AUTHOR'S NOTE: Apologies for the long hiatus. Luckily I did manage to get several other chapters and works up in the meantime, but resut assured the 93rd Annual Hunger Games will still go on. Korra gets to talk to Caesar, gets to learn a bit more about some of the other tributes, and fun times abound all around.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 11: A Web of Intrigue, Part 1

Vincent was dressed in a suit of slightly darker red than Korra's dress, but it was still enough to strike people as a matching set—a contrast to Amy and Marcus from the previous year (despite that those two had gotten along better).

"Well, don't you look great," he quipped, running a hand through his hair, which Zakuya had apparently decided would look better combed back in a quaint sort of way.

"You don't look half bad yourself," Korra chuckled, "you ready to wow Caesar and the Capitol tonight?"

"You best believe I am," Vincent smirked, "I've gotta remind people that Vincent the vindicated victor is here to stay!"

Korra chuckled, but couldn't argue with that kind of confidence. She knew that he obviously wanted to survive just as much as she did, and so she would worry about fighting him when it was time to break up the career pack. In the meantime, she followed Vincent over to where the other tributes were starting to line up, where she noticed that she wasn't alone in staring at some of the other designs. Vivian's white dress was an interesting contrast against her dark skin, and the skirts had a semi-translucency to them which caused Vincent and Cobalt to glance a bit in her direction.

The girl took it in stride, bumping her hips to make her skirts flow and her jewelry jingle, but otherwise was quiet as she got into line—she would be first after all.

Korra glanced down at the bangles on her wrists, playing with them idly as she watched some of the others. District 5 was always fun to watch, since their stylists seemed to take a similar angle year after year. However, instead of being like the infamous District 7 stylists that had dressed their tributes up like trees for the chariot parade for decades (they had been replaced about 15 years prior), people actually liked what District 5 did with its tribute costumes and outfits.

Sure enough, as Korra glanced past Districts 3 and 4, she saw a black-clad pair of kids with colorful LED lights adorning the boy's suit and the girl's dress. They flashed in various patterns at a fairly slow rate, but at one point, the whole outfit lit up. No wonder the whole outfit was so shiny.

Korra couldn't help but look back at the end of the line to see what '12 and '11 were dressed in, and found that she was not disappointed. District 11's clothing was a bright white that contrasted nicely with their dark skin, while District 12's were a bit more intriguing, going for the opposite effect and all—black. Korra liked the masks they wore—it gave Saki and Jeremy a nice sense of enigma to them.

However, her thoughts were diverted to the stage again when she heard Vivian Nelson's name get called. A few pairs of eyes (many of them boys) watched her sway her hips as she disappeared and sat down next to Caesar Flickerman to begin her interview. While she was clearly good-spirited, she didn't quite have the ditzy airheaded vibe to her that many of the others from her district did. Korra would have to remember that—she had also scored higher than her partner.

Speaking of Vivian's partner… before Korra realized it, Cobalt Efran was being called to the stage. He was a bit more airheaded like the District 1 that Korra remembered, but on the other hand, while District 1 seemed ditzy at times, it was hard to argue with their results—namely, their victor's pool.

But soon, Korra's time came, and she strode out onto the stage, her skirts flowing. Even if she had not scored perfectly, she was very well received.

"Ahh, and here's a fiery one!" Caesar laughed, inviting Korra to sit down in the seat next to him where tributes always sat. "And look at that outfit… Misaha and Zakura certainly know what your best assets are, don't they, Korra?" He was clearly talking about Korra's arms and her large hands, for she had given the Gamemakers quite a display of strength during her private training session.
"They're incredible!" Korra agreed, "I wish they'd talk so I could say something to them about it!"
"Ah, they're tricky ones!" Caesar waved his finger, "not even I can get a word out of 'em! Ho-ho!" he threw his head back as he usually did when he laughed this way, and the audience joined him. Her interview continued with typical questions about the Capitol and how she felt about her games. One of the last questions was about her training score, and how it was not quite perfect. Somehow they had known that Korra had been aiming for something like that.

"It's just a number at the end of the day," she shrugged, "a kid a couple years ago won with a 5… I'll win with an 11 just as easily as I would with a 12!"
"Passion! I like that!" Caesar exclaimed, "But… now here's a rather unique question for you, and you alone. Last year, victor Amy Zavala said she was going to send us a message—and that part of that message was that she was going to bring home another victor from District 2 this year. What do you think of that?"
"I dunno what her message is," Korra shrugged, "but I'm all for anything that'll put me back on this stage in a couple weeks as a victor, you know?" she raised her fist, where the bangles jingled as they slid up her arm (before sliding back to her wrists as she lowered it again).

"That's the spirit!" Caesar shouted with vigor, let's hear it, ladies and gentlemen… for Korra Francisco… District 2!"

A few moments later Vincent and Korra had swapped places, and he was received just as well as she was, considering that he was one of two perfect-scoring tributes. Korra decided to linger around to hear the other interviews, particularly Sacajawea's, and maybe that large District 6 boy. Vincent was no Marcus, but he managed to crack the crowds up with his alliteration comments. He briefly mentioned Amy's message of bringing home a victor this year, and said he'd be just as happy to take Korra's place.

"We pretty much stole the show…" he suggested after he left Caesar's stage and Argenta Lao stepped up. she, like many from District 3, was cool and witty, and his partner Koshu proved to be the same way. Caesar continued going down the list, giving each tribute roughly the same amount of time, even if he knew that many of them were making false promises about returning home as victors. Not that he would ever tell them that the odds were certainly not in their favors, but he knew as well as anyone who the odds were leaning mostly towards—and so most of the money was going towards Districts 2, 1, 12, and 11 again this year, it seemed.

Soon the exotic, LED-clad District 5 pair had finished and little Alayna from '6 was skipping up to the stage. She seemed like a sweet little thing, talking about how her friend Garrett would protect her. That brought a rather interesting dynamic to Korra's mind—had the two known each other before the games, or had Alayna's reaping been why Garrett had volunteered?

She found out the answer a moment later. Alayna skipped past Korra, stopping to wave at the slightly larger girl, a grin on her face.

"Uh… hi?" Korra waved back, but not before noticing the girl's eyes were fairly pink.

Garrett spoke of how he did in fact volunteer to help protect Alayna, and that he would gladly sacrifice himself to ensure that she was able to come home. Korra couldn't help but admire that, although she would still not hesitate to kill Alayna if needs be. To her, the games were simply business—risky, exciting business that involved fame and glory for the winners, and death for the losers. She wanted to not fall into the latter of these two groups. Korra was a bit surprised when laughter erupted from the audience, as Garrett made a joke about 'really wanting some Substance 21 right now'. She had heard of it, and was fairly certain it was a drug, but was not positive.

Either way, when Garrett's interview concluded, he too briefly made eye contact with Korra.

"Did you see Alayna go by?" he asked. Like her, his eyes were slightly pinkish. Was this a result of that "Substance 21" the boy had spoken of during his interview?

"She went that way," Korra shrugged, pointing her thumb in the direction the small girl had skipped off in. Garrett nodded, shrugged a brief "thanks" before lumbering off after her.

As Districts 7 and 8 took the stage, they said a few colorful things, and Korra was fairly certain that Zhao and Suzanne had subtly tried to weave anti-Capitol sentiment into their remarks, but if they did, Caesar either ignored it, or was oblivious to it—or perhaps there had been no underhanded insults at all.

Soon, District 11 was up, and Korra started paying attention again—these interviews would be good.