Max followed Briella’s advice and they had came down at a normal time to the Training Centre. It made sense to him that they weren’t overly intimidating (because he wasn’t) and maybe a little arrogant (which he wasn’t), so they showed up as the bulk of the other tributes were entering the Centre. He nodded at her words, agreeing with the sentiment.
He snorted a little bit at her comment, hoping that Ares got that they weren’t really into advertising what they meant to each other. People could come to their own conclusions about why he had volunteered and when they were in the Arena everyone could get the idea of what was really happening.
Max gave Ares a look, not really appreciating his attitude, but nodded at him and then turned to Briella. “You underestimate all the training I’ve done in secret. All the gummy bears and pastries I’ve eaten to fuel myself,” he teased, smiling, moving to the mats and doing a couple of leg stretches before shaking out everything and pointing to the end of the mats about 50m away. “There and back?” // @ares-carnahan
To say the least, Ares wasn’t appreciative of the back talk or the snarky glances.
He was the last person that this needed to be pulled on this year. He had to deal with it last year with Josiah and Ingrid and he wasn’t going to stand for it again. He was not happy with Max over this fiasco that he caused in District Two and he wasn’t going to let him off easy, in particular. The girl, however, wasn’t understanding the gravity of the situation as it seemed.
He said nothing except stood there with his arms crossed, glowering at the two of them as he thought about what he could drill them with first. He wasn’t an easy trainer. There was no hope in a person who couldn’t be pushed to the breaking point. He listened to Max offer the fifty meter sprint and that’s when Ares piped up.
“Whoever loses the sprint gets to spar me first,” Ares piped in. Sparring wasn’t normally in his agenda first thing in the morning, but after this, he was going to make sure they left here with a bruise or two to be looked over by a medic and healed by morning.
Briella looked at Max and shrugged her shoulders. Losing wasn’t something she was planning on doing and if she did, well, she had sparred with plenty of trainers in the Academy. There had been many days she had come home feeling like she would never be able to move again. Not to mention she grew up in a family of Peacekeepers. Sparring was practically a Carrick family sport when they got together at the holidays. She may be a woman, but Briella was still a Carrick.
“The fuel of champions.” She teased Max as she got into a comfortable starting position. This sprint would allow for an all out attempt as it wasn’t really a distance race which was a shame really, Briella had always known if she was a normal teenager she would have wanted to run cross-country.
“On three...” She told Max. “One, two, three...” She told him taking off as soon as the word left her mouth. // @maxaroha