Chapter 5- Astrid Clearwater
"It's Astrid, right?" I turn to glare at my district partner who's drying his glasses on his shirt. It's futile to do that; his shirt is soaked too. Just like my reaping day outfit. From what I can see of my hair, it's nearly black with water.
"Yes," I say, then look out the window again. The windows of the train are streaked with rain as well. "And you're Circuit."
"Yes."
"And you two are my tributes," Beetee says, finally speaking up behind us. Both Circuit and I turn to see our mentor standing in the doorway. He's a pleasant looking young man with close cropped brown hair and dark skin. How old is he now? Twenty-two?
"Forgive me for not introducing myself, I'm-"
"Beetee Latier," I interrupt. "Everyone knows you. You won the 35th Games."
"I did." When Beetee speaks, I can tell every word is weighed beforehand. "Let me look at you two."
Beetee walks around us, looking both Circuit and me up and down. Circuit is obviously a write-off, but I hope I show some promise to my mentor. Finally, he nods approvingly.
"Why don't you two come with me and I'll give you a tour of the train," he says, and we two tributes obediently follow him through the doorway.
The train is beautiful, I'll give the Capitol that. Everything plush and upholstered, lights everywhere. Everything that my apartment at home is not. Even thinking about home and my family brings tears to my eyes, so I push them away. I can't cry here; I need to be strong.
In the main area that Beetee shows us, there's a bunch of couches facing a television, and a room with a dining table. Luxurious surroundings no matter where I go.
"You can bring Miss Astrid to her room," Beetee says, speaking to a Capitol attendant standing by. He nods and gestures for me to follow him.
"Your room," the attendant says, opening a door and gesturing me in. The whole bedroom is bigger than my whole house at home, with a giant bed covered in grey and blue blankets and pillows. And this is just for me!
"The wardrobe is there if you wish to change, and the washroom is through that door," the attendant continues, pointing to the different accessories of the room. "Supper will be served in two hours." Then he goes, shutting the door behind him, leaving me to explore this beautiful room.
The first thing I do is explore the bathroom, drying my hair with a soft towel hanging on a rack. There's a large button on the wall outside the shower; curious, I press it. Instantly some sort of current goes through me; I tear my hand away from the button.
"What was that?" I mutter, then I turn to look in the mirror and see that my hair is perfectly dry. Capitol inventions are clever, I'll give them that as well. Of course, it's District 3 who makes the inventions and sends them to the Capitol. So it's my district who's the clever one.
Back in the main room, I choose a better fitting and drier set of clothes than my reaping dress and jacket. I leave those in a heap by the wardrobe, instead putting on a pretty red dress and matching shoes.
If I'm going to die, I should at least look pretty, don't you think?
For the next couple hours, I lie down on my bed and try to get a grip on things. I'm a tribute in the Hunger Games. I'll admit that I didn't see it coming. I miss Mama and Axel already; how are they going to hold up over the next few weeks?
I'm going to be honest, like Mama always said to be. I don't have a big chance of coming out of the arena alive. Being from District 3 has already put the odds against my favor, and now especially being partnered with the weakling.
Tonight we'll see who the competition is; I can already tell you it's going to be the Career districts, 1, 2, and 4. Occasionally they bring a strong tribute from another district into their pack, but usually the six of them make up the Career pack. Like it or not, a Career is usually the victor.
In the past four years Panem has had four victors, obviously: a boy from 11, a girl from 5, which was unexpected. I don't remember much about that year besides the fact the girl broke her neck. Then a girl from 1, and last year's was a boy from 4. So you see, the Careers have a better shot at it than the rest of us.
Someone knocks on my door, and from the sounds of it it's Delia Charm, with her blue cloud hair and white painted skin.
"Suppertime, Astrid!" she sings out.
"Alright," I reply, rolling off the bed onto my feet. I open the door to see nobody there, so I walk down the hallway towards the dining room on my own.
