The Capitol of Panem -- Training Center [Thursday, Fandom Time]
Katniss, of course, didn't sleep well, and when she woke, she took as much time as possible so she could delay the inevitable. When she finally meandered down to meet Haymitch and Peeta before training, Haymitch -- unsurprisingly -- looked less than pleased to see her.
"You’re late,” he snarled. Before she could argue, he continued, "Today, in training, you’ve got two jobs. One, stay in love.”
“Obviously,” said Katniss.
“And two, make some friends,” said Haymitch.
“No,” Katniss replied immediately. “I don’t trust any of them, I can’t stand most of them, and I’d rather operate with just the two of us.”
“That’s what I said at first, but-” Peeta began.
“But it won’t be enough,” Haymitch insisted. “You’re going to need more allies this time around.”
“Why?” Katniss asked.
“Because you’re at a distinct disadvantage. Your competitors have known each other for years. So who do you think they’re going to target first?” he said.
“Us. And nothing we’re going to do is going to override any old friendship,” Katniss replied. “So why bother?”
“Because you can fight. You’re popular with the crowd. That could still make you desirable allies. But only if you let the others know you’re willing to team up with them,” said Haymitch.
“You mean you want us in the Career pack this year?” Katniss asked, unable to hide her distaste.
“That’s been our strategy, hasn’t it? To train like Careers?” countered Haymitch. “And who makes up the Career pack is generally agreed upon before the Games begin. Peeta barely got in with them last year.”
“So we’re to try to get in with Finnick and Brutus-is that what you’re saying?” Katniss asked, thinking of the loathing she'd felt when she'd discovered Peeta was with the Careers.
“Not necessarily. Everyone’s a victor. Make your own pack if you’d rather. Choose who you like. I’d suggest Chaff and Seeder. Although Finnick’s not to be ignored,” said Haymitch. “Find someone to team up with who might be of some use to you. Remember, you’re not in a ring full of trembling children anymore. These people are all experienced killers, no matter what shape they appear to be in.”
Katniss finally, relucantly, told Haymitch she'd try, just before Effie showed up to escort them down to training.
----
By ten o'clock, only half of the victors had shown up to training. This was good news for Katniss, since it meant only twelve people to make pretend friends with today. She paused to tell Peeta that they'd do best to split up, thus covering more territory.
While he left to chuck spears with Brutus and Chaff, Katniss moved over to the rarely-visited knot-tying station.The trainer there seemed to remember her fondly (possibly because she'd spent time with him last year), and while Katniss showed him her knots, she decided she would have been content to spend the morning alone with him. But after about an hour and a half, someone put his arms around her from behind, his fingers easily finishing the complicated knot Katniss had been sweating over. Of course it was Finnick, who seemed to have spent his childhood doing nothing but wielding tridents and manipulating ropes into fancy knots for nets.
With a roll of her eyes, Katniss made her escape as Finnick wove together a noose to hang himself for her amusement, and found her way to the station where she could learn to build a fire. Of course, she already made excellent fires, but she was fairly dependent upon matches for them, all the same. The trainer told her to work with flint, steel and charred cloth, and it took her nearly an hour to get a fire going.
When she looked up, the two tributes from District Three were beside her, struggling to start a decent fire with matches. Katniss was tempted to leave, but if she had to report back to Haymitch that she'd made friends, these two didn't seem so bad. The man, Beetee, was older and fidgety, while the woman, Wiress, spoke in a calm, quiet voice and was about the same age as Katniss's mother. They told her about how they both invented things, which sort of blew away Katniss's supposed fashion talent.
As they were walking to the shelter station, Wiress pointed up at the Gamemakers, watching them. "Look."
Katniss glanced up, seeing Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Head Gamemaker, resplendent in his purple robe and eating a turkey leg. "Yes, he's been promoted."
“No, no. There by the corner of the table. You can just…” said Wiress.
Beetee squinted under his glasses. “Just make it out.”
Katniss stared in that direction, perplexed. But then she saw it. A patch of space about six inches square at the corner of the table seemed almost to be vibrating. It was as if the air was rippling in tiny visible waves, distorting the sharp edges of the wood and a goblet of wine someone had set there.
“A force field. They’ve set one up between the Gamemakers and us. I wonder what brought that on,” Beetee said.
“Me, probably,” Katniss confessed. “Last year I shot an arrow at them during my private training session.” Beetee and Wiress looked at her curiously. “I was provoked. So, do all force fields have a spot like that?”
“Chink,” said Wiress vaguely.
“In the armor, as it were,” finished Beetee. “Ideally it’d be invisible, wouldn’t it?”
---
Katniss tried to be sociable, really. She ate lunch with Chaff and Seeder from District Eleven (she preferred the latter) and after lunch, she spent a few minutes talking to the terrifying Enobaria (who didn't want to team up, clearly), and a little while building a hammock with the two victors from District One. Her hammock was only a little less pathetic than her attempts at conversation. She moved to the edible insect station with Cecelia, a victor with three children at home, and Woof, who seemed to be senile.
