Kazuo Braun- District One mentor
Mal and I looked at each other with a strange shared sensation that begged to be verbalized.
"I'm the only normal Career of this Games," Mal said with a sort of surprised but mostly resigned tone.
"Yeah, pretty much," I said.
"I'm going into the Games with half of an actual circus," he said.
"...pretty much."
Rhoda Hamilton- District One mentor
Irina shouldn't have volunteered. It wasn't that she wasn't skilled enough or wasn't strong enough. She just had such a great life back home. She was a lion tamer. How cool was that? Why would you throw that life away to join the Games and lose every shred of your innocence and wonder in life? Or maybe I was just projecting. Anyway it was her parents who made her do this. They were the ones who should have been standing here waiting to die.
Ava Hanson- District Two mentor
Most Careers were alive with nerves as they waited for the tubes. They tried to hide it, sure- pretending they were "stretching" when they fidgeted, hyping themselves up into shadowboxing because anger and violence were more acceptable than fear. Alice sat staring dead-eyed at the empty tube. She wasn't even breathing heavily. She might as well have been waiting for a bell to dismiss her from another ordinary day at school.
Pray Jager- District Two mentor
It wasn't until after Brock disappeared that I admitted how messed up this all was. I'd made the best of it because Brock was here and there was no taking that back, but it was all wrong. A long time ago, back when Artemis was alive, I could remember I used to be a child. The Games made me the woman I was and I wouldn't go back even if I could, but it wasn't something I wanted for anyone else. I made Brock like I was so he had a chance to stay alive but I still mourned that that was the only way.
Gidget Ford- District Three mentor
Tabitha looked out at me from inside the tube. She hadn't made any jokes since she walked into the departure room. She wasn't crying but for Tabitha, not laughing was almost the same thing. I gave her a sad thumbs-up right before the tube was about to rise. She huffed a breath of air on the glass and drew a little smiley face. She rose away and it was all I was left with.
Beetee Latier- District Three mentor
Lester was thinking of Tabitha. I saw it in the way he paced the rooms, wringing his hands. He turned to me, stopping his pacing but still tapping his foot on the ground.
"Do you know which platform she'll be on?" he asked.
I shook my head sympathetically. "They don't tell me."
"What if I don't get to her in time?" he asked tremulously. I didn't have an answer.
Careen Ellis- District Four mentor
"They were wrong," I said to Talise as she stared flatly at the tube, her mind already in the Arena. "You were a good pick."
Talise couldn't answer. She was silent with fear and anticipation and didn't even look at me as she walked into the tube. I wasn't offended. I knew she'd heard me. Whether or not I believed it- and I did believe it was wrong what they did to her- the placebo effect is more powerful than most people know. Most Victors won before they set foot off the platform. If my vote of confidence was what got her through, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was alive.
Shane Donegal- District Four mentor
Sometimes mentoring is just awkward. I didn't understand Juniper. I volunteered too so I should be able to relate in that, but I was so different after the Arena that my own younger self seemed alien to me. I couldn't relate to his life in the circus or his showmanship or his doubt in himself. He was nothing like me. I only hoped I'd done well by him anyway.
Sky Levings- District Five mentor
Skada fidgeted as she sat on the bench opposite the tube. Her dark eyes jittered as she constructed and analyzed hypotheticals in her future. Richard had the serene calm of someone who didn't fail to understand the danger but did fail to comprehend its proximity. His brain wouldn't let him get ahead of himself and so until he saw the timer count down and the Careers come for him, he was still just sitting in a room. I was seeing a boy in the last seconds of peace likely for the rest of his life.
Lancia Audren- District Six mentor
"I hate this." Max's fists were tight at his side. I could tell the only thing stopping him from punching the side of the tube was the fear he'd injure himself. His green eyes flashed as he seethed. "I hate all of this." The tube started to rise. "I don't deserve this."
"No, you don't," I said.
Max's head jerked toward me and for the first time he held my gaze instead of looking away. There was an unexpected surprise in his expression. It was combined with something that looked like vulnerability.
