fight till your last breath . charade/amelia

[cass]

O P A L

She'd seen the reaping in district nine. It had been one of the hardest ones to watch. Twins; Amelia and Audrey Hale. Torn apart by a cruel world that made one of them make the ultimate sacrifice.

Opal stared, eyes watching as Amelia moved around the training centre. It was unusual for her to take an interest in tributes outside of the ones in her own district. To be fair, up until last year she had taken an entire second off mentoring. She'd been so close last games to bringing a new victor home and part of her heart still ached, wishing Jade had driven her sword through Lysander's heart.

She held little hope for the two she had this year. Neither of them had really struck a chord within her. She doubted Alistair would make it to the end. He was a career, but he was nothing impressive, still falling over his own feet, dabbling within the realms of mediocre. Vallora was different, but she had hardly even tried to make connections with anyone other than Alistair. The stick up her ass was lodged in too tightly and Opal worried it would kill her before another tribute did.

After a few more moments she stepped away from the wall, walking over to Amelia Hale who now stood by the weapons section. Whilst plants were Opal's expertise, she was a career, a woman who had thirty years of experience with fighting and killing. A weapon felt more comfortable in her hands than plants did these days.

"I imagine you're capable of using a knife," Opal reached forwards pulling a katana from the wall and handing it to Amelia. "If you come up against one of those six," she waved her own katana towards the careers, "you'll want to be able to use more than a knife."

She walked over to the training mats beckoning the young girl forwards. "I'll show you enough to not kill yourself with it."

E A R N E S T

kaitlin

[charade]

A M E L I A

For the most part, Amelia had shied away from the weapons stations. While she’d been in her share of fistfights, while she kept a knife at home, she’d never messed with arrows or axes or eighty percent of the bullshit that they offered to train tributes in. Blunts were easier. In a tussle all you really needed was a good brick or a baseball bat if you were feeling fancy. The swords looked super fancy though, and she felt drawn to them for some reason.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one, as one of the coaches approached her, handed her a blade and more or less commanded her to start training with it. Okay. Amelia leaned back, twisting her lips in mock annoyance. “I seem capable? What you trying to say? That I look like I stab people on the regular?”

Thing was, the weapons instructor in front of her wasn’t just any old coach limping around the training center. Opal Earnest was a bona fide victor. Sixty-somethingist. Amelia had never paid much attention to games reruns, or the games in general. They’d never seemed relevant to her life or the plans she had for her future. Still, it had been hard to escape the various games commentators last year, the ones that went on at length about how badly Opal’s most recent tribute had choked in the finale.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the chance for some pointers,” she said, waving the sword like she was conducting an orchestra. “But shouldn’t you be like—helping your own tributes? Or do you figure they already have a leg to stand on, being careers?” Amelia sucked at her teeth when her gaze dropped down to Opal’s prosthetic.

“Uh, no offense.”

H A L E

kaitlin

[cass]

O P A L

Opal rolled her eyes, faced with another teenager. Ripred, she was thankful that Ky was growing older, the snarky comments and quick-witted tongue lashings were lessening every year. It was one of the worst parts that came with working in the training centre back in one. The teenagers were up themselves, quick to fire off rude comments, but never able to meet their words with their weapons. How many times had she crushed them after listening to them tell her how fearsome and oh so terrifying they were?

“It’s a compliment, or is that a term you’ve never heard of?” She watched as Amelia swung the sword around. She had a good grip and enough strength to control the weapon. Opal narrowed her gaze, sucking on her lip as she thought about the best way to put Amelia’s skills to use. She’d seen the training score the girl had received, so she knew that Amelia was capable and smart.

She brushed the question aside with a wave of her hand, grin slipping into place as she pieced together a few ideas. “Careers have a tendency to think they’re better than you, so trying to teach them anything now is like talking to a brick wall. Except this brick wall comes up with better comebacks than I can.”

The attempt at an insult was wasted. She was so used to people trying to find parts of her ton insult. She’d married a boy from district eleven. What more could they say to her that she hadn’t already heard?

“You’re smart- congrats on that training score. So, I think even if you don’t have the correct technique, as long as you think it through and remain calm you’ll come out on top.” She brought her sword up, waving it over her body as she looked Amelia in the eye. “Get a quick read on how you’re fighting, find their weak spot, and just go for it, quick and dirty keeps you alive in the arena. Fuck integrity and honesty.”

Taking a step closer to Amelia she raised an eyebrow, bringing her sword up. “Strike quickly, move in and out of the way. Get under the reach of a sword- it becomes useless if they can’t swing it. Or stay back and attack from a distance.” She smiled, beckon Amelia forward.

“Give it your best shot.”

E A R N E S T

kaitlin

[charade]

A M E L I A

First impressions were important, and Amelia’s first impression of the victor from one was that she didn’t like people talking back to her. And that she did things on a whim. That had to be why—

Ah, there it was. The training score had made her appealing. Second highest, and leagues above where Opal’s tributes were. She must have written them off as lost causes and decided to earn some clout with her superiors by helping out one of the tributes people would be betting on. But the rest of the words that were spilling out of Opal’s mouth were familiar to her.

Reading people’s body language was common sense in nine. You had to be ready at a moment’s notice to determine whether someone was reaching into their jacket for a .22 or a smoke. “Quick and dirty? Hot.” She said with a smarmy grin. Honesty was out? Sure, that made sense. Never let anyone know what you’re really thinking. Integrity though? Even the gangs back home had their codes of conduct.

Amelia shrugged and brandished her weapon, debating whether or not to charge in headlong or make Opal come to her. She could always try channeling her sister. Audrey would have spat on the ground as a challenge and gone directly for Opal’s neck. But Amelia liked to think that she could think a little farther ahead.

She took up a fighting stance, swinging once, twice with vague chopping motions, closing the distance between the two of them. Then she struck quickly, bringing the sword up and down like she was swinging a plank of wood. It was a feint though. A move she expected an experienced sword master. could easily block. With both her swords raised high, Amelia locked eyes with the woman from one and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

And then proceeded to kick Opal’s fake leg out from under her with all the force she could muster.

Amelia held the flat of the blade over her shoulder like a baseball bat and smiled down wickedly. “Find their weak spot and attack with no integrity. You’d feel right at home in district nine, Mrs. Earnest. Thanks for the tip.”

H A L E

kaitlin