Chapter 5
Rassa warns us not to eat too fast at dinner, apparently it can make us sick since were not used to the 'richness' of the food. "Trust me" she says steadily ( as is everything she says) "I'm telling you this from personal experience." Fry and I couldn't argue that.
We walk into the dining room to see Skader settled in an end chair, leaning back lazily with his feet propped up on the table, ignoring Beatilce's dagger like glare. "Ahem." She clears her throat dramatically and he glances up, bored. "Can you please?"
"Please...?" another pointed glare. "Get your feet off the mahogany!"He blinks and wiggles his feet, his boots make squeaky noises against the polished wood.
"So" Fry begins, sliding into the chair next to me "Someone gonna tell us how to win?" Rassa looks slightly startled, Skader's face however becomes grim and he slides his feet back down to the floor, which seems to please Beatilce.
"Its hardly that simple, Fry" Rassa responds, her voice gentle but theirs a kind of hardness in her eyes thats unsettling.
"Well, we have to start some where...do we not?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. Both of their faces turn to me. "Thats true" Skader says finally. "Alright, what can you guys do?"
"In terms of...?" Fry begins. "Nothing" I cut him off quickly, and turn to look at him as I say, "neither of us can do anything...unless you mean put together a TV set in under five minutes, cause then I got you." Skader's expression is amused until he seems to realize I'm serious and winces. "So, neither of you know how to fight? Hunt?"
"Nope" Fry says, popping the p sound on 'nope.' Rassa slaps a palm to her forehead. Skader looks contemplative, suddenly he turns to me, his eyes bore into mine "Blondie, tell me something." I stiffen, startled by his urgency "Huh?" In a flash, he gathers three Capitol engraved knives from around the table and shoves them in front of me. I blink. Then he pushes three crystal wine glasses at me, setting them in a triangle. "How would you make the knives balance?" He asks, and I stare at him. "What?"
"Make the knives balance off each other and the glasses" His voice is patient, but his face is still urgent. "Uhm" I glance down at the arrangement he's set up, and quickly realize what he means. "Okay" I pick up a knife and lay it across one cup, obviously the distance between the cups is longer than the knife... I purse my lips and grab another, then turn each knife so the handle is resting on the cups, each tip pointing to the middle of the circle, I twist them and grab the third knife, doing the same with the last cup, shifting them over, I balance the knives off of one another, picturing the weaving of a basket, 'this one over...this one under...this one over again...' They balance making a tiny circle with the tips of the knife, I smile, satisfied. I glance up and Skader, "like this?"
"Perfect" Rassa Says, I look over to see her staring at the setup, impressed, it wasn't that difficult. Skader is grinning, while Beatilce stares at the knives, clearly confused "How did you...?"
"Thats impressive" Fry says with a nod "But can we get back to how to survive the games?" Skader shakes his head "thats what were doing Dapsty, we're figuring out what you guys can do, now we just need to find your...talent." Fry sputters a laugh.
"Well no offense Dicen" He says, turning to me "But I hope my talents a bit more useful than balancing knives off of cups"
"Whoa whoa Fry, don't bash my talent okay? You're just jealous cause you know that when we're all fighting each other by having to balance knives on cups you won't stand a cha..." Rassa cuts me off "We're not saying that that is you're talent Dicen, we're saying that you're quick, smart. Not many can people can figure out how to do that, your brain has to work in a special way, you'd be surprised about how handy that can be in the arena."
"You good at memorization?" Skader asks, staring at his empty plate longingly.
"Um, decently" I say, "Good" He responds "See I told you she was smart." Rassa rolls her eyes.
A man enters the room then, holding two large silver trays "Finally!" Beatilce exclaims ".starved." Rassa stares at her, annoyed. "Like you even know what starved means" She mumbles.
No one says much after that except for Beatilce but she hardly counts, Fry and I are too busy stuffing our faces and both Rassa and Skader seem deep in thought, so the silence is filled only by the sound of forks scraping against the porcelain plates and Beatilce's mindless chatter about how great we're gonna look after the 'make-over' people get to us. I do my best to tune her out, I don't want to think of the upcoming events, in fact I don't want to think about anything but the food in front of me, and how utterly amazing it tastes. Fry seems to agree, even though I'm sure he's had most of it before, being the Mayors son he gets dinner's like this anytime someone from the Capitol comes to the District, which isn't often...but it happens. I on the other hand have never had this much food at once, and I'm far past the stage of feeling full (I don't even remember the last time I've felt full), but I can't stop, it all just tastes so good, and I can't help but shake the feeling that I won't get to eat like this again...even though I know I will, I'm going to the Capitol after all.
After dinner Rassa excuses her self to her room, and Beatilce herds the rest of us into the 'living room' where a large TV is hung on the wall with a long plush couch placed facing it. Fry throws himself at it, claiming he feels sick, 'I can relate' I think, wishing I'd taken Rassa's advice and slowed down on the food. I settle into it and Skader plops down beside me. He lowers his voice and leans his head down toward me "You ready for this Blondie?" He breathes and I wonder if he's really starting to think thats my name. I shrug, indifferently, even though at that minute my stomach drops and I feel a large bump in my throat when I attempt to swallow.
The TV sparks to life, quickly without any kind of static noise that I've grown so accustomed to back home, only the best for the Capitol. Ceasar Flickerman appears in all his green haired glory, with a large plastic looking smile plastered on his face, he's welcoming everyone to the '71st Annual Hunger Games' theirs the loud sound of cheering. He's introducing the escort for District One, with its glistening buildings. As usual both tributes are volunteers, much to the original chosen's relief. The boy is tall, lean with redish hair and pale skin, toned muscles line his arms, and theirs a glaring spark in his eyes that sends a chill down my spine, he's far to enthusiastic about volunteering if you ask me. The girl is tall as well, with cat like eyes that tilt up at the sides, and short brown hair that is cropped straight at her shoulders, she gives the boy an icy smile that he returns easily enough. District One cheers for them, and then its onto District Two. Once again, the Tributes end up being volunteers (surprise surprise for the career Districts) These two are a bit more...harsh looking, both have striking black hair, a shade darker than Rassa's, with blazing blue eyes, that are narrowed slightly, and I'm supposed to be fighting them? The food flips around in my stomach, and I realize my breathing has picked up, to near hyperventilation.
And then its Fry getting called. Back to District Three, I look at him from the corner of my eye as he watches his hysterical mom being dragged out of Justice Square, his face blank. "Mayla Bennis!" Beatilce's voice sounds from the TV, I realize my hands are shaking. The camera's are on me, even before I say, "I volunteer" How did they know I was gonna...Then it switches angles, and I see a tall boy shoving his way through the crowd, Dekus. How had I not noticed him, a small choking sound escapes my throat and I realize I've leaned forward. He's saying something on the screen but his words are drown out by Ceasar Flickerman's voice-over talking about young tragic love...'oh jeez' I think. A Peacekeeper ceases Dekus's arm before he can make it too far and slams the butt of his gun into Dekus's gut, he doubles over, I gasp. How had I not known this was happening?
I realize Fry, Skader, and Beatilce are all staring at me, and stand up abruptly without even realizing I was going to, "I'm tired. Night." I spin around and begin walking back to my room. "You don't wanna see the other tributes?"Beatilce asks. I don't answer, just jog back to my room in attempt to hide the tears flowing from my eyes.