Hunger Games
Content
The first time he sees her is on a flat screen in the lush trains on the way to the Hunger Games. It's definitely not when he falls in love with her (because love on first sight is just too cliche) but she does gain some of his respect . This is despite the fact that she's from District 12 and he's from District 2. It's despite the fact that he thinks that District 12 people are useless pieces of trash. And it's despite the fact that both are competitiors in the Hunger Games. So what does this make their love story - Unbelievable? Yes. Impossible? No? Difficult? Definitely! This is the story of the Killing Machine and the Archer. This is the story of Cato and Katniss.
"I volunteer!" and with those two words my life changed forever. It was a change I had been anticipating for almost all my life. All those years of harsh training and endurance of pain- both mental and physical- were finally paying off in the form of a chance to win the Hunger Games. Just 23 'opponents' (the only real ones would be the tributes from 1 , the girl reaped today from 2 and perhaps the tributes from 4) and then I would be back home with eternal glory for my District . The smirk on my face is strangely content and satisfied. After all , what else could I possibly want? I already have everything or will get it soon. When I turn to my District partner to shake hands, we both shake hands to wish each other good luck (Not that we need it. We have skill which is better than luck.) One of us would win the other would die trying. Even in the Justice building-no one acknowledges that I might not return home. It's simply not a possibility. I have the smarts,the strength,the looks, the charisma and mental ability to kill which is all (and more than) required for winning the Hunger Games. A definite shoo-in for Victor. Friends and family members stream in and out of the room to remind me to keep the show entertaining. "Don't kill them off too early." His father advises. He's waited for more than 17 years to say these words to his son. His younger brother demands an estimte for when he'll be back "You promised to teach me how to use a spear." and his mother pretends that she is a normal mother while she reminds him "Make sure you get enough rest and food." Their words are all a bit hollow. Obviously, I already know what to do in the Hunger Games and how to take care of myself. "Yeah, Yeah. I spent 12 years in the Academy. " I remind my family with a touch more bitterness than warranted. After all ,it's not their fault that they have only seen me for two months evey year since I turned five but it's not my fault either. I've been training to help bring pride and glory to the district for the past twelve years. On the way to the train station, I make sure to keep the confident smirk plastered to my face. I remember countless lessons the Accademy taught me. That my confidence would help as much as my 6 foot, 8 inch and 210 pound body in attracting sponsors and intimidating other tributes. At one
point, I bare my teeth directly at the camera. The better to scare you with my dear. I enter the train right after my district partener and take time to observe her. She's at least a foot shorter than me and a great deal leaner as well. Vague memories of seeing her around the Accademy float through my mind but at sixteen, she's more than a year younger than me . Her name-Clove is more familiar to me. I've heard stories about her from awed classmates and maybe even her older brother. Apparently, she's a bloody terror with knives and more than reasonably skilled with spears. Her presence here in the train (despite the fact that she was a year younger than usual) is a certificate of how qualified she is. However she's rather...plain looking. Unless her stylist this year is fantastic, her reddish- brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin aren't going to look beautiful anytime soon. During my observation, she's examined me just as thoroughly. It was one of the first things taught at the accademy: How to annalyze an opponent. To me,she's not really an opponent though because there's always been an unspoken but unbreakble agreement between tributes from the same district: Killing district partners is strictly prohibited. To go home and face the entire district after killing your district partner is impossible (unless it's a mercy killing-in which case, it's completely different) . If both Clove and I got into the final two, it would become a survival game instead of a killing one. I'm glad I have such a lethal partner to back me up and watch my back. Such a partner is always necessary when dealing with our (literally) back-stabbing allies from 1 & 4. "A pleasure to meet you Clove." I tell her and mean every word of it. "Likewise, Cato" she responds just as truthfully. Our mentors are familiar to both of us. They stand guard at each door at each side of the train compartment to block our way. Brutus is the one who trained me in swordfighting and Calypso is three years older than I am. She won the games two years ago and is extremely skilled at throwing spears. If the rumors are true, Calypso has spent several hours training Clove with the knives. Calypso and Brutus looks so similar, they could pass as siblings. They have the same strong, bulky body structure and long brownish-blonde hair and brown eyes which carefully inspect us. Calypso is different from most victors because she won using trickery and poison. For this reason she scares me more than Brutus who is probably stronger than her. At least he is more direct in his confrontation. When Calypso tries to grab my hand for deceptively gentle handshake. I completely ignore her hand with it's long, surgically implanted nails containing a paralyzing potion in favour of shoving past her to my room. Obviously this is a test of sorts. I'm proved right when Calypso ignores me as soon as I pass the threshold. This allows me to watch Clove's progress in this 'test'.She fails when Brutus makes an obvious effort to punch her and a slyer move to trip her. After falling she recognizes the test for what it is and stamps down hard with her high-heeled shoe on Brutus' foot and moves past him briskly into her quarters. Ouch!
