CHAPTER XVIII. TRAIN RIDES PART I

"We are partners by fate. We become friends by choice."

-Jacquie McTaggart

FILA OLLARIS (18) - DISTRICT 1 FEMALE

Fila had know idea how utterly annoying somebody could be until she met Sapphira Starlett, the Victor of the most recent Hunger Games, and her now her mentor. She'd seen Sapphira on television during the Games obviously, since it wasn't like she had anything better to do because the Academy shut down during the Games. When watching her on screen, she seemed charming, elegant, and even a bit funny, but in person there was no other word to describe Sapphira besides "bitch."

"I'm glad you dolls enjoyed your meal, but now it's time to get planning!" Sapphira stood up from her seat after an enjoyable brunch, "I need you kids on the couch right now."

"I'm the same age as you," Fila rolled her eyes, her patience ever-thinning

"Oh," Sapphira put her hand on her mouth, somewhat embarrassed, "Well I need you respectable young adults on the couch right now."

Fila got up, making sure to push her chair into the table, and her District Partner Eros, who barely spoke at dinner followed her, also pushing in his chair. Next followed Anaïs, Sapphira's girlfriend who was staring at her with eyes larger than Razzie, the dog she was carrying. The parade to the table was concluded by Isadora, the blue-wig wearing mentor that somehow wasn't as much of a diva as Sapphira was.

"Anaïs dear, can you hand me Razzie?" Sapphira asked as soon as her bum hit the couch.

"Yes, Sapphira," Anaïs put the fluffy dog in her lap as Eros and Fila sat on Sapphira's sides, petting him.

"Please don't pet him like that," Sapphira slapped Eros hand, "You're messing up his fur."

"Is this better?" Eros pet Razzie but in the other direction as Sapphira nodded in approval.

Sapphira opened the obnoxious white purse in front of her and pulled out a fluffy pink notebook with the letter 'S' displayed on the front with sequins, "I have a whole schedule for us and we are going to stick to it in order to ensure that we waste no time during the few days we're sharing together before you two go into the arena, where I'm sure you'll perform splendidly!"

Fila groaned to herself. How was it so that in a situation where she was supposed to finally be free from the oppressive laws of her parents, she was once again, stuck on a schedule? The only difference was that she didn't have to follow this one, but still, she worried about the consequences that could possibly lead to.

"When we arrive to the Capitol, you guys are lucky in that you'll be early enough that you can check into your hotel rooms and even take a nap before the other tributes arrive for the Parade," Sapphira began reading off the first item on her agenda way too excitedly, "The hotel was quite lovely and I think you're both going to be impressed with it."

Fila had never stayed in a hotel before, but most people in Panem hadn't so she was definitely a bit excited for that, especially since Sapphira couldn't bother her if she was in the comfort of her very own hotel room.

"For the Parade, I'll need you both to stand up with perfect posture, which we can practice later, and wave to everybody you see," Sapphira read, no change in tone.

"Eros, don't be afraid to show some skin, since the Capitol loves things like that," Isadora chimed in with her own advice, "Maybe see if you can go topless."

"I'm not so sure you want that, ma'am," Eros laughed, the first hint of personality Fila had seen in him all day.

"Why not?" Fila asked.

"It's complicated, I'll just show you," Eros took off his shirt revealing his chest, where his nipples weren't quite lined up and there were two red scars under his pecs, "I don't think the Capitol wants to see this."

"Your nipples?" Sapphira laughed, staring at them, "I think they're quirky!"

"What happened?" Fila asked what she thought was the more obvious question, why he had scars on his chest.

"I'm transgender," He said, scanning the room immediately for reactions, all of which seemed to be positive, "I was born female, but I'm a man now, and I had to get surgery to get my breasts removed, and the results weren't as good as I hoped."

Well Fila had never met a transgender person before, so she thought the news was amazing, "I'm so proud of you for coming this far!"

"Thanks?" Eros chuckled, "It's really no big deal."

"What surgeon did you go to?" Sapphira seemed concerned, "I'd recommend suing for malpractice since it seems like it was an expensive procedure."

"Well it was free," Eros laughed to himself as the rest of the group stared at him with confusion, "I performed oral sex on this guy and then he did it for me in an alleyway," The rest of the room was significantly in shock, "I'm sorry if that sounds crude or whatever."

"I mean," Fila wasn't sure if she too was supposed to laugh, "It's pretty iconic if you ask me."

"Free surgery is worth what you paid for it then," Sapphira laughed, clearly more confident than Fila was, "But seriously dude, you look great, and the Capitol probably won't mind one bit."

Fila smiled, somewhat surprised that Sapphira was able to show kindness, while the dog licked Eros' uneven nipples before he put his shirt back on. It was a somewhat funny moment, even though they all knew that the upcoming days wouldn't be close to lighthearted.

