Parade
Backstage in the parade grounds, the chariots were all laid out, the horses bridled and being led to their respective vehicles. The tributes were being brought into the large area with their stylists and mentors, glancing at each other with interest or trepidation. As they had just entered the backstage grounds, they hadn't yet had the chance to mingle with each other, but some tributes were already appraising their competition. Officially, the tributes didn't get to meet until training, but sometimes they'd get to say a word or two to each other preceding the parade.
Aphroditon stood with Verd, looking around at the other chariots. He'd been taken to the chariot and made to stand upon the back of it, being instructed on how to balance himself so that he wouldn't fall over. The horses would go relatively slowly, but that didn't mean the Capitol wanted any of the tributes to make a fool of themselves by falling off the chariot and getting trampled. That would ruin the fun before it even started.
Looking around at the tributes closest to them, specifically the district two tributes, he noticed that they were wearing outfits that seemed to be reminiscent of mountain ranges, with rocky pants and tops that had pointed shoulders. Both the boy and the girl wore the same outfit, unlike most districts where they wore similar things but with different construction in terms of the garments.
The girl from district two didn't look very pleased with the arrangements. Aphroditon thought that she almost looked bored. Her district partner, who was tall and muscular, seemed to be trying to talk to her with little success. She had been the one with the intense makeup at the reaping, but her makeup now was more natural and fit her outfit better. Maybe that was one of the reasons why she looked so judgemental.
Since district one was in the front, but the chariots were laid out horizontally, a glance to the side let him see all twelve districts. Seeing the district twelve tributes was almost impossible, but the other career districts were at least visible. Feeling as though someone was watching him, he scanned the room, finding a pair of eyes meeting his own.
The district four boy gave him an easygoing smile, flashing his teeth for a second and then turning back to his stylist. His dark hair was up in a slicked-back bun, and he wore a long one piece outfit with attachments at the bottom that looked like octopus tentacles. His collar was high and wrapped around the back of his neck, sticking out with a scalloped pattern. The outfit was very dark and intricate, almost like the bottom of the ocean represented as a set of clothes.
This was the same boy that Aphroditon had gotten bad vibes from while watching the reaping. In person, he was just as menacing, and seemed to be using this to his advantage. He'd spotted that the district five girl had been looking at the district four boy, and when the district four boy noticed her, she immediately shrank away from his small wave. Something about the other career made the gesture from something friendly to something concerning.
"Stop looking at the other tributes. They're going to think you're trying to talk to them," hissed Verd, crossing her arms as she spoke to him. Aphroditon was taken aback. What was wrong about looking around at the other faces? It wouldn't be such a bad thing if he got to talk to his competition. That was just another way of assessing how they acted.
"I'm trying to figure them out. I can't do that if I just stare at the horses," retorted Aphroditon, trying to do so in a manner that wasn't harsh. He truly wanted to get along with Verd, regardless of whether or not she was open to it.
"Right. Well, tell me if you get any pertinent information from that," Verd said grumpily. She obviously wasn't very interested in being friendly, which made Aphroditon want to befriend her even more. Being enemies with his district partner wouldn't benefit either of them in training or the early part of the games.
"Did I do something to offend you? If I did something wrong, I'd like to know so I can apologize. We have to present as a unified team for training, and I don't want to go into it with bad blood between us," Aphroditon held up his hands placatingly, wanting to fix the situation before it got too bad. Some of the other tributes were looking at them, so he lowered his voice.
"No. I'm just annoyed with my stylist. I feel like someone put frosting for a cake on my face," replied Verd. He was pretty sure that this wasn't the entire truth, but at least she was trying to cooperate. She wasn't wrong, either, about the awful feeling of makeup. Her makeup was much more intricate than his, and while he would have thought she would be more used to wearing it, he couldn't ever remember a time seeing her wearing makeup in training.
"These crystals are kind of itchy. At least they look good. How many hours have we been in the Capitol for? I think it's around midnight here, we've got to have been here for a good eight hours already. Styling felt like an eternity," said Aphroditon, trying to make friendly conversation. He got a twitch of a smile out of Verd from that, but nothing more.
Noticing that Porcelain and Releve were coming up behind him, he turned around. Porcelain looked annoyed, per usual, while Releve was her normal serious self. Rhodes had long since disappeared, along with the other stylists. He supposed that it was almost time for the parade to commence.
