#tbptraining3

[sawyer-caldwell]

Only One Victor || D10 Suite || OS

I stayed at the archery station until the Training Center closed and we were sent back to our suites. I was a few minutes late for dinner, but I didn’t really care. I’d have plenty of time to eat when I won the Games. Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t hungry at all. Taking my empty seat, across from Quorra with Merona and Angus on either side of me, I loaded my plate with food while discussing strategy.

When she brought up Sponsors, I could only grin proudly when she reminded me that a man called Darwin was interested in me. He was also interested in Angus and the male from Four, but I felt my odd were good for keeping his attention. I had already written my appeal, but I was definitely interested in tips on how to keep his attention. I was about to say something else when I realized she was addressing Angus. He seemed as surprised as me and mumbled a response through a mouthful of food.

Merona was far from amused and I could see Angus shrink back and away from her as she interrogated him about his plan for the arena. A small part of me wanted to intervene, to my surprise, but I kept my mouth shut and my face passive as she continued to speak. After all, she wasn’t necessarily wrong. He was strong and had the capacity to charm potential sponsors with his innocent sweetness. Still, I wasn’t sure how much of that could be shed once in the arena.

He seemed genuinely petrified by her and I was surprised when I saw tears falling down his face. Making a strangled noise, he stood quickly and retreated to his room, no doubt in hopes of putting as much distance between himself and her as possible. Honestly, if she had gone off on me like that, and I had had the same sweet, softness Angus seemed to have, I probably would have done the same.

Merona sat back in her chair completely unfazed at his movement, before turning her attention to me. “You two come from the same place, yes, but you have an obligation to no one but yourself. I don’t think it’s something I need to tell you, but it is important that you truly understand.”

Nodding my understanding, I excused myself, no longer in the mood to eat, and retreated to my room. Sitting in the dark, I mulled over my thoughts. Everyday brought the Games closer and closer. Though I still felt confident, I had learned that my comprehensive theoretical knowledge would only get me so far. In my head, I went over all of my competitors and my interactions with the few I had met. Laying down, I fell asleep with only one thought in mind.

There is only one Victor.

[heisjudas-blog]

☓ AMBER LAMPS ☓

After practicing at the knives station again, Judas decided that he wanted to take a little break from weapons. His arms were starting to get a little sore from practicing so much, too. There was one station that he had yet to visit that he desperately longed to visit, however, so after he put up the knives he walked on over to the First Aid and Basic Survival station.

The moment he arrived, he was greeted by a woman with long, white hair and white eyebrows. Her eyes were the color of gold and, after noticing that, Judas also noticed that her skin was dotted with tiny gold freckles. By this point, Judas had gotten used to the freakishness of the people of the Capitol, so he didn’t think anything about it as she greeted him.

“Welcome, tribute!” 

Judas nodded and, fortunately, she understood that he was not one to share his personal terrors with a woman who he had just met. She just smiled and then immediately went to work giving Judas a basic background into basic first aid knowledge. Taking a dummy from a nearby table, Judas watched and imitated as she started wrapping bandages on the dummy, making casts, and even imitated the actions she did when one is bleeding heavily. It was like playing monkey-see-monkey-do when he was a baby. Except, when he was a baby, the doctors played monkey-see-monkey-do with him so it would be easier for them to give him shots. He hated that game when he figured it out.

Once she finished, she instructed Judas to try and re-create and re-do everything that she had just taught him while she went to help other tributes. Accepting the challenge, Judas went to work repairing the dummy, setting its fake injuries, and treating its pretend-bleeding self. When he thought he had finished, he looked at the dummy and then to a chart that depicted what his treatments were supposed to look like. If anything needed fixing, Judas would start all over again so as to better learn. If he were heavily injured in the arena, he would not have time to muck about. He needed to know now because it wold be far too late then.

Eventually, when the bubbly trainer returned, Judas had gotten the hang of most of the things she had showed her. It was simple, all of it. That was why it was called basic, after all. However, it was better than knowing nothing. Now, he had an understanding of how to save himself in the arena. It wasn’t a matter of if he would need it like some of these tributes probably thought, but when. It was foolish to expect anything other than total destruction in something like this. Looking back up, Judas saw the trainer looking at him expectantly.

“Thanks.” 

