Chapter 12

She dismisses us from the circle and the tributes disperse to different stations, most choosing some sort of weapon station, though I notice with a flick of amusement that all the career tributes, aside from the District 4 male go straight for survival skills. They don't feel the need to practice, I suppose, they've been doing it all their lives.

I start towards the berry identification station, I guess it would be good to know which berries will poison me with a single bite and which are okay, but honestly its the first empty station I see, and that is definitely appealing at the moment.

My brothers both have photographic memories, and they constantly feel the need to remind me of this talent, however I don't. I flip through the pictures and descriptions of poisonous berries they have on a largish screen installed into the wall, wondering how anyone manages to remember any of this. Bolt and Tact would be good at it though. My heart sinks. Damn I miss them.

"Virginia Creepers" A voice rumbles from behind me "Red is dead" I stiffen, and wonder if the boy belonging to the voice is talking to me...or himself, I click to the next picture. "Bittersweet, thats an easy one...I've never trusted people, or ugh 'things' wearing hats" I frown, and turn.

"Hats?" I ask the boy, who I recognize immediately to be from District 5 with his curly auburn hair and hazel eyes. He's not tall, but he's not exactly short either maybe two or three inches taller than my 5'4, he has broad shoulders and toned arms, I'd say his family has never had a food shortage issue.

District 5 smiles and gestures to the screen "The yellow part on the berry, it looks like a hat."

I turn back to the picture and realize he's right. "Oh right, I see." I mumble and avert my gaze, mentally chastising myself for paying any attention to him. Five minutes into training and I'm already doing a crappy job following Skader's instructions 'Escape people's attention.'

I feel District 5's eyes resting on my back as I click to the next picture "Yew" He murmurs "That red is dead thing is holding up nicely, isn't it?" I shrug, not bothering to turn back to him. I feel rude, brushing him off like this, but Skader's instructions were clear, and made too much sense to ignore.

Next picture "inkberry, hmmm" District 5 drawls speculatively "blue will harm you? Thats not as catchy...but I'm sure it will work." I turn around and gesture to the screen without meeting his eyes.

"All yours" It comes out as kind of a mumble and I can see a frown form on the boys face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you away...I just know that rhythms or sayings have always helped me remember things better, and I'm thinking these are kind of important to remember." I consider nodding and walking away without a word, wondering if him being friendly is part of some sort of plot to make me trust him in the games...so I'm a fast kill. I hesitate.

"Um, right...well, I'm Pace, you're the girl from District 3, you volunteered ummm Dacen? Deecen?"

"Dicen." I say, "And yea, I volunteered for my sister, she's pregnant" I bite my tongue, I should walk away now, but honestly I can't see what harm talking to this boy for 5 seconds would do "And yea, those rhythms are actually pretty helpful...sorry, I'm kind of out of it today."

An understanding smile lights Pace's face "Mhm, and you're probably not supposed to interact much with the other tributes much either, right? Thats fine, my mentor told me the same thing...I'm just a crappy directions follower...I should really work on that, well maybe I'll talk to you later, nice meeting you Dicen."

I duck my head self consciously "Yea, you too..." He walks away and I feel myself deflate a bit, this is such a strange scenario, being thrown into a room to be taught with the very same people you need to train to fight in the first place...If that makes any sense, its almost ironic.

I look at a few more berries and try to come up with rhythms or sayings like the ones Pace came up with, but I've never really been the creative type so after four or five more slides I give up and go to knot tying. This station is not empty, Fry balances on the back legs of a chair with his feet propped up on the table, watching an instructor bordelly as he leads him through the steps of tying a simple snare. I know some knots but not many, my dad used to hunt a little, but didn't have the time after mom died and we began relying on some wealthier family friends of ours who are big on hunting, to sell us stuff for cheap.

Fry glances up as I approach "Hey, miss me already?" I sink into the seat next to him.

"Not exactly, I was kind of hoping whatever it is you use to repel people like you do could help me if I get close enough to you...and look" I gesture towards the otherwise empty station "Its working already" The corners of his lips twitch a bit as if repressing laughter and he opens his mouth.

"The Worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves, Dicen" He breathes out with a wink.

I raise an eyebrow at him speculatively "Thats deep, but how does that relate to me?" I know, he wants me to ask, so I almost resist the question, just to bother him, but my curiosity gets the better of me.

Just as I expect he smirks, apparently pleased with himself "I mean, listen Dicen, I'm sure it must be hard having been thrown into the games to kill someone you are enormously attracted to, but denying it isn't gonna help you get over it, in fact" He leans toward me, a wicked glint in his eye that seems to changed to a silvery hazel, the closer I look at him "Sometimes it helps just to give in, if you know what I mean, then you could maybe move on."

