Kendall Delancey- District One male (18)
Normally a Career went to the Capitol already having some idea of who they might be allying with. Each Career District zealously guarded its Academy secrets and techniques and all that, of course, but the Career pack was a huge part of our strategy and it benefited everyone if we shared some notes. With almost everyone from the Career Districts Reaped this year, the pack would be more or less lucky dip. I started gathering intel while I was still
"So... you in the pack or what?" I asked Kallik as we somewhat awkwardly sat on either sides of a table in the observation car. She looked strong enough, anyway. Her tan implied she spent a lot of time outside and she had a quiet sort of confidence like it would take a lot to shake her.
She shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure. It depends on what the other Careers are like." She considered. "I do want strong allies but I might go with some outliers."
"Practically the same thing this year," I said.
"Yeah, really weird how many of us aren't volunteers," Kallik said.
Trayne walked through the door to the observation car, saw the two of us, and did an immediate about-face.
"Guess we're still scary," I joked. Hah hah, Trayne is on a train.
"I guess we should try to meet the other 'Careers'," Kallik said.
"Yeah, good idea," I said. We were just standing up when the two from Two walked in. The boy saw us and turned to his sister, pointing at us. I waved as they came over.
"So, uh, weird pack this year," the boy said.
"I know right?" Kallik said. "You're Valerius, right? And Octavia?"
The boy waved a hand. "Ew, too long. Just Val," he said as he said down. My initial impression was that he was probably rich, judging from the gold makeup and breezy demeanor. I couldn't help but notice the sour look he gave me when he first saw me. Maybe he thought I was a threat? I couldn't tell anything about Octavia. She sat demurely with her hands folded in her lap and her expression was neutral.
"You heard anything about the Four pair?" Kallik asked.
"Amazon says Alara doesn't want to join," Octavia offered.
"She wasn't the volunteer, right?" I asked. I thought I'd heard something about some disaster in the One Academy.
"Us either, but we have other skills," Val said.
"Speaking of other skills, what does everyone need as far as sponsor stuff? My family is just ridiculously rich," I said. I watched for Val's reaction and saw a little sneer.
"I can make most of what I need myself," Kallik said. An image popped into my head of her decked out in buckskin firing a homemade arrow. Do deer even live that far north? What do they wear, polar bear fur?
"I'd just like a knife. That shouldn't be too expensive if I can't get one in the Bloodbath," Octavia said.
"I suppose we should make sure we have clean water," I said. Kallik gave a little look that implied she very much agreed and had seen what happened if you drank dirty water.
"I just really hope it's a nice Arena to be honest," Val said.
"Me, too," I said. I hoped the others, especially Val, knew I knew my own limitations. Growing up rich made my life easier in pretty much every way. The only problem was that nothing had ever really been hard for me before. Money helped even in the Arena, but there would come a point when it was nothing but paper.
Kallik- District One female (18)
I wouldn't have expected to have found myself roaming the Games center with Dorian. Kendall and I already knew a little about each other from the trains and because most people in One at least casually kept abreast of Academy happenings. Val and Octavia were siblings so they were going to spend most of their time together, and Octavia especially was a little standoffish. Dorian was perhaps the most outgoing of us. When I mentioned my upbringing he thought that was just the coolest thing in the world. Then I mentioned I'd never been in a city like the Capitol- my own part of One was far more suburban- and he asked if he could tag along as I explored.
"So like you lived in an igloo?" Dorian asked as we passed a shop selling crystal figurines. The store's lights were configured so that tiny rainbows bounced from the figurines all around the store.
"Everyone thinks that, but actually igloos are only temporary shelters for hunting," I said.
Dorian looked sheepish. "Oh, guess that was kind of stupid."
"No, no," I said. "You can't know things unless you ask questions."
"How did you not die in the winter when there's no plants to eat? Before grocery stores, I mean," Dorian asked.
"Mostly liver. It has a lot of vitamins." I smiled and nodded at Dorian's face. "Yeah, it's pretty gross. There's seaweed too."
"Ooh, like sushi. I love sushi," Dorian said.
"Me, too," I said. There were some good parts about living a more modern life.
"I bet there's really good sushi here. We should totally get some for lunch," Dorian said. It wasn't like a date, just that eventually we'd be hungry.
"What's Four like?" I asked, partially out of reciprocity and partially because I really was interested.
"We fish all day. I like to eat fish. We live on boats. My mother is a fish," Dorian said. He shook his head and amended, "We do like the beach a lot. Most people like going to the beach and swimming and all that, I think."
"Ooh, look at that," I said, pointing out a crazy rainbow shirt in a clothes store. "They really do dress just like on TV. I always thought Capitolites were probably more normal than they looked but no, they really are like that."
