Obstacles to Climb {Rachel/Bolts}

[kap]

RACHEL VIOLETTE | 74th HUNGER GAMES | DISTRICT TWO FEMALE

Another mountain to climb; that's what the training before the Games was. She just had to get through the training and avoid making enemies, and then she'd be in the arena before she knew it. That was what Rachel had wanted, wasn't it? It was more so what her father wanted, in all actuality. Her father had always pushed her to volunteer, even if the rest of her family didn't know he was doing that. He very well could have been pushing his own daughter to her death.

Rachel had decided to wander around the training center a bit that day. She knew that if she got to know other tributes, she had to get on their good side, so that was her goal right then.

Make friends, not enemies, and you'll be fine. Rachel thought to herself. She decided it was best to scope out someone who didn't look like they wanted to kill her on the spot, which meant most of the other volunteers were probably out of the question. Therefore, when she saw the boy from District Three, she had decided to approach him. He didn't seem like a bad guy, but he didn't seem like he wanted to be there, either. Maybe that would be a good sign, and she could befriend him rather than become rivals. Rachel was usually good at making friends. She had been a sweet girl back in District Two, generally looking out for others, more than herself. In the arena, of course, she'd have to be looking out for herself instead. In the arena, she couldn't think about wanting to help others. She'd have to hurt them.

In the training center, though, she wasn't to hurt anyone. No fighting was allowed before the arena, which was likely a good thing, as that meant that there'd be no early deaths, and everyone would get at least a little extra time to survive. The Games were a death sentence for twenty-three of the tributes there, though. One would survive, and there was no way of knowing who it would be right then. If she were to die, who would be her killer? Would it be someone who truly wanted her dead, and enjoy the act of killing her, or would it be someone who was only doing it to survive, and felt regret after the fact? Rachel simply hoped that if she died, she'd go down fighting. She wasn't going to just let it happen, that was for sure.

At the moment, though, she needed to push the thought of death out of her mind. She was going to speak with the boy from Three; Bolts Spark, she believed his name was. He had curly locks of hair that were the color of fiery sparks, which was fitting, given his last name. Rachel finally went over to him and spoke up.

"What're you working on?" she asked the boy. As far as she had seen so far, this boy seemed to like to tinker with things, so she thought that perhaps he was doing something interesting. Maybe she could even pick up on it and learn it herself, or at least give it a shot.


528 words
Chevi

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[Chevi]

BOLTS SPARK

DISTRICT THREE

Bolts had never held a weapon in his life, and he sure as hell did not want the other tributes to know that.

Weapons were a strange concept. So far, his life had revolved around work, and family dinners, and picking things apart and putting them back together. Weapons were not something that fit into that life; the closest he ever got to one was whenever he saw a Peacekeeper on the street, and he had always made sure not to do that often. He wondered what Joule would say, seeing him picking up something that was meant to kill people. 
Or what she would tell him to do.

Bolts liked to think things through, so for now he just stood, watching other tributes make their way to stations, following with his eyes as they picked up one weapon or another. He would have to look at least halfway confident once he'd made up his mind...

>>"What're you working on?"

"Hmm?" Bolts looked up to see one of the girls from the upper districts.He did not realize he was fidgeting again, this time with a piece of string from the trapping station. It might have looked like he was making something from a distance, and he wondered if that was what had drawn the girl to him. Taking a closer look, he seemed to recognize the face.

"Two, right? You volunteered?"

There had been a couple of volunteers, but whatever the number, people loved to talk about them. One had to be a special kind of... person to go into the Games voluntarily. That was something Bolts would never understand. 

BY CHELSEY

[kap]

RACHEL VIOLETTE | 74th HUNGER GAMES | DISTRICT TWO FEMALE

Bolts, the boy from District Three that Rachel had approached, seemed to be messing with a piece of string. The boy was smart, so the girl from Two figured that he was likely trying to make something, or come up with some sort of idea. It wouldn't surprise her if he did. When she approached him, he looked up at her. Bolts then seemed like he was trying to figure out who he was. Finally, he seemed to have realized at least what District she was from, if not her name.

