All right, here we go... (I'm not doing befores because, sorry, I'm really lazy and I've got two charries....)

RICK

Animal hunting: 0

Archery: 0

Axes:1 1/2

Boxing: 2

Camouflage: 0

Edible insects: 1

Edible plants: 1

Fire making: 1

Fishing: 0

Hammock making: 1

Hand-to-hand combat: 3

Knives: 1

Knots: 0

Ropes course: 1

Shelter: 0

Sickles: 0

Slingshots: 1

Snare-setting: 0

Spears: 1

Swords: 0

Tree climbing:1 1/2

Tridents: 0

Weight-lifting: 3

Wrestling: 3

+1 in... well, pretty much anything that isn't a zero xD. He boosted up the ones with 1 1/2-3s, and learned the ones with 1s. I'm doing this overall, after all the days, which is why they may seem unrealistic if you're counting them in one day.

Lucelle

Animal hunting: 1

Archery: 0

Axes: 0

Boxing: 1

Camouflage: 1

Edible insects: 1

Edible plants: 1

Fire making: 2

Fishing: 0

Hammock making: 0

Hand-to-hand combat: 1

Knives: 1 1/2

Knots: 1

Ropes course: 1 1/2

Shelter: 0

Sickles: 0

Slingshots: 1

Snare-setting: 0

Spears: 0

Swords: 3

Tree climbing: 1

Tridents: 0

Weight-lifting: 1

Wrestling: 0

....Basically the same as Rick's.

They darted around to a few stations for short periods of time, so they know the basics in most and a bit more than basics in the ones higher than one. That's how I'm interpreting it, mostly.

As Ran zips up the back of my silky pink dress for the interview, I remember something. I've forgotten to ask Yerno the slightly crazy if Gena could join the Careers. Ran flips my hair over to one side, pinning it back.

"Ran, may I speak to Yerno quickly?" I ask hastily. "Well, sure, but whatever for, hon?" She says, bewildered. "I forgot to ask him something." I say truthfully. "Alright. Just let me finish up here, and I'll send him in." I let out a sigh of relief.

She winds my already perfect hair around the curling iron. "There, hon, you're done." She giggles. "I'm a poet and I don't even know it." She runs out of the room in her silly heels. So impractical. I think with a sigh.

Yerno comes in. "Yes? What's wrong?" He demands anxiously. "I forgot to tell you I want District 5 for allies. Not for the male tribute, he's worthless. But the female, Gena? Is that her name?" I say all this, hoping to feign indifference.

