A/N: Apologies for posting this late. I've been sick for the past week and haven't been able to do, well, anything. I hope you enjoy this chapter, the next few are being written right now! Happy Holidays!
The closet in her room is beyond her comprehension.
She sets it according to her personal preference and it produces light pink scallop hemmed shorts and a white blouse. She tucks the blouse under the high-waist of the shorts and slips on the white flats given to her. She ties her hair up in a ponytail, feeling it's soft texture.
The showers in the train were fascinating, but the ones in the apartment were even more so. They had even more shampoos, soaps, scents, oils, and massaging sponges than the ones on the train. She recalls stepping out of the shower and onto a mat that activated heaters that blow-dried her body. She had put her hand on a box that sent a current through her scalp that untangled, parted, and dried her hair almost instantaneously. Though the heated towels had come in handy for covering up.
Stepping out of the room she is greeted by Percy, closing the door to his room.
"Hey, Annie." He says. He seems less angry and more like the boy she had heard about, kind and funny. People from District 4 always knew how to have their fun.
"Hey, Percy. Do you smell that?" She asks. He sniffs the air and senses the faint smell of… he doesn't quite know, but it smells good.
"Yeah, I do. Let's go check it out." He takes her hand and brings her with him. As they approach the dining room they can see Elmas talking to Finnick, who seems half interested. Mags smiles at the two tributes.
"What is this?" Percy asks gesturing to the feast in front of them. he sits in the seat next to Finnick.
"Lamb stew." His mentor says. In 4, there isn't much red-meat, but there's tons of seafood. It's no surprise that neither tribute eats the seafood on the table.
"Oh, Annie you looked stunning, darling! Much like you do now!" Elmas says. She, like many other Capitol citizens, fell in love with Annie's costume for the tribute parade.
"Thank you, Elmas." Annie says kindly, from the seat next to Mags.
"I think we should talk about your strategy for the Games. You're going to be careers, right?" Finnick looks at the two tributes.
"Is that what's best for us?" Annie asks. She hadn't really put much thought into it before. The schools had provided very subtle training for the children, but it wasn't enough for Annie to know how to murder someone, only hold a weapon, or survive in nature.
"Well, for Percy, yes. If you aren't a career, they'll take you as a threat." Finnick looks at Annie, "For you… I think you could be a career as well. I know that district 2 doesn't think very highly of you right now, but I'm not sure about the rest. Let's see how you do in training tomorrow, okay?"
"Speaking of training, what should I even do?" She takes a bite of the cooked carrot on her plate.
"Both of you should try everything. Spend some time at each of the stations, but Annie, don't show exactly what your skills are. Show that you are capable, but not a threat. At least not yet. See if the careers are who you want to join, if you want to join them, show them everything you can do." Finnick says, waving his fork around.
Mags tugs on Finnick's sleeve and says something to him that the rest don't understand, as per usual. The victor's both turn to Percy and Finnick recites what Mags said.
"Mags wants you to show them what you can do. Get on their good side, make them see that they need you in the career pack." Mags again says something the rest don't catch, but Finnick translates the woman's slurred speech. "Don't provoke them, or threaten them. The element of surprise works wonders, that's how Mags and I won."
Finnick's right, he won his games by sticking with the careers and they never expected a fourteen year old boy to be able to take them all out. Annie doesn't know much about Mags' games, but she knows Mags is highly intelligent and light on her feet for an old woman. However, no one at the table addresses the biggest worry on the tributes mind's; when they will have to kill each other.
They eat the rest of the meal with light conversation, as there isn't much to talk about. After dinner everyone goes to their rooms and gets ready for bed. In the morning Annie and Percy will be heading for training.
Neither one of them is overly enthusiastic.
"Anais! Anais!" Someone shakes her but she still won't get up.
"Anais, let's go! You can't be late for training!" It's Tallulah, hair dyed a sunset orange that reminds Annie of home. Stretching herself out, Annie gets up and looks down at the clothing Tallulah has set out for her; the clothes are all tight-fitting, the sea green t-shirt with her district number on each sleeve, the dark grey cloth jacket with her district number on the back, the matching pair of leggings with paneling on the sides, and the pair of athletic shoes.
"Go shower, and I'll get you ready." Annie does as Tallulah tells her, and within half an hour she is showered, dressed, and out her bedroom door.
"Go sit and eat something, I'll see what's taking Opin and Percy so long." Tallulah leaves Annie alone in the dining room, where an avox serves her some flaky bread and orange juice. She thanks the man and takes a serving of eggs too.
