AUTHOR'S NOTES: The reaping and train ride chapters all tend to be introductory in nature before the tributes reach the Capitol. Once that happens (likely in the next chapter in this case) we will get to see much more of these characters and their motivations. Also... the so-far-unnamed career girl has a name. It's just not going to appear in this chapter. I don't think careers this powerful are doomed to be cannon fodder. While this story is standalone, anyone who wants to get an idea of what might happen and when (ergo: the parade, the scores, the stylists, etc) feel free to check out the prequels (the 93rd/92nd/91st Hunger Games), since the pre-game ceremonies generally take the same amount of time regardless of what tributes are involved.
Either way, Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 3: Sizing the Contenders

There was silence as the two of them boarded the train. Cadence was deep in thought while Lucia seemed either oblivious to her upcoming fate or she had merely accepted it. She wandered into her compartment slowly, her hands feeling the walls, and then the bed. Once she had fully located it, Cadence blushed at what he saw next: without warning, Lucia had stripped her dress off before laying on the bed in just her shoes and underwear. It didn't disturb him quite as much as just catching him off-guard. His face went nearly as red as his hair when he heard her voice though.

"Cadence?" she whispered. He mentally slapped himself—she could still hear him.

"Sorry!" He stammered, his low voice emanating a mixture of agitation and embarrassment. "I…"

"That dress is just a little stuffy," she chuckled softly. "I… just wanted to ask you something."
"Should I turn away so you can get dressed?" He offered.

"Don't worry about it," Lucia whispered, "can I ask you something now?"
"Erm… go ahead." Cadence stuttered again.

"Why did you want to volunteer for me?" Lucia was a simple girl, but not stupid. She was just so mellow and carefree that it was easy to think she was oblivious. The fact that she was in her smallclothes in front of a boy she didn't know was another piece of evidence supporting this claim, at least in Cadence's mind, but he remained focused on the subject at hand.

"You do realize where we're going, right?" He tilted his head.

"Oh yes," Lucia nodded, "I probably will die in there… but maybe I will last longer if you're protecting me like you say you will."
"I meant that much," Cadence asserted. "And that's why I volunteered—I want to protect you and maybe even bring you home."

"That's so sweet," she giggled, "Just don't lose yourself in there, especially not over me, okay?"
"I don't have much else to live for back home," Cadence grunted, "and after seeing those people all abandon us in our time of need, I say to hell with 'em."

"Mario idolizes you."
"Did he speak to you?"

"Only for a moment; you might not know him, but you did just save his life."
"I'd rather save yours."

"We should talk to our mentors then," Lucia sat up, reaching for her dress to put it back on, "maybe they have some good advice to give us."

"Mm," Cadence nodded, "let's go." His mind was already on the other tributes, wondering what he'd be up against. He was not worried for his own life, but knew that Lucia was probably right about her not being able to make it out of the arena.

To his surprise, he found Johnny Stallings and Bethany Shanza conversing in the dining car, their expressions indicating that they had practically been waiting for the two to show up. Bethany let out a small sigh as Lucia sat down, lamenting the notion that the little district sweetheart was going to her death. It was Johnny, however, who spoke first.

"You've got some incredible stones, kid." He raised his eyebrow, "I've never seen Nephenee get so flustered. You could have goaded her even more and gotten away with it I think."
"As much as I want to punch her, that wasn't my end goal," Cadence clarified, "I was just trying to save Lucia from this fate. Looks like that worked real well now, didn't it?"

"still…" Johnny remarked, "that's the kind of skill we need here in '5. Lately we've been in a drought almost like District 12 back in the day. I won almost 20 years ago, and I'd say it's about time we put District 5 back on the map."
"I wouldn't have volunteered if I didn't think I could bring home a victor for District 5," Cadence asserted, not ruling Lucia out as long as he drew breath to protect her, "we're gonna hit the double digits this year."

Johnny was the 9th victor from District 5, which was still the 3rd-best performance in Panem, trailing only behind the career tributes in District 1 and District 2.

"If we get too careless, '3 or '11 might sneak up on us." Bethany warned, "they've both got 8."

"I'd normally promise to kill them first," Cadence retorted, "but I guess we should probably look at the reaping recaps to see who is a threat."

