Training Can Be Fun(gopokes)

A cool sea breeze rolled over the white sand beech, and swayed the navy blue hammock that was strung up between two trees. Kyler stirred a little as his body attempted to roll over inside the light-weight cocoon. His black hoody strings were drawn tight to keep the air off his neck. Even in the middle of June the breeze off the water at night was cold. His eyes fluttered open in time to right himself to prevent rolling out of his suspended bed. He slid up in the hammock to look around. A bright pink sunrise gleamed across the water, and the whitecaps crashed the shoreline. It was a truly beautiful morning. Kyler sat for a long while, staring out over the ocean, sitting now with his feet hanging over the edge of the hammock, sucking on the string of his hoody. It was cold, but he knew that wouldn’t last. The sun rose slowly over the horizon, teasing the water with bright glimmers and colors; and every inch it rose solidified the promise of an even hotter day than the one before. Kyler yawned as he slid forward out of the hammock onto the sand. Turning his back on the ocean, he rolled the hammock and tied the cinch straps down, closing the hammock up for the day.

With a stretch, Kyler turned his attention straight ahead, into the back door of his house. There were no lights on, which meant that either everyone was still asleep, or his father had already left for the docks. Hopefully the drunk ass will be gone. Kyler walked inside, sliding the screen shut, but leaving the glass door open. They didn’t have air conditioning, and they would need all the air flow they could get. He crossed the dining room into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. The light had long since burned out, but the sun was high enough now that he could see through to the back. He reached in and pulled out the pitcher full of milk, two eggs, and a filet of tuna that his father had probably forgotten to eat the previous night. Firing up the stove, Kyler scrambled the eggs for himself and put them on the plate he had pulled from the cabinet. The tuna was a good sashimi grade, so he did not need to heat it up. Instead he sliced it, and ate the whole meal, as meager as it was, out on the back porch. He had always liked the ocean. Despite it’s ability to create life-altering storms and such, it had always been a peaceful place, a place of zen. Heaving a deep breath, Kyler stood up and walked back inside, washing his plate and cup out in the sink. He turned and walked out of the room, heading up the stairs.

The first room he opened the door was to his fathers bedroom. As he suspected, he father was already gone down to the docks for the day of work. Kyler smiled to himself as he walked further down the hall into the room of his three sisters: Hannah, Leslie, and Claudia. Claudia was the youngest and had just turned nine. She was almost identical to his mom, which made her their fathers least favorite, and coincidentally, Kyler’s favorite. He flicked the lights on, not wanting to completely enter the room. “Breakfast in thirty!” he said, his back to the partially opened door. He walked down the hall and opened the door to the room that he shared with his two brothers – Garret and Brock. He said the same thing to them before heading back down the stairs. As he did, he could see the sun pouring in the screen door, flooding the dining room and kitchen with light. He crossed back into the kitchen and began making breakfast for the rest of his family. It was a Saturday, so there was no school, except for Kyler. Today was going to be Kyler’s first time training with his personal mentor. Before today, he had been in group stage training which was useful but Kyler was a better learner when he was working one on one. He placed the plate of scrambled eggs on the table, with some oranges and apples, and a few slices of bacon. He stepped back, as the whole crew came down the stairs. He pulled Hannah aside, into the kitchen.

“So you know I won’t be around today,” he said, pouring milk into cups for everyone. “ You can do what ever you want to, just make sure you be careful if you go out to the beach.”

"Yeah I know,” she answered, a concerned tone in her voice. She didn’t care for Kyler training, but that was neither here nor there at this point.

“ Seriously,” he said turning and handing two of the cups to her. “ Brock and Claudia can’t swim that well yet, so make sure they stay clear of the rocks, especially around high tide. You know how hard that water starts swirling.”

He put the rest of the cups on the table and stood back, watching everyone else eat. Hannah came in and sat down, which gave him clearance to leave. Kyler walked up stairs into his bedroom and over to his closet. He pulled on a pair of black board shorts, with compression shorts underneath. He turned and grabbed one of his sleeveless shirts, his Career Center warm up jacket, and his five fingers. His five finger shoes had become his trademark around the Center, and he actually enjoyed wearing them on top of that. He grabbed a back pack and stuffed an extra shirt, sweat pants, and a hoody into it, before he went back down stairs. As he did he took one last look at the group at the table. Hannah nodded toward the door, and Kyler smiled as he walked out it.

