The flight from Panem Pennsylvania to Sao Paulo Brazil is roughly 10 hours with one connecting flight. He finally stopped torturing himself and decided to take a chance. Katniss read his profile and still she chose to meet with him regardless of his age so if she was ok with it he was going to try and be ok with it too. Keyword try.
He was also going to pass the time learning a new language. Hopefully Katniss will know some English her profile said she did but just in case. Pulling out his iPad he opens the Rosetta Stone app Learn Language Portuguese. He never thought of doing this before with his previous wives. He had already started practicing at home. Made some notes on simple greetings and how to introduction himself.
"Bom Dia" – Good morning
"Boa Tarde"- Good afternoon
"Boa Noite" –Good night
"Oi, eu sou Peeta, um prazer finalmente conhece-la" – Hi, I'm Peeta, a pleasure to finally meet you.
God he hopes he doesn't make a total ass out of himself. After several hours and a headache later he takes a much needed break. He looks about the first class cabin and spots several men like him heading for Brazil to find a bride at this so called 'romance tour'. Some of these tours are scams if you choose the wrong agency. If this doesn't work out he's not sure if he'll be able to do this again. Maybe he's destined to be a bachelor for life. He doesn't remember feeling this nervous before.
Hoping to get himself out of this mood he calls the flight attendant and asks for a scotch on ice. By the third one he finally feels himself relaxing. He is jolted from his nap as the plane hits turbulence. The pilot's voice comes over the loudspeaker requesting them to fasten their seatbelts. Pulling up Katniss picture he wonders what her story is. Why would someone so young need to sign up to be a mail order bride? They all have a story. For Cashmere in Russia the women outnumber men 10 to 8. For Clove it was poverty. For Glimmer it was money.
"What's her name?" asked the men sitting next to him; he leans in to take a better look at Katniss's picture. Peeta actually considers not answering. He looks over at the man with red hair and bright green eyes. He seems friendly enough. "I'm off to meet Leevy, Bristel and Octavia" he pulls out his phone to show him their pictures. "I'm leaning more towards Octavia she's a little on the plump side and I like it." He says with a mischievous grin. "I'm Darius Leeg" he says sticking out his hand.
"I'm Peeta Mellark" Peeta shook his hand, then says "and her name is Katniss"
"Well that's different" Darius said. "Is she the only one you'll be meeting?"
"Yeah, if it doesn't work out I can always select another bride while we're at the meet" he tells Darius. Several times he thought about logging back into the website and making at least one more selection but he has a feeling about Katniss that he couldn't shake so for now he'll hold off until they actually meet.
"Not your first rodeo?" Darius asks. Peeta chuckles.
"Hardly, I'm on my fourth and hopefully last."
By the time they get to Brazil he learns everything there is to know about Darius Leeg. Darius was a New York City detective, forced into early retirement after his last job went real bad and half the team ended up died at a drug bust gone wrong. He is divorced, no kids but he wants them, had dated on and off for the last year but one word about his PTSD from years of undercover work send his dates running for the hills as he puts it. Darius is very open which he finds interesting since you'd think as a former detective he'd be more cautious talking about his personal life. He in turn tells Darius, who was dying to know, all about his failed marriages.
"I only hope she doesn't turn out to be like Glimmer." He concludes.
"In my line of work I've met all kinds of people. You know not all teens go through a wild and crazy phase. Some have an old soul; they take to responsibility and thrive on it. What they need is a little bit of help, to be taken seriously and not to be looked down upon because of their age." Darius said.
That pulls him up short. Isn't that what he's been doing this whole time? He's been judging her off her age and inexperience. Hasn't he always hated when people assume he couldn't do certain things because of his leg? Despite the revelation of his own shortcomings, Darius's words have put him at ease and his resolve on taking a chance and seeing this through has been strengthened.
They pick up their luggage and head out to the arrivals terminal where their driver is holding up a Mail Order Cupid sign. He's a paunchy middle aged man, olive skin, blood shot gray eyes, who at this moment appears to be hollering something unintelligible to them in Portuguese.
"Vamos la nao temos todo o dia" says Haymitch, smirking knowing they don't understand him. "Voces nao sao os unicos passageiros que eu preciso pagar" of course he can tell them all this in English but what fun is there in that. Peeta turns to Darius who just shrugs.
"You'd think they'd provide us with an interpreter" says a dark skin man that is probably six and half feet tall and built like an ox.
