Helios Carnegie, 18

District 1 Male

Helios's hands shook slightly as he ate breakfast. He kept his head down, doing his best to act normal. Regina, Cosette, and Gleam were chatting away, not paying him any attention, but Clio was occasionally glancing his way. He forced himself to take deep breaths between his bites of oatmeal.

He'd done his very best to remain confident and composed, but in truth, his anxiety was eating away at him. He hated being here. He never wanted to volunteer. But he had no choice.

Last night, all he dreamed of was Hector. The crunch of bone as Helios's elbow split his skull, the dead silence after Hector's body hit the floor, the scream of the trainer supervising their fight. It haunted him, and he thought it always would.

"Alright, it's time!" Clio announced, clapping her hands. Both Regina and Helios looked up. He felt his district partner glance at him, but he avoided looking at her. He didn't want her to see that he felt off. But he joined her in the elevator. As the door closed, Gleam gave them a thumbs up.

When the doors opened on the training floor, Helios gestured for Regina to step out first. She smiled at him before exiting, and he followed her. The training room was a massive gymnasium with bright overhead lights and lots of different stations. A purple-haired man with lots of piercings hurried over to them.

"Welcome!" he said in a chirpy voice. "I'm Atticus, the head trainer. I need to go over some simple rules before you're allowed to explore. The main rule is that you can't fight with the other tributes. Also, you're not allowed to leave. The bathrooms are over there, and I'll be hovering around if you need anything else. Now, go have fun!"

"Hey, look," Regina said. "There's the pair from 2. Come on Helios!" Before he could do anything, Regina took his arm and pulled him over to Blitz and Mozu. They were both standing near a rack of axes. Mozu waved shyly as they approached.

"Hi!" Regina said brightly. "I'm Regina, and this is Helios! You're Mozu and Blitz, right?"

"We are," Blitz said, voice low. He was scanning the room instead of looking at them. Mozu was about to speak when a massive boy with shaggy brown hair joined them. Helios stepped back a little.

"Hello," he said in a booming voice. "I'm Sam."

"Hi Sam!" Regina said happily. "It's so nice to meet you."

"I'm Adelind," the brown-haired girl from 4 said. "It's nice to meet you too." But she was looking at the ground as she spoke, face pale.

"So, do we have any plans for who's going to lead the pack?" Regina asked. Adelind shook their head.

"I don't want to," they said. "I'm going to throw some spears. Sam, want to come." The big man shook his head.

"I want to find berries," he said simply, walking away. Adelind looked around nervously, but when nobody stopped them, they set off for the spear station.

Regina and Blitz exchanged a look before Regina wandered off too, leaving Helios with Blitz, who was eyeing him up. Helios grabbed an ax and stepped forward, slashing into a dummy before hurling the ax into another one. Behind him, Blitz nodded.

"You're decent."

"Are you?" Helios challenged. Blitz smiled a bit and grabbed an ax.

Fritz Poco, 18

District 5 Female

Fritz leaned against the wall in the corner of the room, looking over the tributes. She tried to keep her face neutral, but she was fairly overwhelmed. There was no way she could master a weapon in three days, so that was out. Fire-starting wouldn't take all day, so it might be a good place to start. But then what? Maybe she could ask Dieter what he wanted to work on.

On the train, Fritz had decided to ally with her younger district partner, Dieter. He was a quiet, solemn kid, which didn't really match her energy, but he'd seemed relieved when Fritz asked.

Currently, he was hovering near the fire-starting station. Pushing off the wall, she decided to go join him when the girl from 4 cut her off.

"Can we talk?" she asked in a quiet voice. Confused, Fritz nodded. Adelind pulled her back to Fritz's previous corner before speaking in a hushed voice.

"As you might have seen, I was reaped. I didn't want to be here. I'm with the Careers, but I want to take them out."

Fritz's eyes widened.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I want you to help," Adelind said. "I'm recruiting you as the alliance leader. I want you to ally with tributes who seem like they'd be helpful, and lead them until I find a way to sneak you all into the camp and overthrow the Careers."

"Wait," Fritz said, holding up a hand. "Let me get this straight. You want to betray your allies, and you want a group of outer-district kids to get involved? We're going to gang up on the Careers?"

"Yeah," Adelind said, chewing on their lip. "You in?" Fritz smiled.

"Definitely."

Grinning, Adelind clapped her on the shoulder before backing up.

"I'll go schmooze with the enemy. Good luck."

"You too," Fritz said before going to join Dieter. Sitting down beside him, she listened in as the trainer described the different types of wood that would burn best, the different methods for starting fires, and the importance of putting them out properly.

When the lesson finished up and Dieter and Fritz were sent to try it alone, she leaned over and whispered the plan to him. His eyes widened, presumably in fear, and Fritz put a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay," she told him. "We have a Career on our side. And we'll be very careful. I promise."

