Shine Lumenis, D1

Shine laughed as the chariot pulled into the Tribute Center and they were allowed to get off. She gripped tightly at the two roses she caught during the parade. Luckily they didn't have any thorns.

"Did you see District Five?" she asked Cubic, who also had an amused look on her face. She nodded, stifling a laugh as the chariots from Five pulled into the buildings floor level. "Can you say boring. Their stylists must know these tributes don't have a chance, so they didn't put in as much effort." Shine stared down at her own shimmering gown, thankful that her stylist was brilliant.. The tributes from Five looks as if they'd been thrown into whatever costumes had been lying around.

"Ladies," called Maricella. "I need to you follow me so can change out of those costumes. Then you can go to your Floor." Shine followed Maricella through a side door. She caught the eye of one of the other careers, one of the boys from Four, as she passed. She kept her face friendly, not wanting to cost herself an alliance with Four.

In the waiting room, Shine stripped out of her chariot gown, with a little help from Maricella, and changed into the silvery-grey tunic and black pants provided for each of the girls. Maricella called in the prep team, who stripped the shimmering dust from their hair and washed it back to normal.

They left through a side door in the waiting room, and Shine found that it lead to the boys' waiting room. They had on the same outfits as the girls. The woman she figured to be the other Stylist, Katrina, led them all through another side door. In the hallway, Shine saw the training room off to their right. She'd be able to use it tomorrow, and she was excited. She couldn't see the Gamemaker's balcony, but that was probably just because of the angle of the window.

The hallway led to a room with multiple elevators. Shine would have guessed that each one was for a different district, until she realized that there were only six of them. Katrina led them onto an elevator to their right, but as Shine was about to board, she was stopped by Maricella.

"I'm sorry dear, only eight at a time. Safety reasons. Use another one. You too, Bronze. Go to floor one ad we'll wait for you before we go into the apartment." The door closed in Shine's face, and she and Bronze were forced to board the next available elevator.

Their company for the ride was one of the male tributes from Four – he introduced himself as Ronan – and multiple tributes from Six. Shine refused to acknowledge them. She only saw herself, Bronze, and Ronan in the elevator. When the light froze on the number one, the door opened to reveal her party waiting by a large door. She and Bronze left the cramped space to join them. Moria was waiting there, too.

"Welcome," she said, "to your new home." As if on command, the double doors swung open – only later did Shine figure out that there had been people standing there, ready to open them – and revealed the most lavish place she had ever seen. The apartment was only one floor, but there were multiple levels everywhere. The furniture was gorgeous, and all of the lights hung in intricate glass chandeliers. Moria directed everyone to their respective rooms. Shine was ecstatic right now.

Ilenia Scrall

Ilenia wasn't very comfortable being in an elevator with three careers. Even after two of them had gotten off, she was still left with a massive boy from four breathing down her neck. Ilenia felt a wave of relief come over her when he finally got off on his floor, and she realized something. That boy will be fighting to kill me. She felt herself shaking, until Jovane put her arms on her shoulders. She was glad to have Jovane here, at least.

When they arrived on the sixth floor, the rest of the tributes, stylists, mentor and escort, were there waiting. Pomeline knocked once on the doors, and they swung open.

Ilenia almost collapsed. The place was absolutely beautiful. She couldn't even respond when Pomeline asked her how she liked it. When Amber directed each tribute to their room, Ilenia broke out in a run. Her room was on the far side of the apartment, in the corner. She had two full walls made entirely of windows, and a large bed in the center of the room. Ilenia jumped into the bed, sinking in the softness of it. She froze.

This was still the Capitol, and she was still being sent off to her death. She couldn't let herself forget that. There was a noise from the doorway. She looked up and saw a young man with pitch-black hair and beautiful eyes standing next to her bathroom. He was wearing a red tunic and pants, and his mouth was pursed in an odd way. Amber had told everyone about these people while they were on the train. Avoxes. Servants of the Capitol. Criminals who were captured. They would have their tongues cut out so that they could never speak again. Ilenia had been horrified when Amber mentioned the last part.

The man walked across the room and pulled a cord in the corner of the room. Ilenia hadn't noticed it until he pulled it. Big, soft red shades lowered over the windows. He pulled it again, and they rose up, slowly. With that, the man went and stood outside the doorway. Would he stay there all night? Ilenia left the shades up – who'd be able to see into her room – as her room didn't face any other tall Capitol buildings. She'd have enough privacy.

Moria called everybody out about an hour later for dinner. From her experience on the train, she'd expecting piles of food reaching up to the ceilings, but when she left her room she saw a classily set table, with small plates at each seat. What was this? Where was all the food. Ilenia sat down next to Jovane, and dug in to the food in front of her. It was gone quickly, and an Avox took her plate from her before replacing it with a new one, with more food.

Ilenia could really get used to this.

Guerard Willam

Guerard still remembered, and regretted, what he had done yesterday. He'd kissed his best friend, who was undeniably not gay, and then ran off. He'd hid away in a storage room and locked the door. He knew Sander wouldn't tell anybody about what had happened, but was terrified to face him again.