"Two, right. You volunteered?" he asked.

He remembered. At least someone was paying attention. she thought. She gave a slight smile, and nodded in response.

"Yeah. The name's Rachel. You're Bolts, right? District Three?" Rachel replied, then leaving him with her own inquiry. She knew who he was, but figured that was a good way to carry the conversation on from more than just a 'what are you working on' because she had been curious.

Rachel knew that Bolts hadn't volunteered. His name had been called out to District Three, and he had gone up to the stage, no one wanting to take his place. It was often that way in the non-career Districts. There weren't very many volunteers outside of One, Two and Four. Maybe there was reason for that, but Rachel personally preferred to live in a District where she knew that had she been the one picked and didn't want to go into the Games, there would have been someone wanting to take her place. Although, as someone who was urged to volunteer by her father, that meant she had competition when she tried to get into the Games. Luckily, she was the first to shout out the words 'I volunteer!' and was allowed to come to the Capitol to prepare for a fight to the death. Many people wouldn't volunteer to do such a thing, but Rachel mostly did it to test herself, and bring her father pride in his daughter.

She had gone up to that stage, full of confidence, and ready to fight. Why did she feel the urge to want to maim and kill others, just for her own glory? Before she had been pushed by her father into volunteering, she was a sweetheart, kind toward others, and even trying to avoid watching the Games when she could. What had changed inside her on the day of the reaping?

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[Chevi]

BOLTS SPARK

DISTRICT THREE

>>"Yeah. The name's Rachel. You're Bolts, right? District Three?"

"That's me" Bolts nodded, suddenly feeling a bit guilty that she had not remembered the girl's name. He had watched the Reapings on the train, trying to see what kind of people he was going into the area with; not that the official feed told him a lot, but still, now that he was face to face with them it would have been useful to put names to faces.

The girl did not look... formidable. She was not how Bolts had pictured careers would look up close. He was also at a loss of anything to say to ther; the things he wanted to say, or ask, were hardly appropriate, given that they were days away from becoming mortal enemies. He gave up with a sigh, deciding to just try his best and leave it at that.

"There is a lot to do" he admitted, glancing around at the stations "I'm trying to decide where to start."

BY CHELSEY

[kap]

RACHEL VIOLETTE | 74th HUNGER GAMES | DISTRICT TWO FEMALE

Bolts confirmed that he was indeed who Rachel had assumed that he was. The boy's curly, fiery red hair was hard to forget, admittedly, and was likely why Rachel had remembered who he was. There were a lot of tributes with the same, ginger-colored hair this time around, including both of the ones from District Three. It was somewhat interesting to the girl to see so many tributes with an uncommon appearance feature in common. She, however, pushed this out of her mind when the boy let out a sigh. It seemed as if he had wanted to say something and decided against it.

He told her there was a lot to do, and was unsure of where to start. Rachel understood that. She almost felt bad for the boy, too. He hadn't volunteered, and certainly didn't seem like he wanted to be there. She wondered how well he would do. Rachel surely wanted to win herself, or let it be one of her alliance members if she didn't make it, but she silently had a little bit of hope for Bolts. Maybe he would make it quite a ways, or at least, should he die, if wouldn't be too excruciatingly painful. That's what she hoped, anyway.

"Ah, yeah. It can be tough to know where to start." she paused for a moment and looked around to make sure no one was listening. Then, she lowered her voice to make sure only Bolts could hear her. "Look, I know that we're going to be pitted against each other in a death match rather soon, but you seem like a nice guy, so I'll give you just the slightest bit of advice. Learning how to use weapons in such a short amount of time is difficult. Yeah, you may want to learn them a little so you can fight back if someone goes after you, but from what I know, the arena is rather unforgiving. You'll want some survival skills."

She continued, her voice still at a whisper, "I'm admittedly not quite sure why I'm telling you this, but you don't seem like you asked to be here, so that's the advice I'll give you. Admittedly, I don't know if I'd want to kill someone. My father forced me into career training and convinced me to volunteer. I may want to fight more than you do, but that doesn't mean I want you to die early on." she paused momentarily, looking down at her feet and then back at Bolts. "I'll try not to kill you if I don't have to."