The rooms are magnificent and after spending 12 years of sparse living in the Accademy, are even more luxurious to me. The ankle deep carpet, rich tapastries depicting ancient ancient mythology and mysteriously soft bed are too extravagant for my taste but are still welcome. The bathroom is a wonder of state of the art Capitol technology which has a button for every feature imagianable. After using the most basic features in the bathroom and the closet to freshen up, I explore the room for nearly an hour. I fiddle with the switches behind the door to change the temperature, lighting, humidity and even the scent in the room. I summon a bunch of useless trash like wigs, extra fluffy pillows and too-sweet drinks by pressing random buttons within the room. I even amuse myself by turning on an ancient video labelled 'The Karate Kid' and figuring out all of the mistakes. When I'm called for dinner in the screening room , I still have a bunch of buttons I want to press and options I want to try. District two is always efficient. We can multi-task. Which is why Lenayla (our escort who has decideded to dye her hair and skin different shades of yellow this month), Brutus, Calypso, Clove and I sit on plush seats in front of television screen while eating delicious Capitol food brought to us by avoxes. We're watching recaps of the reapings in different districts. The screens have been muted so that we can discuss the tributes. At the same time, we're blocking out inane comments that Lenayla keeps making about the looks of the tributes. For our convenience, the names of the tributes have been blackened out. It's fractionally harder to kill someone once you know their name and have gotten to know them. The District One tributes are decently strong- though not as strong as us. However they're probably more attractive than us. These things matter only during our time in the Capitol as long as the Games are closer to a beauty contest. Once we get into the arena, strength is appreciated more appropriately. We skip our own reapings and move on to the recaps of District 3. Both tributes are twerpy, malnourished and obviously no threat physically. Brutus warns Clove and I to watch out because the District 3 tributes prefer to use machines they design to kill other tributes instead of properly using strength. However, since we can't estimate how smart they are until training and since they're obviously not physically threatening enough, we move on. The tributes from four this year are not up to the mark. The girl looks simple-minded and the boy's right arm is bent out of shape from a fishing accident. Sometimes people in 4 volunteer and that's when they are difficult to kill. Clove laughs both of them off but Brutus snaps both of us out of it by saying a single name "Johanna Mason". She's well known for acting weak in the games- and then killing efficiently.Even Calypso and Brutus agree that the tributes from 5, 6, 7 ,8, 9 and 10 are pathetic this year. They're all malnourished, starved, weak, crippled, unintelligent or a combination of the five. With people like me in the arena, they wouldn't even last through the first day. Though the girl from
district 8 didn't look half bad... Obviously, I keep this information to myself and look studiously at the screen. 11 this year is memorable. The girl is only 12 and looks even smaller for her age. I hope someone else kills her before I get to her. If I get to her first, I won't I'll try making her death painless. The boy on the other hand is pure muscle and is clearly very strong. Hopefully he has no brains, otherwise he could be a lethal opponent. Clove and I decide to offer him a place in our group. Keep your enemies close and all that. We're hoping that he will help make the show interesitng. Twelve is when I see her first. When her idiotic escort draws out the name of a young girl, I am initially surprised that we have two twelve year olds. It hardly seems fair and sportsmanlinke. The Hunger Games won't even have a farce of a challenge. Then she comes out and volunteers for her sister. I start to respect her for that. I respect her even more when she doesn't shed a tear like the pathetic kids in the lower (yet higher numbered) districts did. Has 12 finally grown a backbone? She loses a smidgen of my respect when her eyes widen in horror when the boy tribute is chosen. The boy this year looks stronger than most of the tributes chosen this year in terms of sheer muscle. But then it's said that he is the baker's son. It's unlikely that he learnt any sort of useful skill. We decide to keep an eye on him to make sure that he's not a threat but we probably won't offer him a place in the alliance. From the way the two tributes shake hands, it's pretty obvious they know each other. My estimate of the female tribute goes up again when at the train station she looks bored. On the other hand, my estimate of the male tributes sinks when it's clearly seen that his eyes have turned red from crying. At the end of the recap, I'm surprised that I haven't spoken a word since I admitted that the male 11 would be dangerous. Then I enthuastically jump into the conversation about the District 12 tributes by saying that while she was definitely playing on the Capitol's heartstrings, by showing family love- she would be no threat at all. Clove thoughtfully replied that she looked healthier than most people from the higher numbered districsts. Calypso was stuck upon the point that she volunteered. Usually people volunteered only if they think there's a good chance they could win. Only Brutus agreed with me when I said that she would have no fighting skills since she grew up in 12. He pressed the point saying that she volunteered for her sister only because she didn't want her sister to die. This led to a long argument between Calypso and Brutus about her motives for volunteering. In the higher numbered districts like District 12, people never think about winning glory for their district. They're all selfish and hide like turtles in their mines because they have no skills. Lenayla contributed her first (and last) valid point for the day by saying "The Capitol will love both of them. Their's obviously something romantic between the two." before lapsing into a fit of giggles. As we leave the room I'm surprised when Clove whispers to me "We'll keep an eye on her during training." At least I'm not the only one who slightly respects her...
