Starkid Games

by sciencerainbows

Summary:

A Starkid AU of the hunger games. Set in the fourth Quarter Quell, after the rebellion a new government came in and brought back the old laws, 25 years later and the Starkids are in the Quarter Quell. Featuring the well known and less well known starkids and far too many songs for the Hunger Games. Complete with angst, fluff and teenagers being teenagers.

Notes:

Sorry this is my first fic and it's un-betaed. Any comments are much appreciated but please no flames. Please read the warnings and tags not all of this fic is a happy one. Specific warnings at the start of each chapter.

Chapter 1: District 1

From the corner of the square, by the old beech tree Jim watches the young woman swing her axe round with great skill. He chuckles to himself as the group around her scatters to avoider her and run off into the distance shouting. “They already fear you enough, must you continue to terrorise them so?” he asks in a deep voice. The girl whips round her long brown hair blowing gently in the breeze. “Why hello there Jim, gosh you gave me quite the surprise.” The girl purrs in her southern drawl. “Drop the act Dev; you know it doesn’t work on me.” Devin Lytle was quite possible Jim Povolo’s only friend; he never had worked out why the District’s great beauty had chosen him, the tall gangly boy even the toughest of district 1’s residents were afraid of. Jim was two years older than Devin and a lot of people thought there was something suspicious about their relationship, but really there wasn’t. They had met in a meadow on the outskirts of the district, both were trying to avoid the people of the town, Devin because she couldn’t stand the way everyone wanted to speak to the most beautiful girl in the town, not the mention the town’s best fighter, Jim because he didn’t like the hateful whispers that followed him around and because his dad hated him. They had begun talking and realised they both had much in common, such as a passion for acting and singing. Jim snapped out of his memory at Devin snapping her fingers in his face, “wake up sleepy head, tomorrow’s the big day.” She said excitedly,”Oh yeah, the reaping. It’s a miracle I’ve not been picked yet.” Said Jim glumly. “Hey don’t be down, your names in what 18 times? A lot of people have more. Beside it’s the quarter quell, so most people will want to volunteer”

“Not in 1 they don’t, we have more food than the poorer districts and better survival rates so less of us need tesserae, my name’s in more time than anyone else in the district. Besides I’m only 16, most people with that many in district 1 are 18 already.”

They walked together in silence for a bit until they reached the mayors house. “See you tomorrow Jim, try and get some rest, you look like shit.” Said Devin.

“Bye Dev.” Replied Jim, before he continued the journey home, Jim and his father lived in a ramshackle little house on the outskirts of the district. Jim’s mother had died giving birth to him and his dad had never been a proper father to him and blamed him for the death of his wife. They had been very poor by district 1’s standards for as long as Jim could remember. If only he could somehow win this year’s hunger games, maybe his dad would be proud of him, maybe the money he would win could fix all his problems, Jim thought that night as he fell asleep.

Chapter 2: District 2

Notes:

Sorry the chapters are so short at the moment, I promise there are longer ones to come.

Joe Walker and his girlfriend Lauren Lopez were sat back to back in the shade of a large oak tree in their lunch break. Both found school very tedious and were just waiting for their chance to fight in the hunger games. Lauren was seven months older than Joe and would get her chance for victory next year if all went according to plan, although she slightly wished she had been born a year later so she could compete this year. This year was the 100th hunger games, the 4th quarter quell, about 20 years after the revolution the new government reverted to its old ways and reintroduced the hunger games, that was 25 years ago now and everyone wanted to see what the games would be like this time. In district 2 the two best fighters in their last year would get to volunteer, not the two best fighters in the district, which Lauren thought was rather unfair. Joe on the other hand felt relieved, he knew that if they had entered the games in the same year they would have had to have made an impossible decision, because both could not survive, but they were an unstoppable force together. The two sat in silence eating their lunch, they tried to savour the moment, they knew it would be their last moment together before the reaping tomorrow and despite the knowledge that they would have the best chance at survival; the sense of unease that rested over all of the districts was affecting them as well.

Chapter 3: District 3

15 year old Joe Moses was sat on the floor of the bedroom that he shared with his three brothers, surrounded by pieces of machinery. One of the inventors had built a prototype communication device to show to someone in the capitol, but it had broken just four days before the meeting. Joe was well known among the population of district 3. He was a loner; he was a genius even by their standards and had some unexpected interests. He had a knack for all technology and could dismantle anything you gave him and rebuild it to make it 3 times more efficient in a matter of hours. Every factory in the district wanted to employ Joe but they couldn’t until he was 16. His parents earned very little and he was the oldest child so no one else in the family had an income. As a result of this Joe had taken tesserae for all six of his family members so had his name in the reaping 35 times, an extraordinarily high number for a fifteen year old. District 3 wasn’t a wealthy district like 1, 2 or 4, but was a lot better than the outlying districts, so he knew he had a high chance of getting picked out of the reaping. “In fact if there are 8700 children eligible for reaping (using round numbers) and most of them have their name in less than 10 times, let’s say 60% for the sake of evenness, and 37% have their name in between 11 and 20 times them the remaining 261 children will have their names in a roughly equivalent number of times to me. Half of these will be girls so I’ve got competition from about 130 others. I’m at the high end of the spectrum so the chances of my name being drawn tomorrow are roughly 1 in”

“Joe you’re talking to yourself again, I can’t sleep and you talking about the statistics of your inevitable death aren’t helping.” Said a voice from the bed. It was Joe’s oldest brother the 11 year old Oscar, a little genius himself, but he hadn’t yet worked out that there was a bigger world than theirs. He also refused to acknowledge that fact that if Joe was reaped and died in the arena, he would have to do what Joe was doing currently in order for their family to survive. Sighing quietly to himself Joe lay down next to Oscar and tried desperately to fall asleep.

Chapter 4: District 4

“Oof, sorry”

“No, no it’s my fault I wasn’t paying attention”

Two dark haired teenagers from district four bumped into each other. The girl had dropped the sheets of paper she was carrying. As the two knelt down to pick them up they began speaking

“Hi, I’m Joey, Joey Richter, sorry I ran into you I wasn’t paying much attention.”

“No, no, it’s okay, I’m such a klutz anyway. My name is Meredith Stepien. I was on my way to my dad’s boat.”

“The Jade?”

“Yeah”

“No way, you’re from that Stepien family?”

“Yeah, but I’m not much like them. I mean I can fish reasonably well, I’m from district four right?” This earned a chuckle from the boy. “But my true passion is singing, in fact I was just coming from a singing lesson.”

“Oh that explains the funny writing on the paper. By the way I like singing too, but my family think it’s a waste of time. I was wondering if maybe you could teach me?” the boy asked this last part in a hurry.

“Sure, meet me in the harbour when the boats come back in tomorrow and I’ll teach you then.”

 

This had been a few months ago and the two were now firm friends despite the fact that they were in different classes at school. He was so glad district 4 had career tributes and that he and Meredith wouldn’t be tributes, because all the 18 year olds would want to volunteer. He and Meredith were 13 and 16 respectively, and whilst he was very mature for his age and physically strong, he didn’t think he would survive the games, especially a quarter quell. The same couldn’t be said for Meredith, she was fully grown and at her prime, a good fighter, skilled musician and fairly intelligent, she had gotten the best genetics of her family. Joey was a little bit in awe of the older girl but it certainly wasn't a crush

Chapter 5: District 5

Notes:

Ok I'm going to apologize for this chapter now, it's definitely not my best work so please don't hate me for this.

In district five a short and stocky 15 year old boy trudges home from the power plant. He knew he should have been tired from his shift but tomorrow was the reaping for the first quarter quell since the rebellion. He knew his chances of being reaped were fairly average for his district. District five was a poor district, not the poorest, not by a long way but compared to the career districts they had it bad. It was normal for most tributes to have their name in the bowl between 20 and 30 times. He also knew he was unlikely to survive if he was reaped. He sighed to himself as he pushed his light brown hair back from his forehead. His hair was fairly short, not shaved like some of the boys in his district but not long enough to get in his eyes. The stifling heat of the summers evening had meant that his hair and shirt kept getting stuck to his sweaty body. The boy was glad he was the youngest in his family, he was the last one in his family to be entered for the games and he only had three years left. His name was only in 18 times as his family were able to survive on only two tesserae each, this meant that his name was in the bowl less times than the average poor sod in his district tomorrow. “yes” he thought to himself, “the odds probably are in my favour this year”.

Chapter 6: District 6

Chris Allen shifted nervously from foot to foot as he stirred the watery soup that would be dinner for his family. Chris was 18 and the oldest of this large family. He was the oldest of 7 sons and his father had died three years ago in a train accident after a storm. His mother could only earn so much and he took as many extra shifts as he could, but someone had to look after his brothers and sisters. The oldest Isaac was 15 and would soon be able to get work, but with so many mouths to feed and only two of them working Chris had his name in the reaping tomorrow 64 times. Despite his protests his brother had also taken tesserae in case anything happened to Chris or his mother, he had his name in 42 times. The odds most definitely weren’t in their favour. Chris knew he would volunteer if Isaacs name was called, he had no chance of survival and he knew it, but it would be better if Isaac was able to live, he could cook and clean and little Archie who was only 8 liked Isaac better. Chris looked in the old warped mirror on the wall; he was tall and gaunt, with tiny wrists and very prominent cheekbones. He had been skipping meals when his mother wasn’t around to make sure the little ones were well fed. Or as well fed as they could be on stew made from a few wild roots and the bones from the stew 2 nights ago, he knew Isaac had been doing the same, giving the twins his lunch when they looked especially pale.

*Change POV*

Julia Albain was very efficient. She prided herself on that. Any problem she could fix it. When she turned 16 she marched right up to the office of the man who organised the running of the transport systems across Panem and demanded that he let her organise the system and here she was 3 months later apprenticed to the controller himself and ensuring all of Panem was running smoothly. Her father was a wealthy merchant and her mother and sister ran a bakery in the square. Her family was very wealthy for their district and neither she nor her sister had needed to take any tesserae, in fact the only real threat Julia faced from the Hunger Games was seeing one of her friends get reaped and the fact that it wreaked havoc on the trains in the capitol. Yes as Julia turned away from the monitors she was very content.

Chapter 7: District 7

A 16 year old boy with a nest of messy black curls on his head was running through the back streets of district 7. It was nearly sundown and he had to get home before the district curfew. The boy ran into a dark skinned girl a few blocks from his home. The girl was slight and pretty, she looked to be about 13 or 14. She looked at the boy in wonder. The boy was very popular with his charming ways, bright personality and happy go lucky attitude. After a muttered apology the boy continued running until he was safely inside his home, before taking some crumpled paper out of his waistband. “Dar, tell me you’ve not been stealing paper again.” Said the voice of the boy’s brother Angus, a slight boy a few years younger than the dark haired boy. “I’ve not been stealing paper again.” The older boy parroted. “You so have. Dad’s gonna flip his shit if he finds out Dar.” Came the response. “Look Angus, I’m sorry it’s just that it’s the reaping tomorrow, and I need to get all this nervous energy out.” Said the older boy as he walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a slightly battered looking guitar and began to strum it. “You wouldn’t be so nervous if you’d let me take some tesserae” came the muttered response from Angus sat atop the bed. District 7 was a poor district and Darren, the older of the two boys was very protective of his family. They all knew this and knew not to try and stop Darren if he thought he was protecting them. This meant that Darren had been taking tesserae for all four of his family members from the age of 12 and wouldn’t let Angus take any. He knew that there was a fairly high chance of him being reaped as his name was in the bowl 35 times, however he also knew that he was able to be very charming when he wanted to be and his job at the lumber mill meant he was strong, all in all he felt he had a fairly high chance of survival in the games, he could run, fight and get sponsors easily, sure it probably wouldn’t be enough to win but he may be able to make it to the final eight where at least his family would get some money from their television appearances. These were the thoughts drifting around Darren’s head as he fell into a fitful sleep that night.

Chapter 8: District 8

Notes:

OK so to clear up any confusion that could come from this chapter: Nick Lang was last years victor in the Hunger Games, this means that he will have to go to the capitol as a mentor for the district 8 tributes; The Lang family were of average wealth before Nick won the games so Matt Lang still has his name in the reaping quite a few times.

16 year old Matt Lang walked toward the victor’s village with his 17 year old brother Nick. They were both chatting about a play Matt had just put on at school telling a story he had read in one of the old books they had found in their father’s study. Both boys were very close and shared a lot of interests, they both like writing stories and had a great sense of humour. Matt’s production of the Lord of the Ring’s, a book from the dark days that their father had found in the market, had been really popular, so the brothers were trying to decide what to do next. “I think a sequel is the way to go” said Matt “I mean the first was popular and theirs the Hobbit, that Dad got last year”

“No I think Harry Potter. Those books were great, besides I was really proud of my puppetry skills as Gollum and I think I could make a fantastic Dragon.” replied Nick. Eventually the argument petered out as they reached the victor’s village. The previous year Nick had managed to win the Hunger Games against all odds when he had climbed a tree to escape the flood that washed over the arena. It had come at night so all the careers that were looking for him had drowned overnight, seeing as he was the only non career tribute left alive he had won by default. Nick would be entered into anymore reapings as a result of this and their older sister Jen was now 19 so wasn’t eligible. However Matt was still in the reaping. Lots of times. They had all taken lots of tesserae in the past few years so Matt had built up about 25 slips of paper with is name on it. The odds weren’t in his favour and the brothers both knew it, the weight of this had been hanging heavily over the whole family for a while now, but was almost unbearable so close to the reaping. They all just wanted it to be over for another year.

Chapter 9: District 9

A sandy haired boy of about 16 was cutting Barley in the large field with a scythe. He was of average build and quite stocky due to his work in the fields. As he harvested he was singing quietly to himself. “You’re really good at that. They singing I mean. But umm you’re a pretty good harvester too.” Said the mousy 15 year old behind him. “Jesus Bonnie you scared me.”

“Dylan Saunders don’t you dare use the lord’s name, well his son’s name, in vain”.

Both Bonnie and Dylan were fairly well known in the district. Bonnie’s dad was the priest of the district and their whole family was very religious, this tended to annoy the people of the district because most of the people were starving whilst the Gruesen family were well fed, particularly as they liked to preach that everyone was given their status by God and that being his loyal servant would change their fate. Dylan often worked on the harvest with Bonnie and found that she was pleasant enough to talk to but she could be really patronising. She would often rant about how she couldn’t find a luxury item or how she hated having to sit next to the poor children in class. Dylan found this particularly distressing as he was unable to go to school because his family needed him to work. His family was one of the poorest in the District and District 9 was one that suffered much hardship. Dylan had 2 brothers and all three of them would be in the reaping this year, he had taken as much tesserae as he could and made sure that his younger brothers took as little as possible but they were still on too many slips for 12 and 14 years old. He was in 35 times, the one upside to this was that many other families were in the same position and whilst the odds certainly weren’t in his favour he could classed as average.

“Dylan are you even listening to me? Honestly, your prospects are low enough as it is how do you ever expect to make anything of yourself if you can’t even pay attention for long enough to hold a simple conversation?”
Dylan sighed to himself; he had a long night ahead of him. “Oh well” he thought “at least if I get reaped tomorrow I won’t have to put up with her well meaning bigotry anymore.”

Chapter 10: District 10

Notes:

Quick warning for some homophobic behavior in this chapter, I don't think it's anything too extreme but warnings just in case

A girl with huge blue eyes looked out of her window at the lithe 17 year old wrangling cattle. The boy was very skinny but had some muscle definition as he closed the gate on the cattle pen. The hot summer sun was going down and the boy, Brian, wiped the sweat off his forehead with his discarded shirt. Jaime Lyn Beatty was 14 and had just started to discover boys, and at the moment the brunette in the field was looking particularly attractive. She sighed to herself, she was the mayor’s daughter she had better things to with her time than stare at half naked men, “besides” she thought to herself “he’s gay, everyone knows that, if he hadn’t said it himself, the brand on his shoulder said it anyway.” As she watched a group of young men in their early twenties walked past and hurled rocks at the boy. Most of them missed but one hit his temple and caused a gash. As Jaime rushed outside he fell to the ground. Never had she been gladder that she had stayed with the local healer when her father was away on business. She knew exactly what to do to help him. Her minor medical skills told her to bring him inside and to clean and seal the wound. It wasn’t pretty but it would stop it getting infected, blood poisoning was almost a death sentence that close to the brain, especially in a poor district such as 10. The boy stirred and she quickly rushed to help him up and offer him a glass of water. He quickly protested and rushed off back to work despite her telling him to rest.

***Change POV***

Brian jogged over to the second barn he was supposed to be working on. His head was killing him and he felt slightly woozy but he knew that if he didn’t have all the cows in by sundown he would be flogged by the ranch owner. This was a harsh punishment and he was already on low wages because his family couldn’t get decent work since he had come out, but he couldn’t do anything. He kept strong and stood up for any really unjust rules, he knew he couldn’t win every battle on his own and only fought the most important. He already had a few people who had stood up in support in him and even fewer who had told him that they weren’t straight either, but the peacekeepers in 10 were harsh and they were fighting a losing battle. Brian let his mind wander as he put away the last of his cattle, tomorrow was the reaping. His name was on 21 pieces of paper. He hadn’t needed to take tesserae until he turned 14, when he came out, and there were only the 3 of them in his family, this was a fairly low amount for his district, but everything seemed to be going wrong recently so sod’s law of course he would be reaped for the quarter quell. This was the last thing he remembered thinking before he got home and was accosted by his concerned mother asking about his head. Actually now he thought about it he was feeling really rather light headed, maybe he should just sleep it off.

Chapter 11: District 11

Notes:

Another really short chapter even by my standards, sorry.

A blonde girl of average height and build was hanging upside down from a tree branch, chatting to the boy with fairly long brown hair. Eventually the girl dropped from the tree and tugged on the boys curls.
“Jeff, we need to talk.”

“Crap, that’s never a good sign.”

“No, there’s nothing wrong, it’s just the reaping tomorrow, and well you know the odds aren’t exactly in our favour.”

“Hey, don’t worry. I’m strong from all that work in the grain barns. Hauling 50 pound bags of flour tends to develop your muscles. And you can run across the orchard and up a tree faster than anyone I’ve ever met, and do it with a 30 pound sack of apple on your back.”

“That’s not enough Jeff. You’re 18, you’re name’s in what 63 times this year, and mine’s in 35, and I’ve got another two years after this.”

“Hey Denise, you’ll be fine there’s other girls with their name in more times than you, and you’re the most popular girl in the district, someone will volunteer for you.” The boy said as he stroked her hair gently. The two sat in silence until the sun began to set.
“Come on Dee, let’s get you home before your parents get worried, or the peacekeepers catch us.” Said Jeff as he took her hand and walked her silently home, both dreading the next day, but unwilling to admit it to the other.

Chapter 12: District 12

Notes:

Not a Happy chapter this one. Warnings for Homophobia, Rape, Violence, possible warnings for anorexia.

A teen with brown hair limped through the dark streets of District 12’s merchant quarters. The boy looked to be about 17 but looked gaunt and haggard. He was quite short for his age, about the same height and the boys two or three years younger than him, and very thin. His cheekbones stood out, highlighted by the cut that ran across one of them. The boy had a haunted look in his eyes, like he had seen too many horrors. This was because he had. Despite coming from a wealthy family, Brain had had what was perhaps the hardest life of anyone in District 12 for a long time. As the bell struck nine the boy broke into a jog wincing with every step. He had just come back from a very unpleasant meeting with the peacekeepers, if he was caught out after curfew he would definitely be flogged, and his back still wasn’t properly healed from his last whipping three days ago. He was lucky his mother was a healer and had trained him to follow in her footsteps. Brian stumbled on his way into the house, he was exhausted, last night he had been called out at three in the morning to help with a complicated birth, mother and baby were both okay now thankfully, after his he had about half an hour before he had to help his father restock their shop, then on the way home from work, about four hours ago now, one of the peacekeepers had cornered him and dragged him off for a quick “session”, well one peacekeeper turned into many and he had left the peacekeeper dorms a mere twenty minutes ago.

Brian knew this harsh treatment was because he was gay. The floggings had lessened when he started servicing the peacekeepers, whilst he may not have been willing; it generally helped his health, due to the lessened beatings. Rather stupidly Brian had decided that it would be a good idea to start campaigning for LGBTQ rights as more and more people began coming to him for advice. The peacekeepers would flog Brian for every meeting they found, which admittedly wasn’t many as he held them most nights, but it was enough to have a significant effect.

Brian was slightly looking forwards to tomorrows reaping. Despite his families’ wealth his name was in the reaping 33 times, instead of the expected 6. He had seen the desperate poverty some in his district lived in and had decided to sign up for as much tesserae as he could and give it to those who needed it most, usually those who had lost a parent in a mine accident and had no children old enough to take tesserae for themselves. Brian was looking forwards to the reaping because he almost wanted to get reaped. He was having a particularly low day when he just wanted anything other than his life, and he felt that the quarter quell, would serve the highest chance of survival for him. This was a feeling that would probably disappear overnight, but first he had to pass his mothers medical examination.

Chapter 13: The announcement

A quiet buzz had settled over the entirety of Panem. Today was the day of the reaping and not just any old reaping, today was the 4th quarter quell, the first since the uprising. Across the nation children aged 12 to 18 were lining up in their district squares. A live video feed was set up showing President Murphy, head of the G.L.E.E, the government that had made a twisted abomination of Panem, again. The President was as always dressed entirely in red, unlike many resident of the capitol he wasn’t wearing garish make up, only enough to highlight his most prominent features and making him look imposing and terrifying. Once President Murphy had received confirmation that everyone was present in the squares, he took out and aged envelope and read the message on the card. “As a sign that we can only become our best when we all work together in harmony, this year’s tributes will compete in these games with a sense of unity.” Everyone was murmuring in confusion, “How are we supposed to COMPETE in unity, that doesn’t make any sense?” The President continued,

“The tributes will spend six weeks before the games, living and training together, also the games this year have a time limit. If numerous tributes survive a month in the arena then they will all be heralded as victors, as proof that we thrive in unity.” A loud exclamation had risen from all the crows at that. Many of the poorer districts, were excited as there was a greater chance of survival, however the career districts were horrified as they would have to share the glory of another victor. As a hush fell over the country again the President continued “Obviously, if only one tribute is left before the deadline then they shall be crowned the sole victor at the moment when they become that last man or woman standing. Another term stated on the card is that this year no one may volunteer to take the place of another tribute; the one whose name is selected must be the one to compete in the games. Since the tributes will all be living together they will each be allowed to take a few items of clothing and one luxury item with them, as long as it cannot be obviously used as a weapon. Happy Hunger Games, and May the odds be ever in your favour.”

The silence that had fallen was immediately broken in the career districts as they all expressed their fury over not being able to volunteer. There were many instanced of peacekeepers having to intervene to try and control the crowds. The silence remained in the other districts; they never had any volunteers so this rule didn’t affect them really. No one but the selected tributes were paying much attention to the rules about luxury items.

Notes:

The next post will be a long one so it might be a while before it goes up so please bear with me.

Chapter 14: The Reaping

Notes:

Some more warnings for this chapter: Homophobia; References to panic attacks/anxiety; me butchering starkid songs.

District 1

The district’s escort walked on stage, Eric Kahn Gale was cheerful as ever in his smart dress suit in a tasteful yet reserved black. “Okay guys, here we go again, now wasn’t that a lovely speech, such an interesting twist this year. Okay, so on to the bit you’re all waiting for. Ladies first shall we.” The crowd fully quieted as Eric dipped his hand into the bowl, selected a card and read out the first name “Devin Lytle, up you com now don’t be afraid.” There were a few murmurs of dissent and Devin flounced up to the stage in her best dress, a pale pink number that complimented her skin tone nicely, a few weren’t happy that their heartthrob was selected at such a young age, after all she was talented but 14 was far too young for a district 1 tribute. Eric began speaking again “My, what a pretty young thing you are. Now without further ado, we must move on to the boys. Which strapping young lad will represent us this year...Jim Povolo.” There were more murmurings in the crowd this time, it wasn’t surprising that Jim had been picked everyone knew he had his names in more times that anyone else, not like Devin who only had her name in 3 times. “Gosh, you are tall” said Eric once Jim was up on stage “I wouldn’t want to be facing you in the arena, that’s for sure.”

