The 34th Hunger Games

[leeeeeeeah]

Have Begun.

Tributes:

District 1 - Clarissa Adami & Kelvin Davilla

District 2 - Roxanna Alessio & Melville Fox

District 3 - Trudy Adolfs & Dominic Lukzak

District 4 - Milena Iordanou & Wim Oberst

District 5 - Scarlett Larson & Damien Redford

District 6- Dahlia Flourney & Jarrett Speight

D i s t r i c t 7 - Alec Lyons & Holly Mathis

D i s t r i c t 8 - Madisyn Randal & Alton Hesler

District 9 - Lorccan Vincent & Romola Aldenkamp

District 10 - Alicia Wyre & Breidon Pressley

District 11 - Honour Lukeson & Dane Zelasco

D i s t r i c t 12 - Cyril Funar & Kimi Algier

Name:
Age:
District:
Appearance:
Special Skills?:
District Partner:

Name: Scarlett Larson
Age: 16
District: 5
Appearance:
Special Skills?: Aside from being able to cut wires all day, not much.
District Partner: Damien Redford

Name: Alec Lyons
Age: 18
District: 7
Appearance:
Special Skills?: Good with an axe. Also pretty strong from lugging trees around.
District Partner: Holly Mathis

[grey scale:]

Name:
Milena Berenike Iordanou
Age:
Fifteen
District:

Appearance:

Special Skills?:
Melina can run very quickly; she also has an unusual aptitude for swimming and climbing trees credited from her slim body structure and light footing. Other strengths of hers include finding edible herbs and plants, berries, and camouflaging herself. She is not a Career.
District Partner:
Wim Oberst

Name:
Lorccan Ninian Vincent
Age:
Seventeen.
District:

Appearance:

Special Skills?:
Being from District 9, Lorccan is quite swift with heavy weapons such as swords, blunt objects, and tree limbs. Unfortunately, however, he's abysmally incompetent at picking out poisonous plants from the non, ironically enough.
District Partner:
Romola Aldenkamp

[grey scale:]

Starting now~
____________

Milena
I stood beside my best friend Carlie, who stood about five inches taller than me and about seventy pounds heavier. Gossamer Kramich, our Capitol representative, stood on the stage, going on and on about the Capitol and the Hunger Games and everything else nobody else cared about. Well, I mean, Four does kind of care about it, being a Career district and all, but I never did and most of the other Districts surely don't. I just tried to keep myself entertained while she took her sweet time getting to the Drawing, my nerves feeling thoroughly fried.

Lorccan
My shirt stuck to my chest from sweat; the summers in Nine were pretty terrible. Markus Jenkins rambled on in his awkward Capitol accent, waving his arms around exuberantly as he described the bombings and thrills of the war between the Districts and the Capitol. I zoned out, laughing silently at something my friend Zane was doing with his hands, gesturing to one of the girls in the next group over. She caught sight of it and rolled her eyes, looking away, although we could see her smile a bit. Zane nudged me, chuckling quietly, as Markus brought his speech up to a close. "Now! To pick our Tributes!"

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
I stood with my friend Isidra, in the crowds of people at the Reaping. I really hated this. My dress was ugly and itchy and the whole speech about the war and how the games are symbolic and important, blah blah blah, it bores me. I'd rather be at work, and let's be honest, I take any opportunity there is to get out of cutting and sizing wires all day. Sure, I felt sorry for the kids who got picked and their families, and I was aware it could possibly be me going up there after having my name called out, but I doubted it. A lot of people signed up for tesserae, so their names were floating around a lot more frequently than mine.

Alec
The Reaping this year actually had me on edge. This was my last year of being in this. If I could get out of being picked this year then it would be over and I wouldn't have to worry about it any more. The sense of relief was almost overwhelming, but at the same time I was very, very worried. It was very possible I could be picked. What bad luck that would be. I worrying that much that I was barely paying attention to the speech being made by our representative, Shirleen Mentis, until she said in her loud, high pitched voice; "And now, to pick our very lucky Tributes!"