"He said we don't have all day and that we aren't the only passengers he needs to pick up" said an older man with ashen skin, wearing glasses and is somewhat fidgety. Peeta notices the driver glare at the bespectacled man.
"You speak Portuguese?" asks a man with powered blue dyed hair and one too many plastic surgeries.
"No, my phone picked up what he said and translates back to me through my ear piece" the man with glasses tells them "There are a few apps you can download but this one is my own invention."
"Settle down" said the driver with a heavy accent. "I'm Haymitch Abernathy and obviously I will be your driver. Say 'here' when I call out your name. Then we'll head out to the next terminal to pick up the other passengers." They call out as he goes down his list. Once they are all accounted for they load onto the shuttle bus and head over to the next arrivals terminal to collect the other passengers. Darius turns around in his seat surveying the new men behind them. Darius give him a wink and he knows he's up to no good.
"Hey old man aren't you like almost a hundred or something? You sure you're going to survive the tour long enough to snag a bride?" Darius address the oldest man on the bus.
"Names Coriolanus Snow and I still have a few years left in me." Mr Snow answers.
"What, the ladies in the retirement home weren't good enough?" teases a slim man with several sets of earrings. His tongue is pierced and he has a stud with a silver ball the size of a marble. He seems awfully young to be signing up for these tours.
Mr. Snow doesn't look offended by their teasing. He smiles good-naturedly and said "Figured I'd take home a nice little trophy wife and stick it to my kids. All three of them plus a couple of my grandkids have been busting my balls to change my will in their favor." That brings on a roar of laughter from the rest of the men.
By the time they arrive at the hotel he's exhausted, they all are, except for maybe Mr. Snow who seems to still have a little pep in his step, while the rest of them are dragging their feet.
"And you guys call me old" snorts Mr. Snow as he rushes pass them.
In the hotel lobby they are greeted by a bright and bubbly Effie Trinket with a scary white grin, pinkish hair and spring green suit. "Boa noite everyone, please gather around. You are the last of the group to arrive and I'm sure you all want to head to your rooms and rest." As she continues talking a guy with corkscrew locks, wearing purple lipstick is going around handing out room cards and shiny gold name tags. "You're itinerary was emailed to each an everyone of you earlier today but just a quick reminder, orientation with be at 9 o'clock sharp in conference room A, a buffet breakfast will be provided at 8 o'clock and we have scheduled a wake up call at 7. So get plenty of rest because tomorrow will be a big, big, big day!" As he turns to go to the elevator he hears her call out his name.
"Mr. Mellark, I word with you, please." He groans, he really wants to go to his room. He sees Darius and the others hurrying off, not wanting to be stopped too. "I noticed that you have only made one bride selection." He sees her scrolling through her tablet looking up his profile and let's out a sigh while pulling up Katniss pictures.
"Is anything wrong?" He asks, hoping that Katniss hasn't pulled out of the meet.
"No, it's that these pictures are atrocious." She gestured to the tablet. "It's a shame she's not very photogenic seeing as she's quite stunning. So, as I was saying, I recommend that you make a couple additional bride choices. We have 74 more to choose from. Our Brazilian romance tours are rather smaller then our European ones and you should take advantage of meeting as many lovely ladies as possible." She looks at him expectantly.
"No thank you Ms. Trinket, I'm happy with my choice." He says.
"That's what I thought you'd say." Then she mumble something under her breath so he only catches a few words 'you…two…stubborn.' She lets out a sigh of exasperation. "Like I told Miss. Everdeen, if you change your mind let me know." She stalks off towards Haymitch and purple lipstick guy looking rather put out.
Turning back to the elevator he mulls over her words. Huh, Katniss has only chosen to meet with him too. That IS good news. Once he's in the elevator he pulls up his email, his first one on one date with Katniss will be tomorrow at 6 o'clock and he can't stop grinning like an idiot.
While looking around the conference room he saw that Effie was right, this is a small 'romance tour.' The biggest one he went to was in Russia 100 grooms to 250 brides. By his calculation there will be 25 grooms to 75 brides. This tour is a weeklong affair and by the end of it if they find a match they can marry here then start the spouse visa process or if they want to marry in the states they'd have to apply for the fiancé visa. Both can take up to 6 months. For Katniss, if hers and her sister's visa's are up to date they can leave in a matter of days.
