I don't own the Hunger Games or anything that I could be reported for or sued for.
The training room that Effie brings us to has amazing weapons in it. There are no walls but only stations in there where every different activity is spaced a little away from the others. The training room is actually below ground level in our own building so we don't even get to see the Capital. I can't help but think that they do that on purpose. They wouldn't want us to see the luxuries they live in and get ideas.
Peeta and I are the last ones to arrive in the gym. I notice quickly that the other tributes aren't dressed alike, but Peeta and I are. As some one pins a piece of clothe with '12' on it to my back so the game makers that are watching a cubicle in the wall above us can tell who I am.
As soon as Peeta take our places in the half circle a woman with muscles that bulge in her shirt starts telling us the training schedule. We choose our area's, moving freely among the many ones. She tells us that our mentors should have given us instructions and I remember the instructions from Haymitch to work on the ones we are no good at. At each station an expert from the Capital is there to guide us through it. They'll teach us anything that we may need in the arena. I find this ironic since we have no idea what the arena will be like.
No tributes are supposed to interact. We can't fight each other, we have assistants ready at the stations so that we can practice the fighting techniques if we need to. I glance around but one of the tributes is glaring at me, and it startles me. The one with blonde hair is glaring at me. He's a career tribute, from District 1 I think.
I quickly look back to the trainer, not so much because I'm scared but more because I don't want to look at the kid I'll probably have to kill in the future. It'll only depress me if I learn something that I don't want to know about them. Atala is reading from a list of the skill stations but I'm not really remembering them. I just want to hit them all, so that I can work on the skills I don't have. I realize though that I'm one of the best tributes.
My muscles have grown from always swinging around my axe and the meat and plants from the forest has caused me to have an advantage over the starved tributes. Most of them haven't been fed like these Capital people. I shutter to think that I would be like them. I've had hard enough of a time but I'd hate to have to think about their problems. Plus that would just make me identify with someone I'm going to have to kill. The only ones who aren't skinny are the career tributes, who are buff and well fed. I wonder if their families went hungry just so they could be in the Hunger Games.
But still. The Career tributes are heavier than me. It's more likely that in a fight with no weapons that they would win. They give off just waves of hostitlity and I can see that I'm going to have to work hard so that I will even have a chance to win against them. Atala lets us go and everyone heads to different stations, the ones that look the deadliest are taken by the Careers at once.
"Where should we start?" Peeta asks. I glance around and my eyes land on a knot tying station. Why not start with the basic necessities?
"Let's start on the basics." I tell him, walking to the station. The expert actually looks excited to have us there. Apparently no one ever wanted to come to his station. I think that's an overseeing on their side. If you can't tie a not, then how do you expect to stay in the tree while you sleep? Or how do you make a trap if you can't tie a knot to keep it together to work?
When we get there and he realizes that I know a bit about snares he shows me how to make a simple trap that will leave a human dangling from a tree until you get there to release them. We focus on this station for an hour until we've both mastered all of the techniques that the man can think to show us. Peeta chooses our next station, the camouflage station. Again this man seems to be happy that we came to visit. I wish I could say the same. All I can manage to do with them is make a few colors out of the vines and berries that I recognize but I'm rubbish at painting it on as camouflage.
But Peeta is a master at once. With only a few basic instructions from the expert he already has it all together. He's painted life like tree bark onto his arm and I'm stunned when he holds it up to a tree. "Wow, all those cakes are finally paying off." I joked to him. He laughed as well. I glanced at a boy from District 12 who is sending a spear through a dummies heart and I wonder if I can accomplish that. I've never used a spear before, simply because they were hard to make because I'd have to find the straight wood required for them. I just found it better to use the axe I already had at hand.
He's very good. He got all of the shading right, even for the light of the fake ones that hang over our head in cages. "It's so real. I'd never be able to tell." I admired his work more, getting closer to look at it. It looks better than the stupid splotches I had used. Hey, at least the splotches would help me to blend in with the scenery around me. I let out a sigh as we pack up from this station and move on to the next one.
For three days Peeta and I continue through this. We learn skills that will keep us alive in the arena in any situation. We went through all kinds of training, including obstacle courses. That's something that I beat Peeta at. There was an extra long obstacle course that goes around the gym. I'd made it through all of it with little to no scratches but Peeta got caught in some of the places, like the climbing. I helped him along, and told him where he would need to secure his weight.
