VII. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

THE TRIBUTE PARADE

BAILEY BREAMON, DISTRICT 11 "MALE" (17)

They hated this.

The lights, the cheering, the Capitolites that were ready to send children to their deaths. Children that had already gone through so much, and Bailey was included in that group. And they wanted to help, since it was already hard to go through so much.

They definitely had personal experience.

Bailey surveyed the district pairs. The Career districts were all confident, and definitely challenged each other for the title of best costume. In Bailey's opinion, it went to the gold-clad pair of District 2. But District 4, in their merpeople getups, were a close second.

Bailey's heart ached when he saw the girl from 10, looking completely lost in the mass of tributes. They'd heard she was the youngest of all of them, which, to be fair, was depressing. Her cowboy hat was tilted back at the most innocent angle, and it was so big she had to keep pulling it up, and her sheep costume was just as ill-fitting on her.

They made their way through the crowd to the poor girl, "You're Reyena, right?"

She gave them a huge, toothy grin. "Yep!"

Hell, she was innocent too.

"Are you looking for your chariot?" Bailey offered halfheartedly.

She nodded, the grin never once fading.

"It's over here," Bailey led her to the District 10 chariot where the escort, boy tribute and the District 10 mentor was waiting, the latter looking hassled.

"Reyena, we've been looking all over for you," the boy scolded.

"Sorry!" the little girl said sheepishly before turning to Bailey. "What's your name?"

"Bailey."

Reyena turned back to Artemis. "Yeah, Bailey helped me!" she exclaimed.

Artemis gave Bailey an appreciative grin. "Thanks."

Bailey gave a little nod. "No problem." They started off to their chariot where Deiondra was waiting, glancing back one time.

Artemis was being helped into the chariot, and Reyena was glancing off with a much more crooked smile than her previous, happy one.

NERO BLASTARIES, DISTRICT 2 MALE (18)

Nero was in his element.

Not the tribute parade. He was just as anxious for that as some of the other tributes. But negotiating and establishing bonds with people?

He was an expert.

And being an auctioneer, that only increased.

Also the son of an auctioneer, if you wanted to count that. To be fair, that just increased the negotiation-genes in his blood.

Whether that blood would be spilled in about two weeks was up to him.

And the Careers, which is why their mentors had suggested they get acquainted before training. To have a head start on all the other tributes.

Which, to be fair, was pretty easy to do.

The Careers had already gathered, the group of six circling around the District 1 chariot. "Tempest," the girl from 4 introduced herself, and her district partner Angelo. District 1 was Lux and Merlot.

"Nero. Listen, I've heard that this year they'll be doing popularity rankings of all the tributes, and if you think about it, the tribute parade is what matters most of all. Especially because the costumes are what the Capitol's first impression is of you. I mean, the interviews matter to, but those are right before the Games. The rankings will be practically cemented in stone. Obviously, we don't have to worry about one of the outlying districts- 10, 11, or 12- taking our spots on the leaderboard, but District 5's got pretty good costumes this year."

Nero didn't even take a breath at the end of his speech. Lux looked even more anxious, but the others just looked dumbfounded at Nero's monologue.

Except for Hestia, who gave them a wry smile before dragging Nero back to their chariot. "It takes some getting used to."

"You got that right," the boy from 1- Merlot- called after them. Angelo chuckled.

Nero could already tell he was going to like this group.

ARDEN GOLDENROD, DISTRICT 3 FEMALE (14)

Unlike some of the other non-Career tributes, Arden was angry about going into the Games for a whole different reason.

She'd wanted to die at her own terms.

And the fucking Capitol had ruined that for her. Plus, they'd placed her with the most annoying boy in the whole district.

Tesla Miller.

Arden knew his parents were the aristocrats in District 3, and Arden wasn't surprised when Tesla started acting like he was already in the group with 1, 2, and 4.

It was obvious he wasn't.

Their costumes were utterly humiliating as well- who dressed up kids so they were basically identical to another district (district 5, if you even gave a shit), but with a whole lot less glowing lights to them? Honestly, Arden thought she looked like a fucking dead lightbulb.

"What the hell are you staring at?" she hissed at Tesla as the chariot rides were about to begin.

She knew very well what it was.

And hated herself for asking, because now Tesla was most likely going to go into a monologue about why he deserved to ally with the greatest predators in the Games.

"Who the hell do you think?" he snapped back.

Arden gave him a look. "You shouldn't ally with them."

"Why, bitch?"

"Because they'll kill you," she said, matter-of-factly. "They always kill the outer district kids in their pack someday, especially if they're as unpleasant as you."

He shoved her roughly, but Arden wasn't finished. "Plus, Beetee needs someone taking home the crown this year. And as I'm not, you should stay alive. And that includes not allying with the Careers."

"Thanks for the lecture, but I'll do what I want."

"Your choice," Arden suppressed a smile. Who the hell was she kidding, she wanted him to go down just as much as she wanted herself to? But reverse psychology always worked.

Arden definitely had experience in it.

Her parents had used it against her plenty of times.

Lights began flashing and Claudius Templesmith's, the new announcer of the Hunger Games, voice boomed.

