Glint McCray

Glint loved the limelight. There were a lot of cameras at the train station when they arrived there. Of course, One would have a lot of cameras. Last year's winner had come from one. It was Cassio's sister, Kari. All the tributes knew who she was. She'd trained with them before she won. They were friends.

Glint was from the upper class of One, so he knew luxury, but one step on the Tribute train, and he suddenly saw his home as a run down shack. If this was the life of a Victor, he could definitely get used to it. He noticed a long hallway extending down between the train cars. Moria caught him looking around.

"This is the main area of the train, and down the hall are your rooms. The Capitol has done some expanding to make room for all of you this year. All of your rooms are right down that hall." She motioned to the hallway. "Mentors, your rooms are down that hallway." She pointed in the opposite direction. Glint stepped from the group, eager to see his room for the next day. He heard someone behind him, and turned to see Star and Bronze following him down the hall. The three of them came across the first room. Glint stepped aside, smiled, and motioned for Star to pass.

"Ladies first," he said. Unlike most districts, the Career tributes were actually able to be friendly with each other. Glint knew, however, that it would grow tense once they started training in the Capitol. Everyone would want to lead the Career pack, but for now, things were calm.

"What is this?" exclaimed Star from her room. Glint peered inside and noticed that there were two beds, two dressers, two separate bathrooms. "We're sharing rooms?" she called out to Moria, who was still in the main living area. Glint heard people shuffle around. Apparently no one had expected this.

"Yes. The trains are only able to accommodate so many, so instead of building all new trains, they simply modified the existing ones. Yes, the rooms will be shared, but everyone will have their own rooms when we arrive in the Capitol." At Moria's announcement, Glint saw the remaining girls make a mad dash for the remaining rooms. The other guys, realizing what it meant just after them, hurried over to claim a room. Glint was pushed to the side in the rush, and when he regained his bearings, three of the four doors were closed. The only one left open was the room he had offered to Star. They were going to be roommates.

Cubic Zirconia

Cubic looked around her room. The large beds were suspended from the ceiling on opposite sides of the room. She noticed Luxe pulling the pillows and blanket off of his bed already and setting them up on the carpet. This kid is straightforward about what he wants, thought Cubic. She thought that'd he wouldn't have been this forward, but she played along. Cubic grabbed a pillow from her bed and layed down on the floor, with her head in his lap. It was actually pretty comfortable on the floor.

"If the train looks this nice, what do you think the Tribute Center will look like?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"I'm not sure, but at least everyone will have their own rooms. I was almost stuck with Star, and I would not have been that pleasant if I was with her."

"You don't like her?"

"She's not a real Career. She doesn't want to be a part of the games. She has two Victors living in her house, and she doesn't take advantage of the knowledge they have. You can be sure that I'll be picking their brains of everything before we get to the arena, because they won't be too happy with us when we win."

"Us?" He was smiling.

"Yes. Us. And if we come out as the winners, it will mean that Star and the Marony kid will be dead. All of the Victors have family going in this year. Easy enough to figure out that we won't be their favorite choice of tributes." As Cubic spoke, she realized what they had to do. She was going to hate it, but if it meant winning. "We have to ally with them. They'll be the ones getting the sponsor gifts. We have to ally with them, and wait until they get killed off. That way the mentors won't hate us." Cubic noticed that every time she used the words 'us' or 'we', Luxe would smile even more. Her biggest problem would be having to keep up the charade, and never letting her guard down. He really liked her. She didn't know why, either. In the Academy, she never really spoke to him until the last few weeks, when the competition became intense, and that was because she had been scouting out the perfect ally.

"I think we just need to take the lead of the Career pack, that way the mentors will see that we are their best bet to come home. We both know that Star and Cassio only came in first in the competition because their parents were Victors. If it were for that, you and I would have been the ones volunteering first." Cubic was glad to hear that he was on her side. It was already working, swaying his mind to agree with her. This would be easier than she expected.

A sudden knock on the door made Cubic bolt upright. Had someone heard them badmouthing the other tributes? Kari Marony opened the door, and Cubic was nervous that she'd heard. Her fear subsided, though, when Kari smiled. "They're airing the Reapings. You guys should come and watch." She closed the door and walked back down to the living area.