The next morining I am shaken awake by three brightly coloured capitolites. They intorduced themselves to me and I promptly forgot their names. One looked remotely female and was coloured ice blue and had short black hair from which icicles dripped. The other two were male. One had glittering peacock wings spreading from his back. His bones had obviously been surgically altered to look bird-like.The other was completely bald and had bands of gold and silver tatoos running up and down his arms and neck. He wore an outrageously sparkly gold sleeveless vest over tight and shiny silver pants. Just looking at the three of them made my eyes hurt. In my head I began caling them Ice, Peacock and Sparkly. While I ate my breakfast, the three of them argued about how to prepare me. Their high pitched voices and strange inflection gave me a head-ache. The terms they used were equally confusing . What are Elvis sideburns? After I was done eating, Sparkly gave me an injection "To make sure you don't grow a beard cause that is so out of fashion". Peacock and Ice started swarthing me in tons of creamy, skin coloured mixture and taking care of my nails (my masculinity was suffering). Sparkly decided to cut my hair shorter, put in a glop of something slimy but fragrant and style my hair into wicked-looking spikes. Then all three of them worked on putting makeup (RIP my masculinity) onto my face. Foundation, mascara, blush and eyeliner were all generously added to the palette that was my face. Only after this was done, was the mixture washed off. It left behind a foul smell and a thin deposit of glitter on my skin. To chase away the foul smell, an extremely strong perfume smelling of flowers was sprayed on me. Peacock very solemnly told me that "Flowers are all the rage this season" when I asked if they had another scent. It had probably taken them three hours (my resistance didn't help) to complete their preparations. When they were done, they left the room in giggles. A woman replaced them as soon as they had walked out. Her face was stencilled with black and white stripes and she had longer nails than Calypso. Her hair was dyed pink except at the edges where it was dyed black and white. Her dress was a short bright pink dress worn over tight white and black pants and equally pink boots. If she was my stylist, then there was no way that I was going to look good in the Capitol. Her voice was ridiculously high-pitched when she spoke. "You must be Cato. You have the honour of being dressed by Nyssa." Great. A megalomaniac who spoke in third person. Nyssa pointed to something gold she held in her arms "You'l be wearing a Roman costume today. They are very strong you know." she broke into a breathy giggle and touched my arm "I know you'll look great." she told me flirtatiously. Even her dyed hair and extensive makeup couldn't hide the fact that she was at least twice as old as me. Even better- A perverted megalomaniac who refers to herself in third person. I was glad that I was wearing my underwear at least. I didn't bother to smile or ask for the clothes. I practically ripped the clothes out from her arms, made my way to the empty bathroom and put them on to the best of my capabilities. It was pretty obvious that it was a type of armor. But it was
like no armour I had seen before. It obviously was not made for fights. Still I looked determined. I looked like a real warrior. After I was done yanking it on, Nyssa fastened some of the straps tighter and unnecessarily raked her and over the armour covering part of my chest. I once saw a tracker-jacker nest. Even then I had not ran as fast as I did today from the insane lady. I didn't stop until I reached the dining cart where Brutus was eating and watching a Capitol programme. He simply looked at me with raised eyebrows "Save your energy for the Games." He suggested. I glared at him with my fiercest glare. Despite beong a victor, he backed down and made a 'help-yourself' gesture towards the food. I accepted the offer and turned towards the screen where a recap of the 73rd Hunger Games was playing. However, my mind kept wandering to the opening ceremony . In my mind, I would be wearing the Roman armour and hefting a spear. The entire Capitol crowd would be looking up at me, slightly afraid of me but filled with admiration. They would be screaming for my attention "Cato!" but I wouldn't pay any attention to them. I would be standing tall and silently with a determined and fierce expression on my face. I was broken out of my daydream by a tap on the shoulder by Clove. She cocked her head and looked at me "You look pretty good. What about me?" She asked. I examined her the same way I had yesterday morning- objectively. Her hair had been put into a complicated twist with a spiked golden crown in front. She was wearing armor similar to mine- but she was wearing a tunic underneath as well. Her eyes had been outlined with gold eyeliner and her lips had been painted gold. She was sparkling as much as I was- probably a result of that skin coloured concoction. " You look fierce." I told her knowing it was what she wanted to hear. We stood in a large golden chariot pulled by four large black horses. Calypso and Brutus had told us not to acknowledge the crowd. So we didn't. District 1's chariot moved along in front of us. They looked ridiculous in pink and orange feathered outfits. I held my chin up high and put on my now-famous smirk. There were a few chants of "District 2! District 2! District 2!" So far everything was going just as I imagianed. Then the District 12 chariot rolled out and suddenly the attention was no longer on us. I turned to look at what was going on. There was some kind of malufunction in the District 12 chariot. The whole thing was on fire. All of the camera's which had previously been trained on us moved to them. Then when it was clear, nobody was burning to death- people figured out that the fire was part of the costume. Suddenly the cries of "District 2! District 2!" had changed into "Katniss! Katniss!". I looked at the screens set up and saw that the two district partners were holding hands and smiling. They were blowing the audience kisses and waving and the audience was eating it all up. By the time we had reached the city centre, my smirk had morphed into a scowl. How could they steal all the
