Carameuse Heloise, 48
Capitol Citizen

"The objects in question are currently being tested right now in the lab - fortunately, we had a forensic scientist on the train who'll be able to help us out. They've said that they're willing to get it finished quickly, so you might have results in a few hours or less!" the peacekeeper had whispered to her an hour ago, leaving her alone with the suspects. Gregoire and Flavian had helped drag the body onto a stretcher when a few avoxes had come to collect it, rolling it into place before watching disappear away from sight. Now they're all alone, with the snow falling heavily outside of the train and the lights flickering.

And she has her five suspects all in front of her.

"I'm not going to mince words here," she tells the five. "We're not leaving this car until we get a confession from one of you, no matter how ludicrously long that will take. Someone in this room killed that man - for whatever reason - and that someone likely killed the first man as well - and is very likely guilty of the… of the other charges."

"I won't believe it, I won't!" Gianna Vincent pushes away her seat and stands up, pointing to the others. "You don't believe that one of us killed him, do you? And if so, why Cassia, or Valerie?"

"Men aren't the only ones capable of murder, Gianna," Valerie whispers. "I thought… I thought you'd know that."

"I know what you're thinking, but I can't believe someone like you two - no, I can't." Such an odd person, Carameuse thinks as Gianna finishes her rant and sits back down. But according to the others, including the bartender, she hadn't even come close to the drinks. She wouldn't have had the chance to meddle with them, unless one of the others had lied for her.

No, she's not the one. Carameuse is missing something… but she can't…

Figure out what.

She only has a few - six, to be exact - hours before the train will start moving again. After the initial half-day of rounding up the final suspects, she was gifted fourteen hours with these people before President Ember wanted her back, yet it's been eight and she's only unravelled a few of the strands that'll lead her to the killer. She doesn't want to take a longer time than necessary

After all, one of these people is a killer. They won't hesitate to stop the train again.

They won't hesitate to murder.

Antimony Sinebad, 15
District Three Male

"How do you think they'll do?" he asks Electra, eyes fixated on the screen. "It's going to be a blast to watch - oh, if only I was home right now. I was one of the best at predicting this - how about you?"

Electra shrugs, twisting her long hair into tighter and tighter loops around her fingers as she tries to keep listening to the lilting accents of the Capitolite hosts. "Careers always do well, but perhaps an outlier will score high? And the careers will score high."

"I wouldn't be surprised!" Antimony laughs, giving Electra a grin. "I want to see how that Jackson fellow does - too high, and he'll be bloodbath bait. Just you watch."

He's confident in his predictions - he's rarely wrong when it comes to this. The careers never like seeing an outlier score high, especially if it's uncomfortably close to their own. Score too high, and a tribute will be public enemy number one to the careers. He deliberately underperformed in his own session - he limited himself to showing his simple knife skills and survival skills. He'll get around five, give or take a point. But he won't attract the attention of the careers.

He won't be the first dead because he was too cocky.

"And we're going to begin the score reveals! Get ready, folks, because this will be quite a ride! Our first tribute, the lovely boy from District One, Duchess Coruscate, has earned himself an incredible score of… ten! Congratulations to Duchess, who must be extremely pleased with that score." The interviewers applaud the first score politely, and Antimony grins. He figured that the One would score around that number - although he had him at a nine.

"And now for the gorgeous Tourmaline de Metz, who's earned a score of… we have another ten! Tourmaline and Duchess have set the standard, but we'll have to see if the rest of the careers can keep it up..."

Antimony shakes his head. "They won't."

Electra nods, and Antimony gives her a grateful smile. She's nervous, she's a bit crazy at times, but he's glad to have her here with him. It's nice to have someone he can talk to - Kaitlynn's left the room, unable to watch, and their escort has disappeared.

"It's time for our second district! From District Two, we have Aeson Humpford with a score of… nine! Impressive for the boy from Two."

"Two's not too bad this year," Antimony says. "They'll do better than at least one of the Ones, I think."

Electra doesn't respond.

"It's Enyo's turn! Enyo Bedford has received a magnificent score of ten as well!"

Antimony makes no comment, satisfied with the score.

"Antimony Sinebad has himself a score of five!"

"Co-congratulations," Electra whispers. Antimony smiles back, surprised but pleased to hear that Electra knows what he's up to. It's good to see that someone knows what he's doing. "You must be happy."

"I am. Thanks."

