Feathers - (The Hunger Games Remake) MARVEL

Chapter 4 - What A Moron

"Marvel, District One."

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I drop my card on the mahogany table, unable to tell if I'm content or not. On the positive side, he's not a scrawny kid who will cry the whole time: but on the other hand, he's an arrogant career who will probably ditch me the first chance he gets. However, Effie must be happy about it, because she gasps and congratulates me.

"This is amazing, Marina! I can already tell he's been trained for this," Adrius grins, wrapping me in a tight hug.

"I know, I saw his Reaping. He volunteered like me," I release the hug, feeling good knowing that I have a chance of winning. I hear a screech and I turn to face an overjoyed Cordelia.

"I got Zale!" she's practically bouncing around the room at her luck, along with Zale who has an ecstatic expression written on his face. I find myself jealous that they have somebody from their own district, but I plaster a smile on my face and congratulate them.

"Uh, guys? I got Andrea from District 5," Maxwell's face falls as he declares his unfortunate pairing. Andrea is a 12-year-old who can't any bigger than 4"10; I immediately feel horrible for Maxwell, knowing that his chances of making it out alive are slim.

"Oh, darling," everybody joins Effie in comforting him, and I silently vow to be Maxwell's ally in the arena, but I hope that I'm not the one who ends up having to kill him.

I never thought I'd get this attached to my district partners during the Games, but I guess it's three less people that I need to watch my back for. Still, I know for a fact that it will be me coming out of that arena, and nobody can stop that from happening. I've worked for this, and I need to make Evan proud.

Finnick calls us to the dining room table to have one last meeting before we separate, going over the survival skills that I've heard a million times from my parents. I decide to tune out, and my mind wanders to what the arena will be like this year. Last year it was just a plain forest, and the year before that was a huge mountain range; it was likely that this year's arena would be much more interesting because of the Quell.

After the final hour is up, it's time to relocate to our new rooms so that we're with our new partners. We say our goodbyes and head downstairs to meet our partners - something which I was not looking forward to. After my awkward encounter with Marvel, I'm pretty sure neither of us will be up for much talking. The floors fly by while we're in the elevator; Capitol technology is extremely advanced. The mirror at the back of the machine allow me to check my reflection: I'm wearing a pair of tight black trousers and long sleeved dark green t-shirt, with black leather boots reaching up to my ankles.

"Okay children, after thinking for a long time about my very difficult choice, I have decided to stay with Marina as her escort," Effie confesses, which pleases me because I won't have to meet a new, even crazier Capitol person who just can't wait to see everyone else die in The Games.

"Oh, thank you, Effie!" I squeal in fake excitement. I can't act like a cold hearted witch all of the time - I do need sponsors and for people to like me.

"No problem, dear! Now, let's go find Marvel. I just love his mentor, Gloss, he's simply amazing!," she trots along in her sky-high bright orange heels, her matching wig staying perfectly in place. Cordelia, Zale and Maxwell go off with their mentors, whilst Adrius joins us.

We spot Marvel pretty quickly, he's listening intently to something Gloss is saying, nodding his head in understanding and furrowing his brows with concentration.

"Gloss!" Adrius does the universal guy hug, giving Gloss a slap on the back as they greet each other. "Nice to see you again."

"Hey, Adrius! I see you've got a good one this year," Gloss motions to me, obviously pleased that Marvel will be with someone like me. After my appearance at the Reaping, and my stunning entrance at the parade, any mentor would be lucky to have me.

"Yeah, she's definitely a fighter. How about Marvel then?" Adrius and Gloss delve into a deep conversation about both Marvel and I, and our training. Effie turns to us and mentions that she has some things to sort out, but she'll see us both at dinner.

"So, Feathers, how'd you react when you opened your envelope with my name on it?" I smirk, crossing my arms over my chest. I straightened up to my full height, looking him in the eyes confidently,

"I was just think about how lucky you were to be partnered with me," he raises an eyebrow, clearly proud of his response. "Because from the looks of it, I'm your only hope."

I scoff, rolling my eyes at his stupidity. "If anyone's lucky here, it would be you. How many other people do you know that can kill you 50 different ways with a trident?"

"You don't intimidate me, Marina," he takes a step closer to me, so we are only centimetres apart. He cocks his head to the side with a smirk.

"Well I'm glad to hear that, or else we'd have a rather difficult time in that arena, don't you think?" One hand is resting on my hip as I tilt my head. Marvel has both eyebrows raised and is about to retort when Adrius cuts him off, shooting me a weird glance that I can't figure out the meaning of.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we should get to our floor now." I roll my eyes and give a lingering glare to Marvel, before turning and stalking over to the elevator.

Once again, the elevator ride was short, and it wasn't long before we stopped at our floor: the penthouse. Since this was Effie's floor last year she got to keep it this year - not that I'm complaining; the view is even better up here than from our floor earlier. When we step out of the elevator, Effie is waiting for us in the hall. "Isn't this just lovely? Take it all in, because it's just for you," she taps our noses as if we were children, "That's the lounge, that's the dining room, and those are your bedrooms to the left. Go and freshen up, dinner is in an hour. We have to talk about your training."

The sofas and chairs are neon green, and the tables are all made of expensively detailed mahogany. I push open the large black door to my bedroom, and I'm shocked at all of the gadgets and lights and colours. The bed is huge and cosy, and there's a white satin robe hung up on the closet door. This is more than I could have ever imagined the Capitol to be; I knew it was fancy, but this is blowing my mind.

I head into the bathroom and see a panel of buttons for different soaps, shampoos, brushes and various other hair products. After removing my clothes, I place them in a neat pile on the dresser alongside the robe I found in my room. I press random buttons so that I could cut my shower time to a minimum; I'm eager to talk about our training. Surprisingly there is even a button that blows a jet of heat to dry you after you shower, and I decide that it's my favourite one.

Once I've slipped my robe on, I make my way back to the bedroom to find an outfit laid out on my bed: A tight fitting burgundy t-shirt and black shorts. So I can be scary and hot at the same time.

When I open my bedroom door to leave, I crash straight into something - hasn't this happened before?

"Was it really necessary to do that again?" Marvel stares down at me, although I'm only a couple inches shorter than him. His smirk widens as he gives me a once over with his eyes; my eyes were rolling before I could stop myself. "On second thought, you can do it again if you'd like," he winks, stepping closer to me until he's only centimetres away. Two can play this game, idiot.

"Aren't you charming?" I giggle, before my eyes turn dark and I bite my lip suggestively. My forefinger runs down his chest, and I signal for him to come closer, much to his delight. With his eyes wide, he closes the gap between us and I wrap my arms around his neck -

And deliver my knee straight to his crotch.

"Being a jerk to me won't get you anywhere in that arena," I hiss, storming off to the dining room where the others where presumably waiting for us.  What a moron, who does he think he is talking to me like that?