It was Granja Angelo met in the library. I specifically didn't use Inky because I wanted to show she wasn't just one facet. She likes to read, but she doesn't do it every minute.

Demarcus POV

None of them wanted me. I asked the pair from Eleven if I could join their alliance. They looked at me like they were afraid. They didn't want the thug from Three. Neither did the alliance of younger Tributes. I'd never ask the Careers. They'd slit my throat as soon as I closed my eyes.

I didn't need any of them either. This wasn't the place to make friends. I'd kill any of them I had to. There was nothing immoral about surviving.

I spent my training time at the martial arts station. I knew how to fight, but there was always more to learn. I asked the assistant to train me in improvising and making use of what I had. I knew it was good to stay away from my opponent. Back home, I'd used pipes and street trash. In the Arena I'd more likely use a stick.

I took a break and peeked at what the other Tributes were doing. There weren't any knife throwers this year, just one Career that threw stars. The handicapped kid from Nine was at the paint station. He waved at me, and I waved back out of reflex. He wasn't about to bully anyone. This wasn't the start of a sappy friendship, but there was no reason to be a jerk.

"Hey, what you making there?" I asked him. He was finger painting on a wide sheet of paper.

"Square," he said, pointing at a shape he'd made.

"It sure is," I said.

"Yes. Very good!" he said in a singsong voice.

"That one's a circle," I said, and I pointed at another.

"Yes. Very good!" Diggory said.

Sometimes you just do something silly. I stuck my finger in some green paint and drew a triangle.

"Triangle," Diggory said.

"Yes. Very good!" I said. I left him painting and went back to fighting.

The Hunger Games was no place for cutesy friendships. That wasn't me. I wanted to live. I'd kill anyone I had to. Except for one.

Ash Black

I always thought failure was for the weak. I saw people who gave up in the Games and faded away and I hated them. You had to fight. Nothing in life was easy. Only one thing could have made me give up.

Maybe I could make a deal. I'd die in the Games and they could come back. I'd ally with someone, like that brain damaged kid, and if he won I'd earn my family back. I'd be a good citizen, if that was what it took. I'd start a revolt if that was better.

Yesterday I'd trained like I was possessed. I swung a flail with more rage than precision. I didn't care if I got good. I wanted to get destructive. I wanted to break everything. I wanted to swing harder and harder and scream. Anger was better than despair.

I'd lost everything overnight. The other Tributes had parents that kissed them goodbye and fought as they were dragged away. I'd never have that again. I'd never hear Peach singing her little made up songs or smell my mother's fresh pancakes. Even if I won, it was all gone.

I wanted something to blame, and I knew what it was. The murderer was already gone, but he couldn't have done it without the power the Capitol gave him. If I thought it would hurt the Capitol, I would have attacked the attendant at the flail station. Tributes never did because they were afraid of what would happen to their families or their Districts. I didn't have a family, and I hurt so much I'd forgotten my District.

I couldn't sleep when night came. My chest felt thick and clogged. I took a vase from my nightstand and threw it at the window. The window was shatterproof, but the vase disintegrated. I started to throw anything I could move. I broke a leg from the nightstand and didn't stop smashing until the room was in ruins.

When there was nothing left, I knelt in the debris. I remembered my mother chiding me when my room was messy. I always got annoyed because it was my room and why did she even care? I put my hands over my ears.

I'll be good. I'll save someone. I'll kill someone. Anything. Please let them come back.

Blaise Wesley

The axes here were a lot heavier. I had to learn to use them all over again. In the Arena, the targets would be moving. Of course, they'd also be alive. That would make it harder.

It was scary being in the same room as the Careers. They were so... intent. They wielded their weapons like it was all they knew, and it was. They didn't have to train. They did it to show us what was coming.

There were some big alliances this year. I could have fit into the one with all the younger Tributes. If they asked me, I'd think about it. I didn't really need them. Being in such a big group might make it harder to hide anyway. I could take care of myself.

I thought about what I'd do when I won. I wanted to stay positive, so I made it a "when". I didn't have a special story. No girlfriend waiting for me at home. No orphanage full of kids who needed me to bring back money for them. I was a normal kid. If I won, I'd do normal things. I'd buy a ton of candy and invite all my friends over to my new house. I'd sleep easy knowing I'd never get Reaped again. That would be the best part.

I was getting better with the axes. It was going to be gross using them for real, but you do what you have to do. We all know it's just about surviving. I kept throwing until my arms hurt. The longer axes were unwieldy. If I tried to hack someone apart with those, they'd have to stand still. More likely I'd wound them with one hit and then run.

Eight's Tributes were pretty unassuming this year. Granja was friendly, but I'd barely seen her since we got here. I didn't think she'd last very long. She was too nice. Sometimes District partners worked together, but that wasn't my plan. I had to get all the way to the top. Granja wasn't stupid or anything, but I didn't think she could help me. I could do it by myself.

Peach Unk

I'd had all the training I could take. I slipped out of the training room and back to my own room. I was itching to do some mischief, and I looked around for supplies. The stylists had left behind a few things from when they last busted in to fuss with me. I saw a rubber glove and some hair oil and it all came together.

The inside of the Games Building looked something like the shopping mall Arena from all those years ago. Some of the floors had balconies that looked down on the lower floors. I could peek over and see all the rich fancypants Capitolites milling around, trying to catch a glimpse of a Tribute or partaking in glamorous activities. It was a wonder there were no nets, since the drop could have been enough to kill me.

My shirt was stretched tight over what could have been a beer belly but was actually my secret weapon. I took out a jury-rigged glove balloon filled with oil and tried to pick out a target. I didn't want to spatter a kid for no reason, so anyone tugging along offspring was spared. I saw a lone man walk into my line of fire and dropped my payload.