"Bunch of clowns, most of them," Dorian said.
"I should get some things to send back home," I said, still looking at the ridiculous store. I started to smile. "We should find just the most ridiculous stuff we can and tell our parents it's normal here."
Dorian smiled back. "I bet they have the craziest swimsuits."
"Because that's what you wear all day in Four, right?" I teased.
"Yeah, and maybe they have some walrus suits too," Dorian teased back.
"They're probably expensive," I said wistfully. Looking at a lot of the outfits, they had to take a ton of work. There was a dress just completely covered in rhinestones, for example. There had to have been ten thousand of them. Even in a factory that had to take a long time.
"I hear a lot of stores will give stuff to Tributes as long as they'll take some pictures. It's great advertisement," Dorian said.
"No kidding?" I asked. I loved back home and all, but it got DEPRESSING during the winter, which was half the year. That shirt I saw with built-in LEDs would really brighten up- HA, HA- a dark six months. I imagined myself walking around the near pitch-black village like a living flashlight and had to laugh a little.
In the end that exact shirt was one of the ones I picked. That light-up color-shifting shirt for my grandmother, a holographic shirt that shifted from a waterfall to a tiger for my father, and a rhinestone hair clip for my mom. Dorian went with the bright red bikini almost completely covered in text reading "JUICY" for his sister.
"Juicy like what?" he wondered as he held it. "Like breast milk-" he held the top- "and... poop?" he held the bottom. That's not sexy at all."
"Maybe it's retro," I said. "Like old slang."
"Then the old times were almost as weird as the Capitol."
Valerius Vella- District Two male (18)
Capitolites were grossly decadent and self-absorbed, but they were pretty friendly. I'd no sooner crossed paths with one of them before we were the best of friends and I could count on yet another sponsor. It must have been my sparkling character. It couldn't have been my looks or something shallow like that.
"It's nothing to cry about," I said breezily as I regaled my latest four friends with my upcoming adventures in the Arena. "It's dangerous, sure, but everything worth doing is risky."
"I always thought it would be so much fun to be in the Games," Delilah said, her pink eyes sparkling.
"Someone like you? Of course," I said. I mentally shuffled through the things the four of them had mentioned and landed on the one that would help me. "A lot of us neglect the more practical-" I stopped myself right before I almost said "boring"- skills like running. We'd never see you coming.
"See?!" Delilah crowed, turning to her friends.
"You should totally mention us while you're in there. We'll be famous!" her friend Narcissus chimed in.
I widened my eyes like it was just the coolest idea and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it. "I'll do one after every kill," I promised. Of course, I'd have to make it that long. It would be a lot easier with lots of sponsors. "You know what would be so cool? If every time I used a different weapon and I shouted out the one who sent it to me."
The Capitolites burst into gasps and comments.
"I wanna send a sword!"
"No, me!"
"You guys are the best. We're gonna have to have the wildest party when I get back." I gave a more sultry look. "And maybe an afterparty?" I'd noticed three of the four of them making eyes at me. It seemed I wasn't Geminya's type, but you can't win them all.
A few minutes later Narcissus gave me an opening I seized on. "Aren't you sad you're in here with your sister?"
The best acting has a kernel of reality. I let my genuine emotions show as I responded. "I don't even know how to deal with that. I guess we'll keep each other safe as long as we can and then-" I cleared my throat- "we'll do our best."
"Are you going to let Octavia win?" Delilah asked.
"I guess it's hard to know until it happens," I confessed. I loved Octavia more than anything, I thought. She was such a brilliant, singular woman. I couldn't bear to think about the world not having her in it. But I liked to be alive, too. I'd never wanted to think about the world not having ME in it.
"No matter what, at least we'll make sure Drusus is taken care of," I settled on.
"Don't worry!" Geminya broke in. "We'll send him money!"
Even a greedy Capitolite could touch my heart. Sure their first reaction was to throw money at the problem, but that was what had always worked for them. It really was noble in its own way that they were so ready to give.
"Thanks, guys," I said. "You really are the best."
Octavia Jacobs- District Two female (18)
Cassius,
If you're reading this, you got everything you wanted. I must extend my respects that you got to me before I got to you. I once thought there might be love between us, even if we came into this marriage both for our own ends. I thought so again when we brought Drusus into the world. No matter my hatred for you, you'll always have my thanks for that. Drusus is a perfect light in this world and as long as he lives you'll always be part of him.
I know you have no love lost for Drusus. What a life to live where your own son is nothing but a pawn. That said, you also have no hatred for him. As such, I simply request you send him to a boarding school. It should be a serviceable solution for you. He'll make his own friends and forge his own life and you'll be nothing but an annual check. I can't know what he'll grow up to be like, but with the proper environment he can certainly grow up to care for one of the thousands of calling other than politics. Let him be a painter or a cowboy or whatever he will and he'll stay out of your way.
