This is the longest chapter I've ever written, at least it felt that way. I just couldn't stop to split it up. I did plan to publish this in the morning, but we got a new dog :-) and I had to play with her.
Gemini turned, ready to walk over and speak to the embarrassed Hadrian. She took a step, but then felt a hand on her waist, "Stay here, babe. I need your opinion."
She bit the inside of her cheek in vexation, "Someone needs to talk to Hadrian. In fact, I need to go over there."
Lafayette rolled his eyes, "No, he's fine. What he said to that tribute won't leave this room."
"We should give her a zero for doing that to him."
Lafayette chuckled, "We can't be partial, my dear. Her skills are actually impressive."
Gemini just rolled her eyes, trying to focus on the male from 7. It was obvious that he knew how to handle that ax, maybe even be deadly with it.
"Has he joined an alliance yet?" A Gamemaker asked from behind her.
"Possibly," Lafayette answered, "I'm thinking he might team up with the careers, they are seriously missing some male prowess."
Several chuckled. Yes, Glaze was impressive, but Marius skills, wouldn't be worth much in a fight. And since Achilles had acted aloof towards everyone, most were guessing he would be absent from the standard alliance.
Leota knew how to fight a bully, she had done that plenty of times before she was old enough to skip school. She figured most of the tributes were just another form of bully, and that showing off a few punches might boost her score for the Gamemakers.
Lining up a set of dummies, she stepped back, closing her eyes for just a moment. The image came, now she was just not fighting a dummy, but the face of Grel. She swung hard, screaming profanities, shattering the dummy's plastic nose. Another chop to the side that could easily burst an eardrum.
Sweat pouring, she viciously continued to attack, pulverizing 3 or 4 more, before the Gamemakers grew uncomfortable. Not only with her language, but brutality. At least a bit unusual for a non-career. A peacekeeper stepped towards her, calling for her to calm down. Unfortunately she was completely zoned into her images, not even hearing his voice. In her mind she was in a ferocious battle, destroying Grel and his alliance.
His hand grabbed her shoulder, and she whirled, maneuvering from his grasp, "Let me go, I'm going to kill you, son of a b-!" She jumped him, lucky for him that he was wearing some protective gear. Her fists pummeled him, making him yell out in pain, as she pinned him to the ground with her boots.
Two more peacekeepers ran out, dragging the kicking, screaming Leota away. Several Gamemakers stood in shock, their drinks and food temporarily forgotten.
"Well," managed one, "She'll give us a good show."
Lafayette swallowed, "Exactly, Britanicus, that's the spirit. We'll just need to monitor the volume, perhaps bleep out her voice."
Several chuckled, as he called for the next set. "I think these next two will be a little calmer."
Matthias strode in, pretty confident in his score. He picked up a broad sword, smirking towards his audience. Strolling over to a pair of dummy, he slashed, managing to hit them in a few critical spots. He glanced up, wondering why they weren't paying more attention. He reached up, running a finger through his gelled hair.
"Hey, ladies!" He called, hoping the female Gamemakers would give him more luck, "I'm actually pretty sexy with a sword, unlike that stale dude from One. Or even the Hulk from two. And don't get me started on those musty other idiots. If you want the most handsome guy to win, you've just got to watch me."
Gemini rolled her eyes, catching the snickering eyes of Julia, who had let them all know she thought Grel was the most handsome tribute ever since Finnick Odair. This poor guy was not going to get a higher score for lecturing them on what the definition of sexy was.
"Excuse me," Lafayette interrupted Matthias tirade, "Are there any other skills you have to show us?"
Matthias shrugged, grinning cockily, "I guess not, unless one of you wants to help me show off my erotic nature."
Lafayette sighed, "You are dismissed, Mr. Dunner."
The Gamemakers glanced Taylor's way when she appeared, but soon grew bored with her attempts to spear a dummy. She kept stopping to pull her hair back in place, even dabbing on a bit of lip liner at one point. Finally she stopped, turning to face them.
"I am the most beautiful model, and even if I never trained to kill people, it is very important that you guys keep me alive. My family keeps the Capitol supplied with your fashions, my input starts many new trends. Without me, you might as well go naked. So, as I was saying, you need to supply me with the very best supply bag, please include all that is essential to my survival. That includes make up, by the way. And I can kill someone with a pair of high heels. Especially if they are spikes. So keep that in mind, when you're packing my bag. I expect only the best, because my family only uses the best to make your clothes."
Taylor paused, as though to catch her breath, but Lafayette jumped in, "Thank you very much. You are dismissed."
Taylor waved dramatically, before spinning around to head out. Right before stepping out of the sliding doors, she called back. "Remember if I get a good score, you will all get great discounts!"
Philadelphia had been trying to talk to Marie, for at least an hour. But he was getting nowhere. "Come on," he continued to plead, "I kind of get that you don't want to be an ally, but please tell me why."
It was the first time he had asked her why, and Marie couldn't help giving him the answer. Maybe it would help to see things from her perspective. "Look, our whole district is rooting for you, they want the sweet son of our assistant mayor to win. No one really cares about me. I don't want it to come down to just me and you, because I know, if I killed you, everyone in nine will put a bounty on my head. So, no alliance." She turned, deliberately shutting him out.
Philadelphia stood up from the bench, trying to not be bothered by what she had said. The girl from eight had gone in just a few minutes ago, he needed to not let himself worry about Marie.
"I'm sorry she said that, Delphi." Bailey from 10 spoke from beside him. "You're such a nice guy, I don't want you to die either."
He knelt down, getting on her eye level. "Bailey, just think about you living. Don't worry about me."