 

The tributes were then hurried off stage and into the district’s justice building where they were to have their “last goodbyes”. Devin had her whole family come in and bring her a selection of clothes, none of which were very practical for the arena, so she gave most of them back to her family, keeping a red jumper that her grandmother had knitted before she died. They also bought a selection of luxury items from which Devin selected a locket belonging to her mother which contained a picture of her whole family. Jim’s neighbour appeared with all of his belongings, Jim only owned a few items of clothing that weren’t torn or and threadbare. He had two soft blue shirts and one green. The luxury item was a photograph of his mother that Jim’s dad carried everywhere with him. “Have it I think you should have it. I keep it for luck, but Lord knows it’s not helped him yet, maybe it will do you more good.” Before Jim could formulate a response the kindly old woman was quickly ushered out of the room and Jim was left alone until Eric came to escort them onto thetrain. Last year’s victor Lucas and a victor from a few years previously, Emma, were already on the train.

 

District 2

Once the square was quiet again the escort for District 2 stepped up Nicholas Joseph Strauss-Matathia, was a fairly short, stout man with a black beard and glasses. He was dressed in all black this year. His voice was loud enough that he didn’t need the microphone but he used it anyway. “Ladies and Gentlemen of District 2, and of course any others who may be watching this event, I welcome you to the 100th annual Hunger Games of Panem, Let the games begin, and may the odds be ever in your favour. First up as always are the ladies... Lauren Lopez.” The crowd parted and it took the cameras a while to find the small girl. She was already walking up to the stage with a spring in her step by the time they had found her. She was warmly greeted by Nick as he like to be called, before he steeped up to select the male tribute. Joe had gone numb when Lauren’s name was called out. Sure she had the best chance of surviving out of all of them, especially if the careers didn’t have to kill each other off to all be crowned victor, sure many of them would want to, but she would be fine. He couldn’t think like that or he’d never make it through the next two and a half months. Joe was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t heard the next name being called out. “Joseph Walker. Come on don’t be shy now. This is district 2; you don’t want to let the side down.” Joe bounded up to the stage with a huge (fake) smile on his face before cracking some joke about Lauren’s height, earning him a smack on the arm from Lauren and a laugh from Nick and the audience.

 

Once the ceremony was over they were moved to the justice building were their families were already waiting. Joe’s mother rushed over to him with a bundle of clothes, including his glasses and favourite hat. His luxury item was his grandfather’s watch. “Thanks mum, you’re the best” was his response before he rushed over to give his older brother a quick hug before they both regained their posture and began teasing each other as usual. Lauren was having a slightly more subdued meeting with her family. They had bought her ballet shoes as a luxury item, and Lauren was happy as they were her most treasured possession but she wanted a memento of her family, as she had never been away from them for even a night. All too soon the two were bundled onto the train, were they quickly retired to their room to discuss the day, after saying hello to their mentors Juno and Kane.

 

District 3

The escort for District 3 walked on stage after the announcement with a big grin on his face. Clark Baxtresser always seemed down to earth for a citizen of the capitol. He also genuinely cared for the members of his district and spent a few months every year living in the Victor’s Village. The tanned man stepped up the microphone “Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, now seems like the perfect time to draw the names.” Clark stepped up to the left hand bowl and fished around for a name “Arielle Goldman, up you come now.” A small girl of about 14 slowly walked up to the stage. Once she was on stage Clark went straight over the other bowl. After fishing around for a while he read out the name “Joseph Moses”. Joe felt numb. He knew the odds of him being reaped and shouldn’t have been surprised he knew, but there was still some part of him that thought it would all be fine and he wouldn’t be reaped. He distantly heard a shout and felt one of his brothers run over and hug him, before being taken away by a peacekeeper. By the time Joe had reached the stage he had regained his senses, he could see his mother crying in the crowd whilst his father embraced her. He followed the instructions given by Clark almost on autopilot until he was alone in the Justice Building. His family ran into the room Joe’s youngest brother Benjamin was clutching Joe’s work kit. He doubted that he would be allowed the whole thing but any of the items would give him an advantage in the arena. One of the peacekeepers stepped forwards to tell them that the toolkit wasn’t allowed and that he could indeed only take one item with him. Joe took his tablet as he knew what he could do with it knew what havoc he could cause with it, besides if the game makers saw what he could do with other equipment they might put it in the cornucopia. All too soon it was time for his family to leave, so all his clothes and tablet were handed over and he was ushered on to the train. His mentors were talking amonst themselves so Joe just stared at Clarks luminous teeth and thought about all he was leaving behind, probably forever.

 

District 4

Once the hubbub of the announcement was over Pierce Siebers the escort for District 4 hurried on stage and went straight to the bowl of female names, he never was one for many words and the citizens appreciated that during the reaping, they all wanted it to over with as soon as possible. “Meredith Stepien” the sixteen year old strolled up on stage as confident as ever smiling at the crowd acting as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Joey knew otherwise. Pierce immediately went over to the other bowl “Joseph Richter”. Joey was only able to focus on Meredith as he walked up to the stage, the look of horror she was trying to hide showed what they both knew to be true. I was unlikely that Meredith would have been picked and now they both had to try and survive, normally an impossible task, this year it was possible just tricky. One look at each other when they were both on stage said that they were both going to get through this no matter what.

 

Meredith's goodbyes were sad but confident, everyone knew that she would be a fine tribute and would have a high chance of winning any year, so no one was too upset as they handed over a selection of her clothes and her Bongos. Her father wasn’t happy about this, he thought it was a stupid hobby and useless in the arena but he knew that it would make his Merebear happy. Besides, she was a Stepien, she could make a fishing rod out of anything, he knew that Meredith would make him proud. Joey’s goodbyes were a little more tearful, he wasn’t sure he could survive, even if everyone else said otherwise. He would work on a way to use his strength and charisma to win this year. Like all tributes Joey got a selection of clothes and his prized possession. It was his and Meredith’s favourite book, the complete works of Tolkein. The book was huge and weighed a tonne, it could probably kill someone if dropped for a great enough height, “Not that I’ll tell anyone that” thought as he got on the train, he wasn’t going to have his book taken off him.

 

District 5

Kate Spelman the escort for District 5 somehow managed to glide onto the stage as gracefully as ever. It was rumoured that before becoming an escort she was a dancer. The reaping got underway quickly and soon the first name was announced “Ali Gordon” A skinny girl of 13 walked up to the stage, she was very tall for her age. She was well known as the daughter of the village grocers. She was very quiet and didn’t cry, you could see she wanted to but was trying to look brave for the cameras. All too soon it was time for the male tribute to be selected, despite knowing that the odds were sort of in his favour Brant’s stomach twisted, he wasn’t sure he could survive this, what would his family do? Brant was broken out of his reverie as the microphone squealed. “Brant Cox”, Brant’s stomach sank, he was in a dream like state as he walked up to the stage. All he could think was that he would surely let his family down. What felt like seconds later Brant was greeted by his family as they rushed into the room he was being kept in. He was given his favourite clothes including the soft blue and white striped shirt that his oldest brother had given him when he turned 15. His luxury item was a locket with two family photos. It was simple wood on a string and their father had made it for when his children were first entered into the reaping, every year the tributes were allowed a token, a small piece of jewellery that the game makers checked for concealed weapons, just because the rules were slightly different this year didn’nt mean a different token would be used. Far too quickly the two tribute were ushered onto a train heading towards the capitol. They were fed and told to relax for a few hours before they would watch the reapings in the rest of the districts. Brant tried to get a few hours sleep but couldn’t so he had a shower in one of the fancy capitol showers with far too many buttons. He came out smelling faintly of lemons, which wasn’t too bad but it reminded him of his grandma. She always used to smell like lemons. He put on his brother’s shirt and cried whilst he waited for Kate to come and fetch him.

 

District 6

Chris was reeling after the announcement. What if Isaac’s name was called, he wouldn’t be able to volunteer for him, Archie would be distraught. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he missed the opening speech given by Max Evrard. He came to his senses just in time to hear the female tribute’s name being called “Julia Albain” a fairly short girl of 16 walked onto the stage. She was obviously well fed and was wearing a dark blue dress that looked like it would cost enough to feed Chris’s family for a month. She was obviously shocked to have her name called but quickly put on a steely mask that showed no emotion, she would just do what she had to and wouldn’t give up without a fight. Chris thought that district 6 might have her as a winner just because she wouldn’t let the weather kill her. “Christopher Allen” Chris was broken out of his reverie by his name being called. He distantly heard his mother sobbing. He knew it was up to him to survive for as long as possible. If he made it long enough they would invite his family to the capitol for interviews, they would be able to use that to get more money. Yes he would find a way to help his family, even though he knew it was unlikely that he would survive.

 

Julia said a tearful goodbye to her family. They had brought her new clothes so she could make an impression in the capitol, they couldn’t their outlandish fashion choices, but they could at least make sure their daughter didn’t look like a street urchin. For her luxury item she had her organiser. It was electric and stored all of the information she could ever need. Even if she didn’t need to organise anything (it was already organised by the game makers) it helped her to relax. Soon she was being herded onto the train; she got a good look at her fellow tribute. He was older than her; he looked like he was 18. He was painfully thin; she could see the outline of all his bones. His clothes were too baggy, but too short at the wrists. They were also threadbare and they smelt musty, she remembered his surname Allen. Then she remembered the accident after the storm, a Jacob Allen had died in that. Maybe that was his father, it would explain the ill fitting clothes if he was wearing his fathers.

 

Chris was embraced by his family members one by one as they each handed him a item to take with him. He was given 2 pairs of trousers, patched beyond belief, and 4 threadbare shirts, 3 of which belonged to his father originally, like the he was wearing currently. It was Isaac who handed him his luxury item; it was his father’s journal. The journal contained all they information his Dad knew, everything from house building to cooking. He beamed at Isaac, it was the most useful thing they could have given him, even if he wasn’t allowed to take it into the arena he had 2 months to learn its contents. As he boarded the train he observed his fellow tribute. She was a couple of year his junior. She was evidently well fed; she was a lot shorter than Chris and looked like she would be twice his weight. Then again that wasn’t hard; he weighed about 100 pounds, which for a man who was 5 foot 11 was really not good. It was a miracle that he had even survived this winter. Chris could smell her perfume and decided that she was definitely wealthy, there would be a lot of fuss over this. “Oh well” Chris thought “At least I can work out what she eats and have the same diet as her, that will help, if I have the spare weight to last in the arena.”

 

District 7

Corey Richardson the escort for District 7 walked up on stage. He was a new escort, District 7 didn’t keep escorts for every long they had a habit of remaining completely silent throughout the whole reaping. I didn’t matter if the tribute reaped was a loved one you made no noise. They could make an announcement that there would be no victor and no one would make a noise in front of anyone from the capitol. No one in the district really knew when this tradition had started but now it was almost a joke it was funny watching the escorts squirm. Corey Richardson was no exception; Darren was trying to hold back a laugh at his reaction. Eager to get it over and done with Corey quickly pulled the name of the Female Tribute out of the bowl “Britney Coleman” a dark skinned girl with wild hair sauntered up to the stage. She was very thin and looked slightly menacing, almost psychopathic. She said something to Corey too quietly for the microphones to pick up, but whatever it was must have scared him as he quickly stepped away from her and avoided all eye contact with her. He practically ran over to the bowl of Male names “Darren Criss”, Darren went numb. Despite all his planning he hadn’t really expected to get reaped. He suddenly remembered the announcement, if there were more victors this year then he might be able to come home. He was surprisingly happy about the state of affairs when he got up on stage. As he went to shake hands with the younger tribute he realised that she was the girl he had run into on his way home last night.

 

Darren paced nervously around the room of the Justice Building. As the door opened he ran to hug his brother. “Angus, stay strong. That goes for you too.” He said directing the last part of his statement at his parents “I can do this, numerous victors, longer training time, the odds are in my favour for once.” His family looked unsure but Darren knew his limits, after all stealing paper and carrying trees gives you certain skills useful for surviving the games. All too soon Darren was ushered onto the train carrying his small pile of faded clothes and his prized possession, his battered old guitar. Once he was settled into his room on the train the day’s events began to catch up with him. He picked up his guitar and began to strum it gently and sing

Hey Murphy, You don’t gotta do this.

Let’s revaluate our options, Throw away our old presumptions,

‘Cause really you don’t want to go through this.

I’m really not that special, Your Tributes are only flesh and bone.

The truth is in the end, We’re pretty useless without friends,

In fact we’re alone, Just like now...

but anyhow I spend my time at school, Trying to be this cool guy, I never even asked for.

I don’t have many skills Bend people to my wills, But there’s only so long that can last for.

You’re living off the glory of some stupid children’s story, You had nothing to do with,

You just sat there and got lucky, so level with me buddy.

I can’t defeat thee, So please don’t beat me.

All I can do is sing this song for you

*Gentle humming*

You never asked for these attributes I never asked to be a tribute

 

 

“Man that was a bad rhyme”

 

We both jumped on the band wagon, But all we need is guitar jamming

*Gentle humming*

There was a knock on the door as Darren stopped singing, “That was really good, and I hate to disturb you, but we’re going to eat and watch the reaping of the other districts now.” Said Corey. Darren muttered a response about joining them in a minute and went to put his guitar away. He was glad Corey had waited; he singing had really helped to clear his mind. Even if it was a bit weird to write a song to the President.

 

District 8

District 8’s escort was Nico, his birth name was Nicholas but didn’t like the confusion between him and the escort from District 2. Nico was short and slim, with curly black hair that bounced whenever he moved. This was a lot. He was dressed in a maroon velvet suit Matt noted. “God I’ve really got to stop doing that. I am a playwright and comedian, not a bloody fashion designer.” Thought Matt. “Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour.” Nico finished his customary opening speech. “First up our lovely ladies...Alle-Faye Monka” A short blonde girl of 13 walked shakily up on stage. When on stage she answered all of Nico’s questions quietly and looked tearfully out at the crowd from behind her hair. “Last but not by any means least our handsome young men... Matt Lang” There was a gasp of sympathy from the crowd. Two tributes from the same family in two years was unheard of, particularly the Lang’s. Whilst they might already have one victor from the family all were tiny and looked like a strong breeze would knock them over. This may have happened once or twice in the past. Matt knew what people were thinking as he shakily walked up on stage, there were numerous victors this year and if Nick could win then so could Matt. “I’m 17, I’m at my prime, and if there’s any time to end up in the games it’s now. Multiple victors, Nick won keep focusing on that.” That mantra kept running through Nick’s head as he was escorted up on stage and into the Justice Building.

 

Nick and Jen were both jostling to get through the door at the same time, before their father gave them a shove and they sprawled on the floor. Looking up at Matt from the floor they both handed him some items. Jen had some of the clothes she had made him, it was almost impossible to find clothes to suit his tiny stature. Nick handed him the notebook with all of his script ideas in. He had taken the popular shows released from the archives and was trying to make their plots available to more people. The whole Lang family felt that everyone in Panem should have access to pre-dark-ages culture. This was why Nick had made the Hobbit musical. His father was attempting to get some famous books published again. Once Matt had said his tearful goodbyes he and Nick were both escorted to the train. Nick as the most recent Male victor would be Matt’s mentor. He was both grateful and wary of this, he was grateful to be with his brother, with whom he was incredibly close, and wary because they shared the same knowledge and someone else might be able to impart more knowledge. Matt dismissed the thought quickly knowing that he would have 2 months to train for the games.

 

District 9

Corey Dorris was a tall dark skinned man, in a tight brown suit that was almost the same colour as his skin. The escort for District 9 always had interesting fashion choices, Dylan Saunders smiled to himself as he remembered the red baby grow and dungarees he wore the previous year “If you’ve got the money to spare why spend it on such awful clothing” he thought. Every year Corey said the same speech about the beauty of the valley and the lush rolling hills of District 9. Dylan saw Bonnie Greusen glare at the boy next to him who was whispering the words along with Corey. After far too long Corey moved over to the left hand bowl and took out a name “Miss Bonnie Greusen, up you come now girly don’t be shy” there was a feeling of relief partially due to the girls being safe for another year and partly due to the fact that the Greusen family might become a bit less pious now that their daughter had been reaped. The boys ages between 12 and 18 waited with baited breath as Corey stepped up to the right hand bowl, accompanied by the sound of Bonnie crying “Mister Dylan Saunders you’re our lucky boy this year” Dylan heard a sob off to his left and saw his youngest brother Tobias sobbing in the arms of a friend. That was the moment that Dylan realised what he must do, no matter how bad it felt he must be strong in the presence of his family. He had spent his life looking after them and he wasn’t going to stop now even as he faced the prospect of death himself.

 

Both of Bonnie’s parents were crying as they entered the room clutching each other’s hands. Bonnie rushed over to embrace both her parents as they all sobbed together. A pile of dresses, shirts and skirts were handed over, the Greusen’s believed in tradition and felt that it was inappropriate for females to wear trousers and shorts. Bonnie knew her clothes wouldn’t be very practical but dismissed the thoughts because the capitol usually provided clothes for the tributes to wear in the arena and training. The luxury item Bonnie received was her mother’s gold crucifix, Bonnie had her own but they felt Bonnie needed a piece of her family with her in the Capitol. She said her final emotional goodbyes and tried to wipe away her tears as she boarded the train after Dylan.

 

All 5 members of the Saunders family were squashed into on room of the justice building. Dylan’s items were stacked on a chair in the corner of the room, he had been given all of his few items of clothing with his father’s heavy maroon cloak as his luxury item. He was giving instructions to his family “Ernest you’re the oldest son now, you can starts to get some work, speak to old man Bridger he’ll set you up working the fields on his farm and he’ll pay you good, okay buddy” he said too the sandy haired boy on his right. “Thomas” he said turning to the brunette boy on his left “Keep out of trouble, don’t take the tesserae, try and stop your brother taking too much. You’re smart stay in school as long as you can and get a good job.” He finally turned to the couple clutching at each other as their world was torn apart “You may be grieving but who knows maybe we could have a miracle. Whatever happens keep them safe, don’t lose them as well as me. Keep busy, work as much as you can, do whatever it takes to keep the boys in school they are the future of our family, maybe we can help them make a difference.” They remained in comfortable silence after this grieving in their own way until it was time for the final goodbyes.

 

District 10

Elona Findlay was the escort for district 10, she was a wholly unlikable woman surrounded by rumours. Many people said she had stolen people’s work to get her role and gain some fame wherever she could find it. She was medium height and slim with obnoxiously yellow hair that clumped together like it wasn’t washed often. She was always dressed in revealing brightly coloured outfits. Brian had personally never seen the appeal in her but had heard some of the boys at school saying other vulgar things about her. Across the square Jaime Lyn caught the eye of the boy she helped last night. She had so many questions to ask him but didn’t want to annoy him. “Perhaps if I go over after the reaping under the pretence of asking about his head. Actually it wouldn’t be a pretence, that gash looked even worse in daylight, she couldn’t see any detail from this distance but it didn’t look infected at least just painful.” Thought Jaime Lyn. Soon a silence settled over the crowd as Elona Walked up to the bowl containing the names of the female tributes. “Jaime Lyn Beattie” A gasp went over the crowd as the mayor daughter walked up to the podium, her soft purple dress wafting gently in the warm summer breeze. She felt something wet on her cheek and she wiped it away, she couldn’t cry she had to prove that she w strong enough to survive this, even if the was only 14. Brain studied the girl on the podium, grateful for the painkillers he had taken, a lot of his small wages went of medicine to care for the various injuries he got, he was lucky the district healer likes him and gave him lots for free. Brian suddenly realised that the girl on stage was the girl who helped him last night; she was also the mayor’s daughter. He felt sorry for her she was a good person from what he had heard. “Brian Rosenthal”, Brian was shaken out of his reverie by his name being called. “Brian Rosenthal, up you come, please don’t dawdle” Brian had forgotten to move whilst he was collecting his thoughts. He heard people whispering “Gay. Homo. Scum. Glad he was reaped. One less of his lot in the world is better.” This Brian could deal with and had been for years. He let his hardened shell come into place this time and when he got to the stage he was determined to show everyone that he could take this.

 

Neither Jaime nor Brian could remember much about their goodbyes. Jaime had received a pouch of herbs that smelt like her mother so she would always remember them. Brian had received a squeeze box that had belonged to his grandfather. Brian was very skilled musically he could play guitar, piano and a selection of other basic instruments like tin whistles and squeeze boxes. Brian desperately wished for a piano or guitar to take with him but the piano that had been is his family for years was too big and his guitar had been burned by some local men about a year ago and they hadn’t been able to replace it. Jaime had tried to help Brian with his injury but he had politely declined as he had already been treated by some Capitol medics and was feeling much better already. The 2 tributes, Elona and their 2 mentors Sango Tajima and Carlos Valdes settled down to watch the reaping from the other districts.

 

District 11

If Jeff angled his head just right, yep there it was, he could get a good look at Denise. He caught her eye and flashed his winning smile at her and she gave a feeble smile back. He knew she was always nervous about this. When Denise was 12 her best friend had been reaped and was killed in the initial bloodbath. District 11 had a new escort this year, Mark Swiderski was dressed in what seemed like very casual clothes compared to the usual suits, but the odd fabric of his trousers was unknown to Jeff. Mark gave a short speech with the usual crap about this being a great year and how exciting it all was. “Right, every other district does Ladies first so let’s shake things up a bit and find out which dashing young man will be our first tribute representing District 11 in the fourth Quarter Quell...Jeff Blim”. Jeff wasn’t that shocked, despite his happy go lucky attitude he knew the odds weren’t in his favour, he also felt surprisingly okay about it all. He had been training for this, just in case, when he wasn’t with Dee, he’d also taking acting lessons with her and they could both convince any capitol fool that he was an unstoppable psychopath or a nice guy with a good heart. By this point Jeff and reached the podium without even realising it. Mark shook his hand and quietly, so the microphones couldn’t pick him up said “My condolences, this can’t be good, but honestly you look like you’ve got a better chance than most here” . Jeff responded with an affirmative response too shocked at his escort’s reaction to formulate a proper response. Mark quickly went over to the next bowl “Right so who will be the charming young woman to steal the hearts of the Capitol...Denise Donovan”. The bottom dropped out of Jeff’s world. He quickly found Denise through the parting crowd. When they made eye contact Denise’s expression turned from one of shock to one of steely determination that seemed to say “Hell no. There are numerous victors this year, me and Jeff will be with them no matter what”. “That’s my girl” thought Jeff as his heart swelled with love and pride.

 

To an onlooker the Blim family goodbyes weren’t that emotional. The 6 family members all cared deeply for one another and would do anything to save the rest of the family, they just weren’t one’s for showing their emotions. Jeff had been given a small square of cloth as his luxury item. Jeff teared up slightly as he was handed his, it was a long standing tradition that the male of the family were given one when it was felt they had truly become a man. This was usually on the wedding day, but Jeff received his early both because he may never see his wedding day and because he had become a man when his name was plucked from the bowl. The square was large and colourful; they were passed down from generation to generation, so Jeff had his great grandfather’s. It was still a vibrant red and was to be used for many things, be it a handkerchief, bandana for sun protection or a pocket square ot neck tie for special events. It was a great honour to receive this and Jeff embraced his father as his older brother Marcus rolled and tied the square around his neck. Once this was over they said their final goodbyes and Jeff left to board the train.

