This ones a long one, I got a bit carried away
He awoke with a start, sweat drenching his nightshirt. Jaemin didn't even want to recall the terrifying dream he had just had, so he climbed out of bed, put a pair of trousers on and grabbed a jacket. He managed to get out of the apartment and into the elevator without waking anyone. Jaemin wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he remembered seeing a large window on the floor just above the training centre that had a seating arrangement before it. Getting out at the right floor Jaemin wandered over to the vast window and looked down at the city below. The streets were flooded with colour and lights and it seemed that every Capitol citizen was out partying and celebrating.
Jaemin vaguely recalled that in the Capitol huge parades and parties would occur the night before the interviews. They had been taught about Capitol customs and celebrations in Panem History at school, and Jaemin had always been both fascinated and disgusted by the vast number of holidays and festivals the Capitol had, each one filled with a different meaning and theme. The parties the day of the Reaping and night before the Interviews were the most extravagant, with people dressing in their finest and gorging on food that the poor school children of District 12 had never even heard of.
"Can I sit here." Jaemin nearly fell off the window sill he was sat one, startled by the newcomer. "Oh gosh sorry, did I scare you? I'm sorry."
Jaemin looked up from his uncomfortable position on the floor to see Mark Lee staring down at him, hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. Their eyes met and Jaemin couldn't seem to look away. Mark's eyes were a warm chocolate brown, like the icing of the birthday cakes in the bakery window back in Twelve. His dark, midnight hair was slightly tousled and rested on his pale forehead. Shaking his head slightly, Jaemin pulled himself out of the trance he fell into.
"Well stop staring and help me up." He complained. "You scared me, so now you have to help me."
"Right sorry." Mark reached down and grabbed Jaemin's outstretched hand, and Jaemin swore fireworks exploded around him as their hands touched.
"You watching the celebrations?"
"Mm."
"Have you ever been to an Interview Party?" Jaemin raised an eyebrow at Mark's question.
"We don't have them in District 12. The only celebrations that happen are New Year and Reaping Parties, not enough food to go around."
Mark was silent, not sure how to respond to that. He knew that the outer districts previously had a really bad starvation crisis, but he wasn't aware it still affected how they lived their lives.
"If you thought the starvation was over, it isn't." Jaemin said, knowing what Mark was thinking. Everyone in Twelve - and probably Districts 9, 10 and 11 - were very aware of the ignorance of the richer districts towards their suffering. They saw it in the surprise in the Peacekeepers' eyes when they first arrived. They saw it in how easily the Career tributes mocked them for being slimmer, for having a haunted look in their eyes from the lack of food. It still amazed Jaemin how an entire nation could ignore the suffering of the outer districts that was so painfully obvious that it made him want to scream.
"Do you want to go to one?"
"One what?"
"An Interview Party?" Jaemin scoffed at Mark's question.
"Why would I want to go to a party that celebrates the humiliation of 24 young people who will be sent to their deaths not even 48 hours later, where they stuff themselves on so much food that their sick and drink so much that they can barely sit through the interviews the next evening without falling asleep from the hangover."
