74th - part 2
katniss's pov
When Effie wakes me up the next morning and chirps about today’s big big big day, which is the first day of training, I have to remind myself that I’m a victor, not a tribute. I panic as the anxiety seizes me until, several deep breaths later, I’m calm enough to head out to the dining room for breakfast.
Santhe and Cole are arguing about something, but it doesn’t look too heated. Haymitch watches quietly and chews on his toast while he glances back and forth at each tribute, finally catching my eye. I approach the table and eagerly build a plate for myself.
“Nice of you to join us, fellow mentor,” Haymitch drawls.
“My pleasure. Sorry I had to interrupt that excellent work you were doing,” I motion at the tributes with my fork. “Looked important.”
“Well, sweetheart, I thought we’d save the important stuff for whenever you finally decided to grace us with your presence.”
“Let’s hear it then.”
He chuckles. The tributes have stopped talking and now they’re watching us with nervous expressions, waiting for one of us to turn toward them. I meet Santhe’s eyes by accident. She has the look of the Seam, but doesn’t seem too badly starved. And although she’s naturally a little overwhelmed by the Capitol, she hardly appears nervous. More like focused.
Of course I see myself in my tribute. How could I not? I know it’ll make the whole process much more painful, but I was this girl last year. I almost wish I could take her place, or at least keep her from my fate.
Haymitch clears his throat, demanding everyone’s attention. “Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t look at anyone. Keep your head down and focus on your station. And—this is really important—don’t show off. Showing off will get you killed almost immediately.”
Don’t I know it. My 11 sent a pack of killers after me, and they’d never even seen me shoot.
“Can we talk to each other?” asks Cole.
Haymitch shrugs.
“You should go off on your own,” I say. “At least for a little. You don’t want the others to think you’re allies, because that could also make you seem like a threat.”
“Well said,” Haymitch replies. “Anything else to add?”
“Don’t forget the survival stations.” I meet Santhe’s eye again, and she nods slightly. “That could be the thing that sets you apart.” Although I try to think of more advice, I can’t come up with anything. Really, it comes down to a certain level of luck, because the Games are unpredictable and nothing is certain. But how can I tell them that without taking their hope?
Effie starts clapping and ordering the tributes out the door, then she leaves to guide them down to the Training Center. Graciously, Haymitch lets me finish breakfast before he instructs me to follow him, leaving behind a mess of plates and table scraps for the Avoxes to clean up. I haven’t seen the red-haired girl yet.
“We need to get a feel for the competition,” Haymitch mutters to me in the elevator.
“How?”
“We’ll split up. I’ll talk to some of my old pals, you…mingle with the other victors.” He doesn’t look too confident in my ability to mingle. “They don’t know you, but try and get them to trust you enough to talk about their tributes. Ideally, you wanna figure out what angle they’re playing.”
This doesn’t sound like the job for me. Peeta would have excelled at this, definitely. He’d have left today’s training session with enough information to write a book on this year’s tributes. But I’ll probably leave with next to nothing, since I’ve never been good at getting people to like me. Maybe someone will slip up and gush about their tribute anyways.
We step off the elevator on a floor I’ve never been to, then walk down a long hallway until we reach a set of large, glass doors that are standing open. Haymitch lets me go first with a wave of his hand.
The room is filled with people. Past victors. Gamemakers. Avoxes. I immediately start to feel a little overwhelmed by the number of strangers, but I can recognize a few of the victors. Not that any of them look at me. They’re all huddled in small groups, conversing as they look out of large windows that span each wall of the room and cover the floor. We’re standing on glass over top of the tribute training room. I hate it.
Haymitch calls out to someone in the corner and walks away from me before I can stop him. I don’t even know where to start with my mission. How am I supposed to get anyone to talk? Am I just supposed to walk up and introduce myself? Interrupt someone’s conversation?
My eyes flicker over to a small couch in front of a coffee table. The mentors from District 7, Johanna Mason and Blight Deerfield, are sitting next to each other and chatting. It’s just the two of them, and they don’t look as thrilled to be here as some of the others. Against my own expectations, I find myself walking over.
I may have only met Johanna briefly, but I guess that’s better than trying to introduce myself to a total stranger. She glances up at me and chuckles.
