material, I suppose he's in. He's an Academy dropout that had the balls to volunteer for the selected volunteer when he was reaped."

"Oh yeah, that scary guy." He's not easily forgettable.

I throw a few knives, not straining myself too much to start with. Maggie follows my lead.

"Who else, then?" she asks, her face flushing slightly from warming up.

"I have my eye on a few, but especially the boy from Eight. He reeks of ulterior motives, but we can play dirty too. Use him to do all the ugly work and then dispose of him."

Maggie nods, but something in her synthetically gold eyes seems like she doesn't want to play dirty. I don't think playing dirty is desirable or good, but sometimes, it's necessary. This is one of those times.

I glance around at the variously-colored tributes. "I'm also considering the girls from 7 or 10," I say. "They seem like fighters. Hard workers."

Maggie nods as I throw more knives, and she copies my lead.

So maybe my Career alliance isn't conventional. But I'm very tricky. I can make it work.

I hear a loud snorty laugh that carries across the whole center, reminding all of us once again that there are Capitolites constantly watching.

Diesel is leaning over the balcony slightly with his top half, Santana is watching calmly and talking with a man that has orange hair.

I look away from them, focusing on my training. That's what will give me a high score.

"Let's split up," I tell Maggie. "Go to your weapon of choice and make them piss their pants for a bit." I glance at the throwing spears. "Then, go around, maybe do a survival station or two to survey the tributes, watch closely, find the ones that might fit. We'll meet up again after lunch to make our decisions."

"Sounds good," she says.

I hear a whimper and look up. The girl from 9 is staring as Callum straightens up from throwing a morning-star on the outer rim of a target. Maggie and I exchange a look. Maybe there's some kind of hope for this alliance after all…

I head to the spears, picking one up and aiming at the target.

We'll show them.

I throw it, and everyone in the surrounding area jumps as it hits its target. I smirk and pick up another, repeating the action and making them all jump again. I put on a good show for the trainers, Gamemakers, and especially the other tributes. It's what I've been training to do for years and years.

I take a look around after a while, trying to figure out alliances. Not a lot of tributes have talked yet. I glance at the 4 tributes. Serafina is lifting, which doesn't look to be her forte. Collin… I almost don't find him until I notice him at a survival station of all places. I guess these aren't the kind of people I'd want in my alliance anyways.

I look around for outer District tributes that stick out. The boy from 6 is at a weapon station, trying to learn how to use a sword. The boy from 8 is showing off with knives, next to the boy from 2. He's holding his own pretty well… Maybe he wasn't bullshitting as much as I thought.

Maggie is fencing with a trainer, and quite impressively. She disarms the grown man in five seconds, causing some of the other tributes to stare. I smile approvingly, turning back to the spears. The boy from 9 is beside me, listening to the instructor when she explains how to throw. I keep on training, ignoring them and trying to make Kade jump. He doesn't budge.

"So, Kade, correct?" He looks over, slightly surprised I'm talking to him.

"Yeah." He focuses, closing an eye to get a better aim.

"You're from 9?"

"Mhm." He's trying to ignore me. I'm not letting him.

"You're determined, huh?"

"Mhm." He releases the spear, but misses the target.

"Aw, too bad." I smile at him. "Better luck next time."

"I'm going to get this."

"Uh huh." To prove my point I take another spear and throw a perfect bull's eye.

"Lemme know when you do, love," I say, putting the spears back on a rack and going to the weapons stations to find other tributes and talk to them.

I go over to the knife station, observing the boy from 2, who seems as if he hasn't done this in a while. Next to him, Nautica's getting better and better.

"How do you know so much about knife-throwing?" I ask him, curious. Surely you can't have trained in District 8.

"I have methods," he says, turning around and smirking at me. It's hard to take him seriously when his hair is bright orange and blue.

"I'm impressed," I say.

"Yeah?"

"I thought you were making it up. But maybe you have some potential after all. So… Impress me."

"I can make you want me," he says, and I realize he's… Flirting with me. A usual Career strategy, but not usual for outer-District tributes toward Careers. I wonder if I could let him believe he's charmed me. As I said, I know that it's wrong, but here, playing dirty is necessary.

I walk away from him, giving him a last glance back and a cute smile before I watch Maggie fence. She seems to know exactly what she's doing. Some of the other tributes watch her.

I glance over to where the girl from 6 shoots an arrow that falls lamely to the ground. Her face contorts in frustration, causing me to laugh a bit. The boy from 9 has moved on from spears to swords, and that's where I go next. While I'm there I see the boy from District 10 listening and awkwardly trying to use the sword.

I feel eyes on me and when I turn, I notice his District partner watching us, watching him. She snickers as he awkwardly flails his arms, trying to control the sword. I turn back around.

"Raoul, correct?"

He looks up. "Y-You're from 1."

"Mhm. Trying to figure out how to use that, huh? Not too easy."

