"Dahlia Blossom. Don't let the name fool you. She's better known as the Black Dahlia. And she didn't earn that nickname by smiling and looking pretty."
"She sure knows how to perform for the camera."
"Because she knows how to play the game. She alwa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The night spent above the Cornucopia had been cold but undisturbed. The rocky terrain didn't make the most comfortable surface to sleep on but it seemed no one else had discovered a way to reach the surface of the caves yet. Dahlia and Cove certainly weren't complaining about that. In fact, they were scheming of ways to use it to their advantage.
"So we know the Careers probably won't want to stray too far from where they feel safest." Dahlia states as the two tucked into their tasteless crackers for a meagre breakfast.
"That'd be the Cornucopia." Cove adds on through a mouthful of crackers. "They'll have plenty of provisions there so their only reason to leave would be to hunt down other tributes."
"But they'd have to leave someone behind, right?" Dahlia questions, taking small sips from their limited water supply. "Someone to guard their stash."
Cove pauses mid-chew to stare expectantly at the younger girl, sensing that a plan was forming in her devious mind. "What's your idea?"
"Well..." Dahlia starts with a crafty smirk to match. "I was thinking, if we somehow manage to draw the majority of the Careers away from the Cornucopia, that would leave just one of them behind." Cove hums in agreement, hanging on to every word Dahlia says. "As a group, they'd be nearly impossible to take down. But individually..."
"The odds could tip in our favour." Cove finishes as Dahlia nods to confirm her ally's suspicions. "Sounds like a decent plan. We'll just need to work out the finer details."
"From what we heard last night, I doubt Ryker will want to wait behind while the others are hunting down tributes." Dahlia points out, recalling how frustrated the boy was at the suggestion of waiting around. "Caspian's the youngest and therefore the most unexperienced so I'm not sure they'd trust him to guard their supples alone."
"Victoria will go wherever the fight takes her. She won't want to miss out on the action." Cove interjects with her Career knowledge.
"So that leaves Crystal in the Cornucopia." Dahlia concludes definitively, her mind working overtime to finalise the plan in her head.
Cove rolls her eyes at the mention of the District One female. "Crystal likes to think she's an expert with swords, but her main strength is her looks. She'll be relying heavily on sponsors and her fellow Careers to get her through the majority of the Games." She explains, remembering all the time she spent observing her fellow tributes in training. "As far as I'm aware, the other three don't know how unprepared she is because she managed to charm her way to a score of 8 in training."
"So if our assumptions are correct, this shouldn't be too difficult." Dahlia responds, praying more than anything that everything goes smoothly for them. If they get this wrong, the consequences could result in their deaths. "Alright, here's the plan..."
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
Dahlia creeps along the dark tunnel, placing her feet carefully and brushing her hands along the walls to find her way. She'd managed to find a hatch close enough to the Cornucopia for her to sneak up on them but far enough away to avoid detection from the Careers. Cove was still above ground, fulfilling her part of the plan by finding a different tunnel to draw the Careers away.
