Training Day 2: Weapon
Weapon by Bastille (feat. Angel Haze, F*U*G*Z*, and Braque)
Choose your voice and etch that on your soul
Make them heard when crowds drown out your cold
Leave behind your questions, silent thoughts, and mentions
The wake has so never falter down
Your voice is a weapon…
Training Area 1- Ib
Messiah Emerald (17) Past District 8 Male of the 33rd Games
"Look, guys. I partied too hard last night, and well, the other trainers our busy with preparations with the Games and stuff… sooo… we're doing one of the simpliest and most effective excercises I can think of…" The male trainer yawns and puts a hand to his face.
"We're going to have 'speed dating' sessions. Sorta, don't get the wrong idea…" The trainer nervously smiles and continues. "I'll pair you guys up and you have five minutes to give your partner something about you."
The trainer calls for six tables and twelve chairs at the Avoxes at the four corners of the training area. The four scurry off and return with the equipment within ten minutes. The first person I'm assigned to is Mira and I can't help the smile that tugs at the corners of my lips.
"You have five minutes starting… now."
Mira's brown eyes glaze over me. "I'm an only child, my aunt adopted me after my mother passed away from breast cancer."
Her answer is so to-the-point that her comment takes me aback. "O-Okay. Ummm…" The low rumble of my voice shakes me, my inner soul. "I lived with my father and twin sisters… then I got caught up in some gang activity…"
I roll up the sleeves of my shirt and reveal some tatts from my days in the underground wrestling ring. "People from all over Panem would attend these… wrestling matches held in this abandoned bunker."
Mira's eyes light up, her interest peaked. "I got involved with the community after my mom left us and got into some dangerous shit."
"Messi-"
"TIME'S UP! YOUR NEXT PARTNER IS POSTED ON THE SCREEN!"
Mira frowns as we head our separate ways, her expression less than amused as she makes her aquatiance with Faust and myself with Tricity.
"Hey." Her voice is silky, smooth as ice. Her dark blue eyes waver and dance as she looks me up and down, a sense of mischief across her definite features. "You're pretty big! You work out, or something…?" Tricity inquiries as she runs her hand over my right forearm.
I snap my arm back, rubbing the back of my head to seem nonchalant. "Yeah, something like that…"
She leans forward on the table, her clevlage fully exposed. I gulp nervously, trying to seem somewhat respectful towards her. "You know, Messiah… I've got a thing for big men." She licks her lips in a seductive manner and traces a long, red fingernail down my cheek.
I breath in sharply and politely push her hand away. "I-"
"TIME's UP!"
"Boo, you whore." Tricity whispers at the trainer. She looks back at me with a pout. "I'll see you later."
Tricity strides off, meeting with a pissed off looking Faust. The next person I'm matched up with is Barkley and she proves to be as sweet and fun-loving as she looks with her nervous smiles and glances, the occasional slip of the tongue breaks the uncomfortable ice between us. Soon conversation becomes natural and easy-going as meeting with the others soothes my aching heart. I've never conversed so much in one day and it shows as a throbbing migraine makes its way just in time for lunch.
It's going to be a long day.
Training Area 2- Mad Father
Rhea Katze (17) Past District Three Female of the 98th Games
"Tributes! You're activity today will be similar to yesterday… so first, I need everyone to get into two groups." The trainer waves her hand to the left side and right sides of the room. "Glint and Azura will be selecting members. Glint," the trainer turns to face him. "You get first choice."
"Sweet." Glint's eyes roam and his expression turns fierce as he spots Valiant. "Valiant."
Azura clicks her tongue and glares at Glint as Valiant approaches him, her eyes ablaze. "I want Barrik."
"Who doesn't?" Barrik laughs as he walks over to her and puts his arm around her shoulder. She shrugs him off.
"Rhea." My face heats up as he calls my name, a small smirk forms on my lips. He knows good teammates when he sees them.
I make my way over to Valiant and Glint and wait as Azura scans the room.
"Trolley." Azura smiles as the tall tomboy towers next to her.
"El." El gives a confident smile as she stands next to me, her eyes shimmering.
"Steele." He gives Glint a cold stare as he stands next to Azura.
