Distractions (Hunger Games/Clove)

Tribute Parade Part 2

"you ready?" I asked Rocky, rearranging my dress as I stepped up into the chariot. "ready as I'll ever be." he said, his voice sounded a little nervous which was to be understood but as soon as the chariot began to move, the nerves left him and he put on a big, confident smile. I did the same and as we left the tunnel, the faces of the capitol citizens came into view and they all looked so excited. A couple pointed to us before shaking their friends and drawing their attention to us. A couple of people threw roses at us which I caught and returned the gesture with a wink or blowing a kiss. Suddenly I felt a shift in the crowd and most of them turned their attention away from us. I raised an eyebrow at my partner who at first just shrugged but then he pointed to the screens above us. I looked up just in time to see the image of me change into the girl from 12, and she had fire coming off her back. I will admit the costume was cool but her look from the neck up was unassuming, almost forgettable.

I huffed before relaxing my face back into a smile and continued waving at the capitol citizens who's attention was on us. Our chariot eventually came to a stop in front of a panel of government officials, including president Snow. Man do I hate that guy, something is just off about him, the only downside about winning would be us having to be face to face for the crowning ceremony. He stood on his pedestal and stiffly waved to the crowd, beginning his speech. "welcome tributes, we welcome you. We salute your courage and your sacrifice." he said and I almost rolled my eyes, what a riveting speech. The rest was 'blah blah blah happy hunger games' then we took off again, back into he tunnels where our whole team was waiting for us. "what the hell was that?!" Clove nearly yelled as district 2s team approached ours. "if you're talking about 12, we're just as shocked." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

We talked with them for a while before the tributes from district 1 joined us as well, formally introducing themselves. Glimmer is a bit of a ditz but is nice enough. Marvel on the other hand is charming, funny and seems like he would make a great teammate. "here we have it then, the final 6." Marvel smiled, throwing his arms around mine and Glimmers shoulders as we were the closest to him. I smirked, shaking my head at him then looked to Clove to find her face had gone a little sour at the sight of his arm around my shoulder. After a moment I moved out from under it and crossed the circle to her. "once my trainer here gets my knife throwing skills up to snuff, we'll be unstoppable." I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. At first she stiffened and her face went red but eventually she relaxed into my side and put her arm around my waist which nearly stopped my heart.

"ok guys, it's time to head back up to the room for dinner, you'll have plenty of time to talk and get to know each other tomorrow." Queenie said as she approached with the other 2 escorts, 1s was a tan man with perfectly sculpted sapphire hair and 2s was a younger woman with short curly white hair which contrasted with her royal purple dress. "ok, we'll see you guys tomorrow." Rocky said, and began to follow Queenie towards the elevator. Clove and I separated and suddenly my side felt cold, I shook off the feeling and waved bye to everyone before running after my team. "I can't wait to get out of these shoes." I groaned, leaning against the glass wall of the elevator to release the pressure on my feet. "yeah this toga isn't the most comfortable thing in the world." he said, slipping the single sleeve off his shoulder, leaving his whole upper half bare. Okay, maybe now I can see why all the girls fawn over him.

The elevator opened up into the living room of our apartment and I can confidently say that this room alone would put the train to shame. All of the furniture was modern and interesting, all of it was coloured on the scale of green of blue which stood out against the floor to ceiling white marble. I took a seat on the ottoman that was before the elevator and took off my shoes before going any further. Once they were off I followed after the group to our rooms. Rocky's was the first on the left where as mine was the furthest down the hallway on the right. Across from my room was a door that they didn't mention. "what's that?" I asked, pointing to the mysterious door, not even bothering to acknowledge my room behind me. "that's just a stairway up to the roof, every floor is connected by this door but to get into other floors it has to be opened by a key, the roof is always open." he explained, handing me a key.

I have a feeling I'm going to spending a lot of time up there, I've always loved watching the sunrise and sunset. "I'll leave you to get washed up, dinner is at 8." and without another word, he left. I turned around and walked into the room, it made the train look like my room back in 4. It was so big that I think it was about the same size of the whole first floor of my house, the ceiling was trimmer with lights while made the deep brown walls feel light. The whole room was coloured deep brown or a cream colour like the colour of sand and there were accents of navy blue. The rug was very cool, the pattern made it look like it was mist which I found cool. At the far end of the room there were massive windows that spanned the entirety of the wall, it overlooked the entire capitol and it could change into a screen of sorts that reflected different live video clips. The one I choose is the end of a dock, you could see the gentil waves, rocking boats and seagulls flying overhead.

I smiled and took a seat on the bed, I could almost smell the salt water and for the first time since the reaping I felt home sick. Before I could feel sad I turned it off and paced across the room to the bathroom which was also huge. I took a quick shower and washed my face, before getting out and undoing my hair. I put it up into a bun and went into the closet to pick out what I'd wear to dinner. I decided on a pair of yellow pants that tied in the front, a flowey white blouse and a pair of nude shoes. I did a once over in the mirror before leaving the room and heading down the hall to the dining room. I rounded the corner to find everyone already seated at the table, eating without me; I've never been great at punctuality unless it was for training, if I was late Ivy would have my head. My heart thumped hard in my chest as I thought of her before shaking it off, 'I don't need to feel homesick, I'll be back there before I know it.' I told myself before putting on a smile and taking a seat at the table.