"Remember what we told you to do. Stand up straight. You'll be going first, and they'll park you at the end while you're waiting for everyone else, so you've got to keep focused during that time. It'll be a good twenty minutes on the chariot, at least. Verd, try to smile, at least a little bit," Porcelain instructed, glaring at one of the district two mentors as she spoke. Verd gave a forced smile and Releve sighed.
"Look like you're happy to be here. You're careers, this is your prime. I don't want to see pictures of you grimacing all over the television channels later," added Releve. Aphroditon nodded and molded his face into one of contentment and excitement, while Verd was still struggling to put on a smile that didn't look like she was being held hostage.
The two mentors left the chariot, leaving Verd and Aphroditon to stand there for a second before an announcement came through a megaphone from one of the parade ground staff.
"The parade is about to begin! Tributes, take your place on your chariots. We'll be going live the second that the first chariot is out of the gates. Get ready, on your marks!" yelled the worker who was in charge of getting the parade started. The crowd from outside was already able to be heard, and faint words from the parade grounds announcers had filtered into the backstage area.
Aphroditon made sure he was balanced on his assigned mark in the chariot, and Verd did the same. He plastered a smile on his face as the horses were given the command to start moving. It took a second for them to be out of the gates, but once they were, the bright lights almost blinded him.
The parade grounds were surrounded by a stadium-like ring of seats on either side, filled to the brim with screaming Capitolites. As the first chariot came rolling out of the gates, the cheers grew louder, and a giant screen on one end of the grounds displayed Aphroditon and Verd's faces in high resolution. The horses moved relatively slowly, but fast enough to keep everything moving. The screen switched to the faces of the next district's tributes as they came out of the gates, doing so in quick succession.
The lights that beamed down on them made the district one costumes reflect the light, drawing more attention to their outfits. Aprhoditon's arm was up in the air, waving to the crowd, alternating which side he was looking at as the parade went on. The stiff material of the outfits made this difficult, but he continued waving, knowing that this was the best way to appear as a model career tribute. The chariot went along smoothly, making balancing much easier.
Verd stood at his side, her smile not as wide as his, but she carried herself with enough dignity and grace that the crowd could excuse her apparent neutrality. She was waving as well, going to the same side as Aphroditon did, most likely so that they could appear in sync. When their faces were on the screen, they looked completely in unison.
This was also the first time that he was able to fully see the outfits of some of the outer district tributes. Because he hadn't gotten a good view of them in the arena, it was simple enough to catch glimpses of the screen out of the corner of his eye as he waved to the crowd. All of the costumes were intricate and represented the districts' industries. Over the years, the costumes had become less like costumes and more akin to glorified fashion garments.
Around the halfway point of the track for their chariot, all of the chariots had made it out of the gates, gliding along as they continued on their way towards the exit. It was quite warm, and Aphroditon could feel himself starting to sweat. Still, he remained composed. He couldn't let himself start slacking, not when there were potential sponsors watching.
After training for this for so long, he had a good idea of what was needed to attract sponsors. The sponsors themselves wouldn't get another glimpse of the tributes until the interviews in several days, so seeing them at the parade helped them decide who they might want to sponsor. That was how Aphroditon understood it, at least.
They reached the end of the parade route once a few more minutes had passed. Once they reached the area right outside the exit, the chariots slowed down and halted, ready to wait for the rest of the chariots to catch up. This meant that there was a short amount of time where Aphroditon and Verd were facing away from the majority of the crowd, the special seats above the exit being those that they had to focus on. The president's booth would be somewhere up above them.
The screen went through and showed each pair of tributes one last time. Close up, the screen was almost too large to see from their vantage point, but Aphroditon did take note of how the other tributes were handling the parade. The other careers were waving and smiling, as they were supposed to, and some of the other districts' tributes were making an attempt.
District eight's tributes looked frightened. That pair was probably the youngest, if he had to guess. The boy from district seven had refused to move throughout the entire parade, looking angry, and the girl from ten was practically shaking as she glanced around with wide eyes. He couldn't quite remember any of their names, but would make sure to study up on the names of the other tributes tonight before they got to training in the morning.
With the final pan over the tributes done, the chariots started moving through the exit gates, where their mentors and parade ground workers were waiting for them. Pulling into their assigned areas, the chariots ceased moving, and the workers instructed Verd and Aphroditon to disembark.
Porcelain looked at him with something that bordered on approval, and Releve gestured for them to follow her to their next destination. Overall, Aphroditon was proud of how he'd carried himself. He could only hope that the Capitol had seen him in a positive light, and that the parade had been enough to start cementing him as someone to watch.
