Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I promised I would give the rest of the story and I am now paying my debt. This is what's gonna happen: two or three chapters, in summation, the rest of the story. I have it all planned out, but no time to write it all. So this chapter is the entire Capitol week- chariots, training, private sessions, interviews. Short version. :)

I will update the blog with alliances and training scores. Not right now since it's late, oops (I saw Mockingjay Pt 1 (ahh!) and got back really late, lol). Otherwise this would have been up much earlier (sorry Jake). I will probably just update the whole thing at once after I post the Games :/

The eight characters you never got to meet:

D1F: Sintra Astolle: Raised in a small Spanish (although in Panem that word is infrequently heard) community, Sintra grew up with a strong sense of culture and communal togetherness. Her people have a different way of life than the others- a little native enclave in the slums of the District and Sintra is fiercely proud of her community and fiercely angry at their poverty and oppression. Some call her prideful, but she is comfortable with her own ego. She knows herself very well- the flaws and the strengths, including her strong-minded, loud-mouthed independence and her tendency to fool around with any boy who flirts with her. She doesn't really care about what other people think of her, but when people insult her community she takes it to heart. She chose to volunteer to prove her ability and the worth of her community, but she has no formal training.

D1M: Thierry Levesque: He has a tendency to piss people off, and he loves it. He might have his own opinions, but he prefers to play devil's advocate for others and rile them up. Everyone sees him as their own personal antagonist, as he tends to avoid a lot of interaction unless it's to combat their viewpoints. He always sees the worst in everyone and everything, not caring about how people react to him. He feels equally negatively about himself, because he picks out his own mistakes and magnifies them as well. He's quite miserable, his hypercritical and cynical state of existence making everyday life a cesspool of negativity. Being mixed-race, Thierry feels doubly outcast and feels that this, along with his father's death at the hands of a white gang, made his negative bias skewed with a racial lens. He often interrogates people about their own prejudices. His choice to volunteer was in part to combat social prejudices and prove to everyone, including himself, his worth as a person and a citizen.

D3F: Aelie Forslund: Raised in a lower-middle class District Three home, Aelie loves engineering and people. However, it's not mechanics and chemistry and mathematics that intrigue her- unless it's the mechanics of art. She uses the same materials that scientists of the district have access to, but she builds art projects, not microchips and formulas. She has a keen eye for kinetic sculpture and builds things that move and stay together gracefully. Her sharpness extends to her interpersonal relationships as well- she stays in contact with her entire family, even though her parents have lost communication with her older brother Tiy, who moved into an apartment across town with a 'roommate'. Aelie has a close circle of friends as well, whom she attempts to support and keep happy on a daily basis, even denying herself time to de-stress and deal with her own overflowing emotions. When she was reaped,

D3M: Odrey Hume: He wishes that he had more of a backbone. Other people find him pleasant, but he knows at heart he's a people-pleaser and a pushover. He can easily see things from different perspectives and always looks for the safest answer to things. He has a good sense of his own personal identity, his emotions are kept in pretty good order, but he's not the best with facts and faces. He considers himself independent, in Three at least, and tolerates the factory jobs as they provide him with a task to complete and time to think. His family contains a lot of affection for each other, although schedules tend to keep them apart. He cried at his reaping and had to be escorted to the stage by a relatively sympathetic Peacekeeper.

D5F: Romany Argent: From a young age, Romany was taught to keep her emotions to herself and portray an image of controlled discipline. She successfully lives by this standard, keeping a put-together, sunny, and cool exterior up at all times. She prefers to keep her thoughts and opinions to herself, giving a neutral display although she can be judgmental and have strong opinions for herself. She was adopted by Bronwyn Argent at a young age, and grew up grateful for her adoptive mother and a fairly well-adjusted child. As she grew older her relationship with Bronwyn faltered, driving a wedge of strife into Romany's life, and she had to learn to keep bitterness to herself as well. She only feels comfortable opening up to a few extremely close friends. At the Reaping she remains determined to keep her head up and conceal the panic and emotional overload that creeps quickly into her mind.

D5M: Tycho Brunell: A passive boy, he takes his time with decisions and often double checks even the smallest things. His self-consciousness influences his meticulousness, and he is hyper aware of his own flaws. He will act too quickly under pressure and easily regrets his decisions. He doesn't like confrontation, preferring to ignore a wrongdoing than speak up. Although largely an introvert, he enjoys the company of others for certain amounts of time, and will easily engage in conversation. Resigned to being pushed around by domineering, arguing parents and older siblings, he tries to influence his own personal growth but all things seem to move very slowly for him.

