Training scores and interviews now! The next chapter is of the games, so I need to plan them! I only have certain points planned, so I need to work out in which order everything occurs! Also, she's going to be a bit of a loner, because I always felt that most people did not have allies in the games, and fanfiction characters always have allies. That really annoys me for some reason, don't ask me why. Now on to…

EDIT: OMG FORGOT A DISCLAIMER. Now here it is :EDIT

Foxface's hair is red,

Caesar's is Blue,

I don't own the Hunger Games

and neither do you!

The Shouter

The evening arrives, along with the promise of results and the training scores. Kai is sitting opposite me, nervously repeating what he did in the training session, and continually asking me, Lyna, Hydrao or anyone who will listen to him, whether they think it merits an 8 or higher.

"I need to get at least an 8" he tells me "It's like, an unspoken rule of the alliance, Camulos told me."

"Then it's not really unspoken, is it?" I reply.

He looks confused, and I sigh inwardly, my attempts at wittiness once again thwarted.

Kai opens his mouth to say something when a shrill, trumpety noise fills the room. The Panem anthem. I start to breath quickly. This is it, my score and my future. Or whether I have a future. A droning man appears on the screen, and welcomes us all to this joyous occasion. I roll my eyes inwardly. And then, he begins with the scores. With my empty, mental notebook, I prepare to copy down the scores of all the tributes I care about, and those that scare me.

"And now, the scores." He announces, monotonously. Finally I think inwardly.

"District 1 is up first, with the male being" he consults his notebook with his glasses. "Loki Slowe, achieving a…"

He consults his notebook once again.

"9" I imagine Loki smiling dully in the District 1 room, and Copia leaning forwards in anticipation of her score.

"And Copia Burdis is awarded a 9 as well."

"Camulos Harris from 2 is awarded a 10" Kai exhales loudly, the bar's set high for Careers this year, except… "Nyx Russell, twin of the victor Hemera, who if you remember got a 10, is presented with a 7. Obviously skill isn't genetic." Poor Nyx. 8's are pretty low for a Career, but 7? She'll be the first to go if, no, when the Careers break up. District 3 gets lower scores, like normal, with 4s and 5s. And then it's us. Kai goes first, and he leans so far forward his head's almost touching the TV screen.

"And now onto some actually interesting scores" the man on TV smirks. He obviously doesn't think District 3 did that well. "District 4. Kai Nieme is granted an 8." Kai smiles next to me, and instantly becomes cocky again.

"Obviously, they must have been blind to give me less than an 8." He smirks.

"Really?" I ask "Because only 5 minutes ago, you asked me whether I thought you'd get a 6, because you were sure you would get a 6."

Kai scowls, but has no time to retort because now the announcer is announcing my score.

"And the girl you'll probably remember from the opening ceremonies, is given a 9." My heart sinks a little. I was sort of hoping for a 10, though it was really a vain hope. 9's around Career average. It's quite good. Kai scowls at me, as I feel a smile spread slowly around my face. Lyna scowls too, but Hydrao beams at me, happy I didn't do that badly. I lean back. 9 is good, I'll get sponsors. Now I've got my score out of the way, I can focus on the other tributes.

The girl from 5 bests her counterpart from her District, who only gets a 3. I feel quite sorry for him. 12 and in the Hunger Games. I cannot allow myself to feel sorry for other tributes now though. The girl (called Din Joules) who I saw swing that mace so well, gets an 8, levelling her with some of the Careers (i.e. Kai) and beating others (Nyx). District 6 I ignore, as I can't honestly believe they're bluffing with their low levels. The girl from 7 I remember from the reaping, the ghost girl, gets a 6, which is reasonably good, but not good enough that she is likely to be targeted especially, unlike the girl from 5.

Both from 8 I ignore, I'm too busy worrying for Dou and Demeter. I hope they get at least a 6, though I'm not too sure of this. Demeter didn't turn up for the first day of training.

"And now District 9" the man drones "Dou Ruben, 7, whilst his sister Demeter receives a…" he smirks "2."

What happened with Demeter? Dou did well, but Demeter? Maybe she freaked out? Broke down and cried? Sometimes I wish private training sessions weren't so… Private.

I'm too busy pondering the mystery of Demeter's 2, that I miss the scores for District 10 (Though Kai assures me that they weren't much, and average.) Next is 11, meaning it's almost all over. The boy gets a 4, which is pretty average considering his height and general un-impressiveness, while the large girl who left the 10+11 alliance to join the Careers gets a 9. Same as me and most of the Careers. That probably means she will be accepted to the Careers, which means worse odd for everyone in the games. More hunters, less prey. And everyone's prey in this game.

