𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐒 | hunger games ✓

chapter 9

━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━

The next three days passed in a blur. They went on training as usual, Daphne and Azalea drifting from station to station. The Gamemakers appeared on the second day, taking notes and observing as if the tributes were just creatures in a zoo.

Theia continued training Daphne at night, and Daphne had to admit she was rather helpful. She realized that Theia was right, Daphne had thought she'd known how to fight before, but she only knew how to if her opponent moved a certain methodical way. In reality, her opponent could attack and swerve in any way they wanted. Daphne needed to be ready for anything.

On top of that, she realized that throughout these three days, she'd begun to feel less and less irritation towards Azalea. They managed to piss each other off less, and the sight of Azalea's face no longer made Daphne want to break something as badly.

It pretty much became a given that they would go through the stations of the day together, despite the fact that Azalea was the reason Daphne was even here in the first place. They did separate sometimes, however. In case some of the tributes began to notice.

Daphne found that she didn't quite fail at hand-to-hand combat, though she was convinced that knives were the only weapons she could actually wield properly. Shelter-making was easy enough, thanks to the tents she and Aedon used to construct out of whatever they could find. From mostly observing Rye, Daphne even made a couple decent traps of her own.

She noticed Theron getting a hang of throwing knives as well. He even talked to Glory once or twice, somehow making her crack a smile that wasn't entirely promising of death. Something about that made Daphne's skin crawl. Theron clearly knew what he was doing, and she wondered when that would become a threat to her own game.

Caelum, like Daphne, also had a rough time experimenting with other weapons. He got his ass kicked in hand-to-hand combat at first, but he progressed rapidly. Soon, he was able to dodge every blow with ease, figuring out how to use his natural speed to his advantage. He seemed to have an innate sense of survival as well, having aced the edible plants and hunting tests.

Azalea... well, she was kind of bad at everything. She wasn't able to make functioning, discreet traps. She fumbled with every weapon she held. She was whalloped in hand-to-hand combat. Her memory was dull and she couldn't seem to recall a single survival tip. Once again, Daphne secretly hoped that this meant someone would get to Azalea first, since now, she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to do it. Or perhaps this was somehow a strategy of Azalea's.

Currently, Daphne found herself sitting at a lunch table with Azalea, Theron and Caelum. The Gamemakers were pulling them one by one into a private examination room for the final assessments. Daphne had a feeling it didn't usually take this long, since there were now double the amount of tributes to assess.

Hours ticked by. Everyone was growing restless. Caelum drummed his fingers together, probably aching for a book to read. Daphne wouldn't have minded a book herself. Anything to pass the time and drown out Theron's insufferable small-talk.

Daphne was munching halfheartedly on some seaweed-tinted bread when Caelum was summoned. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he set his barely-eaten cheese sandwich back onto his plate before hastily standing up. Theron gave him a firm pat on the back and offered some words of encouragement. Those forest green eyes met Daphne's for a fraction of a second before he hurried out of the lunch room.

Caelum didn't return. He must've gone straight back to the Tribute Tower, up to his room to decompress as most did after the examination. Theron was called in next. Then Azalea. Then it was Daphne's turn.