[M] The 47th Annual Hunger Games (Jannah & Zulera301)

[Zulera301]

Rated M for violence, blood, some language, and suggestive themes

"Reaping Day"... that's what they called it in most of the districts, and traditionally, that was its name. The Capitol treated it like a holiday, giving children between the ages of 12 and 18 the day off of school and/or work (whichever were applicable).
In some districts though, it was also a reason to be excited. Here they would get to show off their speed and strength to everyone else as they raced and jostled their way to the tribute stage to volunteer for the Hunger Games. Theoretically, those who never wished to see the games would never have to, as Districts 1 and 2 were teeming with boys and girls itching to volunteer for the games. Of course, not wanting to be among these kids usually meant scorn and ridicule, especially in the haughty culture that was Panem's richest district.

Because of this culture, the term "reapings" was sort of ironic here in District 1, given that it was more like "The Volunteer Fights". Regardless of what you called them though, Aurum Zianja was among the dozens of girls (most of which were either 17 or 18) who was vying for the position as the female tribute of the 47th Annual Hunger Games. The object was simple--a race to the stage, pretty much literally. The stronger tributes would be able to push and shove the weaker ones aside, and so resilience was also needed to keep one's footing. killing was strictly prohibited, obviously ("save it for the games", the enforcers would always say) and while fighting was not encouraged, it was allowed. Most aspiring tributes did not break into much more than shoving or the occasional punch though, for while they fought, others drew that much closer to the stage.

Because of this slight rough-and-tumble nature, the tributes did not dress in their 'best' during the "choosing, though they still usually looked particularly nice, being the luxury district and all. such behavior was practically imprinted on their genetic code, and Aurum, who took great pride in her natural beauty, was certainly no exception.
18 years old, light skin, shimmering emerald eyes, and a lightly toned athletic figure from the years of training and refining herself for this moment. She was ready.
Unlike a certain Krystal Saffron a few years ago though, Aurum was not met with pressure from her parents to do this or anything either--this was her choice, and it was one they supported 100% without forcing it upon her. She'd have no grievances volunteering. (although in a way, Aurum thought it was kind of tragic. that had been an extremely beautiful girl lost that year, after all... even if she had not been as pretty as Aurum.)

"You're going to win it aren't you?" her parents encouraged.
"of course," the girl cooed as she dressed herself for the occasion; donning a breezy blue, long-sleeved top and a bouncy little miniskirt. There was no reason she couldn't look good while she was kicking ass all the way to the stage. "it's about time we had a pretty victor win the games. The tributes last year were just so... grungy. Kiva the year before was cute, but that Glimmer girl from District 5 really should have won. She was almost as pretty as I was."
"and the year before?" her mother asked almost teasingly, as if challenging her daughter to stroke her own ego some more.
"Sagittaria's kind of cute, but she's just too... too homely. too humble. She needs to strut her stuff a bit more; do her hair up maybe... swap out the gown for a miniskirt and show some leg... a little extra makeup to her face, and more jewelery. there's never enough jewelery."
with this thought, she flipped her hair as she slid her feet into some light shoes that were easy to run in and after ensuring that she looked lovely enough to present herself, she went to join the other boys and girls at the Justice Building, her hips swaying suggestively with each step.

she met up with her fellow classmates from the academies--some were younger than 18, trying to get a shot in at going a bit earlier. it was always interesting when a young tribute won, like that time District 2 produced a tiny little 14-year-old victor who was almost a whole foot shorter than the 5'8" Aurum Zianja. Most of the victors were older though, simply because they had more years of training and experience under their belts. It was nothing personal; just business. The 14-year-olds now would get their turn in a few years anyways. Thus, District 1 never saw its full potential tribute pool amass at the Justice Building--only a couple hundred boys and girls showed up, since these were the ones who wanted to volunteer. The Capitol was fine with turning a blind eye to the "mandatory attendance of all citizens aged 12-18" in their two most loyal districts, given that they knew with 100% certainty that these two districts would produce volunteers year after year.

Like many of the other girls, (many of which were rather pretty as well) Aurum was pumped up for this, and was waiting for all of the official things to be done so she could fight her way to the stage. Already she was jostling her way to the front of the gaggle of girls so that she could have an edge like that. Not far behind, she saw the brawl of boys waiting their turn, which would be after the ladies, as always.
Soon enough, there were cheers of excitement as Rumano, a flambouyant man dressed in a fiery dark red suit, stepped up to the stage and greeted the enthusiastic district with rather excited words of his own.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" he beamed, "are you ready for the 47th Annual Hunger Games!?"
this was met with excited cheering, and even Aurum hopped up and down with excitement. She was going to show them all this year. She was going to be the next victor, both for Panem, and for District 1. It had been "ages" since they had last won anyways (a notion that some of the outlying districts would simply snort at), though Aurum did remember Miriam Luxio, the girl who had won the games last, only about 7 or 8 years ago. with him was a slightly older man, who was District 1's second mentor. It had the pride of being one of only two districts (District 2 being the obvious other one) that brought the latest two victors to the Capitol with the tributes as mentors.

After all the formalities out of the way, soon, the scramble for the stage was under way. A gunshot was fired, and a catfight of massive proportions broke out during the scramble. Aurum was not afraid to fight dirty, but all she really did was push and shove as she fought to reach the stage first. She remembered one year where a girl had ripped another girl's belt off in an attempt to stop her from reaching the stage, but all it did was make the future tribute's pants fall down briefly when she reached the stage. In fact... Aurum swore that that was Miriam's year, but she didn't say anything. She was too busy elbowing other girls in the face or jabbing them in the gut to stop them from hindering her progress.

Soon, Aurum reached the steps, her face slightly reddened from the rush and the adrenaline surging through her body. She jumped a few of the steps, actually kicking another girl in the face as she scrambled to her feet now that she was there. She had done it--she won the reaping. She cheered and bumped her hips rather proudly, for she was definitely proud of her accomplishment. In her defense, it was something to be proud of in her culture.
And it looks like we have our find young lady for this year's games!" Rumano beamed, using this as a cue for Aurum to give the man her name.
"Aurum Zianja." she smiled at him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen... our female tribute... Aurum Zianja!" there was clapping from the remaining spectators, and even a bit of slightly grudging clapping from her competitors. In the end though, even other career tributes did enjoy seeing one of their own as a tribute, and even moreso as a victor, so the 'grudge' of losing was short-lived.

"and now..." Rumano turned as the potential male tributes lined up where the girls had been.
"...for the boys..."

[Nachthexe]

The Reaping in District 1 was quite different from that in most other districts in Panem and Valour knew it well. Within hours he and various other lucky boys would be lined up, all preparing to fight their way towards the stage. The rather conceited simply knew he was going to be among them and was even confident he could beat out the others. This was, of course, a notion his parents simply found comical, although they couldn't help but to be proud of the initiative their only son was taking. Since a young age they had raised him as a loyal citizen of Panem and the games were just another test of that in their eyes. That would of course mean getting the chance to participate, but the eighteen year old boy was ready.

"Let's do this." Valour simply uttered to himself, cracking his knuckles as he glanced at his shoulder length brunette hair in the mirror. It was surprisingly well maintained and perhaps one of the boy's features he was most proud of so he felt that if he went into the games and got killed it would at least be something to remember him by. Being killed. Yes, it was an outcome the determined boy didn't overlook. There were 23 other tributes, after all, and in recent years the outlying districts had been doing exceptionally well. The previous year's games in particular had been quite an upset for District 1, having one of their prized tributes killed by one of the smallest and weakest tributes in the arena. Valour happened to remember the culprit quite well too. Alice DeSiete of District 8, also the victor of the 46th Annual Hunger Games. The boy had been quite an archer, a skill he happened to share with Valour. Even at the Victory Feast this had him rather determined to prove to the young victor who the superior archer really was.

Once dressed in a rather simple outfit consisting of a pair of pants, a vest, and overcoat Valour made his way downstairs to meet up with his parents before heading off to the Reaping. The pride they had in their son seemed to really show as the boy took a seat across from them, meeting the huge smirks both wore on their faces. "You should eat some breakfast, dear. You will need that energy to win the Reaping." Valour's mother simply blurted out, scooping out some food onto her son's plate. He couldn't decide if it was her tone of voice or her words, but suddenly the boy had burst out laughing at his mother.

"I like how you think, but I will win this. Don't you worry. I have prepared for this day for years, after all. Those in the academy love me and see me as a victor, in fact." Valour assured his mother between bites of his breakfast. Certainly it was only the partial truth as some people did love him, but there was the other half who didn't love him and simply didn't think him a worthy candidate to win. Ah well. One couldn't please everybody, but Valour was sure their mentality would quickly change once he returned as the esteemed victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games. Keshet Elian of the 46th games had definitely been onto something, believing wining would bring honour and glory, but most of all, respect. It was a notion Valour found to his liking so it alone was incentive enough to volunteer.

The rest of the meal was finished in relative silence with Valour's parents simply glancing up at their son occasionally. either this would be the day they would lose him or it was the day he would become a hero. They were pretty confident it was to be the latter though so even as the family prepared to set out for the Justice Building they were able to hold their heads up high. Despite the very different nature of the Reapings themselves in District 1 some aspects still remained the same--such as signing in with the Peacekeepers. This was a routine most teenagers in Panem were very much used to and Valour was no exception, so leaving his parents side he almost immediately made his way over to the boy's section. Soon afterwards is when he saw a very familiar face emerge. Rumano. The district's escort. He had to have been extremely fortunate to be assigned to such a cooperative and passionate district, but alas the Reaping began as always with the presentation of a few words from the man himself and the typical propaganda film.

As the film ended various members of the crowds simply responded with applause before Rumano stepped up to speak once again. "Welcome to the 47th Annual Hunger Games! As expected, it is time to discover who this year's tributes are! Begin!" The man bellowed just as a gunshot went off, signalling the beginning of the chaos that ensured nearly every year at the District 1 reapings. Valour admittedly found it amusing to watch as each of the girl struggled with each other simply to be the first on stage. Occasionally he even managed to get a peak or two as their clothes went flying during the struggle. He wasn't quick to forget the one year where a girl's belt had been removed entirely. Naturally, it gave nearly everybody present a brief show, but it wasn't like Valour complained.

Almost as soon as it began the chaos soon died down, revealing the lucky District 1 female tribute. It was a face Valour recognized almost instantly. Aurum Zianja. They were not extremely close, but they had trained together in the academies and even seemed to excel in different types of weaponry. If Valour managed to make it to that stage he knew he already had himself a valuable ally in the arena. This simply got him more pumped and before he knew it it was, in fact, the boys' turn. Just as before a gunshot was fired and the boys were off. Almost immediately they began shoving Valour, attempting to get ahead, but this was something he was not going to allow. "Sorry, not today." He bellowed as he proceeded to shove one of the smaller boys to the ground, putting on a smirk as he got closer to the stage. A second managed to come up behind him, but he was also able to fend that boy off as well simply by kicking him in the face as he pushed himself up onto the stage. He knew he had won the Reaping as soon as applause broke out from the remaining spectators. This was it. He was the male tribute for the 47th Annual Hunger Games, a fact that Rumano didn't hesitate to announce.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our tributes for the 47th Annual Hunger Games...Aurum Zianja and Valour Drazen! May the odds be ever in their favour!"

[Zulera301]

victory... winning the reapings was one thing though, and was trivial in comparison to what was coming up next: The Hunger Games. okay, well there would actually be some pampering done by the beloved Capitol before the games, so if nothing else, Aurum could take solace in knowing that Panem got to see her at her finest before she died. Death... it was a possibility that not even Aurum was dense enough to overlook. Her parents definitely loved her and hoped she could come back, but at the same time, it depended on how she died. If the boy this year killed her, or one of the kids from the career alliance (most likely just District 2 again as usual) did, that was just business and not very many people in District 1 held it against fellow careers when they had to turn on each other like that. If anything, they were kind of hoping for it this year, given that last year, Districts 7 and 8 had done a good job at thwarting it. The year before, the culprits had been Districts 6, 5, and 4, and the year before that it had been Districts 11 and 12 (and some help from 3) that had offed the careers and prevented them (particularly District 1) from entering the final showdown against their former allies.

On the other hand, there was so much to be gained from winning the games. Fame, fortune, and luxuries that exceeded even the best that District 1 had to offer were the most popular, although it would also give the victor honor and respect. A lot of citizens of their district respected the volunteers, but the true respect came when they returned home as victors--or so Aurum had always been taught. Thus, she didn't really get what that psychotic bitch from District 10 was rambling about when she said there was no honor to be found in the Hunger Games, or something wild like that. Was she just trying to demoralize her enemy? if so, it worked. Aurum didn't know what to think about that girl though--she had been kind of cute. That blood made her look rather fierce and wild--it reminded her of the style that the District 2 stylists usually took for their tributes' chariot costumes. But... that was all in the past now. Here they were, her and Valour, a boy she was somewhat acquainted with thanks to training together--and now they were about to participate in the 47th Annual Hunger Games--literally, a one in a lifetime experience.

She glanced one more time at a few boys and girls still trying to collect themselves--or at a few girls with ripped pants or shirts, or missing skirts... yanking hair and clothes definitely seemed more of a girl thing--the boys seemed to settle with more punches and kicks. So while the girls might have had a few scratches or exposed legs, there were more bruises and black eyes among the male crowd for sure. Hey... whatever worked. gender didn't really matter in the Hunger Games other than the obvious "one boy and one girl from each district" rule. Heck, that little District 8 boy who won last year? 4 of his 5 kills had been girls. that little District 12 girl two years before him? 4 of her kills were boys.

But none of that mattered right now (not even the fact that Miriam tightened her belt after watching the madness unfold in front of her. It had in fact been her a few years back. Rumano had raised her arm into the air to congratulate her, and with a 'whump', her pants had hit her ankles. But... she returned home a victor, and so that was what most people remembered her for). What mattered right now that this was the beginning of Aurum's obligation--her destiny.

Destiny or not though, District 1 still followed some traditions that all twelve districts participated in. They were politely escorted inside by Peacekeepers, who actually treated them rather respectfully. It was easy to trust a pair of kids who volunteered so eagerly and enthusiastically for these games, so they didn't have to worry about dragging some kids away kicking and screaming, like had happened some years in the outlying districts. But, friendly Peacekeepers was all Aurum or most of District 1 ever knew. the Capitol served them, and so they served the Capitol. There was no need to fight it, so the life of a District 1 Peacekeeper was generally without incident.

But, here was where she got to say goodbyes. Aurum was almost beside herself with emotion, which was a tad bit bittersweet, but for the most part she was excited. she was sobbing excitedly into her mother's shoulder, and she was shedding a few proud tears herself.
"you can win it," she reassured her daughter, "time to remind Panem why they call District 1 one of the strongest."
"The strongest," her father added, "District 2 might have more discipline, but the games are without rules. If you need to fight dirty to win, then do it. The Capitol isn't going to care how you win--just THAT you win."
Other than that, they left Aurum with a small golden necklace that had little golden beads in the center that spelled out Aurum's name--a simple tribute token for her--shimmering gold like her long, wavy, back-length hair that she oh so loved. Before she knew it though, she was being escorted to the train station with Valour nearby. She figured she could get to know her future closest ally a bit better.

"So..." she smirked playfully his way. "Hunger Games... you excited to see the Capitol in person? I definitely am..." the fact that one of them would inevitably have to kill the other didn't even cross her mind simply because that, to them, was one of those things that just went unsaid. But, one thing that always took a District 1 tribute's fancy was seeing the luxuries of the massive Capitol city for the first time, and to say that Aurum was excited about that, might have been an understatement.

[Nachthexe]

The Reaping. It was a funny thing in that one district could be so pumped up for it while the next could be dreading it for days in advance. It definitely showed a variance between the different districts' cultures. Not only that, but the degree of Capitol favouritism of each district as well. It was certainly no secret that the Capitol's favourite districts were the most loyal, thus the most passionate about the games. Valour himself was perhaps a shining example of this, having been so eager to get up on the stage he hadn't been above kicking another kid in the face. Sure enough, it had paid off for the conceited and passionate boy who now stood above his peers as the male representative in Panem's annual death match. Death match... Those were of course the keywords they boy hadn't managed to overlook. There was only one victor, but he would at least do everything in his power to ensure it was him.

Aurum Zianja. She was a beautiful girl and Valour certainly didn't overlook it as he glanced over at her. If he was to die in the arena then he saw her as a suitable alternative for victor. The Capitol definitely liked their pretty victors, after all, and rumour even had it that many got the privilege of spending the night with Capitol citizens themselves. That was certainly a unique experience in itself, and one that definitely intrigued the boy. However, he knew it would require one thing and one thing only: winning the 47th Annual Hunger Games. Could he do it? There was no way of knowing now, but he was confident he could. He was a master sharpshooter, after all, and intended to prove it even if it was just for the 46th victor's sake. Little Alice DeSiete. Valour still could not comprehend how that boy, of all people, had managed to win the games. It was in the past now though and only the present mattered now. Here he was about to go into the very same games and nothing was going to break his confidence at this point. Realizing that, he simply stared out into the crowds, putting on another of his signature smirks as the a couple of the district's Peacekeepers came to escort him inside the Justice Building.

Once inside the Justice Building Valour knew what was to come so he simply waited patiently for the inevitable arrival of his parents. Sure enough, it was hardly a long wait with them both bursting into the small room to say what could be their final goodbyes. Almost immediately it was turning out to be quite a bittersweet moment with tears flowing down both their faces. Tears of happiness? There was really no way of telling at this point as the couple simply took turns embracing their son. "Don't fret. I will be back." Valour assured them both as they let go of their son and began glancing into his eyes. Standing at 5' 9" he easily towered over them both, although he had heard from some sources in the academy that large stature could almost be an advantage in some cases. That was certainly something he wasn't willing to overlook. "You both know District 1 produces more victors than any of those other joke districts." He simply reminded his parents as tears continued flowing from their eyes.

"We're not crying over losing you, we're crying over the man you've become. You do us proud, son. We always knew you would flourish into a proud future leader of your district." Valour's mother finally spoke up, wiping away some of her tears and her husband's. The boy simply felt flattered and took the remark as a compliment before nodding.

"Well my pride in my district and Panem doesn't end until the moment I stop breathing. You know that. When I return here there will be nothing but fame and glory for all of us. Me, because I won and you two? Because you raised a son who was able to outlast the others." Valour replied, once again wearing his signature smirk. He couldn't quite decide which aspect he was more excited for, the glory or the riches he would be bathed in the moment he emerged from the arena.

"We know that and we have hope in you. Take this. To remember that." Valour's father then spoke up, slipping his hand in his pocket to unveil a metal cuff of some sort. In typical District 1 fashion it was made with various precious metals, although the most notable feature was the District 1 seal that had been carved into it. Valour could only suspect it had been made specifically for this occasion as he hadn't exactly been subtle about his intent to volunteer. The boy simply examined it for a few seconds before finally putting it on. It suited him, unsurprisingly enough and he expressed his approval simply by smiling before embracing his parents once again before the Peacekeepers announced it was time to go. Technically it was something they didn't really have to do in District 1, considering the enthusiasm of the tributes, but was out of habit more than anything. Needless to say though Valour simply followed them without hesitation to the car that would escort him to the beginning of the biggest days of his life.

Once the two tributes were reunited at the train Aurum took initiative to speak to her district partner. "The Capitol? Of course. It's funny because even as a young boy I was fascinated by it and wanted to see it in person. Now I can." Valour responded as he took a seat in one of the train compartment's chairs. Almost immediately, the second half of the District 1 mentoring team, Price, also took a seat. He was always glad to see tributes so passionate as was Rumano. It was rumoured that all the escorts strived to eventually be promoted up to the "better" districts, after all. It definitely went without saying that District 1 was among them. That was an image Valour could only hope to help continue through his victory in the games.

[Zulera301]

It seemed that Aurum's parents weren't the only ones overreacting. The girl could understand it on the other hand, given that she was their pride and joy, just as surely Valour was the same for his parents. both families seemed rather emotional over the whole thing, proud that their children were representing their proud and loyal district. they were not too far away from each other, although Aurum was mostly paying attention to her own family for obvious reasons here. Besides, she'd be able to talk with Valour's family after she came home from winning the games. She did intend to win it, after all. Sure Valour would be a suitable alternative if she should fall, but she didn't even want to think of that when she could imagine herself being fawned over and adored by everyone in the Capitol after becoming their newest victor. It'd certainly be a nice change from that scrawny little smartass boy who won last year.

Alice DeSiete rubbed the wrong way with Aurum simply because the boy seemed too clever. Not that she didn't know tributes were clever, but she had always just accepted that they would inevitably die. Isikiro Kwan and Joss Kolton last year from District 12... both had been some of the more clever tributes of the games, and both had eventually gotten offed by strong tributes. The year before, there was clever little Clemont and Hikari--offed by District 6 of all things. So, sure a clever tribute could be a handful, but they were supposed to still end up dying. How had he managed to beat Panem's strongest, including and especially kids from her own district? That was what baffled the golden-haired girl the most. She would not be the next Gemma though. She would stay alert and aware.

Either way, soon she found herself in a car on her way to a train, where she caught her first close glimpse of their mentors--Price, a slightly older young man in his late 20s or early 30s; and Miriam, who was in her early 20s and had won less than a decade ago. Both seemed rather quiet, but wore contented smirks on their faces, to show that rather than being distant and aloof, they were just being cool and confident. It was a nice attitude to have, really, given that they were strong and powerful. they had what it took to win, as they proved by... well, winning. Now it was time for Aurum to do the same.

Well... not yet. She could at least enjoy some of the Capitol's benevolence before then. As they boarded the train, she found a nice seat to relax in, crossing her long, bare legs, and jiggling her feet to make the jeweled anklets she wore jingle lightly. she was excited, which was why she couldn't keep her foot still. Her brilliant eyes met Price's, and then Miriam's, as if to show that she respected them, because she did. She was not entirely sure what to say at the moment, but figured that Valour might strike up something to say to stroke his ego, which would spread quickly to everyone else on the train.

Okay, so maybe she did have an idea of something. "I can't wait to meet our stylists." she turned to Valour. Not everything she had to say to the boy had to be about her Maybe she was unreasonable for thinking this, but she figured they could talk to each other as regular people rather than trying to puff up their own egos with every word that escaped their mouths. Maybe she was wrong though? "I know the train ride isn't very long... we're lucky to live so close; but I'm still maybe a bit too excited about it!"
It was no mystery that Aurum loved fashion, which might have been part of why she was so peculiarly interested in that little District 8 boy from last year. She had seen his art and some of his designs, and while she was hesitant to admit it for her own ego's sake... they were good. the boy had some incredible talent. But, instead of dwelling on that boy, she was going to dwell on her situation here and now, and how within a couple of hours, they'd be pulling into the Capitol to get styled and made over for the glorious parade in which Aurum could cheerfully strut her stuff.

[Nachthexe]

Certainly there was never a lot of mentoring occurring with career tributes, but Valour was glad both Price and Miriam had decided to tag along anyway. He certainly respected all the victors of District 1(and even many from 2) and they were no exception. They showed that District 1 was strong and could produce many victors. That was a fact any loyal District 1 citizen couldn't help but to be proud of. Pride. It was definitely one of District 1's more prominent traits, and Valour wasn't about to let some weak kids from the outlying districts destroy his own sense of pride. No, he was going to fight to the death. Certainly it was a bit redundant to make such a vow in what was a death match anyway, but he was determined to not go down without a fight. Both Gemma and Marcel of the 46th games seemed to have not followed that too well. That was a mistake Valour did not intend to repeat.

"I doubt you two have to mentor us perfect tributes much, but thanks for coming along anyway. We may have a thing or two to ask you anyway." Valour assured the mentors, gazing directly into their eyes. They seemed to have no regrets and even enjoyed visits to the Capitol themselves so for them this was simply just another opportunity to go to what any District 1 or 2 victor surely considered their second home. It was a feeling that was probably mutual too as the Capitol also was fond of their victors, regardless of their home district. The District 1 and 2 ones just happened to be more abundant so seemed to get plenty attention while present.

"Perfect tributes? I suppose we will just see in a few days." Price responded to Valour, chuckling. The man definitely wasn't humble himself, but he could certainly call out bullshit when he saw it and this was no exception. There was no such thing as a "perfect" tribute, although he suspected the massive Valendria girl probably came close. He really couldn't think of anything that girl couldn't do. That brought him back to his own tributes though and suddenly he began wondering about them both. Occasionally mentors did visit the training academies, although Price admittedly hadn't seen these two in action before. "So tell me. What are your specialties? I'm sure you both excel at something that you're just dying to show off."

As Aurum jiggled her ankles Valour admittedly found himself become briefly aroused by the beautiful girl who possessed them, although this was quickly interrupted once Price asked him about his skills. He was genuinely surprised the man didn't know, but there were certainly enough people in the district that one couldn't watch everybody. "Wait, what? Oh...I'm a master archer. Aurum knows." He responded, turning towards his district partner and simply winking. If anything, it was also an excuse to get yet another glance at her face that beamed of perfection. It was also a cue that the two knew each other well enough to know each other's strengths. That alone was bound to have them working together well in the arena, especially considering they complimented each other so nicely; Valour was the ranged fighter while Aurum preferred getting more up close and personal. There was no "wrong" way of killing off opponents in the Hunger Games at least.

Price simply awaited an answer from Aurum before speaking again, giving time for Valour to turn his attention back to Aurum. She seemed excited to meet the stylist team, which was entirely understandable. Valour was certainly less of a fashionista than she was, although he knew he could certainly enjoy it in typical District 1 fashion. Their district was all about luxury, after all. "I admittedly can't wait to see what sort of costume they give us for the parade. We're lucky, usually having the best stylists. I see it on TV nearly every year." Valour confessed as he glanced at Aurum once again before glancing out the train window. The girl had a point. District 1 was arguably the closest district to the Capitol so their train ride was likely only a short one. Still, he intended to enjoy it while it lasted and part of that seemed to come in examining the scenery as it passed by in front of him.

[Zulera301]

As much as Aurum had always admired Krystal Saffron's natural beauty and her work (for she had been a very talented jeweler, and those were always popular people in a district whose industry was centered around luxury items), but her outlook on the games had ruined her impression on the then-15-year-old Aurum. No one decent ever wins the games? well, that might have been true for the last couple of years... but what about Price? what about Miriam?Heck, what about tiny little Leto from District 2? Aurum and much of District 1 had held the tiny girl in high respect for proving that even her diminutive stature did not make her weak. She had scored perfectly, after all, and had taken out a total of 9 tributes on her own using stealth, subterfuge, and direct combat in some cases.

Of course, even she was not a perfect tribute. Miriam, even with her own ego, wasn't one either (though she was pretty damn close if you asked her). Reaching for a flask on the table, the female mentor popped it open and emptied some of its contents into her mouth as Valour spoke. Aurum couldn't help but nod in agreement, and in counteraction to what Price had replied with.
"hey, we're not saying we're better than you..." she admitted. She was not afraid to schmooze important people if she thought it would get her what she wanted, which in this case was attention and praise, "just that like so many others, we've got this under control for sure."

Miriam did exchange glances with Price at the mention of perfect tributes, but she stayed quiet. Liek him, the only one she could think of in recent times was Valendria. Leto had her flaws, and so did Flint, Keshet, Lyndis, and everyone else who scored a 12. A lot of people called it a "perfect 12". Not Miriam. perfection was an unreachable goal, although coring that high was a reasonable substitute in her books, considering that she had only scored a 10 herself during her games.
"we do!" Aurum beamed proudly, the excitement showing in her face. They were enthusiastic, she would give him that much. the jingling of her jeweled anklets was something that Aurum was kind of doing subconsciously, and so she hardly noticed the attention her ankle was suddenly getting--okay, for like a total of about 3 seconds.

"he's pretty good. We were trying to get that Alice kid from last year to challenge him, but he wasn't up for it." okay, so it was fairly common knowledge that they couldn't just get up and have an archery tournament, but hey. this was ego-stroking going on, and one did not simply take such an art so lightly. "Me? I'm more of a melee expert. I like having two matching weapons, but I'll settle for whatever I can grab if nothing else. I've got a good swinging arm." While Aurum was clearly one of those "pretty girls", the fact that she was in a miniskirt meant her legs were exposed, and so the muscle tone that betrayed her athletic frame were visible in her calves and thighs. her arms, even though covered by her breezy shirt, were similar (only smaller of course, for natural reasons). When she saw Valour's bright smile, she gave him one in return, winking as if suggesting something.
"besides..." she added, "haven't the last few victors proved that there's no real one way to win?" She thought she was being smart with asking this, but she just kind of wanted her own theories validated.

"There is no one way to win, aye," Miriam nodded, "although a win is a win, cheap shot or otherwise." he was clearly referencing Alice here as well. she didn't have strong feelings for or against the kid, but she acknowledged that he was obviously smart enough to win the games.
The subject quickly changed to the stylists though, and Aurum grinned as it stayed that way, still happily jingling her anklet (by shaking her foot) as she kept her long legs crossed. "well, we have the best tributes, so don't we deserve the best stylists?" she stroked her district's ego a bit more. "I can't wait to see what they do with me... I wonder what they'll do..." she was more wondering what kind of outfit they'd have for her, since even she knew full well that they were going to take her down the sexy path before she had even met them. She liked that path, which was also part of why she was kind of flaunting her legs and ankles in front of Valour as they drew nearer and nearer to the Capitol.

[Nachthexe]

Valour liked Aurum's confidence. It really seemed to show in her words, although he was sure she likely would have not volunteered if she wasn't confident in her own abilities. Fortunately for him he didn't even have to wait until the training centre to see what he was capable either. He knew. Just one of the many advantages of training together for so many years. It seemed to be one that both Districts 1 and 2 shared as well, which likely helped to explain the abundance of victors in both. "Maybe we're not better than you two, but maybe we come close? Tell you what. We can decide once we both get our training scores. I will get at least a 11 for sure." Valour blurted out, taking yet another chance to stroke his ego, which definitely existed. There was of course a chance he was inflating his own skill a bit as well, but only time would tell on that one as the Gamemakers were always the ultimate judge in the private sessions.

Valour could only simply smirk once Aurum proceeded to stroke his ego as well. She had just not so subtly complimented his skills and he liked this as well. "Alice? He would have lost for sure. I've been training for years while that little kid just got lucky. As much as she was a crazy bitch I think that Lyndis girl was onto something; there are both great victors and lucky victors. He's definitely a lucky one. Either one of us? Great of course." He simply interjected once again once Aurum proceeded to mention last year's victor. Naturally, the discussion quickly switched to her own abilities though and Valour simply smirked at this too. They were definitely bound to make a good team and Valour was even confident that once the inevitable split happened that both he and Aurum could quite easily take down the District 2 pair. That was, of course, depending on what sort of skills they wielded though. He had been admittedly impressed with Zakura the year before with her clever tactic of taking shelter atop the Cornucopia itself. If anything, it had forced out those inside, only to end up with two of them killed.

There was no one way to win. Those few words from Miriam definitely stuck with Valour. The woman had a point and various past victors proved it. Alice, once again, was a notable example with his reliance on his district partner and cheap shots. Valour certainly didn't admit it publicly, but he did rather admire the way Paige Alwin of District 8 could fight. It had almost looked like she had been trained somewhere, although the boy knew that was unlikely considering the nature of her district. District 8 was known for being infested with the rebellious types who certainly hated the games, after all. She would have made decent victor material for sure, certainly better than Alice. Valour couldn't help but to wonder about all the scenes of her that had looked as if they were cut out though. "No one way to win? I suppose that means watching out for little cheap shots like Alice. Or perhaps kids like those District 3 tributes who built that lightning machine." He blurted out, in which Miriam simply just nodded. She seemed to know what she was doing, having won the games before so Valour knew he could trust her word.

The stylists. They were definitely one of the more fascinating bits of the Hunger Games experience. Each tribute was burdened with a series of public appearances and how well one did on those was often dependent on the competence of their stylist team. Naturally, this often left the outlying districts with some of the least impressive costumes, although Valour knew very well now there were always exceptions. He vividly remembered the District 11 costumes of the 44th Games and how they had blown the crowds away, even more so than District 1's had. That was something to watch out for, but he was confident it was something District 11 wouldn't be repeating again. Not at least for a long time. "Of course we will have the best. Always the best in Panem for District 1, the Capitol favourites." He instead assured Aurum, putting on a smirk yet again as he noticed the girl flaunting her legs. That immediately had a lightbulb going off in his head as to the sort of costumes she and himself would be placed in for the parade. Admittedly he was looking forward to it.

[Zulera301]

If there was one thing that Aurum had to admire little Alice for, it was his confidence. Confidence was a trait that she rather admired, and the small boy had seemed confident that he could win. A lot of the context around some of those conversations did seem to have been cut, but the Capitol only made the important parts of the games public anyways, so those must not have been important.
She shook her ankles to jingle the jewels on them a bit more, smiling as she felt her ego being stroked as well. The only thing that Aurum liked being stroked perhaps more than her ego was her scalp, but that was a different story. "he's right. we'll score high and remind all of the others who the best tributes this year are." She too might have been appalled at Alice's words if she had ever heard them, where the boy had stated that training scores really were just numbers. Heck, it was easy to overlook the fact that last year's victor had been a boy who had earned an unrigged 5, no less.

Aurum gave a high-pitched, very flattered giggle as Aurum labelled himself and her as "great ones". she remembered that conversation and couldn't help but grin. "I liked that girl... she had what it took to be a career if she wasn't so crazy. I heard that they offered an alliance with her or something... she had to have been crazy if she turned it down though." So Alice DeSiete was not the only one with unanswered questions about Lyndis. "as for that Alice kid... he had confidence, I'll give him that. otherwise, yeah. totally a lucky one." As much as she wanted to admire the District 2 pair, whoever they were, she realized that they had not been on too hot of a streak lately. They did good, but not great. Aurum intended to continue that trend this year simply because she wanted District 1 (namely, herself) to win, rather than them. If, somehow she was embarrassingly cut down in the opening minutes... then maybe she could see them winning. She remembered the year when a boy from District 1 had died in the opening minutes. One of the other tributes had accidentally triggered the mines around their pedestal, putting everyone else into a state of of shock and surprise. A District 11 girl was the first one to snap out of it, and she somehow managed to grab a knife and come up behind the larger boy and slit his throat. the typical mayhem ensued seconds later, and while the girl did end up dying later on, she did escape the bloodbath. That had all been years ago though. Nothing like that would happen this time.

Miriam nodded in response to Valour's question. "Cheap as Alice's shots might have been, they did win him the games." she reminded them. The Hunger Games are one of those things where only the results really matter. the process, to many people, is irrelevant."
"well, we'll be able to win AND be awesome in the meantime." Aurum grinned. the girl had a very bright smile and had the enthusiasm part pretty well-nailed. "Besides... it's not like only Districts 3 and 8 can use cheap shots." she thought back to just earlier today, where the girls of District 1 had been brawling with each other in a fight for the stage, and the boys had followed suit moments later. Surely Valour would catch onto this reference too, for both of them had kicked a fellow competitor on the face as they scrambled to reach the escort.

The stylists were always an interesting key in swinging the odds for or against a tribute. The career districts obviously had the best ones because they were Capitol favorites, and so in the bids for each district, surely the best and most talented ones inevitably won out for Districts 1 and 2. the outlying districts were not so lucky, although some, such as Antonius and Caelia of District 11, seemed to be content where they were ,especially since they got to continue styling one of their victors given that she made semi-regular appearances in the Capitol now. Aurum did not forget the incredible impression they had made that year no less. A pair of volunteer tributes from the poorest districts, who had also managed to steal the show both at the parade and the tribute interviews? Perhaps Flint DiFronzo had been doomed from the start, despite his ample sponsor gifts. Rye's spiked knuckles and Sagittaria's powerful bow had both clearly been sponsor gifts, after all.

Aurum grinned in agreement with Valour's words. To some it might have been revolting how well these two played off of each other's own arrogance, but if nothing else, this would also be a deadly alliance if they could play off of each other's skills and weaknesses like this in the arena. "well, it's one thing to have good stylists, but it also helps to have good tributes. Those District 11 folks were lucky that year, because that boy was fearless, and that girl was charismatic. Me? I'm strong and beautiful... it shouldn't even be a mystery what they'll do with me." she giggled. Aurum would honestly be quite surprised (and appalled) if her stylists *didn't* take advantage of her good looks when giving her a makeover. she shifted her legs, crossing the other one over the first one now, and smirked at Valour. "I'm sure you know what angle you want to go with too, right?"
it wasn't uncommon for the career tributes to think like this. Most of the outlying districts had never thought much about fashion before being dragged into the games (or even in the rare case of outlying volunteers, such as Rye, Sagittaria, and Lyndis), while District 1, who had kids training their whole lives for this, often put it into consideration, and so refined themselves to be visually appealing from the start.
"Visual appeal? kids like you and me? I think we've got that nailed to a T." she giggled, throwing in a playful wink,

[Nachthexe]

Valour simply chuckled as Aurum spoke. The girl definitely had confidence, just as he did. That was definitely a helpful trait to go into the games with as it had tributes knowingly and determined to fight. "Remember Flint? He was known as one of the top of his class and look what happened to him. We can top that and come out of here victorious." Valour assured Aurum. Certainly District 1 hadn't been too hot in recent years, but he could see that both he and Aurum were determined to change that. Certainly Flint had been a competent fighter, but it would be an understatement to say he hadn't been dealt an unlucky hand in the games. The same also seemed to apply to his younger brother who had volunteered the following year, having an even worse record than his brother. Death by blazing inferno. It definitely wasn't one of the more pleasant ways to go and for that reason Valour seemed to hold a special kind disdain for District 6. At least towards their latest victor, Kiva Rivnay.

The results. They truly were the only thing to matter in the Hunger Games and Valour wasn't quick to overlook that. Certainly Alice won by a lot of luck and also made some cheap shots, but there were technically no rules in the games except for the obvious "no stepping off the pedestal until the timer expires". Technically one could regardless, but Valour knew very well what would happen to them. Being blown sky high while exploding all over the other tributes. That was not a fate he wanted for himself or his partner. Perhaps if they could trick others into stepping off their pedestals it could set them both ahead, although Valour wanted to prove his strength and ability and that would require tributes surviving the initial countdown. "Of course. District 1 will be a force to be reckoned with this year. The others don't stand much of a chance with us in the game." He emphasized to Aurum who seemed just as determined to prove her strength.

Valour simply nodded before giggling just as Aurum had as she discussed the stylists. It was no mystery the stylists usually outfitted the better looking tributes in more revealing costumes and certainly this was something Valour couldn't complain about. It would definitely mean seeing more of Aurum, something he especially wasn't opposed to, while simultaneously showing off himself. It was a win-win situation really as both were good looking kids(just as so many District 1 kids were). "Oh, you know what will happen with us and I'm certainly not complaining." Valour simply assured his district partner, winking once again. Somehow he felt the feelings of seeing each other in minimal clothing were probably mutual so as the train continued speeding towards the Capitol he couldn't help but to be excited for what was to come. Finally. A chance to show himself off to the entire country.

[Zulera301]

Aurum's face actually melted a bit when Valour mentioned Flint, and by extension Blaze. She had not exactly known them the best, but she didn't like how either of them died. "yeah... getting dealt a bad hand with tributes like that in the arena... that District 11 pair really screwed Flint over... and that Valendria girl the year after basically got to decide who lived and who died..." Valendria. She had been rather pretty (albeit very tall), but she had also been so powerful that she basically dictated who survived and who didn't. Her death was something Aurum didn't understand very well, given that much of it had been censored. He had heard rumors that she had been trying to get that Glimmer girl from District 5 to win before she got cheap-shotted by those District 3 kids. She had liked Glimmer.

Miriam nodded at Valour's remark, but didn't say anything. It was true that even the District 1 victors were slightly more humbled after winning, because there were still horrors in the arena that they had experienced, even if their training and attitudes had sort of desensitized themselves to it, such as the notion of killing someone else's children (a fact that a lot of the outer districts seemed all too well-aware of, in turn making it a bit more traumatic for them. If nothing else though, the confidence that Valour and Aurum were exuding, as well as their extremely high morales, would do them good in the games.They just needed to not be blinded by it, the way some of the tributes such as Victoria and the DiFronzo brothers had been. Not to say Miriam didn't like them (they were very easy on her eyes, if nothing else); just that she had been worried about them for that reason, and from seeing their competition (District 11 in Flint's case; and Districts 4 and 5 in Blaze's).
"so we'll be the next Valendria then?" Aurum turned to Valour, suggesting the notion, "I wonder what kind of arena we'll get. clearly some are more advantageous to some districts than others." that was just common knowledge. It didn't take a genius to know that the dense jungle-like arena would favor kids from '11 and '12 who were familiar with wild plants and such; or that the stinking, urban wasteland would favor District 6, which was all too familiar with weird stenches and oils. Then of course there were more obvious ones, like water for District 4, woodland for District 7, and so on.
She wondered what kind of competition they would have this year... it definitely would prove to shake things up a bit, because it was different every year. On the other hand, Aurum felt that Lyndis and Keshet had both earned their 12s in training, and so to see them both get offed by a tiny boy who had only scored a 5 had her just as skeptical as Valour about the whole thing.

Aurum grinned shamelessly at Valour's response, which also caressed her ego. "well... with a body like this?" she straightened one of her legs as if to show it off, "who *wouldn't* want to see more of it?" she winked at him again, almost as if cueing him to make a remark that would stroke his own ego. It was odd; usually when two egomaniacs met, they turned it into a competition of who was better, but the way they thought of themselves seemed to be different in terms of what they thought they were best at, and so perhaps they just worked off of each other, if nothing else.

"speaking of..." she paused, "hey." she turned towards the mentors, "you wanna run us through the reapings? what kind of kids are we up against this year?" the more they knew about their competition, the better they could prepare. It was one thing to strike at targets and dummies, but real people were much more clever--and could move, of course. She wanted to size up her audience here.

[Nachthexe]

Due to the very different nature of the games every year there was always a chance somebody was put at a disadvantage. Rye and Sagittaria up against Flint were perhaps just one example of that. While he had been considered one of the star tributes of District 1 he had been killed by a pair of District 11 kids, of all places. That surprised Valour even to this day. "I just hope we don't run into similar problems, but I'm confident we won't. We will dominate this arena, whatever it ends up being." He remarked, assuring Aurum and both the mentors he wasn't about to just become fodder for some outlying kid. He was fairly confident that most of them couldn't even swing a sword before the Reaping anyway. Those who could simply just got fortunate through their district industry. It was definitely no secret that District 7 usually excelled with axes due to cutting down trees for a living or that District 4 excelled with tridents and spears due to fishing with them. District 4 often even made valuable allies for District 1 too so Valour was admittedly anxious to see what sort of tributes they produced this year.

The arena environment. It also seemed to play a major role in how well tributes did, something that Valour had very much been reminded of back at his academy. The previous year's games had been a pretty notable example, with nearly all the urban kids dying early one. Paige and Alice had been the notable exception, but Valour knew it was simply because he felt Paige have had the workings of a career tribute herself. However, his instructor's words still managed to linger in the back of his mind; "As you're certainly all very well aware, the arena's environment varies year after year. One year you could be frolicking through a meadow while in another you could be braving the frigid winds of a frozen tundra. All of you must be prepared for almost anything, something you will learn well during your time here." Aurum was probably well aware of these various factors as well, although when she brought it up Valour couldn't help but to think of one thing: food. "Wherever we end up I just hope there's plenty of food. Remember that urban wasteland from the 45th games? There didn't seem to be much there so the tributes had to resort to eating those Tracker Jackers. Gross."

Aurum never missed an opportunity to show off and this was no exception. As she flashed her leg in front of him, Valour couldn't help but to be mesmerized. The girl was definitely beautiful and that alone gave her plenty of potential to quickly soar through the ranks to one of the Capitol favourites. They seemed to like their strong tributes and their pretty tributes and certainly being both was bound to make one unstoppable as far as sponsors went. Any career tribute also knew very well that sponsorship could often mean the difference between life or death so it was something Valour definitely wasn't glossing over. "Oh, you know I would be right down in that, Aurum." He responded, returning the girl's wink. It was definitely a mutual feeling they had for each other's good looks and this seemed to prove it. Both were rather toned, after all, thanks to their years of training.

Once again attention was soon shifted off Aurum's body and onto the games. The other tributes. It was certainly key to know about them before entering the arena. In fact, it was a way to examine their skills and weaknesses and what better place to start than here? The mentors seemed to agree with Aurum on that one and simply both nodded before turning on the footage. As expected, it was being broadcast as the Capitol was always anxious to get a first glance at their tributes as well. First up, of course, was the District 1 "Reaping" and watching it on screen for the first time only served to inflate Valour's own ego further as he proceeded to fight his way to the front. "Look at these pretty faces. We're unstoppable and even our Reaping shows it." He simply commented as the District 1 reaping footage finished up before shifting into District 2. Ah, District 2. Arguably District 1's sister district in many ways and it really showed in the Reapings as well. Much like District 1's, their's also consisted of a bunch of kids fighting for a chance to volunteer. This year the lucky candidates happened to be a pair in which Valour heard introduced as Alana and Nolan. He simply put on a smirk as he glanced at their expressions of confidence. Allies for sure.

"I suspect the usual District 1 and 2 alliance is in order, eh?" Miriam simply asked as she noticed Valour glancing at both Nolan and Alana as they graced the screen. Both definitely seemed fairly confident in their abilities as well, much like Valour and Aurum, so they were bound to make a potentially good team. Next up was District 3 of course. Their reapings always seemed to be particularly fascinating due to the fact it was all computerized rather than the conventional lottery most of the other districts opted for, although their female tribute this year didn't seem particularly impressive. The boy, Lever Mendez, however, looked as if he had some potential. Then again, looks were often deceiving so only time would tell on that one. District 4 seemed to be more similar to 1 and 2 this year in that they had managed to produce two strong and confident tributes, despite neither of them being volunteers. This was a fact Valour wasn't quick to overlook.

"What do you think, Aurum? Allies?" Valour asked his partner, clearly sensing both the District 4 tributes had potential. District 5 seemed to produce a promising boy named Edison, although Valour didn't count on any chances of being able to recruit him into the career pack. They tended to be a very mixed bag in that respect and this boy, who looked to be about 15 or 16, had a very "no nonsense" demeanour to him. Much like last year, District 6 had the misfortune of producing two tributes who were bound to be weak and vulnerable. The girl, Cara, seemed oddly relaxed as she approached the stage though. Perhaps a sign she had some fight in her? Time would only tell on that one too. District 7 was up next and very contrary to last year they didn't seem to have anything extremely impressive this year. Valour sensed both their tributes would likely die early on, but it wasn't like he was complaining as it certainly meant less competition later. District 8 also seemed to be similar even if the boy's bright reddish hair seemed to distinguish him well from the rest of the crowd. District 9 though... Valour actually managed to pause momentarily at what he saw. The boy. For the first time in years District 9 actually seemed to have a tribute who might actually amount to something in the arena. Price also didn't hesitate to take a glance at it.

"That boy. He's swinging his arms through the air as if he's ready to get into combat. I'm dying to know if it's just for show, or..." Price commented as the District 9 footage finally cut out to District 10 which seemed to had returned to their usual fate of being fodder, despite Lyndis' antics from the previous games. Even if few in the career districts cared for Districts 11 and 12, District 11 at least seemed to have a promising girl although Valour wasn't about to let her get the best of him. Last thing he wanted was a fate like Flint's. He did find a smirk forming on his face as soon as the District 12 tributes were shown though as neither appeared as if they would be a formidable force in the arena. The girl looked young while the boy looked incredibly scrawny, as was common in Panem's poorest district.

District 12 concluded the reaping footage and with that Valour simply turned towards Aurum and proceeded to speak. "So what do you think of all this? We might as well begin deciding who we could take as potential allies. I think possibly 4, and obviously 2. They look like the best tributes. Well besides us of course." He simply chuckled as he concluded yet another opportunity to stroke both his and Aurum's ego.

[Zulera301]

"well... it's true what they say..." she remarked, regarding Flint. "obstacles exist to be overcome, rather than succumbed to." she didn't remember where she had heard that one before, but it was probably just another of the career tributes from '1 or '2 in past years, regardless of if the individual had become a victor or not. Either way, it was good advice, and advice that Aurum intended to follow as well as she could. The other tributes were just obstacles. She was not about to let them best her, and so instead, she would overcome them all, and return home the victor within a few weeks.

"ewww..." Aurum couldn't help but agree. "I think starving might be worse... I think those things fried their brains or something too. Starving might be the better choice." she was only half-serious with this, but the notion was one that she would not have partaken in if she had been in the position of Dezna or Hazel. "I mean, that victor girl doesn't seem very aware of anything any time I've seen her... those poor kids are gonna be suffering till they can actually get a good mentor again." Perhaps a bit judgmental, but at least Alice had had some smarts. She wasn't exactly sure that he would produce the greatest of tributes either, but again. District 1 mentality right here. They practically unapologetically had superiority complexes and were not ashamed of it at all.

Sure enough, Valour's words flattered the golden-haired girl to the point where she gave a cute little high-pitched giggle. "oooh... well you know full well that I wouldn't ever decline." she winked again. But, they'd have time for that later. There was a time for play and a time to focus, and the time to focus was now. She needed to learn who her competition was. After that, they might have a bit of free time tonight in the Capitol. Other than the makeover (which, for pretty tributes like District 1, was always brief; Aurum hated to think about the poor stylists and operators that had to work on those feral kids from '11 and '12 or something) and the parade, they'd have the rest of the night to do whatever they wanted. Then, it'd be training time and an excuse to flaunt their skills. It didn't mean that Aurum wasn't checking out Valour right in return though. he was good-looking, which made him a fitting partner for her, since she was good-looking (and unfortunately for anyone who hated the girl's ego... she did have a point).

Soon, they were watching the reapings... okay, the first two districts were unsurprisingly more like brawls, but Aurum got to see herself reach the stage triumphantly again, and she beamed with pride. "damn we're good-looking." she couldn't help but express. There was no need to pause and focus on them because they knew themselves and what they were good at. District 2 was similar; the girl seemed to be developing a black eye, but that was an easy fix, and she had fought rather fiercely to get to the stage. those girls from District 2 were vicious.
"Definitely allies." Aurum nodded, almost before anyone else had said anything. It was pretty much habitual and traditional at this point, and so so Aurum didn't even see a need to question allying with such a strong and passionate pair of tributes.

District 3... they were a mixed bag. historically, they were sometimes drafted into the career pack, because a bit of extra brains were always nice. With egos like Aurum and Valour's though? not likely. The kids this year seemed on the smaller side, but did have that geeky kind of smartness to them.
"Unless they die in the bloodbath, always watch out for District 3," Miriam warned, "they're the kind of kids who can build a bomb out of rocks and vines if they have to." that was something of an exaggeration, but it was true that District 3 usually produced some of the smarter or more clever tributes in the arena. The only other close competitors were usually District 5.

After seeing District 4 and hearing Valour's suggestion, Aurum nodded. "I think we can let District 4 in this year... I'd definitely suggest watching them though... we probably can't trust them quite as much as District 2 since these aren't volunteers." District 4 was one of the more mixed bags when it came to volunteer tributes, having them about as often as not. Usually the ones that volunteered were aiming for the career alliance (and most of them did just that), but there were plenty that didn't, tat still got in. Heck, let it not be said that the careers were a closed group. in recent years, Districts 3, 4, and 5 had all been in on it, and last year, they had contemplated even accepting that girl from District 10. if District 10 could produce a potential career tribute, then it was clear that the 'pack just wanted strong members. "but yeah... we should definitely propose it, if nothing else."

District 6 and 7 seemed to have returned to fairly unremarkable figures again, a departure from the vicious Keshet and the cunning Nesara that had shown up last year, in District 6's case, and District 6 was certainly not producing any Deznas. That small girl seemed rather calm about it, but then again, so had that little girl from District 12 a couple years back, even if she didn't ever end up killing anyone.
District 8 was hard to read this year as well: Shelia Daniels and Lodan Tracey. The boy was easy to spot because of his flaming red curls, which made Aurum giggle.
"he's got really cute hair." the boy looked about 16 or 17, and Aurum was still attracted to boys, after all, but otherwise, she didn't really expect much from either of the tributes this year. It was time to see what Alice could do as a mentor.

"whoa now... there's something you don't see every... I dunno... decade or so." she quipped, noticing that the boy and girl from District 9 seemed to have a fighting spirit for the first time in... well, decades. (maybe less. Aurum didn't know or really care). "hopefully we can just make quick work of them like we usually do though..." she shrugged. District 10 was back to being fodder again though, and even '11 and '12 looked to continue that trend. The girl from '11 looked like she might have had some potential, but she was definitely no Smash, and was probably not a Sagittaria either. District 12 produced small tributes again, including a 12-year-old girl who was playing nimbly with her fingers as she stood up on the stage.
"Normally I'm not one to take District 12 or 11 too seriously either," Miriam commented, "but District 11's mentor is a brilliant woman. I dunno what she told them a couple years back, but remember that those tiny kids... that boy and the mayor's daughter--lasted longer than we expected." Who could forget tiny little Leon McFaren, who had dragged Blaze DiFronzo, the District 1 favorite, into the flames and taken him down with him?
"And of course," she added, "prior to a few years ago, I'd just tell you to laugh off District 12, but if we have another Kyla on our hands, we're in for it. Not to say you should shit yourselves over a 12-year-old... just be sure to watch them a little if you can. Size 'em up; that sort of thing."

"Don't worry," Aurum chuckled. "we've got this. we're not gonna fall for those tricks." it was certainly true that it was easier to avoid a trick once you knew of it, but Districts 11 and 12 seemed to have an endless bag of them. with the newest victor from District 8, perhaps they too might have a trick or two of them own.
Turning to Valour, Aurum's mind was mostly made up at this point. "District 2 for sure," she answered, "and definitely offer it to District 4. when the time comes, we'll turn on '4 first probably." she figured. "cuz we'll be able to do that this year--since we *are* the best." she jingled her anklets again.

"Otherwise," Miriam took another shot from a flask, leaning back and putting her feet on one of the tables, "feel free to kick back and relax on the remainder of the journey to the Capitol--unless you've got questions or anything..."
"I think I'm good." Aurum followed suit, stretching her legs in front of her, crossing them at the ankles as she leaned back and relaxed. she wasn't even worried. They had this in the bag.

[Nachthexe]

Which was worse? Eating Tracker Jackers or starving? It was a question that Aurum managed to get Valour thinking about. As it stood it was difficult to give a direct answer as both the District 1 tributes had been brought up in relatively wealthy environments with plenty of food(at least by district standards). Valour also didn't want to overlook his training either and how it was often emphasized that desperation often drove people to do crazy things. Certainly it was hard for him to imagine doing so now, but would he actually resort to eating Tracker Jackers if it was the only source of protein available? Only time would tell, and there was even a chance the tributes would be thrown into an environment where Tracker Jackers wouldn't be able to thrive. Certainly Valour hoped for the latter, considering what they had done to the kids in the 45th games. Each had seemed quite out of it(a trait that unsurprisingly seemed to persist in Kiva to this day).

Valour knew that between the parade and training there would be plenty of downtime, and a part of him definitely hoped to get closer to Aurum during that time. Her legs alone definitely had the hormonal boy intrigued, but at the same time he knew they were destined to be enemies within weeks. The boy quickly imagined he and Aurum eliminating the remainder of the competition, leaving them two as the last ones standing. To everybody in Panem it was obvious what would happen at that point. However, despite all that, he seemed to want to get close to the girl and enjoy her while he could. Not necessarily physically either(although that was a thought that continued lingering in his mind), simply just wanting a friend and companion if he wasn't to return to those at home. That was a possibility that not even the most arrogant of career tributes could overlook.

Valour simply nodded before proceeding to speak to Aurum about the Reaping footage. "There's no question about whether 2's joining, but 4? We can ask once we get into training. It might be helpful to see them in action first so we don't end up with any weaklings in our ranks, although if that happens at least they will be easy to kill." He chuckled at the prospect of killing off the District 4 pair if they didn't meet his satisfaction, although another very possible scenario came to his mind: stronger tributes could infiltrate the career pack and split them up, just as Keshet had. It seemed unlikely this year, but Aurum had a point about watching the District 4 pair closely. Considering their district industry, they were most likely both quite adept with spears and tridents as well. District 4 was pretty predictable in that respect just like District 7 was.

Despite the obvious, none of the other tributes looked worthy in Valour's eyes to be part of the all so superior career pack, although he was open to changing his mind upon seeing the others in action. Besides, the more allies the better. Certainly it was about the dirtiest tactic Valour could think of, but at least having tributes believe he and Aurum were allies would make them easier to backstab in the end. But no, that was not a game Valour intended to play. In typical District 1 fashion he wanted to show off his real skills. "I doubt we need more than a couple allies, even if District 4 declines. Us and District 2 will dominate the arena anyway." Valour finally remarked as Aurum finished giving her feedback about each tribute. He had no reason to be afraid of any of them, although they had plenty of reason to be afraid of him.

Both Miriam and Price seemed to be satisfied with the conclusions Valour and Aurum had drawn so the two mentors simply leaned back and intended to enjoy the rest of the trip. This was something Aurum, and subsequently Valour, followed suit on. Much like before he began glancing out the window. Maybe it was because much of it was foreign to District 1, but he did find himself growing rather fond of the natural landscapes they seemed to be passing through. Like anybody out of his district he was definitely a sucker for beauty in all forms and nature was no exception. Admittedly he had been quite fascinated by many of the game's arenas for that reason as well. The jungle of the 44th games he had found exceptionally beautiful, even if it had been where the first of the Difronzo brothers had met his end. One of the first of Valour's Hunger Games heroes, gone. Just like that. It was just the reality of the games, although he couldn't help but to be angry at the fact it had been District 11, of all places. At least the boy and his younger brother managed to be remembered around the district thought, partially thanks to their sister, Gleam. She too had wanted to volunteer of course, but Krystal had made it impossible. Her's also happened to be a rather controversial legacy in District 1, and naturally Valour sided against her despite the fact she had been a talented jeweller. The luxury district always wanted more of those.

Despite all the various thoughts that ran through Valour's mind, the rest of the journey to the Capitol managed to be rather uneventful. This had him quite out of it and actually rather content until Rumano finally spoke up to announce the arrival. Naturally, the escort was excited to be arriving back in his home turf, but Valour didn't mind this as the Capitol was a place he was deeply fascinated by. "Look at that, kids. The Capitol. I think it goes without saying how we want you to react to the crowds once we get off at the train station. That will be easy for you both though I'm sure." Price finally advised as the train then pulled into the Capitol station. Valour extended his neck in order to catch a first glimpse at everything that awaited him and Aurum. Almost immediately his eyes lit up as he saw the Capitol crowds attempting to gather near the train platform. He knew they were just dying to see who were usually the crowd favourites and it was something Valour could definitely live with.

[Zulera301]

Maybe Aurum was being too stubborn with the tracker-jacker thing. Surely survival was more important, although she was still mixed on what she would do regarding tracker-jackers. would she really try to eat what was in all sense, a Capitol weapon? Sure there were tracker-jackers in every district in various numbers, but the ones in District 1 were out on the far fringes of the district where no one had any reason to really go anyways. Surely it was worse in the rural districts like 7, 11, and 12, where there were plenty of trees and food for them to thrive on. On the other hand, embarrassing herself the way those kids had done was not something she hoped to do on national TV (even if that little District 6 boy and little District 12 girl had seemed rather shameless about their enjoyment)

the idea of downtime, especially with someone good-looking like Valour, did have the girl's hormones a little excited, and it secretly made her glad she had worn a miniskirt this time around. There would definitely be more interaction than just physical (although she would not mind any physical interaction the two might have together--she had a feeling that they both felt the same way not just about each other, but about the notions in general), but it would be nice to have a friend. Contrary to what the other districts might have thought, the career tributes were friends--they just had no qualms against turning against their friends when the time came to do so--surely an outlandish concept anyone else might have been skeptical about... but not them.

Aurum nodded. "definitely... I think District 2 will also agree to go after 4 first when the time comes... if they live that long." District 4 was often strong, but they were seldom as strong as Districts 1 and 2 (an exception had been Valendria a couple of years ago). She just needed to make sure, with the help of Valour, that they watched their allies closely so that they wouldn't have another Keshet. Needless to say, Aurum did not have any positive feelings towards that girl... a bitchy, somewhat ugly little thing that had sown enough discontent among the careers that they had split up and soon the alliance crumbled early on (with the exception of District 2's Zakura)

For most of the rest of the trip, Aurum was watching the landscape on the way, occasionally stretching her legs or glancing over at Valour. Miriam took a shot from her flask now and again, but otherwise it was fairly quiet, and rather pleasant. It had been an adrenaline-filled morning, followed by a rather gentler afternoon on the smooth-sailing train that was taking them now to the Capitol. Aurum sighed pleasantly, briefly thinking about the games and the various kinds of arenas. She hoped she was in a pretty one, like the jungle of the 44th Hunger Games, or even kind of like the woodland of the 46th. Most of them were fairly pretty, and so Aurum hoped she would fit in--a pretty girl in a pretty arena. It'd be a nice little touch before she fought her way to victory. She wondered what it would have been like if Gleam, another really pretty young woman, had managed to volunteer instead of Krystal. Would she have stood more of a chance against Rye and Sagittaria? It would have been an interesting thing to see two siblings go against each other. It did not go over Aurum's mind that Kyla had been reaped the same year as her brother, but that was different. One of them was completely unimpressive and had died in the bloodbath, and the other one had become something of a legend, which even District 1 grudgingly respected.

as soon as the Capitol, came into view, Aurum gasped excitedly, pressing her hands and face to the window like a child watching the first snowfall or something. She knew they were close.
Needless to say, Rumano's enthusiasm as they slid to a gradual halt in their destination, was matched by his tributes, and even the mentors to an extent. Miriam was slightly tipsy, but she carried herself in a cool, collected way as well.
"you ready to show the Capitol the best tributes they've ever seen?" she grinned at Valour, straightening up as she got to her feet. the train had stopped, and they were ready to disembark. Aurum was already swaying her hips, even as she reached to follow the team out the door.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Four against two. Those District 4 kids will be outnumbered. We win." Of course by "we" he meant both Districts 1 and 2 at this point. The two districts almost always stuck together until their deaths, after all. Surely there would be no exception to that rule this year. "Oh you know that if we're down for it then 2 probably is too." He replied to Aurum, noting that it was unlikely they would have too many disputes with the District 2 pair. The two districts were very similar, after all. At least in their thinking and attitudes towards the Capitol. Sure District 2 had a more militaristic side that tended to usually make them the stronger careers, but the two districts were quite similar in some more obvious ways; both were rich and proud districts loyal to the Capitol who simply wanted to show this off(although District 1 liked showing off more of the former while District 2 seemed to focus on the latter).

By the time the train reached the Capitol Rumano was already filling with excitement. This was something Valour quickly quickly picked up on as well as soon as slightly tipsy Miriam spoke. The woman definitely liked her liquor, but certainly it was just one of her ways of coping with her own experiences in the arena. Unsurprisingly, District 1 had quite a different attitude towards this than most of the other districts, instead treating it as a sort of badge of honour; if somebody survived the games then they essentially earned their right to live as they pleased and that included the right to be a drunk. Miriam definitely had more control than that, fortunately. "Of course I'm ready. I'm always ready. Now let's go kick some ass out there." Valour responded, turning towards Aurum as the last part was more intended for her than for the rest of the team, for obvious reasons. The girl definitely was enthusiastic too, already shaking her hips as she proceeded to step out of the train. Valour recalled Kiva having done the same thing during her games and despite her antics, he had found it rather attractive. The crazy ones always seemed to be the good looking ones, or so it seemed that way to him. It was a theory that certainly held some water, considering Lyndis. Glimmer, of course, was one exception though.

Almost immediately as soon as the team stepped off the train the crowds went wild. This was just yet another thing that managed to stroke Valour's ego as he began taking the trip towards the tribute apartment building. amongst all the cheering he managed to playfully sway his own hips briefly before proceeding to flex his muscles. Due to years of training the boy was definitely toned and it really showed. The crowds loved it as well, forcing a beaming smile onto the boy's face before stroking his hair back in order to reveal more of his face. "Laaadies, here I am! Valour Drazen of District 1! I will give you something to cheer on this year!" He shouted over the frantic crowds. Perhaps most didn't realize it but his words definitely very much had a double meaning, one he was somehow sure Aurum would pick up on as she seemed to have a similar flirtatious personality. He knew he wasn't done yet though so just as the tribute pair got closer to the building's entrance he grabbed Aurum's wrist and yanked her arm into the air along with his. "For District 1!" Unsurprisingly, these next words had the crowds going completely wild. So far District 1 was bound to undoubtably be a Capitol favourite.

"Ah shit, that was glorious. They love us. They love us, Aurum." Valour commented, bursting out laughing as soon as he was firmly inside the apartment building. Both mentors and Rumano seemed especially pleased with their tribute's efforts, simply wearing smiles as they led them to the elevator that would take them up to the first floor. It was well known by many tributes upon arriving in the Capitol that the different districts were indeed separated by floor, with them going in order. This made Valour slightly disappointed he wouldn't have much of a view of the Capitol, but he was glad to be able to experience it regardless. For once in their lives District 12 was definitely getting dealt a good hand, getting the top floor of the apartment. Valour was sure the view up there was probably incredible too.

"So here we are. District 1's floor. This is where you will be staying until the moment you're shipped into the arena. Enjoy!" Rumano explained once they reached their designated floor. Being from District 1, Valour was used to fancy, but even the fancy back home couldn't compare to what he was seeing now in the Capitol. Needless to say, he was already falling in love with what was to be his apartment for the next week. Everything just seemed so...perfect. This was a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the others as they spotted Valour continuing to glance around the room.

"It's great. The Capitol is generous to their favourites, what can I say?" Valour finally remarked as he slumped down into one of the apartment's chairs. There was still plenty of time to kill so he figured that if he was going to interact with Aurum in any way and perhaps get to know her more then now was the time. The two mentors seemed to take the same cue, although they took at seat over at the dining table with Rumano. Clearly they had their own mentor-escort business to discuss and this admittedly didn't bother Valour who just wanted to be alone with Aurum.

[Zulera301]

"exactly. Unless we get some weird exception, the only reason '2 would turn on us before the end would be if they were assholes." While she didn't say it, Aurum honestly felt the same way about them. She didn't intend to backstab District 2 (for it was not a matter of trying; trying indicated a chance of failure) until it came down to just them. Contrary to what some of the outlying districts thought, there was a sense of professionalism in most career alliances. the biggest mistake last year was them trusting that bitch from '7. This year's career pack wouldn't make the same mistake.

Miriam was definitely fond of her liquor, although in her defense she had been a vintner before volunteering for the games. Thus, her taste in fine wine continued, even if nowadays she liked it a bit stronger. She was definitely one of the more stable victors though. mentors who drank were not all sloppy and shitty at their jobs (and little did they realize, that miles away in District 8 the same could be said about little Alice DeSiete. he drank, but didn't let it get the best of him).
Aurum giggled at Valour's enthusiasm. "careful... we don't want to blow away the audiences before they can see us tonight." she winked, although obviously she knew that they wouldn't be 'kicking ass' out there the way they would be in the arena. She was just being playful and teasey. That was just the nature of Aurum Zianja underneath it all. Incidentally, her idea to sway her hips had come only partially from her antics back home, but also from seeing Dezna Meraxa and Kiva Rivnay a couple years before. (Lyndis Montoya the previous year had arguably done the same, but it was hard to tell if she meant to do it or if that was just the weird way the barefooted woman had walked)

Needless to say, once greeted with the roars of Capitol enthusiasm, Aurum squealed and cheered and smiled and waved--the whole nine yards and then some, eagerly greeting her enthusiastic fans on one side as Valour did so for the other.
"They save the best tributes for the best audiences!" Aurum chanted, pumping up the masses a bit more as they cheered and some of them reached out towards her. She was pretty sure at least twice that her butt was groped, but she'd let that slide. She was too busy enjoying the attention.
Funny enough, when Valour seized her wrist, she actually squeaked a bit from surprise, even if her enormous smile still remained on her face. She caught on a split-second later and chanted with him. "For District 1! We're numbered 1 for a reason, you know!" she added at the end. Sure that was probably the lamest and cheesiest pun in the book, but Aurum genuinely had no reason not to believe that they were the best off of Panem's many districts.

once they were inside, Aurum heaved a delighted sigh. "woooooooooo! that might be an understatement, y'know. they practically worship us, I think." Not like either of them would argue with the obligatory ego-stroking at all, she was fairly certain. "mmm..." she glanced around her, already impressed with the luxuries even though they had barely taken a few steps in here. They would be on the "1st" floor, which was still one floor up. It wasn't like the Capitol was going to screw over one of their favorite districts by having it be the floor everyone paraded through on their way to and from this building. At the same time, Aurum was fine with being near the ground. It wasn't like they were going to jump and run away or anything. Why would she want to when being bestowed with such luxuries, and really... where would she go?

Once in their designated apartment, Aurum spread her arms as if taking all of this in, before walking backwards, pretending to trip over her own foot, and falling on her butt right into a soft, comfy armchair with a giggle. "Lovely accommodations for the most beautiful tributes of the 'games? it seems fitting." she smiled, watching Rumano step aside over with Miriam and Price, who went to discuss things (and somehow, Miriam had produced a bottle of fine wine. What she did not realize was that this same spirit, mixed with an only slightly obscure District 6 concoction called "Substance 21", gave the drinker the greatest hallucinatory high of a lifetime).

"So..." she jingled her anklet playfully as she crossed her legs again, turning towards Valour. "it's just you and me for now, I guess..." she winked at him, although didn't really even have an idea what to do. They arrived much earlier than most of the other tributes given their close proximity to the Capitol, and so there was ample time to burn before the stylists would come in. Besides, they could come in later than most of the others, knowing that operations on enthusiastic, good-looking volunteer tributes would be minimal.
"what to do for several hours, huh?" she laughed.

[Nachthexe]

Aurum definitely had a point. Both 1 and 2 almost always stuck together and only a couple of asshole tributes were about to ruin that. Judging by the Reaping footage, that fortunately did not appear to be the case. Both seemed very much like passionate individuals out to win it all just like any other career in these games. That made them safe for the most part as long as they remained possible to take down once the time came. If anything, taking down both District 2 tributes and Aurum would simply just prove even more that Valour had it in him to win. At least that was the way the conceited boy viewed it. That sort of thing had definitely happened in previous years too as he knew so well. It was even common in the training academies to watch old footage of the games in order to learn what and what not to do. It definitely seemed to work to some extent too, especially if careers didn't intend to go down like Flint Difronzo had or have their entire alliance severed by outsiders like Keshet Elian. Of course there were also valuable techniques learned from it as well such as that in one of the very early games where the career pack had taken control the Cornucopia for the first time. Once there they had managed to use the abundance of supplies to their advantage and to this day it remained one of the most effective career tactics. Of course then it had been when the concept of career tributes was still a very young one, but it had definitely marked one of their first major successes. The boy from District 2 had won that year though, leaving Valour slightly disappointed it hadn't been his own district.

Aurum also managed to make quite the entrance, unsurprisingly leaving the crowds mesmerized just as Valour did. The two were definitely forming up to be a valuable team already. Would that expand into the arena? Valour was definitely hopeful of that one and Aurum certainly didn't seem to have any qualms with him. Of course if such a thing were to happen a part of him wasn't necessarily opposed to it though since it somehow seemed like it would make killing her much easier. It was bound to happen eventually as it always did. There were many cases of two lone career tributes from the same district fighting to death in order to produce the Capitol's victor. That sort of thing unsurprisingly didn't seem to bother them either like it did in most of the outlying districts. Sagittaria's victory was a recent notable example, with her breaking down and bawling as soon as that lone arrow had pierced through Rye's skull. It truly was a love story for the ages though with even Valour managing to feel for them at parts despite what they did to Flint.

"Worship us? Of course. They love their two loyal perfect districts. The only way we really get outshined is if some shitty outlying district produces a volunteer. That seems to not happened this year though so we're lucky." Valour responded to Aurum once she discussed their performance in front of the crowds. It was funny really. Despite charisma and public appearances being part of the academy's training some of District 1's tributes almost didn't need it. So many were so full of themselves and egotistic they could talk and sell themselves like hotcakes without any difficulty. It certainly seemed to be true with both Valour and Aurum who had just happily strutted their stuff in front of the crowds who within a week would essentially be cheering on their deaths. Of course this was something that seemed to escape both the passionate tributes' minds though.

Once Valour took a seat Aurum certainly wasn't far behind. She seemed to be getting comfortable and it was a nice notion for him too so he simply removed his shoes and proceeded to put his feet up. He didn't want to ruin the lavish furnishings with his shoes, after all. They were certainly in too nice a place for that. "I'm going to enjoy this." Valour mused as he began glancing at the ceiling. Many thoughts were quickly filling his mind, about the games, about Aurum, and most of all, about victory. Certainly it wasn't going to be an easy path as it almost always wasn't for anybody, but it was one he was both determined and confident he could walk down. There were no exceptions. District 1 had to produce a victor this year. There was no more being outsmarted by outlying districts. Somebody had to pick up District 1's poor record as of late. For now though relaxation was nice and for once he tried to push all thoughts of the games into the back of his mind. "I wonder what sort of accommodation the outlying districts are in? Certainly nothing like this I'm sure." He remarked, searching for perhaps yet another chance to stroke his over-inflated ego.

Whatever Valour wanted to do Aurum seemed completely on board with. His hormones were telling him he wanted physical contact with the girl, but now certainly didn't seem like a logical time for that. Especially not when the rest of the team was in such plain view. Instead he simply glared at the girl, even proceeding to smile at her a few times. There admittedly wasn't much for them to discuss just yet since they hadn't even met their stylists or the other tributes. That was something that would come later, although it did get Valour excited for the parade for another reason besides just showing off to the Capitol: he would be able to get a first in-person glance at all the children he would have to kill in order to return home. Knowing one's opponent was only half the battle. At least it was just another piece of advice he had picked up in the training academy.

"Well my champions, it's that time! Your stylists! It's time to meet them!" Seemingly hours later Rumano finally made the announcement Valour had certainly been waiting for. Fashion. It was definitely one of those things most District 1 kids were a sucker for. Valour, of course, was no exception, even if Aurum seemed to be the one more interested in it. Still, Valour's eyes lit up almost immediately as he proceeded to sit straight up. "I will go fetch them." Rumano continued as he went out the door to get who were probably bound to be some of the two District 1 tributes' favourite people in the Capitol. It was no secret that District 1 citizens liked most Capitol citizens, but it was really only the tributes in the games who ever got to experience the full extent of the Capitol fashion. That was something Valour could get behind.

[Zulera301]

There were plenty of solid tactics in the games that, if adhered to properly, would remain effective year after year. One of those most famous of these was the career tributes seizing control of the cornucopia. Funny enough, the last few years where the career alliances had all fallen rather miserably apart, had all been years where the careers did not control the cornucopia. Last year, Keshet Elian had sowed enough discord between Districts 1 and 2 that they parted ways, allowing Districts 7 and 8 to gradually pick them off before District 8 produced the victor. The year before, they had been scared off by the presence of numerous tracker-jackers, which District 6 seemed interested in, especially after that boy Dezna decided to try and eat them. He had claimed he had done it before too, which just seemed wild to Aurum. It was one thing to do that in the arena, but in the districts where there was real food available? what was the point?
Of course, the year before that, while the careers were trying to weed out the other tributes, Kyla Togisala hid right under their noses and sniped tributes from the recesses of the cornucopia, remaining completely hidden for 4 straight days before District 11 finally discovered her, and they controlled the cornucopia for most of the time after that. That, and guess who won? District 11. the year after, in the final moments... who had controlled the cornucopia? District 6. Who had won the games? District 6. Paige and Alice from last year--District 8. They controlled the cornucopia despite Zak trying to flush them out... District 8 won that year. Aurum might not have been as observant as Alice, but she knew a trend when she saw one. they had to control the cornucopia--and keep it from District 2 when the time to betray their allies inevitably came.

Despite the looming threat that one of them would have to kill the other if they survived that long (which they were confident this year that they would), it didn't bother them the way it apparently had with Rye and Sagittaria. Aurum might not have been too much of a romantic, but that had been rather emotionally moving to her as well, since she realized that it was more than just an alliance--they had fallen in love with each other. Thus, despite the fact that Aurum believed that Sagittaria should be less humble and should show more skin [she imagined that after all of that refining by the Capitol for the girl's comedy shows, that that girl probably looked really good naked by now], she did kinf of feel sorry for her for having to off her lover. That wouldn't happen this year though. She and Valour were friends, but between career tributes, it was just business. If somehow Valour killed her in that inevitable end fight, she could die at peace with that notion, perhaps.

Aurum laughed. "we've had two of those in two recent years," she reminded him, "although one of them makes no sense. How the hell do you "accidentally" volunteer?" that was the popular story surrounding the crazy Lyndis Montoya from District 10. During her interview, she had claimed that she "had been simply curious", but that made even less sense. Lyndis had been a wacky one, that was for sure. "Other than District 2 though, I think we're the only ones who volunteered this year, so there's no reason to worry about anyone outshining us this year. Not that they could outshine someone so good-looking." she wiggled her hips suggestively as she said this, although technically Valour could assume that she was also talking about him and thus take part in this ego-stroking. Aurum wouldn't mind at all. "I guess the only thing we need to make sure now is that we don't find out that we've got another Kyla Togisala in our midsts." Honestly, Aurum did not know what to make of the girl. She was strong and she was smart--she would have been a good career tribute if that was her cup of tea, but something told her that the girl would not have accepted an offer if it had been given. Still... from a district that respected power and skill... Kyla Togisala commanded at least a little respect here.

Aurum relaxed, leaving her shoes on because they were on the floor and because they were light little slippers anyways. (it was just a matter of time and place. she had nothing against being barefoot or anything). "well, they're a few floors up," she shrugged when Valour intimated what the other districts' accommodations might be like. "I bet if you sold everything in this room alone though that you could buy out District 11 and District 12, and still have money left over." she joked. It was no mystery that those were very poor districts, and it usually showed through the humbleness and resilience of their tributes. This was definitely better than anything in District 1, although it was certainly not like conditions back home were too shabby. And now she was in this luxurious apartment with a good-looking young man, no less.

As they sat there gazing at each other, Aurum occasionally jingled those fancy jeweled anklets of hers, and rested one of her hands on her bare knee, tracing idle little lines and patterns into her own smooth skin. She wanted him, and could tell he wanted her, but that would probably be reserved for after the parade when they could have a moment or two alone. There was no need to give Miriam, Price, & Rumano a show of any sort, regardless of what they decided to do. One of the other things they did while waiting for time to pass was get a look around the apartment and the bedrooms. the place was very spacious and was larger than some homes, even. Aurum and Valour both had their own rooms, and so did the mentors, no less. of course, every time Aurum walked, her hips swayed (sometimes she just blatantly wiggled them), so all in all, it was time well-spent, although now Aurum was even more hungry for him thanks to hormones and whatnot. But, luckily she had something to take her mind off of it.

When Rumano made the announcement, Aurum literally squealed with excitement, bouncing on her tippytoes and clapping her hands a few times excitedly. Even with as strong or skilled as this girl might be, she was still very, very feminine--and right now, very, very excited. she turned to Valour, her mouth agape with excitement, before bouncing a few more times on her toes rather happily.

She did not have to wait long. Soon, a pair--perhaps a couple, or maybe siblings (or maybe just lookalikes) appeared behind Rumano--they too were clothed in dark red outfits that seemed fairly similar. The man introduced himself as Othello, and the woman, Eirene. Just like Rumano, they were as excited and enthusiastic as the rest of the team. Even Miriam got up to greet them, recognizing them from her own games about 7 years earlier. Price was either waiting his turn, or they might have been slightly after his time. Aurum wasn't sure.
"That alcohol is going to kill you, young lady," the male stylist joked, "you nearly ruined your dress in District 9 during your tour, if I recall."
"Shit happens," Miriam shrugged, "you've got a pretty good-looking pair this year though..." she thumbed behind her pointing at Aurum and Valour, both of whom were clearly taking this moment to show off and beam.
"I'll leave you to 'em then." she finished.
Othello began approaching Aurum, while Eirene moved towards Valour. It was well-known in District 1 that the Capitol had no real qualms against nudity (which Aurjm was fine with, given that the odds of it happening between her and Valour sometime tonight were extremely high xD)
Soon, they were at the studios, and this was where they'd briefly part ways as they were cleaned up and dressed. Aurum grinned at her partner.
"welp... see you on the other side..." she winked.

[Nachthexe]

"Lyndis? That girl was fucking crazy. To this day I still wonder what was truly going through her head. If anything though, she did get her pathetic district 30 minutes of fame. We need to take down both their tributes in the bloodbath just for that." Valour responded to Aurum, chuckling. Like much of the rest of Panem he too was very baffled by the girl and her legacy. Why had she acted the way she did? But most of all, how did she manage to learn fighter skills that earned her a 12 in training? Perfect skills were incredibly rare outside of the career districts so it was definitely something nobody could overlook. Keshet's at least had been more understandable, considering the girl had admitted while pinned by Lyndis that she had trained for the games. If what the girl had said about trying to find respect was true too then Valour couldn't help but to admire her for that. In his mind she had definitely been going about it the right way as victors were always loved and respected.

Valour couldn't help but to burst out laughing at Aurum's remarks about selling off the tribute apartment. Certainly it was a bit of an exaggeration, but at the same time he felt the girl wasn't far off. It was no secret to anybody in Panem that Districts 11 and 12 were extremely poor, perhaps even embarrassingly so. Ironically, poverty did seem to help them in the games though, making them essentially masters of all sorts of survival skills. That was something commonly overlooked in the District 1 academies certainly, considering most preferred flaunting their raw combat skills. Valour was at least aware of the one District 11 victor, Seeder, who had won by being able to starve the longest though. That was definitely not something to overlook when it came to outliers. They were accustomed to going hungry, after all. "I would say District 11 is worth more that District 12 simply because they produce our food." Valour soon replied once his laughter began to die down.

As the day wore on Valour did enjoy the fact he got to spend some time with Aurum thinking about things besides the games. In the process he even got to learn his way around the suite that was going to be home for the next week and it was definitely luxurious. Clearly the Capitol was trying to pamper their favourite tributes. That thought alone brought a smirk to Valour's face as the two proceeded to check out their balcony. It was definitely an inferior view to that which was surely offered on the higher floors, but it offered a chance to gaze at the beauty of the Capitol city nonetheless. That was something the boy wasn't about to overlook during his week there. He also gained all sorts of ideas of everything he wanted to do to Aurum on that balcony under the night sky, but that was something that would come later when it was actually dark out. Unless the girl wasn't up to it? Somehow he suspected she would be though.

Definitely nothing could top Aurum's excitement over finally meeting the stylists but Valour was admittedly looking forward to it as well, even if just to discover what sort of costume they had planned for the parade. Since parade costumes typically reflected the district's industry he knew that the stylists were going to be free to incorporate all sorts of interesting effects into them. Many for recent years really showed that, most notably District 11's from the 44th games and District 6's from the 45th games. The two tributes from District 6 that year had been rather good looking too so naturally they had been outfitted in rather form fitting costumes. Valour knew his own stylist was definitely going to take that route as well. He was arguably the best looking boy this year, after all.

"Look at that, Aurum. Soon I'll get to see that pretty body of yours in something outrageously sexy." Valour blurted out, winking as the prep team spoke about having two good looking tributes this year. To him, it was hinting what was bound to come next and it was a notion he entirely didn't mind if it meant seeing more of Aurum. Soon enough though the female of the pair, Eirene, began advancing towards Valour before gesturing him to follow her. It was unmistakably makeover time, one of the most exciting times for any tribute out of District 1. "I won't mind this 'other side'." Valour blurted out, returning Aurum's wink just as the two became out of sight of each other. Within moments he was just inside what appeared to be a studio of some sort. Valour knew what was to come so almost immediately he began stripping himself down. This was a notion Eirene chuckled at before gesturing for him to enter the hot bath that had been prepared.

[Zulera301]

Aurum laughed. "the blood-covered look fit her well though." she commented, remembering that during some of the few times the girl had been cleaned up, she did actually look fairly pretty. "her chariot outfit was funny." that white and red dress had been a wickedly clever design that she had not expected from a District 10 stylist either. Perhaps some of the girl's speech had been censored, but one part that Aurum did catch was that at one point she mentioned that "no one had the guts to try some of the things she did". Perhaps she was subtly referencing the notion that she learned to fight? It would make sense given that District 10 was fodder. "oh, that can be arranged." she agreed with the suggestion, "but that's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel now anyways, isn't it?" she still had no qualms with doing it, but she was aware that District 10 was not going to be a threat this year. District 7, where the other 12-scoring tribute had come from last time, didn't seem to be faring much better this year. Aurum did not like the girl not only because of her humble appearance, but primarily because she had destroyed the career pack that year.

"more valuable to Panem? yeah... food's a bit more important than coal... but coal does make diamonds." she giggled, knowing full well that she couldn't deny her own fondness of the precious gems herself. "still... both of them are really poor and shitty and are probably not even combined, worth as much as this room, let alone the whole apartment." poverty had definitely given these tributes an edge over the last few years, where they had proven to be quite the survival experts, even in the urban wasteland. Aurum remembered that tiny little girl from District 12--Hazel Prezelin, who had survived for so long, only to die from her own trauma from not having what it took to witness death.

If the Capitol was trying to pamper their favorites... Aurum would not hesitate to let them know during her interview that it had worked rather effectively. The relationship they shared with their great benefactors was a two-way street. Perhaps if more of the other districts realized this, they wouldn't be so poor and miserable. That was how Aurum saw it anyways. While none of them said anything to each other aside from complimenting the nice balcony, they both exchanged looks with each other that pretty much had them thinking in sync. Aurum could tell that Valour wanted to do things with her here. Well... she was game. She was totally game, and her wink and the bumping of her hips against his before stepping back inside were clera indicators of this. She was not about to tease him this far only to say "haha just kidding". That would be denying herself of something she wanted too, after all. But... they had after the parade for that sort of thing.

While some might have shaken their heads at the idea of being dressed up so scantily and then paraded in front of all of Panem, Aurum saw this as a golden opportunity to flaunt her thing and her figure. They might have something as show-stealing as District 11's outfits for its two volunteer districts, but at the same time, they didn't need to stand out more than they did year after year. District 1 led the parade every time and this gave them something of an advantage in Aurum's eyes, because they would be the first ones that everyone saw, and that they got to "ooh" and "aah". District 2 was similar, before going into the "lesser" Districts.

Aurum's cheeks turned only slightly pink (the girl was very flattered. this was not a very difficult thing to do) at Valour's remark, but she gave him a playful grin, a wink, and a wiggle of her hips. "careful..." she joked, "I heard that Peacekeepers arrested a couple of District 1 tributes one year because they were too sexy... oh look! here they come!" she pointed to a pair of passing Peacekeepers, bit of course, her story was completely untrue, and the two men didn't even notice the tributes on their way to the studio.

Even in front of a man that Aurum had technically only met a few minutes ago, Aurum had no qualms with stripping completely bare, leaving her little jeweled anklets on until the end. Stepping into the bath, as she was aware the ritual went, she got herself wet and clean before drying off and sitting down.
"District 1's so nice to work with," her stylist told her as the man analyzed the girl's body to ensure that she had no flaws. Other than her scalp and eyebrows, the girl's body was already hairless, so that wasn't an issue (she heard it was particularly bad in Districts 11 and 12 again. Aurum mentally cringed in disgust at the very thought), and she didn't have any scars; just a few slight scuffs and bruises from the reaping earlier, but those took only a couple of minutes to remove.

As the girl began to be led towards where she would be styled and dressed up for the evening though, she could barely contain her excitement, bouncing on her toes all the way there, and lightly squealing.
"Someone's excited," Othello smiled at the lovely (towel-clad) lady who was giddy with eagerness to get started.
"well why wouldn't I be? I get to wear a lovely outfit to complement my lovely figure!"
And of course, a room away, Eirene was in the process of giving Valour the same treatment.

[Nachthexe]

Valour and Aurum definitely had quite a bit in common and it was just one of the things that was bound to make them a valuable team together. They didn't yet know about Nolan and Alana of District 2, but Valour could only assume they shared many similarities with each other too. Less so with District 1 though due to the two districts' differing cultures. Militarism. It was something definitely quite foreign to much of District 1 as they ever only witnessed it through the Peacekeepers who lingered around the district. For obvious reasons they also happened to be some of the most laid-back Peacekeepers in Panem so even there District 1 never really saw the full extent of the Peacekeepers' ingrained sense of militarism and discipline. It was definitely an interesting contrast, if anything. This was only further confirmed by the fact Valour had so eagerly stripped down for the stylist woman in front of him.

"Well you're eager to get started." Eirene commented as she saw the nude Valour in front of her. The boy simply just nodded. Of course he was eager. This was his first chance to strut himself in front of the entire nation. That was not an opportunity he was about to waste. He felt as if he would get plenty of attention too, being as good looking as he was. Even the stylist woman seemed to be rather Impressed with him and like his partner over in the next room he too didn't possess much body hair. District 1 was definitely one of the few districts that actually took care to keep excellent hygiene, and it seemed to really show in both Valour and Aurum. Certainly it was due to the fact District 1 was fairly wealthy so could afford to think about such things that the poorer districts otherwise thought of as trivial.

While Eirene began her work on Valour over in the next room Othello was hard at work on Aurum. Of the two tributes she was definitely the more passionate about fashion and it seemed to show in the way she had bounced all the way to the studio. That was something that managed to get Othello equally riled up for what was to come. "You're fortunate since you won't take long at all to fix up." He reassured the girl once her hot chemical bath was complete. Almost immediately the stylist forced her onto the operating table and began work on fixing up each of her scuffs and bruises. Judging by what he had seen in the reaping footage he could only assume it was from that, and the man couldn't help but to smile at the girl's passion in serving her district. That was something the man felt Panem needed more of. Loyal citizens willing to serve their country in any way possible, regardless of the circumstances.

"Don't you worry, beautiful. You will get to show yourself off. You and your partner both deserve to shine out there tonight. Quite literally, in fact." Othello reassured Aurum as he finished up the procedure in making her skin flawless for the Capitol crowds. The Capitol love perfection and it really showed in their fashion. It was fitting really, considering the president's alleged aspirations towards perfection as well. "District 11, of all places, pulled off something quite spectacular back in the 44th games. That is success we plan to reinvent in our own way. We are going for our own district themed twist, however." Othello continued as he led the towel clad Aurum into the dressing room. Once there, he pulled out what appeared to be a shimmering Cerise coloured miniskirt of some sort. Attached to it were long straps that then wrapped around up her chest, strategically covering her breasts. The outfit itself covered only the bare minimum, but these were good looking tributes that definitely deserved to be showed off.

"Now for the rest." Othello announced once the first part of the outfit was on Aurum's body. Unsurprisingly, it left most of her legs, chest, and back exposed. Only the parts covered by the outfit's straps were left unexposed so to anybody it was bound to be quite obvious what the District 1 stylist was going for with his tribute. This was further completed by pinning Aurum's hair back and lining it with various small chains of jewels, all of which shimmered brightly under the light. The girl was also given plenty of matching makeup before Othello pulled out the last finishing touch he managed to stick to the girl's back. "Don't do anything with this yet. I will be out in the audience so wait for my cue then. I'm confident we will be all the Capitol is talking about for days." He instructed before ushering Aurum over to a mirror to fully examine her new outfit. He was rather proud of his work and was confident Aurum would be as well.

[Zulera301]

It was funny how two districts that seemed so different could get along so well and share such a similar mindset. On one hand, one (or should I say "1"), was a fairly laid-back society with fairly easy-going lives that were brimming with support and enthusiasm for the glorious Capitol, while the 2nd one was much stricter in terms of citizen behavior, and yet was so resolutely loyal that the Peacekeepers here (many of which were locals anyways) had some of the easiest jobs. District 2's strictness was not like that of District 8 or District 11. More that the mindset was engrained into the citizens early on, and thus they kind of moderated their own behavior without forcing the Peacekeepers to have to viciously step in or anything.

Eirene investigated the now nude boy in a very Capitol-like manner (much how her partner was doing the same with Valour's partner a room over) once his chemical bath was completed, muttering a few things to herself--just small notes about what she'd need to do fr this young man to turn him into the Capitol's finest that he and Aurum most certainly were. Her list was very short, obviously; only a few scuffs and bruises were present on his body, and these were most likely caused by the brawl he took part in during the reaping to fight his way to the stage. This was commonplace in District 1, and compared to some of the other horror stories of some tributes (usually form the outer districts), this was absolutely trivial. Ushering Valour over to the table, she began to work the Capitol's magic.

Aurum couldn't help but giggle proudly at the compliment. "well... you know us in District 1... hygiene is important... I don't know how the other districts get by without it!" This was honestly a true question of Aurum's. The idea of being dirty just seemed so cringeworthy to her; her lovely white skin marred and tarnished by dirt and grime; her elegant golden curls smattered with crud... no, that would be a terrible sight indeed. It was more excusable in the arena when she was fighting for her life (but she'd still try to look good), but back home? there was no excuse. None at all.

Naturally, Aurum listened interestedly and intently, excited to hear what Othello had in store for her. her face lit up when he mentioned District 11. Envious as she might have been of them that year, that outfit was downright dazzling, and had left the golden-haired girl somewhat mesmerized when she had seen it on screen. Containing her excitement proved somewhat difficult, but she managed to somehow do so.
One of the most elementary traits about Aurum Zianja was that she was very feminine, even to the point where pink was one of those things that strongly appealed to her. Instead of looking skeptical at the revealing piece she was putting on, she simply took it and happily donned it, letting her stylist assist her in getting it just right. she had a little bit underneath to prevent people from seeing too much ("what's the fun if there's nothing to leave to the imagination?"), but otherwise, she was still amply exposed, with little of her body being covered apart from her privates, and her feet which were slipped into some similarly dazzling-colored heels.

After the more final touches were added, Aurum jiggled her head a bit to make the jeweled pinned into her hair jingle a bit like those little anklets she had been wearing before. she was definitely excited, and while she did not say it out loud, her approval was smeared all across her facial expression, and it was undeniable how much she loved it. Oh yes, Aurum was very pleased.
"ooooooooooh!" her eyes almost literally lit up as Othello attached a small device to her back. These were always interesting things and she was stoked to hear the man's cue once they were in the parade.
"Just don't get too excited from seeing your partner," he hinted at what Valour's outfit would be like, "and make sure he keeps his hands off of you until after the parade.
Yeah, the stylists had noticed. No, they did not really care apart form this particular moment when they would be making their impression.

Sure enough, a room over, Valour was now being outfitted very similarly to Aurum, except with a few significant differences. For one, his outfit was a brilliant shade of vermillion rather than shades of pink or red, and the straps around his chest and back were much more haphazard in a stylish sort of way, since his chest did not need to be strategically covered the way Aurum's did. Eirene might have just let the boy go completely shirtless, but from a chariot, it was much easier to see the top half of a tribute's body, and so she wanted more of his outfit to stand out. While makeup might have been something the Capitol would apply to boys as well as girls, high heels were not, and so instead of them, Eirene gave Valour a pair of jeweled anklets with red and orange stones, and otherwise left his feet bare.

Essentially, it was a more masculine version of Aurum's outfit (or was Aurum's a more feminine version of Valour's?). the miniskirt on Aurum was replaced with a fairly short pair of shorts, which had some of the dazzling-colored fabric wrapped around them for effects, and the straps around his upper body were much sparser. Perhaps if his hair had been shorter, it would have been spiked, but with it as long as it was, this was one thing he got to share in common with Aurum--Eirene put jewels in his hair, giving it a similar jingling effect. She commented on it no less.
"it's an interesting change to see a young man with such long and beautiful hair..." the stylist had even ran her fingers through it gently, enjoying its silky feel against her fingers, "but I figure you do not mind the effects, yes?" it would definitely draw attention to his hair (although the whole outfit practically screamed "hey! look at me!" anyways), and while she did comment about it being different, she was certainly not saying it like it was a bad thing.

Valour was also given slightly less makeup than Aurum, but his vivid facial features meant that he hardly needed any, anyways, apart from some orange around his eyes. "your partner has one of these too," she indicated, attaching a small divide to his back--the final element of the boy's parade outfit. "we will be in the audience--wait for our cue... otherwise... just don't try to pull her clothes off before the parade, you hear?" she teased.

As she dismissed Valour to go join his partner, Aurum was there waiting, swaying her hips side to side, and grinning ear to ear the moment she saw him.
"hey sexy." she grinned, complimenting him straight-up. Oh yes... they were both looking pretty damn' fine right now.

[Nachthexe]

Othello was pleased when Aurum gave approval of the outfit. It definitely seemed to suit her well, after all. This was only further confirmed by the way she proceeded to sway her hips from side to side, surely a tactic the girl would no doubt carry into the tribute interviews in a week's time too. Sure enough, this only seemed to continue once her district partner proceeded to rejoin her. He too seemed just as pleased with his own outfit. "Look at that. We match. Perfect. The Capitol will have no choice but to keep all eyes on us sexy beasts." Valour responded once he spotted Aurum, running his fingers through his soft hair as he put on a smirk. So far the night was looking to be pretty damn good and he was confident the parade would only further ensure that.

