Seducing the Careers

Parade

Toni's POV:

We've been on this train ride, sitting in silence for god knows how long. Or well, at least I have. The career won't shut up. I respond to be polite, but after awhile of carrying the conversation, he too begins to rest in silence.

Then suddenly, out escort pops out to our section of the train.

"Hello, my lovely tributes! My name is Celene, and I am your escort!" she says excitedly.

We don't really know how to respond.

"Well, aren't you excited?" she asks.

"Yeah" the career says, kind of awkwardly. What ever happened to not being able to shut up?

I nod, faking a smile.

"Great! Oh, and I have your mentor for you!" she says, excitedly rushing out and ushering a person in.

'Mentor' singular?

"This is Beetee" she gestures to the man.

"District 3 victor of the 39th Hunger Games!" Celene exclaims.

"I'll give you guys some privacy to introduce yourselves" she says, preceding to leave the room.

"Hey guys. Now usually other districts have two mentors, but my partner Wiress isn't in the best mental state at the moment. And well, I'm the only other surviving victor. I'm Beetee, as you know" he says, gesturing for us to introduce ourselves.

"Toni" I tell him my name.

"Lumen" he exaggeratedly bows. I roll my eyes.

"Nice to meet you guys." he says, politely.

"Now if I recall," he points to Lumen. "Career". Now he points to me. He pauses for a second, as if getting a good look at me for the first time. "Really pretty".

I just stay silent, wondering if he had a point for saying that.

"You know, we could use that." Beetee says, thinking.

"We could label you as the most beautiful tribute of all time" he says, continuing to think.

"Well I don't know about that, and I have other discernible traits too" I try to add to his thoughts.

"Really?" He asks, hoping for even more to work with.

"Umm, well I was years ahead in our tech school. Specialized in designing ammunitions for the Capitol. I became the youngest mechanic/engineer of all time from panem." I say, wanting to be known for something other than looks.

"Very impressive. But no, no that won't work. That would appeal more to females, feminists. Capital men don't like smart women. And the sponsors are very male dominated. We have to appeal to them. Let's just stick with the first idea" he says.

I nod. He did win once, so he knows best.

"How did you win the games?" Lumen asks.

"Well I used electronics I found in the cornucopia to build and set a trap for the remaining six tributes" he says.

"But I'm a guy. It's different. I got sponsors by being smart. You won't. And if I hadn't gotten those sponsors, I might've not been able to win." he says to me.

Well I'm sure that I would be able to get at least a few, but I know he knows what he's doing, so I listen to him.

He turns to Lumen. "But you could. You could be the smartest career" he tells him.

"Oh, well I know our district specializes in tech, but I went to a career academy, rather than the school that Toni went to, so I'm not really that smart" he explains.