Nigella Coriander (18) D8F
The Capitol was amazing. Everything that surrounded me was full of color and excitement. Even the roads weren't just black and yellow, or gravel, they were red, or purple, or cobblestone. Some of them were even multicolor. I wanted to touch everything, to feel the excitement surrounding my even more, but I couldn't do that. I had to keep appearances up, being a tribute and all.
Training was hard, as it was supposed to be. We were working ourselves as hard as we could, fighting for any chance we had to possibly live through an extra day or week. Even once we got tired we couldn't stop, and most of us didn't want to. We didn't want to waste any of our little time trying to slow our hearts or catch our breath. Some tributes chose mental things, which was probably nice, but like most of the tributes, I was learning a weapon, and my arms hated me for it. I wanted to go to my room and sleep once the Training Center closed, but I didn't want to miss out on my time in the Capitol.
I sighed as I left the Training Center. A day's hard work was done. I could finally travel all of the Capitol I hadn't seen on my train ride, and I was ready to do just that. I didn't know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, but there was bound to be something fun somewhere. I was in the Capitol, after all. There was something fun around every corner, whether or not your were looking for it.
As I wandered around the Games Building, the place of my dreams materialized in front of me. A huge movie store, bigger than our house, was open wide, welcoming anyone and everyone who wanted to enter. I was curious as to what I would find in there; I suspected that the Capitol didn't use DVDs. I walked in, ready to be greeted with just about anything. Would it be lasers? Would it be some retro thing, where I could find old records? Screens were everywhere I looked, but where were the movies?
Movies, I found out, were sold in chips. Little computer chips, hardly as big as my fingernail, could hold an entire movie. I could hardly understand it; I had never seen anything like it. While I examined the chips, I heard someone come up behind me and turned to greet him. He beat me to it, asking me, "Are you Nigella Coriander?"
My jaw dropped when I saw who was asking my name. "Are you Comrail Windcof?" I asked him, not believing my eyes.
"I am. I'm a bit surprised you recognize me; I haven't made a movie in a while."
"Are you kidding me? All My Love was the best movie ever! I only got to watch it once back in Eight, but I loved it. It was so heart wrenching and unexpected!" The director of All My Love was standing before me, interested in who I was and not just showing off his fame. I didn't expect him to be that kind of person, but I also didn't think he would just talk to someone like me.
"Well, thank you. I put a lot of hard thought into it. I wanted it to be a very emotional movie. Do you have a favorite type of movie?" he asked me, looking truly interested.
"I like romances the best. I feel so much during them. It's amazing how much a movie can effect your state of mind, isn't it?" I asked him a question back, wanting to hear a bit about him and not just talk about myself.
"Yes, it is really amazing. Just watching characters on a screen. Our brain gets so attached to them, and I can see why, but I don't understand it. I mean, I try to make perfect characters for their roles, but I always find it surprising when people actually like them."
"Your characters are perfect," I said, surprised that he was so unsure of himself. Who wouldn't love his characters? "I could really feel Chimekits pain when everything started going wrong. She responded so realistically; it was surprising how well a character could do."
"Thank you," he said, seemingly honestly grateful. "Look, I have to go now, but I'll be watching you during the Games. Good luck."
"Thank you."
Alix Hessia-Rhine (14) D5F
Training was important. I spend hours doing it, just like I was supposed to, because it increased my chances of winning. At the end of the day, however, I just wanted to relax with my ally and try to enjoy what would likely be the last days of my life. I knew what I wanted to do in the Capitol before I arrived there, and I excitedly told my ally about it as soon as training let out. "So, there's this restaurant in the Capitol. It's new, and it has weird food- the sign says that. Can you imagine what it must be? Food weird even for the Capitol?"
"It could be anything," Nigella replied, seeming equally excited. I figured she and I would get along well, both of us with our deep interest in emotions, and wasn't surprised that she thought the same. I was surprised when she allied with me, but it was a delightful surrpise.
"I know! I don't know what we're going to order. We might not even know all of the words on the menu," I chattered as we walked to the restaurant. It was opening night for the restaurant, and the place was packed. Luckily for us, we were tributes, so we got to skip the line and get seated right away. It was supposed to be for advertising, but it just made me think of getting near-death bonuses.
"So, what's on the menu?" Nigella mumbled, flipping through the pages. I didn't say anything, concentrating on the pages. Filleted salmon, roasted salmon, cape cod. I skipped the rest of the fish page. Fish hardly counted as weird. Onion covered mushrooms, chopped and roasted bananas, deep fried ice cream. The miscallaneous section was much more interesting. At the bottom right corner of the last page, something caught my eye. Wooden selections. Pine, oak, maple. They served wood at the restaurant, apparently, and I giggled while looking at it. Capitolites payed to eat wood?
After allowing us to consider for a while, the waitress came back to us, smiling brightly at the aspect of serving tributes. "Have you decided what you want yet?"
I allowed Nigella to order first, and she ordered with confidence. "I'd like a Bubbly Fizzer, please, to drink, and a Celestial Morngage."
The waitress nodded at me once Nigella had finished speaking, but I took my time in responding. I had to make sure I chose the absolute best thing on the menu, after all. "I'd like a Delightful Deraio to drink, and a Fleorisk Ilianpop. Could I also have an order of pine?"
"Of course!" the waitress said, scribbling down our orders before walking away.
"What did you order?" I asked Nigella once the waiter was gone.
"I have no idea. Some fancy soda and a cool-sounding main. What did you order?"
"I don't even know what drink I ordered," I said, laughing slightly. "I got us some delicious pine wood, though."
"That's literally pine? I thought it was something fancy, like the mud cake we once ate at our place."
"Nope. It's just straight wood, according to the menu," I said. Our food was served to us before Nigella could answer, and both of us turned in surprise. Food was never prepared that quickly in the Districts.
"All right. I Bubbly Fizzer and Celestial Morngage for you," the waitress said as she handed Nigella her plate, "And a Delightful Deraio, Fleorisk Ilianpop and pine for you."
Nigella and I thanked the waitress then turned to our food. My plate was covered in flowers, which I took to be decoration, and the food was some unrecognizable meat paste. I didn't know why meat paste was even offered on a Capitol menu, but I smiled anyways at the prospect of eating it. I had also received a chocolate bar, which excited me almost as much as my drink. My drink was some weird, pink bubbly stuff, which smelled rotten but I was certain tasted delicious. I also had a board of wood, which I pushed off the plate unceremonially.
I took a peak at Nigella's plate as she peeked at mine. She laughed when she saw mine, glancing at me apologetically, and I gasped at her plate. She had gotten a bunch of fruit shaped like stars with sauce draped over them strategically, circling the main dish, which was a heaping pile of round balls. Her drink was brown stuff that looked like syrup, but she seemed more pleased by her drink than she thought I should be with mine.
Practically shaking with excitement, we both dug into our food. I found my meat paste to be delicious, and gave Nigella some of mine, and she gave me some of her fruit and balls in return. The fruit tasted tangy and sweet, but the balls caught my attention more. They popped in my mouth and oozed some sweet liquid, leading me to believe Nigella had ordered from the dessert menu. I took a taste ot my drink, my hopes held high, then spat it back out into my cup. It tasted like rot, and I thought I had been poisoned.
Nigella was staring at me in anticipation while I drank from my glass, and she burst into laughter as soon as I spat it out. "That's alcohol," she sputtered between laughs. "It tastes like death. We can share my drink." I blushed as I realized I wasn't being poisoned, but I still thought alcohol was disgusting. The Capitol shouldn't have that sort of stuff.
