#118.training

For the better part of her evening, Karma had been in the viewing room. A part of her thought that she didn’t really know what she was doing as a mentor. This year was her fifth year truly working with tributes, and she hadn’t mentored a victor yet. It was beginning to weigh on her, the deaths of ten children indirectly her fault, but she brushed it aside, trying not dwell on it, and had been distracting herself by watching the games of mentors with tributes who had recently won. She was about halfway through the 109th when someone walked into the room and turned the lights on, causing her to squint due to the sudden brightness. “The next time you try to blind someone, would you mind giving a bit of warning?” she asked, slowly opening her eyes as they adjusted to the new light levels in the room.

As Karma unlocked the door to the Capitol training room, she looked back at the male tribute behind her. From what she knew about him, he was a Hunger Games fanatic, someone who knew each arena inside and out, and while that was helpful, he needed to have some sort of actual skill to impress the Gamemakers, to survive. She closed the door behind herself after the two of them entered the expansive room, not wanting any stragglers to wander in while they were working. “So, you’ve got the skill presentation coming up soon, as I’m sure you’re aware. What have you got to show them? What’s gonna make them want to bet on you?” // starter for @milo-karat

Standing on the floor reserved for tributes from the Capitol, Kelvin felt dirty, as if he was somewhere he was not supposed to be. But a deep breath and a simple reassurance was all that he needed to walk down the hallway towards the door that was propped open, assuming it was propped open for him. As he walked through the opening, he looked around at the huge room, his eyes immediately drawn to the differences between this room and the one downstairs for the rest of the tributes to use. This room seemed bigger, brighter, newer, as if it had never been touched, while the one downstairs had over one hundred years of history inside of it. “Hello? Melpomene?” he called, his eyes darting around the room to try and find a glimpse of her familiar pink hair. // starter for @melpomenexrhode

As Karma walked around the training room, her eyes wandered over the weapons available for her to train her tributes with. Knives, spears, axes, bows and arrows. They had untouched maces, slingshots, weights and rope at their disposable. There were so many places to begin, she didn’t which one would be best. So, she decided to let her female tribute decide. “You pick, sweetheart. Which weapon calls to you? What do you think you’ll have the most success with? Walk around a bit, pick them up, see how they feel in your hands. Then, let me know.” // starter for @melpomenexrhode