She wasn't sure why she said that last part. She wasn't making a truce with the boy, nor an alliance. Rachel was simply saying what she thought, and trying to reassure Bolts. She didn't really want to kill an innocent. If anything, she'd aim for those she thought not to be deserving of being a victor, first. She felt she deserved it, yes, but did the innocents deserve it too? She didn't know for sure. She just knew that she had an odd feeling that attacking Bolts may not be her best choice, at least not first. Helping him, however, when they aren't allied; was that a smart idea?

535 words

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[Chevi]

BOLTS SPARK

DISTRICT THREE

>>"Ah, yeah. It can be tough to know where to start..."

Bolts agreed. The girl had volunteered, so she had to know what she was doing... or at least have a pretty good idea, definitely more so than he did. 
She proceeded to tell him about the importance of survival stations. He had figured he'd have to know some basic skills to make it in the arena; from what he knew, many tributes were killed by the environment before they ever got around to fighting for their lives against someone else. He nodded, grateful for her advice, although he was not sure why she was giving it so willingly. Apparently, neither was she.

>> "I'm admittedly not quite sure why I'm telling you this, but you don't seem like you asked to be here, so that's the advice I'll give you. Admittedly, I don't know if I'd want to kill someone. My father forced me into career training and convinced me to volunteer. I may want to fight more than you do, but that doesn't mean I want you to die early on... I'll try not to kill you if I don't have to."

"I... appreciate that?" Bolts blinked, surprised that the girl would speak so openly. Was this some kind of a mind game careers were taught to do? Bolts shook his head, not liking how he felt more and more paranoid around the others. It would defeat him before anything else got to it.

"Why did your father want you to volunteer?..." he asked, momentarily forgetting that he did not plan on asking things like that. It kind of slipped out like her admission. Why would a parent send their child willingly into the arena? "... I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that."

BY CHELSEY

[kap]

[googlefont="Nothing You Could Do:400"][googlefont="Boogaloo:400"]

Rachel Violette

Rachel had always been an open, honest person. Although, perhaps that wasn't the best trait to have when it came to getting ready for the Games. She had even confused herself a bit as to why she was giving the boy from Three advice, when he wasn't even her ally. Bolts thanked her for her advice, which was at least a good sign, though she was sure that it seemed odd for her to being giving him any pointers in the first place. Then, he spoke again, asking her why her father wanted her to volunteer. Was that something she should share with anyone? If she told Bolts, would he find a way to use it against her? After all, the boy was clever. Rachel paused for a moment before speaking.

"Well, I guess it was more or less because he never had the guts to do it himself when he was of reaping age." she told him. It wasn't too much information, but it wasn't too little. It had to be the perfect amount of what to say to answer his question but not spill any weaknesses that may be found from the words she let out. Rachel gave a slight laugh with what she had said. It must have seemed odd, volunteering because your parent wanted you to. At that, your parent wanting you to volunteer because they never had the courage themselves. It was a strange circumstance, the girl from Two realized.

"Do you have anyone rooting for you back home? Someone you're trying to go back to?" Rachel inquired. She wasn't sure why she was asking this, though. Would it help her later on if she had to fight him? Of course, it was possible. Although, that wasn't what she was looking for. If anything, she just wanted to get to know him a bit better, since he may be the last person she spoke to before being killed. If he were the one to end her life, she would want to at least know his story. Rachel would want to know if there was reason for him to live instead of her. Of course, when they get to the arena, everyone will think they deserve to be the victor more than the next person, right?

There couldn't be anyone who actually wanted to die in the arena, surely. No one wanted to feel that pain, or have their families have to watch them suffer. It wouldn't be something that any sane person would desire. Rachel certainly didn't want to be killed, and she definitely didn't want her family to see her die, even if her father was the one that motivated her to go into the death match in the first place. How far could she really make it?

^Credit to the wonderful Puppy for the template!^