the first note. //fireflyz

[charade]

A M E L I A

It was depressing, wandering the training center without her sister by her side. She felt empty, incomplete. She’d taken to carrying a notebook around, writing down her thoughts on her many competitors as she learned more about them. Assessing strengths and weaknesses, or at least trying to. The escort had told her she had a one-strike policy concerning the pencil. The moment she stabbed someone with it, she’d be confined to her quarters until the bloodbath.

It made her wonder who had caused such a rule to be put in place more than anything else. But she’d been lost in her musings about the careers and whether or not they were the psychopaths the games painted them as being.

From the replays she’d watched of the last few games, most careers seemed more like they were on the verge of tears at any given moment more than anything else. It was that thought she was stuck on when she slammed into somebody in the hall, the point of her pencil snapping off on the page.

“Watch where you’re—“

Oh, she thought. The boy from ten. She knew who he was because he had been ass up on the training floor more than once while the trainer screamed bloody murder for him to well, get his ass up.  She could see why. It was kind of a nice one.

Amelia froze, slowly crossing her arms, tucking the notebook in her armpit and tilting her head to one side. If only Audrey was with her, it was difficult, so worrisome to talk to people without any backup, any snide side comments or comforting presence. Who was she supposed to share knowing looks with without her sister by her side? Amelia sucked at the inside of her cheek and stared the boy down.

Never let the other person know what you’re thinking, that was first grade stuff back in nine. “You forget how to look up, Ten? That’s you always down on the mats right?” She smirked, in what she hoped was a challenging way.

H A L E

kaitlin

[fireflyz]

a n a r i .

"you are weak
but not foolish
you have learned
how to die."

The moment Anari was allowed to steal away to the dining hall, he made a dash for it, calves aching as he hurried down the corridor. At some point a girl emerged into the hallway, head hunched over a notepad, and he drifted to the side to make room for her. But soon enough, he had careened into a wall and yet still had to brace for impact as his shoulder checked her arm. Her pencil jerked against the page with a loud scratch, and Anari took a few steps back.

"Sorr-" "Watch where you're-"

Her eyes scanned over him as she tucked her notebook under her arm, and Anari instinctively pressed a hand against the wall to stabilize himself before she inevitably tried to knock him out.

"You forget how to look up, Ten?" she jeered, and his eyes widened slightly. "That's you always down on the mats right?"

Anari rubbed the back of his neck, corners of his mouth stretching into a perturbed line. "Yeeeaaah, I would say something about 'putting in work' but seems like you wouldn't believe me," he said. "Sorry about your notebook."

The girl wasn't very tall compared to him, but the definition in her facial features told Anari that she was older, like most of the other tributes were. No matter how suave he tried to act, it was certainly unnerving that the only person his age in the entire training center was Piper, and she barely acted 14 anyway.

At the very least, he'd try to pretend he was one of the big dogs.

"Clearly you know my district, so can I get yours?" Anari asked. "Or at least a name?"

elegant

[charade]

A M E L I A

It was a given that over the course of the prep weeks, she would meet many of her competitors for the first time. But the constant introductions were starting to wear on her. Names? Sure, most people were crap at names. But districts? “Amelia Hale, district nine,” she intoned, doing her best impression of the voice on the intercom that called for them. "Fuck dude, am I the only one who watched the reaping replays on the train ride over? Fuck!”

A beat passed and Amelia sucked at her teeth in annoyance. A missed opportunity to dick around with someone. Audrey would be horrified.  “Damn. I could have told you was I was from four or something and you wouldn’t have known.” Now that she was getting a good look at him, she noticed that despite his stature, his face looked young.

Not quite a baby face, but not approaching young adult. It was that weird part of puberty where a person’s voice cracked at the most inopportune times, where they tripped over feet that had grown half a shoe size over the weekend and the hunger for food was a bottomless pit that could not be filled. Thank God that part of puberty was over for her. It was terrible.  “You’re right though, I wouldn’t have believed you. You’ve got easy meat written all over you.” She snickered, shrugging her shoulders. “And your name was…?”

H A L E

kaitlin