Training Day One
08:00 hours
Tribute accommodation
Kalo is awakened from her nightmares by the blast of their alarm. Her nightmares weren't of the games or of the last few days, but of everything that transpired before her name was called out at the reaping.
Rubbing her eyes, they rapidly comb her hair out of her face in the mirror before throwing on her training outfit and heading into the kitchen for breakfast.
Kalo doesn't take long to eat, she never did, especially when she was younger. She used to see each day as an adventure; ready to be embarked on. Then, as all her siblings left, each day began to turn into a nightmare, until eventually, she couldn't tell the difference between an adventure and a nightmare anymore.
Kalo adamantly decides not to talk to Jack, as they scoff the oatmeal down, they don't talk to Prunus either, who is sitting in the corner absorbed with whatever papers are in his lap.
So, after flinging her plate aside, Kalo marches onwards - out of Seven's apartment, and into the elevator. She is already rubbing her hands with glee as the other twenty-five tributes pile in. Kalo's mischievous smile is enough to make most of them turn their eyes away. However, they are finally able to get an up-close look at all of their competition. The tributes this year come in all shapes and sizes.
The pair from Three are small, and huddled together in the corner of the elevator, staring wide at the future-killers around them - like mice trying to hide from a cat.
The boy from Two dominates the entire elevator. He's standing in the middle with confidence in his eyes, and his chest puffed out to exaggerate his 6'4, muscular build, even more. If ever there was a 'perfect' career for District Two - this would be them. The young man glances around the elevator, eyeing up his competition, and smirking from ear to ear. When his eyes land on Kalo, she shoots daggers back at him, and after a few moments they have found themselves in a staring competition; both refusing to back down. Eventually, they both non-verbally agree to look away at the same time, a stalemate, for now. But something tells Kalo that this isn't over…
The other tributes don't stand out too much, for now. Except for a slim, but toned, boy leaning in the corner with his hands in his pockets. He's from District Fourteen, she believes - the newly constructed prison district on the edge of the map. His face is as pale as snow, and his eyes are dreary and sickly, and look extremely absent. That is, until his eyes fall on Kalo, and they light up like they've just seen an old friend. An icy shiver runs down Kalo's spine. While the career from Two made her growl inside with anger and want to slash his throat, this other boy freaks them out in a way they've never felt before.
She shakes her head, looking away from the Fourteen boy. They can't let him distract them, not now. That must be his game, surely?
The elevator doors slide open, revealing the pristine, sparkling training room.
Kalo's eyes travel between the different stations. Prunus told her to hit the survival station first, as it's often neglected - so, that's what they do, after they've had to endure the head trainer's rambling speech. Most of it went over their head, except for the new rule about being able to spar with each other in a controlled sparing area, if both parties agree.
In the survival station, the first hour of training is fairly uneventful. Kalo tries their best to absorb as much information about different herbs as she can. But, the longer the silence goes on, the further she drifts into her own mind, and her intrusive thoughts spread throughout like a creeping shadow of darkness.
(They are sure that every possible way they could murder everyone in this room has already passed through their brain by the time the first hour has gone by.)
A hand tugs at her shoulder! Kalo clenches her fist, she spins around, and pulls it back to strike. Who would dare surprise her like this?
It's that boy from Fourteen again! His eyes are wild and panicked as opposed to how lifeless they seemed earlier.
Kalo narrows her eyes. "Are you lookin' to get your nose broken, friend?" They growl.
But the boy simply ignores her. "Listen to me," he whispers, dragging her out of sight from the other tributes; Kalo shoves his hands off her.
"They're after you… they have your name marked, you have to trust me," he says with a shaky voice.
His voice is high-pitched but raspy and broken like he's speaking directly from his throat.
"What are you talking about?"
"No time to explain here! I'm putting together an outer district alliance. You should-"
Before he can finish his sentence, the other members of his alliance begin to gather around him. The pair from Three, who are fiddling with some gadgets between them. Kalo scrunches her eyes… they aren't gadgets at all, they seem to be little makeshift bombs.
The other one is a familiar face… Jack. Kalo's district partner scowls at her. "You don't want her on your side, Jorah," he says to the Fourteen boy.
So that's his name - Kalo thinks to themself.
"They'll try to murder us the moment the gong sounds," Jack continues.
Jorah's face returns to a more neutral expression, and he glances at his ally. "You sure?"
Jack nods. "She wouldn't stop talkin' about all the ways she was gonna murder us back on the train." Then he shifts to Kalo. "Here's a suggestion, why don't you join the careers?" He points over to where the careers are training. "A gang of trained killers, you'd fit right in!"
Kalo clenches her jaw, resisting the urge to knock a few of his teeth out. But as the outer alliance disappears, Kalo relaxes. Maybe her District partner is right. Maybe she would fit into the careers? Maybe that's where she belongs? But how to get their attention? All these thoughts have almost overridden the strange conversation with that pale boy from Fourteen… almost.
