District four
...
The weather here is tropical and warm. I am dressed in white shorts and a swimwear top. I am barefoot, so when I do my speech at the sea front, the waves lazily lap at my feet.
"I had a...close relationship with Sirena and Finn. I never intended on killing them, it just sort of... When I put the berries in Sirena's box, I wanted to protect everyone. When I killed Finn, it was because I was angry and sad; my ally had died at his hands. I saw them at the training centre, where they invited me to join them. They were fast, cunning and strong."
When I am done, a tall man with shorts, no shirt and sandy hair strolls over to me.
"I'm Finnick. I won a couple years back." His voice is relaxed and easy.
"Flicker. Johanna from Seven told me to say hi." I say, shaking his outstretched hand.
"Want me to show you some place?" He asks. I nod my head and follow him. He leads me to another part of the beach, were the water is warm.
"You already have a decent swimming top. Just go in your shorts. It'll get hotter around noon, and you'll dry. He takes a brilliant stroke of the water, which propels him forwards. I soon follow. Pretty soon, we are waist deep in the soothing water.
"Look, I just wanna warn you. You will have nightmares about those games. Just try not to get too affected by them, okay?"
"Yes. I haven't got any nightmares yet. Did you have any, you know, big wounds?"
"Are you talking about that one?" He asks, pointing to the jagged scar on my stomach.
"Possibly." I say, laughing.
"Yeah, took a knife to the leg."
"I think I quite like your district..." I say.
"Thanks. Are you not used to the whole what victors-are-meant-to-do thing? "
"Apparently not. How do you face a district to whom you killed both tributes?"
He chuckles heartily, his eyes lighting up.
"Flicker! Oh thank goodness! We've been looking everywhere for you! " Carmen has found us. I pull a face to Finnick behind her back and he smiles as Carmen drags me away.
OoO
District Three.
...
I feel this district will be easy. I was friends with Enya before we went into the arena. As for Bolt, I could say how I respected him.
I mull over my plan as Griff and Maple put me in a pale orange dress, fiery wedges and a plaited headband.
"Not our best work of art." Mutters Carmen, "but the weather was too hot for our original outfit."
Three's platform is surrounded by twisted and plaited copper wire. As my metal soles touch the wire, it lights up. Impressive. Everything is made of metal here. It seems weird, but it's kind of...cool in a manner I'm used to in Five.
"Hi." I say, confidently. I have my speech planned out in my head. "I'd like to start off by saying that Enya and I were quite friendly with each other. I had also exchanged civil conversations with Bolt as well. We helped each other in Training and I admired them greatly."
The crowd claps and a few of them whoop. I smile at their acts.
I notice a man and woman with ashen skin at the side of the stage. When I walk off, the man starts to speak.
"Hello, Flicker. My name is Beetee and this is Wiress. We won about ten years ago." His voice is nervous and quivering in places. I hold out my hand and they both shake it.
"I liked your stage. How does it work?" I ask.
"Wiress and I designed it. The soles of your shoes, I presume, are metal. There is a weak current going through the wire on the stage. It isn't, however, strong enough to electrocute a person. When your metal shoes touch the wire, a trigger is set off. It sets small light bulbs on the outside of the wire to glow. As soon as your foot is removed from a certain place, that place will no longer glow, unless you put your foot on it again. " I notice his voice is less shaky when he talks about electronics. I also notice that Wiress is swaying and humming. The games must have effected her.
"I heard someone saying something about Nuts and Volts." I blurt out. "Does that help with the stage as well?"
"No, no. Those are our nicknames. I'm Volts and she's Nuts." He says laughing.
I bid goodbye to them.
OoO
District Two.
...
My dress is dull gold with three shining strips of metal at my waist. I have sandals who's straps wind up to my knees.
"I'd like to start off by saying I had an alliance with Mason and Valerie. We all worked hard as a team, and they both had a caring nature about them. They were excellent with a bow, sword and spear, and had a good plan for everything."
I see about five people sitting in front of me, on a raised platform. They must be the previous victors. A woman ,who I know is Enobaria, casually walks over to me. She is easily recognisable by her pointed teeth.