Eirene chuckled. "Yes, you both look lovely. Only the best for our prized tributes." She assured Valour, ushering him and all the others to follow her. There it was again. More ego stroking, one of the things Valour always welcomed, although this time he had less time to bask in it as he proceeded to follow behind the stylist pair, the mentors, and the escort. It was time for the chariot ride, and also the first time to see all the tributes together in person. This definitely didn't go over Valour's head as the first time potential sponsors also began watching out for tributes they were potentially interested in. Naturally, both Districts 1 and 2 were usually favourites among them as well and Valour simply hoped to continue that trend. It was for both his and Aurum's sake, after all. "So here we are. The chariots. You two are up here at the front of course." Eirene explained once they reached the fenced off arena that led right out into the Capitol Square, pointing out the currently empty chariots right up at the front.

"Lucky us. All the attention will go straight to us I'm sure." Valour remarked once the stylist pair took off, probably to go take a seat of their own. He felt that being at the front was bound to have plenty advantages, although it also meant more chances of them being outshines by the other districts. Somehow that seemed unlikely to happen though as everybody knew the first two districts were the best ones. This theory seemed to hold some water in Valour's mind too once the others began arriving. Some of their stylists had definitely put immense effort into designing their costumes, Valour's own bias still had him believing his and Aurum's were the best. Some of the kids also seemed to be nervous, particularly those from the outlying districts. For once though District 9 seemed rather calm and determined and prepared to tackle whatever managed to come their way. Would it actually amount to something in the arena? Between this and the boy's actions in reaping footage Valour felt maybe their tributes would be stronger than usual. They would still be nothing compare to him of course though. Nothing was about to get in Valour's way.

"So Aurum, now that we see these other tributes what do you think of them?" Valour finally turned towards his partner and asked once all of the other tributes were present. He knew it was only going to be a matter of minutes before the parade started, but in the meantime there was plenty of opportunity to examine the tributes for the first time before seeing them in training tomorrow. The District 2 pair at least already seemed friendly, looking up from their own chariots and smiling at both Valour and Aurum. Perhaps they too were already thinking of an alliance? It was inevitable anyway as everybody knew. The career pack wasn't about to cease being a thing. Training tomorrow would even offer chances to strategize once seeing both Nolan and Alana in action. Valour did realize he didn't yet know what either of them were capable of, after all.

[Zulera301]

Aurum grinned, finding the bright, hot colors of their outfits to indeed complement each other. "rawr." she purred almost lustfully. Already, there was a part of her that was eagerly looking forward to a moment alone so he could peel it right off of her, but she was patient. There was some discipline taught to this wild girl back in the academies after all. She flipped her hair, jingling the stones and jewels that adorned it, batting her eyelashes at no one in particular. Oh yes. she was definitely enjoying herself in these glitzy clothes. Part of her wished she could dress like this all the time (even if she knew that for many activities, they would be horribly impractical). This was going to be an awesome night.

"hehe..." Aurum grinned, "you know us. District 1 couldn't help but offer up its finest tributes this year... so here we are." she might have basked more in this ego-stroking, which was making her own ego purr like a cat, but their time had come for the chariot ride, where she would proudly get to show off her beautiful outfit and her beautiful body to everyone around her, who could cheer in admiration. the Capitol certainly would, and Aurum was going to bask in that attention. She was also still curious about what that switch she was given entailed, and assumed that Valour had one too given that something on his back matched what was on hers. Heck. they could have gone out in just their skin and Aurum was fairly confident that they'd still be a hit.

"well, are *are* the best and the prettiest," Aurum smiled as she briefly surveyed the other tributes. None of them outside of District 2 and sort of District 4, looked like they'd be much competition in this glamor show they were about to take part in. A few were scared, and a few were calm. Aurum couldn't help but crack a smile at the little District 12 pair--the lanky, scrawny boy looking down at the little 12-year-old partner he had. Their outfits were nothing too remarkable, but shit if Aurum didn't think that that tiny little girl was kind of cute in the way little kids often are. District 2 was not hard on the eyes either, despite looking something like warriors this time around. Aurum smiled and waved at them, and the girl waved back. the boy seemed to be staring at Aurum's butt, which she didn't mind, given his satisfied grin. No... some of the tributes might be threats sooner or later, but Aurum was confident she and Valour could take them all down sooner or later. Besides... it wasn't like this was 22-on-2 or anything.

"well... that little District 12 girl is cute," she admitted, "not a threat at all, but cute." she giggled, "District 2 is as good-looking as ever... the rest are just your everyday tributes with nothing real remarkable going for 'em, I think. we've got this show in the bag." even if some were strong, like (surprisingly?) District 9 quite possibly, or District 4, the visuals of the show were almost certainly going to be on District 1 this year it seemed. Maybe that was just Aurum's bias, but she had no qualms with thinking that way.
A few minutes after climbing abroad the chariots, the fanfare started, and as if this was their cue, the horses started moving in a very orderly fashion, with District 1 leading the way as always, and shortly behind them, District 2 (and so on). just like when they first arrived at the train station, Aurum was cheering and waving and blowing kisses to the crowds, almost striking little poses from where she stood. she was also gazing over the crowds to try and locate her stylists. when shw saw them, she watched for their cue, flipping the switch upon seeing it.

[Nachthexe]

Ego-stroking. It was definitely one of those things the District 1 pair was best at and it only continued to show once the two began to board their chariots in preparation for the parade. Within minutes they would all be making their grand entrance and both the District 1 tributes would no doubt be basking in all the attention. The Capitol loved their career tributes and it was only going to be reconfirmed once again. "Well this should be fun. Soon the Capitol will get to see their prettiest tributes in action for real. These outfits really show it too." Valour responded to Aurum, shuffling in as close to her as he could. If there was an image he wanted to give the Capitol then perhaps portraying themselves as close was the way to go. That was something both the stylists and mentors would perhaps want to discuss later though as image was especially important in the tribute interviews.

The District 12 girl. Valour could definitely agree with Aurum that she was cute, but due to her small size and age he suspected she wouldn't last too long. One of the Capitol commentators had mentioned she was only twelve, after all, and everybody knew that nearly every year the games were essentially a death sentence for them. Even the youngest victors of the games had been no younger than fourteen so that alone raised a green flag in Valour's mind. That girl was no going far. The little girl from District 12 from the 45th games? She had perhaps gotten lucky to make it as far as she had, but as long as Valour was around this girl wasn't going to have the same sort of lucky. He intended to ensure it. District 1, and only District 1 was going to be victorious this year.

"It's time to get this show started." Valour simply remarked once the gate in front of him and Aurum opened, allowing the first of the chariots to begin proceeding forwards. Almost immediately upon making their first presence the District 1 pair was met with frantic cheering and applause. This simply had Valour putting a smirk on his face as he began waving at the crowds and occasionally flexing his arms just as he had during the entrance into the Capitol. It wasn't too much longer until he spotted the stylist pair in the crowds who then gave their cue. Almost immediately Valour hit his switch and out came a pair of transparent shimmering fairy wings. Their colour matched that of their respective outfits, something the crowds seemed especially fond of, absolutely going nuts as soon as the big reveal occurred. As the chariot continued proceeding forward this had the crowds chanting out for District 1, something that put a large beaming smile onto Valour's face. However, he wasn't done yet, once again taking hold of Aurum's wrist and raising her arm in the air along with his. "FOR DISTRICT 1! FOR VICTORY!" He bellowed just as before as the chariots began making a circle in the centre of the Capitol Square before lining up in front of the balcony which held one man in particular: President Coriolanus Snow.

With one raise of his arm President Snow was able to easily silence the crowds who had just been cheering moments earlier. At that, the man stepped forward and proceeded to give the usual introduction he did every year at the tribute parade. "Welcome. Welcome, tributes. Welcome to the 47th Annual Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favour!" At that, Valour simply nodded before proceeding to applause along with the rest of the crowds. He was rather convinced that besides District 1, only District 2 was bothering to applaud the president's words. This came as a slight annoyance to Valour, but it wasn't one he lingered on for long as before he knew it the chariots were then proceeding to move inside the other side of the building, signalling the end of the parade.

"I think we did pretty good out there." Valour confessed once he stepped off the chariot, reunited with the prep team. Naturally, he couldn't take his eyes off Aurum's very exposed body so as long as she was willing he knew he was up to some fun with the girl out on the balcony. Somehow he suspected she wouldn't mind such things though so almost immediately he began following the team to the elevator which would carry them back up to the first floor where they would be free to spend the rest of their evening. It was bound to be a good one too, definitely as good as one could have it days before entering a death match. Fortunately for the District 1 pair though that was never a nearly as scary thing as it was for many of the other districts.

[Zulera301]

Aurum couldn't help but grin as Valour shared in her confidence. When he mentioned the outfits, she wiggled her butt playfully as if to flaunt herself. It was something the girl shamelessly enjoyed doing, and so it was practically a given that it would happen during the parade. When Valour shuffled in real close, she bumped her hip against his, letting some of their skin briefly touch. They were definitely close--both of them were so full of themselves that they loved the attention that they shared. It was kind of a synergy thing, if Aurum had to take a stab at describing it. Whatever it was, she liked it and was going to promote it. Valour would certainly help.

A tiny bit of Aurum was sad knowing that the girl was going to die. No one under 14 had ever won the games, and Aurum could only name two victors that had ever been 14 when they won the games: Leto Irizari from District 2, during the 35th Hunger Games, and Alice DeSiete from District 8, last year during the 46th Hunger Games. None fo the 14-year-olds seemed to be any Letos or Alices, and so odds were against them. No, this year it'd be an 18-year-old from District 1 that took the victor's crown. Obviously Aurum wanted it to be her, but she figured that if Valour somehow bested her, that he'd give her a good eulogy back in District 1 after his tour. So, she figured that little girl would probably die in the bloodbath like most 12-year-olds, and so didn't think much about her. Sure, sometimes it was personal, like Blaze's fury against District 11, but if Aurum killed that little girl, it was just business. The only "problems" she had with District 11 and District 12 were that they were not very hygienic. Not really a reason to want to kill them. Getting after the district that killed your brother the year before? definitely justified. Poor Blaze. District 11 had really added insult to injury by killing him in such a horrifying manner after killing his brother the year before. Aurum had never actually asked the girl, but was pretty sure that Gleam hated District 11 with a rather vehement passion now.

Needless to say, Aurum glanced behind her for just a second to see what had just appeared on her back when the time came for them to flip their switches. She giggled cutely before waving and chanting as well, getting just as pumped up as Valour--or as she had been when she was preparing to scramble for the stage. "FOR DISTRICT 1!" she chanted with Valour, throwing her voice in with his. "FOR VICTORY! FOR GLORY!" Naturally, the crowds were going nuts, and Aurum was definitely also receiving a lot of catcalls or wolf-whistles from the crowd. This did not surprise her, and she basked in that attention. Perhaps Valour was receiving some on his end too; she was just focused on her side, mainly. Her enthusiasm wasn't done yet though--she glanced ahead of them again and saw the balcony of President Snow coming into view. Like most citizens of District 1, Aurum held the man in a sort of reverence, for his ability to continue to lead Panem in its age of prosperity--a significant departure from the Dark Days. Snow might not have been there during them (the man's age was easy to remember. It was the current Hunger Games year plus 1), but he had definitely done a good job rising to power and staying in control of this glorious nation. That was what she had always been taught anyways.

The power and authority that Coriolanus Snow commanded was awe-inspiring. A simple wave of his arms, and the wild out-of-control crowds had silenced instantly. his speech was short and simple, but it had her, Valour, and the District 2 crowds applauding (as well as the Capitol audiences). Her eyes briefly darted around and she frowned just briefly seeing that none of the other tributes were joining them. The kids from Districts 8, 11, and 12 had their arms crossed even, although they did kind of seem to go with a stoic look (okay, so little Lynx still looked pretty fucking adorable trying to put on a straight/pouty face--something she was only having limited success in doing). But a moment later, the chariot lurched forward again and carried the tributes off back towards the building again. The parade had been brief, but long enough that the whole styling thing was worthwhile, for sure. Well, even if it had just been done for shits and giggled, Aurum wouldn't have complained. It was an excuse to let herself and her partner be scantily-dressed in front of each other. Not a bad thing at all.

"we did wonderful out there. I'm pretty sure Snow smiled at me... or us." she wasn't sure if Valour had been watching or not, but Snow was not a man to hide his approval or disapproval of the tributes, as Paige Alwin had learned the previous year (even if Aurum had no clue that Snow had given the girl such a hateful glare). Conversely, she had received a very approving smile from the president, and surely it had been for Valour as well. As they walked back to the elevator, Aurum noticed that her partner was rather shamelessly checking her out. she swayed her hips as she walked, and winked at him. "just a few more moments." she whispered.

Once they were back on the first floor, Aurum didn't even really hide her intentions or her wants. instead, she leaned up next to her partner, and whispered: "you. me. balcony?"
or they could just have their fun wherever. She was honestly not picky, but shit if her hormones weren't fired up at this point.

[Nachthexe]

Valour was glad Aurum had shared the same sort of passion during the parade, but he wasn't surprised. Aurum was just as loyal to the Capitol as he was, after all, and it really showed as she too bellowed out the same chant as they rode on towards the balcony. Of course she too had also applauded Snow's words and not long afterwards Valour had noticed the man glancing towards his "trophy" tributes of Districts 1 and 2, giving all four of them a smile. It was quickly becoming clear who Snow's favourites were, but to Valour the reasoning behind it was quite obvious. That only became clearer as upon closer glance it didn't seem to be a gesture he shared with the others. It did have Valour wondering if it was something Snow did every year with his career tributes though. Unfortunately, it was something he would probably never get to ask the man as well. At least it was a chance to pretend he truly was among the most well-liked tributes though, an opportunity the conceited boy didn't dare pass up.

"You and I both. He smiled at us both. District 2 as well. Hah, I love that man." Valour responded to Aurum once she informed him about President Snow's smile, something he knew very well had occurred. As far as Valour was concerned it was a pretty mutual feeling as he certainly didn't have any reason to dislike Snow, nor did the rest of District 1 for that matter. They had food, they had shelter, and they had luxury. In their eyes they had a pretty good life as even the poorest of District 1 citizens were still well-off in comparison to the citizens of Panem's poorest districts. Perhaps the full extent of Panem's poverty was not something citizens from Panem's wealthiest district even understood fully in that Valour like so many was convinced that someday through Snow's benevolence it could be solved.

Naturally, all thoughts of the parade and Snow were quickly shifted into the back of Valour's mind once the team returned to the apartment. After staring at Aurum so scantily clad his hormones were certainly off the charts and the feeling definitely appeared to be mutual as soon as the girl ushered him to the balcony. It was a pleasant offer and where the boy had planned on going anyways once it got dark out, considering the view of the Capitol city was a nice one. "Oh you know it." He responded, following her as he put on a smirk while winking. Once out in the moonlight the costumes only began shimmering some more, truly a sight to behold, although Valour had a feeling they wouldn't be staying on for too much longer with the way hormones were acting up. It did get the boy wondering if the same had ever happened with any tributes in the past. Certainly the District 6 pair from the 45th games had been good-looking, even if they had been a couple of brain-fried junkies. Despite that though, he didn't put it past the pair to have possibly been turned on by each other like he and Aurum seemed to now.

"You know, there's another reason I like the Capitol. They definitely know beauty when they see it." Valour commented as he began resting against the balcony's ledge, looking over into the city below. Certainly he and Aurum weren't that far above it, but it was almost beneficial in a way in that they could still see much of the action below. There were definitely many crowds forming who seemed to even still be worked up by the presentations in the parade. Perhaps they were even decided on who the sponsor by now? Valour knew that some decided early on, although oftentimes things such as the interview or poor performance in the arena could later be a deal breaker. That was something Valour knew he and Aurum wouldn't have to worry about though. They were well-liked, if their reception was anything to judge by. That was something that definitely brought Valour ease, but he got even more ease by realizing he was now alone with one incredibly attractive young woman. This put a smirk on his face once again as he proceeded to shuffle over to be directly beside her.

[Zulera301]

Even Panem's wealthiest districts knew not to get on the bad side of President Snow, but on the other hand, that was also a concept that many of them had trouble grasping. Sure poverty might suck a bit, but was that really a reason to try and piss off the Capitol? Besides... what good would come from it? It was not like they could ever hope to outmuscle the mighty militaristic power that was Panem's shining Capitol. Just as the great Capitol gave, they could take away, even to someone's life. Who would think about wanting to fight against that when there was no hope? Aurum just couldn't wrap her mind around the concept, so she stopped trying to think about it. there were happier things to think about.

"He seems to just emanate greatness." Aurum nodded in agreement about Snow, "probably one of the only people that can compare with greatness such as ours." she winked playfully. There was no way that could be considered slander against the most powerful man in Panem--not coming from brainwashed kids like District 1, at least. Sure they were full of themselves, but Snow recognized that they also respected and revered him, and so had zero concern about them trying to undermine his truthfully very fragile system and authority. Maybe if the other districts understood that loyalty could in turn secure prosperity, they would understand the glorious Panem that Snow wished to build. The Hunger Games? a small price to pay--an all-or-nothing dash for the glory? what were a few deaths here and there? It seemed like a small price to pay--or that had always been what Ms. Zianja had been taught anyways.

After realizing that they were alone again and thus had the night to themselves though, Aurum's thoughts quickly shifted back to realizing just how exposed her body was--and more importantly, how she loved it. She was pretty sure that they might not have been the only tributes who did this (surely many of the careers did it... or maybe those cute little District 6 kids... or that really pretty Glimmer girl. Her partner hadn't been too hard on the eyes, but Glimmer? she had been breathtaking. Of course, Aurum Zianja was breathtaking, if you asked her, and she intended to flaunt it. As she walked out to the balcony, she wiggled her butt to make the effects of her scanty outfit rustle and thus shimmer because of the effects of the light against the material.

"mmm..." Aurum sighed, gazing out over at the towering Capitol skyline. the main floor was still a considerable distance from the ground, as it was a tall and magnificent building--one of the tallest in the Capitol. So... even on the 1st floor, they were still a good ways up. "most definitely." she nodded in agreement, "no wonder we're their favorite district. a lot of pretty things come from us, y'know." she leaned against the balcony as well, feeling a light electric hum that she ignored. It was not irritating at all, and it wasn't like Aurum was going to jump. She had heard the stories, but was far enough away that the forcefield wasn't going to zap her or anything.
"still... I'm pretty sure we stole the show..." she batted her eyelashes playfully as she noticed him approaching her. She did not react instantly, and played coy and innocent, but did softly bump her hip against his, as if to indicate that yes. She very much wanted to play, even if it meant getting her beautiful little outfit removed.

[Nachthexe]

Valour simply chuckled as Aurum continued praising Snow. It was funny really how the man could be so well-liked in one district while being despised in another. As far as Valour was concerned he was the same man and he saw nothing wrong with him. Certainly he was trying his best to keep Panem stable and out of conflict such as that during the Dark Days. Was that a fact that simply went over many of the districts' heads? Like most people, Valour was well aware of the rumours about districts like 8 and 11 being particularly rebellious. This was something the boy didn't fully understand, being from one of the most loyal and certainly the wealthiest district. One's background perhaps had a larger effect on their worldview than anybody really anticipated, even if Valour didn't necessarily see it that way.

Of course there was soon working out to be many things Valour would rather do than think about Snow, and Aurum's presence was only making it clearer. When she spoke about and flaunted her looks he knew the girl was't exaggerating much. She actually was an extremely good-looking individual and only Glimmer of District 5 seemed to come close. If it hadn't been for her being from District 5 Valour would have wanted her to win the 45th games based on that reason alone. Certainly Kiva was good-looking too, but in Valour's mind she seemed to lose some of her attractiveness due to being a junkie. Perhaps the Capitol even used the same logic as it was well-known among District 1 that attractive past victors were usually desirable. Still, none of that mattered when Valour had an attractive girl alongside him at this very moment, one who was just itching to get some action going.

Aurum's words initially caught Valour off-guard who was mesmerized by the Capitol city down below, but then he offered a retort of his own as he let out a chuckle. "A lot of pretty things from District 1? You mean like you?" He then leaned even closer to the girl so their chests were even pressed up against one another. Almost immediately he felt Aurum's body heat against his, giving him a source of comfort even as he leaned in against the balcony. Perhaps Aurum heard it too, but there was a light hum not too far from them. Unmistakably the building's force field. Valour knew very well about it, having heard various rumours around the district, although it did baffle him why it was on the first floor, of all places. Would loyal volunteer tributes really try to escape as what the force fields were allegedly in place to prevent? He could understand incentive for the less loyal districts to turn suicidal(as that's what it definitely was on the higher floors), but it was something he overlooked entirely for District 1. Still, he knew the Capitol had a method for doing everything they did and keeping the games' tributes cooped up until the arena was just another.

District 1 definitely did steal the show at the parade and Aurum's words only served to further confirm it in Valour's mind. The crowds had gone nuts over them and even now in the streets below they seemed to be displayed large displays of excitement. The games were like a party for them and rightfully so. Valour knew that he always gained a rush of excitement whenever he saw District 1's tributes doing well in the games. Frankly it was exciting to see one's team triumph and this somehow was no exception, and it also served as a way to send an important message to the other districts to boot. Once again, the Capitol always had a method to their madness and the Hunger Games was just another. The victors were certainly treated generously too so there was always that to strive for as well. Both Valour and Aurum were shining examples of that and both were rather proud of it.

"Well we're out here so might as well not waste this opportunity." Valour uttered as he finally diverted his attention away from the Capitol streets below and fully onto Aurum. Even before The Reaping he viewed her as somebody with unrivalled looks and nothing was about to change that as he continued pressing his body into hers. District 1 was truly fortunate to be gifted with so many good looking people. Unless it was just the presence of wealth, enabling more people to focus on such things as appearance? It was simply one theory, although Valour didn't think about it much as it was so natural to him and everybody else back home. "So, I'm just as sexy as you are, right?" He simply asked playfully, proceeding to wrap his arms around Aurum's shoulders. Hormones were definitely taking effect as this was simply driving the boy to want to get even closer to the girl, despite being right up against her already. Both were still also fully clothed in their little scanty outfits, although Valour had a feeling that before the night was out that would be changed. Already he was proceeding to take initiative in this by removing the straps that covered parts of his chest, leaving the entire thing bare and exposed to the cool Capitol night air.

[Zulera301]

As interesting of subjects as Snow and the Capitol and even the culture of the various districts of Panem were, Aurum was admittedly having trouble thinking about them for various reasons. For one, there was a good-looking, scantily-dressed boy in front of her, and similarly, the evening air against her bare skin felt almost tantalizing in its own right. Needless to say, these were prime ingredients for some nice hormonal reactions that had Aurum mentally pushing most other thoughts aside for the time being. Besides, it wasn't like the Capitol would stop them--they would definitely not feel inclined to stop their favorite tributes, anyways, even if they were watching. Perhaps some of the other tributes had taken advantage of the fact that this was one of the few places where the Capitol and its Peacekeepers weren't breathing down their necks. Either way, Aurum wasn't thinking much about that either.

Aurum giggled, flattered by the compliment. "yes, definitely. just like me." she shifted her body just a little, letting her skin rub against his (or vice-versa, depending on perspective). "or you..." she batted her long eyelashes playfully at him, enjoying the closeness. Not to say that she was chilly out here, but the sharing of body heat and the contact of such smooth skin was a rather pleasant addition to the mood. The hum of the forcefield did not really get her thinking about it much (for the same reason that the subjects of Snow and the Capitol dissipated from her mind), though. She just figured that it was easier to put a field around the entire building rather than just the upper floors. Maybe on the lower floors it was to prevent the tributes from getting too wild or careless. Who knows?

District Pride... it was part of what made the subject of death itself not be important, but rather the method to one's death. There were good ways to die and bad ways to die, and if becoming a victor was not on the table, being taken down by one's former ally or partner was not a bad way to go. It meant that only the best of the best was finally able to defeat her. She could live with that, although for obvious reasons, she hoped to become the victor. Not to say that she hadn't also been a bit awestruck by District 11's outfits a few years back, but it was much more satisfying when the center of attention was her and her partner, the year she finally was able to volunteer for the games. It was no mystery that Aurum loved attention. Luckily for her, she usually did not have to do much to get it. Right now in fact, she'd be lucky not to get attention, with her flashy (no pun intended) outfit practically screaming "hey! look at me! I'm beautiful", for she was.

She giggled at his question, which was fairly rhetorical. "hmm... let's fine out, shall we?" her hands slid down his arms, passing Valour's hands before gently releasing them as she undid her own straps and wrappings, gently shedding them as she was now left in basically just her shoes and smalls. Seeing Valour do the same, she couldn't help but nod in approval and agreement. "hmm..." she put her fingers on her chin as if pretending to be thinking it over as her eyes darted across Valour's well-toned form, "oh yes. definitely yes. you are."
"how do I look?" she asked a moment later, now that she had gone from (in the words of a certain young man from District 8) "glamorized underwear" to actual underwear (which were also a flashy pink). She knew the answer to this question, but used it as an excuse to strike a little pose before moving back towards him again, letting her hands roam a little around Valour's back and waist. This was definitely going to be a wonderful evening.

[Nachthexe]

Soon all Valour wanted to think about was Aurum's warm body against his and it was something the girl was very much willingly engaging in herself, much to the hormonal boy's delight. District 1 definitely had good looking people, but it hardly mattered now what the source of that was. Aurum, the one who would probably be the last person he sees if he dies was good enough for him. Death. It wasn't something the boy wanted to consider just yet, but in the Hunger Games it was inevitable. Only the method of death seemed to matter to the 23 losers and Valour suddenly knew that if he had to die that even going by Aurum's hand would be ideal. This was something he did not mention to the girl, however, as he continued rubbing his body against hers.

Sure enough, almost as soon as Valour had undone his top straps Aurum began undoing hers. This simply had Valour smirking as he proceeded to stare her down like a hawk. Within seconds the girl was in nothing but her shoes and underwear, prompting Valour to do the same. "Yep. I think this answers the question." He simply remarked back at the girl as he glanced at their clothing on the ground beside them and then back up to Aurum. They were nice, yet simple outfits so he knew he was going to miss them once in the arena, but he knew that as a victor he would potentially have plenty of chances to dress up. It was just one more of the things to look forward to. Even the prospect of having to kill Aurum to reach that goal momentarily slipped his mind. He truly was living in the moment.

"You look great, but now what?" Valour asked as he continued staring straight at Aurum's body. The years of training had definitely paid off for them both and it was really showing in their athletically toned bodies. If anything, it was even advantageous at this point as it definitely served for a good show for the two hormonal teenagers. Anybody else would have even found it hard to believe that the two were going to be fighting to the death within days, but their circumstances didn't let them falter. This was only further confirmed as Valour once again pressed his body up against Aurum's and wrapped his arms around her. He then proceeded to rest his chin upon her shoulder, hoping to hear the rhythm of her breathing up against his ear. It was oddly soothing and it was something he hoped he could only do more of, particularly during the long quiet nights in the arena.

[Zulera301]

"Death Happens", a District 2 victor had once said in her interview, "and when the Hunger Games are involved, death happens more." it was a rather sordid truth, but Aurum was not really even considering it since there was not much to consider in that regard. There was of course, method of death, but Aurum was fairly convinced that either she'd die at Valour's hand or he'd die at hers. She obviously hoped for the latter, but the alternative would definitely be her choice of ways to go if it came to such. But, these thoughts were distant now, and she was instead thinking about how good-looking the two of them were, especially as they took off their clothes. Apart from their hair and faces, most of their bodies were left untouched in terms of decorations, and thus their light, smooth skin was exposed in all of its natural beauty. The makeup did seem to add an attractive flare to their faces though--at least in Aurum's opinion.

Contrary to a lot of people, Aurum enjoyed people staring at her, especially when she was undressed. she playfully wiggled her hips for a second, lightly snapping her underwear. they'd come off too sooner or later. "you flatter me." she cooed, "well, I guess that goes both ways." she noticed that while he did not have any shoes on the way she did, he did also have those jeweled anklets around his ankles just like she did (the ones for Aurum's costume though were pink, as opposed to the blueish ones she had worn at the reaping).
"hey! those are cute," she pointed at them, jiggling her foot to make them emit that light jingling noise of the metal or stones touching each other. She was kind of glad he was barefooted though--she couldn't imagine the boy in heels. "oooh. and look how pretty the man wearing them is..." yes. she was teasingly stroking his ego. She was literally 100% certain he would not mind. She was too busy enjoying the moment, which she was going to make last. Even if it shaved a bit of their sleep time away... they could make it up later. Technically, training was completely optional anyways, even the private sessions (which apparently were how tributes could theoretically score a "zero".) It was just practical to do, and even if they had little moments like this, Aurj knew they weren't going to just skip training altogether. They had some showing off to do. But... not right now. Right now, it was their moment.

Aurum stretched, raising her arms over her head and pushing out her hips a little. "hmm... let's touch. I'm cold." this was not entirely true, but she wanted to feel his skin against hers and share body heat. As she felt Valour wrap his arms around her, she pressed into him, sighing sweetly and resting her arms around him in return. It was a rather cute little moment, to see the two of them so serene rather than bragging or chanting or showing off something or another. she leaned against his chest, her own breaths and heartbeat going slow and calmly. Aurum Zianja was completely at peace here and now, and it showed through the gentle rhythm of her soft breaths, and the soft, rhythmic beat of her heart. She knew that there would be more action than this (she expected, by the end of the night, that the only things she'd maybe still have on apart from her makeup and hair-jewels were those shoes and anklets), but she was in no hurry to break this gentle moment.
"such a wonderful sound..." she whispered, referring to the tranquility in which they could hear each other's soft breaths and gentle heartbeats. She hoped he agreed.

[Nachthexe]

Certainly it was hormones again, but Valour found himself completely mesmerized when Aurum proceeded to shake her hips in front of him. The girl definitely knew how to flirt and it only showed time and time again. "Both ways? Two can play this game." Valour simply responded as he proceeded to playfully shake his hips as well. He also let out a chuckle before he noticed Aurum's attention shifting elsewhere. The anklets. They both had a pair and Aurum especially enjoyed making hers jingle. This was something Valour proceeded to try his hand at also. "Very cute, and very noisy. Wear these in the arena and all the other tributes will come running." He joked, chuckling once again. Certainly it was an exaggeration, but he enjoyed the simple entertainment they seemed to be providing.

The simple things in life always had value and the current intimate interactions between Valour and Aurum were another example. If anything, even if they didn't realize it themselves they were simply two ordinary teenagers forced into unfortunate circumstances. Of course the same applied to all Hunger Games tributes, but there was no way out of it. The fates of all but one were already sealed. Perhaps this alone even had each of them striving to enjoy what little time they had left and surely Valour and Aurum were also doing so in their own way. Certainly the career mentality was different to that of most other tributes, but even they went into the arena with their partner knowing at least one of them would die.

"So what's nicer? You or this night sky? I think I know." Valour glanced up at Aurum momentarily before resting his chin back on her shoulders. The girl seemed just as eager to feel his body heat against hers as well as she had expressed in her words. In reality it wasn't a cold night, but the warmth was oddly comforting. For several minutes they just retained this grip on each other and listened to each other's heartbeats and breathing before Valour began tracing the outline of Aurum's back with his fingers. Like the rest of her body it was smooth, almost inhumanly so. Whatever the Capitol makeover had done he was grateful for as it seemed to enhance the girl's perfect features further. This was something he wasn't slow to empathize. "I think the Capitol has the capability to create the perfect person because they certainly did with you. That makeover only gave you further perfection."

Despite being currently in a state of bliss, Valour couldn't help but to think back briefly to those at home. Certainly they had seen the parade footage as well. What did they think of District 1's entrance? Were they as riled up about as the Capitol had been? Certainly it had been at least a few year since District 1 had gotten a reception on that level, but taking the path the stylists had definitely seemed to work. Would it be continued in future years? Valour liked to hope so, but currently he was in a game he would have to win. If not him, then Aurum, the beautiful girl who now stood directly in front of him as she proceeded to share plenty of intimate moments with him. Remembering this, he took the hand on her back and reshaped it so he could rub her back instead. A part of him was wishing she would get fully nude, but that was a step the girl would have to take on her own accord.

[Zulera301]

Aurum grinned cheekily from ear to ear as Valour returned her flirtations with some of his own. She cracked a giggle at his comments about the anklets. "well if you want to take yours off, don't let me stop you. I think they and my shoes are cute." she thought the whole outfit was fairly cute actually, especially with how much of her it had exposed. the jingles of anklets made were fairly faint, but would definitely be noticeable. The arena was the one place where Aurum would not want attention, except perhaps from the Capitol cameras getting her good side. But, that was still a week away, and so for now she could continue to show off and flaunt herself to everyone she met.

District 1 was probably the last one that would ever think that they were "victims" of anything. If one of the more observant individuals of the Hunger Games had seen them right now, he would have had nothing short of genuine pity for them, for not even realizing that they were trapped. At the very least, they got to enjoy each other though, even if the time was fleeting. Everyone had a different way of coping with the large possibility that this could very well be the last week of their lives, and this was simply the method that Aurum and Valour chose to express it. There was certainly nothing inherently wrong with this, either.

Aurum giggled. "oh, stop it. you're making me blush!" this was actually kind of true (though it was hard to tell with the exotic makeup on her face), but she did not want him to stop, actually, and would be rather saddened if he did. They did kind of stand out against the dimly lit balcony and the evening sky, with their pale skin and almost radiant features. She nuzzled her cheek against his neck affectionately, before sighing and closing those brilliant green eyes of hers again. After a few moments, she let out a soft gasp, shuddering slightly as his fingers traced her back. It had caught her slightly off-guard (which just went to show how relaxed she had been), but after a split-second of realizing what it was, she emitted the sweetest little sigh, affectionately returning the gesture by running those graceful fingers of hers across his back and shoulders.
She couldn't help but giggle softly at his compliment, her head still rested on his shoulder, that brilliant golden hair of hers hanging off to the side to better expose her back. "I really hope there's a mirror inside." shew as pretty sure there was, "because I want to see how good I look naked when we're done here." she was in no rush though--quite the opposite, in fact. "then again... charming words aren't the only thing amazing about you, you know..." give and take. Normally her ego might not settle for anything less than showers of compliments, but she had sort of subconsciously realized that the more she complimented him, the more he did the same with her, so it was a mutual benefit in her eyes. Besides, they were just telling the truth about each other anyways

satisfied that her underclothes had stayed on long enough, she slowly drew her hands away from around Valour's body, and gradually motioned to remove her underclothes, swaying her hips as they went down. A soft "click" of her shoes later (from stepping out of her underwear), and they and her anklets were now the only things she had on. She did not say anything, for the silence just seemed so... so right. Valour's hands rubbing Aurum's back just made it better. She was a sucker for a good rubbing or massage, after all. In the Luxury district, such... well, luxuries... could easily be afforded too.
She did not make any hints of any kind, more deciding just to go with the flow and do (or say) what felt natural, which at the moment was simply to relax, put her arms back around Valour, and let them continue what they had been doing--just that Aurum was now pretty much naked.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "No, they're staying on. Here at least." He commented, noting Aurum's suggestion to remove the anklets. He wasn't about to take them off, rather enjoying them actually just as she had. It did have him realizing though that the arena was probably the one place where he wouldn't want to draw attention to himself. Too much at once and it was possible that even he could be outnumbered or that somebody could even unexpectedly snipe him. He wasn't about to overlook the fact there was very possibly other ranged fighters in the games, after all. That was something that would only be confirmed tomorrow during training though. If the others showed off their skills that was... He was well aware that many tributes, particularly those from the outlying districts, did not.

Valour was simply flattered when Aurum mentioned his words were making her blush. Truth was that he was quite the flirt already so simply knew what to say in order to please a woman. At least he liked to believe he did. He did have a pretty high success rate already with those back at home certainly. Aurum, however, seemed to surpass all of them in beauty and he was fairly convinced that wasn't just the effects of the Capitol makeover talking. "You're beautiful. Truly the Capitol's prize if you emerge from that arena the victor." He remarked, raising his hand and proceeding to stroke Aurum's hair which was still very much lined with jewels from the parade.

"Oh, and you don't need a mirror when I'm right here to see you naked." Valour soon blurted out several moments later as he was stroking Aurum's hair. She seemed interested in examining herself, but Valour felt there was little need for that. Besides the two did plenty on their own, managing to sincerely compliment each other as they embraced each other on the balcony. It even seemed they were beyond ego-stroking for now and simply wanted to express how they really lusted for each other. Sure enough the lust theory was quickly confirmed too as Aurum began shedding the remainder of her clothing, now wearing nothing by her anklets and shoes. This had Valour soon examining every nook and cranny he could of her body before proceeding to do the same.

"We are a team so might as well make this a team effort. What do you say?" Valour explained as he glanced up at Aurum's face after having examined her breasts. There they were, right in front of him and fully exposed. That was definitely any teenaged boy's dream, and very much one Valour was currently living. Noting this, in exchange he soon presented his fully nude body to Aurum. Just as she had he had opted to remove everything, only leaving on his matching pair of anklets as they seemed to be oddly symbolic at the moment. It was time to get down to business though so soon he once again embraced Aurum and began stroking her back once again. They were comfortable and were pleasuring each other so as far as Valour was concerned life was pretty good in the meantime.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "well... if you're that insistent to keep them on, I'll do the same; shoes as well." she laughed. She honestly didn't care what stayed on or came off at this point given that what little of her body was not exposed would soon be. she jingled her feet one after the other without breaking eye contact, figuring that she might as well get what attention she could (both from Valour and from others) before the arena. Not to say that she couldn't (or wouldn't) have plenty of interactions with Aurum and maybe Nolan and Alana in the arena (since they *would* survive the bloodbath. there was no 'if' about it), but it wouldn't be the same was the peacefully intimate scene they were having here and now. In fact, she contemplated having more of them during this short week if she could. The night after the interviews was definitely going to happen, but perhaps at the end of another day or two, she could slip out of that training uniform or something.

When Valour stroked Aurum's hair, it became suddenly very obvious that he had found one her weak spots, for her eyes closed, and a noise that could only be described as a soft purr emanated from her lips. The jewels were light and obviously very colorful--they didn't weigh her hair down or anything, or bother his hands too much. "you definitely don't fall short of that mark either," she whispered, letting her hands wander into his hair, which was just as soft as hers, only a bit straighter. She had scratched many a boy's head (and similarly had hers scratched the same), but Valour was different because of his long hair, which Aurum liked, and voiced it.
"you have really lovely hair too," she added, since his hair was just one of the things she thought were beautiful about him.

Aurum giggled. "oh, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon... but I'm definitely going to check myself out before bed. We're just so beautiful that we can't help but want to see ourselves, wouldn't you say?" That was how Aurum thought of herself at least, but she was serious about not going anywhere for a while. Her beautiful naked body was not about to disappear, and so she'd have a few minutes to spare to look herself over after they decided to go inside. Needless to say, when Valour stepped back a little ot check the now mostly naked girl out, she giggled, striking a pose or two, raising her hands above her head once or twice, and jingling those little jeweled anklets, which she planned on keeping on as well. She enjoyed that sound too much.

Aurum nodded approvingly as Valour matched her in his state of undress (sans shoes, which she had and he did not), and giggled again. "definitely the most beautiful team effort I've ever been in." she agreed. Aurum's bare breasts gave her body a lovely curve outward, and then back in around her waist, and then back out slightly for her hips. While there were undoubtedly cosmetics to augment such things, Aurum was actually very proud to say that all of her body features were completely natural, which in turn had the curves on her chest and hips feel more like they matched her figure, rather than some extremes that the occasional Capitol citizen would have. No, even with their most intimate areas now exposed, Aurum was still pleased to show them off.
She softly stepped back towards him as he rubbed her back, arching it just slightly (but not too much given how much of their chests were already touching). Her own hands wandered up Valour's hips and back, and up into his silky (jeweled) hair, which she softly caressed and played with. Clearly, based on the approving noises the golden-haired girl was making, Valour was definitely making Aurum an extremely happy girl.

[Nachthexe]

Valour became rather flattered by the way Aurum responded when he began stroking her hair. The purrs coming from her were not exactly discreet, after all, although he simply allowed the girl's hands to eventually go up to his. Usually he didn't allow many people to touch his hair besides himself, but in this case he felt it was acceptable. Besides, he knew there was a chance, albeit a small one, he would not be emerging from that arena. That simply made pleasure all the more desirable in his case. The compliments, thus further ego-stroking, definitely seemed to help the case too. "There's only the best on me, love." He responded, putting on a smirk as he continued allowing the girl to stroke his hair.

Things only seemed to get even better once both Valour and Aurum were fully in the nude. In that state Valour could make out every curve in Aurum's body and it was certainly no exaggeration that she was in excellent physical condition. so many of the tributes came into the games malnourished and barely even able to wield a weapon, but not these two. They meant business and even their toned bodies alone seemed to express it. Valour knew that if the Hunger Games was some sort of beauty contest instead that District 1 would win literally every year. Certainly they won a lot anyway and usually got the most sponsors alongside District 2, but that was only half the game. The real winner was decided through either being the most skilled, the luckiest, or perhaps a bit of both. That was something Valour was well aware of now more than ever, especially after having seen the past few victors. All had clearly been lucky except for perhaps Sagittaria whose win seemed to had been a combination of luck and skill. Everybody in Panem knew about the coin toss, after all.

"Look at that. The Capitol crowds are still going at it. I wonder how late into the night they celebrate?" Valour remarked as he and Aurum continued stroking each other. During this time he had managed to peer over the balcony's edge once again, only to see that down below the Capitol crowds were still overly excited about the games and doing a bit of celebrating of their own. Certainly there was only the two of them, but Valour very much viewed the current nude embrace he was locked in with the most beautiful girl as another form of celebration. Celebration of the fact that both had left a massive impression in what was arguably one of the nation's biggest events of the year.

This simply went on for several more minutes until Valour made a proposal of his own. "We should sit." He advised, unleashing Aurum from his grasp and taking a seat on the balcony floor. He even hoped that Aurum would take a place on his lap allowing for further intimacy, but he didn't seem to care too much as long as she was nearby. If anything, he simply wanted to enjoy the moment of closeness and intimacy in peace. So far that endeavour seemed to be successful with the prep team having not even bothered to come searching for them. He was confident they wouldn't either as surely even they understood that tributes needed time alone. Certainly they probably didn't envision this sort of alone time, but technically as long as they were in the Capitol's custody before the games almost anything went. Even Valour saw some irony in the whole thing that before the games tributes were practically treated like royalty, but then once in the arena they were very much left to their own accord. He did understand the reasoning behind it though in that it gave tributes something to aspire to. The Capitol was benevolent and wanted to treat their victors well and they showed that by giving their tributes a taste of what they could experience once they emerged from the arena. At least that was the way he, and most of the rest of District 1, saw it.

[Zulera301]

"mmm..." Aurum purred approvingly. "I noticed." Her hands were gentle and dextrous, carefully caressing his hair as if fearing that she'd mess it up. She didn't actually worry about that though. Ironically, she was just living the golden rule. She wanted him to continue to gently and perhaps even a bit lovingly, caress her, and thus that was how she treated him in return. Normally, there really wasn't a reason to let others touch her hair on an everyday basis. But this... well, this was special, and she felt it was worth it.

Seeing Valour in the nude (as well as knowing that she too was in a pretty much identical state of undress) did give her another surge of district pride though, knowing that if either of them won, Panem would definitely be getting one of the most beautiful victors in years. However, they were not just all show and no go--as pretty as they were, and as harmless as they might have looked wearing nothing but makeup and anklets (and heels, in Aurum's case), they were fighters. If somehow they needed to jump up and fight off an adversary right here and now, Aurum was fully confident that they could. It might be awkward, but it would still be doable. They had skill, and they were going to win it just like District 11 had a few years ago. The only luck factor in Sagittaria's victory was the coin toss. if it had landed in Rye's favor, the same could have been said about him. The only luck factor this time would be who bested who, out of Aurum and Valour. Maybe it was counting her chickens, but she was fairly confident that District 1 would win this year.

Aurum gradually shifted them towards the edge of the balcony, without breaking the embrace. "it's rather pretty." she commented. "I wonder if anyone can see us up here." she wouldn't try to call out to them or anything, but if they got to see Aurum in all of her naked glory... she'd probably just bask in the attention. Surely sponsors would be lining up to help provide for the breathtakingly gorgeous District 1 pair this year. Speaking of celebrations though... wasn't that what they were doing? As much as Aurum loved her beautiful body, it was not like she didn't cover herself up in public. Thus, taking off her clothes and enjoying herself like this was definitely a celebration of sorts.

When Valour suggested after a few more minutes of this that they should sit, she nodded. "I just wanna look over the balcony a bit..." she smiled sweetly, turning and leaning over it. Of course, this gave Valour a wonderful view of Aurum's calves and thighs, which those shoes were definitely helping in terms of appearance. And of course, he'd see Aurum's cute little naked butt, which she wasn't even trying to wiggle alluringly this time. She seemed genuinely interested in what was out there a moment. She did reach her hand out again to try and touch the forecefield, but all she felt was a 'humming' in her hand, so to speak, and so she retracted it, turning around slowly and gazing down at Valour, who was clearly still gazing up at her. She giggled, noticing his position.
"You look like the kind of man who wants a beautiful lady sitting right in your lap..." she stepped towards him, bending down as if to seat herself accordingly, "how about I help you with that..." she snuggled into his lap, stretching her legs out in front of her and pressing her back softly to his chest. "feel free to get comfortable too... even if that means adjusting the pretty lady." she leaned back and stole a quick peck on his cheek, essentially givig him the green light to shift her as he pleased. She was comfortable, but wanted to ensure that he was too (or if nothing else, that she was positioned the way he wanted her to be).
Yeah, life was pretty much perfect right now. The Capitol did well at providing, even if it was just a nice, lovely little private place for them to strip each other down and enjoy one another's company.

[Nachthexe]

Both Valour and Aurum were definitely still satisfied and that's all that seemed to matter in this moment. It was working out to be quite pleasurable for them both, making Valour feel slightly disappointed there wouldn't be much room for similar actions in the arena. Theoretically one could, but Valour wasn't quick to overlook the fact that all of Panem would be watching him in action then. The games' arenas were surely rigged with cameras and this year there would be no exception. If anything though he at least wanted Panem to know that the two were close and had trained together, thus sending a message that companionship and teamwork could get one far. That would come later though as Valour knew what he wanted now.

"Them being able to see us? Unlikely. This is a large building. Besides, they're too busy engaging in their own celebrations, surely for us." Valour responded as Aurum had both him and herself leaning over the balcony. During that brief time he managed to expand his arm towards the forcefield. There was definitely one present, thus confirming all the rumours he had heard about it. Sure the exact reasoning for it as far as his own district went was unclear, but it made sense for the outliers above. Many of them probably already knew they didn't stand a chance in the arena, particularly with the two powerful District 1 tributes in their midst. Unless that was just Valour's ego speaking again? Only time would tell on that one.

"Alright, I'm over here." Valour responded softly as he left Aurum to her own accord in order to continue gazing over the balcony. In reality he didn't mind as it gave him opportunity to examine her backside he had seen so little of. Like her frontside, it too reeked of perfection which brought a smile to the boy's face. He even managed to let out a small chuckle as Aurum reached out to touch the forcefield herself. It definitely provided a small shock, but it was harmless. Although he had heard about the forcefields surrounding the arenas. Allegedly they were much more powerful with the sole purpose of killing tributes if they dared tried to tamper with them in hopes of escaping the arena. It definitely sounded like something the likes of District 3 or 5 would try so he knew that reasoning for having them so powerful probably wasn't far off. It was something he quickly stopped thinking about though, realizing he understood little about those sorts of things. It was definitely best left up to the technology district of Panem. "Hey, nice butt." He instead remarked, reaching out to playful squeeze Aurum's butt cheek as she continued peering over the balcony.

It was definitely turning out to be a good evening and this was only becoming clearer as Aurum proceeded to place herself on Valour's lap. One of the boy's wishes, granted. This put a huge smile on his face as he repositioned himself to allow maximum comfort for both him and the slightly smaller girl who now graced him with her presence. "Of course I want a lovely lady on my lap." He remarked as he reached out to give her a light peck on the cheek. By this time both were fairly stretched out, making Valour quickly realize just how similar they were in size. That tended to be uncommon among tributes in the games with one tribute often being much larger than the other. At least that was usually the case outside of the career districts. Regardless, it gave the boy further hope they would make an interesting duo during their time in the arena, although he hated the thought of either of their beautiful bodies being bloodied up. That was just a small price to pay, however, to emerge as victor and it certainly didn't stop the boy now who began tracing the outline of Aurum's hips with his hands.

[Zulera301]

Unity--they had shown it from the moment they stepped off the train, all the way through the chariot parade, and even now, by themselves, they were still kind of showing it. Aurum was fine with this approach. It had worked wonders with the District 11 pair a couple years ago, and sure enough, one of them had emerged a victor. If she and Valour were the last two tributes standing, that would be good enough for her even if she was somehow the one that fell in combat. It was a popular angle for the Capitol, who would surely pour sponsor gifts on them at that rate. It was not a requirement, but it helped. There were no real explicit requirements to what earned sponsor gifts. No one had even thought of sponsoring Kyla Togisala until she turned around and proved that she was a vicious little killer, and then she was pounded with sponsor gifts that served her well in the arena. It was one of the rare times when District 12 got sponsors at all.

"aww..." she fake-sighed. "I bet they'd love to see us naked." the golden-haired girl joked, but she obviously was not about to try and draw attention to them at the moment. Sure there was the faint noise of the Capitol celebrating below them, but for the most part, there was a rather serene silence that had settled over them, which Aurum found to be very intimate and relaxing. It soothed her nerves, so to speak. Her own personal theories on the forcefield were one of three things--the occasional "different" tribute, such as Krystal Saffron, or perhaps simply because it was easier to rig up the whole building rather than be selective. The 3rd reason, which seemed the most likely, was that the Capitol just wanted to protect them, since she was aware that sometimes (but not so much in hers and Valour's cases) they could get a bit arrogant, and might have tried doing some kind of crazy stunt from the balcony or something. She didn't know. It didn't bother her too much to think about though, because it wasn't like she was going to jump off the balcony or anything.

She'd definitely take a peek over it though, which was exactly what she did. she giggled as the humming energy flowed through her hand, and pulled it away. She cracked a grin that was not visible to Valour when she heard his chuckle, knowing exactly what a satisfying view he must be getting right now. Sure enough, a moment later, he complimented her butt, causing her to sway it cutely, before she squeaked. He had just grabbed her ass!
Of course, that was sure as heck not going to offend Aurum at all. "oooh! I like that!" she grinned as she expressed her approval before she slowly turned around and strode over to him (the whole 2 or 3 steps it was). She definitely hoped for a bit more of that before the night was over, but right now, she was mostly just going with the flow of things, not dwelling too hard on anything but the here and the now, which in turn helped her make her judgments in a similar fashion.

Of course, as pleasing as it might have been for Valour, it was not like it was at Aurum's expense. this was something they both benefitted from, and so she was going to eagerly indulge in it, just as she had so eagerly and enthusiastically volunteered to come here in the first place. She giggled coyly, biting her lip with a smile as he kissed her cheek. Oooh yes, simple as it was, it had flattered the girl. She also realized that, when they were like this, they really were about the same size. Aurum had only appeared taller because of the shoes she had on. Without them, they were apparently both 5'9". Often the tributes were different sizes, even among the careers. No one was quick to forget the 35th Hunger Games, where District 2 had produced a gigantic boy towering over most of the others at 6'6" and 200 pounds, while his partner had been a really tiny little thing who stood at 4'9" and barely weighed 93 pounds--Leto Irizari. No one forgot her name, given that she had won her respective Hunger Games, despite being even tinier than any of the outlying tributes that year.
As Aurum felt Valour's hands began to trace and caress her hips, she leaned back gently, pressing her back to his chest as she relaxed and let touch her as he pleased. Letting out an affectionate sigh, she places her hands in her lap, but only to keep them out of Valour's way for the moment (given their position). She was sure they would have plenty of time to do more with each other, after all. To show another of her already numerous signs of appreciating his touches and motions, he leaned her head back to peck his cheek softly, hoping he would continue. Her hips were so soft and particularly sensitive given that the skin was usually covered, which made it feel all that much better.

[Nachthexe]

Did the Capitol really want to see their prized tributes in the nude? Aurum's words quickly got Valour thinking about it and he was pretty confident that any of them would jump at the chance, although it would surely mean winning the games since not even career tributes had much contact with most of the Capitol citizens during the time before the arena. No, that was saved for after once a victor emerged and it was one of the reasons why being a victor so greatly appealed to Valour. Certainly to Aurum as well as she seemed to like the Capitol as much as he did. That was definitely all the more reason for both of them to strive to come on top and Valour was fairly certain one of them could do it. If anything, it would definitely be a chance to get back at little Alice DeSiete as well for all the doubts he have had.

"You like that? Again then." Valour replied as he put on a smirk and proceeded to squeeze Aurum's butt one last time before she took a seat in his lap. This had the boy chuckling and definitely pleased, knowing he was managing to pleasure the girl who wouldn't have any opportunity for that unless she emerged as victor. It was no secret, after all, that victors were desirable in both the Capitol and back at home. With looks like hers though? There was no doubt somebody somewhere would try to advance on her. Victors were practically celebrities, after all, and it seemed they were even treated in high regard back in the outlying districts as well.

Once Aurum was firmly positioned on Valour's lap he proceeded to kiss her on the cheek once again, this time more passionately than the last. He was definitely physically attracted to this girl. He also knew there could never be anything deeper than lust between them, considering circumstances. Still, he intended to enjoy her company while it lasted. They were not even into the first day of training yet, after all, so there was still a week plus however long they happened to last in the arena. If the recent past games were anything to go by though he knew it would be about a good 14 days before the two were even forced to turn on each other. Of course, anything would be possible then too so even that wasn't a sure thing. "This night...it's nice." Valour soon found himself uttering as he continued stroking Aurum's hips and chest. He wasn't sure how long the two had been out on the balcony, but he did notice that slowly all the celebrations down below in the Capitol streets were slowly dying down. Definitely a sure sign that they were beginning to retire for the night, an indication it was probably getting quite late. Still, this didn't stop the boy from his intimate moment.

Funny enough as the noise down below slowly died down Valour fond himself more closely focusing on the cool Capitol air hitting his skin. With Aurum currently on his lap he was definitely less exposed to it, but he did managed to feel a slight chill. It was oddly refreshing though and with Aurum's body heat against his he wasn't about to get cold either. He also knew the games were typically held in summer, perhaps a strategic move on the Capitol's part in order to make hosting events such as the parade much easier. Certainly nobody in the Capitol enjoyed sitting outside in the winter cold, after all. Valour couldn't really blame them though, especially not now that his body was fully exposed. Had it been any other time of year it probably would have been impossible.

There was no way of knowing exactly how long Valour had continued stroking Aurum's body for, but eventually it seemed to slow down as the girl's breathing and heartbeat eventually had him dozing off. This was a notion he hadn't even considered previously, but now he was so comfortable he hadn't even bothered moving as soon as he began feeling fatigued. That was soon coming to cost him with him soon falling asleep entirely as he gazed up at the clear night sky. Since this wasn't the arena he knew the moon he saw definitely wasn't artificial. This managed to have him falling into a deep slumber with a smile on his face, something that perhaps Aurum would even pick up on.

[Zulera301]

While most of the tributes or victors dreaded the idea of getting all "close" with the Capitol citizens, it was an idea that Aurum personally wouldn't mind. She was eager for the idea of showing off so much of her skin during the parade, and so to show off fully nude would just be a nice way to display her natural beauty. Sure she and her district obviously had no strong feelings against the Capitol, but there was pride to be had in knowing that her beauty was completely natural rather than augmented by Capitol enhancements or augmentations. She wondered how anyone could *not* strive for that, but... the other districts just didn't understand. She had no way of knowing obviously, but even Glimmer actually dreaded the idea of it. With such a pretty face, a beautiful body, and a kind, caring attitude to boot? the Capitol (or most anyone, really) would have been all over that.

Aurum giggled, squeaking again as she got another surprise-butt-grope. It had certainly not been the first time someone made advances on her, and Aurum was a victim of getting her backside grabbed more times than she could count (it had happened between the train and the apartment no less than three times, actually). But, that was actually another of her "weaknesses", and so she was not complaining--if anything, she was encouraging it. There was more than one reason she left those heels on, after all. "ooh!" she expressed right after Valour's hand pulled back, "yes please!" That was definitely the Aurum sign of approval.

Even if their relationship was limited because of where they were, it didn't stop Aurum from being fairly passionate about it in return. Heck, technically they weren't limited--Rye and Sagittaria a few years ago had straight-up loved each other (and it seemed sincere enough to the young Aurum). It would just set one's self up for disappointment though, which Aurum did not want. Becoming a victor was supposed to be a happy thing anyways. Besides... as long as Valour was up for it, Aurum would be quite okay with doing this every night from here till the arena. sure she wouldn't be showing as much skin the other nights [at first anyways], but perhaps peeling off that training uniform could be fun too. "mmm..." she returned the soft but passionate kiss, and then nodded in agreement as he mentioned the night being nice. "it's a beautiful night, that's for sure... even better being naked with someone as good-looking as me." she turned and winked at him, but otherwise relaxed as he rubbed and caressed her hips and chest. her breasts were also naturally sensitive, which in turn made it feel rather sensational for her, which in turn kept her nice and relaxed. Aurum's brilliant green eyes softly closed, and while she wasn't asleep, she was now very relaxed, sighing softly as she felt Valour's hands roam across her beautiful bare skin.

as time wore on the noises began to fade, and the breeze of the Capitol evening teased against Aurum's silky skin. however, her feet were still snug in the shoes, and Valour's strong but smooth hands were doing a spectacular job at keeping her thighs and chest warm. She was glad that the parade and the Hunger Games were shown in the summer. If it was in the winter (while beautiful in its own respect, especially seeing the mountains white with snow), the stylists would have a lot harder time letting their tributes show off so much skin. No one was bound to look too appealing if they were shivering in the cold. Besides, her and Valour's little excursion on the balcony would be much harder if the chill air was nipping so fiercely at their sensitive, exposed skin.

One of the intimate things about him kneading her breasts was that it was that much easier to feel her breaths and heartbeats with his hand instead of just with his chest (since her back was to his chest after all). She gazed over at him, slightly exhaustedly, having had probably one of the best days of her life today. His smile made hers widen, and her eyes closed again as she relaxed. She could feel Valour's slowing heartbeat, which in a situation like this just meant he was shutting down a bit just like she was--just a simple dozing off leading to a rather pleasant little slumber. And thus, Aurum Zianja fell asleep in Valour's lap, with both of them still pretty much completely naked.

[Nachthexe]

As short lived as it was inevitably to be, Valour did definitely enjoy his time spend with Aurum. Perhaps it was nothing more than simple lust between two teenagers, but it gave him something to look forward to if he was to spend the remainder of his days with this girl. Certainly not even she had overlooked the fact that at least one of them was not emerging from that arena alive. This seemed to be a fact that both briefly weren't bothered by, however. Besides, there was that chance one of them would die by the other's hand and that fate didn't seem to bad to Valour. At least he would be going while representing his district and strength. At this very moment though it was still hard to imagine either of them as vicious killers while being so subdued by each other, simply purring softly as they stroked each other's nude bodies.

Unsurprisingly, both Valour and Aurum seemed to be so comfortable they didn't bother moving inside once even the activity below in the Capitol streets began dying down. Soon enough it was simply just them surrounded by relative silence, making dozing off quite easy. This soon had them both in a deep sleep, only awaking Valour early the next morning once the sun began beating down on his face. "Oh shit... The balcony. The balcony? I fell asleep out here?" A very groggy Valour uttered surprised as he glanced around him. There was definitely daylight and Aurum was still firmly on top of him. The two had unmistakably dozed off while cuddling, although Valour certainly wasn't complaining. If anything, it managed to make for quite a pleasurable night, although he suddenly wondered about the others? Would they come looking for them? Fortunately that seemed unlikely as it seemed to still be quite early. Noting that, this simply had the boy slipping himself out from under Aurum who appeared to still be asleep, gathering up his clothing, and sneaking his way back inside to his room.

Much to Valour's relief it didn't appear as if anybody else was up yet, although he did notice one of the Capitol's many Avoxes making a stop in both the tributes' rooms to drop off what seemed to be training uniforms. The fact that he was still naked managed to get him a few stares from the Avox woman, although he didn't blush or anything. He was sure that the Capitol's mute servants had seen much worse, after all. If anything, he was taking the woman's glances at his body as a compliment. This brief moment of flattery and ego-stroking was only short-lived though as the boy collapsed back down into his bed and felt back asleep almost instantly.

It was only after what seemed like several hours later that Valour was awakened once again, this time by an excited Rumano. "Uppidy up! It's trrrrrraining day!" The man bellowed excitedly as he attempted to shake the boy awake. He was still very much in the nude, but surely by this point Rumano would just simply assume that was who he slept. The Capitol especially didn't seem too bothered by nudity anyway. Certainly enough so that Valour simply got up in front of him and made his way to the shower. Ordinarily, they were often difficult for tributes from the outlying districts to operate, but unsurprisingly Valour knew what he was doing, enabling him to have a rather neat and uneventful shower experience before re-emerging fully dressed in his training uniform.

"Even in this I'm definitely one of the best looking tributes out there." Valour announced as he took a seat alongside the two mentors. They noticed the boy's words and simply chuckled. They did enjoy the boy's enthusiasm and were admittedly eager to see how he would fare in the tribute interviews for that exact reason. Aurum too seemed to have them intrigued as well due to her very similar attitude towards the games and everything else.

[Zulera301]

A few times, the idea that they would have to kill each other passed over Aurum's mind, but she made sure those thoughts were fleeting and thus did not interrupt her from the beautiful moment. If it came to that, it was just business. Death by her own district partner at the end of a well-fought battle would definitely mean she'd be remembered. Besides, how could anyone forget such a beautiful girl--or a beautiful boy, of Valour was the one to die instead. She didn't really even contemplate the idea of anyone else winning anyways. It was going to be District 1.

It was unclear what time it was when Valour woke up, but it was early, and he still had a beautiful, sleeping naked woman in his lap, who wore nothing but shoes and an adorable and serene smile on her pretty face. Even as Valour wriggled his way out from underneath Aurum, the girl stayed asleep for a moment longer, resting peacefully on the floor, although she did curl up a bit, for her body seemed to notice the loss of heat on her hips, thighs, and back. Shortly after Valour left, she began shivering, which in turn caused her to wake up, yawning and stretching. Adjusting her eyes took a few moments, but then she took in where she was. Valour was gone and so were his clothes, while hers were still there. Yes, she understood the logic here--he didn't want others to catch them out here, or something like that. She wasn't offended, and instead, gathered up her clothes to go inside. As pretty as they were, she wasn't going to put them on. She felt too comfortable in the nude at the moment. She knew that the Capitol didn't start their days too early, and she didn't mind it. With the kind of celebrations she had heard last night (and experienced herself), it was an even trade-off. She was just going to flop back into her bed anyways when the time came.

She was only a few moments behind Valour, so she giggled softly as she watched his hips sway a little (everyone's hips swayed at least a little when they walked, male or female. it was completely natural) before he turned to the left to enter his room. She turned to the right to reach hers, and chuckled at seeing an Avox laying out clothes for her--based on the number 1 that appeared on the arms near the shoulders, she was pretty sure that these black clothes with the single blue stripe along the sides were just their training uniforms that she would be putting on in a few hours.

In the meantime, she checked herself out in the mirror just as she said she wanted to. Striking a pose, she came to one simple conclusion--she looked really good naked. Not that she ever had a doubt, but her ego always liked the stroking, just as the girl loved a good caress of her scalp. She closed her eyes for a moment, ebfore catching herself. She had almost nodded off. Deciding that it would be ebst to get some proper sleep, Aurum flopped onto her stomach and pretty much fell asleep instantly, anklets, makeup, heels, and all. Besides. it wasn't the first time she slept in the buff. Just that usually she'd cover up.

And thus, Rumano got a spectacular view of Aurum that morning, though he was just in to wake her up. Aurum stiired, stretching and getting up, only now finally kicking off the heels and undoing the anklets around her ankles. She got up and checked herself out in the mirror to remove the jewels from her hair, and then headed for the chemical shower to clean herself up. She was familiar with these devices, as they were one of the only effective ways to get that powerful Capitol makeup off of her face. She had enjoyed the look, personally.

Being somewhat vain the way she was, she checked herself out naked after drying off, before dressing in the full uniform. the fact that it had long sleeves this year just made her chuckle. "anything mroe than this," she told herself, "and the others would be fawning all over District 1." it gave her a nice giggle, but soon, she strode out to join the others. Unsurprisingly, Valour was already there, but she just attributed it to boys taking less time to get ready than girls. No big deal.
"I've never been disappointed with a uniform," she commented as she sat down to get some breakfast, "be it the training ones or the arena getups. It just goes to show that the Capitol has got style even when they're making us all dress the same." She didn't mind that 23 other kids would be dressed just like her. That just meant she knew she would be the one that made it look the best.
She turned to Valour, swallowing some food before speaking. "you ready to blow everyone away after this?" she grinned. Maybe it was ego by day and cuteness by night, bit either way, Aurum was back in full ego-mode once again.

[Nachthexe]

Valour only managed to get a quick glance at Aurum as she made her way inside, although her giggling caught his attention enough for him to smile before before retiring to his room entirely. This had him going to sleep on a happy note and looking forward to seeing more of the girl once he awoke. Soon they would be in training together, able to show off their skills to all the others. That was certainly something for him to be excited for and certainly he was hoping it would even be cause to intimidate the others. An intimidated opponent seemed to be more vulnerable, after all. That was a tactic Valour certainly wasn't going to overlook once in the arena.

"Hey beautiful. You made it." Valour announced once Aurum took a seat at the table with the others. They all seemed rather eager to get on with the day, particularly Rumano. The Hunger Games was seen as pure entertainment to the Capitol, after all, a stance that Valour could certainly understand having watched the past ones. Surprisingly, the Capitol even managed to keep their tributes rather stylist while in training too. At least that was the impression Valour got once he saw both himself and Aurum in uniform. The girl definitely saw it too. "Uniforms done right." He commented as he glanced at Aurum's uniform, although in reality it was more so an excuse to glance at her once again. She was clothed this time, but somehow it seemed to have a similar effect now that he knew what the girl looked like underneath all her clothing. This was only short-lived though as the boy proceeded to fill up a plate of food. He knew he would need plenty of breakfast, about to go down to the training centre.

"I feel like I don't need to give either of you two much advice, but I never have to with anybody. I will say this though: you two are surely powerful enough that you can show all your strength. Make the others aware that District 1 is a force to be reckoned with." Price advised between bites of his own food. Valour simply nodded as it had been his original plan from the beginning. It was funny really how nearly everybody from District 1 seemed to have the same mindset previous to entering the arena. "Oh, and if you find anybody else worthy to join the career pack don't overlook them. Allies can sometimes be the difference between life and death." Price continued as he proceeded to finish up his breakfast. It was a surprisingly quick meal, but like everybody else Valour found himself growing quite eager as well. Training was the first real opportunity to show off his skills, something the conceited boy was not about to pass up.

"Let's get this show started. What do you say, Aurum?" Valour finally turned towards his district partner after breakfast as he got up to make his way to the elevator. Being the closest to the training centre, he knew District 1 tributes always had the shortest ride down. That was something the boy definitely didn't mind as it meant beginning the day's session sooner. That definitely wasn't an understatement either as upon arrival he found himself being one of the first to arrive; so far only the District 2 pair and District 4 pair were present. Judging by the way they were wielding their weapons, they definitely seemed promising too. The blonde boy unsurprisingly seemed to be a master with tridents while the red headed girl was effortlessly launching spears towards the training centres various dummies. This even had the District 2 pair watching with intent as Valour approached them.

"These two are good. We've been watching them for awhile. We may just have to let them in this year." Nolan, the boy of the District 2 pair announced to Valour as he approached the boy's side. This managed to capture Valour's attention quite quickly. District 4 as part of the career pack? It wasn't an uncommon proposal during the games, but he knew District 4 tended to be a very mixed bag as far as tributes went. He definitely knew for sure that neither of these two were volunteers though so it was definitely a matter of whether they could even be trusted. Normally that sort of thing didn't turn out to be an issue in the case of backstabbers, but the more Valour observed this pair the more he felt they could potentially hold their own fairly well.

"They definitely have potential, but I suggest we watch them closely during this next week. Neither of them are volunteers, you know. I watched the Reaping footage on the train so I know." Valour responded as he once again turned his attention to the District 4 duo. He could tell that both Nolan and Alana were understanding of his proposal by the way they nodded their heads. This little show seemed to last for several moments until each of the tributes proceeded to begin training sessions of their own. Valour found himself rather surprised to discover that both District 2 tributes this year seemed to be melee fighters; Nolan quite effortlessly wielded swords while Alana went for the heavier weapons. This put off a lightbulb in his head that he was destined to be the scout for the pack due to his ranged skills, but he didn't seem to mind.

[Zulera301]

In response to his smile, she gave a wink. her hips swayed as she walked, but that just seemed to be something that happened anyways, regardless of who was watching. She did accentuate it a bit when she knew she had eyes on her posterior though. Aurum enjoyed being a tease, just as she enjoyed attention. She wasn't too upset that their night had come to an end though. They could repeat it tonight again if they really wanted to, only with the training uniforms instead of the fancy glitzy parade costumes. Either way, Aurum wouldn't mind. She might have enjoyed showing skin, but there was something alluring about dressing modestly that could look attractive if she pulled it off (no pun intended) right. Considering that this was Aurum, she knew the secrets.

Giggling cutely and flipping her golden curls behind her, she nodded. "well of course I would. I couldn't just sleep through training..." she stretched her arms over her head, particularly as Valour gazed her way. They might not have been skintight or form-fitting, but they were fairly snug, and so showed the body shape of the tribute wearing them fairly nicely. the Capitol did seem to have every boy and girl's sizes and measurements down to a T. No surprise there though--the Capitol knew everything. She did not discuss this further, simply out of a desire to eat now and chat later. Performance would be better on a full stomach, and the Capitol food was delicious.

Aurum nodded as she listened to Price. It made sense that they, the careers, would be able to flaunt their skills without fear of someone trying to take advantage of that. Miriam might have made a comment about watching the other tributes to see if any of them spend a particular amount of time watching them, but she was conspicuously absent. Well... was. Before Aurum could ask, Miriam staggered out of her room, still in her nightclothes (which were substantial; thankfully she did not sleep in the buff), a flask in her hand.
"Mornin'," she belched, plopping down unceremoniously in her seat and laying her head in her arms. Aurum simply laughed.
"someone partied hard last night," Aurum giggled, but then focused on the more sober of the two mentors. She poked Miriam once, and the woman didn't even budge. "So training..." she smiled at Price, "watch the others... keep an eye out for promising recruits. Got it." recruits. That was all the others were, really. District 1 would be leading the pack this year.

"you know me." she beamed at Valour's suggestion, "I'm always up for a good show." this was definitely true if the events last night were any indicator, but this time, she would not be showing off her beautiful body, but instead would be showing off her athleticism, strength, and skills, of which she had many. Any respectable career tribute did though, so it wasn't like Aurum Zianja was overly skilled or anything.
Even with them heading down to the training center as early as they did, there were still two pairs of tributes who had beaten them to it--District 2 and District 4, neither of which surprised Aurum too much. It was nice to get some practice in like that.

Apparently District 4 was pretty hot this year, if even District 2 in all of its proudness was going to compliment them. "we'll definitely have to consider it," Aurum nodded, although she leaned over to Valour and muttered, "we definitely need to off 'em first.", referring to District 4. They had not been volunteers, and had similar not shown the same enthusiasm for Snow and the Capitol that Districts 1 and 2 did, which meant that they might have been on a different wavelength. Well, that and she was still wary about bringing in another potential Keshet. The girl hadn't really been much more remarkable than an average career tribute, and would probably be forgotten in the throngs of powerful tributes who were just that--simply powerful--within a decade or so. Well, unless they remembered her for being ugly before the Capitol fixed her up. Aurum mentally shrugged at the notion, deciding to focus more on the here and now.

Aurum nodded towards the District 2 pair as Valour spoke up. "that's what I was thinking. We don't want some outsiders sowing discord in the career pack so early like what happened last year." Surely District 2 had not forgotten the embarrassment of it either, and were sure not to repeat it. After that, they went to training on their own. Aurum's weapons of choice were blades, although she didn't mind using daggers, handaxes or even clubs--it seemed that as long as she had something in both hands, she was good to go. She was definitely a melee fighter, although was more the rougeish type rather than the hard-hitting bruisers like Alana was this year, or like Lyndis and Smash were the year before.

After a while, the other tributes started pouring in, with none of them really standing out except for that red-headed kid given that his fiery hair, when contrasted against the blacks and silvers of both the uniforms and the floor and walls of the training center, did stand out a bit. It would not be so prominent in the arena, chances were. The boy didn't do anything interesting though, and so Aurum returned her focus to her swordplay, and noticed at one point that that tiny little District 12 girl was watching her with half of her face painted brown, and a ball of twine in her hands. She giggled, flipping her hair as the girls made eye contact, but the smaller girl simply smiled, waved, and skipped away as if she was blissfully oblivious to where she was.
District 3 was over building some contraptions of their own, and one of them was holding a peculiar mechanical crossbow that looked slightly out of place, but not terribly so. It had been there when Aurum and Valour first arrived though, so she could take solace in knowing those kids hadn't just built it in the last 15 minutes.

Overall though, most of her focus went either to Valour, Nolan, or Alana, or of course, that District 4 pair. It was too early to make decisions now, but training had just barely begun.

[Nachthexe]

A good show? If a good show was what the Capitol wanted then Valour definitely intended to give it to them. Fortunately, Aurum seemed up to it as well, but Valour knew right from the beginning she was bound to be regardless. Careers always volunteered with full intent to play the Capitol's game. At least that was the mentality they were taught from a young age. It definitely showed in the two tributes too as they finally began making their way down to the training centre. The boy knew it was beneath the apartment building itself in what seemed to be a series of different corridors. Most were currently blocked off by Peacekeepers, however, perhaps hinting they weren't for tribute eyes. Not yet anyway as Valour knew at least one of them was bound to lead to the underground docking station that contained the hovercraft that would eventually ship him and all 23 others off to the arena. It was definitely surprising some of the things children were taught in the academies back home.

Valour definitely agreed with Aurum. If there was somebody who needed to be offed first it was definitely the District 4 pair, certainly if they ended up joining the career pack. After the incident the previous year there were definite risks in allowing any others in at all, but Nolan and Alana seemed insistent. "I agree, but in the early stages of the games they have potential to be useful. We could always go the route of little Alice DeSiete and off them in their sleep or something." Valour responded to Aurum, smirking. He knew that almost immediately Aurum would understand the reference too. It wasn't a huge mystery that the boy had won through some rather cheap shots of his own, after all. That was particularly true, considering who he had been up against. Still, even if both he and Aurum somehow ended up having to face the District 4 pair he knew they could take them down. They were obviously the strongest tributes this year, after all. At least Valour liked to believe so, but he was confident of it.

Luckily, it seemed both the District 2 tributes and Aurum all agreed to watch the District 4 pair closely over the next few days. It was then Valour knew they would be able to make a sound decision about them. Oddly enough, the District 4 pair themselves didn't seem to have strong feelings about the whole thing either way. Unless they were not yet aware? The latter seemed the most likely option as both Marina and Nemo seemed to just be absorbed in their own training. Many of the others who had begun arriving definitely were as well. As expected, most didn't seem to be particularly spectacular, although the District 9 boy, of all people, definitely showed some potential. He was fast. Very fast. It definitely showed as he swung his pair of sickles at the dummies, quickly severing them in half before they even had time to reform themselves again. It was definitely fascinating Capitol technology nonetheless, being able to produce self-repairing dummies. "Look at that, Aurum. District 9 can fight this year." Valour uttered over to Aurum, letting out a chuckle as he pointed out the boy whose name he recalled as Farro.

Despite the show that everybody else seemed to be putting on, Valour decided it was his turn to try his hand at some of the training centre's weaponry. He knew he didn't need much practice, but it was definitely bound to be an opportunity to show off. Realizing this, he almost immediately made his way over to the bow station which at the moment was vacant. He then loaded up a bow and prepared to take the shot. This had him quite impressed with himself as even on his first try he had managed to land it in such a way that was bound to be fatal to a human target. Luck perhaps? In order to counter that he took a second shot. It was slightly off centre, but still managed to hit its target. A crippling injury for sure if it had hit a human target. This had the boy smirking before turning towards the others. By this point some of the other tributes were already watching with great intent, including a young dark-skinned girl from District 6. She seemed to be quite out of it, although she did manage to give a single thumbs up, something that Valour nodded at. "And that is how archery is done, kids." He simply uttered before returning to it, having plenty of similar success.

[Zulera301]

not only was Aurum going to give the Capitol a good show, but she could definitely give Valour a 'good show' after all was said and done and they were relaxing for the night. Theoretically, they could go back to their apartment whenever they wanted, which was right up there with the unwritten rule that theoretically mentioned that training itself was optional. However, there was not much else to do apart from watch previous clips of the 'games or entertain themselves however tributes chose to, and training was fairly practical for anyone, given that 23 of them would be dead within a few weeks. Besides, Aurum wanted to show off her skills now so that the others would know to fear or respect her.

Aurum nodded, chuckling. "that kid might have been a little shit, but you can't argue with his results." Of course, she only said that because she was not above underhanded or dirty tactics herself; just that she was more a melee dirty-fighter rather than a ranged one the way Alice had been. "but yeah. I'm not afraid of taking a leaf out of his book if it's to off District 4. Imagine if it's a water arena or something." she had no idea what the future held, but since the subject was on District 4, that was what had brought it up. if District 7 had looked threatening this year, she might have cited something about how she hoped it wasn't a woodland--or how she'd pray for it not to be a mountainous landscape if District 2 appeared unfriendly. But... any of these things would just be a challenge, rather than an actual threat. She was confident that they could take District 4 down--even District 2 when that time came.

While the four careers agreed to watch the District 4 pair, they mostly did so with occasional glances, which was something that Districts 3 and 8 both appeared to be doing from a distance. That red-headed boy was talking to the boy with a 3 on his shoulders about something over near an obstacle course, and their female partners were both nearby. Aurum didn't think much about that though--a District 3/8 alliance could be deadly if the tributes looked promising, but none of them really did this year. Or maybe that was just Aurum's ego speaking--not that she'd ever admit that.

Aurum continued to observe the other tributes and couldn't help but notice that District 9 had some fighting spirit. The boy was fast, and the girl seemed fairly strong, weilging a pair of hammers similar to how the powerful District 11 girl had last year. This girl was not nearly as large or muscular, but she did seem to have a pretty good swinging arm. Perhaps District 9's grain harvesting was not all useless when they got a pair of kids who were sober.
"so they die on day 5 instead of day 1. they're still not gonna win this thing or anything." Aurum winked at Valour, but reminded herself that they were a potential threat. Jessica had been the girl's name, and she was sparring with that girl from '11, who was definitely keeping up. District 11 either was on a streak of producing awesome tributes just like District 12 sort of was, or maybe their mentor was as legendary as the stories claimed.

Glancing around some more, Aurum noticed that the cute little District 12 girl was climbing one of the nets towards the ceiling, equipped otherwise with just a rope. the small girl did seem to be watching them, but Aurum simply smiled and waved. If she had a little fangirl already, she wasn't complaining.
While Valour went for the bows, Aurum went for the daggers, initiating combat against the regenerating dummies, slashing and stabbing them in would-be lethal points, as if to 1-up that District 9 boy (although they were in different areas). She did gain various audience members over the next several minutes, as they came and went, but she was overall satisfied. They would be stealing this show for sure.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Touche. He may have been onto something." He responded. Certainly he wasn't particularly fond of the previous year's victor, but he knew the kid had definitely been onto something when resorting to cheap tactics. He wasn't one to favour fighting dirty, although as a last resort he wasn't willing to overlook it. Aurum seemed to be much the same way, although he doubted that if it came down to just them two that neither of them would fight dirty in that final fight. No, it would be a match of pure skill. That was certainly what it deserved to be if the two strongest tributes were left standing alone. He did suddenly realize Aurum had a point though. The District 4 pair. If they were not allies they definitely had potential to be a possible threat, especially if the tributes got thrown into a water arena of some sort. In that case there would be almost no choice but to fight dirty against them. Even Valour could admit his own shortcomings there.

Upon further examining the other tributes Valour could already notice potential alliances forming. At least between the District 3 boy and District 8 boy. With the way they were talking to each other Valour could definitely tell they were up to something. The tributes themselves didn't appear to be particularly powerful, but the developing alliance was something he intended to keep his eye on during the week. Equally as interesting, however, was the District 5 boy. Like the District 3 pair had been earlier, he was over building a contraption of some sort. He definitely had potential here, but Valour was unsure about the arena as resources were always much more limited. However, underestimating any of the technologically adept tributes suddenly seemed like a bad idea, considering the 45th games. The two District 3 tributes from that year's games were probably going to be remembered all across Panem for awhile due to their lightning machines alone. It had certainly made them dangerous too if Glimmer and Dezna were anything to go by. That was not a fate Valour wanted to face.

Valour tried to continue his own training, but the District 9 pair managed to hold his attention for quite awhile. Aurum at least seemed partially mesmerized by them too. "Like District 10 last year, they might actually get some attention this year. Nothing we can't handle though." Valour responded to Aurum as she winked. He suddenly got excited about the whole proposal. Suddenly there seemed to be something satisfying about killing the District 9 pair, even if just to prevent them from taking the spotlight. As one of the weaker districts them taking the spotlight would certainly mean overshadowing others due to the rarity of their performance. That had certainly been the case in the 44th games where Rye and Sagittaria had gotten much of the attention due to being two spectacular tributes from an otherwise unspectacular district. Still, Valour was convinced nothing could stop him at this point, not even a couple of District 9 kids who happened to get lucky.

Once Valour saw Aurum in action for the first time since leaving District 1 he couldn't help but to be impressed yet again. Just as he was, she was also good at what she did. It really showed too. The District 12 girl definitely seemed to be taking interest in it as well. Perhaps she was jealous of the older girl, being from one of the weakest districts in Panem? It was one theory, although these days most people were careful not to judge District 12 too harshly due to the presence of the mighty Kyla just years earlier. She was a tribute that even the egotistical and conceited Valour could respect, even if just for her extreme determination. The tiny girl's final kill especially showed it. That was something the boy knew would likely be difficult for any tribute to match. District 12 was resilient. Almost too resilient. Thankfully, this year's female District 12 tribute didn't seem to be another Kyla. That was a promising sign. At least for Valour as he proceeded to continue his own training. He was displaying yet more fairly flawless shots at the target, once again showing off his top-notch archery skills.

[Zulera301]

Aurum laughed. "you do what you have to, to win..." she pointed out, warning that she wouldn't be above dirty fighting. "well... unless it comes down to us." it seemed they had a similar "honor-bound" mindset in such a situation. Granted, Aurum might consider resorting to dirty tactics if she was losing too badly, but she didn't expect to be losing too badly, or even really losing at all. Valour was a worthy opponent, and frankly, she could even settle with losing against Nolan and Alana, although they were definitely a 2nd-fiddle type of motion for death, if Aurum even wished to think about the idea of her death.

The tributes from District 3 and District 8 crouched down and behaved more subtly when they saw the eyes of the careers on them. Obviously they were a bit wary of these powerful tributes that would surely be the highest scorers. Even they were observant enough to know that there were no oddities this year: no Valendria from District 4; no Lyndis from District 10... no Rye or Sagittaria from District 11... not even a Kyla from District 12 (who, many people claimed would have scored an 11 or 12 [or something high like that] if she had not held back.). Nope, this year it was just more Flint DiFronzos and Blaze DiFronzos--a bunch of arrogant, high-scoring assholes from the career districts. Joy of joys. The District 3 boy pointed up towards the ceiling a moment, but otherwise he and the redhead from District 8 went back to constructing something.

Aurum nodded with a chuckle. "well... they have at least one victor... so that should say something. But, we can probably off them. Put enough pressure on a tribute, and they'll get iced in the bloodbath too. Remember Grant, Valendria's partner?" District 4 had not really been a career district that year, but Grant had scored a 9, and had died in the bloodbath, by the hands of one of the District 2 kids, no less. Frankly, Aurum was not above the notion of doing that to this year's District 4 pair. Really, they were the only non-career tributes that seemed to be a threat of any kind, except for maybe District 9, the mother of all ironies.

Aurum mostly noticed the little District 12 girl when she had glanced over at Aurum to watch him shoot bullseyes with his bow. He did seem faster than Alice, although since both of them always hit their mark, it was hard to tell who was more accurate. Aurum was sure that Valour would win an archery shootout with the boy though because of his speed that he had over Alice--not just because of her bias. This little girl did not seem like one of those "reasons" to not look down on District 12. Hazel had been a surprise, and Isi last year had been clever, but neither of them compared to little Kyla. This little girl, Lynx... did not seem to stack up either. Even District 11 did not seem too outstanding this year despite their clever and strong tributes from last year that had evaded attention for most of the games.

However, speaking of attention, Aurum's eyes widened as she watched a rope land around a target dummy's head, coming from the ceiling before tightening right around the neck. A second later as the golden-haired girl glanced up to see where it had come from, she saw little Lynx with a piece of rope around her arms, riding down the rope like a zipline, giggling. She landed, rolling head over heels a few times before landing on her feet, spreading her arms out triumphantly. Even Aurum couldn't help but chuckle. If nothing else, the kid's childish antics were cute, even if she knew the small girl was going to die, most likely in the opening seconds. A second later, she untied the rope from the dummy's 'neck', and began taking it with her as she climbed back up her rope like a ladder, back towards the ceiling. Aurum's eyes followed the rope and saw that it was tied securely around one of the supports that was holding up the ceiling-net.

"well I'll be... clever little thing." Aurum giggled, before drawing her swords and going to town on the same dummy that Lynx had just lassoed, grinning over at Valour, who was still sticking his targets with skillful accuracy.

[Nachthexe]

Valour simply shrugged. What if it did come down to just him and Aurum? He was growing to like the girl and was feeling slightly disappointed she would have to die, possibly by his own hand, but business was business. District 1 needed their victor and both of them were determined to make it happen, even if it meant killing their own partner. Perhaps that was just another way District 1 differed from most other districts. They didn't seem to have any qualms with killing their own district partner if it came to that. The others, however? Rye and Sagittaria of the 44th games alone proved that most of the others had great difficulty in carrying out such actions. Due to that, they had even managed to hold everybody on the edge of their seats for several minutes before Sagittaria did the coin toss and subsequently sent the arrow flying through Rye's head. Valour knew that if he was forced to face Aurum he would do so with honour in an actual fight and just hoped the girl who seemed to like fighting dirty would do the same.

"Look at that, Aurum. Maybe they're scared of us. As they should be." Valour uttered to his district partner once he noticed the change of attitude in both the District 3 and District 8 tributes as they began glancing over at them. It seemed quite obvious none of them wanted to be targeted by the career pack, but Valour cared little about holding any sort of grudges at this point. He simply intended to do what had to be done in order to produce a District 1 victor and that included killing anybody he could get his hands on. In his eyes it didn't even seem like a particularly difficult either, considering who he was up against. The District 4 pair were bound to be possibly the largest challenge, but nothing he and Aurum couldn't handle.

District 9. Would they actually be a formidable opponent this year or were they simply all show? Of course Valour didn't overlook the latter, considering one of the higher scoring tributes in the 45th games, Grant of District 4, had managed to perish in the bloodbath. Up until that point anything was bound to happen and Valour knew it very well. He wasn't quick to overlook the stories of games in the past where at least one career tribute had managed to be killed in the opening minutes. It was extremely rare, but occasionally there would be a flop. The outlying districts producing powerful tributes certainly made those sorts of incidents more likely as well so he knew to keep a close watch on the District 9 pair, as he knew Districts 1 and 2 were usually some of the first districts targeted during the games. Valour didn't particularly mind this though as it just simply confirmed that people actually saw his district as a threat.

Soon all focus on District 9 was lost, however, once the District 12 girl made quite the appearance by ziplining down one of the training centre's climbing ropes. She seemed to be having fun, although Valour found it hard to take her seriously due to the fact they were situated in a training room rather than a playground. Aurum seemed to had taken a similar approach to the little District 12 girl who was no doubt this year's youngest tribute; entertaining, but definitely not a threat. Even thirteen year old Cara of District 6 seemed to have more potential, at least from what Valour had seen. The girl could definitely build and it was certainly showing in how she seemed to had attracted the attention of the District 5 boy in particular. Like the others though, he also didn't seem like a major threat. "Aurum, if these are the tributes we're up against it seems we have our work cut out for us. We could end this within a few days." Valour commented to his district partner, chuckling. He definitely had high hopes for both himself and her.

Valour's high hopes for both himself and Aurum were only further confirmed as they both continued their own training. Aurum seemed to have pretty firm control over her swords, particularly while duel-wielding, a skill the District 9 boy definitely shared, but with sickles instead. However, despite the District 9 boy's speed, Valour knew Aurum had experience and strength on her side if they two ever had to face off against each other. Valour definitely seemed to have some speed himself as even his quicker shots still managed to be fairly accurate. That had perhaps been one of Alice DeSiete's shortcomings the year before as Valour hadn't been slow to notice how before each shot the boy had taken significantly longer to get his aim correct. Of course, somehow it had managed to pay off as each of his shots had been fatal, but Valour knew he could do much the same in a less amount of time. It certainly showed as he continued hitting each of the targets, even getting perfect bullseyes on some of the more timed shots.

[Zulera301]

Just because the career tributes had no qualms with turning on each other when the time came did not mean that they were not also friends. Sure many of them (usually District 2) operated on a more professional-only basis, but that didn't mean that they weren't friends. In the outlying districts, where killing one's partner was generally a very heartbreaking thing to do, it was clear that the relationship was far from just professional. Aurum liked Valour, but she would not be above killing him if it meant she could return home to fame and glory.
On the other hand, the words of Lyndis, that crazy bitch from District 10, rang out to her. Would she be remembered? Was it enough to just be a notoriously beautiful tribute, much like Glimmer DeLosSantos two years before, or was there more to it than just being a good fighter and being pretty? If she died, would she just be another Keshet or Zakura, or would she be a memorable fallen tribute, akin to Kyla, Rye, Valendria, Dezna, Lyndis, Paige, Leon, or Hazel?

Aurum laughed. "good to see things are back to normal then," she quipped, "I was almost worried that the others were getting too brave for their britches, or whatever that old saying is. Oh well. maybe they can take a bit of comfort in knowing that no one's getting singled out. I kill everybody equally." she chuckled, and while arrogant this statement was, it was fairly true. Unlike Flint or Blaze, Aurum had no particular targets this year. Maybe District 4 would become one later in the games, but certainly not before the games. Poor little Leon and Daisy had been singled out by Blaze as early as the training.

If District 9 actually produced a victor this year... well, there would go any legacy Aurum wished to have except perhaps an embarrassing one. She'd probably take a victory from '12 over '9 or '10. A few years ago she might have also said that '11 was just as big a joke, but they quickly reversed that trend, and had been faring quite well in recent years since Sagittaria. Thus, Districts 1 and 2 were targetted fairly frequently, but that usually just helped perpetuate the bloodbath. The other tributes wanted the largest threats removed first, but that usually backfired, given that most career tributes scored several kills in the opening minutes.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Lynx's little stunt (that Aurum noticed anyways) was that she had thrown the rope so well over the dummy's neck. If she had lassoed a real tribute that way and then slid down with her weight like that (even if the kid couldn't have weighed more than 80 pounds or so), it would do a hell of a number on the victim's neck. Surely that had been just luck though. Was this kid just lucky?
Perhaps more importantly, did she even realize where she was? Lynx certainly had a chipper attitude for someone who was almost certainly going to die. Only two tributes had ever won the games under the age of 15 (being, perhaps unsurprisingly, 14 then), and one of them had been a really cunning boy who outsmarted his competition, while the other had been a vicious little fighter with a healthy cross of strong and smarts (and unsurprisingly had been from District 2). A 12-year-old from Panem's most impoverished district was certainly not going to go far; poor thing. Still... Aurum couldn't help but admire her attitude. Lynx had collected the rope and climbed back down from the rafters. So... she was good at climbing. If they were in a rocky or cliff-y arena, she might do decently.

Aurum chuckled. "they should just make the arena be one big meadow. We could finish the games in like 45 minutes and be back for supper." she joked, knowing that even then, one of them would still have to die. Well, and that the Capitol wouldn't ever let the games end so quickly, so she knew her fantasies were not bound to become reality any time soon. Still... surely the outer districts had silly hopes and dreams, and so Aurum could too (even if her mind, thinking about fantasies, briefly drifted to imagining Valour peeling this uniform off of her).

Speed and strength. That was what a lot of the other tributes were noticing about District 1 this year, which meant that surely they'd mention it to their mentors, who would warn them that they were a threat. Well, they were definitely a threat. It was not like either of them were going to go down before becoming murderers. No, with her as a melee fighter and him as a ranged attacker, they had both fronts pretty well-covered. After her observations of some of the other tributes, she went back to her sword-swinging at full focus. She'd probably be here till at least lunch, depending on what else Valour wanted to do after that.

[Nachthexe]

"Maybe the other districts are finally realizing again that we dominate this game." Valour responded to Aurum, putting on a smirk. By "we" he of course meant both Districts 1 and 2, but that was pretty much a given for anybody who paid remotely any attention to the games. Both Districts 1 and 2 had the largest pool of victors, after all. Nobody was certainly quick to forget the fact that District 12 currently had one living victor in comparison. Perhaps to some it was even surprising, considering District 12's presence of strong tributes in recent years. This year definitely seemed to be an exception though as twelve year old tributes almost never made it far into the games.

Valour would have thought the twelve year old District 12 girl useless with weaponry, but she seemed to have one skill at least. Climbing. Depending on the sort of terrain they were thrown into that was possibly of some use, but Valour wasn't foolish to think that an ability to climb could kill anybody. If anything, it would enable her to escape any fights quickly, but Valour knew that with his bow he could still fairly effortlessly take somebody like her down. "So climbing. It might be useful for that girl in some environments, but we are still winning this." He remarked to Aurum who also seemed to still be watching the young girl. He even shared much of Aurum's sentiment that they could end the games quickly, although he knew it was something the Gamemakers would never allow. They wanted a show and due to that alone the games would have to drag on for awhile. Valour didn't seem to mind though as it would certainly mean more time with Aurum before having to kill her.

As expected, Valour and Aurum seemed to be an excellent balance of skills. That was bound to have most of the other tributes fearing them and already with some it seemed to show. To Valour, that was a sure sign of what was to come. Considering the importance of controlling the Cornucopia, he even began considering the fact that right in the opening minutes most surviving tributes would be fleeing while leaving the Cornucopia open for the career pack to take full control of. That would only mean good things for the career pack as those who took control of it almost always seemed to have a superior edge over the others. Not only due to the abundance of supplies, but due to having a head start in case of any attacks. It's where the Gamemakers always led tributes back to, after all. It definitely showed year after year as well. Even if it was still very early into training it was a strategy the boy was definitely going to keep in mind.

The rest of the morning managed to waste away quite quickly between Valour examining the other tributes and showing off his skills. Even if their joining the alliance was not set in stone yet, both of the District 4 tributes seemed rather impressed by the competence he was showing with the bow. With the way she was wielding her weapons the girl half seemed to be more of a ranged fighter, powerfully launching small spears towards her targets. This had Valour hoping the District 4 pair would join the alliance, even if just to keep himself from not being the only ranged fighter. However, much different thoughts were beginning to cloud Valour's mind. Lunch. It was definitely quickly approaching and he was feeling famished. Noting this, he walked over to Aurum and gave her the cue that perhaps they should both go to lunch.

[Zulera301]

"well... one look at the victor's record should be enough evidence of that." Aurum giggled, referencing how most of the outer districts after (but not including) District 8 only had 1 or 2 victors, while Districts 1 and 2 already had about 6 or 7 each. An exception to this was District 11, which had produced its 4th victor only a few years ago. Perhaps they were a few steps ahead of their outlying brethren, although no one could deny that District 12 was also on the rise in recent years. It was not something to worry about just yet, but definitely something to think about if one of them was going to be mentoring tributes starting next year. Little did they realize it, but arrogance could very well be District 1's downfall one year or another. Time would tell.

Aurum chuckled. "well... climbing and ropes." the more they watched the small girl, the more they saw her at the ropes station almost continually unless she was testing something. She had her little sleeves pulled up and ropes tied around her hands and forearms, and seemed to be pretty good with knots and with throwing ropes over things. She did seem to have an innate skill for lassoing things this way. The odds of her hanging someone did seem fairly slim though (apparently they did that in the other districts sometimes? Aurum didn't know), so she didn't think much about it. None of the others outside of their alliance seemed threatening--certainly not with physical strength, though Alice served to some (such as District 2) as a reminder that sometimes smarts could prevail over strength. but of course, the reverse was very true too.

