Chapter 2

"Greetings!" Caesar stood and burst into a smile and held his hand out for the man entering from stage left. The audience of Caesar's interview with the newcomer roared in anticipation and excitement. The cameras immediately focused in on the man as all of Panem eagerly waited for this man to introduce himself. This year's game certainly was going to be interesting.

The man shook his hand and Caesar tried not to wince from the man's bone-crushing grip. Both sat down as Caesar said "It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He winked to the audience, "Right?"

Thousands cheered in response as their eyes lay on the handsome man before them. His hair was slicked back a little and although he had not changed his exotic apparel he instantly had charmed Panem's female population. He smiled a little in response despite his mind reminding him to be cautious.

"I know I had introduced myself once before in the Game, but I am Caesar Flickerman. It's a pleasure!"

The man nodded and said pleasantly, "Thank you for your hospitality."

Caesar waved off the compliment, "It's no problem. You are a guest of Panem after all and what kind of hosts would we, the people of Panem, be to not give you a warm welcome!"

The crowd cheered.

"But," Caesar smiled a little coyly, "I have to admit, we're really curious about you. It's not every year when a newcomer enters the games, am I right folks?" The audience cheered in response, and rooted for the man's name.

Caesar laughed a little and addressed the smiling man, "We're all very eager to know, what name do you go by?"

"Thor Odinson."

"It's nice to have you Thor. Tell me, is there anything we can get you?"

"Have you any good mead?"

Caesar laughed a little, "I'm afraid not but I'm sure we can find some. Do you drink mead a lot where you are from?"

"Oh," Thor responded a little whimsically, "It is a shame. Mead is truly a drink of the Gods. We must drink in your great hall sometime!"

Caesar and the crowd laughed heartily in response. Although Thor was new to Panem and many trials were ahead, Caesar secretly was grateful that the crowd already loved Thor's personality. Imperceptibly shaking himself from his own thoughts, Caesar continued, "I'll be happy to have a drink sometime. So...I must ask Thor. A lot of the audience has been wondering about this, but you fell onto Panem from a hole in the sky. Can you tell us what happened?"

Thor sighed a little, "I don't remember. I was unconscious at the time."

"Well I have to say that's one of worst wake up calls I've ever seen."

Caesar and Thor chuckled along with the audience.

After a moment, the blue haired man asked, "So when you fell into the arena, many of our viewers and tributes have said they saw a hammer fall with y-"

"You have Mjolnir?" Thor interrupted, "Where is it?"

Caesar's eyebrow shot upwards at Thor's eager response, "Well yes, I think. Mollner is the hammer?"

Thor nodded, "Yes. Mjolnir is the hammer. It was a gift from my father ages ago and it has been a countless friend and ally in the many adventures I, The Lady Sif, and The Warriors Three have journeyed."

The audience did an "aw" at the sight of Thor's attachment to the hammer, and his family. Caesar smiled, knowing full well that Thor may receive more sponsors than any of the other tributes. First the tributes from District 12 with their star-crossed love and now this man with his seemingly strong sense of family and presumably friends. Indeed this year's game will be interesting.

"We're almost out of time. I can safely saw we are keeping your hammer safe, but it will unfortunately be in the Cornucopia along with the other tributes' weapons. Personally," Caesar put a hand to his chest, "I'd give the hammer to you now if I could."

Thor nodded knowing that deep down he questioned his worthiness for wielding Mjolnir - particularly after what his father Odin had criticized of his character. Although he had a strong desire to reunite with Mjolnir, he also had enough strength to let go of the attachment for now.

"One more question. Can you describe your homeland for us?"

"You want to know about Asgard?" Thor replied with a little surprise.

Caesar looked to the audience, "You tell me folks! Do you want to know about Asgard?"

A resounding cheer of yes came from the thousands in the audience and even more from at home.

Thor laughed lightly. "You may think I am crazy when I describe my home."

Caesar laughed. "I doubt it," and gestured for the Asgardian to continue.

Thor smirked. "Well where to begin. Asgard is a cosmic realm that is unreachable for anyone here on Midgard. Asgardians travel to the nine realms by way of the Bifrost, but a few have the ability to travel independently. I know for certain my brother Loki is capable if he chose to do such a task."