"Joules." He scurries next to me, his eyes casted down to the floor.
"Vetch." Vetch gives me a frown as he stands across from me.
"Mercy." She stands next to Joules, a look of relief written across her dainty features.
"I guess, Andra." Azura sighs as Andra joins her team, giving Glint a look of dissatisfaction across the room.
"Good, now I need everyone to line up, team captains in the front."
The six of us form a perfect line. Glint, myself, Joules, El, Mercy, and Valiant form one line while Azura, Barrik, Andra, Steele, Vetch, and Trolley form the other.
"Okay, so each team captain will be blindfolded and…" she makes us place our hands on the waist of the person in front of us, going up to each of us and placing our trembling hands in front of the other. Blood rushes to my cheeks as my hands clasp around Glint's firm waist, my fingertips grazing across his thin white t-shirt.
He turns around and winks at me. "You look good in red."
My blush turns a darker shade of red after he says this and my heart swoons. He's soooooo good-looking… Ah!
No, no, no, no.
Not again, Rhea.
Not like last time…
I turn away from him and puff my cheeks. I watch the other team and notice the uneasy feeling begin to fill the room, not like yesterday when we met for the first time, but more like, painful. The fact that we're doing all of these weird and bonding activities makes this much worse for us when we go into the Games, knowing that our friends will die before our eyes. The people we meet from all different generations of people will be forever lost this time, this is our last chance to make it home alive.
"You will move as one unit, everyone needs to stay together in this form until the end of the course. Each team's captain needs to depend on the others to guide the group to safety. The team who makes it to the finish line first wins." She holds up a small gun and raises it above her, squinting her eyes as she anticipates its blow.
Boom
Azura's line sprints off, but it's chaotic. Everyone is trying to do their own thing and Azura just pleads for directions. When this happens however, the five of them scream out orders. I try listening in one one person but that proves difficult as Azura walks straight into a wall, causing the others to fall like dominoes.
"GET OFF ME, BARRIK!"
"AH!"
"SCREW YOU GUYS!"
"Okay, we're taking this slow!" Glint orders as we stride in sync. It's a bit shaky, but soon we manage to find a rhythm. Soon, Azura's team becomes
Right…
Left…
Right…
Left…
Our group comes face to face with a large maze, large enough to take up nearly half of the training area. We elect Valiant as the 'commander' considerig his height and the fact that he is the anchos to our formation. Azura's team struggles to regain their momentum as they approach the earlier obstacle: crossing a thin catwalk. I can't see them, but I can hear some commotion over someone repeatedly stepping out of sync, causing everyone to fall over. That part was especially hard. It took our group probably ten minutes just to cross a five-foot crossing.
This obstacle course is a bitch…
"Congratulations to Glint's team for their win!" The trainer presents us with our passes to the Recreation Center and we head out, leaving a less than happy Azura and others to more team building activities courteous of the weird and strangely ecstatic trainer.
"Make sure you're back in time for lunch!"
Training Area 3- The Witch's House
Chord Whitestone (14) Past District 9 Female of the 80th Games
Likes cute things like kissing and holding hands.
I slide my slip into the bowl and take my seat. The twelve of us are in a circle, the female trainer situated in the center. A clear glass bowls sits with white slips of paper and all I could think about was reaping day twenty years ago. It's funny what runs through your head… like how I could've meet my husband or the children I would've bore. Even the happy and sad times, the road that lied ahead for me. Cut short.
I wipe a hand over my face, a tear streaking down my sunken cheeks. Long lost memories of innocence and joy run through me, even as the bloodshed and horrors of the Games await me once more.
"Okay… so I'm going to pull out a slip of paper and everyone needs to guess who wrote it and we'll go from there…"
The trainer dunks her small hand into the rather large bowls and fishes her hand in it, her slender fingers grazing through all the slips. She retrieves a slip and unfolds it, her eyes glisten.
"Likes cute things like kissing and holding hands…"
My heart skips a beat as she reads mine and I shakily raise my hand. "That's mine." Everyone's eyes turn to me. "I've never really experienced those things, but… it would've been nice to." I lower my head, embarassed.
