DISCLAIMER:

There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, and the Capitol.

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IN THIS CHAPTER: Moderate Adult Language

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CHAPTER 3

The Peacekeeper then grabs my arm and half leads/half drags me through the Justice Building, without even telling me where we're going.

"Hey, I'm not going to be able to fight to the death in a freakin' arena with twenty-three other kids if you dislocate my shoulder before I can get there!" I snarl.

He just grunts and pulls harder.

I think some choice words but don't bother to say anything. Trying to distract myself from the fact that I feel like my arm's being pulled out of the socket; I think back to Lecia's Games; how it worked. First, the reaping and visits in the Justice Building, I just finished that. Next, you take the train to the Capitol. Once you get there, you have the Opening Ceremonies, and then you get your scores from the private training sessions. Lastly are the interviews, your final chance to get sponsors before you enter the arena.

I tune back into the present when I realize that we've stopped moving. We're at the train station platform. Looks like I'm about to start Step Two. Elesah walks up to me.

"Finnick! It's so good to meet you!" she squeals sticking out her hand.

I shake it reluctantly and try to think of something to say, but she's already talking again.

"Your so handsome! I'm sure there's a lucky girl at home, right?" she asks.

I nod. "Irlissa Vandyerlin," I say showing her the bangle.

"Did she give that to you today?"

I nod and start to explain, but she exclaims:

"Awww! That's sooo sweet! Too bad about the Games…come on Finnick, let me show you to your room!"

Thank God, I think. I don't consider myself aggressive, well I didn't then, but punching her in the face is starting to seem more and more appealing.

I'm so busy being angry that I don't notice when Elesah stops and run smack into her.

"Sorry," I say as I feel my face heat up.

"It's okay sweetie," she says with a smile. "You found out about going to the Games less than two hours ago, you must be so emotionally overwhelmed! Here's your room, dinner is at 5:30, but until then you can chill here!"

I step into the room, and I am immediately awed by the size. It's probably eight by eight feet, around twice the size of my room at home. As soon as I sit down on the bed (Most comfortable bed ever!) I am overtaken by pure exhaustion. I decide to take a nap since I have almost five hours before dinner. I fall asleep quite...easily. That would probably be the last time. Ever.

I wake up about three and a half hours later. At first it's like a dream. Lying on a soft, comfortable bed in a huge room, doing whatever I want...until I hear Korey Kassidy's voice from next door. And then I remember that I am on a train to the Capitol so that I can be shipped off into the arena and forced to kill kids. Somehow, it feels like being reaped all over again, and all I want is to stand under a hot shower and think. I look at the clock to see I have about an hour and a half until dinner. I quickly throw my clothes onto the bed and get into the shower, where I see a touch screen panel and a power button. I press the button, and a whole bunch of options pop up on the touch screen. The first one is red and blue, I assume that is water temperature and slide with my finger until the water is almost as hot as it gets. Then, steam. I choose none, steamy showers make me sweat, and doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of showering? The next option is "Type of Soap". The choices are body wash, exfoliating, and scented. I'm used to using bar soap, but I choose body wash, because I'd rather not smell like a flower, and I don't even know what "exfoliating" means. Liquid soap squirts onto a thing that looks like a whole bunch of small plastic nets glued to a ball. I take it assuming I'm supposed to wash with it, and then just stand under the hot water until I have nothing left to think about. I press the power button to turn off the shower, when something starts to flash on the touch screen. Apparently I need to choose a moisturizing lotion before I can get out of the shower. It asks me if I have oily skin, dry skin, average skin, or combination skin. Who has time to think about these kinds of things? I choose average, and then it asks what scent I want. After seeing Rose Water, Berries N' Cream, and Peppermint, I start to get worried, but then I spot Sea Breeze. If I have to use the scented crap anyways, it might as well be something that will remind me of home. Without any kind of warning, blue lotion comes squirting from every direction, getting in my eyes, nose, and mouth. I cough until my throat is clear, and then wipe my eyes with a washcloth. It doesn't help all that much, but the stupid water won't turn back on so I just leave it. The lotion must be specially formulated so that my skin will absorb it, because when I'm done trying to get it out of my eyes, I can barely see it at all, just a bluish tint on my skin. Then the water comes on again, rinsing the excess off. Before it shuts off, I manage to rinse the moisturizer out of my eyes. The touch screen says "Treatment Complete" and turns off.

I step out of the shower and look for a towel. I'm about to just dry off with my shirt or something when hot air starts blowing out of the ceiling so fast I almost fall over. By the time that it stops, even my hair is totally dry. As soon as it ends, I hurry out of the bathroom before a robot comes out of the wall and combs my hair or something equally crazy. While I'm putting my clothes back on, I hear Elesah knock on the door. Knowing she's the type who'd come in before I could tell her not to, I put one foot against the door and lean most of my weight against it, figuring that she's as fragile as a toothpick and won't be able to open it.

