PRIVATE SESSIONS: IT'S ALL ABOUT POWER

Rani Glyniss, age 29

Gamemaker

As if my life wasn't sad enough already, I've actually been looking forward to the private sessions. Mostly because I'll get to be in a room without any of my family members.

Ever since my mother showed up at Mitzi's party (apparently to 'reconnect', or some garbage), I haven't been able to get rid of her. Or my father. Or Mitzi. For some reason, all of them seem to have decided that it's time to bury the hatchet.

Only I don't want to bury the hatchet. I've grown quite attached to the hatchet.

But they won't just leave me alone.

I shake my head to clear it and take a gulp of some kind of alcohol. I don't even know what it is, and at this point I don't care. It's my third glass of the day and the tributes haven't even started coming in yet.

Plutarch eyes me with concern. "Are you sure you should be drinking that?"

"Yes," I say. "Believe me, it's entirely necessary."

He doesn't look like he believes me. It's still true, though. Alcohol is rapidly becoming my new best friend.

The first tribute, the boy from District 1, comes in, and I blink rapidly, trying to get my eyes to focus. I don't remember his name. He goes straight for the sword-fighting station and asks for a trainer to fight.

A large, muscular man agrees to fight him, but it's obvious that this is a barely even match. The boy is good. Really good.

He's got the trainer flat on his back within minutes.

The sound of clanging metal is giving me a headache, though, so I'm glad when Seneca Crane dismisses him. In my first notebook, I write: 'Strong. Good at sword-fighting. Score of 9.'

In my second notebook, I scribble some vague nonsense about big muscles. I'm pretty sure I'll be horrified about this once I'm sober, but right now I really don't care.

The District 1 girl comes in with a far-too-bright, far-too-fake smile, and I groan into my glass, which is now filled with some bright green cocktail that, quite frankly, looks poisonous. I'm drinking it anyway.

She swings a sword around and throws some knives, all the while smiling like she's some kind of model.

I write in my first notebook: 'Good at weapons. Typical District 1 girl. Score of 9.'

In my second notebook: 'Fake as anything. Seems sort of ditzy. I don't like her.'

And then I draw a random picture of ladybug. I am definitely getting drunk. Good. Then maybe I'll forget about my hilariously awful family issues.

Except it's not really hilarious.

The boy from District 2 comes in and, surprise surprise, swings a sword around. He's got a lot of brute strength and plenty of skill, which I write about in my first notebook, along with giving him a score of 10.

I briefly forget that my second notebook exists and by the time I remember, the girl from District 2 has come in.

And boy, is she unforgettable. Even in my almost-full-out-drunk state, I can tell that she's a contender. She absolutely demolishes a trainer with a sword (which does not help my rapidly worsening headache), throws some knives, and ends by impaling several dummies with a spear.

In my first notebook, I write: 'Really good at weapons-ing. And stuff. Score of 10.'

And in my second notebook: 'She's probably craaaaaaaaazy.'

The District 3 girl walks in as I'm inspecting my latest drink; this one sunset-colored and tasting like oranges and sugar. And alcohol. Can't forget about the alcohol.

She performs some rather fabulous gymnastics on the net hanging from the ceiling, and then she stabs a couple of dummies with a knife. I'm impressed. District 3 has had some pretty strong tributes over the past couple years.

I think years, anyway.

I give her a score of 7, and then I write about how she looks cunning in my second notebook. There's also an entire paragraph about how she reminds of a spider with the wall-climbing thing.

The boy from District 3 isn't quite as impressive as his District partner, but he still does well. He makes a trap that actually works, and then he runs the obstacle course.

He gets a score of 5, and I've somehow managed to misplace my second notebook, so I start looking for that. It seems to have dropped behind my chair, so I spend several minutes trying to scoot under it before I finally remember that I can just reach behind it.

I'm so drunk.

I also miss both tributes from District 4, although another Gamemaker whose name escapes me tells me that they both did stuff with tridents. Well, she doesn't use those exact words but that's about all I get out of it.

I give them both scores of 9, because that number is nice. I'm not quite sure why.

District 5 is...interesting. The girl is awful; she fails the plant identification test and she seems almost as hungover as I'm going to be pretty soon. She gets a score of 2. The boy, however, is really smart. I think, anyway, but at this point anyone who can manage to open a bottle without literally falling out of their chair looks smart to me.

But he stabs some dummies with a knife, or dagger, or whatever. He also does something with a wire and electricity. I don't know what it is but it turns a dummy into blackened ash, so it's dangerous.

I give him a score of 6, and my second notebook is becoming steadily more filled with strange ramblings about all the tributes.

I'm definitely going to regret this tomorrow. Or possibly later today.

Thinking is starting to hurt, so I just take swing of my new drink and tell my brain to shut up.

The pair from District 6 are frankly rather sad. The boy just asks when he's going home and then stares vacantly into space for a bit after Mr Crane tells him he's not going home any time soon. He gets a score of 1. The girl at least tries, but she's not very good with the bow and arrow she's trying use, and, after smacking herself in the face with it, she gives up.

I give a score of 3 and write about how she's brave for trying.

I think I start crying once, but it's hard to tell.

Everything is kind of fuzzy.

District 7 goes by in a blur that I can't remember for the life of me. Except for the fact that the girl got a score of 4, which is impressive for a reason that it hurts to try to remember.

District 8 is a bit of a disaster. The girl throws a temper tantrum and the boy almost impales a trainer and then says that it was the trainers fault. But at least he tried to use a sword, so I give him a 6.

The girl gets a 2 and a rant about she's spoiled. Also I don't like the look of the boy.

He seems shifty.

Shifty. That's an interesting word.

I miss both District 9 and District 10 due to an incident with a tray of cream pies and the fact that I can no longer stand up properly, which I have just now discovered.

Basically I wind up covered in cream. I have to go change my clothes. But the pair from District 9 apparently both got a score of 4, and so did the girl from District 10. Her District partner got a 5.

The girl from District 11 is very interesting. Mostly because she almost kills a trainer with a sword and is then kicked out, but she still gets a score of 7 and a long paragraph about how she's got spunk.

The boy from District 11 gets a score of 4, which is a large letdown from his District partner, who was very cool and I think I'm rooting for her. But then again I also decided that the ice sculpture swan was going to come alive and chase me earlier, so I'm really not sure if I should be trusting my instincts right now.

District 12 is fairly uneventful, although the girl does demonstrate that she knows how to sew up a wound and the boy can use a knife pretty well. They both get scores of 4, which is pretty good for District 12. Although they've also had some pretty impressive tributes in recent years, like the girl I ended up rooting for who died near the finale and now I'm sad.

I always get very tired when I'm drunk, so it's no surprise that, when the private sessions are over, I barely make it back home before passing out on my couch.

My last though before I fall asleep is I really hope I'm not too hungover to go to work tomorrow. And also, I should probably look over that second notebook once I'm sober. It'll probably give me a good laugh.

A/N So normally I hate private sessions but this was kind of fun to write. Because drunk Rani is hilarious.

Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please review!

P.S. I'm sorry this is kind of short, but I really don't like private sessions.