Chapter 84 - Silent Observers

When Kaiser saw that they had reached the ground floor he slowly let her down. Noticing his serious expression as well as the situation they were in she quickly composed herself as well, ruffling through her hair and straightening her shirt a bit as they went down further they turned to face the exit. Spotting a loose lint in her hair which after looking at it's color most probably came from the couch. Picking it out while smoothing her hair a bit more she turned towards him questioningly he raised the found lint in his defense. Smiling she turned back around to exit the elevator. Keeping up their facade as the mysterious and unapproachable ones from District 11 as they met up with the rest of the tributes after having the number of their District pinned on their back a woman mounted a small stage to begin a short speech. After greeting all present tributes she explained how their training would start. Experts in their respective disciplines would be ready at certain stations to train them. They could train whatever they wanted to do in the three days they had. Spars against other tributes were forbidden after a tribute had killed another one 'accidentally' during one so they had independent training partners if one wanted to fight against other people.

Besides that there were few rules. Soon after they were allowed to roam freely. After Aster and Kaiser debated for a while quietly they decided to go to the different stations together. As it was the first day Kaiser decided that he wanted to avoid almost all combat related stations besides those he had trained in rarely like maces or claw-like gauntlets as well as similar things that were rarely present inside the arena. Archery was also one of the disciplines he could improvement in.

In agreement with Aster they first went to a station that mainly focused on identifying edible plants. Looking at their options Kaiser saw few he didn't know and even then he had an inkling of what they might be since he had seen similar plants belonging to the same family. In a moment where no one could be listening in he asked for a list of all plants, edible, poisonous as well as what he considered to be neutral, plants that were not poisonous but also inedible. After about two and a half hours he had learned a few things about a few dozen additional plants, at least those that were of interest to him. Although most of the time he had just been scrolling through things he had already known in search of additional information. His practice had been interrupted by a quick lunch that had been held in the gymnasium with all the tributes in attendance where everyone served themselves from large pots filled with delicious food.

Both Aster and Kaiser had taken a table for themselves, far away from everyone else. From there they could observe the rest of the tributes without getting bothered. The tributes from the first few districts 'The career tributes' which were often the most powerful were the same this year. Brutally they pushed their way to the front to eat first. The weaker and often malnourished ones were the ones they came last. 8, 9, 10, 12 as well as a few others seemed to be especially weak. Despite that they reminded each other constantly that they could still be viable opponents. Surviving, biding their time, traps and using their brains to defeat an opponent. Everything could be possible. Unwilling to bother with the long line that was forming they decided to stay as they didn't want to waste time fighting for their place in a stupid line for food that was so abundant here. Instead they discussed their future plans for this evening as well as exchanging a bit about what they had learned.

Seeing how Aster was having a few troubles understanding and learning about a the edible plants he decided to spent a bit of his time on teaching her himself after they had finished eating. This want only helping her as teaching and explaining to her also refined and improved his connections to the subjects. Correlations and similarities were much clearer to him now than before. After about three additional hours later they switched to a station where trapping as well as tying knots could be practiced. Due to his experience with them and the amount of time he had invested in such skills it wasn't so much as learning anew as a welcome practice to calm his mind. Aster was also very good here which when he considered her hobbies that included sewing shouldn't surprise him a lot. After a while they moved to different stations. Practicing to start a fire, camouflage as well as a few other interesting and niche skills which would help them over all. It goes without saying that it aided Aster more when compared to Kaiser who already knew almost everything or had learned about alternative methods to gain the same result. Some time later Aster asked for a bit of weapon practice so they went to a few station that housed a large variety of weapons. While Aster chose to train with knifes as to per Kaiser's and her mentors recommendation Kaiser chose to use a few much more unusual weapons. After training with a hammer and a mace for a while he found a new toy which interested him. A whip. Ironic. Brought into the word through the power of a whip he now used it to hurt simulated opponents. After he had spend most of the afternoon practicing with it he switched to a scythe which was much more familiar to him. Having spent years using it it felt natural swinging it. Cutting the feet of his opponents with the usual sweeps before pushing others back with the pole before piercing the downed ones eyes by simply allowing gravity to do its thing.

When he finished and one more met up with Aster who had had enough for a day he noticed that a few of the career tributes were eyeing him with a bit of suspicion as well as a bit of respect. Not minding them he decided to focus on the large clock on the wall. Deciding to call it a day they went to the lift but not without saying goodbye to the the many Gamemakers that were still watching the training going on with half an eye while they were mostly focusing on the many delicacies that had been prepared for them as well which was just as important as the gossip they had been picking up. After a quick nod from one of them who had seen them after a few minutes of enjoying his bowl of candied almonds in peace they left to retire for the day.