Training couldn't have been more daunting with people all older than her. Her last Games wasn't so bad, they were all at least in the same age range. But now she was one of the youngest. There was her, Katniss, and Peeta, everyone else was at least 20 or older. Finnick was 24, Johanna was 21. One of the first things she saw was Johanna slicing through the air with her ax. She caught Kallan's eye when she paused and threw in a wink, which made Kallan roll her eyes. Plan was, between her and Finnick, to not show their skills so much this time. They didn't have to. Practice them, yes, but the Capitol knew this family. They were sending them things in the arena regardless, they didn't need to show off. So they would spend the first day or two strategizing, working survival skills.
Finnick stuck to her side for a bit, still clearly a little on edge from the night before. They worked on testing their knowledge of the plants, worked on some easy knot tying, traps that could be set, like the ones Finnick used to win his Games, like the one Kallan had used to kill her ally.
"No, that needs to be tighter," Finnick was telling her, and she scrunched her face up at him.
"No, it's good."
"Kallie," Finnick tilted his head at her like she was stupid.
"I promise, look," Kallan went to the computer board, running a quick simulation. A hologram rabbit made of yellow pixels ran up to the trap quickly, and got caught by the neck. Kallan smirked at her brother triumphantly, and it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you have all the answers."
"I do, though."
"Can you show me how to do that?"
Kallan whipped around at the voice, knowing it far too quickly. In an instant she felt her outward demeanor shift. Finnick, surprisingly, stood back to let Kallan do the talking. Her eyebrow was cocked already, arms were crossed. Though in this black and gray training outfit that they were all wearing, there was thankfully nothing to cover. Not that Peeta would look anyway.
"Your fiancee never taught you?" she jeered slightly, having seen the Games last year, having known what Katniss was capable of.
"Actually, no," he admitted. Kallan hummed thoughtfully about it, looking over at Finnick.
"I'll leave you to it," he said, raising his eyebrows at his sister as he strutted off.
"Okay," Kallan said, gesturing for Peeta to join her by the ropes. She began to explain it to him, in between thinking about whether or not he'd seen her Games, whether or not he knew that she'd used these traps to kill a person. Standing next to him now made her consider if she could consider him an ally. Having any others besides Finnick seemed dangerous, she couldn't have them turning on them and hurting her brother. But Peeta didn't seem like he'd want to do that, even if he had to.
She ran the same simulation, with the rabbit, even though there was no guarantee of even having a rabbit in the arena. It went through the snare, but it ran off with the rope. Peeta breathed out frustratedly, and Kallan couldn't keep back her amused laugh.
"No beginner's luck, I guess," she said, and he looked over at her, meeting her eyes.
"Never been much for hunting." Kallan let out a sigh once she was done laughing at him.
"Ah well, try again later, bread boy," she said, giving him a playful pat on the back and heading off in another direction. Partly because she needed to keep training, partly because she couldn't spend another second in that close proximity to Peeta Mellark. He smelled surprisingly good for someone who had been throwing around weights all morning... not that she was looking. She was just taking in the other tributes, seeing what they were up to.
She mindlessly wandered over to where Johanna was throwing her ax into a few pixelated people. She knew she had Johanna in the arena, and she knew Johanna was the last person who would want to kill her and Finnick. She would at least buy them time. Kallan picked up a few throwing knives on her way over, and stood next to Johanna. She started the simulation, watching the holograms run across the boxed in area, and she threw. It was mindless at this point, chucking the knives into the oncoming people. Since picking up the skill in her first Games, she'd used it at home to fish. She'd liked the precision as opposed to a spear, but both would come in handy in the arena.
"Who are you trying to impress?" Johanna asked as she tried to catch her breath. It was unclear how long she'd been doing it.
"Just practicing," Kallan replied, throwing another one, landing a headshot. It was mostly true. She didn't need to impress Gamemakers, she didn't need to impress judges, she didn't need to impress her fellow tributes, not all of them.
"Really? Because it seems like your new friend is captivated by you."
Kallan's next knife missed.
She tried to shake Johanna's words, she tried to shake Peeta's gaze. She hated that it stuck with her. She knew, though she wished she didn't that she at the very least found him attractive. That at the very least, his gaze made her nervous. She hated that it did, but it wouldn't matter. There was no acting on it. They only had 3 more days before they were thrown in to an arena to kill each other. Even if they were allied, at some point that would end. And either one of them could die.
