Vasilius Montgomery, District 1 Mentor
"Fucking Sasha." Azura whines as the scenes of the bloodbath start to fade from the giant screen planted in the center of the white mentor table, "I really thought Five could go far this year."
"I feel you." Cornelius sighs from his place next to Thomasina, the mentor from Two. Who's busy staring at the small girl across the table. The table itself was a giant round, ivony one. This will be where I spend my life for the next two to eleven days, depending on how long my tributes are able to stay alive. None of us mentors get much sleep during this week or so, so we just stay here, holding our breath and waiting for when at least one of our babies will have to die. Sponsors come in and out and talk to us about gifts for our tributes but none of us ever really leave these seats. That is until they both die, like Azura, Cordelia and Cornelius's. There is no need for a victor-less mentor so they're allowed to go home but most stay and watch the games unravel.
"I'm sorry." I say, darting my eyes behind me to not look at his sorrowful expression.
"Don't beat yourself up." Matilda sighs from across the table.
"I always feel bad for the mentors of the kids my kids kill."
"Don't be." She smiles and I glance my eyes across the table at her. Her bright green hair tied in a tight ponytail behind her head with a wide smile planted on her lips.
Thomasina Trueblood, District 2 Mentor
One look at the mentor from Nine and my heart completely melts. As Azura whines about Sasha, silent tears fall from the girl's face. She knew Syd was going to die but didn't expect it so soon. She's still a newer mentor, not exactly used to this system yet.
Dakota's lip quivered, threatening to let out a cry for her lost tribute. I slowly get to my feet, the chair's leg scratching across the marble floor. Everyone turns and looks at me, confusion setting in the room. I give them a small smile while I make my way across the room to where my girlfriend was sitting. She holds her hands in her lap to appear composed but I can tell from her expression that's not how she feels.
"Sina." She croaks, another round of big tears welling up in her eyes.
"It's gonna be alright Dakota, please don't cry." I comfort.
"He's dead." She sobs and I wrap my arms around the small girl.
"I'm sorry." I say as she cries into my shoulder.
"He's dead." She repeats, as the other mentors stare. Empathic expressions covering their faces.
"Hey, it's all gonna be alright." I comfort, running my hand through her blonde hair.
"Look on the bright side, at least Sunna's still rocking it out there." Pasha says, trying to help but not doing a very good job with the way she's still smiling ear-to-ear. She's obviously happy both her tributes got kills but I could care less about her.
Cornelius Cornfield, District 3 Mentor
I notice the shy mentor from One won't look at me and keeps avoiding my eyes. He looks around the room but never at me. I guess it has something to do with Gage and Angel. She's a career and all so I'm not exactly mad at the young boy, so he could stop with this eye-contact thing.
Valius would also glance at Maya before looking away, nerves flicking through his body. It was obvious something was there but I don't think anyone saw it. The pair are close friends but I think something's going on. Yet no one notices, sometimes other people can be extremely blind to what's happening around them and that just bewilders me.
As Thomasina comforts Dakota, the mentor from Seven, Caspian, turns a bright shade of red. Embarrassed due to the fact that James has died and now he's left tribute-less.
Caspian's a huge baby who pretty much took James from Jeremiah. I mean I see why those two connected but still, that's not your tribute. Yes, James had gone to Caspian but after that he had a big fight with Jeremiah and ended with James becoming mentored by Caspian.
Since the mentor from Seven was being a bitch and wouldn't take care of his own tributes, Jeremiah opened his doors to Kinnik and Elizabeth. Jeremiah is such a positive and happy-go-lucky kinda guy so mentoring three tributes didn't upset him at all.
I think Jeremiah is a way better fit for the pair from Seven, having more of a nice personality. Both of the tributes from Seven intrigue me but I'm not exactly happy the boy survived due to the fact he killed Jocylin.
No hate to Jeremiah though, he's doing a great job filling out the papers for all three tributes while Caspien pouted in the corner. Caspien is just a prick and so was James, hence why they connected so well.