"That was impressive. Twelve are you? Thirteen?" She asks.
"Yeah." I say, reaching my full height, which is still about a head smaller than her.
"Brutus!" She yells. A man with a build like a mountain walks over.
"You called, Eno?"
"We have ourselves a little feisty district Fiver." She says.
"Yes. I'm aware of that. I did watch the Games, you know. You were brutal, sweetheart." He says, his eyes lighting up viciously.
"Don't call me sweetheart. I am not a child nor love interest. I would appreciate it if you called me by my name. Flicker. And yes, I was brutal, otherwise I wouldn't be here, talking to Victors." I say.
"Defiantly feisty!" Enobaria says laughing. "God help you when you're in one. There are about eight living victors there. Two of them are twins."
"On the up side," begins another woman "they bombard you with gifts there!"
I chuckle at this remark. In five, we never really get or give hosts at birthdays or Christmas. We just have a meal and talk. I board the train sighing. Enobaria is overly-confident and Brutus is...I don't know. He called me sweetheart but I firmly told him not to.
OoO
District One.
...
It will be painful talking here. I can truthfully talk about Paris and Pearl, but without crying? I don't know...
For One, I am dress extravagantly. My hair is styled so that the majority of it is flowing down my back, but a few pieces have been shaped into flowers. In the centre of each flower is a pearl. I have a skin-tight dress that doesn't feel right. It feels...odd, like I want people clamouring over me. It is black and has a glittering belt that starts on one hip, winds around my back, before going straight up my torso. My eyes are dramatically lined and shaded, my lips a rich plum colour. I look scarily glamorous. My shoes are black boots that finish just before my knee.
I step onto stage, confidently flashing a winning smile. The stages is silver and shimmering, with small lights facing me. This time, however, I am not alone on the stage. There are four victors either side of me. They all have similar outfits to mine, made of leather, mesh and velvet. I take a deep breath and start to speak.
"I'm going to say that I was close to the tributes from here. Pearl often commented on how I was small, yet smart. She commented on my throwing and invited me to join the careers. She had an excellent aim quandary generally a nice person. Paris. Oh, God." I turn away slightly, trying to hold a few tears back. When I return to my speech, half of One are on the edge of their seats.
"Paris. We started off as just alliances. When tension started to rise, we fled camp. He cared for me and I cared for him. A lot. According to Caesar he loved me but...yeah. When he was killed, I saw him whisper "I'm sorry, Flicker." These are the reasons why I am getting quite emotional now, because when I saw him utter those words, I knew he wanted me to be happy. I kind of am, but I feel he wanted himself to die so that he could live with the nightmares instead. Yeah. I'm going to stop talking now."
I see the people of one standing up and clapping, along with the victors. A few of them turn to talk to me, but I flee the stage. When I am trying to regain an even breath (it is shaky from holding in my sorrow) a blond woman with an hourglass figure and a muscular man make their way towards me.
"That was...touching. Was it true? Last year the victor made up a bunch of stuff on the spot." The man asks.
"It was true. I'm not a big person for lying. And I can't lie to save myself. That's why I'm blunt." I say, getting more and more confident.
"Your name's Flicker, right? A lot of the District One people have a nickname for you: She-Wolf." Says the woman.
"Why's that?" I ask.
"Because when you spoke to Brutus and Enobaria and Johanna, you were feisty, like the wolf." She says.
"And what are your names?"
"I'm Cashmere."
"Gloss."
"Enobaria said there were twins. Is that you? Who are the others?"
"Enobaria was right. We have three men. Gloss, Lucius and Clint." Says Cashmere
"And five women. Cash, Platinum, Topaz, Amethyst and Velvet. Topaz won't be mentoring next year. She won years back and is old now."
"I'll see you at the banquet?" I say as Fia calls me over.
OoooooO
I know I included characters from Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but I wanted Flicker to meet everyone. I portrayed the slightly vicious victors as civil, because I feel like they were kind to her because she was young and they were impressed. The next chapter will be the last chapter of Early Games.