"I appreciate it," Eros said, genuinely emotional, "My clien–err friends, back home made fun of me for it, so I'm glad you see that it was worth it."

"For sure," Fila patted him on the back, "I think you and I are going to get along quite nicely."

"That would be nice," Eros smiled, "I realize this isn't the place for friendship, but it'll be nice to know somebody supports me."

Eros made good points. They weren't there to make friends, but that didn't mean they couldn't have some fun, right?

MOIRA MIKKEL (18) - DISTRICT 2 FEMALE

For the first bit of her train ride to the Capitol, Moira was relatively at ease with herself, for the first time in a while actually. As she looked out the window, ruffling the hairs of Levin's paintbrush, she saw District 2, and all the trauma it held slowly fading in the distance, which felt somewhat relieving. Pollock kissing her only increased her subtle happiness, since it meant that she had something at home to look forward to, somebody to fight for. She'd never been kissed before, so Moira was still on cloud nine, that is until Bell, her District Partner decided to rudely interrupt her serene silence.

"Hey, Mikkel Nickel," Bell roughly patted her on the back, calling her the annoying nickname she had become accustomed to due to it's frequent usage at the Academy, "Long time no see."

It was true, Moira had met Bell before, which was somewhat of a given considering they trained at the same place, but she had never been quite fond of him. He just gave off this weird energy that she was having trouble pinpointing but knew she disliked.

"Hello, Bell," Moira spoke softly, not wanting to give the impression she didn't like him, but also not wanting to be overly-zealous, "It's great that we're going to be working together."

"Yeah I agree," Bell cackled, almost like a hyena, "Has anybody ever told you that you're really fucking hot?"

"No?" Moira really wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to what she assumed was a compliment, "Thank you though?"

"We're going to look so fucking sexy on that chariot," Bell waved his hands in the air, "Panem isn't going to know what hit them!'

Moira was once again, unsure about what she should say. This was already way more socializing than she usually did in a day, and she was definitely tired.

"Well on that note," Their mentor, Micah got up from his seat across the car, "I think it's time we get this show on the road!"

"LET'S DO IT!" Bell screamed, once again waving his hands like a crazy person.

Moria didn't know if she was supposed to trust Micah. He had won two years prior, making an impressive twelve kills during the games, yet he seemed to have peaked then. Ever since last year's Quell was announced, people sort of forgot all about him, and his performance as a mentor was less than stellar. He was flirting with the boy from 4 nearly the whole time, sending him gifts in the arena, and pretty much fucking over his own tributes.

"So I know that I kind of messed up last time," Micah said, sitting down next to the pair.

"No shit," Moira muttered under her breath, just loud enough that Bell heard her.

"I agree with Moira," Bell said, at least four times her volume.

"What did she say?" Micah cupped his hand to his ear, "Include me!"

"She said you ain't shit anymore, Fairforge," Bell cackled, "Nobody gives a fuck about you now. It's all about Sapphira, and maybe she'll be a good mentor because of it.

Well Moira didn't say all of that but she did agree with it so she decided to just let the boys keep yapping because men arguing was just the funniest thing to her.

"I'm sorry," Micah pleaded, his hands to his heart, "I was young and I made a big mistake. I let Hosanna and Ammo down and I shouldn't have."

"Go apologize to their parents," Bell said, a wicked look in his eyes, "Just don't do the same with us, right Moira?"

"Please don't get us killed," Moira stuttered.

"I'll try my best," Micah said, "I promise."

"Even if you see another rockin' twink from District 4?" Bell smirked.

"Even if I see another attractive young man from District 4."

The majority of the train ride after that was spent talking strategy, as if Micah had any idea what he was talking about considering he killed four of the careers Moira was supposed to team up with during the bloodbath, but she tried her best to listen, nodding and agreeing when appropriate. Maybe Bell wouldn't be so bad though, since he did absolutely annihilate Micah's ass, though he did have it coming, and he had for a long ass while. Still, she felt bad for him, since they were being pretty damn rude.

"So, let's review," Micah picked up a clipboard with a long list of everything he had discussed, "When we arrive to the Capitol, what are we doing?"

"Taking a nap!" Bell laughed, Moira oddly staring at him.

"We're checking into the hotel and then immediately preparing for the Parade," As fun as messing with Micah was, Moira decided to answer the question correctly, "And then during the parade we are going to be excited, but still regal and polite."

"Thank you so much Moira," Micah glared at Bell, "And who are we going to ally with, Moira don't answer this."

"Any Tribute under the age of fourteen!" Bell exclaimed before he noticed that Micah seemed to genuinely be getting angry, "I mean, the Tributes from 1 and maybe 4, duh."

"Thank you for your competence," Micah said, "I'm going to leave you two to yourselves for a bit while I go take a nap."