He even helped me with how to carry the weights, though he was careful to hide his strength from the other tributes, just like Haymitch told us to. Haymitch and I haven't had another moment alone. Despite his order to appear mediocre, Peeta excels in hand-to-hand combat, and we can't help but to try our best when we get to something new. Sometimes we are surprised that we are good at something that we've never tried before. When we came to the edible plant test I pass with flying colors, not messing up once, but Peeta struggles through it. I take time to help the expert explain the differences in every piece of leaf so that he won't swallow poison berries or moss.
We stay away from anything that we now we are good at, like the axes that sit in a corner unused. I want to go to them, to through them around because they look wonderful, and shiny. All of mine, though well taken care of, are old and dirty, wooden. But Peeta reels me in with that stupid knowing look.
Then comes the first day of private lessons. I'm scared beyond belief. I don't know how I'm going to do. Haymitch has prepared us for what to do, along with a few snarky comments about it. The Game makers appear early that day, dressed in purple robes, another strange thing about the Capital. I just want to get through the lesson with at least something between a six and, optimistically, an eight. It starts like any other day, because the actually sessions won't start until later.
Peeta and I are edgy, sticking to the plan barely. I know that we both want to show them that we are worth sponsoring, and worth a high grade number. Sometimes the Game makers take notes, watching all of the tributes with interests and sometimes they eat and talk to each other and ignore us. But I do notice that quite a few eyes are drawn to Peeta and I. I have to internally thank Cinna for doing such a wonderful idea because it's given us a lead on the computation already. I learnt that while we eat the game makers even consult with the trainers to see how we are doing. I hope that I've made a good impression on more than one of them.
Breakfast and dinner, are tense because they are held in our quarters and everyone uses this time to get what happened the day before out of us. I know I'm silent because everyone is trying to cheer me up and bring me into the conversation, especially Haymitch who is giving off sarcastic comments to rile me up but I'm to tired and anxious to care.
At lunch all twenty-four of us are rounded up to eat together. The Career's all sit together while the rest of us are left to our own devices. Everyone but Peeta and I are sitting by themselves. Peeta and I make conversations to help with the friendship. We are good though because we actually are friends and it really shows.
One day though Peeta spreads the contents of a bread basket out to me and begins to explain to me the bread from each district. The green tinted bread is from District 4. The crescent moon roll that's dotted with seeds is from District 11. They all seem better than the muck they offer in tesserae but I don't say it.
One day while we are together at the spears which I've almost mastered, Peeta points out something to me. "I think we have a shadow." I grimaced and looked behind us to just see the head of the twelve-year-old District 11 girl as she watches us. As soon as she realized that I was looking she scampered away, disappearing as she climbed up the training equipment that connected with the high roof of the training grounds. She fascinates me as I watch her move. I'm no where near as good as her at climbing. She does it like its second nature to her. It makes sense since District 11 is the agriculture district. Peeta picks up another spear and I throw the one in my hand, hitting the middle of the circle while Peeta's hits the second to middle rim. I deemed we'd both stayed here long enough and we move on.
Rue joins us at some of the stations, and though she doesn't speak I know she watches me. It would be hard not to notice, even with me not being…who I am. So I take a chance and I smile at her. I know that I'm risking my heart, because I might have to take someone so young's life away from her, but I can't help it. She reminds me of Prim and that thought has me pushing tears back. I wish I could do something, but I know that I can't.
So instead when she slips in her watching and actually joins us I help both her and Peeta. We don't talk but she helps us to. She's quiet and points out the mistakes we make, and important things that I don't even know myself. I don't mind helping her but I can't believe that I actually enjoyed her presence. It reminded me why I wanted to go back to District 12 alive. Other than for Haymitch.
I've got to hold on to every hope that I can and I'm holding on to my love for him and the love for my family. But I was not going to die because it wasn't physically possible. I just had to make it look like it was physically possible while at the same time trying to keep it together….yeah that sounds just awesome.
Rue is very skilled at survival, like me. She can climb swiftly, and is great with plants. She also has a little weapons training with a slingshot but what will a slighshot do when it comes to killing others? I can't see that and I can already feel my heart contracting for this little girl who had hardly seen anything. Of course there wasn't much about this world that was to see.
