𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓫𝓲𝓻𝓭 • 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓾𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓖𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓼

𝓼𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

The tributes from District 1 and 2 were at the knife station, which was one of the few stations Bonny Falu didn't plan to go to. Alaris had told her not to show her few strengths, so she made sure to steer clear from the area in which 1 and 2 were currently at.

Her brown eyes quickly darted from station to station before she landed on the plants station. Despite working in a field hours upon hours since she was young, she knew very little about plants and which were poisonous. Most of the fields back at 10 were just grass, often burnt yellow from the sweltering heat, which left Bonny clueless to the danger of some plants. And even if there are no plants on the arena, it'd be handy to know for when she got home.

As she made her way over to the plants section, she noticed only three other tributes nearby.

Aztec, the male tribute from 3, was huffing about constantly forgetting foxglove was poisonous. Apate, from 6, was speeding through the quiz, and was about to go off to another training section after showing her excelling knowledge in the plants department.

Then there was also Bonny's own district partner, Otto. Bonny hadn't though he'd even go to training, so to see him learning about plants was a shock. He sent sent the young girl a nasty glare as she approached him, in which sent a grin back in return. Otto rolled his eyes with a grunt before marching away from his district partner.

Now it was just Bonny Falu and Apate, side by side, one considerably better at identifying poisonous plants than the other. Bonny started the quiz on the futuristic machine, hoping she'd be as naturally good as the girl next to her.

"No, oleander's deadly. You'll need to know it, it'll be in the arena, always is." The district 6 tribute, Apate, told Bonny. "Thanks." She replied with a grateful nod, before tapping on the pink plant. "You're good at this, how'd you learn them so quickly? 6 isn't very...planty."

Apate let out a small chuckle before tapping her nose and winking in Bonny's direction. She took a step closer to the District 10 girl, maintaining eye contact even when commotion started on the opposite side of the room, but then broke it by letting out a laugh. She then leant over Bonny body, talking to the clueless girl about every plant there was to ever exist as Bonny stood there shocked by her competitors friendliness. Yet she listened closely, hoping Apate wasn't leading her to an early death.

--

Once Apate finally declared that Bonny had mastered the way of plants, she let her go off to another station after what felt like hours.

Bonny Falu glanced around the room, searching for the station that'd be most useful. She once again came to the conclusion that it was the knife station, but she held herself back from it, remembering Alaris' advice.

Her next idea was to pursue her life-long dream of becoming a fisherman. She laughed at her own silent joke, which gained a few concerned glances from passing tributes. Still, she swiftly headed over to the knot-tying area and placed herself infront of a stack of rope with vague instructions on a peice if paper to the side of the box. Bonny wasn't too sure what use knot-tying would be in an arena.

Maybe to hang myself Bonny thought, forcing her to surpress her laugh, not wanting to look like a madwoman once again.

Thinking about it more seriously, Bonny would be able to fish if she picked up the District 4 skill, but there  was only a slight chance there'd be anything to fish in the arena anyway. After pondering over the pros and cons of learning how form a knot, she eventually decided it was a good enough skill, and then set her mind to learning how to tie a rope that was decent enough to even hold it's form.

The intructions were pretty much useless to Bonny, considering they were in a foreign language. So, she dumped it to the side and hoped her feeble mind could figure out how to twist a rope into a knot.

Bonny Falu started to hum, not any song particular, she was just keeping herself entertained whilst she forced her mind to learn something difficult. The quiet sound only stopped when a powerful voice appeared behind her.

"Beautiful song, Bonny. It's just a shame we won't be able to hear it anymore when we rip out your voice box and string you up so the whole of Panem can see their little songbird go silent!" The voice said. Bonny Falu quickly recognised it to be Narcissus, the boy from District 1. The District 10 girl thought it be a strange name to give a boy, though fitting, and would instantly portray a character that wasn't necessarily him, although it certainly was.

Bonny turned her small body around to face him. Unsurprising, his little disciples were beside him, sending their enemy a evil smirk. Acolyte, Narcissus' district partner who followed him around like a sheep, was to the left of the talking boy. But instead of glaring at Bonny like the rest of the Careers, she was sending doe eyes up to Narcissus, clearly begging for a bit of attention. The two to his right though, Barrett and Lilith, looked down on Bonny as if she were a dirty pig. All four intimidated Bonny Falu to the point she had to hold her hands behind her back so they couldn't be seen shaking. The Careers would kill her at that very moment, in just seconds, if they could,  and Bonny knew not a single one if them would hesitate to snap her neck in the arena. She had to stand up for herself, but not make her a main target for when the Hunger Games began, though she probably already was.

"Well I'm afraid you can't shut up a songbird, even in death, they just keep on singin'." She replied confidently, knowing that she was pushing it. But before the Careers could sneer at her any more, she flung herself back around to face her horrendous-looking knot, attempting to fix her errors.

--

"Well, my dears," Visulia started, "The first day of training has ended. Now tell me, who is it you would like to ally with? You both must have someone." Otto looked over to the frivalous escort, "Darragh, District 7." Bonny remembered him from when she glanced over to the axe training. He was big, possibly even bigger than Otto. Bonny was worried, the two muscley boys only meant Bonny Falu's odds were even less in her favour.

Although it meant bad for Bonny, Visulia seemed overjoyed at the fact Otto had an ally. Otto had a clear shot at winning, and Bonny couldn't blame the young escort for being in favour of the likely Victor. "And you, Bonny?" Visulia asked, reminding Bonny she had not yet answered. "Agnes, from 12." Bonny said, earning a sign from Alaris.

"No, no, no, no. No. I'm not letting you ally with the weakest girl in these Games. You need to pick someone else." Alaris stated firmly. Bonny shook her head, "I'll ally with Apate too, but only if I ally with Agnes." She too stated firmly, not giving up the fight until she got her way. "Fine." Alaris muttered, settling for at least a half-decent 16-year-old girl, rather than just a good-for-nothing girl from 12.

"Well, I'm glad you both have an ally. Last year's two were horrendous, refused to ally with a single tribute. No wonder they died in the bloodbath! Ugh, district kids', right? " Visulia laughed light-heartedly, instantly recieving distasteful glares from both district kids sitting with her, as well as both mentors.

Bonny wondered how Capitol people, like Visulia, didn't feel hesitate to say things like that. Bonny Falu's, or any District citizen's, head would be sliced off if they talked about a Capitolite the way Visulia, and probably every Capitol man and woman, did. She wondered how anyone could be so cruel, so unremorsful to such a desperate situation.

Did no-one in the feel sorry for the thousands of starving children that stand each year, awaiting their death? Did they not feel sorry for each child's face that in hung in the sky of each arena, but instead entertained? Did they not want to see a free world where every man, woman, and child would be equals, no matter their origin? Did they enjoy the superiority and powerful feeling knowing children die to feed their vain souls?

But Bonny didn't blame the Capitolite's for they way of thinking, not completely. She instead blamed the man who made them all robots, forcing each Capitol citizen to think the Games were needed, even when the rest of Panem knew they were so unnecessary.

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i've gone back to school now so that's my excuse for not posting for a while! so proud i acc like researched name meanings and everything so they at least kinda fit the character, im just hoping google didn't lie to me and tell me a load of bs 🙏