There was more to being able to control the cornucopia than just having access to the supplies. As several observant tributes had noticed over the last several years, it was where it began and end. it was a safe haven after the bloodbath, a strategic location, and, when the games were drawing to a close, it was where the final events usually took place. It was never destroyed, after all, and so if the gamemakers needed to thin the arena, they would start with the outer fringes first. With their balance of ranged and melee skills, Aurum was confident that they would be able to control the field, and more importantly, the cornucopia. If nothing else, that was a constant that Aurum could count on being there. There was literally no Hunger Games arena without a cornucopia in the center, even if everything from its contents to its surroundings were a massive variable.

More time passed, and before Aurum knew it, it was lunchtime, or so said her stomach. Since Valour seemed to be thinking the same thing, Aurum nodded and decided to follow him to lunch, her hips swaying cutely as she walked.
similar to in the games, the career pack chose their own table (at least, 1 and 2 did; 4 had not yet arrived) where they could sit down and talk strategy. Some of the outer districts (or "rebellious" districts, as Aurum thought of them) did seem to be sitting together--there was 3, 8, and the little girl from '12 all there. Aurum briefly overhead the names "Joann" and "Ricardo" when the District 11 pair joined them, and so assumed that she had just learned the name of the District 11 pair.
She turned back to her own allies and ate a bit at first before speaking. "so... any thoughts on '4 yet?" she asked, glancing around to see if they were nearby, but otherwise just looking for a conversation starter.

[Nachthexe]

"Of course, and we're about to add one more." Valour responded, winking. The competition alone made him feel pretty confident about both himself and Aurum. If either of them became victim to one of these tributes it was certain to serve as an embarrassment more than anything and Valour didn't want that. That was just one reason why he insisted on watching the others so closely. Seeing them in action could perhaps even give ideas of how best to take them down, even if it wasn't bound to be difficult.

Provided nobody was holding back many of their skills this year, Valour was beginning to get a pretty good idea as to where most tributes' areas of expertise laid. Certainly District 1 didn't rely on brains a lot during the games, but if the academies taught anything it was that oftentimes strategizing played an important role in whether one lives or dies. Valour was slowly realizing that was perhaps sound advice here. It was very much looking to be a battle between brains and brawn as things stood now. The boy certainly wasn't any less confident in his abilities though and was still determined to bring home a District 1 victor. Of course, that made some strategizing important and the Cornucopia in particular came to mind.

Much to Valour's relief, Aurum soon followed him to lunch. Once in the lunchroom he could also see some of the alliances that were perhaps forming. Districts 3, 8, and 12 seemed to be sitting together. Either they were simply being very friendly with each other of something larger was at place. Naturally, with this being the Hunger Games Valour suspected the latter, something he didn't hesitate to point out to Aurum. "Seems they're getting comfortable. Even then they can't realistically expect to beat us." He remarked as he gazed over at their position before then turning towards the District 4 pair who were just arriving. Currently they were sitting alone, but Valour hadn't overlooked them entirely. Aurum's words served to remind Valour of this, even getting both Nolan and Alana's attention as well. "I'm not sure yet. Call me paranoid, but I'm not having our group infiltrated and destroyed like it was last year. That ugly bitch last year had definitely been onto something, believing she could weaken and take us down easier by doing exactly that." Valour explained before turning his focus onto his food.

Soon enough all 24 tributes were present in the lunch room and Valour seemed to notice very obvious patterns: most seemed to be sitting according to those they had been training with. A sure sign that already alliances were performing. However, there seemed to be an oddity in that Farro, the District 9 boy just simply sat alone while his partner joined the District 10 pair. This got Valour drawing at least a few conclusions about the kid, one that perhaps he was the stealthy type who preferred operating alone. Only time would tell, although some of the others seemed much more clear. Edison, the boy from District 5, still seemed rather intrigued by the little District 6 girl. Valour personally didn't understand this since she didn't seem particularly powerful or anything, but perhaps she was just another surprise waiting to happen. "We definitely have an interesting rag-tag bunch this year." Valour simply blurted out as he continued examining the others over lunch.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "well, the only one suitable to give me a good eulogy if I die is you, I think. maybe the District 2 kids, but I think anyone else would probably just dismiss us as "asslicking cuntmuffins" like that bitch from District 8 always said last year." Aurum might not have known much about the other districts (except a little about District 2, given the similarities it held with District 1), but she did know that they were generally bitter towards the richer districts, as if their misery gave them the entitlement to be bitchy to everyone else or something. Maybe there was more to it than that, but Aurum really couldn't bring herself to care given that she was in what could possibly be the very last week of her life--before she became the murderer of other peoples' children. She wasn't going to die in the opening minutes. That... that would just be embarrassing.

If the 47th Annual Hunger Games was a battle solely of strength, District 1 could win it in a matter of minutes. They were the strongest and fastest ones out there (their only real competition being District 2), and so there would be no escaping them, and resistance would be futile. On the other hand, if it was a battle of sheer wit without the use of physical strength or force... they might be in trouble. Not to say that District 1 was stupid ("how dare anyone even think that!" Aurum would say), but wit and brains were not exactly their first points of strategy. There was something to be said for this though--for they had produced many victors. On the other hand, even little Lynx seemed to be fairly clever. Her abilities when given a coil of rope were rather impressive. She had overheard that District 3 boy saying that the kid could make a rope "sing, dance, and maker her coffee." Surely an exaggeration, but if a kid from a district known for its cunning and observance was saying this, it was something to think about.

"there's strength in numbers," she replied as they watched 3, 8, and 12 all band together for lunch. Even District 11 seemed to be looking into this, and they were usually fairly powerful themselves. Perhaps the others last year were lucky that the Capitol had sown discord amongst the outlying alliance (albeit unintentionally) and had Lyndis kill off Adrianna before she could go wild. Few tributes could boast and say that they killed a kid with literally, a single punch. That girl had been a beast in terms of strength. "I mean heck... the opposite definitely appears true in most cases unless your name is Valendria." any time the career pack fractured early on, they were much less likely to win. Even in the 44th games where there were only 3 of them rather than 4... this had proven true. If Alexis hadn't gotten her, Aurum actually assumed that Kyla would have won.
"don't worry," she reassured Valour as he mentioned the discord that Keshet Elian had sown amongst the career pack. "there won't be any of that with us. Give it a few years, and she'll go down just as unremarkable as the rest unless that storyteller girl liked her or something." Even in District 1 they knew of Sagittaria the Storyteller. Not many in '1 liked her because she had little positive to say about their district--but, they knew of her.

Aurum couldn't help but nod at Valour's observation. "I don't see anything prominent coming from them the way it did the last few years." she suggested, "I'm not seeing any Ryes or Kylas or Deznas or Kivas or Glimmers or Valendrias or Sagittarias or Paiges or Lyndises... thank goodness no Lyndises. Maybe a couple of Alices... but probably not, becuase they'd have to win for that." she chuckled. "not gonna happen."
Eating some more, and topping it off with some cool water, she added, "I suppose now we just need to get a better idea of them, and then learn what the arena is." obvious statements, but true ones nonetheless. This was either going to be a decisive sweep, or an interesting game of various skills. A lot of people had thought the 45th Games would be a sweep of sorts, but Valendria proved them wrong. Maybe (but hopefully not) one of these other little tributes could do the same...

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Bitch she was, but she knew how to fight. She must have held something back like outlying kids so often do since there's no way her skills were worth a 5." He replied. If there was one thing he could admire Paige for, perhaps ironically, were her fighting skills. Unknown to perhaps everybody in the districts was that the girl's training score had actually been rigged due to her fate already being sealed the day she got reaped. That was a well-kept secret. At least within Snow's inner circles. Certainly if it ever got out, however, Valour was bound to change his opinion on her rather quickly. Rebels were dangerous and those in District 1 knew it perhaps as well as the Capitol did. Brainwashing was definitely widespread in District 1. At least any other districts must have viewed it that way.

Wits and brains. There was potentially a lot of that this year and that alone made Valour realize that these games were probably not going to be a few day affair he and Aurum could easily end. He certainly wasn't doubting his own abilities, but those with brains always had a way to avoid direct confrontation. Many of the tributes in the previous games alone had shown it. However, figuring out a way to work around that would come later. In the meantime Valour was determined to enjoy his lunch. Besides, it gave him the opportunity to further examine the others, including the questionable District 4 pair. He really did not want a repeat of the 46th games and was even willing to resort to dirty tactics in order to prevent it. Fortunately, Aurum seemed quite determined it wasn't about to happen as neither of them wanted to put their entire alliance at risk.

'We now have an idea about the tributes, but you're right. We need to factor in the arena as well, but we both know that's not happening until we arrive there. Sometimes the uniforms give subtle hints, but it's not guaranteed every year." Valour explained, agreeing that the arena often determined who had an edge in each varying year. Certainly Kiva had gotten lucky in her games having been thrown into an urban wasteland while Keshet had been right at home in the woodland arena. Considering the District 4 pair, Valour was secretly hoping for something that wasn't water, but if it was it was all the more reason to get on their good side. Of course, having somebody on their good side also meant it would be easier to backstab them once the time came. Valour was never going to overlook that.

"So back to training we go? You know you want to strut your stuff some more." Valour blurted out to Aurum once he was finished eating. He wasn't sure about any of the others, but he was pretty pumped to get back in action. If anything, it was further opportunity to show off and the egotistical and self-absorbed boy always enjoyed that. "Come on, beautiful." He pleaded as he proceeded to follow the District 2 pair back into the training room which was beginning to fill up with tributes again. almost immediately he noticed that many were even trying their hands at skills they hadn't been during the morning. Valour could only assume they were trying to broaden their skillset or had multiple skills. He knew he mainly had one, but it was really all he needed when he knew he was the best at what he did.

[Zulera301]

Aurum nodded. "Going for the Kyla approach, I figured," she suggested, placing her theory out there. "Kyla probably could have whopped her ass, but that little shit was vicious. Poor Alexis..." It was almost sad which side Aurum took in the argument between a little girl who was just trying to survive and let her mother keep at least one of her children, versus an everyday bloodthirsty sadist who took sick pleasure in killing off the District 12 siblings. Careers, right?
On the other hand, it was siding with someone loyal to their cause and who Aurum would have probably gotten along with (Alexis was no sociopath; just a brutal fighter who showed no mercy to her enemies). Those outer districts were dangerous because of the shakiness of their loyalty to the unity of Panem--or so she had always been taught. They were definitely a hardy and resilient bunch--at least in Districts 12 and 11.

While lunch was not on as fancy of dishes as it was in the trains or the apartments, the food itself still tasted as delicious as ever, reminding Aurum of home, which was somewhat comparable, albeit not this varied. She could glance around while she ate, and did catch eyes with Valour a few times, either winking or making playful expression, depending on how full her mouth was. she glanced over at the 3-8 table. The girl from '3 and the boy from '12 seemed less interested, but the two boys from '3 and '8 were definitely forming a friendship if not an alliance. The little girl from District 12 was speaking to them on one side, and to that District 11 girl on the other. It was hard to tell what she was up to, but even with these alliances, Aurum wasn't worried. They wouldn't stand a chance against 4 powerful 18-year-old careers--a sextet if District 4 joined.

"watch. it'll be another urban wasteland or something and District 6 will somehow win again." Aurum joked, "I hope the uniforms are as stylish as ever though. I gotta hand it to the Capitol to make us look good even when we're fighting to the death." she chuckled. the uniform concepts had definitely evolved over the years, and the Capitol did seem to have that down. The Hunger Games were something of trial and error, after all, with the Gamemakers learning what was exciting and what wasn't after experimenting with arenas and mutts and tributes and everything else in between. It was a cruel and sadistic thing to do, for sure, but Aurum and most of District 1, who were brainwashed into believing that this was an exciting time, was more thrilled at the accomplishments that had been made. She was sure the 47th Annual Hunger Games would be a hit, and not just because she was gracing them with her beautiful form.

Aurum giggled, fake-sighing. "if only I could turn these pants into cutoff shorts or something, yeah?" she joked. theoretically she probably could and nothing would happen, but she didn't do anything of the sort (yet?). "Aye, let's get back to training." she giggled when he called her beautiful as a pet name, and cheerfully and enthusiastically followed Valour back into the training hall. A few of the other tributes were already back, and while many of them tried to branch out, Aurum stuck to her dual-weaponry, figuring that she could master one skill and still excel greatly. Valour seemed to have the same idea.

[Nachthexe]

Valour certainly understood parts of Kyla's logic. Certainly most tributes were bound to leave a weak tribute alone, believing they would die quickly. It was definitely a sound theory and one the boy admittedly admired to some extent. IT had certainly seemed plausible for somebody like Paige to take that route as well, considering even back in District 1 she had been one of the most hated tributes of the previous games. Valour knew it must have been much the same in the Capitol. Still, the previous year's events perhaps served as a lesson to never underestimate anybody, even if he was confident he and the rest of the career pack could take them down.

"Stop. You might jinx it." Valour responded to Aurum, chuckling as he playfully shoved her. Sure it was unlikely the Capitol would do another urban wasteland so soon after the last one, but there were certainly so many different ideas they could try out as far as arena environments went. Even the jungle arena of the 44th games have had several elements very out of place for what it was intended to be such as the rocky lake shore, but when one had complete control over the arena they had no rules to follow, much like tributes didn't have any to follow either. Of course there was the obvious one regarding the pedestals, but Valour knew no career would ever even attempt leaping off early. They certainly didn't need to, already having the upper hand in many ways. "Since we're on the topic though, what sort of arena do you hope for? I obviously want one with a uniform that better shows off my fabulous body." He simply instead continued on his typical arrogance streak, chuckling.

Once again Aurum was managing to be a tease and Valour could only hope for a repeat of the previous night. Certainly he wasn't going to force it, but it was something that very quickly came to the teenaged boy's mind even as he made his was back into the training centre. Aurum was simply a very attractive young woman so he intended to make the most of it before being forced into circumstances that anybody else in Panem would have dreaded entirely. Certainly it had Valour intentionally allowing Aurum ahead of him in order to get a view of her backside as she walked. This had the boy mesmerized for a good few seconds before returning to the bow station. Just as before he was certainly having maximum success too.

"You're really good at that." Valour was deep in practice when he heard a voice behind him, slightly startling him. Almost immediately he readied his bow before remembering where he was. This instead had him lowering it before turning around to search for the source of the voice. Unsurprisingly, it hadn't been difficult in here, although he was surprised to discover it was the little District 6 girl. By this point she was giggling uncontrollably and merely giving Valour a thumbs up. All he could really conclude from that was that perhaps some of the rumours about District 6 being full of junkies were true. He certainly didn't put it past this girl to somehow be affected by the epidemic as well, although he did chuckle at the girl and gave her a smirk before ushering her away. Promptly she joined the District 5 boy over at the plant identification station, which made sense considering both were urban districts.

[Zulera301]

Aurum wondered if any of the tributes this year were going for that approach. Surely the odds of them all being like that were slim to none, but what if that was their ploy? What if that tiny little District 12 girl really was another Kyla in the form of a cheerful little 12-year-old? She didn't even seem to have any allies the same way Kyla had [okay, so Kyla had had her older brother, but he had proven useless in the arena, dying in the opening minutes], but maybe she'd gain a few in the next few days or once in the arena itself. Time would tell. Aurum almost hoped that she survived a little longer because she was so cute, but at the same time, when it all came down to it, she'd kill the little girl as easily as any of the others.

Aurum laughed, "nah... this year it'll probably something rocky or icy, I reckon. Well, if I had to guess anyways. Hopefully it;s not water, or that District 4 pair will be right at home." She only mentioned them because they were the biggest threat (barring of course, their fellow careers, but that was an expected threat that would not likely backstab them--only turning on them when it became practical to do so.
"To be honest," she admitted, "I just want it to be pretty. I can handle anything the gamemakers throw at me, so there's no such thing as a District 1 disadvantage. how about you? any preferences on what you want it to be, since we both know what we don't want it to be..."

Aurum was aware that Valour was staring at her backside as she walked, and so she had no problem walking a little slower than usual and purposely swaying her hips more prominently. Frankly, if he grabbed her ass right now, she'd probably just giggle and enjoy it. "Uniform-wise?" she asked as she walked, "something that shows off my figure, otherwise I might make adjustments if I can find a knife, or simply get away with removing it." It was not like there was a dress code in the arena, and it was not uncommon for tributes to "modify" their uniforms as they saw fit. Pretty much all of them were only used once anyways, given that kids were killed wearing them, which usually put massive rips and holes and other damage or destruction into them before their wearer finally died. The most common change (at least in recent years) was simply tributes going barefooted. Lyndis had not even worn shoes onto the pedestal; and every girl from District 12, including Isi, went barefooted for a majority of the games (as did some girls from '11, and Dezna from '6.) To Aurum, that meant the tributes found the uniforms comfortable and practical, which she saw as a good thing.
"'sides..." she lowered her voice, leaning towards Valour, "I wouldn't mind you helping me out of this uniform tonight..." Yeah. she was just as game for another night like last, as he was. There would certainly be no complaints on her end, anyways.

As Aurum continued hacking at the dummies, she found another peculiar sight. there was that little District 12 girl, dangling by her ankles from the ceiling by a rope. however, the knots that were holding her in place seemed different, but firm. When Aurum's eyes met hers, she giggled.
"ohai." the tiny girl grinned, her shirt falling a little an exposing some of her stomach, given that she was hanging upside-down at the moment.
"What are you doing?" Aurjm tilted her head, cracking a smile. Let it not be said that Aurum was a hostile woman. She loved attention, even if it was from a kid that she would probably kill within a week.
"Training," she shrugged, letting herself swing there idly for a moment. "you're really good with those swords. I wish I could be good like that."
Aurum naturally loved the ego-stroking. "well... I've trained for years. District 1 tends to do that a lot, since we are the best."
"Well..." she untied one of her ankles with rather deft skill, "you've got lots of victors, so I guess so. Can't argue with that one." she untied her other ankle, somehow flipping herself back over so she was griping the rope with one arm. She hopped down, landing like a cat on her feet before skipping off to go back to building traps. Aurum chuckled. "cute little thing..." she was more pleased with the girl for the compliments she gave, and would not mind having her as an audience again. For now though, it was practice time--and maybe afterwards, she could get Valour to undress her or something.

[Nachthexe]

An icy arena? Valour chuckled at the thought, even if just for the fact it would mean less opportunity to show off his physique. Such an arena was also bound to make survival difficult as well, something that most career tributes tended to not focus on much. Valour was definitely no exception there, if this first day of training was any indication. Certainly a water arena was bound to be an interesting change from recent years, although Valour found himself agreeing with Aurum that it was bound to be bad for them if it was. It was obvious who would have an advantage there, after all, and they definitely seemed to be among the strongest tributes this year.

Pretty... That was definitely bound to be an interesting quality for the arena, at least in Valour's mind. Being from District 1, he did have a deep appreciation for beauty, after all. If the arena was going to be pretty though that definitely ruled out anything like that of the 45th games, probably the least visually appealing arena of recent years. The occasional shot of the sky above that the Capitol had included in the game footage had at least been nice to gaze at, but perhaps it had been exactly that. A way to keep the audiences from being bored by the admittedly quite harsh and even ugly surroundings. "I liked that jungle of the 44th games. I wonder if they will do something like that again? I almost wouldn't want to ruin it with bloodshed." Valour finally responded to Aurum, chuckling.

Aurum's own suggestion of uniform modification definitely wasn't one overlooked by Valour. Depending on what he was wearing and what sort of environment he was thrown into it was something he might even consider. His was a body he was rather proud of and one he certainly felt deserved to be shown off. With some luck he knew very well it could help get sponsors as well. The Capitol seemed to like both powerful and good-looking tributes so certainly a combination of both was bound to work in both his and Aurum's favour. Aurum definitely had the sex appeal route down too. At least when it came to Valour who had seemed very much content with staring at her backside as she walked. "Me helping you out of your uniform? Of course." He responded to the girl's teasing words, managing to giggle like a little girl just as they parted ways to return to their respective stations.

Just like the District 6 girl had been intrigued by Valour, the District 12 girl seemed to be intrigued by Aurum. Despite hanging from the roof she seemed to watch the older girl's training rather closely. Valour definitely didn't mind it either as certainly it was bound to give the weaker tributes and idea of what sort of formidable force they were dealing with this year. Perhaps the District 6 girl was well aware by now, although despite her initial reaction to it she seemed to be rather indifferent now. Either she was already accepting her fate or she had a different plan in mind. Naturally, Valour suspected the former. It was probably something that inevitably stood true for the little District 12 girl as well who Valour quickly noticed seemed to have not picked up many weapons all day. "The girl's right. Only the best come from District 1!" Valour soon interjected the brief conversation, having a chance to stroke both his and Aurum's egos. This simply put a smirk on his face as he briefly glanced at the girl before once again continuing to rather precisely hit his targets.

The rest of the training day managed to pass by rather uneventfully, although by this point it was becoming more obvious than not that some alliances were already forming. It did have Valour admittedly intrigued about how long alliances outside the usual career pack took to form, but he suspected this may have been some sort of record as even once in the arena some tributes who later aligned definitely seemed neutral or perhaps even bitter towards each other in the first day. Perhaps it was them recognizing that each kill was simply business, including their own district partners? It seemed like the most plausible theory definitely. However, Valour didn't think too much about this once he finally noticed most of the tributes leaving to return to their quarters. Valour definitely very much felt like doing the same, especially if it meant spending another fantastic evening with Aurum. "So this is it. We might as well go too. There's not many people here anymore to show off to." He advised, letting out a chuckle as even each of the station attendants seemed to be packing up for the evening.

[Zulera301]

Aurum did hope that the arena had a warm climate for a similar reason to Valour, after all. if the arena favored some of the other tributes... well, that just meant it would be all that much more impressive when they still managed to best each and every one of them. She did want a pretty landscape, mostly because she enjoyed looking at pretty things. It was why Valour (and even little Lynx) were fun to watch. They were easy on the eyes (Lynx being more cute and adorable than physically attractive, of course; the girl was only 12). Then again, so was she, which was why she spent a few moments last night and this morning checking herself out in the buff. She was a finely crafted specimen.

"well, if our uniforms are green, we can count on a jungle," she chuckled, "or something similar, I'd wager. "if they're blue, we better watch out for District 4. Otherwise, I think they can come up with something appropriately beautiful for a pair of beautiful tributes, wouldn't you say?" She had found the woodland last year to be a rather attractive sight as well, with all the shimmering leaves and such in full green. Poor Glimmer... such a beautiful girl, cast into such an unsightly arena that they kept it in perpetual darkness after the first night. That moonlight though... that had been incredibly enchanting, with the artificial moon being bright and full continuously. moonlight was one of those things that could make anything more beautiful. If they ever did the darkness thing again, she hoped that it was on a beautiful arena that would look awe-inspiring when bathed in moonlight.

Aurum would definitely not mind showing off a bit of extra skin in the arena if she thought she could do so without bring harm or danger to herself. sure, showing off was nice, but practicality had to come first if she wanted to prove to Panem that she could perform well. on the other hand, Valour's giggle was contagious and had Aurum squeal delightedly. "oooh! I can't wait then!" she teased, before they resumed their stations. Yeah... she had pretty much confirmed that they would get a repeat of last night, only that perhaps instead of her removing her own clothes, she'd let Valour have that honor. In the meantime, she was quite flattered to know he was staring at her butt.

Lynx actually giggled at Valour's interjection, waving at him and giving him a toothy little grin. her teeth were yellowish in color, which was a fairly common sight in District 11 and District 12. the Capitol usually didn't bother with a tribute's teeth unless there was some glaring oddity that would give them a foul smile. a little yellow tint never hurt though. Either way, Aurum went back to her swords, and Lynx left them alone to work wonders with the ropes. She seemed effective at tying things together and keeping them together, perhaps a skilled trap builder in the works. That District 3 boy wasn't kidding when he said the girl had a way with a rope. All in all though, Aurum saw her as completely harmless, and frankly, a rather cute little thing that deserved a hug before she died. It was almost sad really. Aurum could imagine her growing into a rather beautiful young lady, but that was never to be, because she would have to die for District 1 to take home its well-earned victory.

the rest of the day wore on less eventfully now that the tributes seemed more aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses, but there were still 5 more days for that. It was clear that '3 and '8 were aligning themselves with each other, and Lynx appeared to have at least made friends with them, and also with that District 11 girl. the boy from '5 and the girl from '6 seemed to also be doing something. It seemed that a lot of districts weren't sticking with their partners much, except perhaps '3, '4, and '8 (since '1 and '2 were pretty much a given). As the other tributes started leaving, Aurum decided it was time to leave too. No point in showing off if no one was here. That could be time spent showing off her skin to Valour up in the apartment, after all.
"Let's go," she nodded in agreement, joining him in the elevator.
Unsurprisingly, when they stepped out back on Floor 1, she grinned as she walked ahead of Valour. "so... I heard you say something about wanting to help me out of this?" she winked, heading towards the balcony, swaying her hips and snapping the waist of her pants suggestively as she walked. It had been a good day, and it was time to end it similarly.

[Nachthexe]

"Well that was a pretty good first day I would say." Valour blurted out once he arrived in the elevator and leaned back against the elevator door. Certainly the first day of training had managed to be exhausting, but in typical egotistical fashion the boy was definitely craving more. If he was to die in the arena it was at least a chance to show off his skills before ultimately succumbing to somebody, or more likely, something. A lot of the tributes this year definitely seemed brainy so that was ought to count for something in a game where there were many factors determining who won. Even so Valour felt he had it in the bag. "Oh, and for that arena I'm still hoping for something beautiful. Like you." He announced once the elevator hit the first floor. This simply had him meeting Aurum's face with a wink before exiting to the District 1 quarters.

"So tell us. Anything interesting occur? Any alliances we should know about?" A slightly intoxicated Miriam was the first to greet Valour once he arrived back with the others. She simply belched before slamming herself down into one of the room's chairs. This had Valour chuckling slightly, although he wasn't hesitant to tell her or the others about the day in training.

"Oh, you know. The usual. The District 2 pair are allies while most of the others are weak. There's a few unusual things I've noticed though. District 9 might actually survive the bloodbath this year. Oh, and District 4 is potential ally material." Valour responded while both Miriam and Price began listening in with intrigue.

"Potential allies? You mean you didn't ask them?" Price asked, wanting to know more.

"Not yet. Me and the others are worried about a repeat of last year. We both know what that Keshet bitch did."

"Valid point, but if they're strong then you may be missing out on a valuable opportunity. Why not watch them for a couple more days?"

Valour nodded. "That's what we intend to do. If anything, it will be a chance to even off them early if we have to."

Naturally, Valour couldn't focus on the training day for long as long as Aurum was in his midst. The girl was definitely a tease and the incident at the end of the training day had been no exception. She wanted help out of her uniform? In that case he was definitely happy to oblige. "come here, you. I know you've been waiting all day." He got up without hesitation and ushered for the girl to follow him to the balcony once again. It was nearing sunset so he knew they were both in for a good view, regardless of the other tributes being even higher up. However, as a hormonal teenager the boy seemed to care little about that and cared more for the much more intimate view he was about to receive.

Sure enough, the rest of the two tributes' evenings were spend rather intimacy, even having Valour lose track of the days at one point. It wasn't until the final training day he managed to get back on track, thanks to his usual wakeup call from Rumano. "Up! It's your laaaast day before private sessions!" He bellowed in the boy's ears, jolting him awake. He was rather groggy at this point, but still managed to shoo the flamboyant man away who happily obliged. Shortly after, a nude Valour simply crawled out of bed and went through his usual morning routine before getting dressed. Soon he was then at the breakfast table with the others, admittedly feeling excited about his accomplishments over the past few days. District 4 was officially in the career pack now, and it was a move the boy definitely hoped he wouldn't come to regret. If anything though, it was bound to be a way to counter the other alliances that had formed, of which 3/8/12 seemed to be the most prominent.

"So what do you think, beautiful? I think they could throw us into private sessions now and we would obviously still score higher than everybody else." Valour simply bragged to Aurum over breakfast, hoping the girl was as enthusiastic as he was. He didn't doubt it though as certainly she had passions beyond getting in the nude every night, although that was definitely something the boy wasn't complaining about. In fact, it was even welcomed by him every night as a way to unwind and somehow he felt this night would be no exception. Of course, that also meant getting through the day's training session and almost immediately after finishing breakfast Valour made his way down to the training centre once again. Already he could sense it was going to be a decent day.

[Zulera301]

"the good tributes have good days," she winked, "it'll be the same way in the arena. People's performances now will most likely show off how they'll do in the arena... none of these kids look like they have the guts to pull a Kyla." Aurum suggested. When he mentioned the arena, Aurum couldn't help but giggle, her pale cheeks turning slightly pink. Clearly the girl was still flattered even by cheesy little compliments like this. "you just love making me blush, don't you?" she did have a rather nice blush simply from the prominence of the pink against her otherwise very white skin.

While one of their mentors (Miriam) was clearly a pretty avid drinker, and a shameless drunk as a result, Aurum still respected her because she had not only won the games before, but also still proved that she was interested in the well-being of her tributes and even gave a bit of advice here and there. District 1 mentors had an easy job, since their tributes were always enthusiastic volunteers who knew how to strategize and fight already. The formula was simple and straightforward, but as past records have shown, was also effective, so neither Aurum nor Miriam saw a reason to try and change it. predictability meant nothing when force led to victory.

Aurum nodded at Valour's remark. "we're gonna watch them carefully, but luckily this time we've already clearly agreed to an alliance with District 2, who is going to be doing the same thing."
It was true that District 2 looked back at last year with the same contempt that District 1 did, and so they were definitely going to side with their fellow careers rather than let some nobody sow discord in their ranks like the year before.
"Aye," Miriam looked up a moment, before hiccupping, "last year those kids didn't really ally qwith District 2 quire that well, so make sure you stick close to them in the early parts. They're not likely to turn on you unless you noticed anything off about them?"
"Nope. They seemed fairly normal to me," as far as career tributes went, anyways, and Aurum doubted that they had a secret agenda against District 1 this early in the games.
"Good," Miriam agreed, "Price is right then; watch District 4 over the next few days. Get to know their methods, and see what '2 thinks about it as well. Otherwise I'd say they've got potential."

Aurum giggled rather playfully as Valour almost dragged her out to the balcony. She was 100% willing of course though, just that she was stumbling over herself in similar excitement. The sunset over the beautiful Capitol city was a marvelous sight even from their lower angle, although needless to say, it was not the only beautiful sight for either Aurum or Valour. Within a few moments, Aurum's pants were gone and her legs showing off, and it was practically a given that the rest (both of her outfit and his) soon followed.

The days passed, with many of them blurring together simply because of how similar they were. Not that it was a bad thing. Wake up, show off, stroke egos, eat lunch, show off some more, strategize, train a little, return to the apartment, strip off, enjoy the view, fall asleep (be it on the balcony or in their beds), and rinse, lather, repeat.
Day 6... tomorrow they would be in their private sessions and then interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. Rumano was eager to wake them up, and Aurum didn't mind it this time. She rolled out of bed, wearing absolutely nothing (and not caring where Rumano was at that point) as she prepped herself for the day. Even if she was wearing the same uniform again (which was cleaned each night), she still wanted to look good and smell pretty. It was practically programmed into her genetic code or something at this point. A lot had happened over the last few days. For one, those kids from 8 and the boy from '3 had taken little Lynx under their wings, rather impressed at the girl's rope skills. She managed to construct some pretty viciously elaborate traps, learning that skill from Lodan of District 8, but applying it with her own knot-tying skills. Perhaps a useful skill after all.
On the other hand, Nemo and Marina had joined the career pack, and so Aurum was not worried at all about '3, '8, or '12. If anything it just meant that they would have something to bide their time with instead of destroying everyone in the opening 15 minutes. Ricardo and Joann also seemed to have something happening between them, and they, like many District 11 kids, looked fairly strong. But, the almost disdainful way they glanced at the careers told Aurum that they were definitely not interested in an alliance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither was Lynx (though no one had suggested it to her either), but she did seem to still behave very amiably in front of the careers. Aurum was not sure what to make of that approach.

Aurum nodded enthusiastically. "I'm ready for it, definitely. Heck, we could ditch training today and we'd still do the best. But, showing off is fun. Let's definitely go. Besides. you know what we'll do once we decide we've done enough for the day..." she winked as she continued eating breakfast. Yeah, they had stripped nude every night thus far, and Aurum was not about to change that on the 2nd-to-last night of training, and especially not when she was dressed in a beautiful and alluring interview outfit.
"Last one to the elevator dies in the bloodbath!" she teased, racing Valour to the elevator as they raced down to the training center as eagerly and enthusiastically as ever. It was obviously not something that Aurum meant seriously. Neither of them would die in the bloodbath with skills and smarts like theirs.
But... for now, more training. Aurum was as skilled as ever with those swords, and was fairly confident that she'd prove lethal with them once thrown into the arena.

[Nachthexe]

Valour definitely agreed that none of this year's tributes seemed like they had the potential to be another Kyla. No, she was legendary on her own level and that was going to be difficult to replicate, even many years from now. Even Valour had a soft spot for that girl, although he found himself intrigued by nearly anybody from outside the career districts who managed to be able to fight in their respective games. Paige had definitely been another one, being one of those tributes most probably hadn't even expected to survive past the bloodbath. Certainly Valour had believed it, considering the girl's low training score. If anything though, it definitely showed that even low scorers should not be underestimated in those opening minutes.

The last full day of training. It was definitely something for Valour to feel good about, especially considering the career pack was now up to six. That alone was bound to give him and Aurum a huge edge in the arena. At least up until the time to turn on the others. That was bound to be quite the match for the ages. However, the here and the now was what currently was important and that was finishing off this last day of training with a bang. Valour knew he definitely wanted the extra practice, especially if he intended to score high tomorrow. "I agree. Let's go have some fun. Besides, the others need to know what they're up against in two day's time." He responded to Aurum as he made his way to the elevator, chuckling. "And no, we both know neither of us are going down in the bloodbath."

Unsurprisingly, Valour and Aurum were some of the first to arrive, but it was a notion Valour definitely didn't mind as it meant maximum training time. Needless to say, almost immediately he headed over to the archery station, which seemed to be rather vacant this year. This admittedly surprised the boy as usually there was at least one tribute specializing in archery once in the arena. Perhaps him being alone in that respect this year even gave him an extra edge? Only time would tell on that one, although he was already attempting to derive ways to kill anybody who didn't end up killed in the bloodbath. After only a few days he was pretty confident that it would only be the stronger tributes left, thus enabling the games to perhaps end much more quickly than they had in recent years. Fourteen days seemed to be the average and Valour wanted to halve that if he could.

It was definitely the point in training where most tributes were cemented into a specific skill set and it really showed. Edison and Cara definitely appeared to be builders of some sort while Farro was still displaying mastery with his pair of sickles. If anything, he gave District 9 some hope of actually proceeding beyond the bloodbath, although Valour knew he was still probably nothing he couldn't handle. He knew he potentially had an edge against the boy, being a ranged fighter. However, the alliance between the District 3 boy, District 8 boy, and District 12 girl seemed to be the most intriguing, even if just for the fact it seemed so out of place. Each district typically produced a different sort of tribute so certainly Valour could see logic behind it from that point of view, but none of them even seemed particularly strong. In the case of attack who would be the defender? Of course that had one possible technique pop into Valour's head: traps. That was something he would surely have to warn Aurum of later.

[Zulera301]

Even Aurum had admired Kyla Togisala. It was hard not to respect someone who had been such a fierce and skilled fighter. To top it off, she had been very smart. Tributes like that were rare outside of the career pack. It was hard to describe what made Kyla so legendary, other than perhaps that she not only didn't look it or that no one expected it, but the girl had been practically deaf. There had been other equally impressive tributes, such as the lucky but very accurate-shot Alice DeSiete; the cunning and lightning-swift Dezna Meraxa, the bitchy and passionate Paige Alwin, the mighty and nigh-invincible Varsha Tallarico, the strong and heroic Rye, and even the psychotic and cunning Lyndis. Arrogant as the careers were, the teachers and mentors at the academies and on the trains did not hesitate to cite the fighting styles of other tributes to their tributes both to warn them of what they could potentially face, but also perhaps to inspire some of them to incorporate such fighting styles into their own gameplay.

"of course we'll have fun. That's why they're called games," she reminded him, but also, she had honestly enjoyed herself training. tragic as a career's mindset might be, they did seem to genuinely enjoy themselves in the training arena and even a bit in the 'games. Moreover, Aurum had certainly enjoyed herself every evening as she got to show off her beautiful natural features to Valour as he provided her with the same favor. This would be the last night that she stripped off her training uniform though. Tomorrow it would be a flashy and exotic interview outfit. The private sessions would be great because Aurum was fairly certain that they'd be scoring 11s or 12s this year, and Caesar was certainly a great conversationalist and Aurum would love to have a rather delightful talk with him.
She giggled, "I know... I was teasing about that. Maybe if we were District 10 or something, but certainly not us." that was really all she felt needed said on the matter. District 1 was not losing a tribute in the bloodbath this year. Despite the fact that it had been years since the last District 1 tribute had died in the bloodbath of his particular games, it was not something District 1 would be willing to repeat ever.

At the training center, the archery station was only inhabited semi-regularly by one other individual besides Calour--that District 11 girl, Joann. She kept a stoic expression, remaining fairly neutral as she pulled back her bow. Like Sagittaria a few years before, there was strength in her arms to pull the string back, and she was a fairly good aim. On the other hand, that District 9 girl was joining Aurum on the dual-weilding front, and so perhaps no one had a unique skill this year. Either way, it was clear who had the superior skills in both cases. If anyone needed a hint, Aurum would simply smile and say "the best tributes this year are also the prettiest."

Most of the other alliances seemed fairly predictable. District 11 was sticking together again, which Aurum was fairly sure had something to do with their mentor; Districts 5 and 6 were teaming up--a couple of urban districts, so no surprise there, and of course the career pack was the most traditional of alliances. The oddest team seemed to be the little ragtag group that consisted of the District 3 boy, the District 8 boy, and the little District 12 girl. The girls from '3 and '8 seemed loosely into the alliance, but not quite as much. Aurum didn't know what to make of it other than that they were trap builders. That was dangerous in and of itself, but Aurum was sure that she could flush them out with the help of Valour, Nolan, and Alana, so she wasn't worried.
the day passed by fairly quickly, with the alliances mostly well-set at this point, and so Aurum, who was losing track of time, was pretty sure it was getting closer to that time of day when they'd retreat back to the balcony and Aurum would take her clothes off... xD

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Touche. Of course with us running the show it's bound to be plenty of fun." He responded. Certainly District 1 and perhaps 2 were the only districts in all of Panem who actually viewed the Hunger Games as "fun". If anything, it just served as a reminder of the very different mindsets between districts. Certainly for the poorer and outlying districts it was almost always considered a death sentence; something to be dreaded. Not in District 1 though. There it was something widely celebrated with various children actually being eager to participate. Those who had little interest were usually mocked, after all. Certainly it had been that along with pressure from her very own family that had driven poor Krystal Saffron to volunteer against her will. Still, it was something long in the past now so most of District 1 didn't even think about what had been perceived as treachery on her part by some of the more vehement citizens.

Valour was rather surprised to see that somebody else had joined him over at the archery station and from District 11, of all places. Perhaps she was even taking a page out of her mentor's book, although Valour simply smirked at the girl knowing he was still the best. He then attempted to show this off, gaining the girl's attention. "This is how it's done. It's best to watch the professionals, eh?" He snarked as he pulled back on the bowstring, proceeding to score another bullseye. Simply a lucky shot perhaps? It was possible, although he liked to think it was simply pure skill. Nonetheless, he was sure that nearly everybody within the general vicinity was impressed by the shot. This had him once again wearing his signature smirk as he made a few more shots before glancing over in Aurum's direction. It seemed the girl's skills were attracting similar attention, but from the District 9 girl. That was definitely surprising, but certainly another sign District 9 actually had potential this year.

The rest of the training day managed to pass just as expected, but this time most tributes seemed to be training close by to their allies. It certainly made sense in Valour's mind, considering the arena was only a couple days away. However, in typical egotistical fashion he continued sticking to his own training while the remainder of the careers stuck to theirs. Once in the arena they were bound to dominate anyway so Valour felt they didn't need much in the way of pre-planning. There certainly wasn't much time for that once faced with a bunch of bloodthirsty kids in the opening minutes anyway. At that point each was just desperate to survive themselves while still managing to arm themselves. Of course such a thing almost always involved daring to venture into the Cornucopia, the one place Valour knew the career pack would have to capture in order to have it easy during the games.

"The day's over. I think you know what this means..." Valour announced to Aurum at the end of the day, winking as he made his way to the elevator. The end of the day. Both knew what that meant the minute dinner was concluded. Even the prep team seemed to be catching on by this point, but were far from caring much. As far as they were concerned this was "their time to enjoy". Even the mentors who were expected to remain a bit more professional seemed to take that stance, although Rumano seemed to find the whole thing completely hilarious. At least the various innuendos being flung back and forth between Valour and Aurum at the dinner table every night managed to have the mentor man bursting out laughing. This was something Valour simply played along with, however, knowing the man just wanted fun of his own. He wasn't participating in the actual Hunger Games, after all. Nobody in the Capitol ever did, as was well-known all across Panem.

As usual, Valour was leaping out of bed the next morning entirely in the nude. He was pretty well convinced by now it was perhaps that which had the rest of the team perhaps catching onto what he and Aurum had been doing every night. At least Rumano as he was the one awaking both tributes every morning, although Valour knew that word probably spread quickly among the team. He couldn't really decide if that was a good or bad thing, but at this point he cared little as he had something else to look forward to: the private training sessions. Of course later in the evening was also the interviews which Valour definitely had excitement for, considering it was a chance to show off to the entire nation while being dressed up in some flashy--and probably revealing outfit. Needless to say, this had Valour getting ready quite quickly this morning which even seemed to impress the others. "Good morning. I doubt I need to explain what's about to happen. Our tributes are always ahead in that respect." Price immediately greeted Valour as he took a seat at the table. Certainly the man knew what was already going through his mind so he just looked up at him and smirked before filling his breakfast plate.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "fun seems to follow me wherever I go... or if nothing else, a lovely view." she wiggled her butt playfully, referencing not just how often she'd get nude with Valour, but also just how good-looking she was, even when the only parts of her body that were visible were her head and her hands. Even the pretty ones were fighters who had trained for the games though, and so perhaps it really was a type of game. Outsiders did not understand this twisted mindset, while on the other hand, this was all District 1 (and 2) ever knew. Perhaps that was why poor Krystal Saffron had been so misunderstood. She was strong and fast, and had the makings of bringing honor to her district... and yet she had thrown it all away. from a District 1 perspective, this was borderline outrage, while the outlying districts seemed to have noticed the harsh reality of this--an innocent, beautiful, talented young lady who was forced to throw her life away due to the vicious social pressures surrounding her and her skills. In the words of Alice DeSiete: "What a terrible way to die..." Not that Aurum would understand that. She had gotten a traitor's reward in District 1's eyes when Flint turned on her.

Joann did watch Valour at least once shoot a bullseye, but she did not seem impressed. She did not show an unimpressed expression, but she was not about to fawn and clap over a simple accomplishment.
"It has been done before." the woman replied, her voice rather low, especially for a girl. She said this with a shrug, but there was truth to her words. It didn't mean that she thought he sucked; just that she had seen her own mentor Sagittaria do just that a few years prior. The District 9 girl seemed just as unimpressed with Aurum's antics and attempts to show off, although truth was, she and Valour were both very good. The other tributes just didn't want to show weakness, especially not District 9 which had fared horribly for years lately.

It was funny. despite the careers being arguably one of the most solid alliances this year, none of them really trained much together, instead focusing on their own individual skills. Conversely, the other little alliances began working together to get to know each other better and learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps it was just because the careers already knew each other so well just because of the usual and predictable molds they fit or something. On the other hand, they usually just went in and started killing anyone they saw, and so it was no real surprise to see them just make it up as they went. the end goal was the same--seize the cornucopia. If they could do that, the process was irrelevant.

"it means in 5 minutes of us finishing eating, you're gonna see my underwear." Aurum laughed at the end of the day as they were heading back towards the elevator. Nothing really out of the ordinary had occurred today, but they had still gotten a nice opportunity to strut their stuff and show off to the other tributes. That was always fun. But, that was the last day of that--for tomorrow were the private sessions, and then the interviews... and then game time. Needless to say, the innuendos they threw at each other at the dinner table were not lost on their team, even someone as drunk as Miriam.
"y'know, Price..." she waggled her eyebrows, "they might be onto something." how the older mentor reacted to that was his choice though, but she was honestly okay with letting the kids have their fun. One of them (and only one of them) would be dead within a few weeks anyways, after all, and Miriam could not personally decide who she wanted to see return the victor--just as long as it was one of her tributes.

The next morning, Aurum twisted things up a bit by showering and dressing as usual, although her pants were over her shoulder instead of on her legs this time. She was kind of showing off to Valour again, and Rumano didn't seem to notice; Price didn't seem to care, and Miriam was either dead or still passed out in her quarters, and so was not even in the room. as she reached the table, she slipped her boots on and pulled on her pants, giggling playfully as she sat down, listening to their mentor's words.
"Yup. District 1's always ahead of the game." she beamed proudly, loading her plate with food. She didn't hesitate to eat large meals just like Valour, and so she was getting pumped for this morning. "we'll rock it out there. If I score anything less than an 11, I'm stepping off of my pedestal before the clock hits zero." she joked.
Today was going to be a very good day.

[Nachthexe]

Despite all of Valour and Aurum's efforts to show off the others seemed less than impressed, although the boy cared little. He could only assume it was either due to their own jealousy or own lack of inexperience/knowledge in the said skills. Naturally, the conceited boy was leaning towards the former. Yes, everybody was bound to be jealous of the mighty Valour Drazen. If they weren't now then they were bound to be once he emerged from the private sessions with a perfect score and then later from the arena as victor. This had the boy smirking once again. There was truly no stopping him until the moment he drew his last breath. He was determined to not have that happen within the next few weeks as well. Aurum, of course, likely felt the same way although Valour had long accepted she would have to die if he was to live.

Clearly both Price and Miriam were getting amusement out of Valour and Aurum's antics and soon this had the tribute boy suspecting they would even try something similar. Of course it was slightly difficult for him to imagine the two mentors getting it on while their two tributes were in the arena, but they were close enough in age that theoretically something could happen between them. This was a thought that managed to produce a chuckle from Valour every time it popped into his head. Miriam at least seemed to like the older man, although Valour wasn't sure how he felt about his fellow victor. Perhaps time would tell on that one, although Valour knew there was a possibility he wouldn't even live to see it. It was really a minor issue though as the real girl he wished he could do stuff with and was likely about to was right beside him.

"Shit, you're such a tease." Valour responded to Aurum, playfully slapping her shoulder as she emerged the next morning pantless. That incident of course made it rather clear what the girl intended to do later on, although Valour knew there was nothing to lose with it being the last day before heading into the arena. Besides, he knew the stylists were bound to outfit them in something that would just be begging to be removed. The Capitol definitely seemed to like the seductive sexy angle with the District 1 tributes this year, after all. Really he couldn't blame them though since he was sure based on his own subjective opinion that he and Aurum were two of District 1's finest. If the Capitol wanted to take advantage of that upon his victory he didn't even mind and was actually willing to embrace it. However, in the meantime there was more pressing issues to be dealt with and the private sessions was just one of them. "Of course we're ahead of the game. We're first. District 1 always is. Lucky us. We won't even have to wait long before we can show off to the Gamemakers themselves. They will be so impressed they will want to give us both 14's." Valour responded to Aurum upon chuckling at the girl's joke.

Naturally, between several more innuendos(much to the amusement of the mentors) and flirtation, breakfast managed to wrap up rather quickly. This had Valour very prepared to proceed down to the training centre, although he was stopped by Price. "I probably don't need to tell either of you this, but make sure you show the Gamemakers everything in order to score high. You are careers. You're best suited to be in the position of everybody fearing you. It will make the others less likely to go on the offensive against you. If you want to fight then go to them when they least expect it." The mentor man explained, realizing it had been exactly that tactic that had helped him win the 34th games. Valour simply nodded, acknowledging the man as he rushed to the elevator.

Unsurprisingly, nobody else was yet present outside the training room. Valour figured that the rest would arrive once it came closer to their turn. Doing any extra training certainly wasn't an option, after all, judging by the way the doors were shut and guarded by a pair of Peacekeepers whom Valour simply smiled at before taking a seat. Unsurprisingly, they just glared at the District 1 boy as they continued retaining their stoic stance. There was definitely a certain level of professionalism involved in being a Peacekeeper, one that Valour knew likely only District 2 truly understood. They were the source of the majority of Panem's Peacekeepers, after all. However, that was probably one of the last things that lingered in Valour's mind based on what was bound to come within minutes. Soon the first of the tributes of the 47th Annual Hunger Games would be called into the training centre, something he anxiously awaited.

[Zulera301]

if Aurum was fazed by people being unimpressed with her actions, she would have quite years ago. No, if there was something to be said about District 1's pride and arrogance, it was that they didn't let anyone else's disdain drag them down. Getting insulted was another issue altogether, but being unimpressed was not something they took seriously. instead they just dismissed it as jealousy or insecurity. Such a mindset did well to stroke their own egos, regardless of how truthful or not it is. Aurum didn't try to get Jessica's attention, but she did notice the girl watching her a bit, which she enjoyed, and it even made her wiggle her butt at least once (though that might have been for Valour nearby). Such was the name of training though.

The relationship between Price and Miriam was peculiar. The younger victor did seem to like the older one, and despite the girl's vicious drinking habit, she behaved generally with considerable maturity and tact, respecting those around her, including those she recognized as her superiors, such as Capitol officials, or even Price, who had been her primary mentor.
Aurum on the other hand, made no mystery of her attraction to and fondness of Valour, which he appeared to quite shamelessly return, much to the golden-blonde girl's delight. She loved attention, and enjoyed giving it to Valour as well. they worked well off of each other's antics, even when they kept their clothes on.

Aurum giggled as Valour slapper her shoulder, wiggling her butt once before pulling her pants up. "you can take 'em off me after private sessions if you want." she offered, "we'll be the first ones done so we'll have a while to wait before the stylists dress us up for tonight." That was what her main focus was on right now. If she won the games, perhaps the Capitol could doll her up on a regular basis as she mingled with them in all kinds of various ways (some of which would have made Glimmer squirm unpleasantly if she had won), which she would probably enjoy. Time would tell. First she'd have to emerge the victor of the 47th Hunger Games though.
She laughed at Valour's implication. 14s? Not even Valendria had earned one of those. But, she wasn't about to let a silly thing like reality disrupt a nice little playful fantasy.
"maybe even a 15. we might force them to make a permanent rule change on how they score tributes." she laughed.

Funny enough, right as they were wrapping up, Miriam staggered in, but missed the chair completely, slipping, slamming her head against the corner of the table, and staggering to the floor. Aurum actually laughed because fuck it, it was hilarious. Sure her forehead was bleeding now, but Miriam didn't seem to be making a big deal about it.
"we'll show them everything," Aurum grinned, returning her focus to Price, before leaning over to Valour. "and afterwards... I'll show you everything again." she winked. there were obvious underhanded meanings in her words to Valour, but with Price (and indirectly, Miriam) she meant her skills of course.
"Give it y'er all," Miriam grunted, her hand covered in blood from her forehead, "Take what you can and give nothin' back. Treat it like the arena... it'll do good there, if nothing else."
This was actually a very subtle connection to what had first started Miriam's horrible drinking habit, but that was for another time. Perhaps for the next fellow victor.

Aurum walked behind Valour this time as they reached the training center, simply because this was one of the few times that the boys were first. The reapings, the interviews... the ladies were always first for those. She watched the peacekeepers as she sat down, briefly squeezing Valour's hand. Sure he was not going to die or anything suddenly, but it was nice to hold his hand--that same pair of hands that had roamed over most of her body anyways.
Soon enough, they called out for Valour Drazen.
"kick all the ass out there," Aurum laughed, cracking her knuckles and eagerly awaiting her turn now.

[Nachthexe]

By the time breakfast was complete Price and Miriam were beginning to get rather close to each other, even if the latter was stone drunk. It especially showed in her antics too with the way she had gone to take a seat, missing the chair entirely. This had Valour bursting out laughing. "Let's just hope we don't end up like her while in that arena." Valour turned towards Aurum as he playfully taunted the mentor woman. She didn't seem too bothered by it though, simply just glaring at him as she collected herself off the floor and took a seat at the breakfast table. "So what do you say? The sooner we get this done the sooner you can show off that perfect body of yours." Valour then remarked before heading to the elevator.

Sure enough, minutes later the first of 24 names was announced over a loudspeaker; "Valour Drazen, District 1!" This had the boy immediately pumped, realizing it was him. Letting go of Aurum's hand, he jolted upright and swung his arms in the air. He didn't care that by this point the District 2 pair were already beginning to arrive, although they did glare at the boy momentarily before taking a seat. "Well Aurum, that's me! Time to show them up." He announced as he entered the training room, closing the doors behind him. Almost immediately he was greeted by a group of Gamemakers who were present in the upper loft. They all seemed fascinated by the boy and naturally his own ego suggested they just wanted to see greatness in action. He knew they definitely wouldn't be disappointed.

"Welcome, Mr. Drazen. You have fifteen minutes to present your chosen skills. Good luck." The man Valour could only assume was the Head Gamemaker spoke. Valour simply gazed at the man with a smirk before nodding. He wasn't about to disappoint the man and would make sure of it. Having that in mind, he walked over to one of the bows and effortlessly took hold of it. He started out with a few slower and more precise shots, hitting a few bullseyes. The Gamemakers nodded in approval at this, but the boy wasn't done yet. He then began taking the speedier route, taking several quick shots. Even those, despite being less accurate still managed to hit their targets very precisely. The Gamemakers once again could only nod in approval. They definitely seemed to like the boy's technique, although he knew he wasn't done yet. Despite archery being his main forte he knew he would have more of an edge by showing a secondary skill, in his case, throwing knives.

"It's already well established I'm the best to come out of District 1 for years, but since there's still time I'm not done yet." Valour announced as he picked up a pack of throwing knives. Just as before he went for accuracy, managing to hit his target even if it wasn't as precise as it had been when he was doing archery. This went for a couple more rounds before he switched back into the speedy approach. About three quarters of the knives managed to hit their target, albeit slightly off-centred. It was certainly enough to do damage, but not enough to kill so Valour knew it was best kept as a secondary skill if for some reason he couldn't access a bow. That was not a scenario he even wanted to think about at this point though, but at least the Gamemakers still seemed to be impressed, even if less so than with the archery. Sure enough the session was drawing to a close as well so Valour knew he didn't have time to show anything else, but he didn't mind. He was definitely left satisfied, even making it known as he proceeded to put his weapons away. "And now you've seen the great Valour Drazen in action. Please score accordingly." He smirked as he exited the room upon being dismissed.

"That was just great. Now I just need my 14." Valour joked as he took a seat back down beside Aurum who was surely growing restless by this point. The District 2 pair seemed to be definitely, although due to their more disciplined background they were able to remain much more calm about it. "So any minute you will probably be called in. I was going to return to our quarters, but I might as well wait around for your pretty face." Valour teased his partner, winking at her. He figured that with 24 tributes to get through there wouldn't be that large of a gap between sessions, although he knew that the first few were clearly the best ones. Sure enough though within minutes a second announcement came on through the loudspeaker: "Aurum Zianja, District 1!" This put a smirk on Valour's face as he proceeded to wish his district partner and also friend good luck.

"Give it everything. Show that we're the best."

[Zulera301]

Valour's remarks made Aurum laugh rather loudly, but hers was a very cute laugh. "booze in the arena? Miriam would have a field day... not me though. I'm staying sober for now." she winked, but would let him interpret this however he pleased. Miriam groaned and was getting blood all over her hands, but she didn't seem to be making a big deal about it; just grunting and grumbling.
Aurum's expression showed that she was flattered after Valour's comment. "well you know how eager I am for that," she nodded truthfully; she loved showing off, even if it was just her body being shown off. She was not the type to hate clothes, mind you, but she certainly loved her skin and was not at all afraid to show it off.

Once again, Aurum found herself giggling at Valour's antics as he strode confidently into the training room. She'd wait till he was finished obviously, since she would be right after, and in the meantime, she glanced around to see what other tributes had shown up. Not too many had come this early except the District 2 pair, although shortly after Valour emerged, another couple of kids had shown up. she giggled. "15s for the both of us." she winked, before hearing her name. "wish me luck." she pecked his cheek before standing up, stretching and popping her knuckles, heading into the training room, swaying her hips in Valour's direction to giver the boy the show she had given him many times over the last few days.

She stepped inside, flipping her hair to get itout of her face, as she gazed up at the watching Gamemakers. District 1 and the earlier districts did have an edge for being first, so the Gamemakers were not already bored or anything. She gazed up at them, awaiting her cue.
"Welcome, Ms. Zianja. You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skills; good luck."
With a respectful nod, Aurum raced immediately over to the lighter one-handed weapons, snatching up a pair of hammers akin to the District 9 girl first before getting to work on attacking. Her movements were swift and rather elegant--fitting for a girl of her build. She was definitely a melee fighter, although her movements were strong and fast. She'd be effective at wearing someone down before finishing them, that was for sure.

However, her skill was not just with the hammers, and so after w few minutes, she switched to handaxes, where her style was considerably different and much more forward. her strikes were more like slashes, and she made more aims for the neck and chest where an axe would do more damage, while her hammer strikes had been aiming more for the head or back. After a few minutes of these, she twirled them dextrously before returning them and going for her specialty: swords.
"Just a reminder that District 1 is not just all show and no go." she giggled playfully, as if telling this to the Gamemakers. They might have heard her, but if they did, they did not respond. She spent the final few minutes slashing and stabbing with her swords, which were easily her most effective weapons. She almost got carried away until the Gamemakers politely dismissed her.

"Thank you for your consideration," she beamed, doing a little curtsey. she left the training center and hoped to find Valour. If he was not waiting for her outside the training center, she'd race back up the elevator to find him. They had about 5½ hours before the private sessions would wrap up with little Lynx's session, and so there were going to be a couple of bored and excited teenagers throughout the afternoon until dress-up time that evening.
"We've got so much time to kill before tonight," she exclaimed, being purposely dramatic just for effect. "whatever shall we do in the meantime?" she adjusted the hem of her shirt and pants, but otherwise sat down, as if the gesture was completely innocent.

[Nachthexe]

"We will both score so high we'll break their entire system." Valour responded to Aurum, chuckling. Certainly the boy was exaggerating a lot since he knew very well the maximum one could score was a 12, but one could certainly dream. Even a 12 would be worthy of bragging rights though and Valour knew that by the way the Gamemakers had glanced at him and nodded that he was probably going to score high. Naturally, he aimed for a 12, but a 11 was definitely something he could potentially work with. He didn't suspect any of the tributes outside the career alliance would score higher than a 9 anyway, and that already was him being generous. If they did he was definitely in for a surprise, but only time would tell on that one.

Once Aurum entered the training centre for what felt like a very long fifteen minutes Valour found himself left alone with some of the other tributes. The District 2 pair still managed to remain relatively, only occasionally looking up to smile at Valour who they were admittedly quite fond of. Certainly when it came time to turn on both him and his partner it was bound to just be business. That's at least how it usually was in career alliances, and the group this year seemed to fit a fairly standard mould. They were not alone though as several minutes later the District 3 pair made an appearance, but the girl definitely seemed more nervous than the boy. Perhaps it was even a sign of what was to come tomorrow, but Valour didn't think too hard about it since he knew most of the other tributes were bound to not be much in the way of competition.

Once Aurum reappeared Valour knew the girl was right. There was hours before it was bound to be time to prepare for the interviews. Certainly the training scores would be broadcast before then, but there were still 22 other tributes for the Gamemakers to cycle through and evaluate. "Yea, we have plenty of time. I suppose you want to have some fun? Today's our last chance, after all." Valour responded, cuing in entirely on Aurum's gestures. It was rather clear what he wanted and admittedly Valour definitely didn't mind either, especially considering it had very much been a tradition for the past week. "Come on. There's no need to wait down here." He hurriedly ushered Aurum out into the hallway and into the elevator. Up on Floor One there was a lone balcony just calling out their names and Valour intended to answer that call.

"So how'd it go you two? Any mishaps?" Valour's journey to the balcony was immediately interrupted by Price's voice. Naturally, he was curious about his two prized tributes and in typical egotistical fashion Valour was prepared to share them with him. The man had won the games once before, after all, so certainly there was even a thing or two Valour and Aurum could learn from him. If not, it was just another way to pass some time.

"Great, just great. I don't know about Aurum yet, but they loved me. Every time I shot those targets with my bow they gave a nod of approval." Valour responded to the mentor man as he took a seat beside him on of the chairs. The man went silence for a few seconds as if he was contemplating something before finally speaking up again.

"That means they like you. You're promising, boy. The Gamemakers did the same thing during my session and I wasn't disappointed by my score." Price explained.

"What was your score?"

"11. Pretty good, I'd say."

Valour chuckled. "I'm aiming for 12 then." He responded. He was admittedly impressed by his mentor's efforts and it really came to no wonder he had won his respective games, but it only served to create suspense for the rest of the day. It was going to be hours before the scores were finally broadcasted and simply Valour wanted to see that perfect score of his grace the screen. Fortunately, in the meantime he seemed to have other distractions in mind. Aurum. She probably hadn't lost interest in the balcony yet. Realizing this, he simply got up and proceeded to once again usher the girl along. "Our day is definitely not complete without this." He confessed as he opened the door leading to the balcony. Of course with it only being late morning or early afternoon(Valour couldn't really decipher which) he could hear plenty of activity in the streets below. Surely the Capitol citizens were very much excited for the games so were simply preparing for that in any way they could. Even red banners with each of the district seals had been put up on display for the occasion, something that managed to make Valour smiled. They definitely enjoyed their entertainment and Valour was happy to have the honour of providing it to them this year.

"These people go nuts over these games. That's how I know our volunteering wasn't in vain. Even if we die we will surely die remembered and as heroes. We are certainly crowd favourites, after all." Valour found himself blurting out after several moments of silence as he glanced over the edge of the balcony. It was quite fascinating to him to be able to watch Capitol life from above, although a part of him certainly wanted to live it too. That, of course, would require winning the 47th Annual Hunger Games, but as it stood now his chances seemed pretty great. He knew too that around this same time tomorrow he was going to be shipped off to the arena that would either be the place where glory was won or his final resting place. Only time would tell, but for now he was experiencing a different kind of glory with beautiful Aurum right by his side, just awaiting a chance to get intimate with the boy.

[Zulera301]

"someone's gotta outdo the great Valendria of the 45th games," Aurum nodded in agreement, "might as well be us, am I right?" She had heard rumors that they had contemplated tweaking the system because of that girl, and even though she suspected they were exaggerations (the Capitol had loved her and her mysterious surrender had been an odd one that many of them did not know the true nature of), it was still rather incredible to think about. She honestly did expect an 11 or 12 for her performance, and figured that the District 2 pair would score unsurprisingly high as well. She almost felt bad for the other districts, since the odds were definitely in the favor of the career pack this year--But hey, everyone had their moments. the last 3 games had all seen the careers die at the hands of outliers, or early on (or some combination of both), and so now it was their turn to shine.

Nolan and Alana gave Valour the same friendly faces that they had given Aurum, though he did get more smiles from Alana, who seemed to admire the boy (conversely, Aurum had gotten that treatment from Nolan. both of them were attracted to the opposite gender, so it made sense, really) a bit for his looks. On the other hand, they had a cool and quiet demeanor to them, similar to the way Clemont and Hikari from District 3 had a couple years ago. Aurum had not expected much from those kids, but they had proven to be cunning and right at home. If anything, she was surprised that Blaze and the others had not tried to recruit them. It was not terribly uncommon for District 3 to be recruited by the careers [though this year they didn't seem like much, whichw as why Aurum and Valour had not bothered].

Aurum laughed, both at Valour's enthusiasm, and from flattery that came from said enthusiasm. She loved that he kind of pulled her along. "oh Valour, stop it!" she teased, "you're making me blush again." No, she'd be disappointed if he stopped, and so it was clear that she was just teasing. Otherwise, they were just heeding the call, and Aurum was already excited, both emotionally, mentally, and especially physically, even if there was no way of seeing it at a glance.

Back at their floor, they were greeted by Price and Miriam, the latter of which had her forehead bandaged up kind of like a red and white headband. She did seem to be in a lot better condition. Perhaps there was Capitol medicine for that, which the woman would have easy access to considering that she was a victor and thus was extremely popular around the Capitol. She was definitely not too hard on the eyes either (since she was only in her mid-20s or so).
"I think the worst mishap was Miriam's fall this morning," Aurum chuckled, even causing Price to crack a smile. Compared to some of the injuries she had received in the arena, a gash across her forehead was nothing. Besides, she was able to treat that wound right away. in the arena, she had to pray that she got sponsored in time (which, considering she was standing there before them today, obviously she had.)

"They were practically swooning over me." Aurum chipped in, exaggerating a bit, but she had definitely received warm reactions from a beautiful and loyal tribute. "they were watching me closer and closer as I switched to my better weapons. I think we'll do pretty damn well if I say so myself. I wouldn't mind an 11, but I'm definitely shooting for a 12. No offense or anything, Price." 11 was definitely still a respectable score, and one that Aurum would be fine with (even if Blaze a few years back had been rather furious about that, to put it lightly.

"Just remember that they're still just numbers at the end of the day," Miriam added, "numbers that contain bragging rights, but don't go around thinking you're invincible till you've killed the others off, 'kay?" So there was a humble streak in her, but not enough that she wasn't going to encourage her tributes to be cheerful and confident.
"oh come on... did you score low or something?" Aurum playfully teased, figuring the woman would take a joke. "obviously whatever you scored, you still kicked ass and won..."
"I scored a 12," she revealed, "I wasn't a drinker back then." she cackled.

Aurum's eyes widened. "did your partner score a 12?" she asked
"11," Miriam nodded, "he was still pretty proud of it too. He came in 4th, I believe, and only died after one of the others turned on us." she didn't seem upset about that though, which meant that it had probably been a fellow career, most likely a boy or girl from District 2. Still, it was enough to satisfy Aurum's curiosity for now, and so she followed Valour out to the balcony whilst Miriam exchanged glances with Price, without saying anything.

Aurjm nodded in agreement at Valour's observation. "of course they love us. imagine how well we'll be remembered if we both scored perfectly. sure we produce a lot of perfect-scoring tributes... but has a district ever produced two of those in the same year?" It was actually probably enough for the Capitol to remember them--and mentors in District 1's future, even if somehow Nolan or Alana were able to best the two. No district, not even 2, had ever produced two perfect-scoring tributes in one year. They had come close, with a pair of 11s happening on more than one occasion (something that even District 11 could boast now), and a few 12/11s, but no pairs of 12s yet.
"and hey... we can celebrate now, and then after our interviews." she was clearly excited, even if this was a death tournament. She knew that it could be her last days alive starting tomorrow, and that she might actually die in the bloodbath. She might not have been the deepest of thinkers, but she knew she wasn't invincible. Still, she felt with her skill, her allies, and her determination, she'd make it quite far, if not outright win.

A few hours later, as the two naked tributes were lost in their moment, Rumano appeared. He was utterly unfazed by their nakedness or their actions (regardless of what they might have been doing), but he had an important announcement to make.
"The training scores are on in 5!" he beamed, "I'm sure my finest tributes want to see how well they did, yes!"
Normally Aurum might have been appalled about being interrupted, but instead, she exchanged an excited look with Valour before hopping up and throwing her clothes on. they were rather haphazard, but she'd be taking them off again anyways in a few minutes when they went to get dressed for the upcoming interviews.

To say that Aurum was giddy was an understatement. She was bouncing in her seat as she gazed at the large screen in front of them, almost squealing softly, and an ear-to-ear grin plastered on her face. Granted, if she scored low it would be replaced instantly by one of confusion, fury, and anger, but that was unlikely to happen. After the fanfares, there was literally total silence on the District 1 floor. After all, Valour and Aurum's scores would be first.

"here they come!" Aurum squealed.
"Valour Drazen, District 1; with a score of... 12."
Aurum squealed excitedly, knowing full well that Valour was going to be shouting excitedly at this moment. Her eyes reverted right back to the screen though, because hers was next.

"Aurum Zianja, District 1; with a score of... 12."
she squealed, and suddenly, the whole building nearly shook with the cheering from the District 1 floor. 7 floors up, a certain mentor on floor 8 gave a long, disgusted groan. The others might have wondered why they were going nuts over this, but this was a huge thing, even for District 1. They had made history--they had become the first tributes to ever both score perfectly in the same year.

They managed to grow quiet, right as Nolan's score of 11 was announced. Alana's score matched it, which was not bad at all: 11 as well. The 44th Hunger Games had come down to a pair of tributes from the same district who had scored 11s, and so District 2 was definitely going to be worthy opponents when the time came. It was just business though.
District 3 was a bit lower, with the boy scoring an 8 and the girl scoring a 6. Maybe that was why she had been nervous?
the quiet District 4 pair did pretty well as well, with the boy getting a 9 and the girl a 10. They'd be pretty worthy opponents as well, it seemed.

District 5 did about average, with the boy scoring a 7 and the girl another 6. District 6 was the opposite, with the boy scoring the 6 and the little girl scoring the 7. Speaking of seven... District 7 was definitely not following in Keshet and Nesara's footsteps this year, with the boy only scoring a 6 and the girl scoring a 5. District 8 did a little better, however. The boy, Lodan, scored an 8, while the girl, Shelia, scored a 7. Normally, what was coming next would just be dismissed as more fodder, but there were always surprises in the Hunger Games.

"Farro Ciramonte, District 9; with a score of... 10."
"ooooh!" Aurum's eyes lit up. She didn't want this to be too easy, after all. "not fodder this year. That's like what. the first time in a decade?" she joked.
His partner didn't do too badly either.
Jessica Caseres, District 9; with a score of... 9."
"case in point." she chuckled. She was not fazed at all by it though. That just meant that they wouldn't die in the bloodbath.
District 10, however, was back to being fodder for sure, with the boy scoring a 4 (ironic, considering he was supposedly 18), and his 13-year-old partner scoring a 5. District 11 was back to being a mixed bag, with Ricardo, the boy, scoring an 8. His partner did a little better though.
"Joann Kader, District 11, with a score of... 10."
"All this means, if you ask me..." Aurum quipped, "is that the games won't be over in 15 minutes like we thought." she giggled.
The boy from District 12 scored a 6, and Aurum was fairly certain that little rope-girl wasn't hoping to score anything better than that. ropes? come on. sure you could hang someone with them, but...
"Lynx Chantrea, District 12; with a score of... 8."
Well, that was an interesting surprise. It was not spectacular, but that was a very high score for a 12-year-old. After a moment, her cute little face disappeared from the screen, the closing fanfares played, and the screen shut off.

There was a moment of silence, before Aurum screamed again.
"WE DID It, VALOUR!" she threw herself around him in an excited hug. "WE DID IT!"
Sure they hadn't technically "done it" till one of them was crowned a victor, but history had been made that day. Their odds had been shown as extremely high, and this was in fact the first time any two tributes from a single district had scored perfectly during the same year.

[Nachthexe]

Valour had been so absorbed in his time spent with Aurum he had nearly forgotten about the tribute scores. Fortunately though, Rumano wasn't shy to announce it. This startled the naked boy, but he didn't mind so much just feeling more excited than anything as he rushed to get dressed once again. "Of course! Time to see how much we dominated the others!" He responded to the escort man excitedly as he went inside. Certainly Miriam's point from earlier about them simply being numbers didn't go over his head, but at the end of the day it seemed to be some indication of skill, considering most of the lower scorers died in the bloodbath. There were of course exceptions to that rule such as the District 8 pair from the 46th games, but none of the tributes seemed that exceptional this year to be able to hold back hidden skills. Valour was admittedly biased of course though.

Two perfect scoring tributes in a single year? Was it even possible? Theoretically it could be, but Valour couldn't remember it ever happening. Not even the career districts could boast about something like that despite how much they would like to. Valour at least was eager to break that trend and was hopeful that even if he and Aurum hadn't that they would both still score high. "Hey, look at this! It's starting!" He announced excitedly as Claudius Templesmith, the man he knew as the games' official commentator came on screen and gave a few words. This certainly didn't excite Valour as much as he would have accepted, but by then he was already pumped up to see the scores and much to his luck District 1 came up first. Almost immediately everything else was drowned out by the boy's deafening cheering. He and Aurum had done the seemingly impossible. Two perfect scores. He knew now there was perhaps more than one thing he was bound to be remembered for.

"Holy shit. We did it. We actually did it and not even District 2 could repeat it." Valour blurted out in disbelief once he began to calm down for the rest of the scoring. He tried to imagine what had earned him that perfect score and almost immediately he suspected it was the archery as even he recognized he was much weaker with knives, despite being his secondary skill. He did know one thing by this point though, that the little Alice Desiete from District 8 would no longer be doubting his abilities. This simply brought a smirk to the boy's face as the rest of the scores continued cycling through. Unsurprisingly, the District 4 had also managed to score relatively high as well. It was certainly one more thing that didn't have Valour regretting allowing them into the career pack as they could definitely do some damage with their 9 and 10. Most of the scores succeeding were mid-range, although still decent for a pack of tributes who didn't really seem all that spectacular.

It was not until the footage reached District 9 that things began to get interesting again. Valour hadn't been expecting much, but when he saw the boy's score his jaw dropped. "A 10?! From District 9?! What the fuck did that kid do?" He blurted out, greatly surprised. Even his partner has scored decently, coming out with a solid 9. Perhaps more than just District 1 was going to make history this year as Valour couldn't even recall any games in recent years where District 9 had actually produced a formidable tribute. Of course they were nothing he and Aurum couldn't handle, but it was at least a chance for a couple of District 9 kids to survive past the bloodbath. District 10's same old trend of being bloodbath fodder seemed likely to continue, however, and Valour could only chuckle once their tributes' scores came on screen. "A 4? That kid won't last thirty seconds against us." He remarked as the screen shifted to District 11, which was definitely continuing its trend of strong females. However, one of the largest surprises came came in the little District 12 girl's score. 8. Valour was sure that girl had likely managed to break some sort of record herself by being only twelve, yet managing to still come out of training with a solid 8.

Despite all the surprises this year's tributes seemed to offer Valour could only contain his own excitement for so long. As soon as the footage ended he let out another deafening scream, certainly rattling the entire building. Aurum was of course doing the same and even proceeded to wrap her arms about him. "WE ARE THE MOTHERFUCKING BEST! WE WILL COMMAND THAT ARENA! BOW TO US!" He bellowed, realizing just how much control they could potentially have over the others if they were indeed the strongest tributes. Of course Miriam had emphasized scores were simply numbers, but many of them looked pretty authentic to Aurum. Although even he wasn't foolish enough to overlook that once in the arena all the tributes were bound to have plenty of surprises up their sleeves.

Naturally, Valour and Aurum's moments of celebration were only short-lived once the stylist pair made an appearance. Valour knew immediately what they intended to do soon and admittedly he was more excited than ever since he knew that Caesar would have plenty to say to him. He suspected that by now he was undoubtably a Capitol favourite too, with the perfect score simply serving to further cement it. "You two are overly excited now, but the fun isn't over yet. Ready?" Othello announced as he momentarily took a seat on one of the couches before whisking away the tribute pair to be styled for their upcoming interviews. Being from District 1, they were of course up first so had little time to waste before having to be at the studio for what was to come.

[Zulera301]

Training scores might have been just numbers, but the higher scoring ones tended to be better remembered--or the rare few that could pull off scoring low and still being destructive. That was one of Kyla Togisala's many feats, and so while her brother had already faded into obscurity to the point where the Capitol barely batted an eye to remember his name, hers lived on in nigh-infamy (or fame. take your pick). Paige Alwin had done this last year to great effect (of course, no one outside of Snow's inner circle knew that her score had been rigged. if it had been anyone else, the girl would have earned a 9), and obviously Alice DeSiete could brag about the same, given that he won the game by outsmarting even the strongest tributes using a vast arsenal of cheap but clever tricks.

But perhaps the likes of Kyla, Valendria, Dezna, Lyndis, Leon, Rye, Paige, and the DiFronzos would not be the only ones to be remembered through history for one thing or another. Aurum was confident that everyone would remember Aurum and Valour, the first tributes to ever both score perfectly the same year. They had brought great honor upon themselves, and District 1 was the first and only district that could ever boast two perfect-scorers in a single year. Not like they needed any more excuses to stroke their egos, but by golly, this was more like a full-body massage for said egos. Aurum's excited shrieks joined Valour's pumped-up yells, and not even the mentors could argue with it. They'd be able to boast that they mentored the first perfect set of tributes in Hunger Games history. Because now, Aurum and Valour could indeed say that they were "perfect tributes".

There was no getting around that Aurum had a rather high voice. not the annoying kind of high, but when that girl shrieked, it did hit some pretty prominent octaves there. But, who could blame her for expressing her pride and excitement in a moment like this. No, their diverse talents and raw strength and speed had definitely played to their advantages. Sure, sometimes the Gamemakers were biased, but Aurum didn't even let that thought cross her mind. She was certain that the others would treat her and Valour as the threats that they were. Anyone who didn't... well, they'd learn that mistake when they were killed in the opening seconds.
Ironically, Alice had never really considered there to be a contest between his archery skills and Valour's, although that was obviously irrelevant at that point, because there was no telling even if they would ever meet again.

"same thing his partner did, only with scythes, probably." Aurum suggested at Valour's slight surprise. "they were probably trying to imitate us and did a fairly good job at it. Nothing we can't smoke though." she reassured him. She made a similar comment when District 11 rolled around. Even the boys had been fairly talented lately. No one was likely to forget little Leon from a couple years ago, after all. she had chuckled at the District 10 scores in the meantime, fairly certain that District 10 would lose both its tributes in the opening minutes--maybe even seconds.
"Wonder what the cutie did..." she chuckled as Lynx's score showed up on screen. Aurum would have trouble taking the child seriously just because of how young and small and innocent she looked--perhaps a disadvantage if she had been like Kyla, but Aurum was fairly certain that Lynx was more like Hazel--cute and innocent, and while very clever [for Aurum had noticed the girl was rather clever during training], she was without real combat skills which meant all it would take to drop her would be a direct confrontation. Welp, melee fighting was Aurum's thing, so if she could corner Lynx, she could off the kid just like that.

Almost as if on cue, Aurum belted out in a massive, triumphant, building-shaking yell right alongside Valour. "PERFECT SCORES FOR PERFECT TRIBUTES!" she chanted, "WE ARE LITERALLY THE GREATEST TRIBUTE PAIR IN HUNGER GAMES HISTORY!" there was truth in her words too, if one considered scoring a 12 to mark a "perfect" tribute. Of course, Lyndis Montoya might have had a word or two about that, but she was 6 feet under somewhere, so she was but a memory. Of course, despite her warnings earlier, Miriam had a rather pleased and proud expression on her face, and she could not help but celebrate with her (and Price's) tributes.

Within a few moments, the stylists came to greet them, causing Aurum to squeal with excitement again. Hopefully she wouldn't lose her voice or anything (though surely some of the tributes on the upper floors were crossing their fingers that Aurum and Valour would lose their voices so they would shut the fuck up for once.)
excitedly, Aurum parted ways with Valour at the studio, following Othello into one room as Eirene took Valour into the other. This day very well might end up ousting the chariot parade day as the best day of Aurum's life.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "She probably won them over by being cute." He responded, being pretty sure that most of this year's tributes and spectators thought the little District 12 girl cute. Perhaps that alone was bound to work in her favour, making it more difficult for others to kill her. Certainly it would take a lot for all but the most sadistic of tributes to develop the guts to mercilessly kill somebody like that. Sadly, it had to be done though even if it was just business. That at least seemed to be the one fine line separating Hunger Games victors from murderers at least; they were simply killing to survive and Valour knew he would be no exception regardless of whether he crawled out of the arena alive or not. The training academies themselves definitely taught much of that as well in order to prepare tributes mentally for the games.

Of course, even as the last of the scores appeared on screen the celebrations were not yet over. Both Valour and Aurum simply continued their triumphant cheering for several more minutes before finally being interrupted by the stylist team. Valour knew immediately what they wanted so excitedly began following them out the door and down the hall. Soon he found himself within the same studio he had been placed in just days previous in preparation for the parade. That had been his first major public appearance for the games(second if one counted the trip from the train platform), but the boy wasn't naive to think that much would be determined then. It was at the interviews where leaving an impression definitely mattered most, particularly for the lower scoring tributes; if they expected to get sponsorship they definitely had the short-end of the stick in proving they were actually worthy.

"Well young man, this is your night. I expect you to look your best. You've certainly earned it with that spectacular performance in training. 12? What a great score." Eirene assured Valour once she entered the room and began gesturing for him to strip down. Just as before, he was expected to endure a chemical bath, although nowhere near as strenuous as the first. The outlying districts had it worse of course though, considering personal hygiene was probably the last thing on a severely impoverished person's mind. Eirene even knew this herself, having once worked on some of the outlying districts before finally being promoted to the "better" districts. The career districts. They were Capitol favourites, after all, so always got paired with the more experienced stylists.

"Me looking my best? That's not exactly hard you know." Valour responded to Eirene, chuckling. Any chance to stroke his own ego was one the boy took and this was no exception. Certainly being as good looking as he was he had a bit of a valid point, but even the best looking tributes were always enhanced by elaborate costumes. Eirene couldn't really disagree with the boy either so simply chuckled at his remarks as she prepared to work her magic on him just as Othello was in the adjacent room on Aurum. It was going to be a good night and both the stylists could sense it, considering the time they were dedicating into these two token tributes who had both scored perfectly.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "well, she *is* pretty cute. makes me wanna just pick her up and squeeze her." it made her hope that the little girl would have a quick and clean death if possible, but Aurum would do what she needed to in order to return home, even if it meant fighting that child. Sure the career tributes were also kind of in it for glory, but deep down, they too just wanted to survive. Most of them weren't in it because they wanted to kill kids or see them die; they were in it because they wanted the reward that came from winning. Besides... the Capitol wouldn't want a bloodthirsty murderer on the Victor's Throne... "Snow hates competition..." as a certain Alice DeSiete said in reassurance to his tributes. even the District 1 training academies did not so much glorify the fact that they would be killers as much as they taught that it was simply a means to an end--an end involving fame and glory. That was perhaps part of why they were so fine with turning on each other in the end.

As far as Aurum was concerned, the celebrations had just begun. It was not like she was going to get her interview cut so short like that Paige Alwin girl last year. She was going to be one of the hit stars, kind of like Rye Grove or Sagittaria Svenja... or perhaps even like Lyndis Montoya. Besides... she would have to set the scene, for ladies were first again, (Oddly, only the private training sessions reversed this trend, and Aurum was curious for the reason, but not enough to voice it) and District 1 led the show once again. Since she was the girl from District 1, she'd be starting off the show, and so she would make sure to blow away the rest of the competition, wowing them and getting them riled up for what else would come.
Easy as pie.

Aurum parted ways with Eirene and Othello, stripping down once it was appropriate, and cleaning up a moment later.
"Someone's excited," the stylist quipped at Aurum's bubbly enthusiasm. This was like the parade night all over again.
"Yup!" Aurum didn't even try to hide her brimming excitement. If she won, the stylists would have a very easy and pleasant job ahead of them, for Aurum was clearly very fond of fashion. It was certainly better than the outer districts, anyways. Word among the stylists had it that even Sagittaria needed some serious refining before becoming as attractive as she was in that fiery red dress. Girl on Fire indeed.

In the other room, Eirene was working with a similarly enthusiastic Valour to prep him up for the upcoming evening. She didn't mind stroking his already overinflated ego either, ironically, simply because she was proud of having such a strong and beautiful tribute that was excellent and likely victor material. Stylists weren't technically allowed to bet (although plenty of them circumvented this anyways--wasn't like betting was about to undermine the regime or anything), but needless to say, odds were high on District 1 taking the crown this year.

"Now this is more of an outfit rather than an exotic costume, so I could not quite expose you as liberally as we did during the parade, as wonderful as that might be. On the other hand, I do think that you will like where we are going with this..."
It was true that there was only so much you could do with a suit, but that didn't mean that it was plain or boring, (and especially didn't mean that the boy in question still couldn't look dashing).
Valour's suit was dark grey, but more of a silvery color, for it did shimmer in the light. It was adorned with numerous different-colored stones and jewels of various colors (mostly reds, blues, greens, and whites), especially down the front of his coat, which was left open. There was a shirt he wore underneath it, although it was low-cut as if to show off a bit of his chest without getting too revealing. That was one of the fun things about dressing a good-looking person so modestly. It left so much to tantalize the imagination, which was even more effective when said clothing would eventually be coming off (and with Valopur and Aurum? yeah. Eirene was honestly half-considering betting on whether or not they'd strip each other's arena uniforms).

Valour was also given a gemmed belt, which his coat covered most of, but since it was open, the buckle was visible, which was a golden District 1 seal emblazoned with jewels (mostly red ones this time). The details of the seal were not visible from a distance, but Caesar would know what it was (and so would Aurum).
For Valour's hair and makeup, the effects added were minimal; just enough to bring out his facial features, and his hair was kept straight and silky, combed neatly away behind him.
After this sort of dabbling was done, she turned the boy to the mirror to get his opinion before he'd step out and meet his partner before the interviews.

[Nachthexe]

Unsurprisingly, the cleanup routine on Aurum didn't take long. If there was something District 1 had over the other districts it was definitely their hygiene. Certainly they were in a better position to care about such things, but being unhygienic in any way was something that nobody from the Capitol could even fathom. It was for that reason alone that the stylists were usually pretty shocked upon seeing outlying tributes in the nude for the first time. That as well definitely made Othello feel that District 1 was definitely easier to work with. Certainly their extreme enthusiasm helped to so it was no wonder in the man's eyes that nearly every year they were somehow crowd favourites.

"We want you to stand out so we've prepared something to do exactly that. Don't get too excited yet though. It's not a revealing costume like the parade outfit was." Othello explained once he ushered Aurum into the dressing room. Just as always the walls were lined with various materials, but luckily for both the tribute girl and the stylist man tonight's outfit had already been previous prepared. "Ready for the big reveal?" He asked as he proceeded to pull out a fuchsia coloured strapless cocktail dress. Keeping to the previous theme, however, this one seemed to shimmer under the light. The frilled skirt was also designed to stop above the girl's knees, still showing off plenty of her legs. They seemed to be one of her best features, after all. One of the most prominent features though that was bound to capture the audience's attention though were the small gemstones inlaid in the hemline at the top of the dress and again at the bottom of the skirt.

"Accessories always make a difference." Othello assured the girl once she was dressed before pulling out the finishing touches to the outfit; a matching pair of heels and a small tiara that was similarly inlaid with gemstones. Makeup of course was also crucial, incorporating various shades of pink and red onto the girl's face. Contrary to the parade her hair was also styled up into a loose bun, allowing most of the emphasis to fall onto her face. "So what do you think?" Othello finally asked the girl upon guiding her to one of the room's many mirrors. So far the girl seemed impressed, but of course the stylist man wanted full feedback on his work like any artist did.

Fortunately, over in the other room Valour was similarly impressed with his own outfit. The boy had even began striking up several different poses in front of the mirror in order to view himself from all angles. This even had Eirene chuckling, although she certainly couldn't complain. If anything, it was flattering. "What can I say? I'm a good looking dude and and this simply enhances it." He responded to Eirene's own reaction, attempting to take it all in before going on stage. Luckily for him Aurum was first though so he could even further admire himself more backstage. Eirene definitely didn't waste anytime either, realizing District 1 was always first in the interviews. This prompted the woman to escort the boy out of the room to meet up with Aurum who was bound to be ready by this point as well.

[Zulera301]

In defense of the outer districts, they could not concern themselves about hygiene so much when power and sometimes even clean water were scarce. Of course, more important than that was the lack of food as well, and so working to feed one's self and one's family was much more important than ensuring that one was sparkly clean. Aurum, however, did not have that problem, being from a rich family in a very rich district. Enthusiasm for fashion and dressing up though, while very helpful for stylists, was not necessarily exclusive to the rich or loyal districts. Sagittaria, who was from a notoriously poor district (11), and Alice, who was from a notoriously rebellious district (8) were both big fashionistas. But, so was Aurum, and she was from a rich and loyal district, so it was win-win all around.

"awww..." Aurum joked. no, she was fine with it not being revealing. The training uniforms had been very modest, and Aurum had loved them (and loved getting them peeled off of her body). "Nah, I'm just kidding. I'm ready I'm ready I'm ready!" she was bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly, clapping, which also in turn meant she dropped her towel. Not that she cared or anything. She looked good naked--the kind of good-looking naked that would make a nice statue in some weird Capitol place or something. they existed, after all.
Upon seeing the dress, Aurum froze, her emerald eyes as big as dinner plates, and her mouth the same way. She gasped, and then squealed excitedly. Aurum squealed when she was excited--it was not a terrible thing, either; just how the girl expressed herself. Arrogant as she might have been, she was generally a rather cheerful young lady.

Aurum nodded in agreement, for that was pretty much one of her mantras back home. "oh yes, definitely," she smiled, strapping on the heels and donning the tiara as she sat down to let Othello do up her hair and apply makeup to her face. She was unsurprisingly very cooperative, closing her eyes for a lot of it and moving when she needed to. She could feel him working with those silky blond curls of hers, which brought an upward twist to her lips. Only when she heard the question did she open her eyes to look at herself...
and ooh la la... she was about this close to wishing she could make out with herself. She gave a little twirl (something that she was rather skilled at doing, even in heels) and struck a beaming pose.
"it's beautiful!" she exclaimed after her final evaluation was in. "I love it! everything about it!"

Eirene expressed similar appreciation at seeing Valour's approval. "just remember what we warned you about for the parade," she jokingly warned, "no stripping the lady till you're done with the interviews!" She knew they had more self-control than that, but figured that their tributes wouldn't mind a joke. the Capitol certainly didn't care about such things right now--if the tributes wanted to enjoy themselves while in the Capitol proper, they were all for that--gave them good publicity and helped strengthen their claim that they were caring and hospitable towards the district citizens (which was only true if A, they were tributes outside of the arena, or B, victors. tributes in the arena were nobodies that the Capitol literally cared nothing for as long as they had their victor at the end.)

Aurum and Valour met up, with a few minutes to spare before the interviewing sessions started. She could hear Caesar's fanfare playing as they approached the backstage. however, Aurum's eyes were somewhere else right now.
"well hello there." she grinned at Aurum. "someone's looking sexy today... which would make two of us." she beamed at him, offering that remark as her compliment of the boy's appearance. they'd have plenty of time afterwards to talk more about it though.

[Nachthexe]

Aurum's excitement definitely showed when Othello proceeded to dress her. Perhaps it was simply a District 1 thing or a girl thing, or both? Regardless, The man appreciated the girl's enthusiasm which only seemed to continued once she was fully clothed and examining herself in the mirror. "We knew you'd like it. Enjoy." Othello responded to the girl, putting on a beaming smile. It definitely made him feel quite satisfied with his work when somebody was as pleased with it as she was. "I suppose you're just dying to see Valour in his though. Don't pretend as if I don't know what you two have been doing all week." He continued, chuckling as he escorted the girl out the door. The two hadn't exactly been secretive about their fondness for each other, after all.

"No need to worry. The stripping comes later. Besides, might as well enjoy my last night here in the glorious Capitol." Valour responded to Eirene, winking as she led him out to be reunited with his district partner. The female half of the stylist team was certainly well-aware of Valour and Aurum's antics as well and didn't seem particularly bothered by it, like most of the Capitol. As far as they were concerned the passionate tributes were simply a pair of hormonal teenagers who happened to be in the presence of somebody they found to be good looking. In the minds of nearly anybody it was obvious what that sort of thing was bound to lead to. If anything, it was perhaps just yet another sign the Capitol truly cared for their tributes' well-being up until the moment they entered the arena.

"Hello, gorgeous." Valour greeted his district partner, glancing up and down her outfit. It was definitely well-done and flashy, but the Capitol seemed to like that sort of thing. Plus many of her best features were emphasized such as her legs and face. "Our evening is bound to be fun. I can feel it getting hot and steamy in here even." Valour continued as the pair made their way backstage. Naturally, this produced a chuckle from the boy as he proceeded to make a fanning motion towards his face. There was definitely plenty of fun to have after the interviews, although the boy admittedly looked forward to the interviews as well as it was just another chance to show off. That all came natural to the egotistical boy, but this time it was mostly a matter of life or death. Perhaps less so than if he had been from another district besides 1 or 2, but not even with all his conceit and self-inflated ego was he going to overlook the small possibility of dying. Technically the various dangers in the arena were never gone until a lone victor was produced and the career boy knew it well.

Certainly Caesar had been giving some words of his own as he often did before calling any of the tributes on stage, but this was only short-lived as he heard the first of 24 cues. "Here she is. The beautiful Aurum Zianja of District 1!" The man bellowed, signalling for Aurum to begin making her way on-stage. Valour knew the girl was charismatic so would pass the interview with flying colours. Even more so if she showed her sexy and seductive side, but that was certainly a given considering the nature of the girl. However, wasting no time, Valour simply glanced at her and gave his signature smirk before proceeding to open his mouth.

"This is your chance. Go get 'em, tiger."

[Zulera301]

Aurum could not help but giggle at Othello's playful jab at her and Valour. She was blushing, but the pink makeup did help conceal that a bit. "oh stop..." she playfully tapped his shoulder with her fingertips, "you're making me blush!" She put her hands behind her back and crossed her legs at the ankles, looking at the ground and grinning sheepishly--the whole 9 yards of (imitation) shyness. It was clear she was just playing the part, for she was anything but shy, but she definitely looked cute that way, and easily sexy as well considering her outfit and the shape of her body. "don't worry... I promise the dress will stay on till we're in private. After that... no such promises." Yeah, they had not exactly been secretive about their fondness of each other, and so Aurum was all but flat-out admitting that she was going to get naked with Valour yet again on their final night here in the Capitol. She had no shame in admitting that. It certainly went to show that the Capitol had no concerns about it. If tributes wanted to strip each other naked while they were here, that was all fine and dandy, as long as they stayed there. Rumor had it (according to a certain storyteller anyways) that a boy from District 4 and a girl from District 7 had done this to each other in some corner of the training center late one night--and that no one in the Capitol cared. You never know...

Aurum laughed, using her finger to tug at an invisible collar (since her dress was strapless). "whoo..." she fake-sighed, "you're right. I better take off some clothes so I can cool off... the balcony might be a great place for that." she winked. "I mean... look at this." she stuck one of her fingers into her mouth (the fuchsia-colored paint that the stylist had applied to her nails had dried and was just like the makeup in terms of how to remove it) before placing it on her backside, where she made a loud "TSSSS!" noise and winked. Perhaps unknowingly, she was following the old philosophy of Dezna Meraxa, who, like surely many before him, had said "make the best of the time you've got."
That could also apply to the interviews, where she would have to make her final impression before being thrown into the arena tomorrow, which could very well be the last day of her life. Granted, she would live in disgraceful infamy if she died tomorrow, so she hoped not to. In the meantime, she had some Capitol crowds to please (and tease), and an impression to make. If they hadn't wowed everyone with their impressive chariot outfits or their perfect training scores... perhaps the interview would "wow the remaining stragglers", so to speak.

Aurum heard her cue and grinned, blowing Valour a kiss as other tributes appeared and started slowly filing in behind Valour. "away I go!" She swayed her hips more than usual as she walked, and when she appeared on stage, she made sure to make this noticeable. She received numerous wolf-whistles, which caused her to brush a few stray bangs out of her face, strike a pose, and blow a few kisses to the crowds before finally sitting down and instantly, she and Caesar started off with introductions, Caesar popping a Capitol favorite question right off the bat.

"So Aurum... you seem excited tonight... has the Capitol been treating you well?"
Paige Alwin would have rolled over in her grave. Aurum beamed and nodded.
"I'd almost say they're spoiling me!" she giggled, wiggling her foot happily (since it was crossed over her other leg) "they give me the best stylists, the best scores, and the best outfits? what more could a girl like me ask for, except perhaps suitors grovelling at my feet?"
The Capitol did not mind Aurum's ego at all when she had just done so much to stroke their own. More cheers and wolf-whistles followed.

"It sounds like someone's excited to come home a victor!" Caesar grinned, "do you think you have what it takes to win the Hunger Games?"
"Of course." Aurum laughed, "I wouldn't have volunteered if I didn't. Besides... if I don't win, my partner Valour will, and so it's a win-win for everyone else, right? District 1 gets the victor it deserves, and the Capitol gets a really beautiful victor!"

"hoho!" Caesar threw his head back to laugh, "well it seems that you will not have any trouble garnering sponsors, especially with such charm and a pretty face. You certainly seem to know the Capitol well enough--we like our beautiful tributes, don't we?" with a turn to the audience, there was more cheering. It was hard to tell if Aurum was buttering up the Capitol or if the Capitol was buttering her up (or both).

"So... this Valour Drazen fellow..." Caesar's grin widened. apparently their story travelled fast. "a friend? a lover? a partner? where does he fit in your life?"
"A little bit of all of it," Aurum giggled. "one of us is definitely going to win this thing, and so we figure we might as well stay partners as lonjg as it's practical." she didn't really feel like she was putting words in Valour's mouth, figuring the boy would agree with her when the time came.

