Author's Note: Another different format this time and another character who will keep reappearing later in the story. Even though this victor isn't the sole focus of this chapter, I hope his character comes through.

….

The Twenty-Fourth Annual Hunger Games: Liev Marlow, District Seven

The Five Lies and Double Standards and the One Truth that Liev Marlow discovered about the Capitol.

Friendship

Capitol residents claimed that they were the friendliest in all Panem. They threw the best parties, knew so many people and welcomed the victors like one of their own, apparently. Liev quickly realised that most of these 'friendships' were shallow, based on who would help create the best impression and the favours people always seemed to owe one another. They would use people, pretend to be their friend, and feign interest in their lives, all whilst talking about them behind their back and putting them down. As soon as they had no need for someone, they set them aside. If someone made a social faux pas, they were ostracised.

Everyone wanted to be his friend once he left the arena. Being friends with a victor, especially the newest one was the most fashionable thing. But as soon as they got tired of you, or the next one came along, they would ignore you and pretend they never knew you.

Liev's only lasting friendships in the Capitol were with people Leah and Chloe introduced him to. Leah had built up connections through publishing her first travel writings and had some genuinely loyal fans whilst Chloe had connections through Mags and was a good judge of character. Logan was no help; he had no interest in making friends in the Capitol and they had lost interest in their first ever victor since he failed to play their games.

He found enduring friendships with those in the districts. People who bonded over shared work, their families and who worried about real issues, not just who was wearing what colour and what designer to what party. He maintained a small, close circle of friends in District Seven. People who did not care what happened in the arena, because they would have picked up the axe and done the same, because that is how you were after working in the lumber crews.

But Liev found his deepest, most understanding friendships with the other victors. Not just those in Seven who became his family, but those who he met in the Mentor's Centre. He shared his strongest connection with Chloe who won the year before him and watched over him in his arena. They shared the burden of having won in between the two most unpleasant victors in history and found that they had lots of common ground, sharing the same secrets. Woof became a source of support whilst mentoring, and Seeder and Maria could always be relied upon.

Those were real friendships, not what the Capitol offered with their parties, soirees, and sponsorship meetings all intertwined with personal politics and fake smiles.

Work

Sure, there was a lower class of people in the Capitol who did work; waiters, bartenders, gardeners, and the like, and those in the middle who were involved in the professions but there was a whole class of people who seemed to do nothing. Yet these were the people who would complain to whoever was listening about how busy they were, the trials they were enduring and the worries that were constantly on their minds. They would even have the audacity to yearn for what they called 'the simple life in the districts.'

For these people, life moved slowly but they did not realise. They went from shopping trip, to lunch date, to party and back again without doing anything of note. But they always seemed to have so much money, meaning they were the people whose attention he would need to gain to sponsor his tributes.

Chloe told him that Mags found these people hilarious, but Liev did not have the same patience. They had no idea what work, effort or hardship was, and they made no effort to understand, so Liev had no respect for them. Chloe and Coral would get themselves invited to various parties for the stories to tell Mags and Shai and for the intelligence they could garner without any of the other attendees having a clue what their new 'friends' were doing. Liev had to admit that was clever but it was something he wanted no part in, leaving him with information exchanges in dark streets and crumpled notes.

Style

Capitolites claimed to have style. Most of them certainly did not. They claimed the districts were the unfashionable ones, but he still found plenty of perfectly adequate things to wear without looking ridiculous, something even the ordinary Capitol citizen spectacularly failed at. Garish clothes, bonkers make-up, dyed skin, whiskers and gemstones implanted into the skin and they were only some of the things he had seen.

There had been times when he could not even fit into the lifts in the Training Centre with his escort and the tributes because her clothes were so huge. There were other times where he had to avert his eyes and constantly distract the tributes because of what was on show.

Getting ready for an event was an all-day activity. And for what result? They usually looked even worse than when they started! Liev had been through plenty of battles with various stylists to stop himself being seen in something so bad he would never be able to show his face at home again. His reluctant participation in the first ever Tribute Parade had been more than enough for a lifetime.

It was not just the clothes either. The television was dreadful, their dramas (far too many of them involving the victors) were in poor taste and the comedy was not funny. The food was full of strange, unnecessary combinations, unnatural colours and so rich it hurt his stomach. If this was style, then Liev was glad to not have any.

