Huh. I thought this chapter would be shorter, but I guess I'm cursed to have long chapters. Oh well. Hope you like it and again, LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY CHARACTER IDEAS!
I didn't sit in that visiting room for long. Three large peacekeepers soon took me away, saying something about a train ride. These people really didn't like to wait for an instant.
Things were going by so fast. It was almost dizzying. There was really only one word that I could ue to describe the train. Huge! Never had I seen such a large machine. Then again, I'd never seen a car before either, which was one of the many ways the people in the capitol got around.
Although I hesitated, the peacekeepers dragged me into the giant metal snake. The inside was even more stunning! There were dozens of rooms, each painted a light gold.
I was instantly greeted with the ever so cheery, Effie Trinket. As annoying and loud as she was, it was it bit of a relief to see a familiar face.
"Hello Lynnia!" I grimaced at my full name. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but I was so used to being called Lyn. The full word just sounded strange and unheard of.
'Lyn.' I signed, correcting her. Her large grin lessed and her eyes showered with confusion. Then, I realized it. No one in the capitol spoke sign language.
Fear rushed through me, almost as bad as when I was reaped. How was I going to talk to these people? Effie quickly plastered her grin back onto her face and acted as if nothing had happened.
"You'll be sharing a room with Katniss." she told me. "third door on the left. Dinner will be in one hour, so don't be late!"
I watched as her purple head left to another part of the train, likely fix her makeup and adjust her wig. What capitol people always so ... oblivious? Bubbly? Ignorant? Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I walked over to my temperary room. As much as I tried to get used to the fancy and expensive designs of the capitol, this room blew me away.
It took up the space of my room, my parents' room, the kitchen and the living room. Basically, my whole house. Two queen sized beds laid against the furthest wall, a mahogony dresser not far from it and everything was covered in red, gold and purple.
To be honest, it was a little overwhelming. As nice as these rooms were, I longed for my own back in 12.
Still, I didn't have any issues with the master bathroom. That was a pleasure. I'd never had a shower before. In 12, you normally had to heat up water, fill a tub, and even then, it was nearly as lovely as running water. The other option was to go out into the woods and find a small pond or something.
Actually, that's what I prefered to do and it had helped me get used to the cold, but none the less, a shower was heaven. There were at least a thousand buttons to choose from, like cool, warm, hot, boiling, neutral, very warm and more. Then, there were dozens of shampoos, conditioners, soaps, towels and perfumes.
I ended up smelling like a strawberry farm when I was done. Did I mention that the dressr had just about every piece of clothing, in every color of every style? No? Well, it did and more. I chose a light blue t-shirt and some woodsy brown shorts. Finally, I tied my hair back into a side pony tail. Still, that didn't stop a few strands from fall out, so I tucked them behind my ear, as usual.
Figuring it was almost an hour since I'd seen Effie, I headed over to the dining room. No one was there yet, except for a lady with many dishes coming over. She looked like she had her hands full, so I lifted two of the many plates into my own hands. The lady frowned and quickly shook her head, but I just smiled and set them on the table. She set the rest beside them and gave a little curtsie to me.
'It's fine. Don't worry about it.' I signed before I could realize. Her eyes widened. Surprisingly, it was in confusion, but in amazement. It almost looked like she was interesting in my signing.
Before I could sign another word, the others arrived. The older girl quickly opened the dishes and hurried to stand just infront of the wall, away from everyone. Clearly, she was allowed to partake in dinner. The thought lessened my mood and I took my seat with the others. I sat beside Rusell and Effie, across from Katniss.
Haymitch was furthest from me, which I considered an advantage for me if he started getting drunk. Still, he looked sober at the moment.
"Feel free to have whatever you like!" Effie smiled, breaking the silence. She and Haymitch began to eat through their first plates of food, but I hesitated. There were so many different utensils and I wasn't sue which was the correct one to begin with.
