Victoria Aspen,18, District 2 female
Wow it's almost overwhelming how much food is on this train. The table is covered with various refreshments and delicacies, like i've never even seen most of these things before. I grab what looks like a small?rectangle cookie and take a bite of it but the filling inside is gooey and filled with seeds and I gag before reflexively spitting it out, what the hell was that? Disgusting!
"Those do have an acquired taste." I hear Amos and turn around to see him approaching the table as he grabs another one of the rectangle looking cookies.
"What are those? They're disgusting!" I spit as I continue to scrape out the seeds and gunk from my mouth.
"Fig bars, I happen to be quite a fan of them!" Amos smiles before casually slipping a fig bar into his mouth and start chewing it. I just grab a chocolate chip cookie and sit on the sofa as I put my feet up on the table and lean my head back. Moment's later Amos sits right next to me with a plate full of refreshments I never saw before.
"Why are you sitting so close to me? There's a lot of space on this train." I say with a bit of irritation.
"Well I assume we're going to be allies so might as well start getting a little more comfortable around each other huh?" He suggests and I only let out a sigh.
"Yeah I guess, whatever." I sigh. I'm not really in the mood to be going back and forth, my head is still hurting.
"So you're Victoria Aspen." Amos states.
"And you're Amos Walton, heard all about you. You got quite a bit of hype surrounding you, let's see if you live up to it." I respond.
"j'espère que je ne vous décevrai pas!" He states and I do a puzzled expression.
"What?" I give him a puzzled look.
"I was speaking in French, I said I hope I don't disappoint you!" Amos laughs.
"Well you're gonna have to do a lot more than jumping and spinning around with your sword like you're in some pre-teen action film if you want to impress me." I nonchalantly say and he only laughs some more and I hear him bite into a cookie.
The train door opens and our two mentors enter. The female mentor is a young woman named Ivanna kravchenko. She won the 3rd quarter quell. In those games if a tribute was reaped, they had to select a sibling to join them. It's safe to say no one Volunteered that year. Ivanna only had a thirteen year old brother and he died in the bloodbath, but that was the only hunger games where two victors were allowed as a sibling pair could win if they were the last two. She's been pretty cold and distant ever since those games.
Our other victor is Titus Rockford. He won the 69th hunger games. From what I've seen, he's pretty friendly and easy going.
"Looks like you two are getting along, guess we can skip the first question on whether you two want to be mentored together or alone." Ivanna states in a cold tone as she sits in the sofa across from us.
"Titus Rockford! Nice to meet you two!" Titus greets the both of us and shakes our hand before sitting next to Amos. Without saying anything ivanna flicks on the television and starts the recaps. I'm honestly only going to be paying attention to districts one and four unless there's other tributes who stand out.
District one is up first. The girl is Annabelle Royce and she seems to have a real inflated ego, I might end up driving a spear through her eyes cause I already know she's going to annoy the fuck out of me.
The boy is Teddy Trismegistus. He definitely seems smaller and younger than your average career, still though he seems strong if not a tad cocky.
The boy from District three is built like a truck, he's massive! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on hin.
District four is next. The male is Barbel Beacher, he seems strong, very serious and relatively quiet but I can sense a darkness within him. The girl Vendetta also seems very quiet and reserved, but I can't help but notice how she's constantly looking over at her mentors. These two are strong though and I can actually take them very seriously unlike the two from one.
The boy from district six seems real strong and he doesn't look like he's afraid to kill either, he's probably already have. Doesn't even seem the least bit of concerned he got reaped, infact he was smiling. He seems sane but also malicious and he's another one I'm going to keep an eye on.
The girl from twelve though, she's pretty tall and is in a really weird looking dress. It looks like dog fur, what the hell? She seems like a real bitch though as she states that she hates gay people which I immediately take offense to, as well as poor and colored people. She also claims she was going to volunteer anyways, and for what? She doesn't look much better off than most of the other tributes from that district and just from those comments alone, I was going to fucking kill her if I ran into her in the arena, hell I might slap the shit out of her when I see her just for the heck of it. That concludes the recaps though, I'm going to keep a very close eye on the boys from three and six. Might even try to get them into the alliance.