Percy comes to the table a minute later, smiles at the avox, then sits next to Annie, eating three helpings of scrambled eggs. She notices that he is wearing almost the same thing as she. There is a platter of traditional District 4 bread that Annie had missed and she takes one and gives another to Percy, who smiles at her in thanks. I'm never going to be able to kill him, she thinks. Once the two are done, Elmas comes out to escort them to training.
"Are Mags and Finnick still sleeping?" Percy asks.
"Mags is still sleeping, yes, bless that woman's soul. She's just so old." Elmas says fondly. "Finnick had some business to take care of." The thirty-something woman steps into the elevator once it 'dings' and the two tributes follow.
"Business?" Annie asks.
"Yes, business. He is your mentor, he can do whatever he pleases." Elmas tells them. She turns once the elevator doors open up to the training center. "Remember what Finnick told you, okay?" She looks at both of them and smiles, "Good luck!"
The gymnasium is enormous, nothing like the ones Annie's used to in 4. There are various stations set up with a multitude of weapons set up neatly. Most of the tributes are already there, with the exception of 7, 9, and 12. They all stand in a semicircle around a tall, athletic woman with dark skin. The remaining districts come a few minutes later and the head trainer, Atala, starts to explain how the training will work.
"There are experts at every station who will help you with the respective station you are at. You are free to roam and try every station. Some teach survival skills, while others teach fighting techniques. You are forbidden to engage in any form of combative exercise with any other tribute. If you wish to engage in such practices, we have assistants readily available." She then goes on to read the list of stations, and Annie allows herself to take a look at the other tributes.
There's a tall boy from 1 with red hair and green eyes that show an air of arrogance, the girl next to him has shoulder length red hair and matching freckles. They look like siblings and both look like winners. To their right are the tributes from District 2, the typical muscular, tall, intimidating boy and the short, athletic girl next to him with blonde hair and menacing dark grey eyes. These are the people Percy is going to team up with, and perhaps even Annie. Before she gets a look at all of the tributes, Atala blows her whistle, signalling for them to head to a station. Percy heads off to the Gauntlet first, he is the second one in line, after the girl from 2. Annie heads to the ropes course, nothing else really spiking her interest just yet.
She climbs up the wide rope ladder and extends one arm to grab the net hanging from the ceiling. There are various intertwined nets that hang down and little horizontal poles in the middle. She swings from the first few nets then hears the instructor say something.
"What?" She asks.
"Try getting on top of it." The man says.
Annie does as he says and lifts one leg to poke it through the net. She then grabs the other side of it and hoists herself up to the top of the net. The instructor gives her a thumbs up and she makes her way down the remaining ropes.
"You did very well in this station, good luck." He tells her with a monotonous voice.
She sees Percy doing very well at the Gauntlet and so do the careers. The boy from one whispers something to his district partner and she nods. Annie walks over to the hand-to-hand combat station, figuring that she could at least pick up a few things. The instructor, a muscular woman with pale skin, greets her and shows her the basics.
"Fighting stance." She says after about twenty minutes and Annie does as she's told.
The instructor throws a punch at Annie which she dodges and another one which she blocks. Annie throws a punch at the woman's stomach which gets blocked. Annie then kicks at the woman, but her leg is caught and twisted, not enough to hurt her, only to knock her off balance. Annie turns with it though and the woman lets go, then attacks Annie from behind, wrapping her arms around Annie's torso and lifting her from the ground. Annie panics for a moment then remembers to hook one leg around the instructor's and leave the other free, this way her attacker can't throw her. The young brunette pries off the hand that is around the instructor's wrist. Annie gets dropped to the floor and quickly resumes her fighting stance. After a few good punches and kicks, the instructor crouches down and kicks Annie feet out from under her before she can jump.
"Good job. You did much better than I expected." The instructor tells her. Annie wonders if that was supposed to cheer her up.
She hears the tributes from 2 laughing at her defeat from the spear throwing station so she walks over towards to station and once it's her turn, picks up a sizable spear. She knows that they are watching and Annie figures that her chances of survival are better if she joins them, so she does what Finnick told her and shows them exactly what she can do.
"Perhaps you should try this one." The instructor, a tall man with blonde hair, shows her a much smaller spear. He clearly doubts her, as do many other tributes, who Annie can see casually looking at her from her peripheral vision.
"No, thank you. I think I can handle this one." Annie tells him politely. The apprehension is clear on his face and she resists the urge to laugh. Her father had taught her a thing or two about spears and tridents on their fishing trips. Percy is standing next to the boy from 1 and Annie is happy for him, he's been accepted, now if only she could too.
