Training: Day One
-Kermit Fisher, 16, District 5-
He still didn't feel much like eating, in honesty. He didn't feel like doing much of anything. Flavio hummed and sang to himself as he ate while Kermit and Kamaria sat next to each other in silence. It was a quiet table for a while as Sadie just stared at them over her eggs and Silex looked around at them all for a moment.
"Training is probably the most important part of your Games experience," Silex said, oblivious to the tension in the room as he was eating his omelet. "It gives you the chance to make good relationships with other tributes while learning important skills. Don't forget those survival stations. Can't live to fight if you can't live, ya know?"
"Right," Kermit mumbled as Kamaria was still staring at Sadie. It was mostly to fill the silence which had become uncomfortable with nobody acknowledging that the mentor was speaking.
"I'm going to make strong allies," Kamaria said, and the certainty with which she said it made Kermit feel even worse somehow. It was like it was guaranteed – a simple fact. She was just that confident and she was still looking at Sadie. "I will show you that I have a real chance at winning."
"I'm sure you'll do great," Silex said encouragingly and Kermit just nodded – again, mostly out of an obligation at this point. But he sounded so assured in her as well.
"You gotta pick wisely," Sadie said, finally turning to look at the girl and narrowing her eyes a little bit. "Allies can be the death of you in a thousand different ways."
"I don't like that," Kermit said to himself as Kamaria sat up a little straighter at getting Sadie's attention.
"I won't ever fully trust anyone," Kamaria said. "I know how to be smart. But I need someone to watch my back – or at least to outrun."
Sadie raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her chair. "Smart girl."
Kamaria squirmed a little bit but she just nodded. "I want to win. I don't want to just keep fucking around."
"Bruh, you can't just say that," Kermit said, but… Well, she just did. He wished he had even an ounce of her self-confidence at that point. But he didn't. He was just acting like a walking corpse and he knew it. He didn't know how to act like anything besides a walking corpse right now.
"Yes she can," Sadie said with a small chuckle. "Honey you're gonna be sacrificed on live TV if you don't get your shit together. It's just the reality of the situation. You can say whatever the fuck you want. Well…" She looked away for a moment and sighed softly. "Maybe not whatever you want, on the cameras."
Silex frowned and patted her shoulder, but she shrugged off his hand.
"You'd better not make me look like a laughing stock on the cameras!" Flavio spoke up for the first time and Sadie reached over to slap his chest.
"Shut up, this doesn't involve you."
"We'll be careful about what we say," Kermit said. He was old enough to remember her impassioned speech about her brother – a lot of it bleeped out on the live broadcast – and of course, the shock that went through the Districts when she was pinned by a tree which caused her to lose part of her leg.
"I'm sure you will do just fine," Silex said. It was the only bit of positivity Kermit had heard since he got reaped at this point.
"Thanks," he said as he looked up at the man, who gave him a smile.
"If I find good allies, will you mentor me?" Kamaria finally asked Sadie. "What do I have to do? I need someone that will help me win."
"The rule is that Sadie takes the older tri-" started Silex, but the ginger put up her hand to stop him.
"I want to hear what Kermit has to say about this," she said, and all eyes went to him.
"Oh," said Kermit. He blinked a few times and looked at everyone staring at him. He knew that Sadie was probably a better mentor, because she was one to lay out the harsh reality of the situation. But she was so tough – too tough sometimes, she made him feel like he was already a dead man.
He weighed the options for a moment – deep in thought.
"Well?" asked Kamaria.
"Don't rush him," Sadie said, giving her a look. "It's his life just as much as yours."
"I think there's no bad options," Silex said with a smile. "Different styles work for different people."
Kermit knew better. He knew that Sadie would fight harder for him and do more for him, despite her rough exterior. He knew that she was the one that would actually get his name out there and not just tell him what he wanted to hear.