"Well, the two of you did score perfectly--the first time any district has ever accomplished such a thing. how does that make you feel?"
"I think it'll be good to know that they remember me for that and not just for my pretty face!" Aurum winked. More cheers ensued. The interview continued this way, and it was frankly, a rather cheerful and positive influence. Soon enough, Caesar took Aurum's hand, pulling the girl to her feet.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Aurum Zianja, District 1"

she waved to the audience one more time, blowing a few kisses before walking away, swaying her hips. As she was about to disappear, she wiggled her butt, causing wild wolf-whistling to occur momentarily.
She got to see the other tributes all dressed up this time. there were lots of pretty colors, but the one that stood out the most to her was little Lynx, who was almost dressed up like a small child in her Sunday best. she was wearing her hair in two little pigtails, with a light pink ruffled dress with frills on the sleeve cuffs, and bouncy skirts that showed off her little knees, before transitioning to kneesocks and little black strapped shoes (without heels). Aurum bit her lip to keep from squealing. She had a soft spot for that tiny little girl, but her stylists had done a pretty damn good job at making Lynx look younger than she was. She could have passed off as a 7-year-old with her height and weight and those bright brown eyes.
She distracted herself from the small girl when she made eye contact with Valour, and smirked at him. "good luck." she winked. Sure enough, moments later, they called Valour's name.

[Nachthexe]

Aurum definitely enjoyed being teased and it really showed in the way she had reacted to the stylists. Valour certainly knew it well too, having teased the girl enough to even have her stripping down. Of course there was no loss in it either, having been a mutual thing the pair had enjoyed every night since the parade. The girl of course only seemed to indicate an even stronger desire to take similar actions on this last night before quite literally the fight of their lives. "Dress stays on until the interview is over. Got it." Valour acknowledged Aurum's words, winking at her once again. It was becoming quite clear what he wanted and also what she wanted. It was their last chance, after all, as at least one of them was never coming out of that arena. At least not as anything more than a corpse. The reality of it was slowly beginning to sink in for Valour, but he knew it was simply business.

Sure enough, as soon as Aurum's cue came she managed to excitedly scurry on stage. Naturally, her entrance contained plenty of hip swaying and wolf whistles and cat calls from the audiences, but it was certainly something to be expected from such a flamboyant crowd who was about to be in the presence of two very good looking tributes. Valour couldn't even think of anybody else in recent years who compared except for perhaps Glimmer. The District 6 pair that same year had definitely had looks as well, but Valour had found himself finding them less appealing upon hearing rumours back home about the girl, Kiva, having turned into a major junkie upon emerging from the arena. He briefly contemplated that maybe the Capitol felt the same about her, but there was truly no way to find out until he was a victor himself. Him a victor. That was of course the obvious outcome the boy hoped for and even Aurum seemed to acknowledge during her interview that either one of them could be walking out of that arena.

Upon leaving the stage Aurum seemed to have a very similar reaction to that as when she entered. It made Valour glad to know the audience was probably in love with and adored her--it certainly meant more sponsors and they were always valuable. This was something the boy didn't get much time to reflect on though as he soon heard his own cue to go up on stage. It was time. Time to show off the second half of District 1. "I can do this, Aurum. Just watch." He responded to his partner's well wishes before proceeding to advance on stage himself. Almost immediately he was met with frantic cheering which only escalated when he decided to put on a show of his own. Between a few hip shakes and muscle flexes he too was quickly showing to be a Capitol favourite, particularly among the women who were calling out chants of their one towards the boy between blowing him the occasional kiss. "Don't worry, ladies. If I win this thing you will get plenty more of me." He responded to these gestures, winking as he finally took a seat across from Caesar who was laughing by this point.

"So Valour. We all seem to know you as quite the ladies' man, but rumour has it you can do much more than that. Care to explain?" Caesar opened up the interview with an obvious play on the boy's not so subtle entrance that everybody seemed to had so greatly enjoyed. This almost immediately put a smirk on his face as he proceeded to answer the older man.

"Of course I can. That 12 in training, folks? That's the real deal. When I learn something I intend to learn it well." Valour explained, shifting directly towards the audience who seemed to respond positively to this too. Caesar as well was definitely intrigued, wanting to know even more about the boy.

"Well in this case it certainly paid off. When you emerge from that arena as victor people will have no choice but to believe it. But tell me. Aurum seems fond of you. How do you feel about her? We're all dying to know." Caesar Began, shifting the mood slightly. Valour admittedly didn't mind though as to him it was simply an opportunity to give Aurum some more publicity, certainly something he believed she deserved.

"My district partner? Pretty much everything one can imagine, but most of all she's sexy. That is a trait that is going to have her remembered even the moment she steps into that arena and gets herself bloodied up. It's not like that is going to be too difficult either." Valour explained, chuckling. He was definitely confident in the girl's good looks, but he was also confident in her skills and beginning tomorrow that was going to be mostly what mattered about her. Everybody liked to see the strong tributes succeed, after all. At least that was the mentality in the Capitol, although he was sure in the districts they typically cheered on their own but the reasoning behind that was rather obvious even to him.

"So you are a confident and strong young man and obviously a girl you happen to be fond of is here with you, so I will leave you on a lighter note: how has the Capitol been treating you? Is it what you thought it would be?" Caesar managed to pump out one final question and one that was bound to be difficult for most of the other districts to answer, but Valour knew he had it in the bag.

"They've been just great. It's everything I would have expected and more. We in District 1 are all rather fond of you guys and since coming here I can truly understand the appeal. The fashion, the apartment, the food. All of it. I might actually miss it once I enter that arena tomorrow." Valour responded, giving the audience a bit of an ego stroke of their own, something they definitely began going wild over.

"Well then you will have no choice but to return once you win." Caesar announced to Valour before turning towards the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it one more time for the second half of our fearless District 1 pair, Valour Drazen!" He bellowed, giving Valour the cue to begin his departure amidst the cheering crowds. This of course served as a perfect opportunity to continue his same routine he had entered the stage with. The audience still loved it too, cheering even louder until finally the boy was out of sight. His eyes were soon on Aurum who didn't take him long to find. She seemed to had been patiently waiting, most likely for him. His full attention didn't go to her yet as the District 2 pair proceeded to wave at him, a gesture he returned. He was definitely friendly with them, but he knew very well their alliance was simply on a professional basis and that neither of them were likely interested in a closer friendship. Surely they knew better than anybody that such a friendship would only be doomed to fall apart due to the one victor rule.

"So with that out of the way we have plenty of time to kill. Either we can wait down here or we can go have some fun. I think I know the answer though. Let's go." Valour announced once he approached Aurum and rested his arms on her shoulders. This was only short-lived as he then proceeded to usher the woman towards the elevator. He now realized there was less than twenty-four hours until they were to be in an arena fighting to the death. It was really a surreal thought, but it was definitely the reality both he and Aurum were trapped in. Certainly they had gone in willingly, but that only gave Valour all the more incentive to enjoy what could very possibly be his last night with Aurum. That was unlikely as any career dying in the bloodbath was bound to be instant embarrassment, but the games were always full of surprises. Besides that though he was quickly coming to the realization that a good chuck of the children present at these interviews were going to be dead by this same time tomorrow night. Who those would be, only time would tell and it had Valour truly realizing what he was about to walk straight into. The Hunger Games were truly a test in any young person's life, even more so if they emerged as victor.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "the stylist made me say that," she winked, almost as if she'd be quite fine with taking it off right here and now, in front of the others, no less. Frankly... she was not above that. It might be the first time they ever saw sexy in their lives (well, except perhaps District 2, who were both fairly attractive as well for similar reasons), but... she would resist. It was also not lost on her that starting tomorrow, many of these children, even little Lynx at the (2nd from) end of the line, would be dead. She could be too sooner or later. Only one of them was emerging from that arena alive, after all, and so this would be her and Valour's final moments together. She'd want to make it count.

As Aurum awaited Valour's return (fort they could theoretically watch reruns of the interviews later if they wanted), she merely glanced around at some of the other tributes. Some of them were conversing with each other, such as the boy from '5 and the girl from '6, who were also situated adjacently to each other. Others were simply crossing their arms and remaining rather calm and quiet, such as Lynx, that District 3 boy, and the redhead from District 8. he'd definitely stand out from the other kids just because of how vividly colored his hair was. Aurum wondered if that would serve to his disadvantage or not. She sat down and waited for Valour to finish in the meantime, excited for what she knew was coming within a few minutes.

Soon Valour returned and Alana stepped forward,, she politely waved to her before letting her eyes meet Valour's. the relationship between '1 and '2 in the games were pretty much entirely professional, and while there were 'benefits' to the relation between Aurum and Valour, that was about all it was, and was otherwise professional as well. Hunger Games friendships were doomed do die, as any victor could tell. Few had won it alone, but all of the winners had emerged from the arena alone. It was a sordid truth, but at least Aurum could die her way(even if it was also the Capitol's way) if she was not able to become the next victor.

Aurum giggled coyly, but otherwise didn't even bother resisting as Valour ushered her to the elevator. naturally, she followed him a floor up and soon they were alone again. Aurum would have flipped her hair before realizing that it was still done up in that fancy loose bun and thus there was no loose hair to flip. She wouldn't mind if it came undone though. (regardless of her hair, her clothes were inevitably coming off.
"so..." she giggled playfully. "Now that we're here and alone, I guess the only question is deciding whether or not my clothes make it out to the balcony or not..." she was slowly walking towards said balcony, swaying her hips as she went, but was also going at a sauntering pace. pacing one's self could sometimes greatly augment the moment... but if Valour stripped her before even reaching the balcony... well, she'd be okay with that. She could already see that the night was gorgeous as always. This would definitely be a night to remember.

[Nachthexe]

Valour wanted to watch the other interviews, but fortunately there were re-runs for that. In the meantime, his mind definitely seemed to be on only one thing. Incidentally, Aurum seemed to currently have a similar mindset, prompting the two to waste no time in returning to the apartment. "Well here we are. We might as well enjoy it." Valour announced once he stood out on the balcony with both his and Aurum's clothes surprisingly still fully intact for the time being, although he knew that was likely not to last long. This was their last night of freedom, after all, before being shipped into the arena where at least one of them would spend their last days.

"The moon. It's nice tonight." Valour commented as he continued leaning towards the edge of the balcony. He was sure it was likely just his imagination, but the moon almost seemed brighter on this particular night. Maybe it was simply his mind trying to enjoy the natural moonlight while it could for tomorrow night he was bound to be under an artificial sky. That too was almost surreal, but the boy knew very well that the Capitol had the power and technology to do nearly anything. It had especially shown during the 45th games with the presence of many humanoid Mutts. To anybody else it would have been especially ironic that the Capitol put so much technology into a single morbid event, but Valour was simply awed by it. Not even the mighty Valendria had been able to keep a straight face while confronted with the horrifying creatures.

Despite it being the eve of the games the streets in the Capitol down below still seemed surprisingly calm, perhaps due to the fact the interviews were still going on and likely everybody was tuned into them somewhere. Valour did admittedly start wondering how far along they were now and if the others were attracting as much attention as he and Aurum had. Certainly his own bias hoped not, but he knew that even if the others did well in their interviews that he and the beautiful girl beside him still had the highest scores. That was bound to count for something, particularly while in the arena. The arena... It was something else the boy had definitely been thinking about. What sort of environment would it be? Of course he was still wishing for something beautiful, but the Capitol was often unpredictable. Fortunately, the uniform was bound to hopefully give some clues though. That was something that would only come the next morning, but Valour had made a mental note to examine the uniform closely as he's putting it on.

"It almost seems weird to think that at this same time tomorrow night we are going to be in some hostile environment fighting for our lives. Well in our case others will be fighting for their lives since we're the best, but it's hard to imagine that just about a week ago we had been back home eagerly awaiting this very day." Valour soon confessed, chuckling as he proceeded to stroke both his own and Aurum's egos. Certainly they thought they were the best now, but there were still at least a few other high scoring tributes out there such as the boy from 9 and and the girl from 11. They were likely to be some of the toughest competition up until the moment the career pack got severed. Valour could only hope that sort of thing didn't happen early on like it had the previous year. That Keshet girl had definitely been onto something by breaking them up in order to take them down. Not this year though. Valour was intent to keep the pack together for as long as it was possible. District 2 seemed to agree as well.

Several more minutes passed and thoughts of Aurum began to fill Valour's mind once again. Leaving the balcony's edge he approached the girl and proceeded to wrap his arms around her. "You looked lonely over here, beautiful." He remarked, glancing straight into her eyes. They were undoubtably one of her best facial features. At least in his opinion, but then again what did a hormonal teenager know? Hormones definitely were a funny thing too as he was definitely attracted to the girl, although he knew that proceeding to form any sort of closer bond than they already shared was bound to fail. Them being together in any sort of way had been bound to fail from the day they both stepped up to volunteer, but Valour was well aware of that. Instead, he simply intended to cherish the short time he had with the girl and it was quickly running out.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was admittedly curious about the actions of the other tributes in their interviews, as it could say a lot about them. However, she had kind of been mentally building up her hormones for this evening, and now that this evening was here, she was having trouble thinking about much else. If she did that in the games, it could easily be her downfall, but luckily she was much smarter than that. She smiled at her partner. "if there's one thing I'll admire that fire girl from '11 for, it's her philosophy to enjoy life when you can." here she was talking indirectly about death so lightly, like so many Hunger Games tributes before her. It could go on to say something about the District 1 mindset, but that was not something on Aurum's mind at the moment.

Aurum sighed pleasantly, perfectly okay by the fact that she was still fully dressed at the moment. she gazed up at the moon, which made her bun of golden curls shimmer, and almost gave a radiance to her particularly pale and beautiful skin. The surreal feeling that Aurum was experiencing was shared by 23 other boys and girls either making their way to their apartments, or still on or behind the stage with Caesar. the cool evening air felt wonderful against her exposed shoulders, arms and legs, although she would definitely not mind Valour holding her if she somehow lost more clothing (which in truth was more of a when rather than an if).

It was odd, how things could be so peaceful one night and so viciously frightening the next. 2 years ago, the tributes had been in a peaceful city bathing in the moonlight, and then the next day they were in the festering ruins of an abandoned, decrepit city under an artificial moon, surrounded by horrors of many different kinds. Most people were not quick to forget those red-eyed humanoid creatures that had appeared in the arena that year. They had been unarguably one of the greatest hits the Capitol had produced, which surely meant that there would be more of those in a future year or something. Aurum was slightly unnerved by them, but she figured that like Valendria, she could hold her own against them without becoming scared. Maybe it was her bias, but confidence certainly would help.

Aurum gazed back at Valour, who was a few feet away on the balcony as well, when he spoke. "it's amazing how swiftly things can change, isn't it? within a couple weeks, all the kids on the floors above us will be gone... and so will one of us... but I think we can leave the arena business for the arena. we know our strategies, and we know our allies... let's just sit back and enjoy this moment." she leaned against the balcony lightly, giving Valour a bright-eyed smile. There were crazy tributes every year, and those that would go down in history as memorable warriors or heroes. Even District 1 admired people like Dezna, Rye, Paige, Kyla, Valendria, Glimmer, or Lyndis (and of course their own heroic favorites, such as the DiFronzo brothers) for their ability to fight or for their clever tactics, and of course, there was respect (some of it grudging) for victors like Sagittaria or Alice, who had managed to best the rest of their competition and emerge from the arenas alive. Who would be remembered this year? Who would be forgotten? what deeds would go down in fame or infamy? Tomorrow would tell.

Aurum giggled as she felt Valour's arms wrap around her. her shoulders and upper back were soft and bare, and she smiled, fluttering her eyelashes a few times. "I might have been a bit lonely," she confessed, which in a way, was true, but she wasn't dwelling on that. "but you do seem to provide rather nice company..." she set her bare arms gently around him as well, enjoying the moment as she rested her head on his shoulder briefly. Technically if he could find out where to undo the dress (on her back), she could keep this position without even moving. It was certainly not like Valour needed permission to strip Aurum anymore (for she had let him undress her a few times already).
But on the other hand, this little moment... it all felt so right, and so perhaps ironically--she was fine with keeping her clothes on... at least for a few more minutes before Valour discovered how to pull off the cute little dress.

[Nachthexe]

Valour simply nodded as Aurum spoke. So she had definitely made the same observation and it all seemed so surreal. Most of these children just weeks ago would have been aspiring towards their own dreams and goals yet here they were about to go to their death. Valour was well aware that the mentality behind the games was much different outside the career districts so being reaped into the games had probably been the last thing on their minds up until about a week ago. At least he could rest easy though knowing that every kill he was responsible for starting tomorrow was simply business. Nobody ever wanted to become a murderer, but in some circumstances it was a necessity for survival.

So far the night was turning out to be rather calm and enjoyable, certainly a huge contrast to what was to come. "Company that I wish could last forever." Valour responded to Aurum as the girl proceeded to wrap her arms around him. Certainly a part of him didn't want Aurum to die, but it was necessary if he was to emerge from that arena. He could only simply hope that one of the others would somehow get lucky and finish her off before he would have to turn on her. However, that was about as unlikely as either of them dying in the bloodbath so the boy suspected that eventually he would have to deal with the inevitable. That was something he didn't want to think about too deeply just yet on this serene night, despite the bustling streets below which were slowly beginning to fill up with people.

Feeling Aurum quite close to him Valour finally removed his jacket, leaving only the shirt he had worn beneath it. As always the stylists had definitely done a good job on designing their outfits and this was no exception. Both he and Aurum definitely looked great, although the thought of both being in the nude also stood out as equally appealing. This soon to quickly take over too as he began stroking Aurum's back, eventually coming across a single clasp that seemed to be holding her dress up. Surprisingly, he had quite agile fingers so managed to slip them in between, undoing it and leaving the dress to slowly slip its way off the girl's body. He wondered how long it would take her to notice, but probably not long. He also suspected she probably wouldn't mind either so simply continued stroking her back with his hands.

"Look at that. It seems they're having their celebration now while we're having ours." Valour noted, pointing to the streets down below with his free hand. He could only guess that the interviews were wrapping up since the Capitol was now proceeding to go on with even more festivities just as they had nearly every night so far. If anything, it really showed how the Hunger Games was a pretty big deal in the Capitol, even if most of the districts didn't necessarily understand it. This particularly celebration though seemed to be larger than the rest, but it made sense really as it was the eve before they would get to see their favourite tributes in action. Valour was offered plenty of ease knowing he and Aurum were definitely among those. Even if they weren't necessarily remembered years from now their new record of being the first perfect scoring pair would be.

[Zulera301]

Despite the looming reality of death that hung ominously over them, Aurum was content with the flow of the evening. "mmm..." she sighed. "me too... the Capitol should just keep it night like they did for the 45th Hunger Games, and not consider it morning for a few more days so we can relax up here." it was a silly little fantasy with no basis in reality, but it was a pleasant little thought--her and Valour naked up on the balcony for however long they pleased. but... sooner or later they'd become enemies out of necessity and business, for Aurum, believed that no one else was worthy to take her life (or ideally, anyone, but she could settle for Valour going home if she could not.)

"mmm..." these outfits were so lovely..." she smiled, occasionally tracing a finger up and down the exposed part of Valour's chest before returning them around his back. She swayed her hips and body side to side as she felt the dress being unclasped. she swayed to help it slide down her body, leaving her in a flashy pair of purple undergarments. once the dress was around her ankles, she gently lifted it up with one foot, setting it aside so she didn't trample all over it. Sure it was just a piece of cloth, but Aurum felt it was a very beautiful dress and did not deserve to be so haphazardly thrown away. There was no reason to tarnish something so beautiful, after all.

"mmm..." she purred again, enjoying his strong but gentle fingers against her now bare back [not counting her bra strap]. She wondered if he'd keep her hair up. On one hand it would leave her neck exposed, but on the other, she would miss his fingers roaming through those lovely golden curls. She was at a dilemma... perhaps she'd let Valour decide without saying anything either way. She was in no hurry after all--the night was young. As lustful as her hormones might have been trying to make her right now, Aurum found that the sweetest of moments was when they were slow about it and took their time. Sure their relationship was basically friends with benefits, but at the same time, it was okay for her to hunger after more, Aurum felt.

"oh?" Aurum shifted slightly, stepping to look over the balcony, either oblivious to the fact that she was in her underwear, or more likely, just unconcerned. She kind of pulled Valour with her since her arms did not leave from being wrapped around him, but they had just shifted a few feet to gaze over the balcony.
"so how does it feel?" she smiled sweetly at him. The girl definitely had a gorgeous smile, looking rather exotic with her makeup and her hair all done up like that (unless Valour wanted it down again?), "being out here with the prettiest tribute ever to grace the games?" sure it was a little bit of self-ego-stroking, but she was sure he'd come up with a remark to stroke his own ego right in return.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Eternal night in the Capitol? Shit, I'm not even sure how the citizens would react to that." He responded. Funny enough, despite the power they held over the arena each year he was sure they couldn't do the same here. There was no way to alter the moon's natural cycle as far as he knew. Certainly he understood Aurum's mindset and definitely agreed, but it was nothing more than a fantasy. There was no way to prolong entering the arena, even if just for one more night. All Valour could hope for at this point was that both he and Aurum would survive the bloodbath, but he knew they would. Nobody scored a perfect 12 only to later end up slaughtered in the bloodbath, after all. If somebody did they were bound to become the greatest embarrassment in the history of the games, that was for sure. That was definitely a title Valour was not interested in carrying; if he was going to fall then he wanted to go in a way where he would be remembered positively.

"Well District 1 has the best stylists, after all." Valour commented, winking at Aurum as she complimented their outfits. They were definitely top quality and Valour knew he was going to miss them starting tomorrow. Fortunately, if he won there would be other opportunities to dress up, but it was slightly disappointing to know Aurum would't be alive to see them. At least there were plenty of other beautiful girls though. He felt like few could compare to the girl who was now proceeding to strip in front of him upon undoing the clasp though. Certainly she wasn't entirely in the nude yet, but it was bound to be only a matter of time before that happened.

Once Aurum was stripped down to nothing but her undergarments Valour proceeded to stroke her back just as he had done so many nights previous. This had her simply purring in delight which managed to bring a smile to Valour's face. He definitely enjoyed making the woman happy in any way he could, especially considering what was to come, so this was satisfying for the time being. Soon they were both leaning against the balcony as well, with Valour attempting to peer over further down into the crowds below. A part of him wished he could join in the Capitol's celebrations, but another part simply wanted to remain on the balcony getting intimate with the girl beside him. Either way it was a pretty win-win situation.

"It's hot." Valour announced, chuckling before proceeding to slip off his jacket and shirt. Certainly it was an exaggeration, but anything to tease Aurum was acceptable at this point. "The prettiest tributes will be the ones coming on top too." He responded as well, winking as he went back to stroking the girl's back. By this point he even shuffled in closer to her, hoping to feel her body heat against his. It was soothing just as always and, even if just briefly, it managed to divert his mind away from what was to come the following day.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "knowing them? they'd probably just keep partying till the sun came back up. Build a big enough forcefield around the Capitol and it could be done. This place would make an interesting Hunger Games arena..." she was commenting this in an innocent manner, not realizing that there was another victor planning on turning the Capitol city into just that--a death arena that was the epicenter of a great and terrible war. The revolution had not been quelled--it had simply gone to sleep, and had dwelt in Paige Alwin for the last 19 years until it moved to its new host--Alice DeSiete.
On the other hand, Aurum was simply thinking about another type of violence--the kind that would be occurring starting tomorrow, some of it by her own hand. She was not about to die in the bloodbath, and neither was Valour. A perfect-scoring tribute dying in such a humiliating and degrading way was inconceivable. No... Aurum wanted to be remembered positively if she had to die.

"of course." Aurum grinned, showing off those pearly-whites, "they give the best stylists to the best tributes.... they dress us well, and the way they do our hair and makeup is gorgeous!" Even in District 1, makeup on boys was not really a thing, although that was different in the Capitol, but Aurum was quite accepting of it. Of course, she was a girl so might have been slightly biased. While she loved being dressed up, she definitely also loved being naked because she looked good that way. however, she was fine with leaving her shoes and underwear on for the time being. No point in getting all the excitement all at once.

Aurum purred softly, leaning against Valour as he stroked her back, which she also arched a bit. She almost wished she could show herself off to more people like this. She was glad that she had been able to show so much skin during the parade, but the interview dress had definitely shown off her finer features. Aurum Zianja was definitely a creature of beauty. For a moment, it almost seemed like she was going to fall asleep with her arms around Valour and her head resting on his shoulder, but that was just a moment of soft and sweet serenity.

"I'm hot, and I'm in my underwear..." she giggled, looking at Valour's face and stepping back as he undressed some more. "I'm not complaining though." she was not actually hot (in the literal sens anyhoo), but she was quite fine with playing along, as well as hinting that she was fine if her underwear came off. No rush though. she pressed her body back against his, enjoying the feel of their bare skin touching as her hands wrapped back around his bare back.
"So, question..." she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder again. "do you like my hair up like this, or do you want it down?" it was just a curious inquiry, rather than a request of any kind. She loved pretty much any method of styling her hair received, and so she was mostly just trying to talk a little--underneath all the arrogance and enthusiasm and excitement over a death tournament tomorrow, Aurum was still just another young woman... even the careers were still human, after all.

[Nachthexe]

"Hunger Games inside the Capitol? That would never fly. They wouldn't want their beautiful city destroyed or bloodied, but I can't blame them." Valour responded to Aurum, suddenly contemplating himself about the likeliness of such an event. He was certainly well aware it would never happen, but a part of him was definitely relieved too since he was definitely among the admirers of the Capitol city's architecture. Somehow he felt most of the other districts' tributes didn't feel the same way, but that was irrelevant as of now since all of them would be leaving for the last time, starting tomorrow. Bloodshed. It was definitely on its way, yet again.

Just another positive about the Capitol was that they really knew how to dress to impress. At least the tributes' stylists did, although Valour figured it was simply part of their job description since they were supposed to be getting tributes sponsors. Indirectly at least. That was something ultimately left up to the mentors and whoever happened to favour certain tributes. That wasn't going to difficult in District 1's case though. The pair of tributes obviously had no way of knowing it, but since their training scores were revealed many Capitol citizens had already began jumping on board to sponsor them. It had only increased upon their seductive performances in the interviews. That alone was bound to give them a huge surprise once they were in the arena in dire need of something.

"It does look nice and really enhances your gorgeous looks, but your body seems to do that on its own." Valour responded to Aurum, winking once again. Surely at this point she was only in her undergarments, but the boy definitely wanted to see more. It was bound to be his last chance too, considering the arena was not exactly the ideal place for it. Theoretically the Capitol was not against nudity, but there would be little time for any intimacy while other tributes were bound to be on the loose. He wasn't sure if any were going to be particularly hunting them down, considering their high training scores, but either way he suspected none of the others besides the obvious were on their side. "Oh, and your hair? Take it down. I want to see the natural look before you're all dirtied up." He continued, raising his hand and letting down Aurum's hair.

Continuing to press against each other, Valour began to lean over and rest his chin upon Aurum's shoulder. Conveniently they were close to the same height, although being in heels Aurum currently appeared to be slightly taller. This seemed to serve to Valour's advantage though, allowing him to be comfortable without leaning into Aurum too much. This then had him raising his hands once again and beginning to stroke the girl's hair. It was definitely just as smooth as he remembered, although even that was bound to be short lived as soon as they were plunged into the arena. Most victors certainly came out pretty beat up too so Valour couldn't help but to wonder if that would be him or Aurum. He hated the thought of having his natural beauty destroyed by some mutilation, but fortunately the Capitol was generous to their victors. They allegedly had the technology to fix all sorts of injuries as well so the boy definitely had hope unless he happened to lose a limb or something. Then again, even fixing that probably wasn't beyond the Capitol's expertise.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "I could see them building a replica or something though," she suggested, "maybe for like a Quarter Quell... the 100th Annual Hunger Games!" she joked. the Capitol would surely do something magnificent for that year--celebrating a century of a peaceful Panem. 100 years of pace and prosperity... would she be alive then? If she was a victor, perhaps so. It was only a little more than 50 years away. If not... well hopefully Valour was there to live it out for her. death... it was such an everyday thing that so many, even from the outer districts, were desensitized to it. Even sweet little Hazel Prezelin had been fairly indifferent to it until she witnessed a few graphic deaths too many all in a short time period. It would have traumatized most people (arguably with the victor, it had), but the poor kid just couldn't take it. honestly, Aurum was banking on sweet little Lynx going the same way if she managed to evade a grizzly death in the bloodbath.

Aurum giggled. "well... if I could get away with it in the arena then... I'd stay in my underwear. you know I like to show off my skin just as much as you like seeing it." she swayed her hips softly as she stood there, enjoying the touches and also the feel of the night air against her exposed body. "so much pretty... glad I look good naked." she giggled. Yes, she'd definitely still end up naked (except maybe her shoes); just that she was sort of absorbed in the moment for the time being. squeaking cutely, she turned her head away from him when he told her to take her hair down, allowing him to pull it out, where it cascaded down her back and side, tickling his chest as well as Aurum's back.
"I like my hair done up," she commented, "but I also love it down... makes it easier for people to stroke." she giggled, lifting her head up to smile at him. It was truly a shame that they couldn't have two victors--the dazzlingly irresistible pair from District 1... who wouldn't love that?

As he pressed into her, she sighed sweetly and leaned against him, resting her head back on his free shoulder, allowing her golden curls to tickle his arm and shoulder. as he stroked it, she purred a bit. She didn't want to kill the mood, so she kept her internal thoughts quiet, and focused more on how she felt here and now--in her underwear, being held by an equally attractive young man whose fingers were sifting through those silky locks. She found her own hands migrating up Valour's back to give his long hair the same treatment. If she loved it this much, she figured others would too (and had learned from the last several days that Valour did in fact like it.

the tragedy then, was that such a beautiful person would have to die. She honestly did not discount the idea of Valour besting her, but was still fully confident one of them would return alive. But... how sad for him to die, or if he won, how sad it would be for someone as beautiful and flawlessly natural as her, to have to be killed. No, as fond as she was of certain cosmetics and alternations, Aurum was very proud of her physical figure, which was toned only through natural means, and great care. Aurum lovingly cared for her body, and clearly it had paid off. After a while, she smiled at him.
"so... I think we're still a little overdressed... wouldn't you say?" she was tapping her feet against Valour's shoes, (since they'd need to come off to remove his pants), and her hands meandered down to his waist. she figured he'd do the same for her (both articles, actually).

[Nachthexe]

A replica of the Capitol. Now that would truly be an arena for the ages, although Valour knew it was unlikely he would ever live to see such a thing. Sure a Quarter Quell was coming up in a few years, but he knew he would have to get through the 47th games alive to even get a chance of seeing what will be done for that. According to those back home though he did know that usually the Capitol went above and beyond in their arena design, creating something much more elaborate than was ordinarily seen in the games. At least that had been the case for the first Quarter Quell, but he felt it safe to assume they would take a similar path with the second. "Maybe they will even do it in three years from now. There's a Quarter Quell coming up then. I'm admittedly intrigued to see what will be done for that. Apparently in the last one districts had to elect their own tributes. If that had been the case for us then surely we would have been elected on the basis that one of us could win." Valour replied, chuckling as he took the opportunity for more ego stroking. Then in his typical fashion he put on a massive smirk. Very soon he would be presented with the opportunity to prove that District 1, he and Aurum in particular, truly were the best.

Not only was the District 1 pair convinced they were the best at fighting, but certainly that they were the best in looks as well. At least Valour seemed to believe so as he continued glaring at her, taking in all her allure. The stroking motions down her back also continued long after her hair was pulled loose. Aurum definitely seemed to still enjoy it too, simply purring as it continued. Valour enjoyed pleasuring the girl on this particular night, especially considering it was to be their last chance to truly do so unless they were able to stomach humiliation in the districts. The games were broadcast all over Panem, after all, and somehow Valour doubted suggestive and sexual content was something the Capitol would cut. If anything, it was something that would only further their own ideology that the tributes are able to experience happiness in the games, something that District 1 definitely believed even if the other districts did not. "Of course you're pretty naked. You're pretty regardless of which state you're in. I bet you could get covered in blood tomorrow and still be the prettiest tribute there." Valour proceeded to compliment Aurum as he glanced at her yet again before giving her a peck on the cheek.

Once Valour began stroking Aurum's hair he soon found the girl doing the same to his. That was something he definitely didn't mind. It was definitely a privilege on her part since the boy, as so unusual for anybody in his gender, was very particular about others touching his hair in fear of them either messing it up or dirtying it. Certainly the egotistical boy naturally had many traits he was proud of, but his hair was among the most prominent. He had managed to grow it out yet still have it look good. That seemed to be a trait few boys could pull off, at least in his opinion. There was a reason, in his mind. that nearly all boys kept their hair short. However, those thoughts were irrelevant as he seemed to share a similar reaction to that of Aurum. Both were definitely satisfied in the moment, even if he felt something was still missing. He knew pretty well what it was upon glancing up and down Aurum's body.

Fortunately for Valour, his sentiment was one that Aurum seemed to share. This put a smirk on his face as he proceeded to respond to the girl. "Of course, but that's easily fixed." Taking Aurum's hint, he bent down and removed his shoes, allowing for the girl to proceed on undoing his pants just as he had undid her dress. While he was currently more clothed than her he knew it wouldn't last long. The moment he proceeded to remove her bra and panties Aurum was bound to react similarly and remove his pants along with his undergarments. At least his chest was already bare at this point, having given her something to gawk at for the first little while, but clearly the girl wanted more. That was something he was definitely willing to provide and really cared little about how far it would proceed tonight. This was a special night so deserved to be treated as such as far as he was concerned.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "perhaps... it does make me wonder what the rule change would be... both in 3 years or 53. I guess one of us will have to live and find out, yes? it almost makes me wish I was younger... then I could have volunteered for the next one. If the arenas are above and beyond what they normally are... what tributes would be more appropriate than the ones that are above and beyond the best... like us?" she giggled. "I wonder if they still allowed volunteers back during the first quarter quell... either way, you and I would have made great candidates..." despite the subject of their conversation, there was something to be said about all of this. Here was Aurum Zianja just being... well, human. Sure there was a bit of arrogance that still showed but otherwise, these were the words and actions of a young lady who was genuinely happy in this particular moment, Having led a good life, she had plenty to be happy about, she figured, and by nature... underneath that powerful career girl was a young lady who, by nature, was just a very cheerful person.

Honestly, Aurum might not have been above stunts like this in the arena--maybe on the first night after everyone was falling into place to regroup for the night after the bloodbath, or maybe near the end when there weren't many tributes left. She was unlikely to suggest it, at least from this point she was not. Time would tell though. For now, she was going to just relax and enjoy Valour's captivating touch against her hair and skin. As simplistic as the motions were, it actually brought the golden-blonde girl a significant sense of comfort that she cherished and enjoyed. Sure she loved attention, but there was just something so reassuring to her about feeling someone's fingers in her hair that could just set her mind at ease. feeling those hands against her bare skin definitely helped (though in Aurum's defense, she had had far more people touch her hair than her body).
Aurum giggled, emitting a cute little squeak of delight as Valour complimented her and pecked her cheek ."oh man... I must be blushing as strong as my makeup right now..." She was certainly not shy to compliments, but it was easy to tell that she was very flattered by them. She gave him a peck on the lips in response. "we'll see soon enough." she winked, both referring to the fact that probably within a few minutes, she'd be getting completely naked, and that tomorrow, she'd probably get covered in a bit of blood. Even thinking about killing other people's children was not enough to break her mood though.

Aurum liked long hair--there was no way around it. Considering her own hair went down to nearly her waist, it was clear she had a fondness for it that wasn't going away. They'd probably let her do it up in a ponytail for the 'games, because loose hair had, on rare occasions, been detrimental to female tributes in the bloodbath. On the other hand, on some of those nights where they were able to just relax and enjoy each other's company (even the outer districts had had opportunities for this. Aurum was positive that they, the strongest tributes in the arena, would have plenty of time for it as well), perhaps she'd let it down for a bit.
Thus, Valour's hair was a very pleasing sight and touch for her. he could definitely pull off the long-haired look, and he did it well. On the other hand, despite how much they were lovingly (and perhaps a little bit lustfully) staring at each other, they wanted the rest of it gone.

Aurum giggled delightfully, glad that Valour had caught the hint. She had not minded at all that he had been more dressed than her. there was something about a sharply-dressed man that could make Aurum's heart flutter [though certainly also, what was underneath those clothes was equally, if not more appealing]. Moments after Valour removed Aurum's undergarments, Aurum returned the favor, and thus within a few seconds, the only thing on between the two of them were Aurum's heels [though if he wanted to see her feet, she'd oblige. she could see his, after all], which Aurum didn't seem to mind either way. Now that they were naked again, she found herself putting her arms back around him, pressing against him gently.
"with everything that happened today..." she whispered, laying her head back down on his shoulder like she seemed to enjoy doing, "I think I could safely say this is the best day and night of my life..."
and the best part was, was that it had probably only begun. Perhaps by now, District 12 had just finished their interviews, and so Aurum was going to enjoy the rest of this beautiful evening doing what felt right. This was definitely a very special night, and she couldn't see anything getting between that at this point.

[Nachthexe]

If he would have been only a few years younger Valour knew he would have wanted to participate in the upcoming Quarter Quell. That was sure to be a time for the best of the best to show off their skills, yet he was missing out on it. The Capitol did definitely seem passionate about the whole thing, somehow making Valour even more intrigued. "Volunteers in the first Quarter Quell? It's hard to say. How would somebody volunteer while others are elected by their peers? For the next one they should do something with past victors though just so one of us can volunteer and prove we truly are the best by winning again." Valour said, chuckling. At this point it was surely just a silly fantasy though since he was well aware that some of the districts didn't have both female and male victors at this point. "But yes, it will be interesting to see what Snow comes up with if I live that long." He added, truly pondering what was now bound to be a burning question in his mind.

Despite enjoying it greatly, Valour blushed slightly as Aurum proceeded to peck him on the lips. Mostly he had not been expecting it, considering previous actions. He couldn't complain though as this was very likely the last night they would be able to do anything of the sort beyond simple cuddling. Cuddling definitely seemed prominent among tributes if pairs like Kiva and Dezna were anything to go by. Valour suspected the two have had some sort of attraction to each other, although obviously it wasn't something they had been able to express in the arena. He couldn't really blame them for having attraction though as both had been rather good looking individuals. Of course through his own bias Valour still believed himself and Aurum to be even better looking though. Not even being bloodied up tomorrow seemed like it could change that.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the two hormonal tributes were stripping down each other entirely. This allowed Valour to pleasantly get another glance at what he perceived to be a perfect female body. All the training in the academies had definitely paid off for her in that respect, even if she wasn't going to be the one to emerge from the arena. "Good to see you once again, gorgeous." Valour simply confirmed this fact by complimenting the girl as he proceeded to glance up and down her body one more time before wrapping his arms around her again. Both were currently still standing straight up, although he knew this probably wouldn't last long as much of the previous evenings had been spent with them stretched out together on the balcony floor. For now though Valour simply enjoyed stroking various parts of Aurum's body while simultaneously attempting to follow everything that was occurring in the streets below. He could only guess that by now the interviews were wrapping up, having him greatly wonder what the adorable little District 12 girl had said to Caesar. She was definitely an intriguing creature and one that was ultimately going to be difficult for any moralistic human being to kill.

It was ironic really how a pair of teenagers about to enter a death match could say their best day and night was the one before entering said death match. For anybody else it would have likely been a day of dread, but not for these two from District 1. They were pretty confident in their abilities to actually win and it simply served to excite them. "I concur, but I'm also curious to see what sort of adventures tomorrow will bring us. Perhaps it was a bit of a sense of anticipation and thirst for adventure that also drove me to volunteer. When that Lyndis girl finally confessed to volunteering out of curiosity I thought that perhaps she was onto something. Maybe she was?" Valour confessed, chuckling upon mention of Lyndis. Certainly the girl had been crazy, but also brilliant. Never in his life would Valour have guessed the two could actually coexist within a single person's mind. Insanity seemed to steal away a person's rationality in many ways, but clearly not Lyndis'. Of course the girl differed from both Valour and Aurum though as they had been raised within the career mindset that the games were something honourable that young people should strive to win.

"Well the interviews are likely finished by now and we have an entire night ahead of us so I say we get comfortable." Valour finally announced after several minutes of continuing to stroke parts of Aurum's body. Just as in previous nights he let go of her and proceeded to make himself comfortable on the balcony floor. This time he only hoped he wouldn't doze off as he had the first night, although if he did end up doing so he certainly wasn't complaining. It was their last night of peace and freedom, after all, so it was best to just embrace whatever the night threw at him. "I wonder if the Capitol has begun betting on us yet? Surely there's pre-game odds on display." Valour blurted out in an attempt to instigate conversation while awaiting Aurum to join him on the floor. It was a legitimate mystery regarding the games though. He knew well that each tribute was given odds which constantly fluctuated throughout the games until they died, but certainly it wasn't unreasonable to assume that some existed based on training scores alone. Going off that Valour certainly felt good about himself too since his and Aurum's would no doubt be the highest.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "well, that would have been a disappointment for all the 18-year-olds that year then," she remarked, "still... it would have been interesting to see." It had been 4 years before Aurum was born, but she also knew that of all people to win it, District 12 had taken the crown for the first and so far only time. Aurum actually had a sort of somber respect for that woman, who, despite over two decades of mentoring, had remained one of the most emotionally stable victors of all time. "past victors?" she exclaimed at Valour's suggestion, "maybe you and Alice would both get picked and you could show him up the way you always wanted to." she chuckled. "that'd be a weird thought though... once you win the games... you never get to do them again..." she was just stating what she knew in that regard. Still, it was an interesting thought.

Aurum smiled after the little kiss, her own cheeks still a bit pink themselves from her makeup but also from Valour's flattery towards her just a few moments ago. She enjoyed cuddling, and when she thought about it, they could probably still do that during their time in the arena. Tributes had to sleep, after all, and there was nothing against the notion of Valour and Aurum snuggling up together in the arena. If they had watch shifts, it would probably be District 1 and District 2 switching on and off or something. Still... tributes that looked this good deserved to have a bit of cuddle time, both in the arena in whatever their uniforms were, or here on the balcony in their underwear or less. Aurum certainly had no regrets in showing Valour ever inch of her body.

Well... soon they were like they had been the night of the parade, with their entire bodies exposed except Aurum's feet. She giggled as Valour checked her out. She struck a cute little pose for him, lightly thrusting her hips outwards just once before letting his arms wrap back around her and roam across her skin. It was funny... here they were, exposed against the outdoor, evening air, completely naked while thousands of people were below... and yet it all just felt right. There was nowhere else that Aurum would rather be right now. she was much less focused on the crowds below them, or if any of their team could see them (if they could, all they'd get right now was a rather pleasant view of Aurum's bare butt. not an unpleasant view at all.), and much more focused on the here and the now. A bit of her was curious as to what the other tributes had said, particularly sweet little Lynx, who didn't even look like the type who would hurt a fly. But... there was tomorrow morning for that.

"well..." she suggested, "we could always cuddle at nights... otherwise, I'm sure we'll enjoy the games... that's why we volunteered for 'em, after all, innit?" she chuckled at Valour's mention of Lyndis. "man, that girl was crazy! I had kind of hoped she would win after Zak and the others had been offed" referring to the other careers of course, "a fearless, powerful volunteer tribute who was in it for the adventure or the fun? that's sounds like something out of District 1... though I can see why they didn't try allying with her. Kid was crazy brilliant. Her weird antics made me laugh. I heard she kissed the tributes--every single one of them--during training. That's hilarious, but it's also bold... I'm surprised more people didn't try to gut her sooner..." she shook her head, remembering that insane girl from District 10 the year before. Price and Miriam had told them the story of Lyndis kissing the others a few days ago (and they, of course, learned it from Gemma and Marcel the year before), and Aurum had found it weird but funny. She kind of wished to have met the girl in person, but it was not meant to be. Granted, she also did not know that despite all of her attitude, that she firmly believed there was no honor to be found in the Hunger Games. It was perhaps similar to their admiration of Paige Alwin for being such a passionate warrior, while not knowing of her intense loathing for the Capitol.

"mmm... but I am comfortable," she teased, for she was, although she knew that snuggling into Valour's lap would be much more pleasant. Well... unless they wanted to use one of their beds or something. As Valour sat down, Aurum remained there, casually glancing this way and that (and turning, occasionally giving Valour a back view of her beautiful body). "oh, I'm sure they have. our odds are probably like 1 in 2 each or something." she chuckled. After these remarks and one final pose, she squatted down and snuggled into his lap, leaning her back against his chest and her head against his shoulder (though she'd shift around to face him if he wanted). "I'd say something like 'may the odds be ever in our favor' right now, but I think they already are..." she kissed Valour's cheek softly, letting her golden hair tickle down his back. Oh yes... the night was young, and it was going to be a wonderful one.

[Nachthexe]

"Alice? I would kill that little shit in the bloodbath. He only won because he was lucky and happened to have a strong ally." Valour assured Aurum, chuckling. He of course was referring to Paige, perhaps the unlikeliest of places for anybody from District 1 to gain inspiration from. There had definitely been more to the girl than what met the eye, but in a strategic move Snow of course had censored most of her footage. There was no sense giving the rebellious districts further ideas, after all. Still, Alice's victory in the 46th games seemed to remain as one of the greatest upsets in recent history. Everybody had been banking on Keshet or Lyndis, only to see the former get sucker shot while the latter willingly surrendered. Once the last of the careers was gone even Districts 1 and 2 had been banking on either of those two, even if they weren't particularly fond of Keshet's tactics of tearing the career pack apart. Still, she had proven herself among the strongest tributes and the career districts were suckers for that sort of thing.

Valour very much watched intently as Aurum began striking up poses for him. Like any hormonal teenaged boy this managed to excite him as well, simply putting a smirk on his face as he continued watching. "I think I know what perfection looks like." He complimented her, chuckling yet again. Staring at Aurum's body was something the boy definitely didn't tire of and it really showed, although soon the girl was back in his arms which was equally as satisfying. Cuddling. It was definitely something he hoped they could do plenty of in the arena, even if they couldn't strip down. Fortunately, every arena seemed to provide some place for rest so Valour was hopeful in that regard. Besides, their alliance was large enough that not all would have to keep watch at once.

Valour burst out laughing at Aurum's comments about Lyndis. "Well it seemed like Keshet really wanted to gut her, but thanks to Alice she never really got a chance to. And the way she turned on her allies like that? Be prepared since something similar could happen to us when the time comes." He then proceeded to warn the girl that eventually the rest of the career pack would turn on them, even if it was just business. That was not something the boy wanted to think about just yet though, simply wanting to enjoy a peaceful night on the balcony. Aurum definitely shared similar sentiment, finally making her way over to Valour's lap. This had him beginning to stroke her again, knowing she quite enjoyed it.

Odds. They were an interesting thing. Sometimes they did determine who would win, but oftentimes they did not. Little Alice DeSiete's victory had been a perfect example of that. Of course nobody outside of the Capitol really had any way of knowing for sure, but his odds had allegedly been the lowest upon the death of the District 6 pair(excluding Paige since she had no chance of winning) yet he had managed to crawl out alive. Valour knew that he and Aurum would no doubt have the highest odds and would also likely be the final two tributes, but as always things in the arena were bound to be unpredictable. Often the type of environment played a factor in who lived or died. The 45th games had been a notable example, with most of the urban kids thriving while being killed off quite early in previous years. Naturally, he could only hope for something that favoured District 1. This was something Aurum probably wished for as well and she seemed to agree about the odds and to acknowledge this, Valour simply nodded and returned her kiss.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled. "we're looking like we'll have a lot of smart tributes that lack in physical strength," she noted, "so if we could drop Alice, we could do any of them in with considerable ease. Glad we didn't get any Lyndises or Valendrias.... or Ryes or Sagittarias." Not to say that they wouldn't have any good competition... just that that kind of competition was rather threatening. Aurum's disdain and thus lack of mentioning Keshet came from the discord that had shattered the career pack. Her logic told her that if that had not happened, Alice wouldn't have been able to cheap-shot any of them in the first place, which made him more of just a secondary problem. Well... and he was a victor, so whatever he had done, had worked. As a fellow dirty/cheap fighter, Aurum had to respect it at least a little, evne if she'd try to fight clean when it came down to just her and Valour (unless she was driven to desperation, but she figured it would be more of a fight for whoever landed the first good fatal blow.)

Aurum laughed, clearly flattered by Valour's words which had inspired her to thrust her hips lustfully. "so much flattery... stahp, Valour... I can't take it!" she was clearly joking, but she enjoyed having a little playful fun like that. She loved him gazing (staring) at and admiring her body, especially when she didn't have anything on. Clothes could tell a lot about someone's character, but they were embellishments. To see someone so bare and natural... that was to see who they truly were. At least, that was her opinion.

Aurum chuckled. "at least Alice did a few things right then... I'd have hated for such a pretty kid to get mutilated or something. Don't you dare do that to me, you hear?" perhaps an unreasonable request, but she'd rather die instantly than have it drawn out. She knew it'd be tricky too, because if he could stay away from her, he'd have an edge given that he was the ranged fighter. "but let's not worry about that... we can kill each other later. For now... let's be naked together." she giggled, snuggling further into the boy's lap. There was something funny about the words 'be naked' that could make many people smile, Aurum included. She'd rather focus on that now, rather than the grim ending of the games, even if they'd die with honor when the time came.

Aurum purred as Valour stroked various parts of her body. After a week of this, he knew her favorite spots (usually areas involving her curves, although she was also a sucker for these caresses on her hands, the front of her neck, her lower jawbones, or her hair), and so the girl was undoubtedly delighted at all of this. She wondered who had higher odds--her or Valour? She was fairly certain that theirs were the highest, but were they tied? who had an edge? would the arena alter the odds, or were the gamemakers already secretly showing this to the Capitol audiences?
She decided not to worry about it--maybe tomorrow morning. Instead, she gave a cute little "mwa!" when Valour kissed her back, and she gently caressed the side of his cheek to bring his face back to hers and kiss a little more passionately this time, though she remained slow and gentle to fit with the tranquil mood they had set for themselves.

[Nachthexe]

Valour nodded. "It's definitely looking to be brains versus brawn this year, but we will still win." He noted, realizing just what they were up against. Clearly some of those smaller kids who had scored decently were relying on smarts somehow. It certainly seemed to be the case with little Lynx and there was almost no way otherwise Valour could see a twelve year old scoring 8 in training. Unless the Gamemakers were just really impressed by climbing skills? There were definitely many questions about her running through Valour's head and he knew many of them would not even get answers. The girl was likely to die in the bloodbath, after all, being so young and small. Twelve year olds were usually almost always bloodbath fodder and Valour could only think of a few examples that hadn't been.

"I'm not going to stop. Never for you." Valour replied playfully to Aurum's comments, leaning in to kiss her once again. He definitely liked the way she shook her hips and only hoped it would continue, but that was unlikely. It was definitely something he knew he was going to miss once she was gone too. She didn't seem to want to be mutilated either, which was understandable, but death was not something Valour wanted to think about just yet. There were still several days ahead of them, assuming they both survived the bloodbath. Despite it being arguably one of the most dangerous parts of the games he was still confident they could both make it out, thus he didn't intend to dwell on the topic of death just yet. "Well when and if you die I'll just have to make sure you go cleanly." He simply assured the girl, before hinting it was best to shift topics during this peaceful night.

For several minutes Valour simply sat in silence as he continued stroking Aurum in all her favourite places. All around him he could only hear the faint sound of Aurum's breathing and the bustling activity in the streets below. The Capitol was definitely having a celebration of some sort, which hardly surprised the District 1 boy. He even began wondering if President Snow himself was among them, but then realized it was unlikely with all the last minute preparation he was probably doing for the start of the actual games. That alone was likely also a huge celebration in the Capitol, although it was something else the boy really didn't know for sure. Not even District 1 had much exposure to Capitol culture outside of rumours and the visits before entering the arena. One thing that was clear was that it was definitely much less a culture shock to District 1 than it was to most of the other districts.

"So now what? I'm so relaxed I could probably doze off here." Valour confessed to Aurum after several more minutes of stroking her with nothing but the atmospheric sounds surrounding them. He let out a chuckle as he turned his head to get a glance at her face before landing a peck on her lips. Despite them being very close to the same size he definitely enjoyed having the girl on her lap and only hoped it would continue late into the night, although he realized that sleep was especially important this time too for in the arena it was bound to be a rare commodity with several other tributes out and about. The arena. He still had a difficult time even believing it was just around the corner, yet he was supposed to feel ecstatic about it. Currently he simply couldn't feel much either way, only thinking about how much he enjoyed hoisting Aurum up in his lap.

[Zulera301]

"of course we'll still win." Aurum smiled, "even if my odds were one in a thousand I'd still believe I could win. 1 in 1000 is still a chance after all, and Alice DeSiete definitely proved that."
She paused, grinning. "but our odds are much higher, so it's pretty much a given that we'll win. District 8 might have had fighters last year, but this year, that's District 1... fighters, charmers, and just all-around sexy and confident tributes that look good naked." she did try not to think about little Lynx though. Her stylists had clearly been taking her down a cute and innocent road in terms of what they had dressed her in, given the pretty little pink dress with the huge bow on the back, and her hair done into little curly pigtails. if Valour had not shown up from finishing his interview, she might have run over and given that little girl a big squeeze. She didn't think the kid would have been angry. She seemed so harmless!

Aurum laughed. "to be honest... I am okay with that. you'll never hear me complain about too many compliments... I'm sure you can relate, yes?" underneath their sweet nothings, they did still have egos that they continued to stroke all night, and so Aurum was just feeding that notion. she chuckled at his reference of death. "I'll offer the same." she promised, although she knew it was not always practical or possible. Still, both of them knew how to make clean and efficient kills, rather than slow, messy ones. When Aurum begna killing tributes tomorrow, she didn't intend to do it slowly and painfully the way Flint had done to Krystal (especially not against Valour when that time came), but she'd probably go down the same route that Kyla Togisala had taken--fierce and deadly, but clean and effective. She understood that these were other people's children, but like most other careers, she had simply been desensitized to it (little did she knew that others, such as a lot of [but definitely not all] kids from Districts 6, 11, and 12, who were quite familiar with death in one form or another, were also fairly insensitive towards it in many cases).

Aurum rested quite comfortably in Valour's lap, with only the noises of their breaths and the distant Capitol ambiance filling their ears. Occasionally she'd tap the toes of her shoes together, but that was not a very loud sound either, so for the most part, there was silence. It was almost ironic that a pair of kids destined to become ruthless killers in less than 18 hours were so calm and tranquil at the moment, appearing to be as harmless as babies.
Perhaps there was something to be said about it (at least if you asked one certain Alice DeSiete). If the Capitol and thus the district had not drilled the mindset of a killer into them... would they have been different? Someone had once compared Aurum to Glimmer, only saying that they were different because of Aurum's ego and Glimmer's lack of enthusiasm for the games... perhaps they both could have been the kind, gentle, and sweet young ladies that Glimmer was, if not for that. Of course, these things did not cross Aurum's mind, all things considering.

"hmm... well, I'd say something about how if it ain't broke, don't fix it, given our previous track record this week... but I suppose we're free to do whatever we want, especially since this is the final night we'll be able to do this... I'm definitely not tired yet though..." she was very comfortable, but the adrenaline from the excitements of the day were still within her, and it helped her stay quite content. Aurum Zianja was lost in the here and the now, not worrying about the imminent threat of death that would come upon them all starting tomorrow, and was instead just overly relaxed with her naked body pressed into the lap of a naked young man that she was attracted to.
"maybe..." she snuggled some more, "I could turn around... or I could show off again." she referenced standing up, "I guess it depends on how much we want to move." she giggled, gazing at him with those bright green eyes. she was honestly fine with either option, or anything else, really.

[Nachthexe]

There were really no ifs or buts about it. There was going to be a District 1 victor and both the tribute seemed very sure of it. They were the first perfect scoring pair in hunger Games history, after all, so that alone almost served as an omen for what was to come. If they both fell they were simply open to becoming one of the greatest embarrassments in the history of the games. That was definitely the last fate Valour wanted. "Yea. I'm pretty confident we have this in the bag, but don't get too cocky now. We might end up with some cheap asshole like Alice trying to take us down." He replied, chuckling as he playfully began tickling Aurum. He knew the girl wasn't that arrogant to just overlook any potential threats, but the arena was still a dangerous place so caution was important. Particularly when dealing with the District 4 pair who were in the career pack, but perhaps it was only a delicate alliance since neither of the tributes were volunteers. Only time would tell on that one.

Valour was offered some relief in the fact that Aurum as well was willing to ensure he died cleanly and intact. Perhaps it was a vanity thing, but he couldn't bear the fact of his pretty face being mutilated as he died. Some parts of his body he cared less about, but he at least wanted his face recognizable. Many tributes certainly didn't get that privilege. "Good. I want everybody to remember my pretty face even when I'm gone." He confessed, smiling as he went back to stroking Aurum in all her favourite spots. At least he knew he could trust Aurum to carry out the request, although he wasn't sure about any of the other tributes. With the other careers it was possible, but unlikely with the others who simply just wanted to survive by any means necessarily. Still, it was only a minor issue at this point so one he was willing to gloss over for the time being. It did remind him of the fact that nearly every child currently inside the building was set to become a murderer though. Even Valour knew that the moment she drew his arrows into somebody else's flesh he was walking down that path, even if it was simply a means to an end. An end that would result in honour and glory, the one thing every career tribute seemed to want.

Fortunately, the tranquility of the night alone with Aurum had Valour mostly forgetting about what was to come the next day. Instead of the arena and death he thought about all the various ways to pleasure Aurum and even put many of them into action(much to the girl's delight). This definitely had the evening ending on a good note, even as the two decided to wrap it up to get some sleep. What happened on the way inside was particularly interesting though, with Valour once again grasping Aurum tightly and kissing her passionately before parting ways. "Goodnight, beautiful. And may the odds be ever in your favour." He finally uttered as he proceeded to go to his own room while leaving Aurum to go to hers. He knew that even if he want to sleep naked again nobody would even be surprised by it. They would simply assume the inevitable had happened once again, although this particular night had taken them even beyond what had been experienced the previous nights. It was quite literally a night to remember and possibly one of the best in the two young people's lives who were very soon being dragged off to a death arena.

Having many thoughts of Aurum on his mind allowed Valour to sleep very soundly that night, only being finally awakened by an unsurprisingly over enthusiastic Rumano. "Tooooooday's the day! Up!" He shouted as he shook the boy in bed. Slowly, this seemed to be effective, eventually awaking him and shooing the man away. In his groggy state he had hoped to see Aurum, but nope. It was definitely Rumano. He seemed to always be wherever he was needed at any given time so if there was anything to admire the Capitol for besides their fashion, architecture, and food then it was definitely their punctuality. At least from the escorts as Valour admittedly didn't know about the rest. Keeping that in mind, he prompted leapt out of bed and proceeded to the shower. Even if he was to get dirtied up he at least wanted to enter the arena as a clean man. It was definitely refreshing too and the uniform for the games was even already laid out for him, which he proceeded to put on once he was finished his morning cleanup routines.

Never in any of the recent years had the arena uniform managed to be as obvious as the one that now graced Valour's body. A wetsuit and a pair of water shoes. Almost immediately that brought many ideas to the boy's head, but one seemed to linger: the District 4 pair was probably rejoicing right now, realizing they were very likely about to be thrown into their home turf. It also managed to leave Valour slightly worried as the moment District 4 branched off from the career pack he and the others would have a serious obstacle on their hands. however, he didn't lose much confidence over this upon realizing that he and Aurum were still the highest scoring tributes. Even the stronger of the District 4 pair, Marina, had only managed to score a 10. This had him leaving his room on a much more positive note as he noticed the others already at the breakfast table. "Look at that. They're not even trying to keep the arena a mystery anymore." He announced, chuckling and showing off his uniform as he proceeded to take a seat. One thing he could definitely admire about it was the fact it was rather formfitting, allowing the others to at least get a glance at the outline of his body as he proceeded to kill them. Certainly the same would apply even more for Aurum who was more of a melee fighter.

"So interviews. Aurum and I missed most of them last night. We should perhaps know our opposition now." Valour announced minutes later between bites of his breakfast. Price immediately took the hint and proceeded to turn on the interview footage, which was played repeatedly with other game highlights. Of course, first up was the District 1 pair which simply had Valour gawking at both himself and Aurum. Even on screen they were two gorgeous looking people and certainly the Capitol had realized it too. That gave the boy high hopes as far as sponsorship went, although he knew the District 2 pair was likely to get plenty of sponsors as well due to the strong performance they seemed to put on in their interviews. To some it was probably eerie how similar sounding District 1 and District 2 interviews probably were, but Valour simply shrugged it off and attributed it to the fact both were career districts raised in a similar mentality about the Hunger Games.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "me? too cocky? that's like saying I'm too naked or something!" she joked. "nah... I won't get too cocky. a 1 in 1000 chance is still a chance, after all... and if a tribute thinks that they're already out of the running just because of slim odds, they're selling themselves short. Not to say that I want impossible competition or anything, but if they all just gave up now it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel. what's the fun of that?"
she did squeal when he tickled her though. Yes, she did quite like that after a while of tranquility (as Valour discovered on day 2) "Valour that tickles!" she squealed again, trying to playfully push his hands away from her vulnerable and sensitive skin. She kind of hoped they'd have time for that in the arena, since one did not need to be naked to get the giggles from a ticklefight. Besides... it might entertain the Capitol in a cute and silly little way, much like the antics of those wacky District 6 kids from the 45th games, who had dragged the little District 12 girl (and to a lesser extent, the kids from District 11) in on their crazy antics.

Aurum smiled back at him, "and you'll do the same, yes?" she insisted. "would you really defile such a pretty face when all my vitals are down here?" she pointed at her abdomen, but also at her throat as if that was where she hoped to get shot if she died, "actually... let's just worry about that when it comes. No point in trying to plan out our deaths till we get rid of '2 and '4." It was true that now that the death match was almost upon them, it was a bit more downing to talk about. But, they could negotiate business and other such things starting tomorrow when they were in the arena killing other kids. She wondered about the younger ones... little Lynx in particular, who she had a growing soft spot for that she couldn't bear to admit to Valour. She was a pretty little thing; adorable too... almost like a little doll to play dress-up with. Aurum kind of wished she could just kidnap Lynx and take her home with her. Alas, some things were just cute or silly fantasies.

But, what wasn't a silly fantasy were the things that she was doing with Valour right now, which elicited a lot of contented sighs, a few jubilant giggles, and various other whispers of sweet nothings or ego-stroking compliments, to name but a few of these things. After what was probably literally hours of these sorts of lively interactions and other such things that might not have been appropriate if they were younger (a couple of naked 12-year-olds? not likely), they eventually went inside after gathering up their clothes. They were met with the dim silence of the deserted apartment, the only sound being the clicks of Aurum's heels, which she left on. [she had been completely naked during the week though; the training uniform boots, while practical, did not add the sex appeal that these fuchsia heels did]. She squeaked as Valour grabbed her, but when she realized what was happening, she put her arms around him in return and pressed deeply into him, pressing their bodies together in a warm and passionate kiss and embrace.

"Goodnight, cutie..." she whispered in return with a smile. She did not move after he left, and for a moment she was just standing there in the nude as she watched him walk away. For a short while, she stood in silence, her hands at her sides, surrounded by the dimly lit common room, the moonlight pouring in through the windows. Suddenly, everything felt so surreal, almost as if this was all a dream. She had just concluded what was almost unarguably the best day of her entire life, and suddenly, she almost questioned herself. Here she was, on the eve of what was about to be the defining moment of her life--for good, should she come home the victor, or for end... should she die.
Here she was, a beautiful creature of 18 years; nigh the epitome of natural beauty and perfection. Had this really been the moment her whole life was shaped for? She walked to her room, for a moment just gazing at herself in the mirror. The reality that these were other people's children she'd be killing almost sunk in, but she shook it off. It was true what she said though. "When I put clothes on, I immediately put a character on. They're adjectives; indicators. When I don't have any clothes on, it's just me, raw and natural, and I can’t hide..."
She chuckled at the notion, because it was true. She donned the sexy outfits of the parade and the interview, and she was an object for audience appeal. Donning the training uniform had made her show off; and donning the arena uniform tomorrow would put on the character of a killer; a fighter--a career tribute. She was ready.
Till then though, she was just going to be plain old lovely Aurum, and she was going to sleep. She removed her shoes and crawled into bed, falling asleep and dreaming fondly of the events that took place today.

The next morning after the usual wakeup routines, Aurum realized that she had not even noticed the uniform until stepping back out of her shower wrapped in her towel. When she saw the wetsuit in shades of blues and blacks, she paused.
"this is bad." Immediately she thought of District 4... unless the gamemakers were playing tricks on her. Still... hse had to try it on--not because she was worried about fit... no, the Capitol had all of her sizes and measurements probably memorized... no, she wanted to see how she looked.
It fit her nice, being rather snug and form-fitting, which Aurum found appealing since it showed off her beautiful figure. other than the sizes, the only unique thing about it was that there was a number 1 on both of her shoulders, but that was a custom that the Capitol followed for both the arena uniforms and the training uniforms. Perhaps an easier way for the Capitol to remember the tributes and where they were from.

Aurum appeared and found Valour already there, but she was swaying her hips anyways when she sat next to him. "well.... this is grim," she joked, "unless they throw us into a hot desert or something just to screw with us. might give me a reason to strip down, so I'm kind of crossing my fingers." she giggled. the outfits covered all but their heads and hands (and feet, but the water shoes did that). "At least we look good though." she winked at him.

Incidentally, this morning Miriam was even present, and appaered to be stone cold sober. She did not look happy about it, but it at least showed that she was dedicated enough to her tributes to stay sober on the last day that she could speak to them or give them advice.
"Interviews, huh?" she flipped on the screen, "watch up, and dig in." she motioned towards the breakfast table, for they did not need to wait for the interviews to eat. Naturally, there was appeal in the District 1 and 2 interviews, and all four of them would almost certainly get lots of sponsors. District number helped, but as Rye and Sagittaria proved, charming the Capitol audiences here was one of the keys to sponsorship.
The others were not so fanciful, but were not necessarily bad either.the boy from '3 made a few witty quips; the boy from '8 managed to crack a few jokes off about his fiery red hair (Aurum personally found the boy's hair to be really cute, and with the closeups on his face, she also realized he had lots of freckles). the girl from '11 did a shout-out to Sagittaria and Rye, also lauding Smash from the year before to remind the Capitol and Panem that there were plenty of resilient fighters in District 11.
However, one of the last interviews was the one that caught Aurum the most. For one thing, Lynx looked downright adorable in that frilly little dress, with her brown little knees poking out between her socks and the hems of her skirts. She had her hands in her lap, bows in her hair, and was swinging her little legs lightly because they couldn't even touch the floor.
Aurum couldn't help but give a tiny squeal. "she's sooooo cute!" she hugged herself for a moment, before collecting herself and continuing to eat.

As young and simple as she appeared to be, the girl's words were very powerful.
"So Lynx..." Caesar had begun, "You were reaped for the Hunger Games, and despite the odds, you seem to always be smiling... what's your secret? Do you know how to win?"
"I don't really," Lynx had shrugged, "my secret is that there's nothin' I can really do now... so I make the best, and leave the rest."
Caesar complimented her courage, stating that it was rare to see someone so young score so well for her age, and also stay so calm and cheerful.
"You've certainly got quite the competition this year..." Caesar reminded her, "and as last year reminded us, the odds can quickly switch who they favor... any thoughts on that?"
"Well obviously I wanna win," Lynx had explained, "'specially because then I could help my momma. She's been really strugglin' lately, and so I'd wanna come home and surprise her... that sort of thing..."
There was a series of 'awww's from the audience, and for a moment, even Aurum fell silent.
Caesar proceeded to compliment the little girl's outfit, asking her to do a little twirl. There were no flares to Lynx's outfit, but the skirts did fly and bounce a bit before Lynx hopped back into the large chair. It was during this time that Aurum had noticed something unusual about the child's attire--namely, her hand. Caesar noticed it too apparently.
"That little silver band," the host had asked, pointing to a somewhat ornate ring around Lynx's thumb, "is there a story behind that tribute token?"
"It's m'papa's wedding ring," she explained, "momma gave it to me... said maybe one day it'll fit." she chuckled.

"well then you best be coming back out of this in one piece, young lady," Caesar twisted the story into a positive light, for it was clear that if the child had her father's ring, that the man was no longer among the living. "perhaps break Mr. DeSiete's record as the youngest victor ever!"
Lynx's eyes lit up, as if she didn't realize that the man was just simply doing his job at reassuring each and every tribute.
"Do you really think I can do it?" she exclaimed excitedly, "even with all those really big kids from Districts 1 and 2?"
Caesar leaned right in close to the little girl and nodded. "I think that if you play the games just right... the odds will *ever*... be in your favor."
Lynx squealed excitedly, as if no one had ever displayed this kind of confidence in her. Even if it was false, Lynx seemed oblivious or indifferent to that notion, and she sprang to her feet, throwing her little arms in the air. Caesar took this as his cue, and took Lynx's little hand as if to raise further in the air.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Lynx Chantrea, of District 12!"
the crowds had cheered, and moments later, Lynx had disappeared and her partner stepped up to wrap up the show. Aurum was left fairly speechless by this, and instead went back to eating to prevent awkward silence.
"Welp... there they are," Miriam clicked the screen off after the boy's interview had ended, "this year's competition." She sat back down and resumed eating as well, leaving them in relative silence--at least for a moment.

[Nachthexe]

Depending on which perspective one held both Valour and Aurum's attitudes towards the games were upheld as tragic or honourable. That was something that wasn't about to change even as the two parted ways for the night. As much as Valour hated to cut their more intimate moments short, sleep was important as well in order to prepare him for what was potentially the biggest event of his life. It was definitely one he was anticipating too, genuinely believing he could win it. The title of victor was one that came with much privilege, something that a boy like Valour very much strove for. It was very soon he would either bear that title or be nothing but a corpse and a memory. Of course it also got him thinking about Aurum as well who was certainly a suitable replacement should he fall. The final embrace and kiss with her on the last evening simply served to confirm it further, allowing the boy to rest easily.

"Water. It's definitely water. I couldn't see them throwing us into desert with this on. They at least like the uniforms to be practical for us. Remember those waterproof jackets that came with the uniforms for the 44th games? Yea, that says it all." Valour explained to Aurum with some confidence as she made an appearance the next morning. The boy managed to let out a chuckle as well, but mostly because he enjoyed the fact he could still make out Aurum's figure beneath the uniform. That was certainly one advantage for him, even if District 4 ended up having an advantage in other ways. "However, assuming we are thrown into a water based arena at least there's a chance most of the tributes will drown without us even having to fight them. We have our work cut out for us." He continued, realizing that career tributes perhaps had another advantage here that others didn't; they were taught how to swim back in the academies while it was possible many of the outlying kids may have never swam in their lives. That struck as particularly true for the urban kids. They were bound to have an especially difficult time, but they usually did regardless unless they were thrown into an urban wasteland of some sort.

Breakfast seemed to take longer than usual with the tribute pair simply eating while also taking time to watch the footage they had missed the previous night. Valour knew it had definitely been worth it so certainly didn't regret him, but clearly curiosity had gotten the better of him now. The interviews were bound to be helpful though with tributes even throwing out occasional hints about how they were bound to behave in the arena. Most of them this year seemed fairly generic though, although some of Cara's words managed to capture Valour's attention; "The biggest words of wisdom I expect to follow in these games is that no tribute should be underestimated. I think that could stand true for me." Either the girl was simply appearing overly confident like any other tribute often did in the interviews or she really was onto something. Only time would tell, although Valour knew the little thirteen year old girl from District 6 would have to survive the bloodbath to truly be able to prove herself. That was an outcome the older career boy was admittedly intrigued to see in action.

With Cara of District 6 being so young she perhaps had a cuteness factor to her as well, but Valour knew she was easily beaten out by Lynx of District 12. That was only further confirmed once the twelve year old girl's own interview came on. Aurum didn't seem to be the only person overjoyed by her either as the reactions from the audiences seemed to indicate. "Killing that girl will be hard. It would be like killing a kitten." Valour responded once Aurum was finished squealing the moment the girl appeared on screen. Surprisingly, the seemingly cute and innocent girl also seemed to have a dark side to her story as indicated by the ring she wore on her finger. Certainly nobody from Panem's wealthiest district understood the extreme poverty and harsh conditions of District 12, but loosing parents was fairly common and clearly Lynx had just been another victim of that. This had Valour feeling slightly sympathetic, but he knew the girl still had to die even if it was just business.

"Hey, look at that. Even Caesar knows we have this in the bag. The 'really big kids from Districts 1 and 2'? That man is adorable in his word choices sometimes." Valour blurted out, chuckling as he continued listening to Lynx's interview. Obviously the man didn't want to say it outright, but perhaps even he saw who the potential victors were? Two perfect scoring tributes from the same district. That at least made things fairly obvious in many peoples' eyes, even if the games were still full of many surprises such as little Alice DeSiete's victory or half-deaf Kyla Togisala becoming a vicious killer. Somehow none of these tributes seemed to have the potential to pull off something like that though so Valour knew he could rest fairly easily.

"Just as I expected. I feel we're up against brains this year rather than brawn. Well at least up until the point Districts 2 and 4 are forced to turn on us. District 2 I think we can handle, but if we really are thrown into a water arena then District 4 will be a lot more challenging. Despite our knowing how to swim they're clearly the more experienced ones, for obvious reasons." Once Valour was beginning to finish up his food he began to share his thoughts about this year's tributes. Besides Districts 2, 4, and possibly 9 and 11 about the worst he had to fear was a dangerous trap laid out by one of the outlying tributes, aided by their geeky District 3 buddies. When used correctly traps certainly had potential to be deadly, but thanks to his training Valour had some idea of what sorts of things to look out for in that regard. Still, brains were not something to underestimate if little Alice's victory had proven anything.

"So Aurum, I figure this is it. I'm sure that within minutes from now we're going to have to begin on our way to the arena. That very well marks the beginning of the end of our adventures in the Capitol." Valour spoke up after seemingly several more minutes of silence. Surprisingly, most of the table didn't seem talkative this morning, but perhaps it was simply due to this being such a bittersweet moment for everybody involved. At least one of the tributes they had surely grown fond of over the past week wasn't returning and that reality must've sunk in by now. It certainly had for Rumano who simply glanced at them both with a pure expression of sorrow on his face. The mentors seemed much more calm about it, realizing it was simply business, although Price didn't hesitate to hold back a few last words of his own.

"I know you both know this, but remember those platforms. Do not step off them. Also, it almost seems like a redundant practice for us in Districts 1 and 2, but soon a pair of Peacekeepers will be arriving to escort you both to the hovercraft. That hovercraft will then escort you to the arena and, well, I think you know the rest from there. Make District 1 proud and may the odds be ever in your favour." Price gave a brief speech in which Valour simply acknowledged by nodding before proceeding to embrace the man in a hug. Certainly District 1 was never in need of much mentoring, but he was thankful for the man nonetheless for the few times he had been helpful. He, of course, had a similar view on Miriam whom he proceeded to embrace next before moving onto both the stylists and finally Rumano. He wanted to speak words of his own, but knew that this wasn't a great time to get sentimental, considering what was to come. Last thing the ambitious boy wanted was to ruin all the focus and adrenaline he had begun building up for the moment that starting cannon boomed. That was a moment he had trained years for so didn't want to screw it up. Only a unlikely crash of the hovercraft on the way to the arena would ever ruin all that. Even the Peacekeepers seemed to sense that Valour and Aurum were an enthusiastic pair as they finally came bursting into the room, simply nodding as they indicated it was time to go.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was content with how the night had gone. It was easily (or perhaps tragically) the best day of her life, and it had ended on a very beautiful and intimate note. It wasn't like she felt the need to share any information on what those events entailed with anyone. That was her business and Valour's business--no one else's. Even if she won, she was not sure she'd tell anyone about it. She'd make it clear that she and Valour had been close, but even Aurum had her limits on what she showed. She had a private life too, even if she was quite fine with not making her body terribly private.

Aurum chuckled. "hey... a girl can dream... though I'd probably get sunburn if it was a desert anyways." she chuckled. She did have very light skin, after all, and those beautiful little hands of hers stood in stark contrast to the dark blacks and clues of the outfit. "I don't think they'd let the tributes drown... otherwise the game would last about 20 minutes because it'd just be us, '2, and '4, so we'd have to turn on each other right away. On the other hand... say hello to some beautiful uniforms." she winked, poking him playfully with one of her hands. Even with death on their doorstep, she was still in a happy mood.

During breakfast, Aurum couldn't help but nod at Valour's remarks. the girl from District 6 had taken a leaf right out of Leto Irizari's book, quoting her almost verbatim. District 2 did seem to much more emphasize the notion of never underestimating a tribute. Aurum was curious as to the story behind it, but the 35th Hunger Games had been when Aurum was only 6, so she didn't remember them too well at that point. Lynx though... Lynx had hit a soft spot. How could anyone want to kill a cute little girl like that, who clearly just wanted to go home and help her mama? if Aurum's own life wasn't on the line, she might have gone and helped the kid. But... killing her would just be business, and Aurum would not revel in the kill the way she might when she was killing a backstabbing ally or something.

"at least Caesar was nice enough to try and reassure her." Aurum chuckled, "that was so cute though... 'the really big kids from District 1 and 2'..." Lynx's observation was obviously right. they were not so large, per se (definitely not as massive as Valendria a couple years earlier), but they were fairly strong, so they were definitely a big threat. Similarly, they had all scored very high, with District 2 scoring a pair of 11s and District 1 both scoring perfect 12s for the first time in Hunger Games history. Still... as Aurum knew (and had stated,) the odds did not dictate the winner and instead were more like guidelines. some tributes could defy all odds, such as Kiva thanks to Valendria's stunt... or the likes of Alice DeSiete who was a cunning opportunist; or vicious and lethal little Kyla Togisala. Each one was unique, but each one would sadly have to die.

Aurum nodded. "all the more reason to gut District 4 before they do the same to us," she commented, "hopefully some of the outlying tributes give them trouble... maybe '3 or '5 and zap 'em or something." she was just throwing out random ideas rather than actually suggesting ones that would work. She didn't know anything about District 3 right now other than that the boy looked like he was in an alliance with the redhead and Lynx, but they were fairly clever most years, and so would hopefully not get owned in the beginning of the match. Traps... they had done in the district 6 pair last year; Aurum was fairly certain they could eliminate District 6 this year too if the trapbuilders were clever enough. District 3 had an uncanny building talent, just as District 6 did with vehicles and such. Dezna, the brilliant builder from the 45th games, had been a talented mechanic, after all.

Now her mind was thinking about the games given that they were only minutes away from the arena (maybe an hour or two at most). "all good things come to an end... perhaps the Capitol will disappera one day and be replaced with an even more glorious and shining beacon to lead this great nation." clearly, while this would have rebellious undertones if said in one of the outer districts, coming from a girl from '1, she was simply imagining an even more prosperous Panem with the same Capitol rulership and such.

Aurum listened to Price's words and Miriam spoke up as well. "if you see good supplies at the cornucopia," she reminded them, "take control. They will never destory the cornucopia, and of course, when the Gamemakers try to push tributes together near the end of the games... guess where they go."
Aurum nodded, giving the (normally) drunk mentor a hug, followed by Price, Rumano, and the rest of the team.
"I'll miss you all," she smiled, "may the odds be ever in my favor!"
Soon the peacekeepers came to escort them to the hovercraft. They were mostly just there for tradition, as the District 1 pair came without incident.
"you ready for this?" she asked him as they boarded the hovercraft.

[Nachthexe]

Due to Lynx's age and size Valour was bound to be incredibly surprised if she did survive the bloodbath. It didn't seem likely, yet at the same time the girl had managed to score a 8 in training. That was definitely an unusual score for somebody so young so the boy was quickly becoming intrigued about the girl's actual abilities. Could she do more than just the rope skills she had shown in training? There were plenty of mysteries about the tributes that were bound to not be solved until they were in the arena. That alone was almost incentive enough to hop in to action, but fortunately the time had arrived. It was time for the perfect scoring District 1 pair to show off some skills of their own. Clearly the majority of the Capitol was waiting on that.

Aurum's next remarks suddenly had Valour reminded of what they were potentially up against. Assuming they really were thrown into a water arena District 4 would have an edge, but District 5 would potentially have an even larger edge. They were the power district so surely knew of plenty of ways to wield electricity, which was bound to be incredibly effective as long as tributes were in water. Of course it was something Valour didn't know anything about, not being from District 5, but it wouldn't surprise him if the District 5 tributes were already having such thoughts upon realizing they were outfitted in wetsuits. "Shit, you might be onto something, Aurum. The minute those District 5 tributes get their hands on something that can produce electricity everybody's in trouble. Fortunately we can probably kill them before then." Valour assured the girl just as the pair of Peacekeepers had arrived. It really was surreal that it was finally time. The 47th Annual Hunger Games were soon to begin.

"Take control of the Cornucopia. Got it. Districts 2 and 4 can help with that. There's not much the others will be able to do up against six of the most powerful tributes in the arena." Valour responded to Miriam as he finally put on the metal cuff from his father that served as his district token. He didn't have much time to say anything else as the Peacekeepers finally began escorting him and Aurum towards the elevators and finally down to the same floor where the training centre was located. Confirming his original suspicions, one of the guarded corridors had indeed led to a hovercraft docking station. It was there where all the other tributes were finally meeting up once again, perhaps for the last time before being forced to kill each other. This even had some of them simply smiling at each other, but Valour knew all that would be forgotten the moment that starting cannon in the arena went off. It was a grim reality, but also a necessity if there was to be a victor.

Once up in the air the tributes emotions seemed to shift very quickly. Some, most notably the careers, seemed to express excitement and ambition while others were nervous. There were also an odd few who didn't really seem to display any strong emotions, Farro of District 9 being among them. Either the boy was intending to surprise everybody in the bloodbath or he was simply preparing to accept the usual fate of District 9 tributes. Only time would tell and the boy's emotions didn't even seem to budge when a Peacekeeper began making rounds to insert a tracking device into every tribute's arm. It stung slightly going in, but Valour knew it was nothing compared to what was about to be faced in the arena. The others seemed to realize this too. It was even something Valour wanted to point out to Aurum, but somehow silence currently felt appropriate.

After what felt like a very short ride each of the tributes were then escorted out of the hovercraft and into individual tiny rooms. By examining each of his surroundings Valour could make out that he was within another underground facility of some sort, most like beneath the arena itself. It made plenty of sense to him, considering the way tributes were rose up into the arena every year. This was only further confirmed by the transparent tube that was present in the room. Noting the platform inside it, he stepped onto it and was immediately locked in. There was now no turning back, but within moments he began being risen up into the arena anyway. Once up high enough he found himself almost blinded by the sunlight, but then upon closer examination he saw just what he had been expecting. Water. Lots of water, but also plenty of islands. Tropical islands to boot. Over on a couple of the further pedestals though he could already sense the District 4 pair's budding excitement at the prospect. They really were in their home turf and Valour knew that it was going to be within seconds they would be able to dominate the arena as the countdown from sixty finally began. Valour was ready to face what would probably be the tensest sixty seconds of his life.

[Zulera301]

If one asked Aurum, the hardest districts to ever read were District 4 and District 12. '4 was often considered a career district, and some of them did train for the games even. Other times, such as the last few years (sans Valendria), they were as unremarkable as District 9's bloodbath fodder. District 12 was similar. Most of the time, they looked like young or scrawny kids who had probably never eaten a decent meal in their lives (it was a sad truth), but as the last few years had shown, only a few of them were fodder. Even the two siblings had been drastically different--the older brother had been just that--useless fodder, while his younger sister Kyla had been one of the most legendary tributes in recent Hunger Games history. Aurum was curious to see where Lynx would get before dying. sadly, she would have to die for District 1 to earn its victor, and Aurum tried not to think about it too much.

"'5 might be dangerous," she nodded, "so will 3, ironically. Something tells me they know a decent bit about how to use water to their advantage... Heck, maybe even Lynx might have a chance too." she chuckled. Lynx had shown that she could even make nets with her ropes, (she could make almost anything with a rope, Aurum had observed over the last week), and so if nets of any kind were to be useful, perhaps there was a reason why Lever and Lodan had recruited her. "we just need to make sure '3 and '5 eat it in the bloodbath then. we can't have them cutting our victory short." That seemed like a fairly obvious assertion though.

Aurum donned her tribute token necklace, tucking it slightly under her wetsuit, which notably had a high neck--much higher than anything Aurum had ever worn (she enjoyed lower cut things for a plethora of reasons, mind you). She did kind of make sure Valour saw it, but that was just her being the tease she so enjoyed being. This was it... the day of reckoning. It was funny, and still almost surreal, for the tributes were smiling and some were even laughing with each other rather pleasantly. Unsurprisingly, among the cheerful ones was Lynx, who, even in a form-fitting wetsuit that showed off the small curves that the growing youngster barely even had, still looked pretty damn cute. She wondered if Lynx would manage to escape the bloodbath, or would the sight of so much death turn her into another Hazel? That girl had been smart and rather cute and sweet, but the sight of so much gruesome death ah just been too much for the poor thing.

once they were all shunted into the hovercraft, Aurum of course was very calm and confident, just as Valour and the other careers all were. There was no assigned seating, and so the tributes took their seats as they saw fit. a few were reserved about where they sat, but none of the other tributes seemed to be making hitlists just yet, not evne the careers. Aurum was next to Valour, but only smiled sweetly at him rather than saying anything. There was Lever and Lodan, those boys from '3 and '8 respectively, who looked rather calm and stoic. Next to them was little Lynx with her bright-eyed smile, swinging her little legs gently, since she couldn't reach the floor. On her other wise was Joann, and next to him was her partner Ricardo. All of them seemed fairly silent, with nothing but the sound of the trackers being shot up their right arms permeating past the humming of the hovercraft which would take them to their destination, and 23 of them to their graves.

Sometimes the stylists would be there to give the tributes one last parting word of advice or something, but Aurum and Valour hardly needed that and so they, like the others, were all escorted into private chambers, which gave them a bit of time to mentally prepare before they would be forced into the glass tubes that would take them up. Aurum did not really have anything else to do or say, so she stepped into the glass tube and let it hold her until the countdown began once again.

"Sixty. Fifty-Nine. Fifty-Eight..."
This was very real. And... very beautiful. Sure enough, there was water all around them, and it did give the pretty girl a sense of comfort in knowing that her arena was a very beautiful-looking one. She wondered what kind of dangers it held. She glanced around her and saw Valour a few pedestals away, and as she glanced the other way, she saw little Lynx taking a deep breath and stretching rather cutely. Even with her hands high above her head, she was still very small. She glanced back at the golden cornucopia in front of them, its mouth flowing with all kinds of weapons, tools, and supplies. Most of this had their names on it, although it would inevitably be plundered by the others in the next few minutes, who would snatch up some things and try to fight or escape. with a 6-tribute career pack though, the latter seemed more likely.

"Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen..."
There was silence among the tributes, and in the arena. According to Miriam, the bloodbath seemed almost surreal and silent when the bloodbath happened. the noises of the death and carnage around them, even when she was the one dealing it, seemed to vanish. Aurum wondered if this would be the same for her. she'd be finding out very soon. In the meantime she was scanning the abundant cornucopia supplies (they all seemed abundant compared to that one a few years ago with the metal shards), looking for a pair of swords. most of the weapons seemed like something right in District 4's ballpark, with spears and tridents everywhere. There were a few other weapons, and supplies were about standard rather than the abundance the year before. She did see a pair of hook swords that had her name on them, among piles of backpacks or ropes or nets or pointy weapons and such. She was confident. She was ready.

"Three.
Two.
One."
There was the sound of a gunshot, and suddenly, the mayhem was in full swing. Aurum was one of the faster tributes to reach the cornucopia, although Nolan beat her to it, grabbing a large club. Instead of holding onto it, he threw it with a mighty swinging arm, where it smashed into the face of the boy from District 10. Yeah... he wouldn't be getting back up ever again. Blood was shed.
Aurum reached her swords right as the boy from District 6 was about to snag them, so instead he grabbed some rope and tried to run. Unfortunately, running form Aurum meant death. Any remorse she might have had about killing was entirely thrown aside once the adrenaline kicked in, and she grabbed a trident from nearby, turning and seeing Alana pursuing a tribute. She launched it towards the two girls, killing the one in front so Alana could switch targets. With that kill, there'd be no girl from '7 to try and sever the careers this year.

[Nachthexe]

The next several minutes really were surreal with Valour riding on a hovercraft to the arena that could potentially end his life. It was quite literally the ride of a lifetime for twenty-three of the children currently aboard. Some of them almost seemed as if they had already accepted that fate while others seemed determined to ensure it wasn't them. Valour knew he and Aurum were bound to change that very quickly, however. There wasn't going to be much escaping from the six strong career pack for anybody. This was something Valour had great confidence in, simply allowing him to put on a smirk as the hovercraft landed.

Within seconds Valour knew that several of the children were going to be dead. This was a reality that truly sank in for the final time as the countdown began. The two District 10 kids, who were among the lowest scoring tributes this year, definitely seemed to realize it as well with the way they appeared to be shaking. This simply had Valour glancing at them. Easy targets for sure, particularly the boy. Most of the others were pretty hard to read though. Even the youngest girls, Cara and Lynx seemed quite calm and determined so perhaps they really did have a few tricks up their sleeves. Only time would tell. Valour knew he was bound to have some luck too as soon as he spotted a single bow off in the distance in the heart of the Cornucopia. For any other tribute that was bound to be one of the riskiest places to venture to, but Valour knew he could handle it. Aurum was definitely in luck too as there appeared to be a matching pair of swords among the mass of tridents and spears, rendering District 4 right at home. This had nearly all the careers confident and ready for whatever was bound to rear their ugly face.

"Let the 47th Annual Hunger Games begin! May the odds be ever in your favour!" The Head Gamemaker announced over a loudspeaker in the last few seconds of the countdown, meeting up with the boom of a cannon, marking the beginning of the bloodbath. Without hesitation this had Valour off, bolting towards the Cornucopia. Naturally, he was among the fastest tributes there, but much to his surprise one still seemed to be faster. The District 9 boy, of all people. This had him glancing momentarily at Valour as if to say 'I'm not fodder' as he passed him and easily snatched up a pair of sickles. For a few brief seconds Valour thought the boy was going to attempt to take swings at him, but instead Alana with her brute strength managed to intervene. This startled the boy before she managed to get a hit in on him, although he did manage to instead cleanly slice off the District 7 boy's head before snatching up a backpack and fleeing the scene entirely.

"Shit, District 9 might actually be onto something this year." Valour managed to utter, still in shock as he finally snatched up the bow. With each of the careers now armed he knew they were essentially unstoppable for the time being. This allowed Valour to load up his bow and shoot an arrow straight into the back of the District 5 girl's head, killing her almost instantly. Despite this though the District 10 girl foolishly attempted to attack Valour, only to get the same treatment but with arrows to the chest. This had the boy smirking, realizing that for the time being others seemed rather keen to stay away. This had him then attempting to track down the others to come up with a plan of action. He only had minimal effort with that though as the District 3 girl finally made her way to the Cornucopia, only to have Nemo come up behind her and effortlessly snap her neck.

"We should find the others and set up camp." Nemo advised to Valour as he dashed over and retrieved some weapons of his own. Valour simply nodded and complied upon grabbing a backpack and some throwing knives of his own. By this point, realizing the career pack this year was powerful many of the weaker tributes were beginning to flee. This delighted Valour since it meant a possibility to take control of the Cornucopia early on, but even that had its risks since nobody in the arena yet knew the exact layout of the environment they were dealing with and where other tributes could go to possibly get the strategic upper ground.

[Zulera301]

During the fight Aurum managed to injure the arm of the girl from District 8, but she had apaprently learned a few tricks from her mentor, causing her to zigzag away form Aurum with supplies in tow. Whether she was going to ally with her red-headed partner or not still remained to be seen. Instead, Aurum turned around to attack the scrawny boy form District 12, but she chased him right into Alana, who finished him with a trident. He had not had the same appeal that his little 12-year-old partner had had (he had been 17), although Aurum did recall that he just wanted to survive--like any of the other 7 or 8 boys and girls that now lay dead all around them.

District 9... perhaps that boy's score of 10 had been earned after all. then again, District 7 had not done too spectacular this time around anyways, so maybe it was just an easy kill kind of like Alice's shot at the District 10 boy from last year. On the other hand, that didn't matter much. A kill was a kill, cheap as it might have been, just like a win was a win. While Aurum was not terribly fond of Alice, she couldn't help but at least tip her hat to the fact that he had won the Hunger Games. Not many others could ever boast about that, but she hoped to become one of them as she entered what could very well be the final phase of her life.

In the thick of it all, a few of the ropes had disappeared, and while everyone was hacking and killing each other, Joann from District 11 simply punched and kicked her way through the crowds as she snatched up some katars, a rope net, and a backpack before taking off towards the water again. Aurum had been busy chasing the District 12 boy at the time, and so the girl from '11 escaped, as well as her partner. Lever and Lodan looted one of the smaller crates, hauling it off during the fray of all things, even as Shelia disappeared and Lever's partner was slain. Alas, some friendships or alliances did not last long once in the arena.

Lynx was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Jessica, Farro's partner. Since all of the tributes seemed to have either been killed off or run from the mighty career pack, none of which had sustained any real injuries, it was time to fall back and regroup and set up camp, as Nemo indicated. Aurum helped in the ways she could, pulling her weight with the others (though sometimes wiggling her butt in front of Valour, or flipping her hair. her nice figure was still visible through her outfit, after all. it might be even better if (or rather, when) she got wet.

She glanced around them at the bodies that would likely have to remain there for a few more hours or so before the Capitol decided the bloodbath was over. the cannons would fire that evening, and the dead would appear on the sky. For now though, she glanced at the pile of supplies and weapons around them and was content.
"So..." she turned to Valour. "Hunger Games... was it everything you imagined?" Already Aurum was flecked with bits of blood since she was a melee fighter while her partner was still fairly clean given that he had killed his tributes from a range. her swords were also unsurprisingly bloodied, but that was to be expected. Day 1... not a bad haul.

[Nachthexe]

It wasn't until many of the others fled that Cara and Edison managed to make an appearance at the Cornucopia. This managed to catch Valour and all the others entirely off guard as they ran in, grabbed supplies, and ran out. This, of course, allowed them to get away unscathed on their way to safety for the night. It also proved them both to be rather clever, something Valour certainly couldn't overlook. Initially it even seemed odd they hadn't tried to attack while the careers were vulnerable, although Valour soon figured out that they were likely trying to detract attention away from themselves. That made it quite clear what sort of game they were attempting to play. This really was bound to be brawn up against brains, but Valour felt ready to take on whatever came his way.

Valour now knew there were at least two alliances relying on brains, judging by the way both had made their appearances to the Cornucopia. Some hadn't made appearances at all, which Valour inferred was probably smart on their part, considering the way the career pack currently controlled the Cornucopia. However, there seemed to be at least a few tributes who could hold their own, Farro in particular. His speed alone was enough to make him a formidable opponent, considering the way Valour had witnessed the boy easily outrunning him on the way to the Cornucopia. He definitely knew how to strike quickly with those sickles of his as well. Joann looked to also have some potential, although none of the career pack had really seen her in full action yet. Other than that though, things were so far looking pretty good for the career pack.

"Nemo's right. We should set up camp, although we seem to have multiple options. Either we can stick around here since not many will dare attacking a six strong career pack, or we can get to know our surroundings a bit more. We have admittedly only seen this one corner of the arena." Valour explained once he believed he had everybody's attention. He was hoping the others would offer advice as well as admittedly he wanted to see more of the arena, although he wasn't inherently opposed to sticking around the Cornucopia. Controlling it was key to controlling the arena, after all. More peculiarly there didn't seem to be much food there this year though. Water did seem to be present, which got Valour wondering if they now had access to the only source of fresh water in the arena. The water that surrounded the islands was unmistakably salt water, after all, judging by the waft in the air that was now mixed with the scent of blood.

"No need to worry. Nemo and I probably know these parts like the back of our hands if we need to pack up and leave quickly. It reminds us of home really, the scent and all. Well minus the blood of course." Marina was the next to speak, interjecting as she finally made an appearance. Valour found himself listening intently to the girl, realizing she had a point. If there was anybody who would know their way around in this environment it was them. He was very quickly realizing that the District 4 pair were indeed very valuable allies and ones he definitely didn't regret taking in. "Oh, and I doubt the Capitol would provide a single source of fresh water. I suspect there could be more. Maybe on those smaller islands? Some species of tree can store water, or there's a possibility of oases." Marina continued, willingly sharing even more of her knowledge.

"I suppose you can say that so far, but we're only just beginning." Valour soon turned towards Aurum as he heard her speaking. Despite the bloodbath having ended only minutes ago she seemed quite content now, despite being flecked with blood from each of her victims. Fortunately for her there was plenty of water around if it began to bother her, but Valour figured the girl would sort that out later if it became an issue. "So you heard me and the others. We have a choice to make. Staying here gives us plenty of supplies, but it also leaves us with the disadvantage of not knowing our surroundings. I will let the pretty lady decide." Valour continued, hoping for an answer. District 2 hadn't spoken up much, but he figured it was probably because they were content with whatever was decided so now he was simply leaving it up to Aurum whom he proceeded to wink at.

