After an hour spent relaxing as best as we could we were called down for the evaluations. We are put at the back of the line with all of the other tributes, waiting for our turn to show off our skills to the gamemakers.
I see Thresh and Rue in front of us, standing close together but not conversing or even looking at each other.
Besides the tributes from 1 and 2, no other district pairs look so close. Seems like the pair from 6 decided against teaming up.
It doesn't take long for them to call Glimmer up for her evaluation. The atmosphere in the hallway is a strange mix of nervousness and excitement. The excitement coming from the front of the line and the nerves from the rear.
Katniss is fiddling with her hands, playing with her draw fingers. I guess she's trying to loosen them up before her time to show off comes up. If her session goes the same as in canon she's got nothing to worry about. Me on the other hand, I have a plan, but it's kind of reliant on if the gamemakers are in a decent mood or not. Let's just hope they aren't cranky after Katniss.
As we wait, I can see Rue taking occasional glances back at us. When we catch each other's eye, I throw a calming smile and she gives a nervous one back. I can tell Katniss noticed as well because she seems to calm down a little bit.
After around 20 minutes, they call Rue back and it's just us and Thresh left. Thresh gives me a side-eye, not fully turning around but still turning some of his attention towards us.
"Why did you do that? After the parade?" He gruffs out.
I know he's talking about me humming the Mockingjay tune as we walked past them. I don't really know why I did it either. I liked both of them in the story, but this isn't a story anymore. I was already questioned by Katniss for it and I didn't have an explanation then. I have to say something before Rue is finished, I don't want it to look like I'm blowing him off.
"Solidarity." I say, leaving it at that.
He quirks his eyebrow and turns more towards me, looking like he doesn't believe me. He must not care too much because he turns back to face forwards, ignoring us once again until his name is also called.
Katniss shoots me a look that says 'Really bro?' I just shrug with my usual roguish grin and she gives a small eye roll of amusement.
After some more silence, they call Katniss' name. When they do, I can see all the tension that has been in her body ever since Prim's name was called flood back into her. I grip her shoulder and say "Shoot straight Kat."
She smiles and walks through the large metal doors.
I sit in awkward silence, reviewing my plan while I wait. It doesn't even take the 2 minutes allotted to us for my name to be called. I give a long exhale and stand up to head inside.
===
When I cross the threshold, I can see all the gamemakers chatting. Some look like they saw a ghost and some look like they've just seen the face of God. One of them is drenched head to toe in a red liquid. That must be Plutarch.
Some of them are still conversing as I walk up to the weapons stand, only a few are giving me their undivided attention.
I don't say a word as I pick up the large war-hammer in one hand. Instead of calmly walking to the dummies meant for the handheld weapons, I take a few steps back to where I entered the room and kick off the floor in a mad dash.
As I get close to the weapons stable, I jump off the ground, kick a foot off the table, and fly towards the dummies. However, instead of hitting the first one, I kick off it's head to continue flying through the air.
I do a spin as I'm coming down and before my legs touch the concrete, I take all the momentum I've built and slam the hammer into the chest of one of the 4 dummies surrounding me. The metal makes a loud CLANG as it topples over, breaking the bolt tying it down to the ground.
I don't stop there and again, spin out of the first attack to hit the dummy positioned right behind me. This one also makes a loud CLANG as it wobbles, but it doesn't topple over.
Without any extra movements, I turn to the third dummy positioned to my right and jump. My body is almost horizontal in the hair as I make connection with said dummy, and I wind back my leg to kick the fourth one in this tight space right in the head.
CLANG *wobble* goes the one I hit with the hammer, while the one I kicked is accompanied by a loud, meaty THUD.
As I land and see there are no more dummies in striking distance, I grab the bottom of the handle of the hammer and, with one hand, throw it like a throwing knife right at the dummy whose head I used as a springboard.
I can hear the hammer cutting through the air as it flies at the dummy. This time, instead of hitting in its center, the hammer makes direct contact with its head.
CLANG
THUMP, Thump, thump…
The noise almost sounds like thunder and as the hammer falls to the ground, I can see that the poor dummy has lost its head. I see said head coming to a stop around 10 feet away.
'Damn…'
I gaze up to the gamemakers and see them all looking at me with awe. Awe and fear.
I still have half of my time left, and I would like to show off one more thing, but I'll need some help. Now that I've got their attention, let's see if they'll cooperate.
