Lucia Clifton, 20

Gamemaker

This year was the first year Lucia was allowed to be in the training gym during the private sessions. The senior Gamemakers could invite you, or you had to earn your place. Nefertiti herself asked Lucia to join; Seneca would be so jealous.

Now she was sitting on a balcony with the other, more senior Gamemakers, clutching the notepad in her lap. Everyone seemed excited, and Lupita was talking about a delicious roast duck that would come soon. But Lucia was nervous.

Finally, Head Gamemaker Phoenix Creed gestured for everyone to quiet down as Helios's name was announced on the loudspeakers, and the golden-haired boy from District 1 entered the room. He seemed focused and intense, not showy like most tributes from District 1 were.

He picked up a decently-sized ax and asked to spar with a trainer. A large woman stepped forward and the two began their dangerous dance. Helios was skilled, but he seemed hesitant to strike, which was quite interesting. Very uncharacteristic of a Career. He focused on defense until the trainer began to tire, and then he struck. If they had not been armored, the blow to her chest would have killed her.

Regina was much more confident as she entered the room. She gave the Gamemakers a smile and a quick curtsy before selecting a rapier from the weapon's rack. With flowing movement, she destroyed a dummy, her strikes and jabs perfectly precise. Then she picked up a long whip and went to duel a trainer.

With a weapon in each hand, Regina was able to dominate the trainer in minutes. Despite being 17, she was clearly one of the more talented Careers. It was no wonder she was chosen to volunteer.

She left with another curtsy, and was quickly replaced by Blitz. He also picked up an ax, but his movements were much more confident than Helios's were. He immediately went on the offense and used spectacular technique to disarm his opponent.

Afterwards, he placed his ax back on the rack and got ready to wrestle another trainer. They stepped onto the mats and circled each other for a moment before the trainer struck. But Blitz just caught his fist. He fought with determination, and Lucia was quite impressed with his skills.

Mozu seemed the least confident of all the Careers. She hurried across the room without acknowledging anyone and grabbed a spear, hurtling it into a target. It was soon joined by a few more. Nearly every one hit the bullseye. Once the rack was emptied, she picked up a sword and dueled a trainer, which showed off her skills nicely. Still, she wasn't as impressive as Regina or Blitz.

The first non-Career, Wyler, came in next. His eyes were narrowed as he set straight to work at a station across the room. His time was almost up when he dragged a large net made of cords over to them and placed it on the floor. Stepping back, he crossed two wires he was holding. The net arced with electricity, the light reflecting in Wyler's glasses. Then he dropped the wires he was holding and left without being dismissed.

Lana came in when her name was called, giving a nod of acknowledgement to the Gamemakers before, to Lucia's shock, picking up a sword. Most non-Career tributes weren't confident enough in their weapon skills to use them in their private sessions. Lana was clearly an exception.

Lucia watched Lana closely, analyzing her technique as she fought with a trainer. It was fairly basic, but not at all bad, and she expected that Lana would stand a decent chance against the stronger outliers like Alrik and Marcus, or even a weaker Career. She would certainly be an interesting contender.

Sam was next, and Lucia had to admit that she was quite excited to see what he'd do. The boy seemed half-feral at times, and today was no exception. He came charging into the room and nearly knocked over the table at the edible plants station as he grabbed a handful of berries and shoved them in his mouth. To his credit, they were all safe to eat.

Then Sam wrestled a trainer, throwing him down onto the mat and mauling his shoulder with his sharp nails and teeth. The trainer shouted, flailing around wildly, until Nefertiti stood up and dismissed Sam on her own. He grinned at them all and left.

Adelind, the reaped Career, came in after Sam's mess was cleaned up. They slashed up some dummies with a sword before moving over to fight a trainer. They fought well, but their skills were nothing special.

Little Dieter was next. He was the youngest tribute and had the lowest odds; even lower than the pretty girl from 8. He hurriedly built a fire, but his hands were shaking so bad he knocked the whole thing down. Then he sat beside it and stared until his time was up.

Fritz, Dieter's district partner and ally, performed much better. She built a fire, then demonstrated the basic first aid skills needed for a variety of injuries. Then she ended her session by building a small lean-to and thanking the Gamemakers with a bright smile. Lucia grinned. Fritz was definitely a favorite in the Capitol, and amongst the Gamemakers.