"You still can…" Brielle butts in, standing up. "We still have time-"
"What time, Brielle?!" Kale stands up, his silence broken. "We've had no time, that was stolen from us the moment that fuckin' gong sounded!"
"Calm down, Kale." Hero hisses, waving his hand violently. "You should be fuckin' grateful that you get another chance! We're the only group that has that opportunity," Hero's once calm demeanor turns edgey, on the verge of chaos.
"Both of you need to calm down, I just said she could still have that chance…" Brielle mururs as she sits down, sighing in frustration.
"Good. This is good… I'll pull out the next one…" She fishes her hand once more in the glass container. "What scares me most now is falling into oblivion again…" She looks up from the scrap of paper.
"It's mine." Coy whispers, loudly enough for us to hear. He trembles softly, his voice quivering. "I-That's what I feared most then and now."
"What is your worst fears, everyone?" The trainer turns to Mac. "Mac?"
"Nothin'. I ain't afraid of nothin'."
"Would you like to be pay a visit to President Echo?" The trainer raises her eyebrows, the corners of her lips tightening.
"No…" He mutters under his breath.
"So…?"
Everyone turns to face the less than cooperative redhead, looks of anger and disappointment are exchanged between the twelve of us.
"My old man-" He stops abruptly and excuses himself, running to the bathroom facilities several yards away.
"Can't take the heat, don't fucking say anything at all." Kale mutters under his breath, his eyes shifting from person to person. "I fear the day that everyone fabricates themselves to fucking morons." He snorts and slouches in his chair. "Can't trust your own family…"
I can sense an underlying meaning to his cursing, some feeling of remorse goes toward sarcastic and unapproachable youth.
"I'm scared of dying a vir-" Ashton stops midway and clamps his mouth shut. He shakes his head and reconciles back in his seat. Hero snickers, soon moaning in pain when Brielle punches him in the back.
"What about you, Chord?" Fenella looks up at me, a look of optimism spread across her light and airy features.
"Me?" I ask in disbelief. It takes me a couple seconds to conjure a response, but after some thought I say speak of what first entered my head after my awakening.
"I'm afraid of experiencing excrutiating pain on the brink of death… again."
Training Center's Health Wing
Joules Valence (13) Past District 3 Male of the 70th Games
"According to the tests…" The elderly man flips through pages upon pages of documents, his eyes squinting as he reads the small text. "You do indeed seem to be suffering from amnesia."
I know, but why?!
I hold myself back and after several moments, I speak up. "Yes… but why…?" I want answers, is that so hard to ask for?!
"It's hard to say… this is rare… unless someone-" He stops mid-sentence and stands up, brushing off the front of his slacks. "I'm sure it's due from severe mental stress upon awakening…" The man approaches the door, opening it slightly and looks back at me.
"I wish you the best of luck, Joules."
There's something he's not telling me…
The door closes with a soft metallic thud and it echoes throughout the small examination room. I take a closer look into the room and find basic medical equipment like a large table and various monitors and cadavers. The thing that surprises me the most is a small photograph of a young boy probably sixteen or seventeen and the District One girl. Her face is round, but her stomach is flat. Her eyes gleam a warm honey, unlike the one I see now with cold brown ones. She is smiling, quite pretty and welcoming. I take the photograph from between the cushions of the chair and hold the picture in my palms.
I should return this to her…
I turn the handle, the cold sensation sending shivers up and down my spine. The hallway is empty, chilling even as my footsteps echo loudly down the coridoor. I feel the air tense around me as a lightbulb dims and crackles.
The bulb dies and I am left in complete darkness.
My mind races and a rush of images fill my head. I'm running, my breathing labored and quick and my mind feels like it's stuffed with cotton. There's an intense burning sensation in my calfs and tree limbs and leaves zoom past me like a bullet train.
I'm running away, but from what?
The vision turns one hundred and eighty degrees, as if I turned around while still sprinting and my mouth drops. A Career with deadly eyes holds up a spear, grinning madly and lets it go. The blade pierces the right side of my chest, I fall forward.
