Through A Mentor's View

Chapter 1 - Reaping Day

As I said in my one-shot, TBOSAS brought me back to my fandom days. And as I always have more interest in the side characters rather than the main characters, I wanted to focus my fanfiction on the mentors of the 10th Hunger Games (minus Snow). This story will be told from Livia's POV but various mentors will feature frequently. Pls note that I'll go slightly off-topic (or rather AU) at some parts. Also, some parts/sentences will be taken directly from the book or movie at times. These sentences will be marked like this. The whole Hunger Games universe obviously belongs to Suzanne Collins and I'm only writing for fun :)

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The day of the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games was something Livia Cardew had looked forward to since last summer. 

Not because of the games itself but because of the fact that today would be the announcement of who'd won the famous Plinth Prize. It was a prize all of her classmates dreamed of, some more and some less. But Livia definitely wanted to win. It was a ticket to so many opportunities - and she, with her mother owning the largest bank in the Capitol, had many opportunities for the future anyways. Her mother wanted her to follow in her footsteps and her father just hoped she'd marry someone rich and wealthy, someone important. 

Her parents doted on her yet Livia knew they had those expectations that she wouldn't completely live up to. Whatever she did, it was never enough. Every good score in school was met with being told she could've done better. Everyone time she styled herself, she got told she could've put more effort into it. There was always something wrong with whatever she did. She worked hard and kept quiet most of the time, yet she rarely received praise. Sure, her parents loved her. Doted on her even especially as she was their only child. But they were only fully satisfied if she kept quiet. Otherwise she waa too loud, too ungrateful, too arrogant, too excited... the list went on.

But one expectation her parents had of her, and something Livia wanted too, was winning the Plinth Prize. And she'd studied hard over the past year. Staying up late, handing in her assignments in time and making a good impression on all of her teachers. The Plinth Prize was the ticket to a promising future and Livia didn't want anyone to take that away from her.

That said, her classmates were mostly fine as well and Livia had her little group of friends since she can remember. She'd be delighted for all of them to win too - but most of all, she'd be happy if she was the one winning today. Similar to her, her classmates' parents all were rich and wealthy; it hadn't always been like this though. During the Dark Days, all of them - even the rich Crane family - was on the verge of starvation. But now the Dark Days were over and the Hunger Games were reaching their 10th year; and Livia and her classmates, now all back to their wealth, were eagerly awaiting the announcement for the Plinth Prize. 

Her parents were already off to work as she stepped into the dining room, only their servants setting up breakfast for Livia. She was too nervous to eat and, to match with her good impressions of the past year, she decided to head to the academy early. If she'd arrive earlier than any of her classmates she might just prove how perfect she is for the prize. Its founder, Strabo Plinth, was just as rich as the other families and he would be another perfect Capitol elite man - if he wasn't originally from the districts. And his son, Sejanus, somehow never forgave his parents for moving to the Captiol. 

Oh well, Livia thought, as long as Strabo Plinth pays for my education by handing the prize to me, they can make their way back to District 2 whenever they're ready.

No Livia didn't hate any of her classmates, not even Sejanus. She simply didn't fancy spending her time with him. And fortunately, most of her classmates thought the same about him.

Unfortunately however was that Livia wasn't the only one trying to make a good impression by arriving early. Half of her classmates were already there. There was science-mad Io Jaspar, or Lysistrata Vickers who apparently was planning to be a doctor. Of her little group, only Arachne already stood on the stairs, leaning against the wall behind her. Arachne's parents - the Cranes - were equally rich as Livia's. Arachne was her father's favourite. Growing up with four older brothers, her father doted on her and would even ignore mishaps such as skipping class. Livia was certain that if Arachne failed to win the prize, her parents wouldn't care. And admittedly, Arachne was pretty. She'd be married before her 20th birthday certainly, she said it herself many times already.