He lived a little over a mile from the Center. A nice warm up run, why not? Slinging the bag over his shoulders, Kyler took off at a decent clip down the cracked, but paved street. As he entered through the front door, he could see the rest of the career trainee’s that were waiting for their trainers. He walked past them into the large open gym area. He dropped his bag by the wall, and began stretching, as was his custom. It was at this point he looked around, and as he switched legs in his hurdlers stretch, he saw Jason enter the gym and lean against the wall. A smile cracked across Kyler’s face as he stood up with the rest of the trainee’s. It was at this point the head trainer read off the list of pairings. Halfway down the list he read “ Kyler Milfoil….. Jason Helkin”. Kyler searched the crowd of Trainers, waiting to see his new mentor step forward.

((Sorry for the length, but I felt it was necessary to set the stage.))

Kyler pushed away a smile as Jason walked up. This guy just looks like a tough mother… Kyler nodded as he took the extended hand, giving it a firm squeeze, something his father had always emphasized. “I’m Kyler. You can call me Kyler, Ky or anything you want really.” He rounded this statement out with a small chuckle. The lightness of the chuckle was soon erased as Jason set in on his monologue about dieting and training. The thought of someone offering to help him out was something completely new to Kyler and he appreciated it, but he struggled to make this kind of feeling known. So instead he just smiled and nodded some more. Wow didn't I just sound like a kill joy? This made Kyler laugh, not a full out hysterical laugh, but another chuckle.

“Maybe just a little,” Kyler said laughing as he looked down at the ground, squinting. This was starting to sound a lot more like work than fun. Didn’t he just say this was going to be fun. I’m waiting…. Kyler stood back, eyeing the man for a second. He wasn’t too much older than Kyler, but he was certainly more muscular. “So, if I diet like you say, am I gonna wind up yoked like you?” Kyler held up a finger, signaling for Jason to wait just a second. Sprinting over to the wall, Kyler snatched up his backpack, and slung it over his shoulders. With all the arrogance he could muster, Kyler stood as tall as he could and looked Jason as squarely in the eye as possible.

“ So, when do we start? Are we gonna be here in the gym? Or outside in the simulated forest? Or down at the beach?” Despite his best efforts, this came out much more like an excited, overly-caffeinated ten year old. Kyler quickly realized this and sank his head down to his chest. He had just lost his cool a little, and he really thought he needed to maintain it if Jason was going to take him seriously as a potential tribute. Kyler couldn't help but laugh at himself as he stood there awkwardly now. He reached down and pushed up the sleeves of his navy blue warm up jacket. This awkward twitch out of the way, he set into his other ones. He began wiggling his toes inside his five finger shoes and reached down to make sure they were tightened down correctly. As he stood back up be met the gaze of Jason, who had been examining him the whole time.

So, work out? Swim? Forest? Spar? Sit around a campfire? I am like the genie of activities! Kyler smiled as he was led out the doors of the Center, out of both excitement and confusion. Wait, we’re leaving the Center?? What is this guy smoking?? Kyler looked at Jason as they stepped out onto the street on the opposite side of the Center from his home. His smile faded slightly as he stepped forward out from under the Jason’s arm. He thought on his family and what they would be doing today. He smirked a little, his face pointed at the pavement under foot as he turned back to Jason.

“Well, I suppose we should do something so you can judge what good I’d be in the Games,” Or not, either way. Kyler looked up at Jason at this point, a serious look on his face. “ I don’t wanna brag or anything, but I’m a pretty good swimmer.”

Kyler smiled a little at the end of this sentence. As he did, his stomach gave an audible rumble. It had been close to five hours since his last meal. He pushed the feeling aside. He was quite good at skipping meals, so he didn’t feel the need to make mention of his hunger at this point. Instead he threw back on his confident face and turned down the street toward his house, and started walking, hoping Jason would follow. As he walked back around to the front of the Center, he could see through the front door that was closing the other pairings starting to spar, lifting weights, and other various training activities. Oh well, I’m having fun, right? The street went up hill at a small grade, before heading back down and bending off to the left. Down at the end there was a T intersection, and there stood the two story, semi-dilapidated house that Kyler and his five siblings called home. Kyler hesitated as they reached the intersection, debating whether he should bother to go through the house to get his surfboard and hammock, or if he should circle to the back, avoiding the guaranteed embarrassment that would come from entering the house. He decided on the first option, walking around the house to the back where his old board was laid against the house and his hammock was still strung up between the two trees just off the back porch, rolled tightly around itself. As Kyler neared the hammock and reached out to the tree to bring it down, the screen door slid open.