Training Day One
Waking up bright and early, Aphroditon was still doing his morning stretches before breakfast when Verd came out into the main area of their floor. The past night had ended late, and although he was still tired, it was imperative that they made it down to the training center on time. He was used to getting up early for career training anyway.
Each district got a floor in the building adjacent to the training center, where the tributes, mentors, and their escort would stay until the games began. It was decorated lavishly, as was typical for the Capitol facilities allocated for the games, and had all the necessities that they would need for the time being. Each tribute got a large room all to themselves, and Aphroditon had found it odd to sleep in a place that silent. Even his home back in district one always had some noise going on.
Doing his lunges, Aphroditon gave a nod to Verd as she came out of her room. Porcelain and Releve were already up as well, and were currently drinking their coffee over at the breakfast counter. He'd learned the hard way that he shouldn't bother them before they finished their caffeinated drinks.
"Morning, Verd," he said, changing the leg he was standing on and leaning over it. During the train rides and parade, he'd done a good job of keeping himself occupied and from moving around too much, but now he was back in constant movement mode. He could feel the stretch in his calves as he let himself focus on the slight soreness that came from them.
"Good morning, everyone! It's such a lovely day outside! Aphroditon, Verd, you should eat something small before you head down for training. We can't have you training on an empty stomach, but we also don't want you to overdo it. Training begins at 8:00 on the dot, so hurry up!" exclaimed Joyous, coming out of another room and being much too awake for this early in the morning. Granted, it wasn't so early that it hurt to be awake, but after a long night, anytime this early felt difficult.
Finishing his stretches, Aphroditon went and grabbed a protein bar from the large breakfast table, which was laden with baked goods, eggs, and all sorts of delicious breakfast treats. The Capitol really knew how to outdo themselves when it came to large quantities of food. It was impressive, though it would probably be even more impressive to someone from district twelve or eleven.
Verd grabbed her own protein bar. Joyous looked a little disappointed, as though he'd been hoping that they'd eat something more fancy than a bar, but he merely ignored it and went on with his own meal. Today, his makeup was all triangles, still in the same green shade that the swirls from yesterday had been in.
Once they'd finished their breakfast, Joyous bid farewell to their mentors, and brought them out to the elevator that would take them up to the passageway that led to the training center. It was only a few floors up, as there was a floor in between those for districts six and seven that contained the sky bridge, and they were lucky enough not to run into anyone else on their way up.
Aphroditon tapped his fingers against his leg as they rode up the clear glass elevator, a view of the Capitol beyond it. The tall buildings and impressive architecture made for quite a sight, and the early morning sun beamed down upon them. Set in the very center of the Capitol, the facilities for the games had been constructed so the tributes could see tall buildings at every angle.
The passageway to the training center was also made out of the same clear glass. There were panels in the floor made of glass as well, looking down at the streets below. Joyous went in front of them, using a key to open the doors to the training center, and then turned back around to look over Aphroditon and Verd.
"Well, have fun at training today! Don't hurt yourselves. I'd imagine that there aren't very many other tributes in there yet. At 8:00, the head trainers will do announcements, so stay off the equipment until then. Got it? Okay, see you later!" Joyous proclaimed, motioning for them to go through the doors. Both district one tributes went through, and the doors closed behind them.
Inside of the training center, there were training stations and equipment spread throughout the room. For a career tribute, it was practically paradise. Racks of weapons hung on the walls, all blunted to prevent any training accidents, and dummies stood in the center of the room, just waiting to be destroyed. There were a few trainers waiting near one of the walls, but no other tributes yet. Upon seeing them, the trainers came striding over, making sure that they didn't go towards any weapons yet.
Aphroditon and Verd were directed towards one of the tables in the corner, most likely where they could rest later if they needed a break. Lunch would be held in a separate room, so these tables weren't used very often. As they sat waiting for the rest of the tributes, he let his leg bounce, wanting to talk to Verd about which station she would start with but being interrupted by more tributes coming through the door. It was the district two tributes, Basalt and Lanista.
"Aphroditon, right?" said Basalt, coming to sit across from him as Lanista took the other seat. Shaking Basalt's hand firmly, Aphroditon smiled at the district two tributes. Lanista stayed stone-faced, but Basalt gave him an easy-going grin. The female district two tribute was wearing heavy makeup again, with dark eyeliner and lipstick. He guessed that this was a regular thing for her, even when training. The doors behind them opened again.
This time, it was the district seven and district eleven tributes. Aphroditon had spent a few minutes last night before going to sleep reading the names of the other tributes, just so he knew them for training. District seven's Kadmiel and Olsie looked tired, while Arrow and Florence from district eleven were chatting with each other and appeared to be mostly awake.