Rylee Turbin,16, District 6 female
I quickly gulp down my sandwich, barley even chewing it and start putting pineapple chunks on my plate as I immediately begin to gobble it down. It's been so long since I last had a good meal, I just wish my brother can have some of this food and I close my eyes for a moment as I think about it. Scrapp, i just hope the orphanage took you in. You don't deserve to suffer because of my wrong doings. It's just me out here right now though. Our mentors still haven't arrived yet and Vladimir went into his room. I hope he stays there, just thinking about him sends shivers down my spine. I slowly eat my pineapple chunks as I sit on the sofa alone but I hear heavy footsteps and I see Vladmir come back into the living room and orders a plate of chicken from the kiosk before he sits all the way on the other side of the room from me. He then uses a knife to cut into his chicken before eating a piece of it. I quickly turn back around before he notices I'm looking at him and I'm so afraid that I can't even eat anymore. I only stare at my half eaten plate of pineapples as my body trembles. If he wanted to, he can kill me right now. He has a knife in his hand and there's no one here to stop him from doing so. I want to just get up and go into my room, but I'm afraid to move, he might chase me or worse.
The train door opens and our two mentors enter together and I start to feel a little safer. Our mentors this year is Rashima Moxim who won the 70th hunger games and Laurent Ross who won the 55th hunger games.
"Good morning, Laurent Ross." Laurent approaches Vladimir and extends his hand. Vladimir only glares him with his cold eyes and Laurent only shrugs his shoulders and walks away before approaching me.
"Laurent Ross!" Laurent smiles and holds out his hand before I immediately shake it.
"R-Rylee T-Turbin." I stutter and Rashima approaches me and introduces herself before shaking my hand as well.
"Well he definitely looks like he's the loner type so I'll just assume you two won't be allying." Rashima states and I only nod in agreement.
"Ok, we'll start the recaps in a bit, but what kind of things do you consider yourself good at?" Laurent asks.
I'm good at stealth, I know how to steal, hide and was considered the best thief in my gang, i start crying before I can even tell them though.
"Hey it's ok, it's ok. You don't have to answer right now if you don't want to." Laurent tries to comfort me.
"Yeah let's just watch the recaps for now, I'll go ask Vladimir if he wants to watch it with us." Rashima adds before walking over to him.
"Just relax for now alright?" Laurent asks as he hands me a napkin and I wipe my eyes with it.
"Ahhhhh!" I suddenly hear Rashima let out a shriek and I gasp as I turn around to see Vladimir has Rashima pinned to the floor with a knife to her neck.
"Hey what the hell!" Laurent prepares to rush at Vladimir.
"Take another step and the bitch is dead!" he warns Laurent and Laurent stops right in his tracks.
"Alright look, just take it easy alright? No one has to get hurt here, just let her go ok?" Laurent tries to reason with him and I can see Rashima beginning to cry cause she's so afraid.
"Now I don't recall asking for any of your help, so you two just need to stay the fuck away from me!" Vladimir hisses.
"If that's what you want then we'll respect that, just let Rashima go please." Laurent pleads.
"Feel free to mentor that bitch all you want, I'm just going to kill her regardless but unless you two want to join her, you better not even look at me the wrong way!" Vladimir threatens as he releases his grasp on Rashima and she scurries to her feet and run beside Laurent.
"You ok?" Laurent quickly asks her. She's obviously shaken up but nods as Vladimir storms off before going into his room and slamming the door.
"That fucking kid. He tries something like that again and I'll put him right on his ass." Laurent grits his teeth.
"Let's- let's just start the recaps Laurent…" Rashima suggests before turning on the television.
