the one and only ivan [six/ivan]

IVAN RIN

Head Trainer

The boy introduced himself as Six. The very first thing that Ivan noticed about him was his lack of eye contact. Six couldn't keep himself looking at Ivan, as if he were scared of him. Yes, scared, or perhaps nervous. It wasn't a lack of respect, as he'd called Ivan "sir", so it had to be a nervous or scared reaction to not look him in the eyes.

"Look at me," Ivan instructed Six. "If I were your enemy in the arena, you'd want to keep your eyes on me. Don't keep looking away," he explained. "That's the first step."

This kid definitely wasn't a fighter. At least, not yet. Ivan would do his best to form him into one, though. He would guide him in a direction that would at least let him outlive some of the other tributes if he had anything to say about it. Now, in an ideal world, one of the tributes he'd trained would become the victor. That's what had happened last time. Although, last time, Flynn was at least able to look Ivan in the eyes.

Six might be a lot more work than Flynn was, so he'd have to see where this would go.

"Now, Six," he continued. "Have you ever used a weapon?"

He doubted the kid had used one before coming to the training center, but perhaps he'd used one since showing up there. There was always a chance that he at least wouldn't have to teach him how to hold the damn thing.

Ivan wouldn't let himself get frustrated, though. He enjoyed training these tributes, no matter how much work the non-careers were to train to the same level that the career tributes came in at as their baseline.

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284 words

IVAN RIN

Head Trainer

When Ivan told Six to keep eye contact, the kid seemed to keep that in mind, as he was starting to do a much better job with it as their conversation continued. This was a start, for sure. That, and Six explained to Ivan that he'd spent a substantial amount of time at the blades station. The thing was, there seemed to be a bit of a confidence issue, or at least something similar to a confidence issue.

Ivan realized that it seemed like Six was too scared to carry through with his attacks, judging by what he said. He explained that he hesitated every time he swung, despite knowing exactly what to do. That's when Ivan had an idea. He needed to see exactly how this particular tribute functioned with a weapon. He needed to see what sort of stance he took, and how he struck with the blade. He needed to figure out why he was hesitating, and how to fix the problem at hand.

"Okay, I see what you're saying." Ivan's tone and words showed that he understood. "Let's get you a weapon so I can see how you do for myself."

Ivan briskly walked over to the bladed weapons, picked up a sword, and carried it back over. He'd chosen a sword over a knife because he figured it'd be a little bit more of a challenge, since it was a bigger weapon. A bigger weapon was often a bit more difficult for smaller tributes, so Ivan figured that they might as well go all the way with it. If Six could perfect his confidence using the sword, the knife wouldn't take as much practice, despite the difference in the way the two weapons are actually used.

Six already knew how to use the weapons. It was following through that he needed help with.

"I hope a sword's okay," Ivan said to Six as he carried the bladed weapon back over and handed it to him by the handle. "Let's go over to the dummies and you can show me how you do with it right now. I'll give you some pointers and we'll work on this together."

This wasn't one of the kids he needed to be harsh on, as Six seemed to be listening to him so far. He wasn't nearly as stubborn as others Ivan had encountered. That meant that he could be gentler with him and still get the work done.

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403 words