Slowly, the rest of the tributes came filtering in, sitting down at different tables and mostly staying separated from each other. By the time it was almost 8:00, the only tributes that hadn't entered were districts four and six.
Teuthis and Cyana came through the doors just in time, with the district six tributes right behind them. The district six male tribute had been loudly talking to his district partner, stopping when he reached the tables. Teuthis and Cyana sat down with the rest of the careers, with Teuthis next to Basalt and Cyana next to Verd.
'Everyone here? Good. Welcome to training, tributes. You'll notice that there are a variety of stations here for your use, and each will be manned by a trainer. We're here to help you figure out new skills, practice old skills, or just work on what you need help with most. Lunch starts exactly at noon, and you'll train for a few more hours after that before we send you back up to your mentors. The most important thing today is that you train while supervised. No hurting the other tributes before the games," said the head trainer.
Most of the tributes nodded. The career tributes, Aphroditon included, were itching to get their hands on the weapons, while the other districts appeared nervous. The head trainer went on about safety for a few more minutes, and then stepped back, allowing the tributes to take their pick of the stations.
As the tributes moved over to different stations, Aphroditon motioned for the other careers to gather at the sword fighting station, just so he could start his leadership role early. His plan all along had been to become the leader of the career alliance, making sure that everyone was on the same page before the games started. They needed to work together if they were to successfully start the first half of the games as an alliance.
"Thanks for coming over. I'll make this quick, I just want to make sure we all have the same idea before the games begin. Since we're all careers, we've been training for a while, so this is mainly a way for us to keep our skills up before the games begin. There's nothing to learn here that we don't already know. I think we should all stay in pairs or small groups, whether it be with our district partners or not, just to get a better handle on all of our individual skills," explained Aphroditon.
"Fine. Verd, want to come with me to sparring? We can't spar with each other, but the trainers are there for a reason," Lanista said, her lip curling up into a half-smile. Verd nodded in agreement, and started heading over to where several trainers waited. Basalt shrugged, and then followed after them, his muscular frame clearing a path through the room.
That left Aphroditon with Cyana and Teuthis. Both were a little hard to read, but that wouldn't stop him from trying to befriend them. They may be his competition, but they were also his allies. Maybe Teuthis wasn't as worrisome as first impressions would lead him to believe. He held his hand out towards the dark-haired tribute, smiling at him.
"We should head over to the archery station first. It looks like it's unoccupied," Teuthis said, shaking Aphroditon's hand and gesturing over to where the bows sat. As they walked over, Cyana stayed quiet, but Teuthis was more than ready to talk.
"I bet you've done a lot of training back in one. You've had two victors in the past five years, that's pretty impressive. We'll see how well you can handle yourself compared to them," grinned the district four tribute, a slight edge to his words. Aphroditon had already gotten the impression that he wasn't pleased about the leadership decisions that had been made.
"You could say that. You're not without a recent victor, either. The career academy in four is supposed to be decent as well," replied Aphroditon, still smiling. He didn't intend to fall for Teuthis' thinly veiled insults.
They made it to the archery station, and after the trainer gave them the go-ahead, Aphroditon picked up a bow, the weight of it comfortable in his hands. He practiced stringing it with a dull arrow a few times, the arrowhead made so that it couldn't hurt anyone but would still embed itself in the target. Both of the district four careers watched as he looked down the shaft of the arrow, aiming directly for the target, letting the arrow fly in one swift motion.
It was a perfect bullseye, as expected, and he instantly notched another, ready to keep going. After a few more arrows, all making it into that center ring, Teuthis let out an appreciative whistle. Aphroditon turned back around to look at them, his smile never fading. Even Cyana seemed impressed.
"Nice job. I guess we shouldn't have brought you to the archery station first. You're quite the archer," responded Teuthis, the compliment being mostly genuine. This confused Aphroditon, as there was something about the other man's tone that left him feeling concerned. Cyana nudged Teuthis in the ribs, and he gave her a pointed look, to which she shook her head.
"He's always like this, sorry. That was impressive," she said, her voice much softer than he'd imagined it would be. Instead of picking up a bow, Teuthis moved over to the next station, leaving Cyana and Aphroditon to follow him. The district one tribute would have liked to show off his archery a little more, but he supposed that he didn't need much practice in the skill. The next station was the spear and javelin station, where the goal was to get the weapon beyond a certain line.