Everyone is seated already; Circuit, Beetee, and Delia. Most districts have more than one mentor, but since District 3 is one of the lowest of the lows, we just have Beetee. At least we're not as bad as District 12, whose only victor went missing years ago. Or so they say; might be one of those rumors again.
"Hello, Astrid," Beetee says, looking up at me from behind his small glasses. "Take a seat. We're going to talk about what to expect tomorrow."
"Alright." I sit down next to Delia, across from Circuit who's blinking up a storm again. Capitol attendants place plates full of food on the table, steaming hot. Ironically, in the city of electronics, my apartment doesn't get power, so hot food is a rarity.
"Please, take what you like," Beetee says, gesturing. Mama always tried to instill good manners in me, but I forgo them all in favor of snatching pieces of meat, potatoes, and bread. Delia makes a sort of gurgling sound, I suppose in horror, but I don't care. I've been underfed all my life; I think I deserve to act like a wild animal for once.
"So what's happening tomorrow?" Circuit asks, taking food like a prince, once piece at a time.
"We'll get to the Capitol early in the morning; at the train station you'll be put into a car and taken to the Prep Center where you will meet your stylists and prep teams." Beetee takes a forkful of potatoes and puts it in his mouth, chewing slowly, before continuing. "You will not like what they will do to you, I'm afraid. They will groom you to the Capitol standards."
"Why?" I ask through a mouthful of meat.
"That is what the Capitol desires," Beetee says simply. "You'll be dressed in your costumes for the Chariot Rides, and you know what happens from there, I'm sure. And if you do not, then we will talk about it when we come to it. Do we have an understanding?"
Circuit and I nod. This is the best food I've ever eaten in my life, and there's no limit on how much I can take. Being reaped has its charms, that's for certain.
"When we're all finished with our supper, we can go see who our competitors are," Beetee says, and for the rest of the meal Delia chatters away about things in the Capitol that I don't know about and don't care about.
The food is delicious, but the richness sits heavily in my stomach. At home we rarely, if ever, get meat. I'm determined not to throw it up, though; I'll need to gain some weight before I go into the arena.
Beetee wipes his mouth with a white napkin, and I copy him. "Come," he says, getting up, and the rest of us follow. Attendants swoop in to clear our plates away, another novelty.
I curl up on a soft grey chair, knees tucked up; Circuit and Beetee take the couch across from me, and Delia sits in a high-backed chair. Beetee switches the television on, and we all sit back to watch.
"Welcome back, Panem!" Caius Glorystream says, grinning terribly at us all watching. He's added more red tattoos this year, and it looks hideous. "Let's take a look at this year's tributes! I can't wait to see who they are!"
"Get to the point," I mutter.
The reapings start in District 1 and go in number order from there. As usual, there's two volunteers from 1, two blonde haired morons called Cloak and Tiara. District 1 always has the most ridiculous names. The girl, Tiara, looks like your typical ditzy 1 girl, but in the close up that they do of her I can tell there's something dangerous behind her eyes.
2 is interesting, because both tributes are smaller than you'd usually see. The boy has a rat-like look to him, and the girl looks furious to be on the stage. She's not a volunteer, which is odd for District 2. She's smaller than the boy, with chin-length black hair.
"The tributes from 2 this year are Dominicus Sorce and Agrippina Crass, ages eighteen and fifteen!" Caius says in his normal cheery manner.
Then it's Circuit and me; you can really tell Circuit is useless even on the camera, but I come off rather well, if I say so myself. A bit bewildered, but I can work with that. I don't look weak.
In District 4, the first one reaped is a pretty girl with reddish hair named Kelpie, who's obviously trying not to cry onstage. Another non-volunteer, which is definitely odd for the Career districts. The boy is called Shore Seawind, and he volunteers almost immediately. He's good looking too, with shaggy black hair. There's a confidence about him that's a definite contrast to his weepy partner.