"Alright," Dieter said. He gave Fritz a half-hearted smile before leaning over his pile of kindling again. After a moment, he had a small blaze going.

"Nice work!" she said, giving him a little side hug. He smiled again.

As Dieter continued to work, Fritz scanned the gymnasium. Who else could she recruit? The girl from 10 was whizzing through the edible plants quizzes, a focused look on her face. The girl from 11 was at the station next to her, working on what looked like a basic snare. Fritz went over to the girl from 10 first.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Fritz. You're really good at that! Any tips?"

The girl looked up in surprise.

"Um, hi. I'm Thalia. I guess I could give you a few pointers…"

As Fritz came up beside her, Thalia pulled up an image of a mushroom.

"If a mushroom has a white ring around the stem, it's likely poisonous. Most mushrooms with white gills are too. Ones with red caps can be hallucinogenic, so avoid those too."

"Wow!" Fritz exclaimed. "You're really knowledgeable. Thanks! Any chance you're looking for allies?"

Lana Rose, 17

District 3 Female

There was only an hour left until lunch time and Lana was already extremely sore. She'd spent the morning on the obstacle course and had taken a few nasty tumbles. There was already a big bruise forming on her elbow. She and the trainer both decided it was time for her to take a break.

Now she was going to try her hand at sword fighting. Regina, the girl from 1, had spent most of the morning there, but now she was deep in conversation with the boys from 2 and 11, so the station was free.

Lana tightened her ponytail before walking over to the trainer, a tall, buff guy covered in tattoos. He grinned at her as she approached, showing off silver teeth. Lana swallowed hard, nervous butterflies in her belly.

"I want to learn to use a sword," she said softly.

"Alright!" the trainer said. "Come on over and we'll find a weapon for you." He took a medium-sized sword off of the rack and looked it over before handing it to her. He showed Lana how to hold it properly, and how to tell if it was balanced before grabbing a sword of his own.

He stepped onto the mats, demonstrating different strikes before gesturing for Lana to try. She approached the dummy and lunged forward, sinking her sword into its side.

"Nice work," the trainer said. "But in the future, aim up a little so you can strike in a vital spot. Here." He walked over and used a marker to draw circles on the most lethal places to strike. Stepping back, he let her try again.

Feeling the weight of the sword in her hand, Lana stepped forward again, stabbing the circle over the heart and then dragging the blade across the dummy's chest. The trainer raised an eyebrow.

"You're a natural!" he said excitedly. "Want to try sparring?" Lana nodded.

After they were both suited up in padded armor, they faced off on the mats. The trainer struck first, and Lana parried the blow. Then she stepped forward to stab him in the gut, but he knocked her blade away. Frowning, Lana tried to strike again.

They dueled for several minutes before the trainer disarmed her. Shaking a little, Lana bent down to pick up her sword. The trainer offered a hand and Lana shook it.

"Excellent job," he said. "I wasn't going easy on you, and you held your own."

Lana thanked him as he moved away to help the small girl from 8. Turning back to the dummies, she began to slash at them. But eventually she felt eyes on her back, so she turned around to see the girl from 5 watching her. Lana turned away from her before they could make eye contact.

What did she want? An alliance? Lana knew she didn't want allies. This was a death match. She couldn't trust anyone, even people who seemed nice. If Lana would do anything to win, so would the other tributes. In the end, it was every woman for herself.

Josko Makinë, 16

District 6 Male

As the bell rang for lunch, Josko got up, leaving his snare behind to join Ellie in the cafeteria. He'd spent most of the morning learning different traps, though so far they were only focusing on traps that could catch animals. Not that it wouldn't be useful to know how to hunt.

He and Ellie had spent the morning apart, but as he got his chicken and rice and sat down, she came to join him.

"How was your morning?" he asked.

"I worked on knives," she told him, frowning. "The boy from 11 is really good. I overheard that he's going to join the Careers."

Josko frowned at that. Seven Careers protecting the Cornucopia was a big concern. Though even the usual six was worrying.

"We should make a plan for the bloodbath," Josko said. Ellie nodded.

"Maybe one of us should get supplies and the other grabs weapons?" she proposed.

"As long as we keep an eye on each other, I'm okay with that," he said.

"Of course. And we can meet up near the end of the row of pedestals?"

"Yeah," Josko said. "Once we spot each other, I'll point to which end we'll run to."

"Sounds good to me!" Ellie said.

They finished up their lunch in silence. Josko couldn't help comparing Ellie to Leo and Nix. Ellie seemed to be on all the time. Her energy was a bit over the top, as if she were trying to compensate for something. Leo was more similar to Ellie, but he was goofy and didn't take himself too seriously. And Nix… she was amazing. He wished he'd been brave enough to tell her he liked her when she came to say goodbye. But making her spend the rest of life wondering what could have been wasn't fair.

When lunch was over, Josko allowed an avox to clear his plate before following Ellie back into the gym. She seemed to be heading for the fire-making station, so he decided to focus on first aid. It would definitely be useful in the arena.