[Zulera301]

Aurum had managed to account for most of the other tributes in the arena. 8 were dead, and 6 were in the cornucopia in the form of the career pack. She had seen Shelia, Lever and Lodan run off, as well as both kids from District 11 and District 9 (in different directions, however). It didn't even seem like the District 9 pair were working together; but that they were running in the same direction. Maybe they had silently agreed not to kill each other unless it came to that or something. That just left three tributes unaccounted for: Edison, Cara, & Lynx. Then again, they were all fairly tiny and so they might gave been easier to miss. However, a few moments later, the smaller pair zipped on through, snatching up a few supplies on the outer fringes before zooming off. They knew better than to go for the ones in the center obviously. Still, it was rather impressive, for if the careers had been alert, they could have easily been shot down, or perhaps even someone with a vicious throwing arm like Alana could have done one of them in with a spear. But... there'd be plenty of time to get back at them. Now that just left Lynx...

but... Lynx did not ever show up, nor had she ever seen the child wander off. Had she disappeared and been killed out of sight form the cornucopia? There'd be no way of truly knowing till tonight. It amused Aurum that there were some tributes that were flying solo. District 9 seemed to be doing that, although the boy seemed more threatening than the girl. District 11 was similar, but the opposite (the girl looked more potent than the boy). All she had really done though was punch and shove her way to the center to get what she wanted. She had even managed to shove Aurum out of the way, but in the golden-haired girl's adrenaline rush, she had hardly noticed, and all it had really caused her to do was switch targets as she was killing off other tributes. Now that was gone, and with the fading adrenaline, she could now recall that Joann had shoved Aurum in a rush for supplies. she'd get revenge on the girl later. There was not even a bruise from the incident (she was fairly certain, at least, but it'd take removing her wetsuit to find out).

The careers began to set up camp, since that was a general consensus while they discussed what else to do. The suggestion of the District 4 pair did seem fairly logical, especially since this was their hometurf, minus the blood and the other tributes. Of course, the Capitol sometimes had sick and sadistic ways of making things different, and Aurum did not forget about this. Not even their favorite districts were immune from the treacheries of the arena, but perhaps that was just more of the challenge, rather than the Capitol actually hating them. With how they were treated back home and how their victors were treated, Aurum had no reason to believe that they were anything but benevolent in the long run.

she giggled at Valour's remark to her. It was clear that he was talking about her, although even Alana and Marina seemed to consent that Aurum was "the pretty one" (much like people's thoughts on Glimmer DeLosSantos from a few years earlier). But, she'd worry about that later.
"Well if you ask me... if Nemo and Marina are volunteering to scout out the place, I say we can delegate them to it while we continue to set up camp and ensure that nothing else gets past our sights. If we let more kids like '5 and '6 do that again, we might just be a joke that some of the packs have been. We can't have that." Valour would understand this logic the most, since this was primarily an ego thing.

On the other hand, she was also thinking that this would be a test of loyalty, so to speak. Sometimes a tribute (such as Keshet last year) joined the careers just to ensure immunity from them in the opening minutes before breaking all things off and taking off. if the District 4 pair did this while they were supposed to be scouting out the place... well, then there'd obviously be trouble, but hopefully they weren't about to betray their allies only a few hours into the games.

[Nachthexe]

The bloodbath was unmistakably over and that allowed Valour plenty of time to relax before setting up camp. The general consensus seemed to be to stick around so that's what the boy opted for, beginning to reposition crates and supplies in such a way they would be well defended while still be afforded easy access to the rest of the supplies. With the four of them working together(since Marina and Nemo decided to act as the group's scouts) this was achieved rather quickly. "So I think we've seen everybody except for little Lynx so far. Either she's really excellent at hiding or somebody else finished her off before she could even make it to the Cornucopia." Valour explained once the group's camp for the night was finally prepared. Around this same time the cannons marking the casualties from earlier had also began going off. Valour counted exactly eight. It was a modest number, but he felt that as long as he and the others had control of the Cornucopia they could potentially end the games quickly.

"I suppose now we just relax until the others return. Unless they decided to ditch us already?" Valour commented, chuckling once he took a seat on the inside of the Cornucopia. It had been decided that the District 2 pair would take the first watch, with the two districts alternating throughout the evening. He hated the thought of the District 4 pair ditching them this early on, but he could also see their reasoning in doing so. They likely didn't need the strong allies only to have to turn on them later when they were already at a huge advantage, being in their home turf. That was not something Valour wanted to accept just yet though as there was still plenty of daylight, thus plenty of time for the pair to return. In a best case scenario they would return and with plenty of knowledge of the arena's layout, or in the worst case the career pack would have two new powerful enemies. "I doubt anybody else will be killed today, but I'm willing to bet that little twelve year old was killed. Poor thing. I never suspected she would make it far." Valour continued, then shifting closer to Aurum. If he was to get comfortable with her now was a chance, although it was likely not to compare to the nude experiences on the balcony.

It was nearing sunset by the time the District 4 pair returned, although they were both wet and exhausted. That was a promising sign to Valour that perhaps they had achieved something during their scouting. "It's pretty much what had been expected; we're indeed on a larger island surrounded by many smaller ones. The others appear to have valuable resources such as food and water. There's bridges leading over to them, but assuming not all the tributes can swim if we can take those out or take control of them then the arena is ours." Marina was the first to speak between pants as she dripped, although Valour couldn't distinguish if it was water or sweat. He didn't really want to find out either, but the girl didn't take long before she also entered the Cornucopia and took her place across from Valour and Aurum. Bridges though. That very quickly was giving Valour plenty of ideas.

"Bridges? Well I can swim and I'm pretty sure Aurum can. How exactly do we capture those bridges?" Valour asked the girl, although she gave a gesture indicating they could concoct a more solid plan later. For now she clearly needed her rest and soon Nemo took a seat beside her while the District 2 pair continued their watch for a few more hours before switching out. This downtime simply had Valour attempting to snuggle up to Aurum, although he knew he couldn't get too comfortable yet with the impeding sunset which would no doubt signal the end of the first day, and subsequently transition into nightfall, preparing to show the first of the fallen tributes. Only time would tell if little Lynx was among them. A part of Valour hoped she was so he wouldn't have to kill her himself, but on the other hand he felt the adorable little girl didn't deserve to die so quickly into the games, especially considering her decent training score for one so young.

[Zulera301]

Even if there were not as many supplies as there were last year (that would be hard to beat, frankly), Aurum was not slow to notice that there were plenty of them for their needs. There were still plenty of unopened crates and bags and other such things, and the Capitol was not about to rig the supplies to be traps. That would be way too anticlimactic, since there was no telling which ones the tributes would go for, and it seemed an explicitly unwritten rule for the Gamemakers to only allow tributes to die at the hand of other tributes. the tricks and traps came much later in the games if there was no action or something.

Aurum popped open one of the creates to get at the food inside, because there was no reason for her not to, frankly, and this was the best eatin's she'd get from here on out unless she was able to become the next victor.It certainly beat the alternative of venturing out in the wilderness to scavenge for food. Not that Aurum was afraid of the wilderness, but why settle for crappy caught food when there was good food around the cornucopia for that specific purpose.
"if they ditched us already they better have a pretty elaborate master plan laid out," Aurum insisted, "because if they did I say we skin 'em alive." Perhaps not literally, but it did get nods of approval from the District 2 pair, who seemed to support the notion. They were both the fairly cool and quiet type, which Aurum could not help but respect. That had been how the cunning District 3 pair from the 45th Hunger Games had been. People who could communicate skillfully without even talking were certainly talented individuals.
"well... hopefully whoever killed her did so quickly. it'd be hard to kill someone so sweet and harmless... anyone else though? easy." she didn't want to show a sign of weakness, and it was fairly true that Aurum would not have any difficulties killing any of the others, even the other 12 or 13-year-olds. Lynx had been the only one that the stylists had tried making look more harmless rather than less harmless. It was those eyes... those brilliant, bright brown eyes and that cheerful smile. How could anyone so sweet and happy be condemned to die like this? Then again, the same could be said about Glimmer--a girl that Aurum had thought was very pretty and very sweet.

Incidentally, Nemo and Marina knew better than to ditch Districts 1 and 2 just yet, and so the golden-haired girl was pleasantly surprised to see them returning, but wondered if the moisture on their bodies was sweat, water, or a combination of both. It was a bit humid here obviously since they were surrounded by water and rich island wildlife, but the Capitol knew how to make an outfit cool and practical. Thus... while these were clearly designed for water (even though 1/3 of the tributes never even saw the water before dying), on land they did seem to still be comfortable enough to prevent (most) sweating in them. That might not stop Aurum from taking hers off at least once though.

"what are they made of?" Aurum asked curiously, "if we needed to sabotage them, we probably could... we can worry about that tomorrow though, I think. I don't suspect any more tributes are dying tonight..."
she snuggled with Valour during their downtime as well, sometimes resting her head on his shoulder even. they took their turn on watch, and encountered nothing, and so after a while, the sky grew dark. Hopefully it would not be another eternal night thing. the Capitol did seem to have exhausted that idea though, thank goodness. Soon enough, the anthem played, the cannons fired, and the faces of the dead tributes appeared. There were 8 cannons, and thus 8 tributes dead--16 remained alive. When the faces finally appeared, they got to see who had died.
First up was the girl from District 3, since they showed these faces by district rather than position. She was followed by the girl from '5, then the boy from '6, and then both kids from '7 and '10. Last of all was that scrawny boy from '12, which meant that Lynx had survived and was somewhere in this arena.
"well what do you know..." Nolan quipped, "not often a 12-year-old survives the bloodbath." Clearly he too had been referring to Lynx. the boy from '7 had also been 12, and there had been a couple of 13-year-olds. there had only been one 14-year-old and one 15-year-old this year, and so other than Lynx and Cara, all of the remaining tributes were 16 or older.
"Wonder where she went," Alana shrugged, "we'll probably find her eventually."
"yeah," Aurum nodded in agreement, "she's harmless... no need to lose sleep over her..."
she relaxed in the meantime though as night set in. the arena was surreal a bit as they usually were, but also serene. She was quite okay with her current situation, and she smiled at Valour, despite being flecked with other children's blood.

[Nachthexe]

With Aurum already eating, Valour soon found himself digging in as well. His last meal had been during breakfast that same day, after all, which had already been hours ago. It was surreal really how already Day One of the games was already beginning to come to a close. Things were beginning to look surprisingly peaceful too, with most tributes liking setting up camp at this point in order to rest up for whatever Day Two brought. It always seemed to be a common trend that the first night after the bloodbath was used to replenish strength, something Valour wasn't about to complain about. His two District 4 allies were definitely exhausted, after all. They had even dozed off shortly after entering the Cornucopia so Valour was fine with allowing them to take watch duty after he and Aurum.

"The bridges? Wood I believe. We didn't examine them too closely, but they resemble some of the docks and bridges back home." Surprisingly, Nemo appeared to have heard Aurum so promptly answered her. "Wood shouldn't be too difficult to dismantle and would significantly limit others' access to the outlying islands. However, considering this is a Hunger Games arena there's ought to be hidden dangers in the water, none of which we luckily didn't run into yet." He continued, before finally dozing off once more. It gave Valour plenty to think about and frankly if those bridges were able to be taken out early on then the career pack was bound to have significant control over the arena. It was something to think about at least, although it contained its own set of dangers if what Nemo said about the water was indeed correct.

Sure enough, nightfall soon came and with that the Panem anthem blared through the arena before the Gamemakers proceeded to display the dead tributes' faces in the sky. Much to Valour's regret Lynx was not among them, although he liked to have hope yet that he wouldn't have to personally kill the girl. "I would say that girl is incredibly fucking lucky, considering how she managed to survive." Valour simply commented once the nightly show in the sky was completed, leaving nothing but the moon and stars above. Despite being artificial, it was definitely beautiful though and served to remind Valour slightly of the nights spent on the balcony over the past week. That was truly a luxury he would never get back, however, so was simply one he intended to cherish until his dying breaths.

"So this is what the Hunger Games is like. I can't say I'm too disappointed so far. We're off to a pretty good start I'd say. It's rare a career pack gains control of the Cornucopia so soon." Valour assured Aurum as the two continued huddling up to each other. It was definitely much warmer here than it had been in the Capitol so he felt as if they didn't even need to get as close as they had there, although the temperature did seem to still be dropping as the night was still young. Valour supposed they would find out in time, but for now he was perfectly content with himself. At least as much as one could be in a death match anyway.

[Zulera301]

Even without a bloodbath, deaths were still fairly likely on day two as the tributes went around exploring the arena to find things they needed or wanted, or perhaps to secure vantage points against other tributes and such. the careers obviously did not need to go far, as there was a serious advantage to the cornucopia that never really subsided, especially not as the games drew closer to a close. But, these ones had only just begun, and so there was no point even thinking that far ahead just yet. even the games with the mighty Valendria had taken two weeks... and that seemed to be an average amount of time for the games to take.

"well, there are still other variables to deal with," Aurum pointed out, "like how long the bridges are, how sturdy they are, and how deep the water is below... but go ahead and sleep. nothing's going to happen tonight it seems..."
Aurum did care about the well-being of the District 4 tributes as long as they were on her side. However, the moment that changed, she would want them dead. She was blissfully unaware that the Capitol was actually very similar, and this was why it did not care much for the suffering of people in Districts like 8, 11, and 12. However, that did not cross Aurum's mind, and instead she was thinking about the bridges. She'd worry about that tomorrow though. for now... Hunger Games.

she beamed at Valour's remark, leaning against the handsome boy's shoulder. "well, this is also the first time two tributes from the same district scored perfectly the same year. we literally are the best of the best. we're the strongest, smartest, and best looking..." she sighed and leaned against him some more. "it's warmer here than back in the Capitol too. I almost want to strip down and stretch." she joked. But, either way, she simply laid back and got comfortable as they braved their first night in the Hunger Games.
During the night, however, something else happened. one of the crates rattled, before something relatively large sprang out of it--it was a tribute, and was very tiny, actually. Before any of them could react, it took off towards the east, coils of rope wrapped around its arms and shoulders. Immediately Aurum knew who this was.
"Lynx!" Aurum jumped, but she disappeared into the shadows before anyone could do anything. None of the others figured she'd be too dangerous, especially since all she had on her were ropes and a backpack.

"well... that clever little bugger." Aurum couldn't help but laugh at Lynx's audacity. "was she really inside that crate all day? silly girl..." she relaxed again, not thinking that Lynx was going to come attack them. She had not been carrying any weapon (the backpack probably just had supplies), and while the kid had proven to do interesting and elaborate things with ropes... there was nothing that a spear to her chest wouldn't quickly answer if needs be, so Aurum didn't worry about it. now she knew at least the general direction of all 24 tributes, so she was content.

[Nachthexe]

It was turning out to be a fairly decent night so definitely something Valour couldn't complain about. He was now relatively well-fed thanks to the food in the Cornucopia, he was warm, and he was comfortable. The District 4 seemed to be in a similar position as well, despite there having already dozed off. Even while being on watch duty the District 2 seemed relatively satisfied with their lot. Fortunately for them it was unlikely anybody would even dare trying to attack them during the night, or even any time for that matter. The six strongest tributes together in an alliance was bound to be a challenge for anybody to take down.

"Of course, and we will prove it further by winning." Valour responded to Aurum, playfully squeezing her nose with his fingers. Certainly the prospect of winning was still constantly on the boy's mind, but he knew very well what it meant for Aurum. That simply encouraged the boy to just enjoy what little time he had left with her and it really showed even on this first night of the games. "Stripping down? Don't. We will never hear the end of it from the Capitol." He advised the girl, chuckling. Certainly the girl's remark itself hadn't been entirely serious, but the very thought of stripping to the nude while in the arena was still a humourous one, and definitely one that would linger in the Capitol long after the end of the 47th games. Even nearly two years later the Tracker Jacker incident of the 45th games had popular appeal, making Dezna one of the most popular fallen tributes of that year. Valour did crave attention, but not quite attention of that scale. No, he wanted to be remembered for his good looks, perfect training score, and daring feats in combat rather than the one who dared to get down with their district partner in the heat of the games.

Valour had been nearly dozed off while snuggled up to Aurum when he heard a rattling sound of some sort. It seemed to be coming from one of the crates. Initially the boy thought small critter of some sort, but he was left immediately surprised when he saw something else. Something...human. Little Lynx of District 12 had taken a leaf straight out of Lyndis' books and hid inside the crates themselves! "Lynx! She's alive!" Valour proceeded to warn the District 2 pair, but the girl had already bolted by the time they were able to react, leaving the little girl out of their range. Valour was the only ranged fighter currently awake and he was certainly in no position to shoot anybody from where he was. Fortunately, he figured somebody else would eventually get the girl, perhaps even before the night was out.

"Shit, I gotta admit that was quite clever. She's tiny too she didn't even seem to struggle much to get out." Valour responded to Aurum as she made her own observations about the 47th games' youngest and smallest tribute. If she had been able to pull off something like that then Valour could only guess what other tricks the obviously clever girl had up her sleeves. He, of course, wasn't too worried though as he had strength on his side so in direct combat the girl was bound to be powerless. This was something that allowed him to rest easily as he awaited the inevitable shift change for keeping watch.

[Zulera301]

the career pack seemed confident that they would not be attacked at all on the first night, and were right for the most part. Most of the other tributes were far away by now, and those that thought to challenge the careers had been killed earlier. The only thing they were not aware of, was that in the Gamemakers' control chambers, they could see two number 1s, two number 2s, and two number 4s, but also, right amidst the pile of supplies, a single number 12. Of course they would know where the little girl was, since she had a tracker in her right arm like everyone else did. As malicious as the Capitol was, the trackers were simply to know where the tributes were, and they were even removed from the victors. Perhaps a reminder of their benevolence or something. Aurum assumed so anyways.

"of course!" she nodded, (and squeaked when he pinched her nose playfully) also aware that only one of them could win, but just as before, as long as it was District 1 (District 2 would qualify in a pinch maybe), she'd be okay with losing if she was to die here. she couldn't help but laugh at Valour's warning though. "oh come on..." she fake-complained, "I want to be remembered as the tribute with Panem's perfect body." she joked, "but alas... I'll settle with just removing my shoes then..." she removed her shoes, wiggling her toes playfully. "since I was wearing nothing *but* shoes last night." she reminded him with a whisper and a wink. And of course, she would have happily done that again in a heartbeat if she was able.
"but no..." she stretched out, "we'll be remembered as the beautiful perfect-scoring tributes who kicked ass and took names and got to the final two." that was one thing they could definitely agree on. Even if one had to kill the other, having District 1 keep both its tributes alive until the final two would be a nice way to be remembered. Lyndis was slightly wrong about "generic killers", after all (though it wasn't like Aurum would know about that incident).

Aurum was just as surprised as the others as Lynx bounded away with a pack and some ropes. Maybe she had some knives or something too? Aurum was not too concerned about her, since she seemed too sweet to want to kill someone. She was, however, very impressed with the tiny girl.
"the fact that she can so easily fit in those crates is adorable by itself," Aurum laughed, "I think I might have even lifted that crate when we were moving the stuff closer to the cornucopia." obviously the supplies were much more spread out, but the careers would often (if not always) consolidate it when they could. "I wonder what else she can do..."

"I heard her mention bridges, careers, and hunters..." Alana opened a sleepy eye, "she passed me before I could do much either, but I'm not worried about her none either. "she's either onto us, or has a message to relay..." she went back to sleep without much thought though. Clearly Nolan and Alana were not concerned about the tiny girl. Sure ropes and traps were formidable skills, but by themselves, they were easy to outmuscle. Aurum was not worried, and so closed her eyes and went back to sleep until it was time for her watch, but she didn't expect anything would happen tonight either.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "Why must you tease me like this?" He asked playfully as he proceeded to tickle Aurum. By this point he seemed to know each spot where the girl was most vulnerable as well so it was bound to be effective. He wasn't worried about her making noise and attracting attention either since he was sure that probably every tribute knew they currently dominated the Cornucopia, frankly the ideal place for the career pack to hang out. That alone was enough for Valour to feel good about the fact they had managed to capture it early on. One of the benefits of that definitely came in the fact that now there was plenty of relaxation time, something the boy was definitely keen on taking advantage of before it was time to switch out with District 2 for watch duty.

"Don't you worry. There's plenty we will be remembered for. Why? We're the best. Even the Capitol knows it. It's only a matter of time before the sponsors begin pouring in." Valour assured the girl, noticing her distress even if it wasn't sincere. This put a smirk on his face, especially knowing that even in the face of danger he would be pretty well covered due to an influx of sponsors. Frankly the Capitol loved their passionate career tributes and the District 1 pair this year was no exception. "And look at those feet." Valour continued upon noticing the girl's feet as well. This had him winking at her as he proceeded to grab them and begin massaging them. The level of affection the two showed for each other didn't seem to bother any of the others either so it was something Valour simply continued for as long as he could.

Little Lynx. So she had hidden in the crate. It was clever, although it spoke little about the girl's actual combat abilities. However, who needed combat when it was possible the girl had been acting as a spy of sorts? It hadn't taken Valour long to realize the girl had possibly overheard all their earlier discussion about sabotaging the bridges. Had it been intentional or had the girl just been in the right place at the right time? It was something he couldn't help but to ponder, but he knew that if he ran into anybody attempting to quell their own plans then the girl had done her job efficiently. "Shit, Alana. You could be onto something. You think she was spying on us? It's possible, you know. That girl is smarter than I thought." Valour turned his attention towards Alana who seemed to share similar concerns, although there was not much they could do about it now while exhausted and in the dead of night.

The rest of District 2's watch had managed to pass uneventfully before they finally switched out with the District 1 pair. Valour had personally been hoping for some action, but none came to him either which allowed both him and Aurum to finally transition out peacefully with the District 4 pair who had agreed to the final watch of the night. It was only when everybody finally awoke the next morning they all managed to crawl inside the Cornucopia to discuss an action plan. "So tell me. Are you guys still interested in sabotaging those bridges?" Nemo asked, perhaps not realizing the plan may had been compromised by Lynx.

"Somebody might already know about it. I'm not sure how deeply you and Marina were asleep last night, but we may have a spy in our midst." Valour replied, scratching his head.

"Oh? Who?"

"Lynx, that little District 12 girl. She hid in one of those crates, seemingly all day. It's possible she overheard us."

"Well then we may need a new plan. You, Aurum, and your District 2 friends are clearly the more experienced at this combat stuff so certainly you have something?" Valour nodded as Nemo addressed him.

"Most of our plans admittedly involved others coming after us. Aurum? You have anything?" Nolan interjected, speaking on behalf of both himself and Alana. They were definitely the sort of rely on brute strength rather than careful strategic planning so this was entirely out of their league. Besides, it was Aurum who hadn't said much yet herself.

[Zulera301]

"tease you?" she... well, teased, "I wouldn't think of doing such a thi-eeeep!" she squealed as he tickled her. These clothes did little to shield her from these tickles, and she had 'foolishly' let him in on where she was the most sensitive (her stomach, under her arms, behind her knees, and her neck. most of the normal places, really). she wasn't terribly loud, but if they were trying to be stealthy that had all just gone right out the window. Luckily they weren't attempting such a thing, as it was common knowledge that the careers would always try to secure the cornucopia, except in the rare years where there were minimal or impractical supplies, such as the 45th games. On the other hand, District 3 and District 6 had both made great use of the metal to build some rather impressive weapons. Aurum had seen the crossbow in the training center that resembled the one that Dezna boy had been using during the games. Clearly that was his craftsmanship, and while the boy had been dead now for two years, his craftsmanship clearly lived on.

"I'm not worried." she smiled. "we've already still made history... and if some other district produces two perfect-scoring tributes someday, they'll say "this is the first time we've seen this since Valour Drazen and Aurum Zianja from District 1!" or something. When we also prove how amazing we are in this arena, they'll have no choice but to make legends out of us." she giggled.
When he mentioned her toes, she happily stretched out and gave him full access to her feet. They were soft and clean, having been in those shoes all day rather than flecked in blood or anything. Like the rest of her skin, they were soft, and so Aurum purred contently, quite okay with this gesture. Luckily, none of the others were bothered by it (the District 2 pair found it mildly amusing, but they didn't pay much attention to it), because it was not likely to stop unless there was action or slumber.

Nolan also stirred a bit as Valour spoke to Alana, but remained relaxed, as there was no need to pursue a tiny little tribute who, for all they knew did not really even have any combat skills anyways.
"I'm surprised she didn't get killed if anything," Nolan quipped, "she probably got worried that we'd kill her if she ran, so she hid. that's some serious patience right there though." he found the idea of a tribute being so tiny that they could fit onto one of the crates (some were reasonably large though) to be amusing.
"she wasn't carrying any weapons either," Alana added, "so unless '3 and '8 are somehow planning to trap us all here... she's nothing to worry about. Her allies might be, but if they try to mount an offensive... they're gonna get crushed."

Aurum nodded in agreement, and not just because she was getting a nice foot massage, but because she didn't think Lynx was capable of being deadly. Lever and Lodan were probably fairly clever as well, and it might have explained why they had recruited the brilliant little District 12 girl into their ranks. But, for now, it was time to rest and relax until morning.

morning came and so did strategizing. the District 4 pair seemed less aware that Lynx had been there, but it did not force them to change their plans completely. When Aurum was asked about it, she simply shrugged. "well, there are numerous bridges out there," she reminded them, "and so if they control 1, 2, or even 3 of them, there are still others we can get, and if they try to wait it out, we'll have an edge since we have the cornucopia to flee to when the Capitol decides to bring everyone back together. That's what I think anyways."
Incidentally, it was not like Aurum was the strategy planner the way Lodan from District 8 was. She could give a few ideas like she just had, but hers were as good as anyone's.
"I guess it's just a matter of choosing who we want to kill the most? do we hunt down the 5-6 pair? District 9?" she shrugged, "'11? or do we try to destroy Lynx before she reunites with her buddies?" She had probably already united with them since then though, as she she had fled just after the sun was gone, and that had been hours ago. Essentially, Aurum felt they just needed to choose a target.

[Nachthexe]

Was Valour being overestimating little Lynx? By the talk of the others it was possible, but he did know for sure that she likely had allies in the form of Districts 3 and 8, two other districts that had proven themselves to have clever tributes this year. Well at least the ones that hadn't already been killed. The District 3 girl clearly hadn't been so fortunate. It did have him wondering about what the others were up to though. The larger threats, such as Farro, had at least shown what they were capable of while the others had left the entire career pack in the dark. Even as the next morning came such thoughts continued lingering in Valour's mind. Sooner or later they were ought to find out about each of the tributes though, considering none were bound to be allies. That was their own lost though so Valour didn't worry about it too much.

"Those islands have resources. That is key. I feel like this is going to be more a war of attrition than anything else." Marina reminded Aurum the next morning once they got to discussing strategy. The girl even suggested they could flee back to the Cornucopia, but by leaving it they also ran the risk of losing it. Anybody else who took interest was bound to rig it with traps, assuming that was the sort of game most of the others this year were playing.

Incidentally, Valour seemed to be thinking similarly. "By leaving the Cornucopia we run the risk of it being rigged with traps when we return. I wouldn't put it past those District 8 kids and their ally from 3." He reminded the others. Certainly if this had been strictly a battle of brawn it would have been a simpler step to take, but that obviously wasn't the case. There wasn't even any way of knowing how far away any of the other tributes were. Only the Gamemakers knew that, courtesy of the trackers in each tribute's arm. "I'm sure they know what controlling the Cornucopia means for us. We were lucky too to have gotten it so soon. That is something I don't intend to mess up." Valour added, continuing to think hard about the situation before being bombarded with yet another dilemma.

Who was the largest threat? At this point Valour was willing to go with the obvious and say either Farro or Joann. Farro had already shown why he was a threat, but Joann was arguably even more dangerous on the sole fact that nobody really knew what she was capable of. That was something Valour wasn't about to overlook. "5 and 6 don't seem dangerous at this point so I wouldn't place them as a priority. I'm intrigued by Joann though. We saw Farro in action so know he's a definite threat. Shit, he's even a faster runner than me. Joann though? We have no idea what she can do and I'm not willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, considering her training score." He explained, running over some of the possible targets while the others listened intently.

"Regardless of who we decide is the largest threat, we may have to go on the offensive. I think Valour has a point." Nemo interjected, after nodding in agreement with the District 1 boy's words. He wasn't sure about the others, but he was itching to get on the move and hopefully produce some interesting action for the Capitol. If anything, it would prolong them from doing anything drastic and if the boy knew anything about the seaside it was that storms and waves were potential serious threats. Those were ones that certainly not even the Capitol was willing to overlook if they were forced to go several days without action. They were funny that way in that they favoured tributes killing each other, yet were not above killing them by their own hand if necessary to get some action going. He was confident it was much too soon for that though so simply hoped the others would come to an agreement quickly.

[Zulera301]

A few tributes that had not been notably remarkable had escaped the bloodbath as well. Aurum noted Jessica, Ricardo, and Shelia, although they had all scored fairly decently as well. District 11 had been doing fairly well in recent years, perhaps in part to their clever and charismatic mentor, and District 9 was definitely surprising people. District 8 did not quite seem to be fighters, but if they were anything like their newest little mentor, they were bound to be clever. It was interesting enough that both of the District 8 kids were older than their mentor, with them both being 17 and little Alice only being 15. That was something District 1 did not really know, since most of their victors were 17 or 18. District 2 recently saw it, with tiny little 14-year-old Leto Irizari winning the games a few years back. Still... this was only day 2... they'd have plenty of time to learn more about the other tributes they were dealing with before killing them.

Aurum nodded. "well... we have resources too," she motioned all around them, "well, besides whatever was in the crate Lynx was sleeping in," she chuckled, noticing the tipped over crate that was empty now that its contents--a 12-year-old girl, had disappeared. "but aye, we'll need to find those other tributes sooner or later unless we want to risk a 14-day waiting game before the Capitol condenses everything back to here again or something." she chuckled, knowing that wouldn't happen. They'd definitely get action before that.

"True..." Nolan nodded at Valour's remark, "but first they'd have to realize we were gone. even if Lynx saw us leave, what are the odds that she'd get back to '3 and '8 to tell them we're gone, have them come down here, rig this place up, and flee, all before we came back?"
Alana nodded in agreement, shaking her head. "if they could see what the Capitol saw, then maybe..." she tugged her sleeve up a little to brandish her right wrist, where a tiny fleck of pinkish red skin was present from where the tracker had been injected into her skin. "...but unless they pull a Clemont and Hikari and rig up a radar rig or something... we should be fine, I reckon."
A radar rig... District 3 certainly had a knack for technology, and somehow they had produced lightning generators and mine cannons in previous games. If Lever was really that clever (for his partner was already dead), they might have a legitimate threat on their hands.

So who was the largest threat? in terms of physical strength, the careers would see their biggest opposition in District 9. Farro was definitely deadly, but his partner didn't seem too shabby either. District 11 was the same way, except the girl seemed the stronger one. '5 and '6 did not seem like a threat, but frankly, Aurum would not be against just picking them off now so they wouldn't have to worry about them later. Lynx... well, she wouldn't want to pick off Lynx, but she also felt that they could be dangerous. Lodan, that boy from '8, had shown in training that he was a tactician built right out of the same mold that Alice Desiete had bee, and while that boy's tactics had been cheap sometimes, he had won the games, and so perhaps Lodan would not be above that. Lever, of course, was a tech geek, and so there was just a matter of time before learning what he was capable of putting together... and Lynx... cute little Lynx... she was tiny; stealthy... somehow she had gotten right into the middle of the bloodbath yesterday, crawled into a crate, and remained so still that it was nearly 12 hours before she made a break for it and succeeded. She also appeared very clever, and so to mix intelligence like this from three different departments, and this alliance could very well have been the most brilliant-minded one in the 'games. It was not something Aurum liked thinking about (for her own ego's sake either).

Aurum nodded at Nemo's remark. "so do we try to go for the strongest ones first and eliminate our biggest threats now?" she asked, "or do we pick off the weaker ones like '5 and '6 with ease in the meantime? you all know the way around the arena the best so far," she pointed at Nemo and Marina as she put her shoes on again, anticipating that they (or some of them anyhoo) would be heading out soon. "are we splitting up to scope this thing, or are we sticking together?"
It was hard to say which would be better, because who would have to stand guard, and who would get to hunt the other tributes? Hopefully District 4, which seemed to be the brains of the career operation, would have a solution.

[Nachthexe]

Valour nodded. "I concur. We can't just wait it out for fourteen days. Sooner or later the Capitol will draw us out. I'm sure of it. They no doubt want to see their best tributes in action and frankly I don't blame them." He explained, unsurprisingly agreeing entirely with Aurum. It was pretty much a given by now that they were working so closely together that they even opted for similar strategy. The boy admittedly didn't mind this though as it meant spending more time by her side and every minute of that was valuable at this point, considering the end result of this thing. One of them was going to be returning home feeling rather lonely.

"We could always stay behind. You know, the monitor our base of operations." Alana suggested, noting the dilemma the pack was currently facing. It was a valid one, but probably nothing they couldn't handle. In a direct fight those smaller kids were bound to be easy to take down, certainly. "Unless we need maximum manpower?" She continued, waiting for a response. Valour nodded to acknowledge and awaited one of the others to perhaps say something, but he seemed to be in the clear.

"It should be harmless. Let's just go. I suggest we pack up whatever may be important from here. It's hunting time." Valour finally insisted as he opened up his backpack and began stuffing extra food and water into it. The others seemed to be doing the same. He did realize he hadn't actually looked to see what was inside, not having really had a reason to, but he figured that if for some reason the pack couldn't make it back before nightfall then he could. The Capitol tried to provide valuable resources the closer one got to the Cornucopia, after all, so he suspected there was something decent in there. "Oh, and I suggest we go after the stronger tributes while we're at full strength. They could be problematic later if we're weakened, either by injuries or a premature death. Not like the latter is going to happen though of course." He added, chuckling as he finally finished packing up and grabbed hold of his bow. Being the only one in the arena he knew it literally was a lifeline he couldn't afford to be parted from. Aurum seemed to be in a similar situation with her swords. District 4 had definitely lucked out, having an abundance of tridents and spears to choose from.

"I suggest we stick together for now." Marina advised once the group had begun on their way. Once they began trekking the island Valour quickly began realizing it was perhaps larger than he originally anticipated. It was certainly large enough to be able to hold all the other tributes on its own, but the boy suspected some were possibly establishing camp on some of the smaller surrounding ones. They, of course, likely relied on the bridges to get across to them so he even contemplated somehow being able to trap them. That would come later though. For now he simply wanted to get an idea as to where both Farro and Joann were hiding out. The others were ideal as well, but they were only a lesser threat at this point, not having much in the way of physical strength. The only challenge that would potentially come from them was if they miraculously managed to rig the entire Cornucopia during their absence. Valour didn't exactly count on it though, unless that was simply his own arrogance speaking? Only time would tell.

[Zulera301]

Aurum chuckled, grabbing her swords, "well... if they like a blood-covered tribute... they'll get to see me all covers in the stuff... just none that's my own." it was true that none of the dried blood on Aurum's face or clothes was her own, and she intended to keep it that way... though she might want to wash off what she already had on her. Besides, it would give Valour a chance to see Aurum all wet. Granted, Aurum expected that to happen anyways, and really, the boy had seen every inch of her body already, so seeing her in a soaked wetsuit would be nothing unusual.

"what he said," Aurum shrugged, nodding in agreement as the career pack loaded up on supplies and weapons, preparing to move out. Aurum's dual-swords and Valour's bow were the only ones at the cornucopia at this point (although she had honestly not paid attention if there were others that had been snatched up before), but she was fairly confident that she could pick up a couple of the numerous spears and be okay. she excelled at melee combat, as long as she had something in both of her hands. Nolan and Alana armed themselves with a few knives, with Nolan taking a longsword and Alana hefting a mace, and they also grabbed a few tridents and spears themselves. District 2 was definitely armed, if nothing else.

"Lead on," Aurum nodded, and so they followed the District 4 pair as they trekked around and explored the rest of the large island. There were numerous bridges in every direction, but for the most part, it seemed that they were exploring this first island. Aurum noted various things about it (and noted how good-looking Valour was once again), such as potential places that could hold resources like fresh water, or where the bridges could serve a choke points or whatnot. This arena seemed pretty large, and there was obviously water all around them that could very well contain monsters or other frightening things. The Capitol was not known to be benevolent in their arenas, that was for sure.

"So who are we going to hunt for first?" Aurum piped up, mostly just asking anyone willing to answer. "or if we don't have a particular set of targets... which bridge are we going to take?" It was good t explore the way they had been, but they had not run into anything or anyone yet, which rendered it somewhat eventless. She wondered if anyone else had a coherent plan or if she was not along in her lack of one. She wondered if someone could seize control of the cornucopia, but doubted they could by the time the careers got back whenever they decided to return. For one of the smaller weaker alliances to hold the cornucopia, the careers would have to be really stupid, which Aurum knew for a certainty that they were not.

[Nachthexe]

Obviously Aurum looked most appealing while she wasn't covered in blood, but to Valour there was something oddly appealing about the blood-stained girl. He wasn't a sadist, but somehow the blood showed her to be somebody powerful; a force to be reckoned with. Most of all though, it showed her as somebody who was willing to go all the way to win this game. Surely that meant killing Valour too when the time came. This admittedly didn't bother the boy as much as it may have anybody else as it still meant a District 1 victor. It would also have him going down honourable and as a hero rather than an embarrassment like some of the recent past tributes. That was the main factor that seemed to matter to career tributes who for whatever reason couldn't go home the victor.

The career pack combined definitely didn't pack light as their stuffed backpacks seemed to indicate. Valour knew there was really no way of knowing when they would be able to return to the Cornucopia and the idea of eating some strange exotic creature in the arena didn't appeal much to him either. Certainly sooner or later it would be necessary, but that was a reality the boy intended to hold off as long as possible. That alone was perhaps his privileged background showing yet again; he was just simply never driven to desperation the same way somebody from District 11 or 12 may have been.

"Let's get this party started." Valour uttered as he looked back at the Cornucopia once more after packing before setting out on this trek across the arena. There was really no way of knowing where they would end up, but with some luck he knew they could run into and take down even the strongest tributes. For now though, it was up to District 4 for ultimately decide the plan of action. They knew the arena better than anybody so far and already even seemed to have an idea as to which direction they wanted to go in. Marina certainly did, beginning to dash in one direction. "This way? Alright." Valour commented as he proceeded to follow the girl. Fortunately, his training had put him in top physique so this little run towards the island's beaches wasn't too draining.

"Over there. See it? Way off in the distance? That island looks like one of the more fertile ones. If there's fresh water that's where it's bound to be." Marina began, pointing towards one of the further off islands from their current location. However, this was a hunt for tributes so instead the girl was keen to go in a different direction. "I doubt may of the tributes stuck around on this main island, knowing we dominate the Cornucopia. What do I say to that? Choose your poison." She continued, then waving her arm to indicate there were many islands. Certainly the others were already aware of that fact, but it was definitely a factor of choosing which one to venture to.

"Ideally we should be going after Joann or Farro, but we have no idea where either of them are. Factoring in that, we're literally taking a gamble here, but maybe we will get lucky and find somebody anyway." Valour responded glancing around at each of their options. There appeared to be six smaller islands, at least on this side of the island(and he wasn't sure about the other side). That alone left the pack with a pretty slim chance of even finding another tribute, essentially wasting an entire day's effort. Still, this game wasn't going to end by sitting around idly so instead Valour gestured over to Alana to get her to choose a direction. One of the centre islands seemed to get her attention so that is where Valour began leading the pack upon a nod of approval from Marina. It was time to hopefully give the Capitol their show.

[Zulera301]

Aurum had originally been slightly repulsed by the idea of getting covered in blood, but now that she was here in the arena, it was not as bad as she had thought. Perhaps that was thanks to her desensitization or something. Either way, the fact that there was the blood of a few other children flecked on her suit and body did not bother her. It was just a few light spots here and there too, since Aurum was a clean and efficient murderer, rather than a messy savage killer. It was a mark that she was strong and could hold her own. Of course, the same could be said for Valour even if he was not covered in blood, but that was because he had drawn blood from a distance rather than up close the way to likes of Aurum or Alana had. Frankly, as long as a career won (District 1 or District 2... ideally District 1), Aurum would be content, but she was obviously going to shoot for herself to win.

Sparing no expense as far as packing things went seemed okay with all of the careers. for one, it would give them ample opportunity to keep food on hand, and in the rare event that someone managed to take over the cornucopia, the careers would still have supplies and weapons. There was on edge that Aurum realized Joann probably had over them--she was probably used to starving, just like most others in her district. That also meant that they would not be picky, which in turn meant that they would not mind eating whatever they could get their hands on. Even harmless little Lynx was probably familiar with this notion.

"It's showtime." Alana grunted deviously, and they took off after the District 4 girl who was leading the way at the moment. These six tributes were probably in the best shape of anyone else there (Farro and Joann might have come close though) and so the sprint across the island was not really much of a workout for Aurum than anything else she had done at the academies. Of course, there was no way of knowing it now, but shortly after they left, another tribute scampered off in the opposite direction, returning a few minutes later with a couple of partners who wasted no time getting to work.

Aurum paused as Marina pointed out what was apparently a fertile island. "then it might be a likely place to find tributes," she suggested, "but we'll flush them out sooner or later. It's only day 2 right now anyways, and besides... we can use the water to our advantage if we need to. I don't think the others can say the same." she was not so much suggesting a strategy at the moment; just reminding them of their options and resources. So what if they had an edge? The Hunger Games were never about fairness--they were reminders that the strong and intelligent survived while the weak and stupid were eliminated. Such was what the Capitol perpetuated, after all.

With a nod, Aurum and Nolan followed the others towards this center island as they trekked westward. Alana had chosen the direction, but she got behind Valour as well as he led them, being the best ranged weapon user of the pack and thus a skilled scout. they were armed and ready for whatever came their way. She hoped they would run into District 9, particularly that boy, so they could remind him that even though he had survived the bloodbath, that he was still just fodder. District 1 was going to win this thing, after all.

[Nachthexe]

Upon seeing the various islands Valour quickly realized this was going to be a very interesting game of cat and mouse. He was well aware that the other tributes could easily be hiding out on the other islands, but which ones? There were clearly six on this side while the other side hadn't even been explored yet. At least not by him. Nemo and Marina may have ventured over there, but he wasn't about to ask at this point as he simply wanted to focus on the task at hand. Instead of wasting any time, he simply went ahead of the group and began leading them towards the chosen island.

There was a bridge and it did indeed appear to be constructed out of wood. Definitely a resource that could easily be dismantled if necessary. That reminded Valour of the previous ideas about controlling the islands, but it definitely seemed easier said than done since they were quite numerous. Besides, there was always still the Cornucopia and that seemed pretty crucial for a career victory, particularly in the latter stages of the games once the Gamemakers began forcing tributes back there. Kiva and Dezna from the 45th games had certainly had the right idea by simply waiting it out for the final showdown to come to them, although Valour knew their large group could easily go on the offensive. There certainly weren't any Valendrias running around to stop them, after all.

It didn't appear to be as fertile as the island Marina had previously pointed out, but vegetation was definitely thriving on this one as well. That could only mean there was some sort of fresh water source. Unless every plant in this arena was sustained by salt water? The District 4 pair would obviously be the experts on that. "Which kind of plants are these?" Valour as the pair, pointing out the mystery plants in question. Certainly there were no rules in the arena and perhaps that even applied to the layout as well. It certainly had in the 44th games which had a lake with a rocky shore in the middle of a jungle so it was safe to assume similar logic here.

"Those are definitely not marine plants. That means there's fresh water. I'm not at all surprised the Gamemakers would do this in order to force tributes off that main island." Marina responded upon even taking only a quick glance at the plant. She was once again proving to be an extremely valuable ally and also very competent in this sort of environment. Of course Valour still knew a District 1 tribute was going to win, but he was definitely not going to be surprised if both Nemo and Marina were among the last tributes standing. He was confident he and Aurum could take them both on when the time came as even the stronger of the two, Marina, had still only scored a 10 compared to District 1's pair of 12's. Pushing that to the back of his mind though he simply continued on, hoping to find something of value on this island. Naturally, he hoped for another tribute, but certainly a water or food source wouldn't hurt either.

This particular island seemed to be one of the smaller ones, ironically, considering it had been just over an hour and already much of its perimeter had been scaled. The interior likely had many mysteries as well so Valour was eager to explore there as well. Due to the island's seemingly small size he began to find it unlikely at this point that a tribute would had taken refuge on it, but perhaps they were just excellent at hiding. Only time would tell. "We have nothing to lose. Let's go." Valour finally commanded the others, continuing to lead them on. Inside the thick foliage there appeared to be plenty of moisture, definitely sign of a water source nearby. That put a smirk on Valour's face as he began applying everything he had learned about finding water. It was only moments later, however, that he heard something rustling in the bushes. Either it was a creature of some sort or another tribute, but regardless of the outcome Valour rose his bow in preparation to attack, a hint that the others took as well to raise their own weapons. Nobody from the career pack was going down when it was only Day Two. Not on his watch.

[Zulera301]

Aurum had kind of anticipated a game of cat and mouse, although knew that it couldn't last forever. on Day Two, there would be plenty of time for it to last, though as the games drew on, she knew it would be harder for them to do that. She too counted 6 islands on this side of the arena, and so perhaps there were 6 more on the other side. 12 was a fairly symbolic number in Panem, after all, and there had even been some Hunger Games arenas that were like that. It didn't really matter theoretically, although Aurum hoped that there wasn't too many other islands, because that could make the hunt much more difficult. Then again, if the games did not have places to run or hide, they'd be over in a matter of minutes, because it would just be one big bloodbath and District 1 would have its victor within 45 minutes to an hour of being out there, if even that.

The bridges were fairly long and so dismantling them would definitely be tricky. it would involve seeing how solid they were, and would also depend on what lurked below the depths of the water, which was obviously too deep to simply walk over. There was strategy here, but it also had Aurum wondering if there were bridges between the smaller islands, or if one would have to go from one island back to the big island and then to a smaller one again or something like that. there was definitely tactical value here though. they were wide and solid enough for a good battle to happen here if two tributes met, and easily one could be thrown into the water if they were defeated (if not killed first).

Aurum was glad that District 4 knew how to identify the plants and such, because that had naturally been a station that she and the other careers had overlooked entirely, preferring to flex their muscles and flaunt their speed and skills to the other weaker tributes instead. Aurum wasn't even sorry about that one though. She had Valour had had a great time in that training hall (and especially the evenings afterwards). they continued to plod through the island, learning that it was one of the smaller ones, which reduced the chance of finding another tribute. But... wo unto the first one they encountered. all 6 of them were in perfect condition and were spoilin' for a fight.

as they hunted for water (something Aurum would not mind having a little of right now, even if she was not thirsty thanks to the cornucopia supplies), they paused only when they heard a rustling in the bushes. Aurum whipped out her swords with a certain finesse, and she heard both tributes from District 2 cracking their knuckles in a typical District 2 fashion, smirking.
"It's showtime." Alana grunted, smirking as they took something of a anticipatory formation to prevent getting backstabbed or flanked. The island was not very large and so none of them were necessarily expecting a tribute (Aurum might have expected Lynx, but she figured the youngster was off with Lever and Lodan now), but they could still hope for one.

[Nachthexe]

How many islands total were there? It was a question that not only Aurum found herself pondering. The more abundant they were the more difficult it was bound to be to find the other tributes. Regardless, this game would have to end eventually and Valour intended to come out of it as victor. If not him, then Aurum for sure or perhaps either of the District 2 tributes as a Plan C if somehow both he and Aurum fell in combat or by anything else. There were bound to be plenty of dangers besides other tributes lingering in this arena, after all. Valour knew it was only a matter of time before the Gamemakers unleashed them. That was certainly part of his motivation to have action, in order to avoid the wrath of the Gamemakers.

The abundance of vegetation on the island were definitely tropical plants which needed fresh water to survive. At least that stood as true if the District 4 was correct, although Valour couldn't think of any reason why the two would deceive their allies at this point. They also seemed to have a good idea about this environment too so it was unlikely they had mistaken then plants' identities. That managed to give the boy some ease as the career pack continued venturing across the island, although the rustles in the bushes immediately startled Valour. The others seemed to be equally prepared to take on whatever was lingering. If it was a tribute, Valour stood waiting with his bow readied in front of him.

Of all the things Valour had expected to jump out at him, this particular one had been probably the least expected. It seemed to be a large rodent of some sort on the move(a Capybara actually, but like anybody from the districts would know that). Valour, still slightly startled, glanced directly at it before loading up his bow. "Come here, you bastard." He uttered as he took a shot directly at the the creature. It didn't even have time to react before the arrow hit it directly in the head. This put a smirk on his face and certainly left the others impressed. They knew they had a powerful ally on their side with his impeccable aim. "Well what can I say? It seems we have tonight's dinner cut out for us." Valour announced as he dashed over and began examining the dead animal while retrieving his arrow. It appeared to at least have a decent amount of meat on its bones, but possible not for six people. Fortunately, there was the other stuff as well.

"So what you guys say? Should we continue on? I don't think there's much here besides water and food." Valour later announced as the pack continued on, eventually finding the fresh water source in question. It certainly explained how the large rodent creature Valour now packed over his shoulder had been able to survive in these parts. It was funny though how he had stumbled upon the creature by mere chance not even intending to kill it, yet now he had an entire small feast cut out for himself and the others. There was even a oasis full of water, which was definitely a tribute's most important lifeline. So far things were looking pretty good, although Valour didn't forget about the Cornucopia which was bound to be just as crucial. Sooner or later the pack would have to return there.

[Zulera301]

Aurum wondered if there were any secrets on the islands. She figured that if the Gamemakers wanted there to be more action they might send something out of the depths, or maybe have the islands sink beneath a massive wave or something. It was still a long ways away before Aurum felt she'd have to worry about it, but she was fairly confident that they wouldn't lay waste to their favorite tributes, who were actively out seeking the action. While she was motivated to find action in the meantime, she was also fairly relieved to know that if they continued like this, they were probably the least likely to get attacked by the Gamemakers, except perhaps for whatever tributes (if any) were at the cornucopia--and she knew there was no way all 10 of the others could be there.

Even if she did not say it so openly, Aurum was glad that she had allied with the District 4 pair given how useful they were being. She did not have the same attachment to them as she did to Valour, or even to District 2 though, and so when the time came, they would be the first ones to go for sure. But, this was still far too early to be worrying about, and so instead, she let herself focus more on the subject at hand--the rustling, which very might have been potentially another tribute--another target.

Naturally, she and even the District 2 pair were a bit disappointed when all it was was a rodent, which Valour dispatched with ease. Aurum chuckled. "makes me glad we brought some food of our own, yeah?" she joked, referring to a bit of stuff from the cornucopia that they had taken. either way, Alana sheathed her swords, Nolan put away his spears, and Alana twirled her hammers rather dextrously before stowing them as well. It almost reminded Aurum of Adrianna--or "Smash", as she was called, from last year, although she was fairly certain that that girl (she had not even been that tall) would have been able to crush any of them in terms of brute strength. She *was* the brute squad, with how she had carried practically whole trees when she, Isi, and Lyndis had built their fort. While Isikiro and Adrianna had not killed anyone outside the bloodbath, they were definitely remembered as "The Fortress Fighters" for that incredibly solid fortress they had built in the arena.

"let's move on," Aurum agreed, "find a larger island to sniff out tributes on.
"well, let's get some water first," Nolan grunted; neither one of the District 2 pair seemed angry; just that their voices were low, and 'grunting' was one of the ways to describe their generally short methods of speech. (and they did seem like pretty solidly built individuals, to boot).
"Otherwise," Aurum quipped, as they went to get water while it was available to them, "I say we find a larger island. are there bridges from this one to another one, or would we have to go back to the big one and find a new bridge..." this was not a question to the others as much as it was a question in general. she figured a bit more exploring was bound to let them find out.

[Nachthexe]

In the inevitable event of the alliance breaking up who would be the first to go? Naturally, Valour suspected the District 4 pair, but for the time being they were extremely valuable allies so he intended to keep them close. He had Aurum had been lucky this year, being gifted with such tributes willing to take their side. At least for as long as it was possible. Everybody knew the outcome of any alliances in the Hunger Games, after all. It was for that reason alone that perhaps Nolan and Alana didn't intend to get too close to the others. It would certainly make killing them less painful as there had been plenty of that in recent years. Rye and Sagittaria were perhaps the most blatant example, a finale that had managed to move even many of those within the career districts.

"Food? We're definitely set for that. Now we have this rodent to eat though. It's time to dine as if we're straight out of District 12." Valour responded to Aurum, adding in some humour of his own and even a jab at Panem's poorest district. Certainly it was something that potentially went over the Capitol audiences' heads, but District 12 would no doubt get it although it was simply coincidence Valour had mentioned them eating rodents. Surely the boy from Panem's wealthiest district couldn't really know that was almost a daily reality in the poor mining district. If anything, it was a rather typical District 1 and 2 mindset so nobody could really blame the boy for his behaviour.

"I agree. As much as we need this water, there's other parts of the arena to explore. It is a nice location at least though, but not as nice as Aurum." Valour responded to the others, winking at his partner in the process. Despite all the trekking and exploring which was surely tiring to some extent she was still beautiful as ever. That was something Valour was convinced wasn't about to change unless her face got mutilated in combat or something, but even in a case like that the Capitol had the technology to correct it if she won. That was something that could be worried about later though. "A bridge? Who says we need a bridge?" Valour then added, chuckling at he glanced at the others. Surely they all knew how to swim if it came to that, which automatically put them at an advantage against many of the others. Somehow Valour couldn't imagine those urban kids being able to swim. There didn't seem to be many large bodies of water in Districts 9, 11, or 12 either.

Once back out to the edge of the island Aurum's original question was originally answered. It seemed that to go to one island to the next without returning to the main one a tribute would have to either swim or construct a boat of some sort. Somehow neither seemed liked a viable option for the other tributes, which simply brought a smirk to Valour's face as he proceeded back across the same bridge they had crossed over in order to get to the island. "Well look at that. We have this game in the bag. It's almost like the Gamemakers intentionally wanted us to win." He remarked as he halted, awaiting further suggestions from the others. Either they could explore further or they could proceed back in the direction towards the Cornucopia. Either option was bound to be valuable at this point, strategically.

[Zulera301]

In the event that the career alliance would fracture (for as much as they talked about it not fracturing, they were only referring to during the games. At the end, it would shatter and collapse on itself as its members turned on each other), Aurum figured that the first ones to want to bail and/or turn on them would be district 4. District 2 seemed coolly loyal, and while they seemed a bit aloof from the others, Aurum could tell that this was just them keeping this relationship professional. She actually kind of admired it about them. They were the type that would be pretty cool friends if they weren't supposed to kill each other.

Aurum chuckled. "that could probably feed the whole District for a week." she threw in her own joke about District 12 out there. There was nothing the rest of District 12 could do about it. Their boy was already dead, and their girl, Lynx, was pretty much the most harmless and adorable little thing to appear in the games in years. One thing was clear though--if District 1 and District 12 switched places, it would be some of the most dynamic culture shock either party ever experienced in Panem. Even "Sister Districts" like '1 and '2, or '11 and '12, were rather different though. the Capitol's goal of keeping the districts divided was pretty successful.

"well, let's get a drink then..." Aurum suggested, doing just that and then pouring some water over her head and shoulders. her clothes were already form-fitting as things stood, so the water did not do much else for them. She giggled at Valour's compliment, clearly flattered again which caused her to unintentionally strike a flirty pose and flutter her eyelashes. She certainly was a pretty one. At Valour's mention of the bridge, it was Alana who spoke up.
"Till we figure out what's in the water, I'm up for taking the bridge." she quipped. Aurum wouldn't mind swimming to show off though, although she knew that Alana was right.
"but if something happens to the bridge," she pointed out to the District 2 girl, "we certainly don't need it."
"Mm." Alana grunted, "Fair enough."

After a bit more exploring, Aurum began to see strategic value in seizing these bridges, because other than an external means, they were the only conventional way to island hop in this arena unless the tributes wanted to brave the watery deep. Not even the careers seemed to want to do that just yet.
Aurum giggled. "of course they want us to win. we're the pretty ones and the strong ones!" she reminded him. "and we're clever enough. I think at this point we should check the cornucopia again just to ensure that things are in order there... now that we know the layout of the arena anyways, and the cruciality of the bridges." she wasn't even sure if that was a word, but it sounded cool. If there were no objections, Aurum would begin heading back to the cornucopia.

[Nachthexe]

It seemed Aurum understood Valour's humour and that didn't come as a huge surprise to the boy. He simply chuckled as the girl threw in a jab of her own towards District 12. There was definitely a sort of rivalry going on and it only seemed to escalate during the games. The blatant attacks on District 11 by Blaze in the 45th games was further proof of that; the Capitol favourites and the outliers were always destined to be rivals. Valour definitely felt fortunate to be on the stronger end of such a rivalry too. Everybody knew District 1 had way more victors than District 12, after all.

After further relaxation the group decided to move on, although not before Aurum began getting wet. Being designed for water, the wetsuits absorbed the moisture rather well and even if it was already rather redundant considering the suit design, Valour once again examined the girl's figure. She quickly took note of this and even posed for him, causing him to chuckle before finally blushing. "Aww you're too sweet." He commented, blowing her a kiss. As much as he wanted to do more with the girl he knew that wasn't an option so he simply snapped back to reality and continued on with the task at hand. The bridges. Aurum had a point about them. Certainly they were there to allow easier crossing for the tributes, but what if they were also some sort of protection against whatever dangers lurked in the water? That was not a possibility Valour was about to overlook just yet.

Sure enough, the pack opted to leave the bridges alone for the time being. Perhaps in the latter stages of the games they were a viable option, but for now the Cornucopia seemed like it would suffice. The Cornucopia! Was it even still unoccupied? Valour suspected that perhaps some of the others may have approached it, but he was hopeful that he and the others could easily fend them off upon returning. Aurum seemed to have a similar mindset in which Valour simply just complied to. There wasn't much to lose by returning and taking out any visitors, after all. Each death was also one death closer to returning a District 1 tribute home. "The best ones get to control the best place in the entire arena." Valour commented in agreement with Aurum, knowing she would catch on that he was, in fact, referring to the Cornucopia.

The journey back to the main island was much quicker than it had taken to get to the outlying islands, perhaps since the pack already had a better sense of direction by then. That was obviously no problem for Marina and Nemo, but the others were still clearly learning the layout, although the little expedition had managed to help somewhat. It even had provided extra food, which Valour had prepared for the others while back on the smaller island. It helped to make a lighter load for the trip back, something the boy didn't regret even if it hadn't been hugely heavy. Now though he was left with one last concern. Would the Cornucopia be rigged with traps? Considering which sort of tributes he was potentially dealing with this year he knew it was possible. Still being ahead of the others, he signaled to stop them upon realization of this. The Cornucopia was in plain sight, but he knew that a first glance wasn't enough to determine much of anything. "Watch it. The entire thing could be rigged. I think we were gone long enough that those clever bastards could have done something." He warned as he began raising his bow in case somebody was still present.

[Zulera301]

Enmity between Districts 1 and 2 against 11 and 12 was definitely a real thing. While most Districts above District 8 had several victors, most of the outer ones did not. A notable exception to this was District 11, which had produced its 4th victor three years ago, and ever since then its tributes had been doing considerably well, given that the only time a district had ever consecutively won two Hunger Games in a row was District 2 back when they had won the 11th and 12th Hunger Games. This had actually been what started the practice among the career districts of having two mentors at a time, because ever since then, their victor pool had been sufficient for such.

Aurum giggled as Valour continued to flatter her in all the right ways. "you flatter me so," she shook her head fondly. maybe they would have time to have a little fun tonight, even if it was not the same kind of fun they had out on the balcony only two nights previous. She wondered if the other tributes knew about the bridges, but surely they would have to if they had left the main island to begin with. What she didn't think much about though, was that they weren't the only tributes that were seeing them and already cooking up some elaborate plans on how to use them to their advantage. They were here for a reason, and across the arena, there was a boy from '3, and boy from '8, and a girl from '12 already figuring out ways to try and control at least some of the bridges.

Aurum nodded as they made their way back to the cornucopia. "All the more reason we need to keep it. They say that they save the best for last, and so the last place they'll strike is the cornucopia. If anyone else tries to control it... well, they'll soon learn why that is a silly notion that won't get anywhere." she was fully confident that even if the likes of Farro and Joann teamed up, they'd still be no match against the mighty career pack, and since they weren't even allies, that just went to show that the other tributes were pretty much doomed. Perhaps for them, Alice's strategy was the only thing left to do, since they knew that they could not try to even think about out-muscling the career pack. Even burly tributes like Nolan and Alana could probably take them on their own. Maybe Lynx and the others had realized this.

The journey back to the cornucopia was fairly eventless, except as they approached it, Nolan held out his hand and nodded at Valour as he voiced his suspicion.
"There's something very wrong here..."
Glancing at the cornucopia, they noticed that there was a lot of overturned dirt and sand around the pedestals. To make matters worse, there were piles of sand overturned and scattered throughout the piles of supplies.
"Allow me," Aurum offered, since she was very light on her feet. She tiptoed this way and that, pointing at the various suspicious piles of sand without getting too close.
"16... so if they reburied 16 mines... they've got 8 more on them!" she called out, for it was clear what had happened--Lever, and perhaps his buddies, had taken the mines from under the pedestals while the career pack was out. Most of the supplies looked untouched except a few crates that had been plundered, but there was easily still plenty of supplies left. Aurum did find something else.
"Look at this!" she exclaimed, after she had showed them a safe path to follow. it was an empty food package of sorts, except that written on it was a silly-looking stick figure with its tongue sticking out, and the phrase Lever, Lodan, & Lynx send their regards.", with the names appearing to be done in each child's unique handwriting, with the broad, simple strokes of Lynx's handwriting finishing the sentence.

"Those clever little shits." Alana shook her head. "how are we gonna go about deactivating them. You gonna shoot them with your arrows or something, Valour?" they would be fairly easy to avoid, but the careers would have to stay light on their feet to avoid getting too close to a pile of sand and triggering whatever was buried beneath.

[Nachthexe]

Despite being in the arena and having to switch focus to survival Valour's attraction to his district partner didn't fade. She was beautiful and the boy still intended to make it known to her as often as she could. It was simply one of the small things that suddenly came to matter in what could be the final days of his life. Even if he managed to outlive all the others there was still Aurum and if she was going to live then he would have to die, or vice versa. It was a vicious cycle nobody was getting out of, not even loyal Districts 1 and 2 that actually took pride in sending off their children to the Hunger Games. "I flatter you now? The balcony was better." Valour responded, winking, as he once again turned his attention towards the girl. Surely to most others it would come across as cryptic language, but to those who figured it out he didn't even care. If anything, public knowledge of his time spent with Aurum would only serve to inflate his own ego.

"You did what? Damn, boy. You're lucky." Nolan had overheard and definitely had it figured out, considering the chuckle that was coming from him. It was something he found himself greatly amused by and perhaps even a bit envious, even if he didn't express it. Aurum was a very beautiful girl, after all, and it seemed nobody could deny it. Especially not Nolan and Valour who both seemed to pride themselves in being strong straight males.

"It seems you don't miss anything, but don't even think about it. She's mine. If you win this thing though I know there will be plenty of women just dying to keep you company." Valour let out a chuckle of his own as he proceeded to respond to Nolan, even playfully punching his shoulder. If anything, it surely showed just how sturdily built the District 2 boy was as, despite it being quite a hard punch, the boy hardly flinched. Alana seemed to be similarly built, although with a more feminine figure. The District 2 pair this year truly were all about brute strength and it really showed in the way they had proceeded to take down their targets. That was something Valour couldn't help but to admire, despite being a ranged fighter himself. Surely to get one's strength up to that magnitude took plenty of heavy training.

"Exactly. We know the Capitol won't attack it either. Sure there were those Mutts in the 44th games, but technically they had followed the tributes there after they were already being chased. I was baffled that not even those District 3 kids' mines could damage it though. There was nothing more than a few dents." Valour admitted once the pack began making their way back. Sure enough, upon arrival there were definitely signs that somebody had indeed been there. Not just anybody, but the District 3 boy and his friends. Valour knew that he was bound to be the only one in the entire arena, except for maybe perhaps the District 5 boy, who would even think to dig up the mines and know how to put them to use. "Well shit, I suspected something like this would happen." Valour simply remarked as he examined the situation. There were various piles of dirt, but most curious was the note that had been left. It had been left by exactly whom Valour had expected.

"It's Lever. District 3 is always pulling shit like this. Silly me for even daring to underestimate that district, even if we did kill one of their own." Valour remarked, chuckling sarcastically as Aurum proceeded to navigate what was potentially a minefield. It was a risky move and Valour hated the thought of her being blown to bits in what was bound to be one of the most anti-climatic career deaths in Hunger Games history. Fortunately, the girl had managed to make it across, much to the relief of Valour and the others. However, it left them at a dilemma. Nolan and Alana especially didn't seem like the type who would be light on their feet so either of them had potential to set off the minefield if there was indeed one. This was a problem Alana also seemed to take complete note of, trying to devise ways to deactivate them. The arrow trick seemed like an idea, although one Valour had to warn Aurum about. "Hey, you may want to get your pretty ass over here! I need to blow this shit up!" He bellowed as he readied his bow once again.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was frankly rather glad that the others did not mind her little flirts with Valour, because they were not about to stop, and it was a good thing to keep there from being any discord or contention in the career pack this early. This year they were in it to win it, and to right the wrongs of the year before. She giggled at Valour's inside-joke, and it made her bump her hip against his once. "oh for sure." she cooed, "by the way... my offer still stands, y'know. The audience be damned." She honestly thought it might be kind of funny to strip down naked, but was not likely to push it as long as Valour would at least cuddle or caress her at nights or something. She was almost certain she recalled one year where there had been this acidic fog or something that had eaten away most of the tribute's uniforms, though, and so two girls had spent the remainder of their time in the arena wearing nothing but their shoes, smalls, and these odd belts that had been part of the uniform. Well... either that, or that District 11 girl's stories were so damn convincing that they were finally infiltrating District 1. She didn't think too hard about it though.

Aurum giggled and blushed a light shade of pink when she heard them talking about her, but Alana elbowed her and waggled her eyebrows. Aurum was fairly certain that the girl was straight, but she seemed to wordlessly be saying that she kind of envied how boys admired the golden-haired girl. It was not to say that Alana was ugly (she had a very solid, athletic build that could be considered a happy medium between, say, Smash and Isi [since Isi had had pretty decent muscle tone anyways]), but Aurum was exceptionally pretty, and even the Capitol had been aware of that.

Still... speaking of which, Aurum massaged her arm where Alana had hit it. The girl definitely had one hell of a pair of swinging arms, and suddenly she wished she could have seen an arm-wrestling showdown between her, Sacajawea, Lyndis, Sagittaria, Varsha, and Adrianna. Aurum was not weak, although she did playfully punch Alana in return. The stockier girl shrugged it off completely, without flinching at all. "nice try, sweet-cheeks." she cracked a rare chuckle. "what you've got in looks I've got in strength."
"oh you're not ugly, girl..." Alana giggled, playfully pushing her as they continued walking,
"And you're not weak," the District 2 girl retorted, "the analogy fits."

Perhaps without knowing it, they were developing the same mentality of some of the outlying alliances. DEspite the fact that Kyla Togisala had openly told Rye and Sagittaria that she would turn on them without hesitation of the time came, they stuck with her, and had even mentioned a few times that if they couldn't produce a District 11 victor, that they had hoped District 12 would be able to. Aurum and Valour's situation was similar, except with Districts 1 and 2. However, those thoughts were briefly interrupted as they made it back to the cornucopia. Unsurprisingly, those smartass little tributes from 3, 8, and 12 had had their fun. Auruim did find Lynx's little drawing to be rather cute. Then again, most everything that youngster did was fairly cute, which was part of why Aurum could not imagine her ever killing anyone.

"Welp," Alana quipped, "there's a reason a lot of career packs will recruit '3. This is one of 'em." The pair this year had not seemed very impressive, and apparently they had been half right since the girl was already gone. the boy though... as well as that redheaded boy from District 8, that that adorable little youngster from '12, had proven to be tricky already. Alana might have also mentioned that District 3 was arguably recruited into the career pack more than District 4, but was not about to say that with the District 4 pair so close.
Aurum giggled at Valour's reminder. As if for a show, Aurum twirled around, wiggling her butt downright suggestively, before skipping back towards them with the nimble dexterity to avoid the potential minefield. Once she was out o=f the weary, everyone stood close and Valour shot one of the more distance lumps of dirt. nothing.
"Oh great." Aurum shook her head, "not heavy enough..."

"Watch and learn,," Alana cracked her knuckles, hefting a large rock. with a "HYYAAAAH!" she had heaved it considerably far, where it hit the dirt with a thud and rolled off. The others paused awkwardly.
"Did that just..." they turned to each other.
"lemme try." Nolan heaved another rock at another pile of dirt. Again. nothing.
"Maybe they took the landmines... or didn't take anything at all." Aurum suggested, "I think we've been duped..." although that was fairly obvious now.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. Aurum wanted to get nude? Here? It was a prospect the boy admittedly didn't mind had it not been for the widespread audience. Even if it didn't always feel like it there was still a throng of people from all across Panem watching the games passionately, awaiting to discover who the victory would be. Among them was District 1, the people the boy especially wanted to please. Surely they likely wouldn't mind and in fact would probably be flattered by their two prized tributes enjoying moments of intimacy(something the Capitol would also whole-heartedly embrace for propaganda purposes), but the boy wasn't quick to forget that various others were still present. Perhaps if they were the last two tributes those things could wait until then. It was only a minor thought at this point though, with many tributes still out there who were for sure hostile to the career pack.

"Shit. If I would have known I would have tried to get that boy too. Nobody can resist the charm of District 1, after all." Valour responded to Alana's concerns. Certainly he hadn't thought much of the boy back in training, but the current situation was quickly showing him to perhaps be quite adept at what he does. Having somebody like that on the side of the careers would have surely made them into something unstoppable. They definitely had plenty of strength now, but Valour was willing to ensure any way to produce a District 1 victor. After the past few years of embarrassments it was something that simply just needed to happen. All of District 1 felt it. Not even Aurum basking in all her flirtatious beauty could manage to distract the powerful archer from that task.

Once Aurum made her way back towards the others upon hearing Valour's warning, he managed to squeeze her butt once more before firing his arrows towards what was perceived to be a dangerous minefield of some sort. Sure enough, it hit the patches of dirt dead on, but nothing seemed to happen. This surprised the boy greatly, but then Aurum brought another theory of her own. "How deep can those things be if not even my arrows can set them off?" Valour asked, glancing at his partner quizzically. Fortunately for them both, Alana in all her brute strength seemed quick to intervene, launching a rock towards the minefield. She made it look so easy, but still nothing; still the dirt remained undisturbed with not a single explosion rocking the region around the Cornucopia. This also stood true as soon as Nolan also took a shot at throwing rocks of his own.

Of all the oddities that were bound to occur in the 47th Hunger Games this was quickly making out to be one of them. Clearly the Lever, Lodan, and Lynx alliance had plenty of incentive in fooling their opposition. It definitely showed them as clever as well, which potentially made them dangerous. However, it also left Valour with a much more serious theory: if they hadn't buried the land mines around the Cornucopia then there was a very likely chance they were putting them to use elsewhere. That was something that was bound to make tracking them down difficult. "We were definitely duped, but this makes me realize they probably have land mines in their possession. I'm not quick to forget that District 3 pair from the 44th games..." Valour explained just as he dashed over to retrieve his arrow and make his way back inside the Cornucopia, realizing it was still safe for the time being. It did make the boy realize that the District 3/8/12 alliance would have to be eliminated quickly, something that would have to be carefully planned out.

[Zulera301]

As much as Aurum might have genuinely wanted to get nude, she had enough tact to know when was and was not appropriate to do so, and with this many tributes still remaining, and at this point in the day, it was still very much not an option. If nothing else, it would ensure that she was remembered, but would it be in a positive light and a reminder of how beautiful she was, or would it be a moment to live in infamy? She would find out later, perhaps. For now there was business to attend to. Business. That was the name of the relationship between the two exceptionally pretty District 1 tributes and the solidly muscular District 2 pair. Right now they were still loyal allies though, because there was danger lurking about that very well could have been a threat. The career pack this year, while clearly very strong and clever, were not necessarily as cunning as some of the outlying tributes, which would in turn make for an interesting games.

Aurum chuckled, but nodded with a straighter face to acknowledge that the District 3 boy was no laughing matter. That redheaded boy from District 8 was probably their strategist, which meant he too had some grey matter up there. Heck, even that adorable little District 12 girl had proven to have some tricks up her sleeves (that did not stop Aurum from secretly wishing she could squeeze that little girl though). "well..." she reassured Valour, "if nothing else, we can outmuscle them. There's no need to outsmart anything you can outclass. Welcome to District 1." Aurum could not really blame incompetent tributes for District 1's lackluster performance in recent years. No... obviously these had been powerful boys and girls if they beat their comrades to the stage. They had just had really nasty luck. Flint had been stuck with powerhouses like Rye and Sagittaria, as well as that viciously fast and dangerous Kyla Togisala. That, and his district partner Krystal had betrayed him early on to join those enemy tributes. Blaze and Victoria, by similar comparison, had landed in a metaphorical hornets' nest by landing in an arena where a couple of unstable District 6 kids practically controlled it. And of course, if not them, there was always Valendria, that behemoth of a woman who was strong even for career standards.

Aurum couldn't help but give a cute giggle and a very high-pitched squeak when she felt Valour squeeze her butt, but of course, she actually really liked it. However, her focus was back on the rocks, and she had been worried initially that they had just not applied enough weight or pressure. Either that, or that alliance had something else demonically clever with something else.
Alana's physical strength was definitely comparable to District 11's Adrianna from last year. She and Nolan were probably some of the only ones that could hold their own in an arm-wrestle against the girl. On the other hand, Aurum saw logic in wanting to throw rocks or weights at every pile. She wouldn't put it above those kids to make decoy piles and then have only the most obvious ones be fakes. Luckily though, they all appeared to be fakes so far.

The career pack soon followed Valour after ensuring that there were no hidden mines, and they rested at the cornucopia again for the time being. She (and surely some of the others) wondered what they *had( done with the mines, or if perhaps they had just made it look like they dug them up. Theoretically, until they were reprogrammed and reactivated, the mines were completely harmless, but no one could forget some of the recent years where District 3 had dome some rather incredible things, like launch the mines like projectiles, or the year after, where they had built these powerful lightning machines. With a mastermind like Lodan on their side, and a clever little kid like Lynx who could build a trap out of basically anything, they were a threat that was likely going to try to entrench themselves in rather than come looking for a fight. Provided they did not trigger Capitol wrath, they'd likely be okay for several days.
"so... is that it for the evening, or are we gonna look arou--" Aurum began, but was interrupted.
A cannon had just gone off.

[Nachthexe]

Even if the District 3/8/12 alliance had the brains(which they clearly did) the careers had the muscle. In the end Valour was confident that alone would triumph. The brainy group definitely didn't seem like one that would fare well in direct combat. Instead they seemed to be relying on trickery and deceit with the eventual goal of taking down each of their opponents. That did have Valour wondering what would happen to the group once they were eventually forced to turn on each other, but to Valour it was a minor issue as he was sure each of them would be dead before then. He was at least hoping as much anyway, determined to bring home a career victor.

"You know you like it." Valour responded, chuckling as Aurum began giggling. Despite his sudden action in groping her butt she definitely seemed to enjoy it. It was just one of the simple pleasures the two hormonal teenagers were able to enjoy in the arena before being dragged to their deaths. At that very moment death had seemed rather close, but then the rocks somehow managed to leave Valour at ease. So the mines hadn't been placed around the Cornucopia? Definitely a clever tactic, but certainly not one the career pack fell for as they made their way back inside the Cornucopia. Mostly everything seemed to still be intact, although the other group definitely took some supplies. That didn't bother Valour much as he knew he and the others still had plenty themselves. Plus if food or water really became a priority they knew where some was located.

Naturally, once the pack was securely inside the Cornucopia, Valour made further advances to snuggle up to Aurum. He felt pretty confident that at the time being they wouldn't have to pack up in a hurry, after all. Clearly if there was action it was far away from their location, possibly on another island entirely. This simply had the boy glancing around at his own seemingly peaceful surroundings. It was still hard to believe that a place so beautiful was gradually becoming a graveyard for various children. Valour didn't seem to mind too much though as it simply meant being able to kill in style in an arena that was fitting for his looks.

"I think we're done for the evening." Valour soon turned his attention to Aurum, although was quickly interrupted by a cannon blast. A death. Almost immediately the boy was intrigued by who it could possibly be, but there was surely no way to finding out until the dead tributes' faces were shown in the sky. Whoever it was was simply one less person for the career pack to take on later, which gave Valour some relief. "Well that's one down, but I doubt their killer is nearby since we would have heard something." He suggested, simply shrugging if off. Their current location definitely seemed peaceful and the boy was confident it would continue for awhile.

[Zulera301]

The career pack did not need to try and outsmart the cunning 3/8/12 alliance; they just needed to make sure *not* to fall into their traps. if they could eliminate the space between them and the smaller tributes, the battle would be swift and over with. Well, perhaps it would. Flanking one tribute with four was one thing, but trying to flank three would be much different. If they had to choose who to go for first, Aurum couldn't decide if Lever or Lodan was more dangerous. One of them had technical expertise, while the other was the leader. Lynx would probably be last either way because of her lack of being a threat... unless of course the kid knew how to strangle someone or something.

Aurum couldn't help but giggle. "I was hoping for it, no less." she winked. Sure everyone in Panem might have just seen Aurum approve of getting her butt groped, but frankly, she just couldn't bring herself to care. She and 22 others were going to die (actually ideally, she'd come out alive and 23 others would die) within a couple weeks, and so frankly, Aurum wanted to enjoy what could be her last few weeks alive. She too was relieved that the rocks had proven the mounds of sand and dirt harmless, as she frankly did not want to get blown apart. She couldn't think of a more horrible way to die--her beautiful body all splattered across a couple hundred square feet of arena, with blood and guts strewn everywhere and nothing left to recognize of her.
But she was smarter than that, and so instead, she decided to just wind down and settle down. they had the best location in the games at the moment, and so she was not afraid of taking advantage of this metaphorical high ground if the battle came to them.

Aurum happily snuggled against Valour, deciding that since even Nolan and Alana were getting comfortable (near each other, no less), that she could kick off her shoes and stretch out a bit to relax. It had been a productive day, even if no one else had died yet. Nolan and Alana were not as close to each other as Aurum and Valour, but they did seem to be pretty good friends still. It was an amusing contrast, because their shoulders were so broad compared to the lithe and slender figures that the District 1 pair had. Perhaps unbeknownst to them, they showed off their district stereotypes fairly well. The District 1 pair were a beautiful, attractive and slender duo with beautiful features and attractive physiques, while the District 2 kids were much more burly and muscular, with very brawny constructs more suited for physical fighters.

"So even with the cannon blast, we're still good then. lovely!" she snuggled against Valour, wiggling her outstretched toes. It was not a hint of any kind (rather, just stretching them since they were free of the confines of shoes after a long day), but she would certainly not complain if he offered a massage or something.
the sky was darkening and only a few minutes after the cannon had gone off, the anthem played, and Ricardo's face from District 11 appeared in the sky.
Aurum simply shrugged it off though, and leaned back against Valour's shoulder. 9 down... 14 more to go.

[Nachthexe]

"I'm sure you're hoping for much more than just that too." Valour responded to Aurum, winking back at her. Despite their circumstances he definitely wasn't afraid to tease the girl. Even if he knew none of the intimate nights they had enjoyed back on the balcony could become reality here his attraction to the girl wasn't any less. It was definitely sentiment she happened to share too. It certainly played into the fact that if at least one of them had to die then Valour wanted to be able to die happy or have Aurum die happy, perhaps even spending her final moments snuggled up to him. Of course such an outcome would be much more complicated if they were the final two, but that was an outcome the boy didn't want to consider just yet. There were still so many tributes so anything was bound to happen.

Once Valour and Aurum were snuggled up to each other it was a cue that soon even the District 2 pair took. It seemed less tempting for the District 4 pair, but they were on watch duty anyway. They did seem a bit unnerved from the minefield incident, but otherwise they appeared okay. The cannon blast simply played more into that too, although it reminded Valour of just how eager he was to dominate the arena. Certainly he wasn't a sadist like the Difronzo brothers had been, but if killing was the name of the game then it was simply what he had to do. That was a fact that had long sank into the boy's mind that he was simply reminded off as the cannon went off. "Tonight we discover who it is." He uttered as he continued snuggling up to Aurum.

Sure enough, nightfall came and the sky darkened which allowed for the blaring of the Panem anthem and then a display of the day's fallen tribute. Ricardo, the male from District 11. Valour didn't know much about him personally, but if he had been anything like his partner then he would have had potential to be a threat. That in a way made Valour glad the boy had died by somebody else's hand, even if killing a bunch of strong tributes could have allowed him a chance to prove his strength. "Well that's one less down, although I don't feel he was significant. Shit, I can't even remember his training score." He commented as the image disappeared from the sky. Shuffling closer to Aurum, he then took hold of her now bare feet and began massaging them. Once again, he doubted they would have to pack up in a hurry as it was unlikely most of the tributes were on the move during the night.

"The Capitol clearly had their action. That gives us the option of either sticking around here tomorrow or exploring some more. There's still the whole other side of this island we hadn't seen." Valour explained moments later, realizing that the recent death made the Gamemakers less likely to force action in what had, from their point of view, probably been a fairly slow couple of days. At least there had been the mine trick, but nothing like that could ever really compare to the excitement the Capitol crowds got out of watching other people's children being slaughtered. The careers of course didn't view it like that, but they were well aware that many others did. Still, the little bit of action managed to give Valour some ease as he eventually found himself dozing off, awaiting to be awakened for either his watch duty or another cannon blast.

[Zulera301]

Aurum giggled. "so what if I am? whatcha gonna do? rip my suit off?" She wouldn't actually want it 'ripped' off, but yeah,. she wouldn't have minded if it was removed. She didn't expect that to happen by any means, but a girl could dream, couldn't she? She wondered if they'd cuddle a bit before their fight or something. Technically, if they were the last two left, they could draw it out a little longer, since the Capitol couldn't exactly attack one of them without attacking the other and thus jeopardizing the 'games with a potential of no victor at all. But, doing that was not even on Aurum's mind--not when there were 13 other tributes out there that needed to die first.

Aurum nodded at the prospect of learning who the dead tribute was, although the unease of the District 4 pair from that was not lost on her. Perhaps they were just worried that they might be next sooner or later. Not that '1 or '2 worried about that. Aurum and Valour were too confident in their skills, and frankly, Aurum was ready to believe that you could drop a bomb in front of Nolan and Alana and they wouldn't even flinch. They didn't seem like the types to be afraid of anything (and probably had the physical resilience to withstand a bomb blast. The thought at least made Aurum mentally giggle once or twice). So... she snuggled up with Valour, resting her head gently on his shoulder for a moment.

"I think he scored reasonably high..." Nolan quipped without turning around, "Like an 8 or something... then again, Grant a couple years ago from '4 got a score of 9 and that poor bastard died in the opening minutes."
"Ah well," Alana shrugged. "still leaves 9 others..." she was laying with her head in Nolan's lap, and the boy was running his fingers through her thick, curly hair.
Aurjm on the other hand, shifted so her feet were in Valour's lap since he made motions to grab them. Besides, it gave her an opportunity to lay on her back and spread her arms and hair out. She looked rather cute (and only a tad bit suggestive, given that her legs were together) like this, and with this rather vulnerable (at least by Hunger Games standards) position, she was definitely not about to move at all. The Capitol had gotten their action, and the other tributes clearly were not ready to encounter them in direct combat. Aurum figured the remaining tributes were smarter than that, so she relaxed, letting Valour massage her feet. Since they were in shoes all day and said shoes [as well as the suits] were somehow 'airy' enough to prevent sweating, the girl's cute little feet and toes were (for the most part) still clean and soft.

"we could explore a bit more," Aurum suggested, "or at least cross off another island off the list of islands tributes might be on. No real rush though... maybe Lynx is building a fortress like those kids last year?" Some of the "lack of action" in the 46th Hunger Games had been because of how incredible the fortress had been that the girls from Districts 10, 11, and 12 had built. they had thrown extra mutts at it, and the girls had managed to fight off them all. It was only when the Capitol realized that they couldn't break through that they resorted to spawning the mutts *inside* the fort.
"Ah well..." Aurum sighed pleasantly as the stress left her feet, "they know to let their pretty tributes get their beauty rest." she giggled, throwing a wink Aurum's way. Even Nolan and Alana cracked chuckles, knowing full well that they were talking about themselves.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. "I might just have to do that, get a full view of your gorgeous body." He simply winked at the girl, teasing her further, but he found it quite obvious by this point that she enjoyed it all. Realistically, he knew he couldn't rip the girl's suit off, but they were no doubt both imagining it just as two hormonal teenagers would. Fortunately, during this downtime there was plenty of opportunity for that sort of thing, that even Nolan and Alana seemed to pick up on. Certainly they had a different sort of appeal though, being much more stockily built and muscular. Still, they too appeared to be Capitol favourites just as career tributes almost always were.

"A 8? We all still top that." Valour responded to Nolan, shrugging off Ricardo's training score. Certainly it had been decent in the context of his district, but it was still nothing compared to the pair of perfect scores Valour and Aurum possessed. That alone probably still had their odds sky-rocketing within the Capitol betting circles. However, odds were simply numbers and there were clearly still dangerous tributes out there. Farro may have not scored as high as most of the career pack, but he was fast; easily the fastest tribute in the 47th games. It did have Valour intrigued if the boy would have been pitted against Dezna Meraxa of the 45th games though, considering he had also been fast. In his respective games he had easily been the fastest tribute. Of course there was also Joann who had also been a high scorer, and the fact that nobody really knew what she was capable of definitely made her a potential threat. Lastly, the extremely clever 3/8/12 alliance was still lingering about, likely plotting some sort of trick against the career pack since they definitely were aware they couldn't take them on directly unless they had suicide wishes. Those were all the significant threats that didn't seem to leave Valour's mind, but the boy was confident that when the time came the career pack could easily strike them down.

All Valour's thoughts of the other tributes were simply concluded by Aurum's presence and the fact that she was shuffling towards him in order to allow for easier access to her feet. It was funny really as she was in a position that would have left her vulnerable to attack otherwise, but the Cornucopia seemed oddly peaceful now, despite having been the site of carnage just about two days earlier. Sooner or later that feeling of serenity was bound to come to an end, but in the meantime both Valour and Aurum basked in it. It certainly wasn't bound to last forever and the boy was well aware of that. This was the Hunger Games so there was to be chaos.

Exploring the arena some more. It was definitely a sound idea, although not one Valour thought extensively about before finally dozing off. It was only several hours later when he was awaken for District 1's watch duty that he began thinking of such things once again. "I'm definitely curious to know what the others are up to. Most of them we hadn't seen since the bloodbath." Valour confessed as he rubbed his eyes and made his way outside the Cornucopia just as those from the last watch were returning. It was certainly a decent precaution so none of the others would attempt killing the careers in their sleep. Considering their tactics so far it somehow seemed like something the 3/8/12 alliance would especially want to try. Those thoughts also managed to leave the boy's mind though after another few hours when it became time to switch out with the District 2 pair for the last watch of the night.

The few hours during the District 2 pair's watch allowed Valour more sleep which had him awaking the next morning feeling very rested. However, all thoughts from the previous night began returning to him. "I suppose today we go on the offensive once again? I doubt anybody will be coming around here. The last group didn't even have the guts to rig the place." He asked, scratching his head and replacing his shoes which he had removed sometime during the night. If the Capitol uniform designers had been going for comfort then they had definitely succeeded as far as he was concerned, but comfort was definitely a minor issue overall in a death match so the boy didn't think much of it. Instead, he simply pulled out some of the food that had been packed away and began eating what would have to suffice as breakfast. At home he definitely ate much more, but here circumstances were much different and it was something that had dawned on the boy the moment he had managed to fight his way to that stage. He definitely had no regrets about it though, being driven by a strong desire to bring glory and fame to his district and himself.

[Zulera301]

Aurum laughed. "do it. you know you want to." oh, he was teasing her alright, but by golly, she could tease him right back. Maybe Aurum was going about thinking this the wrong way, but she would not mind doing something that audacious just for kicks. If a crazy girl from District 10 could get away with pretty much making out with literally every single tribute at least once before the games, she might be able to get away with being naked for a bit. Some tributes had not had a choice in earlier games, although there was always a story behind it. Aurum didn't think that that would happen in these games, but maybe that poisonous fog would make a comeback. It was certainly not like Aurjm would ever get near the stuff. besides eating away one's clothes, it also left nasty welts on the victim's skin, which could only be done away with by fresh water. she could only imagine how bad saltwater would be for it, so she shuddered and dismissed those thoughts entirely. On the other hand, speaking of pretty things (a great way to distract Aurum's mind from terrible things), she had concluded that Nolan and Alana were certainly not hard on the eyes either, despite looking like they were both hewn from mountains. They had pretty faces with solid, almost chiseled features. It was definitely a more masculine look, but even Alana pulled it off fairly nicely while still managing to look very female.

Aurum chuckled, elbowing Valour playfully. "We topped everything. we were and are literally the best Panem has to offer right now... and forever. they've probably got so much riding on us right now... we just gotta make sure we don't lose too much focus." it was a friendly but important reminder, she felt, for there were threats out there. Some, such as Shelia, the 5-6 alliance, and (formerly) Ricardo, had probably more just been lucky, while others, such as the independently operating District 9 pair, or Joann, were genuine threats out there. Even the quirky little alliance of Lever, Lodan, & Lynx was not one they could really discount after the trick they pulled earlier. It spoke volumes about how those kids operated. Tricks. Alice DeSiete had been a very tactical kid in the last games, and had gone on to become the youngest victor of all time. Could this alliance do something similar, and pull off enough schemes and tricks to outsmart their way to the top? Time would tell. Each of the remaining tributes was a threat in one way or another, and of course, eventually, the District 4 pair and the gigantic District 2 pair would soon become the same way.

And yet, snuggling with Valour had a profoundly powerful way of dismissing everything else and wiping Aurum's mind delightfully clear. It was odd how, even in a violent and dangerous place like a Hunger Games arena, they could find peace like this. Perhaps Rye and Sagittaria from a few years ago were right--there was peace to be found in even some of the most unexpected places. Aurum was going to enjoy that peace as Valour kneaded her feet. They were certainly not overworked, but a foot massage generally felt good any time and anywhere. The Hunger Games was no exception, really, and so she was fine with laying down as vulnerable as she was right now, to enjoy herself. if the Capitol was really going to smite their favorite tribute this early into the games... you know what, no. they wouldn't do that, for those two reasons: she and Valour were the favorites this year, and it was only night 2.

After a few hours of dozing off, Aurum woke up and found herself sort of sprawled out across Valour's lap, which made her giggle. She had been comfortable, which had explained how she had fallen asleep that way, but she got up and decided to keep watch. She didn't expect anything to happen, and so just left her shoes where she had removed them. She'd put them back on when they went exploring tomorrow, which seemed to be the plan.
"interesting point," Aurum nodded in agreement as she smacked her lips. Perhaps another advantage District 11 and 12 had out here was that they were surely used to more hostile sleeping conditions, and so probably had no trouble sleeping out in any kind of wilderness. Even tiny little Hazel Prezelin from a couple year ago had shown no trouble curling into a little ball and falling asleep like that. Surely little Lynx was probably out there right now doing the same thing.

Aurum did manage to rest plenty, however, and so they were invigorated the next morning. It wasn't like they were banned from sleeping any time they wanted; they just had to watch out for other tributes.
"Careful," Alana quipped as they rounded up their things and everyone put their shoes back on. "you'll jinx it. If they're clever enough to try and fool us into thinking they *won't* rig up the place just because they didn't do it the first time... perhaps they're hoping we'll grow complacent and won't suspect it the 2nd time." It was not to say that that was what that tricky little alliance had in mind, but Alana presented a valid point. They couldn't let their guard down just because the others had not done what seemed obvious.
They ate a bit to get themselves ready for the day, and then it was a matter of deciding who was going to lead them and where.

[Nachthexe]

Despite all the intimate moments Valour and Aurum had plenty of incentive in sharing, the pair wasn't quick to forget where they were. The Hunger Games arena. An abyss of suffering and ultimately death. That was a sign that nothing was permanent here, including Aurum, Nolan, Alana, and even Marina and Nemo. In fact, it seemed to be that alone which kept the others from growing too attached, but Valour certainly didn't hold it against them. Simply it had them all living in the moment and taking in the little things during these peaceful moments of downtime.

Once the next morning arrived Valour found himself anxious to get exploring further. This had him eating his breakfast rather quickly, although he was soon distracted by a valid concern from Alana. "In that case we will just have to be even more cautious." Valour responded, realizing it could have been their tactic right from the beginning. The 3/8/12 alliance definitely was clever and it was showing once again. "We're not falling for their tricks. We're the best." He chuckled.

"So where to this time?" Valour asked once the pack had finished up eating and gathering up their supplies. Ideally, he wanted to explore the other side of the island and fortunately Marina and Nemo seemed to agree with this, proceeding to lead the others in that direction. Unsurprisingly, there appeared to be six smaller islands on that side, immediately allowing Valour to pick up symbolism in the whole thing. Twelve smaller islands around a larger one? Was it intentional? To Valour it seemed to represent the twelve districts and the Capitol who protected and nurtured them. There was a chance he was thinking too deeply about it, but it managed to intrigue him nonetheless. "Same as before. Let's choose one." He advised, pointing to each one. Just as over on the other side they appeared to vary in size and abundance of vegetation, but he soon suspected the more fertile ones were bound to hold the other tributes.

"Here. This one seems like a prime location." Nemo interjected, pointing to the furthest island over. It, unsurprisingly, appeared to be one of the largest ones, but also the most fertile. It was almost screaming tributes, but the only way to truly find out would be by venturing over there. Nobody truly conversed much on the way over, but almost immediately Alana seemed to have noticed something lingering in a patch of foliage. Another animal perhaps? It was Valour's first instinct, considering the past incident, but there were still plenty of tributes around as well. It somehow seemed possible that some would be on this island, and it was only quickly confirmed as something--or somebody jumped out towards Alana.

"Hello. Got bored of the Cornucopia?" The tribute greeted her with a smirk. Almost immediately Valour saw who it was. Farro, the boy from District 9. He didn't seem to waste any time to begin hacking at the startled Alana. She had weapons of her own, but with the boy clearly much faster at striking than she was he managed to get some pretty deep and direct slashes on her before she managed to struggle with her own weapons.

"You've asked for it. Only one wins this game." Alana uttered as she finally rose her mace in attempt to strike the boy. The first hit landed in front of his feet as he managed to leap out of the weapon's path. This only continued after Alana took consecutive swings after managing to catch her breath. It was finally upon getting the fourth swing in that she managed to hit the very fast boy, although this had him fleeing after slashing Alana's chest one last time by surprise. Valour contemplated chasing after the boy, but hardly felt it was worth it. He was no doubt weakened already as indicated by the way he was limping so Valour was confident that somebody else could eventually take him out. Perhaps that was simply arrogance on his part, but only time would tell.

[Zulera301]

There was a cruel reality to their environment that did not go over Aurum's head, even as she lay there and had her feet massaged by Valour. One of the tributes that was still drawing breath was actually a victor in the making, while the rest of them would meet the end of their days here. There was never a truly accurate way to tell who it would be. Last year as Aurum watched the 24 tributes rise from their pedestals, she never would have expected that the one to survive the trials and terrors was that small boy from District 8. He had been so... so ordinary. so unremarkable. His partner appeared to have held back given her low training score and vicious fighting spirit once in the arena, but little Alice had just seemed so unremarkable. On the other hand, his skills as a mentor meant he was doing at least something right. Both of his tributes were still alive even if they were not working together.

And to top it off... at least one of them was full of tricks, most likely picked up (or at least augmented) by that kid as a mentor. Aurum briefly wondered what it was like--having a mentor that was younger than you were. The Capitol data indicated that Lodan Tracey was 17, and if Alice DeSiete had been 14 last year, that'd obviously only put him at 15 this year. Still... the next morning, Valour once again reminded her of the basic truth, that they were the best--that there would be no way they'd fall for that boy's tricks. If anything, he was probably the leader--the one they needed to go after. After all, it had been him that had approached that District 3 boy, and near the end of training, that little District 12 girl as well.

Maybe they'd run into him and his partners in crime as they wandered. they were heading towards the opposite side of the arena this time, and while there was loose evidence of Lever, Lodan, & Lynx, there was not enough to follow them, other than that they were almost certainly on one of the eastern six islands. That was another thing that Aurum had learned--there were six islands on this side of the arena as well, bringing the grand total of outer islands to 12. Symbolism was not a rare thing in the Hunger Games, although a lot of it went over the tributes' heads. On the other hand, it was also left very open for interpretation, and surely some of the others thought differently.