 

Denise allowed herself to cry for ten minutes when her family came in, she knew there would be cameras when she left and she was going to show Panem that she was strong and more than capable of beating the arena. Her heartfelt goodbyes included being given an amber ring with a face stamped on it that had been in her family for generations it had been placed on a long piece of string that had obviously been picked up in a rush to say goodbye to Denise. As her mother tied the string round her neck the two younger sisters were sobbing and clutching onto her legs. Denise bend down to their level and looked the twins dead in the eye as she said “I will be back, I won’t leave you.” She swallowed before saying “Even if we don’t meet again in this lifetime we will meet again, whether you believe in the Promised Land or that we’ll be reborn as rabbits, one way or another we will meet again.” She wiped the tears of the girl’s faces, embraced her father for the last time and walked out with the peacekeeper head held high. If she did cry in Jeff’s arms when they were in their rooms on the train, well no one needed to know other than those two.

 

District 12

Brian tried not to wince as he watched Evanna Lynch pranced around the stage in a bright yellow dress. “Yep, definitely bruised a rib or two.” He thought as he took a deep breath. “Ladies and Gentlemen, good fortune to you all, and happy Hunger Games.” This was the cue to the citizens to start paying attention again. “First up the Ladies...Lily Marks.” A small girl of about 14 shakily walked up to the stage. When she brushed her chestnut hair out of her eyes you could clearly see she had been crying. “Alright onto the boys” Brian didn’t like the way she said boys it reminded him of the peacekeeper that had groped him this morning, luckily Brian had to go to the reaping so managed to get away quickly. “Brian Holden” for one moment Brian was shell shocked. Then as he began to make his way to the stage he began to feel relieved he could finally get away from the horrors he faced here, no more beatings and being raped by the peacekeepers. He could also use his interviews to show people the problems in District 12 and start to make a better life for the people he was leaving behind. Without even realising it Brian was taken into a room in the Justice building.

 

When Brian’s parents rushed in, they hugged briefly before Brian began issuing instructions like they knew he would. “You two both have my list don’t you, the ones to look out for” when they both nodded in the affirmative he continued “use Tessa, John C and the Green brothers to check on them when you can’t. If you can afford it give them what I would normally have. Mum they may need your help, with me gone the LGBT community will face even harsher punishments. Most importantly give them advice, or their parents, they will come to you for guidance if you need to, find a way to contact me in the Capitol, but you should be okay, I mean you looked after me.” When Brian stopped to breath his mother stepped in and hugged him to silence him, then in the voice she always used to calm him down “Don’t worry we know what we’re doing, we raised you, and we couldn’t be more proud of that. Now you need to calm down and focus on yourself for once. There can be multiple victors this year and I know you can be one of them. You will be there for two months you can get the best medical help and that, with the training and your already extensive knowledge, will give you the best edge possible.” His father joined the conversation “The most important part of this is you staying strong, no panic attacks, no breakdowns, at least not on camera. If you can find a friend to help you through this they will help you. You will find a friend, you always do, you’re an inherently nice person and you’re funny use this to make allies and get sponsors. We believe in you, we’ll see you in 3 months.” With that they handed over his clothes and his book of survival as he called it. It contained the uses of various flora and fauna and their dangers as well as things like reading the weather and building shelters and fires, the book was created when things began to get bad for Brian in the knowledge that he one day may have to leave. This was also why he helped both parents so he would have physical and mental strength. Before he knew it Brian was on the train racing towards the Capitol.

Chapter 15: On the Trains

Notes:

Another long chapter, I'll try and keep them this length from now on.
WARNINGS: violence, Suicidal thoughts, panic attacks, mentions of homophobia, abusive parents, alcoholism, do old sea shanties count as a warning?

District 1

After a meal where Eric Khan Gale insulted Jim’s manners because he was too quiet, the tributes were sent to have a discussion about talents with Tyler Brunsman their mentor. There was only one which was odd for district 1 as their female mentor had died a few months previously. “So then Jim, you have a large stature, I’m assuming you’ve got some physical talents, maybe you went to the academy?” Asked Tyler.

“No”

“No?”

“No I didn’t go to the academy, No I have very few skills. My father as a drunk who hates me and we barely have enough money to survive. My skills include stealing food from bins and pulling carts of produce to the workshops. Oh and hiding from my abusive father and when I don’t manage to hide I then have to hide the evidence. Does that answer your question?” Jim was practically yelling by the last sentence. There was an uncomfortable silence after Jim’s outburst. Devin having never known the full story went and sat on Jim’s lap and poked him in the nose until he smiled and put his arms around her.

Devin turned to Tyler and said “I was trained in the academy. I’m pretty but deadly. I’m 14, Jim’s 16, I know he looks older. I may be young but I’m 1’s best fighter. I will make the Capitol fall in love, Jim will make them scared. Yes I’m talking about him as well because no matter what you say we will stick together, especially if there can me multiple victors.” After her speech Devin very elegantly got off Jim’s lap and dragged him out of the room with her, before the found Eric again to watch the reaping be broadcasted across the city.”

 

District 2

The meal they shared with Nicolas and their mentor Rachel was very civilised. Joe kept cracking jokes and generally being an all round funny guy. Rachel and Lauren both hit it right off. Throughout the whole meal Joe and Lauren had to try and not act like a couple. “Alright you two, drop the act. I know you are dating I live in 2 don’t I? Act all love dovey if you want to we won’t judge, besides we can play it for the cameras and get more sponsors. Not that your relationship isn’t valid and serious.” Said Rachel, after the tributes as made eye contact for slightly too long for about the fourth time that meal. After the outburst Joe took Lauren’s hand and led her over to the sofa ready to watch the reaping of the other tributes. They had already told Rachel their skills as good fighters, it was the first thing she had asked when she met them.

 

District 3

The meal in the District 3 train was filled with uncomfortable silence. Joe, socially awkward as always had barely spoken even before Arielle had managed to insult Emily Thomas their mentor. After this Clark had decided that alcohol was the only way to diffuse the situation and had drunk half a bottle of some unknown liquor. Joe was itching to get his hands on his toolkit, but that was at home and he wanted to follow his family rule of no electronics at the dinner table so had left his tablet back in his room. Once she had finished her food Emily noticed that Joe was just pushing his food round his plate she took his hand a lead him over to a plush looking armchair. Emily was in her late thirties, being a victor of one of the first games after the peace time, it seemed that she had decided to look after Joe as a mother. She left him curled up in the armchair and went to get a bowl of something cold. He assumed it was ice cream; he’d never had it before. “Go on, trust me you’ll like it. I picked salted caramel and chocolate. It’s my favourite so if you don’t like it I’ll have it.” Joe gingerly tried a bit and once he’d gotten past the tooth hurting phase he decided it was his new favourite food. He tried to eat as much of it as possible in one go, but Emily took it off him “You’re body’s not used to this rich food, you’ll make yourself ill if you eat anymore now.” When she saw the dismayed look in his eyes she said “I’m serious, but we’ll work up to it, you need more meat on your bones anyway.”

By this point Arielle had somehow managed to sober up Clark and they all entered the car to watch the reaping.

 

District 4

The meal in the District 4 train was a loud one. Everyone was getting on due to the sociable mature of the tributes. The meal ended in a food fight after Joey had a glass of Pierce Siebers’ alcohol and had begun to serenade one of their mentors Mary Clare Blake-Booth (She was the one who started the fight by flicking some mashed potato at Joey) Once things had calmed down and the food was eaten they all settled in front of the television and sang traditional sea shanties from the district. Joey and Meredith already knew they had above average singing voices but where surprised by the adults in the car. Mary Clare couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket and Corey’s rich baritone blended well with the two tributes. The biggest surprise was Piers, who not only had a stunning voice but also knew all the traditional songs.

(Piers): Oh, when I was just a little lad, or so my mammy told me,

(All): ‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Piers): That if I did not kiss the girls, My lips would grow all mouldy.

(All): ‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away together,

‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul for better weather,

‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Corey): Oh, once I had an Irish girl, But she grew fat and lazy.

(All): ‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Corey): But now I’ve got a Cornish girl, And she does drive me crazy.

(All): Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away together,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

Away, haul away, We’ll haul for better weather,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Joey): King Louis was the King of France, Before the rev-o-lu-ti-on.

(All): ‘Way, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Joey): King Louis got his head cut off, Which spoiled his con-stit-u-ti-on.

(All): Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away together,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

Away, haul away, We’ll haul for better weather,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

(Joey): Hey can’t you see the black clouds arising.

(Corey): Hey can’t you see the storm clouds a gathering.

(All): Away, haul away, We’ll haul away together,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

Away, haul away, We’ll haul for better weather,

Away, haul away, We’ll haul away Joe.

As the boys sang the last line the anthem and seal of Panem flashed up on the television screen. It was time for the reaping to be televised.

 

District 5 Dinner in the District 5 train was a subdued affair. Brant was still numb. He couldn’t help but think of his family back in district 5 as he waited for Ali to enter the car and the meal to begin. He knew is parents would be sad and watching every moment possible. He hoped his brothers would be watching too but he also knew they had their own lives to live. His eldest brother had just had his first child and his middle brother was planning to propose to his girlfriend. The mumblings of Pat Brady their mentor pushed him out of his thoughts. She was muttering about timekeeping and the rudeness of the youth. Brant didn’t let her comments annoy him, it was well known by the residents of district 5 that she wasn’t a nice person to be around. Her daughter and been reaped for the games a few years ago, on her 12th birthday, and had died in the bloodbath and this had caused her to go mad, and when she came back from the capitol doctors she was no longer mad but still unpleasant to be around. It was then that Ali came in. She stood awkwardly at the door and stammered out an apology and hurried to her seat when Pat turned a glare on her. Bran noticed tear stains on Ali’s cheeks. Brant decided it was best he not pay anyone any attention until it was time for the reaping to be televised around about the time when Kate and Ali began talking about “Women things”. Brant decided that he was going to survive these games so at the very least the next male tribute from district 5 would have someone male to talk to. After the uncomfortable meal they went to watch the reaping.

 

District 6

Chris shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he felt very out of place. Julia and Max had evidently been very well trained in decorum and such. Kaley McMahon and Nick Gage weren’t as posh seeming but Kaley came from a merchant family and after marrying Nick had taught him how to hold his cutlery properly. Chris had no idea what he was doing wrong only that he was getting dirty looks from the others. Chris decided that too much rich food after so long living on a poor diet wasn’t a good idea and put his fork down long before the others were done. Nick leant over and whispered conspiratorially “Don’t worry about the forks I was the same at your age I’ll teach you later. Also good on your portion control, we need to fatten you up but we’ve got time to do it, no sense in making yourself ill.”

After this Chris felt more comfortable and like perhaps Nick would be able to help him survive these games. Once everyone had eaten their fill Max checked his expensive looking watch. It was gold and probably cost more than Chris’ whole family would ever make. “We’ve got a few minutes until the reaping is televised and we don’t want to miss any of it. Follow me into the viewing car and we’ll get settled in. Once they were all settled into their plush armchairs that nearly swallowed Chris’ slight but lanky frame, the anthem and seal of the capitol began to play and the show began.

 

Chapter 7

Darren felt slightly uncomfortable throughout his first meal on the train. He was getting along well with his mentor and escort, Corey had a wicked sense of humour and Lisa Griebel their mentor had a dry wit and an infectious laugh that had the 3 of them in stitches. The only one on the train who didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves was Britney who had kept the stony face she’d worn at the reaping, everyone at the table had tried to get her to join in the conversation to no avail. After a while they had given up trying. When Darren had finished telling his story about the time he had tried to sneak out of the district as a kid and had got snagged on the fence and was left there until nightfall they all left to go and watch the reaping be televised. This was the one time Britney had seemed vaguely happy since the reaping. Darren was struggling to remember the happy awe-struck girl he had ran into near his house only a day ago. He supposed it must be an act, if she stent long enough acting like a career tribute and a bit of a psychopath then maybe she could convince the capitol she was really like that and would get sponsors, something like that anyway. He was distracted from his musings by the tv roaring into life to show the reaping.

 

Chapter 8

Matt was actually enjoying the train ride. It was great to see all the sights his father had seen on his travels in the Peacetime. It also helped that nick was used to some of the capitol luxuries what with his brother having won the last games and all the money and gifts that came with it. The third good thing was that his brother was on the train with him, the two boys were extremely close, closer than most other siblings in district 8. Having Nick there was helping and as the two chatted about ideas for their next production it began to feel like they were at home having dinner. That was until Alle-faye entered the car and began talking a mile a minute about how Nick was going to help them win the games. Matt resigned himself to making small talk with Nico, which wouldn’t have been so bad if his voice was less annoying, until it was time to go and watch the reaping.

 

District 9

As dinner in the train from District 9 progressed the occupants of the dining car were beginning to slowly lose their temper with Bonnie’s piousness. When asked what talents she had that she thought may come in handy in the arena her response was “Well I don’t really have many physical talents and I’ve never really had to test any survival techniques, but I am a devout Christian and I just know that God has something special in store for me and that he’ll make sure I get through this in one piece” Dylan’s response of “if God existed I’m sure he’d have something to say about the ruthless slaughter of 24 innocent teens and preteens every year for no apparent reason” didn’t go down very well but at least it got Bonnie to shut up.

After this the two tributes were silent until they were summoned by their mentor Carlos Valdes who had decided not to eat this meal. Although judging by his gaunt look this wasn’t a rare occurrence. Dylan couldn’t imagine choosing not to eat, there were countless people in each district who would skip a meal today because they simply couldn’t afford it, and that didn’t include those who would eat 3 meals but would still go to bed hungry this evening. They all settled on soft leather couches to watch the reaping.

 

District 10

Jaime Lyn sat demurely at the dining table on the train; her impeccable manners had already gained her compliments from their escort Elona Findley. She could work out whether or not she was excited, obviously the games were a bad thing but there were multiple victors this year and a definite positive was that she had the chance to get closer to Brian. She noticed that Brian had gone very quiet when they had begun discussing the medical check up they would have in the Capitol. Apparently this year they wanted to make sure that all the tributes were in good health when the games started this year. Jaime couldn’t work out why Brian would be so uncomfortable with a medical check up until she remembered that he had been hit with rocks only yesterday, also that the boys throwing the rocks had called the boy “homosexual” whatever that meant maybe it was a medical condition that he was ashamed of. Jaime decided that it would be best to change the topic of conversation as soon as possible, and when she had the escort Elona and the mentor Alex engaged in a funny story her dad had told her Brian shot her a grateful look. After this the meal ended fairly swiftly and they all settled down on plush cushions on the floor to watch the reaping.

 

District 11

Jeff and Denise hadn’t actually met their mentor yet, as soon as they were on the train they both went to Jeff’s room and hadn’t left. The fact that they were in the games was just beginning to sink in and neither wanted to let the other go. They were currently lying on Jeff’s bed legs and arms intertwined. There was a soft knock on the door and Mark Swindersky entered cautiously. When he saw them on the bed together he shot them a huge grin and said “Tell me you’re decent, I really don’t want to see either of you naked. Come on I know you might not feel like it but you need to eat, at least so you survive the games. Five minutes and I want to see you in the dining car.” With that he left the two to it.Begrudgingly and with a lot of moaning they dragged themselves out of bed and into the dining car dressed in shiny new capitol clothes, Denise in a navy blue jumpsuit and Jeff in lots of black fabric.

When Jeff and Denise walked into the dining car Grant Anderson and Mark Swiderski were deep in conversation about Capitol fashion. Once the two teens were sat at the table and the Avoxes began serving them the two men looked up, they seemed particularly happy with what Jeff was wearing. “Your designer for the Games is Chuck Criss and he’s particularly well known for having surprising designs, this year he’s got you in very casual clothes, actually quite similar to what you’re wearing now, I think you should be able to pull it off, yet another bonus for District 11 this year.” Said Grant talking a mile a minute. Soon the conversation moved onto skills and the fact that both tributes had quite a bit of upper body strength and Denise was very quick. The musical prowess of the teens didn’t go unnoticed either and the mentor decided that it would be best for them to get instruments for one of the many interviews they would face in the upcoming months. Soon Mark began to get fidgety and ushered them all into the adjoining car to watch the reaping be televised.

 

District 12

Brian Holden looked down at the red dripping onto the white sink in his bathroom. “Shit” he said “Shit, Shit ,Shit.” He really hadn’t meant to do that, he already had enough scarring to try and hide from the prep team. He placed the bloody blade on the side of the sink and began to frantically rummage through the cabinets until he found a first aid kit. He took out a bandage and wrapped it around his right forearm. He washed up the sink and put the blade at the back of the cupboard on the top shelf so he wouldn’t be tempted by it again. When this was done he sank down against the wall in the room with his head in his hands. “I didn’t mean to. I was going to s-s-stop.” He said to no one sobbing “I was just. S-s-so much shit’s h-h-happened this w-week a-and I j-j-just needed to let go. G-get it all out. I’m sorry” he said. The door to his room opened quietly and soon there was a pair of warm arms around him. Teia Smith, his mentor was there. “One of the avoxes heard you crying and came to get me” she said, “I know this seems like the end of the world but it’s not you can get through this, you’ve got me, and I’ve seen you around the District, you’ll win over the capitol in no time.”

“But what about, you know”

“Your sexuality? What about it? It’s not a crime to be a homosexual, it’s even widely accepted in the capitol, besides it’s no one’s business but your own if you don’t want to tell them don’t”

“But if it’s not a crime, why do I get flogged for it?”

“Because people are ignorant and scared. The peacekeepers like violence and the people in the district are scared. They need all the help they can get but it’s not coming and you have food and money, but most importantly you’re different and that’s all they need to justify not intervening and making their lives easier, now you need to show the capitol what’s going on in 12, but first you need to wash your face and haul your ass out to the dining car and at least have a conversation.”

“I’m not hungry, I don’t want to eat”

“Great, good for you, but suck it up you’ve got to eat to live”

“But what if I don’t want to live” said Brian in a small voice as she left the room.

Soon Brian got up off the floor and splashed some water on his face, put on his favourite jumper the one that came down to the middle of his hands and hid his arms, and went to face the food in the dining car. He was quiet all meal politely answering questions when asked and laughing in the right places but he felt none of it. He only had a small plate of rice and beans, he knew he should eat more but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. “I’m really going to shit now aren’t I” he thought “I thought I’d got over my anorexia but evidently not”. The meal continued with quiet chatter and soon Brian began to feel more and more at ease and began acting like his usual goofy self, the kind of person he was before he came out and everyone turned against him. All too soon it was time for them all to go and watch the reaping be televised, and all four of them settles down on to plush leather sofas.

Notes:

The song sung by the district 4 people is 'Haul away Joe' a traditional sea shanty, the version mine is based on is the one sung by the Fisherman's Friends this is a link to a youtube video of them singing it www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV0tA2qDaQI

Chapter 16: The Commentary

Notes:

Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of abusive parents and self harm, and lots of speculation for the commentators for the games.

The capitol anthem and seal faded out and a hush fell over panem. Everyone was in there homes or in the town square watching to see the tributes for the Quarter Quell. The screen cut to a shot of the commentators for the games A J Holmes and Richard Campbell. A J Holmes was dressed in a vibrant red suit that sparkled and Richard Campbell was dressed in a pair of black robes.

A J: “Hello Ladies, Gentlemen and Children, Welcome to the 100th annual hunger games.”

Richard: “We’ve got a real treat this year, the 4th Quarter Quell, the first since the revolution, and the first many of us have ever experienced."

A J: “Yes and I have it on good authority that this year will be the best hunger games yet. I’m sure many of you have been keeping up to date with the previous Quarter Quells that we’ve been showing over the past weeks, but for those of you who haven’t here’s a recap of some of our favourite moments.”

 

With that clips of the past Quarter Quells were shown with running commentary from Richard and A J, much of the 3rd Quarter Quell was skipped over especially the beginning of the revolution. After about an hour the tributes were beginning to yawn, the day had been a long one and many of them just wanted it to be over already. “Christ on a bike, do we really need to see this again it’s been live every night this week” sighed Brian (Holden).

“Urgh, this again, They do this every week at the academy.” Moaned Devin.

 

A J: “Now enough dwelling in the past, onto the present, Richard would you do the honours.”

Richard: “Indeed A J, starting as ever with District 1, our two tributes the stunning Devin Lytle and the intimidating Jim Povolo. Devin looks like our typical District 1 tribute, tributes from this district tend to do well in the Games usually.”

A J: “They do indeed Richard, however their male tribute, tall as he may be, appears really rather scrawny. Tributes will have full medical check overs and tailored nutrition plans to give them the best chance in these games, after all this year is about survivial not competition.”

 

 

At the mention of medical checks both Brians and Jim had paled, they all had marks they weren’t willing to show to others, especially if their results were going to be told on national television. Jim’s dad wouldn’t care but he hated the looks he got from others in his district as it was, this would only make it worse, who wanted everyone they knew and a load of strangers to know that their dad beat them senseless every other week. Brian Rosenthal didn’t want to bring more shame on his family if they saw the cuts on his body both those inflicted by himself and others, both were signs of weakness. Brian Holden had managed to keep his parents unaware of his self harm, no mean feat given the fact that his mother would give him medical treatment every time he came back from the peacekeepers, although he supposed that he had been taking over much of his medical care as he grew more and more desperate, and if he could convince them that his anorexia was just a philanthropic gesture then maybe it wasn’t so surprising.

 

 

Richard: “So A J what do you think of the district 2 tributes?”

A J: “Well these two certainly look like what you’d expect from District 2, the boy is a fine example of physical fitness although the girl looks very small.”

Richard: “Yes but you hear the boy making jokes about her height I think she may be a similar age to him.”

A J: “Well whatever the debate about age I’m sure they’ll be excellent tributes that’s Joseph Walker and Lauren Lopez from district 2. Next up we’ll take a look at the tributes from District 3.”

Richard: “Yes first up we have another Joseph, this time a Mr Joseph Moses he seems rather like your average District 3 tribute and looks maybe about 13, looks like a good strong wind could knock him over, I’m not so confident about his chances.”

A J: “Ah yes but what about the girl, a Miss Arielle Goldman.”

Richard: “Another small one, she appears to be around the same height as Joe but a tad taller, who knows really, it’s so hard to tell ages from these cameras.”

A J: “Indeed they are Richard indeed they are. Now next up are two strapping contestants from District 4, a Meredith Stepien and Mr Joseph Richter.”

Richard: “Another Joseph, this one certainly is a popular name.”

A J: “It certainly appears to be so however I can’t see any more on my sheet so we shouldn’t have too much trouble remembering them. This year’s female tribute from 4 seems like the prime example of a tribute from one of the wealthier districts: mature, confident and healthy. The male tribute Joey certainly looks well on his way there and looks as though he could be rather tall but he’s another young one.”

Richard: “Right District 5 now, the Power plant workers. This year’s male tribute Brant Cox seems to be in good health, I don’t know what I can say about his physical prowess and given his district it’s likely to be limited, but at least he looks well fed and maybe that’ll be enough this year. We can see Ali Gordon his companion trying to put on a brave face for the cameras, no mean feat for someone of her age being reaped. Nothing special to say about the tributes from District 5 in my opinion.”

A J: “I would agree with you there Richard let’s see if District 6 is the same story. First up we have Chris Allen one of the oldest competitors this year, he is painfully thin, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone look that malnourished, the Doctors may have their work cut out for them trying to get him fit enough to survive the games.”

Richard: “Yes A J but to have survived in such adverse conditions he must have lots of fight in him and maybe that and the expert care he will receive in the capitol will just tip the odd in his favour this year.”

A J: “If it were a normal year I’d be inclined to disagree with you Richard but you’re right, this is the Quarter Quell, who knows what will happen. Tell me Richard what do you think of the other tribute from District 6?”

Richard: “She certainly seems determined to win, and looks in much better shape than Chris. I have a good feeling about her, let’s hope the odds are in her favour as well this year. Now I’m curious about District 7 they have interesting tributes this year.”