She clapped her hands together and bowed her head. “I got you! I got you to speak! Some of the other trainers around here have mentioned you and how you never talk! I win! I win!” Immediately, when those words came out of her mouth, Judas regretted saying anything to her. She was just like the rest of them, always had to gain something from everything. Turning around in disgust, he left the woman alone, satisfied with the knowledge he had gained from the training station, but disgusting and annoyed with who had taught it to him.

[sawyer-caldwell]

Shooting For Gold || Archery || OS

Approaching the archery station, I could feel my excitement mounting. Archery was a craft that required a high level of technical skill and understanding of physics. Unlike swordsmanship or hand to hand combat, both which did require a special skill set of their own, archery required a bit more finesse and sophistication. So much so, that I had spent extra time in the library reading up on it.

I had been disappointed when I was unable to make it to the archery station on the second day, but I didn’t dwell on it. The station was clear of any other Tributes and I took it as a sign that today was my day.Waving away the Trainer that approached, I began examining the various bows, I choosing a long, light model and getting into position. Keeping my feet shoulder width apart, I altered my posture to match the one described in the book and set an arrow on the bow’s nocking point.

Regulating my breathing, I pulled back on the string, lining it up at my chin, I kept my arm in the designated position, relishing in the pull of the bow. The bow’s extra length increased the amount of work required to keep the arrow steady on the string, and I could feel the strain in my arm, but I forced myself not to fire, wanting the sensation to become familiar to me.

After repeating that same action several more times, I could feel my arm tiring significantly, but I continued on until the motion and position became comparably reflexive. Deciding to move on, I settled on a target relatively close to me and pulled back, releasing the arrow and watching it fly towards the target. It embedded its tip into the outermost ring of the target, and I frowned slightly when I realized that the arrow had barely stuck.

Loading another arrow, I pulled back further, knowing the increased force would allow the arrow to stick more securely into the target. My left hand that held the bow lowered by a few degrees in order to compensate for the added energy. Releasing the arrow, I smiled triumphantly as the arrow stuck in the target once more, but this time slightly closer to the target, though still falling within the parameters of the outermost ring.

I continued firing arrow after arrow, making minute modification between each shot in order to edge closer and closer to the bullseye. It was definitely not a quick process, but with each arrow I fired, I could see the progress I was making. Every adjustment I made resulted in the arrows sticking closer and closer. I was progressing on a fairly linear track, and with every shot my familiarity and comfort with the weapon increased.

After I’d fired easily eighty arrows, I finally made a bullseye. Grinning triumphantly, I made a mental note of the angle my arm had been at and how far back I’d pulled the string. Loading another arrow, I did my best to emulate the same conditions, knowing that replication was key. After all, if it wasn’t repeatable, it might was most likely a fluke. For the first time, I felt anxious as I pulled back on the string, fighting the urge to hold my breath. On my exhale, I forced myself to release the arrow, tracking it down range as it embedded itself in the bullseye, only an inch or so away from the other arrow.

Firing three more arrows, I smiled widely as they all fell within a cluster group on the bullseye. I knew that the target wasn’t all that far down range, but I still felt proud of my progress. With the technique down, all Id have to do is make sure I knew which things needed to be adjusted to hit targets of different sizes at different distances. Shaking out my arms, I prepared for more practice. After all, I was shooting for the gold, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way.

[winnie-da-pooh]

Wednesday Mason: Status Update

Trap Queen- OS

Moved some things around in making traps and snares, gave some attitude, normal shit. 

Boring- OS

Speaks for itself, threw some knives for funsies, pretty basic.

[anguscorriedale-blog-blog]

Evening Day 3 - Dinner (OS)

"Have you appealed to any Sponsors yet?" Merona's voice asked clearly.

It's been a quiet meal so far, so the question kind of comes out of nowhere, but I assume Merona is talking to Sawyer. When I look up from my plate of what was apparently beef (even though beef is not supposed to be that pale...) everyone is staring at me. "What?" I say with a mouthful of food. "Were you talking to me?"

"I cannot understand you with food in your mouth." Her eyes are locked onto me. She's not blinking. I swallow my food with a loud gulp.

"Um... I hadn't really though about Sponsors too much." I felt like I was at school trying to explain my way out of why my homework wasn't done. "It didn't seem that important?"

