Leo Fabrizio- District Six male (18)

I'd never dreamed I would be in a place like this. It was crazy a place like this even existed. There were about twenty bedrooms, each named after a ruler- apparently Danish kings really hated reusing rooms and just added another room every time someone new took the throne. I'd settled on Christian VI's room, for example. I had no idea who he was, but he absolutely loved murals. I wouldn't have wanted it to be my bedroom forever, honestly- the faces plastered all over the walls would have creeped me out eventually- but it was cool for a visit. I especially liked the giant marble bathtub, which I'd noticed had been updated with modern running water. There was also another room that was marble top to bottom. It must have been very cold in the winter.

The whole castle was a fake, when I really thought about it, but that just made it better. If I knocked over a lamp or something I was just knocking over a knockoff and not a handmade priceless piece of Danish history. We'd taken full advantage of that when we found the armory. Shep had proven victorious in our great battle, which he chalked up to both being really tall and having occasionally chased off coyotes with a stick while guarding his sheep.

I was lounging on my bed when a knock came at the door. I opened the door to find what looked like some camera guy dressed in whatever fancy Danish butlers wore.

"Dinner is ready, sir," he said fancily.

"Oh. Thanks," I replied awkwardly. Only Octavia and Val would have any idea how to talk to a butler.

Kallik and Yarrow were just coming in through the giant glass doors that led to the garden when I sat down at the room-length dark wood table in one of various dining rooms. I wouldn't have known which to go to if one hadn't had a star on it on the maps we all got when we arrived, the Gamemakers not wanting to herd six Tributes scattered between a hundred or so rooms.

"Hey!" Kallik said, smiling as she looked over my shoulder.

"Sup?" came Val's voice behind me as I turned to see him.

"Feeling better?" Yarrow asked, since that was the thing to say. Clearly he was, since he was up and about.

He pulled a chair back and sat down. "That was the best nap of my life," he said. He'd disappeared into his room as soon as we arrived and hasn't been out until now, as far as I knew. "And God, am I hungry."

"Oh, I thought you might have an upset stomach or something," I said.

"It's different for everyone, but I'm always super hungry afterwards," Val said. "You know how much energy you burn when every muscle in your body is tense?"

"Eyyyy, it's Val!" Trydan said as he came in through yet another door. Val shot him finger guns. Everyone's voice has a muted tone from the sheer size of the room and the crazy high ceilings.

"What do you think they eat in Denmark?" Kallik wondered as we waited for Shep to round out the party. The table was long enough for fifty people but we'd clustered in one stretch to chat.

"I think maybe danishes," Val cracked.

"Taylor's mentor was Danish or something," I said. "She would have known." I wished she could have been here for this. It had really surprised me she'd been voted out. I hadn't thought she'd had any enemies.

While I was the tiniest bit afraid we might get hit with more stuff out of the gross food challenge, turned out Danish people mostly ate the same foods people in Panem ate. Shep especially said it reminded him of home, with things like pork and potatoes and dark bread. We'd have been happy for anything, but it was more than any of us could handle. I had no idea how to spell what the butler called the last thing, but if you asked me, it was an apple cake.

"This is the life," Kallik said as we were picking at our last bits of food.

"Must be nice to live like this every day," Trydan said to Val.

"How rich do you think I am?" he asked.

"Bet you eat meat every day," Yarrow muttered beside me, too quiet for everyone to hear.

"Everyone in One is rich," Shep agreed.

"Not everyone," Val said. "We have poor people and even homeless people."

"No kidding?" Shep asked.

Val nodded. "Lots of drugs, too. Not too much morphling, but a lot of prescription pills. A lot of people take them to try to keep up."

"Guess nothing's ever as good as it seems," I said. Only the Capitol really had it all. But that wasn't something we could say out loud.

Trydan's interview, unedited: There's a whole room here that doesn't get used much because they built a tower and it blocked all the light. What kind of dummy doesn't check that before building an entire tower?

Kallik's interview, unedited: Armor is a lot lighter than I thought it was. You can totally sprint in that stuff.