attention which was meant for us? A glance at Clove showed her reaction was the same. While President Snow spoke about the Treaty of Treason and announced the official opening of the game, I spent my time glaring daggers at the tributes from District 12. When we enterd the training centre, 12 accidently glanced at me and caught my eye. I caught the fleeting emotion of fear that passed through her eyes. This brought my smirk back- she was intimidated by me. After the faint flicker of fear, she just stared back without showing her fear. I was reminded why I respected her again. She held my eyes until her escort distracted her by exclaiming something. That was the second time I saw her. She had angered me but made me respect her at the same time. Later that evening, when our mentors had gone out- Clove and I started making plans for the Games. "So we have us, District 1 , the girl from 4, the boy from 11 and maybe some kid from 3?" Clove asked. I hesitated before adding "and if she's any good, we'll accept the girl from 12 into our alliance". Clove suddenly turned msichevious " I saw you staring at the girl from 12..." she let the sentence hang. I corrected her harshly " I was glaring-not staring." Her face turned serious again. "Seriously Cato, we don't need any distractions from victory." I had the strangest urge to strangle her. "It's not like that." I protested pathetically. I should have known that Clove would assume something like that. I switched tactics when it was obvious she didn't believe me. "She'll be getting a large share of sponsor's money because of her stunt during the reaping and then some more becuase of her costume today." I then told her what had happened when I had glared at her. Clove looked slightly more convinced and shrugged. "Whatever. We were going to study her anyways. If you feel so strongly about her- we can let her into the alliance." "I think we should start breaking the alliance up as soon as we get into the top 8" I suggested effectively switching the topic. "I think we might as well break up when all our other opponents are dead or badly injured." Clove disagreed. I tried explaining that the kids from 1 would turn on us way before that and the conversation went on late into the night. In the morning I woke up, I took a shower and asked the closet for a pair of sweatpants and a T-Shirt. I liked the spikes and so put my hair back into them with the help of the gel. Today, was going to be important in intimidating the other tributes. Over breakfast Clove and I told Brutus and Calypso the condensed version of our plans. Calypso suggested eliminating the girl from 4 completely. "The kids from aren't worth the Alliance this year" she gave her opinion. Brutus wasn't particularly fond of inviting 12 into the alliance "She's from 12. She won't even be able to lift a sword." Then he asked his own question "And what about the alliance between the District 2 tributes? Is it strong?" It was an important question. It was going to be imposssble to have a District 2 victory without a large amount of trust between the tributes. I
considered. I looked at Clove. I would trust her not to attack me as long as we weren't down to the final two. Her judgement was sound as well. I could trust her to make the right decision for me in cas I was injured. She was deep in thought as well. When we spoke-it was in unision "Yes." Calypso nodded pleasantly before turning towards me " You're District partner is the best person to trust." It wasn't hard to tell why she was looking at me. Why did everyone think I even partially trusted District 12? I obviously don't. I threw a grape at Clove- hard. I respected Calypso too much to throw a grape at her and it was probably Clove who told her anyways. She just snickered and threw a grape back. It bounced off me and hit Calypso. Our fancy breakfast descended into a free-for-all food fight between the four of us. When Lenayla walked back into the apartment she shreiked in horror "The carpeting is expensive you idiots!" before hurriedly shooing us to change clothes. "You have to look presentable!" she screamed despite the fact there were only 10 minutes to arrive at the training centre. By the time we're ready to leave, Calypso has left and Brutus is watching the news. He yells out as we exit the door. "Don't tell anybody all of you're skills. Save them for the Games." We were lucky that elevators existed. If not we would have been late for training. Then Lenayla would probably kill our eardrums while she shouted about the importance of arriving on time. I don't want to imagiane how hard it would be to win the Hunger Games while deaf. The training centre is like the Accademy but smaller in size and with less students. When we arrive, the District 1 tributes walk towards us. We make an effort to be as intimidating and confident as possible while talking to them. "Cato, Sword-Master" I intorduce myself to the boy who tries for nonchalance and falls short with "Marvel. I prefer the spear." and then wait for Glimmer who licks her lips before saying "Glimmer, I've made slingshotting an art. I'm okay with a bow as well." Clove remains unimpressed"Clove. I'm deadly with a knife." she warns them. The District 4 tributes try to give their names but we completely ignore them in favour of telling stories about what we can do with our weapons of choice. I'm hyper-aware of the other tributes who are standing by themselves staring at us. I scan the gym to make sure everybody's attention is on us. When I look at the other tributes, they look away to avoid my eyes. A sudden flare of hot anger rushes through me as I realize that they all look towards the District 12 tributes when they aren't looking at us. The District 12 tributes are dressed in similar outfits and are standing next to each other. They're looking around the training centre and discussing amongst themselves where to go first. The boy blushes when the girl puts her hand on his shoulder to point at the knife throwing station. This time I'm the one who looks away when my attention is called by Clove when she says "Look! The trainers are here." They tell us the rules of the training centre. The main one being ' don't injure the other tributes'. Then we are finally free to go and play. I head towards the sword-fighting station where I make short work of