District one is up first, both of them look strong. The girl Annabelle Royce is very pretty, she looks like she should be modelling instead of fighting honestly but she seems confident, very snarky and I can sense some ruthlessness in her. The boy Teddy Trismegistus is short and doesn't look any older than fifteen, but he's doing a real cocky smile and appears to irritate Annabelle after he declares he's going to volunteer.
District two looks even stronger. Victoria is tall and slender with long limbs and she seems very level headed compared to most other careers. The level headed careers were always the dangerous ones. The boy Amos is tall and slender as well and is all smiles. He seems relatively friendly but I know he won't hesitate to take a life.
District three is next and a small girl named Zananova is reaped. I can't help but notice she doesn't show any emotion at all after getting reaped. She's just standing there with a blank look on her face, it's a bit unnerving. Her district partner is a massive muscular man. He definitely has some kind of background training and the careers will probably be all over him. He seems nice though and a good ally to have, no one is going to want to ally with me though…
District four seems like the strongest careers yet. The boy Barbel is tall and thin but is also built. He has a very serious look on his face and it just seems like he can lash out at you any second. The girl Vendetta is also built and she keeps glaring one of the victors for some reason.
The district five tributes look friendly. The girl was so shocked she got reaped that peacekeepers had to drag her to the stage where she still had a shocked look on her face. The boy Thomas appeared very angry as he mumbled things under his breath and only stood next to his district partner Lysta.
The boy from district seven is crying profusely on the stage and begs people to volunteer for him while the girl for some reason volunteered and seems pretty strong but she seems a bit out of it. District eight has another volunteer as the boy rushes to the stage and can't seem to stop moving. He doesn't seem very strong, he just looks like an average person which leads me to wonder why he volunteered. The girl is probably even more beautiful than Annabelle Royce, she didn't seem scared at all though, just inconvenienced and whines about how she was supposed to go shopping. She even offers to pay the family of anyone who volunteers for her but no one does and she states that she's pretty and will get a lot of sponsors anyways. She's going to be a handful for sure.
District nine has yet another volunteer but the boy only appears to have volunteered cause his sister got reaped. He definitely seems to have a bit of an attitude as he snapped at the escort. The girl Winter seems a lot more friendly and I like how she dyed her hair silver.
District ten doesn't stand out a lot, two small kids are reaped. The girl is wearing very dirty clothes like she just went on an exhibition of some sort while the small boy is just awkwardly standing still showing no emotion at all.
District eleven has yet another volunteer as the girl Calla volunteers. She looks worse off than me though, her skin is marred by burns, her hair is nappy and her clothes are a little small for her but I can see so much pain and sadness on her face as she walks towards the stage, maybe I can try talking to her. The boy is honestly pretty cute and he just seems so optimistic, just looking at his smile put me in a better mood.
District twelve is last of of course. A small boy with no legs is reaped and I immediately feel pity for him. This poor kid, I didn't think I'd see another tribute that'll be more screwed than me, but I feel so bad for him. The girl is very tall and is wearing a dress of some kind of fur and she screams on the mic saying she hates gay, black, poor peoole and that she was going to volunteer anyways. She must have a death wish, this is definitely not going to end well for her. I just hope I can get into an alliance though, Maybe Vladimir won't come after me if he saw me with allies….
Xavarion "Xavi" Odoro,18, District 3 male
Me and Zananova boards the train and she immediately hums a tune as she flips a page through her "Human Anatomy" book and sits across the very plushy and comfortable looking sofa as she lets out a little giggle kicking her small legs while still looking at her book. I couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but something about her seems off. Anyways this train easily puts the justice building to shame. Golden vases, decorations and paintings were neatly placed all around the car. A large Chandelier hung over the ceiling and the marble walls were streaked with gold and silver with jewels encrusted into them. The very large table and chairs were made of solid rosewood and there was a plethora of refreshments and appetizers laid out across it in a neat fashion. They even had a cool kiosk here where you can order what kind of food you want. I go through all of the crazy food dishes they have, I haven't even heard of most of these things, but I go with chicken stew and moments later a large warm bowl of chicken stew slides out of the kiosk. I waste no time biting into the chicken and it's so tender and well seasoned. Sorry Milah, but they got you beat here. Our mentors still haven't arrived yet so I might as well try and make light conversation with my district partner who's still reading her book as she lets out an occasional chuckle. I sit in the sofa on the opposite side of her and sit my bowl of stew on the small table in front of me.