Finally after a week of training and preparation the Gamekeepers start to call us out for our private sessions. They start with the first District like always and work to the last, with the boy going first. I'm not sure how mine will go, and if I'll need my extra help or not. I don't want to use it and I shouldn't have to because no one but the gamekeepers and I will know what goes down in my private lesson. All they will know is my score. But I don't know if I want a high one, to scare the opponents or a low one so that they will underestimate me. I guess we'll have to see how mad I get.
That's what I fear. When I get mad I lose all sense of judgment. It'll be like someone awful has truly taken over my body and if that happens here in the Capital they might try and kill my family at home or Haymitch. They've no doubt realized that I am in love with Haymitch, with the way they keep us watched they might even kill Hade.
Peeta and I are sitting in the lunchroom, waiting our own turn to go into the training room and wow the judges. I'm nervous, and so is Peeta because he's babbling about cake icing. I can't help but to roll my eyes and snort. Then they call his name.
"Remember, do your best in there." I told him as he rose from the table that we were sharing. The other tributes have already left. I could feel my own anxiety rise even when Peeta grinned at me as he walked through the guarded doors and to the training center.
I wait fifteen minutes in a worried silence, playing with some kind of spiky purple fruit on my plate with my fork before my name is called. I rise from the chair and gulp down the spit that had pulled in my mouth. I walked through the doors and into the training room. They'd cleared it out in the middle, and I can see two stands a few yards from a dummy. I walked to them, glancing at the gamekeepers.
They aren't paying attention. Maybe two of them even noticed I entered. When I reach the two stands I realize that Haymitch has told them my strengths, swords, and axes. I pick up one of the swords, and twirl it around to get a feel of it. It's a little heavy on the blade which means I'll have to be careful with it. I glance again at the gamkeepers, a few more are watching but it's careless. They don't expect much from me, I can see it in all of their faces. Why should they? I've given them nothing to say that I was good at anything but wearing flames.
It still makes me angry. They would bring me here, make me train to kill other teenagers but when I bend to give them a show, they won't even pay attention. I throw the sword, spinning to throw it and with my anger the force of my swing causes the blade to pierce straight through the stomach of the belly. I growl in disappointment and I hear the only watching gamekeepers laugh. I look to them and realize that they aren't paying attention; I've lost their only real interest in me. I try again, this time hitting the dummy straight through the head with a thin, perfectly balanced knife.
I hear more laughter, they've all turned from me to stare at the large pig coming in and being sat down. I watch as they all laugh and flock to it, enjoying themselves. I can see the head gamekeeper, Seneca with his curled Capital beard. It makes me angry that the head guard is standing and laughing in front of the punch bowl and that his subordinates are at the Districts tormenting so many people.
I look at the axes. They've supplied me with all different sizes, including a huge one with a double sided blade and a short handle. I pick it up swinging it all around, over my arms, under them, getting used to the blade. It's comfortable, much more comfortable then the knives. I turn to the gamekeepers and I suck in the only breath I can through the haze.
My eyes are clouded with the hate, the fury that they would dare to not give me the respect I deserve. SO when I pull back right as a spot is cleared between the men and I let loose the oversized axe, I'm not surprised that it zooms right through the middle of them and the tip of the blade hits the apple in that damn pigs mouth.
It's silent and the haze clears. The gamekeepers, judges if you will, are all staring at the axe that very well could have ended all of their lives. That is if I wanted it to. Then they are staring at me. They've realized that I could have killed them. Surely they will have me removed now. The anger is almost gone. The last thing the little angry side of me makes me do is giving a snide, smug comment.
"Thank you for your time." I sneer and I curtsy because I've all ready pushed so far over the line of things a tribute isn't allowed to do that I figure it wouldn't hurt. Then I'm out of there. I don't bother slowing down. I race to the elevator as soon as I'm out of their sights. I'm hyperventilating. I can tell all the signs are there. But I can't stop it. I can't stop thinking about the horrible mistake I must have made by doing that. They are going to kill me and Haymitch and my family. Hell they might even throw in that cat from down the street because I fed it once.
When the door opens and I see the anxious faces of Haymitch, Effie, and Peeta I can't speak. Instead a kind of scared and horrified squeak comes out instead. "Sweetheart?" Haymitch asks, cautious. I step out of the elevator because I don't want it to take me back down. I feel my legs coming out from under me and I squeak that weird squeak again. I'm caught and it takes me a moment to realize that the hands that have caught my upper arms is Haymitch. In that moment he looks into my face and searches. I guess he finds what he is looking for because he pulls me into his arms, sticking an arm under one of my knees so that he can carry me to my assigned room.