Kalo notices his eyes still on her as he's being dragged away by Jack.
(That boy from Fourteen is just mad, nothing more. But then, is Kalo just mad? Why does nothing make sense anymore?)
Kalo's axe impacts the head of the training dummy like a truck slamming into a post. Each of Kalo's strikes becomes more erratic until they are practically screaming.
A voice suddenly interrupts her motions. "Not bad."
Kalo pauses and lowers their axe. Before them stand Two careers - the pair from Four. They both have dark skin and black curly hair that hangs over their faces. The boy is taller at just under six feet while the girl is Kalo's height at 5'8.
When Kalo's eyes meet the girl's, her heart freezes for a brief moment. The girl's eyes… They are bright hazel. They remind them of someone, someone they pushed to the deepest, darkest parts of their mind - a well of memories that she hoped had faded for good.
The boy steps forward. "I'm Amur and this is Nisa," he greets, gesturing to his district partner.
Kalo glances at Nisa and the girl sends her a smile.
"I take it you didn't come over here just to make small talk… what do you want," Kalo asks, slinging her axe over her shoulder.
Amur smirks. "The outer district alliance forming didn't escape our notice, so we were tryin' to strengthen our own numbers."
Amur's voice is soft and calm like the sea…
(Calm like Kalo's brother when he would be there for her after one of their father's outbursts. She hasn't heard from him since he was kicked out at seventeen; a small part of her hopes he's doing ok wherever he is.)
Kalo snaps back to reality. "So what? I just get an invite? Like to a party?"
Amur shakes his head. "Nah, a dummy don't fight back. We wanna see if you can handle that thing against a live opponent."
Kalo raises their eyebrow and begins chuckling manically, and the pair glance at each other; a little bemused.
"Choose one of us for a sparring session, then we'll see," Amur says.
"How about both?" Kalo shoots back immediately.
Amur and Nisa just look at each other again. "I like her already," Nisa smiles.
Kalo selects their dummy axe and then leads the other two into the sparing station - a flat, plain rubber floor. Amur twirls a spear in his hand and Nisa readies a katana in a defensive stance. They hesitate for a moment, together. Unsure of how to approach fighting this outlier.
"Well come on 'careers', whatcha waiting for? You scared?" Kalo teases.
Nisa swings first, aiming directly for Kalo's head. However, the girl instinctively shoots her two-handed axe up to block the strike. Amur comes next, jabbing his dummy spear at Kalo's gut, but the girl from Seven slips back, blocking the thrust at the same time.
The two careers keep up this tag-team style of attacks, forcing Kalo back and back until finally she lashes out in anger and smashes her dummy axe into Amur's chest! He winces in pain but responds by swinging his spear hard into Kalo's head. Nisa follows this up by planting a kick into their gut - sending Kalo tumbling to the floor in a heap. Now on the floor, Kalo scrambles to regain their axe, glaring at the pair who bested her; they seemed to work so well together - like their minds are in sync or something.
"So… did I pass your little test?" Kalo asks, begrudgingly rubbing her head.
"Oh… you definitely passed," Nisa shoots back.
Amur tugs his district partner's arm. "But we'll have to consult with the others first."
The pair from Four offer out their hands to help Kalo up, and haul her to her feet.
"Meet us in the weapons station tomorrow with the other careers," Nisa says with a soft smile.
Kalo isn't quite sure how to respond to the pair's general… pleasantries. They haven't experienced anything like it since their last sibling, Medo, left home. That aside, they're careers. They are supposed to be big and scary with killer instincts constantly in their eyes… not whatever that was.
As Kalo treks home across the training room, back to her apartment, many thoughts are whirling around her head in a whirlpool. From the warnings of the mysterious boy from Fourteen to that encounter with the pair from Four. Nisa in particular stood out to them, even though she was more reserved than Amur… it was her eyes. She has the same hazel eyes as Maika Deronda…
Kalo swallows back her tears at the thought of that name, ignoring everyone else in their apartment and crashing onto her bed in the apartment. She tears at her hair, thinking about that name and the well of memories that it evokes.
"Please welcome your young lady representing District Seven in the ninety-eight hunger games, Maika Deronda!"
Kalo never believed in their worst nightmares that this day would come. Kalo's saviour, the one beacon of light in the darkness, the love of their life, had just been reaped before their eyes.
Kalo let out a cry of agony as her girlfriend wandered up to the stage, desperately fighting through the crowd with tears streaming down her face; only to be dragged away by the heavy arms of two peacekeepers.
In the end, the Peacekeepers allowed Kalo into the justice building to say goodbye. She burst through the doors and wrapped her arms around Maika! Then the two of them looked each other dead in their tear-filled eyes.