D12F: Sorrel Keating: At heart, she's an extremely sensitive and observant person who sees what goes on around her and can barely deal with it. She uses wit and flippancy as coping devices to deal with the reality of poverty and oppression, thus concealing her true emotions under a cheeky exterior and focusing inward rather than being altruistic. She is competitive with many of the people around her, trying to prove her capability while still keeping the humor. Her familial situation has engineered this competitive streak, as she is the youngest child and feels the need to be treated like an adult and not a child. Her brothers and mother and friends are the people she truly cares about, and she is pursuing a career as an explosive technician for the mines. After her name was called at the Reaping, she faked confidence and forced herself onstage.

D12M: Oiyana Vir: Always assertive and calm, Oiyana picks a side of an argument and sticks with it. He voices his grievances and is not afraid to speak his mind, although he is slow to anger. He trusts people slowly and doesn't like personal questions, although is more open with younger kids and enjoys being in large groups. He strives to feel useful and wants to help people out whenever he is able. He lives with all of his extended family on a larger property on the outskirts of the district, which allows him to spend a fair amount of time thinking on his own. One of his major beliefs is in destiny- for Oiyana, everything happens for a reason and everyone is guided by fate. When he is reaped, he toys with the idea that he was chosen for a specific reason, although he dismisses it eventually as fantasy. However, that philosophy allows him to control his fear.

The chariot rides are glorious, as always. The stylists have attempted to bring attention to their tributes in a disturbing mix of classy and trashy. District One is wearing formal outfits- a tuxedo for Thierry and an evening gown for Sintra- but the cloth is translucent. Royal blue and purple undergarments are the only barriers between the Capitol and blatant child pornography. District Two have huge craggy rock formations rising from their shoulders- graceful Ita bears the weight reluctantly, but Griffin is struggling to keep his shoulders straight and his face fierce.

Even good old Octavius Cairns can't remember Three after the night ends… something to do with circuitry perhaps? Four is merpeople, again, but Viera and Tiernan make very pretty merpeople. Neither of them shrink back from preening, although Viera's smile is forced.

Romany and Tycho, dull eyed and tight-lipped, ride stiffly around the track in their power plant suit. Yes, suit, in the singular. They are linked together in a two-person monstrosity, a power plant box structure that only shows the faces of District Five through holes cut in the steam chimneys.

Trista and Calisto are nothing but awkward in 'sexy nurse' costumes, a crude satire of Six's medicinal sphere of influence. Both of them have thigh highs and garters on, and the Capitol cheers more for Calisto than Trista. His 'bravery', perhaps, or just their perversion. Calisto scowls; Trista's plastered-on smile looks more like a grimace.

Seven manages comfort in tree-patterned jumpsuits. Braelin's token, an oversized gray glove, hangs off her right hand, but with her left, she's got Maxim's wrist in a death grip. Both look terrified as their gazes skim over the vast crowd. Octavius comments on how they've managed the cutest look so far.

Kilim, tiny and afraid and swamped in a quilted outfit that looks like it's arrived straight from medieval courts, attempts to cling to Kendal's side, and she pushes him away. Both look embarrassed, but Kendal has a spark of anger in her eyes to counter it. Kilim whimpers again and nudges her, and as she glances at him in annoyance, he throws up. Everywhere. Kendal shrieks and, out of reflex, shoves the small boy. He falls straight out of the chariot and curls up on the ground, nearly getting trampled by the horses until Kendal leaps out too and heaves him back in. The Capitol laughs and the night moves on.

Geneva and Arcas barely acknowledge each other in the chariot- Arcas is trying his gosh-diddly-darn best to get the attention of the sponsors, cheering back at them and waving and smiling, but Geneva looks straight ahead and refuses any of the attention being lavished on her. She fidgets with the hair ribbon tied on her wrist as the chariot races forwards. Ten follows behind in a similar fashion- Korry attempting to get a cheerful response from the crowd, and Nairi glaring ahead with such a grip on the rim of the chariot that her knuckles turn white.

Ardith of Eleven looks sad in her billowing golden gown and crown of laurel leaves- the crowd murmurs at seeing this symbol of victorship on a tribute already. Terran leans over and whispers in her ear, smirking, and manages to draw a wistful smile out of her. The boy, dressed in an equally golden tunic, straightens up again and looks around at the crowd. His eyes seem to pierce every member of the audience as he passes by.

