Humanity- A Hunger Games fanfic

Part 8- Mentoring

I'm woken by Amanda,

"I guess you're mentoring us first, then," I mumble, not fully awake,

"Yes I am!"

"Well, let's walk in heels then," I say. I lift myself out of bed as Amanda leaves to wake Bruce up. I decide I won't wash my hair. I'll do it before the interviews. Besides, I know my stylists will insist on me showering, and it feels wrong to waste water like that, even here. I just get dressed and go to breakfast. Only me, Bruce and Amanda are up as Amanda wanted an early start. We finish and she takes us into another room. She sets up two chairs in the center of the room,

"Ok, now both of you, starting from the door, walk to the chairs and sit down," Amanda says. This is very weird, but we do,

"Oh no, no no no, that's terrible! They clearly don't teach you that at home! Both of you have terrible posture, so stand up a bit more. And, Brianna, you naturally sway your hips a little when you walk, now try and exaggerate that a little more!" I have no idea what she's talking about with the hips, but I try,

"Yes, perfect, both of you. Now. Sitting down,"

"What's wrong with it?" I say,

"Well, Bruce, you seem to spread your legs a lot. Try to keep that more muted, but still do, it makes you look more masculine," He nods in acknowledgment, "And Brianna, my dear darling, what are we going to do? You spread your legs a bit, and first of all you can't do that whilst wearing a dress, and it just looks messy! Secondly, you're naturally very pretty, petite and femenine, so we need to keep it that way. Either cross your legs or just keep your legs together. Try it out," I do that for about a minute and I settle on legs together,

"Great, good, now try and sit up a little straighter," I sit up and it's extremely uncomfortable, "Perfect! You two look perfect, everyone will love you!".

Next is the task of heels. Bruce is lucky and can sit out on this. Amanda makes me wear these ridiculously high heels and it's incredibly difficult to walk,

"You didn't have to choose the absolute highest did you?" I say after stumbling for about the fifth time. Bruce is laughing his head off, "Shut up, Bruce,". This just makes him laugh more,

"Well you never know what will happen!" Amanda says. Bruce is laughing so hard he's fallen off his chair.

"I swear, Bruce Jaybird, if you do not stop laughing this instant it'll be your turn on the heels," I say through my teeth. This does not help. I was joking beforehand, but now that I think about it, I'd like to see him try,

"Okay then, get up,"

"Wait really?" He says, his face falling,

"Yes, get up, it's your turn," Now Amanda is failing to suppress her laughing. Bruce reluctantly gets up and puts them on,

"Wait, I can get my foot in? I mean it's cramped, but still," He says,

"Yeah, I have pretty large feet for my age," I tell him. Lots of people I meet light-heartedly joke with me about the size of my feet. I don't mind. I laugh at him for about 5 minutes as Amanda stands in the corner of the room, looking annoyed yet amused, before we agree it's time for me to get back to it. After about half an hour I'm able to walk without stumbling, but i'm still pretty wobbly,

"Now for the dress and suits!" Amanda says,

"Wait, what?" Bruce and I say in unison,

"Oh, did I not tell you? It's all fine in flexible outfits, but you'll be wearing suits and dresses! You need to be able to act the same in those," She says, fetching them. She comes back into the room with a simple white dress and suit. The dress looks skin-tight and the suit looks very very crisp.

"Okay, now go and put them on! I'll send an Avox to help you,". We go into our rooms with an Avox each.

"Hey, I'm gonna go in the bathroom to change. Don't take it personally, just privacy, and all that," The Avox nods. I go into the bathroom and change into the dress. It really is skin tight and very hard to change into. I come out, and the Avox rushes to zip up the dress,

"Thanks," I say. Again, the Avox nods. We go out and I go back to where Amanda and Bruce are. It's extremely hard to walk in this but I manage. I walk in, and Amanda gives me the heels from before.

"Really?" I sigh,

"Yes!"

I put them on and I can hardly stand up. I walk to the chairs and sit down, and Bruce does the same. We're both trying to find a comfortable position that won't drive Amanda insane, with me trying to breathe, and Bruce trying to move,

"I really hope the actual outfits aren't this uncomfortable!" Bruce says,

"Definitely!" We both laugh. We finish our 4 hours just before lunch and it's brilliant not being in those outfits and being able to move freely.

~

Next we get 4 hours of mentoring on what to say and how to act. This is going to be much easier, I can tell. I'm good at social skills, I mean, I get nervous to start the conversation but apparently I'm really easy to talk to.

We're in the same room as before, but all the victors are here instead of Amanda,

"Okay, so shall we just start?" Beaufort says,

"I guess so. The first thing we need to do is figure out what you are. What you're going to act like. How you'll present yourselves," Finnick says.

"Let's start with you, Bruce, what were you thinking?" Lena says,

"Oh, me? Well, I guess just a typical career I guess. Confident, cocky, proud," He stutters,

"Okay yes, good. Bri?" Lena says. How do I want to act? I didn't really think about that,

"Er, maybe friendly and humble? I don't really know. I'm a career and I got 9, so it's too late to not appear as a threat. But i mean if i'm a career, got a 9, and i'm nice it might help with sponsors," I say,

"That will, yeah. So both of you have a base idea. Now you need to stand out. You guys are kind of like brains and brawn, so play that off. Bri, you probably stand out more, as compared to the other careers, you're pretty small, yet you're clearly just as good. Also you're younger. But Bruce, you're a typical career. We're going to need to find something to stand out," Beaufort tells us,

"Well I can get my own food if there's no food supply. I've always been pretty good at that. I used to be called a sissy because I could cook," Bruce says. It's pretty ironic that he can cook and make nets and I can't really, despite how I'm expected to know that stuff. I also feel pretty sorry for him. I've never been seriously teased, and I don't think it would be very nice.

"Yes, good. A resourceful career. Thor and I used that edge and it worked out pretty well for us,"

"You also need to be charming. Smile and laugh a lot. It's how i got the most expensive sponsor gift, so i'm pretty good at it," Finnick says,

"Smile? On command? That's the thing i'm worst at," I laugh,

"We'll get you two smiling like you've never smiled before," Finnick tells us,

"Oh, no need for me. I'm pretty good at it," Bruce says,

"Okay, smile," Annie says. Bruce suddenly gives a dazzling smile. He looks very natural,

"Perfect," Finnick exclaims, "Now laugh,". Bruce again laughs extremely convincingly. He's been competing for this since he was born. Preparing his entire life, along with the other 4 careers. I'm really going to need to pick up my game, because these people are lethal in more ways than one and i didn't really think about it before. There's a lot I didn't realise, didn't think about. The Games have given me friends, and told me to kill them. I'm most likely going to be the dead one.

We fill the four hours with mock interviews mostly, but also practising smiles, laughs, certain phrases and so on. It's all much easier and light hearted. By the end, we decide Bruce will go for charm, and I'll be humble.