"Just got of the shower," I call out.

She sighs. "Hurry up, dinner starts in five minutes! The dining hall is just down this hallway!"

"Coming," I say, and wait for her to leave before I take my foot of the door. I quickly slip my clothes on and walk to the dining hall, where I see Elesah, Korey, and two adults I haven't met, a short and kind lady who looks like she's about 65, and a 40 something guy who looks like he'll punch you in the face if you look at him wrong.

"Sorry I'm late," I say.

"Your not late Finnick," Elesah chirps. "It's 5:30 right now!"

I don't even bother to respond.

"Alright guys!" she squeals. "These are your mentors, Mags and Odalys! When your in the arena, your lives will be in their hands! Finnick, you'll have Mags, and Korey, you'll have Odalys."

Korey gives me a look that I take to mean, "Wow, I hate you, why do you always get the good stuff?"

I smirk at her, just to p*ss her off.

Three Capitol servants walk in with steaming plates of food. I try to keep my stomach from grumbling, but fail. If I've ever eaten this well, it was back when my dad was around.

They place before us bowls of soup and walk out without saying a word.

My face must have shown that I didn't understand, because Mags says, "They're avoxes. They can't speak because their tongues have been removed by the Capitol."

I nod, but don't respond. This is the kind of crap the Capitol does to people.

Korey spills some soup, and sucks it off her fingers one by one.

"Korey!" Elesah yells so loud that she jumps and her soup would of gone crashing to the floor if I didn't manage to catch it in time. "Use your napkin!"

She picks up the napkin and wipes her hands on it, and then places it back on the table.

"On your lap," Elesah snaps.

Korey gives me a hopeless look, and I mouth, "Sorry."

She nods and continues to eat her soup, but so slowly and carefully that it would take her hours to finish it.

Luckily, I still remember fine-dining etiquette from fancy dinners with my dad. Even though I was only seven, my table manners have always been pretty decent. His friend's wives would always say, "Awwwwww, he's so handsome and polite!" Ew.

We eat the rest of the soup course in silence. The next course is salad. I nudge Korey and point at the smaller of the two forks. She nods and mouthes "Thanks."

Mags looks at Korey thoughtfully and says, "Korey, do you have any skills that you think would be helpful in the arena?"

"Well...I'm pretty good with a sword, decent with a spear, and agile."

Pretty good with a sword? Serious understatement. She is to sword as I am to trident. Me with a trident and her with a sword actually make a pretty interesting fight. Our trainer had us do it once to demonstrate techniques to use when you opponent is using a different weapon. She "killed" me once, and I "killed" her twice. It was almost…fun.

"What about you Finnick?" Mags asks.

"Umm...I'm pretty good with a trident, I can throw knives, and I'm fast?"

Mags nods. "Those skills will definitely be useful in the arena."

Odalys speaks for the first time.

"Do you two want to discuss training strategies together or separately?"

I look at Korey.

"Umm…"

"Well, are we planning to be allies?" she asks.

"I don't know," I respond.

Odalys sighs and rolls his eyes. "For God's sake, you guys are going to have to make decisions faster than that in the arena. Since you can't decide, I will, they'll be separate."

Mags gives him a look, but doesn't say anything.

The next course comes, and I am awestruck. They have everything sea related you could think of, crabs, lobsters, oysters, calamari, scallops, mussels, clams, caviar, fish of every type, shrimp, and pretty much everything else. Each entree has it's own sauce, some really common ones like garlic butter, and other exotic ones like "marinara" that we have with the calamari. After I've tried a tiny bit of about half the things on the table, and already almost full, I realize something. The hunger in the districts isn't necessary. There is definitely enough food in the Capitol for every person in every district to have more than enough to eat. This ruins my appetite. I was pretty much as poor as you got in Four, and we always had food on the table, it just wasn't enough. But in the outer districts, starvation is as common as disease. The thought sickens me, and when dessert, a molten lava cake, comes, I barely touch it.

Elesah looks at me and asks in her super annoying voice, "Why aren't you eating your cake, Finnick? We haven't even eaten much today."

Mags must realize that I'm about to smack her and attempt to explain what it's like to be hungry, because she says, "It's probably anxiety. How about you rest up in your room, that should help."

I nod and get up quickly.

And we haven't even gotten to the real sh*t yet.

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A/N: Sorry about the lame ending, I ended it before I was planning to because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Speaking of waiting, sorry it took so incredibly long for this to be posted. It definitely isn't my best, but at least it's a little longer than usual. I'll do my best to get the next one up faster, but I have school and another story to attend to. Please review, even if you say I suck! Also, if you have any ideas for tributes, now would be the time to post a review saying so. This is not SYOT, but if you just have an idea for a personality or something I'd be happy to hear it! Thanks for reading!

Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!

-cindella204