𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄
IN WHICH, a certain victor of the 15th Hunger Games catches the attention of a young President Snow.
Pearl Bazin is the female tribute in the 15th Hunger Game...
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PEARL WAS ZONING OUT AS CASSANDRA LECTURED HER ABOUT THE TRAINING AREA.
This is pointless. Pearl has lived this nightmare, and had to survive the training sessions. Her rebellious acts unintentionally got her a higher score than the other tributes.
It was her trident throwing that first caught the Careers' attention. That's how she faked her way into their pack.
It was in this room that she met people that changed her life. Apollo had approached her on the third day of training, and she has formed a bond with Opal on the second day.
Two souls who never deserved death.
Two kids who were forced to become bloodthirsty.
Although it's true that Pearl was one of the oldest tributes, it still feels like she lost her childhood. As a young girl, she spent most of her time worrying about dying in the arena.
And she made it. Pearl was selected and she had become a victor. She expected her life after victory to go completely back to normal, and for herself to be revived. She wouldn't have to worry about being reaped again.
Everything just became worse. Pearl feels like an idiot for expressing her negative opinions about Coriolanus. If she didn't, would he even care about her existence?
Pearl made herself stand out, and that was a mistake. She let herself fall for a corrupted man who wants nothing more than for her to obey his every command.
Pearl let Coriolanus's charm blind her, and for moments at a time she would forget that he was president of Panem. She would forget that he is the main reason children are still being sent to die every year.
And for just a second, she forgot that he killed her family.
"You understand that you and the other Gamemakers will have to assess the overall performance of each tribute, correct?" Cassandra asks.
Pearl comes back to life. "Yeah."
Cassandra is talking to one of the other training instructors as Pearl creeps her way around the weapon section. She would rather have a trident, but a dagger is the only thing small enough to easily slip into her pocket.
Pearl's eyes widen when she doesn't see any tridents. They've always been a weapon option, so why isn't there any? Strange.
Pearl blinks as she gets a good look at the other 'training instructor's. He's not who she thought she saw out of the corner of her eye.