Family

The people of the Capitol claimed to be loyal, family-orientated people, painting the picture of a home full of love, with parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles all involved in the lives of their children. But as with their friends, things were never as they seemed on the surface. People bad-mouthed their relations in a way they never would in Seven.

Family members were set aside if they did anything embarrassing or were seen with the wrong people. Parents were disappointed if their children's friends or partners were not of the same social status and people did their best to distance themselves from those who would harm their reputation.

But if one member of the family were disgraced, the shame would often affect them all. They may not be able to mix in the same circles as they once did because of ridicule, their business deals may suffer, and their profits fall.

Marriages were often like business deals, especially in the upper classes. The workers of the Capitol did marry for love, but those who always had too much money to spare or who had political ambitions, married whoever would be most advantageous for their career and image. Thus, many marriages were loveless, and children spent lots of time with a nanny or minder.

Consequently, affairs and scandal were frequent, and it seemed to Liev that people were not very good at hiding what they were doing behind their partner's back. Some marriages worked that way however, the couple remained legally married but saw whoever they wanted with their spouse's knowledge. Other couples did not have that understanding which fed gossip and rumours that Capitol society seemed to thrive on.

People in the districts would never understand this. For almost everyone in Seven, family was genuinely the priority. Affairs were not unheard of, but people loved and cared for their partners and relatives and made the effort to spend time with their children despite being the ones who worked long hours.

Identity

But perhaps the most painful for Liev was the double standard on identity. People in the Capitol could be and be with whoever they wanted. Love and sex were readily available. Nobody cared whether someone had fleeting casual relationships (unless it caused public embarrassment) and nobody cared what gender the people involved were. In fact, same sex marriage was legal in the Capitol and always had been and people could be openly gay or identify as they wished, without judgement.

Same sex relationships were illegal in the districts. They did not produce children to add more workers to feed the Capitol's greed nor did they add any more names to the reaping bowl. Most people were accepting of those in their districts who were living with a 'close friend', but the illegality did breed pockets of intolerance.

Liev was not the only victor so closely aware of the double standard but Leah could hide it since she was attracted to men as well as women. Chloe and Coral were one of those couples living as friends but in a district where their status meant that nobody would dare question their relationship. Liev knew people would accept him in Seven and he had occasional fleeting relationships but even in the Capitol where he would have been freer to be with who he wanted; he could not risk someone holding potential blackmail material over him. It would not just be him at risk either. If he had a relationship in Seven, he could be putting his partner at risk of peacekeeper investigation. So, he kept to himself, and enjoyed the company of his friends. He had confided in Leah and Chloe, but he was never as brave as them so, the secrecy and self-imposed single life would have to work for him. So, he made it work.

The One Truth

The Capitol always boasted about its grand architecture and magnificent buildings and as much as it pained Liev to admit it, this was true. Whilst not everywhere was to his taste, indeed he found many buildings too gaudy, he had to admit there was a real beauty to the city skyline.

There was a variety you did not get in the districts, especially in Seven. But in the Capitol, there were skyscrapers seemingly made of nothing but glass, halls, museums, and theatres of varying shapes and styles, and a degree of individuality to people's homes. There was a real creativity which was not permitted in the districts and he enjoyed walking around the city to admire the architecture.

Leah and Logan did not understand. Neither of them enjoyed being out and about in the Capitol, they much preferred the simplicity and natural surroundings of home, but Liev enjoyed the contrast. Chloe would humour him and accompany him on his walks once the Games had finished and everyone was waiting for the victor to be crowned.

He brought books on architecture and the history of the Capitol's most famous buildings, although he always skipped past the sections on the arenas, they were one example of Capitol design that Liev could very much do without. But when they were not killing children with their designs, Liev was happy to admire.

He eventually tried his own hand at designs and architectural drawings. Of course, the only thing the Capitol allowed to be built were the log cabins he designed for Leah's District Seven tourism opportunity, which unbeknownst to the Capitol, were perfectly coordinated to spy on Capitol citizens. He never thought anything else would be built. Nevertheless, he kept the drawings, whether it was out of nostalgia for his good memories in the Capitol or hope that something might change, he did not know.

But back in Seven after the rebellion, his drawings were uncovered, and the new leadership appreciated his talent. New homes were built out of Liev's designs as well as many of the new features of what was to be District Seven's new centre. Liev was right to keep hold of his drawings. Things did change.