Wave ~ Hunger Games [1]

nine

+ lunch +

We sat around a dark wooden table, a large plate of chicken and potatoes sitting on the plates in front of us as I stared down at it, the cutlery in my hand was gold plated and was the fanciest fork I've ever touched to be fair. I pushed the chicken around the plate, not having touched it that much as I cut a potato in half gently, putting it into my mouth as I looked up to see Talisa staring at me with a faint smile.

"This the first time you've eaten something other than fish?" she asked me as everyone turned to look at me, causing me to shake my head as I chewed as quickly as possible. "I've had pheasant before, it was just sitting on the lake so my brother killed it" I told her, shrugging my shoulders as I pushed a potato into the sauce it was all covered in, biting it off of my fork quickly.

"I couldn't handle it" Daria said, pursing her lips as she shook her head, looking down at her plate as she delicately cut her chicken into smaller pieces. "Eating fish all of the time" Daria said with a scrunched nose, Talisa rolling her eyes as I looked away from Daria, biting my tongue. "It's nice if you cook it differently" I said quietly, no one replying as the sound of Ridley's fork scraping off the plate was the only noise we could hear. He has pretty much inhaled the food that was on his plate, enjoying both the chicken and the vegetables as he looked over at me before looking away.

"You'll stay in the training centre for a week" Mags started, clearing her throat as she put her cutlery down, my eyes looking down at her barely touched plate. "We will arrive at night most likely, so the en t day will be the tribute parade" she told us as she looked over at Talisa, Ridley looking over at Mags. "I've seen that on the TV" Ridley said, Mags looking over at me as I nodded my head slowly, having watched it every year curled up in Kai's arms.

"You only have 4 days in the training centre, so make the best of it" Talisa said as she grabbed her glass, leaning back in her chair, her plate pretty much empty already. "The last days are the tribute interviews and then the games will commence" Talisa said as Daria hummed to herself lightly, none of us talking as she ate something she liked, letting out a small sigh.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked, looking over at Mags as she nodded her head at me, leaning forward as she set her hands on the table. "How do alliances work? The commentators always talk about them" I said quietly, Mags nodding her head as Ridley looked between us, also wondering about my question. "Well usually only careers form an alliance, everyone else thinking they are safer by themselves" Mags started, looking over at Talisa who stabbed her fork into a potato before holding it in front of her mouth.

"You guys stand a chance, 4 is considered a career but neither of you attended the academy with them so it might be a bit difficult for them to trust you" Talisa told us, eating it off of her fork as I nodded my head, knowing that due to the fact we weren't at the academy, it would be hard to make friends, or whatever alliances are. "They need to show interest in you first, I wouldn't focus on it" Talisa added as she shook her head, Daria holding her fork and knife over her plate as she stared at us all, listening to the conversation.

"They are trained in killing but most of them can't find fresh water or swim, so you have a definite advantage" Mags told us, her eyebrows raised as Talisa nodded her head in agreement Ridley leaning back in his chair. "What do you think the arena will be like?" he asked, his plate basically licked clean as he ran his hand through his curly hair. "Last year it was forest and they haven't had a water one in a while" Talisa said to us, shrugging her shoulders as she took another drink of whatever was actually in her glass.

"I watched them last year, the boy from 7 got bread given to him, what was that?" Ridley asked them, making me nod my head as I slowly cut a piece in my chicken, putting it into my mouth as I chewed it slowly. I knew what he was talking about, the small parachutes falling from the sky that items that seemed to help a lot. "Sponsors, that's where our jobs start, the Capitol citizens pay to send stuff into the arena" Mags started, looking to Talisa for her to continue, which they always seemed to do based on the short amount of time I knew them.

"You need to be memorable, put on a show, make them want to help you" Talisa said flatly, a hint of annoyance in her voice as she pushed her hair behind her ear as she looked over at me, seeing I was confused, my eyebrows scrunched. "So we try to win over the people who put us in there?" I asked her, causing her to nod her head as she let out a deep breath. "Essentially" Talisa said, raising her eyebrows, clearly having the same mentality to myself.

"Seems a little corrupt if you ask me"

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A/N: another chapter for you which I have just edited, my school has been closed so I have a lot of spare time text my lol
please stay safe out there and wash your hands