"And it's all over, except for 12, but don't expect much" the man informs us. I wonder if anyone has ever punched him in the face. I really want to, and I think the ones from 12 might want to as well.

"Gerani Cole, 7." A high-average score, though he'll probably get a lot of sponsors. He's what Nymph would call "cute". He moves onto the small brunette. "Medea Tabby, 7." Again, medium-high, though I don't think she'll get as many sponsors as her counterpart in male form, she's short, runty and seems to be perpetually scowling. Hey! Maybe she should meet Kai! Or Lyna! Doing some quick mental maths, I realise that despite the announcer's snarky comment, District 12 has the highest overall score, excluding the Careers, and so they actually have a good chance this time. Lucky for them, though I don't think this will happen again. 12 almost never win.

"Good, good, good!" Gaia squeals "Now off to bed! Both of you, you've got a big day tomorrow, interviews can break your chances, and you wouldn't want that! Don't want to lose, do you?"

No Gaia, I don't want to lose and die. Shock. Horror.

A good night's sleep is vital if you about to commence your final day on earth, or at least, that's what I feel. In fact, I've had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. I almost don't want to leave the bed, maybe I could just train here?

My hopeful thinking is destroyed when Gaia comes in, screeching about timetabling and how I could have wreaked all her chances of being moved up to District 1. I chuck my pillow at her and get up, now grumpy as hell. I want to sleep.

I tell this to Kai as we wait in the dining room, but he tells me to stop whining. I humph and have a little sulk until Lyna comes in; it's never a good idea to sulk around Lyna. Hydrao follows as normal, like a pathetic looking puppy. It's hard to believe he shouted at me on the train.

"Right, interviews are the most important part of the games" Lyna tells us, looking like a stern teacher.

"Not if someone's above you, holding an axe" Kai mutters to me. I disguise my giggle as burp.

Lyna gives me a look, and moves on. "Any idea for your angle? It must suit you, so Aalgae, don't try for sexy."

I scowl again, and Lyna smirks in response.

"I dunno, I was thinking confident and suave" Kai says. Lyna turns her gaze to me.

"I'd have thought it was obvious what my angle would be." I say; mock surprise. I loll my tongue out my mouth and make my eyes lose focus. "I'm crazy."

Lyna rolls her eyes, "Fine then, but if you want my honest advice, don't overdo it, or the Gamemakers won't like it. Don't want an utterly insane victor."

Lyna gave me useful, unsarcastic advice? Isn't that one of the 10 signs of the apocalypse?

We spent the next few hours walking and talking 'properly' as Hydrao tells me. Apparently I've been walking wrong my entire life. The shame of it. Some good things come out of the session. After around 5 failed attempts at walking in high heels, and one final attempt where I tripped and fell off the stage, Hydrao has agreed that I don't have to wear high heels. I sighed with relief when I heard that news, I'm the least graceful person on this planet, I seem to trip over thin air half the time.

Then we leave for lunch, where I stuff myself again. I love the Capitol food, especially those oranges. Next stop is stylists, where I get de-skinned again, and the stylists put me in a short, black dress. They want to position my hair into the 'perfect' slicked-back style, but I refuse, and I make them leave it in its current, messy and frizzy style. It makes me look madder, and also, more like me.

And before I know it, I am waiting here, in the queue to be interviewed, my heart pumping at a million miles an hour. I am really nervous now, though I keep my face blank, if slightly crazy looking. I need to balance my craziness levels with my 'sponsor-me-please-I-might-actually-win-I'm-not-that-mad levels. Luckily, I don't go first, District 1 starts (hence the number, '1'.) and the females are first. So I go before Kai and I get to sit back and watch the others try/succeed/fail at their chosen angle. It happens every year, though the Careers are almost always the best, I think they might have trained for this as well as the actual killing/murder part of the games.

The anthem starts, trumpety as usual. Accompanying it is Claudius, the narrator of the actual games. (Not the pillock who gives us the scores.)

"WELCOME! TO THE 34TH HUNGER GAMES… INTERVIEWS. YOUR HOST, AS EVER, CAESAR FLICKERMAN!"

Cue Caesar's cheesy entrance into the room via bicycle. Seriously, who writes this stuff?

A disturbing thought suddenly crosses my mind.

Will they make me go on a bicycle too?

Caesar picks up the microphone and falls onto the sofa faking laziness. Cue the audience's applause. These people are easy to please.

"First on is that gorgeous lady I'm sure many of the men in here would long to meet…. Copia Burdis!"

She walks on. No, she struts on, looking like a peacock in a bright, short dress, shorter than mine, causing wolf-whistles to emanate from the crowd. Copia smiles and blows kisses in return, causing the crowd to go wild. It takes about 1 minute of her 3 minutes for the crowd to calm down, while Copia's ditzy smile has turned slowly into a scowl at her time being wasted.

