The Girl With The Shimmering Smile

The Training Center

Gloss and Cashmere greeted us at the apartment as Ruby had promised. "You looked absolutely remarkable out there dear '' Cashmere said as she kissed my cheek. It felt like I was walking on fluffy clouds. We sat down at the table filled with all kinds of different dishes. I couldn't wait to taste them all. We started talking about the other tributes and how the sponsors had reacted. They apparently gave a big applause to our district, district 2, district 4 and district 12. Shocking. Marvel and I are supposed to be mentored separately but it's always positive to have a similar plan since we're going to team up for at least the first half of the game. Gloss told us about district 2's mentors since they're pretty good friends with them both. Enobaria and Brutus. I didn't know much about Brutus, he was before my time but I knew a few things about Enobaria. She won the 62nd Hunger Games. She was absolutely ruthless and ripped the other tributes throats out with her bare teeth. After she won the game she altered her teeth into razor sharp points, almost fang looking. She was kind of terrifying and I didn't agree with her killing method. Sure it was very effective obviously, but it felt so inhuman. I wanted to win, but never like that.

I went to my new room after the dinner and strategy talk. It was huge and had a big window on one of the walls. I sat on the edge of my bed and looked out at the street. The citizens were all partying and laughing out there. I felt exhausted. A little remote on my nightstand caught my eye. I picked it up and held it in front of me. I've never seen anything like it but figured it would work pretty similar to our tv remote back home. Nothing happened when I tapped it but the big window in front of me changed motif when I tried to swipe on it instead. A desert was now facing me and I wrinkled my nose. I hoped the arena wasn't a desert this year. Most tributes died of dehydration last time they decided to have it as a theme. It was a really boring year. I swiped on the remote again and a forest appeared. I've never been in a forest before. We aren't allowed to leave our districts. Somehow I found some kind of comfort with it. The birds were singing beautifully and it was just quiet. No people, no cars, no expectations. It's always so loud wherever I am. A forest wouldn't be so bad. I changed it one last time. A beach was now in front of me. The waves had a calming effect on me and I felt how my eyelids started to get heavy. I quickly got dressed in a pink silk pyjama. It felt so good against my skin. I turned the lights off and went to bed. The bed was even comfier than the one on the train, how that's even possible. I started drifting off to sleep. That night I dreamt about white horses, the forest and... golden armor.

We entered the training center for the first time the next morning. It was much bigger than the one we had at home. We gathered in a big circle and I took a moment to really look at my opponents while an instructor was talking about the different stations. I already knew how to do most of it since they taught us everything we had to know at the academy. Most of the tributes didn't seem like a threat at all. I could kill them in my sleep. But my other career partners and the guy from 11th were a big threat. Especially Cato and 11th. I think his name was Thresh. He is a literal giant and I bet he could hold Clove's whole body with just one hand.

We spread out at the different stations after the instructor was done talking. Clove, Cato and Marvel all decided to hit the sparring station. They didn't let us spar with other tributes in case we hurt each other before the arena. Instead they gave us professional trainers to fight with. I hesitated for a second but decided to follow them anyway. Cashmere was very clear with what I'm supposed to practice but we needed to be a pack. They had to think we were close with each other. It'll be much scarier that way. Like a wolf pack hunting its prey, and they were the prey in this scenario.

I liked close combat battles and I was currently killing it. I knew I kind of blew my "pretty but useless" cover but they already knew I was a careerist, and they wouldn't have let me volunteer if I wasn't good. After sparring with my trainer for about fifty minutes I decided to take a short water break. The sweat made my face super shiny so I wiped it with one of the soft towels they had given us. "You're good" I heard a voice behind me say. It was the first time I talked with Cato. He was much bigger up close and the sparring had given him a good pump. "Well thank you. You're not so bad yourself" I said with a flirtatious voice. He gave me a smirk and I saw my chance. I took a step closer and started touching one of his biceps. Guys like him always had big egos. I complimented his strong physique and just as expected he liked it. We started talking about the other tributes and he gave me some good info. Apparently Thresh was a beast with swords and spears, the redhead from 5 was a genius and Marina from 4th was good with throwing tridents. District 4 was also a career district. Cashmere and Gloss didn't know their mentors so we had to form an alliance with them ourselves. It was usually not a problem but they're not as bloodthirsty as our district and district 2 are, which sometimes could create a problem. I hadn't seen the guy from 4th yet though. Or at least he didn't stand out from the crowd, which wasn't a good sign.