"Yes." He says, nodding his head. "She would be a valuble ally." I finish. "You're quite right. I'll contact her trainer while you take the interview. Oh, and Ariana?" He asks as he starts to leave the room. "Yes?" I ask. "There's a new reporter, or whatever you call him, the guy who does the interview?" I barely have time to nod before Yerno carries on. "His name is Cesear Flickerman." Yerno says, leaving the room, and closing the door behind him.

~~~~~A little while later~~~~~

A man steps up to the microphone, a huge smile on his face. His hair is dyed an unnatural yellow, and he's wearing a suit of the same color. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen." He rattles on for a little while, but then he says something of interest. "And now, Ariana Levine, will you please answer my questions?" 

I blush, I must have missed when he introduced me. "Of course." I say as courteously as possible, giving him a charming smile. "Thank you." He says, laughing a little. My stomach is full of a thousand butterflies. 

"Now, what do you hope to accomplish in the Games?" I smile prettily. "Nothing short of avenging my sister's death by the hand of District 3 and winning the games of course." I say, coaxing a small laugh out of the audience. "Of course, we wouldn't expect anything less, now, would we?"

I know the the question is intended for the audience, but if I said something now, keeping up the girlish attitude, I could win all of Panem's heart. "No." I say nonchalantly. The audience gives me a loving smile, all in unison, as if I was some darling pet that did a cute trick.

"Now, how far are you willing to go with this "revenge" against District 3?" Cesear asks. "Well, killing them both of course." I say, giving a small tinkling laugh. The audience applauds loudly, but my stomach is churning. Oh why did I decide to play Panem's pet? I think desprately. 

The rest of my questions fly about, but I answer them all with equal grace and mirth. 

Soooo … to the games?

Just this post. Then we can go to the Games, unless anyone else wants to do their interviews.

Rick~

I was taken out of the parade suit just to be put in another one.

Suits are important. I understand it makes me look good, and looking good is important. But it's itchy and tight and uncomfortable. I just want to change back into something looser, something lighter.

Lucelle is lucky. Although she has most certainly expressed her distaste in sleeveless dresses (of which she was forced into another), she really is beautiful in this one. Due to the disaster (and protests from us) of the last costumes, we aren't going with any theme this time. Lucelle is wearing a white dress that's tight around her body but swishy and beautiful around her legs. I love it; I don't like the fact that it makes her look like a bride, but she is simply gorgeus in it.

Except no. It isn't gorgeus, is it? No, that is not what would describe Lucelle. I didn't know she was an actress, but she's a good one; she sports the bubbly, naïve personality without a hitch. The white dress just helps it along, I think, white being more of a cheery color. It makes her pretty; yes, pretty, that is the word. Girlish, sweet. But not gorgeus. Gorgeus is a word for one much older.

The only thing that really makes me uncomfortable is that we look like a bride and groom.

When Caesar calls her, we both stand. The whole crew (for it is getting rather large, now, what with the stylists, escorts, mentors, and trainers) agrees that I'm still supposed to be moody, but it's a talkative moody. We reluctantly agreed I was the "desirable" sort; being "ripe of age" and "good-looking" and how my "limited personality" and "gruffness" would add to the "attraction."

I don't like it. I don't. But if it gets me sponsors, I don't care. I just want to keep Lucelle alive for as long as I can.

"So!" says Caesar, not thrown off by our unusual appearance. "I take it there will be no yes-or-no answers?"
"I think I know enough about Lucelle to answer for the both of us." Gruff. Unfeeling. I don't know, I rather like this. It lets me look at the Capitol the way I've always wanted to look at it: scathingly. Everything I look at scathingly. 

"Tell us what life was like in District Six."

I pause for a moment, formulating a good way to respond. "I went to school. Lucelle didn't and was taught by her father instead. So when I was at school, she would either be homeschooling or working with him. She got very good at it.

"Once school was done I would usually go over to see her. There aren't a lot of things children can do in District Six, you see, so we had a lot of free time. Lucelle and I would take that time to build a real, working model of a train out of scraps from her father's workshop. We were almost done when the Reaping came around."
I can see Bonnie nodding in the shadows, almost hear her voice: Good. Manipulating sympathy.

"Lucelle's father was pretty high-up as far as workers go. He was a big train designer and he had a lot of good ideas. Sometimes we would help him with his blueprints. He spent a lot more time laboring than he did making new ideas, though. Sometimes I have to wonder about the old 'Quality over quantity' saying, because if that was true he wouldn't have worked nearly as much."

"And your parents? What did they do?"
"They were just regular laborers. They worked on trains too, which was how our families met in the first place. The Marvinforths helped us out a lot. We didn't get along too well on our own."

