training bears.— [peter/ivan]

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P E T E R    W E B S T E R - V Ă D U V A

My training might as well had a big "COPYRIGHT: TEDDY URSA 76TH" stamp on it at this point.

I had mainly been strategising with him, doing a lot of the actual training on my own. But it didn't help that even when I wasn't trying to copy Teddy, I was still copying Teddy. Ever since I was a kid I was a Teddy Ursa fan. So from watching reruns of some of his fights, especially his fight against Emberly, his techniques with a spear were ingrained in me at this point.

I thought about that fight a lot. Teddy saying he didn't want to do this. Him remembering the dead. Teddy trying to find himself, searching for himself. He seemed so lost, so scared. Normally when I see him, I don't see that scared kid. I see a confident man, a man who knows himself. That's what I saw when I first met him, when I told him about my date with Sabrina, when I told him about the consequences of that date, and even when I asked for advice about getting into the college.

The only time I saw that kid in Teddy was on the train, he still seemed lost.

But as I did yet another Teddy move, I realised something. I was looking for some sort of gimmick. Something to make me memorable and stand out. A lot of the people who did well had something. The Le Roux's were lions. Flynn was the sharpshooter. Teddy was a sweetheart. Nixie was the underdog out of the careers. And I could try to be a mini Teddy Ursa, Teddy's protégé, something related to Teddy like that. It wasn't exactly a secret that him and I were close prior to the reaping. And I was planning to use a spear regardless, it was just a coincidence he also had one.

That's when I decided to be Teddy Ursa but with flair. I had a history in gymnastics. I figured it would help with dodging and also just look cooler to do some cool tricks with the spear, maybe a flip or two. And I guess my strategy for my gimmick worked. After one particularly cool-looking attack, a trainer who must've been watching me spoke up.

"Not bad, Little Teddy."

I didn't even notice him there prior, which is surprising because this guy definitely looked attention grabbing. How many piercings did he have? Not that I had issues with lots of piercing, he just had a lot. Like a metric shit ton. I knew he probably saw me with Teddy prior. The first day here I practically followed him around like a lost puppy. I felt like a lost puppy. I missed my family the most that day, and he was the closest thing I had to family here. He might as well of been family.

"Peter actually, Teddy is about twice my age with brown hair. But it's an easy mix-up."

I laughed to try to show I was joking, and then I nervously started hoping he thought I was funny. This didn't seem like the type of guy I wanted on my bad side.

[ 517 words ]
[ table by pogue ]

[kap]

Ivan Rin

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Ivan was typically more the type to try to avoid gossip, but when it came to training these kid for the Hunger Games, he realistically needed to know as much about them as possible. So, he listened in on things. There was one kid in particular that Ivan seemed to hear a lot about: one of the tributes from District Six, Peter. Apparently, Peter had gotten someone pregnant before getting pulled into the Hunger Games, and was going to have a son. There were also rumors going around about he and Flynn Garner that Ivan decided not to think too much on (as he really felt it wasn't his place), and it was pretty apparent that he was basically a "teacher's pet" to Teddy Ursa.

Watching this kid train, Ivan supposed, was what made it even more apparent that he'd modeled his fighting style after the Seventy-Sixth victor. The way he moved. His stance. The way he struck when he attacked: everything just screamed "look at me, I'm Teddy's clone!" and it was both somewhat entertaining and somewhat concerning. If this kid thought he could win by copying a victor's fighting style, chances were he was wrong.

Sure, there was certainly a chance it could work out for him. Although, there was definitely a strong chance that it wouldn't. As Ivan watched him make his moves like Teddy, he started to approach the kid from the side. After a moment or so, when he actually made a pretty solid attack, Ivan decided to compliment him, but also be sure to make note of his likeness to the victor he was trying to imitate.

"Not bad, Little Teddy," Ivan commented.

With a laugh, Peter corrected him.

"Peter actually, Teddy is about twice my age with brown hair. But it's an easy mix-up."

Ivan gave a slightly amused smirk in response.

"Right," he confirmed. "Peter."

He looked at Peter for a moment before continuing.

"So, Peter, tell me," he started. "Is fighting like Teddy your only strategy?" He wasn't trying to sound like he was saying that that was a terrible plan, no. He just wanted to see what Peter's thoughts were and see what he could do to supplement them.

"Teddy was a good fighter, but that can't be all you take for your training. You need some of your own strategies, techniques and methods of doing things, too. Got anything else?"

Ivan was genuinely curious to see what this kid was capable of if he weren't just trying to mind-meld with a victor.

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wc: 412

[Deleted]

P E T E R    W E B S T E R - V Ă D U V A

He actually seemed to find my jokes funny, that’s a first. Other than Sabrina. She always seemed to find my jokes funny even if they were more stupid than anything. I miss that about her, actually I missed a lot about her. Her smile, her hugs, her kind words… I wished I asked her to make it official. We were having a son together for ripreds sake! I’m a coward, huh?

But this guy wasn’t here to offer me dating advice - at least I didn’t think he was - he was here to give me training advice and keep me alive. Which was good - I needed to stay alive. I couldn’t afford to die right now. Not without meeting Luca or telling Sabrina how I felt or making sure Willis and Gabriel would be okay first. I just had too much to take care of to die. Even at the cost of 23 other people’s lives. Even at the cost of myself.

He wanted to know if I had any special talents and I almost felt embarrassed to bring up gymnastics to him. He just didn’t seem like a gymnastics type of guy and it wasn’t like I was going to back flip my way out of death or balance beam to victory. Sure there was a lot of applicable skills in my mind, but I didn’t think he’d see it. I decided to mix it in with my science skills. That way maybe he’ll think I’m just saying whatever dumb shit pops into my head.

“Have you seen this reality TV show called Panem’s Got Talent? I did some gymnastics on there. And I’m a pretty big science nerd! I’ve also been doing decent at the trapping station if any of that gives you any ideas.”

I did feel a bit defensive about the Teddy comment though. I don’t know why I did, after all it was all part of my strategy. People liked familiarity and I thought fans of the Hunger Games would like the throwback to Teddy Ursa coming from District Six. Plus Teddy was Teddy… so what if I wanted to be like him? He was a good person. I was even planning to ask him to be Luca’s godfather.

“And yeah I fight a little like Teddy. He’s my mentor and we’ve been close friends even before I got reaped. So I guess he’s been my mentor for a while now. Is it so bad to be like Teddy? He’s almost like… not a dad but like a cool older cousin to me.” I almost called Teddy a father figure but that definitely felt like it crossed some boundaries, especially since I didn’t even know this guys name.

[ 450 words ]
[ table by pogue ]