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Chapter 3:
Ciel was stumped. That was what he felt as he tried not to stare at the girl next to him. He knew that to ally with her, he would have to acquire some level of trust from her part maybe even a friendship. But the fact of the matter was that Ciel had never been very sociable, he had never required any need for friends even before being a slave.
His only companion had been his cousin Elizabeth, but other than her he had never had to make friends or meet strangers near his age, only adults that would come his way because of how adorable he was in his young age.
Even afterward, Ciel was still what people would call "adorable" or "cute" as had been proven by the amount of times Effie had pinched his cheeks or squealed when he walked into a room in the outfits set for him in his room.
Katniss was another story. The girl had opted for ignoring him for the last two days they had been together on the train. Oh the girl was obviously fooled by his child like appearance and was not outright cold to him but it seemed to him like she had little interest in him and therefore chose to have nothing to do with him.
Ciel supposed it was a reasonable way to deal with it. Katniss was under the impression that he was probably going to die on the first day. She was probably actually hoping for it, just so that she didn't have to kill him herself in an act of cold blood. Of course she probably wouldn't be able to do it. Kill a child that is, Ciel had little doubt that Katniss could kill any of the other tributes easily enough.
Why only the a few hours ago she had thrown a knife across the room impaling the seam between two panels effortlessly. Ah yes, that morning's encounter with Haymitch had been quite the little show. The bruise on Ciel's cheek bone had been hard to keep from healing but in the end he had managed to get his demon healing powers on control.
It had all started that morning.
Ciel had awoken to find his clothes for the day already arranged neatly on the vanity on the far side of the room. He gave a weary sigh at the thought of Claude being in his room while he slept. He could almost imagine the older demon standing by his bed, watching him with that eerily amused, yet calm expression all demons seemed to have.
He shuddered at the mental image and slid out of bed, heading towards the bathroom for a shower. After the shower he dressed and dried his hair as best he could before walking out of his noted with a raised eyebrow that Katniss' room's door was ajar and resisted the urge to peek, as he did not know whether she was in there.
Ciel turned away and headed towards the door that led to the dining cart. He quietly opened the door and slid in. He was surprised to find that breakfast had not yet been served. The sun was barely coming out peeking shyly from the horizon.
The dining cart was almost completely deserted. Note the almost. Loud, boisterous snoring broke the amiable silence and Ciel turned to look at Haymitch who was sprawled on the sofa, a bottle of alcohol still hanging loosely from his fingers.
Ciel sighed inwardly. The man was an idiot. Whatever intelligence he might have had to win the Games in his time had evaporated into the air leaving an incompetent drunkard behind. He stood there for a while, not really wanting to wake the man, but his snores were already getting annoying and Ciel had the distinct feeling that it had been that, that had awoken him from his sleep at such an early hour even if he hadn't been aware of it.
He stepped towards Haymitch then something caught his eye. The man's position… was actually very well prepared for any attack. He was lying with his feet sprawled halfway up on the couch and halfway on the ground in a way that if the need arose he would be able to jump up and face his opponent.
The bottle so loosely held was positioned so that Haymitch would be able to swing it in a way that caught his opponent off guard. Ciel stood there for a while staring at the District 12 champion. Alright, perhaps the man wasn't such an idiot after all.
He was so immersed in his examination of Haymitch he didn't notice the person sneaking up behind him until they were breathing onto the back of his neck. He flinched and turned around wide-eyed to find Katniss staring at Haymitch in annoyance. With not so much of a world she stepped towards Haymitch purposely.
Everything went downhill from there. One moment Katniss was standing over Haymitch intent on awakening him, the next the man was thrashing about, waving the bottle around like a mad man knocking Katniss aside while trying to smash the bottle on her head.
Ciel stepped back wide-eyed as Haymitch caught sight of him with blurry eyes and with a roar punched his in the face. Ciel yelped, as was fitting of the situation and fell to the ground a hand clutching on his cheek bone.
Haymitch raised the bottle and Ciel closed his eyes, bracing himself for the blow. It never came. He heard a cry and the sound of glass shattering. He opened his eyes to see Haymitch still standing over him with the remains of the broken bottle in his hand.
They turned their heads to the right and saw a knife sticking from the seam between the panels on the other side of the wall. Then they looked to their left and saw Katniss panting, still in her throwing position.
Haymitch straightened staring at her, and then curious and somewhat bemused look made its way onto his face.
"So I actually got a fighter this year, huh."
Haymitch's attitude to Katniss had not changed in the slightest, yet he had agreed to train them both. This was probably because he saw potential in Katniss and had probably only included Ciel in that statement because in his mind Ciel was just a child and for the sake of appearances.
This further confirmed that they believed Ciel would not live to see day two at the Hunger Games. This was a problem. Ciel needed them to become close to him, and that was exactly what they would avoid. He needed to build a relationship with Katniss.
How was he to do this? Katniss obviously showed no interest in him and she didn't seem to be the sentimental sort. Sure she had sacrificed herself for her sister, Primrose, but she was her sister. She was wise not to trust so easily, yet this made it hard for Ciel to do his job.
These were the young demon's thoughts as he sat across the table from the object of his frustration. He gave a weary sigh and drew up his legs to hug them. He stared up at the sky, watching the clouds and marveling at the unchanging rhythm it had.