decimating the dummy and then challenge the trainer. He's easy enough to beat as well. I do a survey of the centre after he's done. Clove is throwing knives with deadly accuracy. Marvel is fighting an instructor with a spear and with great capability. Glimmer is actully knocking dummies down using a slingshot. The district four girl tribute is practicing using the bow and arrowshe's failing miserably. The boy from 11 is doing hand to hand combat with an instructor. He's clearly winning. The District 12 tributes are the only tributes who are training together. They're working with rope at one of the most useless station- snare making. He wonders if he could intimidate them by going there. The truth is he's curious. All the other tributes from the higher numbered districts are trying shakily to master a weapon. These two are the only ones at a 'survival skill' station. Don't they know
"I volunteer!" and with those two words my life changed forever. It was a change I had been anticipating for almost all my life. All those years of harsh training and endurance of pain- both mental and physical- were finally paying off in the form of a chance to win the Hunger Games. Just 23 'opponents' (the only real ones would be the tributes from 1 , the girl reaped today from 2 and perhaps the tributes from 4) and then I would be back home with eternal glory for my District . The smirk on my face is strangely content and satisfied. After all , what else could I possibly want? I already have everything or will get it soon. When I turn to my District partner to shake hands, we both shake hands to wish each other good luck (Not that we need it. We have skill which is better than luck.) One of us would win the other would die trying. Even in the Justice building-no one acknowledges that I might not return home. It's simply not a possibility. I have the smarts,the strength,the looks, the charisma and mental ability to kill which is all (and more than) required for winning the Hunger Games. A definite shoo-in for Victor. Friends and family members stream in and out of the room to remind me to keep the show entertaining. "Don't kill them off too early." His father advises. He's waited for more than 17 years to say these words to his son. His younger brother demands an estimte for when he'll be back "You promised to teach me how to use a spear." and his mother pretends that she is a normal mother while she reminds him "Make sure you get enough rest and food." Their words are all a bit hollow. Obviously, I already know what to do in the Hunger Games and how to take care of myself. "Yeah, Yeah. I spent 12 years in the Academy. " I remind my family with a touch more bitterness than warranted. After all ,it's not their fault that they have only seen me for two months evey year since I turned five but it's not my fault either. I've been training to help bring pride and glory to the district for the past twelve years. On the way to the train station, I make sure to keep the confident smirk plastered to my face. I remember countless lessons the Accademy taught me. That my confidence would help as much as my 6 foot, 8 inch and 210 pound body in attracting sponsors and intimidating other tributes. At one
point, I bare my teeth directly at the camera. The better to scare you with my dear. I enter the train right after my district partener and take time to observe her. She's at least a foot shorter than me and a great deal leaner as well. Vague memories of seeing her around the Accademy float through my mind but at sixteen, she's more than a year younger than me . Her name-Clove is more familiar to me. I've heard stories about her from awed classmates and maybe even her older brother. Apparently, she's a bloody terror with knives and more than reasonably skilled with spears. Her presence here in the train (despite the fact that she was a year younger than usual) is a certificate of how qualified she is. However she's rather...plain looking. Unless her stylist this year is fantastic, her reddish- brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin aren't going to look beautiful anytime soon. During my observation, she's examined me just as thoroughly. It was one of the first things taught at the accademy: How to annalyze an opponent. To me,she's not really an opponent though because there's always been an unspoken but unbreakble agreement between tributes from the same district: Killing district partners is strictly prohibited. To go home and face the entire district after killing your district partner is impossible (unless it's a mercy killing-in which case, it's completely different) . If both Clove and I got into the final two, it would become a survival game instead of a killing one. I'm glad I have such a lethal partner to back me up and watch my back. Such a partner is always necessary when dealing with our (literally) back-stabbing allies from 1 & 4. "A pleasure to meet you Clove." I tell her and mean every word of it. "Likewise, Cato" she responds just as truthfully. Our mentors are familiar to both of us. They stand guard at each door at each side of the train compartment to block our way. Brutus is the one who trained me in swordfighting and Calypso is three years older than I am. She won the games two years ago and is extremely skilled at throwing spears. If the rumors are true, Calypso has spent several hours training Clove with the knives. Calypso and Brutus looks so similar, they could pass as siblings. They have the same strong, bulky body structure and long brownish-blonde hair and brown eyes which carefully inspect us. Calypso is different from most victors because she won using trickery and poison. For this reason she scares me more than Brutus who is probably stronger than her. At least he is more direct in his confrontation. When Calypso tries to grab my hand for deceptively gentle handshake. I completely ignore her hand with it's long, surgically implanted nails containing a paralyzing potion in favour of shoving past her to my room. Obviously this is a test of sorts. I'm proved right when Calypso ignores me as soon as I pass the threshold. This allows me to watch Clove's progress in this 'test'.She fails when Brutus makes an obvious effort to punch her and a slyer move to trip her. After falling she recognizes the test for what it is and stamps down hard with her high-heeled shoe on Brutus' foot and moves past him briskly into her quarters. Ouch!
