A/N this chapter and all of Orion Skeene's POV chapters (maybe others) are written by the wonderfully, amazing and SUPER AWESOME SAUCE Tsy Descarte. She also helped write mine as well because she is just that AWESOME. Now on with the show!
District 4. The fishing District. A career District. It was a home to half a million citizens. Along with the livestock and plant Districts, its produce fed all of Panem. To the west, it bordered with District 6; to the to the east, District 2; and to the south, the sea. The salt ocean spanned for miles and miles, and along the coastline was the major port cities and towns, acting as shipping intermediaries to District 1 and the Capitol, which were both north above District 2.
In the centre of the district was a lake. This lake was fresh water: it was artificially created and was originally in a perfect square, but the elements had eroded it down to a rectangle-like blob. Several of the smaller towns, instead of being by the coastline, found themselves along the shores of this lake. Each town had a handful or so of prominent families that owned hatcheries, and the rest of the townspeople had smaller businesses that dealt with preparing and shipping the fish to the coast. Orion Skeene, sixteen, belonged to such a family. The Skeene label had been sported on boxes of tuna, mackerel, and sardines since before the first Quarter Quell. Mr. and Mrs. Skeene, and their three children, Orion, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda, lived in the town of Aniska. Orion was the oldest, and his sisters were twin girls three years their brother's junior. They all attended the District's only school which trained young children the art of war and bloodshed.
The Academy was a boarding school. It housed roughly five hundred boys and girls between the ages of eight to seventeen. Only the richest families could afford to educate and prepare their children for the Hunger Games, contrary to the first and second Districts where it was mandatory to attend. However, it was better than in most of the other Districts, where such schools did not exist.
Orion Skeene was not known as Orion. He was called Orion Skeene, by friends and professors alike. It was a kind of name that sounded very official and most refused to simply call him either Orion or Skeene. However, his closest friends and family occasionally addressed him as Hunter.
Orion was a tall boy. He has wide, muscled shoulders and a generally well-built body. He had dirty blond hair in a pompadour-type cut, and his eyes were of a dusty green. The boy had an odd personality. Rather than most of his peers, he was brutally honest, which got him into more trouble than good. He had a hard time lying and concealing things, which was a class in itself at the Academy. Orion's facial expression betrayed his most inner thoughts, and most could read him like a book.
Orion lived across the hall from his sisters, as siblings were usually kept close. Andromeda and Cassiopeia did not, at first glance, appear to be twins. Andy had her brother's dirty blond hair, which fell in a short, knotted mess, while Cassie had long, dark brown hair, that she had gotten from their mother. The three siblings often found themselves together, as the twins tended to tag along with Orion and his group of friends.
Today was no different. Orion's best friends, Flux Aldjoy and Balthar Scrymgor, informed him on the usual nonsense going on in the larger circle of mischief-making boys to which the two of them belonged – some boy pulled this prank on that teacher, another boy teased this guy about that. Andy and Cassie listened closely, as if their knowledge of the Academy boys' activity was all that mattered in the world.
"I think it's all rubbish," Orion said plainly, much to his friends' annoyance. "It doesn't do you any good, pulling pranks and crap. The teachers won't treat you as well, and if they don't treat you as well they won't teach you as well. Which won't exactly help if you get picked to the Hunger Games."
"Oh, you shut your trap, Orion Skeene," said Flux. "Just because you act like a girl and never have any fun doesn't mean we can't! You're always thinking about the Games. Chill for a second, brother!"
"I still think you shouldn't do it," Orion said firmly.
"It doesn't matter what you think, Oreo," said Andy. "I want to play a prank on grouchy Miss Philyps with the boys!"
"Join us, Orion Skeene! We're the best fighters in the Academy, a break won't hurt!" pleaded Balthar.
"Fine, you go off and have a break! I'll be busy learning how to protect myself from other things than a sword!" He turned to storm off. His friends and sisters wouldn't normally have commented, because they were used to his sudden outbursts. But today, there was something amiss. A slight twitch of his lips, one too many nervous fidgets.
"Jeez, you're sounding like you're going to the Games!" exclaimed Flux.
Orion turned around, for a moment his face betraying the truth. He composed himself and stared at the boy, his expression cold and dark, but could not hold it for merely a few seconds before he lowered his head.
There was a silence before Cassiopeia spoke up, voicing the truth that was obvious to them all.
"…You're volunteering, aren't you?