"For Electra Mancuso, a lovely girl from District Three, we have her score listed as… a six! Congratulations to Electra, that is a great score for District Three!"

Antimony applauds Electra's score, reaching across the couch to clasp her hand in victory. Electra blushes and shies away at first, but offers her hand to him after a moment. "Congrats, Electra! Sponsors are going to have to watch out for you! You must have impressed the gamemakers with something crazy to earn that score."

"Th-thank you, thanks. Thanks." Electra blushes again, turning back to the screen. "Time for District Four."

"And it's Fraser Killick!" an interviewer screams, trying to excite the Capitol audience. Who knows, it could work for someone, Antimony thinks as he listens to their grating tone. "Fraser has a score of eight!"

"Good." Electra settles back into the couch, comfortable. Antimony glances over at the dark-haired girl with a look of surprise, but says nothing - Electra knows what she's doing. So far, she's been better than him at knowing what'll happen. He could take some tips from her next time he gambles on scores.

If he ever gets the chance.

"Shelby Doran is next up, with a score of seven!"

"Low," Antimony whispers. "Lower than I thought."

"High enough," Electra replies, and they sit in silence for the rest of the score reveals.

Jackson Kennedy, 18
District Six Male

"And now, Sasha Sone! Sasha has earned himself a score of - oh dear - three."

Jackson bites his lip, and Isa pats him on the back in comfort. "He'll be fine - as you said, Sasha's not playing by the rules. Of course he won't get the score you thought he would."

"Of course he wouldn't. Thanks, Isa." Jackson settles into the leather couch, chewing a few of the chips that he has in a large bowl to distract him from the scores. He's worked too hard to unite this alliance for it to fall apart because a few firebrands like Sasha to get low scores and embarrass themselves in front of the sponsors. In hindsight, he shouldn't have asked the boy to join - he's a liability with how blatantly he's against the Capitol - but he's in the alliance now.

Jackson doesn't give up on his alliances easily.

"Colleen Tosse, the lovely girl from District Five, has earned herself an eight! Oh my, that's quite a high score! Congratulations to Colleen, who must be elated by that marvelous performance!"

The interviewers continue to gush about Colleen, but Doug shakes his head. "Rosanna's found another cunning girl that she hopes can win her the Games - we'll see how that works. Last time she tried that, the girl puttered out in the final girl. Poor gal, she was close, too. We'll see how this one goes."

"Oh, Rosanna? She's been alone for so long - it's too bad that she doesn't have anyone yet. Maybe next year, I suppose." Isa frowns, looking over at Armani. "Are you alright, Armani? You don't seem well - oh, it's another attack, is it?"

"Le-leave me alone, please. I'm sorry." Armani looks like she's seen a ghost, her face more pale than Jackson's ever seen it. She leaps up from her seat and flees to her bedroom, her mousy brown hair following her.

"I hope she's alright," Isa sighs, but makes no move to follow her. She's tried too many times before, to no avail. Jackson feels bad for the girl, but he doesn't understand what they can do to help - this is something that only Armani knows about.

"Jackson Kennedy, the boy from Six, has received an eight as well! Another lovely score - congratulations, Jackson!" The interviews clap for him as well, and Jackson's face colours red. He wasn't expecting that score - he thought his performance with a sword fight and the fire that he built was worth something lower.

But he's glad for it.

"Armani DeCormick has received, oh my, a score of two."

Isa winces at the comment, burying her face in her hands. "We had talked about the obstacle course, but she must have given up. I shouldn't have pushed her," she mumbles. Doug gives her a quick hug, and she soon gets back up to continue listening to the broadcast.

"Timber Sycamore has received a score of five!" The interviews clap politely, and Jackson grins. It's good to know that someone from the alliance is doing well for themselves in the private sessions.

Other than him, of course.

"Magnolia Rosa-Tran has earned herself a seven! Quite an impressive score from this young lady - overcoming her pregnancy, of all things, to rank in the upper echelons! We'll see good things to come from..."

"I wonder what the gamemakers will do with her," Isa muses. "They can't very well let her die without the Capitol getting angry - after all, the baby could be born by now with modern technology. Something will happen, all right - we'll have to wait and see."

"Perhaps she'll give birth soon? But it's risky - pregnancy always is. I don't know..." Doug trails off, his eyes going dark as he starts to remember something he's repressed for ages. Jackson glances over, slightly unnerved by the change in the victor, but Isa gives him a reassuring nod before escorting Doug out. Jackson's all alone.

