Constantinos Brakus' POV:
Roxanna Stripes's face is staring down at me as I wake up, as she does every morning. "Good morning my muse" I smile to her grinning face, of course she doesn't reply. I'd never been able to afford the virtual reality posters, the ones with the voice recognition technology, that reply to your conversation. Anyway, I don't think Verena would approve of them.
Roxanna isn't the only face on my wall, beside her sits Maximus and beside him Invictus, I have posters of most of the kids that have hit the top five, except for the few that never really got the whole merchandising thing. My girlfriend Verena says that once I make it to the top five, she'll get everything in place as quickly as possible for my merchandising, we'll make a fortune out of it. Not that I really need any more money, the money they pay me for playing the games year after year is a ridiculous amount in comparison to what I grew up with. But if it makes Verena happy, I'll indulge her.
As I brush my teeth I glance over the capitol and can see the crisp white apartment blocks of Silk in the distance. People always say the Silk sector is alright really, I mean it's not like living out in the poverty of the districts. Those people of course are idiots, in this style obsessed capitol image is everything and living in the apartments of Silk give out the distinct image of not belonging. Luckily I've escaped that place and the memories it holds within, the games gave me a chance and I took it. My past is such a small part of my life I literally don't remember my parents, or maybe I've distanced myself to protect myself from them, I don't really remember. I have my friends and my Verena and that's all I need.
Verena rings my bell pretty soon after I've woken up and prepared myself for today's excursion. She gives me a quick kiss and we head out to the waiting taxi. The taxi only skims the edges of Silk as it rushes me from my most recent apartment in the Ruby sector and towards the largest mall in Panem, which is a sector unto itself. But as hard as I try not to look back I can't help but look out into one of the large playgrounds below the apartments where see a small piece of myself in the rowdy kids playing and a larger piece in the small boy they're pushing to the floor.
"You've slipped to twelfth" Verena sighs from beside me in, distracting me from my dark thoughts of a almost forgotten past life. "Some kid names Atia has been climbing the rankings all morning."
"How sad" I sigh "some people can never be happy with what they have" I watch as my old life disappears into the distance, onwards and upwards as someone once said once, probably not Verena she's not much for sentiment.
Verena pokes my arm "Are you happy Const? You seem down lately" she asks, "Don't want to be off your game for the big show do you?"
"It's my last games Verena of course I'm sad, I have nothing to plan towards nothing to strive to."
"What about that Gamemakers role? I thought you were a shoe in."
"They went for some nephew of Claudius, some kid who's never played a game in his life. Apparently skill counts for nothing in this game."
"I'm sure something will come along" she tells me "You're a pro gamer; you're not going to starve. Maybe you could freelance train for a bit, pass on your skills."
"No thanks, teaching some snobby kid to game so his parents can hope that he makes it to the big leagues sounds like my worst nightmare."
Verena laughs as our cab arrives at the mall and paying the man we jump out and head into the busy main atrium. Verena takes the lead and we make our way through the mall, some people look over to me and give me a little wave. I wave back enjoying the attention my small amount of fame brings. Reaching our favourite little boutique shop, Verena only has to catch the eye of the shop owner Lylac and she rushes the only other customer within it out of the door before closing us in.
"Const my favourite little gamer, what can I do for you both today" she smiles.
"Need to look our best for the show tonight" Verena smiles and Lylac jumps to in immediately pulling several of her dressed of the rack for Verena and some sharp looking suits for me.
"Oh this one would look perfect for tonight" she says passing me a deep green jacket with a navy trim. I slip it on and run my fingers over the soft velvet finish.
"I'll take it" I say "Do you have the matching pants?"
Three hours later and we leave Lylacs store with shopping in tow, outside the little shop a small crowd had formed and they all strain themselves to see who was important enough to warrant a store to themselves for that long. Seeing me some older women sight and turn away, probably hoping to see someone more their age group. The group of young girls sporting t-shirts of various gamer logos on the front and lists of tributes on the back look a lot more excited.
One girl sporting my face, catches my eye. She's a pretty little thing with wide eyes and plump lips that are ruined by last season's shade of orange. She also has a massive rack, shown off by her ripped gamer t-shirt.
"Oh my Panem" she gasp, her arms flustering wildly "You're Const Brakus" she begins to shriek.
I laugh "yeah I am" I reply with a raise of my eyebrows, "What's your name?"
She replies by screaming again and I feel Verena link her arm with mine. "Babe lets go" she says "we have a hair appointment to meet" I nod and allow myself to get pulled away.
"Sanjia!" the girl screams from behind me somewhere "Sanjia Hampton!"
"Cute kid" I chuckle as we enter an elevator to take us up a couple of floors "I do so like to meet my fans"
"She was after your money" Verena sighs "that's all those other girls want."
I nod in agreement as we leave the elevator and move quickly over to the hair salon. Verena sits me down and quickly tells the hair stylist what to do with me. "Navy, with some green highlights I think" she orders before kissing me on the cheek and disappearing out of the salon.
"Strong woman you have their" the stylist says as he begins to mix the dye.
"She's always been there for me" I reply "Saw a winner in me." I smile as I lay back and allow the now silent stylist to work on me. Yeah despite all the crap life's thrown and is continuing to throw at me, right now I'm in a pretty good spot and I can only see it getting better over the next few weeks.
A/N: Const belongs to Rebirth Of A Demented Kitten I hope you like him (despite the few slight changes – I felt like he needed a bossy girlfriend, sorry), Still looking forward to receiving a few more gamers, before we get going. Form is on my profile, PM's only please!