Diamond Gold, District One Male, 15 years old

I try to speak to my district partner, Buckingham, about strategies but she's more interested in glaring at our mentor, Glitter, who seems to be trying desperately to ignore this fact.

"As expected," Glitter says, doing her best to focus her gaze on me instead of Buckingham, "As I was the victor last year you two will be targeted."

"We will?" I ask, tilting my head slightly, "Is that a thing?"

Glitter nods, "Yes. People always target the victors of the previous year. If any duo in the typical Career alliance will be betrayed, it'll be you two."

"Oh," I say simply as I nod slightly - nobody told me about that and I was sure that was just myth the outer districts created to give themselves hope.

"Should we join the Careers?" Buckingham asks, her gaze unwavering, unblinking. If I'm right, I think she's the twin of Glitter's boyfriend who died last year, "Because we all know how that worked out for you, didn't we?"

Glitter shifts uncomfortably before nodding, "I would, just to be safe. Even if you leave after the first day, the Careers will guarantee you an easy couple of days in the arena."

Buckingham cocks her head to the side, tutting - I think she wanted some drama to arise but instead got a perfectly reasonable answer. Glitter excuses herself and I turn to Buckingham when she's gone.

"Are we going to ally?" I ask, looking at her with a small smile on my face.

She looks me up and down, eyes narrowing a little before shrugging, "Yeah, but if you weigh me down I'll make sure to kill you right where your brother can see."

I've seen Buckingham practise with her battleaxe in the training centre and my father had mentored her for a few years - she's deadly and I'm sure losing her brother might just push her over the edge.

Calamity Haldor, District Two Female, 18 years old

Calloway and I spend our train ride laughing with one another and being nice to our escort, however hard that is. She's preppy and finds our angle more than entertaining.

"Oh I will have to make sure that your mentors do the right kind of media-play," She says, more voicing a thought than a statement, "I can see it now: One of you has died and the other is struggling. You can't go on without your sibling and their death haunts you. Oh the sponsors will fly in!"

Calloway and I look at each other and burst out laughing because can she hear herself? Does she not know we intend to be the final two? She's oblivious, however, and soon decides to leave to find our mentors who are allegedly drawing up a few strategies for us. Not that we'll need them - we've got it all sorted. Take control of the Careers, get the others to do our bidding and knock them out one by one and pin them against each other.

"Did you hear her?" Calloway asks when he's sure she's a good distance away, "God I can't wait to be away from her."

"The sooner the better," I say in agreement, nodding my head.

There's a silence for a few seconds before Calloway looks my way, holding out a pinkie, "Stick by me and I'll stick by you?"

I look at the gesture he's doing - it's a long time thing we've done and we both have agreed we won't stop doing it anytime soon, "Stick by me and I'll stick by you."

I link our two pinkies together and he shakes them a little before retracting his, reclining back with his hands behind his head and sighing contentedly. We might as well - the Games'll be easy for us until the later days in the arena.

Melvin Morris, District Three Male, 13 years old

We're left mostly alone, Delta and I. Our escort has gone off to bed citing a headache from the fumes that come out of our factory as the source and our mentors apparently need to evaluate us and go from there. I take this chance to examine the carriage and Delta herself.

The carriage is rather luxurious - nothing is misplaced and everything comes together so seamlessly, I could cry with how perfect it all is. The food looks plastic and it took myself and Delta a half hour before we actually braved to eat anything out of fear that we'd break our teeth. If this is how perfect a single Capitolian train is, imagine what the Capitol itself looks like! I might need to work hard at school because if everything is this perfect, I might want to live there one day.

Then I look at Delta. She's thin, but not wiry. The best way to describe it is she's someone with an athletic build who has yet to do anything with it. Her hair is full and looks so misplaced I almost asked if it was a wig - but our escort did that for me anyway. Delta had shook her head and said it was a trademark of her mother's and that she's glad she had it. She has a fighting chance, if I was to evaluate her in that way; if she learns how to use a weapon to a decent standard during training, I'm sure she'd be quite the threat. I think if I was at home, I'd be voting for her to win.

My mind goes back to when she squeezed my hand slightly and I ask her about it.

