The train ride was mostly silent. After all, there was only Xiumin, the District 12 girl tribute, whose name Xiumin later found to be Sohee, their mentor, Lee Soo Man and a few staff members. 

The silence was only worsening the situation as it allowed the negative thoughts and feelings to continuously loop through Xiumin's head, making him fidgety and worried. Therefore, he attempted to make conversation with Sohee. 

"So Sohee...um....what school did you go to back home?"

"JYP academy" 

"Ohh right, it is a nice school, isn't it? Tell me more about it." Xiumin prompted

Sohee stared at him. ".....yeah. There's not much to it." 

"Oh okay then. What's your favourite colour?"

"Blue"

"...light blue like the sky or dark blue like the ocean?" 

Xiumin was trying to get Sohee involved in the conversation, but his attempt was met with a silent shrug of the shoulders before Sohee turned away from him to look out the window once more. 

"Aish...when are we gonna arrive at the Capitol because I can't stand one more minute of this stifling silence." Xiumin thought to himself.

He leaned his shoulders back into the leather seat and, like his companion, turned his head and hopefully his thoughts to somewhere else.

                                                    -------------------------------------------------------------

Xiumin opened his eyes, as the trained slowed to a stop.

"Okay, Tributes, We're here! Get up! Hurry up! Wouldn't want to be late first day in the Capitol!" Lee Soo Man came bursting into the compartment, ushering the two wary tributes towards the door. It had been a tiring two days on the train and now, at 6:00am, they had finally arrived at their destination, the Capitol. As he rose, Xiumin caught his first sight of the Capitol and despite his state of apprehension, he had to admit it was breath-taking. Sohee and Xiumin lined up at the door, ready to face the crowd.

The moment the two tributes set foot onto the platform, the wave after wave of reporters, all rapidly firing questions accompanied by the jostling of cameramen with their overwhelmingly bright camera flashes, greatly startled the two teenagers, who, coming from a humble district, has never received such attention. Xiumin lifted up his arm to shield his eyes from the flashes. But even though the flashes blinded him, Xiumin knew he had to make a good first impression if he wanted the people to sponsor him. It was this, more than anything else, which gave him the strength to manage a smile, lifting both arms to wave at the crowd, which roared its approval. Xiumin stole a glance beside him at Sohee, who was, thankfully, putting up a cheery facade, playing the game as well.

And as Lee Soo Man lead them away, the crowd reached out their arms, desperate to be closer to their tributes. Xiumin kept smiling and waving while his free hand reached out to touch some of those outstretched in the crowd, despite feeling queasy at the contact. 

As they left the station, they entered the vehicle which would take them to their accommodation.