Finnick appeared when she was picking up fishing tips, but only to introduce her to Mags, the old woman from his district. Between her district accent and her garbled speech-possibly she had had a stroke-Katinss couldn’t make out more than one in four words. But Mags could make a decent fishhook out of anything, and after awhile, Katniss tuned out the trainer and just began to mimic Mags.
Suddenly, as Mags was praising (she thought) some of her work, Katniss was reminded of how she had volunteered for the hysterical young woman. It couldn't have been because she thought she had any chance of winning. She'd done it to save the girl, just as Katniss had done for Prim. And just like that, she wanted her on her team.
Wonderful. Haymitch would be pleased that she wanted the octogenerian and the two that everyone was calling Nuts and Volts. He'd love that.
After that, Katniss gave up on friends, and instead went to the archery range.
---
The final day of training, they each had their fifteen minutes with the Gamemakers to dazzle them. Haymitch said to surprise them if they could, but Katniss, at least, was fresh out of ideas.
As the girl from Twelve, Katniss was scheduled to go the very last. And it was hard to maintain her confidence as victor after victor slipped from the room to go perform before the Gamemakers.
She and Peeta sat in silence awhile. “How are we going to kill these people, Peeta?”
“I don’t know.” He leaned his forehead down on their entwined hands.
“I don’t want them as allies. Why did Haymitch want us to get to know them?” Katniss asked quietly. “It’ll make it so much harder than last time. Except for Rue maybe. But I guess I never really could’ve killed her, anyway. She was just too much like Prim.”
Peeta looked up at her, his brow creased in thought. “Her death was the most despicable, wasn’t it?”
“None of them were very pretty,” Katniss said, thinking of Glimmer’s and Cato’s ends.
Once Peeta was called, Katniss waited fifteen minutes. Then half an hour. It was close to forty minutes before she was allowed in, and when she entered the room, the sharp scent of cleaner hung in the air.
The Gamemakers seemed annoyed, as though whatever Peeta had done upset them. Katniss stared up at them, thinking to herself how much she despised all of them, how much she hated that they had given their talents to the Games.
And suddenly, she knew what she was going to do. She went to the knot-tying station and grabbed a length of rope. After about ten minutes, she had created an acceptable noose. From it, she hung a dummy.
Across the dummy, using berry-red paint from the camouflage station, she wrote the name of the last Head Gamemaker.
SENECA CRANE.
---
That night, when their scores were released, Katniss and Peeta both received twelves, the highest score, and made Hunger Games history.
It wasn't because they were good. It was because they were being targeted.
[OOC welcome, NFB/NFI, stolen from Catching Fire!]
"You’re late,” he snarled. Before she could argue, he continued, "Today, in training, you’ve got two jobs. One, stay in love.”
“Obviously,” said Katniss.
“And two, make some friends,” said Haymitch.
“No,” Katniss replied immediately. “I don’t trust any of them, I can’t stand most of them, and I’d rather operate with just the two of us.”
“That’s what I said at first, but-” Peeta began.
“But it won’t be enough,” Haymitch insisted. “You’re going to need more allies this time around.”
“Why?” Katniss asked.
“Because you’re at a distinct disadvantage. Your competitors have known each other for years. So who do you think they’re going to target first?” he said.
“Us. And nothing we’re going to do is going to override any old friendship,” Katniss replied. “So why bother?”
“Because you can fight. You’re popular with the crowd. That could still make you desirable allies. But only if you let the others know you’re willing to team up with them,” said Haymitch.
“You mean you want us in the Career pack this year?” Katniss asked, unable to hide her distaste.
“That’s been our strategy, hasn’t it? To train like Careers?” countered Haymitch. “And who makes up the Career pack is generally agreed upon before the Games begin. Peeta barely got in with them last year.”
“So we’re to try to get in with Finnick and Brutus-is that what you’re saying?” Katniss asked, thinking of the loathing she'd felt when she'd discovered Peeta was with the Careers.
“Not necessarily. Everyone’s a victor. Make your own pack if you’d rather. Choose who you like. I’d suggest Chaff and Seeder. Although Finnick’s not to be ignored,” said Haymitch. “Find someone to team up with who might be of some use to you. Remember, you’re not in a ring full of trembling children anymore. These people are all experienced killers, no matter what shape they appear to be in.”
Katniss finally, relucantly, told Haymitch she'd try, just before Effie showed up to escort them down to training.
----
By ten o'clock, only half of the victors had shown up to training. This was good news for Katniss, since it meant only twelve people to make pretend friends with today. She paused to tell Peeta that they'd do best to split up, thus covering more territory.
While he left to chuck spears with Brutus and Chaff, Katniss moved over to the rarely-visited knot-tying station.The trainer there seemed to remember her fondly (possibly because she'd spent time with him last year), and while Katniss showed him her knots, she decided she would have been content to spend the morning alone with him. But after about an hour and a half, someone put his arms around her from behind, his fingers easily finishing the complicated knot Katniss had been sweating over. Of course it was Finnick, who seemed to have spent his childhood doing nothing but wielding tridents and manipulating ropes into fancy knots for nets.
