A/N: So I've made my decision. This will be the last Capitol chapter, and then we're onto Into the Tubes and so forth. I'm sorry to those who didn't get two POVs, but I don't have it in me to write several more Capitol chapters. The only reason I'm writing this one is because it spurs very important development for certain characters. If I ever have the energy I may post some bonus chapters of what else happened in the Capitol after I finish. Today we're visiting Trinity Vegas from District One, Bernie Areli from District Five, and Cordelia Nile from District Four.
Trigger warnings:
Money Honey by Tanerelle is Trinity's song, Love Song by Justine Skye is Bernie's song, and Normal Girl by SZA is Cordelia's song.
It's time to get your own
There ain't no need to follow
Lead 'em to the money and they're happy just to follow
Just to follow,
They're happy just to follow baby
Just to follow
I told you before, I'll tell you again
It's my time to win
It's time to get that money honey,
money money honey
Trinity Vegas, 18
District One Female
I had always assumed that the Pack spent the Fun Day together to bond and prepare for the trials and tribulations of the Games ahead through thorough relaxation and feasting. A day of gorging before a death match where food may be unavailable won't ruin my curves. But yeah, I just imagined everyone sitting around a large table at one of the nicer restaurants, hashing it out over mounds of fries and pitchers of cola and lemonade. Maybe they do that other years, but not today.
We all met up on the first Fun Floor at a florescent pink flowered potted bush near the elevator as planned. Cordelia and Zircon immediately struck off to go on the roller coaster nearby, saying that they would catch us later. Chavez's eyes widened as he spotted an attractive Capitolite woman sashaying towards her workplace, an outer space themed restaurant. He looked us all over skeptically and then dashed off to intercept her. That just left myself, Tyberios, and Ardin standing there, and now we are twenty three seconds into the awkward game of "Who's going to be the next one to bail?"
At forty six seconds, Ardin takes the bait. "I was thinking about getting my nails painted my District color," she tells us, biting her lip. "Sorry to leave you guys, but you know..."
"Nah, don't worry about it, go ahead," Tyberios replies, patting his District partner on the shoulder, and she grins and walks off in search of a salon.
"So it's just you and me, unless you're going to bail?" I inquire, quirking my eyebrow as I look at my closest ally in the Games. Tyberios smirks, folding his thick arms across his muscular chest. The staring match lasts only a couple of moments, but I feel just a little something stirring within me. I push it away before I can examine it. Today is not a day for introspective feelings. Today is a day for going batshit crazy and bathing myself in pleasure just in case I don't make it back home. That's unlikely, but there's always the possibility, and if today is my last day before entering the arena where I will die, then I will make the most of it.
"I heard they have something called a zoo here," Tyberios answers after a while. "Exotic animals found nowhere else in the world."
"Like mutts?" I ask. Of course I've heard the term zoo before, but they don't have any in the Districts, not even in One and Two. I've never been, and the only animals I've seen face to face are domesticated animals and the wild ones that live around the District like deer.
"I don't know how they're raised, but they're apparently modeled after extinct creatures," Tyberios says. "It sounds interesting, and they're probably cooler than the stags that are basically the only large animals that live in Two besides the few and far in between bears and cougars."
"What floor is it on?" I question.
"Fun Floor 4 I believe. We can ride up there now. Even though everyone else is staying down here in hopes of meeting up again, we all know that we're going to stay broken up for the rest of the day." He speaks the truth. The two of us walk back to the nearby elevator and hop in.
He presses the "FF4" button on the panel, and the elevator climbs up to that floor. The elevator seems a little smaller now that it's just Tyberios and myself inside, and as the doors open and we walk out, our shoulders brush. Neither of us says a thing but a little shiver goes through my body.
"Cold?" he asks as we look around for an Avox, hoping to find directions to the zoo.
"No. Just a shiver," I saying, brushing it off. I spot an Avox striding towards us, and we walk out to meet her. "Could you direct us to the zoo?"
The petite woman nods vigorously, half starstruck and half jubilant to be escorting Tyberios and myself. I guess she's a Career fan. Her narrow facial features and dyed red hair with barely noticeable blond roots lead me to believe she's somehow related to the people of One. I don't know what someone from One would have to do to get Avoxed, but apparently this woman did it and now she's our personal tour guide to the zoo.
The zoo isn't as big as I imagined it would be, but it's still magnificent. Over the zoo's entrance is an archway with iron lettering proclaiming what lies beyond it. There's a half mile circular path that goes around a dozen or so enclosures that hold animals of all types. The first enclosure is grassy and mostly flat, with a herd of ten to fifteen horses with black and white stripes roaming through it. It almost looks like someone painted the horses they use in the chariot parades to be funny and plopped them in an exhibit at the zoo. The sign calls them zebras. What a strange name.