A J: “Interesting? How?”

Richard: “Well I for one wouldn’t want to run into Britney Coleman, their female tribute, in the games, she looks vicious and the District 7 tributes tend to know their way around an axe.”

A J: “I agree with you there, but the whole District seems a bit like that, I’ve always found their silence during the reapings to be rather unnerving, it always set me on edge. Their male tribute, Darren Criss, he seems to be cut of a different cloth though, a charming young fellow by all means, looks like he has some physical prowess and to top it all off he’s a rather handsome fellow. Now I must say the male tribute for District 8 is a real treat. On a normal year I’d brush him off, however this year is a Quarter Quell and I said the same thing about his brother last year.”

Richard: “Matt Lang? I thought I recognised the Surname from somewhere, last year’s victor was the male tribute from District 8, Nick Lang, this year’s brother, what a turn of events, the last time we had a victors blood it did end badly though.”

A J: “Yes, I believe they sadly died, during the bloodbath at the cornucopia, hopefully the same fate won’t befall Nick Lang.”

Richard: “Yes lets hope so. I feel rather mean saying it but Alle-Faye Monka, 8’s female tribute, doesn’t seem up to much, it’s always the young ones that are so heart wrenching.”

A J: “I agree Richard, so much potential wasted on an early death. But enough depressing thoughts this is a Game, and our next contestants, a Miss Bonnie Gruesen and a Mr Dylan Saunders, appear to be quite the pair. I wouldn’t say there’s outright hostility between the two but there’s definitely something negative between the pair. What do you think Richard?”

Richard: “Bonnie appears average, well fed, but I’m not sensing any really physical skill, Dylan on the other hand looks like he comes from one of the poorer families in the district, not a bad thing mind you they have so much grit and determination and it’s nice to be able to show them some luxuries, but he looks like he’s used to working hard and maybe that’ll provide him with some useful physical attributes.”

A J: “Indeed, say Richard what do you make to the reaping in 10. The crowd appears rather heated when their male tribute a Brian Rosenthal gets reaped.”

Richard: “Yes it’s tricky to hear what the crowd is saying but I’ve heard some definite homophobic slurs, it seems likely to me that the boy may be gay, the outlying districts in particular tend to be rather against that. The boy seems rather slim and appears to have a head wound of some kind, I’ve heard that’s often a sign of mistreatment form the districts people being ostracized. The question is A J is will this treatment, if real, cause him to be weaker in the games due to reduced health or will the drive to fight and show the citizens of his district how strong he is win over?

A J: “Indeed that is a good question Richard, one however I feel we may not be able to answer for a while. Now I would like t discuss District 10’s female tribute, Jaime Lyn Beatty, the girl is young and looks like she’s led a fairly sheltered life, however there’s something about her, a spark and some spunk, that has me questioning if we will have our youngest victor since Finnick Odair way back before the revolution.”

Richard: “The time is upon us to move onto District 11 now this district is an interesting one, note how their escort Mark Swiderski whispers to each of them when they go up on stage, it’s nice that he tries to get to know his tributes and earn their trust like that.”

A J: “I agree, however what I find more interesting is the look on Jeff Blim’s face when Denise Donovan’s name is called, could this be another case of star crossed lovers will the two from 11 both make it out this year. Finally we move on to District 12, the poorest and least successful district of all having had only their fourth victor of all time win three years ago, could the future be looking bright for either of the tributes from District 12?”

Richard: “Another young girl for 12, there seems to be so many this year, perhaps it’s the fact that no volunteers are allowed this year to enter older tributes. The girl does look like she had a bit of fight about her, and the male Tribute this year he looks interesting don’t you think A J?”

A J: “Yes I’ve never seen anyone look quite so relieved to have been reaped for the Hunger Games especially a Quarter Quell.”

Richard: “Ah yes A J, but did you notice the unnatural way he holds himself and the winces he’s trying to hide, to me that says he’s suffering at least physically and probably mentally, maybe he really is relieved to get out of an unbearable situation.”

A J: “Yes and he’s another unhealthy looking tribute but his clothes look more like those of the slightly richer merchant citizens, perhaps there’s an underlying issue there too?”

Richard: “Right that’s all we’ve got time for tonight, tune in the rest of this week for more on the 100th annual Hunger Games.”

A J: “That’s right, I’m A J Homes, he’s Richard Campbell, and we’re your one-stop-shop for all things Quarter Quell, see you tomorrow, good night.”

 

With that the anthem and seal of Panem played and the screens faded to black. In the Districts the parents of the tributes fretted over what speculation may occur both about them and their children and how this would affect their chances in the arena. In the cars the tributes worried about what the capitol would make of them, what their parents would think (particularly Chris, Jim and the Brians), and how this would affect them. All the while the escorts and mentors fussed over how they would pay this for the capitol and how they would get more sponsors.

Chapter 17: Character Profiles

Summary:

Profiles for all the characters in this fic.
WARNINGS: Mentions of all the following: Rape/Non con, anorexia, self-harm, Homophobic actions, childhood bullying, disabled relatives, dead relatives, drunk and abusive parent. none of them are in any detail just notes about characters backstories.

District 1:

Male:

Name: Jim Povolo
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, Fairly Long dark hair, Green eyes, wears glasses.
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 143 lbs
BMI: 17.4 (Underweight)
Favourite colour: Swamp
Favourite animal: Fox
Other: Dead mother, drunk father who blames him for his mother’s death, social outcast, only firend is Devin Lytle, can be very intimidating, vegan diet.

Female:

Name: Devin Lytle
Age: 14
Features: Caucasian, long dark hair, brown eyes.
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 135 lbs
BMI: 19.9 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite colour: Pink
Favourite animal: Frog
Other: Very popular, reasonably wealthy family, perfect career tribute, only true friend Jim Povolo, can be very threatening or unassuming, darling of the District.

District 2

Male:

Name: Joe Walker
Age: 16
Features: Scandinavian, Short fair hair, blue eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 180lbs
BMI: 25.1 (Overweight, just)
Favourite colour: Water blue
Favourite animal: Duck
Other: Perfect career Tribute, dating Lauren Lopez, very threatening and intimidating, secret passion for dancing, family pride, especially close to his grandfather, good family relations.

 

 

Female:

Name: Lauren Lopez
Age: 17
Features: Hispanic, long brown hair, brown eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’0”
Weight: 112 lbs
BMI: 22 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite colour: Sparkle
Favourite animal: Unicorn
Other: Perfect career Tribute, baby of the district, , very skilled dancer and gymnast, easily fools people, dating Joe Walker, strained family relationships, fairly wealthy, scar on left cheek from training, suffers from celiac’s disease.

District 3

Male:

Name: Joe Moses
Age: 15
Features: Caucasian, average length brown hair, hazel eyes.
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 98 lbs
BMI: 18.3 (Healthy weight, just)
Favourite colour: Radioactive green
Favourite animal: Dolphin with a jet pack
Other: Poor, incredibly bright, loves his family particularly his brothers, factory worker aged 14, extremely good engineer, very unassuming.

Female:

Name: Arielle Goldman
Age: 14
Features: Caucasian, Long brown hair, Brown eyes
Height: 5’3”
Weight: 97lbs
BMI: 18.5 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Royal blue
Favourite animal: Dog
Other: Poor, young, good family relationships, popular, cries lots, poses no threat, easily wiped out by natural occurrences.

 

 

 

District 4

Male:

Name: Joey Richter
Age: 13
Features: Italian, fairly long black hair, Hazel eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 130 lbs
BMI: 20.9 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite Colour: Light blue
Favourite animal: Monkey
Other: Fairly wealthy, one of the youngest tributes, good skills learnt early (Fishing etc), slight family feud because he wants to perform not fish, has the makings of a good career tribute.

Female:

Name: Meredith Stepien
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, curly dark hair, green eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 128 lbs
BMI: 21.3 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Red
Favourite animal: Cat
Other: One of the richest and most successful families in the District, perfect career tribute, loves performing and family supportive of it, popular in the district, good family relationships including extended family.

District 5

Male:

Name: Brant Cox
Age: 15
Features: Caucasian, short brown hair, blue eyes
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 127 lbs
BMI: 18.2 (Healthy Weight, just)
Favourite colour: Blue
Favourite animal: Cockroach
Other: Poor, cares about his family, power plant worker, few useful skills but thirst for learning, adorable, funny, baby of the group, total cinnamon roll.

 

 

Female:

Name: Ali Gordon
Age: 13
Features: Caucasian, long black hair, brown eyes
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 85 lbs
BMI: 17.9 (Underweight, just)
Favourite colour: Dark Purple
Favourite animal: Mouse
Other: Poor, very quiet, close to family and friends, fairly bright, strong family relationships, cares lots for younger disabled sister.

District 6

Male:

Name: Chris Allen
Age: 18
Features: Caucasian, fairly long lank blonde hair nice when washed, blue eyes
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 95 lbs
BMI: 13.6 (Severely underweight, 13 is considered deadly for men)
Favourite colour: green/grey
Favourite animal: Heron
Other: Incredibly poor, struggles to help feed his family, dead father, large family, 6 younger brothers, could survive well if fattened up, some strength from work but to weak from malnutrition to use it, close to death from malnutrition, oldest tribute.

Female:

Name: Julia Albain
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, brown hair, grey eyes, wears glasses, lactose intolerant
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 129 lbs
BMI: 23.5 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite colour: Mint
Favourite animal: Human
Other: Very rich, smart, good job, oblivious to the suffering of others, prides herself on her efficiency, was teased as a child for her organisation skills this means that she doesn’t open up to others very often and this causes some people to think she’s stuck up.

 

 

District 7

Male:

Name: Darren Criss
Age: 16
Features: Multiracial/ Eurasian, curly black fro, Hazel eyes, wears glasses, pink sunglasses.
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 152 lbs
BMI: 23.1 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Hot pink/ maroon
Favourite animal: Anything small
Other: Average wealth, very protective of his family, only cares about music and his family, can play fiddle, drums, mandolin, piano, guitar and harmonica, very popular and charming, slim and athletic, bit of a rebel (Stealing), slight family disapproval but lots of love and support.

Female:

Name: Britney Coleman
Age: 14
Features: African American, black hair, brown eyes
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 124 lbs
BMI: 21.2 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Black
Favourite animal: Panther
Other: Uncommunicative, very scary, seems a bit of a psychopath

District 8

Male:

Name: Matt Lang
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, average length blonde hair, green eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 138 lbs
BMI: 19.2 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Orange
Favourite animal: Swan
Other: Older brother (Nick) was last year’s victor, sister (Jen) head hunted to work as a designer for the games without his knowledge, puts on plays is his district and writes them with his brother, doesn’t like the spotlight after previous mean comments, great brotherly love.

 

 

Female:

Name: Alle-Faye Monka
Age: 13
Features: Caucasian, blonde hair, grey eyes
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 116 lbs
BMI: 21.2 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite colour: red
Favourite animal: fish
Other: Very quiet, not much known about her

District 9

Male:

Name: Dylan Saunders
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, blonde hair, blue eyes, wears glasses
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 154 lbs
BMI: 22.7 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Brown
Favourite animal: Scorpion
Other: Fairly reserved until comfortable around you then swears like a sailor, sings in school choir, has good strength and knowledge of edible plants from work in fields, from a poor family but they never go without.

Female:

Name: Bonnie Greusen
Age: 15
Features: Caucasian, brown hair, green eyes
Height: 5’3”
Weight: 118 lbs
BMI: 20.9 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Multicoloured
Favourite animal: Bird
Other: One of the wealthier families in the district, Vicar’s daughter, very religious, can be very pious, insensitive and oblivious.

 

 

 

 

District 10

Male:

Name: Brian Rosenthal
Age: 17
Features: Caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes, birthmark on shoulder
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 128 lbs
BMI: 17.3 (Underweight, just)
Favourite colour: Yellow
Favourite animal: Lemur
Other: Self harms/ used to, ostracised by members of the district, very musical, can play the piano and guitar, agile, can do one handed cartwheels, very poor, since coming out hasn’t been able to find good wor for him or his family, has strength from his job.

 Female:

Name: Jaime Lyn Beatty
Age: 14
Features: Caucasian, blonde hair, grey eyes, wears glasses,
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 141 lbs
BMI: 22.7 (Healthy Weight)
Favourite colour: Lime green or hot pink or turquoise
Favourite animal: Puppy
Other: Mayor’s daughter, uneducated in the ways of the world but wished to be, is just discovering boys and had a crush on Brian Rosenthal, doesn’t realise he’s gay.

District 11

Male:

Name: Jeff Blim
Age: 18
Features: Caucasian, blonde/brown hair, brown eyes
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 124 lbs
BMI: 18.3 (Healthy weight, just)
Favourite colour: White
Favourite animal: Tiger
Other: Bit of a joker, uses it as a defence against his tough life, loves making puns, he and Joey can hide enough food on themselves to feed an army, and not the shitty kind, the conquer and destroy kind, strong from work, poor, one of the oldest starkids, dating Denise.

 

 

Female:

Name: Denise Donovan
Age: 16
Features: Caucasian, blonde bob, blue eyes
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 125 lbs
BMI: 20.8
Favourite colour: Glow
Favourite animal: Firefly
Other: Average wealth, dating Jeff, happy family, passion for dancing, not many people knowabout her dating Jeff.

District 12

Male:

Name: Brian Holden
Age: 17
Features: Caucasian, soft and fluffy brown hair, blue eyes, wears glasses, freckles and scars all over.
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 97 lbs
BMI: 16.1 (Underweight, extremely)
Favourite colour: fire
Favourite animal: Wolf
Other: Openly gay, fights for LGBTQ+ rights, gets punished in many ways by peacekeepers, from merchant family but take tesserae and gives it away, anorexia, self harm, raped by peacekeepers, supportive parents, only child, has strength from working with his father and medical skills from mother, taught himself survival skills and how to dance.

Female:

Name: Lily Marks
Age: 14
Features: Caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 102 lbs
BMI: 19.9 (Healthy weight)
Favourite colour: Unknown
Favourite animal: Unknown
Other: Unknown, actively hostile when engaged.

Chapter 18: The prepping, Part One: District 1 (Or Devin and Jim are made to look like pretty people)

Summary:

WARNING; A very brief mention of childhood abuse.

Jim was lying on the sterile medical table, there were all sorts of people rushing around him, plucking and pulling and making him look vaguely presentable by the capitol standards. Jim desperately wanted to sit up but after the telling off he’d been given when he moved his leg earlier he thought better of it. After what seemed like an eternity someone spoke to him “Ok Jim so we’ve made you up to beauty base zero, that’s basically your features all plucked and waxed into the perfect shape but no details have been added. We will have to do some work with the fitting, June Saito, your designer, fitted the outfit for the clips of the reaping but obviously it isn’t perfect and you’re thinner than we expected, but it’s easier to take in the suit than to let it out so that’s a bonus.” Just then a man with green hair tapped the faintly purple woman who had been talking to him on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear before walking off. Another man came over this one had a faint shimmer about him as if someone had put stars under his skin. This man helped him up and led him to a shower, Jim walked behind painfully aware of how his naked body looked, he was too thin for his height and had all sorts of ugly scars from his father. Mercifully the man from his prep team didn’t enter the shower with him just stood outside and said “I would recommend the third button from the left on the top row, the one of the far right of the seventh row and the one four from the right on the penultimate row. That is merely a suggestion however, that will give you a medium water pressure, temperature of 110 F, and was fairly weak lime scent. Let me know if you don’t like that or have any other questions and I will endeavour to answer them.” “Thanks” Jim replied “but I think I’d like the water slightly warmer not by much it’s just that I always feel so cold. Also if you could tell me your name that would be great, you seem nice and it would be good to know someone other than Devin here.”
“See the dial on the left, turn it to the right until the yellow light comes on, then press the button next to it. Oh and my name is Adelphius. Would you like the names of the rest of the prep team.”
“Yeah sure, why not?”
“Ok, well the girl is Airla, and the other guy, the one with the green hair is Atticus, and yes I am aware that all our names begin in A I think the game makers like to have fun with the prep teams.” Just then Jim stepped out of the shower and took the towel Adelphius was holding. The glowing man continued speaking as they walked down the corridor “June, your designer should be there to dress you when we get back and after that you’ll be out in the carriages, so I’ll say good luck now, my advice is to be yourself and to not look scared this is how the capitol will remember you.”

After this it was a whirlwind of activity and before he knew it Jim was being ushered to stand in front of a mirror. He couldn’t believe what he saw. “I look nothing like myself he said, I I look attractive” said Jim.
“Too right handsome” said Devin. When Jim turned to look at her he was stunned, if he thought he looked good in his suit then she was ethereal. Jim was wearing a classic black suit, a black top hat which accentuated his already considerable height, Shiny black Oxfords, and an emerald coloured silk tie and matching pocket square. His hair, under the hat was side swept and in his hand he held an ebony cane with a gold head. He had make up on but you couldn’t tell, Jim thought perhaps he looked a bit healthier, he had good colouring in his skin and lips and his cheekbones already showing from his slight malnutrition had been defined to make him look more stern to increase how intimidating he looked.

Devin was wearing a floor length, strapless, ball gown. The fabric was flesh toned and inlayed with emeralds, the bodice was encrusted with green and blue jewels that caught the light, the sash around her waist was emerald green also. She was wearing gold and emerald accessories: a bracelet, necklace, earrings and hair pins. Her dark hair was in a fancy up do with a few strands pulled loose and faming her face. Her makeup was also very gentle, emerald eye shadow, light blush and neutral tones only served to highlight her outstanding beauty. When she walked it was just possible to make out the emerald coloured heels she was wearing.

After this the group stayed mostly silent until Tyler helped them into the carriage and then they were off. As they entered the stadium the crowd let out a deafening roar, Jim looked around at all the people until he caught sight of himself and Devin of the screens he angled his head slightly and looked at the screens until the carriage had stopped moving Devin had done the same creating an image of two battle hardened warriors who weren’t startled by anything. Once President Murphey began his speech the two looked up, hand linked until the last words “Happy Hunger Games and may the odd be ever in your favour” were uttered and the anthem of Panem was played as they were led out of the stadium. When they arrived in another area the prep team was there to greet them as well as June, Tyler and Eric. Jim and Devin heard the prep team gushing about how good they looked and Tyler and Eric saying they could work well with the performance, but neither really heard a word, they were too hyped up from the roar of the crowd to really pay attention to anything.

Chapter 19: The prepping, Part 2 (or do Lauren and Joe really need to look more attractive?)

Lauren turned her head slightly trying to get a look at Joe, she wasn’t worried no, it’s just a little disconcerting when you hear your usually unflappable boyfriend repeatedly saying “Ow!”
“Sorry Lauren, ifyou move now you’ll have wonky eyebrows, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want that”
“No Cassia” said Lauren meekly. Cassia was a lovely woman who had brightly coloured gemstones in her hair, all her makeup was tasteful and immaculate and matching the gemstones. She had introduced all the other prep team members: there was Balius a rather portly man with greying hair and a moustache expertly twisted into curls, his eyes were a purple colour as was his eyeliner and lipstick; Chara a woman dressed all in yellow, she appeared to be wearing very little make up but glowed like she contained a thousand suns; and of course Cassia.

                Out of the corner of her eye Lauren saw Balius escort Joe out of the room, Chara who was plucking Lauren’s eyebrows saw where she was looking “Balius is just taking him to the showers, you’ll be heading there soon, he got there first because we don’t need to wax his legs”
“Wax my legs?” said Lauren incredulously “What does that entail?”
“This” said Cassia as she ripped off a strip.
“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST” screeched Lauren “How much more of that do we have to do?”
“There’s another 7 on this leg and 8 on the next, I was considering doing your... you know... down there but maybe we’ll leave that for next time”
“NEXT TIME!!! Jesus I mean I guess it’s not that bad but ‘Miss Cooter’ really? I mean why, it’s not like anyone’s going to see it. Oh GOD you’re not going to make me do an interview naked are you?” Lauren said beginning to panic
“Oh so you and Joe haven’t” inquired Chara
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I understand not everyone is as open with their bodies and we are” added Cassia
“Um, well no we haven’t actually done The Deed yet. I mean I’ve never really thought about it I guess, should I have?”
“No, God no” said Chara “If you’ve never thought about it then no, when you’re ready you’ll know and you’ll have thought about it lots and hopefully discussed it with Joe.”
“Also don’t go rushing into this because we’ve suggested it, also if you do need any help dealing with urges, and you don’t want to go to Joe come to us and we’ll give you some tips”
“Ok, um thanks, should we get back to the waxing, or...” said Lauren trailing off
“Nope we’re done already, that was part of the reason for the talk, wait I take it you’re parents told you about protection” said Cassia, continuing when Lauren nodded meekly “I find embarrassment tends to take your mind off the pain enough to get through it without noticing.”

                Soon Chara was leading Lauren to the showers, Cassia saw that Joe was coming down the corridor and yelled “Be safe kids, we don’t want an arena baby.” Cackling at Joe’s confused look. Chara leant into the shower and pressed a load of buttons “There you go, that’s how I like it, I hope you don’t mind smelling of fruit for a week, let me know if you want to change the settings.” The glittering girl said.
“Actually Cassia could you change the scent to sandlewood, it’s my favourite, and maybe wait outside, it’s just you wouldn’t believe it but I’m kinda self conscious.” Said lauren tucking her hair behind her ear. Cassia gasped at this as she saw the scar on Lauren’s cheek. Lauren noticed her reaction and said in a completely blank voice “Yeah I probably look terrible to you Capitol lot, but at least i have something to show for my training.”
Cassia responded with “We totally need that uncovered for an interview that would boost your support so much, we can spin it off as anything: tragic backstory, accomplished fighter, heroic rescue mission. Oh right the sandlewood yep that’s this button” said Cassia leaning into the shower “and as for the privacy, I will be leaving you alone now the towel’s on the rail. I’ll comeback if you’re not out in half an hour ok?” Lauren chuckled as Cassia left. Still smiling she stepped under the hot water. Lauren knew she didn’t need to do anything in the shower; it was more designed to wash off any remaining wax and to let her have a moment to herself, than it was to do any real cleaning. As she stood under the spray Lauren’s mind wandered to her earlier discussion with Chara and Cassia, she’d never really thought about having sex with Joe, I mean sure they’d had a few make out sessions and they’d seen each other topless but did it really count. She knew a few girls at her school who had had sex, and overheard some conversations about masturbation. As Lauren kept thinking she began to see images of Joe in her mind only they weren’t like her normal thoughts of Joe, for one they involved far fewer clothes than usual and she was involved, suddenly Lauren felt a throbbing between her legs, she had no idea what to do. Then Lauren remembered the conversations she’d heard in class, this was probably just arousal and would go away in time. Making a mental note to ask Cassia and Chara how she could deal with it, Lauren stepped out of the shower and picked up the towel, before calling Cassia back in. On the way back to the prep room Lauren considered asking the question nagging at her mind but eventually decided to wait.

                Once they were back in the prep room it was all go, or at least it was for Lauren, Joe was in fairly casual clothes with no fancy hairstyling and only the minimum makeup require for him to look good on the cameras. Joe was wearing dark blue jeans, grey converse, a brown belt, and a grey dress shirt unbuttoned over a white t-shirt. This highlighted his upper body strength but managed to make it look casual and effortless like he just rolled out f bed looking this way, which in fairness he usually did, but still it was slightly infuriating to Lauren, who was being made to look like a little girl. Apparently it was to give the sponsors some sympathy before Lauren came out as this brash fighter who could no doubt hold her own in the arena. As this was going on Joe couldn’t help but laugh at Lauren’s scowl “Don’t worry Lo, I think you look super cute” said Joe, hurredly adding “and you know super tough too.” When she glared at him. When she was done even Lauren had to admit she looked good she particularly liked the hairstyle, she was used to the ballet bun and knew it looked good. She had minimal makeup, no eye shadow and very little eyeliner, foundation to cover her scar and blush to give the impression of “rosy checked youth” apparently, and it was all finished with neutral toned lipstick and matte grey nail polish in the same shade as the dress. The dress was knee length and the same shade of grey as Joe’s shirt, with a white collar and edging on the sleeves there were no accessories and the shoes were an extremely comfortable pair of stone coloured brogues.