But he could feel Kamaria staring at him so intensely and he didn't want to upset her. He didn't want to make her mad at him. Bad blood with his District partner was no way to start out this whole process, not at all. So he just put another bite in his mouth and did what he did best – backed down.
"I'm willing to switch."
"I think we had it wrong to start, but I think now we know who fits best together," Silex said, smiling at them.
Sadie just looked at Kermit an extra long second, and he sunk back a little bit. Did he just make a terrible decision? She looked… Almost disappointed. He didn't know. But it was too late to go back on his word now. Silex was going to be just fine…
"Very well," she said finally. She put down her silverware and pointed at Kamaria. "Ultimately, the ones that win are the ones that are willing to fight." She started walking back toward the bedrooms and Kamaria got up, taking her breakfast to follow her.
Kermit felt his heart sink as he watched the two of them walking away, realizing he might have just signed his own death certificate in one moment. And why? Just to keep someone from being upset?!
He was full of regret but Silex just reached over to put a hand on his wrist for a moment. When Kermit looked up, he saw reassuring eyes looking back at him for a moment that calmed him down just a little bit.
"I think we're going to work well together, Kermit. I know you have what it takes to leave the Arena."
He smiled at Silex for a moment as he pulled his hand away and put another bite in his mouth. "Thanks Silex," he said as he pulled up his lips. Something he was more than used to doing.
He didn't believe him.
But maybe he could get lost in the delusions if he tried hard enough.
…
Was he cold? He wasn't sure if he was standing in a draft or if the jitters were just due to nerves. The weight of his decision was still weighing on him while Kamaria walked with a skip in her step and pride in her eyes. She had won a major victory and he had lost a major opportunity. He just knew it, and he didn't know how to stop it. It was too late for that now.
He watched the somewhat normal-looking Capitolite strolling past them and reciting the list of rules. Thank God for the rules. The other tributes could easily take him out if they wanted to and he knew it. At least it would have to wait until they went into the Arena. He had a few extra days.
He could see how the upper-District tributes looked down the line with excitement in their eyes. Excitement for the slaughter. They were nothing to them but prey. Kermit felt a shiver – this time he was sure it was due to fear – and looked back at the Capitolite, trying to imagine she was some kind of teacher running a class about physical skills and they were just learning something new for fun rather than out of necessity.
She stepped aside and Kermit watched Kamaria walk forward with purpose. Other tributes were moving forward and Kermit realized late that they must have been released into training. Kermit stared at them for a moment, then looked around the room. There were stations set up everywhere. They weren't labeled with signs or anything so he didn't know what was what. How did he even know where to begin?! There were so many. Tributes were sitting at stations, talking to Capitolites, and Kermit was just staring at them.
Get with it.
He made himself straighten up and start walking in a random direction. He felt like nobody saw him and yet, he felt like there were so many eyes on him at the same time.
He walked around, looking at the supplies at each station and somewhere in the back of his mind he tried to register what each station was meant for. What the purpose was. How this might be able to help him. And yet he couldn't make himself stop at a single one. He had to be so careful about how he spent his time from here on out. Silex was right, this was so important and he had to make the right choice. And yet… Trying to make the right choice kept him from making a choice at all.
He walked until he was snapped out of his thoughts with a loud thunk. He stopped before bumping into someone and blinked, rubbing his eyes as he was trying to snap himself out of whatever daze he was in and looking around. The lights were bright. People around him were talking indistinctly. Suddenly Kamaria turned around – the one he almost ran into – holding a knife up.
We're playing a game.
A fun game.
It's kind of like tag.
The memories flashed in front of his eyes, but this time it was Kamaria that was holding the knife, looking at him with that fucking smile, that darkness behind the eyes, waiting to hurt him, do worse. He looked at his hands, flipped them over, and flipped again. His hands started to shake. He could feel the adrenaline, he could practically feel the blood pouring from his hands, warm and sticky, dripping onto the floor and making him dizzy.