When they'd arrived in the Capitol, he'd made sure ever to be caught alone with him. As long as they were I a crowd, Carsander wouldn't bring it up. But now, with so much space and twelve hours with nothing to do, he was terrified that the moment had come to face his friend.

And he was right. There was a knock on the door, and before Guerard could check who it was, although he already knew, Carsander let himself in. Guerard wasn't sure what to expect. Would Sander be angry? Confused? Both? Would he never want to speak to Guerard again? Guerard hoped it wasn't that. He could only stare at his friend as he stood there, frozen. Carsander was the same way, frozen in place across the room. Guerard looked down, guiltily.

"Look, Sander…I…" He couldn't finish his statement, because Carsander grabbed his head and neck and brought Guerard's mouth to his.

The kiss didn't last long. Guerard was able to pull away, despite the hands on the back of his head holding him close. He was confused, very confused. Carsander couldn't be gay. Guerard had, for a few years now, listened to him rave about the girls he'd been with.

"Is this a dream?" was all Guerard could get out. He felt stupid the instant the words were spoken, but Carsander only laughed.

"I hope not," he said, smiling. "You don't know how much I would hate for this to be just another dream." He kissed Guerard again, and this time Guerard didn't want to pull away. The only reason he did was because of his confusion.

"You're straight, though. How can you be here with me, like this, right now, when you know that I know about Jacquia, Flora, all those girls you bragged about."

"I felt that I was alone in who I was. Like there wasn't a single man in Eight that would feel the same way about me. So, I tried as hard as I cold to be straight, and it just so happened that I was very good at it. They never meant anything to me, Guer. Everything I told you that I felt for those girls, it's what I was feeling towards you. And if I had known sooner, I would've dropped the act in a heartbeat so I could have you. Why didn't you tell me?"

Guerard was on the verge of crying, in happiness. "My family knew. I'd told them years ago, and that's when the beatings started. You remember? You were there when I came into school with the first bruises. My dad said it was wrong, that if I could change then he would stop. But I didn't want to change. I kept it a secret, and never acted on it, but I never changed." He wrapped his arms around Carsander, pulling himself into Sander's chest. He loved how his height was perfect in allowing him to place his head right under Sander's chin.

In this moment, the games no longer mattered. He had everything he'd ever wanted.

Haelle Windsor

Haelle was amazed by the view from her room. Twelve had, by far, the best apartment of any tributes. They were in the penthouse, their balcony being the roof of the building. Haelle was glad that she didn't have a fear of heights. Her room was the farthest from the balcony, so she got to walk through the main part of the apartment when she wanted to go outside. She couldn't help but feel happy, despite the situation. She'd worry about the games tomorrow, when they were in training. Right now, she just wanted to relax and enjoy this place.

When she was called to dinner, or rather fetched for dinner, by one of the Avoxes, she was glad that some people had changed from their earlier outfits. The clothes each tribute had been give to wear were bright yellow tunics and black pants, and Haelle had had enough of looking like a bird. The Capitol may have loved her canary costume, but Haelle had hated it. She felt ridiculous throughout the entire parade, although she never planned on letting anyone know. Now, Haelle was wearing a soft blue blouse with short brown pants. Every floor had a plush carpet lining, so she didn't bother with shoes. Elba didn't seem too happy about that.

Right now, she couldn't care less about trying to impress Elba. She, to everyone's surprise, got a small laugh out of Vick when he saw the look on Elba's face. It was nice to see the human under the Capitol creation.

Haelle stuffed her face, but before anyone, or…any tributes, were allowed to leave the table, Vick told them it was time to talk strategies. As much as she wanted to just go enjoy the large bed , all ready, in her room, she was glad that Vick was finally ready to help everyone.

"I want to know each one of your strengths and weaknesses, so we can work out how you'll train over the next three days. You," he pointed at Lawson, and Haelle wasn't surprised that he didn't know their names, yet. "What are you good at.?" Haelle remembered how all the tributes had agreed to form an octet alliance for the beginning of the games, and somehow Vick must've heard.

"Well, I'm strong, I guess." Lawson looked as if he was really racking his brain to think of something else. "I've been preparing to go to the Peacekeeper Academy in Two, and they require a physical test. So I guess I'm strong enough to gain admission."

"Can you swim?" asked Vick.

"No. Well, not well."

"Can you climb?"

"Yes."

The questioning continued for each tribute. Haelle gave her answers as best she could. She'd ever been in a water source large enough to be able to swim, but it didn't look too hard. At the end of his little interview, Vick quickly gave instructions.

"Okay, so obviously, train at the stations that you aren't good at. But, half of you, work on what you're best at. Show them that Twelve has the capability to win this year. Elba will be around to wake you at nine. Be ready to leave for the training room by ten. Goodnight.

Well, that was entirely unhelpful, Vick had told them all what they had already been planning to do. Haelle took it as saying that the plan was a good one.

I don't know if I should do another or a few more or o more chapters like this. let me know. I'm working a little slower, because school is starting up soon, so there may be updates only every other day