“They always come crawling back,” says Johanna, raising her eyebrows at Blight, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” I point at an empty chair, diagonal from the couch. There’s space for me on the couch next to Blight, but the man seems so nervous that I don’t want to risk making him feel trapped.
“Wow, so she does have manners!” Johanna remarks.
Actually, forget this. I can’t spend all day listening to Johanna. I turn around and start to walk away.
“Hey, wait!” she shouts at me before I can take more than two steps. “I’m just messing with you. Come on! Sit with us. It’s not like you have many other options…”
She’s right. So I sit down in the chair.
I feel like I’ve interrupted their conversation and they don’t go back to talking, so we just sit there in silence for a moment as the rest of the room chatters around us. I’m really not sure how to do this. Do I just come right out and ask them about their tributes, or try to make some kind of small talk? The problem is, I wouldn’t know what else to talk about. I don’t know anything about either of them or District 7.
“Introduce yourself,” Johanna says sharply to Blight, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.
The man sits up and recites, “Hi. I’m Blight Deerfield. I’m the other mentor from 7.” There’s something odd about him, the way he zones in and out of the situation and doesn’t look like he’s very sure of himself. But he smiles a lot, and he seems harmless.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Katniss Everdeen.”
“He knows who you are, brainless.”
“Weren’t you just complaining about manners?” I snap at Johanna. She grins at me and leans back comfortably against the couch, crossing her arms in front of her as she looks out at the tributes.
I follow her gaze and see that the trainer has finished giving her opening speech. The tributes disperse, heading to their first stations of the day. I can see Santhe and Cole slowly making their way around the room before deciding on a station about edible plants. Smart. I’m pleased.
“Which ones are yours?” Blight asks, squinting out at the room below us. I point toward the edible plants station and he nods slowly. “The boy looks strong. The girl…I can’t tell.”
I wouldn’t call Cole strong, at least based on his appearance. But maybe the standards are different in District 7. I nod and search the room for Blight and Johanna’s tributes, but can’t find them.
“Ah, shit. Look out, she’s got a knife,” Johanna grumbles as she points down at the knife throwing station. A smallish girl is taking her place, selecting a knife to throw as Johanna watches her like a hawk. “She couldn’t have started with something easier?”
“Don’t panic, she might be—”
“I’m not panicking, I just—oh, yep! Called it.” The girl releases the knife and misses terribly. Johanna snickers, shaking her head with disappointment. “What were you saying, Blight? She might be what?”
“Nevermind,” he sighs.
“I’m getting a coffee,” announces Johanna. She walks off, leaving me alone with Blight. I don’t miss her snarky commentary, but it is a little awkward without her. I don’t feel like I can keep up a conversation with Blight until she gets back.
“How’s your sister’s goat?” he asks me cheerfully.
I stare at him. “How do you know about Lady?”
“You mentioned her in your Games. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I just…I love animals,” he says sheepishly. It’s sweet. I can’t believe that this is someone who spends time with Johanna Mason.
Smiling at him, I say, “She’s good. Healthy. And her milk is better than ever.”
“Glad to hear it! I’ve always wanted a goat, but I wouldn’t be able to get one. Nobody to look after it when I’m here,” he explains glumly. After a moment, his smile returns. “But maybe someday if I get married or if another male victor takes my place.”
It’s depressing to think about how Blight basically has to put his life on hold until another kid manages to survive the arena. And I don’t want to think about how I’m in the same situation now and probably will be for life.
Johanna returns with a tray of three disposable cups, a pile of sugar packets, and several miniature cream containers. The wastefulness of the plastic makes me sick, but I guess she didn’t have a choice. She selects her own cup and hands another to Blight.
“Thank you.”
She nods and picks up the last cup. I wonder why she bothered to get an extra, until she suddenly extends it toward me. I hesitate.
“Take it,” she barks at me, waving the cup toward me.
“You got me coffee?”
“No, I got you a kitten and stuffed it in this coffee cup. Surprise! Now just fucking take it already, it’s hot and it’ll burn my hand.”
I don’t really have a choice, so I carefully accept the cup of coffee and let the warmth seep into my hands. “I’ve never had coffee,” I say, sniffing the steam rising from the lid. “I don’t know if I like it.”