I take a bow, and say "Well, that was fun. I have something else to show you that I think you'd like. Would it be possible for a peacekeeper to come shoot at me?" I say with a smile and a tone of false deference.
They look confused as they all turn their attention to Seneca Crane. He makes eye contact with me and seems to be weighing all the potential problems with such a request.
After a moment of contemplation, he turns to the side of the viewing room and nods to someone I can't see. When he does so, all the gamemakers turn their attention back to me with expressions of pure befuddlement. No doubt they think I've gone crazy or am hoping to be killed right now instead of in the Games.
A peacekeeper walks into the room from a hidden sliding door right below the balcony. He has a bow in hands and a quiver of what looks to be 3 arrows. He takes one arrow out of the quiver and I can see the tips are all covered by foam.
They're probably worried I'll die and ruin their precious Game.
Whatever.
Before anything can happen, I turn towards the painting table and tear some cloth off of the unused canvas material. I cover my eyes with the cloth and turn to the peacekeeper with a nod.
My time is already up but I'm the last one and I've peaked their interest so I doubt they'll end it here.
I can hear everyone start muttering when I cover my eyes and can 'feel' the peacekeeper look back at Crane for confirmation. When it is given, I can sense him drawing the bow and taking aim.
Before he even lets it go, I can feel my senses blaring. He's aiming for a chest shot.
I take a single step to my side, and feel the arrow whiz past me.
That seems to impress them a little because the muttering comes back in full force. Louder than it was when I covered my eyes.
He nocks another arrow and this time takes aim for my head. I wait till he unleashes the arrow and at the last possible moment, I tilt my head, letting it whiz by me again.
They're really getting into it now because the muttering has turned into full on chatter.
The peacekeeper seems to be getting agitated because, without even a moment of pause, he nocks his last arrow and fires at my face once again.
'Well… I've already given them a show…let's make it one they will never forget.'
I can feel the arrow flying right for me. I can sense the air moving out of the way as it gets closer and closer to my face. I can feel the peacekeepers agitated breathing, the gamemakers all looking at me with their undivided attention, and I swear I could even feel the presence of a bug flying around up there for a moment.
I don't have time to really process the extent to which my senses flared out. The arrow is getting close.
Instead of dodging I calmly raise my hand, and before the padded arrow could ruin my handsome face, I nick it out of the air like I was swatting a fly.
Silence
I take off the makeshift blindfold, turn to Crane and take a smug bow before sauntering out of the room like I owned the place.
===
When I get to our apartment, I can see everyone sitting on the couches talking about Katniss. Apparently, when she got back to the apartment she was on the verge of tears and stormed to her room. They were discussing how to sell a tribute with a bad score to sponsors.
"Liam, you at least seem to be in good spirits. Did the evaluation go that well?" Portia takes the lead in questioning me.
"It went alright. I think I showed something they… let's just say… haven't seen before." I say with a grin with a little smugness.
The adults seem to relax a little bit and Haymitch asks me what I did.
"Oh, I just showed them what I could do with a hammer. Maybe a little something else at the end. Let's wait for Katniss and we can both go over what we did." I say.
"Fine fine, as long as you didn't tank it you should be ok. You're strong so hopefully you can get at least an 8, that's something we can work with." Haymitch says to the nods of everyone else.
We sit at the couch for a moment, before I decide I needed to get cleaned up for dinner. As I'm walking past Katniss' room I can hear her sobbing. She must be freaking out over what she did. Yeah, it was reckless and kind of stupid, but it was also cool as hell.
I decided I should try to cheer her up so give her door a knock.
"I SAID GO AWAY HAYMITCH!" I can hear her yell.
"It's Liam."
There is silence for a minute before I hear some ruffling of sheets. The door eventually opens with a crack and I hear Katniss say "not right now Liam… can we talk at dinner?"
"Of course we can talk at dinner, Kat. I just want to make sure you're alright. Are you worried about your evaluation?" I say gently.
She just gives a slow nod.
"I can't imagine why. They were all smiling and drinking when I got in the room. Only a few of them were still watching me." I again say gently, trying to get her to realize there was no need to freak out over having shot at the gamemakers.
"Really? You're not just saying that are you?" She says with a quirked eyebrow as she opens the door a little bit more.
"Of course not. They saw how amazing you were. How amazing I know you can be… you should trust in yourself Kat. I'm positive you did great." I say with a kind smile.
