...
"I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun." -The Hunger Games
District 4
Maeve Anna "Mae" Carlisle (14 years old)
"Here we are," my district partner, Kasey, announced as he jumped up and looked out of the window. He held a smug grin on his face as he offered a nod to his 'screaming fans'. What an idiot.
I rolled my eyes and glanced out of the window from a distance. The capitol really was really beautiful. It had a glowing man-made river as clean as a simple glass of water. I couldn't help but smile at it. I often thought District 4 was beautiful but that was nothing compared to this.
"Rilka," I whispered under my breath, meaning 'beautiful'.
"What?" Kasey said as he turned to face me. His arrogant smile soon turned to a frown. "Do you have to speak in that stupid language of yours? It is ridiculous!"
I narrowed my eyes. You are ridiculous."Erititd aevick,(*)" I spat.
He made an aggressive move forward and stomped his foot. The train pulled to a stop and Kasey glanced at the door before looking back at me. "I'd be careful if I was you." I had to stop myself from laughing, he didn't even have a clue about what I had just said, yet his reaction was spot on.
Our escort entered the cabin and clapped her hands together twice, "chop chop jelly tots." I groaned as I stood up. Why were escorts so pathetic?
As we walked from the train into the building my mentor began to ask me questions. Have you thought about game plan? Are you a career? Do you want an alliance? I simply shrugged my shoulders in response to her questions. I didn't need her help just yet.
I had to work the majority of that out myself and I wasn't prepared to speak in her language without knowing exactly what I wanted to say. I had to plan this out carefully.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the reporters flashing pictures of us but I refused to look at them. What a sight we must have been; the tributes from District 4; the tall, muscular boy who shines for the camera and the small, skinny girl who doesn't even look at them. I could imagine that being a headline.
Once we were in the building, we were directed down some corridors and into our own rooms where we were greeted by some extravagant-looking individuals; my prep team. There were two females; one of them was tall with dark blue skin and glossy-black hair. It was clear she had had some face lifts in the past, making her approximately middle aged. Another was younger, not much older than me, perhaps the same age as Kasey. Her skin was pasty-white and her pink hair curled down her chest.
The older one stepped forward and opened her arms out to me."Maeve! Let's make you pretty!"
District 2
Victorie Valkyrie (17 years old)
We walked down the tunnel with speed. My brother and I, side by side in our matching costumes. Apparently our last names originated from a time before time. 'Valkyrie, it's from Greek mythology or something like that' my stylist has told me
That had been the inspiration for our costumes, mine in-particular- my brother's is just the male version of my costume. I lifted my chainmail skirt as I walked so I was able to walk as fast as my brother.
Being female sucked.
My nails had been cut and shaped, they were now smooth squares; pointless things at the end of my fingers, unable to do any amount of damage whatsoever. My legs had been shaved bare so now I had no protection from cold conditions. Something was not fair here.
"I don't know about you but I really like our costumes this year," Castiel said.
I nodded my head, "uh-huh." To be honest, I was still p***ed off that Castiel had been reaped. He wasn't supposed to be reaped. I knew he wouldn't volunteer when I volunteered- he just wouldn't do that. As it turned out, he didn't have to volunteer. I hoped someone else killed him. I didn't plan on killing him any time soon. He was my brother.
"Hey," Castiel said as he brought us to a stop. "Quit worrying, it's a given that one of us will win. That's what matters."
I sighed, he was right. I nodded and the carried on walking. I didn't want to say anything back to him, I just wanted to get today over and done with.
What mattered now was making everyone love me, it should have been easy enough, I just needed to show my strength and become likeable. We exited the tunnel and walked straight to our chariot. We had no need to be directed there, it was quite obvious which one was ours- the second one. Only an idiot wouldn't understand that much.
When we got there Kasey from District 4 was already speaking to a tribute from District 9. Us careers did not take our time in choosing our allies and seeing as there might just be the three of us, we definitely needed some outsiders.
"Making friends, Four?" I asked as I approached them. The boy he was speaking to had a muscular physique, he looked like he could be of some use to us.
Kasey chuckled a little, "nice to meet you too Victorie," he said with a hint of sarcasm. Personally I didn't see the point in formal introductions in the games, we already knew each others names."This is Corick, he's originally from your District."
"Trained all my life," Corick said with a simple nod.
I smirked and nodded, "great. You're in," I said without consulting anyone. I wanted to be the leader, the decision maker. I couldn't remember the last time a female tribute had been the head of the careers. "What about District one?"
Kasey shrugged, "I don't know."
I looked at the chariot in front. The girl was not yet present; it was the perfect time to ask the boy."Hey One! Are you in?"
The look he gave me was enough to answer my question. It was a look of anger, of blood lust, of a career.