Pasha Tequila, District 4 Mentor
I can't help but smile at the District Nine mentor's tears. No, I'm not a bad person but both of my tributes got kills. I really think these two can do good. Afterall Misty was the test winner and Kai was the runner-up.
They just have to get rid of the pair from One, neither is very trustworthy and I don't believe they're going to stay loyal to the careers. I could be wrong, but I really don't have a good feeling about either of Vasilius's tributes.
"Pasha?" someone asks and I turn back towards the table.
"Yeah." I say, looking at the young boy from One.
"Good luck." He sighs, his stare planted down at the table.
"Thanks... Let's go careers. I guess," I say, not sure how to respond.
"I have a lot of faith in them this year." He says, still staring down at the ivory white table. I hate that his boy won't look at me when he talks but I ignore it.
"That's very true." I agree, still confused why he is randomly talking to me like this.
Doesn't he understand that Onyx and Angel are just happy to be in the pack? And they don't even care that Misty and Kai are in control.
Azura Appleseed, District 5 Mentor
I can't believe Sasha jumped off her pedestal, I really had a feeling she could go far. I had so many sponsor's lined up for her and everything. I can't help but shake my head at my girl's stupidness. She had so much potential and just wasted it all blowing herself up.
"I'm sorry she blew up." Cornelius sighs, shrugging his shoulders.
"I can't believe her." I say, "or Keir, why would he go after a career like that? Why did I get the idiot tributes this year?"
"Keir was actually the runner up from the smartness test." Matilda reasons.
"I don't care. Neither had good common sense."
"I wouldn't say that…" Matilda starts.
"You wouldn't because both of your tributes survived the bloodbath."
"That's not true." Matilda sighs, "I'm sorry you feel that way Azura."
"Matilda is just trying to be nice." Jeremiah reasons, "no need to get worked up."
"Alright, I'm sorry Matilda." I sigh, keeping a confident demeter about me, even though I feel like screaming. I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs until no sound can come out anymore. But I'm more mature than that, I can't act like a child when I don't get my way. I'm an adult, even if acting like one is really difficult sometimes.
"It's cool, no hurt feelings." Matilda smiles.
Cordelia Coldbloom, District 6 Mentor
I look at the girl from Nine's tears, trying to hold back my own. Vienna and Tyree had such an amazing friendship and I really thought they could go far. They had such a range of skills and balanced each other so well.
"Cordelia, you good?" Maya, the youngest of the victor asks.
"Not really." I sob, letting the tears I'd been holding back fall out onto the table.
"I'm sorry." Spencer sighs even though a small smile rides his otherwise emotionless features.
"Don't be, it's a game." Pasha laughs, punching Azura lightly in the arm who turns and glares at her.
"It's not just a game, some of us get attached to our tributes." I sob.
"I'm sorry." Maya says, "you want a hug? It must suck for both of your tributes to die."
"It does." Azura mutters under her breath, not noticing I heard her.
"Hey, don't cry." Maya comforts from across the table.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to cry." I sob, covering my face with my hands. I scoot my chair out and get to my feet. I don't mean to cry, it just happens. Every time. I never can't get attached to my tributes and when they die, so does a small part of me.
"No don't be sorry." Maya says as I turn away from the rest of the mentors. Quickly I make my way to the door before exiting out into the long dimly-lit hallway.
Caspian Cleaver, District 7 Mentor
"Maya, she does this every year." Spencer sighs as Maya gets to her feet to go after Cordelia.
She tucks a stort wispy strand of her dyed hair behind her ear before replying, "but she's upset."
"It's fine, she always gets upset."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try to make her feel better."
"I-I'm with Maya on this one." The career mentor sighs, his face turning bright red in the process.
"Then you two newbies can go find her but it's always the same." Azura sighs.
"Come on Vasilius." Maya says making her way over to the door, "if you're coming."