Hey there, you're name is Zananova right?" I smile as I greet her but she only looks away from her book and gives me an odd glance.
"Your heart can continue beating even when it's outside your body." She nonchalantly informs me as she looks back at her book. What? That literally had nothing to do with what I just asked.
"Uh…that's, interesting I guess." I respond in a very confused tone.
"You don't find that fascinating? The human heart, it really is so incredible. I just want to hold one in my hand. I do wonder what your heart looks like though." Zananova suddenly grins at me and I give her a disturbed look as she cackles and starts humming a tune again before she goes back to her book. Ok this little girl is nuts, I pick up my bowl and move to the other side of the train and our mentors enter. Luther Pierce who won the 74th hunger games and Maige Honeywells who won the the 45th hunger games.
"Luther Pierce, damn man you're huge!" Luther greets me and I shake his hand.
"Xavarion, you can call me Xavi though!" I smile.
"Maige..." Maige mumbles but doesn't even shake my hand before walking over to Zananova.
"Maige." Maige mumbles to her.
"When you die, your body essentially becomes a blood balloon ready to pop." Zananova responds and Maige only looks at her for a moment before walking away.
"She appears to be an interesting one…but anyways what kind of work you do? I doubt a guy your size is just sitting around." Luther asks.
"i…I do mma." I admit and his eyes light up. I don't mind telling my mentors this but I do want to keep a low profile during training and try not to showcase my skills. The careers will kill or try and recruit me and I don't want either of that.
"Wow, is that so? Well that'll certainly help you in a lot in the arena, you plan on getting into an alliance of some sort?" he asks.
"Honestly I think I'll just be better off alone." I state and yeah I do prefer that, I don't want to constantly be distracted making sure my allies are ok, I just need to look out for my own well being.
"Well ok, that's fine. I didn't have any allies either, I do prefer it that way." Luther nods as he respects my decision. Luther was definitely a loner. The arena in his games resembled the ice age. There were tons of extinct animals the capitol managed to create mutts of and most of the deaths there were caused by the mutts themselves.
"Anyways, lets get these recaps started, see what sort of competition we're up against." Luther suggests.
"Sure thing." I agree with him as I walk over to the sofa with him.
Calla Fable,16, District 11 female
Me and Citrus board the train and I let out a small sigh of relief as I'm one step closer to being happy, my pain is going to be over soon, I just have to wait a little longer. I sit on the sofa at the end of the room and I can see Citrus glancing at me from the corner of my eye but he turns around and starts looking through the assortment of refreshments on the table.
I look at my wrist and imagine the pretty bracelet being there, I would be so much happier if it was on me, but No. I was too much of a coward, I didn't fight to keep the bracelet so this is what I deserve…
Citrus suddenly sits next to me though with a pack of some sort of candy in his hand I look at him, see that warm smile of his and my scowl begins to fade.
"Hey you wanna try this out with me? I remember my Uncle Dill telling me about this. It pops in your mouth or something silly like that, want me to go first?" He smiles.
"I'm not interested…" I grumble.
"Well, bottoms up!" and he pours some of the candy in his hand before putting it in his mouth and I immediately hear popping noises as he laughs.
"Wow Uncle Dill was spot on!" he laughs as the popping noises continue.
I look at the pack in his hand it's apparently a cherry flavored candy called "Rock Popperz" but I look away afterwards.
"Whoa I think I saw a bug crawl under your hand!" Citrus exclaims, I quickly flip the palm of my hand over to see if anything's there and Citrus immediately dumps some of the candy on it.