"Guess not." I don't think he wants to talk to me. I guess I can see why. I watch him for a while, and Kade, before I go to the station where the girl from 7 is using a hatchet, glancing at the axes station, which is currently empty.

"Hey," I say. She looks up.

"Hello."

"Briella?"

"That's me. I'm more commonly called Riella, though."

"Gotcha. I'm Iridesce."

"I've seen you around."

"I've taken notice of you as well," I say, causing her to raise an eyebrow at me.

"District 7 tributes usually know your stuff."

"Mhm."

"We need some more Carerers. We're low this year. I'm just scouting for tributes that might have what it takes."

"I don't know if I want to have a big alliance. But I'll consider your offer."

"Please do. I'll be around later."

"Sure." She goes back to her hatchet training and I give her a look. She's definitely strong. Probably knowledgeable. Definite possibility.

They call us for lunch, and I follow the others, quickly finding Maggie and sticking by her side. We get in the back of the line for food, Callum behind us, though he seems nervous.

"How have you been doing?" I ask Maggie.

"Not too bad," she says. "A lot of the tributes are performing how I'd expect. The boy from 11 stayed at scythes most of the morning, though, which was a bit surprising. The girl from 6 came around, but gave up quickly at fencing."

"I sense giving up quickly might be common for her."

The District 8 girl wails in front of us. "I can't even hold onto a damn plate!" she sobs. Cory and Kade quickly help her get another plate and carry it to her table for her while an Avox cleans up the mess on the floor. She's so helpless, it makes me laugh.

We get to the buffet and pile up our plates, sitting. Callum sits with us, but he looks extremely hesitant.

"I didn't get to talk to Rachel yet," Maggie says. "I expected her to come around, but she's spent the morning at survival."

"I talked to Riella, she might be interested."

"Nautica's been training pretty well. He promised to show me something amazing tomorrow, though I can't imagine what that might be."

"He's a flirter, then."

"That's right."

We eat in silence for a while. I glance over at Callum, and notice him try to open his mouth a couple times, probably to ask if he's going to be with us or searching elsewhere.

I look at Maggie. She shrugs a bit. I nod.

"You're lucky the 4 tributes aren't interested," I tell my District partner. "You're in."

He breathes a breath of relief.

"You still have proving to do, but you're in."

He nods, looking around the room.

"Three and Five."

"Huh?"

He gestures over to where both tributes from 3 eat lunch with the 5 boy. "They've spent a lot of time together."

"How about the 12 tributes?" I ask. "I haven't seen much of them this morning."

"The boy started out throwing before he went to weights."

"Throwing knives? Was he any good?"

"As good as a newbie can be. Looks like he can lift though."

"Interesting. How about 11?"

"Girl spent most of her time with plants. Maybe too afraid to handle weapons, maybe just focusing on survival. It's only Day 1." Callum's really been observant. More-so than me and Maggie. He seems glad to have something going for him.

"The boy?" I wonder exactly how observant he's been.

"Spent a lot of time with scythes. I wonder if he's used them at home before."

"The girl from 10 spent most of her day at survival. Which is weird because she seems kind of Career-like to me, I don't know why she wouldn't jump at the chance to learn a weapon."

"Kade from 9 is trying, but not successful. How about that boy from 7?" I ask.

"I heard him talking to the girl from 9. Apparently he lost his mentor."

"He what?" Callum can't be serious.

"I'm just relaying what I think I heard. Apparently he mouthed off to Adler and Adler left."

"What will he do?"

"His escort's going to take up the job."

"Wow. Good luck to him." He doesn't stand a chance without a proper mentor. Why would you have Adler Shelton's help and give it up?

"So who are you thinking?" Maggie asks.

"Well, we should keep watching Nautica, Riella, and Rachel. And see who else from there. After all, we still have two days of training left to go."

"Right." The other two nod.

"In the meantime, we should also watch out for the formation of other alliances. We need to know how many will band together, and what type of people they are. We need to know our competition."

They both nod. They release us from lunch ad we go our separate ways to find some other tributes to size up.

~.~.

-Collin, D4M-

It was probably not a great idea for me to deny the Careers. They didn't really seem happy with that.

I sit at the knot-tying section. I could probably make some really good hooks, after all, it's what I grew up doing, but… I can't brave that station. It might bring back too many traumatic memories. I'm already closing off, and the last thing I need is to shut down when I'm about to go into the Games.

I didn't want to ally with Serafina Anya, and I made it clear. I think she was pretty disappointed, or upset, or pissed off. She wanted me to be as open with her as she was with me, and I wasn't having it. She's too upbeat for me anyways. I don't think I could manage spending all my time in the Arena with Serafina Anya. I would probably just get really fucking annoyed with her constant prying by day two and kill her. And I really would rather not kill my District partner, if I can avoid it.