[grey scale:]

Milena
"Happy Hunger Games!" Gossamer chirped happily, her cerulean dress rippling in the breeze floating in from the coast. her heels clacked awkwardly as she shifted toward the big glass ball, projecting her voice. "May the odds be ever in your favor! Ooooh, Ladies first!" She let out a nauseating, girlish giggle and reached into the glass ball, twirling her whole arm around in the many slips of paper until she finally decided on one, her face lit up in pure, exaggerated joy. She straightened up, ejected her arm from the glass ball, and played with the slip of paper in her hand. She stood back in front of the microphone, reading the name on the slip silently before calling out in a crisp, clear voice, "Milena Iordanou."

Lorccan
I shifted as Markus moved over to the glass ball containing the girls' names and stuck his hand in, swiftly picking a slip of paper and moving back to the microphone. He cleared his throat into the microphone; the sharp ring of feedback sounded and we all winced. He continued on like nothing had happened, smoothing out the slip containing the girl's name in his hand. He cleared his throat again, apparently for good measure, before saying in his simultaneously speaky-and-soft voice, "Romola Aldenkamp."

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
Apryl Bowersock, our representative from the capitol, eventually wrapped up her speech about the games and the war and stuff, and moved over to the reaping balls. She sent a sickeningly sweet smile out to the crowd before reaching into the girl's one, shuffling the pieces of paper about with her fingers, exaggerating and prolonging the moment. Eventually, she pulled her arm out from the glass ball, a piece of neatly folded paper held in her hand. She unfolded it, turned towards the microphone and said, loud and clear, "Scarlett Larson."

Alec
I drummed my fingers against my legs as Shirleen finished the talk about how great the hunger games were, and walked over to the reaping balls. She went to the girls one first, taking forever to pick out a name to create more tension. Eventually she did pull out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and read the name out for all to hear; "Holly Mathis."

[grey scale:]

Milena
I gaped for a second, not sure what had just happened. I barely had time to register Carlie's look of sympathy -- she knew I never approved of the Games, always hoped against hope that I never was chosen -- before a sea of hands were taking me, my arms, my shoulders, my hands, pulled me from the ropes that contained us and shoving me under them, jealously, spitefully, wishing they were me because they'd trained their entire lives and I'd tried my best to stay hidden forever in the background, never be seen, never be picked, never be singled out. I wanted to cry. I wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, I wanted to hug my parents and my little sister, Loala, and my grandparents who lived in the Shells, and the few close friends I'd made at school throughout the years, the ones who'd protected me from things of this very nature, the ones who'd helped me through everything. "Mel," I heard a hiss, and I spun around. Carlie had followed me down the row of girls, and she was looking at me with a thousand questions in her eyes. But one stood out the most, one I knew was far more important than any of the others. Do you want me to go, instead? Images of her being stabbed, or beaten, or shot through with an arrow, or poisoned ran through my head in rapid succession, and I quickly shook my head before turning and sprinting up the steps to the stage. Gossamer grins at me, gesturing at me as if I am a prize being shown to salivating spectators and they are to begin auctioning me off in three...two...one... "People of District Four, our newest tribute, Milena Iordanou!"

Lorccan
The girl who Zane had previously been gesturing to stood stock-still for a moment before robotically lifting the rope over her head and stepping out into the aisle, her body rigid. Both Zane and I stood soberly silent beside each other; if we'd known, that she was the one to be chosen for the Reaping, we wouldn't have joked, or teased, or played around like that. So obscenely. Romola seemingly found her courage and confidently stood before Markus, who shook her hand and introduced her to the crowd, who all clapped as politely as possible for her. Markus then moved to the other glass ball, the one containing the boys' names. My palms began to sweat. Zane started to fidget with his hands, his feet moving from side to side. Markus moved to the microphone with a slip of paper in hand, and smoothed it out much like the first. A deep breath. A pause. "Lorccan Vincent."

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
I didn't really register what had happened until Isidra took hold of my hand squeezing it tightly and looking at me with a mixture of fear, pity and sadness in her eyes. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. I couldn't say anything before I was being pulled out from the crowd by the Peacekeepers, who marched me onto the stage where Apryl introduced me as if I was a trophy of some sort. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Scarlett Larson, our newest tribute!" There was clapping and cheering, but none of them meant it. I picked out my family in the crowd; my mother and my father and my two younger brothers, sobbing in a huddle.

