(BTW, from now one I'm just going to pretend that there are no mentor or escort characters. I may make references to them, but they won't have any speech or stuff like that. They'll just be a concept).
The train was over 40 carriages long. Each district included a 'living room' of sorts. They contained luxurious blue arm chairs, with reflective, shiny metal coffee tables. The biggest of which flipped into a chess table. On one of the coffee tables was a projector which projected a hologram onto the wall where the tributes could watch any Panem show they wanted. The walls were a mixture of wooden panels and dark blue wallpaper that contained the pattern of roses. At the back of these carriages were mahogany dining tables, accompanying six blue chairs. For each district, there was at least four consisting the team: the two tributes, their escort and their mentor, but some districts had more than one mentor. Mentors had previously won the game, possibly even decades ago.
The second carriage for each district was a long, narrow hallway that was much taller than it was wide. People could barely squeeze sideways past each other. Off this stemmed bedrooms for the members of each district. The bedrooms were quite luxurious, with the blue theme. But small, and only single beds, a mirror and wardrobes occupied them. A bathroom was also squeezed onto this carriage.
In between each carriage was a spare one, usually occupied by peacekeepers, to make sure no tributes attempt to cross to another district's section, and game makers, trying to get a first look at the tributes to help design the Games.
There were some extra random carriages for supplies, cooling tributes meals, control rooms, etc.
DISTRICT 8 CARRIAGE:
Thorne took the first leap of faith onto the train and was surprised at the softness of the carpet, the shine of the metal, and... that amazing smell. It smelt like... fresh food! She was blissfully surprised, to begin with. Then Pork followed her onto the train and at the smell of fresh produce his greedy mouth begun to water immediatley. It smelt like his parent's bakery, so he already felt at home.
"Where is that smell coming from?" Pork whispered in delight. But Thorne did not reply back. She was too busy absorbing the atmosphere of the train. The colours, the food, the luxurious treatment. Over time, she found it ridiculous. Mocking! The capital knew why she was on this train; PANEM knew why she was on this train. To die, so why pretend she is royalty. Again, to prove that she is the property of the capital. All of a sudden, she realised the boy spoke. She couldn't even remember his name. She didn't particularly want to befriend him anyway. He was overweight, useless, spoilt. What use would he have been to her? She also simply just wasn't in the mood for conversation.
"We're already moving!" Pork gasps, surprised, running to the glass window. Shades of green and occasional structures were zooming past and out of view in milliseconds. Neither of them felt a single vibration.
DISTRICT 1 CARRIAGE:
As the train torpedoed down the tracks (or more like hovering above them), Glitter and Diamond were having some fun with fashion.
"How do I look?" Glitter smiles, then perching her lips into a kissing position, poking her bum outwards. Glitter wore a skin-tight red dress decorated with feathery ribbon hanging from the bottom. She also had a lot of makeup on with red lipstick and long eyelashes. She had pulled it all from the wardrobe in her bedroom. They both stand in the cramped hallway.
"You look just a Panem prostitute!" Diamond jokes. He knew Glitter was only having some fun, but he didn't appreciate it. They had just been reaped, they should be distraught.
"That's not funny. Everyone in District 1 thinks that's why I want to win,"
"You know it's not true. Screw them. They don't get to be here, you do!"
This produces an enormous grin on Glitter's face, and then she walks suggestively over to Diamond, stroking him up and down with her index finger.
"Do I look hot? I want to look my best for the capital,"
"I'm getting uncomfortable now, Glitter. We're friends."
"You're right, that did feel weird. Sorry. I know I look good anyway," she goes back into her bedroom and stares herself down in the mirror.
Diamond simply rethinks back to the story his mother told him of his father: how his father died in cold-blood in the arena. He wasn't murdered, but rather dehydrated for days, and was never sponsored a thing. By remembering this, it's easy to keep focus on what the show is really all about.
DISTRICT 11 CARRIAGE:
Bloom sat with discipline on one of the blue armchair's gazing out the window. Blunt sits opposite her, in another armchair, and places a metal tray of flavours and vodka on the coffee table between them. Blunt begins helping himself, mixing flavours, and Bloom's eyes continuously wander from the window, to the drinks and back, until she must ask.
"What was all that about?"
"What." Blunt responds.
"Punching the escort. That's only going to get you killed," Bloom states.
"How?"
"The capital create the Games, remember?" She continues "You just punched one of their escorts in the face." Bloom continues to gaze out the window, looking at the bright blue rivers and lakes that zoom past.
"I wasn't going to survive anyway,"
"Is that right?" Bloom murmurs immediately after, "I think you stood a chance. And you still didn't answer my question."