As for my things, I don't suppose you care about them. It would do well for your image if you should dispose of just a few of them as I wish. I've already prepared a will- check with Araminta about that- and it will be public upon my death. Don't worry, I didn't put anything unseemly in there. I didn't get around to adding those details before this unfortunate happening. As it stands it's merely an insurance policy that you won't destroy the last remnants of me so you can gloat in a more complete victory. Surely my husband wasn't going to do something like that to his beloved late wife anyway? The things I care for are largely without value, something I'm sure you wouldn't understand. When you hear the news that your plan has succeeded, please promptly send my ring to Diana and please transfer my safety deposit box into Drusus' name. You're welcome to look inside it with the bank attendant present. All that's in there are letters to him.
I don't envy you your future political career without my alliance. You'll soon find most of your friends were only MY friends. Such is the fruit one reaps when one is singularly odious and repugnant to all who meet him. I suspect before long you'll have nothing but your money to keep you warm at night, if you don't throw that away as well. On that note, it would behoove you not to remarry. You well know I was making plans just as you were. Without more detail, I've taken steps to protect the next woman.
My most honest regards for your future, then, my husband, and my best regards for our son.
I dipped my finger in my glass of water to seal the envelope after first rolling it in the powder on my plate. The Games center had no poison shop, of course. It did have a pharmacy, though. The anti-imflammatory pills I'd bought were both effective and harmless in all but the rarest of scenarios, even though they were readily absorbed through the skin. It was only in conjuction with a certain blood pressure medication that they would result in hemorrhage, as the bottle noted. It was so very stressful to be constantly plotting. Someday Cassius' mind could be at peace.
Dorian Sargasso- District Four male (18)
So far our group seemed pretty cool. Bummer we were perhaps the least prepared Career pack in years, but at least my allies seemed pretty friendly. Kallik was a stitch and Kendall was pretty laid-back for a trust fund baby. Octavia kept to herself but Val at least was ready to make some friends. He'd confessed he didn't have much in the way of training and I quickly agreed to let him shadow me in the training room.
"So, this is a knife," I said about Val's chosen weapon. "It's pretty much just a knife. You stab or you slash. Slash for psychological damage, stab for physical."
"Wow, you must be a real expert," Val said solemnly.
"Not tryna brag but I've been training for years," I said. "You wanna practice or something?"
The thing about a knife fight is there's no winner. At the Academy one of the teachers once told me the winner is the one who dies in the ambulance and not on the ground. Training to knife fight was really more about training to be quick on your feet and with your reflexes. My practice with that was enough that I won each of the four sparring sessions Val and I tried out, but I still would have come away with some nasty wounds if we hadn't been using practice knives.
"I guess we should also learn survival stuff in case the Arena sucks," Val commented.
"That's so boring," I said.
"You know what's not boring? Dying of dysentery," Val said.
"Oh look, there's your sister at the water station." I pointed over. "Why don't you go do water stuff with her while I... don't do that."
I thought the boy from Six would probably clear out when I arrived at the gauntlet, since I was a Career and all, but he just gave me a nod.
"Sup?" he said.
"Sup," I said back. "Not afraid of Careers?'
He shrugged. "If you want me you'll get me."
"Wanna see who can get through the gauntlet faster?" I asked.
"You gonna get all pissy and target me if I win?" he asked.
I put a hand to my heart. "I solemnly promise I'll only kill you if you happen to be the closest person nearby."
After a few minutes it was clear Trayne would probably not be the closest person nearby for quite some time. He was twice as fast as me and ridiculously quick on his feet. he threaded his way through the gauntlet like he was avoiding overzealous salesmen, leaving me in the dust.
"You a boxer or something?" I asked, huffing for breath once I got through to where he lazily sat on the far edge of the gauntlet.
"I play hockey," he said.
"Is that why you're missing a tooth?" I asked.
Trayne ran his tongue over the hole. "I'd be mad you asked such a cliche question, but yeah that's why."
"Should have been faster," I teased.
"You should see the other guy," Trayne said.
"Did you fight him?" I asked. I'd heard hockey players had crazy fights.
"No, he's just missing like five teeth from other games," Trayne said.
"That's pretty metal," I said, nodding my respect.
"Yeah, a lot of us have metal in our mouths," Trayne pounced on the joke.
"You're pretty cool," I said. "I kind of hope you do well."
"I kind of hope you do too," Trayne said. We fist-bumped.
See, this is why I didn't want to volunteer. I didn't want to kill other people. I'd rather run the gauntlet with them.