"On it," Bethany grabbed a remote, pressed a couple buttons, and watched as a screen lowered in front of them and showed the recaps of the reapings starting from District 1. Neither of them looked too imposing this year, but of course that was offset by something or another, probably speed or hidden strength. They had, after all, beaten dozens of other boys and girls to reach that stage, since tributes practically fought to volunteer in those districts. Cadence missed the girl's first name (her last name was apparently Li, however), but caught the boy as being named Faren Dumar. He looked like fairly standard District 1 stock, although his partner sported a rather exotic hairstyle that made her stand out. He wondered if the Capitol Stylists would tone it down to keep her from standing out so strikingly, or if they would capitalize on it.

"Nazir Mateaki and Gabriela Sanchez…" Johnny commented as the names of the District 2 tributes showed up on screen, and footage of two athletic and clearly confident youths appeared on the screen. "More standard fare careers—definitely trouble unless you join them."

"Did either of you join the careers your years?" Cadence asked somewhat rhetorically.

"No, but it's happened before," Johnny explained, "and if not them, maybe the tributes from District 3 might be good allies to have, depending on how well you get along with them."
Cadence grunted as Chase Rebiana and Ratchet Caseres showed up on screen, looking confident despite not being volunteered. District 3's electric lottery showed their faces on a large screen behind them—the only other district to have a cool electronic lottery the way District 5 did.

Despite all of this, Lucia remained quiet and Cadence didn't seem too interested in forming alliances with any of the boys or girls he saw on the screen, and after District 4, he didn't really even bother trying to remember any of the names.

"Uh oh," Bethany broke the silence as they watched the tributes. District 11 had just appeared, with tributes Kilon and Xandra glaring stoically at the cameras. Like many tributes from this outer district, they looked muscular and threatening. Despite being rank with poverty and dealing with gripping hunger and starvation on some fronts, it always seemed like the kids from this district were strong and wound up being competent fighters. Cadence remembered their faces for now. As the cameras switched to District 12, however, he knew that something wasn't right, especially not after Johnny and Bethany simultaneously said "uh-oh" again.

"Hmm?" Lucia actually seemed more startled by this than Cadence.

"Painted Tributes," Bethany warned, "While '12 is often as mixed a bag as '5, every now and again you'll get a pair of dark, grizzled tributes that wreak absolute havoc on the arena. They might not even necessarily win the games, but you know just from seeing them that they are going to be dangerous contenders."

"Mani Tauanu'u, hmm?" He glanced at the boy, "and Sudi Ontanago… This is gonna be fun." There was clear sarcasm in his voice, but Neither Bethany nor Johnny could really decode Cadence's attitude towards the whole thing. Lucia was calm and silent, as if she had long accepted that she was going to die. With contenders like these, she probably was. Cadence stared at the District 12 pair. The term "Painted Tributes" seemed rather obvious when looking at them: their dark skin was decorated with red and blue shades of what looked like warpaint, giving them a wild, almost feral look. He knew that in contrast to districts like '4 and '5, District 12 and District 11 weren't pretenders or pretentious at all. If they were showing Panem their colors (literally, in District 12's case), that was likely just how they behaved. Mani and Sudi were not celebrating the way volunteers from District 1 and District 2 would, but they were about as confident, and their stoic, unfazed expressions were reminders of this display.

"So what happens now?" Cadence spoke up again, "are you two going to give us some words of wisdom about surviving or something?"
"You've seen what you need to see thus far," Johnny indicated, "we don't know anything about these kids yet either, but we will keep you posted. What you saw just now was a glimpse of your opposition. They stand between you and coming home—or bringing Lucia home if you're really still fixed on that."
"I am." Cadence asserted, "I don't make idle promises."

"Then you've just upped the difficulty." Bethany warned, "But we will do what we can to help both of you. District 5 needs a victor."
Lucia smiled before whispering. "You really don't need to worry about me, Cadence... I've lived a good life; I've enjoyed my time."
"I know," Cadence nodded, "and I'm going to do everything in my power to help that continue…"
He had his work cut out for him, but he felt obligated to persist. He wanted to bring Lucia home.