She walks to the red shooting line and right as she is about to aim, she turns around. Annie flicks her wrist and two prongs jut out from the center of the spear, transforming it into a trident. She twirls it in her hand a bit and hears the girl from 2 tapping her foot, clearly impatient. Annie doesn't want to wait any longer herself, so she turns, aims, and throws the trident.
It hits the dummy straight in the heart.
Fatal.
Annie smirks, Percy claps, and the girl from 2 stops tapping her foot.
Forty-five minutes later, Annie is relaxing at the knot-tying station when she sees the small girl from 3 struggling to tie a relatively simple knot. She feels a pang of sympathy for the girl and scoots closer to offer some help. The instructor wasn't having much luck.
"You want to hold your hands like this. And just follow what I do, okay?" Annie demonstrates with her own hands and the girl with the dark skin and grey eyes looks startled at first then smiles.
"Thank you. I didn't realize it was that simple." The girl says once she's successfully tied the knot.
"No problem. I'm Annie, District 4." She scolds herself for saying her name, as the thought of potentially killing this little girl comes to her mind. She fights a cringe.
"Medee. District 3." Medee holds out a hand and Annie shakes it. The younger girl smiles at her and Annie knows this was a bad decision.
"Lunch!" Atala yells.
Annie looks at the clock and sees that the time is noon and all of the tributes are making their ways to the adjoining cafeteria. Annie says goodbye to Medee, not allowing herself to linger in fear of the girl asking to sit with her. In any other circumstance, Annie would love to, but right now, she needs to think about survival. She remembers as a kid watching a victor from 8 saying during an interview that the games start once you get reaped and they never really end. Annie remembers hearing about his death a few months later, allergic reaction, she thinks.
"Annie!" Percy calls her over to the table he is seated at. The careers are all next to him and they make no objection of adding Annie to their alliance. There is a multitude of food on the table, waiting for them to devour it. Annie takes the seat next to Percy and the girl from 2.
"I'm Megara, but you can call me Meg!" The redhead from 1 holds out her hand for Annie to shake and Annie introduces herself as well.
"I'm Anais, though, most people call me Annie." she smiles. The rest of the careers take this as a signal to introduce themselves.
"Max, district 1. Nice to meet you, babe." Meg's district partner reaches across the table to shake Annie's hand with a big smile and a friendly wink. If Elmas thought her and Percy were attractive, she would explode from looking at these two. Tributes from 1 tend to be more attractive, especially the careers, but this boy's smile makes Annie almost blush and giggle. He's close to Finnick level attractiveness, if that's even possible, but it's more due to his open, charming nature. Both had expressive, inviting eyes, big pearly smiles, and a light sprinkling of freckles. If Annie looked like a mermaid, Meg looked like a princess. The sweat on their brow's looked more like a glittering shine than gross sweat.
"Wyn. 2." Is all the boy from District 2 says. He doesn't look like much of a talker, but he sure looks like one hell of a fighter. He has muscles, and a lot of them, and dark hair with ice blue eyes, which makes Annie wonder if the Capitol citizens will be able to handle the beauty of the careers this year. They are all stunning.
"Artemis. District 2. Don't call me Arty, like doofus over there." She points at Max and Annie catches the smirk he sends toward the blonde. She even catches the small one Artemis sends back. Artemis has an exotic look to her. She looks to be of mixed heritage with her naturally blonde hair that highly contradicts her olive skin tone and dark grey eyes.
"And I'm Percy." Annie chuckles at Percy, as he shakes her hand, acting like they are strangers.
"Nice to meet you, Percy. Where are you from?" Meg looks amused at their interaction, as does Max. Even Artemis and Wyn look slightly amused. Annie seems to be growing on them.
"District 4. Y'know, where all of the fish are?" Percy says.
"No way! Me too! How is it possible that I am just meeting you?!" Percy plays along. Their alliance seems to be entertained by the interaction. At least she might have some fun before she dies.
"I have absolutely no clue, darling!" His voice slowly fades into the Capitol accent, and Annie joins in.
"Well we've met now, haven't we?! Come let's bond over purple soup!" Megara outright laughs as the two district partners end their conversation, and Max looks on with a huge smile and a breathy laugh. The district 2 tributes look at them with small smiles, while shaking their heads.
"I'm liking you more already, 4" Artemis says, and Annie knows she's done it.
She's a career.
A/N: Don't forget to review!
Also If anyone can correctly guess which characters Max, Meg, Artemis, and Wyn are based on and which show they are from, I'll write them an Odesta oneshot! (Be patient if you win!)
Happy Holidays!