With a roll of her eyes, Katniss made her escape as Finnick wove together a noose to hang himself for her amusement, and found her way to the station where she could learn to build a fire. Of course, she already made excellent fires, but she was fairly dependent upon matches for them, all the same. The trainer told her to work with flint, steel and charred cloth, and it took her nearly an hour to get a fire going.
When she looked up, the two tributes from District Three were beside her, struggling to start a decent fire with matches. Katniss was tempted to leave, but if she had to report back to Haymitch that she'd made friends, these two didn't seem so bad. The man, Beetee, was older and fidgety, while the woman, Wiress, spoke in a calm, quiet voice and was about the same age as Katniss's mother. They told her about how they both invented things, which sort of blew away Katniss's supposed fashion talent.
As they were walking to the shelter station, Wiress pointed up at the Gamemakers, watching them. "Look."
Katniss glanced up, seeing Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Head Gamemaker, resplendent in his purple robe and eating a turkey leg. "Yes, he's been promoted."
“No, no. There by the corner of the table. You can just…” said Wiress.
Beetee squinted under his glasses. “Just make it out.”
Katniss stared in that direction, perplexed. But then she saw it. A patch of space about six inches square at the corner of the table seemed almost to be vibrating. It was as if the air was rippling in tiny visible waves, distorting the sharp edges of the wood and a goblet of wine someone had set there.
“A force field. They’ve set one up between the Gamemakers and us. I wonder what brought that on,” Beetee said.
“Me, probably,” Katniss confessed. “Last year I shot an arrow at them during my private training session.” Beetee and Wiress looked at her curiously. “I was provoked. So, do all force fields have a spot like that?”
“Chink,” said Wiress vaguely.
“In the armor, as it were,” finished Beetee. “Ideally it’d be invisible, wouldn’t it?”
---
Katniss tried to be sociable, really. She ate lunch with Chaff and Seeder from District Eleven (she preferred the latter) and after lunch, she spent a few minutes talking to the terrifying Enobaria (who didn't want to team up, clearly), and a little while building a hammock with the two victors from District One. Her hammock was only a little less pathetic than her attempts at conversation. She moved to the edible insect station with Cecelia, a victor with three children at home, and Woof, who seemed to be senile.
Finnick appeared when she was picking up fishing tips, but only to introduce her to Mags, the old woman from his district. Between her district accent and her garbled speech-possibly she had had a stroke-Katinss couldn’t make out more than one in four words. But Mags could make a decent fishhook out of anything, and after awhile, Katniss tuned out the trainer and just began to mimic Mags.
Suddenly, as Mags was praising (she thought) some of her work, Katniss was reminded of how she had volunteered for the hysterical young woman. It couldn't have been because she thought she had any chance of winning. She'd done it to save the girl, just as Katniss had done for Prim. And just like that, she wanted her on her team.
Wonderful. Haymitch would be pleased that she wanted the octogenerian and the two that everyone was calling Nuts and Volts. He'd love that.
After that, Katniss gave up on friends, and instead went to the archery range.
---
The final day of training, they each had their fifteen minutes with the Gamemakers to dazzle them. Haymitch said to surprise them if they could, but Katniss, at least, was fresh out of ideas.
As the girl from Twelve, Katniss was scheduled to go the very last. And it was hard to maintain her confidence as victor after victor slipped from the room to go perform before the Gamemakers.
She and Peeta sat in silence awhile. “How are we going to kill these people, Peeta?”
“I don’t know.” He leaned his forehead down on their entwined hands.
“I don’t want them as allies. Why did Haymitch want us to get to know them?” Katniss asked quietly. “It’ll make it so much harder than last time. Except for Rue maybe. But I guess I never really could’ve killed her, anyway. She was just too much like Prim.”
Peeta looked up at her, his brow creased in thought. “Her death was the most despicable, wasn’t it?”
“None of them were very pretty,” Katniss said, thinking of Glimmer’s and Cato’s ends.
Once Peeta was called, Katniss waited fifteen minutes. Then half an hour. It was close to forty minutes before she was allowed in, and when she entered the room, the sharp scent of cleaner hung in the air.
The Gamemakers seemed annoyed, as though whatever Peeta had done upset them. Katniss stared up at them, thinking to herself how much she despised all of them, how much she hated that they had given their talents to the Games.
And suddenly, she knew what she was going to do. She went to the knot-tying station and grabbed a length of rope. After about ten minutes, she had created an acceptable noose. From it, she hung a dummy.
Across the dummy, using berry-red paint from the camouflage station, she wrote the name of the last Head Gamemaker.
SENECA CRANE.
---
That night, when their scores were released, Katniss and Peeta both received twelves, the highest score, and made Hunger Games history.
It wasn't because they were good. It was because they were being targeted.
[OOC welcome, NFB/NFI, stolen from Catching Fire!]