She needed to do something she was good at, something that wasn't putting knives in people's heads. She went over to the makeshift woods, and she gathered a few supplies, then went over to a work bench, and started making a fishhook. She was skilled at that, she knew how to do it like that back of her hand. She weaved a small string from a vine, then sharpened a part of a stick, attaching it all together. Her hands flew across the fishhook, pulling the small rope tight.
"That's beautiful."
Kallan looked over her shoulder, seeing maybe the last person she expected. Katniss Everdeen was standing beside her, looking at her handiwork.
"Uh," Kallan didn't mean to falter. "Thanks."
"You learn that in your district?" Kallan nodded.
"My..." her what, her mom? She didn't have the energy to explain it to Katniss right now. "Mags taught me, when I was like," she shrugged, "eight maybe."
"She's your mom?" Katniss asked, and Kallan kept her eyes on her work.
"Not by blood," Kallan said.
"That why you volunteered?" Katniss asked, and Kallan finally looked up to meet her eyes. She reluctantly nodded. It wasn't just for Annie, it was for Mags, and on top of that, it was for her brother.
"Part of it," Kallan told her.
"It was really brave," Katniss said, and Kallan felt her lips briefly lift into a smile, just at the corner. She looked back down at the fishhook.
"Thanks," Kallan said quietly.
"Can you teach me?" Katniss asked, and Kallan glanced at her again, then back at her hands.
"Sure," Kallan agreed, though thinking that she didn't really need it. She could spear a fish, she could get it with a knife, she could, when she had to, catch it with her bare hands.
"I could teach you to shoot in return," Katniss suggested, and Kallan felt herself laugh a little bit.
"I'll be okay," Kallan told her, and Katniss just nodded.
Kallan began to teach her, showing her the way Mags showed her when she was little. She'd made a million fishhooks over the years.
"That was uh," Katniss began to break the tension as much as she could. "Quite the scene your brother caused yesterday." Kallan couldn't help it, she laughed, quite loudly.
"Yeah, he does that," she said, restraining herself. "He's uh," she glanced over at Finnick, who was working on more survival skills as far as she could tell. "He's very protective "
"I imagine that's why he's here," Katniss pointed out, and Kallan nodded.
" Unfortunately." It was clear in her tone that Kallan didn't want her brother here. But it also was annoyingly helpful. "You know, I don't think we're so different," she said, reaching over and helping Katniss with the string.
"I didn't say we were," Katniss protested.
"No, I know, it's just," Kallan breathed out, letting go of the fishhook and turning to lean against the workbench. "They made you wait, didn't they?" she asked, and Katniss looked at her funny. "They made you wait to see Peeta, after the Games? He was the only person you wanted to see and they made you wait so they could air it on television?" Katniss was staring at her in what could only really be pure shock.
"How did you-"
"Because they did it to me."
Katniss, regardless, had ended up in the combat room, showing off, very impressively, her shooting skill. Peeta had seen it from a distance, but he knew how good she was, he didn't need to come watch. He was working on his snare, hoping to get better, but why was he worried about it? He had Katniss on his side, he didn't need to be able to set traps. Though, that was how Kallan had made a kill in her Games, so maybe it would come in handy. He didn't know why he remembered that piece of information, her Games had been 3 years ago.
Peeta hardly knew what he was training for, he had every intention on leaving the Games, with Katniss. The plan was to get them out. How that was gonna happen, he had no idea, but he was sure they could figure it out. And maybe their allies could come too. He'd noticed both of them talking to Kallan Odair, so she was probably someone good to have, plus if they got her, they got Finnick, who also seemed like a smart ally. These two also had a clear detest to the capitol, which was exactly what they needed.
Katniss and Peeta ended the day up in their quarters, waiting for Haymitch to come back with updates about allies, and then once they knew who Katniss wanted, they could proceed from there. Peeta paced, just a bit, he couldn't help it. This whole idea made him nervous, but of course it did, they were trying to out-play the capitol. It had never been done before. He finally managed to sit down for a moment, his leg bothering him.
"Good news," Haymitch's voice entered the room, and Peeta was up again, arms crossed, looking at Haymitch. "At least half the tributes want you as an ally," he said, and Peeta tried to hide his relief.
"They saw her shoot," he pointed out.
"Well, sweetheart, you got your pick of the litter," Haymitch told her.
"I want Wiress and Beetee," she said, with almost no hesitation. Peeta considered that, he didn't know them well. He'd only talked to a few people today, one of them being Johanna Mason.
"Johanna calls them nuts and volts," Peeta added, and Katniss just shot him a look. They were, he had to agree, a good pick.
"Okay, good, who else?" Haymitch asked her.