"Oh you have a brother? Can you tell the audience a little about him?"

"He is smaller and less powerful than most Asgardians in strength. But what he lacks in physical strength he makes up for in intelligence. Asgardians are warriors to the very core of our culture. Loki seems a little...different from most Asgardians, but I love him all the same as my brother."

Caesar smiled once again and held his hand out, a little more warily this time. "And that's time. Thank you very much Thor..."

A man jogged up to the stage and whispered in Caesar's ear, and then quickly scampered away. Caesar's eyes brightened, "Ah ha. I was just updated on a decision by the Game maker's counsel. I have some good news for you," he addressed Thor. Then to the crowd, "and an announcement for this year's game!"

Murmurs of excitement festered amongst the thousands present as Caesar waited for the perfect timing: "The counsel of Gamemakers had discussed how to...accommodate your unexpected arrival in this year's game, and...now pay attention folks!" He coyly winked to the cameras, "If you want to sponsor Thor Odinson in this year's game please talk to the District 12 mentor Haymitch Abernathy. Now I know what you may be thinking about Mr. Abernathy but keep in mind that he has some of our brightest, star quality tributes this year!"

The parts of the cheering crowd deafened the doubters.

Turning back to a patiently waiting Thor, Caesar continued, "As part of the game the tributes can receive supplies they need throughout the game with proper sponsorships. When you meet Mr. Abernathy I'm sure he'll fill you in more...I think you two may get along swimmingly now that I think of it."

Thor smiled, seemingly catching Caesar's hint but in reality no such thought process occurred. Instead Thor had simply smiled because the interview was almost over. Although Caesar was a very likeable individual, something about being on such public display and openly being asked about Asgard - as if these people had no concept of his homeland - Thor was starting to feel an undercurrent of unease that was soon to fester like past disease epidemics he had heard about on Midgard.

"Thank you very much for your time Thor! I wish you the best of luck in the game." Caesar was standing with his hand apprehensively outstretched. Thor smiled and told himself to ease his grip this time.

Thor stood and shook his hand. Caesar turned the taller man and himself to the audience, "Ladies and Gentlemen. Thor Odinson of Asgard!"

The crowd cheered to near deafening levels as Thor smiled, waved, and proceeded to leave the stage.

Thor was led to an exquisite apartment on the 12th floor of a building he did not see a name or title for. The silent servant, an Avox he reminded himself, bowed and walked out of the dining room. Thor casually gazed at the smooth and clean walls, the soft and expensive glass dinnerware that neatly graced the dinner table, and he immediately missed the uneven and less...sterile construction of Asgard's architecture. Glancing to his left he noticed an outdoor balcony.

Walking out and feeling the warm night air breeze through his should length hair, Thor rested his palms on the milky white and smooth balcony wall. He raised his sights away from the gaudy pinks and lime greens of the Capitol's buildings and to the almost painted on stars that lined the night sky.

Asgard, the former God pondered, is up there somewhere. I promise father, I will return someday.

The small screeching of a chair pulled away from the dinner table brought Thor's attention back to the apartment and the grizzled man before him. With a drink in hand, the man took a swig and appraised Thor's strengths and weakness much like the many opponents he had faced in battle.

The man's free hand rested on the top of the lone chair away from its home, and he gestured for Thor to sit at the table. The blond obliged; sitting across from this man. Taking another drink the stranger sat. "So you're Thor Odinson..." The man paused and held his glass to Thor, "drink?"

Thor nodded, "What do you have?"

"I heard you like mead. Not my first choice but I'll make due."

Thor nodded a little, and his senses were catching on that this man did not have good news for him. The man in question waved a servant over and made the drink request.

"You are Haymitch Abernathy?" Thor asked after the servant left.

He nodded, "I am. What did they tell you about the Hunger Games?"

"Who is this they you speak of?"

"You talked to President Snow, Seneca Crane, and Caesar Flickerman right?"

"Just Flickerman. I don't know much about these games...such an odd title too."