I can feel the intensity of the searing pain. I'm not even there anymore, I had seen this before while on the train but this vision is so real that I can feel the ragged breathing and conciousness of my past self. I lie face down, gulping precious oxygen as my eyes droop and open. The Career snickers and slams his foot onto my back and grips the shaft of the spear, turning the blade slowly and methodically.
"AHHHH!"
I grip my right breast and scream, I am not aware I am even screaming until I feel the vibrations of the walls and the floorboards. I am sobbing, praying for an end to the pain and suffering. My past self merely whimpers and sniffles.
The vision ends there and I fall to the floor in a heap, my knees hitting the wood hard. I grit my teeth as the pain shoots up my legs and torso, my consicousness slipping with every passing second. I cry again and again, not caring for my reputation as the weakling, I just want someone to save me from this hell. Why did I lose my memories?
Why?
Won't someone tell me!?
WON'T SOMEONE TELL ME?!
Please…?!
Anyone?
Mom… Dad…
HELP ME…
Cafeteria
Faust Stark (18) Past District 5 Male of the 1st Quarter Quell
I manage to find an empty and secluded spot in the cafeteria to sit at and gladly drop my plate down. Spending lunch in the bathroom had certainly not been a fun and didn't help make matters better by avoiding everyone.
It was extremelly boring and shitty.
Really.
"HEELLLLOOOO~!"
Mitzi's loud voice shatters my thoughts and I jump back. Her shriek greeting pierces my eardrum like an ice pick and my eyes close halfway. A deep throb penetrates through me and my blood begins to boil.
See what I have to deal with?!
"Dammit, Mitzi! What the fuck was that for?!"
She tilts her head slightly. "You looked out of it…? I dunno know… you looked sad or something. I wanted to cheer you up!"
She drops her tray next to mine and takes her seat next to me, close enough for me to catch the scent of her shampoo. I scoot my chair away from hers.
"What do you want?"
"Well… like I said…" she trails off and begins to slice her apple into slices to dip in a small cup of peanut butter. "What are you doing here alone, anyway?" Her voice is surprisingly soft, careful like treading on a thin wire.
"I'm… observing."
"Observing?" She takes a bite of her apple, a bit of peanut butter marks the left side of her lips.
"Yeah, the alliances and stuff." I exasperate and lean in closer to her pointing at Carminha and Carella. "They're an alliance," I point to Messiah and Mira. "Them too… umm…" I find Barkley and Keither laughing just chairs away from us. "Those two also."
"And-"
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Look I'll tell you mine too! HAHAHAHA!" She jumps up and down in her seat and points to the girls from Nine. "I'm in a group with them-"
"They chose you to be in their group?" I snork and burst out laughing. Either Mitzi was annoying them to death pleading with them or they're idiots.
"No! I asked them~!"
Figures.
"Oh, and there's the Career alliance." She points to the boy from Two and the pair from Four. "… and Coy and Track." She gestures toward two young boys who play with a tarantula.
"There's also the pair from Seven!" She points to a dark-haired girl and large male who sit quietly eating.
"Word on the street is that the second group's alliances are the Career group, those three young looking tributes, that athletic boy with the beast from Eleven and the girl from Ten, ummm and the pair from Three." The twelve sit within the same area in the cafeteria, the different groups chat and converse with each other.
All of us in little fuckin' families…
"Look, Faust. You don't have to sit alone. You can sit with Chord, Fenella, and I tomorrow and-"
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not up for girly ass chats." Just as I leave, Mitzi grabs my wrist and stops me in my tracks, my heart skips a beat. Not in that lovey-dovey way by the way.
"What?!" She's challenging me, and I fucking don't like it.
"You don't have to be alone… I mean, we're here…" She's at a loss for words as she reconciles back and walks away, her slim figure hiding among the crowd of people heading to the Recreation Center.
I throw my tray away and stride close to everyone, but I always stay just a few steps behind them.
Recreation Center
Orion Hades (16) Past District Twelve Male of the 1st Games
The library is filled with an overpowering silence. Despite their being no elderly lady glaring from beyond the service desk, the room is consumed in a menancing overtone of stillness. The shelves are dusty, several balls of dust coating the four corners of the area. The floorboards creak and sound dissonant as my footsteps echo soundly in the stuffy space. Wall to wall, every few feet, there are shelves filled with yellowed and wrinkled pages of history and banned literature, a truly lost field of the world's truths.