                Because the couple from Two were so photogenic it took a relatively short time to get them ready, and soon Lauren and Joe were being escorted down the corridor by Nicholas and Rachel. Soon the murmer of a crowd could be heard and the tributes walked into a large area filled with horse drawn carriages. Lauren and Joe were lead over to a wooden chariot pulled by two Grulla coloured horse (Yes it is a thing I googled it). They were the first to arrive followed by the tributes from 9,1,4,6,8,11,7,3,5,10,6 and 12 in that order. Once the room was filled with bright colours and noise everyone was ushered into their chariots and before they knew it the tributes from 2 were following the tributes from District 1. Joe and Lauren hadn’t been given directions from their mentor or escort and saw that the tributes ahead of them were obviously trying to look intimidating and the crowd were loving it. Unable to ever be one upped by anyone Joe leant over to Lauren and whispered “How about a bit of lovin’ Lo, the crowd would eat it up”. Laurens only response was to grab Joe’s hand and give him a peck on the cheek which got a roar from the crowd. The kiss though small brought Lauren’s mind back to her earlier feelings in the shower and she spent the entirety of President Murphy’s speech distracted. Soon the horses lurched off and they were in another chamber being congratulated by the prep teams. Chara leant over to Lauren and whispered in her ear “I know what you’re thinking about. If you want to talk about it 6:17 sharp on the roof of the apartment” before disappearing before she could get a response.

Chapter 20: The prepping, Part 3 (Or JoMo has a shower or the first time)

Summary:

No Warning for this next chapter, but there is an apology. Sorry It's been so long since I updated and I can't promise to be more regular from now on. I don't think anyone is particularly interested in that though so I'll let you get on with reading the chapter.

Joe was trying not to move too much as the prep team smothered him with yet another paste. He’d been lying on the table for what seemed like hours now and every time he fell asleep one of his prep team would wake him up. The prep team were all super nice his favourite was Felix a kind man with vaguely feline features. He had undyed black hair. His makeup accentuated his cheekbones and he had perfectly straight eyeliner, which combined with his cat eyes (Joe had no idea if they were surgically implanted or just contact lenses) really did make him look like a cat, he also moved with a sort of prowling grace that Joe had only seen in the stray cats around district 3. The other members of his prep team were Elissa, a young woman not much older than the tributes, who had soft purple hair and eyes, she had very little makeup on for a Capitol resident, just enough to accentuate her features and give her a ethereal look. Joe thought she looked like fairies he used to read about as a child. The last member of the prep team was Maro a very timid man dressed entirely in flowing red robes. They billowed as he walked and this combined with his sharp features made him much more intimidating and dramatic than his actions gave credit for. The prep team seemed to be finished very quickly although they had done much in this time, Joe had been waxed and plucked until his body was completely smooth and hairless, something he was not happy about given that the 15 year old had only recently started to get hair on his armpits and in other places. Joe looked in the mirror and barely recognised himself, he looked flawless ad glowing, with perfectly sculpted eyebrows and all his pores closed.

Once he had been groomed to the satisfaction of the prep team Joe was led down a bright corridor to a shower, Felix who had escorted him, lent into the shower and played with some buttons, he lent out of the shower to ask Joe if he had a particular scent he liked to which Joe responded with a negative, not really caring what he smelt like, before hanging Joe’s towel on a rail and indicating that he should step under the gently steaming water. The water was just the right temperature and pressure, he’d never had a shower before as they were something of a luxury in the poorer district, so relished the soothing feeling of the water pounding against his skin. Soon he began to get wrinkly from being stood under the spray for too long and stepped out and wrapped himself in the fluffy towel. Felix pressed another button to turn the shower off before leading Joe back to the prep room where Maro was weaving a string of lights into the complicated braid in Arielle’s hair. At the same time Elissa was framing Arielle’s eyes in smoky make up, both of which accentuated the effect of the girl’s silver attire. She was in a silver dress with a form fitting bodic that flowed to just below her knees, the platform heels the girl was wearing make her look older, along with the makeup she was wearing.

Before he knew it Joe was in his outfit being led to an arena where the tributes would be paraded. Joe was in a perfectly fitted white shirt with lights in the buttons and cufflinks, a pair of silver ankle length drainpipe trousers held on his slim frame by a brown leather belt. His shoes were a matching pair of slim, light brown leather brogues. As the tributes approached the arena the design team bid them farewell to go and discuss shop with the designers for the other districts. Joe began to feel nervous as the noise from the other tributes and the arena got louder, he had never felt particularly comfortable in crowds and the stress of his situation wasn’t helping. When they arrived in the area with horses Joe began to feel much better, most of the other districts were already there but they weren’t the last and lots of the other tributes looked a bit nervous to and no one was being violent yet which definitely put Joe’s mind at rest. As they were led over to a silver chariot pulled by two majestic grey stallions, Arielle grabbed Joe’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Joe wasn’t sure if it was meant to reassure him or her but he wasn’t going to complain as it helped him to calm down. Joe rather wistfully thought of Tessa back in 3, he wished she was here with him, not because he would wish for her to be in the games, he wouldn’t wish his fate on anyone, but because he wished it was her hand he was holding.

Once all the tributes were positioned in their chariots the procession started. Joe’s grip on Arielle’s hand got even tighter when he heard the roar of the crowd after the tributes from 1, an extremely tall boy and a very pretty girl who both looked older than Joe and like they could easily snap him in half, went out. All too soon the chariot lurched and they were on their way. Joe was vaguely aware of the crowd cheering for him, but was honestly more focused on not passing out or throwing up or hyperventilating in front of the whole of Panem, the chances of which seemed more and more likely with every passing moment. After no more than 2 minutes, though it felt like longer for Joe, the chariot stopped in a semi circle at the base of a podium, from which President Murphey would give his speech. It seemed like an eternity before all the chariots were in place and the President began to speak. Joe had no idea what was said but assumed it was along the same lies as it was every year so didn’t worry about it too much. When the chariot finally lurched off into another communal area where all the prep teams, tributes, designers, escorts and mentors were waiting it wasn’t a moment too soon for Joe. As he was shakily helped from the chariot his mentor Clark Baxtresser clapped him on the shoulder and said “Christ Joe, next time try to look more scared why don’t you. I honestly thought you were gonna blow chunks all over Miss Emily Thomas’ nice clothes here.”
“Sorry Clark, I’m just not great with crowd or people looking at me I panicked a bit.” Was Joe’s response, though he felt a bit feeble with it.
“Nonsense.” Proclaimed Scott Lamps, the mentor for district 3, “If you get scared then you get scared, can’t change that. Besides I don’t trust a man who says he has no fear, fear is what keeps you sharp and in the games that can save your life. Granted a fear of public speaking might make the interviews a little tricky but I’ll let AJ and Richard, the presenters, know and we can work on it, besides I think staying in a house with the rest of your tributes might help with that. It’s just a hunch but I always trust my hunches. After all trusting my instincts is why I’m still here.”

No more was said after that as the tributes were led up to their living quarters with much anticipation.

Chapter 21: The prepping, Part 4 (Or that weird moment with Darren Criss, and that weird moment with Joey Richter, all of the weird moments)

Summary:

All fine warning wise here, and a fairly punctual update for once so that's a plus.

“Ouch, god damn it you guys” Joey moaned as a man on this prep team tugged a brush through his tangled hair “I’m serious you guys, Flavius I know you have wonderful golden locks but I don’t. Meredith Stepien if you laugh at me I will make you my first kill.” He continued glaring at the flaxen haired man and his fellow tribute. The afore mentioned tribute was trying desperately to stifle her laughter, and mostly failing, causing a another glare, this one from Eleon another of the prep team.
The tributes from District 4 and immediately got on with their prep team, their infectious laughter and great humour making them pleasant company. Flavius was a young man with fairly long golden hair which he assured the tributes was entirely natural. He had tanned skin and wore shades of green that brought out his emerald eyes. His laugh was infectious and whenever he laughed he would throw his head back making his hair shimmer, he also moaned constantly about his tributes’ hair, Meredith’s unruly curls being almost impossible to restrain, and Joey’s long hair that seemed to get tangled after 5 minutes.
Eleon was a soft older man with sharp, elven features and dark hair pulled back into a sleek plait to keep it out if his way. He reminded Meredith of a Elvish king she’d seen once in a children’s book. He work a deep purple tunic with a sash decorated with silver embroidery, he had a matching silver headpiece that completed the royal look. This was all accentuated by his tall slim stature and icy blue eyes. He should have been intimidating but had been so shy introducing himself that the tributes couldn’t help but think of him as a kindly older uncle.
The last member of the prep team was Io a young girl full of energy always bouncing around the room. She wore bright red dresses that flowed behind her when she moved. Her hair seemed to change colour each time you looked a new wonderful colour could be seen, red, orange, green, grey, blue but never once clashing. Her eyes were a mysterious grey that told a thousand secrets. She was never quiet chattering constantly about her friends, their significant others, the guys she’d dated, her parties. It was quite comforting like the sound of birds by the docks in district 4 all chattering and waiting for food.
Once Flavius had given up with Joey’s hair he was sent off to the showers with Eleon and Flavius and Io stayed to finish waxing Meredith and gossip. Eleon was silent as he escorted Joey down the sterile white hallway on the way they passed an older boy who looked to be about 16 with his escort. The boy was in a white towel and was slim but muscular unlike Joey who was quite stocky. They were both led into the shower cubicles together and introduced themselves whilst their bathroom escorts adjusted the shower settings. Joey learnt that the boy was called Darren Criss, he was 16 and he came from district 7, his favourite scent was pine (that was what he requested when asked what scent of shampoo he wanted). Soon Joey was in the shower with the slightly too warm water pounding against his head and back.
It wasn’t long after Joey had gone to the showers that Meredith was declared hair free by Io and Flavius, and led down the same sterile hallway as Joey. She was led into a room of showers with Eleon and a stranger in it. She could already hear water running and assumed that Joey and another tribute must already be in the showers. As Io turned on the shower and played with a load of buttons and dials young man you who looked to be about the same age as Meredith emerged from one of the cubicles. His curly dark hair hung round his face at chin length weighed down by the water in it. He was wearing only a towel and his slim but muscular body suggested he came from a working district that wasn’t too poor, such as 7 or 9. He nodded to Meredith as he was led out of the room “I fall the tributes are like that this year maybe the games won’t be so bad” thought Meredith as she stepped under the spray, the sea salt scrub she used reminding her of home.
By the time Meredith got back to the prep room swathed in the fluffiest white towel she’d ever felt, the designer for District 4, Max Kaufman, was already fitting Joey into his outfit. Joey was wearing a cream tunic fastened with a sea blue belt. He wore wooden beads on his wrists and a golden crown on his head. He had no shoes on and held a golden sceptre in his hand. With his robust stature and windswept hair he looked like a sea king ready to wreak havoc in the games, a good thing seeing as he was a rather young tribute aged only 13. Before she knew it Meredith was being shoved in front of a mirror “You don’t scrub up too bad Mere” said Joey. Meredith looked up and was surprised, her transformation was unexpected. Her hair was for once smooth and straight, fastened in a side bun with bangs falling over one eye on the same side as the bun. Her complexion was perfect and her makeup exotic. Her foundation and blush were light and her pale pink lipstick made it so her eyes really stood out. She had light, slightly shimmering eye shadow, glittering blue eyeliner and green mascara making her look like a sea beauty. She wore a shimmering blue dress that looked like scales on a fish, matching blue kitten heels and thin blue bangle on her wrist and a plain white sash went around her waist. All in all she was a sight to behold, but together she and Joey were fantastic. Due to Joey’s impressive height for his age he was an inch or so taller than she was meaning it looked like she was the sea king’s escort.
Finally Max, Flavius, Io and Eleon were satisfied with their work and together with Corey and Pierce they all went to the antechamber where the procession would lead from. There were tributes and their escorts and mentor from three other district already in the antechamber when Joey and Meredith arrived. The beautiful young girl and extremely tall boy they assumed were from District 1 going by the opulence of their outfits. The healthy looking boy and girl dressed in gold, cream and brown they guessed were from District 9 and were meant to be representing corn fields. The intimidating muscular boy and tiny girl dressed in grey they assumed to be in District 2 just going by the fact they looked like they could handle themselves in a fight, the grey was obviously meant to represent stone which was tricky to convey.
Meredith and Joey had a fair wait whilst the remaining 8 districts arrived. Them they all stepped into their gold chariots pulled by jet black stallions. They were paraded around to the deafening roar of the capitol. It was hard to tell what they were cheering for, the games? Them? Other tributes? All Meredith knew, was that the games felt infinitely less scary when she was nestled in the arms of her best friend, although the crowd seemed to like their display of companionship maybe that was something to play on in the future. The chariots all lined up in a semi circle infront of the podium from which President Murphey gave his speech about unity and protecting each other.
Soon the tributes were back with their prep teams, escorts, designers and mentors all receiving praise. “The crowd loved that trick with you hugging Joey, Meredith it’s a pity the age gap is too large for us to play a romance between you” said Corey as he led them up to the place where they would be living for the next few months.

Chapter 22: The prepping, Part 5 (Or the one with sparks and fairy lights and nothing that exciting tbh)

Summary:

No warning for this chapter.

Brant winced in sympathy as he heard yet more hair being ripped off of Ali’s skin. She wasn’t particularly hairy seeing as she was only 13 years old, but the Capitol had exacting standards and nothing short of perfection would be acceptable in the games. There was very little to be done to Brant, his complexion was smooth, his hair short enough that all Eva had to do was adjust his fringe after he was sent to the showers. He was led to the showers by Livius, where he was scrubbed with an exfoliating scrub that smelt like the meadow flowers he walked through to get to and from the factory. It was in the shower that Brant let all the oddities for the games so far sink in. First there had been the numbness of the reaping and the train ride up, then the medical exam which had revealed that he was healthy and (just barely) a healthy weight although he imagined it was much pleasant for others. Finally his thoughts turned to his designer and prep team. His designer was Sarah Petty was a plump woman with flowing locks of auburn hair. She had golden threads woven into her locks. She wore fairly reserved clothes in navy with gold flairs for embellishment, Brant though she may have toned down her look so as to not scare the tributes. Brant found the prep team most interesting as unlike Sarah they had actually stuck around once they were fitted.
Eva was a tall woman in her mid twenties dressed all in green and brown. Her brown hair was dyed green in strips and was shaved on one side to reveal a pattern of vines tattooed up her back and neck. The same tattoos spread down her arms and hands, Brant even thought he’d seen some of them emerging on her feet from under the flowing green skirt she wore. Eva had been wearing brown leather sandals when she walked in but had taken them off the first moment she got proclaiming it helped her feel more connected to the Earth, Brant just thought she was a bit mad.
Livius was a petite man about the same age as Eva, the two got on very well and filled the prep room with inane chatter, helping to relax the tributes. Livius had electric blue hair and storm eyes. Not a funny stormy blue/green colour, actual stormy waves in his eyes that broke and moved like a drawing of the sea, Brant really hoped they weren’t a feature of his real eyeballs and were just some affect he wore. He also wore a perfectly tailored electric blue suit with an incredibly sharp cut. Pointy ears poked out of his bouncing curls which were only damped by the grey and blue pinstriped fedora had he would occasionally don. Brant really enjoyed Livius’ company and his dry wit but was too nervous to really hold a conversation with him.
Paris was the final member of the prep team, he was quiet and reserved helpfully whispering things to the tributes to calm them down. He was blonde and had tightly curled hair very similar to that of Livius only instead of being a vibrant electric blue his were blonde. Paris was very plain for the capitol, looking as if he hadn’t changed his appearance t at all. Brant thought he might have got contact lenses in his eyes as that stunning shade of blue/green shouldn’t have been natural. The man smelt like honeysuckle and with his rustic, almost district like appearance was a comforting piece of home for Brant and Ali. Brant had managed to engage him in a discussion on life in the districts, something on which Paris seemed very interested, Brant had assured him a place to stay with him should he survive the games and Paris ever decide to visit District 5.
When Brant arrived back from his shower the prep team had just sent Eva and Ali to the showers. Paris and Livius quickly set to work dressing Brant and making him up for the cameras. Brant’s outfit was fairly simple and easy to put on, unlike Ali’s so when she came back he was left to dress himself. Brant’s outfit consisted of a slim fitted white shirt with glowing buttons that had a light inside them, straight black trousers that fit perfectly, a black bow tie that he had a little difficulty tying and a navy blue velvet smoking jacket with black trimming and gold buttons. He wore black Oxford shoes with no broguing. The only make up he wore was the essentials so he would show up on camera. On his wrists a device that created sparks was placed.
“They’re not harmful they’re just for effect” assured Livius.
Livius was right and every time Brant moved his hands blue sparks would shoot out of his hands and not damage anything.
Ali was hidden behind a screen whilst she got dressed and Brant was actually quite excited to see what she would look like. She emerged looking stunning in her glowing ensemble that perfectly matched his but still looked original. Ali was wearing a strapless navy blue floor length dress with an electric blue sash, The sash matched the sparks that came from between the ruffles of her skirt every time she moved. She wore glittery blue heels and her jewellery was lit from behind like Brant’s shirt buttons. She looked glowing with a healthy complexion and flawless skin, her eyeliner was a luminous blue but the rest was fairly understated. The final aspect of the look was her long hair that was woven into a complicated braid with fairy lights flowing through it.
When the prep team had declared that they were ready the nervous youngsters were led through some sterile hallways into a large and rather noisy chamber where tributes from several other districts were already waiting, some were goofing around and most were talking to people be it the other tribute from their district tributes from others or their mentors. Brant reckoned he and Ali were about the last to arrive, he had just counted four missing when two tributes in golden feathery outfits arrived, leaving just the tributes from 12. Soon the missing tributes had arrived and the chariots were off into the deafening roar, the black stallions pulling Brant and Ali’s carts semed unfazed by the crowd which was a good thing. Brant made sure to wave to the crowd and show off his sparks and going by the reaction of the crowds they were a big success. Brant still had a huge grin on his face when President Murphey began his speech. When they got back to another chamber the prep teak could not congratulated the pair enough as they were led up to the apartment they would be sharing with the other tributes.

Chapter 23: The prepping part 6 (or the one with a skinny guy and a reasonably dramatic ending)

Summary:

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Not that anyone is probably following this. Warning for severe malnutrition but as usual there's not really much detail I don't think.

Chris was fed up of the prep team. They kept treating him as if he was made of glass and one, Fawn a slight woman with large brown doe eyes and a tawny complexion, had even winced when he got undressed. Chris knew he was underweight and had been for a while but hadn’t realised how bad it was. A doctor had been and given him a check up he guessed it was the same for all tributes an had declared that he was dangerously malnourished and if he had carried on with his diet he would have died within a few weeks. He had been placed on a special diet and was currently attached to a drip trying to get enough nutrients into him that he wouldn’t pass out in the middle of the parade. Honorius, another prep team member, this one an older man with a large belly and white hair had washed him down and was currently trying to style his newly washed hair. Chris had honestly forgotten that his hair was a nice blonde colour underneath all the grime that had built up. One thing the prep team did seem to like was the lack of hair on his body, “These tributes always seem to need waxing” said Septima the last member of his prep team, she was tall and lanky but in a graceful way she had coffee coloured skin that seemed to shimmer. Chris wouldn’t be surprised at that really it would be one of the more minor modifications he’d seen. Septima seemed so nice and naive that he didn’t have the heart to tell her that his lack of hair was from his malnutrition, the doctor had also said it was likely that his fertility and major organs would be damaged. One of the plus side to his situation was that he didn’t have to be waxed like Julia on the other side of the room he thought as he heard her prep team pull off another wax strip.
Julia was loving all the treatment she was getting, as the daughter of a rich merchant she was physically in better condition than many of the tribute they met and they were really just pampering her and honestly the waxing was the worst bit but she was loving how smooth her legs were after. Rendwick was in charge of waxing. He was tall and muscular with hair that was an earthy red colour. He had eyes that were almost black and swirling black pattern under his skin. Despite his size he was a huge softy and cared deeply for his three children Mizar, Juniper and Sorren. Althea was sculpting her eyebrows and chattering non-stop about the latest Capitol drama. The slender girl had faintly blue skin and didn’t Chris couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how he looked in the mirror. He was even more glad he’d got the feeding tube out, if he didn’t know better he’d say he actually looked like he had a chance in the games. He had rosy cheeks and what little muscle he had was accentuated by the cut of his navy blue shirt and steel coloured trousers. His tan coloured belt and pointed oxford shoes were perfectly matched as were his rust coloured buttons and bow tie. When stood next to Julia they looked like a true team and in this quarter quell that might have been enough to get them some good sponsors.
As the pair walked into the atrium that housed their chariot he was very glad that only four other districts were there and because three of them were careers they weren’t paying them much attention. Nick Gage seemed to have decided he would give a pep talk and after much after much pomp and circumstance he gave the very anticlimactic “Good luck and don’t fuck it up” Julia looked horrified by such crass language but Christ couldn’t stop giggling. That definitely got him a few odd looks from the other districts that had arrived but he figured that scaring a few of his fellow tributes wouldn’t hurt at this stage. Max Evrard gave them a more serious lecture about smiling and waving to the crowd but Chris was only half paying attention. He was more focussed on the atrium that was slowly filling up and before he knew it the tributes were all being ushered onto their chariots and then the parade was off. Chris was trying his best to present the perfect demeanour but he was getting more and more dizzy. By the time the President was giving his speech it was all Chris could do to keep himself upright. The minute the chariot stopped Chris sank down unable to hold himself up any longer his legs were shaking so hard. As Max and his prep team rushed off to try and find the doctor a boy of a similar age to Chris stepped up to the chariot. He too was painfully thin almost as bad as Chris and was dressed in all black. The boy was saying something about how he’d probably gone into shock, his body rejecting the food after so long without any. That was about the last thing Chris remembered before passing out. The boy, Brian Holden, Chris would later find out had actually saved his life.
seem to be much older than Chris who she’d been reaped with. Althea had braided hair dyed blue, green and silver. Her eyes were luminous blue-green and so deep you could get lost in them. The final member of her prep team, Titus was doing her makeup. Titius was of a similar build to Rendwick but he had tanned skin and curled blonde hair. His kind eyes and charming smile made it very easy to become enamoured with him as his tales of many conquests seemed to show. It was amusing to see this larger than life man working so delicately on her makeup.
Julia was the first to be finished because it took less effort to make her look healthy than it did for Chris. Julia barely recognised herself in the mirror. She was wearing a navy blue dress made of sheer fabric with rust coloured velvet strips that according to the prep team were designed after old railway tracks. She had on amber earrings, rings and a pendant. She had a pair of rust coloured kitten heels that Julia struggled to walk in, it was lucky she didn’t have to walk to far in front of an audience today. He hair was in wild curls that had been pinned back to show her ears, this combined with the bronze hued makeup and severe eyeliner made her face look a different shape. Chris stepped out from behind his curtain as Julia was admiring herself and she couldn’t believe how well he scrubbed up. His hair had been washed and cut into a short, smart style and the prep team had artfully applied makeup so you couldn’t tell he was wearing any but he actually looked healthy, well other than the feeding tube down his throat. The prep team were all fussing trying to get the doctor to remove it but he was refusing. After a few minutes of this Chris turned to the doctor and said “If at all possible I’d like the tube out, I’ll happily have it back in later if it means I stand a better chance of surviving the games but I’d like to make a good first impression and the other tributes and sponsors will think I’m weak with it in. Granted I am weak but I would like a chance with the sponsors and I’d like the other tributes to find out on my terms once they’ve got to see me as I can be.” At this the Doctor grudgingly followed the request and a few minutes later Chris was looking like an actual contender in the games. Yes he was still painfully thin but the fit of the clothes and makeup meant he looked like it was all lean muscle on him.
Chris couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how he looked in the mirror. He was even more glad he’d got the feeding tube out, if he didn’t know better he’d say he actually looked like he had a chance in the games. He had rosy cheeks and what little muscle he had was accentuated by the cut of his navy blue shirt and steel coloured trousers. His tan coloured belt and pointed oxford shoes were perfectly matched as were his rust coloured buttons and bow tie. When stood next to Julia they looked like a true team and in this quarter quell that might have been enough to get them some good sponsors.