Haymitch nodded. "Normally when the tributes are picked the District mayor reads the Treaty of Treason. You weren't there for that obviously."

"Treason? Who committed this?"

"The people from the east - look that's not the point. What matters is your survival in the games. You're an anomaly. Something the Capitol didn't expect. That's good. What's bad is they're setting up special rules for you."

"Oh?" Thor asked, "What would those be?"

"I don't know what they have prepared for you. Whatever it is, they will try to kill you or your image. Make you an enemy and give the people someone to hate in the arena."

Thor sobered a bit realizing his cautionary sense were more attuned to his situation than he previously imagined. "How are the winners of these games decided?"

Haymitch's eyebrow twitched skyward, "They didn't tell you? Ha!" He shook his head a little with his sights trained to the table. Looking back at the blond warrior he quietly continued, "The Games are a fight to the death in an arena that is filmed on live television."

Thor paused in thought and then shrugged. "I do not know what this 'television' is. However, this is not common but not unheard of in Asgard. We had these events for the bravest of warriors who wished to test their might or settle arguments years ago."

Haymitch glared at Thor for his seemingly nonchalance over the games. "These are not brave warriors fighting. These tributes are children forced to participate. Only two people volunteered. One because he trained for the 'honor' in playing in the game, and the other to protect her twelve year old sister from being selected. You-"

"WHAT!" Thor roared with his hands slammed on the table as he stood. Pure, unadulterated rage simmered on his features just waiting to maul the calm but still glaring man before him. "Why has no one told me this!"

Haymitch nodded, desperately trying to keep calm, "The Gamemakers don't trust you. Right now, all you are is a piece of entertainment. They don't care if you live or die. In fact they'll probably make your life a living hell in there and then kill you."

Thor inhaled and exhaled to the best of his ability and he tried to suppress his anger. There was no sense in taking out his anger on Haymitch - so far the only man who gave him direct answers. Direct was certainly a method Thor preferred. So far these people and their very odd fashion sense always seemed like they were hiding something from him.

Thor lowered himself back down into his seat, "So there will be children in the arena fighting for their lives against each other. And I will be in there as well fighting whatever it is the..."

"Gamemakers."

"Gamemakers throw at me."

"As far as I know, that's what's going to happen." Haymitch glanced at the closed door behind him and listened.

"This is-"

Haymitch held his hand up, stopping the Asgardian. He silently mouthed "They're listening."

Thor nodded. He let his anger try to simmer for a minute before he asked in a reasonably calm manner, "How long ago did you ask for that mead?"

"Good question. Maybe they couldn't find any. I guess I'll have to tell..."

A servant opened the door silently and hurriedly stepped up to the pair with two steins filled to the brim with yellow liquid. They set the cups down gently, bowed in deep apology, and sheepishly waited for further orders.

Haymitch waved the servant off, "That's all."

The servant nodded and briskly left the room as if they were a child caught red handed and trying to leave the scene of their crime.

Thor followed the servant out with his eyes. "Do they speak?"

Haymitch shook his head, "They're mute. They're supposedly traitors to the Capitol, so instead of murder they are forced to be silent servants. Their tongues are cut out."

Taking another breath in exhalation, Thor leaned towards Haymitch, "What's your plan about getting those kids out of the arena?"

The mentor blinked; stunned. The thought had crossed his mind before as a form of rebellion against the Capitol, but there never would be enough cooperation from each of the tributes not to kill each other and rebel. The Careers would have seen that would never happen in the arena, let alone the Peacekeepers themselves.

Haymitch could not quite place what it was about the man before him, but something about Thor gave Haymitch the idea that his plan may just be crazy enough to work. Not now though, Haymitch thought, not with so many ears listening in. He eyed Thor and hoped the message would come across, "I don't have any plans. My job is to make sure you survive as long as possible and get you sponsors. That's all."

Thor looked affronted, but with a small motion to his lips, Haymitch mentally prayed Thor did not mess this up.

The blonde calmed himself and then said, "You have to gather sponsors for me and your two tributes from District 12, no?"

