#trainging

“Yeah, ‘s not mine either. Can play a flute or sew a wound or tear in a shirt well enough, but this stuff?” They shook their head. “Still, good enough spot to see everyone else.”

Maybe he should have cared more about why Oliver wanted a good place to see everyone, and maybe sewing wounds was a more useful skill, but he couldn’t help but perk up at the mention of a flute. “You can play music?”

“Little bit, and people seem to like it well enough,” they shrugged off and faced him, holding out their free hand. “Prefer if you’d call me Oliver Rook to anything else, and yourself?”

He shook their hand. “Mica.” He didn’t remember the name Oliver being used in any of the reapings, but it wouldn’t be his place to question it. Especially not while he was also going under an alternate name. “Are you looking for someone?” He turned, eyeing the rest of the training hall. “You mentioned this was a good place to watch people from.”

“No one in particular no, just watchin’. Be impossible to know everyone by the Games, but watching now let’s ya remember some little details about ‘em anyway. Think it’s important to remember what you can, ‘specially with things like this.”

Had they done this before? “Theres a lot of them, aren’t there?” He mumbled, watching the hall a moment longer before turning back to Oliver. They spoke as if they knew something he didn’t about these games. “How are you feeling about it?”

“Like nothin’s changed in the last few years. Think you’re past one horror only to stumble into another.” They paused, studying him. Not unfriendly, not judgemental in the way Day looked others over. Only curious. “You look like you might know somethin’ ‘bout that too.”

He glanced at them. There was something about this one… “How so?” Could they tell who he was? Another tribute going by an alternate name, who seemed to understand more than they let on… Most couldn’t see through to who he really was but every now and then, someone could.

But they only gestured to their own scars, crawling up and down their body. “Scars. Course, could be wrong, hope I’m wrong, but not gonna pry when we all have histories and secrets.” They smiled, barely.

So that was what they meant. He nodded. “That, and then some.” Oliver didn’t know the half of it. He only kept the scars that hadn’t killed him, and each very well could have if he hadn’t been lucky. “It could be worse though.”

“Can’t it always?” They looked out at the others, shifting more weight to their cane. “Don’t know if I can fight anyone when we get in there, thought it was all done with. But hope, well, is it foolish to hope for another friend in there? There’s talk of more than one of us making it out but talk and people are two different things and you seem a good person.” Oliver turned back to him with a smile more real than the last.

So Chess or one of her friends had gotten to them too. Good. “Don’t worry about the fighting. If I can find you, I’ll protect you.” He offered a smile. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Think the least would be nothing. But if you’re offering… Rather you’d protect someone else in my place. Adrestia’s a good candidate though doubt she’d let you, and Evan,” their voice skipped, stumbling over the name for just a second, “means well enough despite himself. And sure the rest are good too. Maybe we can help each other in that task?” They tilt their head with a growing smile and hold out their hand a second time.

Moraine nodded and took their hand. “I hope I can find you and the others quickly then.” Before someone else with worse intentions. Before the traps and mutts and hazards.

“Good. Hope to become better friends and see you past the end of all this.”

He laughed, surprising himself a little. As if Day would let him out of his sight once he dragged him back home. “After this I’m probably going to be in a lot of trouble, so I may be busy a while.”

Oliver looked curious, but not enough to pry. “That sounds like a story there, but hopefully not for too long?”

“No, not too long.” He paused. “Probably.” It was always hard to judge with Day. Though maybe he would be in a good mood.

“Good.”

He smiled, relaxing his shoulders now that the hard part was well past. “Then I’ll see you again. Take care.”

He turned, and Oliver called out after him. “You as well.”

He hadn’t expected to make a friend here. Only to go in and try and keep as many safe as he could, but he smiled to himself as he walked away. Oliver seemed well intentioned. They didn’t deserve to be killed.

No one did. But he couldn’t save all of them.

---

The third day and the training hall was still as busy as ever, potentially even more so as the reality of the looming games drew nearer and nearer. He only just reached one of the stations, not quite sure what it was teaching, when someone approached him with a wave.

