The Fifty Fifth Annual Hunger Games

The Alliances

The district 1, 2, and 4 tributes had already acquainted themselves at the tribute parade thanks to their mentors and when they arrived at the training center they began to discuss other alliances in between making shows of power at the different weapons stations. Well at least while the boys from each district did. Chanel hadn't used a weapon in nearly 2 years, Lyssa didn't care for showing off, and Levie was too worried about watching the others.
"Well I know I want the twelves," Chanel said as Prosper hacked away at a mannequin with a sword.
Ajax snorted. "The scraggly ones? I doubt they could fight off a house cat."
"Well I think they're cute," she huffed, crossing her arms.
"You're about 5'2, Ajax. I don't know if you can be talking," Lyssa rolled her eyes.
"First of all I'm 5'3 and a half and I've been training for this my whole life. I could kill both of them without breaking a sweat."
Levie glanced over at the pair as the girl attempted to perfect a simple hitch knot. "I'll go talk to them. They seem nice... at least compared to everyone else here."
"What about them?" Ajax pointed out two taller boys standing at the axe throwing station. They were taking turns and one was clearly more skilled, however he was happily giving pointers to the other boy.
"They could be useful."
"Whatever," Chanel huffed again. "He is kind of cute though..." She muttered as the smiling one caught her eye.

"Try wrapping it around your thumb first," Levie pointed to the rope in Rosilee's hand as she attempted a new knot. Her sudden presence made the pair from 12 jump, but Rosilee gave it a try and it came out perfectly.
"Thank you," she gave the other girl a small smile.
"No problem," she smiled back. "That one's only really used on boats though, so try this one if you're trying to learn something useful." The District 4 girl showed them another knot that you could adjust as the others watched carefully.
They gave it a couple tries and when they finally got it right, she gave them an approving nod. "So... a few of my..." Friends wasn't the right word in a place like this. "Acquaintances were thinking that maybe you two would like to join our alliance." She gestured back to the group behind her and when the pair turned their attention to them they saw Caster ramming a spear through the neck of a mannequin.
"Could you um... could you give us some time to think about it?" Jasper asked, definitely not wanting to piss off the most dangerous group in the games. "Why would you want us anyway? We're clearly not as... skilled as the rest of you."
"Well," Levie blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Chanel thinks you're a cute couple. And I'm sure you'll get plenty of sponsors and we could use that."
The pair's cheeks turned a matching shade of red. "We're not... We're not a couple." Rosilee stuttered.
"Well... I wouldn't let the Capitol know that if you want those sponsors. But I'll let you talk about it." She gave them another smile before walking back to the rest of the careers.

Caster turned around as Levie approached. "Why were you talking to them?" He asked, an almost condescending tone in his voice.
"I want them on our team." Chanela piped up before she could answer.
"The twelves? Why?" Prosper asked, twisting up his face in disgust.
"They're cute." Chanel sighed looking back over at them.
"Really? They're cute? If you want to live, that better not keep you from killing them." Prosper scoffed as he grabbed another sword to test the balance in his hand.
"I don't see why we can't just build up a big team. They could be useful." Levie crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at Prosper. She knows he's right but he doesn't have to be so rude.
"They'd hold us back, Levie." Caster looked her up and down. "Even more than the rest of you already will." He mumbled as he turned away again.
"We can just dump them when we don't need them anymore. Better to have more people on our side than more people trying to kill us." Lyssa defended the other girls.
"Until they decide they can take advantage of us. Kill us in our sleep or something." Ajax pointed out.
"Oh come on, Jaxy. Look at how timid they are. They haven't even touched a weapon the entire time." Chanel pointed out and the boy huffed at the nickname.
"Don't call me that."