Bronze Nexton

Bronze had one of the better seats to watch the Reapings. He was right up front, settled on the sofa with four of the five Victors. Everyone else would have to make due with standing or sitting on the floor. Moria had made Glint pull one of the heavier chairs over for her to use. Spoiled Capitol Girl, he thought.

The Reapings had been airing all day, but since there were so many tributes, they took longer to cycle back to the beginning. They'd made it to the point where Moria was reintroducing each of the tributes. Bronze was proud of how he'd composed himself on stage.

District Two was as normal. The career tributes all looked particularly strong, except for one, but hen something unexpected happened. A girl was called, and Moria reacted to the name. No one came to volunteer for her, and she was crying. Bronze could tell by the way she looked that the girl had never trained a day in her life. An unexpected burden to the Ranks of two. He looked over to Moria, who was being comforted by Topaz, Star's mother.

"What is it, dear?" she asked. Topaz had always been one of the nicest people around the training academy.

"The girl. Her brother is Kitty's husband. I've met her before." This time, most of the Victors reacted. All except Kari.

"Who's Kitty," asked Bronze.

"She's going to be your stylist when you go to the Capitol." Bronze was worried. If his stylist, who was one of the most crucial factors to how he came across in the Capitol, was rooting for another district to win, then she might try to make him look like a fool. He wouldn't have that.

"I'm sure she'll stay professional," said Cassio's father, Christo. "If she is seen as biased to another district, she'll probably be removed from her position for the Quell."

"Well, let's hope so," huffed Moria from her seat. Bronze ignored her and turned his attention back to the screen. Nothing special from Three until the end. The Mayor's son. Four had the usual Careers, but Bronze laughed as he watched one of them try and volunteer for himself. Someone had obviously not been paying attention. After Four, he expected to just zone out, but there was a surprising amount of Districts that had volunteers. In fact, only three districts – Nine, Ten, and Eleven – were composed of non-volunteers. This would make things interesting.

When the Recaps finished, Moria had everyone go back to their rooms and wash up for dinner. He hadn't been running around and sweating all day, so Bronze didn't really see the point of having to shower and change clothes just to have dinner, but then again, it was the Capitol.

When he came back into the dining car, he was astounded.

Star Cyrus

Star sat with her parents in the Dining Car. Usually, everyone would be at one table, but since there were so many people involved from each district this year, one more table had been added to the car. Star was sitting with Alpha, Glint, Bronze, and Shine. Cubic, Luxe, and Cassio were at the other table with Moria and Cassio's family. Star was glad she wasn't the only tribute here with ties to the Victors. Cassio knew what it was like to live in the Village. They were friends.

Star, unlike her friend, though, didn't want to be here. Right now, in this moment, se hated her father. He had forced his daughter to risk her life just to keep up with the Marony's. Star wondered if he had some sort of rivalry with them. If Star had had a choice, she would have never gone into the Training Academy. She would have stayed at home with her siblings, and when the time came, she'd have moved from the Village to the Main Part of One. She would have started a family, and had a life. Instead, she was here, awkwardly eating dinner in silence. The only talking in the room was coming from the other table, where Star heard Cubic asking question after question after question of the Marony family.

She looked at the other tributes sitting at her table. Glint looked up at her, and then to her parents. Star knew that he and the others wanted to ask them questions. About strategy, about the Capitol, about how to win. She nodded to Glint, letting him know that it was fine, and with that, he and Shine spoke up. Alpha and Bronze seemed content to listen at first, but then started in with questions of their own. Star's father tried drawing her into the conversation several times, probably to show that she knew her stuff, but she ignored him each time.

By the time dinner, which had been amazing, was over, the other tributes sluggishly went back to their rooms for bed. Most of them had never tasted food this rich, and so they ate more than they could handle. Star and Cassio were the only tributes that seemed fine. As she stood up, she caught a look from him that said, It comes with the family.

Only Star didn't want this family.

Here we go, getting ready for the games. Remember to vote in the Polls, the D4 favorite poll ends at Midnight EST today. Review to let me know how I'm doing or how I can improve, it will help the story. PM to submit gamemakers and Stylists (it will earn you sponsor points).