"It is important. You should make an appeal. Darwin has shown interest in both you and Sawyer." The way she stared so intently when talking to you was really quite creepy. I was kind of glad I hadn't really spoken to her until now, if she was always this intense.

"Okay. Then I'll make an appeal for Sawyer. Double her chances."  That made sense, didn't it? Two appeals for one tribute, that would double her chances of sponsorship.

I saw Merona tense and for a split second it looked like she was going to lunge forward and attack me. "Could you really be so stupid?" She spat her words at me. "Despite the fact that Darwin would not appreciate the gesture of solidarity, you would be so stupid to risk your chance of sponsorship on someone else? Someone you barely know?"

"You do realise Sawyer is sitting right there," I tell her loudly. "It's rude to talk about someone as if they're not here when they're in the room."

"I'm not talking about her," she said sharply, standing up and towering over me. "I'm talking about you, you stupid boy. You think this is some nobel thing, to put others before yourself? Looking out for everyone else? Being everyone's friend? Martyring yourself for someone who has a 'better chance'?"

Her voice had gotten low and quiet, which was somehow so much worse than if she was shouting. "Let me tell you something," she said, learning right in as I shrunk away from her. "You have just as much chance as anyone out there. But you're going to lose any chance you have by keeping up this stupid idea that someone else deserves it more."

She stepped back and sat down again. "Just by letting yourself think like that, you've lost."

The table was quiet after that. All I could hear was my heartbeat going a mile a minute. I could feel myself shaking. My face felt like it was burning. I felt something wet drip down my face, and it took me a few moments to realise why.

"Excuse me," I try to say, but it come out as a weird noise instead. I need to get out. I stand up shaking, nearly tripping over my chair as I quickly leave the dining room and go back to my dorm.

I don't really know what happened. I can't remember what I did after I got back to my room. Everything felt hazy and unreal, as if I wasn't really in my body anymore. All I know is that I never want to feel that again.

[naxos-cadfan]

Inner Sanctum || Meditation || OS

Life declares war on the body; prepare for battle by exercising your body and mind to its peak, your quality and survival depend on it.”

“Back so soon?” Genesis’s voice rang as I burst through the door of the apartment, “Gotta grab something really quick!” I called as I darted into my room, snatched my chain with the sign of Mars hanging from it, and headed right back out.

“What did you forget?” 

“I’ll show you later!”

“Promise?”

“Promise!” I yelled as I flew out of the door and back down the stairwell, clasping the chain around my neck and tucking it under my shirt. 

One thing I have strangely come to like about Genesis is her natural curiosity: always asking questions, always fishing for more. And here I thought people from the Capitol were running on auto-pilot. Whatever changed that in her I was somewhat thankful for. I even got to show her a few of my tricks of the trade after the first night. But it was still a bit unsettling to hear her say she could “sell me" because of my intuition and creativity.

I really haven’t had much time to myself over the last few days: between Genesis being up my ass and training. There wasn’t much time left in today’s session and I want some “me time” before I met with Dani for dinner.

Thankfully the zen garden was empty when I got down there, the sun only beginning to set and giving the whole outdoor area a nice glow. There was something homey about it. I took off my shoes and socks, lit some incense, frankincense. The same kind I used back home.

I learned how to meditate from Marathon: how to empty my thoughts and relax myself entirely, to be in tune with myself and everything around me, the discipline and focus that has guided me to this point in my life.

“Move swift as the Wind, and closely-formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be as still as the Mountain.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma.

My mind started to wander as I felt my body relax.

I thought back to the day Marathon gave Troy, Carth and I the charms of the war Gods he got from the market, 

“Why do we need these?” Carth asked, “Think of it as a good luck charm, that someone’s watching out for you, guiding you.” I explained, “But, that’s what I got brothers for.” Carth replied. “Sometimes even we need someone watching our backs.” I replied.

The last conversation Marathon and I had in the Justice Building,

“We’ll be with you, in body, mind,” he poked at the symbol of Mars that was tucked under my shirt, “Let Him guide you when we can’t.”

The necklace rose and fell with each steady breath.

“War knows no mercy: no innocents or guilty.” Marathon repeated, “This isn’t the time to worry about others, for once in your damn life, Nax, be selfish.”