Alec
I knew Holly; she was the younger sister of a friend of mine. She had only just turned twelve and she looked very scared as she went up to the stage. I was pretty sure her brother would have volunteered for her if he wasn't too old. After introducing Holly to the masses, Shirleen went back to the reaping balls to pick out a boy's name. The tapping on my leg became faster out of nerves, as she swirled her hand around in the sea of paper, finally pulling one out and reading -- "Alec Lyons."

[grey scale:]

Milena
I numbly stood aside while Gossamer stuck her hand into the glass ball containing the boy's names, barely heard her as she called out the unlucky boy's name. I turned my head slightly and watched as Wim Oberst stepped onto the stage, proud as anything. Gossamer announced him, grinning brightly, and the group of our families and friends clapped again. "The 34th Tributes of District Four!" Gossamer called out, her arms held out as if waiting to embrace the cheering crowd. "Milena Iordanou and Wim Oberst!" I scanned the crowd for my family, saw them huddled together and watching me, worried. Helpless. My sister cried into my mother's shoulder; next year, she would be put into the Reaping. My father hugged all of them to him, not able to look me in the eyes. The one offspring he has that finds the Choosing a disgrace has been Reaped. He always wanted me to be a Career but I always refused. I would at least have some semblance of control over my life. Now, I found myself thinking that maybe I should have listened.

Lorccan
My eyes flew open and I felt Zane literally fall to his knees beside me. "Be careful, man," he whispered when I leaned down to him. I nodded and walked off, under the rope, past the kids I'd grown up with my whole life. I climbed the steps and stood near Romola as Markus bowed and gestured to us. the people of Nine clapped warily, sadly, haltingly at first, slowly building up to applause that the Capitol would find acceptable.

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
I stood, looking out at all the people as Apryl read out the name of the one who would be joining me in the arena; Damien Redford. I didn't really know what to do. I was sure none of this could be real. Even though I had known there was a possibility of me being picked, I never actually thought it would happen. And what happened, now that I was a Tribute ... the arena was a tough place, and I'm no Career. I was pretty sure I'd have trouble lasting a few days, let alone winning. And that was the point I set myself up for failure, and ultimately, death.

Alec
I couldn't quite move at first. No way. They couldn't have called out my name, me. This was the last reaping I'd ever be entered in. I couldn't have been picked now. The guy next to me nudged me and that prompted me to step out from the rope barriers and walk up to the stage to stand with Holly. "And here we have, District Seven's 34th Hunger Games Tributes!"

[grey scale:]

Milena
I followed Gossamer and a group of stiff-walking Peacekeepers to Town Hall, Wim walking soberly beside me. I felt odd, as if I were in a drug-induced dream state, one where all the voices of my fellow District people sounded as they did when I was underwater and my ears plugged with bolls of cotton, the footsteps of Gossamer, the Peacekeepers, Wim, and myself muted entirely. The grand, lovely light-green doors opened and I was pulled away from Wim's semi-familiar form and down another hallway. A Peacekeeper ushered me into a Welcoming Room and I sat on one of the plush deep-blue couches by a sea salt-fueled fire. Another Peacekeeper, a young one that looked utterly uncomfortable in his uniform, stood by my door, rigid, straight-faced. I sighed. Soon they would allow in my friends, my family. I wasn't sure if I wanted to endure that meeting.

Lorccan
Markus chattered happily to both Romola and I as we were quickly shepherded to Town Hall. It was a sand-colored building with a bronze, domed roof and shining windows, so shiny it was almost like it had been polished naturally by the ocean. I idly wondered if it had been imported from Four. Maybe. I walked down a silent hallways that echoed mine and my two escorting Peacekeepers' footsteps all around, resisting the urge to hum or whistle or something. it was just so silent. I could barely stand it. Once I was safely inside my Welcoming Room, I sighed heavily, ignoring the presence of the Peacekeeper standing guard at the door. I moved immediately to one of those shiny windows and looked down on the streets, my streets. The people of Nine were crowded around the building or walking home; it was about half-and-half either way. I tried searching for my father in the mess of people, but I failed to locate his shock of unruly brown hair, or his large, light-leather jacket or even his broad shoulders, which usually stood out from a mile away.