"I hated my parents okay? I wanted them dead. By punching her, that will hopefully happen. I don't care what happens to me." While Blunt explains, his facial expression does not change, and his pace in mixing drinks does not waver. Bloom sensed this to be true.
"I'm sorry you feel that way."
"Do you care to take anything off the trolly?" A capital member asks, pushing a trolly past their seating area. It was jam-packed with sweets of red, yellow and blue and baked goods smothered in cinnamon, icing and edible glitter.
"For us?" Bloom chokes, her eyes watering. She'd never been offered something so tasty for free. She only wished her starving family could be here. They would have loved this. Maybe this part of the show wasn't too bad.
"I'm good," Blunt states.
DISTRICT 6 CARRIAGE:
The dining table was engulfed in sweet wrappers and crums, while Dawn and Kyle rubbed their stomachs.
"Why doesn't this suck yet," Kyle asks.
"They're making us fat first," Dawn responds. Somehow, they both find savage irony in their current joy, considering the situation.
"What, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel?"
"That's what they are, witches!" Dawn laughs "let's stone them."
They both giggle, but Kyle holds a finger to his lips.
"Shh! That could get you in trouble Dawn!" But she changes the subject.
"Didn't we used to be friends?" Dawn asks.
"When we were little, I think so, yeah."
"What happened to us then?"
"Same as everyone," Kyle explains, "we started working. I worked with my dad, you with your mum. The reaping scares you into not having friends."
The conversation took a serious tone, but Dawn wasn't going to let herself or Kyle get any further depressed. She grabs a handful of jam filled lemon doughnuts and tosses them at Kyle, and they explode over his shirt.
"What was that for!"
"Lighten up," she giggles "it's the Hunger Games!"
"And may the odds be in your fucking favour!" He laughs, and he returns fire and a splash of sugar and powder imprint on her face and her.
"Who's going to clean this up?" Kyle asks.
"Meh, what are they going to do, kill us?" Dawn smiles deviously. They were going to die anyway. Most likely.
DISTRICT 4 CARRIAGE:
Danny and Coral sit at the mahogany dinning table, each taking a seat opposite eachother. Coral watches the sunset out of the window; colours of orange invade the sky while the members of the kitchen roll out dinner on silver platters.
"It's nice to have something other than fish," Danny smiles, stabbing his fork into every food, trying a bit of everything. He then coughs violently, "it'll be nice to be treated too."
"Yeah," Coral agrees, but blankly. She knew her, and Danny wouldn't ever be friends. He was so set on winning, and killing others. That wasn't for her.
"What's wrong?" He asked. But Danny was treating her like a career tribute, despite the fact she had been reaped. Maybe she would be accepted into the career alliance after all.
"I'm fine," Coral smiles gently, taking small amounts onto her plate. Coral eats fish, unlike Danny. It reminds her of home.
"I know you don't want to be here," Danny states, staring her down. This worries Coral. 'He is catching on' she thought. Coral has to think fast.
"It's because of my sister, Lantis," Coral explains "we just lost our parents a few weeks ago. It's a rather sour time for me to enter the games. Lantis is all on her own now."
It was bullshit. Coral's parents died a long time ago. In reality, Coral was scared, but maybe her lies and quick thinker could get her through the Games! Right now, she just wanted to get through dinner.
"Ah," Danny sighs, "I'm sorry for your loss. May the odds be ever in your favour." And they clink glasses. That was the last thing Coral wanted to hear. The odds were not in her favour. An avox women approaches the dining table and place a light blue tablet before Danny and Coral. A capital T is carved into the powdery tablet.
"But I'm not infected," Coral states.
"They probably think you may have caught it from me. You may have," Danny explains. 'He was smart' she thought. This worried her even more. Danny is good and making educated guesses, so how long could she keep up this lie that she is a career?
DISTRICT 3 CARRIAGE:
Echo and Dayta had flipped one of the coffee tables into a chess board for entertainment. It was dark outside the train, and they were only half way to Panem. Dinner was settling in their stomachs and the awkward sensation between them had began to rest.
"Check," Dayta says.
"You've played before?" Echo asks.
"With my brothers."
"Is it bad to say that I'm glad I was reaped?" He asks again. But Dayta pauses for a moment.
"I wouldn't go telling all the tributes that," Dayta responds.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Why are you glad we are here?"
"I get the chance to prove to everyone I know that I'm worth something. If I can win and go back to District 3 a victor, I would be a legend!" Echo cheers. But then he realises who he is talking to, a 12-year-old. To talk of him winning is talking of her dying.
"I'm sorry," Echo says, looking down. It did hurt her feelings. Dayta had already watched the reapings on the projector, and there was no other tributes who were 12. She was the youngest tribute this year. But Dayta had cried enough today. She wanted to have some fun.
"Let's keep playing. I've almost won," Dayta smiles.