The trainer, Darian, showed him how to sew up a wound first. Josko was used to gently sifting through rubble so his hands were steady and slow. Darian praised him on that.

Once he had it down, they moved on to setting a bone. Darian showed him how to do it on a fake body, and the crack made Josko sick. This time, his hands did shake as he popped the skeleton's shoulder back into place. Bile rose in his throat, but he kept it down. He'd never been this squeamish before. But Darian told him he was doing a good job, so he continued.

Eventually, the girl from 8 came to join them, and Darian began to show her how to bandage a wound. Josko continued to identify bones, occasionally glancing her way. She was clearly getting frustrated, though Darian was patient with her.

"Can't I just tie it in a bow?" she asked and Josko had to stifle a laugh. She shot him a glare, but on her little doll face, it wasn't very intimidating. Even Darian cracked a smile.

Looking upset, she stomped away from the station, arms crossed. Feeling a bit bad, Josko went after her.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him, still pouting. "I'm sorry I laughed at you. That was rude."

"It's alright," she said, deflating a little. "It was a bit of a silly question." She looked up at him.

"You're forgiven."

Colette Reilly, 13

District 8 Female

As she walked away from the boy from 6, Colette wished she could be back at home. No older kids laughed at her there. She didn't have to learn to use a weapon or how to bandage wounds there. She could have tea parties with Uncle Joey and hang out with her friends and woo Wyck Ballinger. Here, she was preparing to die.

Some people called her naive, but she wasn't. She understood how dangerous the Games were, and in truth, she was absolutely terrified. But she had to be strong for her family. If she broke down, they would too. And she wanted to support them.

The pretty girl from 9 was standing nearby, looking around curiously. Colette wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she was suddenly interested. So she walked over.

"Hi!" she said brightly. "I'm Colette."

"Hello," the older girl said with a smile. "I'm Gaia. Can I help you?" Colette shrugged.

"I just wanted to say hi," she said smoothly. "You seemed a little lost."

"Yeah," Gaia mumbled, her shoulders falling a bit.

"Want to practice camouflage with me?" Colette asked. Gaia smiled.

The girls headed over to the camouflage station where the instructor began to explain shadows and depths, and how to blend colors. She made strange faces as she talked, and Gaia began to mimic her, making Colette giggle. By the time the trainer got to the different types of materials they could use to make paint, her stomach hurt from holding in her laughter.

Looking mildly annoyed, the instructor left them to their own devices with several buckets of what looked like colored, watery clay.

"I'm not the best painter," Gaia said, dipping two fingers into the pink bucket. "My best friend Nefeli always did the face painting at parties."

"You worked at parties?" Colette asked, surprised. Gaia nodded.

"My aunt owned a small party entertainment business where Nefeli and I worked."

"That's really cool!" Colette exclaimed. "I'm not a painter either, but I'm good at makeup."

"You'll be better than me then!" Gaia laughed.

Leaning over the green bucket, Colette slathered her arm in grass-green paint and then began to dot it with little flowers, using the side of her finger to create the petals. Gaia watched her in awe before beginning to work on a forest floor pattern.

The trainer checked in on them every once in a while, but she still seemed upset by Gaia's teasing. Colette bit down on the inside of her cheek as she focused on her other arm, creating a semi-detailed bark pattern. Gaia was still working on her forest, chatting away about the parties she'd worked at while Colette listened.

Gaia's life sounded far more exciting than Colette's, but most of all, she seemed good. Her entire career consisted of making people smile. She was the type of person she'd want to be friends with, regardless of the age gap.

With that in mind, Colette wiped off her hands and turned to Gaia.

"Hey Gaia, do you want to be allies?" she asked. Gaia looked up, slightly startled. Then a wide smile stretched across her face and she nodded quickly.

"I'd love to be allies."

Hi everyone! Here is the first day of training! Alliances are forming and skills are being developed, and I'm excited! I've technically started writing the bloodbath, but I'm still undecided on a few deaths. Just as a reminder; I do take into account who is reading and who isn't when I decide deaths. It's definitely not the sole factor, but I'm more likely to kill someone's character if they're not reading, so please either leave a quick review or send me a PM to let me know you're still there!

Questions:

1) Did your opinion about any of these tributes change?

2) What would your weapon of choice be?

3) Which alliance is your favorite so far?

Current Alliances

Careers:
- Regina
- Helios
- Mozu
- Blitz
- Adelind
- Sam
- Noah

Girl Power! (and Dieter):
- Adelind
- Fritz
- Dieter
- Thalia

District 6:
- Ellie
- Josko

Happy Gals:
- Colette
- Gaia

Loners:
- Lana
- Wyler
- Danse
- Marcus
- Theo
- Alrik
- Ray
- Fallon
- Saoirse
- Yale

Have a nice day, be kind to each other, and never stop reading!

- Fiona