Josko, the boy from 6, also did some first aid. He even set a bone correctly, which Lucia thought should raise his score. That was difficult to do. Then he got up and threw knives. While not many were bullseyes, the majority hit the dummy and stuck. It looked like Josko could do some damage.

Ellie also used knives, but she selected two longer hunting knives and dueled a trainer instead. She won, but it was clear the trainer wasn't exerting himself as much as he could have. But she did fairly well on the edible plants quiz. Lucia probably would have scored her the same as Fritz and Josko, if it were up to her.

The second Marcus was in the room, he grabbed an ax and began to slash through dummies, demolishing them as if they were made of paper. By the time he was finished, they had to call a break so more dummies could be brought in. Marcus left the room with a cold look in his eyes.

Despite Marcus's destruction still being evident, Danse didn't seem intimidated. She grabbed a slingshot and a bag of ammunition before tucking them into her belt and leaping onto the ropes course. She flew across it like a monkey in a tree, and then, still high in the air, fired rock after rock from her slingshot into the target. Then she slid down a rope, threw her things on the floor, and stormed out. 'Testy', Lucia thought. 'She'll be an interesting one in the arena'.

The pair from 8 weren't very intriguing, but tributes from District 8 rarely were. When Zander pulled off his win, the Gamemakers put a bit of focus on them, but were quickly disappointed. Still, Theo didn't do terribly at the edible plants station. Colette, however, was a mess on the ropes course.

Alrik, the mysterious boy from 9, began to build a bonfire in the middle of the room. Phoenix Creed had to ask him to stop before he lit it, as it would be unsafe. Looking annoyed, Alrik chose to hack apart a dummy with a cleaver instead.

Gaia, who was much friendlier than Alrik, gave the Gamemakers a cheerful wave before heading over to the edible plants section. She selected several highly poisonous leaves and then produced some darts, which she rolled in the leaves. Then she loaded them into a blowgun and fired several darts into the dummies. Her shots weren't the best, but the idea of poisoning the darts was quite clever, and she was able to accurately identify some deadly plants.

Ray, the boy from 10, strutted confidently into the room. He had a smirk on his face as he saluted the Gamemakers and then got to work building a fire. Once it was lit, he picked up one of the false animals and explained how to skin and clean it. He didn't bother to put out his fire when he left.

Thalia's session was very similar to Ray's, which didn't surprise Lucia. Based on their backgrounds, she could see that their skill sets would overlap heavily. Thalia made several different hunting traps in record time and then gave the same animal presentation Ray had. Lucia could tell by now that the other Gamemakers were getting bored, but Nefertiti still seemed sharp.

Noah was up next, and Lucia was interested to see him in action. His family had quite a reputation in District 2 and District 11, and Noah was with the Careers. And his performance did not disappoint. Noah threw knives, a skill the other Careers hadn't demonstrated yet, and managed to stick every throw with ease. Then he wrestled a trainer, easily pinning the bigger man to the mat after a short fight.

After Noah was gone, Fallon hesitantly entered the room. Her brother was a rebel who was executed a few years ago, but Phoenix had decided not to target her in the arena, as the rest of her family were not rebellious. Unless, of course, she gave them a reason to. But all she did was build a fire and light it easily before taking the edible plants quiz and getting a near-perfect score.

Yale was cleared to come to his private session yesterday by his doctor, as long as he wore protective clothing, and Lucia was interested to see what he did. Did he have some skill he couldn't demonstrate in training?

It turned out that the answer was no. He shared some basic edible plant knowledge before a hacking cough made him sit down. Phoenix had Nefertiti dismiss him after that, leaving Saoirse as the final tribute.

She entered the room quietly, making her way straight to the edible plants station and beginning the quiz without a second of hesitation. And her score was quite good, though not as good as Fallon's.

Nefertiti dismissed Saoirse once her allotted time was up, and Lucia leaned back in her chair. She did it. She was on her way to becoming a real Gamemaker.

Hey everyone! Here are the private sessions! I have a feeling this chapter sucks, and I'm sorry for that. We're adjusting my meds and I've been feeling really weird and out of it. But I hope you enjoy it anyways! Also, if I ever gave Lucia a different last name, I apologize. I couldn't find one in my notes. Anyways, it's Clifton now.

Questions:

1) Did anyone perform something unexpected?

2) Which outlier will score the highest?

3) What would you show the Gamemakers?

Current Alliances

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

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

District 6:
- Ellie
- Josko

Happy Gals:
- Colette
- Gaia

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

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

- Fiona