release the monster {Cato/Blitz}

I'm here with Evander watching him attempt to train with an axe. I've lost my partner in Ares many years ago. He pushed me harder than anyone else has in my life. The perfect partner one could ask for. Tough when needed, but he was supportive as well. Now I have Evander. A worthless partner if I had to judge him on his fighting ability. Evander isn't much of a fighter. That much I've figured out. He can barely defend himself. Has no heart when we fight. I need to whip him into shape if hopes to stand a chance in the games.

Maybe I could help him. I could show him a few steps, but he's not Ares, and he never will be. Evander is always going to be Evander. Even if I bring forth a machine. I miss Ares, and I hate how the world has gone on without him. I hate that his name hasn't been mentioned in forever. Three years ago. That's the last time I heard his name. Three years. To think that he was once here and then he was taken away because he volunteered for the games.

Evander has no skill with the axe, or any weapon for that matter, and I know for fact he'll be the first dead if he was ever in the games. I don't know why I'm helping him, or why I'm even trying to train with him, but it is what it is. Maybe I just need someone to fill the void that Ares left when he was killed. Maybe I require another training partner even if said partner isn't worth my time. Evander is family, but what good is family when they disappoint you over and over? I wish Evander could find that inner fighting ability. Every Birch has one. Its his time to find it.

It's a shame, really, knowing that my own brother never dove into the career training. Well, for a while he did. I watched him flourish. I watched him grow, but I don't know what happened. It's like he went into a slump or something, and now he doesn't want to train. He doesn't want to do anything. Part of me thinks he grew a heart, but what he doesn't realize is that none of this family has hearts. Nobody should care about one another except those in the family which is why I have respect for Evander.

Yet it's not the same. Ares was so strong. So brave. He pushed me whenever nobody else could. He knew exactly what to say, and what to do. Looking at Evander holding that axe makes me feel like he's going to drop it, or worse sever part of his own body. Wouldn't that be funny? Only I'd be the one stuck explaining what happened. I think that would be more embarrassing than anything.

And then he speaks asking me a simple question. One that I never thought about before because I've never had the chance to kill. I've never been stuck in the situation where I needed to be a killing machine, but when he says he might want to be one, I turn towards him. My eyes fixed on his own eyes. This kid has a lot of work to do if he wants to live up to the name, and hopefully I can bring out the beast lurking inside him. Make him somewhat worthy of the name of Birch. It'll take a long time to get him ready. He needs a lot of dedication if he's serious.

That's my plans for the day. I'll show him what it's like. "Yeah ok Evander. You going to be the whiny monster?"