District 1
Xana Wingmen (12 years
I was the last to arrive at the chariots. My disability forced me to take the long route down here. Everyone was already speaking to each other, forming alliances or trying to gather information about their opponents.
If we could just stop this moment right now, the games wouldn't seem too bad, I thought.
That's when I saw them; the careers and my brother. If I wasn't here, I could have imagined them standing their talking about strategies but I was here and they weren't discussing strategy. No, instead my brother had his face up into another's face. I couldn't tell what he was saying but I could tell that it wasn't nice.
I groaned and approached them, "Xzavier stop it," I said. It seemed like he didn't quite hear me, either that or he just ignored me. I raised my voice, "Xzavier!" My brothers shoulders slumped and he turned away from the boy from District 4.
The boy from District Four chuckled, "Well, it looks like we can see who wears the pants in this relationship."
My brother was quick to turn on his heal with his fist clenched and raised ready strike. I winced, I really didn't want us to get into any trouble on the first day, "in the games, you just wait, I will cut you in pieces!" he spat. He then turned back and walked towards the chariot. I followed closely behind him.
There was no doubt that he could have gone about that in a better way but he was a career, what could you expect? I was just grateful that he was here for me. On the train he had promised me that he would never leave my side during the games. That promise filled me with hope and safety. It took a lot for a career, especially a hot-headed one like Xzavier, to give up his victory. He was far from being a bad man, I just hoped the world would be able to see that.
"Right, they want Xana to stand in the chariot. They won't listen to me so Xzavier you're going to have to hold her up, okay?" Our stylist said.
Xzavier nodded in response and picked me up.
Of course they would expect the same of me as they did the rest of the tributes. The capitol did not care about my disability. If they did, I would not be here. My mentor had already told me that it would be unlikely for them to grant me a wheelchair during the games. So, Xzavier would have to chose between getting me to safety or getting supplies from the cornucopia. Xzavier being Xzavier wanted to do both so we only had one other option, we needed an alliance.
And from the way Xzavier had been acting already; it looked like we had a long way to go.
District 12
Candolph Antiquarta (17 years old)
A couple of years ago, I would have been watching this ceremony from a completely different perspective. I looked up at the crowd of screaming spectators. I was one of them, well, almost. I hated them now, the whole lot of them. Just the mere sight of them brought a hideous taste to my mouth.
Our cart was the last to join the semi-circle. I felt the eyes of the upper Districts burning through us but I refused to look at them. My eyes were set on one particular point, the balcony. Snow stepped out on it and looked down at his 'subjects'. His hair was turning a white-grey colour and his beard was becoming fuller by the year.
We stared at each other for what must have been a second but felt like an eternity. Recognition was plastered on his face and I ensured hatred was plastered on mine as we searched one another's souls. How many deaths was he accountable for? He killed my mother and was close to killing me. I could guess his number was close to the one billion mark. In just a couple of weeks he would have another twenty three names to add to that ever-growing list. When would it end?
Soon, I hoped.
His pursed lips grew into a twisted smile as he scanned the crowd.
"Welcome, welcome one and all!" he called out. "And welcome to the 55th annual Hunger Games! It appears we have many tremendous tributes this year, but only one brave tribute will come out victorious. Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favour."
I wished to stay longer. I wished to burn wholes in his eyes with my stares. I wished to commit treason, to start a rebellion but instead, our chariot began to move once more and the horses took us into the tunnels.
"Are you okay Candolph?" Sebrina asked me. I looked at her and gave her a nod to say 'I am fine' though that was far from the truth. My blood boiled with anger and hatred towards the man who murdered my mother.
'But he's your-' her final words echo in my mind like a far off call; a reminder. She was never able to complete that sentence. I'm his-what? I could only guess and my assumptions were the worst. The fact that I was anything of his knocked me sick. I would never belong to him.
I jumped off the chariot and removed my ridiculous head dress, throwing it to the ground.
"Candolph?" I heard the voices behind me but I refused to turn around.
I was already heading towards the elevators.
(*) Translates to 'to be' swear word. She is pretty much saying 'you are a f***r'
A/N- Hey, I'm back! Sorry about the wait! I thought I would be able to post another chapter before I went on my holiday but guess who didn't feel well on the days I was supposed to be writing :P Anyway, I am back and now weekly chapters should continue!
So, here's the deal with the capitol POV's. There will be six chapters in the capitol, each with four povs (three in one of them as Kitty had the extra one in an earlier chapter). The POV's are quite short but, I don't really see the point in making them any longer when they don't need to be. Gets to the games quicker, right?
Some characters will appear in more POV's than others as secondary characters, especially the careers as the other tributes tend to be more aware than them but each character will have just one POV.
Question time!
Which was your favourite POV?
Which of these characters are your favourite?
Out of the career districts, can you predict which one will fall first?
What do you think Candolph's mother was going to say?
Till next time! bye!
