I made some alliances with Tributes whose submitters seem to not be reading. If any of them come object I'll just retcon it.
Jayden Chadsey- Heart of Darkness D1F
Kind of weird how I joined because of Karyssa and she wasn't even here. It had seemed like such a big deal, watching her die, but now I could barely even remember her face. Time went on, and new people came into my life. People like Chrome and Jessie, for example. Jessie wasn't too terrible, though of course I shouldn't underestimate her, but I didn't think Chrome and I would ever be friends. If I wasn't so proud I might apologize, but she wouldn't take it anyway. Better to hopefully slip her mind rather than make myself a target all over again just for trying.
My feelings about Attila were more complicated. Rude as it was, I was a little offended he wasn't here. Didn't killing me make someone memorable enough to bring back? I consoled myself with the self-serving thought that they were simply too horrified at someone who killed someone as wonderful as myself.
Jokes aside, I needed to focus on the Games. I couldn't depend on Chrome suddenly forgetting about me. Even if she didn't give me a second thought, the fact remained there were fifty-odd Careers who would very probably start the Games off cleaning out anyone who wasn't smart enough to ally. I could fantasize about being a lone-wolf ninja who came out for a dark-horse victory, but the thing about lone wolves was that in real life, they died. Wolves were pack animals for a reason.
"So, what are you up to?" I asked, sidling up to Flint as he was toweling off between sparring sections. He seemed to know his stuff, and he wasn't bad on the eyes.
"Not allying with you," he said. I wrinkled my nose and waved my hand at him in annoyance as I left.
"So, what are you up to?" I asked, sidling up to Artemis as she expertly threw knives.
"Just throwing some knives," she said, smiling a little at her own obvious answer.
"You looking for allies?" I didn't see any need to beat around the bush.
"What?' Her whole face opened with surprise. She looked around like someone was watching. "Sorry, I just didn't think anyone wanted to ally with me."
"What, you got cooties or something?" I asked. I couldn't even have said which Games Artemis was from. I definitely didn't remember anything off-putting.
"I thought Pray told everyone not to. And probably threatened something horrible if they did," Artemis said.
"Oh. I'm from One, not Two, so I guess she didn't get to me," I said. "Not a close relationship, I gather?"
Artemis gathered herself inward as she laid down her knives, her hair falling across the side of her face. "We used to be," she said. "She's mad at me for leaving her. What can you say to that?"
"Come back this time, I guess," I said. "It's easier with an ally, hence why I'm here."
"You good?" Artemis asked, then half-smiled "Not that I'm getting many offers."
"I don't want to brag," I said, laying a hand on my chest. "But actually I love bragging, so let me just tell you..."
Christobal Chanel- Swing Vote D8M
I'd tried to train. It just wasn't working. No matter where I went, I felt eyes on my back from other Tributes, whether or not they were actually looking. I felt like a bug under a microscope, with Capitolites gawking through cameras I couldn't even see. Even the trainers seemed to be judging me, even if I knew they were only here to help. Before long I started to get claustrophobic. There were just too many people, too much noise, too much everything. So I slunk back to my room to do something that actually felt productive to me.
They wouldn't let me take a guitar into the Arena. I'd tried for hours to think of a way. Finally, I had the idea. It was Jezzebel who gave it to me. I happened to see her as she was walking along with her allies. I looked at her shiny black hair and the very particular tone of her skin and it came to me in a flash. They wouldn't let me have a guitar, but they couldn't stop me from carving a flute. One trip to the training room later, after collecting some bamboo from the shelter station (and eating lunch with Juniper) I was back at work.
I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it before. It delighted me to my soul, carving my flute. It wasn't just poking holes in the bamboo and trying to tune the resulting noise. It was carving music out of nothing. I was making wind into music like some primal faun. Guitar may have been my first love, but I had so much room for more. The poet inside me was tickled that I would soon be breathing music.
The door opened and Juniper came inside. He stretched his arms above his head.
"Ahh, good training day," he said as he pulled off his shirt. "Mind if I use your shower?'
