𝓢𝓾𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓿𝓸𝓻 | 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓾𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓖𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓼

❁ 𝓘 𝓶𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱 ❁

                                                                 ❁

                                      The devil whispered inside my ear
                                       "You cannot survive the storm."
                                                   I whisper back.
                                                "I am the storm."

                                                                 ❁

The Training Center has a tower designed exclusively for the tributes and their teams. This will be our home until the actual Games begin. Each district has an entire floor. You simply step onto an elevator and press the number of your district. Easy enough to remember. Which is good, because I forget things. A lot. I've ridden the elevator a couple of times in the Justice Building back in District 5. Once to receive the medal for my father's death and then yesterday to say my final goodbyes to my friends and family. 

But that's a dark and creaky thing that moves like a snail and smells of sour milk. The walls of this elevator are made of crystal so that you can watch the people on the ground floor shrink to ants as you shoot up into the air. It's really, really fun, and I ask Anidori Favar if I can ride it again. She said no, but I snuck back on and did anyway. Apparently, Anidori doesn't just announce who's going to die, she also works with Razo. She and him will be overseeing us right into the arena. In a way, that's a plus because at least she can be counted on to corral us around to places on time. As annoying as it is, I can't keep track of it.

I'm pretty sure we're the first team Anidori has ever liked. Mainly because we made a splash at the opening ceremonies and also because Caspian and I are both extremely good looking. That seems to matter to her. And everybody else in this place.

Anyway, I'm behind on schedule so I order food from my room, the most important part of the morning is breakfast after all, and dress hurriedly. Anidori knocks on my door then, piping at me in her silly Capitol accent to hurry up. I do, and I meet up with Caspian and Anidori, who insists on taking us on the elevator, probably so I don't ride it more than once.

The actual training rooms are below ground level of our building. With these elevators, the ride is less than a minute. The doors open into an enormous gymnasium filled with various weapons and obstacle courses. Although it's not yet ten, we're the last ones to arrive. The other tributes are gathered in a tense circle. They each have a cloth square with their district number on it pinned to their shirts. While someone pins the number on my back, I do a quick assessment. They don't look too bad except for the careers. 

As soon as we join the circle, the head trainer, a tall, athletic woman named Atala steps up and begins to explain the training schedule. Experts in each skill will remain at their stations. We will be free to travel from area to area as we choose, per our mentor's instructions. Some of the stations teach survival Skills, others fighting techniques. We are forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute. There are assistants on hand if we want to practice with a partner.