"And now for District Eight! Tristan Locke has earned himself a score of eight - quite high! - and Desdemona Steen has earned a six! Decent scores for these two - will they prove themselves in the bloodbath? We'll have to see."

Yes, they'll have to see.

And maybe, Jackson hopes against hope, it'll end up with his alliance on top.

Ezra Winfield, 13
District Nine Male

He's glad that he has an alliance to rely on - otherwise, he'd be scared out of his mind right now.

Emma taps the side of the couch impatiently, waiting for something to happen. They're both missing the mentor that should be with them - instead, their escort has taken the brunt of the mentoring duty. Jo Lycoris isn't the worst mentor, not by any means.

Yet…

"For District Nine, we have Ezra Winfield and Emma von Hapsburg! Ezra has received a lovely score of six, while Emma has herself a score of eight! Impressive scores for the two from Nine, but will they keep it up?"

"Congratulations, you two! You're all set for your interviews - are you ready to prove yourselves to the nation? Ezra, I'm sure you can use that big brain of yours to win the audience over, while Emma - oh, Emma, the men are going to love you. A good dress and a few witty comments, and you'll have them drooling. Oh, it's so exciting to get ready for interviews! They're my favourite part of the Games, you know..." Jo drones on, happily sharing their thoughts on the Games. Ezra and Emma haven't figured out their gender yet - whenever the two asks, Jo seems not to hear.

Strange.

"Thank you! We're going to do well." Emma looks confident, but Ezra hears the wavering note of nervousness in her voice. Emma hopes she's ready, but is she? He doesn't know either.

Oh, he wishes he knew all of the answers. It would make everything so much simpler.

"And now we have District Ten! These two have been gossiped about many times about what their capabilities in the Games are - perhaps they're our wildcards! For now, we have our scores: a score of four to Callous Lecket and a score of five for Ceres Hemlock! Congratulations to these two!"

"They're a bit low, aren't they?" Emma whispers to Ezra. After initially shutting him out for being 'too small' - a sentiment that Ezra resented - Emma's given in and tells him all of her thoughts now. Perhaps it's because she has no one else to share them with here - it's hard to get into a proper conversation with Jo without feeling like they've switched topics every fifteen seconds. "I wonder how Jackson will react to them in the alliance - it could break us all up."

"I think Jackson wants us all to stick together. He seems like an honourable guy!" Ezra likes Jackson. He seems smart and capable, and he never gets stressed about the personalities that fight within the alliance.

Maybe that's not the best trait, though.

"It's time for District Eleven to show us our scores! First up, we have Luke Atkinson with a score of… Luke has gotten a score of four!"

"Another low one - I thought Luke would be better than that." Emma grunts, unhappy that he's scored almost as low as Sasha. She and the boy from Five have not gotten along well through training - both of them would be happy to see each other go. Ezra's just happy no one feels that way about him.

"Maybe they put him lower because he was rude," Ezra offers, and Emma nods. It seems on brand for Luke to do.

"Aloie Church has received a score of - oh my - seven! What a great score for this young girl from Twelve! We'll have to see how she does in the Games, but that's quite promising for one of our youngest competitors!"

"What did she do?" Emma asks, confused. She takes a sip of the large glass of juice she has in her hand, waiting to see how District Twelve's done. Ezra can tell that she wants to go to bed. "Surprising - at least we did decently."

"Yeah, we did." Ezra yawns, tired from the long wait for all of the scores. At least they'll be finished soon - he can't wait to go to bed.

"And finally, District Twelve! Hex Hertz is up first, with a score of five, and Arisa Fetch has herself a score of three! Congratulations to these two - those are our scores! What does everyone think? We'll be checking these platforms next for reactions from..." the television drones on until Jo jumps up to shut it off, grinning ear to ear.

"You've done well, you two! Now, off to bed - we have a busy day tomorrow!" Jo escorts them to their bedrooms, waving to them before disappearing to their own bedroom. Ezra gives a loud yawn, crawling under the covers and beginning to doze off.

He has a lot to think about. But for now, he needs to sleep.

New chapter! Woohoo!

We're getting closer to the Games :o only two more Capitol chapters until we reach the bloodbath! This is way too exciting for me, so I'll let y'all enjoy the chapter and have a lovely day. Thanks for reading!

See you soon! Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