Yarrow's interview, unedited: If I lived here, I would never have guests over. Yes, I know there are thirty-five rooms. They would all be for me. Every one of them.

Octavia Jacobs- District Two female (18)

Now that Val was okay and I didn't have that to worry about, I had to reckon with the ramifications on my own strategy. Everyone had seen me freak out, which was unfortunate. I wasn't embarrassed at all about being concerned for my brother, but weakness of any kind wouldn't go unnoticed. Someone else might have leaned into it in my shoes, playing up their emotions and letting the others think they were unable to control themselves and thus not a threat. That could backfire, though, if people were looking for an easy target to survive one more week. Instead I decided to move past it entirely and harp on our plans.

"So until we get to the merge, we have to keep focusing on maintaining our strongest members," I said as Dorian and I pretended to tend to the fire. Unless it was raining, the fire really only needed a new log thrown in every few hours. It pretty much tended itself. It was no accident, the language I'd used. Humans so easily divide into tribes. Once there was an "us", it was so easy to oppose "them". What really got to me was knowing that I was the same way. Everyone thought they were immune to these things, but no one really was. Worse, even knowing all that- even acknowledging it- I was still vulnerable to it.

"Definitely," Dorian agreed. He was part of the "us", right? He was part of the "strongest members". Right from the start, we were both from Career Districts. Even if I hadn't trained, that gave me a boost. And we'd both done well in challenges. People like us had to stick together against the others. The undesirables, if you would. I honestly didn't think of them as undesirables, but I needed to make sure I was just a little bit more desirable.

"Hey, you talking strategy?" I put on a friendly face as Enzo approached. Enzo always struck me as an honest and friendly sort. He was the kind of person who, while no means stupid or gullible, was happy to assume good of someone if he had no reason not to.

"We were just saying that if we vote out the right person now, we'll win until the merge and not have to vote anyone out until then," I said.

"Ooh, we'd be so stacked. Then as soon as the merge comes, all the strong ones will turn on each other."

Enzo had come to the same conclusion I had. Once the merge hit, all bets were off. It might actually behoove me to have a few weak players around to draw votes away from me and Val. But if I focused on that too much, it wouldn't matter if I got voted out now.

"Who were you thinking?" Enzo asked.

I looked at Dorian to see if he had anything to say.

"I think it has to be either Lana or Virgo," he said.

I could live with either of those two, so I latched on. "Sucks. Lana's really nice and I like Virgo too, but it's true."

"Of course, someone might also go rogue." It didn't sound like a hint of a threat coming from Enzo. He was just the sort of guy who liked drama, or at least the chaos it brought.

Fanny bleated, adding her input to our conversation. Or maybe it was Annie. Truth be told, I couldn't tell them apart. Persi had had some success pounding acorns into flour and mixing it with their milk to make something kind of like bread. It really wasn't bread, and thinking of it as something other than bread was the only way to make it palatable, but it was calories. We'd been hindered by our lack of leavening agents, but if we could just figure out a way to whip the egg whites, we'd be onto something.

"If they do, let's just hope they don't get anyone to go along with them," Dorian said.

"The merge has to be soon," I said. "We just have to stick together until then." We. Together. Us. Just as long as it stayed us against them.

Persi's interview: I think Lana might be going home tonight. It'll be a pity if she is. She reminds me of my little sister, even though she's older than me. I just think there are some strong alliances and she's not part of them.

Persi's interview, edited: It's a pity about Lana. She's not strong or in any alliances. I think she's going home tonight.

Cactus' interview: Oh gosh, it's so nice doing interviews. I don't have to fake everything since no one here will see it until way after this is over. Anyway, I am getting really fed up with how annoying Enzo is. I'm not going to vote for him, but he's obnoxious. Persi's pretty cool, though. She called me rude, but she did it right to my face. I like someone who can be direct.

Cactus' interview, edited: I am getting really fed up with how annoying Enzo is. I think I might vote for him.

I have two votes from Ellekoner but let's see the rest!