"You're done already?" I asked.
"It's almost five," Juniper said.
I looked at the clock and gawked for a minute. I'd thought I'd been working for minutes.
"Ooh, cool flute," Juniper said. "Hit me up with 'hot crossed buns.'"
"Sounds just like middle school," he said when the performance was over.
"I didn't mean to waste a whole day. Sorry," I said. I felt like nothing but a load, looking at Juniper's sweaty shirt and then my little bamboo tube.
"No, it's cool! We can probably get sponsors," Juniper said.
"You don't think I'm dragging you down?" I asked.
"Everyone has different skills," Juniper said. "Maybe you can draw portraits, too," he joked.
"That is a great idea." I looked at the doodled sheets of paper scattered across the table. I grabbed a stack and some pencils and was out the door in a flash.
Minutes later, I had my first customer. It wasn't every day you could get a hand-drawn portrait from a genuine Tribute. And it was all for the low, low price of calling Drone and pledging a sponsor gift. The longer I went, the better the portraits got, because I was feeling great. I wasn't dragging our alliance down. I was just contributing in my own special way.
Fleur Laveu- No Way Down Down D11F
"He's going to help us kill vampires!"
I couldn't deny Walcott's enthusiasm. She looked about ready to dance, telling us about how Vulpes actually believed her and was going to join our great crusade. I shared a glance with Castiel. He looked as unsure as I was, but he also looked hesitant since he didn't know Walcott as well as I did, so I took the lead.
"That's nice," I started. "But Vulpes seems a little... intense." I didn't want to ally with him. I didn't like the look in his eye. I certainly didn't believe he thought vampires were real, and I didn't want anything to do with someone who got allies by buttering them up.
"We need a strong alliance," Walcott argued. "There's too many Careers."
"If have a big enough alliance, we become a threat," I pointed out.
"You're just scared you won't fit in. They'll like you, don't worry," Walcott said. I felt myself weaking a little, seeing how she cared about me. But I just didn't feel comfortable with Vulpes' alliance. It was too big, with too many unknowns. I knew Walcott. I hadn't spent much time with Castiel, but he'd convinced me he was a good person, even if I didn't know much about him. I didn't know anything about Vulpes' allies. I had no guarantees that none of them were bad apples.
"What about you?" Walcott appealed to Castiel, her eyes shining with her admiration of him.
Castiel looked guiltily at his little acolyte. "I think we should stay by ourselves," he said after hesitating.
Walcott's face fell. She folded her arms, scowling a bit. She looked back at me, about ready to cry. "Please? I don't want to go by myself."
It shouldn't have been as hard as it was. It should be obvious I had to put myself first. Friends couldn't come before survival, especially if we'd only been friends for a few weeks. But Walcott and I had been through a lot. Her vampire weirdness aside (and most people thought my voodoo was even weirder), she was a good friend. I didn't want to lose her and I didn't want to see her make a bad choice.
"We can still be friends," I said. Walcott wilted at the unsaid answer. "Maybe one of us will change our minds. If we see each other in the Arena, let's consider it again."
Castiel and I watched with equal parts regret and foreboding as Walcott walked alone to her new allies.
"We still on?" he asked. After all, it had been Walcott who connected us.
"I don't see any reason why not," I said. Two people against the Arena, then. Two people who barely knew each other and had lost the one thing that connected them. A Christian and a Voudisant. A match made in Heaven. At least we had the same name for that.
Briar Hampton- Into Thin Air D10F
Funny story, how I ended up getting mentored by the woman I killed. It was an accident, sure, but I hadn't thought in a million years that she could forgive me. But Gidget left forgiveness in her dust.
"You killed me, so you owe me a life debt," she said solemnly.
"Isn't it 'you saved my life, soI owe you a debt, in the books?" I asked.
"Nope, I changed it," Gidget said. That was my first introduction to Gidget's sense of humor. Turned out, "dad jokes" should actually be called "mom jokes", based on how many she made.
"So what do I owe you? I don't think you'll get much return on the investment, to be honest," I said.