“Hi! Do you mind company?”

“I don’t mind.” He turned to her. She looked like the one from Oliver’s district. The one who’d been friendly towards them at the chariots. Good. He’d been meaning to catch her somewhere. “My name is Mica.”

She held out a hand to shake. “I’m Adrestia. How’re you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” he sighed. He hadn’t spent this long in his old body in a long time. He’d forgotten how stiff everything was getting out of bed.

“Yeah.” She winced. “It sucks. Perhaps we can find a way to distract each other? I thought I heard a rumour that we have access to the chariot horses, and we can pet them.”

“Horses?” His eyes widened a little. The only horse he’d ever been close to was Harmony, and she didn’t exactly count. The others he’d seen every now and then at the mill were never very friendly. “The ones from the chariots, they looked big. Are you sure about them?” They looked like they could crush him if they wanted too.

But she nodded, confident. “From what I’ve heard, they’re sweet.”

He sighed and some of the tensioned faded. “Oh that’s good.”

“Would you like to see them?”

How she figured out where to see them, and how to get there, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. “If you don’t mind.” He nodded. “I… I haven’t met a lot of horses.” Especially not ones that didn’t try to bite and kick whenever he got anywhere near them.

She nodded and hurried off to consult with Chess before waving for Moraine to follow. Of course it was Chess. Something told him he’d have to keep and eye on her in the arena. Especially if she were willing to take risks like this just to play with horses.

He followed Adrestia through hallways and out into quieter and quieter wings until she opened the door to the barn. Stalls lined both sides of a long hall and the horses all watched them with curious eyes and ears pricked forward. Moraine hung back behind Adrestia. He eyed the nearest horses. They couldn’t get him from there, could they?

Adrestia didn’t seem nearly as nervous, walking up to one and gently petting the nose of a massive black horse. “She’s sweet.” She glanced at Moraine, then nodded at some hay. “You can even feed them some of that.”

He glanced at the hay, back at the horse, and shuddered. There was no way he was offering his hand to that horses’ teeth. “I, I don’t know about that.” But its nose looked soft, and she hadn’t bitten Adrestia, so he slowly inched closer and closer until he could reach out and just barely brush against it’s nose.

The horse noticed him and he nearly took his hand back before she swung her massive head to push into his hand. He stiffened and held his breath as the image of her biting and breaking his fingers flashed through his head but she didn’t. She nickered softly, and slowly he started petting her up and down the front of her face. His shoulders fell and he melted just a little. She was so soft. So warm.

Adrestia reached up to pet by her ears. “Horses are good creatures. They’re just prey animals, so they’re cautious. But at least these guys seem to be well cared for. The one good thing the capitol does.”

Just prey animals. Maybe they weren’t so different. “They care for the things they value.” He wasn’t sure if she heard him, mumbling his words. “It’s always been that way.”

She nodded. “It’s awful how they treat people. I can’t stand it.”

“I know.” He nodded along. He knew. He knew too well.

“But we’ll give the Capitol a big ‘fuck you’.” Adrestia said. “I heard you talked to Chess about her plan? I’m glad you’re coming alone. I’ll protect you.”

“I have.” He mumbled again. Something didn’t sit right with how she seemed so keen to stick it to the capitol. As if that would do anything to help anyone he knew back home. As if they wouldn’t forget all about it before the very next games. But he couldn’t really fault her for that. Anger was a powerful motivator, and she seemed otherwise a kind person. She must have her reasons. “I told her I would protect you and the others as well.”

The horse nudged his hand and he gasped, stiffening a moment, but she just nudged him again. He hadn’t noticed he’d stilled his hand and started petting her again. She seemed to like it.

Adrestia nodded at him. “You’re a good person. And she can tell.”

“Can she?” He glanced between her and the horse. “Can horses notice that kind of thing?”

She smiled. “I like to think so. Animals seem drawn to nicer people, I’ve found.”

“Really?” He hadn’t met a lot of animals, but he’d always noticed when dogs would keep away from the crueler bosses whenever they came around. “That would make sense though, I think.”