"Ha, got you! Now you have to try it!" He giggles.
"Or I can just throw it on the floor…" I mumble.
"C'mon that'll suck, probably not as much as my ridiculous hair do, but it'll still suck." He jokes and I smirk for a split second. Wow even if it was only for a moment…I actually smiled.
"Hey I saw that! You have a pretty smile though!" He compliments me and I feel myself begin to blush a little.
"Ok…" I mumble not really knowing what else to say. I obviously wasn't used to compliments so this is new to me.
"So that means you are going to try the candy?" He does a sly grin.
"I guess…" I mumble as I prepare to put the candy in my mouth..
"Wait let's do it together! At the count of three, one, two and three!" He shouts as we both put the candy in our mouths and I feel my mouth begin popping with these small candies. It feels weird like fire works are in my mouth.
"This is pretty cool right!?" Citrus tries to speak over the popping noises and I nod in agreement, we proceed to finish the entire pack together and he balls up the empty pack and tries to throw it in the trash but misses completely.
"That's why I never took up a career in basketball!" he proclaims as he begins clapping and I smirk for a moment again.
Why is he being so nice? What does he want from me? Those were the questions I had. His energy though, it just seems so pure and positive. I don't think he'd ever try to hurt me.
"Our mentors should be here any second, but there's something I wanna show you, come!" He stands up and offers his hand to me, but I'm not ready for that yet. I stand up on my own and hesitantly follow him as he exits the front of the train leading to a balcony and he leans on the railing as he takes in the environment. I walk beside him and look up at the sky where the bright sunlight is practically blinding me but still, it's beautiful. We zoom by various trees in the distance and see flock of pigeons flying together through the air.
"You never realize how fast a train moves till you see this, just look how fast everything is going by. It's like were time traveling almost." Citrus comments.
He's right though, this train is moving ridiculously fast. it's moving so fast that it doesn't feel like it's moving at all.
I continue looking at the sky though, just looking at the beauty of it all, i want to join that flock of pigeons. Look at them being so free and happy.
"I wish I can be like them…" I accidently blurt out and Citrus looks over at me.
"The pigeons?" Citrus asks.
"I didn't mean to say that…" I mumble.
"Yeah just blurted it out right? Happens to me all the time haha. Hold your arms out though." Citrus calmly say and I do as he say and extend my arms while still looking at the sky.
"Now close your eyes very slowly." He adds and I do exactly that. I can't see anything but I feel the powerful winds blowing against me, it almost feels like I'm levitating.
"You feel it right?" Citrus whispers.
"Yeah…I'm in the air, I'm- I'm flying with the pigeons!" I say with the most excitement I've had in years, it's been so long.
"That's not even the best part, open your eye's now!" he chuckles and I open my eyes and see the sky, only the sky. I smile as I feel myself levitating higher and higher and my smile starts to turn to a low but happy laugh.
"There you two are! We were looking everywhere for you!" I hear a loud masculine voice and it takes me out of my element as I'm back on the train and I turn around to see it's Trifton, one of our mentors.
"You were? Gosh we totally got to play hide and seek, you two will never find us." Citrus jokes.
"I'm inclined to agree, anyways I'm Trifton Muller!" He holds out his hand and Citrus immediately shakes his hand.
"Citrus Sabrilla!" Citrus introduces himself.
"Calla…" I mumble shaking his hand.
"Happy to meet you two, let's go inside so you two can acquainted with Pocha!" Trifton smiles and I give the beautiful sky another look before following Citrus back inside of the train.
Here are the train rides! The story is starting to open up, rivalries/ bonds are being formed and it's so fun sprinkling in some foreshadowing every now and then! I'll likely be doing four through six povs per chapter. I do want to try and make sure every tribute gets a pov before the games start and I'll be doing an additional chapter the night before the games where we see each tribute's final thoughts. Anyways chariot rides are next! Till next time!