The oil balloon hit him right on top of his head and burst like a bomb. Thick yellow hair oil splashed all over the man's face. He yelled and clapped his hands to his head. I cackled as he started running around in circles and flapping his arms as people stared.

"Sea gulls! Get under!" he yelled. He dove underneath a bench and I stopped laughing.

Ohhhhh... That wasn't a Capitolite. That was Toby. He had pretty good reason to not like seagulls. I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed my inadvertent terrorism and slunk away. I hoped he was high enough to forget about it soon. Just my luck to hit the one innocent person in the Capitol.

Granja Valdez

One thing was for sure. I'd die on my own. I was good at listening and making friends. I wasn't good at swinging swords and eating dirt. I practiced cobbling together traps as I went through the possibilities.

Obviously not the Careers. They'd laugh me out of the training room. The two from Eleven were already close. I'd be a third wheel. My best bet was one of the loners or the young alliance. I wondered why Quiola hadn't asked me yet. She was asking just about everyone else. If that didn't come through, I might ask the scary boy from Three. He didn't seem as scary as he looked.

Chimera kept trying to set me up with Diggory. I was nice, but not that nice. He was dead weight. No one wanted to be the one to do it, but it was going to happen. I didn't want to get dragged down with him. We were all hoping the Gamemakers would do us a favor and strike him with lightning as soon as the gong rang.

The library was a hopping place. The boy from Four scared me half to death the last time I went. When I ventured back to see if I could find a book on trap-making, I ran into the girl from Eight.

"Oh, hi. You're Incense, right?" I asked. She didn't seem mad, so I stayed in the room.

"People call me Inky," she said.

"I'm Granja. That's what people call me," I said. I noticed she was reading a fiction book. "You came here for fun?"
"I'm not going to get much better in two days. There are so many books here I couldn't resist," she said.

"Yeah, we might as well enjoy everything that's here. Most of us aren't coming back," I said. The atmosphere palled around us.

"Your alliance looks really strong," I said.

"Thanks. Quiola made it," she said. I wanted to ask if I could join, but she didn't seem like the leader. I didn't want to put her on the spot.

"She seems friendly," I said. "Did you ask that boy from Eight?"

"Quiola thinks he's going to die in the Bloodbath," Inky said.

"He's pretty confident," I said. It felt like I was back home gossiping between classes. It was nice to feel normal.

I didn't talk much longer. Inky wanted to read her book, even if she didn't mind talking. I took a book about traps and left. Maybe something would come of our encounter. I'd wait and see.

Diggory

Want Kasha. Not home. Big. Big house. House big clouds.

Colors. Shapes. Boy me color. Boy brown. Yes! That's right! Kasha me shapes Kasha say yes that's right. See cards cards say names yes that's right. Diggory speak lots names. More names. More names good.

Blue man names? Lots things Diggory no name. Blue man Diggory name.

"What is it, Diggory? That? That's a shower."

"What shower?"

"Here, you turn it on like this."

Water! Hot. Rain?

"You can make it different colors. Just turn this."

Water... colors?! Pretty. Pretty. Want Kasha here colors. Kasha smile.

More names!

"Careful, these wrinkle! All right, I'm coming!"

"Name!"

"That's just a fern. Hold on!"

"Name!"

"It's a railing."

"Name!"

"Fountain."

"Name!"

"I don't know her name."

Big. Things things things. Noises colors people.

"Name!"

"That one's pretty fascinating. It's a pneumatic pipe. You send things up it, like mail. Usually we use them for room service."

"What is?"

"Put your hand here."

Blow! Blow hand. Pipe is blow hand. Why?

Point blue man.

"Name!"

"Chimera."

"Chimera blue."

"It's my favorite color. What's yours?"

?

"What's Diggory's favorite color?"

"Diggory."

"Yeah, that's you. Uh... Chimera love blue. Diggory love?"

"Diggory love yellow blue orange not red."

Things! Things things things run see things.

"Name!"

Titus Gein

I didn't want to die. Why did this happen to me? I had a normal life in Six. I didn't hurt anybody. I didn't rebel. That was ages ago. This had been going on for ages and it wasn't our fault.

It had been going on for ages. I'd watched it every year. We all watched two children leave every year. They always died, except twice. We watched them go and we cried and we all thought "I'm glad it wasn't me." The most I ever thought about those other kids was how grateful I was that they filled my place. They never did anything either. I never cared about that. I only cared when it was me on the line.

It's not fair, I thought when my name rang out. It wasn't fair all those other times either. I shouldn't have to die. Nobody should. I should have cared about them the same way. I was selfish. People were dying and I only cared about what it meant for me. I never mourned any of them. I never said it, but every year I was happy they died. It meant I didn't.

I didn't mourn for them. Nobody was going to mourn for me. This year I was the sacrifice, the one that filled their place. They'd watch me fight and wait for me to die like all the others.

Everyone was the hero in their own eyes. We all saw everyone else as the people that helped us and mattered in relation to us. If they died, we went on. The hero's life couldn't stop because part of it went missing.

I had a normal life. I didn't hurt anybody. I thought that made me a good person, but it didn't. It made me not a bad person. I didn't deserve praise for not killing anyone. I didn't care about them either. I saw them as bodies I could throw under the bus so I wouldn't get hurt. So many people had died. I'd never thought about them until now. They were all me. I should have cared about them before they were me. For the next few days, I'd mourn them. Then I'd take my place among them.

These are currently loners, but Granja, Ash, Blaise and Demarcus are interested in allying. Peach's form calls for her to give in when a younger female Tribute keeps pestering her to ally. Titus can ally if anyone wants him XD Same goes for Diggory. Electra and Desiree are interesting in allying with Granja, but she's also right up Peach's form if that's what she wants.