The boy shakes for a second but for how embarrassed he is, he still gets to his feet. He pushes his chair into the table and smiles at the rest of us. Quickly the smile drops and he darts his eyes back down to the ground. He does that often and I'm not exactly sure why, something messed up in his mind no doubt.
The duo head out of the room but I couldn't care less. Fuck Maya, it was her tribute, afterall, that stabbed James. I can't wait to watch Abram's hopefully very bloody and painful death. Watch tears trickle down his mentor's face as she watches the death of her boy. The one she had so much faith in.
"Oh sponsors and their money are starting to drop in, look at the board." Pasha points out and all of the mentors turn to the giant board planted firmly on the left wall of the room we were trapped in for the next week or so.
"Oh wow."
"I swear, how is District Four doing so well?" Azura growls under her breath.
"What can I say," Pasha shrugs, "both of them got kills and the Capital loves blood spill."
"The blood of my tribute," Azura sighs, still upset about the deaths of her tributes.
"I'm sorry Azura, I can't help my tributes are doing good." Pasha sighs rolling her eyes.
"Whatever." Azura says.
Spencer Spindle, District 8 Mentor
"Guys look." Cornelius says, interrupting the glaring contest between Azura and Pasha.
"What is it?" Thomasina asks, still comforting her girlfriend.
"Allegro and Kinnik are heading back to the cornucopia."
"What? No." Jeremiah says, his mouth hanging open as Kinnik and his ally start to make their way to the career's giant pile of supplies. Jeremiah had become Kinnik and Elizabeth's mentor after Caspien completely abandoned them for James. I think he's doing a great job balancing all three's paperwork and sponsors.
"Why?" Thomasina asks, smacking her forehead with her hand.
"But the careers are gone with no guard." Jeremiah reasons.
"Oh I forgot that," Thomasina sighs. "Alright then."
"They're taking a few weapons and a backpack each, smart. Not enough to notice it's gone but something to get by on." I say and Pasha rolls her eyes.
"Why didn't they leave a guard?" she asks herself.
"I don't know, why didn't they?" Azura laughs.
"Oh shut it." Pasha sighs.
"Fine then." Azura says, still chuckling to herself.
As Allegro and Kinnik escape, Jeremiah and Thomasina let out a collective sigh of pure relief. Nothing like having your tribute escape the bloodbath, only to be killed ten minutes later. That happened a few years ago with one of Matilda's tributes, she wasn't happy about that at all.
Dakota Darkwind, District 9 Mentor
As Thomasina turns away from the screen to look back at me I firecy wipe my tears alway. Leaving my face red and blotchy. I hated crying but over the past few weeks I had grown extremely close to my tributes. I know we weren't supposed to but this year was different.
This year I saw pieces of myself in both of my tributes. Parts of me that died when the brunette career from Two's cannon boomed and her body went limp in my arms. This year the tributes were different, but Misty, yet another career, decided to rip that from me.
At least I still have Sunna, it could be a lot worse. I could be like Cornelius, Azura or Cordelia, with both of my tributes gone. I have a feeling Sunna will go far and I've set up all the sponsor paperwork for her. She just has to trust her alliance less. She trusts them too much, and I could see one of them taking her out.
I bite my lip to keep from screaming out at the thought of watching yet another one of my tributes die. They were my babies and I had to protect them. That was my job but I failed. The career had so easily taken down Sydney and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Thomasina wraps her arms around my small frame again and I feel a tad better. My girlfriend is the only thing keeping my sane at this point but I hate how much I realy on her but at the end of the day, she's my rock.
Maya Casden, District 10 Mentor
I glance at my best friend as we make our way into the break room, who just quickly smiles in return. "Thanks for coming with me." I say.
"No problem," he replies staring down at the floor.
"You good?" I ask, noticing his rock hard stare.
"Yeah I'm fine." He sighs. I know he has social anxiety and a problem with looking at others so I don't push the topic farther. We've spent the last few months together and I've noticed he often talks quietly but I don't mind. It's nice to have some company after my sister's death. I still can't shake the graphic bloody images of her torn up body laying on the floor of our bathroom.