"Sorry what?" Moira was suddenly angry, "We're not allowed to take naps but you are?"

"You can take a nap after you win," Micah scoffed before entering the sleeping quarters.

Yeah, remember when Moira felt bad for Micah because she and Bell were being mean to him? She was past that now. What a dick! Moira sure hoped she wouldn't be like that once she won, but she didn't know what was going on in his head anyways. The good news was, she couldn't possibly develop more severe depression than she already did, so maybe laughing at the guy every once in a while wasn't a horrible idea.

EDISON MONTPARNASSE (18) - DISTRICT 3 MALE

Edison was bored out of his mind on the train. He ate a delicious meal of beef ragu and some fancy ice-cream dessert thing, and that was a nice way for him to occupy his time, but now that that was over, he didn't have much else to do. His District Partner, Liana or something like that was somewhat ignoring him, and his Mentor Pascal was just oddly staring at him and mentioning that "strategy was important," which was kind of a no-brainer. Edison was used to being without people, yet he'd never felt so alone in his entire life. Maybe it was the lack of cats, no it was definitely the lack of cats, but it was also the fact that nothing really seemed to matter. He could steal something, yeah, but what the hell would he do with it? It wasn't like he could sell it since he didn't really have anybody to sell it to. The whole thing was as though his entire life had been picked up then dropped flat on its ass.

"Liana?" Edison decided he might as well go and talk to his District Partner, or at least try to, "Please tell me I got your name right."

"You did, Hi," She smiled and made room on the couch she was sitting on, "How are you doing, Edison, right?"

"Yes that is me," He sat down next to her, "Honestly, I'm not doing too great."

"It's the whole Hunger Games thing, I assume?" Liana asked what was probably a rhetorical question before shifting gears into what seemed like a monologue, "Or you could have already been suicidal before all this, in which case at least you'll probably die soon but also you could always get it over now and jump off the train. Wait, I'm assuming you're suicidal. I hope you're not, that would be sad."

"I'm not suicidal," Edison was out of breath from hearing that whole ramble.

"Great," Liana clapped, "Neither am I!"

Yeah, she was a bit of a weirdo, and Edison was somewhat regretting speaking to her, but at least she was more entertaining than staring out the window.

"So, tell me about yourself," Edison figured he'd ask a question with a probably humorous answer.

"Well occasionally I dissect fake bodies to to prepare for my future,"Yeah, she was fucking bizzare, "And what about you? What compelled you to volunteer for umm… yourself?"

Edison hadn't thought about that much. It was honestly a little spur of the moment decision since he knew he was going to the Games anyways. He thought it would be kind of funny plus it would be a neat opportunity to steal something, though he didn't want to say that aloud on a train with Government Officials.

"I just thought it would be a good way to seem memorable," Edison lied, though in hindsight that was a pretty good reason, if only he'd thought of it.

"Well then I hope it works, sir," Liana smiled, "I like your hat by the way."

Edison forgot he was wearing his signature top hat since it was basically embedded into his flesh, "Thanks! I like it too!"

Liana seemed young, which probably because well, she was. She was only fifteen which was pretty shitty since there was a pretty high chance she was going to die. Even Edison knew that and he honestly didn't know shit about the Hunger Games other than that twenty three people died, and one didn't. He also knew that the youngest Victor was older than Liana, so things weren't looking too hot for her, not that Edison expected he'd be winning either, which he was slowly coping with. Whatever she was thinking, she was clearly on a different plane of existence. Whether it was higher or lower than his was debatable.

He didn't speak much to her after that, which he didn't mind, since she was just odd, and after maybe half an hour of boredom, Pascal decided to take off Edison's hat and put it on his own head.

"Hey!" Edison stood up, trying to grab his hat back, "Give that back to me."

"Let me talk to you for a minute," Pascal sat down and readjusted the hat, "Liana, go to the other room."

"Okay?" Liana ran off, confused as hell, much like Edison was.

What the hell did this dude want with him? At least it was somewhat better than staring out the window.

"Has anybody ever told you that you're so handsome," Pascal was creepishly biting his lip.

What the hell?

"Yeah, my parents told me that before they disowned me," Edison had become way too accustomed to joking about that.

"Why would they disown a nice sweet face like that?" He was batting his eyes.

"Because they did," Edison wanted to get to the meat of whatever they were supposed to be talking about, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I was just curious if you thought I was handsome too." He said.

Again, what the hell? Suspicious.

"Sure."

"Okay great," Pascal was way too enthused, "I'll just have you know, I like boys, and if you want to make something of that, I can help you in the arena."

Yeah, this dude had some serious issues.

"You're my mentor. You're supposed to help me regardless," Edison started to walk away, "And by the way, I'm asexual so suck it, but don't."