"Kallan?" Katniss suggested.
Peeta turned his head away. He should've known it was coming. And as much as he wanted Kallan as an ally, it scared him. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to hide his nerves around her in the arena for long. According to this world they lived in, he was a taken man. Happily engaged to Katniss Everdeen, who, since breaking his heart, he saw as nothing more than a good friend.
"Good pick, you get Kallan, you get Finnick," Haymitch pointed out. Peeta just stood there, nodding maybe a bit too much. This meant that Haymitch and him had to let the Odairs in on the plan, while Plutarch worked it from the inside.
Who on earth was knocking on the district 4 room door? It was late. She'd finished dinner and debriefing on their training with Finnick and was now had just been getting some water for bed--in nothing but her silky white nightgown--so answering the door did not feel ideal. But she slowly wandered over to the door, her steps slow, her bare feet hitting the ground softly. She tried to tune out the waterfall, trying to figure out who was behind that door. She could hear voices, one younger, one a bit more gruff, talking like they were arguing, but then they stopped abruptly. Kallan narrowed her eyes, and took a few light steps towards the door, looking through the peephole. No way.
Peeta and Haymitch. Peeta. And Haymitch. At 11 at night? At least thats what she thought the time was. With a deep breath, she reached for the doorknob and opened the door. Peeta looked a bit shocked at Kallan standing there, but she just stood there staring them both down.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, not sugar coating a thing. This was not the time or place for pleasantries. When she examined Peeta's expression closer, he looked nervous.
"Can we talk?" he asked, and Kallan looked at both of them. Haymitch gave a small wave. The only reason she knew who he was was from her last 2 years as a mentor. But he wasn't much for introducing himself, they'd just run into each other at a bar, both attempting to consume a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time, for vastly different reasons. She didn't think she'd even seen him since-
"Woah slow down, sweetheart," the blonde man at the bar had said to her. He was probably 35? 40? Kallan looked over at him as she downed another shot. She looked at the man like he was going to pounce at any second. But he studied her like he was worried about her. The the bartender asked what he wanted, interrupting his stare. "Scotch on the rocks," he requested.
"Make it two," the 16 year old beside him requested. And the bartender just complied.
"Aren't you a little young for that?" The man asked her, and Kallan scoffed taking the scotch with a cold smile.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"
"Uh, I guess so," Kallan told them, opening the door a little more to let them in. Instinctively she draped an arm over her chest, resting it on her left bicep. It was late, she wasn't expecting guests, and she wished she was more clothed. Peeta entered first, and Haymitch closed the door behind them
"To both of you, if you wouldn't mind," Haymitch spoke, and Kallan felt a kind of familiarity in his voice. Not in the way that man at the tribute parade felt familiar, but how someone who understood a little bit of what she'd been through would sound familiar.
"Finnick!" She called, as quietly as possible. She knew her brother would hear her, and she didn't want to wake their mom. Finnick practically ran in, also a bit more exposed given the hour. Kallan rolled her eyes when she saw him. "Put a fucking shirt on," she begged, but he stopped upon seeing their guests, and he didn't seem to have the intention of turning around now. Especially when the boy his little sister had been pining after was in his quarters.
"No, what's going on?" He asked, slowly coming further into the room.
"Is anyone else here?" Haymitch asked.
"Mags is asleep," Kallan told him.
"And your escort?"
"Dewda? Not a clue," Kallan nearly spat.
"I think we should sit down." Peeta's kind voice cut through Haymitch's gruffness and Kallan's attitude with ease. Kallan gestured at the table in the center of the room, and Haymitch and Peeta sat on one side, so the Odairs, in just their pajamas, sat on the other.
"What's going on here?" Finnick asked again, placing his elbows on the table.
"We need your help," Peeta told them, making both of them look at him funny. "It's... hard to explain."
"Basically," Haymitch took over, "our goal for the Games, barring canceling them, is to get Katniss out alive... in order to start the revolution."
Eyes on the other side of the table narrowed, both Odairs looking skeptically at the district 12 team across from them.
"You want us to help you keep your tribute alive?" Finnick asked.
"It's not just for us," Peeta explained.
"Then why isn't she here?" Finnick challenged.
"She doesn't know, and she can't know," he said, which didn't help the confusion from the district 4 side.
"Wait, cancel it?" Kallan asked quietly.
"We've got 3 days. Half the people in these Games have pull in the capitol, it's not completely out of the question," Haymitch suggested.
"Isn't it?" Kallan tilted her head. Canceling the Games did in fact sound out of the question, knowing the capitol.