Sorrel and Oiyana are forgettable. Their chariot pulls out five seconds late, and by the time they travel down to the circle of tributes, the President has already begun the speech. Their coal-black and fire-red war paint is not even written about in news columns the next day.

The tributes can't afford to care about news columns the next day- training has begun. The Pack shapes up quickly, and so does conflict. Tiernan looks at his allies and immediately deems Griffin the leader. "Why would you say that?" Sintra scoffs, "You don't know any of us yet!"

"He's obviously the most fit to lead. The rest of you are… inferior."

Sintra snaps to the defensive. "Why would you say that? I mean, Thierry's a jerk, but I'm pretty sure any of us could beat you in battle. Griffin doesn't even want to be leader." The boy from Two nods in agreement.

"I'm sure you wouldn't understand why. It's hard to see these things without bias from your point of view."

Ita folds her arms across her chest and steps into the conflict. "Tiernan, is this going to be about gender? Or race?"

Tiernan tries to bluster up a fair answer, but he can't. Ita and Sintra nod in realization. Viera grabs her district partner's shoulder and pulls him around to face her. "If you can't act nice, get out of here as fast as you can, little boy." Thierry follows her comment by spitting at Tiernan's feet. When he realizes the hostility, he turns tail and flees to an empty station.

Sintra turns to Thierry. "Maybe you're not the worst one here. Congratulations." She shakes his hand tentatively. "But six is a good number. I want to bring in someone else."

"Someone who won't pull any bullshit," Viera agrees.

"The girl from Five," Griffin blurts out. When the girls look at him quizzically, he rushes to explain himself. "She's already been to two different stations, and she's not watching other people. She isn't confrontational, but she's all right."

Ita raises an eyebrow. "Looks like you've been keeping an eye out. Good job. I like her, too, actually. Not sure why, but she could be… helpful."

Viera shrugs. "As long as she does what we say and doesn't try to kill us."

Romany takes some convincing- with a combination of good cop (played by Griffin and Ita) and bad cop (played by Thierry, obviously, and Viera), they persuade her to join the team, and Sintra starts drilling her on basic skills. "You're going to be one of us, so you've got to try and keep up."

Only one other alliance springs up on Day One- Trista and Maxim gravitate towards the fire-building station after lunch and both laugh at the same time when the trainer says 'duty'. They bond quickly and, each reminded of their friends at home, promise to stick together. By the end of the day, they've been dubbed 'the Cute Ones' by Eleven and the Careers.

That night, district partners start to open up to each other. Ardith and Terran, both driven by the force to do what is right (although on Ardith's part, it is nonviolent, and Terran is determined to do whatever necessary), join up with a pinky promise (initiated by Ardith) of alliance.

When the tributes arrive on the second day, more pairs have been formed. Sorrel takes pity on Oiyana, who fears constant rejection by the others, and District Twelve forms an alliance. Odrey is glued to Aelie's side, and by lunch Arcas joins them. Braelin, unable to join her partner, latches on to Ardith instead and, Terran unwilling, joins their alliance. Shortly after, Terran demands that if Ardith chooses someone else he will as well, and he selects Kendal when he sees her going to town on a stuffed dummy. He sees the need for manpower in his group.

The Careers dominate the weapons on Days One and Two, but Maxim and Geneva hold the top two obstacle course times. Romany, with training from Sintra and Ita, and Terran are excelling at basic weaponry; Ardith holds the highest score on plant and animal identification. All the trainers whisper to each other about Trista's frenzy to learn skills, and everyone noticed when Aelie nearly broke down in tears after her fifth failure at a specific knot. Calisto manages to blow something up. He meanders away from the explosion with a sooty face, looking embarrassed and haughty.

The final day, the Careers decide to brush up on other skills and the rest of the tributes flood weapons training. Geneva rejects an offer of alliance by Nairi, and nobody asks Tycho for anything. Tiernan earns the nickname of 'King Asshole' when he repeatedly steps to the front of lines, insults Trista and Maxim over and over, and knocks Odrey to the ground with a branch. Korry, while 'learning' water purification with Sorrel and Oiyana, requests an alliance and joins them.

Private sessions are full of tension and utterly boring for Sorrel, who has to sit through everyone else's before getting a turn. The Gamemakers whine to themselves about having to watch all of them, but they have that luxury. They're not about to die. And this year, they complain, nothing interesting happened. Nobody even nicked themselves on accident or fell in their own traps (ugh, traps, they laugh, so boring). Some of them chuckle about that District Five girl a few years back who had to hop out of the room caught in her own snare.