He quickly backed away from her.
"Kermit? Kermit?"
He could hear voices but he couldn't register who they belonged to. He just backed away as fast as he could, still facing the knife so it couldn't go through his back, holding up his hands to protect his face – and his heart. He felt so scared it was like his lungs were seizing up, refusing to fill with air, and he stumbled a little bit more as he felt the wall under his hands. Once he was there his knees shook and slowly gave out, causing him to slowly sink to the ground.
…
The world slowly came back into focus. He had a few tributes standing over him, peering at him with confused and nervous eyes. He zeroed in on the girl from District Eight first. And beside him, with the back of his hand on his forehead, was the boy from Four.
"What happened?" he asked, reaching up away from the boy and touching his cheeks which he realized were wet with tears. Oh shit.
"You just had a panic attack, but it's okay now," Damian said reassuringly. "Just keep breathing."
"Right," Kermit said. A panic attack? He hadn't ever had one of those before – sure, he may have gotten close, but… There was just something about seeing Kamaria looking at him with the knife like that. It just brought him back in time to that terrifying day.
"Are you okay?" asked the girl from Eight, kneeling by his side and trying to wipe his cheek, but he gently nudged her hand away. He didn't want their pity right now.
"I'm fine," Kermit said, pushing her away, and getting up to his feet – his world spun a little bit but he stubbornly looked at the ground, blinking the white spots away. He hated being pitied by them.
"You sure? I can get you some water," Damian said, but Kermit just kept looking ahead.
"Get back to training." He didn't know why either of them was here, but he wasn't interested. At least not right now. Not after what they probably just witnessed.
"Crackers?" asked Damian.
"No," Kermit said, before taking a deep breath. "Did I scream?"
Damian winced. "Little bit."
"Awesome," Kermit said. Damian tried to take his hand again to help him but Kermit shrugged him off, overwhelmed by embarrassment and wanting to just get to work now that he'd already acted like an idiot in front of everyone else. "Leave me alone and pretend this never happened."
Damian was going to speak again, but Kermit shrugged him off one final time and went towards the first station he saw. He didn't know why that made other tributes flock to him, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Despite the mentor change, Sadie's words still lived in the back of his mind.
"Allies can be the death of you in a thousand different ways."
He had seen tributes love and lose. He had seen betrayal in the Games – hell he saw betrayal in his own life. He knew what it was like to be threatened with death by someone he trusted. And loved.
No.
No matter how nice they seemed, he wasn't going to let them be the death of him.
~.~.
-Antigone Rodriguez, 18, District 4-
She ate lunch alone.
Slowly stabbing pieces of salad with a fork and putting them in her mouth, chewing on them earnestly and thoughtfully as she looked around.
It was still a pretty quiet lunchroom. The only tributes that really talked were the Careers – unashamed if the other tributes overheard them talking about how much fun they were having demonstrating their skills for the Gamemakers and sharing their goals for training scores. Damian was with them, laughing and chatting like he knew them all forever – he was pretty good at that. Dev only had good things to say about him when he visited Antigone after she was reaped.
His arms were a refuge, away from the pain of what had happened to her. And yet, they also somehow made everything feel more real. It was as if somehow they both knew it was the last hug they would share.
Initially it had shocked Antigone that Dev would come alone – and for just a moment, she felt the cold touches of horror in her chest that Merlin wouldn't visit her at all. He did, of course, but she didn't know at the time if he would or not.
"I like Damian, but I need you."
That was the closest thing she had ever heard to the words she was desperately wanting him to say to her. Say, and mean as well. Now, a future with Dev and Merlin seemed so far away. She thought that at least maybe she would get some kind of reassurance out of both of the boys crying over her, but she realized now that it only hurt more. She was never meant to be part of their lives forever, no matter how much it felt like it sometimes.
Were they okay? Were they staying up worrying about her? She didn't know what she wanted the answer to be anymore.