"Here we go." he says, bringing me back to the small break room with the sobbing mentor, who's currently curled up in a ball on the plush bright pink couch.
"Hey." I say and the woman looks up at the two of us.
"I'm sorry." The woman cries, placing her head back into her hands.
"Don't be sorry," Vasilius says, not quite looking at her.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright." I comfort sitting beside the woman.
"I thought these two could go far, I had so much faith in them," she sobs.
"I'm so sorry about them," I softly say, gently taking her hand and placing it in mine.
"It's gonna get better, I promise." The boy next to me says, giving the woman a small yet empty smile.
Matilda Swann, District 11 Mentor
"These sponsor points are crazy." I sigh, "they keep changing."
"Exactly why you have to place your sponsor points into their account when you're tribute's at the top." Caspien snickers.
"Why are you laughing? You don't have any more living tributes." I reply, rolling my eyes at his unwanted arrogance. "Nobody cares."
"I'm laughing because I love watching you guys fail balancing your tribute's sponsor points. Wait. Why the fuck did Abram just climb two spots? No."
"Loser. Should I go get Maya? Both Abram and Anne are climbing the ranks." Spencer asks.
"Normally I'd say let the newbie learn but yeah I think we should go and get her." Pasha laughs. Everything's a joke to that woman, ugh, I hate her.
"Cool, break room? Right." He asks.
"Yep," I nod, "want me to go? Both mine are pretty solid in their spots."
"Can you please? Ciara's kill has skyrocketed her and she's still climbing." The mentor from eight sighs, sending a thankful smile my way.
"No problem." I say and Spencer gets back to his seat, typing furiously on his computer.
"Goody-two-shoes." Caspien sighs as I get to my feet.
"Excuse me?" I say, "I'm getting the newbie, you entitled homophoic and sexist piece of shit."
"At least I know how to dress." He replies, tightening up his black tie.
"At least I know how to not be a prick." I say. It's not a very good insult and if I really cared enough I could come up with one much better but this asshole isn't worth my time.
Jeremiah Jackson, District 12 Mentor
As Matilda heads out the door in search of Maya and Valius I can't help but chuckle. Caspien messed with the wrong girl but she didn't tear him to shreds like she would normally. I guess the bloodbath wore her out or something.
The rest of the mentors sit in silence or the closest thing to silence we've had all day. Thomasina comforting Dakota, Cornelius sitting with his hands folded in his lap quietly waiting for this to be over, Pasha grinning ear-to-ear as she punches numbers into her computer. Azura's stare shoots daggers at her but she takes no notice as Caspien stares up at the sponsor board.
I'm really glad he took James as his tribute and swapped me for Kinnik and Elizabeth. Both are such nice kids who I could see going far. Kinnik had already racked in a kill and stolen a backpack and some supplies. Elizabeth completely rocked the responsible ally role she had taken on.
Spencer's doing the same thing as Pasha, punching in numbers into his computer while smiling softly to himself. Spencer had always been the emotionless one of our group but Ciara's kill had filled him with bubbly energy. It's funny to watch these mentors turn into different people when they're tributes hit the arena.
Maya and Vasilius had gone after a sobbing Cordelia. Matilda had also gone but she'd gone to get the two newbies. Leaving me here, watching as Kinnik starts to jump ranks. I flip open my computer and start wildly punching in my passcode. I log onto the sponsor website and scroll through the items. He had wracked up a good enough of points with his kill, now to invest in it.
Thea Daxton, Head Game Maker: Day 1 of Games
"I swear." I say throwing the papers down onto Vance's desk. He looks up from his computer, a confused expression labeling his features.
"Huh?" he asks, closing his computer screen as I take a seat across from him.
"Reports from Nine."
"Reports? What kinda reports?"
"Rebel uprisings are increasing." I sigh, taking the first paper off the giant stack. I hand the thin paper covered with a bar chart to my assistant who looks over it carefully.
"The death of the boy spiked them."
"Exactly." I sigh, covering my face with my hand, "what are we gonna do?"