"I'm sorry, you want us to sacrifice ourselves for Katniss?" Finnick spat. "We're here because we volunteered to keep our loved ones safe, and all you're thinking about is Katniss."
"Snow is-" Haymitch began to say, but then he lowered his voice quickly. "He's already threatened by her. If we could get these two out," he gestured to Peeta, Katniss' name implied, "it could spark a rebellion. We're not asking you to sacrifice yourself, depending on how it goes, there could be more than one survivor, if you're lucky," he suggested.
"Cause we've been so lucky up till now," Finnick spat, and with good reason. Kallan glanced at the boys in front of her, noticing Peeta looking at her, his eyes practically begging for her help, but she looked at her brother. "You're talking about something that's never been done before," Finnick reminded them.
"There are already uprisings in the districts, in the poorer ones at least," Haymitch specified, which was fair. 4 was a fairly content district. "You got any reason to side with the Capitol?" Haymitch asked Finnick. That's when she felt it. Finnick's eyes on her. She knew what he was thinking. Finnick was evaluating what the capitol had put them both through, what they'd done to her the same way they'd done it to him.
"We're gonna do our best to keep you safe, while we can," Peeta said, and Finnick's eyes narrowed on Peeta.
"Oh, I bet you will," Finnick chastised and finally Kallan reached over, putting a hand in front of Finnick.
"Finnick," she scolded.
"Siding with Katniss is the best chance of getting one of you out alive," Haymitch told them. Kallan knew they were both thinking the same thing. They'd do anything to get the other out alive.
"Okay," Kallan agreed, and Peeta lit up. He looked more relieved than anything, but a bit happy. If Kallan was in, Finnick had to be too. "Who else are you telling?"
Kallan grabbed the spear off the wall. Luckily for her, in the Games they usually had all-metal weapons. The hilt and head of the spear were entirely steel. Back in 4 usually the handles of their spears were wood, they were breakable. These ones could take a hit. Kallan spun it in her hand, measuring its weight.
"Odair!" She looked up, seeing Johanna back where she'd been the day before, with an ax in her hands. She opened her arms in a type of dramatic welcome. "I think you need some one-on-one training," she said, once again, as flirty as she could. Kallan did a quick toss of her spear, then headed towards where Johanna was. It wasn't the smartest idea to let people know who you were friends with, but all the district-mates stuck together, so that much was obvious, Finnick had been chatting up Katniss, being as discreet as he could about wanting to ally with her, and Kallan had already tried to help Peeta, so it was too late for all that.
Johanna was never one for small talk, so as soon as Kallan was within range, she began swinging. Kallan fended her off with the hilt of the spear, blocking her hits. There wasn't much else she could do with her weapon, but it was the one she was best with, so she had to at least try. She wasn't much better close up, with a knife. Johanna hooked her ax onto the hilt of Kallan's spear and tugged, pulling Kallan in close.
"You ever gonna admit that you've got a thing for 12?" she whispered with Kallan this close. Kallan's eyes narrowed.
"Katniss? She's more your type isn't she?" she smirked. Johanna narrowed her eyes in return, releasing the spear so Kallan spun it, turning around herself to lunge as if she were going to stab Johanna, giving her the opportunity to parry her spear, blocking it with her ax handle.
"Obviously I meant blondie, but you're not wrong," Johanna hissed, her face scarily close to Kallan's, shoving her off with the ax. As Kallan backed up, pointing her spear at Johanna, she glanced in the direction of the camouflage area, where she'd seen Peeta go. He was talking to a morphling, Kallan didn't know her name. She was practicing on him. He looked up, seeing her, but as soon as Johanna tried to make eye contact, he looked away. Kallan looked back at Johanna who was fighting a laugh.
"Why won't he look at you?" she whispered, as Johanna came after her again, their weapons clanging against each other.
"Probably because I flashed them in the elevator after the parade," Johanna said with a smirk, and it threw Kallan ridiculously off guard.
"What?" she stopped, causing her to miss Johanna's next jab, the head of the ax lightly hitting her in the gut. It briefly knocked the wind out of her as Johanna pulled it back, looking guilty. "Ow," Kallan coughed, doubling over slightly.
"Sorry," Johanna hid her laughs. "You okay?"
"I'm good," Kallan waved her off, getting her breath back. "Let's just, stop talking about it," she said, spinning her spear like a reflex, or a nervous tic.