Chris couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how he looked in the mirror. He was even more glad he’d got the feeding tube out, if he didn’t know better he’d say he actually looked like he had a chance in the games. He had rosy cheeks and what little muscle he had was accentuated by the cut of his navy blue shirt and steel coloured trousers. His tan coloured belt and pointed oxford shoes were perfectly matched as were his rust coloured buttons and bow tie. When stood next to Julia they looked like a true team and in this quarter quell that might have been enough to get them some good sponsors.
As the pair walked into the atrium that housed their chariot he was very glad that only four other districts were there and because three of them were careers they weren’t paying them much attention. Nick Gage seemed to have decided he would give a pep talk and after much after much pomp and circumstance he gave the very anticlimactic “Good luck and don’t fuck it up” Julia looked horrified by such crass language but Christ couldn’t stop giggling. That definitely got him a few odd looks from the other districts that had arrived but he figured that scaring a few of his fellow tributes wouldn’t hurt at this stage. Max Evrard gave them a more serious lecture about smiling and waving to the crowd but Chris was only half paying attention. He was more focussed on the atrium that was slowly filling up and before he knew it the tributes were all being ushered onto their chariots and then the parade was off. Chris was trying his best to present the perfect demeanour but he was getting more and more dizzy. By the time the President was giving his speech it was all Chris could do to keep himself upright. The minute the chariot stopped Chris sank down unable to hold himself up any longer his legs were shaking so hard. As Max and his prep team rushed off to try and find the doctor a boy of a similar age to Chris stepped up to the chariot. He too was painfully thin almost as bad as Chris and was dressed in all black. The boy was saying something about how he’d probably gone into shock, his body rejecting the food after so long without any. That was about the last thing Chris remembered before passing out. The boy, Brian Holden, Chris would later find out had actually saved his life.

Chapter 24: 24: The prepping part 7 (Or we already know Darren Criss is stunning, does he really need a makeover?)

Summary:

Warning: Possible slight panic attack

The air was tense in District 7’s prep room. The prep team was quiet and subdued after Brittany had snarled at them for trying to talk to her. Darren chuckled as he watched the prep team draw straws for who had to wax her, apparently, she tried to attack the doctor when he gave her a physical examination, Leto drew the short straw. Leto had very pale almost white skin and dark red hair that was pushed back off his face. He was wearing dark green pinstriped waistcoat and smart trousers over a simple white shirt, other than the white skin he didn’t seem to have any makeup on but his teeth were all silver. He looked quite scary and seemed about as talkative as Darren’s team mate, who still hadn’t said a word to anyone. Once it became apparent she wasn’t going to attack Leto everyone relaxed a bit and Agnes, a very normal looking elderly woman declared he was ready for the showers. The elderly woman who had her hair pulled back into a simple bun and was wearing a plain dark green long dress, walked over to the final member of the prep team, a tall, imposing man with heavy dark makeup and black clothes called Zeus, and asked him to lead Darren to the showers as she wasn’t up to the walk.

Darren had a pleasant chat with Zeus as they walked down the corridor, it turned out he was a very gentle man who cared deeply about animals and their rights but as a child had faced a lot of bullying for it so he now dressed in such an imposing manner to avoid that. It turns out trying to get capitol citizens to buy their fur from manufacturers with high animal welfare is hard and can make some enemies from other shops and designers. As they walked down the sterile corridor they met a tall boy who Darren though was about his age until he got closer and he realised the boy was about 3 years younger than Darren himself. The other boy introduced himself as Joey Richter a 13-year-old boy from District 4. Zeus ushered Darren into the shower and set the shower to a pine scent as requested and left him alone. Darren was enjoying the calming smell of pine and trying to imagine he was back in the forest at home caught in a rain shower when he heard someone else enter the showers. Startled out of his reverie Darren quickly wrapped his towel around him and stepped out of the shower to find Leto. The person who had just entered the showers was a dark-haired girl about his age. She seemed to be checking Darren out a bit, something Darren was used to, he knew he was a handsome guy, but something he wasn’t comfortable with, he was a bit of a late bloomer or something and had never really been interested in relationships, so he quickly moved on to find Leto waiting just outside.

When he got back to the prep room Brittany was gone, presumably to the showers too so both members of the prep team crowded around him to start painting him. This took quite some time so he drifted off a bit until he was woken up by Agnes telling him to go and get dressed behind the screen. Whilst he’d been sleeping Brittany had returned and was also having her skin painted. Darren emerged to see Brittany going off behind another screen to get changed. They both had matching wood-green patterns on their skin like ivy trailing up a tree. Darren looked good with his black suit and matching black formal shoes, he thought he’d heard the designer call them oxfords or something. His trousers stopped at ankle length so you could see the flowers on his ankles as well as on his hands and poking out from above his collar. He had a cream coloured shirt and a hunter green tie on. With the patterns on his tanned skin, his short stature and longer curly hair Darren thought he looked a little like a wood nymph. After a few minutes, a deeply scowling Brittany came out wearing a stunning floor length dress made in a caramel coloured fabric. The dress had cream coloured panels with hunter green vine patterns like the ones on their skin embroidered on. Her heels and earring were in the same colour as the details on the dress and she wore no other jewellery. Her makeup had golden hints to it marrying together her dark skin and caramel dress. Her hair was untouched with a crown of white woodland flowers woven through it given her a slightly feral look, as if she was a vengeful fairy queen of the woods.

Once the prep team had made their final few touch ups to the outfits they were ushered down another hallway into a large chamber where about half the tributes were already gathered with their teams. Lisa and Corey were already waiting by a carriage pulled by a set of chestnut horses. Lisa recommended that Darren smile and wave to the crowds showing off his infectious smile, and maybe even throw a wink or two in “After all you’re an incredibly attractive man it won’t hurt to make the women in the crowd fall in love with you this early on.” Darren felt sick at that. He didn’t want to be a sex symbol but he swallowed around the lump in his throat and nodded at Lisa. After that they continued to make small talk and all too soon they were ushered into their carriages. As the carriages started moving in front of him Darren felt his airways constrict him. He couldn’t do what Lisa asked for. As his carriage lurched into motion he put on his most charming smile and tried not to hyperventilate but the more he thought about flirting with the crowd the worse it got. Before he knew it, he was halfway down the parade. “I have to do something or Lisa will kill me.” He thought. He blew a kiss to the crowd and they erupted in cheers. “That’ll have to be enough, God I hope it’s enough.” He thought. A few minutes later they parade stopped in front of the president and he gave a speech. Darren didn’t pay any attention to the speech he was too busy calming his racing thoughts and trying to slow his breathing. As the speech ended Darren had just about managed to get himself out of his state of panic. The cart rolled slowly into the waiting area and he was greeted with delight by his prep team, he breathed a sigh of relief, he’d got away with it for now.

Chapter 25: The prepping part 8 (Or Matt gets one hell of a shock)

Summary:

Lucky you lot, I've got the next few days off work so I can update loads to make up for being gone so long

Matt couldn’t believe his eyes. After passing swiftly through his medical examination with no problems other than his slight stigmatism in his eyes that meant he would need glasses making up he and Alle-Faye were sent to meet their prep team and designer. The prep team were the standard lot he remembered from when Matt went on his victory tour. The youngest was Clio, a slight girl who was no taller than 5’ 2” and looked like she weighed about 80 pounds soaking wet. She had shocking pink ringlets in her hair and wore and short pink dress that reminded Matt of some bubble gum Nick had brought him back from the Capitol. She had the brightest blue eyes Matt had ever seen and an annoying giggly voice. Next in the line was Vesta a slightly older woman who looked to be in her mid-20s. She had bright white hair that was short and straight piercing pale eyes and everything she wore was simple, tight fitting and slate grey, Matt’s eye for textiles said she was wearing a type of heavy satin or silk. Glittery gold eyeliner lined her eyes and her thin lips were coated with a matching gold lipstick. She seemed very efficient and down to earth. The final member of the prep team was a quiet slim ginger man called Bacchus, he was pale and covered in freckles, his curly hair was a natural shade of ginger and he was wearing a simple brown suit. He seemed terrified to be there, “Probably his first day on the job.” Thought Matt. But no that wasn’t the cause of his shock. That was his designer. “Does your big sis not get a hug, little brother?” the designer asked. “Jen? What are you doing here?” he said astounded.
“Got ‘head hunted’ for the empty design team spot, Julius from 7 quit last year and I asked if they could do a reshuffle for the quarter quell and let me work with the district I was from, and well I never thought they would but they said yes so here I am”

After a little small talk Jen left saying “I’m not sticking around to watch my baby brother get his pubes waxed” the whole team laughed at the look of horror on his face. It turned out the process of being made over to ‘beauty base zero’ wasn’t as bad as Matt thought. The waxing was a little painful but he found getting his eyebrows plucked worse. It seemed to be taking longer for Alle-Faye but then again coming from a family with previous victors and a games designer in the house his beauty regime was a little more intense than for your average person in 8 so he shouldn’t have been surprised. He was quickly bundled off down a sterile corridor by a still terrified looking Bacchus. Matt told Bacchus to wait outside, he had a high-tech shower at home thanks to the travels of his father and brother so he felt confident he could make it work and even get a few minute without someone staring at his newly waxed genitals. When he stepped into the shower it became clear to Matt his fancy shower at home hadn’t prepared him for this. He knew the top row covered water pressure, the middle row covered scent and the bottom row covered the pressure of the jets that washed him from all angles, he suspected correctly that the lever was for water temperature. After a few minutes he’d got the water pressure and jets all adjusted to his liking now all that was left was to pick one of the tens of scent buttons and hope he found one he liked. He hit the very central button in the panel. A sweet smell he couldn’t identify washed over him. He’d already been thoroughly sluiced off by the prep team earlier so this shower was mainly to wash off any remaining wax and to warm up after so long spent in not much clothing. After maybe 10 or 15 minutes Matt decided he should probably get out in case he used up all the hot water, a silly idea with him being in the Capitol but one he couldn’t shake from home.
“Ah you went for the coconut soap then.” Said Bacchus when Matt emerged “Not a common choice for tributes”
“To be honest I didn’t even know what the smell was until you just told me I hit any button at random, I quite like it though”
“You sound like me when I first came here” chuckled Bacchus “I did the same thing and ended up with coconut, since then I’ve tried every fragrance those showers have and it’s still my favourite.”
“Wait you weren’t born in the Capitol?” questioned Matt
“No, my parents moved here from district 9 just before the current government came in, I was about 7 years old. That’s why I haven’t altered my appearance at all, I want to honour my birthplace”

That was the end of the conversation and they returned to the room to find Alle-Faye getting dressed already. Realising he’d probably taken too long and not wanting to upset Jen or mess up her first games he dressed behind a second screen as quickly as he could. His suit was perfect, Jen knew the whole family’s measurements perfectly and had made them all many items of clothing that fit perfectly over the years and this was no exception. The simple white shirt clung to his slender frame perfectly and his jacket fit like a glove, no mean feat given he was smaller than your average male. The suit was made from a grey wool blend and had subtle purple checks on it, his tie and matching pocket square was a blue and red spotted silk, a set of clashing patterns and colours only Jen could pull off thought Matt. The hardest part of the entire process for Matt was getting his fine blonde hair to stay up in its quiff. Once the prep team had got Matt’s hair to stay in place Alle-Faye shyly stepped out from behind her curtain in the most stunning dress. If Matt though he had a difficult set of patterns to match that was nothing on what Alle-Faye was wearing. She had on no visible makeup, no jewellery and only simple grey pumps so all the attention was on the dress. The dress had a very simple bodice with thin white straps, a white sash round the middle and it flared out dramatically at the waist stopping at mid-thigh. The shape was almost like that of a tutu thought Matt, the main body of the dress was made up of a patchwork of various fabrics, some the same as Matt’s suit, some the same as his tie, there was some in red and green and purple and none of it should have worked but somehow with Jen’s expertise all these assorted colours and patterns married together to show off the real skill of District 8’s textile workers. The prep team quickly put Alle-Faye’s hair into two simple braids and swapped her simple pumps for some black boots like the ones worn by the peacekeepers to give her a slightly hardened look, like she was small and young but could still hold her own in the games, then they were off to the chariots.

When they down to the big hall there were only a few other districts there already. This combined with the boldness of their outfits was causing Matt some nervousness as he didn’t want to draw the attention of the career tributes from 1, 2 and 4 who were already waiting. After a few minutes, it became clear all the districts were just staying in their groups and not trying to make a fuss so he relaxed a little. It was then that he realised he’d zoned out of what Nico was saying, so he quickly nodded his agreement to whatever he’d said which obviously placated him as he went off to talk to one of the other escorts. Once he’d left Nick lean over and whispered in his ear “You need to make people like you out there, this is their first impression of you. Nico wants you two to look fierce but that’s never happening so just be yourself and the interviews will make people fall in love with your personality.” Just as Nick had finished talking Nico came back over and made some more awkward small talk that Matt didn’t pay attention to, choosing instead to observe his fellow tributes. Whilst the tributes from 2 looked as strong as usual they didn’t seem as willing to kill everyone in sight, “Actually” he thought “they all seem less fierce than usual, not as many fighters” the last two tributes wandered in a bit later and stony-faced girl and a very thin boy in black were ushered onto their carriages as the other tributes were told to do the same thing and the chariots were off.

When Matt entered the stadium, the roar was deafening Alle-Faye looked terrified and Matt gently put his arm round her in support, the audience loved this so he played it up he squeezed the young girl tightly and rubbed her back then gave her shoulder a squeeze and turned to wave at the audience, prompting another round of cheering. Soon the carriages ground to a halt and all that was left was a boring speech from President Murphy about solidarity and unity then they were off back to their teams. As they were helped down from the chariots Nico was moaning about how non-threatening they were and how he wasn’t sure if he could get sponsors now, until Nick shut him up with a comment about how it was a quarter quell this year and how everyone was working together.

Chapter 26: The prepping part 9 (Or religion doesn't stop waxing hurting like a bitch)

“Jesus Christ!” shouted Dylan as another wax strip was pulled off “Why do you even need to wax my armpits anyway?”
“Dylan Suanders how many times must I tell you to stop using such Blasphemy?” shouted Bonnie disapprovingly from across the room.
“Oh, go die in hole” muttered Dylan, making Coco, the orange skinned woman currently ripping his body hair, snort with laughter. Unfortunately, this made her pull the next strip off too, earning her another glare from Dylan. Dylan found his prep team quite likeable, due in part to the fact that they seemed to have Bonnie’s piousness as much as he did. Coco who was dressed in fluttery pieces of fabric in various shades of red, orange and yellow to match her skin and golden hair had a wicked sense of humour and a quick wit. Vanilla a tall, razor thin, black woman with eyes so pale they were the colour of fresh cream kept whipping her green silk cloak out behind her every time she walked past Bonnie so it blew up the girl’s long skirt to above her knee, much to Bonnie’s chagrin and everyone else’s amusement, seemed to take a small amount of job in teasing Bonnie for her excessive modest, the girl refused to have a physical examination because it meant showing off her flesh. The third member of the prep team seemed content with staying out of her team mates’ shenanigans. In fact, Roxie seem content to stay out of anyone’s business. The young girl had very short dark hair with a long fringe over her eyes with a dark green stripe dyed in it, bright red eyes (Dylan suspects she put them in as contact lenses to fuck with Bonnie after hearing about how religious she is) and very pale skin. She didn’t appear to be wearing much except for a flesh coloured skin-tight suit that showed off all her body, her fingernails were sharpened into talons and due to her “Demon-like” appearance Bonnie had shouted at her to get away from her. Not that Dylan was complaining about having a woman wearing what Roxie was wearing working on his half naked body. He quickly stopped that train of thought teenage hormones, thin medical gowns and dirty thoughts are not a good combination.
Just as Dylan was thinking things could turn very awkward if Roxie didn’t stop leaning over him soon, he was declared ready for the showers. Coco was the one chosen to take him to the showers. She set the shower on as neutral a setting as possible, showed him the temperature dial and left him to it. She’d actually managed to find an unscented soap for him which he was very grateful for, he’d heard rumours about the Capitol showers and how if you weren’t careful you’d end up with such high-water pressure you’d shower all your skin off and a soap that make you smell like wet earth for a week. Dylan counted himself even more lucky when he heard a girl with a southern drawl come in talking a mile a minute about something he couldn’t make out and then the sickly-sweet smell of roses came wafting over from her cubicle. At that point Dylan decided to get out of the showers and go back to the land of wax strips and tweezers.

The prep room was blissfully quiet when Dylan returned meaning Bonnie was off having a shower. He dressed quickly in his simple outfit. He wore a cream coloured smart shirt with gold buttons and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and beige coloured trousers that were smarter than the ones he normally wore but weren’t as smart as the ones he often saw tributes trailed out in. He emerged as Bonnie returned and he though he saw a hint of lust in his eyes as she looked at him, but seconds later it was gone and replaced by her squawking about how she couldn’t get changed in front of everyone and how she couldn’t possibly wear a strapless backless dress. Dylan tuned her out as usual and turn to see what they’d done to him. Even he had to admit he looked good, his muscled stature filled out his shirt well and the gold hued makeup on him accentuated his features and made his tan from working outside look even better. They had styled his hair gently spiked off his forehead and had placed a golden wheat crown on his head. His shoes and belt were the exact same shade of brown and he looked more put together than he’d ever looked before.

After much protesting Bonnie emerged from behind her screen, Dylan thought that maybe, just maybe her looks could outweigh her personality and sway some sponsors her way. Her usually frizzy hair had been smoothed and curled to perfectly frame her face, she had the same warm golden glow to her skin that Dylan had. Her dress was a stunning floor length ballgown that wouldn’t look out of place as a fancy wedding dress back home. It was white with golden embroidered detailing and lace over the bodice. She had no jewellery on and only wore a simple pair of white and gold sandals on her feet and had a matching gold wheat crown. They looked like a matching royal family when stood together. Carlos agreed with Dylan’s observation that they looked like a royal couple, however when he suggested they play up a bit of romance for the cameras Bonnie made a disgusted sound and berated him for suggesting they belittle the Lord’s greatest gift, love. After that it was decided they would look solid and unshaken and just stare straight ahead, no waving to the crowds or playing up for the cameras. With their battleplan decided they decided to discuss the tributes coming in, what looked like district 2 were already their first looking excited and chattering away to their team, they were swiftly followed in by districts 1 and 4 in that order, district 1 looked intimidating but not 4 which was odd as they were usually career tributes too. Then after a big wait came 6, 8 and 11, with the tributes from 8 looking terrified, 7, 3 and 5 all came in one after the other nice and quickly but it was a bit of a wait for districts 10 and 12 to arrive but they both had some rough looking tributes so they obviously needed lots of work to look camera ready and not like they’re about to keel over.

After that it was all a bit of a blur. The parade went quickly and as usual Dylan tuned out of the speak but Bonnie watched enraptured. Then all too soon they were off being praised for their performance and shuffled straight towards the lift. They got a bit held up in some kind of kerfuffle involving one of the district 6 tributes but soon that was all cleared with no one knowing what happened and they were moving again, off to meet their roommates for the next 2 month.

Chapter 27: The prepping part 10 (Or do you know how hard it is to cover a fresh wound?)

Summary:

Warning: Character reminiscing about past abuse and self harm, talks about self harm

Jaime was very annoyed. Most of the prep team were flapping round Brian blocking her view of the half-naked boy, well man really. There had been a fair bit of distress about how they were going to cover his cut, which was looking better by the minute thanks to the Capitol’s treatment, which would never be healed by the time he was due to go out. Thanks to being just 14 and being rich enough to own a razor there was very little the prep team had to do to make her to ‘beauty base zero’ so she had been left with just one prep team member, Iggy. Iggy was very young, Jaime would have guessed not more than 5 years older than herself. He had very straight hair dyed bright yellow and blue and he wore a silver bodysuit that shimmered in the light. He had lots of very garish makeup on but Jaime suspected he was cute enough under the makeup so wasn’t going to complain. She heard a sudden cry from the other side of the room, she looked over and saw Brian with his gown off his torso and his brand on full display, Erik, one of the prep team working with Brian gagged, and Lysander, the other working on him had tears running down his face. Iggy detecting that Brian and the others might want some privacy quickly led her away to the showers.

Brian couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this ashamed, possibly when his dad had come home late one evening, a week or so after Brian had come out and said that he’d been fired from his managers job at one of the largest farms in the District, and despite spending all day asking in every business he could he still hadn’t found another job. That was a tough month he was only 14 so his parents wouldn’t let him quit school to work, not that he’d have found a job anyway, and his dad asked every farm for any work, eventually he found a job cleaning out the chicken coops on the other side of town. He returned home exhausted late every evening and left before sun up every day but it was work. Or maybe the last time he’d felt this ashamed was when he came home late one night after trying to find work, it was a few months after his 16th birthday and no one wanted to employ the gay boy. He’d been to ask one of the famers a mile or so away for a job but his sons had confronted him first before he could even get in the door and the four boys, big strapping lads, picked Bri up and carried him down the road to the smithy, a friend of theirs, between the 5 of them they’d branded the work homo into his shoulder. Brian returned home late than night shaking and bleeding through his shirt. Once his father saw he went to confront the man about his son’s actions, he’d been given a job herding cattle by way of an apology but it still couldn’t make up for the look in his mother’s eyes when she’d taken his shirt off to look at the wound and seen all the self-inflicted scars littering her son’s stomach. He still hadn’t let her see the ones on his legs. And now he was reliving it all. Lysander a softly spoken man with lilac hair had already excused himself and he couldn’t stand the look of pity in Erik’s eyes.

“Give the man credit where it’s due” thought Brian “he’s efficient in his work” in no time at all he’d stripped Brian of his body hair and got him covered back up again. “Lysander wants to take you to the showers instead of me if that’s ok” said Erik gently, snapping Brian out of his thoughts. The boy shrugged, “I don’t mind” he said. Lysander reappeared again towel in hand just as Jaime reappeared with Iggy. Once they were away from the prep rooms Lysander stopped Brian with a gentle hand on his shoulder “I’m sorry I left when I saw your umm” he gestured to Bri’s shoulder “It’s just I’m gay too and I never knew it was that bad in the districts. I just want you to know that here in the Capitol you’re safe. Well not in the games but you don’t be attacked because of your sexuality. If you ever want to talk about anything, you can come to me”
“Thanks” Bri mumbled awkwardly. Lysander patted him on the shoulder again and walked on towards the shower. Mercifully the shower was empty when Bri arrived there. Lysander put the shower on a nice gentle pressure and a warm setting and soon lavender scented steam filled the air. Bri stepped under the warm water and just let it wash over him for a few minutes. He wished he had a shower at home, there was something about water falling over him that helped to wash some of his bad thoughts and tension away. That was why he liked being out in storms at home. He eventually snapped out of his daydream and hit some buttons until Lysander stepped in to turn the shower off with a chuckle. As he emerged wrapped in a towel he froze. There was another guy entering the showers. He looked to be about Brian’s age but was a lot thinner than him.
“Brian Holden” the other guy said sticking his hand out “you too huh?” he added nodding to Bri’s shoulder.
“Brian Rosenthal and what do you mean?” he replied
“Homo. The brand on your shoulder. Sorry I didn’t mean to see it I just have an eye for that sort of thing. Are you a homosexual?”
“Urm” Bri said, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m gay too, and I’ve got the beating to prove it” the other boy turned around and pulled the back of his gown down to show a series of scars in various stages of healing, some looked fresh, like they were less than a week old. As he pulled his gown back up over his shoulder the newcomer’s sleeve slipped up to reveal a set of very fresh cuts on his arm. They couldn’t have been more than a day old and Bri recognised then instantly.
“You too huh?” he said mimicking the other Brian’s question from earlier.
“Hehe erm” he said sheepishly.
“Don’t worry” said Rosenthal pulling his towel down slightly to reveal a matching set of scars on his lower stomach “I’m the same”
Before the new boy, Brian Holden, Bri had to remind himself, could reply Lysander came in to check on him and he had to leave. Everything passed in a bit of a blur after that, He couldn’t stop thinking about the other boy he’d just met.