She gives a small smile back, her chest still trembling from the sobs just seconds ago.
"Why don't you get cleaned up and we can walk down together for dinner?" I say.
She nods again and as I'm turning to walk back to my room she says "Liam…"
I turn back around, and see her step out of her room "Thank you." she says quietly. She gives my cheek a quick peck before retreating back into her room and closing the door before I could respond.
I have a goofy grin on my face as I get back to my room and into my shower. I finally think I understand this stupid fucking thing as I get the hot water going and the right soaps dispensed relatively quickly. Who on Earth designs a shower with so many oils, creams, and a knob for water pressure?!
Ok actually the water pressure thing is kinda awesome. But still!
After my internal rant, I get dressed in the same style as the days before, grey shirt and blue jeans, and wait for Katniss to finish.
Once there is a knock on my door I open it to see her standing there in a simple grey top and black pants.
"Ready for dinner?" She asks.
"Yup. You look great by the way." I say with a smirk.
She rolls her eyes and says "I'm wearing pretty much the same thing you are."
"And boy, do you pull it off"
She just huffs in amusement as we walk down the stairs together.
"Hey, there's our 'Girl on Fire', feeling better now?" Haymitch asks with his usual sarcastic charm.
"Sorry about that… I was just feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. Liam helped me realize how I was overthinking things." She says.
"As long as you're feeling better, that's what matters. Are you two hungry?" Effie chimes in. She's been getting better these past couple days we've been here. I don't know if she's getting attached or not but her tone-deaf barbs towards our 'barbaric' district have toned down a lot.
"Starving." Katniss says as I nod along.
"Excellent, we have some fantastic options today. Chopped duck liver and caviar with chip-bread! My favorite! You'll not see anything like it back home!" She says in exuberance.
'Ok, maybe she's not TOTALLY dialed it back, but improvement is improvement… right?'
We all sit down as we make our plates and when everyone starts to dig in Haymitch asks us a question.
"So… what happened in your sessions?"
I look at Katniss indicating for her to go first. She looks down at the lap trying to gather the courage to tell them. She finally looks up and stares in Haymitch's eyes.
"I shot at the gamemakers." She says
Utensils clank to their plates as all the adults stare at her with wide-eyes. I turn to her with a smirk and say "well that's one way to get their attention."
"YOU WHAT?!" Effie gasps in horror and outrage.
"I shot an arrow at the gamemakers. Well, more specifically, their food. They were all ignoring me after I took a few shots at the targets. I got pretty irritated and before I could second-guess myself I had taken aim at the apple in the roasted pig's mouth and fired."
"What did they say?" Cinna asks in a calm voice.
"Nothing… I left after that." She says.
"What? You just walked out? Without being excused?" Portia asks with mild surprise and amusement. Her lips are curled and it looks like she wants to start laughing.
"Yeah. I just thanked them and walked out."
"*Snort* You thanked them?" Haymitch asks with a big grin. "What did you say exactly?"
"I just bowed and said 'Thank you for your consideration' and walked out." Katniss says with less reservedness now that it seems the adults aren't worried or pissed.
"HA! Genius! Genius…" Haymitch says, leaning back as if he's trying to picture the entire thing. "What I would pay to have seen that." He says in a quiet mutter that everyone else hears.
After his moment of rebellious bliss, Haymitch turns to me and says "And what about you? Why were you so happy when you came back?"
I smirk and say "Oh I didn't do anything quite that extreme, but I still think they like what they saw. I just showed them what I could do with a hammer and my full strength. Managed to break a couple of dummies too."
"Well, that's impressive. Especially breaking the dummies, but that doesn't really explain why you looked so satisfied when you got back." Portia chimes in, obviously having seen by my expression that that wasn't the end of it.
"I might have asked the gamemakers if they would let someone shoot at me." I say leaning back, getting prepared for the questions.
Katniss turns to me with wide eyes and what looks to be anger.
Didn't expect that.
"What? Why would you do that?" She demands from me.
"I wanted to show off my reflexes. It worked too. They were pretty impressed when I left."
"So what? They shot an arrow at you and you dodged it?" Haymitch asks in confusion. "Yeah, that could be impressive but dodging an arrow isn't really that hard if you can move quick enough. Especially if they shot it from far away."
"Well… I may have also had a blindfold on." I say, enjoying their already wide eyes being joined by open mouths.