He sees Darius and Beetee walk into the conference room making a beeline to the open bar. It's almost 9 o'clock, a bit too early for him to start drinking. He finds it odd that their driver, Haymitch is also by the bar a drink in each hand. Effie enters the room closes the doors, walks up to Haymitch grabs one of his drinks and heads off towards the podium sipping it as she goes while Haymitch glares at her back.
"Welcome, welcome, to the annual Mail Order Cupid Brazilian Romance Tour" Effie starts off her spiel, as Darius and Beetee take a seat at the table. Darius goes to hand him a drink. Peeta shakes his head.
"Come on, I got this for you" Darius insists. He takes it; one is not going to hurt. "We heard the brides are here, getting beautified" Darius whispers.
"Really?" Peeta asks. Beetee nods.
"Beetee's little app informed him while we were at the buffet line. A couple of the servers were gossiping about them" Darius said. Effie moves on to the agenda.
"We will have our social dinner in the ball room beginning at 4 o'clock for the brides and grooms that have left their availability open. For those that have chosen to close it off; their one on one date will be at 6 o'clock in one of the restaurants in the hotel" said Effie. "Now remember you are forbidden to see the brides outside the tour. If you would like to have a date while exploring the city please let me know and we will make the arrangements with the bride, an interpreter and one of our drivers. All of our brides have been vetted but this is for your own protection as well as theirs." She said. "Any questions?" A man with the weirdest bread he's ever seen raises he hand. "Yes, Mr. Crane" she calls out to him.
"What if we want to meet one of the brides that has closed off their availability?" he asks. Peeta can tell Effie is trying really hard to maintain her smile which looks more like a grimace now.
"Sorry Mr. Crane but as I told you before that is not possible. The brides have every right to close availability." She said.
"But what if she closed it by mistake not understanding the process" he tries again.
"No, she understands the process just fine. Anyone else?" she asks. "Yes, Mr. Flickerman" but he directs his question to Mr. Crane.
"So who is this girl that you have such a hard on for, Mr. Crane?" Mr. Crane's face turns beet red.
"I bet it's that hot, young sweet little virgin, right? Katniss Everdeen, I'd like to meet her too" calls out a man sitting in the back table.
"Watch it!" said a glowering Haymitch.
Peeta sees several of the men pull out their tablets to look her up. Oh, no he thinks. Not my Katniss. He's not sure where this possessiveness came from but he knows he doesn't want to share.
"Hot? She's not even pretty" pipes up Messalla, he's sitting at their table scrolling through her profile and Peeta glares at him. "Well she's not but I wouldn't mind meeting her too." He hears a few other men express the same sentiment. He groans inwardly, hoping Effie will stick to her guns and not give in.
"We at Mail Order Cupid respect every participants choice and will not force any one on one dates nor social dinners on anyone." He doesn't even have time to be relieved when she continues. "That being said, we do reserve the right to add mandatory group events that everyone must attend including all of you." He already know that these tours normally added group events depending on the size and activity.
"So what is this group event you're planning for us?" asked Mr. Flickerman.
"Well Mr. Flickerman, I…"
"Call me Caesar" he said.
"Yes, well Caesar I propose we add a speed dating event." Effie chirps. There's some confusion on how that's going to work and it seems Caesar has become their unofficial spokesman.
"You're killing us Ms. Trinket. With 75 of them and 25 of us, exactly how will that work?." Caesar asks. "Details. Details."
"Maybe if you stop interrupting her, she'll be able to provide those details" drawls Haymitch.
"Haymitch! Manners" she chastises. Though Peeta can see her fighting back a smile.
"We will have 25 couples, which will make it a three day event for the grooms and one for the brides. We don't want it to interfere with any prescheduled dates, so it will be for only one hour and fifteen minutes. That gentleman will give you three minutes to gain favor with the bride of your choice." She says. "If you agree, I will proceed to send out the emails to start the event tomorrow."
As most of the men give their assent a few grumble that three minutes will not be enough time to make an impression. Effie must have had it already set up because within minutes they received the email adding the speed dating event to their itinerary. Finally she has them go around and introduce themselves. By the time they finished they hear a commotion outside.
"Here we go" chuckles Haymitch.
The door bangs open and in walk a handful of gorgeous women all scantily clad in thin silky red robes. In front of the group stands a breathtakingly beautiful young woman and there is no mistaking who she is. While the men all gawk, the women descend upon Effie.
"Effie we need to talk" she said. Her musical voice has a slight accent that only adds to her appeal. The other women are whispering around her in Portuguese.
"Fuuuuck, I take it back, she is hot." Said Messalla.
Fuck is right.