All of the throwing stations were grouped together, probably in the interest of keeping tributes from getting injured by a stray dagger or ax. The trainers signaled when it was safe to pick up the weapons, or picked them up themselves, and there were large dividers in between the stations to make sure that no weapons crossed the line between them.
Teuthis had already picked up a spear, and Cyana was doing the same when Aphroditon walked over. Taking aim, Teuthis pointed the spear towards the line, and then let it fly, reaching past one of the middle markings. Cyana did the same once he was done, but she managed to get her spear all the way to the end. Because they were from district four, he guessed that they were good with these sorts of weapons, including tridents and harpoons.
Noticing that Teuthis had gotten distracted by something, and following his line of sight, Aphroditon looked over to where the two district five tributes and the female district three tribute were currently working at a survival station. Wynd, the district five girl, looked up to notice Teuthis looking at her, then immediately ducked her head back down. She whispered something to Pyre, the district three girl, who glared over at them.
Aphroditon returned his focus to the spear station, but soon decided that he'd rather go through the next few stations. The archery station was now occupied by the district twelve tributes, and they didn't seem very skilled with the weapon. He figured that it made more sense to work down the line. Teuthis had already departed to go somewhere else, so he walked with Cyana and spent some time at each of the next few stations.
Cyana didn't talk a lot, but she had pretty good aim most of the time. She was abysmal with the axes, but was better with the darts. Aprhoditon wasn't half bad at either of those stations, and found himself enjoying being able to show off his skills. He was well-rounded when it came to weapons, and there wasn't any particular weapon that he was weak in working with.
After another hour, where they'd somehow found their way to the rope station, Cyana looked over at him as he worked on tying a complicated knot. He wasn't great at this station, but was doing alright due to the trainer's guidance. They'd only gone to this station so they could sit down and take a short break.
"I'm going to go find Teuthis, make sure he isn't getting into any trouble," said Cyana, looking around the room. Surprisingly, Teuthis had somehow ended up with Wynd, who was standing next to him near the swords. She appeared a little panicked, especially when Teuthis corrected her form and adjusted the way her hand was holding the sword.
Cyana walked over to them, at which point Wynd breathed a sigh of relief. Aphroditon didn't watch them for much longer, not being particularly interested in what the district five girl was doing. He'd rather go find Verd, who was somewhere over at the knife station. Bidding farewell to the rope trainer, he strode over to where Verd was polishing a knife. Lanista had long since left her to go practice climbing at the rockwall with Basalt.
"Hey, Verd. How are things going?" he asked, making sure she knew where he was and that he wasn't surprising her. It was always a good practice to not sneak up on someone with a knife. Verd put the knife back on the rack, and stepped over to a more secluded area of the station.
"Pretty well. What do you think of the other tributes so far? I've been watching them throughout training," she replied. Aphroditon stopped to think for a second, and then looked around the room once again.
"Teuthis is formidable in most disciplines. Cyana is abnormally good at spears, she'll be dangerous if she gets her hand on a trident. Most of the other districts have one or two things that they're decent at, but aren't great at the rest. The majority of them have been sticking with the survival stations instead of the weapons," Aphroditon surmised, stating his observations.
"Doyle and Caballus have been working together. They're probably allying. There are a few other groups that also look like they're forming alliances. Teuthis came over to talk to me while you were busy," she noted, the last few words making him worry.
"Teuthis? What did he say?" questioned the blonde. It probably wasn't anything good, even though the other tribute had seemed to at least pretend to get along with him earlier. Verd shook her head, signaling that his assumption was correct. She made sure that no one was within earshot before answering.
"He wanted to know if I would support him in being the leader of the career pack. I obviously said no, that's your job, but he seemed a little pissed off. I think that Lanista and Basalt gave similar answers. Lanista is smart enough that she knows you're better for the job, and Basalt listened to her. I've been talking to them during training," responded Verd.
Aphroditon blinked in surprise. He'd known that Teuthis wanted to be in charge of the careers, but he didn't think that he'd be that forward about it. He was also surprised that Lanista and Basalt would back him up. They hadn't appeared to make any strong connections with him, even though he'd tried his best to befriend them.
"That's interesting. Cyana listens to him most of the time, but she also seems to try and contain him from doing anything stupid. I'm surprised that she didn't stop him," Aphroditon scratched his head as he spoke. Turning around, he saw that Cyana was now over with Lanista, leaving Teuthis with Basalt. Wynd had long since scurried back over to Pyre and Antimony.