The next two cages hold more familiar animals; of course everyone has heard of lions and tigers. You can't exactly erase such proud and fierce creatures from a culture. They were already absorbed into sayings and flags and things like that. But I've never, ever seen them live, and it's marvelous. Tyberios is speechless too as we stroll down the path. The Avox offers us two large fruit smoothies, and we take them, sipping at them as we stride past a trio of elephants, a family of giraffes, several seals zipping through an underwater enclosure, and a menagerie of exotic birds flapping around in a rainforest setting that you can walk through. We take our time exploring the awe inspiring place, and when we're done we sit at a table near the lions, finishing our smoothies and chatting about trivial things.
Of course trivial things can only sustain conversation for so long, and soon our delicious smoothies are gone. The magnificence around us sharpens a little as we look into each others eyes. Tyberios reaches his hand across the table, and I take it, squeezing it.
"Together till the end," Tyberios murmurs, never breaking eye contact.
"Together till the end," I agree in reply as the lions roar their approval behind us.
Now it's like you never knew me
Act like you don't know me
You used to hold me, the old me
Console me, show me
What your love is made of
Now there's all this space between us
Brooklyn, Decatur
Bernie Areli, 12
District Five Female
There were worse things in the world than being smooshed up inside a laundry hamper, carted roughly by an Avox down into the depths of the Tribute Center's lower layers, as the Fun Day I had not enjoyed a moment of drew to a close. I just kept telling myself that over and over, ignoring the thoughts of what I could've spent my day doing, like sketching out a Games plan with my allies, riding roller coasters with Sage and Gaia, or assisting Carmen with baby Filippo. Instead, I've been trying to conjure up ways to find my Avoxed mother and how to sneak into her quarters to see her.
Tributes aren't allowed in the underground floors past the first basement level where the training center, styling stations, and medical offices are. The Avoxes reside on the bottom fourth basement level and work on the second and third levels, where clothing and equipment is washed, meals are made, and large storage areas are found. Stealing Anneliese's device helped me learn all of this, and it also helped me figure out when the Avoxes would come to take our laundry down to the secretive and presumably not very well kept lower levels of the Training Center.
When the Avox came by with the large hamper, I slouched in a chair as she ducked into one of the rooms to gather the clothes in there. I took the few precious moments I had to jump inside the large rolling hamper, parked right outside of a secret service elevator I never noticed tucked in a back corner by the balcony. I bury myself under the heaps of dirty laundry until my small frame is fully covered.
There is a lot of laundry in the hamper. She must've started at the Twelve floor and worked her way down. I may be quite heavy compared to the clothes, but I doubt she will notice. If she does, I'll just claim I was playing an innocent game and figure out another way to sneak down to find my mother.
The Avox returns and piles on more clothing before pushing the hamper towards the elevator. She grunts and checks the wheels, thinking something's holding her up. She then shakes her head and hauls the cart forward into the elevator, pressing a button to presumably send her down to the District Four level.
After gathering all the dirty laundry from the other floors, she heaves the hamper into the elevator for one last time and we descend several levels, past the ground entrance level and the first basement floor. We pause on what must be the second basement floor. When the doors of the elevator ping open, the Avox shoves the hamper cart in a certain direction, and then I hear her footsteps fading away as she returns to the elevator.
Suddenly the cart jerks, and I suppress a shriek as the cart is flipped and myself and all of the dirty laundry get chucked down a laundry chute. The wide slide-like tunnel shoots down, and thank god I fit inside, or else we'd have a big problem. After the initial paralyzing fear I start to enjoy the adrenaline rush almost as if it were a roller coaster ride until I fall through the end of the tube into an even larger hamper.
I find myself in a darkened laundry room. A dozen or so machines churn and purr as they clean clothes, lined up on one wall. The other wall has the large trough full of dirty laundry where I lie, my short fall from the chute cushioned by all the clothing underneath me. It also has a cabinet, probably holding cleaning stuff, and most importantly of all, a door out into the hallways of the lower levels. I've made it.
I suppress my giddiness as I slide out of the laundry trough, sneaking past the laundry machines to the door. I ease it open, and it glides open without a single squeak. I peek my head out into a thin, dimly lit hallway. There are several doors pockmarking the walls, and the hallway turns in a different direction at both ends. By how far I fell, I'm guessing I'm on the very bottom floor, which is also the floor where most of the Avox rooms are.
Before going out to explore, I have a good idea. I stumble back to the laundry trough, digging around until I find an Avox uniform. It's too big and has a pretty large stain from some sort of sauce or soup on the chest area, but it'll do. I then confidently step out of the laundry room and calmly walk down the halls.