She nodded. “Animals are so nice to be around. They generally genuinely like being around you, and if they don’t they’ll leave. No having to guess what their motivations are.”

All he could do was nod along. He didn’t know what to say, and it felt like there was something hidden behind her words that he couldn’t quite pick apart. He didn’t know enough about animals either to say anything, but as the quiet stretched on it was gentle, nice, instead of the heavy kind at the reapings. Nice compared to the fear and noise of the training hall too. He was glad to stay here as long as she liked.

---

This time coming back to his floor, he wasn’t going to forget the fancy bathtub he’d seen in one of the bathrooms. One with fancy jets and strange buttons. He’d heard of things like it but never had the chance to try out himself. After a quiet dinner he rummaged through the cupboards in the bathroom and pulled out handfuls of what he hoped was bubble bath. He turned on the taps and poured a bunch of it in, leaning over the water as it started to bubble. Despite the reason he was here, with the games looming over his head, he couldn’t help but smile at the bubbles. He'd never done this before.

He got in as it filled and only noticed too late that he may had put in more bubbles than he was supposed to. They piled up until he guessed this was as close to what being in a cloud felt like as he could get. His head barely came up over the top of the bubbles and some probably spilled out onto the floor before he figured out how to stop adding more water but it wasn’t like the Capitol didn’t have the funds to deal with the damage themselves.

He sunk into the water and layers and layers of fragrant bubbles. It was warm and nice and big enough for him to stretch out his legs. Did everyone here have stuff like this? They could do this whenever they wanted? He closed his eyes and with a contented smile. This was nice.

“Having fun in there?”

Harmony laughed and Moraine startled. He could kind of see her leaning against the counter, casting him a glance and a smile before facing the opposite wall.

“I apologise for the unfortunate timing but I won’t take too much of your time. I had a moment and thought it would be nice to check on you, and potentially offer some advice, if you would like.”

He nodded, then remembered she might not be able to see that over the bubbles. “Okay.”

“How have you been?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been well.” He paused, thinking, and Harmony gave him time. “One of the other tributes, she has a plan to flee the arena with as many as possible. I told her I would join her.”

Harmony hummed to herself, nodding slowly as she went over his words. “Interesting. I take it you feel her plan is feasible?”

“She seemed to know what she was talking about.”

“Did she? Well, that may be a good sign. However, I warn you not to put all of your faith in what anyone says.” She glanced at him again. “What if she fails? Dies before the right time? What if she has been lying to you this whole time? Do you have a plan for that?”

He sank deeper into the bath with a long, long sigh. “I don’t know.” There was a chance that Chess was lying. In the back of his mind he always knew that. But what else was he supposed to do about it all? He’d never been in the arena before. He didn’t know how to get out with everyone else. He could leave whenever he wanted but that would mean leaving everyone else behind.

“Take care then, and watch your back.” Harmony took a breath and tucked red hair back behind her ears, revealing freckles scattered across her skin like burning embers. “And perhaps she will be true to her word but if she doesn’t it will be up to you to decide what to do next.” She softened with a faint smile. “And Moraine, I do trust that you will make the right choice. Even if you fail to save a single life you can decide your next move knowing you did what you could, knowing that you may have made their struggles just a little easier while you could. Of course, I wish you every success but as I’m sure you know it is not guaranteed.”

Quiet fell after she spoke and she gave him a moment to think about what she said. Harmony probably would have been a better candidate for this than he was. She knew how to make harder choices, how to burn what had to be burned to the ground even if lives had to be lost. Eventually, he nodded. He didn’t know what else to do.

Harmony smiled, soft and warm. “If I didn’t trust that you could do this, I wouldn’t have worked to convince Day to let you stay. It will be good for you to undertake something like this on your own. And if it does all go south we’ll still have your back.” She nodded once and then straightened her back. “However, I do want to go over a few things for your interview. I know it’s a couple days away, but if you would like, I do have some pointers.”

He settled in a little more. “I would like that.”

“Good.” She thought a moment. “So, I’ll be brief, but…”