“Kyler! You’re home!” Claudia yelled as she sprinted from the door toward Kyler.

He turned and scooped her up before he put her back down, smiling ear to ear. He looked at Jason, expecting him to be disappointed at Kyler’s apparent attachment to his family. Well, shit. Strike two Kyler. He looked down at his nine year old sister he was smiling up at him, her bright blue eyes shining with joy.

“So what have you been up to today?” Kyler asked as he turned and began taking down his hammock again. It was then that a second figure appeared in the doorway. Anybody but him. Though this was in fact an internal thought, his face, still pointed away from the door, did not hide it. He hunched over a little as he waited for it.

“Claudia, get back in here, I need to talk with your brother,” Kyler’s father barked drunkenly. Patrick was tall, standing about 6’5” and was thick, mostly fat from consuming copious amounts of alcohol in short amounts of time. Patrick crossed the porch and pushed Kyler’s left shoulder, spinning Kyler around. “Well, I’m glad you’re off having fun with your friends all day, leaving your sister to take care of things, while someone is off trying to actually provide for this family. Look at me!” With this bark, he landed his right hand on Kyler’s cheek. Kyler’s face flushed instantly in rage. As he looked up ready to tear into his father, he saw over Patrick’s shoulder the entire sibling group watching. He clenched his fists and turned back around. Unhooking the straps to the hammock, continuing to listen to his father rant and rave about how worthless he was, a rage monster came to life in Kyler’s chest. It was all he could do to keep it from turning and laying into Patrick with everything he had.

“Dad, just go back inside, go to work, just leave me alone please,” Kyler grunted through clenched teeth. He didn’t need to turn around to know what was coming next. Patrick reared back a clenched fist his face contorted in a drunken rage; Kyler turned to face his father, braced up for the impact that was coming.

((I thought we could just play Patrick as a NPC for now, so feel free to react, interact however. Just know he’s a bigger guy, drunk, and generally pissed at the world. ))

The whole exchange between Jason and his father happened so fast, the only reaction Kyler had was to stumble backward when Jason stepped into the tiny gap between him and his father. Kyler heard the words come from Jason’s mouth, and several emotions flared inside of him. After all, this was his father that Jason, a guy he had met less than and hour ago, was threatening; but at the same time Kyler had never really had anyone in his recent memory ever stick up for him, the atmosphere in Panem was a whole was not very “love thy neighbor”-ish. So Kyler did what any confused teen would do: he kept his mouth shut and turned back to his hammock. He finished taking it down and rolled it up into the bag that it came with.

As Patrick stumbled drunkenly back into the house, he pushed through the rest of the kids in the house, dropping the bottle he had in his hand. Hannah quickly picked it up, ensuring that none of the siblings stepped on it. Kyler had not turned back to face Jason yet. He couldn’t, he was way too embarrassed. Not only had he now allowed Jason to see that he did in fact have emotions and cared about people in his life, he also showed Jason just how messed up his home life was. There is no way this guy is gonna take me seriously now. The sun was high over the water now, making it around one in the afternoon, and close to 110 degrees. Sweat rolled off Kyler’s face as he finally decided to turn back to Jason.

“So, um, we still going to the beach or whatever,” Kyler said. His tone which had once been decidedly arrogant, was completely void of confidence at this point. He threw the hammock onto the porch and knocked over his surfboard. Oh well..

As Kyler finally raised his face, he could see that Hannah had taken the siblings inside. She probably had not wanted them to see Kyler get ripped a new one by the trainer standing in front of him. Kyler understood that it was probably coming. He had not presented himself as very career-like up to this point. All he could focus on now was trying to impress Jason and hopefully convince him to take Kyler seriously. He stood, hands at his sides, scratching at the ground with his five-finger shoes, contemplating what he would do if Jason decided to dump him here and now.