Two updates in one day! I know! You're not going to get it again! I'm just feeling very generous today, because I got two reviews (TWO REVIEWS! Happy dance time :D) in the first hour of Chapter 4 (or would it be 5?) being up, and was so motivated that I decided to post the next chappy now. And this one really isn't much. Just a bunch of dialogue (but it's IMPORTANT, so read it anyway) that I could have blended in with Chapter 4 but didn't feel like doing. Plus I missed a day, so I'm just getting back on track. (These daily updates won't last long, though... once we start getting into the suspense-filled, cliffhanger chapters, I'll extend the intervals between updates to THREE days... *evil laugh* uhh...)

So here it is...

Chapter 5

That night at dinner, Katniss asked a very strange question. Actually, it was not exactly strange. Just random. "Do you know who the District 12 representatives are?"

Petronius looked up from his steak. "One of them's Julius Kane, I know that. He tried to get me to join his band today. He called it some stupid name, like the Elites or something, but basically it's just this year's approximation of the Careers. Except that they really don't care about the district number, for obvious reasons."

At the other end of the table, Augusta glanced up and met Petronius's eye. Shyly, she returned to her meal. Amadeus was being very protective of late. It didn't matter that he wasn't here.

"What about the girl?" Katniss asked. Petronius shrugged.

"I dunno. I think her name's Iris or something, and she's eleven. Granddaughter of President Snow."

"She's eleven?" Katniss repeated, her voice catching in her throat.

Petronius shrugged again. "Yeah. They ignored that for this year's Games, because the rebels really want the girl dead. They're not really specific about the age restrictions this year. Marius is nineteen and they're letting him in."

"Why?"

"I dunno. I thought you would."

"They don't particularly care what age we are," Augusta put in quietly, "just so long as we're dead."

"Wouldn't Marius have an advantage, then?" asked Katniss.

Petronius laughed. "He's pretty big, but muscle doesn't have much to do with it. He wouldn't know the difference between an orange and an apple if you gave him a choice."

Katniss frowned. "How could you get –– "

"Trust me, if you're that stupid and colorblind, you can," said Petronius. "Julius just keeps him around for when he needs to hit someone and doesn't feel like doing it himself."

"So back to Snow's granddaughter," said his mentor, "is she good?"

"At what?"

"Weapons, survival, anything really."

"She's not very strong. I've seen her by the archery range, and I guess she's pretty good. I also saw her at the first-aid station, talking to the trainer about more advanced stuff."

"Oh," Katniss said. "That's…nice. Is there anyone else either of you saw? Possible allies, maybe?"

Petronius looked at Augusta, who had been mostly silent the entire dinner. She shrugged. "Just Amadeus. He doesn't want me associating with other people."

Katniss inclined her chin, but she said nothing and just looked at Petronius. He mirrored Augusta's shrug. "Like I said, Julius asked me to join his crew."

"Really?" Katniss asked, obviously waiting for more information.

"Yeah. It's just him, Cynthia, Marius, Lucius, and some girl named Claudia, I think. I refused, because Julius really doesn't like me."

"Then why did he ask?"

Confession time. "Well, they might have seen me using a sword. Just a little bit."

"He was hogging up the entire sword station for three hours," Augusta translated.

Katniss rolled her eyes and sighed. Petronius realized, for the first time, how young she was. She was only a few months older than him. He also realized how cute she was, but then he dashed away these thoughts. Peeta Mellark would kill him.

Petronius decided to continue and cover up his mistake by talking. "Whatever," he said. "I was impatient. Anyway, Julius wasn't the only one who I thought about joining." He had Katniss's full attention. "Yesterday, at lunch break, I talked to a few loners."

"Really? Who?" asked Katniss.

"Female District 11, Artemis Gossamer, and male District 4, Caius." He thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what Caius's last name was. He didn't say. He kind of… uh… scared me off before he could tell me."

"Angelico," Augusta put in. "Caius Adrian Angelico. I know him. Son of Vice President Adrian Angelico. He's not very nice."

"Yeah," Petronius said. "Him. You're right about that last part."

Katniss opened her mouth to say something, but then she seemed to think better of it and stood up. She left the table, and after a hesitation, Augusta followed. Petronius was left by himself, picking at his meal.

Great. Now I've ticked off my mentor, too.

Please please please please please review! It's not much! Just... just do it. Five people have taken that step... you can do it too *gives puppy dog eyes* pwease?