"I'm coming back, I promise," Maika assured them, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then the girl managed a little smile. "Do I look like the kinda gal who lets something like the hunger games get in the way of my fun?"
Maika's bright eyes infected Kalo like a ray of sunshine as they always did and their heart felt slightly more at ease - Maika had never broken her promises.
Maika glimpsed down at Kalo's pocket. "Have you still got my lavender?" She asked.
Kalo reached into her pocket and produced a book-pressed lavender flower that Maika gave her on their first date.
"Just hold onto that," Maika smiled. "As something to remind you of me… until I get back."
Kalo sat in District Seven over the next few weeks, watching her girlfriend go through the horrors of the games. Maika did well too; she battled her way to the finale, and Kalo thought for a moment that a ray of light, breaking through the darkness could exist in their life, that they could be happy. But then, Maika was brutally snuffed out on Seven's dirty TV screen, in front of Kalo's eyes.
That is why, when a year passed, and Kalo was the one on the reaping stage, she was not sad or distraught. No, they were grinning ear to ear with a twinkle in their eyes. Life is just a cruel joke, and she might as well embrace it for what it is.
Kalo finds she is staring at the book-pressed lavender in her hands, that Maika gave her. It's not as bright as it once was; the colour has faded, and it has become dull. Kalo quickly rubs her hands over her face and stuffs it back in their pocket. She throws herself into bed, trying as best she can to get some form of sleep that isn't a nightmare.
The next day, Kalo is up at the crack of dawn. They rapidly shovel their breakfast down before skipping to the elevator with an excited bounce in their step.
In the training center, the careers are waiting in the weapons station - just as Nisa had said yesterday.
The pack are lounging around together casually, their eyes follow Kalo all the way up until she reaches them but her posture remains upright and confident; she won't let their judgemental stairs ruin her good mood.
Amur and Nisa are standing at the front. They greet Kalo with their usual relaxed smiles.
"Welcome to the blood pack," Amur says, gesturing to the careers sitting around the weapons station.
Fuck, they're so dramatic - Kalo thinks to themself.
Maybe they will fit into the careers after all.
Amur gestures his hand to the pair from One on the far left. "This is Shimmer and Roland - our couple from One."
This 'couple' from One have athletic builds - like most careers. The guy is tall although not as tall as the Two boy. He has bright red hair and freckles scattered about his face. The girl looks like a lot of careers that Kalo has seen in the games; very pristine looking with dirty blond hair. They are both slouched back on their seats in silence with their arms around each other, but the girl is chewing on some gum, and giving Kalo a death stair - so Kalo happily returns it.
If they are a couple, then they'll be very in sync and could be one of my main threats - Kalo thinks.
Next, Amur moves to a boy sitting next to them, twirling a blade in his hands. "This is Frost from District Five. We brought him in yesterday."
Frost says nothing either but sends Kalo a nod. He has ragged long hair that hangs over his stoic face. Kalo can't really get a good read on him yet.
After introducing the girl from Two, Amur gestures to her District partner - the large, muscular boy with a callus expression. "And this… is Reinhardt."
Reinhardt confidently stands up, towering over Kalo, Nisa, and Amur. He begins circling Kalo with a smirk on his face. Kalo doesn't move; she remains cool and resists the urge to assail this cocky career.
(Thanks to her mentor's words on the train.)
When Reinhardt has completed his circle and has returned to face Kalo, he leans into them. "Say, I hope you don't mind me askin' you a quick question…"
"Go ahead," Kalo responds.
"In Seven, when the Peacekeepers are beating you, do you scream or yelp?"
This earns chuckles from the careers sitting behind him.
Kalo grits her teeth at his pure audacity but manages to maintain her composure; if a fight breaks out now, they'd probably be kicked out. Prunus told her to think through their actions diligently. So, that's what they'll do.
Instead, Kalo echoes his proud smirk back at him, and steps confidently into the middle of the careers. "Oh, I see how it is, most of y'all haven't seen an outlier before. How exciting!" She says sarcastically. They turn back to Reinhardt. "Everything your mummy and daddy taught you is true. We're all vampires, we'll suck your blood when you sleep, and we most definitely don't wash. So, if I was you, I'd stay in your lane, Reinhardt." She puts extra emphasis on his name to mock it.
By the end of her speech, Reinhardt's smirk has dropped, and his teeth are grinding together. "Just make sure you pull your weight. Otherwise, I'll drop you like a fucking sack of potatoes," he warns them, shoulder barging them as he walks past to sit back down.
Kalo composes herself. He can say what he wants now but by the time of the arena, she'll be allowed to go apeshit on him. That's the point of all this, isn't it - to kill as many as you can? Would Kalo's mother or Maika be pleased if they saw her now? Probably not but they're gone, so what does it matter?
No, she fits in just fine here.