#t:d4

[kiyacrow-blog]

the north pole ◯ pole weapons

“I’m literally not letting you go until you do something that actually surprises me. Because believe me Kiya, I’ve seen it all. And I know that you want to focus on all of me right now, but let’s focus on thrusting instead. Otherwise I’m not sure how else you’re actually gonna get back to the Capitol, to see this,” Vaughn guffaws, side-eyeing the mirror as he stands before me, leaning over his spear.

I laugh at his benign vulgarity. And then I swing my spear at his feet, but he hops over it.

“Saw that one coming.”

I launch my spear into the ground before him, using it as an anchor as I grip the shaft and fling my legs forwards at him, but he swiftly steps to the side.

“Nope. I taught you that.”

I continue to try to surprise Vaughn, being sporadic in my actions, but he seems to be able to anticipate each and every one. The ones that he can’t expect barely have any effect on his ability to fight. I sigh, knowing that I might need to defend myself from tributes who are as skilled as him once I’m in the arena. But I know that I don’t want to die, even though I’m not supposed to fear death. Because papa tells me that there’s nothing to fear in death, that it comes naturally in everyone’s life. But I don’t think that dying in the arena counts as dying naturally, and I don’t think that I can accept dying right now. I wish I could tell him this, so that he would understand. But I know that I can’t expect everybody to understand me.

Vaughn snaps at me. “Don’t zone out, Kiya. Focus. I’m doing this for you. Well, and for me, because it would kind of suck if I didn’t have somebody to admire me. Believe it or not, the Capitol can be a tough crowd sometimes, if you don’t keep up with the latest trends,” he chuckles.

I smile as I stab my spear into the target to the right of me, latching onto it and using my momentum and the skills I learned at gymnastics and capoeira to swing upwards, planting both of my feet on Vaughn’s chest, knocking him over.

He hops to his feet, laughing. “EXCELLENT!” he shouts, his voice booming. I smile at him as I wrap my arms around his enormous figure, unable to even completely reach my arms around his back.

“You know you can do this, Kiya. You’re a free spirit, and that’ll help you. Just remember, be sporadic, and ask for forgiveness, not for persimmons,” Vaughn tells me, and I can tell that his words are earnest. My intuition tells me that he’s right, and that these words are especially relevant to me, considering the way I’ve always acted.

He’s right, I’ve always been a free spirit. Until the Reaping, that is. Because what I became without knowing my sister was dead is not who I can continue to be. I have never ignored the way I feel, and I can’t do that now. To think with a clear head I need to be free, and to do that I need to forgive somebody.

[saphirtheenchantress-blog]

↳salem mchalister (positive) | scintilla (suite)

↳Salem and I talked. I am very happy about our conversation. He is complicit to my experiment now. Now I will be able to feel something! I hope I can feel something.

↳medusa (positive) | track

↳I learned how to run fast. The trainer told me that if I looked back, I would turn to stone. I heard Gaspard but I kept running. He will never be able to catch me now. I will be able to destroy him!

↳bribery (negative) | shelter-making

↳Celestella hid my desserts and made me learn how to build a shelter before I could have them back. I hate her. I don’t know why she is so rude to me. Celestella shouldn’t treat me that way. 

[saphirtheenchantress-blog]

bribery | shelter-making

I had gone up to my suite because I didn’t want to train anymore. Training is so boring. I just want to go to the arena. That’s where the fun begins. I told Celestella where I had trained and then she got super mad at me. She said that I was supposed to go to the shelter making station because I need to know how to build myself a shelter. I don’t ever listen to Celestella. I didn’t know I was supposed to. I don’t like her.

She hid the plate of sweets. I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find them. Celestella told me that if I wanted to have more candies that I would have to go to the shelter making station and not return until I know how to build one.

I glumly ride the elevator to the training center and approach the shelter making station. I am very tired and not very energetic. I haven’t had sweets in a while. I need them for energy. The training center is very empty. Most of the tributes have gone upstairs to prepare for something called private training tomorrow. I think that it’s when you perform for the gamemakers and then they score your performance. I’m very good at performing. I hope that it goes well. It has to.

The trainer makes me tie knots. I twist the rope in and out, in and out, in and out, until I know how to create all sorts of knots. Knots are so boring. I just want to eat sweets in my suite! I hate Celestella.

I pout as I sit on the ground assembling a shelter. I tie sticks together and cover them in leaves. I sit under the shelter once I’m done. It doesn’t collapse. Good! Now I can go and eat desserts.

