A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Apologies for not updating ever. I will try to update more. Promise.
Anyway, chapter. This was originally going to be two chapters, but I decided it was too short.
"Okay, this needs to be quick," President Coin said, placing a bowl in the middle of the surviving seven victors. "Pick a name out of the bowl. Only one each, the rest will be trained by other professionals. Ex-Gamemakers or something like that."
"I thought we killed all the Gamemakers," Johanna pointed out.
"I'm sure I saved a couple for this purpose," Coin smiled. "But anyway, just pick a name. We have roughly three hours until we have to present this and there are to be no mistakes. Clear?"
"Crystal," Enobaria muttered. The other victors remained silent.
"Go round in a circle. Beetee, you first," Coin instructed. Beetee took the bowl with shaking hands and unwillingly extracted the first name.
"Sol," Beetee declared, his voice trembling slightly. "Sol Winch."
"Okay, next," Coin urged, pushing the bowl towards Annie. She tentatively dipped her hand in the bowl and caught a slip of paper, pulling it away so quickly you'd think the bowl was filled with acid.
Then again, in Annie's mind, you could never know.
"Uh, Bryce Larkin," Annie murmured, but the room was so quiet that everyone heard her.
Coin pushed the bowl towards Haymitch, who wasted no time in drawing his new trainee.
"Fayna May,' He called, nudging the bowl towards Enobaria and reaching into his suit pocket for a small bottle of liquor.
"Junius Andrews," Enobaria purred, brushing the bowl so it skidded towards Johanna. As soon as she read the name on her piece of paper, a huge grin dominated her face.
"Jessamine Snow," she announced, giddy. "President Snow's granddaughter."
The Victors exchanged joyful and somewhat longing looks as Johanna passed the bowl on to Peeta.
"Eryx Downs," he said, handing the bowl to Katniss.
"Of course I'm last," Katniss muttered, pulling out the name of the last tribute to have a Victor as their mentor.
"Ryker Grant," she called.
"Okay, you have your names. Can we go now?" Johanna asked.
"Not yet," Coin insisted. "I've made a few changes to the structure of your mentoring duties."
"Oh, joy," Johanna muttered sarcastically.
Coin, ignoring Johanna's comment went on to say, "Each day of training – which is now two weeks – the tributes will get four hours one-on-one time with their mentor. The other four hours will be spent in the training facility as normal. Got it?"
Everyone nodded, anxious to leave.
"Good. Now you may leave."
The building behind the makeshift stage was in chaos after the reaping. Twenty-Four different stylists were shouting twenty-four different names through the rather cramped hall.
It didn't take long for Fayna to find her stylist, most likely because her name is the only thing her ears will hear.
"Ah, Fayna. If you would come with me," Fayna's stylist – Edessa – drew Fayna away to the back room assigned for her makeover.
Jessamine was also found quickly, but more in the 'She's-quite-important' way rather than Fayna's obsession with her own name.
"Right this way, Miss Snow," the guiding hand of Jessamine's stylist Kais began to push her through the crowd. A hand which Jessamine immediately pushed off. She was sick of all the special treatment she received, just for being President Snow's granddaughter. People assumed she enjoyed it. And she did, back before the rebellion, when her status was an honor. Now, people either avoided her or treated her like a poor, homeless child. As if she needed support. People always had their expectations of what she would be like, but no-one ever seemed to get it right. They acted like she was weak, and couldn't handle the way life worked. Nobody expected her to be indifferent, so naturally, she was.
Kais stopped for a second, gaging Jessamine's action.
"Uh, just follow me," he said, parting the crowd on the way to his stylist room.
After milling through the crowd for about ten minutes, Eryx finally heard someone call his name.
"About damn time," he muttered, following the voice calling him.
"Ah, there you are," A tall woman patted his shoulder. "I'm Kendrea, your stylist. Follow me."
Eryx paused for a second, before trailing after Kendrea.
"Uh, excuse me, do we get to see our families? Y'know, say goodbye and stuff," he asked.
"No, sorry. I know how hard this must be for you," she said.
You have no idea, Eryx thought, passing through the door Kendrea held open.
Ryker was one of the last Tributes left in the hall. The other two - Bryce and Sol – were trying to make small talk with each other, but anyone could guess that they were at least slightly scared.
"Which one of you is Ryker?" A lady with hot-pink skin asked.
"Me," Ryker reluctantly stepped forward.
"Okay! Come with me!" She said brightly. "My name's Sabrina."
"Okay," Ryker muttered, letting Sabrina drag her to a room equipped with makeover tools.
Ryker was a pretty good judge of character, and she could tell that after a while, she'd want to punch her stylist's face in.
A/N: And that's it for this chapter. Sorry I'm taking so long to update.
As a side note, by the next time I update, I may have changed my author name. If you have any suggestions for what I can change it to, let me know.
Review?