The rooms are magnificent and after spending 12 years of sparse living in the Accademy, are even more luxurious to me. The ankle deep carpet, rich tapastries depicting ancient ancient mythology and mysteriously soft bed are too extravagant for my taste but are still welcome. The bathroom is a wonder of state of the art Capitol technology which has a button for every feature imagianable. After using the most basic features in the bathroom and the closet to freshen up, I explore the room for nearly an hour. I fiddle with the switches behind the door to change the temperature, lighting, humidity and even the scent in the room. I summon a bunch of useless trash like wigs, extra fluffy pillows and too-sweet drinks by pressing random buttons within the room. I even amuse myself by turning on an ancient video labelled 'The Karate Kid' and figuring out all of the mistakes. When I'm called for dinner in the screening room , I still have a bunch of buttons I want to press and options I want to try. District two is always efficient. We can multi-task. Which is why Lenayla (our escort who has decideded to dye her hair and skin different shades of yellow this month), Brutus, Calypso, Clove and I sit on plush seats in front of television screen while eating delicious Capitol food brought to us by avoxes. We're watching recaps of the reapings in different districts. The screens have been muted so that we can discuss the tributes. At the same time, we're blocking out inane comments that Lenayla keeps making about the looks of the tributes. For our convenience, the names of the tributes have been blackened out. It's fractionally harder to kill someone once you know their name and have gotten to know them. The District One tributes are decently strong- though not as strong as us. However they're probably more attractive than us. These things matter only during our time in the Capitol as long as the Games are closer to a beauty contest. Once we get into the arena, strength is appreciated more appropriately. We skip our own reapings and move on to the recaps of District 3. Both tributes are twerpy, malnourished and obviously no threat physically. Brutus warns Clove and I to watch out because the District 3 tributes prefer to use machines they design to kill other tributes instead of properly using strength. However, since we can't estimate how smart they are until training and since they're obviously not physically threatening enough, we move on. The tributes from four this year are not up to the mark. The girl looks simple-minded and the boy's right arm is bent out of shape from a fishing accident. Sometimes people in 4 volunteer and that's when they are difficult to kill. Clove laughs both of them off but Brutus snaps both of us out of it by saying a single name "Johanna Mason". She's well known for acting weak in the games- and then killing efficiently.Even Calypso and Brutus agree that the tributes from 5, 6, 7 ,8, 9 and 10 are pathetic this year. They're all malnourished, starved, weak, crippled, unintelligent or a combination of the five. With people like me in the arena, they wouldn't even last through the first day. Though the girl from
district 8 didn't look half bad... Obviously, I keep this information to myself and look studiously at the screen. 11 this year is memorable. The girl is only 12 and looks even smaller for her age. I hope someone else kills her before I get to her. If I get to her first, I won't I'll try making her death painless. The boy on the other hand is pure muscle and is clearly very strong. Hopefully he has no brains, otherwise he could be a lethal opponent. Clove and I decide to offer him a place in our group. Keep your enemies close and all that. We're hoping that he will help make the show interesitng. Twelve is when I see her first. When her idiotic escort draws out the name of a young girl, I am initially surprised that we have two twelve year olds. It hardly seems fair and sportsmanlinke. The Hunger Games won't even have a farce of a challenge. Then she comes out and volunteers for her sister. I start to respect her for that. I respect her even more when she doesn't shed a tear like the pathetic kids in the lower (yet higher numbered) districts did. Has 12 finally grown a backbone? She loses a smidgen of my respect when her eyes widen in horror when the boy tribute is chosen. The boy this year looks stronger than most of the tributes chosen this year in terms of sheer muscle. But then it's said that he is the baker's son. It's unlikely that he learnt any sort of useful skill. We decide to keep an eye on him to make sure that he's not a threat but we probably won't offer him a place in the alliance. From the way the two tributes shake hands, it's pretty obvious they know each other. My estimate of the female tribute goes up again when at the train station she looks bored. On the other hand, my estimate of the male tributes sinks when it's clearly seen that his eyes have turned red from crying. At the end of the recap, I'm surprised that I haven't spoken a word since I admitted that the male 11 would be dangerous. Then I enthuastically jump into the conversation about the District 12 tributes by saying that while she was definitely playing on the Capitol's heartstrings, by showing family love- she would be no threat at all. Clove thoughtfully replied that she looked healthier than most people from the higher numbered districsts. Calypso was stuck upon the point that she volunteered. Usually people volunteered only if they think there's a good chance they could win. Only Brutus agreed with me when I said that she would have no fighting skills since she grew up in 12. He pressed the point saying that she volunteered for her sister only because she didn't want her sister to die. This led to a long argument between Calypso and Brutus about her motives for volunteering. In the higher numbered districts like District 12, people never think about winning glory for their district. They're all selfish and hide like turtles in their mines because they have no skills. Lenayla contributed her first (and last) valid point for the day by saying "The Capitol will love both of them. Their's obviously something romantic between the two." before lapsing into a fit of giggles. As we leave the room I'm surprised when Clove whispers to me "We'll keep an eye on her during training." At least I'm not the only one who slightly respects her...
