Chapter 13

When we return to the room Skader and Rassa are standing in front of the couch, facing each other with narrowed eyes. Rassa looks cool as usual, but Skader's cheeks are flushed, as if he'd been yelling. "How could that even be considered a factor to you? Are you forgetting about blo...?" Skader cuts himself off when he notices us standing in the doorway, and tugs a painfully forced smile onto his face, "How did it go?"

Fry gasps suddenly appalled staring at Skader as if he'd just asked him to behead himself "How could you even ask that...how did it go? I mean how do you think it went!" Rassa opens her mouth as if trying to calm Fry down but he keeps going before she can get the chance "All of us...were dressed in the exact same outfits! I mean come onnn" He groans "How tacky! I mean they go through all this trouble to get stylist teams, and we end up wearing the same generic maroon crap as everyone else, wheres the individuality! Ughh, How can you not just shudder at the thought!" He sinks into the couch with a mock shudder.

I fight back a giggle, ashamed with myself for finding his joke even the slightest bit humorous under the current circumstances, Rassa and Skader however stare at him blankly as if worn out and turn to me "Blondie?"

I pinch my lips together, what am I supposed to say? It went great...I had a blast, but District 4 is out to get us just so you know...and also, I've seriously considered turning one of those practice knives on my throat, I mean, I mine as well...After seeing that, I know for a fact I have no chance no matter how many knives and cups I find in the arena to balance off each other... "The District One guy threw a knife at a girls head." I say instead with a frown "Shouldn't he be disqualified and like...shot?"

"No" Fry says, leaning back and propping his feet up on the coffee table "Because he's District One, therefore he's perfect and amazing in every way, besides...it was an accident" at that he winks and closes his eyes, throwing his arms back and behind his head carelessly.

"Wait,wait" Rassa raises her palms up and shakes her head "He actually threw a knife at a girl? What did the supervisors say?"

"Nothing"

"Course not." Skader's voice is grim "Fry's not wrong, they're not gonna punish a District One tribute for something he claims was an accident."

"Its wasn't an accident." I mumble, stating the obvious as I walk over to the couch and collapse next to Fry.

"Oh and we stayed away from the other tributes...and only went to the basic survival stations. Red is dead." All three look down at me blankly "Berries" I clarify, which doesn't seem to help their understanding.

"Um...alright, good" Skader says "So now we can work on fighting."

"Tomorrow?"

He shakes his head "No, like I said we don't want any tributes to see your, ugh...skills, or lack of, so in the training room you'll be sticking to basic survival, but you need to practice hand to hand combat, so we're going to work with you here."

"Honestly" Fry says "I think its cute how you guys act like either of us have any shot of winning. I mean, I at least have already accepted my oncoming death, can't you just let me lay back and enjoy the Capitol's glorious accommodations while I'm here?" He switches to the Capitol accent, mimicking Hepher Claw's speech.

For a moment I consider the fact that I should probably be slightly offended or at least upset by the fact that Fry included me when he said we don't have any shot at winning, but its not like I'd been thinking any more positively today, after seeing Honoria, the District One girl behead a practice dummy with one swift kick, or Velorum, the District Seven boy launch an axe straight into the center of a target from 50 feet back.

Rassa narrows her eyes at him "Get up Fry" Her voice is cool, but there's a deadly hardness to it that makes his eyes fly open and a frown form on his mouth. He opens his mouth as if to argue, but she raises her eyebrows in a blatant challenge and his lips snap shut.

Once he's standing square in front of her she raises her hands and gestures at herself "Attack me." She says bluntly.

Fry stares at her incredulously, then smirks "I mean honestly, I've felt you checking me out and its cool you're into younger guys and everything..."

"You need to learn offense and defense Fry. I don't give a shit wether or not you think you have a chance, you are not going to lie down and give up, is that clear?" Fry stares "I mean, what do you think that would say about our District?"

"Umm, that we're too smart to give the Capitol the satisfaction of actually trying in the games, and living up to their expectations?" He says it with an iron edge to his voice, directly contrasting his usual lazy drawl. Skader, Rassa, and no doubt myself look positively taken aback. Fry sighs and shakes his head "Listen, I want to live to see my 18th birthday as much as the next asshole, but its not going to happen, so why not just let me relax and pretend to make some kind of statement in the process hmmm?" He doesn't wait for the incredulous reply Rassa was likely about to spit back at him and instead saunters up the stairs and back to his room, the door closes with a startling crack.

It takes Rassa and Skader a bit to recover, but after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence Beatilce walks through the doorway clapping her hands together, utterly oblivious to the looming tension "Oh good good you're back!" she goes on to blather on and on about dinner and some very minor things that don't seem to have any relation to me or anyone else in the room and I realize she's only excited about our return more or someone to talk to than that she actually has something important to tell us so I quickly tune out.

We don't work on fighting that night. I'm not sure if its because Fry refuses, and they don't feel any real reason to teach me alone because, well, to be honest even if I did know how to fight, my size is enough of a handicap where it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway, or because Skader and Rassa realized Fry actually had a point in his speech, but either way I'm glad. I just couldn't muster the energy much less the motivation to try. So the night goes on without event.

The next morning Skader relates to us the same instructions, don't interact with anyone but each other and stick to general survival stations. Those seem to be the only tips he cares to give, which seems wrong to me, aren't mentors supposed to be full of advice on how to survive? Both him and Rassa however, do ask us about the other tributes, Fry answers but only with sarcastic mocking humor that makes Rassa's face scrunch up in annoyance, and Beatilce stare at him with an offended horror that seems to say "How would your mother feel about these remarks?" But no one actually responds. I on the other hand tell them everything I've observed, the career districts are obviously the biggest threat, The boy from district one is good with a bow, and the girl can launch a spear through a a dummy without breaking a sweat, Both the District Two tributes specialize in...just about everything, honestly I haven't seem them struggle with a damn thing, District Four however I'm not so sure about, they act arrogant and self assured enough, however, I haven't seem them doing anything particularly note worthy, they mostly stand around at the spear station smirking at the other tributes...us in particular.

When I relate this information to Skader he raises his eyebrows "Do you think they may be hanging back to hide their skills or are they trying to hide the fact that they have none...?"

I shrug, yesterday I'd been sure it was the first option, they acted far too confident to not have any kind of strategy...but after contemplating it a bit more last night I'd begun to question that. If they'd really wanted to come off as intimidating, why not show off? "You said the guy volunteered didn't you?

Skader pursed his lips thoughtfully, then frowned "Yea, he did, but the girl didn't, honestly I'd kind of pegged her as..." His voice trailed off as a glint came to his eye "You know, she didn't volunteer and she was shaky as hell when she got on stage, and the escort called the girls first...so he volunteered after she'd already been picked"

Rassa's sudden light laughter startled me a bit "Oh gosh, you know what? You should always stay cautious, and you know" She flutters her hand over her shoulder "Expect the unexpected...but if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about District Four this year."

Fry glances up from where he seemed to have been drifting off "Huh?"

"We'll talk about it later, right now you guys gotta head off." So we head to the training room.