Caesar asks the first question "I apologise for those men, though can you blame them, with someone like you on the stage? What do you think of your outfit?" Cue ditzy replies. She's not going for sexy like I thought; she's going for complete idiot who looks sexy. It's a good act, though sadly I know her to be reasonably intelligent. Worse luck for me.

Next up is Loki, who tries for the same one as Kai, confident, but comes across as an utter idiot. He probably won't lose many sponsors, he's massive. I bet Camulos tries for the same approach. Hang on, is the one I called Loki actually Camulos? I can't remember which one is which. I think Camulos is District 1, the one who just went up, but that might have been Loki. I peruse this line of thought while Nyx comes up, with the angle of sexy. It doesn't come off that well. One part of this problem is that Copia has already come, sort of covering that section with the ditzy act. When Nyx finishes, she half runs off, looking upset. She obviously got the sense that she didn't do that well. Sadly, I think that might be true, at least as far as the Career tributes are involved.

The tributes from 3 don't do that well, and the girl starts crying at one point. Caesar makes some wise-crack which causes the audience to laugh. I can't remember what it was; I was too busy worrying about my interview.

Then it is my turn. I feel different to how I felt before my private session, and then I felt calm, now I'm panic stricken.

"And now, for the girl from 4! Give it up for Aalgae Kiandra!" The audience cheers and I skip on stage, putting on an innocent smile that is making me feel guilty just pretending to use it. I take a seat opposite Caesar and smile a wide smile, before wiping it off my face entirely. This stops the cheering. This makes me want to smile, but I censor it.

"So Aalgae, anything you'd like to say to these lovely people in the audience?"

We'd prepared for this question already, so I say, while smiling again "Nothing can happen more beautiful than death."

The crowd does not respond to this, just murmurs slightly.

"So, are you looking forward to dying then?" Caesar asks with a wink.

The audience laughs. I do not. We'd gone through this scenario, of Caesar making a joke of it. Hydrao told me that it was vital to keep it serious if I wanted to keep my image. And apparently that's all I've got left at the moment.

"It's a quote." I snap back. "Read some poetry."

I don't actually read much poetry, but they don't need to know that. The audience quietens slightly. Caesar tries to regain himself.

"I do know some love poetry." He turns to the audience "anyone heard of Lima Bane?"

I groan inwardly as the crowd applauses madly. The only poet in the Capitol. The word 'Poet' is used loosely, as she's the worst poet ever, even someone like me can tell that. We have to read them all the time in school. Her worst poem was 'Love is blue, just like you.' Please don't quote from that, please…

Caesar winks at the crowd. "Love is blue, just like you. I love you, you love me too. What's a man to do?"

I groan audibly and Caesar turns to me. "Don't you like Lima Bane?" I open my mouth to say something sarcastic, but remember who I'm supposed to be, so I just say. "No."

Caesar raises his eyebrow at me "Really, a pretty girl like you? Never falling in love? I'm sure there are boys back home!"

I lean forward slightly "Actually, there have been several boys."

The audience woots and makes other stupid sounds.

The next question I am asked is predictable "And could you put any names to these faces?"

"To be honest… "I lean forward even more now, practically parallel to the ground. The whole audience seems to lean forward with me.

I whisper (in a stage whisper so no-one misses.) "There wasn't much left of their faces after I finished with them."

I don't laugh, which seems to confuse some of the audience. They have fallen silent. Finally. I lean back and revel in the effect I have created. The awkwardness of the silence is brilliant.

Around 10 seconds later, Caesar tries again. You've got to admire him for trying. "So you didn't volunteer, did you? So you're not our typical District 4 tribute then."

I laugh. It's incredibly fun, unnerving the audience. I wait a bit, until the silence is awkward again, and say "I prefer to let the prey come to me. Why put all the effort in?"

I glance over at Kai; he gives me a thumbs up, but then mimes something. He's miming screaming. What the hell? I'm not going to… Oh. More rage. I am the rage girl after all.

The audience laughs at my joke, and I glare at them. I raise my voice slightly, got to do this slowly, I can't suddenly become shouty.

"What made you think I was joking?" I raise my voice again, consider standing up, but decide against it. I'll leave that until the end. I begin to scream "Do you think I'm a joke!"

No response, not even stupid people laughing.

I smile slowly as Caesar asks the last question "One last question Aalgae, as out time's sadly running out" (he doesn't look that sad to be honest) "if you do win this"

"When" I interrupt.

He smiles, happy to get an answer that doesn't involve screaming. "When you win this, what would you like to do as your talent? Or maybe just in your free time."

