Sven would never admit it to anyone, but he was nervous. This was a big deal, and it was happening right now. His name got called out, and he got up, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants as he walked in.
“Sven Gold.” He said loud and clear as he reached the gamemakers. The headgamemaker nodded, and Sven turned around. He had secretly put eveything he needed for his presentation in one of the bushes at the camouflage area, so he wouldn’t have to loose time on that. He quickly grabbed all the things he needed, metal wires, tin cans, everything he needed for a smoke bomb. It took him two minutes to build one. He had done it a thousand times before, and he was more than ready. He was in great shape. Sven worked best under presure so he walked back to the gamemakers. “Can I have all the intructors you have?” he asked, after which ten combat instructors came out and took their places. “Grab your weapon of choice, everyone.” Sven said. He quickly grabbed his self-made wooden katana, which he also had made previous of the presentation, before returning. “Made this myself, just so you know” he winked at the gamemakers. he wasn’t even sure if what he was doing was completely legal, but it didn’t matter anymore now. “Are you all ready?” he asked the instructors, to which they all nodded. Some holding wooden spears, other wooden swords. Even one with an axe. “Please, dont hold back.” Sven smirked, before pulling a pin and throwing the smoke momb at the group of instructors, who had surrounded Sven. A thick white smoke filled the room, and Sven pulled out one of his bandanas, putting it over his nose and mouth. “Let’s dance!” he said before walking straight into the smoke. There was complete silence. Only small coughs every now and then. he could barely see, but he had trained for this for so long. Sven used his senses as well as he could, especially his ears were important right now. Hearing moving sounds from the instructors, he slowly started to walk around. He was loosing time, already fifteen seconds had passed and the smoke wouldn’t last for too much longer. Sven took one last deep breath before starting to quickly move around, not making a sound. As he moved through the smoke, he started to take out every instructor as quick as possible, which went very well. Loud groans were heard as Sven slammed his wooden katana into the heads and ribs of the instructors. Only one was left. The biggest one. Probably the strongest. The one with the axe. Sven took off his shirt and spinned it around, making all the smoke that was still left, dissapear.Â
He stood face to face to the big man, who was slightly confused. Sven chuckled at the way he looked at the other instructors and how fast they were taken out without him even seeing it. The man regained his confidence, and prepared himself to fight, holding the big axe with two hands. Sven walked forward, taking off his bandana and holding his katana with one hand, pointing it to the ground next to him. The man grunted and jumped forward, smashing the axe down hard, not fast enough. Sven took a swift step to the right as he twisted, the axe missing him by an inch. He punched the man in the back, just to piss him off. Sven focussed on the man again, who quickly tried to regain posture. He now swung his axe at Sven again, only this time aiming for his ribs. Sven quickly ducked, the axe moving over him. He took another step forward, flipped his katana and hit the man on the chin with the handle. The big instuctor fell on his back, motionless.Â
Sven smiled as he looked around, watching all the instructors still laying on the ground as they moaned, grabbing their bruses or checking if they were still able to move all of their body parts.
He turned towards the gamemakers, who were silently staring at Sven. “Are you not antertained?” Sven asked with a big smirk on his face, throwing away his katana. “Well there’s more of that where that came from. I hope you enjoyed the show, enjoy your meals and good luck with scoring all the other tributes.” Sven told the gamemakers, before turning around and leaving the training center.Â
He leant forward to study the ink more curiously, “Well would you look at that, how interesting!” he replied, before leaning back into his chair. “Now, have you worked out a strategy with your mentors? Will you stick the same path the careers have done before you, or will you stray from that path?”
“Have I worked on a strategy, you ask? Mister Flickerman I haven’t been doin anything else for the past couple of years.” Sven said, confidence clear in his voice. “It is the biggest part of the games. No strategy, no win. And I don’t think my strategy is very ordinairy, but once again, I’m afraid you all have to wait to see that.” He said with a smirk, looking at the crowd again. “It’s going to be a great show, that’s for sure.”
Vriska smirked, “I’d love to,” she spoke, barely above a mutter. She thought if she acted a bit more alluring, she’d see how this boy ticks. It’s what her brother did, after all. “Where are we headed?”
“Good.” Sven nodded. “Well it surely isn’t back to out boring floors. I was thinking about outside. Sneak out, see what the city has to offer.”
Sven didn’t pick up much of the whole rebellion. He heard about it and that it had failed, and he just proceeded with his life, not really getting why people were even standing up against the capitol.
Hunting small and large animals - good, He learned how to do so in the academy, something he had to learn for the sake of surviving.
fire making - basic
spears - good, it was his second favorite weapon to use.
Swords - Excellent, he has put hours and hours into training and learning the art of sword fighting. It is his weapon of choice and can do basically anything with it.
Knot tying - basic, he learned it in the academy.
Dagger - good, he knows how to use one and can be very dangerous using one.
throwing knives - basic, he knows how to throw knives.
hand to hand - great, he has spent a lot of time training and practising on hand to hand combat in the academy and with his father.
swimming - good, he liked to swim when it was warm.
Sven paused for a moment before nodding. “Sure, you can come with me.” He said, starting to walk towards the exit of the training center. He thought for a moment, before grinning. “How’d you feel about going on a small adventure?”
Kai grabbed the handle with two hands, charged towards the dummies and swung, slicing the foam head right off of one. He looked back towards the boy, silently asking for his feedback.
Sven shrugged at the action of the boy, nodding a little bit as he watched the head fall. “That was kinda good. But really to be honest, that’s just strength. Almost anyone with a little bit of muscle can do that. You should practise with someone on actual fighting, that’ll help you more than slashing up a dummy.”
Sven nodded. Yes I watched, but I’m more interested in the things I din’t see, you know? The things that’ll  help me in the arena.” he shrugged. “How did you feel? What was it like to actually be in there?”
“Secretive, interesting.” he replied with a smile. “So tell me about you, Sven? What’s your family like, your friends?” he gave a knowing smile, “Girlfriend?”
Sven smiled. “Well there’s a lot of things to say about me, Caesar. Especially when you include my family. I’ll just say I love them very much, and they have helped me to get where I am today.” he said, turning to the crowd. “Here, with all you beautifull people, about to enter the hunger games.” he grinned, trying to look as many people in the eyes as possible, but still keeping it cool. “And for myself, I love to be here. Being here has been my life goal, so I have worked very hard on that. The only other hobby I have,”he said with a grinat the audience, “is body ink.” he took off his jacket, revealing his arms. “I actually got this one here, in the capitol not too long ago.” he said while pointing at a new tattoo on his arm.
“Well, I was going to get my chain, I was messing around and put it on one of the dummies. Left it here. It’s incredibly hard to sleep without it. Then I saw you here, and decided to stay a little longer.”
Sven shrugged. “Alright.”He mumbled, satisfies with the girl’s answer. “Well I’m done here. I need some fresh air.” he told her, putting the katana away and looking back at the girl. “See you tomorrow at training.”
He nodded eagerly, “Well, the Capitol loves their tributes don’t they folks?” he called, the crowd cheering wildly. “Well, I’m glad to see you are keen to be heading in there, how has training been going? Made any allies? Any enemies perhaps?”
Sven gave a charming smile at the crowd as they cheered, returning his attention back to Caesar. “Well training has been going well. Although it is not very challenging anymore. For me at this point it gives me the time to see what I’ll be competing against. learn their weaknesses.” He said, giving a small wink at the crowd. “I have made allies, yes. And I may have some enemies too. But you’ll all have to see about that in the arena.”
