"In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days. Particularly to what I'm about to say. First. No fighting with the other Tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. There are four compulsory exercises, the rest will be individual training. My advice is; Don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword but most of you will die from natural causes. 10% from infection. 20% from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." The trainer explained to all the tributes.
They all went over basic survival skills for pretty much half of the day. After that, They had free time where they could train with anything in the room.
Saylor walked over to the knife training section and picked up a few knives then walked over to the targets. Before she threw them she remembered what Finnick told her. "Don't show your full strength in the training rooms... you want to be strong, but not strong enough to be a threat." she throws her knives one at a time at the targets, purposely not hitting bull's-eye But still on the target.
She hears the careers laughing at her from a distance. One of them walks up to the training station and throws a few knives, all of them hitting bull's-eye. The career looks at her with a smirk then walks away.
She rolls her eyes and walks over to the rope section And starts tying different knots. While she is tying knots a boy who looks a lot younger than her walks up to her. "Can you teach me how to tie those knots?" she looks over to the boy and nods "Sure... do you know how to tie a figure eight knot?" the little boy shakes his head. "Ok well, I will teach you that then."
Saylor teaches the boy how to tie a few knots but she notices while she is teaching him a girl is staring at them. She is looking at the boy in a protective way. They must be from the same district, Saylor thinks. "See! You got it, you just need a little practice." she encourages him. "Thank you for teaching me... By the way, my name is Scout" Saylor gives him a small "Mines Saylor"
After teaching Scout how to tie knots Saylor walks over to the climbing station. She starts climbing but keeps falling. She's about to give up as she is just embarrassing herself but River walks over to her. "Use your legs more than your arms. Your arms get tired a lot quicker than your legs." he gives her the advice. She tries one more time and tries to use her legs more than her arms. She makes it a bit higher but her body is tired so she falls. "That was a lot better. You made it a little past halfway" he said as he helped her off the ground. She sits on the bench giving herself a brick. " well let's see you do it." she challenges River walks over to the wall and he quickly climbs up. Saylor scoffs in annoyance as he makes it look so easy. "Show off" the girl mumbled. But deep down she is starting to like, and trust River.
"Today They'll bring you in one by one. they'll evaluate you. This is important because high ratings will mean Sponsors. This is the time to show them everything. Make sure they remember you." It was the day of their evaluation so Finnick gives them last-minute advice before they head down to training.
"River Reeve, District 4" the voice traveled through the speaker. River stood up "Wish me luck," he said while heading out of the room.
"Saylor Odar, District 4" Saylor walks into the training center while River is walking out "Good luck," he says as she passes by. She walks to the middle of the room and sees the game makers in the booth above her. "You have ten minutes to show us your skills. You may begin. " the head game maker says. Saylor walks over to the knives and targets and throws a few knives. All hitting bull's-eye. She looks to the booth to see that none of them are paying attention. She rolls her eyes out of frustration. She thinks about how ridiculous the situation she is in is. They were supposed to give her a rating but didn't have the decency to watch her. She walks over to all the paints and grabs different browns, black, and bright red. She goes over to the targets and starts painting different faces on each one. Once she was done she grabbed the knives and threw them straight at the targets bull's-eyes. She looked back at the booth and all the men were looking at her shocked. "Thank you for your time," she says and then walks out. Leaving behind targets that had painted beards and hair on them looking very similar to the men instead of the booth.
"Are you out of your mind!!!" Cecilia says. "I am.... So proud of you," Finnick says after Saylor told them how her evaluation went. "What? It's not like I did throw the knives at them. Just their picture." She says nonchalantly. River tries to hold his laugh in but fails. Cecilia glares at him. "You realize that your actions reflect badly on all of us, not just you," Cecilia says very frustrated at the girl.
"They just want a good show, and Saylor sure did give it to them. I would have given anything to see it." Baylee says, amused with the situation. "I wish they recorded the evaluation," Finnick says agreeing with Baylee. " I-" Cecilia is interrupted by the TV playing loudly.
As you know the Tributes are rated on a scale of one to ten after three days of careful evaluation. The game makers would like to evaluate..,.. From District 1, Jupiter, a score of 9. Marc, score of 10. Julia, score of 10.
From District 4... River Reeves, a score of 7. "Nicely done." Finnick pats River on the back. "That's good, we can work with that," Cecilia says to the boy. Saylor Odair, with a score of 11. Gasps are heard around the room. Saylor is stunned. She was not expecting that. "Oh my... " Cecilia says very surprised by the score "Congratulations Saylor," River says then leaves the room. "You did it girly." Baylee gives her a quick hug. "I'm so proud of you Sayy" Finnick hugs Saylor after Baylee lets go. "To Saylor" Baylee raises her glass.
"Oh, Finnick. You should join us. We're having your favorite dish." Cecilia points to an empty chair for Finnick to sit. "Oh, lovely," he says while taking a seat. "Where's river?" Saylor asks "He's in his room. Now listen Tomorrow's the last day. And they let us work with our tributes right before the game so you and I will be going down at nine." Finnick tells his sister. " Well, what about River?" she asks "he says he wants to be trained on his own from now on," he explains. "What? Why?" Finnick sighs "Don't take it too personally Sayy. This thing happens when one tribute gets a better score than the other."
"Ladies and gentlemen. Your master of ceremonies..,.. Caesar Flickerman! Thank you! Welcome, welcome, To the 71th Annual Hunger Games. Now, we all have five minutes that they are all going to be out here. All of the Tributes that you heard about. Are you excited? Let me hear it!"
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(it's sea foam green With a mix of blue. You can imagine it like this or with a mermaid style bottom)
" you look stunning, absolutely beautiful," Baylee says as she takes a step back to look at Saylor. "It's the dress that's stunning," Saylor says. " We have been over this already Saylor. You are beautiful without the dress. The dress just adds to it. Now listen, go out there and own the stage... make them want to be you. Or make them want to be with you." Saylor becomes nervous. "I don't know how to do that. I'm sure they don't want to be a girl who's about to go into the arena of death." she lets out. Finnick walks over to his sister seeing her stress from a mile away. "Hey, you got this... I will be out there the whole time. just pretend you are joking around with me. " Saylor nods. trying to stay calm as it is about to be her turn. "Oh!! I almost forgot... " Baylee says as she hands her a little remote. "When the time is right hit the button and twirl." Saylor looks at the little remote and nods
"Let's have a warm round of applause for Jupiter. Jupiter, are you prepared?" Caesar Flickerman asks the District 1 girl. "Yes Caesar, I am very prepared," she replies "I like it, that's insurance, self-insurance. Big round of applause... Welcome, Marc!" "It's an honor to represent my district." "So you're a fighter?" Caesar asks "I'm prepared, vicious and I'm ready to go."
"From District 4..,.. You know her as the queen of the ocean! And the queen of our hearts." Caesar jokes. "Where we know her as the lovely Saylor Odair!!!"
