Brandi Hahn, 16
District Nine Standard Female

This whole Hunger Games thing had Brandi Hahn on edge.

It wasn't just the fact that she was going into the Games. That on its own would be a problem. No, the issue was that the circumstances surrounding her entering the Games seemed… unusual at best. While Brandi didn't get these sorts of gut feelings very often, they were usually right, and there was something about her district partners that made Brandi feel like she fit in with them almost too well for it to be a coincidence.

The presence of the pair of Quell tributes made sense. Brandi had heard from the whispers of the wheat stalks bits and pieces about Ritz Marquette and their family and their… cult? Cult was probably the word for it. Though she'd never really paid any mind to the rumors that flew – people could do whatever they wanted as far as Brandi was concerned – it did strike her as a bit weird when a member of said cult knocked on Brandi's door to try to recruit her and her family. She'd declined, of course – Brandi had no interest in living in a sexless society – and hadn't much thought much about it since. But the citizens of Nine must have put thought into it, as Ritz was here on the train to the Capitol with her. Meanwhile, Brandi knew a lot about Ryelee Blackburn. The two lived in the same area of the district, and so had known of each other for most of their lives. Even when they were little kids, there was something about interacting with Ryelee that made Brandi very uncomfortable. Her suspicions were confirmed when she got older, as Ryelee began to develop tendencies that could only be described as predatory. Clearly, Brandi wasn't the only one who got that impression. Getting Ryelee out of the district and away from other humans was honestly probably a good thing; it was only unfortunate that Brandi was caught in the crossfire.

No, what made Brandi somewhat concerned was her third district partner, a boy named Izan Peralta. From what Brandi could tell, he was a perfectly average kid, except for the fact that his identical twin, Arzan, had been Reaped for the previous year's Games. From what Brandi could remember, nobody from Nine involved in the previous year's Games had done anything openly rebellious. Even if they had, she didn't know of any connections between the Peraltas and any of the living Victors in Nine, so more likely than not, the execution of both brothers was not a reaction to something that one of the Victors had done. But at the same time, the odds of twin brothers being Reaped in back-to-back years, especially ones as young as the Peraltas, couldn't be a coincidence; someone must have done something to merit such cruel punishment.

So what were the odds that, if there were very clear reasons for why each of her district partners was Reaped, there was no reason for Brandi to be reaped? Yes, the Reaping was supposed to be random, and yes, that seemed to be what happened most years. But for all Brandi knew, that was just a cover for things happening behind the scenes, for deliberate meting out of punishment to those whom the Capitol deems deserving of it.

And the problem was, one could make the argument that Brandi deserved it.

Brandi pushed the thoughts of riggings and reapings out of her mind. She had to focus on the situation at hand. It shouldn't matter how she got here; all that mattered was figuring out a way to get out of the Games alive. And that, as Brandi and her mentor determined, meant finding allies from another district, which made it all the more important for Brandi to pay as much attention as she could to the Reaping Recap. She needed to be proactive to survive.

The television set blared to life with the brassy sounds and grandiose imagery of the national anthem, cutting through the tense silence of the District Nine common car. This was the first time that the tributes had all been in the same room since they'd gotten onto the train; Izan had run off crying as soon as the doors closed, and Brandi wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of her district partners. At least Ritz and Ryelee seemed to be on not the worst terms with each other, an ironic but fitting pairing, and one that would hopefully do them well in the Games, as Brandi was planning to stay the fuck away. It wasn't that she wanted her district partners to die, but Brandi was much more interested in herself surviving, and attaching herself to Ryelee and Ritz of all people was not the way to do that.

Brandi didn't pay too much attention to the first two districts. There was no way she'd be able to find an ally within the Careers anyway, so while she wanted to have a sense of who she was going up against, there was nothing that the recaps could tell her about One and Two that she didn't already know. Sure, one of the Quell kids from One had conspicuous black gloves on his hands, and sure, both of the Quell kids from Two were volunteers despite being just eleven, but at their core, all eight tributes were Careers. All of them were threats, and none of them would ally with Brandi, so why put any of her mental energy into remembering stuff about them? No, Brandi had to save it for the people who could be her allies, the first of which came from District Three.

The two standard tributes seemed to Brandi to be… the opposite of standard, honestly. The boy was perhaps the most confident tribute Brandi had ever seen from a non-Career district. He exuded so much confidence as he approached the stage, his smile stretching literally from ear to ear, that Brandi couldn't help but wonder if he was actually delusional. Nobody could be that assured that they'd survive and actually come out of the Games; one needed to have some confidence, but being over-confident was a recipe for disaster. Meanwhile, the girl had this strange, almost insane look to her; Brandi couldn't put her finger on why, but it almost felt… contrived. But why would anyone pretend to be insane going into the Games? There was no way the Capitol was going to root for someone who didn't have some sanity left, right?