Jaime had been dressed for a full five minutes before Brian came back from his shower and she was starting to get worried. She was in a long flowing dress made of cream, brown and gold, fluttery fabric that looked like feathers rustling in the wind when she moved. She was wearing a ‘flapper style’ headband with some feathers sticking out of it to match the dress. Hey eyeliner was swooped out not only making her eyes look bigger but it gave the illusion of wings, she had had fake eyelashes put on that were huge and feathery her jewellery was all made of feathers too. The only bit that didn’t give the illusion of being a bird was her brown leather sandals that laced all the way up her leg and her hair that was half pinned up and half flowing loose, she thought she looked very grown up but maybe not as good as some of the older girls.

Then Brian stepped out. He was breath-taking she thought. His cut on his head had been artfully covered by makeup and his hair which had been fluffed up and over his forehead. He was in a very simple black suit with a cream coloured shirt like her dress, no tie and a feather broach. The outfit was simple and elegant and Jaime could only wish she looked half as good as him.

During the walk, down to where the other tributes were waiting Jaime tried to make small talk with Brian but the older boy seemed very distracted. When they got into the atrium she thought they were the last to arrive and was about to curse Brian for making everyone wait for them when someone said they were still waiting for district 12. She looked over at Brian again, unable to stop looking at him she saw he was scanning the room as if he was looking for someone, then the remaining two tributes arrived and were hurried off the chariot two behind theirs. She saw a glint in Brian’s eyes as he looked at the other boy but she couldn’t work out what it was. Soon they were off down the parade, Jaime wasn’t sure what look they were going for, no one had told her, she glanced over at Brian and saw him still looking distracted staring off into the distance. “Well if it doesn’t come off as unfazed and decent competition at least we’ll look matching” thought Jaime mimicking his actions. After a few minutes, the horses slowed and stopped in front of a podium when the President gave a fascinating speech about unity and harmony across the land, something Jaime though a little odd as only two days ago she’d seen men pelt her fellow tribute with rocks and call him names. Still pondering the meaning of the President’s words Jaime climbed down off the chariot being praised by Elona for their strong display and teamwork.

Chapter 28: The prepping part 11 (Or do we really need another chapter on people getting dressed?)

Summary:

I dont know if this needs a warning but people have some sexy times in this chapter, you have been warned

Denise couldn’t really remember much of her prep time, the waxing hurt and the prep team (she couldn’t remember their names) were all wearing painfully bright colours, she was more focused on what was happening on the other side of the room, where her very handsome and very naked boyfriend was having all his body hair removed. She wasn’t complaining now all his stomach hair was gone she could see the faint outline of his abs. They were both declared fit to go to the showers at the same time, much to Denise’s delight. The prep team member escorting them, Tax she though his name was, had obviously seen the looks she was sending Jeff’s way, not that he was looking.

Jeff spent most of the day in a blur, the medical exam came back clear and now he was free to worry exclusively about how he was going to make sure Dee survived the games. He was so out of it he obviously missed something important because when they got to the showers and Tax, the prep team member dressed in the colours of fallen autumn leaves, looked inside and said, “I’ll let you in a cubicle together if you want, seeing as its empty and you could probably do with blowing off some steam”. The middle-aged man laughed at the look on his face, and then at Dee’s subsidquent scowl. “I’m sorry what?” he said confused
“Your young lady here has been looking at you like she want to rip your clothes off, not that you’ve been wearing many, since we started the waxing process, and I figure since the showers are empty now and I can stand guard you may as well get some fun time whilst you can, might even help you relax a bit you know, you look like you’re about to snap you’re so tense.”
“There we go. The penny finally dropped.” Said his stunning hot girlfriend
She pulled him by his hand in to the empty room and under the deliciously warm spray. She pushed him against the wall and buried her head into his freshly waxed chest. “I’m sorry for being so distracted Dee, I’m just worried about keeping you safe.”
“I know baby but this year the goal is for us all to survive together, we might be ok”
“You’ve always been the smart one of us Dee.”
“Mmmm that’s why you love me. So, do I get a reward for being so smart?” Dee asks teasingly runner her hand over his chest.
“Dee, baby, I love you but I’m not sure I’m up for anything today, especially in a shower.”
“Oh” she replies, disappointed “I was only hoping for a quick little something to take the edge off, I’ve been so desperate for you all day, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I can ask for another shower to be turned on if you like?”
“No baby girl, I like being with you like this and I think I might manage a little something for you” he says stroking his hand over her small breast and down her stomach. When he reaches his goal, Dee lets out a small moan. He chuckles to himself she’s never been very loud in bed, a godsend really considering they both still live at home, but she always makes these quiet breathy moans when she’s desperate. He rubs his fingers against her clit for a few more seconds before moving further down to slip a finger inside her. She lets out a satisfied sigh as he does, he realises she was more desperate than he though as he easily slips a second finger inside her. He slowly pistons his fingers in and out a few times, letting her get used to the intrusion and relishing the silky feel of her insides. She seems to be enjoying it and she moves one of her hands down next to his to gently stroke her clit in time with him. She’s clearly enjoying herself so he decides to try a trick he’s heard a few guys talk about at work, he gently moved her hand aside and lays his palm where her hand was before starting moving again. It takes him a few tries to get the angle right and to start hearing those breathy moans he loves so much again, but when he does he brings out the big guns, he crooks his finger deep inside of her and finds that little soft spot he’s heard so much about. He asserts the smallest amount of pressure on it and the results are amazing. Denise tips her head back against the wall and lets out a louder moan. Clearly doing the right thing and conscious they probably don’t have much time left before someone else will want to use the shower he picks up the pace, soon Dee is muttering swear words under her breath. Suddenly she straightens up a bit and says “Jeff, Jeff I think I’m going to cum. Oh God Jeff please keep going.” He keeps going and kisses her gently quieting her moans. He uses he free hand to gently pull the hair on the back of her neck, knowing she has a weakness for it, and whispers words of encouragement in her ear. Soon she lets out a long breathy moan and is clenching round Jeff’s hand. He feels something wet spray against his leg but doesn’t have time to think about it before he has he arms full of a very floppy Denise. He grabs a sponge and quickly wipes her down thinking that if they’ve gone to shower they should at least attempt to look clean. Once he’s done she lifts her head and says “Jeff Blim, 14 months we’ve been together and that’s the first orgasm you’ve given me. God I’d heard about orgasms and how good they are but you my friend found the holy grail on your first go.” Seeing his confused look, she leans over and whispers in his ear “You made me squirt. Not many men can make a woman do that” Jeff’s neglected penis twitches a bit at that but he firmly squashes any arousal down, they don’t have the time, besides he wants to make Dee feel that good again, hopefully soon.

They step out of the shower, dry off and put their gowns on again and emerge with big grins on their faces, much to the amusement of Tax. “You two better stop looking quite so thoroughly fucked out by the time we get back or they’ll have my head for letting you two fuck in the showers.” As they walk back to the prep room they pass a scowling black girl heading in the opposite direction. They’re chastised for being so long when they get back to the prep room but their outfits are easy to assemble so getting them ready doesn’t take long. They both pretty body confident so get changed quickly in front of everyone instead of queueing to be behind a privacy curtain. Jeff tries (and fails) not to stare at his girlfriend’s naked body as she’s changing but all too soon she slips her dress on and winks at him. “She’s such a damn tease” he thinks before he starts to pull on his own clothes. Jeff is wearing a dark green t shirt and a pair of tight black trousers in the same odd fabric as his escort was wearing for the reaping. He’s told the fabric is denim and the trousers are called skinny jeans. He’s given a jacket, belt and a pair of military style boots all the same dark leather, he’s told the boots were made by a very famous shoe maker called Doctor Martens. They’re horribly uncomfortable but he’s assured that if he wears them in they’ll be the most comfortable shoes he’s ever worn. Then Tax ties a dark green bandana round his neck and ties his long hair back in a loose pony tail and declares he’s done. He looks over to see Dee staring appreciatively at him. He does the same to her, she always looks stunning in his eyes but nothing compares to this. Her long-sleeved lace dress in the same shade of green as his top is perfectly fitted on the bodice then flares out gently to stop just above her knees, she is wearing a matching jacket and shoes to him, she’s given a bracelet in the same leather. One of the prep team brushes her hair down and ties another green bandana in it to keep it out of her eyes. Someone has done her makeup very simply with black eyeliner winged out to the sides and a bright red lipstick that makes Jeff weak at the knees. “I’ll have no problem playing the drastically in love card” he thinks to himself.

All too soon he’s forced to stop staring at Dee and they must make their way to the atrium where their chariot awaits. Somehow despite their long shower together they still arrive somewhere in the middle of the pack meaning they have time to discuss the all-important question. “Dee, we need to talk.”
“Oh God, that sounds ominous” she replies
“No no it’s not bad, well I don’t think it is. Look we need a game plan and our whole lives are going to be broadcast, we really can’t keep us a secret any longer can we?” he says nervously
“No, I mean even if we decided not to tell people I’m not sure I can keep my hands off you for long enough in that get up to convince people anyway.”
He chuckles at her and leans in for a kiss, earning him a telling off from Tax for getting lipstick on him. He leans in to her side and smiles before kissing her on her forehead. He loves when she’s in this kind of playful mood, it means he’s in for a good night, and he doesn’t have to worry about the parade any more. As he’s surveying the room, the last tributes, the ones from 12, stride in dressed in imposing black outfits. After that it’s a flurry of motion as he’s ushered onto the chariot and he grabs hold of Dee tightly. She leans into his side as the chariot lurches forwards. The people love when they emerge cuddled together him with one arm round her and the other waving to the crowd, and her staring besotted up at him, he gives her a quick kiss part way down, because he can’t resist that shade of red on her and the crowd goes wild so they do it a second time. After that they pull apart and wave to the cheering crowds hands tightly clasped, as they remain for the duration of the President’s speech. Then they’re off again back into the atrium then off to found out where they’ll be staying for the next 2 months.

Chapter 29: The prepping part 12 (Or Brian saves the day)

Summary:

Trigger warnings for mentions of: Rape, depression, anxiety, self-harm, self-harm scars, generic injuries, anorexia, severe malnutrition
Also apologies, I think this is one of the worst chapters I've ever written please forgive me for my shoddy writting skills

Brian was exhausted, he hadn’t really eaten anything for a few days and he was running on about 3 hours sleep a night. To make it all worse he’d had his medical exam today. He might be able to fool his parents but the capitol doctor had all his documents about Brian and his family so there was no fooling him. Now they knew everything, they’d spotted the scars from his whippings, they’d spotted his self-harm scars, the fact that he weighed half what she should do and that his body was growing extra hair to compensate and keep him warm. Then they’d done the physical exam which was ok until the hands started to move south and he’d panicked, “Stupid, fucking stupid boy. Why couldn’t you control your panic attack just once. You’re meant to be being strong not having a break down every 5 minutes.” He thought to himself. Since his little episode he was being referred for therapy daily, between his obvious anorexia, self-harm, depression and anxiety and the fact that they’d found signs of rape it had been declared that he would need a lot of counselling to make it through the arena in one piece. They’d tried to place him on a feeding tube but there was no way Brian was not monitoring exactly what went into his body.

Brian lost himself in the hive of activity around him, the prep team had mostly given up with his fellow tribute Lily as she would lash out whenever they went near her. She’d been given a mild sedative a while ago that was just starting to kick in. The prep team were horrified when they saw the state of his body, his injuries were starting to heal quicker thanks to the creams the doctor had given him but nothing would stop them scarring and he had hair in odd places the team needed to get rid of. There were three people in their prep team, Elsa, a young woman dressed all in glittery silver and white with white ringlets in her hair, Scarlet, a woman of the same age who was wearing every colour imaginable, except red, and Rubin, an older, slightly fat man, who wore very simple clothes and reminded Brian of a kindly uncle. Rubin was comforting Brian was they started to wax over his newly healing cuts which then started to bleed. Once they were finished he had to sit there alone for a long time waiting to heal up enough to be allowed to go to the showers. By this point Lily had been subdued so Brian was forgotten about for a long time. Rubin suddenly remembered he existed and quickly got him dressed and took him for a shower.

As Brian walked into the showers another, “quite attractive guy” Brian thought, leaving the showers. As he turned slightly a brand saying the word homo could be seen on his right shoulder. “Brian Holden” he introduced himself to the other man sticking his hand out. Once his hand had been taken by the other man’s warm rough hand he nodded at his shoulder and said, “You too huh?”
“Brian Rosenthal and what do you mean?” came the bewildered response. Brian chuckled to himself internally “Of course the first hot gay guy I find has the same name as me” he thought before quickly responding the other Brian’s question “Homo. The brand on your shoulder. Sorry I didn’t mean to see it I just have an eye for that sort of thing. Are you a homosexual?” The other man seemed uncomfortable and unsure what to answer with, unsurprising given the abuse he seemed to have suffered for his sexuality. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m gay too, and I’ve got the beating to prove it” Brian said pulling down his gown slightly to show the scarring on his back. As he was putting his gown back on the other man asked him a question, “You too huh?” mimicking Brian’s question from earlier. Brian was unsure what he was talking about so just made some sheepish noises until the other man pulled down his towel slightly, revealing more of his lightly muscled stomach, something Brian was not complaining about, and his own set of healed scars like the ones on his arm. As he did this he said, “Don’t worry I’m the same”
Before Brian had a chance to respond the other Brian’s guide came in and took him away. As Brian stepped under the warm spray he was thinking about the other boy. It was rare to find other openly gay men, let alone one his own age and attractive. Now that he was starting to get warmed up and he was thinking about this other, rather attractive, Brian he could feel himself starting to get a little stirring of arousal. This, he decided, was his cue to get out of the shower.

Rubin and Brian made their way back to the prep room in comfortable silence. Once he arrived he was given his clothes and directed behind a screen to get changed. Lily was already dressed and was having her hair and makeup done by scarlet and Elsa. She was in a stunning floor length black gown with flame embroidery. She was wearing high black heels and had dramatic smoky makeup on to make her look older and fiercer. She had black and flame decorated jewellery to match the dress and her hair was in a complicated looking up do but a few strands were already starting to come loose.

When Brian stepped in front of the mirror he couldn’t believe how he looked. He was razor thin which was highlighted by his tight black jeans and t shirt. He had on black boots like those the peacekeepers wore at home and a long black cardigan the flowed behind him when he moved. He had dark smoky makeup like Lily’s that accentuated his cheekbones and made him look dark and dramatic, but by far the biggest difference was his hair. Lily had naturally dark hair which matched the look but Brian’s previously light hair had been dyed black and orange to make it look like he was on fire too. They were running late so were shepherded down the hall to where the parade would start and end quickly. When they arrived, they saw they were indeed the last people to arrive. They quickly boarded their black chariot pulled by black stallions. Their designer sprinkled a black powder, like coal dust, over their outfits and handed them a controller. “Press this when you’re ready” he said before he was whisked away as the procession started.

As they drove down the stadium both Lily and Brian stared ahead stony faced. When they had been going for a while Brian counted down from 3 and they both pressed their buttons. On the screens lining the stadium Brian could see that it had stared some fans that blew the coal dust off them making it look like they were smoking. The crowd loved it and their cheers carried on long after the President’s speech had started. As the procession drove off again Brian noticed one of the guys in another chariot looking like he was going to pass out. It was the boy from 6, the one even thinner than him, if they’d tried to put Brian on a food drip then they would have put him on one. Brian leapt off his cart before it had even stopped moving and ran over to the boy who was looking shakier by the second, “He’s in shock, you gave him protein which is body isn’t used to.” Everyone was staring blankly at him. “Get me and IV kit, IV fluids, a rehydration solution and the F75 solution. NOW. And for God’s sakes get all these people away.” Soon the room was emptied and a few minutes later a nurse returned with the rehydration kit. “Where’s everything else?” he asked
“We don’t often have to treat malnutrition here we don’t have all the stuff close to hand. We don’t even know what the F75 stuff is”
“Right get me IV fluids and adrenalin now, the F75 is a low fat, low protein, low sodium starter food for malnutrition cases that still has high carbohydrate levels, find me the closest thing to that you have for when he wakes up” She returned a few minutes later with the IV kits and the adrenalin pen. Brian set up the IV drip, turned to the mentor for the boy and said “The IV and rehydration kit should reverse the shock but try not to give him them often. If he stops breathing give him this adrenalin pen then run and get me, that’ll keep him alive through anything for 10 minutes. When he’s awake which shouldn’t be long give him the food thing I’ve sent for, start him on that for now and don’t let him eat anything else until me and the Doctor have run an assessment. I would stick around to help but I have my own dietary issues to address and he’s out of the danger zone now. We’re staying in the same building so I can keep an eye on him once he’s fit enough to be moved”

Teia led him through a long corridor and into a large glass lift. “The others are all upstairs waiting for you and Chris” she said. Brian didn’t care he was too busy fighting a wave of nausea and dizziness. Teia seemed to notice this and handed him something wrapped in a foil wrapper. “Eat this” she said, “I know you don’t want to, we were all briefed on our tributes conditions after the medical exam, but you have to, you’re going to pass out then you’ll be no use to man nor beast.” He stood there and studies the chocolate bar in silence, he could read on the back how many calories and how much fat was in it but he knew he had to suck it up and just eat it. Gingerly he took a small bite. It was good but he felt sick after the first bite. He had another but couldn’t handle any more. Teia warmly smiled at him and said, “It’s a start, we can work up to eating more but it’s still a good start” the elevator then arrived at its destination. This was it. He was about to meet his roommates for the next two months of his life.

Chapter 30: Meet the flatmates

Summary:

Not sure if I need warnings for this chaper but there is a medical scene or two in which someone is treated for severe malnourishment
This chapter is a long one. Like really long. Sorry about that