I pick a rather large white novel that reads 'Bible' and sigh in relief as I flip through its sacred texts. I rub the small cross pendant from my necklace between my forefinger and thumb and recall the darkest of days. Long ago, there was religion. Many different kinds, ranging from Christianity to Buddhism. Wars and conflicts were fought over time and eventually the government had completely banned the practice of worship and faith.
That was just the beginning…
The government then began to limit our rights and soon enough a full-blown war ensued. Civilians began forming regiments and armies to take down the Capitol's growing power, but alas, we lost. Over half of the nation's population had fallen and many children were left orphans and famine and starvation followed after. District Thirteen's nuclear weapons sent radiation poisoning and cancer rampant from ocean to ocean and even more of the population was lost. These events are what we know as today as 'The Dark Days'.
Several months later, the Capitol established the Districts of Panem and had the Hunger Games take part the next summer. Many doubted that the Capitol would send their children to fight to the death, dismissing the idea in a fit of laughter. Others were thrown into a panic and suicide pacts became an absolute truth to the remaining citizens.
My mother simply feigned the possibility and continued to support for the welfare of her only child. It wasn't until Panem's very first reaping day arrived that my mother began to panic. She dressed me in my father's old suit and kept me within her reach the entire morning. Everyone, including the oldest of potential tributes had one slip in the glass bowls, not very many were in District Twelve's that year. Only fifty teens had survived the terrible events years prior.
One measely white slip…
Let's welcome our first pair of tributes representing District Twelve… Lilia Pawmen and Orion Hades!
My mother held me for the longest time, telling me that I would come home, that this was just a test to the Districts for the war. She told me she loved me and I told her back. That was the last time I saw her…
My hands begin to tremble as more memories begin to resurface; the smell of oak from the wood furnishings brings back the tall red oak trees from the Arena that overlooked the tribute's pedestals. It was a nature's paradise; surely, they didn't want us to stain it with tribute's corpses?
Even as the countdown started, I still held my mother's presence in my heart. I still believed that the Capitol would call this off, that they would announce, "Hey, this all just a joke. You can go home now!" I believed it with every fiber of my being as I watched the others. Some were scared, some were stone-faced, and few were eager.
It was sickening…
The gong sounded and tributes flung from the pedestals and ran straight to the Cornucopia. Fist fights started as weapons and supplies were scarce, I hung back and watched as blood began to seep the rich green grass.
I didn't even have time to think or run as a knife sliced the air and embedded itself within my cranium, the very first cannon sounded throughout the Arena.
My death was the start of the Games' bloodshed...
A/N: Hiya! :D So… you know why updates were pretty stagnated… you know, college applications? The demons and the anxiety of all high school seniors? Well I finished up a couple weeks ago and I just wanted to let you guys know that I was accepted into the universities of my choice! Thank you guys for being so patient! I hope that senioritis doesn't catch up to me…
I'll be posting the final Training Day next Friday and will update on Sundays. When the Games arrive, however… we'll see.
Blogs will be updated frequently as chapters are posted!
Review your thoughts and predictions :)
Alliances (as of Training Day 2)
Arena 1- Ib
Careers: N/A
The Artists: Keither and Barkley
The Teen Moms: Carminha and Carella
The Teenage Boys: Orion, Eli, and Bram
The Strong Ones: Messiah and Mira
Tricity (Loner)
Yarrow (Loner)
Faust (Loner)
Arena 2- Mad Father
Careers: Azura, Glint, and Steele
Team Hope: El, Barrik, and Valiant
The Brains and the Sensitive One: Rhea and Vetch
The Young Ones: Andra, Mercy, and Joules
Trolley (Loner)
Arena 3- The Witch's House
Careers: Hero, Brielle, and Ashton
Team Cheeky: Track and Coy
The Three Musketeers: Mitzi, Chord and Fenella
The Quiet Ones: Ember and Kale
Mac (Loner)
Lilac (Loner)
Love Always, Domi