The 200th Annual Hunger Games

Private Sessions

Pepper Brill D9

The rooms dead quiet as we sit and wait for the first tribute to be called up for the Private Sessions. I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants only for them to slip of the shiny material. Everywhere I look I see tributes dealing with different emotions.

The Careers are sitting together in one side of the room lounging back on their chairs. The male from District 2 has his arms crossed over his chest while the male from District one has his arm slung over the District 2 female.

They're so big and scary, I hope I never see them in the arena.

The pair from District 4, who look like lovers to me, sit with next to each other, their knees touching.

The boy from Distict 9 looks like he's about to lose his lunch.

The girl with fiery red hair from District 10 stares at the screen on the wall which shows an interview with last years Victor. The boy from her district is twirling a ring around his finger.

"Radiance Bloom, District 1" The nasaly capitol voice speaks through the loudspeaker.

She gets up and purposely sways her hips as she walks through the door leading to the Training Center. She flicks her hair over her shoulders before opening the door and stepping inside.

Radiance Bloom D1

I stride into the training center and stand infront of the Gamemakers platform. I notice that there's a seperate platform where a group of other people sit looking down at me. I don't know who they are. They range in ages and are defintley not Gammakers.

"You may begin. You have 10 minutes" One young looking Gammaker tells me.

I shoot him a wink before running over to the archery station. I pull back the string but freeze when I realise I don't know how to shoot an arrow. I've always spent my time at training flirting with the boys that I never really paid attention to learining the skills.

How hard can it be though? I pull the string back further and watch as it sticks into the outside ring of the target. Dammit!

I know how to use knives though, that's one thing I've learnt. I run over to the knives station and pick up two. They both land just outside of the marked heart on the dummy so I keep throwing knives untill I'm satisfied with the pattern of handles sticking out from it's body.

"Alright, Ms. Bloom that's your 10 minutes. Thankyou."

I walk across the room feeling very unsatisfied with my performance and dreading what more score will be. I open the door and walk out, but not before I shoot the young gamemaker another wink.

Gamemaker - Second in charge

The last tribute from District 12 walks out of the doors and I can't help but breath a sigh of relief. You get pretty sick of seeing tribute after tribute with the same skills and then those piddly little tributes who have no skills to show for.

Luckily this year there was a variety of talents being shown otherwise I think I would have drunk the whole punch bowl which is sitting at the back of the room.

The Males from Districts 1 and 2 do the usual. Swords, maces and more swords.

The female from District 1 was a dissapointment, not really having a skill, while the female of District 2 spent her whole 10 minutes throwing knives silently at dummies. What makes it all the more impressive is that she never missed one target.

The male from District 3 had a go at spear and was actually suprisingly good, while the female succsesfully fought of three robots with a small bladed sword.

Both District 4 tributes had impressive performances using tridents as their weapons of choices. The male threw his trident half the length of the room into a dummy, hitting the middle.

The siblings from District 5 both worked at the fire building station and plants identifying station. The boy also had a try at using a mace, which he could use decentley well.

The male from District 6 used a double bladed sword which he swung around skillfully. He definitely seems like a contender in these Games. The female from his district had a weak performance, falling of the balance beam on the agility course and being unable to continue.

The male from District 7 used an axe to carve up a dummy before switching to a spear. He never said a word to us Gamemakers just walked in, showed his skills and walked out. The little girl from his district threw a couple of knives into the outer rings of the target before spending the rest of her time on the fire bulding station.

The male from Distirict 8 was the first to have a go at the hooked sword and didn't do too bad at all. The female used a bow and arrow and shot down the banners that were hanging from the ceiling by slicing through their strings. She walked out of the centre leaving them in a crumpled pile.

The boy from District 9 was pathetic. He walked into the room and when we told him he had 10 minutes to perform his skill, he ran back out the door. He will be recieving a low score if not a zero. The little 13 year old was able to eliminate one dummy with throwing knives before the second one overpowered her.

The male from Disrict 10 ran all over the room as if he was in a trance. Throwing knives, slashing swords, swining from ropes. The fiery red head from District 10 was a standout. She swiped at a dummy with a set of claws succesfully defending herself from it's attacks.

The Boy from District 11 showed no skills in particular, he just wandered around the room having a go at whatever took his fancy. The female used an axe, a strange weapon of choice for a tribute from District 11, but she used it suprisingly well.

The District 12 male shocked us all he stormed into the room and started throwing whatever he could get his hands on. This was a different person than the one who had volunteered eagerly. Lastly the female from District 12 ran up the climbing nets throwing knives at targets that were shot towards the ceiling. Impressively she only missed a handful .

"Xemil, the sponsors are leaving" A fellow Gamemaker informs me, referring to the group of people who also watched the Private Session.

The large group of possible sponsors where invited to watch in on the sessions as a way for them to pick their favourites and sponsor any tributes they were interested in. This is the first year that sponsors have been allowed in since what happens in the sessions is normally kept a secret.

As I chew on a caramelised strawberry I laugh to myself. These Games are going to be different and the tributes don't even know it yet.

They better learn not to expect the expected because things are often not as they seem.