"AND HERE WE ARE, DAY TWO OF THE SIXTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES." Caesar spoke into the camera, his hair a violent pink color and blended in with the pink and purple lights of his set. Haymitch always hated this part of the job— the actual heavy lifting that mentors had to do every year. He used to think that working directly with the tributes was harder, but now he found it painfully agonizing to work from the penthouse while they were in the arena. "A little bit later we will be joined by none other that Xavier Reynolds— who has really outdone himself with this spectacular arena. But first let's see how our tributes have done throughout their first night." he smiled, as the the screen quickly switched from his brightly lit studio to the cornucopia where the tributes from One, the girl from Two, and the boy from Three had set up their home base.

     Haymitch glanced down at his communicuff— an oversized silver accessory that mentors wore while their tributes were still alive. From there, they could see their tributes odds, sponsorships, any special gifts from sponsors, and the list of gifts they could choose from along with a place to type a small message that would be screened by a gamemaker before being sent with the gift, if they chose to write one. So far, Deedee had moved up a bit in odds— thanks to Marena. At the bloodbath, Deedee nearly didn't make it— but Marena got her out and they were long gone before the cannons went off. Sage was still holding his place in the top twelve, and his actions to help Boyde got him a few sponsors. It had been a few years since Haymitch had a tribute with any promise at all— it was refreshing to still have both of his tributes alive.

      Haymitch pushed himself off of the couch, where he had made himself comfortable during the night and then made his way to the small wooden bar and got himself his usual flask of whiskey before going to pour himself some coffee as well. As he did all of this, he kept his eyes on the television as much as he could— right now they were still on the career alliance. All of them looked to still be in pretty good shape still...which was better than the situation Sage was in.

      As he made his way back to the couch, just as he was about to make himself comfortable again— there was a knock on the penthouse door. He hated the Capitol for this reason— there was usually always someone who wanted to talk to him. He'd probably even be brought on to speak with Flickerman because of Sages' odds. Because Twelve not had odds like the odds Sage had.

"Haymitch?"

Haymitch sighed heavily as he put his flask and cup of coffee down on the table in front of him before he reluctantly made his way towards the door.

"Haymicth, come on, we know you haven't left yet."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled before he pulled the door open, to reveal Finnick Odair and Kai Marsh— who had lost her communicuff when Boyde killed her tribute. "can I help you?" Haymitch questioned.

"Well, you have this whole penthouse to yourself," Finnick replied, "figured you could have some company."

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Fin says." Kai added as Haymitch stepped aside and allowed the two younger Victor's inside.

"I almost forgot that this was your first year as a mentor." Haymitch confessed as Kai stepped past him. "Is it everything you expected?"

Kai swiftly glared at him.

"Careful," Finnick warned, "it was her first tribute."

"He was my first tribute." Kai corrected as Finnick plopped down on the armchair and made himself comfortable with his feet up on the table. Kai took a seat at the end of the couch. "Does it get easier? Losing tributes?"

Haymitch shook his head, "But it is what it is," he said, sitting down in his place as the camera that the television showed changed to another set of tributes— Haymitch was pretty sure it was the pair from Five. "you win some, you lose more."

"Or in Haymitch's case, you win none, you lose all." Finnick pointed out, "But Sage seems to have a pretty good chance this year." he confessed.

"We'll see..." Haymitch said as he leaned forward and picked up his flask and poured some of its contents into his coffee.

       The tributes from five weren't all that exciting, so the cameras changed— this time to Sage and Boyde. Boyde was still seated against the tree, he didn't look like he moved at all. Sage however had begun to scan the ground that had been in the direct sun yesterday, and was gather sticks of whatever size and making a pile near his ally— who looked like he was shivering. After Sage had a decent pile he dug into his back and pulled out his matches. He then found a small twig from his pile, snapped it a few times and stuck a match before holding it  still, giving the small flame sometime to spread before holding it to the pile.

"Are you feeling any better today?" Sage questioned.

Haymitch sighed heavily, "He should just put the kid out of his misery..." he said, sitting back and crossing his arms across his chest.

Boyde weakly nodded, "I need to find something to drink though..." he replied, motioning to his lips that were still gray in color but were now cracked.

Sage nodded, "Do you think you can stay awake and keep an eye out long enough for me to go try to find water? I'll try not to go far."

Boyde nodded, "Yeah, I should be able to..."

Haymitch's attention was pulled from the screen by a sharp jab of Kai's elbow.

"Send Sage some water. I'm sure he has enough."

"He'd give it to Boyde-"

"A stronger ally would be good for him." Finnick added quickly. "It's still early in the games."

Sage knew that it wasn't looking good; at least not for Boyde. And if it wasn't looking good for Boyde, then it wouldn't be good for Sage either. Because it meant that it would be up to Sage to keep watch as long as possible— part of him thought it may be a good idea to just leave with his bow and arrows— leaving Boyde there. But in past games when tributes did that, they lost whatever sponsors they had and never got one gift. So Sage didn't entertain that idea for long.

He kept his eyes fixated on the ground as he walked, Boyde may have just gotten lucky with the bite. Or maybe it just hadn't killed him yet. Sage had no intention of getting himself bit too.

As Sage looked for water, he had begun to lose hope in finding any. But he began to hear a chiming sound coming from above him— when he looked up, it took him a moment to see it as it found its way through the trees. A silver parachute lowering itself closer to him, ringing as it did so. Attached to it was a silver tube, but the closer it got to him, he saw that it was a thermos. Sage watched its every move, he hoped the wind didn't pick up and decide to carry it away— he hoped there was already water in it. But if it was empty, at least that would mean there was drinkable water— if he had to, he'd have to go back to the clear water they had all started in. He had been so distracted by Boyde and the mutt bite that he hadn't thought much about how thirsty he was. The arena was so hot, and miserable— there was no way he wasn't dehydrated.