Haymitch relaxed a bit, "Yeah. I have my work cut out for me. I may need to stay sober." Then, more to himself he continued, "Not looking forward to that."

"Well then friend. If you plan to stay sober later, then we drink now." Thor raised his stein to tap Haymitch's own. Both men took a hearty drink.

Thor watched curiously as the door behind Haymitch opened and three people entered the apartment. Two children, one male, and one female, and a woman dressed in frightening shades of pink paused as they set eyes on him.

Haymitch turned around briefly and then turned back to the blonde. "Looks like the party arrived."

Thor stood and walked to the standing trio. "Greetings," he knelt, held up the back of the normal looking female's hand, kissed it lightly, and said "I am Thor. It's nice to meet you."

The girl stared back at him, not sure what to make of the gesture he just performed, and managed to mumble out, "Katniss."

Thor smirked a bit at her, shifted to the male next to her, and shook hands. "Nice to meet you. I am Thor."

The young man nodded and smiled back, "I'm Peeta. Nice to meet you too."

Haymitch smirked at his tribute's reactions and nearly laughed out loud as he saw Thor try not to wince as he performed the same chivalrous gesture to an almost instantly love struck Effie Trinket.

"The pleasure's all mine," Effie cooed back to him.

Haymitch stood and took his place next to Thor and asked, "How was training?"

The teenagers shrugged with Peeta saying, "Not much changed since the last time we trained."

Haymitch nodded. "Good. Remember, don't show them too much of what you can do when you're there tomorrow. They'll probably be sizing up Thor here," Haymitch side glanced at the man on his right, "anyway."

"I will be training?"

Haymitch nodded, "The Gamemakers want to size you up. You'll probably have to do a demonstration for them tomorrow too. You'll be graded on a score from one to twelve with twelve being amazing and one being god-awful. This number will reflect how many people are going to want to sponsor you."

Thor nodded, "Who has the highest score?"

Haymitch gestured to Katniss, and Thor was raised an impressed eyebrow. He smiled to her, trusting his senses that she can and will be a formidable warrior. In an odd turn of events, she very much reminded him of the Lady Sif. He hoped that when he gets Mjolnir back and frees these kids from the arena that she'll join him with no questions asked.

Katniss kept her expression stoic to the newcomer, but mentally she was racing with paranoia. What is this guy all about? What was it that he just did to her and is he trustworthy? He's strong like the boy Cato. Is he just as malicious as those insane tributes from District 2 and the rest of the Careers?

Thor regarded her with curiosity; that much she knew. What he was curious about she was unsure. She guessed that it stemmed from her footage from the Capitol's incessant replays of the reapings across Panem as well as the chariot ride and interviews with Caesar. He was certainly not like her: a perpetually starving hunter whose focus was survival.

No, he was much more like a sane version of Cato: well-fed throughout his life, uses brute strength to win fights, and is probably terrible at stealth. Asgard was as much a mystery to her, and perhaps the rest of Panem, as was Thor's sanity. Whoever heard of a civilization that was in the clouds? It was in the sky right? That's where he seemed to come from. The idea was still ridiculous and maybe this man was more of a loose cannon than he let on.

Crazy or not he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the arena if he was playing by the same rules. She had heard Haymitch mutter something about the Capitol screwing him over in drunken musings earlier in the day.

Katniss blinked. The man that had plagued her thoughts seemingly disappeared from her view and was replaced with a concerned Peeta. His eyes questioned, and she shook her head in response.

Taking a seat at the dinner table, she joined Effie, Thor, and Haymitch in discussion. Both men took a swig of mead, or at least what she imagined was mead, as she sat. Peeta joined almost instantaneously.

"Be aware of the muttations," Haymitch advised the man, "I get the feeling they'll be making special ones just for you."

"And those are?"

"Genetically engineered animals," Effie chimed in sweetly, trying her best to be of interest to the blonde man. "They were used for different purposes, but in the arena they're to liven up the entertainment for the audience."

Thor's look soured, "And people are entertained by this?"

"No," Peeta chimed in, "Not everyone. When Katniss volunteered and I was reaped, no one clapped or wished us luck."