"But will I see you in the arena?" She clenched her hands, trying to not tremble.
"I don't know. But I'm not going to hurt you."
"But will you help me?" She whispered back
He couldn't answer because his name was called. He smiled, "Don't worry Bailey, I'll see you later."
By the time Philadelphia was done showing off his traps, and skills with starting fires, the Gamemakers were in full party mode. They didn't expect anything too interesting from the last couple of sets, and began to entertain themselves, singing, drinking, even downloading and watching Capitol TV shows on their portable screens. Lafayette occasionally glanced at the tributes, but only to make sure they kept moving. Gemini handled all the logistics of calling for the next one, and even scribbling down score notes.
Marie was disgusted by the scant attention she was given. She threw a few knives, and Gemini nodded at her accuracy. At least she thought she saw the brown haired lady nod her way. Which was kind of weird, she hadn't met a single other Capitolite with naturally colored hair. At least not a female, some of the men went with black hues.
She was bored trying to get their attention, so she just walked out. Waiting for them to dismiss her would be kind of pointless.
Bexter knew exactly what he wanted to do. He headed straight for the knives, picking up a short one, which could be easily concealed. HE didn't care if they weren't watching too close, as long as one or two of them saw his moves.
He stood at the far side of the room, then ran towards a dummy, screaming loudly. He pulled out his knife, concealed in his sleeve, and then stabbed it in the stomach, twisting it around. If it were a real person, he would try to pull out the guy's guts.
Apparently his screams had gotten them to look up, and a few clapped. He smiled, and began to talk loudly. "Screaming would throw my opponent off guard, and then I can rip out their guts."
Lafayette waved dismissively, "Very well, anything else?"
Bexter shrugged, "I guess not." He threw the knife down, and scampered off. He didn't want to wait to get thrown out.
Gemini liked the next tribute, the little girl was just so cute! Hadrian was now standing beside her, and she spoke in an undertone to him, "I hope she finds a good ally."
"It might be better if she died sooner. Less suffering."
She raised her eyebrows, "Is that a hint of compassion in our co-host? You should learn to hide that more effectively."
Hadrian shrugged, "Everyone's too drunk to notice my reaction. But that little girl doesn't deserve to die. You can't really think she does."
Gemini turned slightly, "I can't tell you anything I really think, Hadrian."
"Of course you can. I wouldn't ever berate you, or tell anyone."
She took a step away. "You are too naïve. My uncle always taught me something you should learn. Someday you should meet him."
Hadrian was puzzled, "What did he teach you?"
"I just told you." She chuckled, "I need to go check with Lafayette. See you later, my dear."
Hadrian shook his head. He was baffled by Gemini, she made him want to know more.
Catalon wasn't completely sure what he should show off. They knew he could climb, and hide in trees. Not a very hunger games great skill. He must be boring, trying to show off setting traps. He was just clumsy at the whole thing. He was kind of relieved when they told him he could go.
Kasha was determined to not be under-estimated. She had seen the girl from 4 messing with bow and arrows, and had watched enough to do well in practice. The trainer had given her a couple of pointers, and she felt she at least hit a target.
Picking up the bow, she pulled back, making herself keep both eyes open. "You can do it," she thought to herself, forcing her fear to leave her.
She released, nearly jumping with joy when the arrow hit the shoulder on the target.
She picked up another arrow, noticing that the Gamemakers were watching her now. She steadied herself, letting the arrow fly, it hit the stomach. She felt a grin forming on her face, she could do this thing!
A few minutes passed, she shot nearly a dozen arrows. Not all of them hit the targets, but enough to make her look capable. If she couldn't kill someone outright, at least she could wound them.
She set the bow down, pleased that the Gamemakers seemed to enjoy her show. She couldn't wait to find out her score!
Mark didn't really care what his score looked like, he just needed to let off some steam. Having to sit for that long waiting on all these other tributes, just made him mad. Some year they should do this whole thing backwards, and let twelve go first. At least the Gamemakers wouldn't be drunk when he walked in.
He picked up some knives, throwing them at some target that was shaped like a person. He was pleased that he hit so strategically, though he wondered if he could ever do that to a breathing human being. It was just mean.
The thought made him stop, so he went over to traps, tying a few, and loosing track of the time. The voice of the Head Gamemaker telling him that they'd seen enough prompted him to pause.
"Are you sure?" He tested with thinking, "Aren't you enjoying seeing how I'm going to kill these other kids?"
Lafayette scowled, "I told you, we've seen enough. You are to leave now." Mark stood, regretting his hasty words. He hoped they didn't ignore Maureen because of him. She deserved a chance, at least.
The Gamemakers were now all watching their clocks, eager to get gone. Yes, they would let Maureen take her 15 minutes. Yes, of course they would give her an impartial score. But they were really bored of the tributes, and throwing a few knives around didn't cause much of a stir.
And Maureen did try to impress them. She threw hard, implementing everything Mark had shown her. It didn't help that she was missing upper arm strength, and that her accuracy wasn't all there yet. She would do her best, and hopefully have a small chance in the arena.
Lafayette finally dismissed her, then chugged away on a glass of Bourbon. "Any thoughts?" he slurred, letting the glass fall to the floor. A set of Avoxes rushed to clean up the mess.
They threw out some ideas, giving their opinions on individual scores. Most were incoherent ramblings, and Lafayette wasn't picking up on any of them.
He finally waved for a semblance of silence. "I think," he managed, "Gemini has a list. It has my opinions. So if you want to know, or whatevs just, you need, to get with her." He stood, "I've got to go lay down, I am just exhausted from watching these kids."
Happy Valentines Day, hope you enjoyed the chapter!