"Ladies and gentlemen- the tributes of the 49th annual Hunger Games!"

District 1's chariot rolled out and Arden mentally prepared herself, taking in a deep breath.

It's time.

MERLOT MONTAGUE, DISTRICT 1 MALE (18)

Merlot absolutely loved this.

The cheering, the excitement, all the people… it was marvelous.

Lux didn't seem to think so. As their chariot made its way onto the track she looked even more nervous than ever. The boy from 2's- Nero's- lecture had probably only doubled that.

Or tripled.

He elbowed her and she looked startled. "What?"

Lux hadn't been made for the stage. While she seemed like your typical District 1 female, and blonde hair only reinforced that stereotype, Lux was a whole lot nicer and genuinely a sweetheart.

Merlot would definitely feel bad when she died.

"Lux, don't worry about what Nero said. They're here to see the tributes, and while they are wishing death on some of us, you've gotta show them it's not you who's losing. Right?" he encouraged.

She still looked nervous, and bit her lip, but regained a bit of her confidence. "Okay. You're definitely going to do better than me, though."

Another thing about Lux was the compliments. She could literally be an adoring Capitol fan, she gave out so many.

"Well," Merlot winked, "Let's put that to the test."

Their chariot raced down the track, but Merlot didn't need to ready himself.

This is amazing.

All the Capitolites were cheering for the likely winners- the Career districts. Merlot glanced back at District 3 and nearly snorted. They looked pathetic.

But he was in the spotlight now, so he turned back to face the crowd.

They soaked up his attention, and Merlot knew that if popularity rankings were actually a thing, not just a product out of the boy from 2's mind, he'd be hitting first on it.

Sweet. He'd never run out of sponsors.

The chariots pulled up in front of the Capitol building, where gray-haired Snow was waiting. Merlot caught a glimpse of District 12 pulling in- they were even worse than Three. The same coal miner getup, and the same stupid plstered, but hopeless smiles.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're gathered here today to celebrate the beginning of the 49th annual Hunger Games!" This was met with a rousing cheer and Merlot grinned.

"Our Head Gamemaker, Dulsche Wildgaze, is absolutely thrilled to be working with the lot of you and has quite the interesting surprises for you hidden up her sleeve."

A middle aged woman- probably in her forties or fifties- gave a little wave to the crowd.

"And with that, we'll see these tributes for their interviews in a week!" Snow finished, and the chariots pulled away to overlapping chants of the Capitol's favorite districts.

Merlot was glad to hear that District 1's cheers were the loudest.

NICO BENETIEZ, DISTRICT 5 MALE (15)

Nico gave a grin to Ayla after the chariots pulled up. "That was fucking awesome!" he declared immediately, their mentor Rettie embracing the pair of them.

"You were both awesome," she said seriously, a hint of a smile showing through her serious features. They had been power plant workers, but Rettie arranged for them to have glowing bangles to attract some attention.

Ayla shrugged. "The costumes were great, but the interviews will matter more. We should start preparing for them."

While Nico thought Ayla was a smart, sweet person, she didn't fully know how to relax and have fun. Rettie seemed to agree. "You coming, Nico?"

Nico spotted the Careers hanging out by the District 4 chariot. "I'll be up in a bit, okay?"

Ayla gave him a searching look, but Rettie winked. They'd discussed that allying with the Careers would be best for Nico, since they'd try to take him out if he didn't. He was a threat, because Nico had trained.

Nico walked over to the Careers, doing his best to look confident, but inside, he was nervous as heck. The Careers were lions, and he was prey. Unless they took him in.

First impressions meant everything.

The girl from 4 was the first to spot Nico. She waved him over. The other Careers stopped talking and gave him looks.

"Who's he?" the boy from 1 snapped at the girl from 4.

"Really, your memory is that bad, Merlot?" she said calmly. "He's the volunteer from 5. I guess he wants to ally with us."

Nico nodded, a lump in his throat. Why was he always able to make a joke with Ayla and Rettie but couldn't with the Careers when it mattered most?

"Well, what are we going to do?" the girl from 2 demanded.

Merlot gave Nico a cruel look. "I say we kill him; he's too much of a threat."

"I have a name. I'm Nico," Nico said desperately. The girl from 4 laughed again.

"I say we give Nico a chance," the girl from 1 suggested, giving a pointed look to the girl from Four. "Right, Tempest?"

Tempest's demeanor changed immediately. "Yeah, I think we should." She held up a hand when the boys from 2 and 1 started to argue. "But here's what we'll do." She leveled her gaze on Nico.

"Tomorrow, at the training center, you can prove to us you're skilled enough to join Careers that have been training for their whole lives. And if you get a score lower than seven in your private session, you're out of the pack. Understood?"

He nodded uneasily.

"Good. Now get out of the way."

The Careers pushed past him, and Nico was left with unpleasant thoughts that they resembled the popular group at school as they disappeared up the elevator.

A/N

Omg the next chapters are training! I had already written this chapter because I had so many ideas for it, which is why it came out so fast, and I just realized after the next chapter everyone will have been introduced. And I just realized that there's only six chapters till the bloodbath! On my profile I have two polls up, one about who should die, so be sure to check them out!