"Haymitch, what's going on?" I hear Effie call out, shrilly but I'm still hyperventilating and I can't stop to answer her. He slams the door to my rooms so that it locks with his strength.
"Sweetheart, I need you to calm down." Haymitch tells me while he sits me down on my bed. He sits next to me and I'm struck with déjà vu from when it's always me sitting next to him, begging him to let me in and see what's wrong with him. This realization makes me laugh and it breaks me out of the hyperventilation. Instead I take this moment to let Haymitch gather me into his arms.
"I might have seriously screwed up." I breathed, nuzzling my head into his neck. It's warm and his hand is on my head, tangled into my hair. I sigh with pleasure when his hand pushes against the small of my back so that I'm closer to him. Then he pulls away so that he can look me in the eye.
"What happened?" He asked me, seriously. That's Haymitch. He's keeping his promise to keep me alive and I want to kiss him for it. And I might have done it right then if I had the courage to tell him I love him. I can't though. I've known Haymitch for years now, but I still didn't have the courage to tell him. But I have to. I'm going to go into that ring soon and I just…want him to know. But not now.
"It doesn't matter." I told him, sucking myself back in. Tonight they'd give out what we made and then tomorrow we'll get ready for the interview.
That's it. The interview. I can win the crowd over with being in love and then Haymitch will know. It's callous, and Haymitch won't appreciate it but I can't do the intimate scene. I can't stand the possibility that Haymitch will have time to tell me he doesn't love me. This way he doesn't have to. I just hope that the interviewer can bring it up and I don't have to.
"Of course it does, you came back in tears. What happened?" Haymitch asked. I disentangle myself and get up to pace, running my hands absently through my hair. This plan could work, and even if it makes me loose Haymitch, then I can still make it through the arena and come back to change his mind. That's a good plan.
Haymitch stops my pacing, and stands in front of me. I stare at his eyes, those enchanting eyes that I've fallen in love with. He can have green, brown, orange, any color but that silver was something that just pulled me into him. I think it's his best feature. It just screams at me to love him.
"Sweetheart." He says firmly, his arms on my shoulders now to make me look him straight in the eyes because he knows they are my weakness. God does he know. "If I'm going to keep you alive, I need to know what went on down there." He told me, trying to force it out of me but I smiled at him.
"It doesn't matter." I repeat and back up to turn to the door. "I want to go eat dinner before they give out the numbers." I told him, still trying to keep my plan firm in my mind. But I haven't made three steps before his arms are around my waist and then he pulled me against him, my back pressed along his body. I sucked in the air around me but it doesn't seem to be enough as he whispers in my ear.
"I want to help…" He breathed. "You've helped me so much…please?" He asked.
"That's…" I took a gulp of breath. "Haymitch, I will tell you…after we get the number." I told him strongly, pushing out of his arms with what little strength I had against his control over me. I turned back and I hesitated before boldly getting on my tip toes and kissing him on the rough, stubble covered cheek of his.
"Promise." I told him before escaping him to be badgered by Peeta and Effie. Not like that could make a difference because now all I can concentrate on is Haymitch pressed against my back and the feel of his cheek under my mouth.
Dinner was a tense affair. At least the stylists were there and I could chat with them peacefully, though not really because I don't know anything about the life of the Capital people. My jag of insanity had scared Effie and Peeta away from questions but the look in Haymitch's eyes was both anger, and determination. I was going to be held to that promise I just made. I took my time eating, enjoying it. It was nice to not be too tired from training today. I guess it was for the best because I was probably going to have a lot of emotional turmoil tomorrow and maybe even tonight.
When I couldn't handle anymore and everyone was through we walked the short distance to the television to see how we did. It wasn't five minutes after we sat down in the sitting room that the TV lights up with the Hunger Games anthem.
The two announcers on the screen, sitting at their fake little desk made out of some kind of translucent, not glass, material flash a picture of all of us tributes in a colorful collage that would have been actually very awe inspiring had I not been in the games. All the pictures are from training, though they don't air that part of the Hunger Games. The one of me is from the training course and I remember it. I'd jumped between two cliffs to get to the other side of the course. There had been a fancy Capital program that had made it seem all so real. It had seemed like a million miles of air was beneath me.
