Hello to the few people reading this! Unfortunately, this is as far as I've prewritten, so I'll be updating even less regularly. But on the bright side, this is a five page chapter, so not bad!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, just Nico. And Mac. Mac is mine.
The next morning I awoke to something hard hitting my chest, knocking the breath out of me.
"What the-" Note: flailing only means I roll off the bed onto the hard floor.
"Ouch." I groaned, glad that whatever had been thrown at me hadn't fallen on top of me. Then I heard chuckling and glared towards the door.
"Good job kid, you've officially won spaz of the year award." Of course it was Mac, who else?
"What was that?" I growled, struggling to stand. Of course, some of my sheets had fallen with me and were now intent on holding me down.
"A book. I want you to read it." Mac replied. I waved a hand in front of my face.
"Kind of a problem with that, genius."
"That's why you have this." He threw something else, this time it landed in my lap. It was about as wide as a book page, but not as long. One side of it was smooth metal, then other felt like glass.
"What is it?" I questioned.
"Your reading glasses. Just run it over the page and it'll read it aloud for you. That book is about plants and wildlife that might appear in the arena. Hope you've got a good memory kid." The door shut after his little speech, leaving me in the empty room with the book. I glared at where I thought it was before shrugging on a shirt. That was definitely not how I wanted to spend my last days in the Capitol. I was thinking of sleeping, actually. I sighed and sat down on the bed, feeling around the rumpled covers. It didn't take long for my hand to hit something hard and I dragged the hardback over in front of me before flipping to the first page.
It only took a few pages for me to decided that I needed food before 'reading' anymore. I ran a hand through my hair before stepping out into the hallway, my hand trailing the wall as I walked along.
"Why do you do that?" Once again, Adrienne made me jump.
"How do you keep doing that?" I demanded.
"Surprising you?" It's obviously not hard." She commented. I could hear her step closer and I turned to face her.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.
"You never answered my question." She reminded me. I frowned.
"Oh, running my hand down the wall?" I shrugged, "yeah, I guess so." In fact, I always did that, it helped me to know where I was and where I was going. But she didn't need to know that. Ever. I turned, giving a small wave.
"I'm hungry, so see you later." I said, continuing to walk. Of course she kept walking right next to me.
"So, does Maggie have you training?" I blurted out after a few moments of awkward silence. Why in the world did the dining room have to be so far away? She didn't talk for a few moments, and if it weren't for the fact that I could hear her next to me, I would have sworn that she'd left.
"Just because we're from the same district doesn't mean that I'll tell you everything about me." She said. The anger in her voice was thick and I winced at it.
"Didn't ask you to, geez." I retorted. The rest of the trip to the dining room was taken in silence, just our footsteps and the brush of my hand on the wall. When we cam in, Maggie and Mac were talking softly, something about a date and her saying fat chance.
"Hey Mac, muffin me!" I called, cupping my hands. In the next instant, a warm muffin was in my hands, wafting its wonderful blueberry scent up to my nose. I took a huge bite out of it and was instantly in heaven.
"Seriously, these are the best muffins in the world. I could just eat these for the rest of my life." I said, holding it up. I heard Mac chuckle while Maggie sighed.
"Don't talk with your mouth full kid." Mac said. I swallowed, then stuck my tongue out before taking another bit bite.
"Mature." Adrienne's voice muttered. I rolled my eyes again. This coming from the girl who got upset when I asked her about training.
"Here kid, you're going to choke yourself." A glass of something cold nudged my hand and I took it gratefully, taking a swig before I realized what it was. The sweet muffin made the orange juice even more sour, and I ended up make a face.
"So, how's the book?" Mac asked. I shrugged.
"Boring. Probably useful, but boring." I said, then managed to sit down at the table, setting my juice down on it.
"Yeah, well, keep reading. It'll help." Mac ordered. I frowned.
"Yeah, yeah old man." I muttered.
"Who are you calling old man?" Mac spluttered, "I'm not that much older than you!"
"Then why do you always call me kid?" I grinned.
"Cause you are one!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Mac, quit that, you're setting a bad example!" Maggie cut into our argument. I grinned.
"Yeah Mac, you're setting a bad example." I mocked. Another muffin hit my head.
"Don't be so disrespectful." Mac admonished me. I shrugged and picked up the muffin, taking a bite.
"Mmmm, so good." I said, forgetting the mock argument. I stood, grabbing my juice.