The trainer tells me that I’m supposed to disassemble my shelter. I don’t feel like doing that. I just want to go to my suite. He shouldn’t be telling me what to do. I push over the shelter and it collapses in a gargantuan pile of wood and rope and leaves. The trainer begins to scold me. He says that he wants to go to his penthouse apartment instead of cleaning up the mess of some little waif. I smile and wave goodbye to him as I enter the elevator. I don’t care about him!

Once I arrive, I stuff my face with all of the sweets that I can! They’re very good. I like the pink ones, and the purple ones, and the blue ones too. The blue ones taste like cotton candy. But the toffee is very sweet as well. It’s so chewy. It gets stuck to my teeth and I have to pick it out with my fingernails. Celestella says that it’s not polite to do that. I don’t really care what she says. She’s so ugly, anyways!

[saphirtheenchantress-blog]

medusa | track

When I think about the night that Gaspard captured me and punished me after I tried to escape the circus, I can realize all of the skills that I am not very good at; that Gaspard neglected to teach me because he knew I would be able to defeat him if he did! Those are the talents that I need to become very good at here in the Capitol! Gaspard was able to overpower me in terms of strength, so I learned hand-to-hand combat. Now he will not be able to defeat me. Gaspard was able to catch up to me, so now I have to learn how to run better. I need to be able to beat Gaspard. He can’t win. Never again.

I approach the track and change into a pair of white sneakers. They do not smell very good. I think that the other tributes have worn them already. I wrinkle my nose at the sour smell. I do not like this scent. I pick up a bottle of air freshener and douse the shoes in the rosy mist. Now my feet smell like “President Snow’s Spring Rose Garden”! It is a very nice scent. I like it.

It almost smells like Gaspard’s cologne.

I remove the shoes and set them aside. I do not like that scent anymore. It is too overwhelmingly suggestive of Gaspard’s essence. I put a new pair on and spray them with “District Four Ocean Breeze”. Much better!

The trainer’s name is Atalanta. She is very fast. She whizzes around the track in a matter of moments. When she arrives at the beginning of the track, she gives me a piece of advice, “Rule number one is that you gotta look up. Imagine that looking at whoever or whatever is behind you will turn you to stone.” It is good advice. She says that if you look down or behind you, you will get very distracted. If I looked behind me when Gaspard was chasing me I would get very distracted. Atalanta is right. I like her.

I run around the track. I am very tired at the end. My chest is heaving up and down, up and down, up and down. It is hard to breathe. My cheeks are very hot. My feet hurt. The ocean breeze scent is beginning to wear off. I can smell the putrid foot smell left behind by the other tributes. It is gross. They should clean these.

I run around it again. This time my feet don’t hurt that much. Maybe they are numb. They are probably numb. At least they don’t hurt! I’m glad that they don’t hurt.

I keep running. Atalanta tells me that I have to move my arms accordingly with my breathing, which should be in through my nose and out through my mouth. I never knew that. It feels very weird. But I need to be able to escape Gaspard. So I don’t mind. I will breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth.

Running is very fun. I feel free when I run. And Atalanta says that being able to run fast and well (which I can do now!) will help me in the arena. I can get weapons quickly at the bloodbath and run away from the other tributes. I don’t know why she thinks you’re supposed to run away from the tributes. You’re supposed to kill them. That’s the whole point of the game!

Now I don’t hurt when I run around the track. Atalanta says that I’m a good runner because I’m very small, and I don’t carry a lot of weight. I zoom around the track. Gaspard wouldn’t be able to catch me like this. He wouldn’t be able to. I know he can’t.

“You will never be able to escape this circus, my darling dear.”

He is here. He wants to kill me. I keep running. I don’t turn around because Atalanta says you can’t turn around because then you will be distracted and then Gaspard will punish you and you will have a lot of red dripping on your back because Gaspard will use the whip. I keep running because Atalanta says I can’t turn around. I can’t turn around.

“Wonderful job, Saphir!” I hear Atalanta praise. I am running very fast now. I zip around the track because I still hear Gaspard threatening me. I do not like this. He keeps saying I can’t escape but I already escaped. I don’t know why he keeps saying it. He shouldn’t be saying it.

I can’t look back because then I will turn to stone. I don’t want that to happen. I run away from the track despite Atalanta’s protestations and enter the elevator. It stops at the first floor and I get off, entering my room and closing the door behind me. I turn around. Gaspard is not there. I defeated him!