I have just one thing to say. Actually, I have two. Actually, three. First, thanks to the guest who , thanks to hollowleaf, who followed and favorited both me and this story, and also reviewed. You made my day. Second, god Amsterdamn you and your sad frickin books, John Green. (Yeah, see what I did there?)

Disclaimer: I don't feel like it... I just finished the Fault in Our Stars and Clockwork Princess...

I board the train with my hand on Azula's arm.

"Do you have a token, Azula?"

"No."

"Take this then." I brush her straight blonde hair out of the way and clip the latch of the chain around her neck. She turns back towards me, her thanks in her eyes, not on her lips.

"By the way, Julian is my ex-boyfriend," she whispers in my ear as she hugs me, before pulling away. I roll my eys

"Of course he is."

We reach the dining car, and I throw myself in the chair next to Finnick, who has a bottle in his hand under the table. Azula sits down daintily in the chair acroos from me. Finnick clears his throat.

"Okay, the princess and I already know what Zu-Zu's good at, so tell us what your skills are, Julian." Azula averts her eyes from him at his nickname for her, and Finnick grins with an air of satisfaction, like he's trying to get her to not like him.

"Um... I'm good with rope. And also khopeshes. The khopesh is my main weapon." He smirks as he looks at me, obviously knowing that I have no idea in hell what a khopesh is. Finnick glances at me worriedly. Obviously he doesn't know what a khopesh is, either.

"Umm... Okay. During training, though, try to use different weapons. There usually aren't... khopeshes... in the cornucopia," Finnick says nods.

"Is it true that Azula is the victors' prodigy? I've heard rumors." I laugh, then make the decision to lie to him. No need for him to know what Azula's actually capable of, which is quite a lot.

"Why don't you ask Azula?" Azula glares at me, the corners of her mouth turned down at the corners.

"Whay don't you ask my sister, Julian? She's the victor here, not me."

"Hey, what about me? I'm here too," Finnick interjects. I roll my eyes and swat his arm.

"I used to teach Azula how to be a proper lady-" Azula sits up straighter in her seat, folds her legs, and puts her hands on her thigh "-and edible plants. I don't know about anything else. Try FiFi." When Azula hears that, she snorts- and a not very ladylike snort, I might add- before straightening her posture again. Finnick just smiles lazily and waves his right hand dismissively, drops of the whiskey in his bottle splashing across my face and the tabletop.

"Yeah, I gave her trident lessons for a while, but she stopped coming eventually. Guess I'm just too pretty." He sighs dramatically while Azula rolls her eyes.

"Okay, what about angles?" I ask, wanting to get back on track. Glancing out the window, I see the grain fields of district 9, which the District 4 train must cross it to get to the Capitol. That means we're abouta quarter there already. The train must be going faster than usual.

"Sadistic," Julian says, calling my out of my daydream. "Fair enough," says a shrugging Finnick, who crosses his hands across his chest, even though he still holds his whiskey bottle. Julian nods, stands up, and walks out, going to his room

"Mysterious. They'll want me to win so they can know more about me." Azula flips her hair over her shoulder. Her sea-foam green eyes gleam. "By the way, i don't want to win just because people like you. They'll sponsor me just because you're my sister. I'll trick them into thinking that my last name is... Fairchild."

My mind reels. She's shutting me out, obviously. She used to be proud of having an older sister that's a victor, especially ince I'm so popular with the Capitol citizens. She must be really depressed. I have to make her see the truth.

"My last name is Shores now, Azula, not marino. Besides, the Capitol doesn't even remember when I was Victoria Marino. I was never Victoria marino to them, only Victoria Shores. I checked last time I mentored. It turns out that in the sponsoring office and the statistics for my games, they had me listedas Mrs. Victoria Shores from the reaping until I actually became Victoria Shores. The entire frickin' time."

She opens her mouth slightly, about to speak, but I cut across her. "And you do realize that if you win as Azula Fairchild, President Snow will find out, and then he will either kill our entire family, except me- "Why everyone but you?" she interjects angrily.

I open my mouth to tell her, but Finnick gets there first.

"First, President Snow would have to hire even more bodyguards than he already has, to keep a very angry Marlin Shores from wrapping his bare hands around Snow's neck and chocking the life out of his evil little ass. Second, he'd have to hire even more bodyguards than that, to hold back a very angry me from attacking him and kicking his evil little ass . And he isn't the president for nothing. He's viciously smart, and he's ruthless. But he's not stupid enough to risk his uneasy, sort-of alliance with Marlin or I. He would lose, like, a ton of money, because we would just refuse to mentor or come to the Capitol when he summons us.

"Third, the Capitol citizens like the princess almost as they like me. They'd probably declare her birthday a holiday or something stupid like that if she died. Possibly even a Victoria Shores week if they find out that President Snow had her killed. But the Capitol citizens? Nobdy there gives a damn about the family of some of their most revered victors. And they don't care if a victor's sanity crumbles just as long as they get the show they want."

I have never heard him sound bitter. I know his family is dead because of snow, and I can tell that he's thinking about Annie. Azula is sitting stone-still, her face very pale. She sits her slightly trembling hands on the table. "Oh."

"And if you lie like that and you win, I just want you to know that he will either kill our family of force you to sell your body to the highest bidder, as a punishmetn for lying to "innocent" Capitol citizens?" I ask. Finnick flinches violently, a grimace on his face. It's painful for him to talk about what Snow does to him. Azula's eyebrows raise when she sees him flinch.

""It's happened to both of us, it would make you shatter into a million pieces. Remember how a while back I laid in bed for three weeks and I wouldn't let anybody, not even Marlin, lay a hand on me? Well, that was after my first time." Azula's eyes are as round as saucers, her mouth is hanging open is shock, and she's not even wincing over that. Usually she's so polite it's painful to look at, for fear of being blinded. But I guess the shock of that statement has made her abandon protocol.

The memory of that stings my mind. If I felt like that after only one time, Finnick must want to curl up into a ball and scream until he dies. I glance over to him. His eyes are closed, and the lines on his face from years of abuse are clearly visibly. It makes him look much older than he actually is. His hands are practically glues to his bottle. I pry it out of his hands and gingerly take a sip.

Oh, good, it's that sweet fruit-flavored wine they make in District 11, not Capitol-made whiskey. I hate whiskey. My mind goes slightly fuzzy, and the memory of those terrible three weeks slip away. I feel Azula's eyes on me. She looks disgusted, revolted, with me.

"Eh, you get used to it after a while." She pushes her chair away from the table, stands up, and backs towards the door slwoly, finally turning and sprinting out of the dining car.

If you have any good book recommendations, please tell me! One can never read enough books, or so they say! Constructive criticism is welcome. In fact, any kind of criticism is welcome. Anything that will help me on the path of becoming a better writer is welcome! R&R, please!