Then it all settles to seriousness then. They flash the official pictures of us, and then our score under it. The Career's all average eights to tens, always the highest. No one has ever made higher since the beginning Hunger Games. The other, none career tributes, that are like Peeta and I get around five. I'm shocked but not so much as I would have been, when the little Rue got a seven. I'm unsure which attribute that she showed them but I'm a little glad that they seem to think that she's got a chance.
Then Peeta's score comes up. I can't help but to congratulate him with the others when he pulls an eight. "I-I didn't even think they had been paying attention. They were all singing drinking songs by the time I got there." He sputtered, happy. But then my name is called. I looked to the screen and I'm frustrated when the announcer just stares at the piece of paper with the scores on it that's in his hand. His partner, a woman, clears her throat and he jumps.
"Uh…And Kat-Katfir Everdeen, the Girl on Fire." I'm startled that they called me that. Cinna really did a good job on those outfits if everybody is calling me that. "Registers a-a 12." I stare at the screen and there is complete silence before a gurgling sound escapes from my mouth and then a curse.
"The hell?" I blurted out and my exclamation breaks everyone out of there stunned gaze. Haymitch's arms are around me before anyone else can react. I squeal as he swings me around in the air, almost knocking over the table. He set me down and laughed.
"What the hell did you do to get a 12?" He asks me and I can see that everyone is smiling at me, relieved after the way I had acted when I'd gotten back.
"I-I" I started but I'm not prepared to share it with everyone, I'd only wanted to tell Haymitch about my slip up. He seemed to understand because he mumbled an excuse before grabbing my arm and storming me back into my room, which seemed to be our safe haven from the others. I know Peeta is arguing, but I don't want to be forced to tell him so I let Haymitch slam and relock the door.
"Now, you promised me sweetheart. I want an explanation to why I thought that you were going to end up with a One." He stressed, walking forward and I backed up to the fake window in surprise.
"I threw an axe at them." I finally blurted out. Haymitch froze, his face only changing to an incredulous face before his whole body shook with laughter. All the tension was released from me and I started laughing to.
"I didn't mean to. I just got so angry because they weren't paying attention to me! They were focused on that damn pig. I'd shot a sword into a dummy's stomach and shot a knife through its head but they didn't pay attention. So I warmed up an axe. Even the fancy maneuvers I did with it didn't interest so I just…throw it at the apple in the pigs mouth at the right time and the tip of it pinned the apple to the wall." It all came flooding out as I confessed it to Haymitch. He laughed at me, taking me into his arms and swinging me around again.
He set me back down and my breath caught as he stopped to stare me in the eye again. I see the smile that's got his face actually looking so happy and I can't help how I want to kiss him, and as his eyes dilate and darken I have to hastily remember my plan. I pushed away from him under the pretense of giggling some more. The moments gone, but it still plays apart in my mind when I lay down to sleep later, to rest for the big interview the next day.
I know, you guys must be mad, right? I'm sorry but I haven't got any excuses for you this time. All I can really say is that my mind has been wrung until there is nothing that wants to come out of it. With all honesty I can't remember anything about this story that I wanted for it. I've lost interest in it. Maybe, when the movie comes out on DVD I'll be more interested. HOWEVER that does not in anyway mean that I'm quitting this story. I will finish it whether it's in a week, or in a month or even in a year. I will not stop this story at all.
In other news I have a new obsession.
Jasper Whitlock.
Some of you people are probably like 'Oh shit, a twilight fan' but don't. I've been off and on. Really, I didn't even know about it until the movie came out. I read the book then and decided that the movie was worth a try. Then I fell in love with the story. After a while, because they waited so long to get the next movie out I lost interest. But at the beginning of two weeks ago I found a story online in my favorites and I was all like 'Why the hell not?' and I have as a reward for that a JasperOC in the works.
Destiny will not be playing a part in it, well as Destiny. It's still Destiny but she won't be Destiny. If that makes sense? Okay…well I'm not going to do it prematurely but I'm going to put it up when I've finished the first movie, Twilight.
It's called Her Soldier and it's going to be a JasperOC like I told you.
Now, for the question of the update…
Who is your favorite Cullen, if you aren't a twilight fan then What is your favorite movie?
I don't guess I have to answer who my favorite Cullen is do I?