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Cassius wasn't surprised by the four-million-dollar base pay.
Jennifer Lawrence was a beast in indie films—Winter's Bone even got her an Oscar nomination—but she'd mostly done smaller, artsy stuff. Her box-office pull hadn't been tested on a massive commercial scale yet.
Green Lantern had done seven hundred million worldwide. Yeah, there was controversy, but numbers don't lie. Especially the explosive numbers in Asia. Lionsgate saw the dollar signs and the built-in audience Cassius could bring.
Four million wasn't just buying his acting—it was buying the heat, the international draw, and the upside.
Compared to actors at the same level, his pay bump was actually on the slower side. Green Lantern had a soft domestic start and only exploded later, so the studio was still hedging its bets.
"Sign it?" Rob asked.
"Sign it," Cassius said without hesitation.
After the house purchase, renovations, and day-to-day expenses, he had about three hundred grand liquid. Four million up front plus potential backend would give him real breathing room.
The Hunger Games was a proven franchise from his last life. His pay being higher than Jennifer's was just Hollywood math. The movie was built around Katniss as the absolute lead; Peeta was the male protagonist, but the role and screen time weren't equal. The deal made sense.
The contract was inked.
First order of business: boot camp.
Lionsgate took the physical and skills training for The Hunger Games dead serious. The film was packed with running, climbing, fighting, archery, and survival sequences. The cast had to look believable and stay safe on set.
Training camp was in a remote outdoor facility in North Carolina—four full weeks.
The day before he left, Cassius packed light. Kristen leaned in the bedroom doorway watching him.
"A month of training? Sounds worse than basic training."
"Pretty close," Cassius said, stuffing workout clothes into his suitcase. "Archery, basic hand-to-hand, wilderness survival, plus conditioning. Peeta's not the muscle of the story, but he still has to look like he can survive the arena."
"Just don't actually get yourself killed out there," Kristen teased. She picked up his dog-eared copy of The Hunger Games and flipped through it. "Katniss is Jennifer Lawrence. She's really good."
"I saw Winter's Bone. Solid actress," Cassius nodded. He was actually looking forward to working with her. The girl had a reputation for being grounded, explosive, and zero bullshit.
The next day he flew to North Carolina.
The camp was tucked deep in forest and rolling hills—exactly the kind of isolated, rugged vibe the story needed.
Cassius dragged his suitcase into the compound and immediately felt like he'd stepped into a real-life District 12 boot camp: rows of simple wooden bunkhouses, a big converted warehouse for indoor training, and a fenced-off stretch of woods and hills for outdoor work. The air smelled like pine needles and dirt. Fresh. If he weren't here to train for a movie, it would've been a nice spot for a weekend getaway.
He was assigned a basic bunkhouse with the rest of the young cast— including the actress playing Prim and a few other tributes who'd already been locked in.
Liam Hemsworth was there too.
Day one started with everyone gathering on the main field at sunrise.
That's when Cassius finally met Jennifer Lawrence in person.
She was taller than she looked on screen, blonde hair in a simple ponytail, no makeup, wearing a sports bra and shorts. She was deep in conversation with one of the trainers, nodding seriously, then bursting into that big, infectious laugh of hers.
She spotted him, walked straight over, and stuck out her hand with a bright grin.
"Hey, Cassius. I'm Jennifer. Finally meeting the bread boy."
"Nice to meet you, Jennifer." He shook her hand—strong grip. "Excited to work together."
"Same. I caught Green Lantern. You were insane in that thing!"
All the actors had arrived the same day.
At six sharp the next morning, a piercing whistle ripped through the camp.
Cassius and the rest of the cast—Jennifer, Liam, and the other tributes—stumbled out onto the field, still half-asleep.
The head trainer was a bald, built ex-Marine named Hank. Zero expression.
"Welcome to Panem Prep—haha, kidding!"
Nobody laughed. Hank looked like he could bench-press a truck.
He dropped the joke fast and went back to full drill-sergeant mode. "Next four weeks, your job is simple: survive the schedule and learn enough so you don't look like amateurs on camera."
"Five-kilometer warm-up run. Follow the yellow line. Last three get no breakfast. Go."
Groans went up, but everyone started running.
Cassius settled into the middle of the pack, breathing steady. All his attributes were Level 4 now. The physical side of that upgrade, plus months of sparring with Gina and absorbing combat orbs, meant his body was in peak condition.
Jennifer quickly found her rhythm and pulled ahead, ponytail swinging, stride powerful. The girl's fitness and willpower were no joke.
A couple of the others started gasping early. Liam was breathing harder but holding steady—Hemsworth genes.
By the end of five kilometers only Cassius, Jennifer, and Liam looked like they could keep going. Everyone else was drenched and sucking wind. Even Cassius felt the burn in his lungs and legs, but he stayed upright.
Two actors actually collapsed. Hank stared down at them coldly. "On your feet or you're doing it again."
Breakfast was basic—oatmeal, eggs, fruit. Plenty of calories, zero flavor.
After a thirty-minute break, the real work started.
Morning rotation: archery basics, rock climbing, core strength.