"Anyways, I should go read. What's happening today?" I asked.
"Your interview is tonight, so try to at least act like a decent person." Mac reminded me. I waved him off as I started to walk out.
"Yeah, don't worry about it, old man." Actually, he had every reason to worry. I had issues talking to people, especially ones that I didn't know. Tom had once said that I was 'as social as a rabid bear that just woke up from hibernation.' I just never really saw the point in being nice to people when they were rarely nice to me. I sighed and went back to my reading. The interview would come when it came.
I was far into dreamland, a wonderful dream in which I was the only person at a huge feast. Of course, such things never last.
"Stupid kid, wake up!" Mac's voice intruded into my dream. I sat up instantly, rubbing at my face that no doubt had an outline of the book imprinted onto it.
"Uh, wh-what's going on?" I managed. I got a faceful of cloth for my efforts.
"Hurry up and change, your interview's in ten minutes." He said crossly. I obeyed quickly.
"I thought you were always late." I commented as I followed his footsteps down the hall. He chuckled.
"Not for the important stuff. You sure pick the worst times to sleep kid. No time to tell you what to say or anything, just have to wing it. Try not to insult Caesar too much. I'm sure that will be difficult enough for you though." He led me through a door, and suddenly I could feel sunlight coming at me from all directions, but no wind or anything. I frowned.
"Where are we?" I asked after checking to make sure no one else was there.
"Skywalk going to the studio. Can't have the tributes walking the streets, it's too dangerous." Mac replied, keeping up his brisk pace.
"I bet it's a great view." I said, somewhat wistfully. I missed being able to see stuff like that.
"I've seen better." He said. I rolled my eyes and continued to follow tamely, feeling the path go downhill while the sunlight slowly faded. Noise started to come in, and it grew in proportions until I could hear Adrienne's voice answering a man's questions while a crowd cheered them on.
"Good, you two are here. You do realize how important the interview is, right?" Maggie scolded. I shrugged.
"Sorry, I fell asleep." I said, not sounding repentant at all. She sighed.
"Well, Adrienne is almost finished, you're up next, go wait by the curtain." She ordered me.
"Bossy." I muttered, following Mac to stand closer to the stage, judging from the increase in noise.
"You have no idea, kid." Mac chuckled.
"Well good luck Adrienne, I'm sure there are lot of people out there rooting for you." A man, I assumed Caesar, said from the stage. Adrienne thanked him, then her footsteps started towards me.
"Good luck." She muttered as she brushed past me.
"And now we have our other District 3 tribute, Nico Daimen!" Caesar announced. Mac gave me a little push and I stumbled onto the stage; apparently there were stairs leading up to it that I was not aware of.
"Ah, Nico, please, have a seat." Caesar offered, shaking my hand. I tried to smile as I carefully navigated the stage, hoping the awkwardness I felt wasn't apparent to everyone watching. I managed to sit down on a highly uncomfortable chair, feeling for all the world like this was an interrogation.
"So Nico, how are you today?" Was Caesar's first question. I tried to remember what Mac had told me, if he'd told me anything, and finally decided to just go for the cute little kid thing.
"Great! I love it here. To be honest though, I just woke up from a nap." I said the last part in a lower voice, leaning towards the interviewer. He laughed, just a little and the audience joined in.
"I have to admit, a nap is a wonderful thing." He said, then continued his questioning. "Do you have any siblings back home?" I had anticipated this question, and actually prepared a response, looking down at the floor.
"No, my parents died when I was little. I have a best friend though, he's almost like a brother." I said softly. I got exactly the response I was looking for, I could practically hear the mental 'aws' going through the audience.
"I'm very sorry for your loss, Nico. It's good that you have a friend like that though. What's his name?" I could almost pretend that Caesar cared, and I perked up, trying to keep up the mask.
"Oh, his name's Tom. Tom Mason. He always helped me train, 'cause I'm not very good at it. He'll help me cook too, because his mom shows him how and well, mine can't." I tried to look a little pathetic, but only a little; I still have my pride.
At least a little bit.
"So do you live with Tom and his parents?" Caesar asked next. I shook my head.
"No, I live above an abandoned store. The orphanage didn't let me stay any longer, so I had to get my own place." I said, playing the poor orphan up for all it was worth. In truth, I left the orphanage when I was ten; I was tired of all the people hovering over me.