"right behind ya." Aurum followed the others, although was ready at the drop of a hat to spin around and attack/defend if someone tried assaulting them from behind. Otherwise, they were fairly silently, with Aurum quietly humming as they went. She had a nice little voice, but was not being too loud or drawing any more attention to themselves... well, no more than their heavy footfalls might warrant. Only Valour and Aurum were terribly light on their feet, and Nolan and Alana were certainly not terribly stealthy with their massive feet and frames. Then again, with their kind of strength, they probably didn't need to be.

On the other hand, before Aurum knew it, Alana was being attacked, although in the dense foliage, it was difficult for the rest of them to flank the attacking boy, and so it was mostly up to the girl herself to take out this threat or get taken out herself. Perhaps the solidness of her physique was really paying off, as some of those blows turned out to be rather nasty and might have been enough to kill someone smaller or more slender, such as herself. Still... she managed to strike the boy and send him running with his tail between his legs. Score 1 more for the careers.

On the other hand, Alana was now wounded. however, the theory of all kinds of sponsors lining up for them rang true, because no sooner had the battle ended than a parachute came their way. Aurum caught it first, but handed it to Nolan immediately upon seeing a 2 on the canister. It was clearly meant for Alana, but Nolan was still able to open it anyways. Interesting things those sponsor gifts... only come people could open them, and it seemed that people in an alliance could usually still open them for each other, especially if they were from the same district.
Unsurprisingly, it was medicine, much like the stuff that often showed up for tributes in the arenas. Nolan laughed as he read the note aloud.
"Don't listen to that kid. District 9 is still just fodder." ~L
With chuckles all around, Nolan's face straightened a few moments later as he helped try and dress his partner's wounds.

[Nachthexe]

Perhaps Aurum wasn't the only one to realize that the 3/8/12 alliance would probably have to be split up. Certainly they had some sort of efficiency while working together, but could it be maintained if they were split up? Somehow they all seemed like the types who would be pretty powerless on their own. That alone was rendering their alliance a valuable one, even if it was still nothing compared to the mighty career alliance that was currently dominating various parts of the arena. Surely these islands were just one more landmark in their quest for conquest of the arena. Other tributes were likely aware of it too, but Valour didn't allow that to discourage him in any way. This was his. This was District 1's year. Nothing was going to change that. Not on his watch at least.

"Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing some symbolism here." Valour noted as the pack finally continued on, although it was only short-lived as soon the rustling in the bushes was revealed to be another tribute. Almost immediately he had jumped out in front of Alana and began slashing at her. The boy definitely had a fast swinging arm to go along with being fast on his feet--a powerful and dangerous combination. There was truly no wonder in Valour's mind anymore how the boy had managed to score a 10, although he had managed to flee before he was even able to get any hits of his own in on him. "Shit, you've had him! What the hell was that, Alana?" Valour asked, startled by the boy's suddenly appearance and then finally his sudden disappearance, despite the fact he had resorted to limping. That alone hardly made him worth chasing after as somebody else was bound to get him sooner or later.

Alana was panting hard, although her stocky build still allowed her some resilience to the boy's attacks. "He...he's fast. Too fast. We hard hitters are less so." She uttered as she finally slumped down to the ground. She was bleeding quite heavily and one look at her wounds indicated that the boy had cut rather deeply into her chest. Valour knew that if she had been any smaller that the wounds could have very possibly been fatal. They definitely weren't about to be this time though as a parachute began floating down towards her. Unmistakably a sponsor gift for one of the unmistakably most popular tributes in the 47th Annual Hunger Games. Wasting no time though, Nolan opened it up and began applying the medicine to his partner's wounds. This indicated they shared some sort of relationship with each other, even if merely a professional one. Perhaps it was even for the best since only one tribute was ever walking out of the arena.

"We know at least one thing now. That boy, despite his speed, is actually a huge coward. Look at the way he fled from us. Perhaps because he saw all six of us together? There's no way he could take us all on unless he has a death wish." Valour commented, making a very important observation about the boy that brought smirks to the other's faces. Even if Valour didn't realize it, the boy did have a valid strategy though, attempting to weaken his enemies one by one if he couldn't take them all on directly. Unfortunately for him not even that was bound to work with the amount of sponsors the entire career pack no doubt had lined up. "On another note, you should rest." Valour continued, glancing over to Alana who was now sitting in the sand. Her stockier build was definitely advantageous at this point, although it made her seemingly still eager to move on despite her injuries.

"Me resting? Are you fucking kidding? I'm fine." Alana responded with hesitation as she soon attempted to stand up. This led to her letting out a few groans, but she was certainly handling any pain she was experiencing surprisingly well. District 2 was easily the more resilient of the career districts due to the extremely disciplined environment they were raised in, but that was an observation Valour didn't comment on at this time, simply just taking hold of the girl's arm to help her up. He wanted her to rest, but somehow she didn't seem like the girl who was about to be denied an opportunity to fight. "I've seen tributes injured more severely than this who continued on." She continued, chuckling as she was finally upright. This had the others chuckling as they awaited a chance to plan their next move if Alana really was insistent on moving on. She was definitely fortunate to had been confronted by a boy who didn't seem to have much interest in taking down all his opposition directly. It did give Valour some ideas about how the District 9 boy was operating, however, which was bound to be valuable later on for taking him down.

[Zulera301]

Perhaps there was a valid threat to the 3/8/12 alliance after all. There was definitely strength in numbers as the career pack always indicated. Conversely, in years like last year, the lack of numbers led to the downfall of the pack early on. Aurum certainly didn't want that to happen, and she was fairly certain it wouldn't happen this year, which was part of what gave them such a huge edge. Surely Lever, Lodan, & Lynx would not be able to do much to them unless that alliance was taking the defensive or something. traps were a defensive mechanism. if those kids could be forced to take the offensive, they would be annihilated, and Aurum knew it.

"Maybe next time we should incorporate more defensive maneuvers," Nolan suggested as he helped rub the medicine into Alana's injuries to curb the bleeding and hopefully ease her pain.
"There ain't gonna be a next time, you dolt." Alana quipped, "one of us comes out alive, and they never have to go back again."
Nolan's face lengthened. "I meant next time we strategize here and now," he retorted, "unless you'd rather that boy cut you up again. I don't think you want that though."
Alana groaned, knowing full well that Nolan was right about all of this, and so she simply sat there as she was bandaged up. There was definitely a lot of blood, and it hurt her pride and her body to know that most of it was her own. Still... she was around friends, and even District 1 seemed to be offering sympathy and/or concern--certainly not out of pity, for Alana was proud, but out of genuine concern for the larger girl.

"Hit and run tactics... bloody coward..." Aurum spat, almost hypocritically. then again, as a melee fighter herself, she was not so much a hit-and-runner herself as much as she was just willing to resort to dirty tactics. She'd stick around until the fight was done' just that she might "cheat" in the meantime. To her, there was no rules in a fight though, but it still irked her to see Alana like this.
"He's got a point," Aurum tried insisting, "you're sitting in your own blood here." It was clear that most of that blood was Alana's, given that the others were still mostly unharmed and that she was bleeding profusely. Still, the massive girl shook it off and tried pulling herself to her feet with a grunt and a groan. If it had been Aurum that had been injured like that, she would have accepted the invitation to rest with no hesitation, even if it was not Valour that had suggested it (although bonus points if it was him). It was only day 3, and so the odds of the Gamemakers being ruthless was negligible, and it was still early enough that resting and receiving sponsor gifts was still very much a reality.

On the other hand, there was the sound of something hitting the water not too far from the shore. It was round and looked like a projectile, except that after the impact, it bobbed back up and ebgan to slowly wash ashore--a coconut. Aurum narrowed her eyes and noticed something on the horizon--a small raft, with two boys and a girl on it, out in the distance. They were very distant, and so spears or arrows were unlikely to strike them, but at the same time, it seemed that their coconut catapult (which was being operated by the tiny girl) was not powerful enough to reach them.
"Coconut launchers..." Aurum shook her head, "first that jerk from '9... now these little shits? Hopefully for their sake they're not turning hostile..."
Watching them a few more moments, and they seemed to be moving away from the island where the careers were, as opposed to trying to get closer for better range.
"So they're building boats and catapults now..." Alana grunted, "greeeeeat...." she didn't seem to have any plan, and was trying to stay on her feet even if she was hurting considerably, albeit too proud to admit it.
"So... any ideas?" Aurum asked around, indicating that she herself was out of them. "if nothing else, we've got an idea where Lever, Lodan, & Lynx are... but I'm not sure how easy to reach they'll be..." That was her input, and hoped the others would share their own as well.

[Nachthexe]

Valour nodded. "Cowardly, yes, but clever. The boy definitely knows he cannot take us on while at full strength so he wants to weaken us one by one. Of course little does he know we bound to all have a number of sponsors lined up who can give us medicine." He responded, putting on another smirk. Even if the boy was proving to be a danger he was about to allow this to discourage him. Even if he managed to pick off the others he would still have to face the most powerful tributes in the arena: Valour and Aurum. Being a ranged fighter, Valour felt he even had an advantage in that department as Farro seemed to rely solely on speed and surprise attacks. Having that figured out was also bound to make taking him on quite a bit easier.

If there was something the District 2 pair this year could be admired for it was their resilience. Despite her injuries Alana was still insistent to move on and it especially showed in the way she attempted to stand up and carry herself while the others prepared to move on. "Shit, girl. You're sure you can do this?" Valour asked her, still surprised she was actually standing up despite bleeding profusely. The bandaging seemed to help somewhat, but the extra pressure on the wounds now was only adding to the bleeding. This didn't seem to bother the girl though as she picked up her supplies off the ground and simply nodded at Valour. "Well I suppose this answers my question. Let's go." Valour then commented, chuckling as he once again proceeded to go ahead of the others as the unofficial scout and ranged fighter of the group.

The group didn't manage to get far before they were interrupted by yet something else. Whatever it was was fortunately off in the distance so no injuries would be involved, but it did give Valour quite an eyeful as soon as the coconut washed ashore. Off in the distance there it was. A raft of some sort, no doubt constructed by the tributes currently aboard it. They also seemed to have some sort of projectile launcher and Valour thought it likely that if they could launch coconuts then there was a good chance they could also launch deadlier weapons such as spears. "Too bad they don't realize we have the best swimmers on our side, but will that work?" Valour commented about the situation, glancing off into the distance and then towards Nemo and Marina who smiled at the compliment that was obviously meant for them.

"Swimming after them? Any of them could probably strike us right out of the water with that sort of mechanism. Not to mention all the sorts of hidden dangers the Capitol likely has in the water. We're treading in dangerous waters here, no pun intended." Marina interjected, feeling free to give her feedback on the situation. Of anybody present(except for perhaps Nemo) she clearly knew the most about water and marine combat so if this was a risk to take or not she was the one bound to know. That had Valour trusting her judgement so instead he simply sat down and began trying to think of a different sort of plan as this use of a raft and projectile launchers was bound to complicate things very quickly.

[Zulera301]

"Even if he gets a sponsor or two, it's definitely still no match for what we could get... I guess they just realize that we don't really need anything just yet, so Price & Miriam are just waiting out until we do, to give us the right edge." Aurum chuckled. While there was no way of telling, the girl was actually right. There was nothing that they had been given that they needed at the moment, and so it was just a matter of strategically waiting for the best time to place the gifts and such. They knew his strategy now, while all that could be said for the careers was that they were vicious fighters. They were certainly not without strategy. That just left District 11's Joann Kader to worry about, but they'd find her sooner or later. Like Farrow, she was just one kid. They were six. That was all that needed to be said.

Aurum seemed uneasy at the fact that Alana was clearly trying to shrug off wounds that seemed a bit too much for most people. She was kind of hoping that the girl would get fatigued enough to want to rest, not out of any sort of pride thing, but because she wanted the pack to stay intact as long as possible. Okay, so maybe her pride of supposedly being wrong was also kicking in, but she didn't want that bulky girl going down so early. She was definitely still bleeding, despite the medicine and her protests. Aurum did kind of want to smack her upside the head for it, but she dismissed that notion as the career pack moved on.

Aurum had wondered if it would be possible to swim out towards them as well, but also kept the coconut for a bit. maybe they'd crack it open to get a little extra food. she was no food expert, but they did seem pretty starchy and filling or something like that. Aurum would have thought that swimming out to them would work as long as they could avoid the projectiles, but that coconut had been launched fast, and if it struck them, it would hurt a lot--probably worse than a fist from Nolan or Alana, actually.

"They've also got those mines." Nolan reminded them, "if they can launch coconuts, they can probably launch other weapons, and can probably even use those mines like bombs the way those Bolt and Techa kids did a few years ago." Yup... District 2 was good with remembering the names of particularly clever tributes. Kyla, Bolt, Clemont, Techa, Hikari, Glimmer, Dezna, Joss, Sacajawea, Adrianna, Lyndis... and now Lever, Lodan, & Lynx.
"It doesn't look like they have them with them though," Aurum pointed out, figuring that on a flat raft like that they'd be able to see the mines if they were present. besides... all they had at the moment was a catapult, which was not the easiest thing to aim. But... if Nolan's theory about District 3 was right, then perhaps Lever and Lynx were building something that that ever-observant redheaded boy Lodan had seen from previous games.
"still something to watch out for," Nolan reminded them, but otherwise fell silent to see what District 4 had to say about all of this.

[Nachthexe]

"After that stunt he pulled somebody's bound to like him." Valour responded to Aurum, chuckling. It was true that Farro probably wouldn't get as many sponsors as career tributes often did, but he was definitely bound to get something. Even the more unpopular tributes who survived the initial bloodbath got at least one. That alone proved that different Capitol citizens had different ideals about the games, but the careers seemed to satisfy them the most, which brought a smirk to Valour's face. He was among the best and he knew it well. That alone meant a career victory was practically in the bag no matter what happened from here to the end of the games. Although, even if he didn't say it aloud, he was betting on Alana being the first to go now simply based on her injuries and how she insisted on carrying on.

The mines. Nolan's expressed concern was definitely a valid one. District 3 kids definitely had the capability to reactivate them. At least that seemed to be the case with ones in the past and there was no way of knowing if Lever was any different. Fortunately, there were other strategies coming to Valour's mind that didn't involve having to face detonating mines. "I wonder if they can swim? Somehow I doubt it. What we need to do is somehow get them off that raft. We have an edge in that everybody present here currently can swim." He commented, met with nods from the others indicated that they could, in fact, swim. That was a promising sign, especially considering it was a couple of urban kids plus their young ally currently aboard that raft; imagining an urban kid being able to swim was like imagining an ugly District 1 girl. It just generally didn't happen.

Nemo chuckled before interjecting. "That's quite a sound strategy actually. Get them off there while they're between islands and they're doomed; there's no way they could swim to one of the islands. They would drown before then. Same applies to most of the others probably. We're at a huge advantage." Valour smirked as Nemo spoke. Drowning the 3/8/12 alliance. It was a sound strategy, even if a part of him was telling him just how ruthless it was bound to be to watch a bunch of children younger than himself drowning. However, business was business and any means to an end was a means worth considering.

"That's all good, but the challenge would be getting over to them. Even if they don't have mines they clearly have other projectiles." Alana warned just after she let out yet another groan as the pain in her chest continued growing. With that, she simply crossed her arms over her chest and took a seat on the ground, awaiting a plan of action. She even briefly considered that maybe the others were actually correct in that she should rest. She soon tossed that aside though and glanced directly at Aurum who had been mostly silent so far. Maybe she had a strategy of some sort? District 1 did seem to be on fire this year, after all.

"Look at you. We're resting." Valour demanded before Alana even got to open her mouth. "We're in a vulnerable position, but we are able to fight. Besides, it doesn't look as if that trio is coming any closer. Perhaps they know they're no match for us." He continued as he took a seat beside the struggling girl. She was certainly no Aurum as far as looks went, but it was obvious she hadn't been trying to be. District 2 seemed to put less focus on that sort of thing overall anyway, mostly being focused on self-discipline and pride for Panem. Both were equally admirable goals to those of District 1 in his opinion, even if he was admittedly in the games for personal glory and fame.

"Fine you win, but we should at least take cover somewhere." Alana responded with a sigh, then glancing up at Valour with a bit of hesitation. It became clear the pack was probably not leaving this island, but at least there was plenty of foliage to camp out in. It appeared to be one of the larger islands, after all, although that of course left a chance that Farro was still around. The last thing any of the career pack was bound to want is him showing up in the night and attempting to slaughter them. It somehow seemed like a tactic that the boy wouldn't overlook, seemingly being desperate to produce a District 9 victor for the first time in years.

[Zulera301]

"well... regardless of how many people like him..." Aurum grinned, "they still like us better." she flipped her hair and almost looked like she was posing for one of the many invisible cameras that surrounded them. As much as the Capitol liked Districts 1 and 2, it did not discriminate when sponsors lined up to provide for their favorite tributes. They would often go for the ones they thought would have a chance, which just happened to usually be the careers. There were exceptions, such as little legendary Kyla Togisala, or those quirky District 6 kids the year after. Heck, even bitchy Paige Alwin had gotten a sponsor gift once. No one knew where that one had come from.

Aurum's confidence was further boosted when they mentioned swimming. Clearly there had been more than one reason for why Lever, Lodan, & Lynx had built the raft, and out of those three, oddly enough, Lynx seemed like the one that most likely knew how to swim. Even then though, she was surely not a very fast swimmer (if she could swim at all), but if she could tread water, she'd still have an edge. Incidentally, Lynx did slip off of the raft (on purpose) once the careers were out of sight, both to feel the water, and to perhaps lean how not to drown. She had tied a rope around her waist before them, and tied the other part to the raft, so she wouldn't drift away, or sink. That, and Lever and Lodan were watching her since they could reel her in much easier than she would be able to reel her in. One thing was clear though--that little 12-year-old was definitely a useful member of her alliance, rather than one picked up out of sympathy or anything.

"My concern," Aurum spoke up as some of the others spoke to her. She was no Alice or Lodan, but she was observant of at least a few things, "is how we are going to get over to them. Even if we swim to them, they still have the high ground and could spear us as we try to climb aboard their raft. Essentially, we'd need to find a way to both dodge their projectiles And sink their boat. if they can build something that secure by tying logs together... then that kid apparently can tie better knots than I even thought was possible." But then again, Aurum had always thought knot-tying had been a silly thing to practice prior to coming to the arena. Tiny little Lynx Chantrea reminded the golden blonde just how wrong she was.

"In fine... they're playing defensively." she concluded. "kind of like those girls from '10, '11, and '12 last year. We need to find out where their base of operations is, and find a way to flush them out of it, and then get them off their boat." this was obviously much easier said than done, but it was definitely what they would need to do in order to finish these kids off.
"But that's just it," Nolan shook his head, "even if we splintered the raft and severed that kid's knots... the wood isn't about to stop floating. Oddly enough... that suddenly makes me think that that tiny girl is the biggest threat. Clearly she's the one that knows how to tie things together, and she was the one operating that catapult. I think if we forced her into that desperate of a scenario by killing her partners, she could still be a threat by herself..."
"Hopefully not," Aurum shook her head. She was not sure she could bring herself to slay Lynx if she was confronted. "if Lever and Lodan did manage to drown and Lynx escapes, it'd just be a game of cat and mouse. We can still do that... I guess we need a strategy either way... perhaps some rest..." she glared at Alana.

Aurum joined Valour, setting her hands on the larger girl's shoulders as if to hold her in that sitting position, as she seated herself on Alana's other side. "pfft. you just want an excuse to keep moving... there's no pride in wandering around while your blood spills everywhere, girl! You don't have to be all prim and pretty when we're out killing people, but when your body's screaming for a bit of R&R, just sit down and listen. Why do you think the Capitol lets tributes rest up before what they expect will be huge encounters? cuz healthy tributes fighting to the death is much more exciting than ones that have to hold their intestines in with one hand and swing an axe with another."

"Like I told Valour," Alana grunted, realizing that these District 1 kids were not about to give up on her, "I'm not camping my ass out here in the open so we can get shot at like sitting ducks. into the foiliage we go or I'm decking you two right now." She expressed this in a more 'I-don't-really-mean-that' sort of tone, and so Aurum played along.
"Alright, fine. Up you go..." they pulled Alana to her feet, where she clutched her chest, breathing heavily. They took a few steps inland (and by "a few steps", it was more like a few hundred meters), before Alana resolutely plopped down, her body deciding that it had had enough bleeding for the time, and so in this position, there was no pressure on her wounds.
"fine... we'll stop here." she requested, since they were safely surrounded by foliage without being in a compromising position or anything, "you two can go ahead and pamper me or save me or whatever you District 1 people do..." she groaned, but was obviously referring to Valour and Aurum either way, since they had seemed to express the most concern about her condition thus far. Aurum took that to heart, sitting down next to her and running her fingers through the girl's thick curls. It was not about to magically make her wounds better, but if you asked Aurum, there were few people who didn't like a soft pair of fingers through their hair.

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. It was no doubt an irrefutable fact that the careers were almost always the strongest tributes in the games, thus almost always received the most sponsors. Years where notable exceptions managed to crop up were always particularly interesting, both for those in the Capitol and in the districts. Kyla of the 44th games was no doubt just one of those exceptions and even citizens of Districts 1 and 2 seemed to have great respect for the girl. Valour at least respected her fighting abilities, although he was still baffled where she had managed to pick up skills like that since District 12 didn't exactly train for an entire lifetime like career districts did.

Sinking the raft of the 3/8/12 alliance seemed like a viable strategy on the surface, although it carried its own set of dangers as Aurum was quick to point out. "That is true. Maybe we can build a raft of our own? I'm sure Nemo and Marina are familiar with that sort of thing?" Valour replied, chuckling as he was only half-serious about the whole raft building thing. It was unlikely any of them had any experience there except for the District 4 pair, but even they didn't seem too keen on the idea as indicated by the expressions of doubt they now wore on their faces.

"It's plausible, but quite possibly time consuming. That trio seemed to have been able to pull it off since they probably began right from Day One. If we begin now by the time we finish they could potentially have something even more dangerous established." Marina began, "Building materials seem to scarce here so even gathering the wood alone would take days even if the building went much quicker." She began surveying what she could of the island from her current location and there appeared to be plenty of foliage, but few trees. That alone would require island-hopping, something that was clearly no quick task. Fortunately for them the nearest enemy seemed to very much be taking the defensive, thus allowing the pack time to think on their options.

"Playing defensively. It seems to be working for them now, but don't forget that eventually the Capitol will force them on the offensive. It's just a matter of when, but remember that trio of girls from last year. It took those Mutts to drive them out and shit, it worked." Valour interjected, reminding the others that even if attacking that alliance now was impossible it wouldn't remain that way forever. The Capitol wanted their show and nothing was going to happen while tributes were sitting idly waiting for each other. There was a reason the final few were almost always driven back to the Cornucopia, after all. Valour knew this was exactly it, although waiting around actually seemed beneficial at this point with how Alana was struggling. She was doing good with trying to repress the pain, but Valour could very much sense it was there by the way the girl was groaning each time she made a significant movement. At least Aurum's words seemed to have some effect on the girl, prompting her to finally rest once the group approached a safer location.

"We now know what at least a few of other tributes are up to, but it's still a bit concerning we hadn't seen the others." Alana commented as she laid herself down entirely on the soft moist ground. It was oddly refreshing and the girl was beginning to feel quite calm, even if quite the contrary was occurring elsewhere in the arena. Unbeknownst to her and all the other careers there were two clever tributes working on a dangerous mechanism of their own, one that was possibly nearing completion. The initial tests on several of the arena's small critters seemed to prove as much, putting a smirk on the mechanism's creator's face. It was promising, but suddenly the boy responsible felt it needed something more, even if that was bound to set back the process for a few more days.

[Zulera301]

Lyndis Montoya from the previous year had been right. It was not always the mass killers or the strong tributes that got remembered. Folks like Mason, Alexis, Victoria, Roxanne, Zakura, Alan, Myron, Gemma, & Marcel... all of them had been strong, but none were too well-remembered. Even the DiFronzo brothers were beginning to fade away, perhaps because of their humiliating defeats at the hands of a poor district such as '11. Then again, recent years had done well in solidifying District 11 as a considerable threat. Long gone were their days of being fodder.

Having discovered that their idea was a success, the ragtag trio of tributes disappeared into the distance, probably to continue their island-hopping. This would be disadvantageous to anyone trying to find them, if their base of operations was not in a set position. Perhaps that redheaded boy's skill with an axe in the training center had paid off or something. Perhaps they had been sponsored for their cleverness? Those three outlying girls from last year's games had gotten a few sponsor gifts, although by the time Lyndis had made a break for it, she was relying solely on the weapons she had brought with her and her raw skill. Then again, that was one of many reasons why she had in fact sealed her place among the "great ones".

"well..." Aurum noted, "time-consuming or not... something tells me that they are undeterred by that..." the fact that they had so quickly left meant that they were satisfied with what had happened. That had clearly just been a test of some sort, since only one shot was fired and then they retreated right back from whence they came. Clearly with that raft, they could transport supplies as needed, and island hopping would be a breeze, since they could remain on the outer fringes. It was definitely smart for them to do this in the first few days when most of the tributes were still alive... because being on the outside of the arena near the end of the games meant near-certain death.

"That's a good enough point," Aurum agreed, "although it's only day 3. I don't think the Capitol will try to make us all converge three days in when there are still 15 tributes left." she chuckled, although it was a genuine concern. The longer they waited, the more progress Lever, Lodan, & Lynx would be able to make on their project, whatever it was. Aurum had half-expected that those kids would have flung a mine towards them, but instead it was just a coconut... which meant that they had the mines out somewhere. That was not a good thing at all.

On the other hand, even if those kids did rule the seas, they had gone far enough inland where unless they had Capitol-style technology on their side (an unlikely sponsor gift; and power that even the likes of Districts 2 and 3 would be blown away by), the career pack was safe as Alana rested. She had gotten some major injuries, but that Capitol medicine was helping now that the girl had stopped moving. Rye Grove a few years ago had had comparable injuries (at least in terms of blood loss), but he survived just fine.

"well just relax, sweetie." Aurum giggled. "you've earned it..." Alana closed her eyes as she felt Aurum's nimble fingers roam through her hair, which was a cute but otherwise just friendly and relaxing gesture from the golden-blond girl. Despite the peace the career pack felt, the other islands were teeming with activity. For one, Lever, Lodan, and Lynx had landed back at camp by this time, and were working on something bigger and better. For another, there was at least one girl currently running for her life from an angry tribute whose partner had been slain at this girl's hand. Perhaps the careers were right--if there was enough discord among the others, they could do most of hte dirty work themselves.
"so are we camping here for the time being?" Aurum asked. "I don't think those other kids are going to be abandoning their raft any time soon..." she was not in any rush, although she did want to sort of keep mental tabs on where she last saw some of the other tributes so she could remember their patterns and behaviors in hopes of anticipating when they would next strike.

[Nachthexe]

If Lyndis Montoya of the previous year's games had been correct Valour could only hope that somehow he claimed his place among the "great ones". Certainly scoring a perfect 12 alongside his district partner was bound to count for something, but would it be enough? Only time would tell on that one, although the boy realized it was possible he would be dead before then. In that case he could only hope that Aurum made him memorable somehow. He fortunately trusted that she would. Perhaps even in more ways than one? He definitely had the looks for it at least, and the Capitol liked that.

Despite all their eagerness earlier to show off their gadgets the 3/8/12 alliance seemed to had disappeared into the shadows once again. This admittedly didn't bother Valour much as he now knew what to watch out for and definitely the others did as well. Even if they were no longer in such an obvious location Valour wasn't about to let the night watch slide. It was still a rather crucial element of survival in these games the boy was going to grasp firmly to. LAst thing he wanted was a repeat of the past few years, after all. Fortunately, there still seemed to be several hours to kill though.

As Valour continued contemplating his options the raft idea was definitely beginning to seem less desirable. Certainly it would be a way to go after that ragtag alliance of tributes, but wouldn't somebody else attempt to lure them out even before the project was completed, thus rendering it a waste? It was a very real possibility with various other tributes out there, one of which was definitely bound to have knowledge of how to build vehicles. That alone rose a red flag in Valour's head to the possibility that little Cara was perhaps working on something similar along with her District 5 ally. He tried to imagine what sort of things could be created with both electricity and boats. It seemed promising for the duo, although Valour quickly remembered resources were limited in the arena. "I just realized something. That District 6 is still alive and if that ragtag team of tributes could construct what they did then I'm almost positive that District 6 girl even on her own could build something superior. Her district does specialize in that sort of thing, after all." He began, sharing his theory with the others. "There's her ally as well, but he could be up to anything at this point. I suppose only time will tell."

"Even if everybody just builds themselves a boat they can't stay away from us forever. Remember, the Gamemakers..." Alana interjected as she shuffled closer to Aurum as the smaller girl continued stroking her hair. The girl definitely had a soft spot for that sort of gesture, although she soon had to repress it as the others once again began talking strategy. Valour noted her words though and remembered she was correct. The Capitol wanted a game and it wasn't exactly going to be exciting if everybody avoided each other. If anything, those on the rafts would have to confront each other directly before those on shore could even attempt to do much except for turning on each other(but everybody knew that wasn't about to happen between the careers).

Unknown to anybody else at the time, Valour had been correct on at least one account. Cara, the little District 6 girl and probably the second cutest tribute after Lynx. She definitely had brains and some expertise in her field, ones that left even her older ally impressed as she skillfully constructed what was to perhaps be a lifeline for the pair of tributes. Their project was over a quarter complete, but both Cara and Edison knew it was still missing something, considering the strategy they intended to take against the others. The younger girl was definitely determined to make her mentor proud to make up for the vast disappointment the previous year. This current project was simply what she saw as a means to an end.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was actually fairly confident that she and Valour would in fact be remembered. There might be tribute pairs that scored perfect 12s that came after them... but what mattered was that they had done it first. Furthermore, they would prove their prowess on the battlefield Just as they did in the bloodbath. They were strong, smart, and beautiful. What was not to remember about them? They had not really changed at all because of the games. Sure they were killers, but there as a particularly cute and funny side to them that a klot of other career tributes didn't have. This was true for Aurum at least. While she would have no way of knowing this commentary, a lot of people thought that the cheerful golden blonde was quite the cutie (and that was not even counting her sexual appeal). If kids like Lynx and Hazel could be remembered for being adorable, so could she (albeit in a much different and less innocent way). Still... it was very much Aurum's human side.

As the day wore on, Aurum stopped to calculate who they knew about. Lever, Lodan, & Lynx were no longer a mystery--the biggest mystery now was that Joann girl from District 11, who had not been seen much since departing the bloodbath. But really... other than that ragtag alliance, there was no telling where the others were, and after that run-in with Farro, it was a good idea to keep a night watch going still, so that opportunistic kids like him couldn't come and slash them up in the night. even Aurum couldn't bear the thought of losing poor Alana this early in the games. She had to at least make it into the final 12.

Aurum and the others listened to the theory, with the slender girl setting the more heavyset girl's head into her lap to continue stroking her hair. She just needed to stay relaxed so that she could rest and heal more effectively using that sponsored Capitol medicine. Luckily, speaking was not really a very physically taxing activity, since Alana's respiratory system was still working just fine.
"true that may be," she noted, "but don't they work with metal and stuff? I think that little kid from '12 still has the edge even if she lacks the know-how, unless '6 got sponsored those metal shards from the 45th games. We're dealing with trees, foliage, and vines here... That's Lynx's expertise... not to say that '6 and '5 couldn't build something out of vegatation scraps... but that'd be like a woodcarver from '7 trying to work the stone from '2, or some of us masons trying to work their lumber. We'd be out of our element."
Aurum nodded, although had an opposition. "but we know what Lynx is up to. we can't say the same for Cara." she reminded the heavier girl, still playing with her delightfully curly hair. Her own hair was wavy, but curls were always fun. Always.
"that's true..." Alana noted, "but we know that District 3 has mines. District 5 might be able to go all Clemont and Hikari on us with a lightning machine if he's lucky enough to find the right components and somehow scrapes together enough metal in this very metal-free arena... but I think in a battle of a bomb launcher and a lightning machine, the kid with the bombs is going to win."

military tactics were taught in District 2, particularly to prospective peacekeepers. Perhaps this shed a bit of light on what Alana had been striving for before volunteering for the games. Alana continued by reminding them that these outlying tributes could not just stall forever. Aurum nodded, and continued caressing Alana's hair. the larger girl was definitely trying to repress what was clearly a 'weak point', but Aurum would have none of that, and so she gently ruffled the District 2 girl's hair before going back to stroke it some more and keep her calm. It was imperative that she move as little as possible for a while anyways.

So far, only one tribute was actually going on the defensive, and so while she had no way of knowing it, Joann Kader was the only one that was truly safe from the Capitol's wrath at the moment. Luckily it was only 3 days in and there had been at least one recent death (although another one, maybe two, were on the way) and so it was not likely that any of them would be in any trouble, let alone the career pack, which were clearly Capitol favorites. Aurum invited Valour to sit next to him while she stroked Alana's hair for a bit. The heavyset girl was drifting off into a nap, which would be good for her, and Aurum was going to let her be for a while once that happened. She just wanted some company to talk to in the meantime and such.

[Nachthexe]

Even if they didn't realize it themselves at this time, Valour and Aurum were undisputedly Capitol favourites. It had been largely the truth even before both scoring perfect 12's, although that move simply helped to cement it further. They were certainly now legends for having been the first two to ever do so. Would others accomplish the same? Only time would tell, although a part of Valour wished to remain recognized for a long time even if he didn't make it out of the arena alive. Fortunately for him that desire was likely to become a reality anyway.

Valour shrugged. Metal was definitely District 6's main specialty if Panem's various vehicles were any indication. That alone was bound to set the girl at a disadvantage in whatever she was pursuing in this arena. Valour didn't know what she was up to, but there was clearly something going on if she was still alive. It was rare for anybody younger than 14 to survive the bloodbath, after all, yet this year's games had seen at least two cases of that. One was especially unusual, being from Panem's poorest district, but Valour didn't think too deeply about it as she wasn't bound to last long anyway. Certainly not until the final few. "District 12 allegedly has wilderness and there's plenty of rumours they can freely travel into it since their fence doesn't even have power. It kind of makes that entire district seem like a joke, but alas it seems to be advantageous for this little Lynx girl." He explained to the others, recalling exactly what he knew about District 12. It was certainly a theory that added up with Alana's while District 6 was urban and probably didn't have much exposure to natural resources.

"District 5 is also urban. However, due to their expertise with electricity they have potential to be deadly here in an arena so water abundant. Certainly if the Capitol recognizes this they'll sponsor that kid a thing or two." Marina was the next to speak, reminding the others that even if Cara was potentially a lesser threat it didn't necessarily mean Edison was, even if he was working closely with the girl. Water and electricity. Anybody who knew basic science were aware that the two together could create devastating results. "Luckily, even if that kid does manage to get sponsors he would likely only have the means to create something primitive. That's unlikely to hinder our large pack in any way." Marina continued before taking a seat on the ground beside the others. Even if she was in a death arena she felt quite comfortable due to it being much like the environment she was accustomed to back at home. At least if she was to die she knew she'd be dying in familiar territory.

Aurum and Alana definitely seemed to be comfortable with each other as the day wore on, although eventually Aurum expressed interest in snuggling up with Valour. Certainly she didn't state it directly, but it was bound to be inevitable as soon as they began sitting with each other. Alana was soon fast asleep anyway, allowing for plenty of downtown while the pack awaited a call into action of some sort. "I think she needed that. It gives us some time though." Valour advised as he shuffled closer to Aurum until the point he was nearly in her lap. Instead of this, he simply leaned his head against her chest and proceeded to rest himself. Now was a perfect opportunity, one he was not about to pass up. There was no way of knowing when there would be another opportunity, after all.

[Zulera301]

Aurum had a lot of people comparing her to Glimmer from a couple years ago. Both of them were exceptionally pretty and were both rather kind and caring when they wanted to be. Aurum had a large streak of arrogance and pride that, in Glimmer, had been humbleness and modesty, but the Capitol still loved her. But... would she be remembered for more than just her pretty face and her impressive training score? Despite that streak of pride, she did seem to have an ability to brighten people's days, kind of like what she was doing with Alana at the moment. She was almost always very cheerful. Not the laid-back "Happy place" style of cheerful Dezna had, or the crazy smirking Lyndis-style smiling either. It was like Lynx's, except mixed with confidence, pride, and Capitol loyalty... something like that. She was genuinely surprised that the little youngster had had a chipper little smile on her visage ever since the reaping.

"still doesn't explain District 8," Nolan quipped adding to the lightheartedness of the conversation, and also making a playful jab at the stellar performance of District 8 last year. This year they weren't doing too shabby either given that both of their tributes were still alive and roaming the arena, and they weren't even working together the way Markus/Haide and Alice/Paige had been.
"all tributes are still theoretically dangerous," Aurum agreed, not letting her own pride get in the way of admitting a worthy opponent. Besides... if they were all "too easy" and it took her 15 days to win the games... then she would be lame for taking 15 days to kill such easy targets. Now, if she had had to put up a good long, and smart fight against her enemy tributes, then 15 days made more sense, and it would remind people that she was in fact a fighter. "heck... even that cute little Lynx girl proved her worth. I had originally thought that those older boys had just picked her up out of sympathy or that they got charmed by how adorable she was. I know I was this close to doing so myself." she joked. She had not really been that close to allying with little Lynx (who probably would have declined and avoided Aurum afterwards), but she did have a soft spot for that tiny and surprisingly clever little girl.

"I guess it's kind of a good thing that he and '3 didn't team up then," Aurum chuckled, ruffling Alana's curls, which the larger girl seemed to have a particular weak spot for considering the small laugh it elicited. There was a reason Districts 3 and 5 sometimes teamed up, and both of them did not have too shabby of victory records either, despite their usual lack of physical girth. Still... Aurum's mind had wandered into imagining Edison and Lever with lightning machines the way Clemont and Hikari from a couple years ago had done. That was not something she wanted to encounter. even Glimmer, as strong as she had been, had fallen to the might of those two. Kiva had only survived, Aurum theorized, because Dezna took most of the heat because he had that cool electricity-absorbing staff. Still... primitive or not... usually when a tribute went so far as to go and build some elaborate contraption... they meant business. Districts 6 and 3 during the 45th Hunger Games had proven this; Sagittaria had proven it the year before, and Lyndis, Smash, & Isi had proven it last year.

Aurum had lulled Alana into a gentle sleep from the head-scratching, and Aurum couldn't help but chuckle at how peaceful the large injured girl looked when her only movement was her steady and heavy breaths. Stealth was definitely not their thing--Aurum was fairly certain that Alana breathed so loudly that they could shoot her in the dark. She wasn't sure if that was actually true, and she wasn't about to test it though.
Aurum couldn't help but lean against Valour as she slipped off her shoes with her feet for the time being (or perhaps for the night). she was light and had gotten herself comfortable, and so she too was not about to pass up this opportunity either. rest would be crucial in these games, where everyone seemed to be trying to take more roundabout or indirect approaches... this would be a game of traps.

[Nachthexe]

Even if District 8's skills in these games were a lot more unclear the boy alone was definitely a potential threat. It was rare that alliances were forged in the Hunger Games without reason, something else the 3/8/12 alliance especially emphasized. It was rather obvious by now that even little Lynx had a skillset the others found useful. There was bound to be something holding their raft together, after all. That alone made Aurum's point a solid one: all tributes were theoretically dangerous until the moment they ceased to draw breath. That, of course, was a process Valour only hoped to be able to speed up. He felt no malicious intent towards almost all of them, but business was simply business. Even kids like Farro and Lynx seemed to understand that.

Some alliances in the games made plenty of sense, but others not so much. One of those in particular was the fact that District 3 and 5, despite having plenty of potential together, hadn't teamed up. At least not yet. Anything was bound to happen in the latter stages of the games and in the slim possibility that the two tech-savvy districts teamed up others would be in for quite a hard time. Valour was definitely well aware of that himself. "They may have not teamed up yet, but certainly nothing would be preventing them from doing so later on. Remember, there's no set rules in this game..." Valour responded to Aurum, warning her as well as she was certainly the last one he wanted to see die. Certainly he favoured his own district partner, but that was only a natural reaction in a game where potentially everybody was out to kill you. However, he knew that Aurum wouldn't turn on him unless necessary. That was not an outcome he wanted to think about just yet though.

"She's asleep. Our turn." Valour commented, winking at Aurum as she removed her shoes and got comfortable. Evening was quickly approaching and that alone had Valour suspecting they were stationed in their current position for the rest of the night; night was always the riskiest time to travel anyway for obvious reasons, even if it hadn't been for Alana's injuries. Nobody seemed to mind though and Valour simply began passing the time by stroking Aurum's hair, one of the gestures the girl enjoyed so much. Still nothing could beat their nights on the balcony, but it was just relieving to be able to be close to the girl at all. She was from home so even offered a source of comfort none of the others present could provide. In fact, the comfort was so satisfying that soon Valour began dozing off as nightfall came and wore on.

[Zulera301]

Aurum might have had a soft spot for Lynx and how adorable she was, but killing her and any of the others would just be business. Even Valour and the other careers were that way. Contrary to what many of the other districts thought most careers were not "overjoyed" to turn on each other. Many of them would rather not, but knew that it was just business. Even killing Alana would just be business. it was funny how massive she and Nolan were compared to her and Valour. Aurum also giggled softly to herself as she gently lowered Alana's head on the ground. The burly girl was out like a light, and had an almost adorable serenity to her expression as she got that much-needed rest. Maybe it was those curls. Still... it was kind of cute seeing that great big girl all curled up.

"only one... don't step off the plates," she reminded him, "but yeah... I hope they don't decide to become friends or something..." she said more seriously, but was busy hoping that they would still fight each other--that girl from 6 and that boy from '5, against Lever, Lodan, & Lynx. Those were their biggest threats right now, since Farro was more predictable, and Joann hadn't even killed anyone yet. Technically, everyone was literally trying to kill her--but everyone was literally trying to kill everyone. In the case of the careers, they were just waiting till most or all of the other tributes were dead, and in Aurum and Valour's place particularly, they hoped to be the last two standing so they could fight to the death. no one else was worthy, or something like that.

Aurum giggled. "she's so cute too." she joked, "I'm going to tease her about it when she wakes up." she did remove her shoes and get comfortable with Valour. It was not balcony scene but the suits were still very form-fitting and so gave Valour a nice view of the girl's curvy features. Of course, that lovely face and hair, those beautiful hands and her cute little feet were plainly exposed though so it was not all bad. as they relaxed, the anthem played overhead, but there were no cannons, meaning that no one had died. Thus ended the 3rd day of the 47th Annual Hunger Games. 9 tributes down, 14 more to go (since the last one would be the victor). Aurum had a cutely serene little expression on her face as she snuggled into Valour's comfortable embrace, his fingers running through her hair. It worked on Aurum, and it had worked on Alana. "I'm fully convinced that most people love their heads getting softly scratched." she quipped softly., before dozing off.

The evening was quiet. it seemed the others had either lost their targets, or had gone back to their own little bases to continue operations of some sort or something. that meant a peaceful red-filled night, and so hopefully, it would last until morning, you there was never a way to tell how close another tribute was without seeing them directly. After all, tiny little Lynx had hidden in the crates for hours and she had likely even been carried while in said crate.
Either way... night wore on, leading towards the gradual approach of morning.

[Nachthexe]

"I suppose they just don't want anybody having a head start." Valour replied regarding the mine rigged plates at the beginning of the games. It seemed to be a very valid point and likely much of the reasoning as to why the Capitol included them in the first place, but Valour didn't think too hard about it. Besides, the games were far beyond that now and either he would end up dead or would care little about anything in the arena upon becoming a victor. The more immediate concerns were of course the 14 other tributes still roaming the arena, five of which were currently present alongside him.

"Who knew? Somebody of her stature sure looks peaceful while sleeping." Valour commented, chuckling as he glanced over at Alana. The girl had clearly been exhausted and somehow Valour was thankful she was actually asleep now. If anything, it would help her heal. That was something that was bound to be crucial if she wanted to make it into the final few. Certainly the entire career pack had more incentive than ever to do so, considering the embarrassment of the previous few years. "However, she's no Aurum. That's for sure." Valour finally turned towards his district partner and smiled as he snuggled up to her. As expected, she was once again enjoying having her hair stroked. If the girl had a weakness that was definitely one of them. Valour couldn't really blame her though, secretly hoping she would do the same to him.

Once nightfall came everything unsurprisingly became calm. As indicated in the sky, there hadn't been any more deaths and Valour suspected there wouldn't be any during the night either. That allowed the boy to rest easily as he continued snuggling up to his partner, even glancing up at the artificial night sky. He was fully aware of it being merely a Gamemaker illusion, but they were definitely capable of capturing the essence of the real thing. That brought a smile to Valour's face as he eventually began dozing off. Just as always he would be expected to take a night watch shift so this period of rest was valuable, thus he intended to make the most of it.

Sure enough the night passed rather uneventfully. There didn't appear to be any cannons or even much activity in the water which brought relief to Valour as he awoke the next morning. Even his watch during the night had managed to bore him slightly. Even if he didn't directly admit it, he was itching to kill some of the other tributes. If anything, it was a way to prove himself. That was important in the mindset of any career tribute and Valour was no exception. It was perfectly reasonable in a situation where children were left with little choice but to kill others in order to survive as it was simply business. At least that's the way the boy viewed it. It had been the Difronzos that landed in the sadist territory, a line that not even extremely proud Valour would cross. Instead, he simply did what he had to and this morning as he woke up was bound to be no exception. "I'm thinking we should get moving. I have a feeling we're sitting ducks here with those others possibly still around." He advised once he noticed all the others finally getting up. Unsurprisingly, even Alana was showing vast improvement.

[Zulera301]

"makes sense," Aurum smiled, "let everyone take it in and for some of them to embrace their final moments alive or something like that. I dunno." The notion that these were not just nameless enemies, but other people's children, was not one that went over Aurum's head; just that she like most other careers had desensitized herself to the notion so that it would not affect her judgment in the games. After all... just because she became merciful did not mean the other 23 kids would, and so more likely than anything, it would just cost her her life. That was not a sacrifice she was willing to make. Selfish as it might have been... she wanted to live. There was so much more of her life she wished to experience... but for now, this was her defining moment. It might have been literally do or die, but this would be one of the ways that she was remembered. She was sure of it.

Aurum giggled at the flattery. He was right (about her being right) about how oddly cute Alana looked while she was snoring away, but she was in fact, no Aurum. Every night after removing her shoes, Aurum would undo her hair and enjoy Valour's hands running through it. She purred as she leaned against his chest, reaching her hands up behind his head to gently play with his long, silky hair in return. Not that she didn't like boys with short hair, but Valour was nice because his hair was long enough that she could play with it while he played with hers. Even from this position, she could still reach it with those gentle fingers of hers. "so remember, Valour," she teaseed, "if you and I are the remaining two... just offer to stroke my hair. You can stab me quick and easy, and then it's over." it was weird, joking about her own death like that (and funny enough, it *might* actually work), but she figured he'd get her humor in the situation here. Heck, a lot of tributes had joked about death once they were in the arena. That comedian girl, Sagittaria, did it in spades.

Aurum hummed softly along with the anthem as it played, and hummed it a few more times after it had stopped. there had not been any cannons all day, which meant that the little ragtag group and the urban pair were still alive, as was Shelia, Joann, and District 9. it didn't bother her too much... day 3 was over, and day 4 was soon to dawn upon them. it was still early in the games, that meant. she began to doze off, still wrapping Valour's hair around her fingers until she finally lost consciousness to sleep. a small tug at his hair indicated gravity pulling her entangled hands out of his hair as they fell softly to her sides. the pretty lady was asleep.

Aurum sighed dramatically (but softly) during their watch, which was rather boring. It did involve cuddling still, just that they had weapons and were ready to spring up if anything happened. So basically it was the same as before except they couldn't doze off. as she felt her swords in her hands again, it did kind of make her bloodthirsty again. Not nearly at the level of the DiFronzos, who were rather sadistic,; or Lyndis, who seemed to enjoy blood itself, but rather, she, like the Capitol, wanted some action, and who better to provide it than the Capitol favorites. It was nothing personal; just business. She couldn't ever imagine making a personal issue out of killing someone so sweet and adorable as Lynx, for example.
"I agree," Aurum nodded, "and not just 'cuz he's my partner or anything. The Capitol would want action, and so who better than to give it to them than the strongest tributes in the arena? we can't have Lever, Lodan, and Lynx doing all the dirty work?" she giggled. Nolan and Alana nodded in agreement, the latter showing great improvement. that Capitol medicine definitely worked, and Aurum needed to tease Alana about it a little.
"see, girl?" she smiled rather sweetly, "this is why when you get injured and then get sponsored that medicine... this is why you rest." she stuck her tongue out playfully. Alana groaned and pushed Aurum ("playfully" was not quite the right word, but it was a friendly gesture). "fine. you win this time. Let's get moving though. we're wastin' daylight." she grunted. The others seemed to agree with this.

[Nachthexe]

Even if Aurum hadn't intended anything deep by it, her words got Valour thinking. All but one tribute currently present was soon going to be dead so it was best to just embrace the time they had left and make the best of it. Valour certainly found himself doing exactly that each night as he snuggled up to Aurum. She was a reminder of home; a reminder of everything he had left behind by volunteering. Even if he made it home he would never again go back to the life he previously knew. No, he would have celebrity status and would be treated as such. Certainly bits of trauma would linger as well. It always seemed to for victors, something Valour had begun thinking about. Even just from observing the past victors back at home he had gotten the impression that something wasn't quite right about them. Was that a fate he would be subject to? It was possible, but in the meantime he simply intended to live in the moment.

Out of everybody Alana unsurprisingly seemed to be sleeping the most soundly, although Valour was no stranger to sleep that night either. Even as he continued stroking Aurum's hair as they snuggled he found himself falling asleep, only finally awaking for watch duty. The next morning, however, presented opportunity to move on as there appeared to be no sign of the raft or any of the other tributes. Even Alana appeared to be feeling better since using the Capitol's medicine and properly resting. This had Valour definitely curious what was in the powerful concoction, but he knew he wasn't going to get answers here so just shrugged it off as he gathered his supplies. "Alana's right. We should get moving. Let's go hunting." He replied, smirking as he prepared for what to come. He felt there was bound to be a death today, even if not necessarily by his hand.

Only time would tell if Valour was correct in his theory, but in the meantime he seemed determined to get off this island. "We have some touring to do." He uttered as he glanced over at the other islands. He still didn't feel up to risking a swim across so almost immediately he proceeded towards the bridge. It was unsurprisingly still in place, despite the earlier plans of the career pack that never came to fruition. It was a decent one, but Valour knew of the risks involved and clearly the others did as well. "Should we head back to home base?" He asked, knowing that the others would pick up that by 'home base' he meant the Cornucopia. It was entirely possible others once again infiltrated the place since their absence, but somehow it didn't seem they would quite elaborate traps like the 3/8/12 alliance seemed to.

Once over the bridge Valour hesitated for a few seconds. Just as before there was a choice to make: either they could head back towards the Cornucopia or they could cross another one of the bridges. It was like one massive game of Russian Roulette in that either they would find refuge or an all new danger. Tributes, Mutts, and traps were all factors that could potentially take a tribute's life and at this stage in the games Valour didn't intend to be a victim of any of them. Ideally he strove to die at the hands of Aurum in a final showdown. That was bound to get both the perfect scoring tributes remembered for a long time.

[Zulera301]

It also had Aurum thinking, thanks to the silence that Valour left from her joke. She knew that even with how revered as celebrities as the victors were, that they were still not normal people at all. Would she turn out like that? what would change if she won? Heck... one didn't have to look much farther than Miriam from a few years ago. The woman was now a raging alcoholic, drinking madly and making a fool of herself on some occasions. She was definitely still as clever as before (and still fairly good-looking, like most ladies from District 1 were), but she definitely seemed more somber and a bit hazier. Alas.

Aurum, Alana, Nolan and the others all got their shoes back on, and Aurum tied back her hair (Alana's was only shoulder level, and was a mess of curls anyways) as they gathered their supplies and moved out. Unlike some of the last years, where sadistic leaders like Flint and Blaze had commanded the career pack, this year there was no solid leader, but not in the weak way that the pack last year had been severed. This time they just sort of had a self-governing consensus on what to do and where to go, which worked quite well, and didn't make anyone look like a mere follower, the way some of the tributes had appeared in recent years. "I dare say it's about that time," Nolan agreed, both in reference to perhaps some food, but also some tributes. With 15 tributes still alive (or 14 tributes, and one victor), the group needed to be whittled down just a bit. only one tribute had died outside the bloodbath thus far. That needed to change.

"I'm all for home base," Aurum suggested, "we can swing by, restock, and see if there's any more supplies missing. it could tell us about the other tributes based on what we find there or something." she shrugged. "any objections?"
The others didn't seem too against the notion. "we should check the crates," Alana joked, "gotta make sure that we're not hauling Lynx around in one of them." the idea that the tiny girl would go back and hide in a crate again seemed unlikely, but it was still rather funny, given that one of them had in fact moved the crate that Lynx had been in. The poor girl's little heart nearly stopped during that moment and she had held her little breath. Thankfully they hadn't opened the crate, and so she had escaped that night.

Aurum was the first to notice Valour's brief hesitation, since she was watching him anyways (hey. he was a good-looking young man, and she was a straight young woman, okay?), and wondered why he had stopped, even if he had continued walking a moment or two later, thouogh they didn't get far.
"we still headed to the cornucopia?" she asked him, sounding curious and maybe slightly concerned in case something was up, "or was there something else on your mind? We could do with some restocking if you ask me... but that's just me." she shrugged, indicating that she wanted to go back to the cornucopia, but she was open for input from the others.

- - - Updated - - -

It also had Aurum thinking, thanks to the silence that Valour left from her joke. She knew that even with how revered as celebrities as the victors were, that they were still not normal people at all. Would she turn out like that? what would change if she won? Heck... one didn't have to look much farther than Miriam from a few years ago. The woman was now a raging alcoholic, drinking madly and making a fool of herself on some occasions. She was definitely still as clever as before (and still fairly good-looking, like most ladies from District 1 were), but she definitely seemed more somber and a bit hazier. Alas.

Aurum, Alana, Nolan and the others all got their shoes back on, and Aurum tied back her hair (Alana's was only shoulder level, and was a mess of curls anyways) as they gathered their supplies and moved out. Unlike some of the last years, where sadistic leaders like Flint and Blaze had commanded the career pack, this year there was no solid leader, but not in the weak way that the pack last year had been severed. This time they just sort of had a self-governing consensus on what to do and where to go, which worked quite well, and didn't make anyone look like a mere follower, the way some of the tributes had appeared in recent years. "I dare say it's about that time," Nolan agreed, both in reference to perhaps some food, but also some tributes. With 15 tributes still alive (or 14 tributes, and one victor), the group needed to be whittled down just a bit. only one tribute had died outside the bloodbath thus far. That needed to change.

"I'm all for home base," Aurum suggested, "we can swing by, restock, and see if there's any more supplies missing. it could tell us about the other tributes based on what we find there or something." she shrugged. "any objections?"
The others didn't seem too against the notion. "we should check the crates," Alana joked, "gotta make sure that we're not hauling Lynx around in one of them." the idea that the tiny girl would go back and hide in a crate again seemed unlikely, but it was still rather funny, given that one of them had in fact moved the crate that Lynx had been in. The poor girl's little heart nearly stopped during that moment and she had held her little breath. Thankfully they hadn't opened the crate, and so she had escaped that night.

Aurum was the first to notice Valour's brief hesitation, since she was watching him anyways (hey. he was a good-looking young man, and she was a straight young woman, okay?), and wondered why he had stopped, even if he had continued walking a moment or two later, thouogh they didn't get far.
"we still headed to the cornucopia?" she asked him, sounding curious and maybe slightly concerned in case something was up, "or was there something else on your mind? We could do with some restocking if you ask me... but that's just me." she shrugged, indicating that she wanted to go back to the cornucopia, but she was open for input from the others.

[Nachthexe]

As twisted as some others may have viewed it, career tributes were definitely passionate about the games. Valour, Aurum, Alana, and Nolan were all making out to be prime examples of it. Even if it wasn't out of any sadistic desires they were all itching for some action and could only hope to bring it to the audiences. Strong powerful tributes were often remembered as far as they were concerned, thus it was an image they wanted to live up to; they didn't want their high training scores to just be numbers fading into obscurity. Fortunately, Valour and Aurum had more leeway there due to the fact theirs were a new record.

"Alright, home base it is." Valour nodded, noting the pack's preferences. He wasn't officially the group's 'leader', but he naturally seemed to proceed ahead of the others acting as their scout. That alone had him always awaiting feedback from the others before beginning down a specific path. In this case the Cornucopia did seem like the best bet, even if it was out in the open. However, it was able to be defended easily, even if due to the sole fact the Gamemakers never allowed it to be destroyed. Alana certainly made a solid point about the crates too, even if she had been joking. "Joking or not, you have a point, girl. I bet there's supplies in them unless the others nabbed it all up." He chuckled as he began leading the way once again, keeping his bow drawn in case of attack.

Sure enough upon arriving back at the Cornucopia it seemed relatively safe. Valour suddenly found it unlikely the 3/8/12 alliance had returned since the last incident, now having another project they were working on. A raft and a projectile launcher. Somehow Valour suspected it would give that alliance an extra edge for awhile when not even he could devise a way to take them down. Fortunately there would be no rush to do so as long as the Capitol got their action in other ways; with 15 other tributes that was bound to happen sooner or later.

"It looks like these crates have been scraped pretty much clean." Nolan announced as he begun rummaging through each of the crates in search of supplies. Due to the most likely culprits already being occupied by something else he began suspecting it was one of the lone tributes or perhaps even the 5/6 alliance. Due to their areas of expertise he could imagine them having the most use for miscellaneous Cornucopia supplies. He was actually somewhat concerned about what sort of mechanism they were possibly constructing, although he didn't yet voice these concerns to the others. Besides, he felt it was possible they shared his sentiment. Neither of the tributes had been seen since the bloodbath, after all, and that was often a red flag right there.

[Zulera301]

Business... that was really all the games were to the likes of Aurum and Valour and the other careers this year. They were passionate about them, sure, but ultimately, the notion of slaying other people's children was just business to them. Perhaps this was another similarity they shared with Kyla Togisala. She had had friends and allies, but in the end, everything she did was just business, including killing ¼ of the competition all by herself. She had given Rye and Sagittaria a fair warning that she would turn on them if or when the time came, even if she had not made it that far. Still, she had managed to outlive both Flint and Alexis, both of whom had received their mortal wounds after Kyla had received hers. There was plenty about Kyla Togisala to respect, after all, and all of Panem knew this. She would not be fading into obscurity any time soon, and Aurum hoped that she wouldn't either--not just for making history, but also for being a memorable figure, should she fall.

"I don't think they could nab it all up," Alana suggested, "unless it's more than just 2 or 3 kids stealing things... even then though..." they and Aurum seemed fine with following Valour since he was the best ranged fighter out of all of them and thus the best scout. Aurum was the speedy Melee fighter, while Nolan and Alana were obviously the slower but heavier hitters. miles away, Sagittaria was actually curious to see who would win a contest of strength between Nolan, Alana, and Adrianna, Saj's girl tribute from last year. Still... they kept their weapons drawn--Nolan's heavy spears, Alana's hammers, Aurum's swords, the District 4 pair's tridents, and Valour's bow.

Sure enough they could tell that some of the supplies had been plundered, and there was at least one set of small footprints in the sand--likely little Lynx again, even if her larger accomplices Lever and Lodan had stayed behind. There was certainly no debating anymore whether or not Lynx was useful. It was now a matter of figuring out which of the three should be the first target to bring down. Which one's death would cripple the alliance the most? it seemed they had gone for actual supplies though, rather than the food. It made Aurum wonder how they were eating, or what they were eating. Sure there was apparently coconuts, and surely fish in the water, but not even little Lynx seemed like a hunter (and those urban kids certainly weren't, unless they were trying to use some of the skills they picked up during training), and they were not fishermen either... so it was something that made the blond-haired girl scratch her chin and go 'hmm'.

"Then we either need to finish plundering them," Nolan suggested, "or try to rig it up ourselves so that the others can't take advantage of it. that kid from '3 was onto something when he pretended to rig this place up with mines..." or rather, he would ave been if he had actually done it. Nolan couldn't help but admit that it was a clever tactic, even if it had turned out to just be a decoy.
"I like that idea," Alana agreed with Nolan almost instantly. "we can't keep letting the others take advantage of our absence..." although she was not exaclty sure how to do that without spreading herself or their alliance that thin.

[Nachthexe]

"There's definitely multiple tributes making their rounds to this area." Valour responded, noting Alana's theory. He glanced down at the ground and definitely saw footprints in the sand, although there seemed to also be rough attempts at covering them up. Surely a safety measure in order to not be tracked down. It was admittedly a clever tactic so one that Valour could only conclude came from either District 3 or District 5, which were widely known around Panem as the "brainy" districts. Immediately District 5 came to mind though, especially considering there was another single set of footprints alongside them. It was also unlikely the 3/8/12 trio would return after already having an entire raft and cannon.

Leaving the barren crates behind, Valour finally made his way back into the centre of the Cornucopia. Surprisingly, supplies appeared to be quite a bit more abundant there. Certainly the food supplies were wearing down, but there were still several weapons present. Mostly spears of course, but Valour knew that Marina and Nemo could easily find a use for that sort of thing. However, rigging the place seemed desirable and perhaps somebody already believed it to be rigged due to the abundance of supplies. "How exactly would we go about rigging this place?" Valour asked, scratching his head as he looked around at what was left. Surely there was something usable and with six brains working together they were bound to come up with something.

Fortunately Nolan seemed to have ideas of his own. There was certainly no reason why they couldn't play the deceit game too. Even if they could somehow make the place appear rigged it would be enough to possibly deter others. Then again, this was a clever batch of tributes so there wasn't even full guarantee of that. Surely somebody would catch on to the fact it was nothing more than a ruse. "I suppose we should just take some time to think. We seem to have all the time in the world since I doubt anybody will come around here as long as we're present." Valour responded as he finally cleared a space to sit down in front of the Cornucopia. Having work to do, he didn't want to go inside just yet and surely the others shared similar sentiment. The real relaxation would come later.

Despite the immediate circumstances Valour did find himself thinking about past games. The careers had fallen relatively early, a mistake he didn't want this pack to repeat. That alone had him thinking about all the things that could go wroing and even the alliance with the District 4 pair seemed to be hanging on by a thread; right from the beginning it seemed the two just barely joined in so now he was surprised they still stuck around. His arrogant side wanted to say it was simply because the career pack had proven themselves the most powerful, but surely there was strategy to their decision to stick around as well. However, this was something the boy couldn't really figure out as the District 4 was definitely trustworthy for the time being. In a situation like the Hunger Games that was bound to change at the drop of a hat though.

[Zulera301]

Aurum noticed that a couple pairs of tracks seemed to be covered up, while the small ones that went in the opposite direction seemed to not be. Aurum volunteered to see where they went, and so she left, still armed and with her weapons drawn of course, to follow them for as long as was reasonably possible. No one really questioned her decision, and they figured that Aurum was not trying to break the alliance this early. the girl was not that big a backstabber, especially not this early in the games. Instead, Aurum ran down the island, following the little tracks, which at one point picked up their pace as if the youngster had broken into a run. Aurum wondered what could have prompted that, but when she got to the coast after a few minutes, she found signs of the raft, and the footsteps ended there. no wonder the girl didn't waste time trying to cover them up. She was back out on the seas with her little buddies again. With this news, Aurum returned,, slightly disappointed, to break the obvious news.

In the meantime, Valour, Nolan, & Alana began to inspect the cornucopia for any other supplies. most of the fringe ones were gone, but the central ones that had been moved and placed more in the mouth of the giant golden horn, seemed to still be intact. in the meantime, they were brainstorming how to make it look like the place was rigged up without actually rigging it up, since they didn't exactly have the trapbuilding skills that little Lynx or Lodan did, or the know-how (or mines) of rigging it with bombs the way Lever did. Ruse or not though, it might stall or deter other tributes, which might be all the advantage that the careers needed or something.

Aurum was on her way back by this time, although she ran into what she could only call an odd phenomenon. Racing right past her was a girl with a 9 on her shoulders--Jessica. A moment later she heard a yell.
"You can't run forever, '9!" Aurum spun around before she felt the wind get knocked out of her and she fell on her back. "Move it, '1! this ain't for you!"
"No one kills my partner and LIVES!" the girl roared as she disappeared. Aurum had noticed the number 11 on her shoulders--Joann. Then that meant Jessica had killed Ricardo a night or two before. Aurum was slightly insulted, but at the same time, by the time she had gotten back to her feet and picked up her weapons, Joann had disappeared south into the foliage after Jessica, her katars still in her hand. She was surprised that the girl hadn't killed her, but at the same time, she had just used brute strength to knock Aurum down rather than stab her. For this she was grateful but it said something about the girl. not only was she strong, but she was also very fast. Aurum took a deep breath to try and get her wind back, and then hurried back to the cornucopia.

Such interesting things, these Hunger Games. friends and enemies all seemed so relative. It was surprising to Aurum that people were willing to still kill each other while the career pack reigned so strongly. It was no mystery that they would always save each other for last when they were on the prowl, and so the more other tributes that died, the easier and higher their odds became. Oh well... their loss. As she ran back to the cornucopia, she heard a cannon fire. It was probably Jessica, who had appeared unarmed, while fleeing from a fast and powerful (and armed) Joann.
Naturally, by the time she returned, she heard them discussing the cannon, and organizing the remaining cornucopia supplies.
"It was probably Jessica," Aurum clarified as she stopped to catch her breath. Her pale face was a bit pink from the running and the adrenaline rush of her life still almost flashing before her eyes. If that girl hadn't been so hellbent on killing '9, Aurum would be dead right now. She was certain that was not an act of mercy.
"Joann..." she explained, plopping into the mouth of the cornucopia to rest for a few moments, "she's strong... and she's fast." she warned. she was definitely a valid threat; that much was certain.

[Nachthexe]

In some ways being near the Cornucopia, and thus near the beach had advantages. For one, it allowed them to largely keep track of who was coming and going due to the footprints that were present in the sand. Certainly they weren't extremely sustainable, but they seemed to stick around long enough to give others an idea of how many tributes had been present. In this particular case there had definitely been multiple and Valour was almost positive at least one had been the District 5 boy, considering the District 3 boy was surely tending to his raft with his allies. They seemed to have plenty of supplies already anyway, certainly enough to build and entire raft plus a projectile launcher that possibly had the capability to launch mines. That was definitely a danger Valour wasn't about to overlook.

Clearly the arena's main centre island had plenty of traffic. This was very quickly indicated by the sudden appearance of another tribute--Joann. She was definitely pursuing one of the others and her words immediately confirmed this. This resulted in Valour drawing a single conclusion. A District 9 tribute had killed her partner. Farro? He seemed like the most plausible culprit, yet it also was unlikely due to the distance that had probably been between him and Joann's partner. Surely it was Jessica, his district partner. Of course if Joann managed to successfully take the kill it was less work for him and the others(if they could call it "work") so this alone had the boy hesitating to raise his bow and take a shot, but the girl had disappeared back into the foliage before he had a chance to act anyway.

"Shit, that doesn't surprise me. I bet it was Joann or that District 9 girl. Frankly I'm surprised District 9 even made it this far so I'd wager it's one of them..." Valour replied once Aurum made a reappearance shortly after the cannon blared. However, Aurum's own display of exertion left the boy with plenty of questions. Had she also had a run-in with the girl? It seemed somehow unlikely as Valour's arrogant side wanted to believe that in a direct encounter between the two that Joann would be dead. "I saw Joann here. She was definitely pursuing somebody, but it looks like you've been through hell. Where'd she go?" He continued, glancing at Aurum as she continued catching her breath. If there was anybody Aurum had met up with it was very likely that girl, although it still seemed bizarre neither of them had fought. Maybe the perfect score had been intimidating enough? In a state of arrogance it was easy to believe that at least.

"Hey, if she's strong she's nothing we can't handle." Alana interjected, chuckling as she cracked her knuckles. There was at least one positive to the situation and Alana's words had somehow managed to point it out: the career pack was still the strongest and most powerful, regardless of what Joann was capable of. On another note, Valour definitely felt better now having somewhat of an idea of what sort of tactics she was using. At least if her words had been anything to go by she was playing the merciless vengeance route. In her case it at least seemed logical, considering her district partner's death.

Valour chuckled. "Perhaps you're right. She's one girl, since she's likely working alone." He advised Alana. In a purely one on one duel the girl possibly could hold her own, but now Valour wasn't about to allow the group to be separated while she drew breath. He intended to even hunt her down if it truly came to that. That was all the Hunger Games were really, a massive game of cat and mouse; the hunter and the hunted. Valour knew he was the hunter in this case and even had a significant edge.

[Zulera301]

In truth, the ragtag alliance had had everythign figured out. Lodan kept watch and patrolled their island of operations; Lever worked on constructing or designing their craft and weapons, while Lynx was there to help tie it all together both figuratively and literally. She was also the one they'd send out to pick off cornucopia supplies, because she was so tiny she was easy to overlook. Both older boys had gotten a kick out of her story about hiding in a crate for half a day to evade the careers. It had almost seemed unbelievable, but what was the point in making up a story to kids you would never see again? Lynx was honest to a fault anyways.

"well..." Aurum wheezed, trying to relax and catch her breath. she wanted cuddles with Valour right now but knew that it would have to wait, "we were right about District 9 being a threat this year. I suppose even a broken clock is right twice a day... or something like that." She did not think it was a rising trend the way the improving performances of District 11 and District 12 were.
"Joann punched me in the gut..." she rubbed her tummy, whimpering slightly (for the record, the girl had powerful fists, and Aurum had been caught so off guard that it had hurt when the wind was knocked out of her). She was not about to let it debilitate her, but since they were in no real danger at the moment, she felt she could vent her feelings about it and whimper a little. "She said that Jessica was her kill, pushed me out of the way while she passed me, and took off after that girl. I'm pretty sure that was Jesisca's cannon that went off." She had caught Aurum by surprise, and she did not want to admit that part. Still... that girl had raw strength.

But raw strength alone, as Adrianna and Isikiro had proved, was not the only answer to winning the games, and so a bloodthirsty enough or powerful enough tribute could take both of them down. "That's probably why she evaded me," Aurum smiled, "she was probably afraid of my perfect score, and wanted to kill Jessica before I killed her. I can live with that... I guess we strike fear into the hearts of others despite how beautiful we are." she attempted a twirl, but clutched her chest briefly. It had not even been 10 minutes since Aurum had been punched, and so a few more hours of recovery at most would probably solve that problem.

"We're not hunting after her already, are we?" Aurum looked at Valour, although that did kind of sound like a good idea sooner or later. "I mean, we just barely got back to the cornucopia, right?" She was suggesting they rest up, eat up, and resupply here first before they took the offensive. Besides, just because Joann went south when Aurum saw her,d id not mean the girl had not since changed her course, and so she could be anywhere all over again. It was truly a game of strategy and cat-and-mouse...
Joann seemed to know better than to try and challenge them though, for she did not come anywhere near them again and made no noise, not even a rustling in the bushes. She had disapperaed back to an island again.
"I'm going to sit down unless we have a plan," Aurum took a deep breath, "Otherwise Alana's going to yell at me."
Alana chuckled, knowing that the pretty lady was referring to Alana's own stubbornness the previous day where she had been bleeding to death and trying to insist that it was just a flesh wound and that she could go on. Welp... she simply chuckled, and that was enough for her.

[Nachthexe]

As unusual as it was District 9 definitely had some fight in them and both Farro and Jessica seemed to be quickly proving that. At least it had been the case until just moments ago. There was little disputing that the cannon that had gone off had been for Jessica if Aurum's words were anything to go by. Besides, Joann didn't look like any weakling; districts with plenty of physical labourers seemed to have that edge. Adrianna alone had been a prime example, but there had also been Rye and many others Valour could recall over the years. It did have the boy wondering slightly what sort of work Joann had done in her district before being reaped, but it wasn't a hugely important point. "Then we know she has physical strength; likely a brawler of some sort." Valour instead focused on Aurum and the fact the girl had punched her in the gut, leaving her alone entirely. It baffled him as he knew that if he had been her that he would have taken the opportunity to kill one of the arena's strongest tributes.

As many questions as Valour had just one more was soon answered by Aurum's second point. Arrogance was also once again rearing its ugly head, but this time it almost made some sense. Would Joann, despite scoring high, had gone after an even higher scoring tribute on her own? Still, there was the theory that she had also been so hellbent on avenging her own partner that killing Aurum hadn't even occurred to her. The circumstances, although helpful for deciphering the girl's tactics, meant little when it had been Aurum's life on the line. Valour was simply glad she still drew breath, regardless of what had caused it. "Sure we strike fear into others, but if she was able to shove you over so easily then, well, I'd hate to see her angry while we're face to face with her." He commented, smiling as walked over to her and began stroking her hair, awaiting the others to possibly give their own input.

Valour chuckled. "Hell no, not now. She could be anywhere by now." He responded, noting Aurum's look of surprise. As tempting as hunting her down while the pack was at full strength was, Aurum was right. Supplies were crucial, as was rest. Certainly the pack had gotten plenty of rest earlier, but it was perhaps just one more perk of being part of a powerful career pack: one could afford plenty of downtime as it was unlikely anybody would pursue them. Lack of proper rest was even sometimes a downfall of otherwise competent tributes; Valour could recall at least one that had been rather competent in battle, nearly slaying their opponent only to end up downed by a complete surprise attack. In peak condition Valour knew that one could have otherwise dodged it, but that hadn't been the case that time. Regardless, his own training allowed him to pick up small things like that, even if other tributes couldn't necessarily. If anything, it was another advantage.

Taking the very same advice she had given Alana just about a day earlier, Aurum then sat down. This was something Valour certainly didn't oppose as the pack was lacking an exact plan of action at the moment. Supplies, rest, and food definitely seemed ideal and the others definitely took well to it. The fact that those in the career districts didn't really know how to experience hunger was really showing. It really hadn't been more than a couple days that any of them had went without food so far. Then again, it was also still near the beginning of the games when supplies were more abundant; sooner or later Valour knew the pack would have to rely on fishing or hunting. Several days passed though and luckily there was still food, although a large factor in this was the fact that Marina and Nemo had disappeared without a trace. Valour knew both were still alive too as their faces hadn't appeared in the sky. "Do you guys think they've decided to betray us? It seems a bit early for that, but it does make me question their motives. Figures they would be controversial, considering neither of them volunteered for these games." He remarked the morning of the eighth day, realizing it had been several days without action and one whole day since the District 4 pair's disappearance. It was plenty of time for him to assume the inevitable, which meant now more than ever that Aurum, Alana, Nolan, and himself would have to stay on guard.

[Zulera301]

Even though one of their tributes had just died, Aurum couldn't help but tip her metaphorical hat in respect to District 9 this year for producing a pair of fighters instead of just the usual fodder. Jessica had offed a decently strong fellow (Ricardo had been no pushover) before she died, so it wasn't like she was just some kid skilled at playing hide-n-seek. As for Aurum's reasoning for not pursuing Joann, it was actually fairly simple. If she had been punched in the face, Joann might have been dead, but it was hard to run when the wind was knocked out of you, and so Aurum had had to take a few moments to try and catch her breath, by which time Joann was gone. It also didn't help that the girl hit like a truck. she kind of wished she could see her and Alana arm wrestle or something.

"Well..." Aurum clarified, "she caught me by surprise, which means I was careless... and I shouldn't have let her strike me where she did..." she was still breathing a bit heavily, but she just needed some time to sit down. Luckily Valour seemed aware of this and started stroking her hair. She stretched her legs out as she relaxed, greatly appreciating it to the point where even her face showed it. She was not about to admit that she had in fact been careless against Joann, and that thankfully the girl had been so hellbent on exterminating Jessica that she had ignored one of the strongest tributes in the game. It had been lucky, but surely there was a method to Joann's madness.

"Oh, good..." Aurum heaved another relieved sigh. Hopefully Joann hadn't broken any of Aurum's ribs, and so with a little more rest, Aurum would be over it, except she might have been sporting a nasty bruise on her belly from the hit. As cheap as it might have sounded, sometimes the careers could outlast the others simply by guarding the cornucopia food. Sometimes it and sponsor gifts was all that was available in the arena (even if that was obviously not the case this year), and thus the others would have to converge there if they didn't want to starve. That was not so common anymore since the Gamemakers preferred the tributes to kill each other than let them starve or freeze or dehydrate or anything boring like that. Aurum certainly wanted her beauty rest, and a now slightly humbler Alana knew that it was good for them given that she had nearly been killed for wanting to push herself while her poor body was bleeding out.

Either way, several days passed without much event except for around day 7 when someone managed to off Shelia Daniels from District 8. They took guesses as to who it was that killed her, coming up with either Farro or Joann, although most of them leaned towards the latter, since perhaps her viciousness towards Aurum had not quickly been forgotten.
Alana was the first one to make the accusation that District 4 had betrayed them after 24 hours of not seeing them come back. It was a bold move for them to pull, but they were not about to become Valendrias, despite them being from her district. No... leaving the career pack meant that they had elected early deaths, rather than 5th and 6th place, which Aurum and Valour could have promised them had they remained. (although in truth, anything short of 1st was a pretty shitty offer, and everyone secretly knew that).
"I think they did," she pointed out. The last thing they wanted was for District 4 to try and strike them in the middle of the night. If Alana made it out of this thing alive, she'd definitely be wary of anyone around her, and would probably freak out if anyone tried sneaking up on her. Sure it wasn't frightening, per se, but getting so viciously attacked by that boy a few days ago had nearly killed her, so she had to be careful.
Aurum agreed. if nothing else, them getting stood up by the District 4 pair was a blow to her pride a little. They had been a six-strong pack up until just a day ago... had Shelia's death put them on the defensive?
They'd definitely have to watch out though. there was District 4, those little geeky urban kids, the ragtag trio, Farro, and Joann still out there. Of them, none exactly seemed harmless anymore, not even adorable little Lynx...

[Nachthexe]

Both District 9 tributes were definitely turning out to be quite surprising this year, even if one was now dead. Valour hadn't known much about Jessica, but the fact she hadn't perished in the bloodbath certainly counted for something. If it hadn't been for him and Aurum he would have had even slight hope that District 9 could produce a victor, but alas it wasn't their year. Certainly Farro have had an edge against Alana though, being both stealthier and much faster. Valour even contemplated Farro's speed being comparable to Dezna Meraxa's, but with the tribute from the 45th games being dead there was no way to truly compare the two.

"She struck you once, but the next time you two meet you'll surely be the victorious one." Valour complimented Aurum, winking as the two finally once again got comfortable with each other. He knew that even if the District 11 girl was strong she still hadn't scored a perfect 12 in training and to an arrogant career training scores were usually indicative of one's skill. Besides, it wouldn't have even been logical for somebody like her to hold back, considering she scored high anyway. Those with scores below mid-range were always either holding back something greater or were genuinely weak, and past games had proven it. "In the meantime I suggest rest." Valour finally advised as he continued stroking Aurum's hair awaiting the evening's highlights. It was only a matter of time before he would truly discover what he already suspected; Jessica's face would be appearing in the sky and there was no doubt about it.

Sure enough, Jessica's death in Day Four hadn't been the only one to occur in the next few days. On Day Seven each member of the career pack had been startled by a second cannon. Shelia Daniels of District 8 was out, perhaps even as a surprise to all of Panem, considering District 8's performance in the previous year's games. Still, Lodan was still out there somewhere so perhaps those cheering for District 8 retained some hope. However, to Valour each fallen tribute brought him closer to either returning home or going out with a bang. That was something the boy anticipated greatly, suspecting even having to face one of his own. Of course if Aurum died early(which was unlikely) Nolan or Alana were suitable alternatives. One of the District 4 tributes could have even been a formidable final opponent, considering the arena, but it seemed as it if was going to happen even sooner than that now with the recent turn of events.

"Just you wait. They'll come running back, hoping for protection from the strongest tributes in the games. Either that or they'll be killed off early." Valour remarked, chuckling once the entire pack came to a consensus during Day Eight on the inevitable. Admittedly it hurt the boy's pride just a bit that the two had been willing to leave, ultimately rejecting him and the others, but it was something he could live with in a death match; both of the District 4 tributes would end up dead anyway. However, that was their own prerogative as perhaps something had set them off upon the death of Sheila.

Alana shrugged. "This is actually kind of serious. They know this sort of environment better than any of us. Perhaps that alone had them breaking up. There's no rule stating they have to share any of their advantageous skills with us, something that could potentially give them a huge edge. Survival in a marine environment such as this? They probably have it down to a tee and want us knowing none of it. We're all technically enemies in this, after all. Shit, I could even kill you right now if I wanted, but we both know that won't happen." She explained, even cracking her knuckles near the end much to the amusement of Valour. The boy knew she wasn't joking though. This was a game in which there was only a single victor, after all, and the girl definitely had superior strength to his own even if he had his archer skills.

"Well then that just gives us two more enemies to eliminate. Call me cocky, but a career is winning the 47th Annual Hunger Games." Valour responded, wearing a smirk. Once again his over-confident and egotistical side was showing, but it was definitely one the Capitol got great amusement out of. They loved their career tributes as they were always the most eager to get their hands dirty and win. Not to mention, the great amount of pride they took out of being a tribute, and then subsequently a victor. "We need a plan though. Who is the lesser threat? I think somehow we should be deciding that." Valour glanced at the others as he shifted the topic. Now more than ever, going on the offensive was going to be important.

[Zulera301]

if there was one thing that Joann had reminded Aurum of, it was that speed could also render someone a deadly foe. It also had her realizing that she was not even sure how fast little Lynx was, other than the fact that she had torn off into the night that first evening with considerable speed. that boy from '9 had been pretty fast though, and so had his partner. However, Joann had proved to be the swifter one, bringing her life to an end. that high score of hers had definitely been earned, even if it wasn't perfect.

And the fact that it wasn't perfect meant that she was no match for the likes of Valour or herself. Aurum smiled at her partner's reassurance, and at him stroking her hair. She really quite loved that, and would definitely miss it once she was out of the arena, be it in death or in victory. "alright..." she sighed softly, but contently, closing her eyes and relaxing a bit until the evening. They were leading the good life out here in the arena, but it was not like she was was complaining. It was not like this was a warm-up act for something worse... this was the real deal. She had spent 18 years of her life training for it, and seeing Jessica's face in the sky reminded her that she was not just fodder, nor was she just an airheaded pretty girl. This rose had thorns.

District 8 usually did not last long, but it took a full week for one of their tributes, a girl, to finally die. The most likely culprits were either Farro or Joann for that one though, aand so it made sense. Still, even with Shelia down, Alice DeSiete still had his male tribute Lodan, and that boy had proven to be particularly clever given that he was also leading and commanding a little alliance of his own which consisted of a geeky boy his age from District 3 who was doing something with the mines, and an adorable little 12-year-old from District 12 who was their stealth expert, and literally tied everything together.

Aurum was also hurt about the District 4 pair abandoning them shortly after Shelia's death. "well then we kill them." she smirked. she had never really had too much attachment to those two, although she could probably safely say that she was at least decent acquaintances with Nolan and Alana. Apparently the latter's injury had softened her up, and it did please Aurum that she had gotten to see the heavyset duo's human sides... such as how Alana liked when Aurum played with her curls.

Of course, the backstabbing District 4 pair were also a threat, that meant. Alana discussed that with them, and perhaps the unity of the remaining careers showed through when Alana threatened to kill the others but didn't actually act on that. She totally could, but they were not interested in turning on each other until the others were dead. there were still 9 others that would have to die before that happened. Valour, Aurum, Nolan, & Alana all seemed aware of this, and so they'd stick closer together now that two of their other allies had fallen away. Other than telling them a few things here and there as to the lay of the land, they had otherwise been fairly useless in terms of killing.

"lesser threat?" Aurum smirked, Valour's little pep talk giving her some motivation. "I'd say those little urban geeks from '5 and '6... unless they went all Clemont and Hikari on us or something. So either they're the weakest, or they're the most dangerous. Other than them... I'd say either Farro or Joann since they're alone." she ranked the highest threats as being the District 4 pair and the little ragtag trio, because of that stealthy little girl, and perhaps moreso, those mines. Maybe if Lever was gone, their alliance might crumble, or perhaps shooting down Lodan first would cripple them without their leader. killing Lynx... was something Aurum did not want to think about.
"but that's just me." Aurum shrugged, "what's everyone else think?

[Nachthexe]

Surely due to their environmental advantage District 4 was already strategizing against the career pack. They would have to die for there to be a District 4 victor, after all. Fortunately, the career pack was not about to let that happen. Despite District 4's environmental advantage all of the careers had still scored higher in training. To Valour that was at least some indication of who would win in a direct confrontation, provided neither of the tributes were in the water. Only Alana, Nolan, and eventually Aurum would truly be competition for the boy in direct confrontation, but that was a scenario he could put aside for the time being as long as the other tributes drew breath.

The other tributes. Were they a force to be reckoned with? The ragtag alliance seemed to be to a certain extent, but Valour knew that any advantages they had now with their raft could easily be cut off in direct confrontation. Joann and Farro seemed to engage in direct combat anyway rather than relying on traps. The same of course applied to the now hostile District 4 pair. That left only two tributes unaccounted for: 5 and 6. Valour still hadn't seen them since the bloodbath so there was no way of truly knowing what they were up to, but Aurum had a point. Either they were playing the stealthy route due to weakness or were in the process of constructing something advanced. Considering the pair's areas of expertise it was entirely possible. suddenly that had Valour fearing for the worst. "If they're anything like Clemont and Hikari things are about to become very complicated for us." He remarked, shrugging.

"This is why we should be going on the offensive, to prevent those little shits from doing anything too drastic; every day we waste here is another for them to perfect whatever it is they're doing." Nolan interjected in clear reference to the 5/6 alliance. There was of course no way to truly know what they were up to, but the boy strongly suspected it was something. He did find it rather odd that neither of them had died yet, after all, considering they seemed to lack physical strength. The girl especially just seemed to be a slightly older and less adorable version of Lynx. Ah, Lynx. Even somebody beefy like Nolan had been mesmerized by her, although that was nothing that would prevent him from killing her when the time came; business was business.

Another couple days had managed to pass, bringing the games into Day Ten. Fortunately(or unfortunately?) there hadn't been much action since Sheila's death on Day Seven, although that potentially signalled the beginning of Gamemaker intervention if something didn't happen soon. Surely it was far enough into the games now that all sorts of hidden dangers such as Mutts and traps could be unleashed, another factor Valour definitely didn't overlook in the continued hunt for the other tributes. The 5/6 alliance had definitely been doing an excellent job of remaining hidden, although this was all compromised when Nolan during a stroll on watch duty spotted another sort of raft off in the distance. It had unmistakably been the 5/6 alliance and whatever they had constructed looked even more advanced that the ragtag alliance's. Clearly District 6's expertise in transportation rearing its ugly head over the arena. Even more unusual, however, was the fact Nolan had described the raft/boat as being coated in a rubber-like substance.

"Well this is just great. Two of them now? Did you see anything else unusual besides the boat though?" Valour responded to Nolan, raising his eyebrows. This was bad. Really bad. That left at least two groups of tributes with a huge edge over the others. At this point it almost seemed the two alliances would have to take each other out, and that was even assuming they wouldn't target the career pack. Valour knew that the career pack was usually one of the most desirable for the other tributes to separate and eliminate. Farro had already attempted to do exactly that, after all.

"Nah, they were too far away so I couldn't really make out anything else clearly. It's almost like they're attempting to stay near the edge of the arena or something. That could of course change in time, but for now it seems to be working as a strategy for them to avoid confrontation." Nolan responded, explaining more of his theories to the others. "I can only really suggest at this point that we watch our backs. Oh, and of course stay away from the water since we know at least two alliances are making use of rafts now."

[Zulera301]

It was fairly simple to realize what kind of advantages District 4 had over the career pack, but that was not enough to faze Aurum either. even in this arena, there was still a way or two to pull them out of their comfort zone and turn the odds in their favor so that Nemo and Marina would be slain. It was nothing pers--okay, maybe it was just a little personal those those assbags had betrayed the career pack before they had even gotten started. But... that would just be their undoing. Any chance of them making it home now had just been vanquished, or so Aurum figured. She was pretty sure that the others would agree though--it would be four on two if District 4 managed to kill off Joann, Lever, Lodan, Lynx, and that urban pair (whose names are escaping me right now).

"At least they don't have the bombs," Alana quipped. It wasn't like these mines were the average little boom to fling a bit of dirt into the air... these were the kinds of explosions that would obliterate a person entirely if the two came in contact. No one who had ever in the rare event, been blown up by one of the Capitol's mines, was ever recognizable other than through process of elimination. On the other hand, they knew who *did* have the bombs, and it wasn't hard to put two and two together that if Lynx had been operating a projectile launcher that threw coconuts... that perhaps they had upgraded to mines, even if that only gave them 24 shots. Hopefully Alana was just assuming the worst though, and so she did not share that thought.

After a couple more days where the action was lacking though, and not only was morale a bit down, but Aurum was also kind of worried. They had gone back to the cornucopia again of course, and now they wondered why the Gamemakers had not made anything happen yet. Perhaps Shelia's death had tided them over for the time being, but two more days without action and there was still 13 tributes left and this was day 10 of the games... this would definitely not be remembered as one of the more remarkable or entertaining Hunger Games, that's for sure. This notion sort of bummed Aurum out. Heck, she wondered if she'd still be remembered even if she won. Hopefully she could still stand out as a remarkable figure in an otherwise fairly unremarkable games unless things stepped up, regardless.

Incidentally, it was Alana's logic to the rescue here with deductive reasoning once again after hearing about the boat. Her mind was still on Aurum's remarks about them going all Clemont and Hikari, after all, and this seemed to help verify it a little bit more.
"That Dezna kid from District 6..." she grunted, as if coming to a conclusion... his staff was rubber... sponsored obviously... but what was it for? to protect against electricity. What's District 5 famous for? electricity. If they're sailing a rubber boat, we do NOT want to touch the water. Valour, you might be our only shot at hitting them from a distance if they're using electricity..."

"Unless they think Lever has the electricity..." Aurum suggested, for she had been the one to make the parallel to Clemont and Hikari initially, "but either way, I wouldn't want to take that risk. But... if they're lingering around the edge of the arena... someone needs to tell the Gamemakers to give those little shits a wink-wink-nudge-nudge in the form of a storm or something... we can't swim all the way out there... give us some help or something!" she waved her arms and jumped around for a moment before sitting back down, chuckling.
"but seriously..." she added in a more serious tone, "there's only so much we can do at this point. we've still got higher kill counts than anyone else; we've tried scouring the arena... and we're still left with nothing. What are the Gamemakers up to and why haven't they tried to kick some of the other lamer tributes into action yet? Surely they know that their favorites aren't going to turn on each other till the end, right?"

There had only been one sighting of Lever, Lodan, & Lynx, and that was during day 9. They were much closer, and were sailing between the islands rather than outside of them. Perhaps they had gained the thought that a lack of action would likely mean that the edges of the arena got pushed inward as the Gamemakers tried to drag the last dozen or so tributes together to finally get some action.

[Nachthexe]

Did the District 4 pair have a death wish? It almost seemed that way with the way they had abandoned the career pack without a second thought. Either that or they were arguably more over-confident and arrogant than even the District 1 pair. At least the District 1 pair seemed to be factoring in various different consequences of each action they took. So far it seemed to be doing a pretty good job of keeping them alive too, although other threats were soon becoming evident. "Shit, the bombs. Now you remind me. We know what they're capable of, considering it's instant death for anybody to jump off their pedestal in those opening seconds. Somehow we need to separate that alliance from those since chances are they're pretty powerless without them." Valour responded to Alana, improvising a strategy of sorts although he had no way to determine how to go about it or if it would even be successful.

Valour shrugged. Unsurprisingly, Alana seemed to have the same wavelength he did regarding the rubber boat. Water and electricity. Only the simplest of minds would be unaware of how they reacted to each other. Clearly the District 5 boy was potentially trying to do something with that, indicating he was definitely one of the more clever tributes in recent years. Fortunately, assuming the water was being factored into the boy's strategy, Valour was a ranged fighter. That naturally left him as the most viable option when forced to face the pair, but that was also dependent on them coming far enough inland as even expert marksman Valour could only shoot so far. At least the Gamemakers were bound to respond to it as them in their current location wasn't entertaining for whatever sort of show the Capitol was trying to put on.

"I see a pattern forming here. Perhaps it's because they're afraid of direct confrontation they want to rig the surrounding water. It's a theory, but we shall wait and see how they act." Valour blurted out several moments later, thinking deeper about the issue. Perhaps it was his own ego rearing its ugly head again, but neither of those tributes looked particularly strong or competent in direct combat. That was definitely common in the urban districts, although they had managed to still produce victors through smarts alone. This was not going to be one of those years though. Not on Valour's watch. "It's unlikely District 3 is using electricity here. That is District 5's specialty." He continued, reassuring Aurum they did indeed have quite a handful with the 5/6 alliance. At least she had a point that some sort of storm would probably cripple their operations, but that was of course entirely at the discretion of the Gamemakers; they only intervened to get action going and most of the tributes knew better than to wait until that point since oftentimes their traps were fatal.

"We need to get some action going. Even the ragtag alliance seems to just be lounging around." Valour uttered several hours later after just resting up with the others. He definitely wasn't sure what to make of the lack of action, although there was truly no way of him knowing what was occurring elsewhere in the arena either. For all he knew other tributes could be duking it out somewhere even if it was unlikely due to the lack of cannons. This did turn out to be true, for the 5/6 alliance did indeed find themselves confronting a larger threat. It was one that after a minor struggle they had managed to fend off, but only a few hours later Valour was finally startled by a cannon. Another tribute had just died.

[Zulera301]

Even if it was mostly just Valour and Alana conversing, it was not like Nolan and Aurum weren't also listening in.
"well..." the curly-haired girl continued, "if they really *are* trying to make a projectile launcher to shoot those mines like Bolt and Techa did a few years back... then they're probably carrying the mines with them. Surely that kid from '3 knows how to keep them dormant until they need to launch." she didn't know the exact schematics of course, but she understood that obviously they could be enabled and disabled if they didn't blow up the tributes after the first 60 seconds of the games. "sides... they have a much bigger boat now." The one time they had seen the ragtag alliance's boat, it was definitely much larger (they could tell despite it being farther away. No shots had been fired.)

Aurum nodded at Valour's remarks. "well, I suppose that we do still have the bridges unless they sabotage them... but they seemed pretty structurally sound. I'd be more worried about Lever blowing them up or something with his mines if we're worried about the bridges collapsing. But even if they did that, we're still in the best spot." If there was no action soon, Aurum could see the Gamemakers "eliminating" some of the islands. Otherwise, whoever had the lightning had indeed kept the careers from taking to the water (other than the occasional rain, or of Aurum deciding she wanted to make her wetsuit live up to its name).

"that was my theory anyways," Aurum agreed with Valour on who had the electricity. It was ironic that during the 45th Hunger Games, Glimmer DeLosSantos had died from electricity given that she was from District 5 (Aurum mourned the girl's loss because she was downright *gorgeous*... almost as pretty as she was), while District 3 had been the culprits. Now everything was back to its natural order, so to speak, and so she and the other careers were fairly certain it was District 5 doing this. "hopefully the Gamemakers realize that we careers have been trying to get some action but that we can't do that much without directly confronting them... and we're not stupid enough to walk right into their traps." this was both in reference to 5/6 as well as 3/8/12.

"Well how do we find them? or even reach them?" Aurum looked up, but otherwise seemed to concur with the idea. "I mean, we definitely don't want to try and swim out there to meet them..." even if Lynx wasn't shooting mines, she probably still had coconuts, which would definitely hurt. However, as she got up to get her shoes back on in preparation to move out again, she froze, hearing a cannon.
"well shit." Alana grunted, pounding her fist into the sand as if to give her something to push against as she pulled herself to her feet, "wonder who that was..."

[Nachthexe]

Electricity against mines. It was admittedly a fascinating prospect to Valour, provided he didn't get caught in the middle of it. Still, two urban districts seemed to be making use of deadly weapons. That alone was bound to provide excitement in ways that not even the career pack had been able to provide as yet. In a best case scenario the urban tributes would even end up finishing each other off. Still, compared to the District 4 pair they were only a lesser threat at this time; they certainly didn't have an environmental advantage in the same way District 4 did, after all. It was unlikely they could even swim, thus having to rely on the boats they had constructed to travel between the islands without making use of the bridges.

The bridges had admittedly slipped Valour's mind until Aurum made mention of them again. "Even if they sabotage them that doesn't stop us. We're no doubt some of the few tributes in here who can actually swim." He reminded Aurum, smirking. Even if circumstances were about to make a turn for the worst it generally didn't bother confident Valour. He did definitely have an advantage that the others didn't: training.