Loki Saberhagen- District Seven mentor
Shame on me. I shouldn't have resented Deciduous for how similar he was to me. I saw the crafty streak in him, the mind that raced ahead and found ways to protect itself at the expense of anyone else. It was the only reason I was alive. I shouldn't have condemned Deciduous for the same cold self-preservation. Really I didn't resent him at all. I just didn't like being reminded of that part of myself.
Clair Mushroom- District Seven mentor
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to breath slowly through my nose. I needed to be a mentor for Petra. It wasn't fair for her for me to break down. I needed to stay composed, no matter how much I remembered what this room was like the last time I saw it. No matter that last time I was here, Oaken was next door. I coughed and hurriedly wiped away a tear. Breathe slow. Breathe deep.
Tillo Peters- District Eight mentor
Christobal sat stiffly as he held back tears. His vacant gaze betrayed thoughts that lay elsewhere.
"I should have talked to her," he said quietly. "I could have made so much music. It's too late now."
"Maybe you'll win," Elle said, her own voice quavering with the bravery she was trying to summon.
"Even then it won't be the same music," Christobal said.
"None of us will be the same," Elle agreed.
Nassor Doyle- District Nine mentor
Some people focus by going quiet and drawing into themselves. Other people cover for their nerves by posturing and venting off their energy.
"First I'm going to find Denton," Todd announced as he strode around the room. "Then Christobal will meet up with us and we'll get out of there. I'll probably grab some weapons and stuff. I'm pretty fast..."
Randy Mills- District Nine mentor
I did a double-take when Veda walked in.
"Yeah," she said, smiling self-consciously. "It would have been dangerous in the Arena." Her hair was shorn close to her head. I looked away, feeling like I was invading her privacy by seeing her neck, and her arms in the short-sleeved shirt she wore.
"I kind of like it," she said, finding her confidence by the end of the sentence. "I think if I win... I might try some makeup."
"Come find me after this," I said. "I'll fix you up good."
Calvary Warsaw- District Ten male
"Here we are," I said. "Off to prove your manliness and power by going off and dominating the Games. Life is pain and survival of the fittest and blah blah blah."
Tyler didn't look like his tough and aggressive self. He looked more like a man about to actually start a fight instead of talking about one. Like Tyler, I'd seen both faces. The survivor of a fight might brag about it later but as it's happening he's just as scared as his opponent.
"Actually," Tyler said in a polite voice, "I think I'll just try to stay alive."
Bambi Kirkland- District Ten mentor
Raleigh looked her age as she sat squirming and waiting for the tube.
"I think maybe I shouldn't have volunteered," she whispered. She looked at me with a quiet desperation, begging me to stop this but knowing I couldn't.
"People like you have won before," I choked out.
"I just want to be a kid," she said. Just that she knew her childhood was ending meant that it already had.
Hlenn Rambutan- District Eleven mentor
People live for love. They die for love. People write poems and songs and novels from love. Love draws people together and merges them into a new being better than its parts. Love wipes away pain and makes people change in ways they never would have for themselves. Love brings life and sometimes ends only with death. But love doesn't win the Games.
Nubu Sanders- District Twelve male
Denton sat in the tube and took out his cards. He gave a displeased squawk when the platform rose under him suddenly and jarred him. He scrunched up his face and flapped his hands at the unwanted movement as he rose. In the tube beside him Zara stood in her own tube, looking small and alone and afraid. She looked up, then over at Denton, then across the room at me, neither of us able to say the truth aloud but both knowing it.
Almost there! Next chapter is the countdown so this is the last chance if you didn't vote for the Arena but wanted to. I plan to update next on Tuesday and probably will do both the countdown and the Bloodbath since the countdown is so short.
Last-minute info in case anyone didn't know any of this:
You can vote for your own Tribute to live
You cannot use multiple votes on the same Tribute but you CAN witthhold votes
At any point you can cast infinite death votes for your own Tribute. Sounds like a useless rule but people actually have done this. If you do so you can pick pretty much whatever death you want.
Alliances and sub-alliances are more than welcome. Your Tribute can have alliances in-game and you can have separate alliances with separate submitters out-of-game.
Gamesmanship is welcomed. Betray your alliances. Lie about who you're voting for. Campaign for votes for your Tribute. Pretty much any shenanigan you can think of is allowed except making multiple guest accounts. Voting Games always bring chaos and war and I will not stand in the way.