HUMANITY'S FAULTS, f. odair

005. ranking and practice

( 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 ).
five.『 ranking and practice 』

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐈𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑. Stephanie continued to give Indie tips and had let Indie use the knife to practice with, quizzing Indie every now and then in the halls without anyone around. Despite the little time frame, she'd actually gotten pretty good she dared to admit, Stephanie even agreed saying that she was a natural. Indie wouldn't go as far as to say that, but she did feel pride at the thought of her small ability coming along so well. She had repeated small tips that the victor was giving her, over and over committing them to memory. Such as when you want to kill someone silently and efficiently, slash the neck, not stab. Stab would wound and could be fatal but if they happened to have something medical with them they could easily fix it up.

But the next day would not be as easy as the before, for it caused a tension to spread throughout the apartment and they all knew why. With the third day cane the evaluation and ranking, which would show exactly what the judges thought of you and would hemp to determine the amount of sponsors you could get in the arena. Everyone knew it was coming. The individual assessments.

Other than using knives and setting traps, Indie hadn't been exactly good at any of the other stuff. And she wasn't confident in using knives quite yet. So both her and Stephanie agreed she should try one of the harder traps, and maybe it wouldn't gain their attention exactly. But Freda has said a low score can work in your favor, as other tributes won't think too much of you and therefore wouldn't go straight for you.

There was no doubt that Indie was nervous, as she walked down to the training center, this time wearing a light black jacket, Freda by her side walking down next to her side, Mark and Jasper walking together behind them. "Due to you not having a lot of experience with the weapons beforehand, you probably won't get a high score. I know what Stephanie's been doing, but it's best to stay away from that until you are in the arena because you haven't had much experience even learning from her. So, just make a trap and try your best to get a somewhat high score." Freda said before they came to a stop at the door.

Indie felt like her heart was racing, and she kept reminding herself this was only a ranking, not the actual games. But she was struggling with even telling herself that. Freda nodded, and patted her shoulder, before following Jasper out the doors and Mark walked next to Indie.

"Scared?" He didn't ask in a teasing tone, but as though he could relate. She nodded both knew that he too was just as scared. If not, more scared but neither needed to say it. "Good luck." Mark said before walking in.

Taking a deep breath she followed, to see the room full of tributes already, and she knew they were some of the last ones to enter for once. She sat down, where it was shown and sat, getting ready to wait. Because she was only from District 5 she wouldn't have to wait that long, which she guessed was a good thing. Get it done and over with. Like ripping a band aid off, her sister had always told her. But the time she had to wait flied past as the first four districts were gone, and then Mark was being called in.

She breathed deeply, mentally preparing to go in and get a low score. "Indigo Marsh, report for individual assessment." The voice said she stood slowly, almost uncertainly. The others watched, the rest of them also non confident, counting down as people walked in, and didn't come out. Carefully, she moved into the room and looked around, deciding on her skill that she had fifteen minutes to present. She knew she had talked about traps, but her mind went back to the knives, and how easy it had felt to grow them across the room and her eyes found the knife section. But then Freda's words came back to her, and she walked towards the nature center.

۞

Looking back it could've gone a lot better. Or a lot worse. Which ever way you would prefer to see it. She had done the most complicated of traps, and it had worked perfectly, built to perfection. She didn't expect a very high score, but at least it would get her somewhere. But the closer it got the announcements of the scores, the more nervous she got as she leaned forward in her seat, waiting for the enormous TV to show the announcements of the scores.

She was not the only one. Everyone else was extremely anxious too as the it lit up, staring Caesar Flickerman, getting ready to announce the tributes scores as the national anthem played. This year he had lime green hair and eyebrows, and Indie questioned if he had been sober when he was picking out the color.

As usual, he starts off going up the list. The boy from one got a nine, and the girl got an eight. Both the girl and boy from district two got tens and the boy from the three got a six, the girl from three getting a nine. Both boy and girl from four got an eight when finally, it showed District five, starting off with Mark.

"Mark Hamilton, score of five." It said and everyone clapped politely, despite them all to well knowing it wasn't a great score but everyone believed that neither would get great scores. "Indigo Marsh, score of seven."

This took everyone by surprise, and even though it wasn't as great as the careers, Freda laughed and hugged Indigo tightly, as she said, "Must've been some trap you did in their." It was enough to get a smile out of Indie who had been pulled in by her back so she was basically leaning on Freda as she congratulated her.

"Nice job kid." Jasper nodded at her and she smiled thankfully at him.

Most of the tributes from five never got exactly high scores. They all ranged from around three to eight, unless there was someone really good, like Freda because if Indie remembered correctly, Freda had gotten a nine the year she went.

They continued to watch the rest of the tributes and their scores, having missed six and seven. The boy from eight scored a four and the girl scored a six. Both tributes in nine scored a seven while the boy from ten scored a five and the girl scored a six. The boy from eleven got a nine and the girl got a six and from district twelve, the boy got a ten and the girl a seven, which caused them some surprise since twelve wasn't known for very many good rankings.

"Well, that's that. We best get ready for tomorrow!" Estella sang, before trotting away in her too high cotton candy punk shoes that she wore, giving a little giggle and both Freda and Indie cringed at the high pitched sound.

"What's tomorrow?" Indie asked, pulling away from Freda as she sat up, looking around at everyone rather curious to know the answer.

"We have to prep you for your interviews." Isaac said, as if stating the most obvious thing in the world.

"Prep?" Mark asked sitting up slightly as they listened to the mentors talk.

"Get people to like you. And teach you to walk to heels and act proper and with manners." Zach said.

"Manners? Really?" Indie couldn't help but ask. Estella has basically been educating her about proper manners throughout her time in the Capitol. "What good is that gonna do?"

Freda smirked slightly at the annoyance in her voice before saying, "Its important so the audience will like you more. They are a sucker for people who are nice to them and polite. Otherwise you can say bye to the extra help you could possibly get."

With that she got up and left, and Zach called out, "Dinner in ten!" Before the mentors exited, leaving the two tributes alone.

"Great."