"Well, I'm sure you have a girl waiting for you at home." Caesar said. I let the question hang for a moment, feeling the anticipation, before shaking my head again.
"Nope, 'fraid not." I said. I'd seen him do this in other interviews, probe for relationships and stir up the audience's pity. Caesar shifted in his seat, and I had a feeling he was leaning towards me.
"I have time for one more question. Tell me Nico, what is one thing you want to say to the audience?" I played with my fingers, like I was nervous-okay, maybe I was-before looking out at the audience.
"Um, I just want to say that I know there's a lot of other people here, who are stronger, and have more of a chance, but-" now I let out my most confident grin, "don't discount the underdog!" And now they were eating out of my hand, cheering and clapping so loudly it hurt my ears, but I just stood, grin still firmly in place as Caesar told me good luck. I waved before walking off the stage. And didn't trip over the stair this time.
The rug got me though.
"Good job kid, I didn't think you had it in you." Mac said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged.
"I have to playact a lot. It's not that hard." I said, even though it was and I was tired, even though I had just taken a nap.
"Well, you certainly milked it. Let's hope it helped." Mac said, starting to usher me back down the corridor.
"By the way, you can fight, right?" He sounded like he had wanted to ask that question for awhile. I shrugged.
"Let's put it this way: my hand-to-hand sucks, I can't shoot a bow and arrow, slingshots don't generally do much permanent damage, and that's kind of iffy anyways, and my swordplay, well, isn't the best." I recited the list of things that Tom had attempted to train me in. Then I smiled. "But like I told everyone out there, don't count out the underdog. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."
"Like what?" Mac's voice was skeptical.
"You'll see, won't you?" I teased him, before just about running into a doorframe.
"If you don't kill yourself first." He muttered.
"Heard that!" I sing-songed. I was in a pretty good mood, with my interview going so well. He was silent for a moment, even stopped walking.
"How sensitive is your hearing?" He questioned. I shrugged,
"I dunno, never had it tested or anything. It's sensitive enough though." I replied. I didn't really care, but he grabbed my arm and led me to an empty room, plopping me down on a chair.
"Ok kid, what can you hear?" Mac demanded. I sighed and closed my eyes, a useless gesture but it made me feel like I was concentrating more. A sudden influx of sounds hit me, ones that I usually blocked out so as not to get overwhelmed.
"Um, there's a bug under your chair, a really big one if I'm picking it up. Adrienne and Maggie are upstairs, talking about, okay, do girls seriously use seduction in the games? That's just weird… Anyways, there're two, no three, Avoxes in the kitchen making dinner, I'm hearing the plates, and someone's vacuuming. There are still people cheering somewhere too, not sure what about though. Uh, there's some other background noise, but I'm not really sure what it all is…" I opened my eyes and leaned back in the cushy chair.
"How's that?" I asked, then had to bat his hand out of my face. "What the heck, you trying to hit me or something?"
"How'd you know where my hand was?" Mac questioned. I shrugged.
"I could feel and hear the air moving around my face." I answered, then decided to ask my own question, "how'd you know I'm, you know…" I trailed off.
"You didn't stare at me." Mac answered, "you're not the only one with restrained senses: I lost an eye in the games. Everyone I've ever met has stared at my eye patch. You didn't, and you didn't even look at the food table when I pointed at it. It was pretty simple, really." It was really right then when I remembered that Mac had won the Games, and had likely won them through brains. I frowned a little, wondering how to phrase my next question.
"Can I, uh, feel your face?" I asked. Yep, that sounded about as weird as I though it would. I heard clothes rustling, then he grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his face. I brought my other one up to join it and slowly started to explore. His mouth was fixed in a crooked grin, something that I had a feeling was permanent. His nose was slightly crooked, no doubt it had been broken at some point or another. I kept going higher, and sure enough there was a silky fabric where his right eye should have been. Even further up was his hair. It went every which way, sticking straight up in spots. It felt even crazier than mine, which was really saying something considering that the most I did to mine was run a hand through it every now and then.
"You about done?" Mac asked. I nodded, pulling away.
"Yeah. Thanks." I said. Now I had a mental image of one thing here.
"No problem. See you later kid." Mac said gruffly, getting up and walking out, closing the door behind him. I listened to his footsteps fade away, considering getting up and grabbing some food, but decided it would be far too much effort. Instead I curled up where I was and went back to sleep.