"Ouch!" I yelp as crimson blood springs out from my wrist. I drop the throwing knife, hearing it clatter on the floor.

"There are bandaids in the medical center," the instructor points to a bright yellow room, where another tribute is already waiting. "Go get a small one."

I walk about fifteen meters to the place, then look around for a bandaids cabinet.

"What are you doing?" the woman, a lady in a blinding white jacket, asked.

"... looking for a bandaid?"

"Oh." She pressed a black screen to the right of a hospital bed, and it lit up immediately with four colors on it. The lady tapped the purple button, and a bandaid slid out of a dispenser below the screen, handing it to me.

"Thanks." I grab the bandaid and head out to do survival. I've had enough of weapon training today, though the knives were the only weapons I did.

Getting up today was hard enough. Katniss called us up at Six AM sharp, and only waited ten minutes for us to eat breakfast. She then gave a lecture so short that we spent the rest of the time sitting on the living room couches and twiddling our thumbs, thinking about the ways we could win the Games, if they weren't impossible enough.

I am way better at survival than weapons, if I'm good at all, especially with things like plant identification and-ooh-camouflage! 

Camouflage is so fun, even if I have to do it for my life; I grab some brown paint, smearing it on my left arm and starting to work on the details. By the end, I manage to blend my arm with a nearby tree.

Doing fires isn't that easy, though. I rub a stick with another as hard as I can, trying to summon more heat. Doesn't work. I scrub harder and harder, until I find myself panting from exhaustion and shaking my arms out.

"Try using smaller sticks," a voice says above me.

I look up and realize it's Scarlett Coin. She smirks and waves at me, kneeling down as well. "Transfer all your energy into your upper arm instead of your forearm. That way, you can both have more strength and it's quicker. Like this." Scarlet began rubbing two small branches together, and soon smoke comes out, which is when she stops.

"Thanks." I also grab two sticks, using her method, but I don't see a wisp of heat after even ten minutes.

"It takes some time." Scarlet shrugs. "Try it again. I'll be at the throwing stars." Right as she turned to leave, her head whipped back again. "Bye the way, I'm Scarlett Coin."

"Celestia Snow." I automatically pull out my hand to shake hers, then realize that I'm not learning manners in school. "Uh, sorry."

"... it's fine."

I turn back to the sticks, and after four tries, a fire lights up! "YES!" I whisper shout, pumping my fist in the air.

Now, Scarlett is over at the swords station. She's doing pretty okay, way better than me. As she stops to catch her breath, I run over. "It worked!"

"Told ya so." She grins.

The next day, Scarlett shows me how to use a slingshot. It's not actually that hard; most of the power comes from your arm position. But despite my efforts, I don't even get one single bullseye.

Then, there's swords. "Put more weight on your left leg!" Scarlett shouts at me. "That's it! Now raise that blade a BIT higher and strike! Aww, you missed it; let's do it again. So get into your ready position and swing your sword! Nope nope nope, wrong! Higher! Faster! That's it, you got it! Oh wait, one of your arms should be in front of your chest area to protect yourself."

"Break time." The sword falls onto the floor with a clank. "I'm too tired." I flop onto the floor as well, panting.

"Ugh, you're so dramatic."

"I've always been quite the actress."

We move on to the bow and arrow.

On the third and last day of training, Scarlett seems to be done tutoring me. "You'll do fine in the Games; don't worry." She reassured lazily.

"Wait." I say.

"What?"

"I wanna teach you something after all you done to me, that's all." I smile nervously.

"Yeah sure, thanks." Her smile disappears, however, when we reach the camouflage station. "Oh no, I can't."

"Oh yes, you can." 

"Okay, show me."

I do a demo, pressing my now green hand into the blades of artificial grass.

"Cool."

"Yeah. Let's do the tree first." I gently grab Scarlett's right arm. "Now, lift your brush over the palm of your hand. Gently push it on one specific area of your skin, maybe your wrist. That's it. Wait, that's way too long. Pull the brush back! Not that far! Keep going, you got it! Now move to another area wait don't lift the brush! Okay, NOW you can lift it ..."

"How long can you keep talking?" She groans.

"Oh, I can stop now." I smile sweetly. "It's just that I wanted to show you how it felt while I was sparring with that sword."

Scarlett face palms, but returns the smile. 

"Allies?" She asks.

I grin. "Allies."