-Parade II-

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"Why do we need to have this talk every year?! Leave!" Bera shoved the stylists out of the room and locked the door by putting a chair there under the door knob.

She dusted off her hands and sighed, looking at her tributes, hand under her chin.

They didn't didn't have the same build. The guy was much taller, probably 18, she was a brunette and his was a blond.

"Miss--" "Ssh, let me think." She cut the guy off, looking at them narrow eyed. "I'll make you stand out, the sponsors will fall over and kiss my feet to let them send you something." She picked up a textile and held it up, matching it to their skin color, both quite pale but still different shades when compared between them.

She looped it over her arm.

"Let's turn this parade into a runway." She grinned. 


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"Look at that! You finally grew up!" Gloss back slapped Bera, almost making her fall over.

"You idiot brute, you lost brain cells." And to say she was the one with brain trauma, it seemed he suffered from it. "And I'll remind you that you didn't mentor since my games? Of course I grew up after three years."

"I told you she was not a child anymore." Cashmere rolled her eyes.

Bera did get along with the careers, most of the victors even, she could get herself liked by all, there were only two exceptions.

Finnick, it was more like they were colleagues and were polite but not friends. He just couldn't bare her and how she acted, how she was okay with selling her body away, how well she played into the Capitol's hands while sowing her web of lies under them for when it would be too late for them to escape it, how well she fit Snow's belief of what victors should be while becoming the woman he hated the most in this day and age. He just found Bera too different from him to be friends and she did too but they were not outright hostile, just acquaintances. 

And Enobaria. The woman that was driving Bera up the wall with a single smirk and the woman that made Enobaria bash her face in when she flaunted her control of the Capitol in her face.
Honestly there were two fronts that formed in the victors' ranks. One side was waiting for the bloody first punch that would shatter the status quo between the two hard headed women and were ready to separate them before they killed each other and there was the... The front that was wondering when all the tension would become sexual tension and when they'd somehow accidentally lock themselves in a room and insist that they couldn't get out even when they tried to gently kick down the door.

And Haymitch was a fervent believer of such outcome.

Bera didn't chat away long with the careers, Woof dragging her along like a guard dog, making her roll her eyes.

"My favorite!"

"Haymitch." She greeted. "And you know you only like me for a reason." Pulling the small hand sized flask out of her hip pouch from between her sewing supplies.

"This is why you are my favorite." She rolled her eyes when he snatched the flask from her, alcohol from 8 that turned out to be stronger then what he could get in 12 and she'd bring it to him in exchange for some news.

Haymitch might be a drunk but he could be useful and knew much more then people let on, there was a network of information travelling between victors when they met and, despite being friends with most, few truly trusted Bera because of how Capitol friendly she acts, Haymitch would feed her with the things said that she wasn't privy too. Woof would if she asked but she preferred him not knowing she was excluded from it.

Talking about that old man, he kept pulling her along until there were in their spots, the nice big number 8s painted in a circle on the ground.

She stood there, arms crossed.

She grinned when the eternally same music was blasted.

Each district always looked the same, 9 dressed as humanoid animals (yes, they are furies because it is funny, no other reason), 3 has an ungodly amount of light-bulbs and wires on them, 4 is almost naked if it wasn't for the fishing nets but 8 was always a surprise to all and Bera would make sure of it.

The crowd's cheering got louder and her smile bigger.

It was simple yet effective, a light blue costume suit for the boy, no details, no patterns, but the sleeves had a really long flowy silk ends along with the pant legs, whipping in the air like streams of water, same with the girl but she had a sleeved dress to get her sleeves and the bottom of the dress to do that. It was the stylist team that put glittery blue coloring in their hair and blue makeup to making it look like the sun was shining on their face through water.

Simple but everything Bera did could influence this hell place's fashion... Example, V, their district escort was the most plain this year out of all the years because of Bera's simple outfit, wanting to fit in with her districts mentors and look like a united team.

She saw Finnick childishly stuck out his tongue when she looked at him and she did it back, she is stealing 4's watery style he thought, she thought their were a water district not a water district and she could still do it.


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"Harder!" She demanded without mercy, whipping the staff down with exaggerated violence.

The training room was only supposed to open tomorrow and only for the tributes, the mentors could only watch from an elevated area AND no one was even supposed to be here so late... And yet here they were.

Bera had no trouble getting access, it had only required getting in the bed of the woman that was the boss of this 'training the tributes for a week before their death' part of the games.

And so she got this ID card she kept neatly in her bra to be sure people would not get their hands on.

Now having dragged her tribute here to actually train with proper weapons.

"I can't learn so fast!" Jessica said, disheartened by how hard it way even with a proper spear in her hands.

"You can, you will. You need to tell yourself you will." She sighed while Bera just looked at her, holding a staff unlike the tributes spear. "Now come at me, go for the kill. If you hesitate you will die, if you don't I will so kill me." She span the staff and grabbed it. "Don't make me bring your parents back another dead child."

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