"We could send in more peacekeepers? I heard last week there's an early graduating class at the academy."
"That's an idea." I sigh, not exactly sure if that was the best way to go about this, "swarming the place to one of two things. One, could drive them back from where they came from or two, create more violence which just makes them fight back even more."
"Oh." Vance says, "good point."
"Sorry we're late, we came as quickly as we could." Mae replies, rushing into our office, her intern following quickly behind.
"It's fine." I sigh, "just discussing rebel attacks, not much."
"Oh wow." Mae says, grabbing a chair from another table and sliding it over. Ash does the same and soon both are sitting around Vance's desk staring at the stats I had created on last night.
"They're in Nine." I say.
"Nine? Why Nine?" Ash asks, her eyes darting across the room to the giant computer map laid out across the entire back wall of the giant collection of desks.
We had set up this office with eleven different desks so we could all work in the same place and share notes fast. We often have meetings in here and spend almost all of our time while the tributes are in the games in this giant office.
Mae and Ash had just gone out to get some food and see their families for a second before the chaos of the games started. I feel kinda bad I had to call them both back but I need their help.
"Both the reapings there were rigged."
"Rigged?"
"Yes, long story short the girl's family had this big scene at the reaping so we had to put her in and for the boy, we found evidence that his father was selling illegal maps to rebels."
"Oh." Ash says, taking a purple hair tie off her wrist and tying up her bright red hair with it.
"So why don't we just bring in more peacekeepers?" Mae asks.
"Because creating more violence isn't what we need."
"Are you sure?" Vance asks.
"Yes, one-hundred percent." I say, mock confidence interlacing my voice.
"Alright, what do you suppose we do then?" Mae asks.
"We could try reaching out to the mayor with speeches?" Vance suggests.
"I don't think that will work." Mae says, "they don't listen to the mayor."
"That's true." I agree.
"We could start rallying Capital supporters to take out the rebels. That'd make them the bad guys, not us." Mae replies.
"That could work, maybe we start marches or something?" I agree.
"That's still violent though." Ash mentions.
"But it's not capital forces, it's the district's own people." Vance explains.
"Where will we find said supporters?" I ask, "there's not many in a district so rebellious."
"We could send in Capitalettes." Vance suggests.
"That's a good idea." Ash says. "They could go undercover as district citizens."
"Bring in true fans, exactly."
"I can handle that, I'll set up some teams." Mae says, spying the second paper off the stack in the middle of the table.
"You have the girl from Four as your victor?"
"That was a list submitted by a better." I sigh.
"Better?"
"The ones that bet on the placements of the tributes. All the bets are sent to us to monitor."
"Oh I didn't know that."
"Yeah." I sigh, rolling my eyes at how much my assistants didn't know. Technically Mae and Ash weren't my assistants, but they work for me so it counts. "So Mae, you're in charge of deploying the citizens, I'd love it if we could get that done as soon as possible."
"Will do, Ash please pull up the geographic locations of group TAFF."
"TAFF?" Vance asks.
"Trained And Funcional Force." Ash says, "their name is certainly interesting but they're really just a group of Capital spies who are accessible for duty at all times and are brought into the Districts for things like this."
"Oh wow. That name is certainly something."
"Truly, now Vance." I say, taking the top few papers off the stack. These are the ones with the bets written out on them, the rest are stats.
"Yes?" he asks.
"Please sort through these stats I've come up with and enter them into the system."
"Will do." Vance nods as Ash and Mae slide their chairs back to their desks.
"I'm gonna go check on the mentors, I'll be back in thirty."
"Sounds good." Mae sighs, opening up her computer and typing in her passcode.
Ash Dutchmann, Intern to Mae Chan, about an hour later:
"I can't believe that took so long." Mae says printing out the completed forms.
"Me neither." I sigh. "Now can I finally go to the bathroom?"
"No." Mae laughs before nodding her head to show she is being sarcastic.
"You're so mean." I chuckle, getting to my feet. My mentor just sighs, rolling her eyes.