Pascal looked like he was going to cry, which was pretty fucking pathetic considering he was actually handsome and could probably get some Capitol dick whenever he wanted.

"Do you want to think about it for a while?" Pascal pleaded like the miserable piece of shit he had revealed himself to be, "You're going to regret this."

"No, I've thought enough." Edison fully walked away, having enough of the train and its inhabitants.

KINGSTON HAVLOCK (18) - DISTRICT 4 MALE

Kingston was greeted with his first kiss when he got on the train. Her name was Lana, she was his District Partner, and she kissed Kingston fat on the lips when he offered her a handshake. She was pretty, and it was definitely a way to make a first impression, albeit odd. At least if he died, he would be able to say that he's kissed a girl.

"My name is Lana!" She practically squealed after she removed her lips from his, "And you're Kingston, right?"

"Yeah," He nodded, wiping his face of Lana's slobber "Good to meet you!"

"It's good to meet me too," Lana laughed, "I'm sorry about your sister. I heard she died."

"That, she did." Kingston awkwardly chuckled, "Thank you for your condolences."

"Isn't it crazy that you basically killed her?" Lana said before quickly realizing that she had made a mistake, "Just kidding of course! A lot of my friends have died so I'm allowed to joke about it."

Kingston didn't like thinking about that, even though it was probably true. Sure, Elizabeth had a clinical illness which could have been what killed her, and probably was what killed her, but Lana didn't know that and he just wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in," Kingston was trying to wrap up the conversation on his dead sister which he may or may not have killed, but Lana didn't seem to get the hint.

"Well, maybe it's comforting to you, knowing you might join her" She flipped her hair then walked away, only for their Mentor to pull her right back.

"Hey kids," She waved, "My name is Mags and I'm going to be mentoring you kiddos for the next however long."

"Kingston," He gave her a firm handshake, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Lana!" She gave a clearly disgusted Mags a kiss on the lips.

So yeah, apparently this was how Lana greeted everyone then. Kind of weird but also somewhat sweet. It was like she saw everyone as a lover, and that's beautiful. She had said that lots of her friends had died too, which made Kingston feel awful for her. He was miserable over Elizabeth, so he couldn't imagine what it felt to go through that multiple times. Kingston wanted to cry but he also wanted to leave a good impression on Mags, so he just sort of stood there.

"Let's all sit down and have a little chat about how things are going to go down once we arrive at the Capitol," She sat the duo down on a couch, "It's really important that you make a good first impression, so the Parade is going to be super important."

"Do we have much control over what we wear?" It was a question Kingston was genuinely curious what the answer was, as seeing the outfits over the past years made him seriously question the design process that went into the creation of some of them.

"Not at all," Mags said, somewhat somber, "But you can make the most out of anything if you believe in yourself hard enough."

"That's pretty dumb," Lana laughed at Mags, "Stop being so nice, we're going into a death match."

"Okay fine," Mags paused for a moment before continuing, "This experience is the worst even if you win because you keep having to come back and watch people you care about die, so try to find moments to enjoy yourself, which includes trying to have fun at the Parade."

"Oh you won't care about me, so don't worry about that," Lana got up and sprinted to the bathroom.

Was she going to cry? Kingston had no idea but he felt bad because she clearly looked upset.

"Can you go see if she's okay?" Mags asked him after some awkward silence, "I get worried when I see you kids get so emotional. It's hard being here, even if you chose it."

"Yeah, it's been a lot for me already," Kingston sighed, preparing to go retrieve Lana, "I'll go retrieve her."

Kingston walked to the back of the train, towards the bathroom, hearing weird gurgling noises which seemed off. He ran quickly, since it sounded like she was possibly drowning or something and that concerned him. Hopefully the poor girl didn't kill herself.

Kingston walked into the room and saw that she was not killing herself. Instead she was vomiting in the sink, with a glass of water and a salt shaker from the dining room in her hands.

"Are you okay?" Kingston asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Lana was acting as though nothing wrong was happening.

"You just threw up and you're holding a salt shaker?" Kingston was heavily confused.

"Oh right," Lana laughed, putting salt into the glass, "It's this thing me and my friends do. It helps us feel more pure. Want to try?"

What? Kingston could not believe what he was hearing. He knew she was off, but purposely throwing up, that was just horrible. Maybe she hated her body or something. She looked frail enough that it could be a possibility, but nothing is ever as it seems. Should he do it though? It was really really weird, but he didn't want Lana to think he didn't like her and that he thought she was weird because she wasn't, she was just unique.

"Sure!" Kingston tried his best to smile, "Hand me the glass."

Woohoo! We got those sexy first tribute interactions, and it only gets better from here. The meme contest will be over after the 3rd train ride chapter so get them in. Can't wait to hear from everybody soon!