Unsurprisingly, Thierry and Sintra receive 9's. Griffin takes an 8, and Ita proudly claims a 10. Odrey and Aelie are handed 4's for their work, and they are satisfied. Tiernan worries the Careers with his 8, but Viera soothes those fears a little with another 10. Romany proves herself with a 7 and everyone is pleasantly surprised. Tycho pulls a 5 and everyone is just surprised. Trista whoops with joy at her 6, while Calisto simply nods at his. Maxim, like his ally, does a happy dance when he is rewarded with a 5. Braelin barely acknowledges her 4. Kilim sniffles when his meager 2 flashes onscreen, and Kendal is similarly disappointed with a 5. Arcas shrugs at his 3, thinking instead of his faithful allies, and Geneva glares at the TV as her 6 appears. Not bad, she thinks, but not worth anything either. Korry and Nairi both take 4's, and neither of them give a crap what it means. Ardith is satisfied with a 3, and Terran is proud of a 7- until he realizes that it might make him a target. He scowls then, but secretly he's still proud of the number. It gives his family hope. Oiyana takes a 4, and Sorrel a 5, and they are both solemnly pleased.

Interviews are painful for everyone. Octavius has no good questions- they're typical family and friends and how-is-the-Capitol fare, cheap and plain. It's only the reactions that make the night worth remembering. Sintra laughs happily when asked about her community back home, chattering happily for thirty or so seconds about her multitude of relationships. Thierry, in his seat backstage, whispers over to Ita, "What she means is she screwed around a lot." Ita rolls her eyes.

Thierry has some fun trash talking his competitors, and the Capitol eats it right up. He avoids saying anything directly confrontational about his allies- can't have Sintra killing him as an example, now can he?

Ita speaks as gracefully as she moves, and her home life as a dancer is the Capitol's joy. Octavius uses her as the example that 'district people can have fun too!' Griffin talks about Sage, his beloved brother, but the Capitol seems to tire of familial ties very quickly. Griffin toys with the idea of speaking about his deceased brother as well, but he decides to respect and hold on to those memories. They are his and his alone. Not the world's.

Aelie and Odrey are not crowd favorites, and the crowd chatters to themselves during the interviews. They don't care about Odrey's experience of the Capitol and his little-boy fear, nor about Aelie's friends, although her art intrigues them for a moment.

They cheer for Viera- the strong, pretty girl who most of them want to either be, or bang. She knows this and ignores it- she would prefer to speak about the strength of her will and the Pack. When asked about her district partner, she simply laughs. Tiernan comes onstage incensed by that. He rages to Octavius about the state of the alliance and how wrong they were. The crowd laughs for a bit, but when they realize he's entire serious, they silence. Tiernan's ranting could be the only sound in the world for a few seconds. With a final "They don't know the ISSUES in their alliance! I'm the best deal here!", his buzzer goes off and he returns backstage. The Capitol gives him an uproar of applause, and their laughter can be heard over the clapping.

Romany, hiding her fear behind diplomacy and quiet strength, strides onstage in a long silver dress. "Why, this is the first time we've gotten the chance to see all of you!" Octavius cries, and the crowd is overjoyed to see her not in a power plant box costume. She smiles graciously, and when she reveals her place in the Pack, they are stunned. "And how do you think this will benefit you, Miss Argent?" Octavius asks, breaking script for the first time.

"Oh, I think I'll have a chance," she says, walking a fine line between modesty and making herself a target.

"A wise answer," Octavius says, pressing for more. He does not receive anything else on the subject.

Tycho is forgettable. He invokes the power of the friends-and-family to get sympathy, but the Capitol wants drama tonight. Tycho is simply another face that cannot measure up to the standards of Capitol entertainment.

Trista's fear is nearly tangible, but she puts a smile on her face as she joins Octavius onstage. She speaks of her friends, but she imitates their stories and voices and tells anecdotes of home, and the Capitol laughs. She will dance on the edges of their minds as they choose who to sponsor- the funny girl who was afraid and still managed to work the cameras to her advantage.

Calisto captivates. He is shocked at this when he realizes halfway through the interviews that he has the Capitol in the palm of his hand. His snark, he figures out, is doing him a world of good. Every sarcastic comment he makes, funny or not, draws a laugh from the crowd. When he walks offstage, someone in the front row wolf whistles, and he's glad they can't see the flush of red on his cheeks. He really hates fitted suits, and attention.

Braelin stutters several times during her interview and she hates herself for it. There are so many people and so many cameras and oh gosh is that a poster with her face on it? She doesn't know what to say, but Octavius makes some joke about being tongue tied and she laughs, giving herself a few extra seconds to adjust. What does she have to talk about? Her brother? She is lost.