Katniss seemed to notice my pause because she gripped the fork furthest to her left and moved it over to her salade plate. I copied her move and did so for the rest of dinner.
The food turned out to be delicious. Warm rolls, several different soups, broccolli, asparagus, chicken wings, ham, steak, mashed potatoes with gravy and rice. There were others too, but I was full to the brim before I could even dare to look at them.
I ate more than I ever had before and ended up feeling a bit queasy. In district 12, you were used to this much food in weeks. Not to mention, it was at least five times richer than the normal too.
"So," Effie began, once everyone was finished. "Lynnia, your mentor will be Katniss and Russell, your mentor will be Haymitch." Once again, I frowned as she said my full name. I didn't like how she said it in her fancy accent. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to retire for the night."
After she left, Katniss and Haymitch shared a glance before looking at us again. Silence. Surprisingly, Russell was the one to speak up first.
"So, any advice?" he asked, eyeing his mentor.
"Stay alive, princess." Haymitch muttered. Russell scowled at his nickname. The older mentor's eyes flickered to me. "What about you tiny? Any questions?"
I shrank in my seat. They wouldn't understand me. Haymitch waited for the answer that never came, worsening my mood.
"Talk." he commanded. I move my lips to try and form words, for the millionth time, but nothing came out. "Can't you speak?" I shook my head and stared at my reflection in my glass of water.
"You can't talk or you just don't want to?" a new voice asked. I stared into the gray orbs of Katniss's eyes. She didn't pity me or sound annoyed. In fact, she simply seemed curious. That hadn't happened since I met Ash. Just to prove it, I pinched my arm with a litttle force. My mouth went to yelp, but no sound came out.
It was quiet for a while, until Haymitch burst into laughter.
"I like this one!" he snickered. "Not a loud mouth and listens! The only question is how she does with surviving." His tone turned a little serious at the end. Katniss scowled at him and abruptly left the table. I bit my lip, something Ash had pointed out that I do when I'm nervous or worried.
Not quite knowing what to do, I stood up and nodded as politely as I could to Haymitch and Russell, then left the room too. I wasn't trying to copy Katniss or anything, but the way she'd helped me with dinner made me feel a little more assured that I could trust her. Not to mention, Gale seemed to care about her, since he wanted me to deliver a message. Anyway, with Katniss gone, I was a little hesitant about being with Haymitch and Russell.
I headed back to my room and knocked on the door, unsure of what I was going to do. Katniss eyed me as I poked my head through. Did she know that we were staying in the same room? I wasn't sure.
"You can come in." she told me. I nodded and went over to my bed. My hands moved to sign, but I stopped them. It would do me no good here.
Katniss noticed my discomfort and went out of the room, returning with a piece of paper and a pencil. She placed them into my hands.
"How come you can't speak?" The question didn't surprise me, as I'd explained it many times. Taking the pencil, I quickly wrote down an answer, feeling a sense of deja vu. I'd done the exact same thing at the Hob this morning.
'I became a mute when I was seven.' I wrote. She read it, but still looked a little confused. 'It was when my sister died. My family went into a bit of a depression and I lost my voice.' That cleared things up a little. I ended up telling her all about my life in 12. It felt strangely comforting to tell someone. Ash alread knew everything there was to know and I never liked to tell Willie the bad things.
Katniss told me about her life too. How she lost her dad when she was 11 and how she hunted with her best friend Gale. I wanted to tell her about Gale's message, but didn't. Now wasn't the right time. She also told me how she won the games and Peeta's death. I felt bad for Katniss. It was horrible to witness so many deaths.
Still, she also looked glad to get it off her chest and even smiled a little bit when I offered to show her some sign language.
Just before we went to bed, I wrote down another question.
'What's going to happen tomorrow?' Katniss turned off the light and laid in her bed.
"We're going to the Capitol and you will be ambushed by crazy reporters." With that lovely idea in mind, we went to sleep.