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︳𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 ︳
𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ━ 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱
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THE NEXT DAY PROVED to be the most stressful. Blaze and Ryker were woken up early in the morning by their stylists, being forced to dress in a tight bodysuit that acted as a uniform for all of the tributes this year.
The breakfast table was absent of any and all sweets. What was important now that the games were so close was getting enough protein and nutrients. Keeping themselves strong for when they entered the arena.
Blaze piled on a good amount of eggs and sausage onto her plate, also deciding to eat a bowl of melons and another of hot grain. Enobaria and Brutus waited for their tributes to gather their food, letting them get in a couple bites before beginning with strategy talk for the day.
Enobaria cleared her throat causing both children to look up at her. Blaze snickered at the syrup smeared over Ryker's mouth and he gave her a cheeky smile. "First things first, is that from now on minimal sugar for both of you. We focus on the important foods that will keep you going in the games."
Ryker pouted at that looking down at his pancakes that were swimming in syrup.
"When you go into the training room today, don't focus on the skills you already know. Save that for the last day when you have to show your skills to the Gamemakers. Study the other tributes, decide who is the strongest and decide who you want to ally with and who needs to be the first to go. After each day of training we'll do a debrief to see how you guys are doing."
Blaze nodded trying to keep up with everything Enobaria was saying. She knew that they were going to ally with One but it couldn't hurt to scout any other potential partners. After all, the career alliance sometimes didn't work out and Blaze would rather have other options if things went south.
The elevator ride down was silent and nerve wracking for everyone. They would be arriving early in order to make the best impression and be the first to grab any tributes worth allying with. When they arrive the only other tributes there are district one and Blaze is thankful.
They say goodbye to their mentors and approach the pair who are standing by the weapons rack. The girl has blonde hair that's pulled back in a simple ponytail and the boy has dark skin and curly hair that's cut short.
They both smiled as the pair from Two approached. The blonde immediately gripped onto Blaze's arm which caused her to stiffen at the close contact. "Finally another girl. I was dying just talking to these two." She pointed towards Ryker and her district partner, the latter giving her an offended look, grasping his chest with his hand. She giggled before looking back at Blaze. "I'm Valour, that's Apollo."
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.
The girl, who's name she learned was Briar Mason, complimented her on her quick learning. "I didn't know it was possible to learn about that many plant species in an hour." Blaze laughed and shyly looked to the floor. She wasn't used to being praised for the things she did well when it came to training. Her father usually just told her she could do better and walked away.
"In Seven it's mandatory to know anything and everything about plants. My sister and I help out a lot around time, going into the woods, chopping wood. She's only fourteen but she's really good at that stuff."
Blaze nodded. "I'm sure she gets it from you. I wish I had an older sibling to help guide me. She's probably really proud of you."
Briar's smile dropped and she placed her hand lightly on Blaze's shoulder. "She's not. Not unless I come home."
The rest of training went as well as can be expected. Blaze did her best to avoid any weapons and focus on things she didn't already know. She tried her hand at knot tying but proved to be terrible at it. She also attempted the climbing station and realized that she was also bad at that.
They took a break for lunch and Blaze returned to try and work on climbing again. She got slightly better but she was still slow and shaky. She never got to work in the mountains back home like other kids, being forced to focus on her training. So while this should be a strong suit for her it was exactly the opposite. She just hoped the arena didn't require her to do much climbing.
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On the second day of training, Blaze and Ryker had the unfortunate pleasure of riding the elevator down with District Four. Blaze glared at Finnick as he gave her a dazzling smile, his head shaking at her anger. His tributes seemed to be confused on the tense air between them as Dylan scoffs and looks away and the girl, Ripley, just looks between them confused. She seems to be looking at Finnick in a way that makes Blaze feel nauseated.
She knew Finnick was known as a lady's man but did he have to distract his own tributes by flirting with them too. Blaze looks away at the ceiling biting her lip and crossing her arms and she can still feel Finnick's gaze on hers. The elevator seems to be taking way longer than it possibly needed to and she about had it with this encounter.
"Stop looking at my tribute like you want to eat her Finnick!"
Finnick laughs at this, turning to Enobaria without missing a beat, still wearing that stupid smirk. "I can't help it! She's so fun to mess with."
Ripley seems offended by this. Looking between her and her mentor like she was his wife who just found out her husband had a mistress. Blaze just glared at her, making the young girl squeak and redirect her gaze to the floor.
Once the elevators opened Blaze grabbed Rykers arm and pushed everyone out of the way so she could leave first. "Wow Enobaria! I thought you said she had manners?"
Blaze ignored him, dragging her and her friend over to Valour and Apollo who were sending them questioning looks.
"Damn. What happened in there firecracker?"
Blaze looked at Apollo and shook her head. "Just four being annoying little bitches. I can't wait to wipe that smile off fish boy's stupid face once we get into the arena."
Valour laughed and rested her elbow on Blaze's shoulder. "Maybe we could do it a little early. Look."
