Conley Wellspring - D4 Conley was beginning to grow very impatient. He knew that District Four was at the beginning of the line, but he had already been waiting in line for at least thirty minutes. Maybe an hour. What was taking these people so long? He wished he at least knew what they were going to be doing. He watched as each tribute exited the room, squinting at their bedraggled fur. What in the world could be going on in there? When it was finally his turn, Conley wasn't sure whether to feel excited or anxious. Maybe it was a mix of both. If he had learned anything from his time here, it was that he wasn't particularly good at understanding his emotions. After giving his cap a good luck pat, he walked through the door into the Gamemakers room. His first thought was to find the Gamemakers themselves, but he was quickly distracted by the oddness of the room. What was all of- Oh. He cursed in surprise as his paws were lifted off of the ground. He scrambled in the air for a moment before finding that it was much easier if he just held still. Once he had found his bearings, he began his search for the Gamemakers. Oh, there they were. He narrowed his gaze at them and was filled with so much anger at them that he almost missed the gesture towards a floating balloon. A pufferfish balloon. What was- Oh, he was probably supposed to catch it, wasn't he? He shot one last glare at the Gamemakers. As much as he hated anyone who had anything to do with the games, and the Capitol in general, he did want to perform well in his Gamemakers. He was sure he had done poorly in his parade--which he still didn't regret, by the way--so he knew he needed to do well here. With a sarcastic salute towards them, he started towards the balloon. Riding the wind was much more difficult than he had been expecting. He tried a technique similar to swimming first, but soon found that it only made him spin around and go in wonky ways. The balloon was floating further and further away, and Conley felt himself growing more and more frustrated. This was so unfamiliar, and he hated that he wasn't good at it. He was at least decent in most of the skills he'd practiced at training. How was he supposed to do this if he had no idea how to? Well, he had no training in this skill, but he did have one thing: his determination. No matter what, the Capitol was not going to make Conley Wellspring give up. Plus, it was a pufferfish, and as a fisherman, he should know all about catching fish, even balloon ones. He soon found that a sort of gliding technique made things easier, and when he got to a wall, he had something to push off of. That was a bit like swimming, at least. Eventually, after a push in the right direction, he was able to grab the balloons string. Yes! He grinned at the Gamemakers, feeling pretty proud of himself. But the wind didn't turn off. Instead, it only seemed to get worse. Squinting against the wind, Conley glanced down at the ground. Bad idea. He looked back up, each movement sending him spinning. "Hello? I caught the balloon. You can turn off the wind now." He waved the balloon in his paw and found that it was a terrible plan. It began to slip out of his paw, and worse, he began to spin. "Ack-" He wrapped his forelegs around the balloon, feeling very glad that this pufferfish didn't have toxic spikes like a real one. He tried to hold it gently, wrapping his legs around it to keep it with him, but not squeezing it. Was he supposed to do something with the balloon, or hold it for a certain amount of time? He wished he was smart enough to have figured this out. /Then again,/ he thought, opening his eyes to glance around, /They didn't give me much direction for what to do./ Unsure what he was meant to do after catching the balloon, Conley continued to hold onto the balloon. He continued to spin around, but when he closed his eyes, it wasn't all that bad. What was bad was the fall when the wind finally turned off. Conley groaned when he hit the floor face first. "You couldn't have made the drop a bit slower?" he asked as he sat up and placed the cap back on his head. His whole body hurt, but he tried to ignore it. Conley let go of the balloon and turned towards the Gamemakers. Some seemed to be laughing at him. Others seemed to have lost all care in assessing his performance. "Well," he said, half to them, and half to himself. "That was something." Then, trying to gain back some of his pride, he left the room by saying, "You know, I actually think this was fun. I wouldn't mind trying it again." And he was glad he didn't pass out as he said it, because seastorms and serpents, he was dizzy.
