Her Victory, Their Life| F. Odair

12. Training with Victors

Training time was upon them, now was the time to find allies. Emory and Evan had already spoken about it. They chose 7, 4 (obviously), and 3. They were now probably going to add 12 to that list.

Johanna started practicing with her ax. Emory had grabbed Woof from District 8 and was sword fighting with him. She knocked his sword out of his hand and flipped him on the ground, holding the sword to his head. She turned to the side and saw Katniss watching her. She smirked and nodded at her before she got off of him and held her hand out to pull him up.

This time there was no point in hiding what she could do, everyone knew. The lights flickered again, and Emory put her sword up as she looked at the force field around the game makers that were watching them.

She walked over to Beetee and Wiress where Katniss just left. "Hey," she smiled at them, and they smiled back. "Planning traps?"

Beetee laughed, "I have a feeling you are too."

"You know us, a couple of smarties," she laughed. He looked at her.

"I never had a chance to congratulate you, your idea with the hydroelectric generator and the turbines was brilliant," Beetee told her and Wiress gasped.

"It was, I looked at it and was so impressed." Emory chuckled and smiled at both. She raised an eyebrow, writing 'A?' in the dirt. They both looked down and nodded, making her smile even wider. She didn't care if they were a part of the plan. She had known them since she was a little girl, she wasn't just going to abandon them.

"I'll see you around," she winked at them. She got up and joined Johanna. "Spar?"

Johanna smirked, "Are you sure you can take it? Your games were what, 9 years ago?"

Emory laughed, "I've kept in shape, you made sure of that."

Johanna laughed as she threw the first punch as Emory ducked and grabbed her arm, spinning them both to the ground. Johanna flipped them over before they both got up. "How's hanging with 'Nuts' and 'Volts'?"

Emory rolled her eyes, doing a spinning back kick, knocking Johanna off her feet, "It's Beetee and Wiress and they might just save your life in the arena," she said, picking her off the ground.

Johanna scoffed, "fat chance, they're smart, but so are you. You and Finnick are all I need." Johanna yelled, tackling her to the ground. Emory attaches their legs and spins on top of her, pinning her arms above her head.

They both heard a laugh and looked up to see Finnick, "interesting position to catch you two in." They both got up and Johanna glared at him.

"Let me guess, that was you guys' last night?" Both of them smirked and Johanna scoffed.

"Gross."

Finnick scoffed, "You're the one who asked." He then laughed, "Guess what knot I showed Katniss how to do, said it was the most important one to know in the arena."

"What?" Emory asked, knowing it wasn't going to be something appropriate.

"A noose," he said, Johanna laughed, and Emory had to hold in her giggles.

Emory raised her hands, "hey, if I could've in my games."

~

It wasn't long before they were forced to report for individual assessments.

"District 3. Beetee Latter. Report for individual assessment," an announcer said over the P.A system. He got up and walked to the door. Wiress had already gone.

Emory was sitting in between Evan and Finnick. Almost everyone there knew about her and Finnick. That or they knew about her and Finnick's 'dates', they were a well-known duo in the Capitol. It was just more enjoyable with both. Might cost more, but it was worth it for the better energy. She scooted closer to him and grabbed his hand. He rubbed her knuckles and brought her hand to his lips, kissing it.

"District 4. Finnick Odair. Report for individual assessment," they announced. He slowly got up and Emory let go of his hand.

Soon Mags had left and so Evan. "District 5, Emporia Falkum, Report for individual assessment." Emory got up and walked to the door, entering the tribute training center.

"Miss Falkum, you have 10 minutes to present your chosen skill," Plutarch told her, and she nodded. She picked up several throwing knives. She threw the first two then spun and threw the third one, making a triangle. She aimed at a dummy and shot one in its head. It went flying against the wall with a loud smack.  She picked up several more, making an outline of the dummy. She turned back to the game makers and gave a little bow. They raised a glass, signifying they saw it. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. 

She knew some of them, some of them had paid for her before. Something about this made her irrationally angry. She picked up one of the spears and hurled it across the room. It landed right where the heart of the dummy would be.  The game makers looked at her gob smacked as she turned on her heel and out of the training center. 

~

She sat on the couch with Evan as they waited for scores to come out. Most of the victors were scoring very high. This must've been the highest average score of any year. Made sense, everyone there was experience. 

"District 4, Finnick Odair, 10," Caesar announced. Emory grinned proud of her husband. Mag was next and got a 6. It was disappointing, but she was old, and they were all going to help her get to the end. 

Next Evan's face popped up, "District 5, Evan Cornly, 11." Everyone gasped and Emory hugged him tightly. "District 5, Emporia Falkum, 11." Everyone gasped again and they all stood up. 

"This calls for some wine!" Falle ran to get some out of the kitchen as Emory and Evan hugged each other again before hugging Demetri and their styling team.