DISTRICT 7 CARRIAGE:
Willow and Birch had been drinking all night. It felt appropriate since they had been reaped only hours ago. It was a must for a Willow to drink. Yes, she was glad to be here, but distraught her brother had followed her into the Games.
"You know," Willow burps, "you know, you know..."
"I know what?" Birch smiles. Birch had been drinking too, but not as much as Willow.
"You could actually win, Birch! You could win, actually..."
"Thanks Willow," but he is unsure of how to respond.
"You can make loads of career buddies," Willow continues, "and then, they'll take you to the end!"
"They'll take us to the end, Willow. I wouldn't leave you! I love you,"
"Aw, I love you too little brother! But still. They won't like me. I'm a cold bitch-"
"Now Willow," he interrupts, "that's not entirely true."
"Yes, it is." She states. The seriousness tone of the conversation had killed her buzz, and she took a seat on one of the blue armchairs that were not overturned. Birch watches her from the over side of the carriage and decides it is best to leave her.
"I'm going to bed. It's a big day tomorrow," Birch states. But Willow stares out the window, her back to Birch. She doesn't give any sign that she was listening.
DISTRICT 5 CARRIAGE:
Cleopatra was in her encased bedroom. There was barely any room to stand, but she rather sat on the bed and watched the scenery outside shoot past in the dark. There wasn't much to see, but it was relaxing, to watch the world go by. She then turned to face the mirror in her bedroom and begun to brush her long, blonde hair.
"Goodnight," Thunder calls from the hallway. Within a few seconds, he is actually visible in the door frame. He was also ready for bed.
"It's hardly good," Cleopatra groans, focusing her attention on herself in the mirror.
"I'm sorry," she says, putting her brush down and giving Thunder the eye contact he deserves. She could tell Thunder was a genuine guy.
"How are you going to approach tomorrow?" Thunder asks, "with the capital?"
"Well," Cleopatra thinks, "I'll just wave and smile to the crowds. What else can I do?"
"Well," Thunder also says, taking a seat on the bed, "I was thinking if we perform some routine. Every tribute waves every year. It might help get us sponsors." Cleopatra thought it was clever.
"What do you propose?"
"You could blow kisses to the audience. I could wink at the girls in the crowd. Take the flirt right out of District 1's hands."
"Won't that piss the careers off?" Cleopatra asks, trying not to make enemies.
"Maybe. But so what?"
"They'll kill us."
"They are planning to anyway. Why do you think they volunteer every year?"
Cleopatra knew he had a point and a plan, a good one. Maybe upsetting District 1 wasn't wise, but they needed to sponsors. Fame wasn't just going to fall to District 5; they needed to claim it for themselves.
"We'll go through it more tomorrow," Cleopatra says. Thunder gives her smiles and goes to his own bedroom.
DISTRICT 9 CARRIAGE:
Wheaton stood in a corn field, frozen as it caught fire before him. Flames reached all the way into the sky. He looked down at his sweaty palms to find his skin was young and, now he thinks of it; he is shorter. Over time, little details unravel themselves to him. This was his cornfield. He used to tend it with his mother and older brother.
"WHEATON!" Echo's repeatedly in his ears, his mother crying for him. He looks back to the fire and sees his mother and brother encased with flames.
"Why did you leave us?" She cries, "why didn't you save use?" But then Wheaton is carried away by peacekeepers into the darkness, while other peacekeepers feed the fire.
"Why did you leave us!?"
Wheaton flies from his bed in a pool of sweat that had gathered on his chest. He looked at the alarm clock beside his bed. It said 3:12 am. It was dark outside still. He realised he was only dreaming, but the events did happen.
"Why did you leave us," Katherine speaks, who had been watching him during his nightmare. She looks down at him as if he is dirt.
"Was I speaking in my sleep?"
"Like a baby," Katherine sighs, making haste to leave his room.
"I lost my family to the capital. I hate them as much as you. I'm the victim!"
"We're all victims," Katherine declares, with slight eyes.
"Don't you have any sympathy?" He asks, "I'm all alone, and I just volunteered to take an innocent boys place."
"So you volunteered for sympathy?" Katherine almost chuckles, "you shouldn't be here. You aren't ready. You're going to die. Me, on the other hand, I still have people who need me."
"Yet you decided to commit suicide by volunteering,"
"This is not suicide!" Katherine hisses, "it's an opportunity! To save my family! To win!"
"You never win against the capital," Wheaton states. This hushed Katherine up. She still looked at Wheaton with bitter eyes, and left in haste to her own room. But she knew, to an extent, he was right. She just did not want to accept it.
DISTRICT 10 CARRIAGE:
The District 10 tributes had been very quiet with each other the previous day, barely saying a word to each other. But it was breakfast, and Meat was the first too the table.