I freeze; I haven't practiced for this question.

Need something, Need something, Need something.

Something violent? No, too obvious. Something overly childish? The Capitol might not get the Irony. I think while my time to give an answer ticks away.

Why not just be honest? I think I could do get away with it if it seemed OK. What am I good at though? Fishing, probably, but I don't think I can do that? Comedy? I'm the rage girl for crying out loud! I can't be funny! I just spent the entire interview trying to supress my inner, sarcastic comedian. Then the answer comes to me. What have I been doing the last 3 days? Have I done it well? Yes, I think I have, the audience certainly seems to think so.

I stand up now. Seemed like the right time. I did say I'd end with this.

"You know what I'd do? Acting."

I turn round.

"Seems I'm pretty good at it."

Thank goodness the Capitolites are so thick they won't get this. I am halfway to the exit when I get inspiration. I put my hand into a fist, extending only my index finger and little finger. I then put my thumb across the two closed fingers and hold up the hand sign, not looking at the audience, and keep it up until I leave the stage.

The sign is well known in 4, and also 5 (I've heard through Hunger Games). It means free thought, rebellion, anger and hatred of censorship. All those things into one, simple hand gesture.

No-one in the Capitol will know what it means.

But I will. And Kai, and Marlin and everyone I left at home. They'll know that I haven't changed yet, I just have to pretend I have. Now hidden from sight, I exhale loudly. Kai gives me another thumbs up, but before I have the chance to talk to him he leaves to get interviewed. He acts his angle well, mostly because he isn't acting, he's really is confident, cocky and arrogant. He even gets asked about me at one point.

"Now Kai, how do you feel being around someone so…" Caesar leans in, and says in a stage whisper "unstable."

Kai smirks. For the millionth time this evening. "Hopefully she's so unstable she'll explode when surrounded by other tributes, lessen the odds for me a bit."

The audience laughs at this, and I give a little smile too.

Next on is the girl who got an 8, the girl with the mace. She goes for mysterious, and succeeds. By the time Caesar's finished with her, everyone in the audience has their own theory of how she got her 8. None of them are near the truth though. Who would think a thin, malnourished girl from 5 would be able to use a mace?

The ghost girl I saw from 7 hardly seems to answer any of the questions at all, answering with 'Yes' and 'No' only. The most she says in her entire interview is. 'I'm Ok' when Caesar asks how she feels.

Demeter bursts into tears on her go, causing pitying looks from the audience. That's bad, pity will not sponsor you. Only fear will. No-one fears Demeter.

After Demeter's outbreak of flooding, Dou seems even quieter than normal.

"Dou, poor, poor, Dou. How did you feel when you were reaped alongside Demeter?" Caesar asks. He's a good actor. I can hardly tell that he doesn't care whether Dou dies.

"I was worried" Dou says in a small voice "I know only one person can win the games, and it isn't likely that the victor will be either of us"

The audience 'awws' and pretends to sympathise for the rest of the interview, while Dou gets quieter and quieter. By the time the interview is over, I can barely hear his voice, even though he talks through a microphone.

The massive girl from 11, Pomona, doesn't have an angle; she just sits there looking massive for most of the interview. She could have done the same thing in the scoring sessions and probably still get a 8 or higher. Maybe she did do that.

The handsome boy from 12 spends most of the time posing. I'm glad I'm not doing sexy or anything related to looks, imagine having to pose for the Capitol like he does! I'm not attractive enough for sexy, hence the mad act. He gets questioned about his 7, and answers as sexily as he can. Half the women in the hall have fainted by this point.

Medea, the girl from 12 is around half my height, and probably a quarter of my weight. She got a 7 though, so she has to be good at something. It obviously isn't weaponry, though now I think about it, no-one thought the girl from 5 would know how to swing a mace. She comes off as cheeky and witty, though I didn't get that from training sessions. I can't remember seeing her at training sessions, let alone seeing her do anything worth a '7'.

The walk back to the room seems quicker than ever, as the next time I will leave, I may never come back. Dinner is quiet too, except for Kai, who's nervously talking again, non-stop. God he's annoying. Nothing worse than being about to freaking die and you can't even have a moment of solitude! I feel like telling him to shut up, but I decide against it, you don't want an angry Kai chasing you, do you?

Just an angry other 22 tributes.

Joy, sweet joy.

I just want you to know, my other continuous fanfiction has half as many views as this, and the same number of reviewers, and it's only been up for 3 or 4 days. Point being, read this more, make others read this and VISIT MY OTHER FANFICTION! It's called Pivotal, Pivoting. It's may even become my main one if you readers aren't careful…