How is it? That even after all this time the sky is no different?
"What?" Ciel jumped and his eyes widened as he realized he had spoken aloud. Katniss stared at him, frowning. Ciel slumped slightly lowering his eyes in the picture of a child caught doing something wrong.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud." Katniss stared at him with a raised eyebrow and Ciel blushed involuntarily with embarrassment. Honestly, saying his thoughts out loud without knowing, that was degrading after being one of the most distinguished earls once upon a time. Hastily he decided to amend this by starting a conversation.
"So Miss Everdeen…" She winced slightly and he blushed and looked away. Oh yes, Ciel might have lived a very long time but in the end he was still a preteen at heart. He never had conversations with people in his age area. Ciel had been forced to grow up quickly and never had time for chit chat, and when he did it was mainly him nodding and smiling to whatever the other was saying.
The awkwardness of it pained him very much. He was extremely embarrassed at being completely unable to socialize, even with the adults. And Claude's instructions about acting bipolar… he understood that being eccentric would probably appeal to the public, but appearing touched in the head would decrease his chances of getting sponsors even if it did make him more interesting to watch.
He sighed wearily. Where was Sebastian when he needed him? This sort of thing was his area. Whenever they met someone new Sebastian did most of the talking. He was charismatic and charming with an air of mystery that appealed to people.
While Ciel was mysterious in his own way, he was much less pleasant to be around as he tended to snap at people and lose his temper. He could be charming at times and was a good actor but it took great effort. He couldn't have been any less prepared for this kind of situation and Claude knew that!
The spider demon was most likely enjoying the whole thing. Why was he doing it anyway? Ciel's best guess was that he had a contractor who wanted to make the Hunger Games a little more interesting probably one of the game makers with his neck on the line.
The door slammed open and Ciel flinched lightly as Haymitch stopped in, a bottle in his hand. Effie Trinket followed him chattering incessantly.
"Haymitch I simply cannot allow you to stroll around as drunk as you have been at District 12." Effie explained in a condescending tone she always seemed to have.
"I don't care what you want woman, if I don't have my drinks you can forget about my getting sponsors for the brat!" Haymitch seethed angrily, pointing at Ciel who stared at him steadily.
"Haymitch I simply cannot believe you would actually ask for something in return for doing your job and helping adorable little Ciel here, he will need those sponsors more so than Katniss will." Effie put her hands on her hips in an impatient motion.
"Ha! If he survives long enough to need them that is, look sweetheart the kid is cute I'll give you that but he doesn't know shit about defending himself, he'll be dead before the buzzer rings, trip off his platform and be blown to bits or something like that." Effie's eyes widened and she motioned to Ciel to which Haymitch reacted with indifference.
Ciel tried to look devastated but at the last moment decided that he better not. Instead he lowered his legs and sat up straight, staring straight at them with little emotion. He wasn't going to put up a show for the loss of sponsors he didn't need.
"Don't listen to him Ciel, I'm sure you have a good chance of winning as well, don't you think Katniss?" Effie knelt down to his level smiling in that mediocre manner she seemed to adore. The cheeriness reminded him of Lizzie.
Always the optimist even if the situation made it irrational to even hope for anything good. Effie tried to appear like that, except it was just a hollow disguise made to appear likeable and more popular amongst her shallow little friends.
"Uh… Sure." Katniss responded with little conviction. Honestly the lot of them was lucky he was a demon and not a real child, they were terrible at raising moral and treating children in general.
"That's fine; I don't really care what happens as long as it happens quickly. Speaking of which, when do you think we will arrive at the Capitol? I'm sure the citizens there are just dying to catch a glimpse of this year's tributes. I'm going to assume Katniss and I will be going last, right?" His voice took on a nonchalant tone which had made him such a prominent figure as an Earl, though he chose his words carefully not to appear arrogant.
"Of course dear, it will be such a marvelous presentation! Cinna knows exactly what he wants to do with you two, he's especially excited about having two tributes all for him to prepare since Portia wasn't available, you'll have to share a stylist" Ciel and Katniss both snapped their heads up to look at her in astonishment and horror.
"You mean we'll have to be together while their dressing us up?" Katniss' voice was laced with horror. Haymitch laughed cruelly.
"That's right, you'll see each other butt naked during that time, and lucky you Ciel, not even past puberty and you already get to see women naked." Ciel's face went red and his eyes widened.
"Of course not! That's disgusting!" Ciel exclaimed in indignation standing up and glaring at the adults in embarrassment to which Effie reacting by squealing and hugging him. When her cuteness attack stopped Effie giggled softly.
"Come now Katniss, Ciel is just a child I don't think it will be significant if he does see you naked even if he is a boy." Katniss grumbled slightly glaring at Ciel from the corner of her eyes. While Ciel blushed crimson and stared at his clenched hands on his lap.
It hadn't registered at first but that they would have to be naked near each other was not only embarrassing but put him in an uncomfortable position. His slave brand still marred the pale flesh underneath his arm pit and no matter what he tried to do to erase it, it remained.
His impurity of it burned him every time he looked at it. He gazed into the distance, where the Capitol in all its glory rose to meet them and wondered warily, what else Claude would do to make his life miserable.
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