｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
𝔤𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔩
trois. — first day of training!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Titan anxiously tapped his foot to a rhythm that clearly only he could hear as the two stood in a tense silence the next morning in the lift on the way down to the training centre. The two of them had been given near identical outfits consisting of; tight black bottoms, a long-sleeved emerald green tunic, and leather shoes. Mallory had tried to tame her thick hair into some semblance of a ponytail, stubbornly still using her weathered old hairband from home instead of a new one from the Capital.

The subtle act of rebellion put a smile on her face.

"So, what's the game plan?" Titan rattled out as they got closer and closer to the training centre, "I know some tributes ally with their district partners—,"

"—I'm gonna stop you there big guy." Mallory patted him on the back, faux sympathy dripping from her demeanour, "Just because we come from the same place doesn't mean we're friends or allies, no I need an ally who is both skilled and yet not physically stronger than me."

"You look like you could squish my head like a grape," the two stepped off the lift, Titan staring at her with wide eyes as they joined the other tributes, "that automatically takes you out of the running, sorry."

Mallory slinked away from him discreetly as she looked around the enormous gymnasium. It was filled with various weapons and obstacle courses, Johanna would be training Mallory in private while Blight would be training Titan. Johanna had told her to showcase her strength in the training sessions, they wouldn't be falling for the weak, meek District Seven act two consecutive years in a row. She needed to prove that she wasn't to be messed with while also scoping out potential allies.

The other tributes were gathered around in a tense circle, dresses similar to her and Titan with their district numbers pinned to their shirts. Mallory could already see the groups beginning to form. The Careers from District's one and two seemed awfully close as they snickered at the sight of some of the younger, weaker looking tributes. The boy from four seemed to be on the edge of their group — weary about leaving his bright haired district companion behind, though she seemed perfectly content analysing the other tributes and scribbling in a notebook.

A minute after the last tributes arrived the head trainer — Atala — a tall, athletic and overall formidable woman stepped up and began to explain their training schedule.

Experts in each skill would remain at their stations. They were free to travel from area to area as they chose, per their mentor's instructions. Some of the stations taught survival skills, others fighting techniques. They were forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute — a rule Mallory could see being broken almost immediately — though there were assistants on hand if they wanted to practice with a partner.

As Atala began reading down the list of skill stations, Mallory allowed herself to browse for suitable allies. The Careers were out of the question — especially with the slightly maniacal looking redhead from District One. The girl and boy from three looked like they could possibly be useful, the girl from four seemed intriguing as she kept scribbling down notes, possibly the girl from nine, and the boy and girl from ten were so skinny and frail she was sure they would be the first to die.

The tributes all began wandering off to their respective chosen stations, The Career pack immediately showing off their skills as to intimate the other tributes. Mallory however found her eyes following a certain bright haired tribute as she found a small area to continue writing in, approaching her with a spring in her step Mallory sported her usual friendly grin, "What are you writing about?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Hey! I'm just a girl trying to make friends, I'm Mal," the girl barely glanced up from her writing, "this is the part where you tell me your name, unless you want me to keep calling you Carrot-Top in my head."

"It's Elpis," the girl finally looked up from her book and looked up at her, "and I'm just assessing the other tributes' threat levels."

Elpis, it suited her, with her vibrant long hair that was tied into a neat braid and porcelain skin. She was only around an inch shorter than Mal, but she had much less muscle definition and an obvious swimmer's build that most tributes from her district had. Mal found that the girl was actually quite pretty despite the constant analytical look on her face that made her appear a little older than when her face was relaxed. Like the rest of them her green eyes were heavy with bags, their impending doom making it difficult for most of the tributes to get a good night's sleep.

"Oh, where am I? I bet I'm high up," Mal pointed at the girl's neat handwriting, "I'm in the top threats, consider me flattered. But why are the child and eyebrows on there?"

The two glanced over at the ginger siblings from District Five, the girl was only young and after she had been reaped her older brother had volunteered in the hopes of protecting her in the games, "They're family, they both have something to lose in the arena. Love makes people do crazy things, they're wild cards."

"Fair enough, so why aren't you with your District partner and the other Careers."

"I'm not an idiot and I don't feel like getting stabbed in the back, my grandpa told me to stay away from groups. Find one person if I have to," Elpis worried her lip between her teeth as she glanced around, "only I've never been much good at making friends — Finnick, my mentor is trying to get me to work on that."

"You're grandpa sounds like a wise man," Mal nodded along to Elpis' story, "and hey you've already found your ally."

"You?"

"Why not? You're the brains, I'm the brawn — between us we'd make a good team. And when the tributes start dwindling down into single digits we go our separate ways and hope someone else kills the other so we don't inevitably come to a standoff." Mal held out her hand, "Allies?"

Elpis glanced at her hand wearily for a moment before placing her much softer, smaller hand in the girl's firm grip, "Allies."

"Well, I better go show these nerds not to mess with us." Mal sighed as she saluted her before walking away towards the axes.

Mal glanced up at the Gamemakers who towered above the tributes on a platform and observed them. Making it to the axe section she picked one up and tested the weight and balance with a satisfied hum of approval. Before her was some sort of key pad with complex technology she didn't completely understand, guessing a little she set the settings to a hard difficulty, as she did that the doors swung open and revealed a room with clear walls.

Stepping inside she didn't have more than a second to prepare before a hologram of a tribute rushed towards her with a knife in hand — though she was taken aback by how quickly it had started she found her footing and swung the axe into the hologram's skull making it evaporate upon contact. Spinning around her hair came free of its sloppy ponytail as she managed to block a hologram's blade with the handle of her axe before kicking it in the back of the leg and lodging her axe in it's back. Like the others it too disintegrated into nothingness.

The adrenaline spread through her veins as her heart beat got faster and faster, as more holograms were savagely destroyed. Sweat beaded on her forehead she wondered if she could do this in reality, if she could dig her axe into the other tributes and just imagine they were holograms.

Violet and Kaleb's faces flashed in her mind and she knew her answer.

If it meant getting home, and seeing their little smiling faces again then she would do what was necessary. Blowing a piece of hair from her face she spun on her heel to face the last hologram that was sprinting towards her with a spear. Pulling her left arm back she took a deep breath before sending the axe sailing through the air and into the chest of the hologram, the item dropping to the floor with a loud clang as the last one was defeated.

Looking out from the simulation to the rest of the room she found a number of tributes and Gamemakers staring at her in surprise. The girl from District One stared at her from the sword section with a nasty glare, Mal simply smirking back in response before letting her gaze travel to a certain redhead who was working on a fire at the survival skills section, her smirk turning to a genuine smile at the awed look on her face.

Mal sent the girl a discreet wink before saluting the Gamemakers and heading over to another station, the spring in her step not unnoticed.

Nailed it.

AUTHORS NOTE!
Ahh only two more days of training, the evaluations and the interviews and then it's into the games!

I wanted to kind of highlight and show that it's Johanna's first year as a mentor so she's not going to be the best advisor because she has no experience yet, since she was quiet and meek the year before she knows that won't work two years in a row and has told Mal to do a complete 180 and just go over the top with confidence and showing off her skills and that she isn't to be messed with (not the usual advice given unless your a career). Just wanted to mention this because obviously Jo won't be the perfect mentor on a first year.

Also Mal and Elpis have my entire heart!

Remember to vote, comment and or share please lovelies if you enjoyed <333

unedited
-summer