"She seems to leave him to his own devices if he pushes back hard enough. I trust her more than I trust him, but that's not saying much. Out of the rest of the careers, I think I trust you the most, and Teuthis the least. Lanista isn't bad, she'll be reliable in a fight, but Basalt is always itching to get into a scrape with someone and will probably make poor decisions when it comes down to it. I'm a little worried about how much time Teuthis is spending with Wynd. I don't want her in the alliance, she's too weak," Verd continued, noticing the time on the other wall of the training center.
"I agree. I don't think that Wynd will be useful. I'll try to talk to him about it later, but I doubt that he'll listen. It's weird that he's chosen to spend any time with her," Aphroditon replied. Wynd was probably smart, at least smart enough to distrust Teuthis, but she didn't appear particularly skilled with any weapons. Having other district tributes in the career alliance was always a bad idea, since it destabilized the alliance.
For a second, Aphroditon's thoughts turned to his parents. His father was always offering advice about things from past games, and was his biggest supporter. If his father was here, he would have told him to approach Teuthis with confidence, and let him know exactly what they needed to do for the alliance. He wondered what his father was doing now.
"Verd, you live with your grandmother, right? Do you have any siblings?" he asked, suddenly changing the topic. Verd was confused for a second, but shook her head. He'd never seen her with anyone younger, so he presumed that she was an only child.
"Yes, I live with my grandmother, and I don't have any siblings. What brought that up?" inquired Verd. Aphroditon shrugged in response. He just wanted to know if she had anyone back home waiting for her, wanting her to win so that she could come back to them. Maybe she wanted to make her grandmother proud.
"No reason, just curious. I think my mom knew your grandmother at some point," Aphroditon tried to remember what he knew about the Lucan family, but nothing came to mind. Had Verd's parents died? He didn't really want to ask that, as it was probably a sensitive topic, so he hoped that he wasn't being too nosy.
"Right. Your step-mother, Symphony, used to work with my grandmother. She helped her a few years back with the whole investigation thing," Verd was a little uncomfortable, and Aphroditon wondered if he should stop asking questions. However, her words only brought up more questions in his mind.
In the back of his mind, he'd always known that Symphony was his step-mother, but he never really thought about it. In his eyes, she was his mom, and the only one he'd ever known. He wasn't entirely sure about what investigation Verd was talking about, but now probably wasn't the time to press the issue. Aphroditon told himself that he'd ask about it later, when Verd was in a better mood.
Wanting to ease the tension a bit, his focus turned to the other stations, trying to see what had opened up. The sword station was now open, and he figured that now would be a good enough time to head over there. Verd's best weapon was a sword, and maybe having her show off her skills could distract them both from the awkward conversation.
"I think the swords area is open now. Do you want to head over there?" asked Aphroditon, tilting his head. Teuthis had left the sword station several minutes ago, and was now somewhere over in the survival station area with Cyana. No one seemed to be heading over to it, either. He'd seen some of the district eight tributes try to wield a sword earlier, and it wasn't pretty.
"Sure. All of these trainers seem to be more focused on not letting us hurt each other than actually helping us train. I guess that they're used to the non-career tributes trying to use weapons and doing so badly, but it's annoying that they're not very useful," said Verd in a brief moment of frustration. The two volunteers made their way over to the station, passing several others and drawing the eyes of the district five tributes.
Aphroditon didn't stop to pity the tributes that had no weapons skills. Some, like those from district six or seven, looked like they could handle themselves for at least a short time, but the district eight tributes in particular appeared scared to pick up anything that could be even slightly dangerous. They'd all die soon enough in the arena, and it wasn't going to concern him that they couldn't put up a fair fight. That just made his job a little easier.
Picking up a sword, Verd tested the weapon's balance in her hand, and then looked at the nearby trainer. It was obvious that the trainers wouldn't be sparring with the careers, but they'd set up a bunch of dummies for them to hack and slash at. Readying the blade, she walked over to the first dummy, and then started to perform a routine that Aphroditon recognized well.
Her footwork was impeccable as she went to the left, and then to the right, spinning around as she slashed the training dummy. It took a certain level of skill to do the routine so cleanly, and it was clear that she'd spent hours and hours practicing the basics. He was good with a sword, but not on the specific level that Verd was so aptly demonstrating.
Grabbing a sword of his own, he made sure to stay out of Verd's way, but began practicing his own technique. There was still about an hour until lunch, and the rest of the day would only hold more training. It felt natural, as if he were back at home at the career academy. Soon, everyone would see him, and he'd make his family proud.
