Pier and Marina exited the training center and as they walked into the apartment they found everyone gathered on the large couch, conversing among themselves. Pearl lifted her head noticing their presence "Oh hello! How was it?" the younger tribute looked up at Marina before snitching on the girl "Mari doesn't think a trident is the best weapon for me.".
The girl then snapped her head to look at Pier her mouth agape "I never said that!"
"Yes, you did!"
"No, I didn't!" She declared crossing her arms, "All I claimed was that it might get too heavy throughout the games! It's half your size, Pier!" Marina huffed out with frustration before turning to face the rest of the group.
"I handled a trident at his age Marina, give him a chance." Finnick tried to reason with the girl before she burst out laughing, "Sorry, sorry, almost forgot you're a mentor for a second because you have barely helped either of us out and half the time you're not even around!" she sneered before continuing, "I'm just trying to give him a little bit of advice before we're sent off to die! Don't give him unreasonable expectations!"
"Marina!" Adella said sternly looking towards the girl who was fuming with anger. Pier stood a couple of steps back from Marina and was looking towards the floor, no one seeing the tears of frustration forming in his eyes. Pier understood where Marina was coming from though, what was he going to do if he couldn't get his hands on a trident? She was just trying to look out for him, but the blonde was built up with frustration, he didn't want to take it as seriously as Marina because he knew he wasn't going to make it. Pier didn't even think he had a chance.
Pier sighed before walking off to his room, letting their mentors deal with Marina. Finnick and Marina both stared at each other, neither of them breaking eye contact. The Victor knew where Marina was coming from, but from the last three games he's mentored, he has never dealt with someone like Marina. The girl was reckless, she spoke her mind, and she wasn't afraid to say the truth. He wasn't used to people talking to him the way Marina did, he was used to people praising him for everything, so this was new to him.
"Look, Marina-" Finnick started before shortly getting interrupted by the tribute, "No, I'm just gonna go and see if I can get some rest." turning on her heels she headed off to her room, Finnick groaned internally at her stubbornness and watched as she rushed to her room not missing the drops of blood falling from her clenched hands.
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When Marina walked out of the bathroom the next morning her training clothes were present on her bed along with a blueberry muffin, who brought her breakfast? When Marina finished getting ready she ate the muffin and headed down to the training center with Pier.
The stakes were high as it was the tributes' last time to practice their skills before the private sessions.
Marina decided to finally brush up on her knife skills. The brunette ran her fingers over some knives before grabbing a couple and asking the instructor to turn on the simulation for her. She stepped into the chamber before the door closed behind her. She then ran her hands along the wall before the simulation came to life and orange pixelated figures began running at her. Marina chucked one of her knives at the figure in front of her, exploding it into a million orange pieces. Whipping around, Marina stabbed another figure before two came after her from both sides, throwing the knives at each figure, she dodged the arrows coming from the top balcony.
6-year-old Marina and her father sat across from each other as he was teaching Marina how to skin a fish. "Start at the tail end and hold the knife firmly to the skin." little Marina looked up at her father with tears in her eyes.
"I don't want to do this, I don't want to hurt the fish." the young girl pouted as her hands trembled, "Marina you need to learn how to do this. The fish is already dead, sweetheart." the brunette shook her head at her father, growing with anger.
"I'm not doing it." she disobeyed crossing her arms and glaring at the older man. Having enough of her attitude he stood up and walked to the door "You either finish the whole bucket or you can stay here for the night.".
Marina screamed in frustration throwing the knife she held at the wall across from her, the metal end of the knife then came hurdling right back at her causing her to duck.
Marina used this memory and tested to see if it would work, chucking the knife at the side wall behind the figure the knife bounced off the wall and went through the figure's head. She continued to demolish each orange hologram until the simulation clicked off and the girl snapped back into reality. Marina exited the room, panting as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Pier walked over from the station, "How'd it go in there?" Marina then realized at that moment the room must not be visible from the outside. "It was good," she then wanted to apologize to the boy after what happened yesterday, "Pier I'm sorry about yesterday. I was being insensitive and I saw you training with the trident today, you're really good with one." Marina admitted and the blonde grinned "Thanks, Mari." he then hugged the older girl before they continued to the other stations.
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For the rest of the training session, Marina spent her time watching the other tributes and learning about their skills and weaknesses. The career's biggest weakness was their ego, they all immediately went to wield the larger weapons.
Several hours later, the tributes all found themselves sitting in a small room. The room was eerily quiet, apart from the sound of Marina's foot tapping on the floor.
"Blaze Smith" The dirty blonde-haired boy from District One got up and walked through the doors after the announcer called his name. Each passing minute made Marina more apprehensive, and as more minutes passed the harder Marina bit into her bottom lip to distract herself.
As the next couple of tributes disappeared, Pier's name was called next "Good luck," Marina said to him, flashing him a small smile before the nervous boy moved through the doors. Marina stared at those doors up until she heard her voice being called next. The girl stood up with a deep breath, wiping her hands off on the back of her pants she walked towards the doors.
As Marina stood in the middle of the room, she looked up at the Gamemakers who were only giving her slight attention "Marina Rivers. District Four."
After she introduced herself she looked around the room, she was planning on throwing knives. She was supposed to go with that plan. Though as her hands passed over the small knives, she felt a strong rage fall over her. Grabbing a handful of knives, she marched over to the rope, then over to the dummies. The Gamemakers watched the girl curiously as she set up her scene. She had under 8 minutes left to finish... she created a noose with the rope and tied it around the dummy's neck as she threw the rope over a pole to make the dummy look as though it was just hung.
Admiring her work, Marina picked up the knife she brought over and turned around to face the Gamemakers. She gave them a bitter smile and her brows raised in question "Wanna take it for a walk?" the brunette tilted her head to the side before throwing the knife at the rope that held up the dummy. The only thing that was heard was the dummy hitting the floor and the sound of Marina as she rushed out of the room.