The next morining I am shaken awake by three brightly coloured capitolites. They intorduced themselves to me and I promptly forgot their names. One looked remotely female and was coloured ice blue and had short black hair from which icicles dripped. The other two were male. One had glittering peacock wings spreading from his back. His bones had obviously been surgically altered to look bird-like.The other was completely bald and had bands of gold and silver tatoos running up and down his arms and neck. He wore an outrageously sparkly gold sleeveless vest over tight and shiny silver pants. Just looking at the three of them made my eyes hurt. In my head I began caling them Ice, Peacock and Sparkly. While I ate my breakfast, the three of them argued about how to prepare me. Their high pitched voices and strange inflection gave me a head-ache. The terms they used were equally confusing . What are Elvis sideburns? After I was done eating, Sparkly gave me an injection "To make sure you don't grow a beard cause that is so out of fashion". Peacock and Ice started swarthing me in tons of creamy, skin coloured mixture and taking care of my nails (my masculinity was suffering). Sparkly decided to cut my hair shorter, put in a glop of something slimy but fragrant and style my hair into wicked-looking spikes. Then all three of them worked on putting makeup (RIP my masculinity) onto my face. Foundation, mascara, blush and eyeliner were all generously added to the palette that was my face. Only after this was done, was the mixture washed off. It left behind a foul smell and a thin deposit of glitter on my skin. To chase away the foul smell, an extremely strong perfume smelling of flowers was sprayed on me. Peacock very solemnly told me that "Flowers are all the rage this season" when I asked if they had another scent. It had probably taken them three hours (my resistance didn't help) to complete their preparations. When they were done, they left the room in giggles. A woman replaced them as soon as they had walked out. Her face was stencilled with black and white stripes and she had longer nails than Calypso. Her hair was dyed pink except at the edges where it was dyed black and white. Her dress was a short bright pink dress worn over tight white and black pants and equally pink boots. If she was my stylist, then there was no way that I was going to look good in the Capitol. Her voice was ridiculously high-pitched when she spoke. "You must be Cato. You have the honour of being dressed by Nyssa." Great. A megalomaniac who spoke in third person. Nyssa pointed to something gold she held in her arms "You'l be wearing a Roman costume today. They are very strong you know." she broke into a breathy giggle and touched my arm "I know you'll look great." she told me flirtatiously. Even her dyed hair and extensive makeup couldn't hide the fact that she was at least twice as old as me. Even better- A perverted megalomaniac who refers to herself in third person. I was glad that I was wearing my underwear at least. I didn't bother to smile or ask for the clothes. I practically ripped the clothes out from her arms, made my way to the empty bathroom and put them on to the best of my capabilities. It was pretty obvious that it was a type of armor. But it was
like no armour I had seen before. It obviously was not made for fights. Still I looked determined. I looked like a real warrior. After I was done yanking it on, Nyssa fastened some of the straps tighter and unnecessarily raked her and over the armour covering part of my chest. I once saw a tracker-jacker nest. Even then I had not ran as fast as I did today from the insane lady. I didn't stop until I reached the dining cart where Brutus was eating and watching a Capitol programme. He simply looked at me with raised eyebrows "Save your energy for the Games." He suggested. I glared at him with my fiercest glare. Despite beong a victor, he backed down and made a 'help-yourself' gesture towards the food. I accepted the offer and turned towards the screen where a recap of the 73rd Hunger Games was playing. However, my mind kept wandering to the opening ceremony . In my mind, I would be wearing the Roman armour and hefting a spear. The entire Capitol crowd would be looking up at me, slightly afraid of me but filled with admiration. They would be screaming for my attention "Cato!" but I wouldn't pay any attention to them. I would be standing tall and silently with a determined and fierce expression on my face. I was broken out of my daydream by a tap on the shoulder by Clove. She cocked her head and looked at me "You look pretty good. What about me?" She asked. I examined her the same way I had yesterday morning- objectively. Her hair had been put into a complicated twist with a spiked golden crown in front. She was wearing armor similar to mine- but she was wearing a tunic underneath as well. Her eyes had been outlined with gold eyeliner and her lips had been painted gold. She was sparkling as much as I was- probably a result of that skin coloured concoction. " You look fierce." I told her knowing it was what she wanted to hear. We stood in a large golden chariot pulled by four large black horses. Calypso and Brutus had told us not to acknowledge the crowd. So we didn't. District 1's chariot moved along in front of us. They looked ridiculous in pink and orange feathered outfits. I held my chin up high and put on my now-famous smirk. There were a few chants of "District 2! District 2! District 2!" So far everything was going just as I imagianed. Then the District 12 chariot rolled out and suddenly the attention was no longer on us. I turned to look at what was going on. There was some kind of malufunction in the District 12 chariot. The whole thing was on fire. All of the camera's which had previously been trained on us moved to them. Then when it was clear, nobody was burning to death- people figured out that the fire was part of the costume. Suddenly the cries of "District 2! District 2!" had changed into "Katniss! Katniss!". I looked at the screens set up and saw that the two district partners were holding hands and smiling. They were blowing the audience kisses and waving and the audience was eating it all up. By the time we had reached the city centre, my smirk had morphed into a scowl. How could they steal all the