So really, it's for the better that I'm not going to ally with Serafina Anya. She can find someone who's not annoyed by her constantly saying "You can trust me! Why don't you tell me all about your deep, dark personal life?" and I can find someone that realizes that we're in the fucking Hunger Games and to survive one of us is going to die, and therefore be very curt with each other before peacefully parting ways.

My mentor, Donovan Benoit, won the 77th Games. He's very straightforward, and made sure I knew what was at stake. It was a harsh process, long talks on the train. He forced me to the point where I was almost screaming at him, prying into my personal life to try and figure out where my heart and loyalty lie. I wasn't about to let him in. We were about ready to slug each other before Hydra, the escort, jumped in and stopped it. We both have wills of steel, and that wasn't going to budge for either one of us.

Now, we're on a very curt basis. Which is fine by me. He gave me some training suggestions, but I don't want to show off. I stay at the knot-tying station for a while, tying and untying, trying for more complicated knots as I go. When I get bored there, I change to the fire-building station. My father showed me how to start fire before, just in case I were to ever get stranded, but I don't remember anything about it. I wish my memories of my father were clearer, but each year they fade more and more.

I start fires, and see the 6 girl struggling to start hers.

"Uh, need help there?" I ask. She doesn't look up.

I tap her shoulder, and she turns and scowls at me. "No," she says forcefully.

I put my hands up in surrender. "Alright then."

When I turn around next, I see the tributes from Three together with the boy from Five. Hamilton's tongue sticks out slightly as he focuses on trying to make flames. Cyra motivates him, and Ductor silently cheers on. I go back to focusing on my own fire.

At the camouflage station, I talk to the girl from 10. Not like I would hide with camouflage, but I should know in case I end up alone and need to sleep or get injured and have to hide instead of taking action.

I work on my leg, she has her arm up on the table.

"Collin, right? District 4?"

"Mhm." I focus on spreading the mud across my arm, trying to put some texture in it to make it look like the ground, or the bark of a tree.

"I'm Rachel. District 10."

"You volunteered."

"Yeah, I did. There's a reason to my madness, hun."

"Mhm."

"Not the talking type, eh?"

I shrug. "More inclined to focus on survival."

"I see. Not allies, then?"

"Still not sure."

"Huh." She glances at my arm before painting her foot. "Well, I'm looking around for a couple tributes to look out for, so if you find anyone, why dontcha send 'em my way?"

"I'll keep you in mind," I say, but mostly to get her off my back. I swirl around some pond water to add to the cake of colors already on my arm.

I work at the other survival stations until they call us for lunch.

Right in front of me, the crazy girl from Eight drops her plate and starts to wail. Some of the other tributes help her. I just get my lunch and take a seat in the back, looking around at the other tributes.

Both One tributes sit with the girl from 2, glancing around the room. The Three tributes and Hamilton talk quietly as they eat. The pair from 7 eats together, though more for the sake of having someone familiar than anything. Serafina Anya looks like she wants to come sit with me, but eventually sinks into a seat a distance away. The girl from 10 wanders around before choosing a seat near the boy from 9. For the most part, though, everyone is silent.

I eat at a normal pace, not too incredibly anxious to get back to lunch.

Once I successfully make flames, I move to the station for butchering animals. This is an important skill to have, because it'll give you the most possible edible meat with the least number of kills. I watch as the instructor works on a fake rodent, and passes out some other fake rodents for us to try.

I copy the instructor, but don't feel like I have a good handle on this.

I watch the boy from 2, Vidarr, who looks familiar with using knives. He watches the instructor's movements and copies them. I watch him skin the animal and pull back the pelt.

I try to do the same, but not as successfully.

"You're not bad at that," I say, trying to keep it simple and polite.

"Hm?" he looks up, his dark eyes seemingly endless. "Oh. Thanks." He seems awkward. "You're… Not going with the Careers?" he asks.

I shake my head. "You?"

"No," he says, glancing at the fake rodent in his hands, stripping it of the muscles and tendons.

"I'm not looking for any big show alliance," I say.

"Me neither."

We both give each other a side-glance.

"I want to survive for a while and separate peacefully."

"Yeah. That sounds fine to me."

"Let's split up then. Cover survival stations as best as we can, save what we really know for privates. Chat when we can, but not waste training time for it. We don't need to know everything about each other."

I nod. "Yeah."

We glance at the fake rodents in our hands. His is perfectly butchered, mine is… Just disgusting.

"I can handle the hunting."

"Yeah, sounds good." I put the fake rodent down, take a towel to wipe the fake blood off of my hands and move stations.

A/N: Hey, I'm back! I had lots of inspiration for this story, and I was all ready to write, and then I got hit with a monster cold and that wasn't happening. I feel better now so I decided to finish the chapter, hope that you didn't find it lame or anything. I hope you liked the insight into some of the tributes this chapter. This story's coming along, slowly but surely. Still working on the blog and still taking questions for the tributes. Hope you like how this is coming along.

Chapter Question: Predictions for what the Career pack will end up looking like? Are there any other interactions between tributes you want to see?

Until next time!