"Be back soon." Vance says.
"Don't worry, I can pee fast." I laugh grabbing the door knob of the giant wooden door and pulling it open.
Instead of turning right to head up the staircase to the bathroom I take a sharp left turn. I try to quiet my footsteps as I make my way from the control office to the 'security' room.
The 'security' room is a small room on the second floor that Thea and the rest of the tech team don't know even about. I guess we call it the 'security' room because that's where he watches cams placed in the districts.
By he I mean Rafael Hensway, one of the biggest and well-known rebel spies. At least well-known to the rebels, if he was well-known to the Capitolites then he wouldn't be able to hide right under their noses.
I finger the small red envelope I had tucked in my belt earlier this morning. I reach the door to the security room and knock twice before sliding the envelope underneath the door. It skates across the ground and into the room.
There's a grunt inside the room and I hear someone shuffling. Footsteps fill my ears as the doorknob twists and a young man, probably in his late twenties, opens the door. He shyly smiles at me reaching for envelope on the ground.
"This what I think it is Ash?" he asks.
"Of course it is." I sigh.
"From Corrie?"
"Who else would it be from? Corrie's the one in charge of messages."
"No duh." The man chuckles, slowly ripping off the envelope's top with a small smile cursing his features. "Would you like to come in?" he asks, gesturing to his computer set-up.
"I'd love to but Mae's stressed with this whole thing so I can't be gone for long." I sigh.
"Good luck then." He chuckles, his eyes wide as he reads the note.
"Right back at you." I smile, "don't forget the meeting Thursday night."
"How could I?" Rafael asks, raising his eyebrows.
"I have so much info, they're sending Capitol teams out to Nine."
"Nine? That's where our biggest forces are." He says.
"I know, that's why they want to destroy it and blame it on the district's people."
"What? No way." The man says, "I need to tell Nara, he's in Nine."
"Nara's so sweet."
"He really is, he's an even better commander." Rafael says, "but you best be going now and get back to Mae, see you on Thursday."
"You're right, see you then." I reply, walking away from the door. "Tell Corrie I said hi."
"Of course." He says smiling, shutting the door behind him and locking it with a swift click.
I quickly make my way back to the control office where Thea, Vance and Mae were waiting for me to get back from the bathroom. I keep my footsteps quiet, a skill I had learned a long while ago.
I walk into a laughing Vance as Mae just rolls her eyes at him. "That wasn't even that funny." She sighs.
"Yes it was." Vance laughs.
"Whatever, hey Ash." My mentor says smiling at me.
"Hey, what'd I miss?" I chuckle sliding into my desk chair.
Alliances-
The Bread Queens (and Zach): Sunna, Ciara, Anne and Zach
Still Mighty: Celosia, Sage and Elizabeth
Happy As Fuck Cause James is Dead: Lily and Abram
Dysfunctional yet Functional: Angel, Kai, Misty and Onyx
Emotional Mess: Allegro and Kinnik
Sub-alliances-
Hospital Gang: Abram, Lily, Ciara and Zach
Just a Pact: Anne and Abram
Stick With Me Please: Celosia and Sage
Loners-
Can I Be Iconic Alone?: Liz
Kill Count (forget this last time xd, underlined ones are gone)-
Sasha: 1 (D5F, self)
Ciara: 1 (D6F)
Kinnik: 1 (D3F)
Misty: 1 (D9M)
Kai: 1 (D5M)
Abram: 1 (D12M)
Angel: 1 (D3M)
Tyree: 1 (D6M, self)
A/N: Anndddd we're back! Little Capital chapter from y'all to enjoy! I loved writing all of the Mentor's different reactions to the bloodbath :)) Shaboom.
So no one has spent sponsor points (because it's only day 1) but they'll be available until the final 8 because from there I have everything locked down. Ughhh I'm so excited to see some of the things you guys sponsor xd. And yeah, well that's it, have a good day/night/afternoon!
Bye for now,
Marie