Maxim waves to the crowd, and every tribute backstage who has already gone wishes that they had remembered to do that. Now he's going to be the friendly one, they all think, and they're going to respond to him! They crowd collectively 'awww's, and Maxim blushes. This receives another round of cooing, and he wishes he were back at home, no matter what his big brothers have ever done or said that ever upset him.

Kendal uses her history of alcohol as a playing card and the Capitol might as well have called it a quadruple ace. They fall under her spell, not able to forget the girl who can understand one of their favorite luxuries. She walks off guilty at her lies and wondering how her sister felt about her words and- she hates herself for this- craving a shot or two.

Kilim makes no splashes and certainly gains no sponsor money. He tries to talk about his mother and her famous designs, but he doesn't know what he's talking about and the interview crashes and burns.

Geneva brushes off the question about a significant other at home, trying to focus instead on how well she did in training and what she's learned and how well she might do. She's betting on sponsor money and hoping the Careers have all gotten bored enough of interviews that they won't notice her boasts.

Arcas is written off by the Capitol as 'trying too hard'. Knowing that his allies were unsuccessful, he attempted to make up for them. They saw straight through that- the little boy trying to be funny and pull in a shock factor had nothing of interest for them.

Nairi is a danger and the Capitol knows it. They have plenty of records on her little angry community. The Peacekeepers backstage move their hands closer to their guns, and Octavius adjusts his clownish smile. She may have had intent to be inflammatory, but it's forgotten as soon as she steps into the lights of the stage. The people, the crowd, the attention- she stumbles over to the chair and sits down quite ungainly. "Are you all right?" Octavius asks.

"Yeah, yeah," she stammers, trying to find her voice. Octavius, satisfied, makes it through her interview asking basic questions about Capitol food and fare, and how training has treated her.

Korry is a lot of fun for the crowd. Like Kendal, he has enough experience with parties that they can relate to his life, and they love the idea of a 'modest District party'. He works with them, giving them tantalizing details about his social life, and they find his casual style amusing. However, he has to bluster his way through questions about the Games, and he loses some of his charm in that.

Ardith is too nice. She's sweet and kind and polite and… boring. The crowd tires of hearing about how much she cares about people the very first time she says anything about her alliance, and they tune out entirely when she begins speaking about life in Eleven. In two days they plan to forget her entirely.

Terran is a source of interest. They remember the fire in his eyes at the chariot rides, and his seven in training- one of the highest lower district scores. He speaks with zeal about his little brother, and all sympathetic hearts in the Capitol break. The charisma in his voice is subtle but captivating and they find themselves listening to every word. He notices and his hopes rise until Octavius glances down as his next question. "So, Terran, what do you do for a living in Eleven?"

His mind goes blank. He can't exactly say he leads a small black market runner business. "Ah, um…pfft… uh, I'm a bit of a tradesman? Mostly just try and do small jobs… and stuff." The smooth persona the crowd has built up for him starts to shatter. Luckily, the buzzer goes off and he tries not to run backstage.

Sorrel can't make herself be serious onstage, no matter what the question is. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's her personality. Maybe it's both.

Octavius asks, "So Sorrel, how prepared are you for the arena?"

"Well, Octavius, I think I are-KNOW that's a trick question!"

Oiyana can barely speak out of fear. He had plans to speak about his friends, his large family, alliance- anything! But once onstage, he can barely manage one-word answers to the questions. He's realized it's less than twelve hours until launch. He worries that his destiny is to die.

Sleep does not come easily for anyone.

Alliances:

C: Sintra, Thierry, Ita, Griffin, Viera, Romany
A1: Trista, Maxim
A2: Korry, Sorrel, Oiyana
A3: Braelin, Kendal, Ardith, Terran
A4: Aelie, Odrey, Arcas
Loners: Tiernan, Tycho, Calisto, Geneva, Nairi

Well, I suppose that the next chapter will be the Games- if not all of it, certainly up to the finale. We'll get placings, certain scenes (developed past basic summary), the plans for character development- the story, I promise, the least I can do of it. I don't have the time for the complete thing anymore. I'm so sorry.

I love you all! I've gotten numerous PMs asking after me, which were all really kind. Glad you still care :P School is hard and I've fallen out of line with the fandom, just not as invested anymore.

But I'm here! If you're here and you still review, what did you think of this? It's hard to say, certainly, since it's so basic, but you did get a little bit of character stuff! So thoughts on alliances, scores, etc?