Right?

Fortunately for Three's chances in the Games, the Quell female had a reaction that was about what one would expect from a tribute. As her face paled with shock, the woman's face seemed to revert back to that of a small child, desperate for protection from the horrors of the world. She mounted the stage, clenching and opening her palms as she did so, desperate to keep herself calm. Brandi wrote down her name – Vidja Zavala – on her page in curly letters. For the first time that night, Brandi had her eyes on an ally.

But then the male Quell tribute was called to the stage. At the sound of his name, Brandi felt her stomach drop, her limbs tense up, her heart rate quicken; her pen fell out of her hand as shivers ran up and down her spine. It had been a long time since she heard the last name Mohen; after her mother's death, she'd done her best to distance herself from him and those with whom he associated. Brandi had long felt iffy about associating with the rebels, particularly the group of rebels with which her mother was involved. The risks they took to get the Capitol's attention were not worth the potential reward, and the chances of getting that reward were far slimmer than the odds of them being tortured, killed, or otherwise punished. So once her mother was killed on a rebel mission, Brandi did her best to distance herself from the rebels, desperate to protect herself from her mother's mistakes.

But from what Brandi could tell, her intentions didn't matter. Cain was here, and she was also here, clearly a way to send a message to the rebel groups that had been festering since the failed rebellion during the Third Quell that the Capitol was onto them and had no tolerance for their actions. Her suspicions were confirmed: Brandi's inclusion in these Games was no coincidence. She was being sentenced to die.

Brandi took a deep breath and picked her pen back up. Yes, her inclusion in the Games was deliberate. But anything could happen in the Arena. Brandi just needed to choose her allies and her actions carefully, to prove to the Capitol that she was not her mother's daughter.

Sure, the odds were not in Brandi's favor. But the power was in Brandi's hands to increase those odds.

Nerida Nyansas, 18
District Three Standard Female

As the figure of Cain Mohen approached the stage on the screen in front of her, Nerida Nyansas couldn't help but turn her focus away from the television and towards the man sitting next to her. She was hoping for some sort of reaction, an indication that he was more than the purple prison jumpsuit that he wore. She wanted him to have some remorse for whatever he did that ended him up here – if he was Reaped wearing a prison jumpsuit, his presence in the train car was likely not an accident. But Cain's face remained just as stoic as it had since the recaps started, no sense of regret permeating his hardened exterior.

Even if Cain did show remorse for his actions, though, nothing could change the fact that Cain had taken someone's life. After all, why else would Cain be imprisoned at such a young age in the first place? In nearly every neighborhood of Three, murder was a crime that would get you thrown in prison in a heartbeat.

That was not the case in Nerida's neighborhood.

Murder was not something foreign to Nerida. She'd grown up in one of the poorest areas of Three, a shantytown where the adage "kill or be killed" held almost too true. Nerida had strong memories of weaving through the crowded streets, finding dead bodies bleeding out with nobody there to protect them. She had seen her friend slash the throat of those even poorer than him, seen her father blow up an entire fucking factory, seen her mother have zero reaction to anything happening around her, neither her husband's imprisonment nor the sheer number of people dropping dead around her. And Nerida knew where the culture of murder came from: it was the sheer number of outer district kids who were willing to throw their morals to the wind and take the lives of others. And not only did those tributes kill, but many seemed to do so almost gleefully, all too willing to lean into the brutality of the Games.

Nerida had always known that if she were stuck on the other end of a killer's knife, there would be no way for her to get out. And that prospect of powerlessness was petrifying.

Being stuck in the Games was, in some ways, Nerida's worst nightmare. But it was a prospect that she'd been toying with for a long time. Not that every kid in the district didn't think about the Games in some way – she was sure that every child did – but Nerida's preparations had been more extensive than most. She'd seriously considered, multiple times, volunteering for the Games, putting on the persona of those whom she hated the most. But every time she tried to blend in with the murderers of Three, tried to be like them, to act like them, to kill like them, she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. She might have called herself a serial killer, but she had not a single kill to her name. How could she justify volunteering for the Games if she couldn't even protect herself at home?

But now she was here, facing people who would kill at the drop of a hat, one of whom was sitting right next to her. Nerida was stuck, powerless, her life and fate in the hands of so many others. In order to survive, she had to find a way to protect herself with those more powerful than she: those who had proven they could kill. And the Reaping Recap was a crucial way to figure out who those tributes were.

Nerida was fairly confident that everyone coming from the Career districts had kills to their name; after all, why would they volunteer for a killing match if they didn't? At the same time, she knew they were trained for the Games, and that they only aligned with other trained tributes; Nerida was the opposite of trained, so she didn't expect to be able to blend in with them well. Cain was an option, but Nerida wanted a little bit more protection than just one more person. But Nerida had a feeling there would be a few more people she could pull in; after all, there were still three districts to go who voted their tributes in. Nerida could only assume that those districts had voted in murderers; there were few if any crimes that were worse than taking someone's life.

