Chapter Text
When they pulled into the tribute center they were instantly rushed into an elevator to where they would be staying.
After they arrived and he had looked around the living room of the place they would be staying the first thing Joel did was rush to change into more comfortable clothing.
After he had done that he moved back to the living room where he found Pearl, Bdubs and Etho waiting for him to arrive.
Joel quickly moved to sit down and it was quiet for a moment before he decided to speak
“Now can you tell me how someone who is obviously related to someone in District 12 is a stylist for the Hunger Games”
“Yeah I would like to know that too” Pearl echoed.
He heard Bdubs sigh before he spoke
“It’s simple really, my mother served as a Peacekeeper in District 12 for a period of time before her family summoned her back to the Capitol. They didn’t know it at the time but she was pregnant with me and a few months later I was born. However they made it very clear to me that I have an older brother who she had to leave behind in District 12 with my father since they weren't married.”
“Do you happen to know his name?”
“It’s Scar”
hearing this shocked Joel and he turned to face Pearl who also had a surprised expression on her face
“What? Do you know him or something?”
Joel laughed
“Yeah we do! Pearl's brother has had a crush on him for ages. I never would have guessed that he is part Capitol "
"Yeah other than his eyes he looks exactly like everyone from the Seam” Pearl added
“Is he doing well?”
“As well as you can be in District 12”
it went silent for a moment before Pearl asked a question
“What does your mother do now?”
“Oh, they are a Gamemaker”
this answer shocked Joel
“Why in the world would she be a gamemaker if one of her own children could be at risk”
“I mean she didn’t want to at first but our family kinda forced her to be one”
he sighed
“thank you for letting us know but I think I’m going to go to bed now”
Joel saw Etho seem to smile
“Yes you should do that, training starts early tomorrow morning”
with that he marched back to his bedroom and laid down and quickly fell asleep
The next morning Joel woke up to someone knocking on his door.
As he woke up he realized it was Impulse and walked over to open the door to greet him
“Hey Impulse”
“Hello Joel, I was coming to let you know that you need to be ready to head downstairs to training in 45 minutes”
“Ok thank you”
quickly Joel got ready and made it to the dining room to eat breakfast where he found everyone including June sat down and eating.
As he ate he heard Pearl start to speak and paid close attention
“Ok you two, today is important. Not only is it the first day of training it is also the first chance you get to meet the sponsors. After the sponsors see you, if you impress them you’ll meet and let them get to know you better, you understand?”
he nodded and heard June scoff and based on Pearl's reaction she had also nodded.
“Ok you two its time for you to head to training”
The ride down in the elevator was awkward.
Impulse had insisted on escorting both him and June to the training area despite both Pearl and himself insisting that it wasn’t necessary.
On top of that June was deliberately ignoring Impulse leaving Joel as the only person he could talk to and it quickly became obvious that he was nervous for both of them about how they would interact with the other tributes which was nice if slightly unexpected about what he knew about Impulse and how up until now they had only had the conversation on the train and when he had gotten him that morning both of which had been brief.
When they arrived the elevator doors opened and Joel saw the other 22 tributes turn around to look at them.
Evidently they were the last ones to show up.
Quickly he got out of the elevator and stood next to the district 11 tributes and listened as the instructor explained what the training was all about and how long it would go for and how the afternoon would be spent meeting the sponsors for the first time.
When the instructor finished talking the training began
After spending the morning training Joel was exhausted but he knew he still had to go through with meeting the sponsors.
As he waited Pearl’s words echoed in his mind.
Joel knew that despite Pearl winning 2 years ago most people in the capitol only paid attention to the careers.
Finally after a long period of waiting he heard his name called and went back into the room they used for training and looked up into the observing area to find it basically empty other than one person he recognized who was sitting in the back.
Lizzie, the Capitol darling and the president's granddaughter.
Why she had an interest in him he didn’t know but he did know that this could be a good thing.
It was silent for a moment before she spoke
“Tell me why I should sponsor you.”
Joel was silently stunned for a moment before shaking it off and replied to her
“I’m smart, resourceful and I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I know I come from district 12 but that is not a reason to count me out "
"Very well, I’ll sponsor you”
and with that Joel left the room so he could get to know his sponsor better after her acceptance of him.
Quietly he walked through the halls towards the room designated for him and found Lizzie waiting for him when he opened the door.
“So, shall we begin?”
and with that Joel knew his life was on a new trajectory.
One he didn’t know the end to.