As soon as the gift was low enough, Sage snatched it out of the air. The thermos was cold in his hands, and it felt heavy as he untied the parachute from it. He shoved the parachute in one of his pockets— he didn't want anyone finding the parachute and going out of their way way to actually look for him and Boyde around there. Then stuck to the thermos with a piece of tape was a piece of paper; Share. -H.

Sounded simple enough.

Sage took the note off and shoved it in his pocket before eagerly unscrewing the lid of the thermos and tipping it back against his lips. Sure enough, it was filled with water that was still cold. It was refreshing, and it tasted almost as good as the food they had been served in the Capitol. He had to stop himself from simply drinking all of it— of course there was nothing stopping him from just keeping it to himself, he'd be lying if he said the thought didn't cross his mind. Sage put the lid back on the thermos after drinking about a quarter of what had been in it and quickly made his way back to the tree where he had left Boyde.

       When Sage got there, Boyde was still seated against the tree, but now he had pulled his knees up against his chest. Which must have been a good sign if he was able to move a little bit. At least Sage hoped so.

"Hey," Sage started crouching down beside him, "our lucky day." he said, handing the thermos to Boyde.

Boyde took the metal bottle in his hand with wide eyes, "Good, we deserve a bit of luck." he replied, "Must mean there's water around here we could drink."

Sage nodded in agreement, "We should make that last as long as we can though, at least until we find where the water is."

      Boyde nodded in agreement as he eagerly unscrewed the lid and took a decent sized drink like Sage had done before reluctantly putting the lid back on. Immediately he looked better— his skin still wasn't the right color, and he still had his hoodie on and Sage's over his knees— but he was able to actually hold his head up, and move around where he was seated. It was more than he could do yesterday. And now that they had water, hopefully dehydration would be a bit less of a problem.

Sage leaned against the tree and seated himself on the ground— his eyes had grown extremely heavy after being awake the whole night and trying to see the littlest thing that moved in the trees or across the ground during the night. After being on edge for hours without end about whether or not Boyde would die from the bite, whether or not other tributes would find them— whether or not if he would be able to kill them. He wasn't sure if he could— seeing Ryder die literally right in front of him...he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it.

"Sage? Boyde?"

Sage had zoned out, his eyes had been watching the leaves sway in the trees above them. But he quickly peered around the tree across from them, his grip tightened on the metal bow he had across his lap— but instantly he relaxed. Just on the other side of the tree was Marena and Deedee. Deedee had a backpack on, and Marena had a silver double sided spear.

"We were about to go to the other side of the arena," Marena said as she and Deedee made their way to them. "good thing we..." she paused a bit as her eyes got a good look at Boyde. Deedee was unable to hide her shocked reaction as soon as she saw him. "didn't...what happen?"

"Snakes," Boyde replied.

"Mutts." Sage corrected, "Should have seen him yesterday."

"If this is what you look like now, I'd hate to see how you looked yesterday." Marena said, sticking one end of the spear into the dirt before she crouched down to get a better look at Boyde.

"Sage, are you okay?" DeeDee questioned, looking down at him. Sage gave her a quick look over— her shoes were muddy, and her face was flushed red from being in the sun and heat.

Sage nodded, "Yeah," he replied, but she rose a brow and motioned to her own cheek. "oh, that. Yeah, it's fine." he replied before looking to the space between him and Boyde and picked up the thermos. "Here, Haymitch sent it."

Deedee's eyes widened, "Thanks." she said quickly as she took the thermos and unscrewed the lid. Marena's eyes quickly moved from Boyde to the silver metal in Deedee's hands as she took a drink.

"I bet that stream is drinkable, Deedee." she spoke, her voice getting Deedee's attention. As soon as she spoke, Deedee handed the thermos to Marena who quickly snatched it from her to take a drink for herself.

"Stream?" Sage questioned.

Deedee nodded, "Early this morning we had to cross it," she replied.

"And if they sent water in a thermos instead of just a plastic bottle...there must be water we can drink." Marena said, "We could probably get there and back before the hottest part of the day."

      The small alliance made the decision for Deedee to go with Sage— and show him where the stream was while Marena would sit with Boyde. Sage was glad he got to go— moving made it easier to stay awake and alert. He wasn't sure how long they'd be able to set up camp there, eventually they'd have to move. Eventually the gamemakers would get bored of them staying in one place— if they didn't move on their own, the gamemakers would make them move.

"So," Deedee began, "did you...kill any of the tributes yesterday?"

Sage quickly shook his head, "No," he replied, "Boyde did...the boy from Four." Sage said, for a brief moment, Ryder's blank eyes flashed across Sages' mind. "If he hadn't, he probably would have killed me."

"We didn't either," Deedee replied, "Marena and me wanted to get as far from the cornucopia as possible. You think the careers are there?"

Sage nodded, "Oh, probably." he replied as the sound of running water began to fill his ears.

The two made it to the stream, and it was just as clear as the water by the cornucopia. Sage handed Deedee the thermos for her to fill while he stood watching for other tributes. His bow felt heavy in his hands— foreign almost. He preferred his back home, but that wasn't why this one felt wrong— would he really be able to kill someone with it? He really didn't know if he would be able to...

"You should clean your face," Deedee told him, standing up as she put the cover back on the thermos.

She didn't have to say it again, Sage knew she was right. He was just so tired he didn't think of it first so he crouch down and scooped water into his hands— it was just as cold as the water that he had gotten in the thermos. As he used it to wash his face, it was refreshing and the cold was relieving to the ache in his face. However while he enjoyed the cool water and the running water, a cannon exploded and filled the arena. Sixteen tributes were left.

*edited*