attention which was meant for us? A glance at Clove showed her reaction was the same. While President Snow spoke about the Treaty of Treason and announced the official opening of the game, I spent my time glaring daggers at the tributes from District 12. When we enterd the training centre, 12 accidently glanced at me and caught my eye. I caught the fleeting emotion of fear that passed through her eyes. This brought my smirk back- she was intimidated by me. After the faint flicker of fear, she just stared back without showing her fear. I was reminded why I respected her again. She held my eyes until her escort distracted her by exclaiming something. That was the second time I saw her. She had angered me but made me respect her at the same time. Later that evening, when our mentors had gone out- Clove and I started making plans for the Games. "So we have us, District 1 , the girl from 4, the boy from 11 and maybe some kid from 3?" Clove asked. I hesitated before adding "and if she's any good, we'll accept the girl from 12 into our alliance". Clove suddenly turned msichevious " I saw you staring at the girl from 12..." she let the sentence hang. I corrected her harshly " I was glaring-not staring." Her face turned serious again. "Seriously Cato, we don't need any distractions from victory." I had the strangest urge to strangle her. "It's not like that." I protested pathetically. I should have known that Clove would assume something like that. I switched tactics when it was obvious she didn't believe me. "She'll be getting a large share of sponsor's money because of her stunt during the reaping and then some more becuase of her costume today." I then told her what had happened when I had glared at her. Clove looked slightly more convinced and shrugged. "Whatever. We were going to study her anyways. If you feel so strongly about her- we can let her into the alliance." "I think we should start breaking the alliance up as soon as we get into the top 8" I suggested effectively switching the topic. "I think we might as well break up when all our other opponents are dead or badly injured." Clove disagreed. I tried explaining that the kids from 1 would turn on us way before that and the conversation went on late into the night. In the morning I woke up, I took a shower and asked the closet for a pair of sweatpants and a T-Shirt. I liked the spikes and so put my hair back into them with the help of the gel. Today, was going to be important in intimidating the other tributes. Over breakfast Clove and I told Brutus and Calypso the condensed version of our plans. Calypso suggested eliminating the girl from 4 completely. "The kids from aren't worth the Alliance this year" she gave her opinion. Brutus wasn't particularly fond of inviting 12 into the alliance "She's from 12. She won't even be able to lift a sword." Then he asked his own question "And what about the alliance between the District 2 tributes? Is it strong?" It was an important question. It was going to be imposssble to have a District 2 victory without a large amount of trust between the tributes. I
considered. I looked at Clove. I would trust her not to attack me as long as we weren't down to the final two. Her judgement was sound as well. I could trust her to make the right decision for me in cas I was injured. She was deep in thought as well. When we spoke-it was in unision "Yes." Calypso nodded pleasantly before turning towards me " You're District partner is the best person to trust." It wasn't hard to tell why she was looking at me. Why did everyone think I even partially trusted District 12? I obviously don't. I threw a grape at Clove- hard. I respected Calypso too much to throw a grape at her and it was probably Clove who told her anyways. She just snickered and threw a grape back. It bounced off me and hit Calypso. Our fancy breakfast descended into a free-for-all food fight between the four of us. When Lenayla walked back into the apartment she shreiked in horror "The carpeting is expensive you idiots!" before hurriedly shooing us to change clothes. "You have to look presentable!" she screamed despite the fact there were only 10 minutes to arrive at the training centre. By the time we're ready to leave, Calypso has left and Brutus is watching the news. He yells out as we exit the door. "Don't tell anybody all of you're skills. Save them for the Games." We were lucky that elevators existed. If not we would have been late for training. Then Lenayla would probably kill our eardrums while she shouted about the importance of arriving on time. I don't want to imagiane how hard it would be to win the Hunger Games while deaf. The training centre is like the Accademy but smaller in size and with less students. When we arrive, the District 1 tributes walk towards us. We make an effort to be as intimidating and confident as possible while talking to them. "Cato, Sword-Master" I intorduce myself to the boy who tries for nonchalance and falls short with "Marvel. I prefer the spear." and then wait for Glimmer who licks her lips before saying "Glimmer, I've made slingshotting an art. I'm okay with a bow as well." Clove remains unimpressed"Clove. I'm deadly with a knife." she warns them. The District 4 tributes try to give their names but we completely ignore them in favour of telling stories about what we can do with our weapons of choice. I'm hyper-aware of the other tributes who are standing by themselves staring at us. I scan the gym to make sure everybody's attention is on us. When I look at the other tributes, they look away to avoid my eyes. A sudden flare of hot anger rushes through me as I realize that they all look towards the District 12 tributes when they aren't looking at us. The District 12 tributes are dressed in similar outfits and are standing next to each other. They're looking around the training centre and discussing amongst themselves where to go first. The boy blushes when the girl puts her hand on his shoulder to point at the knife throwing station. This time I'm the one who looks away when my attention is called by Clove when she says "Look! The trainers are here." They tell us the rules of the training centre. The main one being ' don't injure the other tributes'. Then we are finally free to go and play. I head towards the sword-fighting station where I make short work of
decimating the dummy and then challenge the trainer. He's easy enough to beat as well. I do a survey of the centre after he's done. Clove is throwing knives with deadly accuracy. Marvel is fighting an instructor with a spear and with great capability. Glimmer is actully knocking dummies down using a slingshot. The district four girl tribute is practicing using the bow and arrowshe's failing miserably. The boy from 11 is doing hand to hand combat with an instructor. He's clearly winning. The District 12 tributes are the only tributes who are training together. They're working with rope at one of the most useless station- snare making. He wonders if he could intimidate them by going there. The truth is he's curious. All the other tributes from the higher numbered districts are trying shakily to master a weapon. These two are the only ones at a 'survival skill' station. Don't they know
