Applause burst from the platform as Chester led Jack and Emily off the train and toward the building that would be their home until the games began. All around them the citizens of the capitol cheered and waved, Emily and Jack, as Chester had advised them before they had gotten off the train, waved back.
Jack couldn't help but marvel at the strange dress of the people around him, and he thought Europe was weird. He hadn't realised that he'd stopped to stare until Emily tugged at his sleeve, eliciting a series of aww's from the crowd. Chester watched the exchange thoughtfully, eventually shrugging and stepping through the automatic door, gesturing to Jack and Emily to follow him.
The door slid shut with a hiss as soon as they passed it, shutting off all sound from the outside world.
"I'll take you up to the room for a quick debriefing and dinner," Chester told them as they got into the elevator, "you'll meet the other tributes tomorrow morning at training."
Jack was too busy staring out the clear wall of the elevator at the sprawling city before him. Though he'd always preferred the dusty plains and mountain ranges, he could not deny the eerie beauty that this city held. Much like the dress of the capitol citizens, the lights of the city shone in a variety of colours. Buildings rose high into the night sky, unmoving concrete creations that were still somehow graceful in their shapes and design. It was terrifying to consider the foundations of the city, the blood soaked into the soil it was built on.
Jack snorted, if only Arthur could hear his thoughts now, he'd turned into some kinda poet in his isolation.
"Now as you're our District Twelve tributes, you'll be getting the top suite all to yourselves isn't that exciting," Chester said, then clapped his hands in front of his face, "Oh my, I almost forgot, you'll be needing these to get into the room. Don't forget, you're not allowed to bring other tributes up here, this floor is exclusively for us!"
Chester handed them both a card just as the elevator doors slid open. Emily made a small noise of excitement as she rushed past Chester and into the suite. Jack followed, awe-struck eyes darting around the room in an attempt to take in everything at once. It certainly was spacious, but furniture and decoration managed to fit itself into all the rooms in a way that didn't make them feel empty or cluttered.
Chester chuckled at their reactions, "Now, we have plenty of time to look at our rooms after dinner."
He gestured to an ornate dining table, laden with what could only be described as a feast.
"YES!" Jack cheered scrambling toward the table and depositing himself in a chair.
"I've never seen so much food in my entire life," Emily said in awe as she took a seat beside him.
Chester had barely touched his seat when Emily and Jack began piling food onto their plates.
Roast chicken, soft-buttered potatoes a few slices of lightly toasted made a brief appearance on Jack's plate before he stuffed them down his gullet with a speed that could almost rival Alfred.
Chester watched the display with an upturned lip as Jack sucked the grease off his fingers and Emily began reaching for seconds.
"Every year I swear," he sighed in exasperation, "You do know how to use a knife and fork yes?"
Jack and Emily paused their demolition of the banquet and stared at him as if he was an idiot. Jack guiltily reached for his fork but only succeeded in knocking it onto the floor.
"Oh, bugger," he said, spitting bread crumbs as he leant to retrieve it.
"Language," Chester muttered unhappily.
Emily smiled at him sympathetically, though the intention was somewhat lost in the fact that she had neglected to swallow her food first.
After a while, when Jack and Emily finally pushed their empty plates away and sat with contented smiles Chester coughed to attract their attention.
"Now that we've all finished," he began, "I'd like to go over our plan for tomorrow."
He paused to make sure the two tributes were listening before he continued.
"Straight after breakfast, you'll both be taken down to the training room where you'll meet the other tributes. Now, normally I'd recommend not speaking much with them and focusing on survival and basic combat skills, however considering the nature and age of your opponents this year it may be more beneficial to try and make some allies.
The district two male tribute may be a useful ally, his charisma may be useful in gaining sponsors. I'd avoid eleven, the male seems unapproachable and getting on his bad side may be dangerous, the female, while more approachable, may become a liability later in the game. Both district six tributes will likely be working together already, no point approaching them. Also as you meet the fellow tributes, try to avoid the ones who seem to unreadable, they may be dangerous in the end. This means district three…"
Jack's attention waned at that point, and his gaze drifted about the room. He was going to see everyone tomorrow, he wasn't sure whether that unsettled feeling in his stomach was from excitement, nerves, or eating too much.
Of course, there was always the chance one of them would slip up and reveal their identities to all of Panem, they were under heavy surveillance at all time after all. Christian was probably worrying about that right now.
"Now off to bed with you both," said Chester interrupting Jack's thoughts, "Exciting day tomorrow, you'll need your sleep. Jack your room is to the left and Emily to the right"
Emily rolled her eyes, but slid off her chair and wandered toward her designated room. Jack glanced at Chester before following suite.
Tomorrow would turn out how tomorrow would turn out and there was nothing he could do about that now. He could only rest and prepare himself for whatever tomorrow could possibly throw at him.
Jack was not prepared for what tomorrow threw at him. The moment he stepped into the training room, he knew something was wrong.
He walked over to Christian, who was standing anxiously near the spears. There were a few glances thrown in his direction as he went, but no one approached him.
"What is- Uh, you using these?" he asked Christian, only remembering that they weren't supposed to know each other at the last moment.
"No, go ahead," Christian's voice was shaky and he was constantly glancing over at the others, "I'm Christian Wilson, district eight."
"Jack Brown, district twelve," Jack stuck out his hand and Christian shook it.