With that, the timer buzzes. Caesar gestures us out, and I go back emotionlessly. From the corner of my eye, though, I can see Lucelle doing a rather clumsy curtsy.

She can curtsy much better than that.

Oh, she is clever.

YYYYAAAAAYYYY!!!!!! LET THE THIRTY-FIFTH HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One second, I need to go read up on this. 

Ariana ~ The games. The fateful time when all of us except for one dies. I've already been to the Stockyard. I'm dressed in a mottled light green, brown and grey bodysuit, which all the other tributes are dressed in. I'm standing on the silver plate, scanning my surroundings. 60 seconds.

I can see the corncopia, positioned at the very peek of a small, but steep mountain. There's a deep wooland on one side, and a field on the other. 40 seconds. There's a sword not too far ahead of me. I should grab that on my way to the bloodbath.

30 seconds. Gena isn't too far away from me either. She'll be a good ally. 20 seconds. Maybe I could kill Thrawn during the bloodbath. That way, he wouldn't trouble me anymore. 10 seconds. Make up your mind. 8 seconds. I'll have to. 6 seconds. If I want to survive. 3 seconds. I'll do it. 0 seconds.

I run, faster then I ever have before, scooping up the sword. But I can't kill him. It would be breaking the alliance. Unless ... unless I poison him. It's the only way. I reach the top, panting heavily.

I whip around to find the district 12 girl picking up a trident from the corncopia. Why is she here? She tosses it aside, picking up a sword. I need to act. I jump forward as she starts to stand up, plunging the sword into her.

My insides threaten to turn inside out, but I wipe the sword on the grass, ready to continue. "Grab the best things you can find and go!" Gena yells at me. I nod, feeling a little numb. "I've got your back!" I nod again, looking through the pile. Is she trying to protect me?

I find a tent, and I grab it, along with several ration packs and bottles of water. As I push them to the side, I find something else. Poison Hemlock. Fatal. What is it doing here? I push it into the only pocket on my bodysuit.

"Gena, I can't run. I have to fight!" I yell as the wind whips through my hair. "Fine!" She yells while engaging in combat with Piotr. 

Lucelle~

The Bloodbath.

Everyone knows about the Bloodbath.

We had already agreed not to go into it. It was completely and utterly unanimous: Whatever the arena was, run away from the Cornucopia and towards water.

Rick seems to have forgotten.

I can see his eyes, trained on two objects. Two objects, close to us but not too much so. Two objects that, yes, would help us, would help us immensely, but would kill us in the process.

A hammer.

A sword.

I can see a backpack near me, a backpack I can easily scoop up on my way to the woods. The sword and hammer? Not as much. Rick would be putting his life in danger if he decides to get them.

The bell gongs, and he sprints up the hill.

The woods. I'm going to the woods. We were allied from the beginning, but if he's going to die at the bloodbath then... one person checked off the list.

Cruel, yes.

Heartbreaking, yes.

But this is the Hunger Games, and if I am to win, he would have to die eventually.

I scoop up the backpack, which is a lot heavier than it seems upon first glance. Then I sprint, full power, towards the forest, aided by the downhill slope. At the foot, I tumble, rolling the rest of the way down. I watch a knife soar over my head.

Thank goodness.

Pushing myself up, I dart into the woods, but once I'm a few paces in my conscience stops me. Instead of going onwards, I slip the backpack onto my back and look for a good tree.

I've never climbed one before, because District Six is a lot more electronic than some more woodland-y districts. However, I did train (very slightly) in tree-climbing before coming to the Games, and so I have at least a basic knowledge: find one with a lot of branches and footholds.

I seem to be getting very lucky. There's a tree just waiting for me, with branches almost like steps.

This feels dangerous. It's the Hunger Games, after all. There are Gamemaker traps every step you take. But I can't help it. I need to see what Rick is doing.

I climb the tree.

Swaying at as close to the top as I can get, I peer through the branches to the hill. I can faintly see a black-haired something running, and I jump out of the tree in my excitement.

I land badly on my left ankle. From a lot of lifting and accidents, I know what it is: a slight sprain. I can get over sprains; I've fixed an engine with a sprain, so I can run with a sprain, I'm sure.

At that very moment, Rick comes from the trees.

"Here," he says, handing me the sword. I tuck it into a conveniently placed belt and run with him, limping slightly on my foot.

I want to ask him what happened. He reads my mind.

"Almost got attacked by Ariana, but I'm quicker than you give me credit for. I was a bit tempted by a tent nearby, but I didn't get it. It seems like someone's been hurtling knives about; if it wasn't for avoiding a conveniently placed rock, I would've gotten speared."
I nod in agreement.

"One came after you?"

I nod again. 

We continue running, each making a lot of noise on the dried leaves. But I don't think there's going to be many people here. The Bloodbath, no matter how stupid, is highly popular.

But we are going to have to find somewhere to stop.

___

I know this is unnaturally lucky. Don't worry, everything takes a dark turn soon.