"Oh dear. Looks like I have to go. I just got a text message saying my friend's sister's mother's grandpa's brother's grandson's uncle's goldfish just died. It's tragic" - My 6 Crazy Brothers (elinched12)
***
The train ride went by a lot smoother than the youngest mentor thought it would. Probably due to the nervous nature of both tributes. The girl, Marissa had immediately peaked the mentor's interest and she had taken it to herself to observe and access the tribute until they got to training.
The ride was mostly dedicated to eating and resting, the first piece of advice that was given to the tributes by the two young mentors. They had told them to rest it out while they could, for the Capitol would be harsh and unforgiving, besides expectant of them. Gladly, both tributes had taken the advice to heart and retreated early on to their own quarters.
"I want to train the girl." Was the first thing Aria said when she was alone with Josh, chilling on the couch as the TV played some random Capitol romance movie.
"Okay. Then I get the boy. Know what you're gonna do yet?" Came his response, trying to make the whole process as easy as possible for the younger girl, knowing the female tribute would probably last longer in the Arena, just from the impressions they had gotten that far.
"Not really. I, for one, didn't get much training from Villòn back in my tribute days. But I'll probably study her strengths and we'll work from there, focusing a lot on survival skills, which was what got me through most of my Games. But I do think that we can do some of their training together, like you and Pietro did last year. It seemed to work well enough." She suggested, saying her whole thought process aloud, trying to figure out how to train someone for the death Games.
Josh simply nodded, muttering out a quiet 'Yeah.', thinking about what the girl had said, starting to plan out his own approach for the training. He knew that some of the mentors, like Brutus, Enobaria, Cashmere and Gloss had a pattern that they stuck to, and it did work well for them, but that was mostly due to the Academies that they had in their districts, where the young people were trained from a young age in the same fighting style and way that every Victor from One and Two had won by. That method however, didn't work for most of the other Districts, including Five, where the mentors had to go by a different approach, based on the tribute they had to work with. Villòn didn't, but he only went in as a mentor because he was forced to do so, never actually trying to get close to, or help his tributes, so he didn't count.
"Okay then. Let's do it. We'll do survival together, since you seem to know a lot more about that than me, and if your tribute's specialty weapon isn't one that you're familiar with, you can send her to me for weapon training." The young man laid out the plan, getting an approving nod from the girl.
"Now that that's settled, let's go and take a nap before arriving. I'm way too tired to deal with the Capitol's bullshit for now. See you in two hours or so." The youngest Victor told her friend, walking down the corridor towards her quarters, eager to put on some more comfortable clothes and take a nice and refreshing nap before they reached their destination.
***
Fae was probably watching some nonsense Capitol-approved TV show, as she did during the other train rides the two females had together. She would invite the young girl to watch it with her, but the latter didn't really see the point in any of those shows, opting to sleep through the journey instead. She really was fond of her 'beauty sleep', as the girl would call it.
Just like the previous year, the youngest Victor was escorted by Peacekeepers to the fifth floor apartment, together with her fellow mentor and the always smiling escort. And, as she did the year before, the girl only stayed on the apartment for a short period of time, quickly leaving to the mentors lounge to see her other friends and hang out until the parade started and they had to watch it.
It was good fun for the mentors to have some chill time together before the crazy training routine and Games started out, after all, they were all friendly towards each other and had some really strong bonds amongst themselves. For Aria, the time was spent talking to Finnick, Johanna and Haymitch, who were all very close to the young girl, taking up some of the space in her heart.
Soon enough the parade started and the Victors had to sit down on the big couches and chairs to watch it, but that didn't completely stop their chatter, commenting on the outfits that were designed for the year.
As the girl's eyes landed on her tributes' chariot, she knew that the outfits weren't drawn by Layon, who would never commit such a crime towards fashion. From where she was, the girl could assume that the two teenagers were supposed to be lamps. They had sparkly silver matching outfits - the girl wearing a loose-fitted sleeveless dress and the boy, a closed all the way to the top, long-sleeved shirt and pants - and both of them were wearing a circular, sparkly silver headpiece that kind of reminded the young girl of a lion's mane. She could barely contain her laughter, they looked ridiculous. Who had the idea to dress the tributes that way? Whoever it was, the girl was just glad they didn't get to dress her.
What caught everyone's attention however, was District Twelve's chariot. Both tributes were dressed in an all-black spandex-like suit with capes. The awe factor was that their capes were actually on fire. The girl didn't know how that worked, but it was extremely cool - or should she say, hot?
Either way, the District caught every single pair of eyes towards them as they held hands, supporting the idea of an alliance between the two tributes. It was going to be even harder to get sponsors than the young girl had initially thought. She would now have to compete with Haymitch, aside from Cashmere, Gloss, Brutus, Enobaria, Finnick, and his fellow District Four mentor for their attention. She wasn't one to beg for anything, especially when it came to the Capitol, but, for the sake of her tributes, the girl would have to up her game and try to, at least be civil, towards the stuck-up, money-filled people, because they could be the difference between life and death for the two District Five teenagers inside that Arena, and the girl refused to jeopardize their chances like Villòn had done to her.
The parade went relatively well for her own tributes, both of them taking to shyly waving at the crowd, which got them a couple of waves back and a few smiles. But the young girl would have to work a lot from there.
She would manage, especially having Josh as her partner, him being really well liked by the pedophilic Capitol citizens.