Scrambled eggs, salted and peppered, waffles with honey or cream or sugar or strawberry sauce or chocolate, crispy sizzling slices of bacon with fat all around the edges, dripping in oil. The food was fresh, and she felt at home, at her uncle's butchery. She hoarded the table as she enjoys her temporary feast. Runaway was not as quick to eat. He was too focused on finding a way to win the Games. There was no way he was the strongest tribute; he had accepted that. So he had to play the Games smart.
"Did you see those sausages over there?" Runaway points to them.
"I do now!" Meat claps her hands in joy. Maybe simply being nice was the key to winning. Be a favourite not just among the capital, but the tributes too! But he would need some practice. Runaway was not used to having friends.
On the other hand, Meat had fully endulged herself into the lifestyle of a Panem citizen. She tried all the foods, wore all the clothes and lived like a queen while she could. For the first times in years, she wasn't sad, but happy. She hadn't forgotten why she was here, but she could forget it for now.
DISTRICT 2 CARRIAGE:
Garnet was wearing her traditional headband with jewellery on it that pulled her thick, brown hair behind her ears. She sat alone, in the living room carriage, on a blue sofe that faaced the projector. Her and Mason had just filled their stomachs with breakfast, as she sat snuggled with a light blue blanket.
"Let's watch the reapings," Mason suggests, jumping beside her. Garnet was quite small (but deadly) and the weight of Garnet bounced her into the air.
"Calm it, cowboy," Garnet laughs, handing him the remote.
"Let's see..." Within a few seconds, Mason founds the correct button, and on the wall projected the District 1 reaping. They get to watch the reapings as a Panem citizen would.
They watch as the tribute's (Glitter and Diamond) names are called.
"Why are they always blonde?" Garnet asks, frowning.
"I don't know. Inbred?" They both crack up laughing.
"Do you remember the state of the girl last year?" Garnet laughs so hard, her eyes water.
"With the sores on her mouth?" Mason smiles. Garnet curdles into a ball of laughter, her eyes watering with joy.
"And," Garnet catches her breath, "And the District 1 boy, was his name Mink? Refused to train with her... and the game makers gave her a 4!" Garnet cracked up laughing again, for minutes this time. Although District 1 was their ally, they were also a joke to District 2. But they skip ahead to District 9.
"hmm," Mason shrugs, watching intently.
"They both volunteered?" Garnet looks to Mason, slightly concerned.
"They might just be retarded wanna-bees," Mason suggest, starring at Garnet until she is hit with the giggles again.
DISTRICT 12 CARRIAGE:
"I think we are there!" Rose smiles, gazing out the window. Occasionally, a tree skims her view, but she can see tall, grey structures in the distance. Cole walks over, bending down to her level. She was 14 and he was 18, so he was much taller.
"It's just some random buildings; it might be District 2." But Rose barely hears him. She is magically cast under a spell by the city's radiance and beauty. The structure of the city complimented the natural scenery very well. From the train, she could even see the tall structure in which the tributes are held before the Games.
"Look, that's where we will stay! Doesn't it look amazing, Cole!"
"Yeah, I guess," But he wasn't amazed. The Jews didn't compliment Auschwitz, so why would he compliment Panem?
Then the train enters a tunnel, with lights occasionally illuminating the train, and then bringing it back into darkness once the light has passed.
"We are there! Cole, we are there! The tributes always pass through a tunnel, then at the other end, the train stops!"
At the other end of the tunnel, the train slowls to about 15mph. Rose's face is lit up by the natural sunlight that overlooks the city. All she can see is thousands upon thousands of Panem citizens, patting on the glass window, trying to meet the District 12 tributes. Rose smiles with delight, waving frantically to the citizens who take her gesture as the biggest gift in the world.
"The District 12 girl waved at me!" People in the crowd chanted. Cole stood on the other side of the train, distant from the fame and popularity. But as he watched over Rose, who was just so nice, realised that she would be a capital favourite and was just so... at peace with herself. Maybe Cole needed to be more like Rose in order to survive.
Please comment! If you comment, I'll know your reading and I'm less likely to kill you :P
Comments
lol if meat dies in the bloodbath im done, and im getting a strong feeling she will die after reading this
Poor Pork is screwed, everyone thinks he is useless without giving him a chance that little fat boys can also be a force to recon with. Hope he and Meat make far and slay.
OMG Katherine is so .. I can't describe how much I like her after this episode! You wrote her lines perfectly! She is exactly how I imagined her when I was creating her, writing her bio, etc. Great job! Also that video is very cool, you picked really beautiful people (Diamond is such a KING for real LOL *-*) ... ofc there is Pork but he is so funny :D