Blaze looked to where the blonde was pointing to see Ripley struggling to hit the moving targets with her knives. Blaze guessed she was trying out different weapons so she had some fighting chance in the arena.
Turning back to Valour, Blaze smirked and nudged her gently with her shoulder. "I like the way you think."
Blaze began to walk over to Ripley when Ryker grabbed her wrist. "Don't be mean Blaze. She's probably scared enough as it is. Let her be."
She ripped her arm from his grip. "Maybe next time she should tell her mentor to shut his mouth then."
Continuing her path Blaze stepped in front of Ripley and grabbed the knife she was about to throw. "How about you go do something a little easier and let the big kids practice." Ripley quickly moved out of the way as Blaze completely blocked her path and grabbed a handful of knives to add to the one she stole.
Blaze set the machine and focused as each target began to move. Taking a deep breath she drew her arm back and sent the first knife at the farthest target hitting it dead in the center. She then quickly threw another, hitting the target again before spinning and throwing a backhand shot, hitting the final target directly in the middle.
Turning back to RIpley who now wore a near terrified expression she smiled at her sweetly and handed her the last knife she didn't get to use. "Here you go. Looks like I'm actually already perfect. I should probably let you brush up. Who knows what might happen to you in that arena."
Walking away Blaze high-fived Apollo and Valour who were snickering at the whole interaction. "She looked like she was gonna pee her pants." Blaze laughed at Apollo's joke and then turned to Ryker who gave her a disappointed shake of his head before walking away.
Valour gripped her shoulders from behind and put her chin on Blaze's shoulder. "He'll get over it. Come on, let's go to the ropes course. I want to see how fast I can finish it."
Blaze followed her looking back at Ryker who was now studying at the edible insects station. She no longer felt pride at her previous actions, now strangely feeling guilty.
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Ryker didn't speak to Blaze for the rest of the night. Ignoring her at dinner and brushing off her hand when she tried to speak to him before debrief. The meeting was tense, Blaze telling Enobaria that she had gotten slightly better at climbing and pretty much memorized all of the poisonous plants and insects, while she tried to ignore the subtle glares Ryker was sending her way.
At least Enobaria seemed impressed, telling Blaze that she should work on her weaponry the third day to prepare for her private session that would be a few hours later. With that she dismissed her to get ready for bed but Blaze needed to talk to Ryker,
Her guilt had been eating away at her ever since he walked away from her earlier in training. She thought that maybe he would cool off by now, but he still wouldn't talk to her and she was getting annoyed.
Walking down the hallway Blaze paused at Ryker's door and knocked harshly. When there was no answer Blaze knocked harder. "So help me Ryker if you don't open this door I'll knock it down."
The door opened and Ryker glared at her from where he stood shirtless, clearly already being in bed. But she didn't care. They couldn't be upset with each other any longer. If things continued like this in the arena they could kiss any chance at winning goodbye. They couldn't be fighting each other when they had the other tributes to worry about. And that's exactly what she told Ryker.
He didn't take that very well, immediately lashing out at her.
"What? Is all you think about the stupid arena?" Spit flew from his mouth as he shouted at her. "I don't know what's wrong with you, Blaze! At first I thought, okay, maybe she's just feeling the excitement like everyone else in two and she'll calm down when we actually get to the Capitol. You were doing fine at first, thanking the avoxes, playing nice with the others. Hell you never even curse. And then you go and basically threaten to kill an already scared enough girl who's probably terrified of having to fight other kids to the death in two days!" She flinches at his tone as he looks at her in complete disgust.
Throwing his hands up Ryker turns away from her and runs his hand through his hair before looking at her again. "You don't understand how scared all of these kids are Blaze. None of them have ever been trained for something like this or find these games the least bit exciting. They're counting down the days until they are forced into that arena and coming to terms with the fact that they'll never see their families again. Don't you realize that everyone here has lives? They have people who care about them who are going to be devastated when their brother or their daughter gets brutally murdered. These games are nothing to be excited about! They're not amazing and they certainly bring no one honor."
Blaze breaths heavily at Ryker's words. Shaking her head as her tears threaten to bubble over. "These games are the best things ever created, Ryker. We're going to bring honor to Two. I'm proud to be here. I don't know who you've been talking to but–"
"Who I've been talking to? Are you fucking serious right now?" Ryker looks absolutely feral now as he looks her up and down his hand coming up to rub his jaw. "Where's your fucking morality Blaze?Huh? I can't even look at you right now with how you're talking. I don't even know who you are."
"I'm the same person I've always been"
He smiles slightly then. The smile being no kind one. "Yeah you are." Grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door he opens it and shoves her forward. He's looking down now. "Get out."
"What? Ryker, can we talk about this?"
He ignores her question, just settling for a simple shake of his head. "You wanna know who I've been talking to? I met one of the tributes from eight on the roof the other night. The twelve year old boy. I had to talk him down from the fucking ledge because he was so scared of going into that arena in two days. He's so young and he's never going to get to live the life he deserves because of these stupid games. I hope you enjoy murdering him Blaze."
With that he slams the door in her face.