"...what?" Cinna asks.
"I put on a blindfold and dodged a couple arrows. They were padded arrows obviously, they didn't want to kill one of their precious tributes before the game, but I dodged 2 of them and when the third was coming, I caught it before it could hit me."
There was silence as they tried to process that.
"How?" Katniss asks, breaking the silence with a quiet question. Almost like she was afraid to hear the answer.
"I've always had good reflexes. It wasn't until the training with the hand-to-hand instructor that I realized how good they were." I made up an excuse, trying to explain why I had never shown any such abilities before. To be fair, how many circumstances at home were there to show off besides the occasional hunt?
The adults processed that for a few seconds before I hear someone start clapping.
"Wonderful! OH how splendid! We might have a high score after all! This is marvelous!" Effie's mood seems to have shot up at the prospect that I did well.
"Hey, we might get 2 good scores. The gamemakers were pretty damn impressed with Kat from what I could tell." My statement seems to get a raised eyebrow from Haymitch.
"Kat huh? Well, we'll just have to see if Kat managed to do the impossible. The scores are going to be announced in a moment." He says, standing up and heading to turn on the TV in the living area.
Everyone finishes up their meal and moves to the couches, getting ready for the show. We chat idly and before too long, Caesar Flickerman's face comes on screen with his signature flair.
"Good evening everyone and welcome to the tribute evaluations for the 74th Hunger Games! Now, as you all know, the tributes were rated on a scale of 1 to 12 after 3 days of careful evaluation. That being said, let's proceed to the scores!"
He starts off the scoring with Glimmer who gets a 9.
The scores start going by quickly as we wait for our turn.
Marvel from one also got a 9, both Cato and Clove from two got a 10, the boy from three received a 5 and the girl a 6.
From four the boy got an 8 and the girl got a 6, from five the boy received a 3 and Foxface got 5, from six both of them received a 7.
From seven the boy got an 8 and the girl got a 9, both of eight's tributes received 5s, the boy from nine got a 4 and the girl a 7.
The group from ten both received a 4 making the weakest duo in the bunch.
When it came time for District 11, I sat up and really paid attention. Rue was first and received a 7, probably shocking many watching the games at home. That was a shockingly high score for a 12 year old tribute. Quickly moving on to Thresh, he was given a 10. Tied for the best score so far with both Cato and Clove.
Finally, it was our district's turn. They show Katniss' face on the screen and Cesar uses a dramatic pause before revealing "Katniss Everdeen with a score of… … … 11."
There are cheers all around before everyone quickly quiets down for my score.
"And finally, to end the night, we have Liam Blackstone with a score of … … … wow another 11! Looks like we have many strong tributes for the Games this year! That is all for now! Join us tomorrow for the exclusive interviews! I am Caesar Flickerman, goodnight!"
The broadcast isn't even over before Effie shouts in cheer once again. Portia and Cinna both stand and give us hugs of congratulations.
"Well, congratulations you two. You just became the talk of the nation." Haymitch says with sincereness but there is also some wariness lurking in his tone. We probably just made ourselves targets for the Careers but honestly… we already were.
We enjoy a few extra portions of dessert as celebration before we need to get some sleep. Tomorrow we start bright and early for the stylists and their teams to get us ready for our interviews.
It was going to be a long day…
//
A/N: I really contemplated giving him a 12 because.. I mean come on if Spider-Man, even a nerfed Spider-Man like the MC is, showed off like that it would damn well be worth a 12. The only reason I decided against it was because of the events in Catching Fire.
No one had ever gotten a 12 until Katniss and Peeta in the 75th games, and they only got that score to put a target on their backs because of the rebellion popping up across the nation.
In my mind, they reserve the 12 for targets in the arena. For people the Capitol wants, needs, dead.
We see that in the newest book, where Haymitch gets a 1 for his rebellious spirit in training and he was the only one to ever get such a score. So, I believe the Capitol reserves both extremes of the scoring system to show their displeasure with the tributes.
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ALSO! If anyone wants to question the 'realness' of him catching the arrow, and the gamemakers believing that to even be possible, I have put a link to a YouTube short I saw of a bowman showing how it is technically possible and well… my MC has super spidey-sense so… yeah.
Thanks for reading! Leave any comments or critiques you may have! I'm always looking to improve and your feedback does help me a lot!
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