Johanna scoffs. “...Then try it and find out. Jeez, I’m just trying to be nice.”
I take a sip and it tastes like…bitterness. I cough out of surprise. “It's…strong,” I gasp, setting the cup down quickly. I don’t want to offend Johanna any further, but I definitely don’t want to drink that.
Of course, Johanna just laughs at my misfortune. But Blight smiles kindly at me and offers a few sugar packets and some cream. “Here, add some of this.”
I do as he says and tentatively take another sip.
“Better?”
“Yeah. A lot better,” I grin. “It’s actually not bad.”
Blight smiles.
“Pussies,” Johanna complains, taking a long sip from her cup. “Coffee should be black. That’s the way nature intended.”
“Nature intended a lot of things that don’t happen,” Blight says.
“Yeah, a freak of nature like you would know.”
I want to defend Blight but I don’t know how, and before I can figure it out, he chuckles. He doesn’t seem to take any offense at all. Maybe this is how they talk to each other, and who am I to judge? So I hold my tongue and drink my coffee.
“Well, take cats for example,” says Blight after a moment. “Cats weren’t always domesticated and didn’t always live in harmony with us as pets.”
“Oh, here we go again,” Johanna groans.
“What?” I ask.
Johanna rolls her eyes. “Blight misses his widdle baybee .”
“I always miss her. How could you not?” he says enthusiastically. “She’s a perfect little lovable creature made from pure perfection.”
I look at the two victors, feeling lost. My confusion must show on my face, because Johanna finally explains, “His cat.”
“DeeDee,” Blight chirps.
“Oh,” I reply. “My sister has a cat.”
“Your sister sounds like someone I’d like to meet!” says Blight, grinning eagerly at me. “Does she have more animals?”
“Just Lady the goat and Buttercup. The cat.”
Johanna looks at me suspiciously. “You know, 12, you don’t strike me as the pet type.”
“I’m not. They’re Prim’s, not mine.” I watch as she nods at me. “Do you have pets?”
Blight laughs and Johanna shakes her head. “Nope,” she answers. But after a moment, she says, “I wouldn’t mind a cat, though. Blight’s is nice enough.”
“DeeDee hates you.”
“That’s what she wants you to think. But secretly, she loves me more than you.”
“She would never.”
“Again, that’s what she wants you to think,” Johanna says with a wry smirk.
Someone at the other side of the room cheers loudly about something, and I’m suddenly reminded of the mission that Haymitch sent me on. Aside from watching their girl fail at knife throwing, I don’t know anything about the tributes from 7. I haven’t even bothered to learn their names. But I can’t just stop Blight from talking about his cat and ask him about the children that he’ll probably have to watch die.
I end up just spending the day talking to Blight and Johanna about whatever we can think of. None of us want to focus on the Games, but every once in a while we turn our attention to the tributes and watch them train. I manage to get Blight to admit that their boy has a year of experience working as a lumberjack, so he’ll probably try to go for an ax. Meanwhile, their girl is younger and less of a threat, but she can move quickly and might have an advantage when it comes to stamina, based on a vague comment from Johanna about her running skills. It’s not a lot of information, but hopefully it’s at least enough to keep Haymitch content.
At the end of the day, I meet Haymitch at the door and we walk back to the elevator together, then into the room. It’s not until the door to our quarters is closed that he asks, “What did you find out?”
“I talked to Johanna and Blight.”
“And?”
I give him the summary of my intel, and he nods slightly but doesn’t look satisfied.
“ And? ”
“Um…” I scramble for something else to add, “...the girl can’t throw a knife.”
“I mean who else did you talk to?”
“Just them,” I say, feeling like I messed the whole thing up.
He sighs deeply and covers his face with his hands for a moment. “I’m sorry. Maybe it was my fault for not being clear enough. We need to gather information on all the tributes, not just the ones from District 7. Seeing as there are 12 districts, which means there are 20 other tributes not from District 7 that could kill ours, you know.”
“I did my best,” I argue. “I’m not used to this. I’m not good at it.”
“Well, you better figure it out quickly, because those kids are counting on us. Welcome to the life of a mentor. Still wanna threaten me with a butter knife, sweetheart?” he growls, walking away from me and closing the door to his room with a thud.