Effie tsked with a shake of her head, "Such a shame really. I was hoping they would have had more faith in their tributes."

Katniss and Peeta exchanged knowing looks, knowing full well the reason was not lack of faith, but of protest. Haymitch, Katniss figured, knew as well.

Thor kept his composure as best as he could when he said, "Faith and hope is hard when children are forcefully sent to their probable deaths. These Games are nothing more than a barbaric government's force of will over those they oppress." While his voice was calm, the dark look and the waves of ire that rolled off his face was another matter entirely, "You would do well to keep that in mind, woman."

Effie sat back with her eyes wide and a hand covered a small gasp from her mouth. Never had she seen such dangerous hatred and she wisely kept her mouth shut for the rest of the evening.

Katniss's previous suspicions of the Asgardian lessened significantly, and her respect for him to have the bravery to backtalk against Effie's condescending remarks certainly won points with respect. I don't know if what he just said was really brave or really stupid, but at least he hates the Games as much as I do.

Haymitch took another drink. "Your mead is getting warm. Best drink up and worry about things other than how you feel. You'll get yourself and us killed faster than you can blink if you keep this up. Life here is not like your precious Asgard. We get it. Now shut up about it."

Thor's pierced vision blazed to Haymitch's own gaze.

Peeta continued for his mentor, "He has a point sir. I completely understand how you feel. I don't like the idea of the Games either but there's not much I can do about it. If you want to stop the Games then it'll be much harder if they are watching you."

With a loud sigh he desperately fought against his quick-to-react nature, and choked out, "You're right..."

Then to Effie, he said "I...I apologize...Miss Trinket...for my words. I am still...what's the word...settling in."

The pink haired woman nodded in response, and nervously fixed her wig; not trusting her own words at the moment.

Katniss gazed at Peeta intensely as if trying to decipher the mystery that was Peeta Mellark.

Thor took a large drink.

After a brief moment of tense silence, Peeta regarded his mentor, "So what's going to happen in three days?"

Haymitch finished his mead. "I'm not a hundred percent sure about him," he said, glancing at Thor moving to stand and lean against one of the walls of the room, "But for you two nothing is changing. What's the first thing you are going to do when that timer reaches zero?"

"Run and find water," Peeta supplied instantly.

Haymitch nodded.

"What will they be running from?" Thor asked from the wall.

Haymitch regarded Thor's demeanor before he said, "It's called the bloodbath. Happens every year." He stifled a burp. "They have everyone start with the Cornucopia in the middle with enough weapons...you get the idea."

Thor crossed his arms with a grimace, "Where will I be?"

The mentor shrugged. "Didn't tell me."

Thor nodded and weighed his options. And then he said, "Have they moved Mjolnir?"

"Probably."

His expression lightened to a smirk, "Hopefully Mjolnir gave them hell if they did."
Katniss perked at his comment, "What do you mean?"

"Mjolnir does not lift for anyone except for those who are worthy. If they tried to move it then they probably had to move the ground beneath it. None of them would be able to lift it."

The group blinked in confusion at his statement. Haymitch was first to respond, "Katniss am I sober right now?"

"Er...I think so?"

"Is he sober?"

Peeta piped up, "How...how does that work, sir?"

Thor raised an eyebrow at their reaction and for being addressed as sir. "Do I appear insane to you all?"

The group, minus Thor, exchanged looks. Peeta, ever the pleaser, responded, "No, no. Not crazy. It's just...it sounds unreal. Like you've got magic...or...something like that."

Thor shook his head, "Not me. My brother Loki is the one who excels at sorcery."

Peeta and Katniss were stunned into silence while Haymitch desperately wanted more alcohol.

Author's Note:

Just a quick note here, if anyone is interested in being a beta for content and characterization, I would love to work with you and offer the same service for you. As I've been writing this story longer it's really been turning into a multi-perspective sort of character study, and I'm really enjoying that route. Which I guess is another reason why I've been concerned about getting the characters right.

I think I'm pretty satisfied with the summary, but the title is definitely a work in progress and I'm looking for a better one. Any ideas or suggestions you have are welcome and greatly appreciated.