"Moving onto District 5!" Caius says, and the screen changes to the square of the power district. "First up we have, oh let's see… Hazel Ashwing, age fourteen!" The girl's plain with no defining features whatsoever. Bloodbath victim, right there.
"And the boy is… Linwood Power, age twelve!" And the boy has as much of a chance as Circuit does; tiny, with blonde hair and little blue framed glasses. Also a bloodbath victim.
District 6 pulls a pretty girl called Mariana, who's eighteen, and a sixteen-year-old boy named Trestle Deadwood who looks like trouble. He positively swaggers up to the stage and keeps a self-confident smirk on his face until the camera pans away from him.
"He'll give them a show," Beetee says, breaking our silence in the living room. I barely look at him, my attention fully on the television screen.
From District 7, the first one reaped is an absolutely beautiful girl named Elowyn Applering. She looks frightened onstage, but all Caius can say about her is how pretty she is with her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She'll be a favorite in the Capitol this year for sure.
The boy is more forgettable, Kiril Lombard, age fourteen. Very non-descript.
The girl from 8 is a small but composed thirteen-year-old. Delia gasps and leans forward to see the girl closer.
"What?" I ask.
"Isn't that- that's Terra Coppersmith's sister! You know, the victor of the 36th. Oh, bad luck for her!"
I finally make the connection when I see the victor fighting to get up and her fellow victors holding her down. Iry Coppersmith; I vaguely remember her on camera years ago during the interviews. It's not a common name for sure. Bad luck for her.
The boy, Azlon, is a giant, bigger than any of the Careers this year. "Keep an eye on him in training," Beetee says. "He'll be a major adversary in the arena."
Circuit nods like he's trying to memorize every word Beetee says. It's not going to be enough, I think. My partner doesn't have a chance of winning.
Moving onto 9, the girl is pale with black hair woven into a braid. She's pretty enough, which might help her in the arena. The boy is seventeen and looks deadly, with muscles that could only have come from hard work. Caius announces their names as, "Tilling Bluekind and Reaper Willowtree!"
"Ironic that his name is Reaper, isn't it?" I say. Nobody reacts to my attempt at a joke.
The pair from 10 look solemn, the girl, Brierre, is dark-skinned and looks half-starved already. She'll enjoy her time in the Capitol. The boy, Byron, is also very skinny and looks unwell. Could just be the reaping nerves, though. He's rather short, too.
"Now, everyone, you'll love this next pair!" Caius says. "First we have our girl tribute from 11, Eleanor Slatefield, and she is fifteen years old! Listen to what a firecracker she is!"
The girl actually leans into the microphone after her name is announced and says, "It's Nell, actually. And let me tell you, District 11, you've been a fabulous audience today!"
Caius laughs and says, "I guess we'll have to call her Nell! Here's to Nell Slatefield!" I've got to give the girl credit; she's got guts. And she'll give the Capitol the show they want.
The boy is a volunteer, Lotem Raanan. Tall tributes are few and far between this year, but he's rather tall. Taller than his partner, for sure.
Finally it's District 12, the lowest of the low, even worse than District 3 usually. This year it's two dark haired kids; the girl is Celosia, and she's fourteen. I can already tell she's determined to win. The boy, Fissure, looks similar to her, and is the same age, but is bloodbath material by the looks of him.
The Capitol seal comes on again, and Beetee shuts the television off. Silence.
"What do you think?" Beetee asks us, leaning forward.
"What do you think?" I counter.
"Biggest adversaries in the arena are going to be the Careers, the boy from 8, and the boy from 6. Possibly Celosia from 12. As for sponsors, the biggest pullers are going to be Iry from 8 and the pretty one from 7. You two are going to have to work up angles to get sponsors."
"Can I go to my room?" I ask. Beetee gives a sharp nod. I don't get the feeling he likes talking that much.
"Goodnight then," I say, and walk away from the living room, down the hall.