The hours trickle by as I patrol the narrow hallways. I find all types of places; kitchens, dormitories, sculleries, laundry rooms, storage areas, and more. No one gives me a second glance; I blend into the crowd rather well, and my short stature and the innocent, shy look about me keep anyone from approaching me. Once an Avox flashes me a rapid series of hand signals that must be their language, and he looks a little miffed when I just shrug at him. Besides that, however, I do fine.
I'm getting a little tired of exploring soon enough. The tiled corridors are all the same and I don't even know how I'll find my mother. I'm not even looking as I round a corner and smack right into an Avox, sending the pile of folded towels in her arms flying across the hall.
I scuttle across the ground, gathering them and handing them to her. When our hands brush, my eyes look up, and my breath catches in my throat.
The eyes I look into look identical to mine.
My mother's eyes are wide with shock; she instantly recognizes my face. She drops the towels all over again and encompasses me in a crushing hug, squeezing me so tight I swear I can't breathe a single breath. I almost want to squirm it's so tight, but I let her smash me and I learn to enjoy it. Soon enough I'm wrapped around her as well, and the neither of us separate until we hear footsteps approaching.
Good things can only last so long in a hellhole like the Capitol. The duo of Peacekeepers clicking down the hallway obviously knows I'm here; I forgot entirely about the tracker they injected into the back of our necks after the Reapings to make sure we wouldn't sneak off at any time during the Pre Games. I've just been moving around so much and so erratically that they probably haven't been able to nab me yet.
"I love you," I murmur quickly as the men, with their stiff, gloved hands and glowers hidden by thick black glass visors, pick me up by the arms.
I may not know the sign language the Avoxes use around here, but I can understand what my mother does next. She points at herself, makes a heart shape with her hands, and then points at me as we round a corner. She's gone just like that, and tears of both joy and sadness begin to trickle down my cheeks. I don't fight the Peacekeepers; there's no point in it. I've already sealed my slim chances by sneaking off into illegal areas. I've burnt through my fuse. They would probably never let me win the Games. I just hope they leave my mother alone. I can die happy seeing her this one last time, really, truly. I just hope she doesn't have to die, too.
Wish I was the type of girl you take over to mama
The type of girl, I know my daddy, he'd be proud of
Yeah, be proud of
Be proud of, be proud, you know, you know
Wanna be a type of girl, you take home to your mama
The type of girl, I know your fellas would be proud of
Be proud of, be proud of, be proud of, boy you know
Normal girl
I wish I was a normal girl, oh my
How do I be? How do I be a lady?
Normal girl, oh
I wish I was a normal girl
Cordelia Nile, 17
District Four Female
Sitting in the living room, my eyes are glued to the television screen. I'm watching some blowhard comedy about a drag queen and a Gamemaker, and the whole thing is mostly dry and not up my alley, but I don't know what else to do. The sky is dark, sans all of the glittering displays of lights that coat the Capitol's skyline, and in the morning I will be walking to the hovercraft that will carry myself and the other tributes to the arena. My knees feel weak and my stomach is flippy. I just want to curl up in a tighter ball on the couch. I just want to be distracted by something, but none of the shows on the TV are working. Nothing on the Fun Floors helped either. The Pack never met back up and I returned here earlier than I probably should've, lost in my own head.
I make up my mind, deciding to head into Mags's room for comfort. I want to reaffirm the strategy that we've been discussing for a while. I already know the plan word for word, but reciting it with her, sitting on her bed as we eat little chocolates and she lets me take a sip of her cocktail, makes me feel like I'm just a teenage girl sneaking out to a party with friends back home, not a girl preparing to die in a death match.
Thoughts of home make things just get more murky and disconcerting. I shove myself off of the couch before I can fully submerge in the memories, both cheery and rueful. I'm never going to be able to leave the sofa and the nest of blankets and pillows if I start reviewing every cherished moment of my childhood. I stumble to Mags door and knock. There's no answer, so I slowly push it open, the door swinging in without a creak.
The lights are off, and the bed is perfectly made. There is no sign of Mags being in here in the past several hours excepting the small pile of papers laying at the foot of her bed, and the pair of stilettos thrown to the ground in the corner. She must be out doing something or other, like getting sponsors.
I start to creep back out of the room, but my eyes swivel towards the pile of papers on the foot of her bed. My curiosity is piqued, and even though I know I should keep away, the other part of me argues it's probably just sponsorship forms and technical jargon, nothing important. I have nothing to lose at this point, so I might as well just give it a peek and then go back to my couch to sulk and try to make myself feel better until the morning.