"I got one demand. You have to be silly," Gidget said. "I got better after you killed me, so let's put it behind us and you can go back to being who you were." She considered. "Honestly, if you hadn't killed me, I would probably have died anyway, and- butterfly effect and all- I wouldn't have ended up winning the second time."
"So you owe me a life debt too?" I joked.
"Oh no, you got me good."
Despite her razor wit and absolute unflappability, Gidget didn't have too much in the way of hard Games skills. She acted more as an advisor, providing behind-the-scenes information and hooking me up with the right people.
"So rumor has it this Games will be indoors," Gidget said as we sat in a cute little coffee shop. "We should probably focus on stealth and soft skills. Keep doing what you're doing." I wasn't sure if I wanted allies yet, but I'd been cultivating minor friendships with whoever I could. A week wasn't enough to make real friends, but I could be lower on the list of who people wanted to kill. The good thing about being weak and pretty mediocre was that anyone who killed people had a list of people they wanted to kill, and I was pretty sure none of them included me.
"Oh, one more thing." Gidget handed me a tablet. "I got you an appointment. You'll get loads of sponsors... if you stack up."
I clicked the tablet and a video started playing.
Open Mic Night at Vesuvius' Bar and Grill! Will you bomb or will you bring down the house? Think you're funny? Prove it!
Hours later, I stood in front of a crowd, wearing some ridiculous Capitol dress Gidget had assured me was both fashionable and modest. As she sat out in the crowd, innocently sipping her drink, I really hoped she wasn't pranking me.
Diamond Stark- Res D1M
The alliance made or broke the Games. It was obvious to anyone, but it was especially important to me. My skills were unconventional among Careers, and I was especially prone to betrayal. Not that I would betray my allies, but that they would betray me. I wasn't a big sort of fellow. Truth be told, I didn't look like much. Careers didn't have much respect for people they could push around. They also didn't look kindly on people they thought were smarter than they were. Not to brag, but my brains were my greatest strength. I had to play my cards very carefully if I wanted an alliance both solid enough to help me and modest enough not to pick me off before I could shine.
The two big Career alliances were out. The rougher set of Careers wouldn't have taken me even if I'd asked. The "nicer" set of Careers, for lack of a better word, was tempting but ultimately not for me. They had plenty of strategists- Jynx and Amphilia came to mind immediately- and they just didn't have a niche I could fill. They might accept me if I approached them, but I feared I'd fade into the background. When the first big battle came, people would pair up based on their personalities, and I foresaw myself getting lost in the mix and killed before anyone even missed me.
Jayden and Artemis, though- that was something I could work with. Jayden had all the strength I didn't, and enough bravado I had a chance at convincing her by appealing to her strengths. Artemis simply didn't have many other options. She was also from an earlier Games, before strategies were clearly outlined, and she would benefit from my more current skills. On my side, I'd benefit from being with someone who joined the Games before things got quite as brutal and backstabby.
"You two are setting up your own thing, I see?" I asked as they were sparring each other.
"That's right. I suppose you want some?" Jayden asked after she spat out her mouth guard. In her sleeveless shirt I could see both the size of her muscles and their even distribution. Jayden wasn't someone who trained for looks or for a few tricks. She was in this for well-rounded excellence.
"I don't think so. You'd kick my ass," I said.
"Oh, we got a flatterer," Jayden said, not impressed.
"I am hoping to get on your good side, but it's true. I grew up with four older sisters. I know what good fighting looks like, and I know who's out of my league."
"So why should we take you, if you're so... small?" Jayden looked mercilessly over my tiny frame.
"I'm smart enough to help you and also smart enough not to think I can outsmart you," I said.
"What's your weapon?" Artemis asked.
"Darts," I said. "I'm not afraid to use poison when I have it, but I'm good enough I don't need to depend on it."
"Hold on." Jayden held up a finger. She and Artemis withdrew to confer. A minute later they came back and she held out her hand.
"I wasn't the best student, but I do remember one thing from geometry," she said. "A triangle is the strongest shape."