As the careers bickered, Jasper and Rosilee kept practicing the knot Levie showed them. "I don't know, I think it would be better to be with them than against them..." Jasper muttered, focusing on the rope in his hands.
"But don't you think it would be safer to build another team? Or even just try and stick to evading everyone like Haymitch said." Rosilee countered.
"I hate to say it, but Haymitch hasn't been sober in 5 years. Are you sure you want to trust him?"
"I still say we find someone else first. Or at least give it a shot on our own. Maybe they'll still take us later."  Jasper sighed. "If you're sure..." He looked around at the other tributes. One boy sparring with a hand to hand combat instructor caught his eye. "He's from 5 right? He seems to be doing pretty well."
Rosilee looked up to see who he was watching. "Yeah... usually fives don't make it far. But then again twelves don't either." She looked back down at the almost complete knot. "Maybe you should go talk to him."
"Maybe I will." He stood to approach him as the instructor finally managed to pin him to the floor.

Augusta had been watching Sterling struggle with axe throwing despite the instruction the two taller boys had been giving him. When one of the dangerous looking career boys approached the taller boys from 7 and 10, she took this chance to drag her district partner away. "I think we should probably try something else now..."
He nodded, shoulders slumping in defeat. "If we can't learn to defend ourselves, we might want to find someone who can."
"Or we could just learn how to survive." She gestured to the stations that lacked weapons such as the wild food station. "Look, maybe she can help us." She pointed to Rosilee at the knot tying station before approaching cautiously. "Hi there."
Rosilee jumped again, the second time someone unexpectedly addressed her that day. "Oh, hello... am I in your way?"
"Oh no! I was... well we were wondering if you could teach us that knot that you're doing." Augusta motioned for Sterling to join her and he reluctantly trudged over.
"I don't know if I'm the best for that... I just learned it myself."
"Could you try?"
The girl shrugged. "I could."
Augusta sat down next to her and grabbed a piece of rope. "I'm a fast learner. My name's Augusta. From District 8. And that's my partner, Sterling."
Rosilee gave her a small smile. "I'm Rosilee. District 12." She unravelled her rope before starting again, making sure Augusta was watching her movements.

When it was announced that training had ended for the day, Jasper and Rosilee walked back to their apartment together, discussing the events of the day. "I like the eights," Rosilee said. "They're nice, and the girl's a fast learner. They're both clever and I'm sure they'd know how to get us out of a sticky situation."
Jasper nodded. "I talked to the guy from five. He said he'd be interested in allying with us as long as we know how to find food," He chuckled. "So we may need to work on that tomorrow."
She smiled softly. "Sounds good." She turned her head away before he could see her tearing up. It was only possible for one of them to make it out of this alive. And she knew she wasn't going to be able to make the decision of who was going to have to die.

"How did finding more allies go for you two today?" Crest Finley, the District 4 mentor, asked his tributes over dinner.
"If Levie had it her way, we'd be allied with every tribute there is," Caster mumbled before taking a sip of whatever was in his cup.
Levie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Chanel, Lyssa, and I wanted to take a chance on the twelves, but the boys shot us down," she explained, glaring at her partner.
"Why would you want to do that?" Crest asked, looking at her quizzically. District 12 was typically one of the weakest in the games.
"They could totally get us tons of sponsors if they just played up their couple act a little more. Capitols are suckers for romance," Levie pointed out, taking a bite of bread.
"We'll have plenty of sponsors on our own," Caster countered. "We're already the most powerful group this year."
Crest nodded, much to Levie's annoyance. Nothing annoyed her more than the smug look on Caster's attractive face, er... his obnoxious face...
"Anyway, we got the 10 and 7 guys interested in joining us. They're big and 7 really knows how to work an axe," Caster continued.
"I like it. Good job you two. I'm headed off to bed and you should get some rest too," their mentor emptied his cup and stood before heading off to bed.
"See? Choosing weaklings for allies is a dumb choice."
"Shut up, Caster," Levierolled her eyes before standing up herself. "I'm going to bed too. Night."
"Good night, princess." He called after her, sarcastically.
Levie was glad she was facing away from him. She'd never hear the end of it if he saw how red her cheeks turned at his nickname for her.