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
I followed Apryl and the Peacekeepers to the Town Hall, Damien walking beside me, confident as always. Despite 5 not being a Career district, there were still a few kids that decided they really liked the hunger games and they trained for it and everything. Damien was one of those people. When we got into the mostly metal Town Hall, I was lead down a separate hallway and into a Welcoming Room. I was left in the room with just a single Peacekeeper guarding the door, so I stood by the window and looked out. Most of the people had followed us to the Town Hall and pretty soon my family would be up to say goodbye.

Alec
Holly and I were lead from the stage and down to the Town Hall, some of the crowd following behind us. Most had gone back to their homes. I knew my family was somewhere in the crowd behind me. When we got to the Town Hall we were taken inside and lead down different corridors to Welcoming Rooms. I sat down on the blue sofa as soon as I got in there; I felt like my legs were far too weak to support me any more. Why had this happened. This was my last reaping. Why. I must have the worst luck in the world.

[grey scale:]

Milena
The first to visit me were my parents and Loala, who ran at me and immediately began sobbing the instant my arms closed around her. "Milly, don't go, please don't," she cried, burrying her face into my shoulder. I just hugged her tighter and buried my face in her hair, knowing that I couldn't refuse entry to the Games. it was unheard of. It was ridiculous. It was a death wish.

Lorccan
I was surprised when the first person to enter the Welcoming Room was my father. His huge bowler hat in his hands, his long leather jacket being kept over his arm. "Lorc," he said, sitting across from me. "You know what I'm going to say. I'm sure you do." I did. Be a fighter. We're all fighters. "I do," I said, looking down and sitting on one of the couches adjacent to him. "And I will fight. Till the death, you know," I added bitterly, making a face and looking off.

[leeeeeeeah]

Scarlett
The first person to enter the room was my mother, who immediately broke down in tears. It was almost like her legs gave way and dad had to support her. My brothers, James and Josh ran in then, flinging themselves at me, crying and begging me not to go. It broke my heart in two. My mother, usually so strong and unwavering, having a breakdown in front of my eyes. My father, always the strongest, shedding tears too. And my sweet, lovely, ten year old twin brothers sobbing and asking me not leave. It was like they could all tell I had no chance, especially against the Careers. Sure, sometimes underdogs made it and won, but usually they have the help of a million sponsors because they're cute or interesting or something. And there's always that tremendous wave of luck they experience. I was pretty much counting myself out on the first day, and I was sure they could see that too. It would just be painful knowing that my family would have to watch on a tv screen as I died my premature death. So I just hugged my brothers tighter, reassuring them that everything would be fine as my parents came over to sit with us on the sofa, joining in with the hug.

Alec
I tapped my feet impatiently on the ground as I waited for my parents and sister to come visit me. Eventually the door to the Welcome room opened and my dad stepped in, looking slightly shell shocked and almost like he didn't really know where he was. He looked at me for what seemed like a very long time but it was actually probably only a second or two, before my mother practically pushed him into the wall as she ran over to me, pulling me into the biggest and most sob-riddled hug I had ever had. She was forcing out words inbetween breaths and I just managed to make out something about staying strong and how much she loved me and that I had to do my best and come home. I just nodded and agreed with her, trying to calm her down. I had always been something of a mommy's boy to be honest, so this was killing me inside. I saw my elder sister and my father over my mother's shoulder, huddled together with the pain quite evident in their eyes. They had all thought I'd be getting out of it. A family of lucky ones. Neither of my parents were chosen for the games and neither of us would be either. But I guess that wasn't quite the plan. Life likes to fuck people over, after all.

[grey scale:]

Milena
After we'd consoled Loala, I pulled her onto a couch with me and my parents enveloped us in a huge hug, one that seemed to last for forever. "We'll be watching you every step of the way," Mom said, brushing hair out of my face and kissing my forehead. "Just remember: stay smart, not vicious. Save that for the end." I nodded, blinking tears from my eyes. Advice. This was it. I was leaving after I spoke to my friends, and I wouldn't be coming back.

Lorccan
"Don't be like that, Lorccan." My father stood and sighed deeply. I watched his every move. He'd always seemed a lot older than his own thirty-nine years to me. He had dark hair but sprouts of gray were coming out at his temples, and his muscles were still strong but they were acquiring a more wiry, aged look. I couldn't leave him. Pretty soon, he would be dependent on me. How could the Capital do this to him? to me? to any of us? I stood with him, and we stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the window, looking out at the dispersing crowd.