Training Part Two
The first day of training had come and gone, and now it was the middle of the second day. After the first eight hour training period, which felt normal for the career tributes, they had gone back to their floor in the adjacent training center building and had eaten dinner with their mentors. A quick recap of their day had followed, and the mentors had given them specific training plans to work on the upkeep of their skills. There wasn't much they could learn that would be new, so it was important that they continued to practice.
The training plan for Aphroditon mainly consisted of some survival stations and mostly weapons training with weapons that he didn't use as often as his bow. He was allowed a short time to practice hitting the targets and showing off, but Porcelain had wanted him to make sure that his other weapons skills were in good shape. That wasn't a big worry, though, as he was decent at all of them.
Over the course of the first day, it had become apparent which outer district tributes could become a problem for the career alliance. Bridge, the male tribute from six, was strong enough to lift the giant weights that were in place at the center. His sense of humor was a stark contrast to his muscles, and he was prone to saying quips that were somewhat relevant but weren't particularly helpful in the moment. His district partner wasn't anything special, however.
Then there were the district seven tributes. Both were adept with axs, and were good enough at chopping things up and throwing them. Olsie was young, but she had also demonstrated proficiency with knives, despite her district. Kadmiel was always sulking as he practiced, glaring at everyone and generally seeming angry at the world.
District eleven could be a problem just because of their strength, but they weren't skilled with any weapons. Both tributes were agile enough to do well at the obstacle course station. There was also the district ten boy, who'd talked to Basalt for a short time. Although he wasn't as tall or as muscular, he had a certain presence that could be dangerous.
When he'd gotten back to his room, Aphroditon had written down all his observations in a notebook and had given it to his mentor. Porcelain hadn't offered much in the way of additional advice when it came to the notebook, but she had been somewhat approving of his work in it. He had also shared the notebook with Verd, who added her own observations to it.
Now, he sat at a lunch table in the cafeteria with the other careers, a tray of food in front of him. All of the food in the cafeteria was made specially for its nutritional value, and was similar to what he ate back at the career academy. It wasn't as decadent as the food in the rest of the Capitol, though it almost felt like a taste of home compared to what he had been eating. Green vegetables and meat were a main component of the portions that had been tailored to each tribute.
"Basalt, are you already done? If you eat your food that fast you're going to get cramps," said Lanista, rolling her eyes at her district partner. It was true, Basalt had already downed most of his plate in only a few minutes, and probably would need extra time before he returned to training for him to digest everything.
Lanista and Basalt were interesting as a pair. Basalt was more impulsive, and wanted to show off his strength all the time. Lanista was more careful, but precise, and did things in moderation instead of doing everything at once. In a way, it reminded Aphroditon of himself and Verd. Maybe all of the career tributes were similar because of their academy training.
That pattern was both reinforced and broken by Teuthis and Cyana. Teuthis talked to everyone, oftentimes making people wary of him even with his apparent friendliness. On the other hand, Cyana rarely spoke to anyone outside the alliance, and mainly followed Teuthis around everyone. Whether she was doing so as a chaperone or simply because she didn't want to be alone was something that remained to be seen. Both were dangerous in their own way.
"I was thinking that we should all go through some of the survival stations together," suggested Teuthis, eating his food slowly. His constant bid for leadership hadn't stopped throughout the time they'd spent as a team, and it was beginning to make Aphroditon more than a little annoyed. Plus, he hadn't stopped talking to Wynd, who appeared a little less scared of him today.
"We'll be doing the survival stations at the end of the day. Next up is target practice with the moving targets. Pick whatever weapon you want, and we'll work on that for now," instructed Aphroditon, remembering the training regime that Porcelain and Releve had suggested. They had wanted all of the careers to train together, just to strengthen their unity and make it seem like their bond was indestructible. He hoped that working together would prevent any immediable fallout in the arena, and would get them farther as a group until the others all started to die off.
"Right. I suppose you've got everything all planned out, then? No room for changes?" Teuthis said with some snarkiness. Cyana gave him a pointed look, and Lanista sighed. They'd been going back and forth like this since they'd started training this morning. Cyana would always try to keep him in line when he clearly wanted nothing more than to be in charge of everything.
"If you want to do something else, be my guest. Just don't rope anyone else into it," replied Aphroditon. He was tired of trying to be nice to Teuthis. The other tribute was constantly trying to undermine him, and he was honestly pretty fed up with it. They were only on the second day of training. It was easy to predict that sometime in the games, Teuthis would try to turn on him, and he needed to be ready for that to happen.