When Chris woke up he had a drip in his arm. He was still on the floor of the atrium but the boy he remembered was gone. Nick and Max were stood pacing and when they saw he was awake Max rushed over and helped him sit up. Nick handed him a small tube filled with a soft feeling paste, “Eat up” he said, “I’m sure it’ll taste gross but the skinny lad from 12 said it’s all we’re allowed to feed your for now or you’ll pass out again” Chris wasn’t fussed. Food is food and God was he hungry. He ate the whole tube in less than a minute before standing up. He was still a little shaking but with some help he was soon standing again. A nurse ran over with a wheelchair and sat him down. “I’ve hung a glucose solution on his drip but not attached it yet, can you check with the young man who was here earlier if he’s ok to have it?” the young nurse asked Nick. He nodded his agreement and wheeled Chris towards the lifts. “You gave us one hell of a shock young man” Max said trying to lighten the mood. Chris just apologised, much to the horror of Nick, “You’ve nothing to be sorry for Chris, it isn’t your fault and the most important thing is that you get healthy again.” The rest of the journey up the building was done in silence. As they approached the big double doors Chris began to get nervous, would everyone hate him for making them wait, would he lose all hope of allies or sponsors? His quick breathing caused him to go a little light headed and Max stopped pushing his wheelchair as Nick went inside the apartment. He returned a few seconds later with the boy from earlier, he’d tried to rub some of the makeup off his face, unsuccessfully. He pushed Chris’ head between his legs and told him to focus on keeping his breaths long, slow and even. As Chris was working on this he read the label on the bag he’d been given earlier and attached it to the port in his hand, then hung the bag up. “Right, this drip should help you feel a little better, you might shake a bit as the sugar floods your system but let me know if it’s bad and ill adjust your levels, sorry I can’t do anything about the needle in your hand for now just try not to poke it.”
“The others. Are they?” Chris started
“No, they’re mostly a pretty nice bunch, a few don’t want anything to do with us bust most just seem scared or friendly, mostly we’re just sat around in silence waiting to be told what to do and get introduced to each other. I’m Brian by the way, Brian Holden, I met another Brian earlier”
“Chris. Christopher Allen.” Came the quiet response.
Brian took the wheelchair from Chris’ mentor and wheeled him in to meet everyone. All the tributes were sat in a horseshow formation waiting for Chris to arrive. Most had pulled up individual chairs or small sofas and were sat trying not to interact but there were two couples curled up together on two of the sofas. The mentors were nowhere to be seen, most likely off chasing down the liquor cabinet thought Chris wryly. One of the escorts scuttled over from where they were all gathered when she saw Brian return with Chris. She had her platinum blonde hair piled up on her head in an elaborate style showing off her radish earrings. She introduced herself as Evanna Lynch and said that she’d let them introduce themselves to each other then she’d show them to their rooms. After a long pause in which no one wanted to be the first to break the silence she said “Well seeing as no one wants to go first let’s go in order, District 1 you’re up” After a lot of shifty looks finally the girl from district 1 spoke up “Hey y’all, I’m Devin Lytle, I’m 14, and yeah I’m from district 1.”
“Drop the act Dev” said the tall boy with a deep voice sat next to her
“Sorry” she said, dropping her southern drawl, “I out the accent on when I’m nervous, a habit I picked up at home to avoid all the attention”
“She’s District 1’s best fighter” the boy piped up again “Sweetheart of the District and soon to be the Capitol too if she keeps up the act. I’m Jim, Jim Povolo, I’m 16, the opposite to my good friend here, you’ll be hard pressed to win over a crowd with me.”
“Well that’s cheery” came the sarcastic reply from the tiny girl curled into the muscular boy on one of the sofas “I’m Lauren Lopez, I’m 17, I’m 5’ nothing and if you make fun of my height I promise I will end you”
“Easy Lo” said the guy with her “The goal isn’t to make everyone want to kill us in the arena.”
“But stabbing is so fun” she moaned like a petulant toddler
“She’s joking” the guy with her reassured “I’m Joe Walker by the way. Lauren here is my girlfriend as you probably gathered, whilst she is joking about the whole stabbing thing don’t piss her off, she’s damn near impossible to beat in a fight and small as she is I don’t wanna take her on.” And then a few seconds later “Will someone else please talk now”
This was met with much laughter. Once the giggles had died down a small boy shakily cleared his throat “Urm. Hi” he said quietly “I’m Joe. The other Joe. Well Joseph really. Joseph Moses. I’m from District 3 and I’m 15, 16 next month. What a way to spend my birthday huh?”
“I’m Arielle Goldman, I’m 14 and I come from District 3 as well, and um I guess that’s all there is to know about me”
“Great well I’m Meredith Stepien from district 4 and I’m 16 years old” said a girl with dark curly hair. She was sat at the feet of a guy who was a little taller than her it seemed but also a lot younger than her. They were obviously good friends as he was running his hands through her hair and weaving it into loose braids. He was the next person to pipe up “Hey, I’m Joey, Richter. Technically I’m another Joseph but whatever I mean most people call me Joey anyway. Oh yeah um I’m from District 4 too obviously and I’m 13 years old, but it’s my birthday in a couple of months, right when we’re in the arena actually.”
“Hey so I’m Brant Cox” spoke a guy with a slightly squeaky voice, “Urm and from district 5 and I’m 15 years old, hence the squeaky voice, sorry about that in advance it’ll get pretty annoying eventually”
“Hey, I’m Ali, I guess my last name won’t matter as I doubt I’m making it out of this alive, but I’m Ali Gordon if you want to know. I’m district 5 and I’m 13” piped up a gaunt looking girl sat at the edge of the group.
“Right I’m Julia Albain, from district 6, and my fellow tribute from 6 is the charming chap who held up the meeting. I’m 16 and dislike inefficiency and poor timekeeping above anything else.” Said the stern looking girl on one of the sofas. The guy sat in the wheelchair looked like he wished the ground would swallow him up. Very gingerly he lifted his hand in a slight wave and said “So yeah, I’m Chris, Chris Allen, so now you have a name to go with the guy causing you all this hassle. Ummm I’m 18, from district 6, as you know and I guess I should explain why I was late to the party and what’s up with all the wires coming off me. So, it turns out that surviving on 3 meals a week for 5 years or so and most of your meal being more water than actual food will do your body some damage, so here we are I need to be fed up quickly to stand any chance at surviving full stop let alone the games and the training that goes with it, but my body is rejecting all the nutrients it gets now, hence my little incident earlier. So yeah, that’s my story and if we could move on to the next people and stop staring at me that would be great.” A few people chuckled at that, and another very skinny older guy stood up and fiddled with something on the bags coming out of Chris’ arm and had a quick chat with him before sitting down again.
“Hey guys I’m Darren Criss, from District7, I’m 16, I love singing and playing guitar, and other instruments, and I would do anything for my family.” After this there was a long silence, everyone looked around, waiting for the female tribute from 7 to speak, after a while of people staring a sullen looking black girl sighed and said “Brittany Coleman. 14.” Before sighing again and slumping down in her chair.
“Um ok so I’m Matt Lang, brother of Nick Lang, last year’s victor um I’m from 8, I’m a whopping 16 years old and I consider myself to be a decent amateur playwright.” Said the blonde guy on a particularly comfy looking bean bag. The nervous looking girl on the beanbag next to him timidly pushed her hair behind her ear and said “I’m Alle-Faye Monka, I get it’s a tricky name so you can shorten it if you want, and um I’m another 13-year-old from district 8”
“Hello everyone, I’m Bonnie Greusen, I’m 15 and I come from district 9. I just want you to know you shouldn’t despair, my Daddy says that the Lord will help us all if we’re good Christians and we pray hard enough, and he’s a vicar so he knows what he’s talking about” said a very prim looking girl. She seemed uncomfortable with how revealing the back of her dress was and her frizzy hair was starting to come loose of where the prep team had tied it up. She was not giving a good impression to her fellow tributes. “Hey guys, I’m Dylan Saunders the other ‘lucky’ sod to be picked for district 9, and I would like to start by saying that I don’t share the religious opinions of the esteemed Miss Greusen. Also, I’m 16 and I will not try and take Lauren in a fight, she looks terrifying.” That last comment got him many laughs from everyone, the biggest of which came from Lauren who had a slightly evil glint in her eyes at the thought of being scary. Next to speak was a young-looking blonde who kept making side glances to the lanky older boy next to her. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she spoke “Hi I’m Jaime, well my full name is Jaime Lyn Beattie but most people call me Jaim or Jaime. I’m the female tribute for District 10 and I’m 14 years old.”
“Hey, Brian Rosenthal” said the guy next to her raising his hand in a half wave, “I’m from 10 too and I’m 17”
“Moving swiftly on to the awesome duo” spoke up a man in casual clothes sat under his girlfriend on one of the sofas. “This fine piece of ass” he continued indicating to the girl “is the ever-stunning Denise Donovan all the way from sunny District 11 mmmf” The girl put her hand over his mouth to get him to shut up. “I’m Denise, like this lump said” she said indicating to the man she was sat on “I’m 16 and from District 11, again like he said. The idiot who doesn’t know when to shut up” she once again indicated to the boy under her “is the ever lovable but ever stupid Jeff Blim, my boyfriend and the cockiest 18-year-old tribute you’ll ever see.” The couple’s good-natured teasing a friendly attitude helped put the room at ease a bit. The only two people left to speak were the thin man and sullen young girl from District 12, the girl was the first to speak but only because she had 23 sets of eyes pinned on her “Lily Marks, 14.” Came the reluctant response. The boy then clapped his hands together and said, “well that just leaves me, a few of you have met me already” with this he nodded at Chris and the first Brian “but for those of you who don’t already know I’m Brian Holden, but you can call me Bri, Brian, Brolden, B-hole, whatever takes your fancy really I don’t wanna get confused with the other Brian.”
“Call me Bri” came the response from the other man “I like it better than Brian and it keeps things simple”
“Ok then, so it’s Bri and B-hole then” came the response from Lauren
“Right as I was saying, I’m Brian. B-hole” he said with a nod to Lauren “I’m 17 and I’m whipping boy of District 12, by that I mean I keep getting caught being myself which is offensive to those in power so don’t hang around me if you want to keep a low profile.”

Once Brian had stopped his self-deprecating tirade Evanna stepped forwards again, “Ok now that we’re all introduced I’ll give you the tour. Just a few things before we begin, Girl’s and boy’s bedrooms are on different floors, we won’t punish anyone for not sleeping in their own bed, we just ask you to be discrete. Other ground rules include, no fighting, you’ve got plenty of time for that in the arena and it’s our job to keep you healthy whilst you’re here. This leads me on to the next rule, you’re all on diet plans for at least the first week so you will eat everything we put on your plate, if you want any other food or drinks or anything then ask any of the mentors or escorts or the avoxes, if you’re allowed it on your diet plan then we will provide it. Ok that’s all the rules for now, let’s start the tour. This room you’re in is the communal area. If you look to your left you will see the games area” she said indicating to a corner filled with all sorts of odd contraptions “The games provided are, chess, a card table and deck, 2 different video game stations, table football and darts. If you look just behind that there is an area to watch television, next to that, just the other side of the corridor you can see is the computer zone, in the other back corner you can see a boxed off room, this is a music room that has been soundproofed, the room to my right is an emergency medical room that is in place for medical emergencies and counselling, it is constantly staffed by a member of our medical team trained in general physical medicine, mental health counselling and dietary specialisms, so all your medical problems can be seen to.”
“I’m also fully medically trained” Brian interjected “My mother is the healer in District 12 and I’ve been apprenticed to her so have all my training, due to being trained in District 12 I have a working knowledge of many conditions linked to violent physical injuries and poor diet. My services are always on offer. I’m not saying the Capitol doctor provided isn’t any good however I understand that he may be busy sometimes and it can be embarrassing to talk to someone about medical problems especially if you think they won’t have seen them because they live in the Capitol, well I assure you nothing will surprise me so don’t be worried about that.”
“Thank you, Mr Holden.” Came Evanna’s strained response “As I was saying” she continued “this room here is a medical centre and between the two rooms is a library. If you follow me up these stairs you get to the dining room. The tables are currently pushed together to make larger group eating areas however all the tables and chairs can be moved should people want to sit and eat in smaller groups.” Evanna then led them round a walk way looking over the communal area and up another flight of stairs. These stairs led on to the roof “This is the roof, you have a great view over the Capitol from here, there is a pool too as you can see, it is temperature regulated so because the summer days are warm at the moment the water is kept cool in the day so as to make it refreshing and then heated at night as it can get very bitter here overnight and we wouldn’t want any of you cold should you chose to venture up here at night. Over in that corner there is a shaded area for those who would like to avoid the sun but still get some fresh air and there are plenty of full sun and partially shaded areas around the roof too, showers are also provided just behind the shaded seating area. The roof is protected by the forcefield so don’t worry about falling over the railings if you want to take in the view.” All the tributes knew the forcefield wasn’t for that, it was to stop any jumpers, it wouldn’t do for the game makers to lose a tribute before the games even started.

“Everyone follow me” came the call from back down the stairs, Evanna had gone before the tributes had realised. “It’s time for me to show you your rooms. Now each room is the same, you have a bed, bedside tables, a window along one wall, it’s holographic so you can whatever you want” she proudly proclaimed “a dressing table with a mirror and draws, a wardrobe and an en suite, that means attached, bathroom with a bath, shower, toilet, sink and mirror. All will be cleaned for you daily whilst you’re in training. Both floors have the floors in the same lay out, the tributes from districts 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 on one side of the corridor and the tributes from 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 11 on the other. Girls are on the top floor and boys on the bottom. Whilst each room has a basic layout we’ve had each one decorated in a colour we think you’ll like based on some fancy analysis of your district and home and clothes etc, we want you to feel happy and comfortable whilst you’re here. Now I know that won’t be easy and this all seems terribly unfair but it’s the best I can do. Now all your belongings have been moved in and your clothes out away, we have also provided a wide range of clothes for you to add to your own, including swimwear and training suits. Oh, now enough of my babbling, I’m sure you’re all just as excited as I am to see your rooms. Once you’ve been shown your room you’ve got free time for the rest of the day until 7:00 this evening when dinner will be served. Right on we go.” Evanna lead the group of teens round the walkway, through the dining room and through a large set of intricate glass double doors. Once they were in the corridor she led them all the way round to the end of the corridor. Once she reached the end of the corridor she turned around to face the group. “Ok, on my right here we have District 1, Devin that’s you right? Oh good” she said as Devin stepped forwards and opened the door. “Now on my left is District 2, that’s Miss Lopez I believe” this continued `down the corridor. Arielle was in the room next to Devin with Meredith opposite her. Next to Meredith was Julia and across the hall from Julia was Ali. The right-hand rooms went Alle-Faye, Jaime-Lyn and Lily, respectively and the left-hand side had the rooms belonging to Britney, Bonnie and Denise.

Once she was just left with a group of boys Evanna quickly lead them down to the bottom floor of the apartment and took the boys to their room. She started at the far end again and the rooms were in the same layout as before so there was Jim, Joseph, Brant, Matt, Bri and Brian down the right hand side of the corridor and Joe, Joey, Chris, Darren, Dylan and Jeff down the left. Once all the boys were settled in Evanna smiled smugly to herself and walked off leaving the tributes to settle in.

Notes:

Ok just to clarify the names
Joe= Joe Walker
Joseph/Jo Mo= Joe Moses
Joey= Joey Richter
Bri/Brosenthal= Brian Rosenthal
Brian/B-hole/brolden=Brian Holden
I will endeavour to stick to this from now on.

Chapter 31: Meet and Greet

Summary:

The awkward forced socialisation of the group and people actually starting to make new friendships.

Sorry it's been so long since my last update I have no excuse other than who I am as a person so my apologies ti anyone who is following this fic.

TW: talk of self-harm, rape and eating disorders.

The TW only applies to the conversation between the two Brians at the end of the chapter. I've left a gap before that bit starts so you can skip it if you dont want to read it. it's not vital to the plot just Brian Holden opening up to Brian Rosenthal and the two boys getting all soppy and starting to like each other.

After dinner that evening one of the mentors pulled the names of the tributes out of a hat and made them gather in groups of four. They were told to go to one of the communal areas and get to know each other better.
Joey, Lily, Alle-Faye and Jaime were the first four to be called. The group shuffled awkwardly off into the living room and sat on a small pile of bean bags. Jaime was the first to speak and soon she and Joey were laughing together. Occasionally Alle-Faye would laugh at one of the jokes or answer a question, however Lily refused to say a word and glared at the other three the whole time.

Britney, Matt, Jim and Brian were the next four to be called. They quickly moved into a small corner of the living room. Matt was chatting away a mile a minute to Jim and Brian. The smaller boy more than making up for the shyness of the other two. Britney trailed on after the other three and refused to even sit near them, despite being prompted to move closer to the others.

Devin, Bonnie, Dylan and Darren were the third group called and Darren led the quartet out to the pool. As they sat with their feet in the pool they talked about many things. Dylan found that having two strangers with him made Bonnie much easier to deal with and that he got on really well with all of them. The two boys got on like a house on fire and discovered they had very similar senses of humour. The entire group stayed out long in to the night, beyond the time when most of the other groups broke up and came out to join them.

Julia, Jeff, Denise and Brolden were the fourth group called. Julia took charge and led them around the balcony to a small bench surrounded by plants. She led the conversation more like an interrogation than a friendly chat, but it did allow the group to learn more about each other and their districts, not that Denise and Jeff needed to learn any more about each other. Jeff being much more laid back than Julia, was easily wound up by her uptight nature, something Brolden and Denise found highly amusing. Once they had exhausted Julia’s list of questions they wandered back round until they found another group chatting by the pool and joined them late in to the evening.

Brant, Ali, Chris and Arielle were the next four called. All four were very quiet and stayed at the table for their mandatory socialisation as everyone was tooscared to move Chris so soon after dinner in case he had another medical issue. Luckily, he had only been fed a tiny piece of bread and a few spoonfuls of broth, so he was ok. All four members of the group were very shy so didn’t really talk much despite all being nice people. All four of them came from very poor families and cared deeply about their families so they talked about them a lot. After about an hour of talking the young girls decided to head to bed and Brant saw a few others heading outside and wheeled Chris out to join them.

Joe, Lauren, Joseph and Meredith were the four leftover at the end. The group wandered around as they conversed. The three older children were loud and had big personalities, but somehow still managed to make the quiet, shy Joseph feel comfortable and come out of their shells. As the group walked they bumped into many of the other groups stopping for a quick chat with all of them. After a while they found the group by the pool and decided to settle there and join the groups together.

As the evening wore on more and more people gathered by the pool for a chat. Most of the youngest kids had gone to bed, the events of the past few days tiring them out. Before long the larger group had split off into couples or small groups having their own conversations. The two Brian’s were sat together a little way off from the other group talking quietly, Jeff, Denise, Lauren and Joe were draped across their respective partners talking, Jim and Chris were talking to each other whilst Jim braided the hair of Devin who was talking about clothes with Bonnie. Joseph, Joey, Brant and Jaime were sat by the water splashing each other gently and laughing, Dylan, Matt, Darren Meredith and Julia were sat on some chairs nearby talking amongst themselves. Darren had gone to get his guitar and was gently strumming away making Meredith swoon slightly.

One by one the groups began to disperse. JoMo had fallen asleep, leaning on Brant’s shoulder. Meredith picked him up as she went back to her room, Brant went with her to make sure she got the right room, whilst Joey walked back with Jaime, too engrossed in conversation realise he’d gone into the girls’ dorm. Bonnie had gone to bed early leaving Devin curled up against Jim. When one of the doctors came out to give Chris a new drip and a check up the trio decided to retire with Jim escorting Devin to her room knowing Chris was safe in the hands of the doctor who would make sure he was safe for the night. After a couple of hours Denise and Jeff started getting a bit handsy so went back to one of their rooms. Julia and Meredith got cold despite the heaters on the roof, so the boys walked them back inside, leaving the two Brians and Joe and Lauren.

“Joe?” Lauren asked,
“Yeah Lo?” He responded. For the first time in her life Lauren was scared. She bit her lip and looked up at her boyfriend with her big brown eyes. She ducked her head into his chest to avoid making eye contact and sighed. “I’m the bravest girl in Panem” she though to herself, “why can’t I even talk to the boy I love?”. Joe smiled at the small girl fondly and stroked her soft hair. “Lo, look at me” she looked at him tears shining in her eyes. “Is this about sex?”
“What?” Lauren asked in shock
“It’s just you’ve been weird since the parade and Chara came and found me and said some weird stuff about making sure you were ok and didn’t feel pressured and now since Jeff and Denise were all handsy you’ve gone even quieter. Mpff.” Lauren cut off his rambling with a gentle kiss.
“Yeah it is about sex. Chara and Cassia asked me if we’d done it yet when they were waxing my legs and I’ve not been able to think about it since. Is it bad that I hadn’t really thought about it before? I mean my parents made it seem like it was pretty much just for procreation when they found out about us, so I just assumed we wouldn’t until we wanted kids.”
“Oh Lo” Joe chuckled softly “It’s definitely not just about making babies, I’ve been told it actually feels pretty good. I think your parents only said that because we were 13 and 14 when we first got together, and we got serious pretty fast and it’s understandable them not wanting to be grandparents that young. It’s not bad that you haven’t thought about it yet, it means you’re not ready. I’m not saying I don’t want to because my God you’re smoking hot but I promise I wont lay a hand on you until you’re ready.”
“But I think I might want to” Lauren countered
“I don’t think you do Lo, I think you just feel like you should want to want to and that’s very different.”
“But”
“No buts Lo. Tell you what, how about we do some other stuff and if you’re comfortable and still want this in a few weeks then we can. But only if you want to because YOU want it and you’re ready.”
“Other stuff?”
Joe chuckled at how innocent his girl was. “You know how we kiss?” the small girl nodded in affirmation. “Well it’s like that but instead of just stopping after one or two kisses we keep going. That’s basically making out. Then there’s all the bases.”
“Bases?” she asked in confusion
Joe sighed fondly and ruffled her hair before answering, much to Lauren’s annoyance “Well making out is first base, second base is touching each other either under or over clothes whilst we make out, third base is pretty much everything except penetration. Oral sex is classes as like 3.5 but by that point no one really cares and then fourth base or a home run is going all the way.”
“Right ok, so what base did you want to get up to tonight then?”
“No Lo, not tonight. I’d feel like I was pressuring you into this. How about we head off to bed and when I kiss you good night you can keep it going as long as you want, then we go to our own beds and have a think about what we want and when and then IF and ONLY If you feel comfortable with something and you would like to try it then come and ask. How does that sound?”
“Remarkably reassuring to be honest” said Lauren blushing. She never liked to show much weakness or vulnerability, even in front of the love of her short life.

The two then got up and walked hand in hand back inside. They walked round the inner balcony to get to the girl’s dorms. Lauren’s room was at the end of the corridor, so the walk felt like an eternity to the nervous girl. All too soon they arrived at her door. Upon seeing the terrified face of his girlfriend Joe pulled her into a tight hug. After a few minutes he pulled back and placed his hand on her jaw before gently pulling her in for a light kiss. Then another. Then a third. When she realised that Joe wouldn’t pull away if she didn’t Lauren let her next kiss linger. Joe then took over again wrapping his free hand round her waist and moving the one on her jaw to tangle in her hair. After a few minutes of kissing Lauren felt Joe’s tongue press lightly at her lips, and when she parted them slightly for the next kiss his tongue slipped in. After that he pulled away for good and Lauren slipped into her room. She lent with her back against the door breathless. As her mind started to wander, thinking about everything she and Joe had discussed that night she began to find herself thinking about what it might feel like to actually do them. Soon Lauren felt the tell-tale throbbing of arousal again. She considered putting her hands down her pyjama pants and trying to masturbate like she’d overheard the girls at school said they did but chickened out at the last minute, however she did resolve to ask Cassia or Chara what to do.

 

 

 

After the mandatory social time Brian was at a bit of a loss about what to do. Even before he came out his family had never had lots of money, so all the fancy games provided he didn’t know how to play and there was no one at the card table to play with. He saw a few others heading to the balcony and decided to head there as well. There were a few people sat around talking. Stood over by the railings he saw the other Brian. He tapped in on the shoulder gently to get his attention. Brolden flinched slightly at the contact prompting Bri into an apology. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Said the taller man
“No, don’t worry, it’s just … stuff” came the quiet reply
Brolden turned away from the fence and the two of them went to sit by the water with everyone else. After a few minutes of comfortable silence Bri spoke up. “So umm, can I talk to you about what it was like?” he said gesturing awkwardly
“Being the only gay in the district so to speak?” he said continuing when the taller boy nodded in confirmation. “Well I guess this is time for my life story, if you’re willing to sit and listen for that long.”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Came the response, making the two boys chuckle.
“Ok, so I grew up in a fairly wealthy family in 12. My mother is a doctor and my father is a merchant. I’m an only child as there were complications with my birth. My life was fairly normal and boring for the first decade or so. I started learning medical things from my mum when I was about 8 or 9 and then when I was about 12 or so I started helping Dad unloading deliveries at the weekend and taking care of some of mum’s minor patients when she was too busy. I came out when I was 14 I think and that’s when things went downhill. I was the first person to ever come out to the whole district and the peacekeepers didn’t like it. At first it was just trivial things like tripping me in the square or singling me out for things. They didn’t do anything to my family because they were important pillars of the community and couldn’t risk hurting them. After a few weeks they realised I’d been signing up for tesserae when I didn’t need it and donating my share, along with other food and clothes to those in the district with nothing but children who were too young to take tesserae themselves. That’s when things got bad. The peacekeepers wanted to portray me as evil, so things didn’t change but I was being too nice to people. So, they would pull me up on my way home from medical trips and beat me out of the public eye. They couldn’t do anything publicly because legally I wasn’t doing anything wrong. That didn’t really do much. Not to my actions towards others at least. One day my mum came home from work and said she’d met a girl a year older than me who thought that she might be gay too but wasn’t sure what to do. That’s when I made my “pride groups”. I based them off the movement from before the dark days. They’re small gatherings in the evenings in people’s homes and anyone who thinks they might be gay or transgender or bisexual or just different in anyway really can come for support. It’s open to family members too. We educate people and try to get them to realise who they truly are. The peacekeepers find out about a third of the meeting now and if they do I get a ‘special punishment’ for ‘disturbing the peace’ but that’s not something you want to know about.”
“Wait. Brian please tell me those monsters don’t rape you”
“I can’t do that I’m afraid Bri, but it’s ok I’m used to it after 2 years, besides I learnt enough off my mother to keep myself as safe as I can be.”
“Safe?” Bri exclaimed incredulously. “You’re not safe, you’re covered in injuries and weigh what 130 pounds soaking wet?”
“97 actually” he interrupted a little proudly
“Jesus, Brian. That’s not ok. Please tell me you’re at least safe now.”
“It depends what you mean by safe.”
“You’re self-harming, aren’t you?”
“Yes, fair due I’m also recovering from a nasty eating disorder but it’s slow progress and being part of the games isn’t helping.” The next second the smaller boy found himself being pulled into a tight hug.
“I’m going to look after you now.” Bri muttered into the other boy’s hair “Your room is next to mine and I want you to come and find me any time you’re struggling. No one should have to go through this alone.”
“The same goes for you. I saw your scars earlier in the shower.”
“Ok. It’s a deal then. Let’s get you inside you must be freezing” he added as he saw the smaller boy shivering in the wind.
“Bri?” Brolden said quietly
“Yeah?”
“Were you serious about that offer of help?”
“Of course.”
“In that case can you help me get the dye out of my hair? I can’t seem to get it all out and you’re the only person I’d trust here, besides the prep team, to see my torso naked”
“Of course.”

The boys made their way to the dorms. Bri turned off to grab a jug from the table in the dining room and when he got to Brian’s room the sat down on the edge of the bed waiting for the shorter boy to come out. He noticed the window was showing a meadow with fireflies hovering above it. He stared at it enraptured until Brolden emerged. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Bri made a small noise of agreement “It’s the meadow just beyond the perimeter fence in my district. There’s a tree that hangs over the fence and I climb over and go sit by the lake there when I need to think. Helps me relax.” Bri fought his almost overwhelming urge to hug the small boy at this. The pair went into the bathroom together and sat Brolden on the edge of the tub in a pair of thin swimming trunks. As Bri massaged and washed his head Brolden got more and more relaxed his eyes slipping shut every now and then. Bri was trying desperately not to think about how attractive he was finding the other boy. All too soon the water was running clear again and the boys had to go their separate ways. Promising to eat breakfast together the next morning. Both boys tried to pretend it was just to make sure Brolden ate a suitable amount, but they knew it was more because they already didn’t want to be apart for long.