I opened my eyes and starred at the faint line of smoke trailing off the incense.

My mind wandered to the names and lives I’ve put to faces over the last few days: Horne and Mira, Cypress and Jamdani, and the next battle within the war I would have to face.

“There’s a difference between fighting with someone and fighting for someone.” Marathon said, “This isn’t a time to be a hero or lead others, and I know that you know that. You need to worry about yourself, and only yourself.”

And I am. My brothers. My parents. My friends. My future. That's the only thing that matters.  I’m not here to defend others the way I did Pexey back home, or lend a helping hand the way I do with my brothers. There are no heroes here.

“And sometimes acknowledging that change is in its’ own way a sign of bravery, courage, to overcome yourself.”

The words passed to me by Styx crossed my mind,

“It shaped me into someone that I never thought I would be, much as the Games will shape you into being someone that you have to be.”

A transition I accepted the minute I stepped foot on that train.

“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.”

To be adaptable, and in this case, to be willing to abandon those values and morals I was raised on for the sake of my own survival, flipping that switch from civilian to soldier. 

But that doesn’t mean I’ll have to lose myself entirely.

“Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but maintaining ones balance in spite of them.”

I wasn’t sure how long I was sitting there for in complete silence, motionless, my mind and body at ease. Peaceful, as if there was no storm brewing.

“Remember that, and I’ll see you soon.”

And you will.

[meredith-wilk]

the walrus and the carpenter ;; traps and snares ;; self-para

“You need to be smart to make the perfect trap, Alice.” The Walrus spoke and the Carpenter merely nodded excessively. “Pick up the book and start reading. Gather materials and I will show you the perfect way to make a trap. The Hatter told me you will need to perfect traps and snares for your competitors. So get to work!”

Meredith read through the book as quickly as she could then she placed it down to pull her hair up and away from her peripheral vision. “Materials,” She reminded herself under her breath, then began to collect all the proper materials. “Is this okay, Walrus?” He nodded yes and told her to get to work. Along the way he taught her what to do, “Not like that Alice!” ..... “Yes like that!” 

After about an hour, Meredith finished two traps, the Carpenter gave her two thumbs and told her she did amazing. Her face brightened by the compliment because relying on the Walrus for advice was troubling. “Thank you Carpenter! Can we test it out?” Her friends both nodded, so Meredith told the trainer to test it. The trap’s objective was to trap the person/animal in a net, cancelling their ability to move freely. It was devilish of her, but the Hatter told her she needed to learn this. 

The trainer threw a plastic rabbit onto the strategically placed leaves and the trap sprang into motion. Meredith jumped for joy, “It worked!” The Walrus and the Carpenter both smiled. The other trap worked as well, but Meredith didn’t stop there. She needed to learn more. After another hour, she had learned a total of six different traps. “I think that is enough training for today, Alice. Go train elsewhere now.” Meredith nodded then skipped away. 

[meredith-wilk]

i know places ;; forest: tracking ;; self-para

Meredith noticed they added new stations, and judging by the additions, the arena was possibly going to have the forest involved.. The girl with raven hair cracked her knuckles then walked towards the forest biome station, hoping to accomplish the tracking station by the request of the Hatter. Glancing around, she noticed no one was coming to this stations - yet - so Meredith had to act fast if she wanted to avoid talking to someone. She walked up to the tracking station and listened to the instructor.

He talked about paying attention to detail and told Meredith how she can find small clues as to where the thing you’re going after can be. He also told her how she can hide her own tracks in order to keep anyone off her trail. Meredith grabbed all her gear then walked off into the fake forest they had installed for this specific station. Meredith followed the tracks of a fox, and made sure she was covering up her own tracks in case a tribute was to try and track her down. The Hatter yawned, “Hurry up, Alice. You need to find the fox quickly so you can find the tributes even faster.”

Meredith felt like she was walking around in circles, she was finding it difficult to track down this fox, but she was beginning to get the hang of hiding her own tracks. Meredith stopped, and pressed her back to one of the trees and scanned the area; from the corner of her eyes the girl saw the fire-y red fur flicker in the darkness. Bingo. Without haste, the girl grabbed the fox and ran back to the start so she can practice somewhere else. “That was fun Hatter! Where to now?”