They both threw the spears around for a while, until Christian completely missed the target and Jack dropped his spear in shock. Christian almost never missed with a spear, something was definitely wrong.
"You right?" Jack asked, Christian slowly shook his head.
"Just nerves," he muttered.
"Hey you guys! Mind if we join you?"
Christian and Jack both froze as two sets of footsteps approached them. That voice was so achingly familiar, Jack slowly turned and when he opened his mouth to respond, he found he couldn't speak.
"Guys?" Alfred Jones peered at them curiously through his thin-rimmed glasses.
"You can use them. We were just going," Christian said stiffly, Jack stared at him incredulously.
"Why-"
"Oh cool, 'cus I made a deal with this weird guy here," Alfred said cheerfully, "If I can hit the bullseye we're gonna team up in the arena"
"I didn't agree to anything you git," grumbled a voice behind him, "I just said tha-"
Arthur Kirkland stopped and furrowed his bushy brows as he looked over Jack and Christian. Jack's heart was hammering in his chest.
"It doesn't matter, I doubt you'll hit it anyway," Arthur shook his head, "I am Arthur Kirkland, District Seven. This twat is Alfred F. Jones"
"I'm Jack Kir- Brown," Jack coughed, "Jack Brown, District Twelve."
"Christian Wilson."
"Well, Jack, Christian," Arthur nodded politely at them, "I suppose we'll be seeing a lot of each other over the next few days"
They stepped past the two brothers without another word and Jack was struck with the awful realisation that out of all the emotions he'd seen on both Arthur and Alfred's faces so far, recognition was not one of them.
"Let's go make snares," Christian's tone was sombre as he tugged on Jack's sleeve.
Jack nodded numbly. Arthur and Alfred didn't know who they were, heck, he didn't even know if they recognised each other.
"This is shit," he said under his breath.
Feliciano Vargas was not having a good time so far. First, the District Five tribute who looked like him had accused him of being an 'identity-stealing bastard' and stormed off before Feliciano could reply. Then, he'd gone to talk to the pretty girl from six only to have her brother yell at him until he cried. Finally, he'd gone to the knot tying section only to end up getting his legs tangled up in the rope so badly that the District Ten tribute with the scary face had to come and save him.
Said tribute was now sitting next to him and trying to teach him how to tie a granny knot.
"Like this?" Feliciano asked, holding up his knot for inspection.
"Almost," The blond took the rope from Feliciano's hands and made some adjustments, "But you need to loop it over like this instead."
"Oh!" Feliciano smiled brightly, "Thank you uh…"
"Ludwig Erdmann," he nodded curtly, "and you're Feliciano Vargas yes?"
"Yeah! How did you know?" Feliciano asked.
"I watched the reaping on the train," Ludwig said, "You left an impression."
"I did? It's because I'm not like the normal District One candidate right?" Feliciano blinked owlishly up at Ludwig.
"No it's-," Ludwig started.
"Because that's fine, a lot of the people in District One are really scary! Oh they're watching this right now aren't they? Oh no, if I get back they'll probably be mad I said that, but then they're mad a lot so it might not make it much of a difference."
Feliciano continued talking, Ludwig was really nice even though he yelled at the District Four tribute before and he had a scary face. Right now, he was staring at Feliciano's waving hands with an expression somewhere between annoyance and bemusement.
"Hey Ludwig, are you teaming up with anyone in the arena?" Feliciano suddenly asked.
"I… no," Ludwig said.
"Oh that's great! We can make an alliance and none of the others would even try going after us because you're so scary looking!" Feliciano said excitedly.
"That's an interesting idea," Ludwig said hesitantly, "But I am not sure it's a good one. What would I receive in return?"
Feliciano paused to think about it.
"Nothing really, I'll be like your younger brother so you can protect me and I'll disappoint you," He said cheerfully, "It's like a friendship."
Ludwig squinted at him, "like a friendship?"
"Yeah! It'll be great! We can sing around a campfire while cooking food, and oh! Maybe some of the others could be our friends too-"
"Feliciano I do not think that that is…" Ludwig sighed, "In our situation I am not sure that is possible."
"Do you think there will be things to cook with in the arena? I hope there will be pasta! I've only had it once but it's my favourite thing in the whole wide world!" Feliciano didn't want to hear what Ludwig was saying, it wasn't true. Not at all.
"Feliciano…"
"It'll definitely be okay," Feliciano said firmly, "It'll be okay."
Ludwig stared at him for a while, although considering something. Finally, after a moment of silence between them, he stood crossing his arms over his chest.
"Very well, we shall have an alliance," He said, "But you must do exactly as I say, and you will have to undergo strict training in preparation for the arena."
Feliciano began to blubber his thanks, but Ludwig cut him off with a stern glare.
"First we will build stamina, it will be more useful to you then strength," he said, "Fifteen laps around the facility, follow me."
He took off at a steady jog, leaving a stunned Feliciano clutching a half completed granny knot in his hands.
"Wha-"
"Get to it!" Ludwig barked over his shoulder.
"Y-YES SIR!" Feliciano dropped the rope and followed after Ludwig, unaware of the dark brown eyes watching them go.
A new chapter! Amazing! Also, I feel like I should mention, the oc's in this story are kinda filler characters, I feel bad about that because they seem cool, but the focus is on the countries here!
Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes also, I try find them before I update but I always miss a few .'