She shrugs, "You looked more scared than I was."

It was an obvious answer, really, and I blink a few times. I hesitate before asking, "Can we ally?"

Delta smiles a warm smile and nods, "If we make it out of the Bloodbath and you find me, sure."

I return the smile - I might have a chance to live!

Stellar Madison, District Four Female, 15 years old

My male counterpart is a reapee! A reapee! How will the other Careers see me? I hope he won't be a dead weight - I'm not gonna lose my chances of winning because of him.

He looks a bit glum, presumably because he was reaped, and in an attempt to cheer him up I smile at him, "At least nobody volunteered to steal your glory - it saves you from volunteering, right?"

I hope he can't hear my lies in the words because I'm trying to appear genuine - he looks like the type who'll kill me when he gets the first chance.

He stares at me for a few seconds before asking a simple question, "What?"

I tilt my head, blinking and making out he just asked the dumbest question because yes, he did, "Are you glad nobody volunteered for you? That way you wouldn't have to volunteer over their volunteer."

He shakes his head, "I didn't intend to volunteer anyway."

That statement leaves me gobsmacked and I have to breathe in and out a few times because what is he on about? Doesn't want to volunteer? I've never heard that before.

He rolls his eyes at my actions and looks back out of the window. I try to get his attention a few times but each time he ignores me. Sighing, I cross my arms over my chest and look out of the window too. I will admit, it's a bit surreal seeing my district fade away in the distance but I'll be home soon enough - it'll be like I never left.

Tesla Mason, District Five Male, 17 years old

Victoria is pleasant enough - she makes conversation with me and I don't feel uncomfortable. It's a comforting fact really; I'll be spending the next week or so living with her. If we had issues, that'd just make my time before the arena hell. At least I know she doesn't intend to kill me - she's been blunt about it.

"I don't want to be the one to kill you," She said near enough as soon as we got on the train, "But I intend to go back home to my family and if you're in my way then what's got to happen, has to happen."

It's understandable really and since we've made a semi-pact not to harm the other if we see each other I feel a bit more at ease, though I aim to ally with the Careers if I can.

I'm no stranger to Victoria - our family visits her family's apothecary and if what my father says about her's is correct, she would have been told to do whatever is necessary to survive.

Our escort seems to be pleased we're getting along - she claps her hand and encourages us to make conversation.

"To think, this is the first year I've had two real contenders!"

Victoria and I both look at each other and then back at her. If what she says is true, then I might just need to watch out because Victoria Benson could be the one who kills me.

Kaiya Geargrind, District Six Female, 16 years old

Kumple won't stop going on about how he's a superhero and how he wants to rid the world of injustice. It's annoying, if I'm honest, and the sooner I can get some time away from him the better. He keeps telling me how I should be his damsel in distress or the sidekick he needs. As tempting as that is, I decline graciously.

I think, for the first time, our escort has stopped smiling. Kumple's bombarded him with questions and tried to interrogate him. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for our mentors restraining him, our escort would be tied to his chair. No, our escort looks tired. You can tell he's not as optimistic with his tributes this year and I don't blame him; Kumple would be enough to make any escort depressed.

Kumple eventually goes off to bed, saying something about wanting to dream about how he'll save the world. When he's gone our escort turns to me, rubbing his temples, "I would not blame you if you killed him in the Bloodbath."

The thought hadn't crossed my mind, nor did it ever come close to happening, but it's tempting. I nod and keep it in my head. I do intend to try my best and if eliminating Kumple is what it takes then a superhero's story might just come to a close.

I know I said I'd do them like I've done the goodbyes, but I really got into them! I had to stop myself from doing all twelve.

I wanted to go for a specific thing for each district. For D1 I wanted to show that Buckingham largely resents Glitter and that Diamond's already being underestimated. For D2 I wanted to show their sibling blond. For D3 I wanted to establish the alliance between Melvin and Delta - it'll be imperative in the future. For D4 I just wanted to make Stellar seem bratty. For D5 I wanted to show that Victoria is a thread and for D6 I just wanted to do whatever, I had no set agenda.

As always, reviews make me happy~!

- Oli