"Fine, but who knows," Johanna got closer to her. "Maybe you'll both make it out and have a shot," she whispered in Kallan's ear, and Kallan looked at her, eyes wide. Johanna just raised her eyebrows, challenging her to speak again. But she rolled her shoulders back and said nothing.
Despite Finnick warning her not to show off too much, she found some kind of comfort in throwing the knives at the fake tributes. It was satisfying the way the blocks they were built of crumbled to the ground once she hit them. Because they weren't real. But each one was, scarily, built like a tribute. The first few that ran by had throwing knives, like Cashmere and Gloss, who Kallan had to admit, scared the crap out of her. The next few ran across with swords, then nothing, then a trident. Kallan didn't let it deter her, throwing the knife anyway, at what was supposed to be her brother. Then another, then another, then... there was a shorter tribute, in comparison to most of the men, weaponless, then a girl with a bow. Direct hit, both times.
"Where'd you learn to do that?"
Why did he keep creeping up on her? She jumped as she turned to look at him.
"Can you stop doing that?" she asked, a knife still in her hand. He eyed the knife skeptically.
"Didn't know you were jumpy."
"You don't know a lot about me," she told him, tilting her head, watching his eyes follow her ponytail as it fell to one side. "Survived a Game where 23 other kids were trying to kill me, excuse me for being jumpy," she said. He put his hands up in surrender.
"You wanna put the knife down, maybe?" he asked.
"You interrupted my training," she reminded him, tossing the knife aside. "What do you want?"
Peeta took a breath before he spoke. "Can I practice on you?" Kallan's eyebrows went up, looking at him like he was crazy. "Painting," he specified, and her shoulders fell a little bit, following his gaze to the camouflage station he'd been sat at before. She noticed the design on his arm. It wasn't much in terms of blending into your surroundings, but it was pretty. The morphling had done a good job.
"Sure," she agreed, following him over to the table. She sat down in the chair, and he sat opposite her, gathering supplies. She watched him do it, thinking about this skill he had. He was a baker, not a fighter. That was the only skill he could use, and did use, in his last Games. Where he spent days as a rock. Suddenly something cold hit her skin, and she flinched, looking at Peeta.
"Sorry," he said. "Jumpy," he reminded himself, continuing to use the green paint on her bicep. "You never answered my question," he said, not looking at her as he painted. The feeling was annoyingly comforting. "Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked again.
"Fishing," she replied succinctly.
"You fish with knives?" he asked, dipping his brush in water as he glanced at her face.
"I fish with spears, or my hands," she said. "But I picked up knives in training for my Games, and found it wasn't so different," she replied.
"Weren't you teaching Katniss how to make a hook yesterday? But you don't even use them?"
"Watching me now, Mellark?" his gaze lifted again, looking at her. He looked... scared. She hadn't meant to do that, but she couldn't help but grill him back.
"Scoping out people we can trust," he replied in a low voice, which made her feel worse. She sighed, but he held her arm still.
"I was just... keeping my hands busy. It's something Mags taught me, it's," she shrugged, but he held her arm slightly tighter, but not maliciously. "Comforting, I guess," she admitted.
"And Mags, she's... she your mom?"
"You and Katniss ask a lot of questions, you know that?" Peeta just raised his eyebrows, then went back to his work. "Yeah, kinda," she admitted. "Her, Finnick, and Annie. They're my family," she confessed, and she watched closely as he smiled, ever so slightly. "You got family?"
"Brothers," he said quietly. "Not much in the way of parents." she barely knew this boy, but he was admitting this to her, why? For the same reason she'd admitted it to him?
"And a fiancee, right?"
Peeta looked up at her, and his eyes told her everything she needed to know. Along with the plan she was now in on, she had more of his secrets. Him and Katniss were a sham, just like her brother guessed.
"Yeah, right," he said, about as convincing as the cartoon camouflage on his arm. He cleared his throat, and kept going. "You?"
"What?"
"Got a boyfriend back home?"
Kallan scoffed, though it was a reflex. It was an accident. Behind the scoff her heart was pounding. Peeta Mellark was asking her if she was taken.
"In district 4? Please, they all smell like fish," she said, but was unable to wipe the triumphant smirk off her face. Peeta laughed and shook his head.
"That why, or is it because you think you're so much better than them?" he asked, finally taking a jab at her Capitol personality. She deserved it. She'd only given him about 5 minutes of sincerity the entire time she'd known him. But her wall, her defenses, her facade was back up.
"I don't just think it," she said, narrowing her eyes at him, but he just raised his eyebrows and nodded like he didn't believe her. Maybe it was okay if one person didn't.