hunt4commonwealth | Three. [Video]

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Three. [Video]

[Someone spent a lot of that breach making out with sex-changing Loki.]

Okay, that was a lot weirder than I expected. Someone please tell me that it doesn't get weirder than that.

[Private to Cato]

It looks like I'm going to be your warden. Let's meet up. In the gym in one hour. [It's as much command as request, although spoken friendly enough.]

[Spam for Rhade]

[Dylan knocked on Rhade's door once his mind had settled after the breach and he'd reassured himself to his satisfaction that he was not 16 again.]

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[You had him at games.]

...Sparring?

Close. Come down to the gym and I'll show you.

[The thing about District Two is just how spartan it could get sometimes. In the academies they were set up to be trained for their future "careers" (a joke. aha. while you were training for a career as a peace keeper you could be trained for the games)

but the strongest children were still awarded the most favor. Cato is nothing if not strong. And while his weapons are gone from his room and he couldn't find anything easy to conceal-he shows up in his sparring clothes anyway. All white shirt, pants, bare feet.

If you say he looks stupid he'll punch you.]

[Dylan looks him over quickly, notices the bare feet, and sits on a bench and starts casually taking off his own shoes so that they'll be even.]

Have you ever played basketball? [He's guessing not, based on what he read in Cato's file. It doesn't sound like a world where they have basketball. But it doesn't hurt to ask.]

[Cato's lips press together.] Basket ball. What you put a ball in a basket?

You don't put it in the basket so much as throw it. [He points to one of the baskets.] Which takes good aim and coordination. Meanwhile, to make it harder, one or more people are trying to prevent you from throwing in the basket and take it away so that they can throw it in the basket instead.

It's two points every time you successfully get the ball in, three if you do it from behind that far line over there. [He points to that.]

[Cato looks from point A to point B.] ...You get recognition for this? When the points are collected what happens? I mean is somebody punished?

No, nobody's punished. The winning side just gets to enjoy the sweet feeling of victory and knowing that they did a good job. And sometimes, in more official games, they get a trophy.

Ideally, you play in teams, with five people on each side. But it's pretty easy to modify it for any number of players.

[Cato would stick his hands in his pockets.]

...Sweet feeling of victory.

[He braces himself] ...And we're going to be playing?

That's right. There's just a few more things I need to teach you, first.

First of all, when you're travelling with the ball, you can't just pick it up and carry it. You have to dribble it. Bounce it off the floor, one-handed. [He gets off the bench and picks up the ball to demonstrate. Then holds the ball out to Cato.]

Here, you give it a try.

[He accepts the ball, bounces it once, and bounces one more time. The third time it bounces off a shoe and rolls a few feet away.]

...It's...a useless weapon.

It's not meant to be a weapon. But it is good practice for coordination, which is a useful skill to hone for when you're in a real fight.

Plus, it's fun.

[He holds the ball out to Cato again.]

...I really don't see the point in victory without trying to prove your innate superiority over someone else.

[Yes, he did just say that.]

[Sigh. It's like talking to a Nietzschean. A post-Fall Nietzschean.]

The idea is that you're testing yourself against yourself. Pushing your own limits to see what you can do. Beating someone else can be easy, but beating yourself will always be a challenge. If you really want to be superior, focus on self-improvement, not on throwing other people into the dirt.

[He just glares at him.] There's no point in proving your own superiority because there will always be someone bigger then you.

Always be someone better then you. And then they'll take you out. So you need to prove yourself worthy of making friends.

that's why you attack. And train. Not just...your own limits your limits are pretty clear.

[locked down. Suppressed by decades of feverent belief. The people of district 2 made a stronghold but they weren't stupid. Founded by fleeing law enforcement officials, lawyers, military men and women who had stayed behind after NORAD was evacuated.

They saw results. They saw survival.]

Worthy of making friends? [Those words startle Dylan more than anything else Cato has said. And sadden him.]

I'll admit that it's nice to have friends who can watch your back, but friendship isn't based on proving your usefulness in a fight.

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Three. [Video]

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