She looked up when someone sat across from her – the girl from Nine, who just stared wordlessly at her for a moment before looking back at her plate – and just looked back at her own salad. It didn't look all too appetizing anymore, but she had to keep on eating so she had the energy to keep up with training. Grandma Katalina said that her brother used a sword and it did him well, but Antigone saw two Careers at the swords station – boys from One and Two – and she yeeted out of there real fast. Instead she took to a station that had no Careers there at the moment – knives. And she was starting to actually see some progress with it, so she was eager to get back there after their lunch time was over. It was like a graveyard already.
As soon as the lunch bell rang, the Careers were slamming down trays and hustling back into the gym, not even bothering to take their trays to the trash receptacle. Antigone was up quickly – the anxious energy that had overtaken her body just led her to move quickly nowadays – but took the time to set her tray down before going back to the gym. She saw the pair from Six up ahead – it was hard to miss Bailey loudly saying that if the Careers didn't have to pick up their trash, neither did they, while Jamir listened to her with a rapt gaze. With the confidence she had when she spoke, it was hard to not believe her.
And it was also clear as day that she was not to be trusted at all. It was clear from the start that she was planning on walking out alive, and was prepared to do whatever it took – including backstabbing.
Mags was full of advice, and that was the first piece she had to say.
The ones that know what they'll have to do to win are not to be trusted.
It was why she had shut out Damian too. He volunteered for this, knowing full well what it meant to be here. Someone that knows and has learned to eliminate all competition is not to be trusted. Antigone wasn't that desperate for attention and allies. She watched the two Six tributes talking before they split – Bailey of course to weapons and Jamir to survival. Very intentional, even Antigone could see that. She was keeping him weak. Intentionally, of course, and he just went along with it. Foolish.
And yet part of her envied the hold that Bailey had on Jamir already. She was still trying to internalize Mags's second piece of advice to her – you have to know what you have to do to win. And be willing to do it.
Antigone still wasn't sure how she was going to act in the moment. She had never even dreamed of being in a situation like this, despite how prevalent the Games were becoming in her District. Would her survival instincts be strong? Would she freeze up like she did at the reapings? She tried to imagine any of the tributes around her lying dead on the ground, and it was like there was a block in her head that was preventing her from doing it. That last block of denial that she was trying to chip away at. She'd seen it on the TV, sure, but it was almost like it was just a dramatized show when she saw it on the screen.
She looked at the dark-skinned girl from Eight that was working on knife grip and the best technique for close-up combat. How would she look dead? How would the blood smell? Antigone just couldn't even imagine it.
She just sighed a bit and tried to turn back to her practice – throwing. It was hard to throw not only on the right spot on the dummy, but with the right amount of force so the knife actually buried into the skin and didn't just leave a small slash. She really had to put her arm into it. And she wasn't strong – she was a princess! Her biggest strength was in her legs - and that was solely so she could ride the boys! But she didn't have a choice now but to keep on working her right arm, hoping that she would find the strength for throws that were consistent and deadly.
"Your aim's already too low."
Antigone jumped and looked over at the voice – and then down as well. "Oh?"
"You're going for a groin shot right now. Which would still hurt like hell I guess, but I think castration is a little much, don't you?"
Antigone was caught off guard by that and just let out a little laugh. "Yeah," she said as she closed one eye and moved her elbow up. "I guess the wear on my arm's already showing, huh?"
"It's not easy, that's for sure." The boy from Eight strengthened his stance and let go of another throw, which bounced off the dummy's stomach. "Ah, shit, I thought I was gonna do something impressive there and win you over."
"I mean, you'd still knock the hell outta the person?" asked Antigone, reaching up to tighten her ponytail. "This is hard."
"You think it's hard?" Nico asked, before providing a small sigh.
Antigone frowned a little bit at him. It was clear that he was going to be at a disadvantage going into this from the very start. "Sorry," she said, not sure what else to say to him.