District Four put forth three volunteers, a mature-looking girl who was greeted with support from the Victors, and two eleven-year-old Quell tributes who were greeted with what seemed more like apprehension. The smaller girl seemed particularly excited about volunteering, energetically throwing her hand up and rushing towards the stage. But the fourth child from Four was unlike the others. Somehow the only blonde of the group, the fuzzy-haired boy almost seemed numb as he emerged from the crowd. Nerida took note of his apprehension – the boy would be a good target – but wrote him off as an ally. There was no way he'd be able to kill when he landed in the Games.

Then there was the team from Five, all four of whom seemed like they'd be useless at best. As each was reaped, a shocked expression appeared on their face that matched the expressions of the tributes who had been Reaped before them. Nerida noticed little things, like the way that the standard boy gravitated towards the standard girl and greeted her more warmly, causing confusion to pass over the girl's face. Something was going on in that district that Nerida didn't particularly want to insert herself into if she didn't think any of the tributes could help her – and she was fairly confident that none of them could help her.

But then the image on the screen shifted to District Six, which began by introducing its elected tributes. And as Nerida predicted, both were wearing purple prison jumpsuits, a clear indication of the crimes they must have committed. The boy looked rather seedy, his lanky frame, sullen face, and wild eyes combining to give him an unsettling air. Perhaps more unsettling was the attitude of the girl who accompanied him to the stage, whose dominating presence was clear even through the television cameras. She seemed to have the boy wrapped around her finger, which couldn't be good for anybody involved.

And yet, they felt like precisely the allies Nerida was looking for.

See, if Nerida allied with the Sixes, they could provide her the protection that she was so strongly craving. She might not be the most powerful in the Arena but being with two people who had already proven they could kill would mean she would not be the most powerless. More importantly, Nerida had a hunch that neither the Gamemakers nor the Capitolites would want the Sixes to survive. If she kept them around as her shields, Nerida could hide behind them when things got bad, or maybe even kill one of them to improve her own reputation, if the situation called for it. She wouldn't have to draw the attention of the audience; rather, she would be able to lay low, waiting for the stronger threats with whom she was allied to be taken out. Sure, it was risky to ally with proven murderers, but the possible advantages for sure outweighed the disadvantages.

But Nerida had a hunch that she wouldn't be able to just waltz into their alliance. To ingratiate herself with them, Nerida would have to somehow become what she had been trying to be for years but could never fully embody.

She would have to become a murderer.

Or, at least, she would have to pretend that she could be one.

Marie Gagne, 14
District Twelve Standard Female

As soon as Marie Gagne wrote down the names Maximum Acceleration and Arnav Newton on her notepad, she crossed them out with thick black lines. You could not pay her in any amount of sponsor money to align herself with a pair of elected tributes who had come to the Reaping right from prison. For one thing, there was no way that the Capitolites would come anywhere close to rooting for either of those tributes; for another, allying with two criminals from the same district was just setting yourself up to be murdered by them when you least expect it. Sure, criminals might provide some protection against the Gamemakers, but the risks for sure outweighed the reward. Rather than align with a meat shield or two, Marie wanted to be more intelligent with her choice of allies, to get together a group of people that could really work together to get out of the Games alive.

By the same logic, the other pair of tributes from Six were not the ideal allies either. Sure, they seemed a lot less insane than their Quell slot counterparts, which was a point in their favor. But the way that the boy gravitated towards the girl as soon as he reached the stage indicated to Marie that the two of them had some sort of preexisting relationship. If Marie allied with them and they got into battle, the two of them would most likely defend each other over Marie if it came to it. If either was in the Games individually, Marie would be thrilled to ally with them, but she didn't want to ally with them both together; even if someone seemed like a promising ally, Marie had to focus on her own interests first and foremost.

Marie might have been picky with her ally selection, but she had already identified a couple of people she thought could work well as allies. One of the girls from Three, Vidja, seemed like a competent and confident competitor who could work well with Marie. There was also the boy from Four, Fenris, who didn't volunteer. He probably had some sort of useful physical skills being from Four, but given that he didn't volunteer, he likely wouldn't end up in the Career pack. Of course, the ideal situation was to ally within her district, where there was no conflict of interest when it came to returning home. But Shine had already declared her very clear intentions to ally with the Careers. With one tribute already broken off from the rest of her district partners, there was no way to stop Micah or Clem, her other district partners, from doing the same without holding them to a double standard. So while Marie hoped to work with her district partners, she was paying careful attention to the Reaping Recap so she could pick out a couple of options for other allies if an alliance within her district fell through. Hopefully, the second half of the recap would present Marie with a few more viable options for allies.