Valour chuckled at Aurum's second observation. "Oh, the Gamemakers definitely know. They just don't want to get too trigger happy. They know the Capitol prefers us to kill each other." He noted before putting on a smirk. Certainly it was a twisted prospect in many ways, but Valour tried not to think too much of it. It was simply a way for him to obtain glory; a means to an end. Still, regardless of what they dared unleash on the tributes he was ready for it. A lack of action was bound to bring something eventually, after all. Fortunately for him it wasn't about to happen now with the cannon that had gone off, interrupting all activities among the careers. It was only once nightfall came they discovered who it had been: Farro Chiaramonte of District 9. This came as a huge surprise to Alana especially whose jaw dropped as she witnessed the boy's face in the sky.

"I'm dying to know. Who or what had managed to get that fucker? I wanted him; he was just waiting to get his skull bashed in." Alana remarked as she once again cracked her knuckles, having Valour burst out in laughter.

"Don't worry. There's plenty of opportunity for that once we encounter those traitors." Valour replied, quite obviously referring to the District 4 pair.

"But neither of them tried to cut me down." Alana chuckled herself as he gave Valour yet another reminder in which the boy simply nodded to before shifting to a much more pressing subject.

"With that boy dead it means the Capitol had finally gotten some sort of long awaited action. That potentially gives us more time to plan out how we're going to take down the rest of these tributes. It's unlikely the Gamemakers would unleash anything on us now." Valour explained as nightfall was far upon them. Soon they would be into Day Eleven with still many tributes out there. This surprised him as usually by that point the games were nearing their end. That alone signified that this was no doubt one of the less exciting years, but he at least hoped to be able to change that quickly. With all the stagnation that had occurred in the past ten days the Capitol definitely deserved a spectacular finale. Certainly such a finale would help immortalize him as well and that was bound to be especially important to help him stand out in what what otherwise a dull year.

[Zulera301]

None of the careers were worried about the bridges, or about the potential naval battle that the urban kids were likely to wage against each other. That notion didn't bother her, since Aurum was fairly certain that they would not get caught between it or anything as long as they stayed on land. Still... they'd have to watch for projectiles. if they could launch a coconut, they could probably launch a mine if they knew the kind of trajectory to use in that regard. It'd be a dangerous game either way.
"yeah... I'm not worried about the bridges unless they put a mine under them or something." she chuckled. But, to put a mine somewhere inconspicuous, they'd first have to be able to go under the water, and ironically, the best swimmer of the three was Lynx, which really didn't say a whole lot about their abilities in that regard.

"oh, I know," Aurum melodramatically sighed, "but it'd be nice if they just sent a big tidal wave that washed them up on this island and destroyed their stupid little boats so that they could face us the way the games are meant to be played." perhaps it was her arrogance, but that was how she thought about it, and was rather unapologetic no less. This was nothing personal; just business. This was a concept that none of them minded repeating time and time again, as if it made it right. Well, there were no morals in the Hunger Games. Anyone that clung to some silly pacifist ideals here would just get cut down by kids who wanted to survive for one reason or another. It was ultimately a means to an end, whether the "end" was fame and glory, like in the careers, or simply hoping to survive and get home to see her mama again, such as with Lynx.

Of course, there was suspense for the tributes in an otherwise slow day, given that nothing else really happened after that cannon went off. After seeing it though... well, it was Farro. This surprised Aurum even. had Joann gotten him? Had he fallen into a Gamemaker trap? She had honestly expected it would have been one of the little outer ragtag alliance members getting killed, and that Farro would have done the killing. Or of course there was Joann, but she was apparently still out there.

"I'll save one of them for you," Aurum promised, adding to Valour's reassurance, and ruffling Alana's curly hair as a loose form of reassurance. It did feel slightly embarrassing for Alana that Farro had nearly gotten her only to be killed by some nameless schmuck. Well, Joann would have been a somewhat worthy foe if it had been her that had offed him, but otherwise, even someone clever like Lodan or the traitorous District 4 pair would not be a worthy way to kill that boy. Alana had wanted to do him in herself.

"If only there was a way to poison the water or something," Aurum sighed. "force them to land... cut off their escapes. If we play by their rules, they'll win. If we force them to play by our rules though, then we will win. which of these sounds like the better choice?" Of course this was more of a fantasy rather than anything, since it was unlikely that they could poison the entire ocean that was the arena. Now... the Gamemakers could do that... but maybe they had toned down after the intense action last year against District 8 that had failed or something.
"well, either that or it's time to hunt District 4." Nolan recommended.

[Nachthexe]

"A mine under the bridge? Pfft...unlikely." Valour sulked at the prospect, one that would fortunately probably not become reality. For one, it would certainly involve swimming beneath it and that was almost definitely beyond the urban tributes' skill set. Even little Lynx probably couldn't swim; as far as Valour knew there weren't any lakes in District 12. However, despite their current edge in other ways Valour still wasn't deterred. Surely mines, assuming they were making use of them, would take time to activate. In that gap between each activation there was bound to be plenty of time to strike the tributes.

Tidal waves. They seemed like a possible danger in this arena, but one that only the Gamemakers could create. This gave Valour some assurance that as long as he and the others started creating action there would be no need for it. However, given the current trend of these games that seemed increasingly unlikely with each passing day. It was surely getting to be around the time when the Gamemakers would be attempting to force tributes together. Valour knew all about this, having studied repeating trends in the games for years as part of his own training. "I suspect they will do something to destroy the other islands, leaving few places to hide. That's all this has been really, a large and lethal game of hide and seek." He explained, noting Aurum's sense of pessimism.

Of course, the day seemed to continue dragging on eventually into night. It was only during the next day that Valour heard loud noises off in the distance, although they seemed to be quickly coming closer. The rest of the career pack had all offered valid ideas as far as creating action, but none of that seemed to matter now as soon as Valour recognized the source of the noises. "A wave. I guess somebody is finally being washed out." He uttered as he packed up what he could in case the pack had to quickly flee to the opposite end of the island to avoid being hit. There was no way of knowing how large the wave would be, after all.

Being washed out to sea by a massive tidal wave quickly became the least of Valour's concerns though when a pair of familiar faces began approaching the pack. Somehow, them of all people, seemed fearful of something. Valour didn't have much time to question this though as Nemo, still in a state of panic, had begun speaking. "Don't...go...in the water. Monstrous...creatures." He pointed towards the now rippling water as he proceeded to flee once again. This surprised Valour, considering their absence for the past several days, although he could only guess his state of shock had done something to him. This was soon confirmed as Marina glanced towards Valour and began speaking.

"The water is also a death trap. They got Farro. Electricity..." Marina explained before taking off behind her district partner. She seemed slightly more collected than her partner, although still in a state of shock. This had Valour wondering. What was so monstrous that was causing even them to tremble in fear? They supposedly knew this sort of environment, yet something was taking its toll. This was bad. Very bad. Perhaps the Gamemakers had finally intervened.

"Now what? I feel like those two encountered us by chance, yet they stopped to tell us all this. Clearly it must be a sign of something much more dangerous." Nolan remarked after absorbing all the newest revelations. At least one thing was obvious: the Gamemakers were anxious for action and perhaps a way to end the games soon. "A tidal wave, something 'monstrous', and electricity. Yea, I think the Capitol is about to get their show." He continued, which managed to bring bring a frown to even Valour's face. Dying by some Capitol Mutt wasn't what he had in mind for his departure so there was only one conclusion that could be drawn from all this: he would now have to fight for his very survival.

[Zulera301]

"careful." Aurum couldn't help but crack a chuckle. "you'll jynx it." she didn't actually think that it would happen, but there had been worse things that had happened in the Hunger Games. All Aurum could hope for was that that ragtag alliance had expended some of their mines somewhere else, which in turn would reduce the number of shots they had left when confronting the career pack. The last thing Aurum wanted was for her beautiful body to be blown into 549,253,197,648,705 pieces from an exploding reactivated mine.

"Even then though," Alana reminded them, "this island we're on is still pretty huge. There's plenty of places to hide, but as long as we can keep the others out of the water, I suppose that we should be fine. Her's to hoping they destroy the other islands soon..." she raised her water bottle. It might have been something alcoholic if she was back home, but she would make do with what she had here. Aurum and Nolan chuckled and raised their water bottles the same way, hoping that the Gamemakers would help them out by bringing the others to them, since their days of hunting and searching had all been fruitless. Thus, it was definitely not that the career pack had not been trying. Hopefully the Capitol understood that, and kept them in a good light as a result.

As the day carried on, there were a lot of loud noises around them, which hopefully meant something. Some of them sounded like explosions as well, although if water was loud enough, Aurum was sure it could make a similar rumble if it was far enough away or something like that. Hopefully it meant that the ragtag alliance had lost some of their mines or something... or blown themselves and their boat up or something. It would save Aurum the trouble of ever having to kill Lynx or see her die, even if she knew that it had to be done. She was too cute to be fighting other kids to the death here... or maybe the golden-blond was just a softie underneath that arrogant exterior.

But no... instead, of all people to show up, it was their old backstabbing buddies from District 4. Some of them nearly jumped up to do them in, and yet, instead, what they got was a warning not about themselves, but about what else was out there. there was something about tidal waves and monsters and electricity. It didn't explain the small rumbles they had heard from the other direction, but that seemed easy enough to put two and two together with. That only left Joann unaccounted for, since clearly she had not been blown to bits if a cannon hadn't gone off. Were Lever, Lodan, & Lynx fighting her, or were they fighting an unseen enemy? mutts; monsters... those always existed in these games in one form or another, from rats and tracker-jackers in that urban wasteland arena to what was apparently a leviathan or something ruling the waters of this arena. Perhaps the dark, gloomy skies foretelling of rain were something of a warning in and of themselves.

"You know what I think of all this? Alana grunted, getting to her feet and cracking her knuckles. "I say it's about fucking time. We've been searching for the rest of these little shits for DAYS with no success. Hopefully the Capitol has finally realized that we've been trying our best to make something happen... and so they're finally rewarding us by bringing the others to us so we can kill 'em."
"I concur." Aurum nodded, "the blood on my swords has been dry too long."
She paused, realizing where they were.
"Well let's get the hell away from this water and beeline it for the cornucopia then!" she exclaimed a moment later, "and cut down anything or anyone that gets in our way!"
There was no point, in her eyes, to lingering around here when they knew the water was an electric deathtrap and/or that it now contained monsters. Hopefully the electricity threat would be eliminated by destroying that kid's boat, and hopefully the threat of the mines would also be eliminated the same way.

[Nachthexe]

Fortunately for the career pack they were still stationed on the main island, the largest one. It had potential to provide plenty of protection from whatever was out there threatening the other tributes so greatly. On the downside, however, it also meant sooner or later the others would be nearby. That was of course assuming they managed to survive whatever was attacking them now. Valour naturally guessed a tidal wave, although the District 4 pair had warned of something greater. Clearly it was nothing minor either, considering the state of shock the pair had found themselves in. Valour was even afraid to find out exactly what it was, but it was inevitable.

"I have a feeling there's more than just tidal waves out there. I doubt anybody would be put into that amount of shock by simple tidal waves. Besides, whatever it is was described as 'monstrous'." Valour suggested, still surprised the district 4 pair had bothered to return at all. That alone had him suspecting it was entirely a chance encounter, but one that was definitely fortunate; certainly if it hadn't been for them he and the others could have ran right into a trap. "Fuck it though, I'd rather not find out the hard way what it is. We know at least one place the Gamemakers won't touch." Valour soon suggested, met with nods of agreement from the others. Clearly they too knew he was referring to the one and only Cornucopia.

Sure enough, Aurum already had the same idea of fleeing to the Cornucopia. This made it an unanimous decision, but one that was quickly interrupted as even more massive waves came crashing into the arena. Fortunately they seemed to be at the other side, but Valour knew the Gamemakers were not fooling around as they came continuously. They were definitely hellbent on bringing the other tributes together and even sabotaging the boats and rafts that were out on the water. "Yea, this is it. We need to get a move on." Valour advised, finally dashing towards what would surely be an area of refuge.

After several moments the waves seemed to stopped entirely, perhaps signifying that the other tributes were exactly where the Gamemakers wanted them. This was no doubt promising, although clearly they weren't demobilized just yet as nearly an hour later yet another cannon went off. The latest casualty of the games, and there was really no way of knowing who it was just yet. Only time would tell, but it gave plenty of indication that the career pack would have to remain on alert now more than ever. The games were surely nearing a climax, one that was probably finally for the first time since the bloodbath leaving the Capitol on the edge of their seats.

[Zulera301]

If there was one thing that Aurum took assurance in, it was knowing that most monsters that were in the water did not do well on land, unless it was some crazy Capitol muttation that took that a step further. But... it was unlikely that the Capitol would sic something on all of the tributes, not wanting them to all get ripped apart and thus have no victor. Besides, they did try to encourage tribute deaths to be from other tributes rather than the Gamemaker's own tricks. Granted, the Capitol did have some serious tricks up their sleeves sometimes. Those humanoid creatures from a couple years ago had struck fear into even the mighty and otherwise fearless Valendria. Even Aurum kind of cringed at the thought of those things. She did not want to ever see one of those face to face.

The waves that were striking the arena almost made the ground tremble beneath their feet. It could very well be an earthquake of smaller proportions, but Aurum was not about to try and go all sciency when her life was on the line. She couldn't die... not like this anyways. They seemed to be coming from more angles now, which surely meant that the Gamemakers were forcing the little turds on their boats to "abandon ship", horrible puns aside. Hopefully it would wash them ashore sooner or later. Across the arena, it was taking all of Lever's skills to keep from losing the mines he had left; Lodan to pilot the ship, and Lynx to tie everything (namely themselves) down as they tried to return to shore. While there was no way the careers would know that, it would have made Aurum happy.

The cornucopia was predictably safe, and since they were on the 11th (soon to be 12th) day of the games, it would be a crucial place to hold onto, given that the games were taking longer than usual, and no one wanted a boring game, otherwise the Gamemakers might just go all Armageddon on the arena and the last tribute standing would win. Hopefully this final spur to action would solve that problem for them. Aurum, Nolan, and Alana also agreed.
On that note, someone else died, as another cannon went off. Aurum kind of thought it was Joann, given that there was no accounting for where that wickedly swift girl had run off to, and it was unlikely that she had been on a raft.

"so now we wait, I guess?" she suggested to the others, "or do we try to find them through this storm?" it had in fact started to rain, but it was fairly light comparatively speaking, and definitely wouldn't hinder any tributes much in trying to find others in the drizzle. The final bloodbath, they were all sure, was set to soon begin...

[Nachthexe]

Clearly the Gamemakers were not giving up in their attempts to force tributes together for what was potentially going to be a final showdown. Was Valour ready? He felt confident he was, although he was well aware there were still a few formidable opponents out there. The career pack in particular came to mind, but he was already well aware of the conditions in which they would finally turn on each other; either way there was going to be a career victor in the 47th Annual Hunger Games. Even if it wasn't himself, Valour knew he could settle for Aurum or even Alana or Nolan. All had pretty similar motives, after all, apart from also being loyal to the Capitol. They were truly the ones who deserved to be pampered by them, in his eyes.

"I'm dying to know who just died. I suppose we find out tonight, but until then we remain on guard." Valour advised as the pack proceeded to return to the Cornucopia. As expected, it appeared to be safe, although there seemed to be another surprise waiting behind. A human being. A tribute. Upon first glance Valour could only suspect it was the latest casualty of the games, but closer inspection proved the tribute was still breathing. That immediately rose many questions in the District 1 boy's head, although he suddenly became hesitant to even ask upon discovering who it was lying in front of him.

"I know...what you're...thinking. The 5/6 pair... Do not...enter water... They zap...Nemo..." Marina uttered slowly as she finally gathered the strength to speak, much to Valour's surprise. She also appeared to be rather beat up, bearing many cuts and scrapes, thus plenty of blood. She seemed to be managing herself quite well, however, as a recent sponsor gift of what appeared to be medicine was also positioned beside her.

"Well shit, where are they now?" Valour almost immediately asked upon absorbing everything Marina had just told him, even if it wasn't necessarily a lot.

"Not...sure... Waves...hit them." Marina uttered as she finally sat up, groaning in pain. None of her injuries appeared to be particularly deep, but they were abundant and clearly creating a hindrance. It even had Valour tempted to finish her off then and there, although somehow he couldn't bring himself to. Not yet. She was actually somehow being helpful for the time being and Valour suspected she would even have an idea as to where to find the others. It was quite possible she was the only one alive who knew such information too. There was Joann, but she didn't seem like the type to even converse with the career pack and only sought to help herself.

"Wait? I feel like Marina here will be able to recover somewhat and she seems to know something we don't. That could be used to our advantage." Valour soon turned towards the others once he ensured Marina was out of earshot. "Certainly she's technically no longer an ally, but remember that tributes will do anything to make it home alive. I intend to do just that as a career is taking that victor's crown this year..." He continued, glancing over at a soon passed out Marina. Perhaps now she could rest, but come morning she would be needed. With that in mind he intended to make it very clear to the others to let her be. When the time came she was bound to now be an easy target anyway, considering her current weakness.

Sure enough once nightfall came Valour's original suspicions, thanks to Marina's revelations, were proven correct. Nemo had indeed been the latest victim of the 47th Annual Hunger Games. There was no way to confirm it now, but Valour could only assume that Marina's statement about her partner's cause of death was correct as well. It certainly confirmed at least one thing in Valour's mind without a doubt though: that to take down the 5/6 pair he would have to somehow lure them away from the water if they were still there. However, they still didn't account for the monstrous creatures that had been spoken of earlier. What exactly was lurking in the depths of the arena's sea? Valour certainly didn't want to find out the hard way.

[Zulera301]

This did seem to be the buildup to the final showdown... and on day 14, nonetheless. Was that intentional? it kind of made sense to Aurum given that there had been very minimal action in the last several days apart from the sparse death and then the bloodbath a while ago. Well... that just meant that the carer pack would get the victor that they so deserved, that they hadn't gotten in several years. District 8 had produced the biggest upset in Hunger Games history the year before with that small boy taking the crown; the year before, that gigantic girl Valendria had turned the odds in favor of District 6, and District 11 had stolen the show the year before that...

but what stood out to Aurum was that despite the victors being remembered for winning the games, there were legendary tributes that had managed to stay alive in the hearts of many. Besides Alice DeSiete, there had been Paige Alwin, who had managed to avoid the wrath of the Gamemakers for the entire time before deciding to take another tribute down with her in a final blaze (pun intended) of glory. Then of course, there was Lyndis Montoya, from District 10 of all places, who managed to do exactly what she set out to do--become one of the "Great Ones" before her death.
The 45th Games produced memorable figures like Dezna Meraxa, Glimmer, and Valendria, but perhaps some of the most legendary tributes that year had been Clemont and Hikari from District 3. Skillfully evading every other tribute, they managed to construct fully functional lightning machines and shields, and the two of them ended up taking 5th and 4th respectively, which was nothing to sneeze at. No one was about to forget the heroid Rye Grove from the 44th Hunger Games either, although everyone also knew of Kyla Togisala, the little half-deaf girl who wreaked more havoc than anyone else that year, including the victor.

What this all amounted to was Aurum wondering if she could ever amount to one of the "Great ones". There didn't seem to be any of those this time around... the closest contestants were probably Farro or Joann, particularly the latter because she was still alive.
Well... the cannon had not been her, and it had not been Marina... it had been Nemo.

"Lightning?" Aurum exclaimed, "they really DID go all Clemont and Hikari on us then... shit!"
They needed some rest now, and perhaps Marina had learned the error of her ways, and came back to join the career pack. They'd let her rest for now though... no point trying to force an explanation out of an exhausted tribute.
"we'll get it out of her first thing tomorrow morning," Aurum nodded, "she's not going anywhere without us knowing, that's for sure. You're right about the careers getting this victory though..." she smirked. They were in fairly good condition still.

Night soon fell though, and Nemo's face appeared in the sky. Aurum's sympathy was only limited due to this being the Hunger Games and due to that's what he gets for ditching the career pack. But... afterwards, all was rather quiet except for a tiny pitter patter sound that sent chills down Aurum's spine, waking her up.

"Shit!" she was a bit scared in this dark, especially with the remarks about the other tributes now being ground-bound since the waves had destroyed their boats. Not that she was afraid of dying in actual combat against any of them, but they had stealth on their side and would probably pull an Alice and try to cheap-shot them. Poor Gemma... Aurum had not forgotten her.

the pitter-patter noise grew slightly louder though, and Aurum scrambled to her feet, grabbing her swords. She recognized those footsteps--fast and heavy. Only one non-career tribute moved like that who still drew breath.
But the ambience of this area was weird, maybe due to the golden cornucopia, and so she couldn't tell where it was--not until too late anyways. There was the sound of metal sinking into flesh, and a cannon a second later. In the dark of the night, Marina's face appeared in the sky, and Aurum spring. Sure enough, it was Joann.

"I've about had it up to here with you!" she bickered, giving chase to Joann as the darker-skinned girl realized she had walked right into the hornet's nest.
"Come at me," Joann taunted, "show me what you've got, pretty-girl. See if you've got what it takes to handle the legendary tributes... that perfect score and that perfect little face of yours can't all just be for show, can it."
"Stop running and fight me!" Aurum snapped in response, but Joann kept running.
"And let your lackeys meet up with me?" she countered, "no thanks. I'll fight one of you, but I'm not stupid enough to fight all four of you. Pity it had to be you first. you're quite an adorable little thing, I've heard."

Aurum blushed. "who *are* you?" she narrowed her eyes, slowing to a walk. Joann actually stopped running as well. Running had been what they had been doing this whole time, and the District 11 girl realized that there needed to be some action.
"I am Joann Kader, District 11." the woman replied, gazing right into Aurum's eyes in the dimness of the night sky. "I have no personal grudge against you, and don't care to. You are simply an enemy standing in my way, just like you were when I was hunting Jessica down. HER death was personal. yours won't be."

"Let's let your blades do the talking then," Aurum whipped out her swords.
"As you wish," Joann pulled out her trusty Katars again and the clash of steel began. Aurum thought she had melee combat--Joann got right up in her face, and her swift bladework kept Aurum on her toes, trying to put distance between them so that her blades could slash the other girl, while Joann's push-daggers required her to be right up close, where she played a mixed offensive-defenseive game. She was talented, that was for sure.

It was several minutes before any noticable results began to show, and slowly, Aurum was overpowering Joann, who also seemed to notice. Her arrogance reared its head.
"Wanna start running?" she taunted the darker girl.
"No," Joann grunted, "Finish me... if... you... can..." with a grunt, Joann threw the blonde girl off of her, tackling her to the ground. This was her mistake, for to defend herself, Aurum had stuck her swords out, and Joann had practically jumped onto them.
"you ...fought well..." Joann grunted with her final breaths. "I... overlooked... didn't... realize... cleverer than... I... expected..." and with that, Joann took her final breath, and Aurum threw the dead girl off of her with an exhausted grunt. She slowly stumped back towards the cornucopia as a cannon fired and Joann's face appeared in the sky, following Aurum all the way back to th cornucopia.

Sighing, she didn't even check how the others were reacting to all of this. She simply grabbed what was left of Marina's medicine, and slumped against a crate near the cornucopia, whimpering disappointedly. Not all the blood was hers, but she was definitely hurt, both physically and maybe even a little emotionally.

[Nachthexe]

"Apparently so. This is bad, really bad. We will for sure need to lure them to the mainland now. We, of course, have no way of knowing how to do that until we actually encounter them." Valour reassured a surprised Aurum. She definitely wasn't alone either as Valour was definitely surprised as well, more so at the fact they had somehow managed to construct an electrical device at all in this sort of environment. Perhaps District 5 was more clever than they often received credit for. It was usually District 3 being reputed as the "brainy" district, after all. It certainly showed in their tributes year after year too, although District 5 seemed to be more of a mixed bag if the contrast between Glimmer and Edison was anything to go by. Both were obvious employing what were very different strategies from each other.

"Pfft...that's why we have her. Consider this an opportunity." Alana scoffed as she glanced over at the passed out Marina. Despite her injuries she did appear surprisingly peaceful in sleep. That was something that not even the hardened Alana had the heart to disrupt, although those who knew her well did know of her soft side. Certainly Aurum seemed to at least.

"With Farro and Nemo gone that actually eliminates some of our potential competition. I was actually kind of hoping to take them on, even if just to prove I'm the best." Valour bragged, smirking, several minutes later after Nemo's face appeared in the sky. It quickly had him realizing exactly who was left. Marina was of course still alive, although she was in a weakened state. Hardly any serious competition. The same seemed to apply to the two alliances who seemed to rely more on traps than direct combat. That did leave Joann and the other careers, but the only one who was hostile at this point was Joann. That made it obvious in Valour's mind who to go after next.

Joann was definitely hostile and the succeeding events simply proved it further as a second cannon blared deep in the night. combat at night was rare during the Hunger Games, but clearly that hadn't stopped who Valour could only assume was Joann due to her taking on a more offensive style of combat. "Marina... Dammit, she was going to be my kill." Valour uttered once he caught a glance at the sky that bore an image of Marina with her distinctive long red hair. Sure enough Joann soon showed herself, although she clearly had a very different strategy in mind as she seemed to lure Aurum away from the rest of the group. This worried Valour slightly, although he was confident that his district partner and fellow perfect scoring tribute could handle the situation. "Gut her!" He bellowed as she took off after the dark skinned girl.

Valour knew the battle had drawn to a close as soon as he heard a third cannon. He briefly held his breath as he awaited to see who the latest casualty was, but much to his relief it was not Aurum's face in the sky. This immediately had him unleashing a huge sigh of relief as Aurum returned, bloodied but very much alive. "You scared the shit out of me there, you crazy bitch." He chuckled as he took the girl in his arms before she slumped down and began nursing her injuries. Fortunately for her, the dead Marina had left plenty of unused Capitol medicine. That was definitely a lucky break in this late point in the games, considering rising prices of sponsor gifts.

"No time for celebration yet though. Even if Joann is gone we're still up against several other tributes whom, even if not physically powerful, seem to be clever." Nolan soon reminded the District 1 pair who seemed to be rejoicing in their small victory, even if it had technically been all Aurum. It did prove she was a competent fighter at least and likely that she had rightfully earned her 12, which did make the slightly lower scoring Nolan nervous, but he knew that if forced to take her on he had superior strength on his side. The same obviously applied to his almost equally as beefy partner.

"He's right, but let's wait until morning for that. I feel we will be able to focus our best with rest." Valour interjected before finally retreating into the back corner of the Cornucopia and quickly dozing off. He hoped that Aurum would join him and snuggle up, but at this point it was practically an unwritten rule that she would so he didn't have his doubts on this particular night either.

[Zulera301]

Aurum had in fact been surprised at all of it, but wasn't exactly scared. If District 5 didn't move to act, the Gamemakers were more likely to strike him down rather than strike the careers down who had been itching for a fight for the last several days. There was definitely technological capability in District 5 though, given that they worked with the electricity itself. They were also widely considered to be Panem's most mysterious district, and so there were all kinds of valid theories about the tributes usually being rather clever.

"Opportunity knocks..." Aurum quipped, glancing down at the dozing girl, "and... I think she fell asleep at the door. Don't worry though... we've still got this in the bag. Even if Farro or Cara or whoever was out there had gotten her, it wasn't like we wouldn't be able to take them out too..." she just named the first two tributes that came to her head rather than trying to accurately worry about who was alive and a threat.
Aurum elbowed Valour when he said he was the best. "oh come now, what does that make me? cannon fodder? you know I'm the best... and the prettiest." Not that she didn't think Valour was pretty and still very strong, but it was a slight (and luckily mostly just playful) clash of egos here rather than an actual rift forming.

Aurum had heard Valour's shout of gutting Joann, and she did hope that it would happen. When all was said and done, she had kind of gutted her given that for a moment both of her blades were sticking out of Joann's back, but it wasn't like she was going to waste time lacerating and cutting apart a dead body. Besides... Joann might have been a no-nonsense sort of woman, but she was smart and had fought well. Aurum didn't feel a need to disrespect a body, let alone of someone whose death had not exactly been personal. Killing tributes was just business after all.

Aurum let out a weak chuckle as she hobbled back to camp. "well... I didn't want her to get away again... I just did what I could, you know?"
This time though, luckily for Valour, Aurum *did* actually strip to her underwear, because she wanted to tend to all of her wounds, and she couldn't exactly just rip a hole open in her chest or on her shoulder to reach it. She also kicked her shoes off and wiggled her bare toes. She'd put her suit on sooner or later, but really, now that Joann was gone, she wasn't worried about the others coming to try and kill them. They were passive and used traps. Joann was aggressive and Aurum had expected her to eventually surface and attack.

Valour had hardly noticed that Aurum had stripped down to her smalls, and so instead of trying to wake him and tease him, she simply crawled over to him with her suit in one hand and the medicine in the other in case she needed to apply more in a few hours. Otherwise though, she snuggled into Valour's warmth and closed her eyes. That had gotten the adrenaline flowing big time, and so a nice little relaxation wouldn't hurt... especially since it might be her last.

[Nachthexe]

Valour was hardly surprised at Joann's sudden attack on Marina. Certainly she saw that the District 4 girl was already weak and unable to fight back so had taken the opportunity to finish her off. Opportunism was very often lifesaving in the Hunger Games and it had certainly been proven countless times. Alice DeSiete was arguably the prime example, having taken advantage of Keshet's brief moment of focus away from her opponent. However, it was also not always a correct tactic as had been proven by Joann's own downfall just moments later. That soon had Valour even more baffled as to how the approach the situation of taking down the remaining tributes; certainly due to their lack of physical strength they were bound to cling to opportunism as well.

"Don't you worry. We will get to prove ourselves to all of Panem soon enough. It's why I volunteered for these games, after all." Valour chuckled as he responded to Aurum while she was recollecting herself after the encounter with Joann. The girl had definitely had skill if Aurum's injuries and fatigue were anything to go by. That meant that one major obstacle was out of the way, but Nolan definitely had a point as well that they were not out of the woods just yet. "Clearly she didn't get away and those others won't be either once we get our hands on them." Valour continued, assuring Aurum as she tended to her wounds.

Sure enough, just as expected Aurum was soon snuggled up to Valour, although he was already asleep enough that he hadn't even noticed. The District 2 pair even took note, but simply let them be. The two were definitely adorable at rest so neither Nolan nor Alana wanted to imagine the two of them having to face off against each other, although at this point it was beginning to seem more and more likely. If it came down to that they could only hope the loser would get offed peacefully.

Clearly the rest of the tributes had also been resting up for what was possibly to be a final encounter as the beaches and skies remained clear for the rest of the night. It was only upon awaking the next morning that Valour began to notice something peculiar. Almost immediately upon opening his eyes he took a closer glance at Aurum, who was still very much snuggled up to him, and proceeded to speak. "Look at that. You finally took that suit off, after all. I doubt you want to storm into battle looking like that though. It would only expose your perfect skin to the elements." He complimented her, chuckling. He was admittedly surprised about the whole thing, but he wasn't about to complain as it was bound to be the closest thing to the nude he would see her in. This had him simply glancing at her for several seconds before proceeding to stroke her bare skin.

"Get up, you two lovebirds. Today could be the day. I feel like the Capitol won't draw this out much longer so best to be prepared." Nolan advised several minutes later, interrupting the more intimate moments Valour had been proceeding to enjoy with Aurum. This had him simply groaning as he slowly stood up, but he knew the boy had a point. If he was lucky, however, and somehow survived the inferno with Aurum he liked to imagine they would get some final moments together. He knew that was somehow unlikely though as the Capitol would want their action in order to make up for the slow start of the games. That alone had Valour soon realizing that emotions would have to inevitably be set aside, especially considering only one tribute was making it out of the arena. Ideally it had to be a career.

[Zulera301]

Perhaps amusingly, Valour's arrogance helped boost Aurum's morale, which had taken a little dip from her injuries against Joann earlier. She was relieved that that girl was dead now though, because if there had been anyone of the remaining tributes that could have broken the career alliance prematurely, it would have been her. Luckily Marina was her nearest target, otherwise it could have been Nolan or Alana, or worse, her or Valour, that was lying there dead now, waiting to be picked up by a hovercraft.
"Well I volunteered too if you recall," she chuckled, "I don't think anyone is lingering on any of those outer islands anymore... heck, I doubt there are even any islands left out there anymore. This is it--the Day of Reckoning..."

well, sort of. It was night time, and so there would be one more day, but Aurum was pretty sure that unless she won, this was the last night that she would be spending alive. It was a toss-up, she felt, and she was confident that she would be able to do it. Of course... only time would tell. Somehow though, they were accompanied by 5 other tributes that, if they had ever engaged in actual combat, would have been slaughtered within minutes of the gong signalling the start of the games had gone off.

Either way, there was silence in the arena, even from those outlying tributes that had been skirting and evading everyone from the get-go. They needed to die--all of them, even sweet little Lynx. Hopefully one of the District 2 kids would take her out swiftly and effectively. She'd hate to see the poor little kid have a long, drawn out death full of suffering in her final minutes. She was pretty sure that could break just about anyone's heart... and contrary to popular belief, career tributes had hearts (well, most of them anyways), just that this was business to them.

The next morning when Aurum and Valour finally woke up, Aurum giggled that Valour finally noticed that she was in her underwear. She grinned playfully at him, though was also slightly groggy, as almost anyone is from just waking up. "well... I had to heal my wounds... and it just felt so comfortable to take it off... well, and everyone loves a good view." it wasn't like she was flashing any naughty bits or anything. she sighed gently, snuggling into him a bit more as he stroked her bare skin. She might have gotten nude, but the odds of her getting an injury on her breasts or her butt that would have needed to be treated, was slim, and thus had not happened.

Alas, al good things had to come to an end, and soon Nolan's promptings had Aurum squirming out of Valour's gentle grasp with one final kiss before she pulled her suit and shoes back on. She gave him one last smile, though this one was laced with a twinge of sadness, as if she too realized that that was probably the last moment together they would ever get before one or worse yet, both of them were killed. She couldn't afford to think that way. A career had to win, and it had to ideally be her.
"So... what's our strategy. I refuse to go after those little shit and get lured into their traps. If the Gamemakers haven't seen our efforts yet, then it's their own fault that these games haven't had any action..." She was sure as hell not going anywhere near the water, and goodness knows what sort of gadgets Lever, Lodan, and Lynx still had... hopefully their mines had all been lost or destroyed already.

[Nachthexe]

Both being volunteers, Valour and Aurum had plenty of incentive to prove themselves in these games. Certainly it was looking to be more and more important in an arena that had been particularly devoid of action. In a lot of ways it made sense in Valour's mind, considering the batch of tributes this year, but he also knew it was something the Gamemakers would no longer draw out. There would be action and the tidal waves had just been one way to ensure it, considering the two alliances were probably marooned by now. That made Valour want to search for them, but at the same time he knew it was very possible they had other tricks up their sleeves.

"Those other islands probably don't even exist anymore, but that's a promising sign for us." Valour responded to Aurum as she noted her own eagerness to prove herself. Both wanted to be remembered as the two perfect scoring tributes who stole the show rather than the promising tributes who turned out to be disappointing. That of course started by tracking down the other tributes and defeating them in combat. The lack of the outer islands was bound to make it much easier as well, assuming whatever monstrous creatures out there were confined to the water. That had potential to complicate the final encounter and the Gamemakers were always known for that in order to ensure maximum excitement. Valour didn't want to think of that just yet though as he dozed off, hoping to rest before what would probably be the final encounter

"A good view? I certainly love one." Valour responded, winking as Aurum gave an explanation for her removed suit. Certainly it made sense, considering her wounds, but even if she had stripped down simply for the sake of stripping down he of course would have not minded. Aurum was definitely not hard on the eyes and hers was a beauty he was definitely going to miss if he made it out alive instead of her. He could only assume she felt the same about him as well, but he wasn't about to question it. Now was definitely not a time to get emotional or sentimental, considering what was to come.

Sure enough, Nolan's interruptions served as further reassurance that it was time to crack down and bring the action to the audience. It wasn't going to come to them this time so Valour knew that he and the others of their pack would have to create it. "He's right. This is it." Valour uttered to Aurum as she got up, even returning the kiss she had left on his lips. "Ready for this?" He asked, nodding towards her before finally turning his attention to the others. It was possible they were already formulating a plan. Valour liked to hope as much since he didn't like the idea of going in blind, considering the sort of traps the others had probably already set up.

"This is bound to be interesting since we're dealing with opponents who would be offed in seconds in direct combat, yet we can't entirely overlook them as a threat. They are definitely clever, having been able to survive this long. That certainly indicates one thing: this is bound to be a game of cat and mouse. Prepare yourselves for plenty of running around and trap dodging. We'll need it." Nolan began explaining as he clenched his fists. "Oh, and this should be obvious now, but try to avoid the water." He continued, remembering the fate of Nemo. A part of him wanted to also believe his downfall had resulted in leaving the career pack, but it was also something he didn't want to think too deeply on since nearly everybody in the arena was always destined to die.

"I can only suspect the others are somewhere along the beach. It makes sense since both alliances were making use of buoyancy. That is where we shall go." Valour suggested, weighing their options against the most likely consequences of the tidal waves that had struck earlier. With that, he wasted no time and began gathering his supplies. Almost immediately he began dashing towards the beach.

The beach was only a short distance away so the trek didn't take long, but unsurprisingly Valour spotted a ravaged beach littered with various pieces of debris. It was likely a sign that whoever was present was probably not going anywhere. That formed a smirk on the boy's face, believing he had struck gold. With some luck their projectile contraptions would probably also be destroyed. "Figures you lot would show up here sooner or later. It's what the Capitol wants, but it's also what I want. Cara and I have actually been preparing for your arrival." Valour was startled by the voice he heard, but upon turning around he saw it was coming from one of the remaining tributes. Edison of District 5. Cara, who was unsurprisingly quite a bit smaller, was simply standing beside him giggling before arming herself with what appeared to be a metal rod of some sort. The handle appeared to be rubber, however, so almost immediately Valour knew what to expect from that pair.

"I'm bored. Come play." Cara pleaded as she continued giggling as Edison proceeded to power up some sort of device that seemed to be shared between the pair. Valour saw it as an opportunity so began loading his bow, but before he got a chance to fire Edison lunged towards him, attempting to jab a matching metal rod into Valour's flesh. Valour dodged the blow by dropping to the ground, but his original suspicions about the rod were confirmed as soon as heard a distinct hum from it. The boy was unmistakably making use of electricity.

[Zulera301]

This year's batch of tributes outside of the career pack were nothing really worth noting in Aurum's mind. Edison and Cara? Unremarkable. Clemont and Hikari did it first and did it better. Lever and Lodan? unremarkable. Techa and Alice did it first and did it better. Lynx? okay, she was going to be remembered for being the cutest tribute in years, though her sweet innocence and elusive skills had been done first by Hazel Prezelin a couple years ago. Not to say that Aurum hated these other tributes in particular or anything though. The closest to an actual grudge she had had was against Joann from District 11, but that had actually been a rather invigorating fight, and while defeating the girl had stroked Aurum's ego, the fact that Joann had not had any personal grudges against Aurum meant she could respect her a bit more.

And thus, Aurum wished to be memorable, the same way Clemont, Hikari, Hazel, Alice, and Techa were, rather than following in someone else's footsteps, the way the other tributes from these games were. Sure they had the perfect score thing on their side though, and the good looks, but would it be enough?
Well... speaking of good looks, Aurum laughed. "Well... I thought you'd like it, despite that there was actually some logical reasoning behind why I did it today. I feel much better though!" Surely, as Valour glanced upon Aurum's (mostly) naked form, her cuts and bruises from the fight with Joann had all disappeared.

Soon enough though, she was back in her clothes, straightening the suit at her shoulders, glancing proudly at the number 1 that appeared on both shoulders. "I'm ready." she cracked her knuckles, though it was not nearly as loud as the likes of Alana, who seemed to have an impressive talent for cracking her knuckles loudly.
It was time to corner these little beasts in the final game of cat and mouse. Perhaps the next year's games would be different. This one, as open as it had appeared, did seem to have given the tributes too many hiding options. Then again, every year had something. The arena had imploded during the 44th Hunger Games; those humanoid mutt things... "Night Witches" as some called them ( ;) ), had been responsible for dragging the remaining couple of tributes together during the end of the 45th Hunger Games. The 46th Games had utilized fireballs and the 47th Games had used a tsunami.

whatever the case, the trek had begun, and they knew they would have to comb the beaches in order to flush the other tributes out. It made Aurum wonder where Lever, Lodan, and Lynx were hiding, since it was unlikely that they were going to be lingering near the water either unless they had somehow pulled a Clemont and Hikari and built lightning machines as well.

sure enough, a couple of those cowardly little bastards reared their ugly heads and tried electrocuting them. Well... they did not seem as fast (or as vicious) as Joann, and so Aurum gained confidence and rushed in, with Nolan and Alana covering with her as well. It was pretty impressive coordination.

"Get some distance and cap 'em," Aurum called out, indicating that they wanted Valour at a distance so he could just shoot them. District 2 were a solidly built pair, and Aurum was swift and evasive (and a dirty fighter). Hopefully they could take them out quickly, and then flush that other pair out.

[Nachthexe]

Valour definitely enjoyed every opportunity to see Aurum in the least amount of clothing possible. This had definitely been no exception, but perhaps this time it had even bore some sentiment due to the fact that by the time the day was through at least one of them would be dead. That was something Valour didn't want to dwell on yet though so he simply blushed as Aurum provided her explanation for her having stripped down. The District 2 pair certainly caught on to the sort of relationship the two shared so chuckled among themselves as they too gathered their things for what was to come.

Valour could only chuckle as he soon found himself staring face to face with Edison. The boy had nearly impaled him, but it had been a lucky break on his part and Valour knew it. "Funny you would wait around for your own demise. Do you even have any idea who you have just run into?" He retorted as the boy and his younger ally attempted to taunt him. "Do you? Did you even bother to glance at the pre-game scores?" He continued, still trying to invoke a reaction.

"I'm well aware, but it certainly doesn't take a genius to know that not always the strongest tributes win these games. I don't expect you to understand though; arrogance has always been the weakness of your lot." Edison finally responded, smirking as he once again began charging up his lightning rod. Before Valour could realistically react he then began dashing towards the edge of the beach. "Come on! I thought you wanted to fight me? Don't you want to prove you're the best tribute in all of Panem?" He bellowed in attempts to lure Valour towards him. He then winked at Cara as if to give her a cue to follow him, which she did. Almost immediately she also began charging up her rod and smirked at Valour.

"Water is fun as I've learned here." Cara explained, chuckling as she began eying Valour. If there was anything to be said about District 6 they were definitely an odd bunch and the little thirteen year old girl who was now present was definitely no exception. It was even possible she was a junkie like so many others in her district, but it was something that mattered little now.

"Fine. You want a fight then I'll give you a fight. Two on one? What do you say?" Valour responded, noting Aurum's own advice. Distance. She was suggesting distance. Being a ranged fighter it was exactly what he needed and the two younger tributes seemed to be creating an opportunity. It certainly didn't go over his head either that the two were trying to lure him towards the water where they would have a significant advantage. Luckily for him he knew he didn't need to close in the space between them. "Too bad you've misjudged me. Your little tricks here may have worked on my partner who is a master at melee, but I have different tactics in mind." He assured the younger pair as he loaded his bow while gesturing for the remainder of the pack to stay back in case of any retaliation or traps. Electricity was definitely unpredictable.

Without further hesitation Valour took a shot directly towards Edison. The boy had attempted to dodge it, but to no avail, being impaled straight in the chest with the arrow. This had him moaning as he fell to his knees, initially silent before screaming. It didn't take him long to realize what exactly had happened. He was definitely dying and it was late enough into the games that no sponsorship would come his way. This prompted him to turn directly towards Cara who was close to a state of shock herself at the sudden attack. "Run! You can still get away!" He bellowed to the smaller girl just as Valour loaded up a second arrow to finish him off. This time it pierced the already immobile boy's head, instantly killing him and leading to the latest cannon of the 47th Annual Hunger Games.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was very aware that that was probably the last time they'd be able to strip. maybe they could have one more kiss before they fought each other in the inevitable final showdown (confidence much?), but otherwise, last night had been it. One of them was not going to live to see another day, and that thought saddened Aurum a little bit. Granted, she didn't want to weigh herself down with troubling thoughts when she needed higher morale to be able to emerge as the victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games.

The fight was on now though, and these two little buggers were just two of five that needed to get wiped off the map before the real finale could begin. This admittedly gave the golden-blond an adrenaline rush just thinking about, and she was fully confident that as long as none of them misstepped into a trap from Lynx or into Edison's electric device, the four of them would live to see the moment where they could turn against each other with all other opposition now gone.

"Y'know who you just went up against!?" Aurum taunted, although she also stepped back, as did Nolan and Alana. They were not about to follow these kids towards the water. "You just messed with District 1, mothafuckaaaaaaaas!" She didn't really mean that term to be so hateful, hence the playful way she said it. She also did some weird hand gestures reminiscent of some kind of gang sign. But, she knew exactly what Valour was doing, and while she, Nolan, and Alana all wanted these kills, they'd give them to Valour, who had the edge of ranged weaponry at his disposal.

And thus it should have come to no surprise that the careers had this in the bag, because Valour was a good shot--probably at least as good as Sagittaria, that sharpshooter from District 11 who won the games a few years back. He dropped the boy effectively in one shot, which made Aurum grin and she couldn't help but rub it in.
"Oopsie!" she leered at the smaller girl, "we win this time! you can stick around and take an arrow to the chest, or run and take an arrow to the back!"
Aurum would have ran after her, sure that she'd be able to outrun the youngster, but Valour's bow was back out, and she didn't want to get caught in its crossfire... especially because it could be her demise anyways if it came down to just the two of them. No point in an early death just yet...
Besides... there was rustling in the growth, which Aurum didn't shout out about, not wanting Valour to lose his focus and miss his shot.

[Nachthexe]

Valour could only unleash maniacal laughter at Aurum's response to the whole situation. Here they were, two of the remaining tributes cornered by another two who hardly had the means to defend themselves. The whole situation was certainly bound to be a walk in the park and it really became clear once Valour found himself so easily offing Edison. It surprised him slightly, but only due to the fact the boy had been trying to seem intimidating. At least he had been clever in trying to lure his opponent to the water where electricity could do the trick, but against a ranged fighter it had been futile. Certainly the boy had realized it as he took his final breaths and ordered his smaller ally to flee.

Fleeing. It had definitely been Cara's first instinct upon seeing her downed partner. Naturally this prompted Valour to go after her. The girl was small, but still fairly fast, although Valour was pretty sure Farro still had her beat. "Make Edison proud! Fight!" He bellowed as he attempted to catch up to the girl. Certainly her small size was an advantage in that it allowed her agility, but Valour had the advantage of being in shape and it quickly showed as he finally caught up to the girl. This put an expression of desperation on her face as she widened her eyes. She tried to ready herself for the inevitable combat, still having her lightning rod, but Valour was still much quicker loading up his bow.

"District 6...is down." Valour blurted out to himself as he took the shot at Cara. Just like with Edison his aim managed to be impeccable this time piercing the victim's neck. Almost immediately this had her coughing and hacking as she began to suffocate. On her own blood no doubt. Valour smirked briefly, although it quickly turned to a frown as he realized the games were not over yet. "I don't have any more time to waste on you. Any last words?" He explained to the girl as she stared into his face. It was quite obvious she could no longer speak and in her current condition she wasn't about to go chasing after the others. Knowing this, Valour left her alone and began dashing towards the others. He knew it was only a matter of time before there would be the blaring of another cannon.

"I suppose you came back to finish this?" Alana asked, chuckling upon Valour's return. He simply nodded, indicating they had little time to waste as there was still the final trio out there. Of course once they were dead it would mean turning against both Alana and Nolan(and then eventually Aurum), but he intended to make the most of what time they had left. If anything, they were bound to be valuable allies in what would probably be a deadly game of cat and mouse.

"Yea, we have a game to finish, bu...oh shit. What a coincidence. There they come now." Valour finally responded, although being startled as he noticed a distinct rustling in the bushes. It was either the other tributes or some sort of Mutt, but a Mutt being unleashed now seemed incredibly unlikely so Valour prepared himself for the inevitable. "Let's finish this. Come out here." He taunted those within the bushes just as Cara's cannon blared signalling her as the game's latest casualty. The Capitol audiences were getting a bloodbath and it almost seemed like the appropriate way to end what had been an otherwise fairly uneventful year.

[Zulera301]

Aurum was actually proud of herself for not being an asshole for so long... but the boy hand taunted Valour, and by extension, District 1. One did not simply mock District 1 and get away with it... so Aurum taunted back was all. That was not personal enough to make a grudge or anything... that was just verbal mockery. Nothing too big. It wasn't like she was swearing on the girl's family or pissing on her grave or anything.

But, soon enough, Cara was down as well, and it had happened just as Aurum had expected it would. Nolan and Alana seemed calm, and also seemed okay with letting the others do the killing, as if they were saving their energy for the inevitable. It was certainly not like they weren't able to fight off these other tributes... but if they were going to give her and Valour all the fun... then so be it. Death was simply the name of the game.
"Two down, three to go..." Aurum smirked, "And I'm pretty sure they're right around the corner, so to speak..." There were obviously no actual corners here, but there was definitely brush and foliage.

"Well speak of the devil," a voice cooed, and a moment later, it was revealed to belong to that redheaded boy from District 8, Lodan. "It's Lodan... and his buddy Lever..." the District 3 boy showed his face.
"And of course," they both chanted, "where would be without our most helpful little buddy Lynx?" they chuckled, ushering the tiny little District 12 girl between them (but not in front of them. they were not THAT low of cowards). These kids seemed to have plundered whatever weapons the careers had left at the cornucopia, and so were armed with knives and spears and tridents and such. Lynx did have some rope around her right arm as usual though.

"Let's get this game started then!" Lever chanted, and soon enough, these swift and elusive tributes charged into the frenzy of things. Nolan and Alana skillfully evaded their attacks, and so it was mostly Aurum going in against them. Well, despite the bantering, it was remarkably quick how fast the tributes began to drop. They were clearly not experienced with the weapons they were weilding and so Lever soon fell after Aurum stabbed him. a cannon went off, and Lodan began playing more elusively, while Lynx was steering far clear of them, though Nolan and Alana seemed to be following her with their eyes.

Lodan was next, and Aurum slashed him down as well, though it only took a couple of lacerations before the boy stopped moving, so he did not have to suffer the fate of getting brutally eviscerated either. Soon, his cannon went off, just leaving little Lynx, who seemed to be watching the others with a mixture of fear and decision. She was clearly outnumbered and the odds were not on her side.

"Look," Alana sheathed a knife and raised her arms, stepping towards the cautious little girl. "Let's call a truce just for a moment. Let's just talk a little, kay?"
Lynx looked at her and then at the other three careers.
"Just you... not the others." she demanded. Alana turned to the others, giving them an understanding expression, before nodding.

"Just me," the curly-haired heavyset girl nodded, "Obviously four of us are gonna have to die before this thing ends... but who says it has to be you? or that it has to be me? or Nolan, or Aurum, or Valour?"
Aurum had no idea what Alana was getting at with any of this, and so she watched skeptically, not wanting to set the frightened little girl into a state of panick and make her run or anything.

"Let's drop our weapons," she suggested,removing her knives, spears, and axes, which, surprisingly, had Lynx do the same. Gently, she opened her arms up, inviting the smaller girl for a hug.
"The Hunger Games are a dangerous place for a child..." she whispered, rubbing the child's back and running her fingers through her hair.
"I know, right?" Lynx whimpered, "I mean... you guys aren't going to turn on each other till after you kill me... I'm scared..."
"It's okay to be scared sometimes..." Alana reassured her, gently pulling Lynx down into her lap as she sat on the ground. "Panem is a dangerous place, and so it's always wise to watch your step..."

Aurum knew that Alana had wanted to be a Peacekeeper when she was older. If this was the kind of peacekeeper she would have been, then District 2 was going to lose a great woman today. it made Aurum sad, both to see the girl that was soon to be her enemy, as well as the frightened child she was consoling.
She propped Lynx up in her lap, letting the smaller girl rest her head on Alana's shoulder. "you seem exhausted."
"After that tsunami?" Lynx whispered, her eyes closing a little, "I am... I just want to rest... but obviously I can't do that now... anyone could realize that..."

"I understand..." Alana rubbed Lynx's back softly. "just relax for a bit... My friends aren't going to attack you... you did amazingly well, you know... given you're still alive."
"mmm..." Lynx nodded slowly to show that she had heard her.
"Just that now is where it ends..." she said softly. Before Lynx would respond, Alana's hand had grabbed the knife and plunched it into the back of Lynx's neck so swiftly that the smaller girl didn't even get a chance to scream. her eyes widened before glazing over a moment later. Gently, Alana shifted the dying girl's body onto her back (after removing the knife) before kissing her forehead and running her fingers over her eyes, closing them rather peacefully. Other than a small pool of blood on the sand behind her neck, she looked like she was sleeping when Alana was finished with her.
"I'm sorry, Lynx Chantrea..." she said in a whisper, giving her a peacekeeper-style salute before standing, and turning to the others.

"It's done." she nodded, "Let's get this party started." And sure enough, a cannon went off, and Lynx's little face gazed down at the four career tributes, all of whom were in near perfect health and stamina. As if to prove that she was ready for it to end, she cracked her knuckles in that trademark way she did, before grabbing her weapons again.

[Nachthexe]

"The rest won't be too difficult. Remember, we're the best." Valour offered motivation to Aurum as she too prepared for the inevitable. The rest of the tributes were obviously nearby and had just been waiting for the others to fall, which hadn't taken long due to who they have had the misfortune of facing. Valour was fairly confident Lever, Lodan, and Lynx would all have a very similar end, but only time would tell. Maybe they still had a few surprises up their sleeves? Fortunately it seemed unlikely due to the marooning and whatever monsters had been present in the water.

"Perfect timing, the party was just beginning." Valour announced just as the final tributes finally revealed themselves. Unsurprisingly they had come from the bushes and out of all three of them Lynx in particular appeared to have some fear. Valour could only attribute it to her young age although it did baffle him slightly that Cara had been much more collected, despite being similar in age and size. Perhaps she had been more desensitized somehow, but now there was obviously no way to ask her or anything. Still, this new trio left little time for dialogue as they proceeded to attack. Each attack was easily evaded and naturally from being in the best position Aurum quickly gained the upper hand against them. This admittedly surprised him as he proceeded to raise his bow without even getting a chance to strike before Aurum finally plunged her blades into both Lever and Lodan. Both cannons went off in sequence, forming a smirk on Valour's face as he stared on at each of the fallen tributes. "Child's play."

Child's play. It was those words that quickly reminded Valour of the fact they weren't quite in the clear yet. Little Lynx was still very much alive and he knew Aurum didn't have it in her to kill the smallest and youngest tribute of the 47th Hunger Games. This had him facing a dilemma as he soon stared on at the others, despite the fact Lynx appeared to have some fear of her own. "Somebody needs to do it." He whispered to Aurum who seemed the most disturbed about the prospect of having to kill Lynx. Fortunately before she could even respond Alana seemed to had taken the initiative of approaching the girl. A truce? I see where this is going... Valour imagined various different scenarios in his head about the outcome of Alana's actions and each had the same conclusion.

Of course the truce had come to an end almost as suddenly as it had begun once Alana plunged a knife into the small girl's neck. It didn't take long for her to bleed out, signaling the final non-career cannon of the games. Valour took one glance at her now motionless body and couldn't help but to think how she seemed to appear so peaceful in death, despite the circumstances. It wasn't quick to go over his head just how tiny she was either, perhaps a testament to both her young age and District 12's poverty that was so often overlooked in District 1. "I admittedly feel bad we had to do that to the girl, but business is business. We know that more than any tributes I'm sure." Valour finally confessed, shrugging as he turned towards the others. Nolan wasn't slow to glare at him though, signalling the inevitable.

Business was indeed business and Nolan's glare quickly reminded Valour of it as the District 2 boy proceeded to speak. "Indeed, so be ready." He cracked his knuckles before readying his own weapons. "To make this a fair fight I'm giving you thirty seconds to prepare. Same applies to you two." He continued as he eyed Valour, Aurum, and Alana. Naturally, he had chosen to target the District 1 pair over his own partner, but he was prepared to kill her too if it came to that.

"The Capitol is about to get a finale they've all been awaiting for years. I'm sure that's especially true after the disappointment that was the 46th games." Valour replied as he proceeded to open a gap between himself and his newest foe. It was slightly hard to believe that just minutes ago they had been practically friends for the past two weeks, but no friendships in the Hunger Games were destined to last. All victors certainly knew it too, or at least the ones who have had to off somebody they had cared about. Almost immediately Sagittaria and Rye came to mind in that regard and suddenly it had Valour hoping Alana would ultimately finish off Aurum. It was a nice ideal that could potentially save him some emotional pain, but only time would tell on that one for death was finally breathing down the necks of all four tributes, awaiting to carry three of them away in his arms. Nobody was about to forget this was to be a pure battle of skill either.

[Zulera301]

Child's play... that's all this really was to the Capitol. 18 or not... they were considered children still. "young men" and "young women" at the most... but few would ever say that the Hunger Games as an adult's game. Perhaps it should have been, so that the blame could go to those who were more worthy of it, rather than boys and girls in the most fragile and emotionally unstable time of their lives. Aurum had to force herself not to think about it, but in truth, it hurt her to think about little Lynx, and how her dreams of being able to help her mama would now never come to fruition... or Alana, should she die, would no longer be an excellent Peacekeeper that even the rebellious likes of say, 8 or 11, might be able to tolerate. Of course, there was also her and her life back in District 1 that she hoped to get back to. Only three tributes now stood between her and that goal.

Aurum covered her eyes as she saw Lynx's eyes widen as Alana finished the job, and she shook her head to prevent anyone from seeing that her eyes had started watering. Maybe it was because of who she was, but she had a soft spot for cute little things. Lynx had been a cute little thing, and so to know that she was no more... well, it was still sad, even if it had to be done. She couldn't really even blame Alana for it either--she was the one that had sort of volunteered to do the dirty work that no one else wanted to do.

"It was just business," Alana reassured them. "I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't been forced to." This was not backlash against the Capitol, but rather just stating that death was a necessary evil in this world. Her upbringing and method of saying this meant that it was unlikely that it would be censored. "But whatever the case," she continued, "the deed is done. Now we have more pressing matters to deal with..." she moved towards Nolan and the two of them glared at District 1. Aurum shifted towards Valour, knowing what this meant--more business. Business of the killing-their-allies variety.

"It's been a good run, Alana; Nolan..." she could say her final goodbyes to Valour when the time came if they got that far, but for now she did want to make sure that District 2 knew that she respected them. They seemed to respect Valour and Aurum for more than just their perfect scores too. Aurum did remove her shoes though, digging her bare feet into the sand as if solidifying her position.
"Aye," Alana nodded, focusing on the golden blonde, which in turn caused Nolan to turn his focus onto Valour. it seemed fair for the male tributes to go after each other and for the female tributes to do the same. "And may the odds be ever in your favor..."
She paused, cracking a smirk. "or perhaps... may the odds make it true that when you're mortally wounded in an excruciatingly painful way, your body goes into shock and you don't feel anything when you die."

Aurum actually giggled at this. There had been rumors that District 2 was one of the (currently) five districts (the others being 6, 8, 11, and 12) where Sagittaria's infamous slogan was prevalent, and this just verified it for Aurum. But... no time to stop and laugh. Moments later, Aurum's swords clashed against Alana's handaxes, and the two tributes began duking it out, blades clashing. Aurum was faster, but Alana was stronger, and so kept the more slender girl on her toes. This was surely going to be a lengthy fight, but one full of action to compensate for the lack thereof during the games. Aurum just hoped that she could come out of it alive and in one piece.

[Nachthexe]

Alana definitely had a soft side and it had continually showed throughout the two weeks Valour had spent with her. That alone made the District 1 boy believe that with her death Panem would be losing somebody honourable. It seemed to be a trait she managed to retain even in the face of death, considering how she had managed to peacefully off Lynx without any hint of a fight. In other words, she was definitely somebody Panem was going to miss once she was gone, but Valour knew it was necessary if he was to go home. The girl was loyal, proud, and honourable. All traits he even strove to represent himself so if he somehow made it out he would even try to emulate each the best he could. That was something still a bit far off, however, as he realized now only three others stood between him and his victory. Three others he had not wanted to fight and knew would be a challenge.

"Somehow I suspected from the beginning this would happen, and here we are. The Capitol is about to get their show as this is bound to be a pure match of skill." Valour confessed, sighing as the pack began to break up for the inevitable. "If I end up slain do know I have the utmost respect for you both." He continued, eying both Alana and Nolan. He hadn't bothered facing Aurum just yet, however, since he knew that she knew how he felt about her. She had certainly been more than just a district partner and even a friend. Of course both had known right from the beginning it was destined to be only a temporary arrangement so he didn't bother dwelling on her just yet. Besides, there was still a small chance that even they would be forced to confront each other in the case that Alana and Nolan were both slain first.

"Likewise. You both represent your district well." Nolan responded, followed by a nod from Alana. "Let's waste no more time with formalities...may the odds be ever in your favour." He continued as he finally readied his weapons as Valour did the same. It quickly became clear that both were about to employ very different combat skills as the beefier boy favoured heavy weaponry. It somewhat reminded Valour of Rye just a few years earlier who had made effective use of maces, one of the few tributes to do so. Even more spectacular was the fact the District 11 boy hadn't had any formal training. That immediately had Valour realizing just what he was up against now as Nolan very clearly had years of training under his belt.

Almost immediately as the fight began Valour found himself attempting to open a gab between himself and his opponent, knowing that arrows had little effectiveness at point blank range. Clearly the larger and beefier boy knew this, working to get in closer to his opponent to both prevent him from gaining the upper hand and to get in strikes of his own. It had nearly worked as Valour found himself having to dodge several blows from the boy's mace, but fortunately he had training and athleticism on his side as well. This had Valour finally being able to hinder the boy's efforts momentarily by stunning him with a few sucker punches, although he took no chances and soon found himself engaging in an all-out brawl with Valour. This was going to be a long fight. A very long fight...

[Zulera301]

Aurum would definitely miss Nolan and Alana, particularly the latter. Both of them had been so cool and collected and didn't really let anything bother them. Sure they might have been outscored by the District 1 pair, but they were unfazed and unafraid. To top it off, Alana's method of killing Lynx was probably one of the most humane ways to take out a little tribute that was so young and sweet and innocent, short of letting her win the games herself. Alana had kept such a level head through all of it, knowing what she had to do despite not wanting to.

"Agreed," Aurum added her consentment to Valour's words. "if you win, Panem will gain a glorious and honorable victor... and if not, then your district has lost a pair of true heroes..." there was no reason to disrespect them. Sure Aurum might have been confident that she or Valour would ultimately prevail, but there was no reason to turn this personal. This year's career pack was all about business as far as killing tributes went, even if said tributes were their former friends and allies.

Aurum and Alana actually gave each other one last hug, with Aurum ruffling Alana's hair and laughing. "I'll definitely miss that, you big softie," she teased playfully.
"Says the one giggling like a schoolgirl," Alana retorted, "But I digress. let us begin our dance. At your ready." she pointed a sword at Auruom, who drew her own as well to match it. So would begin the start of an epic struggle between Districts 1 and 2. They had already secured a career tribute victory, and so now to decide who died first and who did not die at all...

What Alana lacked in speed, she made up for in resilience, sometimes even shrugging off some of Aurum's attacks--the few times Aurum was able to potentially land them. In a fight of brute strength, the golden-blonde was fairly convinced that she'd be the first to die. Not that her training was wrong or weak or anything... just that she lacked the physical girth that Alana possessed in droves. Alana was a pretty heavyset woman, but Aurum admired her both for looking attractive and for how she was secretly a big softie underneath.

But alas, such was the name of the game, and soon Aurum was blocking Alana's viciously fast strikes as metal clashed with metal. Both girls had some seriously fancy footwork, and Alana's weight did not leave her any less graceful. Sure Aurum was light on her toes, but Alana was resilient and defensive, and she knew that she couldn't just wear the girl out by trying to defend. No... suddenly it made perfect sense why Nolan and ALana were so willing to let Valour and Aurum take most of the kills with those other tributes.
In fine... this was going to be a long, looooong fight.

[Nachthexe]

Valour was certainly feeling much better about the potential outcome of this final showdown. With all the other tributes dead it meant that no matter what a career was going to emerge victorious. Any candidate from the pack was reasonable, although naturally Valour hoped for himself. Perhaps it was out of selfishness, but it was perfectly reasonable for anybody to want to keep themselves alive. The Hunger Games were no exception and it was perhaps just one factor that made it so exciting for the Capitol audiences, to realize that each tribute would go to extreme lengths to save their own skin.

Sure enough, the survival mentality was beginning to rear its head over each of the remaining tributes as they began duking it out; Valour against Nolan and Aurum against Alana. Each pair seemed to be rather evenly matched in skill as well, despite District 1's higher scores. Very quickly Valour began suspecting that if it had not been for Nolan's larger size, thus slower movement speed that he too could have scored perfectly. Every tribute had their weaknesses though and Valour knew that his were quickly becoming evident as Nolan closed the gap between them. "I can't be letting you get the upper hand early on." He remarked as he found his actions immediately resulting in a brawl between the two boys.

"Certainly you just have a tactical advantage of having known me before this moment." Valour retorted, smirking just before Nolan landed a punch in his gut that had him dropping to the ground. Due to the boy's large size the groans that came from his victim weren't discreet and momentarily Valour even found himself paralyzed in pain before Nolan went straight for his mace to make his next move. Just as he proceeded to land a swing on Valour he rolled out of the way and picked himself back up, landing a few more punches on Nolan. Somehow the boy's muscular body managed to be hard as a rock as well so his pain was only minor. However, he was left slightly winded which Valour hoped would provide him time to hone in and prepare a shot.

Valour gaining an opportunity to shoot Nolan quickly proved too good to be true as the larger boy recovered and once again tackled Valour. Certainly Nolan knew that in a match with weaponry they would be unevenly matched so instead he found himself opting to make this into a war of attrition, even if he knew he had the superior strength. Then again, this was the Hunger Games, which had no real rules and at this point the tactics used were clearly steering the odds towards his favour. Aurum and Alana seemed to be much more equal in their continued struggle so it was hard for anybody to determine who would win there.

[Zulera301]

It was a good thing that Alana was also a Melee fighter, because if it was a battle of fists, Aurum was certain the heavyset girl would easily just snap Aurum in two. Not that the District 2 girl was fat or anything, but she was solidly built and the golden blonde was pretty sure that it was entirely muscle. Perhaps what got to Aurum the most though, was how calm and collected she was while they fought. This was not a personal battle between hated rivals--this was simply business.

And thus Aurum's swords clashed again with Alana's handaxes. Alana's reflexes were nothing to sneeze at, and it made Aurum wonder why the girl had only scored an 11. Maybe it was her lack of speed, but her reaction time seemed to make up for it. each time Aurum aimed to draw blood, her swords were met with a clang as Alana's axes deftly blocked it.
"you seem a decent person," Aurum quipped, still trying to slash at Alana's arms, "I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent person," Alana responded, deflecting Aurum's blows and trying to knock the swords out of her hands, "I hate to die."

Aurum caught on that the larger girl was trying to disarm her, and so she gripped her swords tighter, and sacrificed a little bit of speed for force and power, striking Alana from below with her foot to try and distract her. Alana staggered for a moment and allowed Alana to hook her axe and wrench it from her grip, but not a moment later, her other sword was knocked from her hand. The axe flew one way and the sword the other, and so, perhaps a bit hilariously, both girls paused to race and retrieve their weapons, snatching them up before the other could land a striking blow on them.

But they resumed their fighting a moment later without even skipping a beat. Aurum lunged, Alana blocked and swung an axe, Aurum ducked and threw a kick, Alana jumped and thrust her weapons forward. Rinse, lather, repeat with a bit of extra variety, and it almost seemed like a dance, except a bit of blood was drawn. This was definitely going to be a long, drawn-out fight...

[Nachthexe]

Valour knew the Capitol was no doubt getting a show for once after days of inactivity with how evenly matched each of the career tributes seemed to be. While the District 2 pair had strength the District 1 pair had speed and dexterity. Both seemed to be cancelling each other out, truly leading to a fight that would only prolong itself until one side tired. However, Valour's heart skipped a beat as he witnessed Aurum nearly becoming unarmed before recollecting herself. He would have hated to see her fall at this point, even if it would save him grief later on. No, District 1 had to face each other to truly show Panem who was the best. Even in the heat of battle Valour's arrogant side still shone strong.

Incidentally, Valour and Nolan appeared to be making little progress in their own brawl. It simply consisted of several punches delivered back and forth, leaving both boys relatively bruised up. It wasn't until the much stronger Nolan managed to land a punch on Valour's face that progress appeared to be made. Bellowing out in pain, the smaller boy flinched before feeling rivers of blood flowing down his face from a broken nose. Nolan quickly took note of this and smirked. "How does it feel to finally have your spirit broken? Perhaps District 1 is not the best, eh?" He taunted, practically forcing a reply from his opponent.

"It's just a scratch. You'll see." Valour retorted, delivering his fist directly towards the other boy's face. Having expected a reaction, Nolan was simply able to shove Valour's fist away before forcing him into a locked position. Once again the larger boy smirked as he glanced at his opponent who was, at the moment, very much at his mercy. It was beginning to appear rather ironic to him that the smaller boy had scored higher, yet was at a disadvantage in melee combat. It was really beginning to show too as he began struggling to break Nolan's grip on him.

"We will see if you manage to get out of this." Nolan assured the still struggling Valour. Surely he was in a position to very much end the boy's life, but perhaps the Capitol was still enjoying seeing them struggle so even if just based on that alone he continued prolonging the fight. Besides, it was bound to be a chance to see if Valour could successfully escape, even if it would suddenly put him at risk; with his bow Valour would have his victory in the bag and Nolan knew it.

[Zulera301]

The boys were becoming rather aggressive with each other, which was almost an ironic contrast to how the girls were fighting. Other than the occasional gloat from Aurum, she and Alana were fighting fairly level-headedly. however, their strength was faltering, and Alana's strength was diminishing due to her wounds just as Aurum's speed was. They were whittling each other down.

"So tell me," Alana spoke up after a while, "you have spoken positively of me so far... how are you going to fell when you take me down, knowing that I killed Lynx Chantrea in the most humane way possible... you know my weaknesses... my soft side. You've seen it all, Aurum Zianja. Do you really believe that Panem needs more Peacekeepers like me, or were you just saying that in a sense of respect among career tributes? Or was it pity?"

"I do not pity you, except in that you must die," Aurum insisted. "It is nothing personal just as your actions against Lynx were not personal. "Otherwise, I respect you as a worthy opponent. I do not think either of us are doing this by choice, you know. It's just the name of the game."
"But of course," Alana's axes struck a notably loud KLANG! against Aurum's swords. Aurum noticed the girl's heavy footing, and so she started devising a particularly devious plan.
"I'll let it sink in for a while," Alana retorted, "Being a Peacekeeper is about being friendly when you can be, but also knowing when you have to be ruthless. Panem is a dangerous place, Aurum. You need to know when to watch your step."

"Don't start this Peacekeeper nonsense on me," Aurum teased, but no sooner had she said that then Alana disarmed her completely, hooking both swords out of Aurum's hands with the hooks of her axes and flinging them aside.
"Gotcha," she smiled, but one thing she had not counted on was that Aurum fought dirty. She struck the girl between the legs in a way that would utterly disable a boy before hitting her chest. A moment later, she knew what had to be done. She snatched one of Alana's axes and in the larger girl's moment of surprise from the hits, Aurum had sunk it into her sternum, dropping her instantly.

A cannon went off, and Aurum fell to her knees as she saw Alana's surprised face freeze as she bled and died. It hurt her to see this girl that she had befriended over the last couple of weeks. She had been an honorable wound woman that had not deserved to die at all. Alas... such was how things were. She glanced over at Valour or Nolan, ready to grab her swords and take down the District 2 boy should he still be fighting.

[Nachthexe]

Nolan managed to retain a firm grip on Valour for several more moments, even as the latest cannon went off. There were only two possible tributes it could be and briefly Valour's heart sank, realizing it could have been Aurum's. "You will be missed...Aurum Zianja..." He uttered as the reality of the cannon sank in, although he quickly saw Nolan shaking his head as he continued to grip him. The shaking of his head seemed to indicate one thing: that Aurum was still alive and had successfully slain her opponent. This was quickly confirmed as he briefly caught a glance at Alana's bloodied corpse while he continued his struggle.

Clearly Nolan had managed to get a closer glance too, having the reality finally sink in that his district partner was dead. This seemed to slightly demoralize the boy as an expression of both surprise and disbelief formed on his face. Valour found himself realizing it was something he could potentially take advantage of. "She's gone. This is between you and I now!" He bellowed as he finally freed one of his legs into such a position to allow him to take jabs at Nolan. Sure enough, he managed to get a blow in right at his crotch which unsurprisingly soon had him bellowing out in pain. Valour chuckled at this. "Every man's weakness. I never thought it would be effective in this sort of game, but too bad your partner's death seemed to have gotten the better of you. Distractions truly can be the difference between life and death in this game." He assured Nolan as he dashed straight towards his bow which was still lying on the ground just where he had dropped it. Wasting no time, he loaded it up and aimed towards Nolan's forehead.

As the arrow flew through the air towards its target Valour was quickly reminded of how crucial keeping eyes on one's opponent truly was. The slip-up between Keshet and Alice just the year previous had proven it quite well, with the older and more experienced girl being downed during the single second she had taken her eyes off her opponent. That was not a mistake Valour wanted to repeat and sure enough it didn't seem he would as the arrow embedded itself directly into Nolan's forehead. The boy's eyes had widened just as it had approached him, but before he had time to react it found its way into his head, dropping him instantly. Another cannon blared, leaving only two tributes alive.

Two tributes? Two tributes! Aurum! Suddenly Valour knew what was to come as he glanced down at Nolan's corpse and again at Alana's. In comparison, his own kill had been much cleaner than Aurum's, but in the Hunger Games the kill methods didn't matter so much as long as they were effective. Any victor knew it better than anybody and suddenly Valour could almost sense his own victory and freedom, but one last obstacle reared its head. The very one he had perhaps feared from the beginning. Aurum Zianja. "We did it. We won. District 1 is about to shine brightly once again." He assured his district partner as he walked over to her, trusting she wouldn't use dirty tactics on him just yet.

[Zulera301]

Right as Aurum had collected her swords though, she heard a cannon fire off, and saw Nolan drop. His death was much cleaner than Alana's, but at the same time, only parts of the girl's chest were covered in blood. her face was still almost perfectly intact. either way, it meant one thing that a certain Sagittaria Svenja might have been able to relate to from three years ago: Someone would be forced to kill his or her District partner. however, the attitude of this incident would be much different. Sure the two were fairly attracted to each other (and were no doubt very attractive), but they weren't in love the way Rye and Sagittaria had been.

But on the other hand, they *were* still friends, and that would still mean that one of them had to kill one of their best friends in order to crawl out of this arena alive. The situation was oddly serene, and Aurum glanced at Valour and then back down to the remains of Nolan and Alana. it was weird to think that just a few minutes ago they had all been buddies and friends as they fought off Edison and Cara, and then a few moments later, Lever and Lodan, before Alana finished off Lynx and spared the others the trouble of killing such a sweet little child.

"well..." Aurum cooed at Valour's remarks, "we *are* the best... we both scored the highest, and now we placed the highest--1st and 2nd... I guess now it's just a matter of figuring out who gets to be first and who has to be 2nd..." she shrugged. Clearly the notion and idea of killing Valour was not sitting well with her, but it was something that would have to be necessary for the golden-blonde to go home, which was something she wanted to do, Valour or not...

"but I guess this is it..." she sighed a little bit. So much death... nearby, Lynx's body was still resting there peacefully, perhaps as an ironic symbol of... well, everything. Nolan and Alana were still there as well, for the Capitol was not about to interrupt what was surely going to be a thrilling final battle. She missed them, and she would miss Valour. It almost seemed like she had lost the spirit to fight, but, she clung to her swords, and was ready whenever the fighting actually began... though she might not mind a bit of cuddling or at least one last kiss goodbye. She curled her bare toes in the sand, watching Valour closely.

[Nachthexe]

For the first several moments Valour found himself feeling surprisingly calm about all the events he had just witnessed. Edison, Cara, Lever, Lodan, and Lynx had all gone down without a challenge, but now it truly sank in that he had just successfully killed one of the most powerful tributes in the 47th Annual Hunger Games. Surely that alone would be worthy of some sort of recognition, but now a potentially even more powerful foe stood in his way to victory. Most of all, however, she was a former friend and companion. That suddenly pained the boy as the realization of everything they had gone through in the past weeks finally sank in. "Yea... Only one of us can walk out of here alive..." He uttered as he glanced at the girl.

"We have secured a District 1 victory so whoever is slain can at least rest easily knowing their partner is living the good life. I knew from the beginning we would win this and I was right." Valour assured Aurum in attempts to briefly shift the mood before the final showdown. A lot of pressure was suddenly building up on him knowing the Capitol would be expecting a good show and that Aurum deserved a heroic death, one that would be remembered in an otherwise rather uneventful games. "The moment I saw those perfect skills I could only think 'shit, we've got this.'" He continued, letting out a chuckle as he once again glanced directly at Aurum, this time into her eyes. Surprisingly, the fact she was covered in some blood didn't seem to detract from her beauty in any way or perhaps he was subconsciously attempting to erase it to imprint an image of the Aurum he had known just weeks earlier.

As Valour continued glaring at Aurum several emotions seemed to flow through his head, most notably those in conflict with each other. On one hand he was anxious to finish off the games and give the Capitol a good show in the process, but on the other hand he now knew it required killing the girl who had become an extremely close friend over the past few weeks. Naturally, his gut instinct seemed to be insisting on the former at this point, causing the boy to make one last request before resuming the fight that had began with Nolan and Alana. "I don't want to have to say I didn't get to kiss your pretty face one last time." He remarked, hinting at exactly what he wanted. Somehow he knew the girl would easily comply and even pondered that similar thoughts were possibly going through her mind as well.

"I think the Capitol will remember your pretty face." Valour complimented Aurum as he approached her once more and proceeded to embrace her. Almost immediately, hugging her was somewhat comforting, although less so than usual considering what was to come. Valour knew he couldn't grow too attached at this moment and certainly even all of Panem would understand why. Instead he just held his arms around her and chuckled as he continued examining her face. Beauty was common in District 1, but somehow Aurum had managed to excel even by their standards. At least in his opinion anyway. This was something he didn't hesitate to make known to the girl one last time either. "You're beautiful, and no doubt one of the most beautiful beings to ever set foot into District 1."

[Zulera301]

Aurum sighed. "A tragedy for the ages," she agreed, and while she was pretending to sound melodramatic about it, to her, it suddenly was indeed a tragedy through the ages. One of them was currently facing the last few minutes of their life. They knew that their fight was not going to turn into a day long duel of fates or anything so grandiose. At most, maybe an hour, but probably more like a few grueling intense minutes or something was probably the more likely scenario. Aurum hoped that they didn't have to die slowly.

Aurum smiled back at Valour. he was much cleaner than she was, an ironic trend that persisted throughout the entirety of the games. Even with all the blood she had accumulated, she was still rather pretty, almost in a sexy sort of way given that it kind of made her "ruggedly-good-looking". in a sense. Not that she didn't think the same of Valour; just that Aurum was covered in a bit more blood and scratches, so to speak. The bloody nose did kind of add a certain veteran charm to him though.

She chuckled at his invitation. "c'mere then..." she cooed, stepping towards him and planting a kiss on his lips. For one brief moment Aurum wanted to simply forget that they were supposed to kill each other and embrace each other in a hug and an intimate kiss just one last time before one of them was killed, never to be brought back again. Perhaps Alice was right... there were no winners of the games... but Aurum wouldn't have ever figured that one out on her own... maybe if she won she'd learn it.

His words were touching to her, and her eyes watered just a little bit. "I do hope they remember me..." she said softly, "and that they remember you--regardless of which one of us comes out of there alive as the victor. we fought hard and fought well... nearly half of the tributes fell by one of our hands... we put up a good fight..."
But instead of pulling way, she simply held the kiss and the embrace, as if clinging to it for one, final time...

[Nachthexe]

It was all still very surreal to Valour, knowing that just weeks earlier the arena had been filled with 24 children all fighting for their lives. Now it was just down to two, and one was the very person Valour had found himself fearing right from the beginning: Aurum. It wasn't so much that he feared losing, but that making it out of the arena would involve killing her by his own hand. Suddenly he began to understand her earlier aversion to the thought of killing little Lynx, now feeling very similarly towards her. Fortunately, it seemed unlikely their battle would be too drawn out due to the fact the Capitol was certainly as anxious to discover the victor as they were.

Valour quickly began blushing as Aurum finally embraced him for what was bound to be their last kiss. Certainly their relationship didn't compare to that of Rye and Sagittaria just a few years earlier, but what they felt for each other seemed to be more than just a simple friendship. Locking his lips with hers, he basked in the moment and even briefly forgot what was about to come. "I'm going to miss those lips of yours." He uttered once the pair finished up with Valour giving a simple peck on Aurum's cheek. The passionate embrace lasted for several more seconds before he finally wrapped that up too. The Capitol was probably on the edge of their seats by now, thus there was little time to waste.

"I think at this point we will both be remembered, regardless of who comes out of this alive. We did kill about half the tributes all on our own, after all." Valour found himself assuring Aurum as he rubbed her back one final time before leaving her side. He was able to rest slightly easier about the whole thing knowing that what he was about to do was simply business. That was something he wanted the audiences to know as well as indicated by the smile, directed at Aurum, that formed on his face before morphing into a smirk as he picked up his weapon. This battle in particular was also no doubt going to be the most difficult yet due to both tributes possessing perfect scores and also knowing each others' tactics very well. Valour wasn't quick to overlook that as he began widening the gap between himself and Aurum.

"Now it's time to die, beautiful." Valour taunted, continuing to wear his signature smirk as he readied his bow. He knew that within seconds he would be met with the whole frontal force of Aurum's twin swords as she came lunging towards him. This prompted him to ready a shot, eying each inch of her body in search of the most vulnerable location. Disabling the opponent was often a lifesaving tactic and one he intended to make use of if necessary.

[Zulera301]

It saddened Aurum to know that it had come to this, even if they, just as Rye Grove and Sagittaria Svenja 3 years before them, had been anticipating this moment with a certain level of dread from the very beginning of the games--or even as far back as the train rides to the Capitol after getting to know each other more properly. There was dread, even if they both had known and acknowledged, even up until now, that this was purely business. They weren't just pretending to be friends or anything. That had all been real.

Aurum blushed, ironically, at Valour's blush. It was odd seeing him blush, but maybe that was just her teenage hormones reacting to his or something silly like that. Not that she had minded those hormonal impulses. She thought briefly back to the balcony where he had undressed her several times... once out of her chariot outfit, another time out of her interview dress, and the other nights, her simple but comfy training uniform. Heck, she had even managed to disrobe in the arena, although that was more for practical reasons involving healing her wounds rather than trying to strip off or show off.

Aurum smiled. "true... we were definitely model career tributes if nothing else..." A smile returned to Aurum's face as she remembered that. They were all really the "model" of how the "career pack" worked in the games. It consisted of District 1 and District 2, both of which scored higher than anyone else, and managed to wipe out everyone else before turning on each other and winning the games. They had done all of that AND managed to both score perfectly the same year. Knowing this, perhaps Lyndis' words from last year about "The Great Ones" would ring true as she went and joined them. they had displayed the "career model" so well that they probably became the token example of it now or something. That was very reassuring for the golden-blonde.

"Oh, there's only going to be one more pretty tribute dying today, and it's not a girl!" she chuckled in response. She drew her swords defensively. "at your ready!" she called out before charging in. The fight had begun, although something lingering in the back of Aurum's mind told her that it was not going to last very long...

[Nachthexe]

What made a model career tribute? It was a question that suddenly Aurum had Valour thinking about. Clearly he and Aurum both had the skills of a top notch career, but personality also seemed to play a role in being remembered. It had certainly work in the case of a select few fallen tributes, most notably the crazy Lyndis of District 10. Perhaps she was partially remembered for her unexpected skills, but it had really been her unpredictable personality that stood out and Valour knew it. Certainly if he made it out alive he would have to really stand out in his Victor's Interview, even if it would be difficult to overshadow the District 10 girl of the previous games. Fortunately, he had good looks on his side, something else the Capitol audiences seemed to grow attached to quickly. That gave him hope for both himself and any future District 1 tributes, but of course all that quickly got shoved aside as soon as he found himself facing the demon itself.

"Oh, let's just see. This next few minutes will determine that." Valour retorted as Aurum drew her swords. It became quite obvious she was going on the defensive, but it was understandable due to the massive advantage Valour had at this point due to being a ranged fighter. As long as distance remained between the two of them he knew she couldn't really touch him. However, closing the gap would only bring Valour closer to his own doom and certainly Aurum knew it. This was definitely going to be an interesting battle as each tribute knew each other's strengths and weaknesses so well.

Sure enough, Aurum had begun charging towards Valour. This startled the boy slightly, but fortunately he had prepared his bow ahead of time. As she began swinging towards him he managed to dodge most of the strikes, still having some distance between himself and his opponent. This very quickly had him retaliating by finally raising his bow and taking a blind shot. He hadn't aimed very thoroughly so simply hoped it would hit its target. The arrow missed and flew straight into the sea that now surrounded nearly all of the arena. Without hesitation, he loaded up a second, aimed directly towards Aurum's chest which was momentarily left exposed, and took the shot.

The entire past few weeks seemed to flash before Valour's eyes as he witnessed the arrow embed itself directly into its target. As indicated by its location, he knew it was something Aurum was probably not recovering from. He knew very well from his training that blows to specific parts of the body were nearly always fatal and this seemed to be no exception. This brought a smirk to the boy's face as he glanced at the now injured Aurum before it turned into a frown. It had dawned on him one last time that she was about to die by his own hand.

[Zulera301]

Arrows... so many of the great ones had died by arrows. Alice had made sure of that, last year. Poor Gemma, Aurum's predecessor, had been one of the first victims besides that bloodbath boy, and then so had Keshet, and Lyndis, and he had even taken out his own District partner Paige with them. Since Aurum did not know about Paige's secrets and her passionate loathing of the Capitol (ah, the convenience of censorship), she kind of respected Paige for her passion and vehemence in her fighting. She was a crazy bitch, that's for sure. Then of course, there were some of the heroes that the likes of Sagittaria offed. Rye, her partner, was one of them. But no... Aurum could not let Valour take her down... or would she just be another of the Great Ones to fall to a bow?

Aurum nodded at Valour's remark before charging forward to try and close the distance between them. If they were in close quarters, she'd have the edge. if not, he would, and so she was trying to manipulate the scene to work to her advantage. She was a dirty fighter, and if she could just nail him between the legs the same way that both Nolan and Alana had fallen, perhaps she could finish him off with a quick slash to the neck or something. But of course, he knew that just as much as she knew that he had range on her. But... who was faster? that could tip the scales one way or another...

It turned out Valour was faster. An arrow whizzed past her and she chuckled a bit, flipping her hair as she raced towards him again, protecting her face, not wanting to get shot in the forehead like Nolan had. However,, as she saw the District 2 pair out of the corner of her eyes, she faltered--for just one brief moment, worried about what had happened to them. They were dead now because of her and because of her best friend Valour. In this split-second, her life flashed, and she felt a warm trickle of blood down between her breasts. She had been nailed right in the sternum, and was close enough that she was pretty sure bone had just cracked.

Aurum fell backwards in slow-motion, her grip on her swords relinquishing, before she landed with a thud and a moan, on her back. She was dying, and all of a sudden, there was no happiness left in the world for her. Everything she had worked for... it was all a lie. Sure this might have just been business... but now that she was actually dying... where was the glory in that?
A fine stream of water ran from both of her eyes as she struggled to breathe. There were probably bits of sternum in her lungs now or something, but she knew that she couldn't recover. She felt suddenly very weak and helpless, and thus the tears continued.
"end it..." she whimpered with her dying breath, "please... don't draw it out..." she begged. Just like that, Aurum's cheerful mood had vanished entirely replaced instead by vivid feelings of pain and desperation. Her life was going to end here and now...

[Nachthexe]

Many tributes in the games had fallen to arrows and Aurum was just about to be another as Valour's shot pierced through the girl's flesh. This was only further confirmed as she dropped to the ground and was soon on her back, even struggling for breath. It was just one sure sign of a punctured lung, something she was not going to recover from. Even Capitol technology would have had trouble helping her at this point so Valour simply dropped to his knees and waited for the inevitable. Seconds later he felt a small stream of tears flowing down his face as he once again glanced at the dying girl in front of him.

Despite waiting for it, the cannon did not blare. It meant Aurum was still clinging to life, even if just barely. This occurred to him and prompted him to dash over to her side. He took a glance into her beaming blue eyes he had admired so much, but this time all he could sense was distress and pain. Aurum very well knew this was the end of a legacy, one that Valour wasn't going to quickly forget. The end only seemed more imminent as he finally heard her utter a few words. They were faint, but he was able to just barely make them out. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry it had to end this way." He responded more teary eyed than before, nodding at the girl's request. Out of everybody in the games she was the one he didn't want to bear see suffering so for a third time he loaded up his bow and aimed for the one place that would kill her instantly: her head.

Valour couldn't bear to watch as his arrow finally pierced Aurum's skull, resulting in a cannon only seconds later. It didn't take Valour long to comprehend exactly what it was, but much to his shock his face finally appeared in the sky after Aurum's, indicating him as victor. The flashing letters that appeared beneath only helped to further confirm it, but finally it was the announcement over loudspeaker that truly had reality sink in: "Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the Victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games...Valour Drazen of District 1!"

"Shit... This is it. I actually won the Hunger Games..." Valour uttered as he glanced up into the sky one last time as his own portrait began to disappear. All around him were the corpses of other tributes; the losers. Most disturbing, however, was that now Aurum laid among them. This was a rest that was only going to be disturbed by the incoming hovercrafts. Incoming hovercrafts! That meant Valour had now earned his fame and glory and would now be carried out to the Capitol world that was bound to be ecstatic to see him. The losers would never get the same chance of course and would simply remain as nothing but memories, something that prompted Valour to dash over to Aurum's corpse one last time. He wanted his last memory of her to be a good one so he simply placed another kiss on her now cold lips before closing her eyelids forever. "Goodbye, beautiful..." He uttered as the hovercraft finally began lifting her corpse into one of the hovercrafts.

It was only once all the tribute corpses were gone that the second hovercraft finally landed, presumingly to pick up the latest Victor. By this point he had broken down further and attempted to hide his bloodied and tear drenched face inside his hands. He suspected the broadcast of the games had ended by now, but he wasn't about to take any chances at being seen on national TV as some sort of weakling. No, he was an honourable warrior who had managed to overcome all odds. That was what he would be for the remainder of his life, for both himself and his district. Victors were people to be looked up to and admired, not scorned. That was at least what the boy had been taught much of his life anyway so he knew that as soon as he left the arena his life was going to be drastically changed forever...

[Zulera301]

Aurum could practically feel the seconds of her life slipping away as everything grew hazy. She wasn't paralyzed, but it hurt to move, and she could feel her breath fading quickly. She was only half away of whatever Valour was doing right now, other than knowing that he had been responsible for her life ending here and now. It didn't make her angry, but it was clear that Aurum's final seconds, unlike, say, Dezna Meraxa or Varsha Tallarico... were not happy ones. She was sad and miserable, realizing that this was all a sick twisted kind of joke. No... unlike them--these other heroes such as Lyndis or Dezna... Aurum had not been ready to die and accept death. This was a hard pill to swallow.

But just like that, one arrow to the head later, and Aurum Zianja was gone. Everything that beautiful young lady had ever done--her life, her hopes, her fears, her dreams, her ambitions, her concerns, her talents and skills, her beautiful body... all of it was now gone from this world, never to be seen again except in memories. It was in these moments that the fallen tributes all appeared in the sky one by one, until Aurum's face was the one that lingered, being the last tribute to finally die. the 47th Annual Hunger Games had come to a close.

After the Gamemakers announced Valour as the victor, the hovercrafts began to come in. They were there for a while, since there were 8 bodies to pick up at this point. The only noticable thing of Aurum's against her blue outfit and red bloodstains was her little golden necklace, which had little lettered beads that spelled out her name. The tributes were picked up in the order they died, incidentally: Edison, Cara, Lever, Lodan, Lynx, Alana, Nolan, and finally Aurum.

Shortly after that, the 2nd hovercraft came to pick up Valour. There were a few Capitol Peacekeepers on hand ready to guide the boy up into the hovercraft if needs be, for while the footage of the games had ended, they could tell that he looked a bit broken. This was nothing new to them though--all victors were like that, pretty much.
The first recognizable voice was Miriam's.
"Y'did well out there, kid." she grunted, patting him on the back before stepping back to give him his distance and privacy. "You're out of the games and you're going home." Drunk as she might have been, she was a fellow victor, and so knew an idea of what kind of horrors he had faced--and would be there to help. For now though, it was time to enjoy the ride back to the Capitol.

[Nachthexe]

A part of Valour still wanted to believe that all the events of the past hour had all been part of a cruel nightmare, but it was reality. Aurum and all the others were actually dead and he was now the latest Hunger Games Victor. It was a title he had wanted to embrace from the beginning, but it was only just now he had begun to realize the true cost of obtaining it. It was hefty and Aurum's body finally being lifted into the hovercraft only further confirmed it. Now it was only her gold necklace that remained as a physical reminder of her presence in Valour's life.

With the exit of one familiar face only came the entrance of another familiar face. Miriam. Much to Valour's surprise, she had come along for the ride. She also appeared to be intoxicated, but it was hardly surprising or bothersome at this point. In fact, almost immediately, Valour had himself realizing that perhaps the woman was onto something. "Shit, I need a drink." He replied as she spoke, assuring him of a job well done in the games. Certainly it hadn't been the most eventful games, but parts of it were still very fresh in the new Victor's mind. "Oh, and do tell the Capitol I expect top notch accommodations after all this." He continued, letting out a small chuckle as he found himself lying on the floor of the hovercraft. Clearly it had been a lame attempt at a joke as his new status was quite obvious: Victors were praised in Panem and did truly receive the best Panem had to offer. It was well known to also apply to the families of Victors as well.

The ride back into the Capitol only lasted a short while with the Hovercraft finally being stationed exactly where it had initially left from. Naturally, it was giving Valour a strong sense of deja vu, but yet he could still recognize a distinct difference: there had been twenty four tributes aboard that time, now there was a lone Victor who found himself surprisingly lonely. He had expected Aurum's death to have been a sort of transition into a new life, yet it had quickly transformed into more than that. It suddenly had him briefly pondering another possibility: had he been in love? It was unlikely as their's had simply been physical affection, but nonetheless he was already beginning to miss the beautiful golden blonde girl by his side.

"Price and the others are up in the apartment. Let's get you up there so you can be cleaned up." Miriam instructed Valour, leading him out of the hovercraft. He was sure Capitol citizens were going to be anxious to see their new Victor, but such appears would have to wait. In fact, he was convinced that everything was strategically set up so citizens wouldn't see their Victors in the flesh until after they were cleaned. Valour knew he was fortunate though as he had little more than various bruises, scrapes, and his broken nose. All were aliments easily corrected by Capitol technology and the boy knew it. Still, it was one aspect he at least looked forward to, certainly being covered in dirt and grime after two weeks without proper hygiene.

[Zulera301]

One of Aurum's arms hung limp as they lifted her body, as if to serve as a further reminder of her lifeless form. She had gone to join the "Great Ones", as Lyndis might have put it--those nefariously ruthless tributes whose names were remembered because of their destructive and influential skills. Ruthless tributes came from both "sides", really. Lyndis was ruthless. Valendria was ruthless. Clemont and Hikari were ruthless. Kyla was ruthless. Flint and Blaze were ruthless. Aurum had been ruthless just as well. Valour was too of course, just that he was also still alive, joining the likes of Kiva, Alice, Sagittaria and others in the throngs of victors.

Miriam smirked at Valour's comment. "well... as soon as we get back, I can provide. Maybe you can join Zerviah and I in a drinking game when we stop in District 6..." she quipped. Yes, despite the striking differences between District 1 and District 6, Miriam and Zerviah were on fairly decent terms with each other, both being heavy drinkers and slightly compulsive gamblers. Otherwise, they didn't really see each other anymore ever since District 6 got a new victor.
"And while I can't exactly promise top-notch accommodations, I'm sure the Capitol won't hesitate to grant you that favor." She was just saying that she personally could not provide this for him; but it would definitely be provided.

When Valour fell silent though, Miriam did as well apart from a belch. 7 years ago, she had experienced the same sort of somber silence, and perhaps out of respect, she knew that no words would really do him any justice or provide any real comfort at this point. The Hunger Games inflicted deep emotional wounds that never healed very well, if even at all. Some victors had been utterly destroyed, almost never leaving their houses unless forced to, for their annual service time as mentors or such. Thankfully Miriam did not have that problem (though there was booze everywhere in her house), and it didn't seem that Valour's trauma was quite that bad either.