No one got a pass—every actor had to cycle through everything.
At the archery range the coach was a quiet redhead named Sarah. She demonstrated stance, grip, draw, aim, and release, hammering home stability and breath control.
"You don't need to be Olympic level, but you need to look like you belong there—especially in close-ups. No shaking, no collapsing form."
Everyone took turns.
The training bows had moderate draw weight, but for beginners they were still brutal.
Cassius's first arrow sailed wide and stuck in the grass. One of the other tributes barely pulled the string and the arrow flopped a few feet in front of him. A few chuckles rippled through the group.
Sarah went down the line correcting form.
When she reached Cassius, she adjusted his shoulder angle and elbow. A purple orb floated up from her:
[Archery Stance Stability +5]
Cassius absorbed it instantly. Suddenly he understood how to let bone structure do the work instead of pure muscle.
Second arrow flew straight—still off-target, but on line.
"Better. Keep going, build the muscle memory."
Sarah moved on.
Cassius kept shooting. Third arrow. Fourth.
By the time he lost count, the bow almost disappeared in his hands. His arm felt like an extension of the string. He could sense the smoothness of the arrow shaft against his fingers.
Twang.
The arrow flew dead center.
At the same moment a purple orb dropped from his own body:
[Upper-Body Coordination +8]
He absorbed it. A rush of insight on total limb synergy hit him.
Applause broke his focus.
Sarah was clapping as she walked over.
"Unbelievable. If I hadn't been coaching you myself I'd swear you'd been shooting for years. Your form is clean and looks good on camera. Huge progress. If you'd trained as a kid you'd be at the Olympics right now."
The rest of the cast stopped to stare at his bullseye and let out impressed whistles.
Jennifer, nursing sore wrists, gritted her teeth and drew again. Her arrow hit the outer edge—solid, but not center.
The group rotated to the climbing wall.
It was a bloodbath.
What looked like simple holds required insane finger strength, core power, and coordination. Several actors got stuck halfway up, teeth gritted, sweating.
Cassius powered through the beginner routes thanks to his body control, but his arms and calves still burned.
The climbing coach—a wiry guy who looked like a mountain goat—shouted tips: "Feet first! Legs drive! Arms only balance!"
When he corrected Cassius's posture a purple orb dropped:
[Vertical Center-of-Gravity Shift Technique +5]
Absorbed. Suddenly shifting weight on a vertical face felt intuitive.
The afternoon was the real killer—wilderness survival and basic hand-to-hand.
The survival instructor took them into the fenced woods. How to start a fire with primitive tools. Which plants were safe to eat, which would kill you. How to find and purify water.
Most of the city-raised actors looked completely lost.
Cassius paid close attention. Even if he wouldn't use every skill on camera, it would help him feel Peeta's state of mind in the arena.
Real knowledge makes the performance real. Audiences can tell.
While the coach explained reading environmental signs, a blue orb dropped:
[Basic Environmental Observation & Clue Linking +3]
Cassius absorbed it. Suddenly he was noticing details the coach mentioned and connecting them to actual plants around them.
Hand-to-hand was run by a former MMA fighter. Basic defense, break-falls, knife work, entanglement and escape drills.
The moves weren't complicated, but doing them smoothly took repetition.
During the explanation a purple orb dropped:
[Close-Quarters Combat Prediction Awareness +5]
Cassius absorbed it.
When it was time to spar, his partner was a nervous kid playing a District 3 tribute. The guy was stiff.
Cassius fell back on everything he'd learned sparring Gina on Green Lantern, plus the fresh orbs, and quickly found his rhythm.
By seven p.m. the whole cast was dragging back to the bunkhouses.
The communal showers were full of groans.
"My arms don't feel like mine anymore," one actor named Thomas complained.
Cassius stood under the hot water, letting it pound his sore shoulders and back.
Tired? Absolutely.
But this kind of honest, bone-deep exhaustion felt way more satisfying than any L.A. party or interview circuit.
He stepped out of the shower and almost bumped into Jennifer, who was just finishing up too.
"Look at these blisters!" She held up her bow hand, palm bright red, but she was grinning. "Tomorrow I'm beating you at archery, bread boy."
The next day. The day after.
Training got harder every single morning.
The run stretched to eight kilometers. Climbing routes got steeper. Archery targets moved farther and demanded tighter grouping. Hand-to-hand added simple combinations.
Cassius's physical edge kept widening.
He recovered faster than everyone else and picked up skills at an insane rate.
Sarah started moving him to longer-range targets because his stability had improved so fast.
Jennifer was improving fast too—no system, just pure talent and stubbornness. She stayed right on his heels.
Cassius couldn't help but admire her.
Still… he was running with a cheat code.
Every day he pulled fresh attribute orbs from the professional coaches. Single values weren't huge—+3, +4, +5—but they were laser-focused on exactly what he needed. Day after day, they stacked.
He felt more in command of his own body than he ever had in his life.
Of course he still got sore.
Every night he collapsed onto the hard bunk, muscles quietly protesting.
But he was smiling in the dark.
This was exactly the kind of grind that would make Peeta feel real on screen.
And he was only getting started.