The tributes from Seven and Eight were, like many of the other districts, a mixed bag, each yielding just one person Marie dubbed a feasible ally. The Darya siblings from Seven were out of the question for much the same reason as the pair from Six; they'd defend each other over any other tribute any day. While younger kids might be good at getting pity money from the Capitolites, they were often less of a help and more of a liability in the Games, ruling out Amber from Seven as well as Saskia and Harlen from Eight. And Poise from Eight just seemed too relieved to be in the Games to be willing to fight for her life. So that left just two ally options from those districts. First was the tall, brooding woman from Seven named Helena, who really caught Marie's eye. She seemed strong, both physically and emotionally, and like someone who could fight if push came to shove. Marie drew a thick circle around Helena's name; she might be the best option for an ally that Marie had seen thus far. Slightly less promising, but still interesting, was Arlie from Eight. He seemed a little bit stunned when his name was called, but not completely caught off guard, indicating that he'd be able to bounce back and possibly even be a strong contender in the Arena.

Marie did not have high hopes going into the agricultural districts. Ten sometimes produced strong farmhand types, but generally, the three districts' tributes were lackluster at best. On top of that, all of the Quell kids were automatic nos as far as Marie was concerned. Eleven's Quell kids were both just eleven years old, while Nine and Ten had both elected tributes; if they were voted in, there had to be a reason for it, one that would likely make the Capitolites root against them. Izan Peralta from Nine was too young, and the Wayland siblings from Ten were out of the question for much the same reason as the Daryas from Seven. So that left just three whom Marie was willing to consider: Brandi Hahn from Nine, Quiinn Jones from Eleven, and Orchid Ursina from Eleven. All three did a good job of keeping their cool at the Reaping, maintaining relatively relaxed and positive auras. Those were the types of people that Marie wanted to surround herself with, though she couldn't help but notice that both Quiinn and Orchid had a lot of people in the crowd who reacted to their Reapings. Was it possible that they'd do anything to get back to their families, even if it was at Marie's expense? Marie didn't know, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

Finally, the television showed the District Twelve square, which was nothing Marie didn't already know. She paid a little bit of attention to the image on screen, but was more interested in reviewing her notes, trying to remember every tribute whose name had been drawn. With this many tributes, Marie was desperate to have as much information as she could about as many tributes as she could before she even set foot in the Arena. But there were so many people that it was hard for Marie to keep them all straight.

As the anthem of Panem played, Marie looked to her mentor, Damien O'Donnel, Victor of the 76th Games. "Can I watch again?"

"What for?" Damien replied.

"I want to get as much information as I possibly can. I want to see if I missed any details about how they acted, who reacted to their name being called, anything that might show up on screen."

Damien glanced at Marie's notes. "I'm not sure how much there is to glean from the recap that you didn't already write down. It might be more useful for us to talk through the Reapings, but if you want to watch once more, you may."

"I would like that."

As Damien set the television up, Marie turned back to the first pages of her notebook. She leaned closer into the television, trying to see if her first impressions held up the second time. But as she watched again, she noticed something else. As each tribute appeared on screen for the first time, a graphic appeared on the lower third of the screen with their name and age. One might think that the graphics would have a standard color palette, but instead, each tribute had a different color: some were pink, some were purple, some were green, and some were blue. There was no way that the different colors were an accident; there had to be some sort of meaning to the different colors.

Marie began to write down next to each tribute's name the color that corresponded to it. Once the recap was over, she skimmed her notes, focusing on the tributes' colors, and noticed a pattern: all of the standard females were pink, the standard males were blue, the Quell females were purple, and the Quell males were green. It was possible that the colors were just there to help the Capitolites keep the tributes straight, but Marie had a feeling that there was something bigger going on.

And Marie was determined to figure out what that something bigger was.

And there's the second part of the train rides! I hope it wasn't too much of a drag to run through all of the recaps, but I wanted to show off all of the tributes, even those we haven't met! A huge thank you to Firedawn'd for Nerida and BeyondInstinct (if you're still active) for Marie; Brandi is one of my kids from the original fic, who has also gone through quite a few changes.

I'm sure there are a few people in the next few chapters that y'all are gonna meet and go "Who are they?" But hopefully, by the time we finish the private session recaps in a few chapters, it'll all make sense, and you'll be able to keep the kids straight well enough.

At this point, I have two chapters stockpiled: the third train rides chapter and the chariot rides. I'm working right now on figuring out the training chapters and how to make them work best, so I'm not sure how many chapters that'll stack out to, but I'm hoping not too many so we can move towards the Games! After training, there'll be just two chapters between that and the Games, so we're really getting close! I so appreciate y'all for sticking with me through this process, and I can't wait for you to see what I have planned! Oh, also! Let Him Feel No Pain is still open! Please sub :3.

xoxo, xxxi