Yarrow Venus- District Three female (17)

WHO do I want to be for this Games?

It wasn't a question of who I was. I wasn't even sure I knew myself. I knew I wanted to take care of myself, and that I wanted to keep myself safe. I also knew I wanted people to like me. Being liked was so much more important than being me. So who did the Captiol like?

The easiest place to start was my own District. People liked Beetee and Wiress because they were geniuses. That one was out- some things couldn't be faked. I was as smart as everyone else but I was no prodigy. Maybe I might have been if anyone had invested in me. Maybe not. We'd never know. I liked to think I was smart in other ways.

People liked the Careers because they were powerful. I couldn't say I didn't wish I was like that. It must be nice to be able to fix so many of your problems by training harder and getting stronger. I also sometimes thought it must be nice to know you can kill someone if you want. I didn't think I'd ever want to, but it must be nice to have that kind of power. I bet they enjoyed it. Me, I thought I'd only kill people if I needed to. I was afraid of what might happen if I let those dark parts of me out just for any reason.

PEOPLE WON'T like me if I use poison. I looked down at the berries I was holding. I'd told myself I was only coming to this station to learn edible plants. Nobody judged a Tribute for feeding herself. If anything it made her more popular- people loved someone who could provide for themselves. Less work for them, I thought bitterly. Who wants to have to feed a hungry kid, am I right? What a drag.

I wasn't just learning edible plants, though. I could tell myself I was only learning the poisonous ones to avoid them but I didn't need to lie to myself. I was getting ready to kill someone. Maybe in self-defense, maybe out of cold pragmatism, but I was learning to kill. It was so stupid that I had to pretend I wasn't. There were "fair" ways to kill someone, didn't I know? Swords were fair, or bare hands, or any of the hundreds of painful and personal ways to kill someone. A clean, impersonal death in your sleep? No, no. Dirty. Unfair.

Poison wouldn't get me sponsors. It might even get me hated, and I'd noticed that hated Tributes rarely won. If I was going to use poison I needed something to counterbalance it. Sweet little thing just wanting to get home? I wasn't cute enough. Romance? No one would believe it. Allies? I knew I wanted them anyway. The more people between me and the people trying to kill me the better.

Robbie was at the shelter-making station when I sidled up. "Hey. You're helping all the little kids, right?"

Robbie braced himself for ridicule. "Yep."

"That's pretty cool. Maybe I could help?"

Tommy Jute- District Eight male (14)

I couldn't help but think Tillo had no idea what she was talking about. It was nice of her to try to give advice but there wasn't much she could do. Her own Games were a decade back and in a strange Arena. Things had changed since then, and her own victory came about largely because she had a huge and powerful alliance. I didn't have anyone but myself. She'd advised me to ally but I didn't see anyone here I thought I would fit with. Rowena, maybe- she looked as angry as I felt. But she was with the little kids and I couldn't afford to carry them.

"No one wins the Games alone." I hadn't heard the first part of Tillo's speech. I knew I should have been paying attention but I just couldn't muster it.

"Usually people with allies don't either," I pointed out.

Tillo's eyebrows knitted. "Look, I'm trying to help you-"

"Thanks. I'll figure it out." I swept past her and out of the room.

STUPID, I told myself as I walked. Blowing off my mentor wouldn't help me. I just had a lot I was working through right now and Tillo wasn't exactly a friendly face. I balled my fists up by my sides and leaned forward as I stalked the halls. I knew I had a temper problem. I'd been working on it and I'd really been making so much progress. It seemed like all of this had sent me back to square one, and that sort of reset couldn't NOT trigger a spiral. I hated being here, I hated being away from Cairn, I hated how I kind of LIKED being away from Cairn, I hated knowing everyone I was mingling with day in and day out was trying to kill me...

The least I could do was make something useful out of my little outburst and get some training in. I diverted toward the training room and went toward the angriest, most aggressive station I could find.

The attendant at the mace station didn't react when I walked past her and straight for the weapons. What could she really teach me, anyway? A mace is pretty much point and bash. There were two types of mannequins, I noticed- some cloth and some made of some thick clear gel. I chose the gel one, hoping for a satisfying noise.

THWAP!

It really was a satisfying noise. What was even better was the chunk of gel that tore off the body, letting out a spray of blood embedded inside the mannequin. It must have looked so disturbing, me just going ham on a mannequin and smiling at the blood spraying everywhere, but that really wasn't even it. I wasn't imagining it was a real person. I just loved the carnage of tearing something apart. I wanted to destroy something like the Capitol had destroy my life. All the better that it was a soulless model and not an actual person. I should really have been working through my anger and getting myself back in control, but the mannequin didn't need me to be in control. It could be in pieces and no one would really get hurt. I looked down at the shreds and chunks of gel I'd left everywhere and panted.