"Give in?" I sputter a quick laugh, trying to cover the blush that undoubtedly just spread across my face. I mean, sure he's isn't wrong, I do find him attractive because he...well is, but thats not to say I'm attracted to him, just because he has nice features doesn't mean he has a redeeming personality in fact his general personality has gotten on my nerves since I'd first seen him in seventh year. Hell, even Ara who fauns over his looks every morning before class has admitted she probably wouldn't be able to stand talking to the guy for more than five minutes. "Do you hear yourself when you talk, or is your own voice kind of like a ringing in your ears?" Another jab I hadn't meant to aim at him. Honestly, I've never been the type to throw insults at people, unless you count the light natured jabs at Ara or Dekus, but something about Fry seems to bring them out, or then again, it could be our current situation. Why bother being civil to someone you will be fighting to the death against?

"All tributes to the center please." A loud demanding voice echoes through the gym, causing everyones head to whip toward them.

A short, probably around thirty year old man stands in the center, gazing out at the stations, his mouth corked in an amused smirk, his deep orange hair arranged in flame shapes down either side of his face, he's not exactly hard to recognize, the head gamemaker Hepher Claw. He'd been at the opening Ceremonies last night, hiding halfway behind President Snow as he'd been making his 'touching' speech, staring at the rows of us tributes with a mimic of Snow's hungry looking spark in his bright blue eyes. It had only added to my disgust last night, now however, with him standing so close and...real, the man basically controlling our fate from here on, I feel a spark of fear.

Everyone gathers around him in a crescent shape "Hello tributes" He announces with a beaming smile "As you all most likely know, I am Hepher Claw, the head gamemaker for the 72nd Hunger Games, and I can't even begin to express to you all, my excitement. Not only do I strongly feel, that this years arena designed by" he raises his eyes to the ceiling and his hand to his chest "Muha, is by far the most interesting and over all exciting set up of any arena thus far, I also see, just by looking at you all, that we have the most diverse and surely prepared group of tributes as well. I do hope you all enjoy the accommodations we have in place for you here in the Capitol for your stay, I know it must be an enormous and hopefully delightful change from those of which you experience in your own individual Districts" I feel vile rise to my throat "we want you all to enjoy every second you spend here, and hopefully get a view of what one of you will be given after they become victor. Now, me and a few of my associates will be walking around as you train, please ignore us and go about your usual business, we are simply here to observe for today, no scoring will be done until your private sessions near the last day of training" He pauses, apparently waiting for his words to sink in "are there any questions?" His eyes travel around the half circle of us, pausing for a moment on each person, a shiver shoots up my spine when he gets to me "No? Excellent then, well good luck and" another beaming grin "Welcome to the Capitol."

After Claw's speech I feel too nauseous to really focus any energy into training, so I spend the next few hours blindly following Fry from station to station, ignoring any taunts he shoots at me until eventually he gets the hint and ends them. No other tribute bothers to approach us, though the District 4 tributes seem to enjoy staring at us for a moment before ducking there heads together and whispering something that makes them both crack up, not unlike last night. It occurs to me that they seem to be singling out, and after a while I decide to point it out to Fry "They're watching us" I say, not meaning to make my voice as bland as it came out.

"I know." He returns simply.

"Any idea why?"

He sighs, and glances over at them "Seriously?"

I nod.

"I think its because you volunteered, and they were expecting a bit more of a...threat, than you're proving to be."

"Oh, but I didn't volunteer because..."

"I know, but they don't" He glances down at me "Ignore them, they'll get bored eventually and move on." I just nod in return.

"Gah!" a loud high pitched voice yelps out from across the room, followed by a chorus of laughter. I look over to see the District 8 girl, pressed with her back against the wall, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with shock, her stark black hair ruffled in a swift line across the top of her head, the careers are doubled over about 20 feet away, all gathered around the knife throwing station laughing uncontrollably.

"Sorry!" The District two boy, whose name I just recently learned to be Beck, yells "I guess my aim is a bit...off" he's clearly fighting off his own bouts of hysterical laughter, and I have no doubt that whatever had just happened was on purpose and had nothing to do with his aim, which I would assume to be perfect.

The traumatized girl stares at him a few more moments before the small blonde boy from her District, the 13 year old one, moves forward, and takes her arm to lead her away slowly.

"Heh, what an asshole" Fry says, shaking his head.