Caligula Atia's POV:
"What did I tell you" Father screams as I hear leathery gloved hands hit flesh, "You were to never talk to that man again Octavia!"
I turn up my games to drown out my Stepmothers plea's for mercy, father could kill her now and it would be nothing to me or Amora. She is nothing to us and if she doesn't know how to respect father then she should die. Killing is easy, killing an enemy is as father always told me the kindest thing you could do to them, a good clean kill is better than any other punishment her could come up with. As he knows I and my sister know too well.
I focus my mind away from the past and the echoes of my mother's final screams for mercy and stab my virtual enemy in the neck five times. A good clean kill.
I hit pause as the game announces me into the final three and check my rankings again, twelfth, not bad but not up to Fathers standards, I have to be in the top ten tonight, I just have to.
I focus on the game, on these final few kills as I stalk them through the dark forest arena; I keep to the shadows and jump out into the path of a young tribute. The tribute ducks away from me and tries to run but I'm too fast for her. I take her down with a throw of a knife and stand over her body, pulling out a hunting knife I begin to slice into her face. The hands may belong to my virtual tribute, some boy from district five or six or something but the thoughts and actions are all mine. That's one of the things I love about the games, the control I would have over another live person.
I kill the girl bellow me quickly, though if I'd had time I would have been a bit more creative. The next tribute I find gives me a bit of a harder fight, but I best him eventually.
The other two tributes had also been fighting as I'd been killing and now only one was standing. He was one of the older types, no muscles really but he's made it this far running on the high difficulty AI settings so there must be something. I decide he's probably a fast tribute so track him for a while before using my sneak attack to beat him unaware. I smile as the game announces me Victor but quickly hide it, this isn't the time for emotion, my rankings have moved up and I'm now 11th place.
"Caligula, Cal, you're not bloody listening you twit!" my sister yanks the headphones from my ears and throws them on my lap "I said Octavia is driving me into town to buy some new shoes for tonight do you want anything?"
"No" I respond "Didn't dad just beat her" I add in a whisper
"Yeah but that was at least an hour ago, you've been fixed to that screen haven't you?"
"I guess I kind of loose the time when I'm in game."
"You all set for tonight?" she asks.
"Yeah, I mean I'm certainly in but ..." I pause unsure.
"Go on..." she goads.
"Look I'm just not sure it'll be good enough for dad okay. I need to be perfect for him."
"Oh little brother, you mustn't appear weak, surely father has taught you that" she says
"Don't you dare tell him" I gasp "I'm not being weak"
"Yea" she chuckles "Don't worry kid, I'll keep my mouth shut"
She disappears with another chuckle in a flurry of fabric and perfume and I return to my game, the rankings show me barely in eleventh place so I need to focus to make myself top ten before tonight.
I'm just getting settled into another game when my in game com beeps. This barely ever happens this close to the results ceremony and I'm about to ignore it as some kid trying to distract me from my game when I notice the user name.
"Impala" I say "Didn't think you'd com a kid like me this close to the big show."
"Just checking my rankings and you seem to have appeared out of no-where kid, what's your story?" the cool calm voice of the biggest gamer in Panem comes through my head set. He's going to try an intimidate me I think, try and scare the new kid before the games come.
"I've been around" I reply coldly "Only just come of age for the main event, but that doesn't mean I'm not well practiced."
"I don't doubt it" he croons and I hear a slight giggling in the distance, he isn't alone if he, he must be with one of his many women. An Idea formulates quickly.
I'll show my sister that I can be as cruel as her or father and I'll do it by humiliating the biggest name in gaming that there is.
"Do you know who you're talking to?" I ask, impersonating my Father as best I can.
Maximus laughs, "Some punk kid who's barely in eleventh place that's all you are CalA" he pronounces my username as 'Cala'.
"It's Caligula to you Impala" I growl "Caligua Atia"
It's almost as if I can hear the cogs turning in his brain, as he figures out where he knows that name from.
"Ah" he sighs "Marcus Atia's son, I heard he'd sent you off to a reform camp in District Two." The female laughter becomes stronger now.
"No I've been training with the best to beat your ass in the games" I shout back "My father has been preparing me for this for years now"
He continues to laugh "Oh kid you can't scare me with Daddy, I'm too important to be scared. People like your father work for me."
I hang up quickly as the laughter on the other end becomes louder and try to focus back on my game. But my mind is a mess and one wrong move later it's game over for me. My ranking remains stuck on eleventh and it doesn't seem to move, not matter how well I play my next game. It seems Maxwell Impala got his way as usual and I'm not going to break into the top ten by tonight. In a few weeks time though when I'm stood on that stage collecting my Victors crown, that's when I'll show him he was wrong to underestimate the son of Marcus Atia.
A/N: Thanks to Zep182 for Caligua, I hope you all liked him. If you've just found this story or not sent me a character yet then there's still plenty of places left open. Just send me a PM with the info in the form on my profile and I'll get back to you with a reply asap.
Oh and if I don't get another chapter up the next day or two then Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to my readers :)