"It's fine," Nico said, swatting his hand in the air, but she could tell it wasn't totally fine with him. Well, how could it be fine with him, he was reaped into the Games just like her.
"You never know what's going to happen in the Games," Antigone tried, but it was hard to console him.
"I guess so," Nico said, pursing his lip. "I'm trying to keep going, but I think we both know how it's going to end. I'm just hoping that I can at least make it through the first day."
Antigone creased her eyebrows. Her heart broke for him – it was breaking for all of them honestly, but this one… He just was different. He had accepted that the whole system was stacked against him and that resistance was futile. Totally different from Damian who volunteered, or even from Bailey who was convinced she was going to win and willing to put people down to get there. "Maybe… I can help you," she said finally as she put her arm into a shot and it actually landed blade-in the sternum despite falling out. "I mean, we can help each other," she added quickly, not wanting him to feel like she was underestimating him. "I'm sure you have a lot of skills."
"You'd consider allying with the little person?" Nico asked her, turning to face her and crossing his arms. "Why?"
Antigone bit her lip. She wasn't totally sure why. Because she would be stronger than him? Because she felt bad for him? Because… He actually seemed to be doing okay for himself? She didn't know. Maybe a combination of the three. She tapped the fish hook she wore around her neck with the dull end of the knife a few times – a grim reminder why one should never get too close to their allies – and bit her lip. "I…" Know what you have to do to win. She wanted to spill the truth, but she knew better. "Because I think we'd make a good team." That was what she settled on. It wasn't the truth – did he know? Could he see through her? She couldn't tell.
The moment he took to respond felt like an eternity to Antigone, but finally he smiled at her. It seems that he accepted that answer. …Right?
"Alright," he said finally as he examined the knife he was holding for a moment. "I'm going to need all the help I can get. I'll just try to not let you down." Her heart felt soft for him for just a moment before she closed her eyes and took a breath. This was what she needed. Someone that she could use, like Bailey.
Antigone didn't use people. She was always so positive. This was against everything she had ever done – everything she knew. Even as a unicorn, it was never about using people- it was just about having a good time! She wasn't that person. She wasn't someone that did that to people.
But she was someone that wanted to live.
And someone that knew what she had to do to win.
She just gave Nico a smile. She was going to help him, she wasn't going to just… Use him, like Bailey was. But at the same time, she had that voice in the back of her head telling her to use the advantages she had.
…She just couldn't do it.
"I'm going to take a break with some survival stations," she said finally. "Can't kill people if we can't even make a fire, right?"
"Right," he said. "I'll join you eventually, I'm just really getting the hang of this."
She didn't want him to get the hang of it before her.
And yet, look at him. He wasn't a threat to her. She knew that the Games were not inclusive. The strong were the ones that survived. She wasn't afraid of him. She just had to keep telling herself that. Even Nico knew how hopeless it was for him. She just had to trust her gut.
So she just put up a hand to wave and then went away from there, taking a deep breath to steel herself. She was being so careful and yet she still had that anxious feeling deep inside that something wasn't right. But she just had to keep moving forward and know that she had the upper hand no matter what happened. Her arm ached as she listened to the trainer teaching her how to make a fire. Survival was important, so she listened and copied the skillful trainer's movements with vigor, determined to make a fire before the session was over for the day.
And yet she kept looking up every time she heard a thunk or a crash in the direction of the knives station. Was she making a mistake? No, she just had to trust herself – and put a little bit of trust into Nico too. There was no way he was going to be able to overpower her, right? Or would be willing to? She couldn't ever know for sure, despite how it appeared. She had so many questions, but one thing was for sure.
She was going back to that knives station with a vengeance first thing tomorrow morning.
~.~.
A/N: When the hubby's away, the wifey will… Invest time into writing her fanfiction. XD
Next chapter: Day 2 with Kunal, Bucket, and Cupey. (Not in that order tho, lol)
