No Saviors - a Hunger Games AU

Chapter 3: the Plan

None of the 3 spoke for the next hour. Gaius hadn't appeared since he stomped onto the train, and Jade had gone immediately to the back of the train to avoid the other two. Tourim paced the cabins, unsure of what to do, unsure of who to talk to. The only sound was that of the soft humming of the train. He wondered how long it would take to get to the Capitol, how long he had to get any idea of what to do before he got there.
He decided to seek out Gaius, he'd been there for the other tributes' strategies for the past 20 years. He found the man apply copious amounts of foundation to his face in one of the bathrooms, looking like a glazed bun, trying to hide the state he was in. Tourim gave a gentle knock on the door.
Gaius turned and flash that wide, ever-cheery lie of a smile.

"Tourim! I was just cleaning house."

"Let's skip it, I need a plan, Gaius. What do I do?" All Tourim had been given by his father was a drive and a pep talk, now he needed an actual strategy.
Gaius just leaned on the basin, looking as if he'd aged a hundred years. The facade of joy was all gone in but a moment. He clutched the basin as if his life depended on it. It wasn't his life that depended on him, it was Tourim's, and Tourim knew he realized that.

"I... I just don't know. There's never been a year without both tributes being from the Academy." Tourim knew what he really meant. There was never a tribute who looked scared. A tribute who was sent into the arena with no chance of surviving. Tourim buried that thought beneath as he clutched his fists tight.

"But I'm not, and I don't have a mentor, or even a fellow tribute who will bother forming an alliance with me. I need something. Anything." Tourim pleaded. Gaius just looked more pained, sweat cutting through his makeup like a blade.
Tourim fought the urge to grab his clothes, to scream at him, to punch that caked face of his. But he knew that Gaius was the only friend he had here, and that if there was any chance, Gaius was it. So he went to the back of the train, unsure of what he was looking for, but unable to stop.
He stopped at the end door of the cabin, and glanced at Jade, who had her back to him, body twisted to watch the world go by, as if it were merely a trip.
Tourim wondered if she had even considered the idea that she might be dead in a week, that the boy in the train with her would definitely be. Perhaps she just didn't care, all apart of the life.
Tourim dared a couple of steps into the cabin, his shoes clacking against the wooden floor of the train. Jade didn't turn.

"I'm gonna be pissed if I die in there." She said, as if it were merely an inconvenience, Tourim noticed her thumbing a bracelet around her wrist, silver and laden with a single green jewel. "I was supposed to have 2 more years."

Tourim was a little shocked she even spoke to him. He took the chance to sit beside her, though keeping enough space between them, Jade unnerved him with her nonchalance. She still had that steely gaze, but he could see behind her azure eyes that her mind was busy. Tourim didn't even bother trying to guess what was going on in her head, he would probably never understand.

"Well, at least you have a shot at winning." Tourim conceded. Jade met his eyes, then lowered hers, and finally returned to the fleeting scenery. He turned away from the view, leaning his head against the seat and staring into an empty wall on the other side of the cabin.

"Careers don't always win." Jade noted. Somehow it didn't make Tourim feel any better. Even if it wasn't a Career winning, he still had another 20 tributes to outlast. "This year there might not even be a Career pack."

Tourim doubted that. District 2 may not have all been Careers, but a majority of them were capable, and the District 4 tributes practically came out of the womb with a trident.
He decided to change the subject.

"Your token?" He asked, nodding to Jade's bracelet. She looked at it and nodded.

"Actually, my parents told me that you and your dad made it. I'm not into jewelery, that Capitol can have all they want." She looked a little embarrassed by it, putting a hand over the thing. "But my parents wasted money on it for me, so I guess it would be rude not to wear it."

"What're the odds huh?"

"Pretty reasonable." She huffed. A silence fell between them. Tourim wondered what she had meant by that.
Tourim had considered asking before Gaius called from the front of the cabin.

"We're coming up on the Capitol now." He pointed out to the side of the cabin, and he was right.
Despite the massive lake between it and the train, the Capitol stood tall, making even District 1 look humble in comparison to it.
Tourim couldn't help but stand and get closer to the window Capitol-side. A culmination of the Districts' industries, it was magnificent. Buildings taller than Tourim had ever seen were commonplace, and he had to do everything not to gasp at the view. He looked to Jade, who, despite keeping that near-impenetrable dispassion, had a sliver of awe behind her eyes.
The room went near pitch-black, and Tourim turned to find the view had gone, replaced with the occasional white service lights of a tunnel. A sound like a raging ocean slowly grew, and Tourim's heart beat with anticipation. In a flash, he was yanked further to the front of the cabin, enough to shield him from the sudden flash of bright light, and the ocean sound turned out to be a roaring crowd.
Jade, still with her hand around his wrist, gave him a deathly serious look.

"We're going to go back to that window, and you're going to face that crowd with as much confidence as you can muster." She said it with a strange amount of coldness. "You have no fear, you have no doubt."

Tourim looked at her in confusion, but she gave not a moment to ask questions, stepping further towards the back of the cabin, where the crowd could see her. She still had not an ounce of care on her face.
Tourim focused, imagining he was back selling rings and pins to Peacekeepers, thought back to all the times he doubted the quality of his work. You give them a look like it's the best damn piece of jewelry they can find in all Panem.
Tourim stepped into view of the crowd, brimming with the brightest smile he could give without it coming across as forced.
As the train stopped, the trio approached the door in the main cart, two slabs of metal the only thing protecting him from the gaze of the crowd, no doubt already weighing up whether to sponsor one of them.
Jade gave a quick sigh as they waited for the doors to open.

"You're right to think only a Career could have a chance at victory." She said said coldly. She looked to her bracelet, gently running a finger over the jewel. "So we're going to sell everyone on the idea that you are one."