The carpet of Mags's room is soft under my feet as I tread carefully over to the slim stack of papers. The first several sheets are sponsorship forms, as expected. The next few are blank sheets of paper with Mags's name and titles scrawled on the top my some Capitolite calligrapher. One of the many perks of being a Victor; you get customized stationery. I push past those sheets, and then I find the last thing: a thick manila envelope.
I flip it over, and my eyes bug out. Written in my father's loopy handwriting is my name with a little heart next to it. I don't care about the repercussions or if I'm going to be caught. This envelope is for me, and it's from my dad, it's from my family, and it even smells a little like the salty breezes and ripe fruit of home. The tears collect in my eyes as I rip it open and pour out the contents onto Mags's impeccable bedspread.
Glossy photographs cascade out of the envelope, along with two folded up letters. I sift through the photos as tears begin to streak down my face. One of myself and my siblings work at the docks. Another of mom and dad on their wedding day. Our whole family sitting on the front porch of our house. And then there's pictures of me with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, you name it, it's there. There's also a smattering of pictures of me with my friends, and then several with my boyfriend Beck. The tears intensify when I get to the picture of myself and him going to prom together, his tall muscular frame towering over little ole me as he bent down to kiss me for the very first time. My teardrops luckily miss the precious pictures, dampening the sheets of the bed.
Once I've looked over all of the pictures, I grab at the letters. The first one makes me start to sob uncontrollably. It's from Beck, and it's already stained by his own tears. The lengthy love letter makes my heart swell and bleed, and he professes everything to me within it. My breathing is shaky and ragged, my eyes bloodshot and my cheeks wet with tears, when I finish reading it for the third time. I fold it back up and press it to my chest before picking up the other letter.
It's from my father. He begins by telling me how much he loves me and how he believes in me, etc. The tears leak as my heart billows again; my tears are just so little now because I've cried out most of the water in my body at this point. The letter isn't as long as Beck's, and towards the end my heart stills as I read the last several lines.
Cordelia, I almost feel like I should blame myself for everything that's happened to you. I don't know if your Reaping was by bizarre chance or if it was the doing of Snow. During the rebellion, your mother and I were rebels. We only survived by changing our identities and fading in the woodwork. But we always remained in contact with the other remainders of our force in Four, and recently some things have been stirring. I always trained you and your siblings for chances like this one. I'm sorry if I've doomed you, Cordelia. I will never be able to forgive myself, my baby.
Love,
Dad
And then I suddenly know why this packet was never given to me. Of course my father, who has strong connections in our District, could smuggle this onto the train to Mags. But she never gave it to me, not only because she didn't want me distracted by constant thoughts of my family, friends, and Beck like I will be now, but because she didn't want me to read those last lines. I would've known dad would never send a packet like this and not include a letter from himself. She didn't want me to know that I may have been Reaped and put into the Games because I'm related to rebels.
My heart beats uncontrollably. Those Reaped because of rebellious heritage never win, unless you're Unity Carden, and she denounced all connections to the rebels at her interviews just so she could have a chance at survival. There is nothing I can do to shake this. Snow may have chosen me to thwart my parents' efforts of revitalizing the rebellion in Four instead of trying to execute all of the remaining rebels and offending the more Capitol favored citizens of our District by investigating a rebellious force in a District they think is fully complacent and in contention to be the Capitol's lapdog.
This knowledge weighs heavy on me, because I now feel some of my convictions seeping away like the tears slipped from my eyes. I may have no chance in the world no matter how hard I fight. I begin to shake, and I turn to flee from the room when I see Mags standing in the doorway, appalled as she sees my broken expression and the contents of the envelope splayed across her bed.
She steps forward and I collapse in her arms wordlessly. She strokes my hair as I begin to sob once more, and all she can murmur is, "I'm sorry."
A/N: I got this out pretty fast just because I had all of yesterday free and I really want to get to the Games! The next chapter will be Into the Tubes, then the Countdown, and then the hallowed Bloodbath! I'm very excited to get things rolling, and I hope you are as well!
What did you think of these three POVs? How will these developments effect these girls and the Games?
I'm posting a new poll. I have the Games pretty much figured out at this point, but I want to see what you guys think. You can vote for who you think will die in the Bloodbath. That will give me a better idea of how my plan will shock or not shock you :) I'll take it down after the Bloodbath and then post a popularity poll for the remaining tributes.
You may also share your predictions in the reviews. I'd love to see that.
P.S. One parting hint: for my Bloodbath, I won't be following the recent SYOT trend of small 3-5 death Bloodbaths...;)
Trivia:
Trinity (1 pt.) - Name two animals they saw at the zoo
Bernie (1 pt.) - How did Bernie get to the Avox floors?
Cordelia (1 pt.) - Name the two other types of paper in the pile besides the envelope for Cordelia.
Until Next Time,
Tracee