"Yeah, been there."

I looked over at the attendant as she gave me a knowing nod. "Feel better?"

"Better than I should, probably," I said. Cairn always got so disappointed when I let my temper get the better of me.

"Sometimes you just gotta smash," the attendant said. She picked up another mace. "You want some techniques or are you more of a 'smash and go' type?"

"I think I could use some help," I admitted, letting myself smile a little.

Turns out, there IS technique to mace fighting! There were different types of maces, different fighting styles, different tactics to defend against various other weapons, and lots more. The best part was the entire time I was learning, I was also smashing! On the trains I'd planned to learn to climb and try out the gauntlet, but I wasn't sure I'd have time for that now. I just really wanted to mace all day.

Taylor Treadle- District Nine female (15)

The bright yellow color and distinctive shape gave the plant on the screen away a ground cherry. I tapped the "edible" button. The picture winked away to a screen with text.

HORSE CHERRY. ABDOMINAL SYMPTOMS RANGING FROM NAUSEA TO DEATH

Oh. I cautiously clicked on another picture that looked to me exactly like the wild garlic I'd examined before. If I could smell it I'd probably get it right...

DEATH CAMAS. I didn't have to read the description.

I knew it was going to happen before I clicked the third photo. My skills clearly weren't up to par and my luck had never been great. It sure looked like a hemlock, though.

QUEEN ANNE'S LACE. EDIBLE.

Oh, lovely. At least I didn't poison myself this time.

BEWARE OF LOOKALIKE HEMLOCK.

You don't have to mock me like that. Clearly edible plants weren't my ticket to success. It was dandelions and clover in the Arena for me. Even I couldn't miss those. Food alone wouldn't keep me alive, though.

I lurked a long time beside the water purification station. The attendant was looking at his phone and I didn't want to interrupt. When he put it in his pocket I pounced.

"Oh, hey. Are you busy?" I asked.

He smiled and stood up from where he'd been leaning against the table. "Of course not! I'm here for YOU," he said.

"Oh. Thanks," I said. "Can you show me how to clean water?"

Water purification was a lot easier than plant identification. Basically most things you could find around any Arena would help purify water. Maybe they wouldn't clean it entirely but they would help. Also, the more the better! If one thing, like a layer of ash, wouldn't purify water on its own, another layer of, say, milkweek fluff, would help more. Put enough things together and you get most of the gunk out of your water, though it probably still wasn't perfect. Jairus the attendant said diarrhea was honestly just part of almost every Games and the cameras just cut away from it. His advice was to clean the water as best as I could and just try to put it in faster than it came out.

I was surprised how good I felt at the end of the lesson. It was just really fun being good at something, first of all, and it was also really fun to learn something new. It was also kind of nice being here in the Capitol. The reason for it sucked but until the Games started it was almost peaceful. No one here knew anything about me. They just knew I was a Tribute, which I'd learned made me a celebrity. People in the hallways gasped and pointed me out to their friends when they noticed me. Some kid asked me for an autograph. Even though I couldn't help but notice a bunch of last year's dead Tribute names in there it was still kind of cool. If I kept feeling so good about myself I might even see if I could find an ally. The thought of it still sent a jolt through my heart, though. I wasn't sure I'd ever get up my courage before too late. A Tribute might ask their mentor before agreeing to an alliance. A mentor might know things about the other Tributes. A mentor might know about my past. They'd tell their mentee and God knew how rumors flew and then-

Safer not to ask for an alliance.

On my own, then. In which case I needed to be able to defend myself. From recent experiences it seemed I might possibly be better with an idiot-proof weapon. I was good at water, sure, but the plants left me at fifty-fifty, which last I checked was a failing grade. I headed for the weapons stations and swept my eyes over them. Swords? Not too hard but pretty classic. A lot of people would be going for them at the Bloodbath. The maces seemed like a better bet, but there was a boy there just absolutely going crazy and I was afraid to get close to that. The javelins seemed like an okay bet. Pointy. Long. Easy to make if I couldn't get one in the Bloodbath.

Maybe I'm a natural, I snarked to myself as I threw one. It hit the target, so I had that going for me, but I wouldn't call it a bullseye. More of a "hitting a guy in the hand" kind of throw, which would presumably result in said guy having a minor wound and a weapon. I tried again a few times with barely better results. I could fairly say that I got a little better after a few hours, but how much better could I really get in three days? It would have to be good enough. I just wouldn't throw until they got real close.