𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 ⎯ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐎𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐫

𝐒𝐈𝐗

She then dragged Blaze along with her towards a small platform in the center of the room, talking her ear off about how excited she was for the games and how much fun they were going to have in the arena. As the girls and their partners approach a dark-skinned woman named Atala steps up onto the platform. She has a tall-athletic build and straight black hair that is pinned back away from her face. She surveys the children around her and once she's confirmed everyone is there, she begins her speech.

"In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next three days, particularly to what I'm about to say. First, no fighting with the other tributes, you'll have plenty of time for that in the arena." Blaze smirks at that and makes eye contact with Valour as the girl covers her laugh behind her hand.

As Atala continued her speech, Blaze took a moment to survey the threats around her.

The pair from district three were both older, most likely being eighteen. They didn't appear as a threat but Blaze knew that both Three and Five were known for their brains and she wasn't going to count them out just yet.

Behind her were districts twelve and seven. The tributes from twelve were around her age but were thin and clearly malnourished and seemed extremely skittish to everything around them. The girl from seven was calm and she gave Blaze a small smile as she met her gaze. Something about her was different to Blaze. She didn't seem hateful towards her despite her being a career and she even went out of her way to show kindness. Blaze would definitely keep her in mind for a potential ally. The boy from seven was older and held a cold stare. He wasn't visibly muscular but Blaze knew he was strong and sturdy because of the work he most likely had to do in their district. She knew both from seven were probably good with an ax.

The only other tributes that seemed to catch Blaze's eye was Dylan the boy from four, with his assertive nature and cold gaze, and the girl from eight who she remembers from the reaping. The girl is extremely fit and tall and while her gaze might appear innocent Blaze knows that she was very much a threat.

Once they were cleared to file off and start training, the careers all made their way to the weapons. Blaze remembered Enobaria's advice to learn things she wasn't familiar with so she watched as Valour practiced with a spear and Apollo found an attendee to help him practice sparring. None of the tributes were allowed to spar with each other in fear of someone getting injured.

After the two were satisfied, they moved to the knot tying station while Blaze and Ryker split off in their own directions. Blaze decided to go to the edible plants station. With District two being in the mountains there wasn't much nature around for Blaze to study. Blaze needed to know which plants were safe and which weren't.

The girl from District Seven was already working, matching plants into either poisonous or safe categories. Blaze thought it was an opportunity to make a good impression on the girl. "Hey, you're really good at that. Do you think you could help me?"

The girl turned to her with slight apprehension. "Only if you can teach me something. Maybe how to throw one of those knives I've seen you eyeing since you got here."

Blaze didn't know she was so obvious. However she didn't mind people knowing what she was good at. As long as she got her hands on a scythe or katana in the arena she didn't need many knives. Blaze smiled slightly and nodded tugging the bottom of her ear with her right hand. "Sure. I think I can manage that."

It turns out that Blaze was a natural at memorization. Most likely from the amount of game footage they had to watch in school. Yes the games were cut down to show only the parts the teachers believed needed to be seen, but it required remembering many details to learn strategy.