When she got back to the apartment, the youngest mentor was met with a frustrated Layon, who kept on ranting about how his new partner was an ass who wanted everything done her way, sending in the designs before he could even have a glance at them, leading to the 'outrageous fashion murder' - how he had put it - that happened during the parade and how he missed Resée, who was so nice. So, the young girl tried to comfort him, telling the man that she knew how good he was, as well as the whole Capitol, and that he would be able to correct her wrongs by sending in his interview outfits before she could even get to trying to draw them out. The stylist smiled at that and hugged the girl that he saw kind of like a daughter, leaving her in the room to go and get started on the interview outfits.
She rolled her eyes at the man's extra antics, but smiled nonetheless, going to her own room to sleep, nervous about the first day of training in the morning.
***
After her daily morning run with Josh, and in that case, since they were on the Capitol, also with Finnick and Johanna, the youngest mentor was ready to start training her tribute to the best of her abilities, having it mostly planned out.
Getting down to the training area, the girl asked her tribute to show her the abilities she already possessed, for them to work off of them. It turned out that Marissa Fynch was an extremely smart person who mostly knew her herbs and was great at hiding and stealth. The girl reminded her more and more of a fox, sly and stealthy, besides having red hair and similar physical features. That girl had an actual, real chance at winning. The mentor smiled to herself, knowing exactly how to train the slightly older girl, for they were both so similar in strategy style and physical port, being small and able to hide in the best places.
That's how the days of training proceeded. In the mornings - after her run and breakfast - the young mentor taught her tribute most of her techniques - obviously refraining from mentioning anything about her tracker trick, not wanting to be straight up murdered by Snow - and gave out a bunch of tips as to how to steal food from the careers and survive in a couple of different habitats, neither of them knowing how the Arena would be set up that year. In the afternoons, the two girls would meet up with Josh and Chase - the male tribute - and the two mentors would work with them in both physical training, like weapons and agility, and mental training, like survival skills and plant knowledge. The team of four actually worked really well together, as both tributes were real good listeners and both mentors were trying their best to help.
***
Interview day came quick and Josh paired-up with Fae to give the tributes lessons on how to behave on stage. The young girl didn't even dare to be on the same room as they were during those lessons, knowing she would not be able to hold in every comment she had towards the Capitol and where they should shove a stick into, taking to hanging out with Johanna instead. The older Victor wasn't great at talking to the Capitol either, letting her partner deal with that part of training. The two of them had a long walk through the tribute center, talking about everything they could think of. And by the time they were back to their respective apartments, it was already time for them to get ready for the interviews.
Layon was glad that he beat his new partner on delivering the outfit drawings, getting to design them himself this time.
Marissa was wearing a gorgeous sea green, strapless dress that went down to her mid-thigh. It had a simple bust design and it flared out on the waist, going down in four different skirt layers. Her hair was in an elegant two buns style, parted down the middle, each side on a half up loose bun with a loose strand on the front, her red hair contrasting beautifully with the color of the dress. Her shoes were simple black heels and her makeup was on the natural side, with a soft brown smokey eye, sporting a black wing and light pink, nude lipstick, her high cheekbones contoured and highlighted beautifully. She wore a single accessory, it being a chunky silver choker-style necklace.
Chase's outfit was also simple, but really pretty and thought out to go together with the girl's. He was wearing a black tux and formal shoes. But instead of the usual white shirt, his was sea green with a couple of darker shade details and a black tie. His dark hair was simply gelled to the side and his hand was adorned with a few silver rings, the boy's face only sporting a small amount of concealer and foundation to even it out, contoured lightly.
Both of the tributes were Layon-approved, the least he could do to try to redeem them from that hideous parade disaster.
And, after that, both interviews went well, the girl sticking to her shy, but certain personality, giving out short answers and talking about her strategy to adapt to the situation, while the boy talked about what he was planning on doing, very lightly, of course, not to give too much away.
***
It was morning, and all was ready for the tributes to enter the Arena, Aria more nervous than ever to have some of the responsibility over someone else's fate. She would even get to have her own cubicle in the mentors lounge, with a camera that would focus solely on Marissa.
The countdown started and she could now understand the enormous amount of nerves that all of the mentors had shared last year. The Victor was almost as scared as she was during her own countdown in the Arena. Only now, the life in her hands wasn't her own and she couldn't exactly prevent it from being taken by someone else, being only able to somewhat help the girl, most of the work having to be done by the tribute herself.
And now she knew exactly why it sucked so much to be a mentor. It was the feeling of helplessness.
___
Hey guysss. This chapter was supposed to be short, but I ended up writing a lot and well... here it is. Before I forget, I would like to give a special thanks to charlotteee_rose for voting on the story and adding it to a public reading list. I would also like to thank every single one of you that is reading this story, yesterday we reached 200 views (I know it may not sound like much, but it's a big deal to me), so, thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Back to the chapter, we've finally reached the 74th Games, so now I have a bit more of a clue on what to write. I know it's been a while since I've done other point of views besides Aria's, but bear with me, I'll do them soon enough. I can also use actual Hunger Games gifs now (*small fangirl squeals* I'm so excited).
Today's song recommendation is 'Demons', by Imagine Dragons, I don't know why, I just like that song, and it's one of my favorites to play on the piano. So, today I procrastinated again, which means that I'll have to spend the night writing my sociology essay for my brother to revise it tomorrow (why do I do this to myself?). I also started to read a really good book on Wattpad, it's called 'Time And I', by JacksonTerrance, go and check them out, from what I've read so far, they write really well. Anyways... see you tomorrow. I love you all ;)
And may the odds be ever in your favor. Bye!