Soon though, they were back in the Capitol, in the underground studios where their stylists and prep teams would give Valour a well-deserved cleanup before his Victor's Interview that evening. He certainly had to look presentable for that. the Capitol would have a fit if he didn't.
But of course, that also meant he was greeted by a rather enthusiastic Rumano as they arrived to escort Valour to the operating room.
"and our perfect scoring tribute proved what we all figured!" he beamed, not wanting to touch the boy just yet in fear of getting his perfectly tailored suit messy. Valour was still a mess, after all. "the mightiest tribute emerged from the arena! though I suppose more formal congratulations are in order after we get you cleaned up... Eirene and Othello are waiting!"
Of course, since Aurum was dead now, they could both focus their talents on making Valour shine tonight. That would be what they did...

[Nachthexe]

Valour chuckled. He was admittedly surprised Miriam was even willing to comply to his request for alcohol, but obviously she was one of only a limited number of people who understood his struggles. The arena was a harsh place and it was only ever Victors who truly understood it and Valour was quickly coming to realize it. Nobody else in Panem could confess to having killed their own best friend, after all. That alone made him determined to get only the best of what the Capitol had to offer their Victors. "Well then I will just have to see, but honestly I thought winning would feel much more...I don't know, exhilarating?" He confessed, realizing it was going to be awhile before he got over Aurum's death or even Alana and Nolan's. Certainly he hadn't known them as well as his district partner, but they too were people he had been able to consider friends. Noting this, he simply let out a sigh as he proceeded to follow Miriam back to the tribute building.

It disturbed Valour slightly to know that he was returning to the same building and even the same quarters where he had first closely bonded with Aurum. It was there that the two had realized that at least one of them was in the last weeks of their life, thus had simply made the best of the situation. It had definitely been successful with each of the nights they had spent on the balcony together in peace, basking in nothing but each other. It had certainly provided a sense of warmth even on the cooler nights, one that Valour suddenly found himself longing for. Of course, having such a desire fulfilled was impossible now and even thinking about the balcony brought back images of Aurum, ones that only seemed to upset him further. It was only the sudden arrival of the stylist pair and Rumano that seemed to remedy that, even if it was bound to be temporary.

"Of course. We told you one of us would win, because we're the best." Valour responded to the enthusiastic escort man, putting on his signature smirk. It was common for tributes to make such predictions, but rarely were they even correct. Valour, however, could at least credit himself for having had his cocky attitude pay off in the end. It was certainly a form of enthusiasm the Capitol always appreciated as well and there was just one last appearance in front of them until he would be returning home for the next six months. He was hopeful that the six month gap between the games and the Victory Tour would give him time to recover from everything he had witnessed, but there was also a sense of dread as well. It was definitely well known by now that he and Aurum alone had killed exactly half the tributes. That meant there were probably a lot of angry families across Panem, if the attitudes of the other districts towards the games was anything to go by. That was a reality he would face later though instead of now in this moment that was supposed to be about him. It was a moment of fame and glory he had earned, after all.

Rumano expressed shared enthusiasm with Valour, but this was quickly interrupted once he found himself being escorted to the operating room. All Victors, regardless of how beat up they were, all saw that room and fortunately Valour knew his procedure wouldn't be too extensive. His injuries were relatively minor, after all, perhaps further confirming the lack of action that was the 47th Annual Hunger Games. If anything, it was bound to be notable for its two bloodbaths, but at least it was something to leave Valour remembered. "Well this is it. Make me sexy again." He remarked once he arrived in the room before being instructed by the others to lie down. He was confident in their abilities and that he would come out the man he had been before entering the arena. Physically, at least. Not even Capitol technology seemed to be able to correct mental scars.

[Zulera301]

Miriam nodded. She did not know all of Valour's horrors, nor would he ever know all of hers. It was not necessarily from a lack of sharing or understanding, but rather a combination of the two. He was the only one familiar with the 47th Arena, just a Miriam was the only one familiar with the 40th Arena.
"To be honest..." the older girl remarked, "...so did I. I was a chipper little bastard when I went into the games... my partner was not necessarily as closer as you and Aurum were, but we were friends enough..."
"well, I also all but lost my legs in the arena... they're better now, but I had to be hauled up onto Caesar's stage in a wheelchair. they didn't get all the way better till just after my victory tour..." She cracked a smirk as if remembering some fond stories--which she was. She'd tell them if Valour ever asked. But then her face straightened again.
"But hey... you've got me, and you've got Price. We ain't no Aurum for sure... just as long as you know you're not completely alone." she patted his back. It wasn't like she was about to tell him that he'd be fine or that he could get over it. No, she understood it well.

Once they were back at their old apartment, which was much quieter and even perhaps a bit more somber-seeming due to the absence of a certain pretty blonde-haired girl, Miriam flicked her wrist as if to nonverbally say "see ya later", and she was going to go grab a drink (or five) while Valour got cleaned up. She and Price would be around for him afterwards though, and of course they'd be among the Capitol audiences who were watching the interview that would happen alter tonight. The balcony was in view from the window, and was perhaps a bit haunting of the memories created there with a girl whose only remaining relic now was the necklace that Valour held with him now.

Luckily Rumano was there to stroke Valour's ego a bit and thus boost his morale. "Well after those perfect scores we were all fairly certain it was going to either be you or Aurum... certainly still a good reason for us to celebrate, wouldn't you say?" He was obviously meaning more the celebration of his victory, rather than the death of the other tributes. That might indeed be tricky, since it was no mystery that Valour and Aurum had been good friends, and together they had literally killed more than half (12 out of 23) of the tributes--exactly half (11 out of 22) if Aurum wasn't counted. Surely District 2 would understand given that it was just business as all four of them had so often admitted, but what about Districts 5 and 6? Aurum and Valour had both killed one of the kids from '6, and Valour had killed both tributes form District 5. Even the districts 'wronged' by Aurum wouldn't be too happy to see him either, most likely, such as 3, 8, and 11... this might be a rough victory tour.

Luckily, it seemed the boy had some spirit left in him as Eirene and Othello escorted him back down to the studios where they would run him through the standard protocol of cleaning him up and then dressing him up for tonight's events before he would be able to go home and rest for another 6 months till his victory tour.
And thus, that was what happened. Valour was only "put under" bot a few minutes as they removed a few small cuts or scars from his fights, and fixed his nose up a bit from where Nolan had struck it. Afterwards, Eriene and Othello led Valour to the changing/dressing room, where they decked him out in some rather flashy colors. his suit was a light shade of blue--fairly cimplistic, except with a rather shiny and glittery look to it without getting too feminine. The fabric seemed to glisten in patterns, and started out very bright near his shoulders, getting slightly darker as it trailed to the end of his coat and down his pants to his darker shoes. The only oddity were the ends of his jacket (and shirt) sleeves, just past the elbows. These faded from the blue to a darker reddish color. If he held out his arms as if in triumph, the slightly subtle symbolism would make more sense--this suit symbolized the games: on one end was the red of a bloodbath, and then surrounded by the blues of the beautiful skies and seas, and then ending on his other arm with another red bloodbath.

"Well..." Eriene, like most stylists, did always ask her tributes if they liked her outfits, and Valour would be no exception. "what do you think? do you like it?"

[Nachthexe]

Valour very quickly found himself becoming intrigued by Miriam's own games, but it was perhaps a topic for another time. Any discussion of it when he was so fresh out of his own had potential to be triggering and it was not something he wanted right now. Not when he had Capitol audiences to greet within a few hours. He knew they were just dying to see their latest Victor anyway, especially considering he came from one of the most loyal districts in Panem. It was even bound to be refreshing for them after the disappointment of the 46th games. Even now Valour still found himself scorning the fact that Alice DeSiete, of all people, had won. At least now he had some understanding of how it had been possible, considering how long tributes such as Lynx and Cara had lasted in his own games; luck was sometimes a just as important factor as strength, speed, or smarts were.

"Well thanks. You owe me an explanation later too." Valour responded to Miriam, hinting that he was definitely intrigued about the woman's own experiences. It was something he could relate to now and perhaps her personal account would even help with his own mentoring somewhat. It seemed possible since different tributes would know from their own experiences what sort of obstacles to look out for. That would come later though as everybody was definitely still anxiously awaiting the new and improved Valour Drazen; the victor Valour Drazen.

Unsurprisingly, Valour soon found himself dozing off as soon as he was firmly atop the operating table. It was a sure sign that whatever had been injected into him was fast acting and that the prep team and all the various Capitol doctors were about to get to work. He was sure that his nose was dislocated due to the blows it had received from Nolan, but he knew the prep team wouldn't send him out in front of the entire nation with a broken and crooked nose so actually looked forward to what was to come.

Sure enough, Valour soon found himself being escorted to the dressing room. It was there he was outfitted in a shimmering suit of blue and red. This immediately brought a smile to his face. Glittery Capitol fashion. It was at least one thing he hadn't lost his fondness for and the stylist pair took note of this, returning the boy's smile. "It's great. It reminds me somewhat of the pre-game outfits. Those were truly gorgeous..." Valour soon complimented the outfit once he began examining it in the room's many mirrors. Certainly not everybody would get the symbolism in the sleeves, but somehow Valour had. "The two bloodbaths? Brilliant." He blurted out, taking note of it as he stretched out his arms.

"Yep. You're a smart one." Othello confirmed, nodding. "If there's anything these games are bound to be remembered for, it's that. It's not every day you see tributes dying in such disproportionate patterns like that." He continued before gesturing Valour out of the room. He knew that very soon Caesar would be expecting him for what was always an exciting moment of the games: the post-game interview plus the crowning by President Snow himself. He was a man that even in his current state Valour could look forward to seeing. It definitely showed a difference of loyalty between the different districts of Panem as well.

[Zulera301]

There was always a combination of luck and skill that won a tribute the games. The amount of luck versus the amount of skill might have varied, but the formula was still more or less the same each time. For Sagittaria, the luck had been in the coin toss. The rest was pretty much skill. For Kiva, it had been luck that the mighty Valendria had been willing to lay down her life and had chosen the District 6 girl as one of her potential candidates to win this thing. For Alice, it was the luck of cheap-shotting his opponents and for having a particularly vicious and skilled partner. For Valour... for Valour it had mostly been Aurum's emotions, which led to her fatally faltering just long enough for him to get the killing shot in on her. Not to say that he did not win solely on that, but it certainly worked as a catalyst to make the games end sooner.

"Deal," Miriam smirked, "and I hope you're not sick of me yet, cuz you'll be replacing Price as mentor... y'know, since District 1 is awesome enough to have enough victors to keep two mentors." Not that Miriam had anything against the man or anything; just that he was the "Senior Mentor" so to speak (AKA had been mentoring for longer than Miriam) and so he had done his time. "but aye... don't worry too much about it right now... first go off and celebrate and get cleaned up. Let the Capitol fawn over you in all your grandeur instead of your crooked nose and your stench of seawater." she joked. Every tribute was pretty roughed up and grimy (and did not exactly have an appealing scent) after exitting the arena, so it was not like Valour was being personally targetted on this one.

Of course, prior to actually dressing the boy up, the Capitol operators had in fact made sure that Valour's nose was not disfigured, and it looked as good as new--pretty much everything about him was--at least on a physical level. It was kind of ironic to make a young man or woman so beautiful physically, while in turn it harbored a shattered ruin that was once their emotional health and psyche. But, it was not like Valour was so broken that he couldn't give a nice interview with Caesar tonight. He seemed happy enough about his victory to cover up whatever negative emotions might have been biting at him after the deaths of so many of his former friends.

But whatever the case, hew as back to looking his finest, and even his hair was carefully done (not styled in any particular way, but neatly combed) to be back to the long, silky locks he had had before the 'games. There was a slight hint of red makeup above the far corners of his eyes, but otherwise, he was fairly presentable the way he was. Now that he was clean, Rumano gave him a congratulatory hug of excitement, genuinely proud of their newest victor as well. "You look fantastic!" he complimented, but of course he'd say that. This was Capitol fashion (even if Valour's suit was not too extreme or over-the-top).
"But again, unfortunately, there is little time to talk. we cannot keep Caesar waiting!"

And thus Valour was escorted to back behind Caesar's stage. Last time they were here, Aurum was giggling excitedly beside him, and the other 22 tributes were whispering in various moods... but it was still far from silent. the fanfare for the Caesar Flickerman show was playing, a any minute now, they'd announce Valour's name to invite him to the stage. And of course, if he scanned the audience, he'd see Miriam there, in a nice silvery gown, front and center, just as she promised.
"And now ladies and gentlemen..." here came the announcement, "Let's all give a big round of applause for our latest champion... Valour Drazen; Victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games!"

[Nachthexe]

"Me sick of you? Nah, we're just getting started." Valour responded to Miriam, chuckling. The woman certainly had a point though since Valour knew that he would be mentoring with her until another District 1 Victor was produced. Fortunately, Valour didn't even think he would be mentoring long due to the rapid rate both Districts 1 and 2 seemed to produce Victors. Career training really did pay off in the end, even if tributes in other districts thought it futile. It was just one way in which they vastly differed to the other districts, but Valour didn't mind much since contact between districts was minimal at best.

Of course, all thoughts of mentoring, the Victory Tour, and even the games themselves soon found themselves being shoved into the back of Valour's mind. He had larger issues on hand, ones he actually anticipated. The interview, for one, was just bound to be another opportunity to show off and that was one side of the young man that hadn't been changed from the games. No, now that he was a Victor he had the rest of his life to show off and be admired. It definitely seemed like something he was going to enjoy, although he wished it was something he could have shared with Aurum.

Valour's ego continued to be stroked as he received compliments on his suit from the prep team, most notably Rumano. Even Price had finally made an appearance and gave a massive thumbs up of approval. To the young man, it marked the beginning of a lifetime of admiration he was bound to receive, at least from his district and the Capitol. The other districts likely had a very different perspective of the latest Victor, but it didn't bother him much as he had already been well aware of the other districts' attitudes towards the games and even President Snow himself. Districts 8 and 11 were certainly well known for having rebellious tendencies, after all. Certainly it served as a sign that rarely were other Victors as enthusiastic about the post-game events as Districts 1 and 2 were. This was further confirmed as Valour willingly followed a very excited Rumano to Caesar's studio. "You're right. We have a show to start. Easy as cake."

Backstage there was an oddly serene atmosphere. Valour could only attribute it to the lack of other tributes and their prep teams, although it was still quite surreal to him to think that just weeks earlier he had been one among 23 others destined to die in that arena. Or destined to win. At least it was the way Valour perceived it, especially now that he actually was a Victor. That simple thought brought another smirk to his face as he finally heard the inevitable announcement from Caesar himself. This was it. It was time to shine once again. And shine he was going to as almost immediately he began being greeted by frantic applause from the audience. They loved their newest Victor already and Valour could only respond by smiling, waving, and then finally performing a fist pump into the air.

"So here he is folks, Valour Drazen! He's quite the excitable one!" Caesar began as Valour finally took a seat alongside Caesar just as the audience's applause was dying down. "As we know, the Hunger Games are a unique experience for everybody and certainly you're no exception so we're dying to know...how do feel about being here after it all?"

"Never better. I came here to win, willing to do whatever it took. Seems it paid off, eh?" Valour responded, smirking once again but this time towards the audience. Caesar simply chuckled at the boy's answer before turning to the small projector screen that was present on stage. Valour knew what was about to come and he couldn't help but to feel both anticipation and dread towards the whole thing; certainly there were some deaths he had been curious about since the arena, but at the same time he hated to have to watch Aurum's death by his very own hand once again. Experiencing it had been horrifying enough.

As the game footage began playing through Valour quickly found many of his questions being answered. The strategy used by Lodan, Lever, and Lynx had been confirmed, but so had that of Edison and Cara. Upon seeing it though he couldn't help but to have a thread of respect for the boy. He had managed to build and entire raft and lightning generator with only natural resources and whatever sponsor gifts he had received. Fortunately for the boy, he seemed to had been popular, indicated by the amount of resources that had gone into building the generator. There was, of course, also the mystery of Marina and Nemo. As indicated by the footage, they had indeed split off from the career pack, both out of fear of being backstabbed and out of fear of growing too attached. Valour knew it had ultimately cost them in the end, but perhaps it had just been one step closer to his own victory.

Finally near the end of the footage Valour found himself becoming most intrigued by the tidal waves. Not only the tidal waves though, but the fact they seemed to had awaken some sort of creatures beneath the surface: shark-like Mutts and then later a much larger Leviathan-like creature that Farro had ultimately finished off with his speedy strikes. Of course, the boy had found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, being within range of Edison's lightning generator that had been specifically designed to send electricity surging through the surrounding water. Nemo, of course, had suffered a similar fate so at least Marina had been correct. The next scenes then consisted of the marooned tributes and their destroyed rafts, and finally the beginning of the bloodbath. All of it managed to intrigue Valour, although the moment he saw Nolan fall he turned away from the screen, realizing what was about to come.

"So that is the 47th Annual Hunger Games. You lived it, breathed it, and even won it. Any regrets?" Caesar asked in a more serious tone, noting Valour's distress at the final minutes.

"Just one: that I didn't manage to kill that District 5 boy sooner. He killed one of my allies, after all." Valour responded, chuckling. He knew his answer was far from the truth, but he wasn't ready to reveal his full affection for Aurum just yet, if ever.

"Well at least he didn't take you down with him, eh?" Caesar responded, realizing the interview was once again taking on a more light-hearted tone.

"Nah, I would have never allowed that. I'm the best, after all." Valour flicked in a flirtatious manner as he spoke, prompting the audiences to burst out in laughter.

"Hah, a snarky one you are!"

"You haven't seen the best of me yet. Just wait six months."

"Six months we shall, but first we have a special guest joining us tonight!" Caesar finished up as the audience's second set of laughter died down. Almost immediately Valour knew who the man meant by "special guest" too. President Snow. The most powerful man in Panem was about to crown one of the most renowned people in Panem. Truly a spectacle of the ages, at least it was how Valour saw it and he knew that all of District 1 was also anticipating the moment.

"Oh, I can't wait. This will truly mark me among the greats." Valour finally responded with another smirk, knowing that within moments he would be face to face with President Snow.

[Zulera301]

There were various reactions to Valour's interview across Panem, with some approving of it and others clenching their fists and seething. President Snow, of course, was watching it nearby, as he was going to make his appearance to crown the victor as he did year after year. The thin ice that had been ever-present during the 46th Victor's interview was in no way present at all for the 47th Victor's interview. Valour was not a suckup to the Capitol, per se, but for Snow, his lack of underhanded rebellious tendencies and dangerous tactics meant that he was not a threat. Tabs on other victors, such as 33, 37, 44, and 46, however... needed to be kept.

As for the recaps... perhaps the tidal waves were in fact for the better. It had not been long before that, where Lever, Lodan, and Lynx had in fact perfected a device that would have used the mines as projectiles. That would have been a very frightening way to die. Perhaps ironically, Lynx was the one that was operating the device, which resembled a catapult. Luckily for them when the tidal waves hit, they lost the mines as opposed to them going off. Apparently there was something that would have needed to be done for them to go off, perhaps like a grenade. But... that was water under the bridge (no pun intended).

It seemed that thankfully, Caesar did not make a remark about how Valour turned away during those final moments when he and Aurum fought to the death, which was probably for the better. Those were usually very sensitive moments for a victor when he or she had to kill their best friend. Sagittaria had experienced the same thing three years earlier, but of course, the Capitol loved the suspense, and so they had that shot (also no pun intended) from all angles. Aurum's death had been very similar.

Snow's punctuality could not be questioned though, as he appeared right on cue, stepping towards Valour with the Victor's Crown in his hands, and his usual air of grace and charisma about him. While he did begin the usual generic congratulations as he crowned Valour's head, his tone made all the difference.
"Hello, Mr. Drazen, and congratulations for winning the 47th Annual Hunger Games." Unlike with Alice the year before, there was a much more approving-sounding tone in his voice, and almost a smile even. These were the kinds of victors he liked.
Standing back up, Snow turned to say a few choice words to the audience as well before his departure. "Mr. Valour Drazen has displayed traits of Panem's greatest and finest." he began, "Courage, confidence, loyalty, and strength. Such are the people that make Panem the mighty nation that it is."
And as simply as his little speech had begun, it ended, and the man exitted the stage to thunderous applause. Valour's ego definitely got the stroking that it so dearly loved.

"Nice job," Miriam was one of the first to encounter Valour after the interview. "Seems you're one of Snow's favorites... certainly not bad to be in the good graces of the President, you know..."
With a pause, the shorter woman glanced at him again. "but I bet you're as starving now as I was after my games. It's cruel that they don't let us get a proper bite to eat before now... let's get back and grab some grub. what do y'say?"

[Nachthexe]

Even Valour found himself becoming curious about what sort of changes he would undergo in the next six months once he mentioned it. He did know at least one thing for sure now though: he was not the same boy he had been before the arena. It had the power to vastly change anybody and even the most loyal of Victors were no exception. Miriam certainly didn't seem like the type to have been a heavy drinker before all her endeavours in the arena, although Valour didn't bother asking about it either. Whatever the woman wanted to reveal was up to her anyway, although currently Valour just wanted to enjoy his time in the spotlight.

Sure enough, arguably the highlight of the entire interview had finally arrived. Among the applause that was soon silenced approached a familiar man. President Snow himself. Valour quickly took note of this and simply smiled as the man finally came closer and placed the crown on his head. Unsurprisingly, the man seemed to be quite pleased with his latest victor as well, throwing in a few compliments of his own. "Thank you, Mr. President. I try." He uttered, glancing at the man as he nodded and simply began addressing the crowds themselves. Almost as quickly as this had begun it ended with his departure and thunderous applause. Needless to say, Valour was definitely satisfied with himself that he was very much on Snow's good side. Those who were usually were rewarded generously, after all.

"Of course. He loves District 1 because we're the best. Besides, who can hate a district that produces as beautiful people as me?" Valour responded to Miriam as soon as she approached him backstage at the end of the interview. He also smirked and then flicked his hair just as he had earlier, something the Capitol crowds seemed to be so intrigued by. There were the widespread rumours that Victors even slept with the Capitol citizens themselves and it was something Valour certainly couldn't complain about, and in some ways even looked forward to. Of course, that wasn't factoring in the recent loss of Aurum, but he felt that at this point further enjoying the simple pleasures in life could serve as a sort of healing process. Despite her controversy, he felt that Valendria of the 45th games may have been onto something. One could hope at least and there was only one way to test the theory, but in the meantime Miriam had an even greater point. Food was definitely desirable after two weeks of eating very little. "Yea, let's go. I could eat as much as District 12 does combined." He joked, although with an obvious jab at Panem's poorest district.

Soon the entire team was back in the apartment and almost immediately had begun eating as soon as food arrived. As usual, various trays of food had found their way into the District 1 quarters, something else Valour definitely couldn't complain about. His hunger became much more prominent too as he began staring at the food, although it was short-lived once he noticed one of the Axoves, a black haired woman, glaring at him. She appeared angry about something, but Valour just shrugged it off as the rules regarding Avoxes were very clear-cut. Within a few moments the woman was gone anyway, leaving the team to finally feast after what had been an extremely long day. It was even difficult for Valour to believe that less than 24 hours ago he had been cuddling and flirting with his beautiful district partner who was now merely a memory.

[Zulera301]

Miriam had gotten over most of her hardships from the 40th Hunger Games by now, and the drinking had definitely helped. She definitely didn't have it nearly as bad as some other victors did, and her fairly laid-back attitude helped exemplify this pretty well. She wouldn't mind having drinks and throwing dice with Valour, but at this point it was more of just a regular addiction than a coping mechanism. She had not had to kill her best friend. Her battle had ended similar to Valour's (District 1 and District 2), but the District 2 boy had killed her partner, and so she squared off with him before winning. But, she was not about to ramble about her games. She had her turn, and her victory tour. This was Valour's moment, and Miriam respected that.

Even Valour's simple thanks curved just the corners of Snow's mouth into a smile. He definitely approved of this victor, while last year's victor had been... well, quite the contrast. But, Valour would not have to worry about such things at all obviously. He was from one of, if not the, most loyal district in Panem, and his actions showed similar loyalty. Alice, by contrast, was from perhaps the most rebellious district in Panem, and it showed, even if the boy was much more subtle than his lovable outspoken bitch of a district partner had been. Snow was a clever man and it took much more than that to pull the wool over his eyes.

Miriam pretended to take offense at that. "and what does that make me? I'm not THAT ugly, you know..." yes, despite her drinking, Miriam was still definitely very attractive. She was only about 24 or 25 years old, so she was still very much in her prime, and the post-traumatic stress had not taken too great of a toll on her face. Incidentally, Miriam could also tell Valour about sleeping with the Capitol, although her appeal had dropped a bit ever since she became a binge-drinker, even if she was still rather easy on the eyes.
"I hear ya," she nodded in agreement about getting some food. "I might not be as hungry as you are, but I've been sober a bit too long, and it's not good for me." That was one of the first signs of alcoholism, actually--being cranky when you didn't have it. Thankfully, Miriam's withdrawals were still in the early phases and so could easily be quelled.

Naturally, when they started eating, Miriam led the others in a toast (her glass full of a strong spirit, of course) "Well... I'd say this is a worthy celebration for a worthy victor for the first time since '42." referring to the 42nd Hunger Games, where a District 2 victor had been produced. "Or y'know... even better yet, the 40th Games." she was referring to herself, although more than herself, referring to a District 1 victory. She did have a bit of ego herself though. Most career tributes and victors did, after all.
"So... let's all give a big hand--and perhaps a big drink--for Valour Drazen... our newest victor!" She raised her glass, drained it, raised a bottle, and began draining it too. He was, after all, no longer a tribute. He was a victor.

[Nachthexe]

Valour was definitely flattered by the Capitol's and, most of all, Snow's approval of him. If anything, it was a welcomed relief from last year's Victor who was definitely rumoured to be a troublemaker. Of course there was no way to really confirm it, but considering the boy's origins in Panem's most rebellious district he didn't put it past him. District definitely seemed like an entirely different world from District 1 in Valour's mind, but it was only in six months he would get a taste of the place while on tour. It was at least one aspect to look forward to, even if Aurum had personally killed one of their tributes. In Valour's eyes it had simply been business, but District 8 wasn't about to be receptive to that idea. At least there was six months to think about exactly how to approach it since now the boy just wanted to enjoy the rest of his evening.

Valour could only chuckle at Miriam's response to his remark. The slightly older woman definitely had some wit and it was a side of her that Valour knew he would enjoy while the two were forced to keep each other company during the slower phases of next year's games. Mentoring. It was the responsibility of every Victor, although in District 1 it was more so "mentoring" and Valour knew it well. They, along with District 2, were indeed fortunate to already have well-trained individuals taking on the games. Really all they usually needed was moral support and Valour was very much willing to offer it, being as passionate about the games as he was. That alone was bound to make the 48th games loads of fun, truly a rarity for any of Panem's mentors.

"A celebration we shall have! To District 1!" Valour bellowed out as Miriam rose her glass. All around him were people in good spirits, and it was well-deserved. Winning the Hunger Games was no light feat, yet Valour had nearly effortlessly pulled it off, coming out with only minor injuries. He wasn't quick to forget the stories of past Victors having had amputations, after all. It was rare in the Capitol, but sometimes Victors' limbs were so mutilated that not even Capitol technology was able to save them. Valour certainly felt fortunate to not be in that camp, believing it would affect his perfect body. "And may we be successful for years to come!" He finally continued the toast, taking a sip of his drink. It was no mystery that District 1 produced the most Victors along with District 2 so he knew that his mentoring would only last several years at most.

Sure enough, a celebration ensured and by the end of the evening Valour found himself rather intoxicated and simply collapsed atop his bed. He minded little at this point that it would rough up his shimmering suit. Besides, he knew he would get many more during the Victory Tour as each stop revealed a new and unique outfit. He only thought of that briefly, however, as he soon began dozing off, only being interrupted by images of Aurum lingering through his mind. It was no ordinary Aurum though, but an Aurum adorned in the robes of the royalty of old with a massive crown atop her head. However, it was her words that stuck out as they flowed through Valour's consciousness; "Come be my king so we can be together forever... We can rule over Panem. Together." The golden haired girl smiled and held out her hand as she finished her proposal. Curiously, by her side stood two other familiar faces: Alana and Nolan. Both were outfitted in princess and princely garments respectively and simply nodded as Aurum spoke. Valour didn't know it in his deep sleep, but he suddenly formed a smile on his face. He missed his friends.

The next morning came and Valour awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed. It had definitely been his first full night's sleep in days. Of course, the vivid imagery from his dreams still managed to linger in his head. Aurum had reached out to touch him and it had only been when he had awaken that he realized he was alone. It gave him a feeling of distress, but otherwise he was glad such strong memories of the girl still remained. Now more than ever though he realized just how much he was going to miss her company. This was something he didn't hesitate to point out the next morning once he was cleaned up and joined the others for breakfast. "Shit, I miss Aurum already..."

[Zulera301]

Normally Miriam might have started talking to Valour about what it meant to be a mentor, but at the same time, it was not really something that District 1, a career district, really needed. Sure the pre-games training was technically illegal, but Districts 1 and 2 were so well-liked and loyal to the Capitol that they would let it slide. It was probably one time the totalitarian regime would let one of its rules be broken, but at the same time, it was not that bad given that it was feeding into the notion of how "necessary" these games were. The unnecessary waste of life was something Districts 8 and 11 realized so well, and that was why they were so against them.

Waste of life or not, no one, not even Alice DeSiete, could deny that the Capitol treated their victors well. It was surely done by the Capitol to spite those who did not "play", and perhaps was another of a few ways they used to perpetrate the notion of the Hunger Games. After all, no one in their right mind would want to willingly risk their life without the promise of reward or the threat of misery from refusing.
"hear hear!" Miriam drank to Valour's words, "May the odds be ever in our favor!" the odds had definitely been with Valour. He was still in fairly good condition, and had not really even needed too many large operations, let alone any amputation. Miriam had come close, having had to be hauled around in a wheelchair for her victory tour even, but her legs were both still real. That was quite the story, actually. She'd have to tell it one of these days.

Miriam of course, was drunker than the rest of the team put together, and so a slightly exasperated Price and Rumano teamed up to drag the unconscious woman back to her quarters, hoping she would not vomit all over the place. Thankfully, she did not do such thing, and was instead allowed to rest peacefully. There was of course, a bottle of a hangover-curing drug on her nightstand, because she was practically addicted to that stuff too. Sure the girl might have been shortening her life a bit by doing these things, but she lived fast and would probably die hard.

The next morning, after taking a few of those pills, Miriam began her day with... a drink. Surprise surprise.
Belching loudly, she made her entrance and sat down for breakfast. However, Valour's words did get the woman's attention.
"She was a nice young lady... cute and sweet... I really liked her. You both were a much nicer departure from the tributes we've had in some of the recent years..." she complimented. This was also true. Marcel and Gemma were a bit too ditzy, Flint, Blaze, and Victoria were a bit too ruthless and sadistic, and Krystal was too somber. Aurum and Valour, by contrast, had been cheerful, playfully arrogant, and had made a cute little couple. Miriam missed that golden-blonde too.
"but hey... at least she got to go out the way she hoped, right?" she wasn't going to push the subject too much further, not wanting to prod on what was surely a sensitive subject. As a victor herself, Miriam knew that a victor's emotions should be handled with care and respect.

[Nachthexe]

Miriam's praises of Aurum had potential to be triggering for Valour, but fortunately the mentor woman quickly dropped the subject. She at least had a point though. Certainly Valour hadn't known them well, but even District 1 have had their share of crazy tributes in the past. Flint and Blaze had been outright sadistic, even by District 1 standards. Krystal? She had gone against her very own upbringing, only to sacrifice herself for District 11, of all places. Hardly an admirable figure among the more adamant citizens of District 1. Marcel and Gemma? Both had died unremarkably and early on. That left Valour and his partner as recent tributes who seemed to fit the model career tribute mold well. The Capitol seemed to feel the same way, receiving Valour warmly in the same way as his predecessors.

"Aurum is gone so the most we can do is just remember." Valour assured Miriam, hoping the woman would realize that despite the dark final moments of the games he had joyful memories with his fallen partner too. The nights spent on the balcony were certainly a thing of legend and not something the boy would forget quickly. Despite Aurum having not been his first intimate partner, she was among the most memorable. That was a fact that the boy knew would potentially make dating in the future difficult, even if he was desirable as a victor. Only time would tell though so it wasn't something he found himself dwelling on for long, instead filling up his breakfast plate with food. It was truly refreshing to be able to eat full meals again. Malnourishment in the arena was all too common, even if few tributes seemed to die from it these days.

"I suppose this is it? Time to go home? I bet District 1 is just dying to see me." Valour blurted out once he finished up his breakfast. After all the festivities the night before he was admittedly looking forward to seeing his home again despite the fact it would potentially trigger more images of Aurum.

"Yep. We can leave any time. The Capitol is accommodating to their victors, thus allows them to sleep in." Price responded, chuckling. "It's natural for any victor to sleep in upon their return. They need to make up for that lack of sleep, y' know? You seem to be fine now though." He smiled.

"I suppose this is it then. It's time to say goodbye for six months. Poor Eirene and Othello. They won't have their muse around." The stylist pair chuckled at Valour's words as he glanced at them and nodded as if to thank them for all the beautiful outfits they had provided. It wasn't just him sucking up either as he had genuinely enjoyed them. The fact that nearly all its citizens were into fashion was perhaps just one more reason the Capitol favoured District 1. Naturally, luxury products did include luxury fashion, after all, that wasn't otherwise mass produced in District 8. "And you too, Rumano. I'm sure you're going to miss having my gorgeous face around." Valour continued, shifting his attention to the mentor man who gleefully giggled at his victor's comments.

After Valour finished up his goodbyes the room went silence for several minutes before he finally rose up from the table and proceeded to his room. He had little belongings here in the Capitol, but atop the room's dresser was the single necklace Aurum had worn into the arena. Valour simply picked it up, examined it, and put it around his own neck. It was quite feminine for his taste, but it served as a reminder nonetheless of what he had lost. After this brief moment in reflection he finally rejoined the others and made his announcement that he was ready to leave. It was time to return to his old life, or at least what was left of it.

[Zulera301]

Miriam nodded respectfully at Valour's words. Sure she had liked that beautiful young lady and certainly wouldn't have minded if she had won, but it wasn't like she had wished Aurum had won instead of Valour. She had liked them both, and so the fact that one of them was still here with them today was a good enough sign in her books. "Aurum's pretty hard to forget once you see her," she chuckled, "she was a character." She spoke fondly though, definitely not just buttering Valour up about it. Miriam had liked Aurum too, after all, and it was certainly quieter without her lively voice and giggles around. She had also been aware of Aurum and Valour's balcony moments--but it wasn't her business, so she knew far better than to interrupt.

Miriam was not sure if Valour meant for the pun about District 1, but she also did not say anything about that except for a belch. "aye... homeward bound, 6 months of drinking and partying, and then more partying as we parade across Panem and show you off as we rub your victory in their faces." she was not normally that arrogant herself, but she did have a sense of humor that was worth considering.
"y'know, Price... I'm still also a victor, and I have to concur with you on that one. I *still* don't get enough beauty sleep..."

Eirene and Othello did nod and chuckle in agreement with Valour, although they also thought of the bubbly Aurum and her fondness for getting dressed up, even if she was so scantily-clad half the time. Well, and girls usually had more options with getting dressed up, since there was also a various amount of skin that could be shown even with the interview outfit. But, they genuinely enjoyed dressing up Valour too and were excited to see him in 6 months when the time came for his victory tour. Rumano was equally excited.

The easiest way to tell the necklace belonged to Aurum was that five of the golden beads had the letters A-U-R-U-M spelled out on it, but obviously the girl was not there to say much else about it. Whatever the case, Miriam simply complimented it before they all boarded the train, saying goodbye to the Capitol for another 6 months. This was not the tour, so Rumano, Othello, and Eriene did all stay behind. They'd all be coming to District 1 soon enough though.
Once inside the train, Miriam sat down at one of the tables with food, and relaxed, crossing her legs. She was wearing a snug, wine-colored long-sleeved shirt, down to little black slippers on her feet, and a dark miniskirt that showed off her legs. Despite being in a wheelchair for her tour, Miriam's legs did seem to be perfectly okay now (and fairly nice to look at).
"welp..." she quipped, "so we're heading home now... how do ya feel?" she asked the newest victor, mostly just wanting to talk and hear what he thought of all of this now that it was over...

[Nachthexe]

It was evident that the prep team also had fond memories of Aurum, and that made Valour happy. He wanted the girl to be remembered for the joy she had managed to bring to people's lives rather than for the way she had died. In life she had definitely been a cheery and also incredibly beautiful individual, and this seemed to only had dissipated in the girl's final moments. Unlike some of the previous tributes in their dying moments, Aurum had not been happy to stare death in the face. The look of despair Valour had noticed in her eyes during her final moments indicated as such. That was for sure something that was going to stay with him, despite all the happier memories.

Once all the goodbyes were completed Valour finally found himself and the others heading to the train that would escort them back to District 1. They were certainly fortunate too in that it would only be a short trip, being so near to the Capitol. He did feel he would miss the place, but at least he knew he would be back again in six months. That time there would also a guarantee he would make it home alive, which provided an extra source of comfort and anticipation. For now though he would just enjoy his six months out of the spotlight before being forced into it once again for the tour. Not that he didn't mind hugely, actually enjoying the attention, but even the most outgoing of people needed a break occasionally. "Yep. Home at last. I had no doubts I would see that place again." He responded to Miriam, glancing out the window as the train finally left the Capitol platform. He was now on his way back to the remnants of his old life.

"I like to think I will be going back to everything I knew before the games, but obviously that won't be the case. I can't say I'm dreading it though. Fame and glory? I've earned it." Valour confessed several minutes later as he finally took a seat across from Miriam. He certainly had a strange stream of emotions flowing through his head. On one hand he was proud of his new status, but on the other hand he was also filled with regrets. Regrets that he couldn't have met Alana and Nolan in any other way, and regrets that he hadn't interacted with Aurum more before the Reaping. Some wounds were definitely deeply embedded in victors and Valour was no exception.

[Zulera301]

Despite the miserable way that Aurum had died, including the despair that took over her personality and being, she would definitely be remembered for her cheerful spirit and her pretty face and body. Even Miriam had something to say about this.
"It's like that kid from '11 once said..." she indicated, "The important thing is not how long you live. It is what you accomplish with your life. I felt like Aurum has saved herself a spot among the Great Ones just as you have... and I'm normally not one to agree with Sagittaria Svenja on things..." her statement might have done more harm than good, but Miriam's era of quick thinking and cunning decisions ended once she had escaped the Hunger Games.

As the train sped out of the station, Miriam turned to Valour and nodded in agreement. "It's definitely much nicer to ride a train knowing that you have a 100% chance of not dying." she quipped, "and that's also what makes the victory tour fun... well, and sometimes catching up with old friends from other districts. A lot of the victors like each other, y'know." Not all of them did, and Miriam was certainly not insinuating someone like Alice or Sagittaria. However, victors like Leto, Zerviah, or even Fletch Crossley from District 5. Miriam was not exactly unpopular or anything. Valour would soon get to know at least some of them next year.

She nodded in agreement at Valour's remarks. "you're one of 47 people in all of Panem who can say they've done what you did and lived," she reminded him, "a lot changes in those couple of short weeks, and they are probably the most life-changing weeks of your entire life. But, sometimes old growth has to be destroyed for new growth to appear..." she sighed a bit, taking a shot. "though someone like you? Pfft... I'm sure that the Capitol's so in love with you that they'll practically like the ground you tread. They probably built a statue of you in the back gardens of Snow's mansion. And of course, you know that there are statues of the victors back home, yeah?"
District 1 was in fact known for building statues of their heroic victors, something that District 2 might have also caught onto, but maybe not. "I dunno how soon they'll start with yours, but I'm sure that it'll be there waiting for you long before you hit up the tour..." she chuckled. Her statue looked pretty cool if she said so herself...

they only had a few hours of train-riding though, before it would slow down as it pulled into the District 1 station. They still had a little bit of time before that stop however.

[Nachthexe]

Valour nodded. As much as Sagittaria Svenja was a controversial figure within District 1 she did manage to produce words of wisdom. In fact, it was her humour and wit that managed to make her so beloved in the Capitol in the first place. Each tribute seemed to have something and for Valour it was his looks, loyalty, and love of being in the spotlight. Sagittaria's story, of course, managed to be much more tragic in that she had unmistakeably been in love with her district partner. Valour knew his feelings towards Aurum had been mostly lust driven, but he now knew there was at least one other victor in Panem who had shared a similar experience to his.

"Well not 100%. For all we know the train could crash or something, taking us all in a fiery inferno." Valour joked. As indicated by the way Price suddenly glared at him he suspected that his humour was rather inappropriate, but he chuckled anyway. Fortunately for him the topic was quickly dropped, thus disallowing for any more attempts at crude humour. It did get him thinking about the other victors though and which ones he was likely to bond with. District 2 seemed like the obvious choice while the others were probably a mixed bag. Except for District 8. He already had a pretty good idea as to how their latest victor, Alice DeSiete, felt about him due to their encounter during the last Victory Tour. That was something Valour was now even looking forward to rubbing in the kid's face: "Told you I'm the best archer in Panem." The very thought certainly brought a smile to his face as just one more thing to look forward to on the tour. The boy had doubted his skills, but now would have no reason to.

Valour's eyes lit up upon Miriam's mention of statues. It was well-known that District 1's large pool of victors all had a statue dedicated to them, but it had been something he had forgotten about until just now. "I admittedly forgot about that, but I can't wait. Somebody as handsome as me deserves to be gazed at, even in statue form." He admitted, flicking his hair once again before winking. He did certainly become curious as to what it would look like, but he trusted it would be a spectacular and fitting tribute to one of District 1's newest heroes. He did know that many of the past victors were depicted with their weapons of choice in the games so Valour could only wish for the same. He was fairly convinced he must have looked like a majestic hunter in the arena with his bow, after all. Unless it was just his ego speaking up again.

"So I suggest we just relax and make the most of the rest of the journey." Valour remarked after several minutes of silence. Either the mentor pair was tired from all that had occurred or were engaging in reflections of their own. Either way, Valour found himself leaning back in his chair dozing off, only finally being stirred awake by Price.

"District 1! We're home." Price announced as he continued to shake Valour awake. This startled the boy, but very quickly he was up and alert, ready to face the crowds who were probably ecstatic about seeing their latest victor for the first time. This was quickly confirmed by the thunderous applause and cheering that flooded Valour's ears as soon as the train doors were open. Among the crowds, however, stood too very familiar faces. His parents. Both appeared to be cheering arguably louder than the rest, truly proud of their son for having brought honour to their district. This was something he acknowledged by waving as soon as he stepped out. They, along with many others began waving back and Valour knew he was going to enjoy his new status.

[Zulera301]

If there was a reputation to give to Sagittaria Svenja, it was the reputation of having numerous stories at her fingertips, some of which were actually real instead of the usual bullshit she was notorious for producing. Despite her blatant and compulsive lying, however, she so adeptly told these tales that there was no real way to tell what was true and what wasn't unless one knew the story beforehand.
Whatever the case, the now 20-year-old Sagittaria Svenja was already back in District 11 at this time, surely telling stories of Valour--whether he liked it or not.

Despite Price's disapproval of Valour's joke, Miriam actually laughed. Of course, the younger mentor did seem like she was already drunk again, which was probably likely. She approved of the joke, and was sure that Leto, Lyme, and Zerviah would all approve of it as well. Heck, even Sagittaria might get a kick out of it. Alice DeSiete might have approved of it, but he was not fond of Valour and that was no mystery at the point--well, it wouldn't be the moment their eyes met. Not that the boy would be seething anger or hatred for the newest victor, but if there was a meeting it was surely going to be very tense.

Miriam did chuckle as Valour remembered the statues. "we do have a lot of those here in the district, don't we?" she cooed, "some victors build monuments to their friends or families outside of their mansions. the District 1 victor village is pretty hopping given the size of our victor pool." this was further caressing of both of their egos, for Miriam didn't mind a little bit of ego-fondling as well. Miriam's statue stood tall and proud, no longer the newest one once Valour's statue was erected. Hers depicted her with a two-handed sword, which she wielded with one hand. Miriam might have been pretty, but she was also fairly ripped. She just usually wore long sleeves that covered her arms.

By the time they arrived in District 1, Miriam was snoring away loudly, but was otherwise fairly cool with how things went. Price didn't bother waking her up the way he did with Valour, and instead grabbed a glass of water and threw it on her, causing her to howl as she sprung to her feet.
"I'm up! I'm up!" she shook her head, before they disembarked from the train and met the cheering crowds.
Some of the only ones not cheering were a pair of golden-blonde individuals with green eyes. Put them both together, and it was clear who they were--these were Aurum's parents. She had definitely resembled them. They did obviously seem a bit upset, but were not glaring daggers at Valour or anything. He had brought honor to their district, and even they understood that Aurum's death had not been personal--in fact, it touched them to know that while he tried to hide it, that he had given off subtle signs of missing Aurum. That was how it should be.
The woman (Aurum's mother) in particular, did seem fixated on Valour's neck though--that was where Aurum's necklace tribute token rested.

[Nachthexe]

A part of Valour did admittedly become curious if District 2 also had a similar tradition of building statues for their victors, although he didn't ask. Besides, it was possible Miriam didn't know much more on it than he did. Being the district of masonry, however, it almost made sense they would. It was also a minor issue he didn't dwell on for too long, knowing it wouldn't be too long before arrival back in District 1. That left the boy with some time to relax, knowing it was possible he would have to face the parents of his district partner he had killed by his own hand.

Sure enough, upon arrival Valour managed to spot an older couple that greatly resembled Aurum. Their reception was much different than that of his own parents, but at least they didn't appear to hold any kind of particular grudge against their district's latest victor. It was well accepted in District 1 that any killing that occurred during the games was simply business. It had only ever been in the case of tributes such as Flint and Blaze that it managed to be anything beyond that. Still, once the crowds began to die down Valour felt himself obligated to approach them. "I miss her as much as anybody, but you know why I had to do it. Do know that she was an honourable young woman who served her district well." Valour announced, knowing the couple would know immediately who he was referring to. They also seemed to take notice of the necklace and even seemed intrigued by it. "Want it back? I suppose it's something to remind you of your daughter." He asked, removing it from his neck.

Several moments later Valour's own parents joined the small group that seemed to be forming. They were clearly excited to see their own son and even wanted to question him about things. This was something he also felt obliged to do, leaving behind Aurum's parents and the mentors. "If you need anything I'm in your debt." He informed them as he then followed his own parents. Initially he suspected they would have dragged him home, but on this day they took a different route. Towards the Victor's Village. Theoretically they were not supposed to enter without the consent of a living victor, but they couldn't think of any logical reason why their own son would refuse them.

"Home, sweet home. You did it." Valour's mother was the first to speak smiling at her son as they finally approached the gates of the Victor Village. "Do you mind?" She continued, nodding her head.

"Not at all. This is ours. Well until you get sick of me." Valour chuckled, smirking as he led his parents to what was to be his new home. Unlike some of the other districts, District 1's Victor's Village was much more packed so he knew he would have plenty of company when his parents proved too much.

"We were right. Right from the Reaping we knew you would come out of this alive. You are strong and have proven it. You do us proud, son." Valour's father confessed as he took a seat in the rather luxurious living room of the Victor's Mansion. Valour glanced up at him and momentarily noticed a small stream of tears flowing down his face. That caused the boy to blush slightly, prompting him to momentarily step out of the room. He knew he had plenty of his things to move anyway, although much to his surprise it appeared much of them were already present. Victors were definitely spoiled and it showed in more ways than one. It also brought a smile to Valour's face. It was a life he was definitely going to enjoy.

[Zulera301]

Miriam was pretty sure that there were statues of tributes and/or victors in District 2, and from a logical standpoint it simply made sense, given that they dealt with stone and masonry on a regular basis (even if District 1 was one of the few non-Capitol areas of Panem that also knew that they specialized in weaponry as well).
On the other hand, Miriam did not have anything to say to or about the Zianjas, and so she left Valour up for that one. Thankfully it did not seem to be all that bad of a meeting, and so Miriam did not need to intervene. It was never that bad in District 1, and Peacekeepers here had the easiest jobs in Panem except perhaps District 2.

the blond couple nodded understandingly, although they were still holding back tears. Their reaction towards Valour was ironically, very similar to the reaction the Groves had had to Sagittaria when she had come back to District 11 after killing Rye. It had not been something she had wanted to do, but something she had been forced to do. While Valour might have had other opinions, Sagittaria still considered that action the worst thing she had ever done.
"I do suppose there is little other use for it given how personal it is..." Aurum's mother noted, since the little golden beads on the necklace spelled out Aurum's name, so unless Valour had a girl and named her Aurum, it was basically a sentimental gift.

"Thank you." her mother whispered softly. "Thank you for not prolonging her misery... and for bringing home a victor for our fine District..." the Capitol mentality was still in them just as well--they had been some of the many children in the district who had not managed to volunteer for the games, and so of course they were excited when their daughter had managed to succeed, and naturally a bit distressed after her death. But, they kept themselves composed until they were home, where they let out their grief and sorrow in the various ways they did.

----

6 months usually seemed like a long time, especially when the two weeks of living in a death arena seemed like half of an eternity. But perhaps for a victor, who was now loving the good life, it seemed like just a few weeks or a couple minutes. Maybe not that quickly, but what ever the case, summer had gone and winter had come, marking the half-year anniversary of the 47th Annual Hunger Games--the midway point between it and the upcoming 48th Annual Hunger Games. Of course, more than that, the significance of this date was that this was the day of the commencement of the 47th Victory Tour, where Valour and his mentor (most likely Miriam, since Price was ready to retire now), as well as their escort and stylists, would tour all of Panem.

Sure enough, Miriam knocked on the door, and was let in by Valour's parents, who had marked the day on their calendar as well. She reassured them playfully that their son would be returning alive and well of course. The worst story (at least in recent years) of an injury had actually been during Miriam's own games, where she had fallen out of ehr wheelchair when she was getting off the train in District 4. It was painful and humiliating at the time, but nowadays, the drunken mentor just thought it was hilarious because she did things like that on a regular basis now anyways. She was not very good on her feet anymore, it seemed.

Whatever the case, she was clad in a casual dress, this one going to her ankles over a pair of boots, since it was a little chillier outside. District 1 was in the mountains that had some cold winters, but the mountainous landscape explained where their luxurious gems and riches might have come from.
She had a charcoal-grey shrug over the black garment, and so looked fairly cleaned up. Of course, while she was heading upstairs to Valour's room to bang on the door (a bottle of booze in her other hand), the stylists and Rumano were downstairs preparing one of the large washrooms to serve as the changing studio to kick off Valour's tour.
"Hey kid!" she banged on the door in the sort of obnoxious way that a good friend might, "you awake yet? You know what today is, right?" In his defense, it was much earlier than when most victors would usually wake up--they started early just to make sure things ran smoothy and on time. This year was no exception.

[Nachthexe]

The next six months managed to pass rather smoothly for Valour. Certainly he still had dreams about Aurum and even occasionally awoke during the night, longing to have her by his side, but overall he was stable. It was definitely more than what could be said for some victors. The agoraphobic hermit man of District 11 immediately came to mind; the poor guy had clearly been so traumatized by his own games he couldn't leave his mansion. At least it was what rumours stated, but nonetheless it made him feel better about his own condition, even if he did find himself crying at night. It was arguably even a soft emotional side he hadn't possessed before the games. not that anybody else had to know about his private life though so it was really going to be a non-issue for the upcoming tour.

The tour. Valour knew the day had finally dawned on him when he finally heard Miriam knocking on his door. He had been in a deep sleep, but knew he couldn't prolong getting up. The prep team was no doubt going to make an appearance soon as all victors were expected to look their best for the journey across Panem's 12 districts, plus an extra stop in the Capitol. "Who the hell let you in here? My parents? Just wait until I get my hands on them..." He uttered as he struggled to awake. Since becoming victor he had been sleeping in, but was able to excuse it by the fact that during so many nights he lost sleep over Aurum. Alcohol, both from Miriam and his own stashes, fortunately seemed to be just one remedy during these sleepless and agonizing nights. He did certainly hope it was an issue that wouldn't creep up during the tour though.

"Don't bother getting dressed for Eirene and Othello are waiting downstairs!" Rumano interjected as he barged into the room. Naturally, the man was as flamboyant as ever and definitely excited to see his victor. This had Valour simply smiling as he proceeded to follow him down the stairs, despite being in nothing but his underclothes. It wasn't like he was being parade around nude. At least not yet. There were even rumours of such things having happened in tribute parades, but even if he would had suffered that fate he would have not minded much. If anything, it would have been a compliment signifying that perhaps his figure was desirable to others.

"Oh, I can't wait. You know I always want to look my best." Valour responded, winking at the escort man as they made their way into the washroom that had been converted into a makeshift studio. Leaving one's own district was arugably the least important part of the tour, but looking good was still always important as the opening of the tour was meant to leave a memorable first impression.

"Well I suppose this is it. Time to play dress-up. You two are the experts there." Valour finally announced once he arrived in the washroom and began stripping down to the nude. It was a routine he was all too familiar with now, and wasn't at all shy about so he simply awaited the pair to once again work their magic just as they had back in the Capitol.

[Zulera301]

Miriam laughed. "Technically, if you didn't let me in I could sic the Capitol on you. As much as they love their victors, they're not about to let you get away with skipping your victory tour, bucko." she popped the cork of her drink, not caring where it landed, and guzzled a good amount of the contents before "otherwise whatcha gonna do? yank my dress off?" She did pas a flirty wink his way. Their age difference was not very large, after all, although that didn't necessarily mean that Miriam was looking for a relationship. It probably just meant she was being an ass, as usual.

Despite her playful, crazy, (and somewhat flirty) attitude, Miriam did still have the occasional nightmare of her own, and so during the tour, if Valour ever had moments like that, she could be there to help him vent or to relate. She knew he had them after all, even if he did not speak too openly of them (in his defense, almost no victors ever did). Heck, Miriam had a few stories of her tour on the train, which had been made worse by the fact that she had been in a wheelchair. one time she had freaked out, and tried to scramble to her feet only to fall into a helpless heap on the floor, moaning in pain for several hours until Price had discovered her and helped haul her back to her bed.

Otherwise, Miriam followed silently as Rumano escorted Valour down to where Eirene and Othello were waiting.
"Of course, you might know this already, but your "pre-district" outfit is much simpler than the ones that you will wear throughout the tour... but rest assured we are certain you will still like it." they had not let him (or Aurum) down at all during the games, and were not about to let him down during the tour either. Despite working for different districts, the stylists from most districts did get along and exchange ideas and concepts now and again, since they were all from the Capitol one way or another.

After a quick bath (mostly for effect, and to make him smell fabulous), the stylists got to woek dressing Valour up for the beginning of the tour. the stop in District 2, which would be first on their list, wouldn't be till tomorrow, so they'd have a day on the train to do whatever they would.
He was clad in greys and blacks similar to Miriam, although his also had dashes of red and silver in them. It was nothing too fancy, but the outfit was nice and very practical for the colder District 1 weather. Besides... District 2, while farther south, was still up in mountains and such (given the nature of masonry), and so it was not exactly warm sunshiny days either like it might be in the likes of '4, '5, or '11.

"Well?" the stylists beamed once he was dressed, "what do you think?"
After his response, he'd be escorted back out, where Miriam and Rumano would be waiting. Surely the former of these two would also have a witty remark at the tip of her tongue.

[Nachthexe]

Admittedly Valour was flattered by Miriam's flirtatious attitude, although he also didn't think much of it as she seemed like the type who probably did it to a lot of people. Besides, the mentor woman appeared to have more interest in Price who was only a few years her senior just as Valour was only a few years her junior. Districts 1 and 2 definitely did produce enough victors that age gaps were never massive between them, thus possibly even creating closer relationships; one could usually relate more to those their own age and certainly Hunger Games victors were no exception in that regard. "You know I would." Valour retorted, winking. There was of course one person's clothing he truly wanted to rip off, one person he would never see again: Aurum Zianja.

Valour thought he was going to break down again upon thoughts of Aurum, but fortunately preparing for the tour served as a distraction. "Yes. Save the fun for tomorrow. I'm sure all of District 2 will be waiting to see my fabulous face." Valour responded to the stylist pair, nodding upon mention of the escort outfit being much simpler. He admittedly didn't mind as the real excitement was only bound to start once arriving in District 2. Aside from his own, it was his favourite district and the one he could relate to the most. Besides, it had been the home of Nolan and Alana, both people he could confidently declare had been friends.

THe bath this time around took a much shorter amount of time and seemed to mostly be for Valour's own sake than anybody else's. When it came to personal hygiene victors, regardless of district, did seem to have an advantage. This stood especially true in poorer districts where there was less access to modern amenities. Valour was definitely no exception either as Eirene proceeded to point out as she began dressing him. It was clear that the outfit was much simpler than ones worn in other parts of the Victory Tour, but it was comfortable. This became evident as Valour began stretching his arms, getting a feel for the fabric. "It's simple, but it works for its intended purpose." He complimented it as soon as the stylists asked. It was even something he would consider wearing between districts during his downtime on the train.

The train. It was where Valour knew he was headed next. This was quickly indicated as Rumano nodded his head. Valour acknowledged this, dashing over to his parents to say his goodbyes. It was only brief as he knew this time he would be returning, but he at least wanted them to know that despite his status he still cared for them. Once ready, he was then escorted out the door by Rumano. Very soon both, Valour in particular, found themselves engulfed in cheering and applause from the proud citizens of District 1. They definitely did like their victors and Valour was no exception, something the boy played right into by waving and flicking his hair at them. That managed to get him at least a few wolf whistles from the crowds, something he definitely wasn't about to complain about. He definitely enjoyed the attention and it consistently lasted until finally he was aboard the train, about to begin on his way to District 2.

"Now we have an entire day. Might as well enjoy it." Valour commented once the train was finally off and he was firmly stretched out in one of the train's couches. However, he soon found himself growing more and more curious about Miriam's tour as his own grew closer. What exactly had happened during hers? Most of all though, what had happened during her own games? It was one that for some reason he couldn't really recall much about except for the fact that Miriam had emerged from the arena with badly damaged legs. That for sure was bound to be storytelling material for the journey. "So I've been dying to know for months. What happened exactly during your games and tour? I can't really recall much of it since being in my own games."

[Zulera301]

Incidentally, if Miriam had to choose between Price or Valour, she'd probably go with Valour, since he seemed to have a slightly crazier side that she liked. Not that Price was boring... he was just more mature, and didn't drink as much. Miriam actually respected the older man for that. He had not fallen for alcoholism the way Miriam had. Ironically, the spirit in her hands was actually labelled "Victor's Vice", which, as one might expect, was a victor's vice (and a popular brand of booze). At his remark, Miriam wiggled her hips in a way very much like Aurum. Rumor has it they taught the girls a few secrets like that in the academies. After all, Capitol appeal, sexual or otherwise, as usually an important part of the games.

Thankfully, the cleaning and styling was able to take Valour's mind off of Aurum, since neither stylist mentioned her other than once in passing when they complimented how well she and Valour had worked together during the chariot parades and such. They (un?)fortunately said that they wouldn't be able to dress him in anything that revealing, but also reminded him that it *was* winter, after all. Besides, it wasn't like they were going to dress him in poofy layers or what have you--they'd make sure Panem got to see Valour's attractive figure as much as reasonably possible without dressing him crassly.

Soon enough, they were on the train though, meandering towards District 2. It was basically protocol to wait another day before reaching the first District (usually District 1, with a District 1 victor being the only obvious exception), so that victors from the outlying districts didn't have to fly across Panem in couple of hours to make the mid-afternoon victory speeches. Thus, Miriam and Valour and the rest of the crew had plenty of time to chit-chat it up in whatever ways they saw fit.

Speaking of enjoying things... Miriam lifted her boot-clad feet onto one of the empty tables, stretching. "I concur with y'there, friend." she chuckled, taking a drink of (believe it or not) water for once. Luckily, her boots (and dress) seemed brand-new and probably were, so it wasn't like anyone seeing the soles of her her feet would be repulsed by some gross crud on them or what have you. However, they soon slid off the table as Valour asked a question.
"Well... other than that my stylists had to help my pull my panties on..." she quipped, referring to how she had essentially had to have help getting dressed due to her nonfunctional legs, "I basically had an interesting triwst of events happen in just about every district. It was pretty radical actually. Pick a number, 1 through 12... Even my homecoming wasn't entirely generic..."
"It was kind of embarrassing at first, really..." she chuckled, "but the advantage was, was that I got stone-drunk on the train on the way to District 2 that I just passed out on the floor under one of the tables and nearly gave my escort a heart attack, since she couldn't find me until about half an hour before we were to arrive. See... that's the plus side of being in a wheelchair... you're not about to randomly walk like an idiot or fall down..." she laughed.
"but yeah... a number... 1 through 12, or the Capitol. I've got a story for each district..." her victory tour seemed to be particularly memorable for the woman herself, even if the rest of Panem, did not remember it as such.

[Nachthexe]

An entire day of relaxation was definitely an idea Valour was fond of and Miriam only seemed to agree. At least the way she rested her feet indicated as much. However, the tour was bound to be exhausting and he could only assume the same stood true for Miriam who had been wheelchair bound during hers. That had been several years ago now though so perhaps there were even parts the woman didn't remember vividly, although Valour's curiosity was still sparked. He wanted to get an idea of what to expect on his own so willingly accepted Miriam's offer to tell bits of her own story. "Well in that case, I choose District 2. It's where we're headed anyway."

District 2 was bound to be full of many interesting experiences for Valour and he knew it. It had been the home of just two of his friends during the games so he intended to give them nice eulogies as well. Alana had deserved her place as one of Panem's Peacekeepers, yet it had been cut short by the games. He didn't even pretend to understand why she had volunteered rather than work as a Peacekeeper, but he knew she could have had potential to be one of Panem's finest. The way she had peacefully taken out little Lynx definitely seemed to indicate as such. Nolan, on the other hand, had simply wanted to perfect the art of masonry just as his father had and now Valour regretted not having inquired more about it before he had been forced to kill the boy. There were definitely at least a few regrets he was carrying from the 47th games, but perhaps it was just another of the victors' scars that never truly went away.

"It may not seem as obvious, but I do miss Nolan and Alana nearly as much as I miss Aurum. Under any other circumstances we could have been good friends." Valour confessed, realizing that Miriam likely had very similar experiences. Districts 1 and 2 were almost always very tight-knit during the games, after all. There were rare exceptions, but Valour definitely felt fortunate it hadn't been the case during his own games. There did definitely seem to be a trend of career tributes dying if they're split up early on. That was no doubt advice Valour knew his first set of tributes would greatly benefit from. They needed to befriend District 2 and work together to propel far; it was the most sure way to secure a career victory. Valour didn't even care much if it was District 1 or 2, although he had a slight preference towards District 1 for obvious reasons.

[Zulera301]

Miriam paused for a moment as if deep in thought, but then her face slowly morphed into a rather excited-looking grin. "District 2, as many people know, parties hard. There really ain't no party like a District 2 party, except maybe the Capitol. Honestly... I'm looking forward to this one probably the most. Well, this one, the Capitol, and '6... but I digress. Hey... Nolan and Alana were good kids. I liked 'em too. Same with Aurum, of course. I suppose that's just the name of the Hunger Games, really. When Brenton killed my partner and he and I squared off, it wasn't anything personal--we just did what we had to do, and I ended up winning, though he did nearly destroy my legs in the process..." she rubbed her knees through her dress, remembering the incident.

"Hammers hurt," she nodded, telling a bit of this story in case Valour had forgotten, "especially when one comes in direct contact with your kneecap." That had been the story. Brenton had managed to kneecap Miriam, causing her to put her weight onto one leg, which he managed to strike a few moments later in the knee as well. Miriam played a vicious defensive, which her long weapon enabled. Her arms had not been struck, after all.
"They tell you that throwing your sword never works," she quipped, "and Brenton tried to take advantage of that, putting distance between himself and I after he had disabled me. Well anyways, I was having none of it... so I lobbed my sword at him and miraculously, it did him in. I crawled over, and finished him off." As much as that might have sounded like something out of Sagittaria's book, this story was 100% true. "And when you've got a pair of shattered kneecaps... yeah. even Capitol magic can't fix that right away..."

It was all in the past now though, so it wasn't terribly traumatizing to Miriam anymore. However, while a wound would stop hurting after a while, it would still leave a scar. "I originally drank to alleviate the pain, but then kind of decided that the stuff was pretty good, and here I am today." she chuckled, taking another drink, "you're definitely right about us careers though. Most of us get along pretty well at least till the end when we're forced to kill each other. Some wounds don't heal too well..." Sher gave him an understanding nod to show that she was in fact understanding his troubles, having had similar ones herself, even if her good friend had been killed by Brenton, the District 2 boy.

"But I digress again," she smirked. "My stop in District 2 was absolutely amazing. Somehow I managed to convince them to take me outside halfway through the feast, and I had a race with one of the locals. While in a wheelchair. And drunk. Well... these guns didn't just materialize out of thin air..." Miriam pulled up her sleeve, revealing rather toned arms that made sense given her broad shoulders, before pulling it back down again, "well, I did manage to win the race before the Peacekeepers found me. We laughed it off and they hauled my crippled ass back inside, and called it a day." The peacekeepers were in fact more lenient in Districts 1 and 2 due to the general cooperation the citizens gave on a regular basis, and so a little bit of mischief here and there was tolerated. It was certainly not like Miriam's wheelchair race was sparking rebellion.
"Well anyways... the last thing I remember that night was challenging two victors--Lyme Golding and Leto Irizari--to a drinking game. Don't let Leto's size fool you. She's a cold, heartless war machine. Lyme was the last one to drop, I think... and eh, you'll see why. Long story short...I think you'll get along in District 2 juuuuust fine." She'd let him react to everything she just said, and would be happy to go into further detail as well. Wheelchair or not, Miriam had gone and made sure that her victory tour was memorable and legendary--which it was.

[Nachthexe]

Valour listened intently as Miriam began accounting incidents of her own games. It did slowly all come back to him, remembering the fact he had watched clips of it back in the training academy. The instructors knew all too well that seeing past tributes in action often made a difference in deciding strategy, thus it was used. Valour could even in part attribute the flunk of last year's career pack to his own decision to stay with the others until the end. Sure enough, it had ended up working too, with only the District 4 pair falling after finally deciding to split off. Valour certainly couldn't complain though since it was just two less opponents to face later on.

"You saw what happened between Aurum and I. She was trying to close the distance between us and if she would have succeeded there's a good chance she would have been here today instead of me. You, like anybody else, know I'm essentially powerless at melee range. Every tribute has their weakness and she was trying to take advantage of mine." Valour remarked as Miriam finished up her account of her own game's final showdown. She had been pretty beat up herself, yet somehow managed to triumph. It was perhaps just one more example of luck being a major factor in victory. Crazy Lyndis was definitely onto something. "Nolan too. It took an entire brawl and finally the death of his own partner for me to get the upper hand. Those few seconds when he was distracted allowed me to load up my bow and shoot him dead. One should never forget when facing their opponents that every second is crucial." Valour continued, realizing that both Nolan and Aurum had attempted very similar strategies against him.

Despite the talk of the game's final showdown, the discussion quickly took a much more light-hearted turn as Miriam continued her own story. Unsurprisingly, she had engaged in some heavy alcohol use in District 2. This hardly surprised Valour as he was well-aware of the rumours. Perhaps it compensated for their otherwise stiff and disciplined upbringing. It was theory that made the most sense to Valour, considering District 2 was so well-known for its militarism. It even seemed to show in the games as well with the strong tributes they almost always produced. Nolan and Alana had been just two examples and Valour was admittedly surprised they had only managed to score 11's. "I guess they need some way to unwind." He commented, chuckling as Miriam finished up her story.

Valour's eyes lit up upon Miriam's mention of Leto Irizari. She was perhaps just one example to never underestimate a tribute's size. Despite being less than five feet tall she had definitely managed to eliminate all competition, thus elevating herself as Victor of the 35th games. Valour didn't remember much of it, however, having been so young himself. Still, it gave him hope that well-trained tributes, regardless of size, could come out victorious. He did also admittedly look forward to meeting the woman, realizing she would tower over him despite their large age difference. But of course potential future tributes would also be receptive of his presence so he somehow already suspected he was going to greatly enjoy himself in District 2.

[Zulera301]

Miriam nodded understandingly at Valour's comments. She wouldn't have minded if it was Aurum here instead of him today, but she honestly had no preference, having been satisfied with a District 1 victory. Actually, she wished both of them could have returned home, but such was not to be the case this time.
"Well, such is the result of dealing with trained boys and girls who have as much experience as you do, more or less," she nodded in agreement, "I'm sure that if one of them had won instead of you, they'd probably have given you the same respect." At least, that was the impression she had gotten from Aurum, Nolan, and Alana throughout the games. the Capitol did like to focus on their unity and other positive aspects of the games, such as when Lynx once did a silly little dance to get her older allies to crack a chuckle. "It's just the name of the game..."

Miriam nodded at Valour's comment regarding District 2. "Without a shadow of a doubt... Word from Leto has it that Sagittaria admittedly liked her stop in District 2... and word from her through Leto also indicated that Alice from last year had liked that stop. I don't think anyone can complain too hard when you put enough drinks on a table and then party the night away." she laughed. She might have been biased in this assumption given her own addiction to alcohol, but if Sagittaria and Alice from two rebellious districts could enjoy the militantly loyal District 2, then surely someone who had been on very good terms with the tributes that year, could too.
"I'm sure they won't think too foully of the whole thing," Miriam reassured him, "it's just business between '1 and '2 anyways, at least if my experiences are anything to go by..."

But whatever the case, time continued to fly, and before they knew it, night had fallen and they retired to their rooms with the hot anticipation of an exciting day in District 2 the next morning. Naturally, this began with Rumano practically breaking the door of Valour's room down, excitedly bellowing how he needed to get up.
"Today we stop in District 2!" he repeated the obvious, "I'm sure the fellow career district will still smile upon Panem's latest victor!" Maybe the man was just being overly enthusiastic, but at the same time, it was a nice reassurance to have, personally. Maybe he was just mentally preparing himself to drag a stone-drunk Miriam out of bed and practically dress her himself. Who knows?

[Nachthexe]

"It's like that girl Lyndis said last year. Sometimes it takes luck to win the games. Me? I'd say both luck and skill got me to where I am today." Valour confessed, realizing that he and Aurum had indeed been very evenly matched in skill level. He was fairly convinced that if they had both been melee fighters that the final showdown would have dragged on a lot longer. Instead he had simply used Aurum's distraction and the distance between them as an advantage. In the Hunger Games nearly anything was permitted and it was usually the tributes who used that to their advantage who won. Alice DeSiete was arguably one of the most prominent examples.

Alana and Nolan's deaths and eulogy aside, Valour found himself growing more and more fond of the idea of spending time in District 2. It was practically District 1's sister district, after all. Of course there were distinct differences such as District 2 being much greyer, but when it came to the games such differences didn't seem to matter. Both were out for fame and glory, albeit for slightly different reasons. "If anything, they will be glad Alana and Nolan went the way they did and not how our district's tributes did last year..." Valour remarked, noting that his reception wasn't about to be negative. He had a point too. Gemma and Marcel were pretty much doomed to be remembered in District 1 for their embarrassing early end. For that alone Valour felt plenty of contempt towards Keshet, but she was also dead so it was a non-issue at this point.

The rest of the evening passed quite quickly as Valour and Miriam continued interacting. Certainly at this point she was more a companion than a mentor, but that was something pretty much in the job description in both District 1 and 2. Pretty much everything they needed to learn about the games they learned in their academies and much of it seemed to apply to the Victory Tour as well. For Valour it was easy anyway though regardless, naturally being outgoing. Knowing that, he knew he would have little problem delivering each district speech. District 5 was bound to be a slight problem, but only because he had killed both their tributes. That was something he would address once the time came, however, as night quickly approached, prompting Valour to go to bed. He certainly had a long day ahead of him.

"I'm up, Rumano. You know I'm looking forward to this. It's District 2, come on." Valour chuckled as he sat up on his bed. Rumano displayed bursts of excitement as always, but Valour naturally didn't mind. "I suppose this means it's dress-up time too." He continued, exiting the room and running straight into the stylist pair. They had likely already been on their way, but they simply smiled as they directed Valour towards the studio where he would once again be made presentable to all of Panem.

[Zulera301]

Miriam laughed. "oh shit, THAT girl? nothing against Gemma and Marcel, but I kind of had some money on that kid. She was crazy and hilarious. So that was bitch from '8... Paige, I think it was? But I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't have stood a chance..." She was vaguely aware that her odds had been abysmally low, although wasn't entirely sure if that had been the Capitol; purposely targetting her, or if her kills had been lucky. Either way, she had liked the mouthy bitch, if nothing else, for the comic relief she ironically provided.

Her partner was an interesting lad as well, and Miriam thought it was funny how Valour had essentially used the same sucker-shot tactics against Nolan and Aurum that he had, but there were no real rules in the Hunger Games, since there was not really any way to rig the odds once in the arena. There were plenty of ways to outsmart and cheap-shot enemy tributes, but such methods didn't count as cheating. Valour had won fair and square, even if he had gotten a cheap shot or two in on the others (it was still a cleaner death than Alana). It wasn't like he was an inferior victor in the Capitol's eyes or anything. For how uneventful the majority of the 47th Hunger Games had been, Panem was lauding the career pack this year for their efforts in trying to weed out the others, and then of course for their final fights, managing to outlive everyone else. It did not happen as often as people thought.

Rumano grinned at Valour's enthusiasm. "District 2 it is indeed! Eirene and Othello are waiting, and are probably as excited as you are! up! up! up!" It was definitely in the job description of an escort to eb giddy and bubbly, but in the loyal and enthusiastic districts, it was probably less of an act and much more genuine since the tributes from here were usually very easy to work with. The only time in recent history when one wasn't was Krystal Saffron 3 years earlier.

Sure enough, the stylist pair was waiting with excited grins on their faces. They didn't even need to tell Valour what to do, quite certain he knew the strip-down-and-get-clean ritual quite well by now. Once that was all out of the way, he was outfitted in something sharp but fairly simple. The suit in question was a dark reddish-brown color almost like the southwestern stone that was found in the District 2 (and District 5) areas. It was a fairly sharp outfit, and even the Capitol's makeup was minimal. Valour's hair was styled into an almost uniform straightness, since they didn't seem to want to give him a feminine hairstyling. At one point Eirene did playfully comment how it was unusual to work with such long hair on a boy, but it turned into a compliment in the end, since she did like his hair.
Naturally, once this was all done and over, they showed him to the mirror, asking for his thoughts and feedback on the red-brown suit and style. It was simple but classy, and had a very "District 2" feel to it, the color reflecting a prettier shade of stone to represent the industry in question.
Similarly, the train around them was beginning to slow down, and Miriam was awake (and in a blue-grey dress), starting her morning off with a straight shot of booze.

[Nachthexe]

In Valour's eyes Paige's legacy was an interesting one. Certainly like everybody else within the districts he hadn't been aware of her true nature, thanks to censorship, but he did see somebody who had been passionate and a vicious fighter. Her unremarkable score of 5 in training had definitely managed to surprise him once he actually saw the girl in action. That left many questions in his head, but ones he would probably never get answers to. However, to this day he was firmly convinced that if it hadn't been for her that Alice would have died in the very early stages of the games. He, of course, believed there had been much more skill involved in his own victory and even the attempts to weed out the other tributes in order to face them seemed to demonstrate that.

The stop in District 2 was definitely something Valour was passionate about. He knew he would be received positively, even if Nolan had died by his own hand. Kills of careers by careers was simply business, after all. Nearly everybody in Districts 1 and 2 recognized that and it allowed the two districts to retain excellent relations. Footage of past games always showed an enthusiastic District 2 when a District 1 victor was produced(and vice versa for a District 2 victor). In that regard Valour knew he was going to be no exception so that made Rumano's enthusiasm seem all the more authentic.

Almost as soon as he was up, Valour found himself escorted into the studio. Knowing the routine so well now he simply began stripping down to the nude before finally beginning the clean-up routine. Just as before, it managed to be quite brief, quickly prompting the stylist pair to begin dressing him. He found himself in a reddish-brown suit and it seemed to match the atmosphere of District 2 well due to its sharpness. Even his hair being straightened added to this, putting a smirk on the boy's face. He was going to fit in well, despite the fact so few boys had hair as long as his. "It's fitting. Thank you." He remarked once the stylists were complete. This then prompted him to dash towards the train's windows, realizing they were very quickly slowing down. That meant one thing: they were arriving in District 2.

"I've got this." Valour bragged once the train finally came to a halt in the District 2 station, cuing the opening of the doors. Almost immediately Valour found himself greeted by thunderous applause and frantic cheering. There was no mistaking that Districts 1 and 2 truly did admire each other. This brought a smile to Valour's face as he finally exited the train and began waving at the crowds. Some of the younger citizens around his own age and younger even tried reaching out to grab him. This was something Valour was flattered by and responded to by simply winking at each of them. Still more interesting yet was how a small dark-haired boy seemed to stare at him with aspiration. He looked to be no older than 14 or 15 so to Valour he almost seemed like a future tribute in the making. He liked this so smiled at the boy before uttering a few words. "Some day this could be you."

Despite all his fascination with the crowds, Valour soon found himself atop the stage situated in front of the District 2 Justice Building. It reminded him of the set up for the Reaping in each district, but this was something much different so he just glanced forward before proceeding to speak. The families of both the fallen tributes were very clearly present in front of holographic projections, but surprisingly they hardly seemed distressed as they simply retained stoic stances. Valour knew they were anticipating a memorable eulogy from him, one he was very willing to provide. "Occasionally tributes will emerge that rise above the rest. This could be said to be true of both Nolan Solaria and Alana Drogo. Both possessed the ideal traits of any career tribute: loyalty, strength, dedication, and most of all, determination. One cannot come into these games believing themselves to be doomed from the start. No, they must believe there is something greater to come out of it and those two believed exactly that. That, along with their other notable traits, helped to propel them far." He began, noting he had very quickly captured the attention of the fallen tributes' families. He even noticed small streams of tears forming down their faces and he knew it would only become much more prominent as he continued.

Valour paused for several seconds before finally continuing his speech. It was one he was determined to pour his heart and soul into, suddenly realizing himself just how much he missed the pair of District 2 tributes. "Aside from being the ideal career model, there was more to both Nolan and Alana. Nolan? His kindness was probably as big as his muscles. He was somebody I could truly call a friend. Alana? Don't let her size fool you. She was just one big massive teddy bear. She always believed in giving one the most humane end as possible. Had she survived to carry out her dream of serving Panem she would have been one of our finest." Valour quickly realized he too had tears flowing down his face, although he began making all effort to hide it. "Those two are the sort of people, that instead of their loss being dwelled on, should be remembered and honoured for all they had achieved in life." He finished up, suddenly finding himself engulfed in frantic applause. Even the teary-eyed families of the fallen tributes found themselves joining in before he finally found himself escorted inside the Justice Building where his prep team waited.

"You were excellent out there!" Rumano complimented Valour, wrapping his arms around him as a few tears flowed down his cheeks as well. He smiled before hugging the escort man back. Perhaps the man knew that career tributes were often taught oratory skills back in the academies, but if not Valour was simply going to allow the man to believe he was a natural at public speaking. The difference in skill between careers and regular tributes did show though, with Sagittaria Svenja of the 44th games perhaps being one rare exception; she was one tribute who truly could be called a natural when it came to speaking. Valour didn't spend much time thinking about it though and simply anticipated the beginning of the feast that was bound to be beginning momentarily as soon as District 2's mayor finished up a speech of his own.

[Zulera301]

The mystery of Paige Alwin had all but gone with the girl to her grave. There were a total of four people in Panem that could have honestly said they knew the girl and most of her deepest secrets. The first two were obviously her late parents, but Snow and the Capitol had taken them out long ago. The third of these was her lover Hanna, who was now an Avox, and so even if she wanted to speak, she couldn't. Such was a terrible fate worse than death, in most peoples' eyes. The fourth and final person that would know anything about the Mysteries of Paige Alwin, was District 8 victor Alice DeSiete, who, behind the scenes was formulating nothing short of a full-on revolution.

Miriam smirked, noticing the boy's excitement once he was dressed. "grab some food while you can," she chuckled, "District 2's just around the corner. you look nice." it was a face-value compliment, although one thing that was definitely shared between these two was that they were both excited for District 2. The closest other "district pair" was District 11 and District 12, and there was usually enmity between them and '1 and '2 for similar reasons. District 1 and District 2 were proud and loyal to the Capitol, enjoying the benefits that such an amiable relationship provided. By contrast, Districts 11 and 12 were too proud to submit, which gave Peacekeepers trouble, and similarly, made the districts poor and miserable.

The drunken woman smirked at Valour's confidence. "I'm sure they'll like you," she smirked, "you know as well as I do how well Districts 1 and 2 get along..." And sure enough, the crowds were cheering. District 2 was a passionate and devoted group, and they knew that Valour had respectful words to say about both of their tributes for sure. Also among the crowds was a pair of sisters that resembled a couple of the past tributes from the 45th and 46th Hunger Games. the older one, a girl named Ikiza, waved at Valour and gave him a salute. It was definitely an Aranai girl. The younger girl did not say a thing, but did clap and cheer, even if it was fairly stoic. She was not angry at him--simply at the circumstances from the two years prior.

Miriam was quiet but smirking all through Valour's speech. Many in the audience, as well as Nolan and Alana's families on the stages across from Valour, were listening attentively, some of which had watery eyes. the ones in the crowds were probably other friends of the two fallen tributes, who had clearly been fairly popular. With personalities like those, it was clear why. Nolan was a kindhearted young man, and Alana was a civil and humane young lady whose amiability was about as apparent as her colorful curls.

Tipsy as she might have been, Miriam could tell the slight slip-ups that were Valour's emotions. She of course, would understand it well, as a fellow victor, but it certainly wasn't like she was about to judge him or mock him for it. However. tears or not, after his speech concluded, the crowds erupted in thunderous applause, cheering and celebrating their new victor, who had given well-deserved eulogies to a pair of fine tributes that had been loyal allies and friends for the entirety of the games until the necessary time came to split up and turn on each other. That was just the name of the game.

After Rumano's hug, Miriam gave the younger victor a more affectionate (and comforting hug). "Hey..." she uttered in a lower tone, "that was a great speech. They were good people, as you surely know... I'm not about to give you a speech of my own or anything... just as long as you know that expressing feelings on your tour, for better or for worse, aren't inherently bad at all, since I don't exactly think you'll start choking up and bawling anytime soon." she cracked a weak chuckle, though her eyes were watery a bit, being reminded of her old friends that had turned on her at the end of her games as well.
"in other news... as soon as he finishes up," she thumbed towards the mayor, "prepare yourself for the party of a lifetime."

[Nachthexe]

The prep team hadn't been the only ones to notice the two easily recognizable Aranai siblings. Once the older of the two waved Valour immediately smiled before waving back. In reality there had been four of them, but it was well-known how at least two had already fallen to the games. Valour was admittedly curious if there would be a third, although he somehow saw it as unlikely that any more of them would volunteer. There seemed to be a point where even District 1 and 2 families stopped trying for the games and surely losing two of their four children was enough for the Aranai family.

The crowds had definitely been just as moved by Valour's words as he had been by both Alana and Nolan in life. Both were simply two young people who now lingered in his memory, never to be forgotten for the impact they have had on both him and Aurum. Certainly most memories from the games were perceived as negative, but Valour realized there could easily be positive ones too. He certainly wasn't about to forget all the intimacy with Aurum or the evenings spend under the stars just socializing with the District 2 pair. Even the District 4 pair could be vaguely remembered in that regard, even if he had never been as close to them. It was certainly something he would point out anyway as soon as he reached District 4.

"Panem needs more young people like them, tributes or not. I hear the youth in the other districts can be quite the troublemakers. It certainly explains why the Peacekeepers are having to be so strict with them." Valour confessed as Miriam also proceeded to hug him. It was oddly comforting, but perhaps because the woman was one of 46 other people who could relate to all his struggles. He even considered himself one of the lucky ones too, usually not having much more than nightmares. Occasionally the sight of beautiful women would bring back haunting images of Aurum, but it seemed relatively minor to ailments of other victors. The rumoured hermit man of District 11 and Kiva Rivnay's rumoured Pyrophobia immediately came to mind. Fortunately though, all these thoughts quickly subsided as the District 2 mayor finished up, signalling the beginning of what was bound to be a fantastic feast.

Just moments later the mayor returned and cued for Valour and his prep team to follow him. It was mistakable they were now on their way to the first feast of many along the way. This was only further confirmed by the fact Valour found himself escorted into a large banquet hall filled with rows upon rows of food. It all seemed to be Panem's finest, perhaps even rivaling the Capitol itself, but then he realized it really all comes from the same source anyway. "We might as well waste no time. I'm starved." he announced as he began filling up a plate. Naturally, he also went for the various beers, wines, and cocktails that accompanied the food dishes. They certainly seemed different from those normally produced in District 2, but he was feeling curious so served himself some. He knew Miriam wasn't about to hesitate either so he started a toast, hoping she would join in. "To District 1! To Alana and Nolan, two of Panem's finest!"

"They were great, but can I be better?" Soon Valour found himself interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. Turning and glancing behind him he found that it belonged to the small dark-haired boy he had encountered earlier who had seemed to be passionate about the games. "Soon I will volunteer. And win. Just as my father had." He continued, realizing he had captured Valour's attention.

"Your father?" Valour asked the smaller boy, puzzled. He found himself trying to recall recent District 2 victors and none seemed to add up. That was when the boy simply let out a sigh before proceeding to speak once again.

"Silly man, I mean Luca Szasz, victor of the 22nd Annual Hunger Games. He has told me all about it. Victors are considered heroes in Panem, y'know." The boy continued, informing the puzzled Valour. "You probably don't remember since it's before our time."

"No, can't say I do, but good luck, kid. The games are certainly much more taxing than they look. Want a word of advice? If you can avoid it, don't grow too attached to your allies." Valour advised the boy, initially attempting to shoo him away. Initially he had thought him a fraud, but upon closer glance he noticed the boy was dressed fancier than many of the others present, perhaps as an indication of some sort of wealth. Of course that sort of wealth could only exist if one was a victor--or related to a victor. Damn, I think this kid really is going to volunteer... Valour thought as he continued eying the boy, hoping he would get the message to go away.

"I have it all figured out, just you wait." The boy responded, shrugging off Valour's requests to be left alone. "I, like everybody else here, admires you and am proud of you for what you have overcome." He added, figuring that stroking Valour's ego would somehow do the trick. Sure enough, it did. The older District 1 boy nodded before winking.

"You obviously seemed intrigued by me. Have a seat and prepare for the wild ride that is the Hunger Games." Valour hesitantly invited the boy over, deciding it would likely do little harm to share tips with him if he was indeed serious about volunteering in an upcoming games. It was bound to never hurt to have another career victor, after all, regardless of which district.

[Zulera301]

The older of the Aranai siblings was now 19, which in turn meant she was no longer eligible for the Hunger Games. Last year she had been beaten out by Alana, and the two years before that where she had tried, she had been beaten by her younger sister Zakura, and her older sister Roxanne. if the Aranais were ever going to regain their honor, it would have to be on the back of the youngest girl Layla, who had 4 chances to try and volunteer if she attempted it each time till she turned 18. Time would tell on that front though.

Miriam nodded at Valour's theory. She had in fact, seen a taste of the other ten districts (outside of '1 and now '2, which was the current length of Valour's tour stops), and knew that some, such as 3, 8, and 11, were particularly troublesome sometimes. Luckily they had yet to riot during a victory tour or anything like that. "Shit's a bit crazier in some of the other districts," she nodded, "this one is definitely easy street--the calm before the storm, you could say. Not that I imagine you'll be worried or anything." she stroked Valour's ego, knowing that unlike some victors, there were probably not any districts that the boy was afraid of going to. At worst, there was District 5, but Miriam just imagined that one to be awkward. But, he was right insomuch that oratory skills were also taught in the academies, both to appeal to the Capitol during interviews, and also for the tributes that went on to become victors. These training centers were very sophisticated, especially with the kind of wealth that District 1 possessed and produced.

Naturally, Miriam hardly needed an excuse to drink, but she cheerfully toasted to Nolan and Alana as Valour raised his glass, and similarly unsurprisingly, she drained it with the full-on leaned-back head and everything. Even if she had never really met them in person, the footage Miriam saw of Nolan and Alana in the games was definitely the type of person that she would respect. Alcoholic and drunk as she might have been, let it not be said that Miriam Luxio was still not a very intelligent woman. She knew an honorable tribute when she saw one.

When they were joined by the dark-haired boy that Valour had apparently spoken to earlier, Miriam actually raised an eyebrow. That name did ring a bell with her--at least a little. "I've heard of him, just barely. He was just before my time, after all." she nodded. In truth, she had heard about him from Lynn Dragmire of District 12, during a conversation about boys from District 2 (particularly Brenton). Oddly enough, many people knew Lynn, and her strangely mellow attitude about everything made her easy to get along with.

At first Miriam let Valour handle himself, for he was doing so rather well, although the more this conversation went on, the more it seemed to get deeper. This kid very well might be next year's tribute from District 2 if he could beat out the others. Speaking of which... Miriam recognized the black-haired girl that had seated herself next to Ryker.
"You're an Aranai, aren't you?" the drunk woman raised an eyebrow.
"Go ahead, laugh all you want," she grimaced, "I'll win it next year... just watch."
Realizing that this was essentially what the boy was telling Valour, Miriam leaned over towards him. "'tween you and me..." she whispered, "I'm starting to think we're the normal ones here..."

[Nachthexe]

Valour was definitely well aware that once out of District 2 the Victory Tour was only going to grow complicated. The other districts were less loyal, thus would not be nearly as receptive of a loyal career victor. Surprisingly, the boy was not worried though. He knew he could speak to crowds and it was perhaps just one trait that made him loveable to the Capitol in particular. They were easy though, even if the districts were not. As long as the most important source, President Snow himself, approved then he knew he would be safe from anything they could pull on him.

Naturally, Miriam had returned Valour's toast although there was little time for reflection as soon as the District 2 boy had joined them. His determination was strong and he was undoubtably the son of the victor of the 22nd games. That intrigued Valour and once the boy managed to stroke his ego he had no choice but to allow him his company. "So you never did tell me your name, boy." He remarked as he finished up discussing and giving tips to the boy from his own games. Of course every year's games was different so there was no guarantee any would even prove valuable to the boy, but he hated the thought of witnessing him being slaughtered early on.

"Ryker. You already know the rest." The boy responded, smirking at the fact Valour now knew who his father was. It was a fact the boy was proud of, and perhaps just one motivation that was driving him to eventually volunteer for the games. Only upon returning to the training academy would he be able to truly prove if he was ready.

"So Ryker Szasz, if you're anything like Nolan or Alana you could propel far. Hell, or even your father. Clearly he was great to have won the games." Valour complimented the boy in which he just replied with a nod. "But don't be quick to forget that once you walk up onto that stage there's no turning back. Volunteering is literally a final decision; you either come crashing down or you emerge a greater person." Valour finally advised the boy in which he simply nodded a second time. He really was determined, but at least Valour felt he was giving him things to think about. In his case there seemed to be especially high stakes too in that he would become legendary all across Panem for being the first child of a victor to emerge victorious.

As if one determined child wasn't enough soon Valour found himself approached by another: one of the Aranai siblings. The younger of the remaining two, in fact. "I'm not sure how much you heard of our conversation, but same advice I gave him." Valour remarked, glaring at the girl as he pointed towards Ryker who was now enjoying a pastry of some sort. Of course he couldn't say much more as he soon found himself chuckling at Miriam's remarks. The only normal ones? It seemed likely at his particular table, even if most of Panem's oddballs seemed to come out of the drug-addled District 6. It was supposedly a colourful place filled with colourful personalities, which made Valour all the more eager to visit it in a few day's time. In the meantime though he simply focused his attention on District 2 and the two teenagers who now sat near him, eager to build their own place in Panem's history.

[Zulera301]

It was certainly not to say that Miriam didn't care for Valour at all--quite the opposite in fact. She was good friends with the young man now, having had 6 months of bonding time with him, since new victors tended to befriend their mentors first and foremost. What it was then, was simply that Miriam had full confidence in Valour's charismatic abilities to still be able to give a rousing speech. Some districts might force their applause, but what truly mattered was the Capitol's approval. They could manipulate Valour's life. The districts, including District 1--could not. On the other hand, it wasn't like he really had any enemies in District 1 anyways, and Coriolanus Snow was not the type of person to pretend he liked someone he actually did not like. His approving words of Valour Drazen had been sincere.

Miriam chuckled at how Valour had become the center of these two younger children's attention. "one district in and you've already got idolizers..." she quipped, "at this rate you'll be president of Panem in a fortnight." This was totally just a joke and definitely not a plot to overthrow the regime. It was one of those things that was okay because of who had said it. Thus, not even a Peacekeeper batted an eye. The Aranai girl, who introduced herself as Layla, did get a chuckle out of it, watching the drunk woman for a bit with curious interest. This was a victor... this could be her if she won the games--the silliness, the glory and fame... the respect. The respect her district and her family deserved after multiple failures. Now with Ikiza unable to volunteer, it fell onto Layla's shoulders, and unlike them, she refused to give up.

Layla did give her name to Valour and otherwise listened attentively to everything he said, clinging to his every word and calculating in her head where her sisters might have gone wrong. If she failed... well, then Ikiza was going to be living the life of shame with her parents. The Aranais would be a laughingstock and she'd be remembered as a failure. She could not be having any of that even if she was overthinking it a bit. The Hunger Games were serious business to Layla Aranai at this point.

"I'll do it," she told him, not trying to condescend or anything. "I'll win it--for honor, for glory, for Panem... for my family. Someone needs to make up for their failures..." she did groan a bit at the reminder, and her fists clenched. She was not mad at anyone here--it had been that Glimmer girl from District 5 who had ripped her eldest sister's throat out with her arrow, and caused her to die swimming in her own blood, and that Paige bitch from District 8 that had turned her other sister into a human torch. Thankfully she had died instantly rather than slowly and painfully like Blaze DiFronzo did.
In the meantime though, the party continued, and sure enough, Miriam was right--District 2 knew how to party and they partied hard.

[Nachthexe]

"Me president of Panem? I'd have the entire nation on their knees at how fabulous I am." Valour retorted, chuckling. Of course he soon found himself imaging how his Panem would be a very different place. Not to demean Snow, but he did believe that somehow he could even get the other districts to cooperate, even if just through his good looks. Or perhaps it was simply just his ego speaking again. A boy could definitely dream though, and suddenly the thought of President Valour Drazen was an amusing one. Or perhaps even that was simply the alcohol beginning to take effect. There was really little way of knowing at this point when Miriam was arguably becoming more intoxicated than he was.

Soon enough, Valour found himself growing equally intrigued by the Aranai girl who had introduced herself as Layla. Just as he had suspected she was angry and arguably rightfully so. Two of her three siblings had already been slaughtered in the games all in attempts to bring their district honour and glory. "If it's any consolation your sister would have not been able to touch Glimmer, not when she was under watch of Valendria. At least that is what I get from the girl's performance in the arena." He confessed. It wasn't any attempt to demean Layla or her sister, but it was truly naive to admit that Valendria hadn't been the the most powerful tribute of the 45th games. Certainly the rumours regarding the girl's training score indicated as such. A 14? Not even the Capitol had been willing to break their own game to allow that. At least not if the rumours actually stood true.

"As for Paige? She was a fierce thing, even willing to sacrifice herself in order to take down anybody who stood in her or her partner's way. That was a sort of passion that not even your sister seemed to have. You on the other hand? You could be it. You could be the Aranai who finally succeeds. I suppose only time will tell since you look to be still be eligible for a few more years." Valour continued after several seconds lost in thought. For the second time he hadn't been intending to demean the girl or her siblings, but there were certainly truths to their downfalls that Valour seemed to notice closely now, having personally experienced the games. Ensuring Layla knew this, he simply smiled at her before shifting his attention back to Ryker who seemed to still be listening in. "Same applies to you. Make your father and most importantly, your district, proud." That seemed to finally be the boy's cue to leave, allowing Valour to enjoy the rest of the evening. At least once Layla left as well. He had genuinely wanted to help the kids, but there was only so much he could do for them in a single evening.

Sure enough, Valour and Miriam did find themselves enjoying the rest of the evening. There was no exaggeration. District 2 definitely did know how to party and it was really beginning to show as citizens in the district got more and more intoxicated. They seemed oddly resilient to it as well and it was only once the evening's end approached that signs of sickness and/or fatigue began to rear their ugly heads. This was something a drunken Valour didn't hesitate to point out once he saw a middle aged man vomiting onto the floor. "We should get going. I would hate to end up like that guy."

"Excellent timing actually since we need rest for the next stop in District 3!" Rumano, who was also rather intoxicated, interjected. Valour wasn't sure how he felt about District 3. On one hand he was slightly fascinated by them due to their industry, but on the other hand he and his partner had personally confronted and killed their male tribute. Certainly it had just been business, but in the more rebellious mindset of District 3 that excuse was not going to fly. It was a pressing issue he would have to sleep on, realizing he was too intoxicated to think deeply about it now. Sleep was definitely something that came to the boy surprisingly quickly too once he was back aboard the train. Soon he would be on his way to the second stop of Panem's annual Victory Tour.