By now, most of the careers had eaten most of their lunch. Teuthis got up and took his tray over to where the trays went once they were empty, stopping to talk to the district nine boy when he did so. Strider shook his head at something the volunteer said, and then walked back over to where he sat with his district partner and his other allies.
After a few more minutes, everyone had finished, and they got up to start heading back to the main area of the training center. The careers walked together, minus Teuthis, who had split off and had gone to bother Wynd again. He whispered something to the girl, who proceeded to flip him off and walk over to the red haired girl from district three. Aphroditon was glad to see that Wynd was finally standing up for herself.
Once they were back in the training room, the careers all moved over to where the moving targets were set up. Aphroditon grabbed a compound bow and several arrows in a side quiver, while Verd grabbed a handful of daggers. Lanista had her spear and Cyana had her trident. They each took their place in a separate area of the station. There were dividers in between them so that the weapons wouldn't hit anyone, and there was an automated system to return the weapons once they hit the targets.
Basalt had chosen to grab axes, even though he wasn't the best with aiming, probably because they required more strength than the rest of the weapons. Teuthis had also strung up a bow, probably trying to make Aphroditon seem worse again even when the district one career's skills were far greater than his own with a bow.
Aphroditon immediately started notching and firing arrows at the moving targets, taking a second to figure out the pattern that they moved in so he could be as accurate as possible. He stopped caring about the other careers, but still was aware of what they were doing, given that turning his back on any of them could spell his demise once they were actually in the games.
As he fired arrow after arrow, hitting the targets almost every time, he thought about how Verd had mentioned the investigation yesterday. From his memory, he could remember the major event in district one that happened a few years ago being the removal of some sort of cult. He didn't know much about it, as his father had always kept him away from the news about the proceedings, but he did know that there had been an investigation that his mother had provided some information towards.
Aphroditon honestly had tried to block out most of that in his mind, as it had been a stressful time for the whole family and district. Verd's grandmother wasn't a peacekeeper, though he was certain she did some sort of work for the justice building. He would have to ask her about it again later, and would have to suffer through the discomfort that came from it.
Verd was also opening up to him more, and generally being friendlier than she'd ever been at the academy or when they'd been on the train. It had only been two days, not even three, and yet she already seemed to trust him to a fair degree. He had realized that he trusted her too, though he always had to be wary. Who knew what the gamemakers were planning for the arena.
"Damn it!" cursed Basalt, his ax completely missing the target and lodging itself in the wall beyond. Lanista laughed, and Basalt pouted as a trainer had to come and remove it. While the trainer removed the ax, the careers stopped their training, instead looking at one another to see how their progress had been. It was almost time to move on to the next station anyway.
"That's impressive. You careers always look like you've been training since birth," said a voice from behind him. He turned around to see Pyre, the district three girl, standing with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.
Her bright red hair was visible wherever she went, and she was already allying with the district fives. It was odd that she'd come over to talk to the careers, but her reasoning for doing so was revealed when she walked over to Teuthis with a scowl on her face.
"You need to stop bothering Wynd. She's obviously not interested, and you're just trying to get an easy kill once the games start," admonished Pyre, crossing her arms. Teuthis raised an eyebrow, a smirk rising on his face. Pyre glared at him with some level of anger behind her eyes.
"Oh, really? And you're going to stop me?" laughed Teuthis. It was true that Pyre wouldn't be able to do much to hurt him, even when they got into the games, but Aphroditon thought that this situation required some extra help.
"Teuthis, leave it alone. Sorry, Pyre," responded Aphroditon, coming between the two other tributes. Teuthis peeked around him to grin at Pyre, who rolled her eyes again and stomped away. As she stomped away, she yelled back at him.
"I'll gut you like the slimy fish you are!" Pyre made her way back to Wynd, who looked extremely embarrassed and immediately tried to start talking to the district three girl. Teuthis shrugged and turned back to Aphroditon, looking completely unashamed and more than happy to cause some trouble.
"She won't last a day in the games," remarked Teuthis before walking over to Cyana. Aphroditon sighed, and looked over to Verd, who looked tired of the bickering. The annoying thing was that Teuthis was probably right, but he'd also seen Pyre with a match. It was fitting, but she definitely seemed like someone that could cause some trouble with explosives or fire if she wanted to.
"Let's take a break from group training," Aphroditon suggested, at which the other careers nodded approvingly. If this kept going on, they were only making the games harder for themselves. They didn't need to have enemies before the games started, even if those enemies were significantly weaker than the careers were.