Inspired by HonorH's "The Wolf and the Mockingjay"
Rose groaned as the shrill beeping of the alarm clock woke her, really the only guaranteed thing that worked in their apartment. Burying her head under the pillow, she reached out and silenced it. As she tried to lay in silence for a few more minutes her mother came in from the living room of the one bedroom apartment. Jackie Tyler, even under the best of circumstances, was not a woman you ignored.
"Why is that thing on? You know you don't have work today." They both knew the reason, Reaping Day. It was an unspoken agreement of mother and daughter that they treated it as any other day even if it wasn't, anything to not have to think about what happens on Reaping Day.
"Was thinking of going in, seeing if Henrick wanted me to finish stocking. Today's a good day to get a few hours in uninterrupted." Rose sat up and ran a hand through her sleep tousled hair.
Jackie looked at her daughter for a moment, then softened "Okay, I'll have breakfast by the time you're out of the shower."
"Kay mum." Rose yawned as her mother walked out of her bedroom. Rolling out of bed she grabbed some clothes and stumbled to the bathroom.
Turning on the water and quickly undressing she hopped into the ice cold shower. Typical really, hot water was a luxury, as the water heater for the building was on the fritz and had been for years. And despite Mickey's best efforts, no one else was interested in fixing it. Washing up as quickly as she could, she dried off, dressed and made for the kitchen.
She grabbed the only mugs they owned and set to preparing the tea from the already heated water while she watched her mom reheat the leftovers from dinner, beans and rice, with some of the pickled cabbage from the store just to make it a bit more of a meal.
"I hate Reaping Day, always fries my nerves." Jackie said, never taking her eyes off the small gas stove, it was temperamental sometimes, they'd nearly lost the apartment once. "Barley got to sleep last night, thank god it's your last year."
"It'll be fine mum, other kids have their names in there a lot more than I do." Rose responded, setting the mugs on the table.
It was true, as Shireen and Keisha had taken out tesserae for years to help take care of their large families. Jackie would never allow Rose to do that even when they were only subsiding on tea and Mickey's meager leftovers. Rose's dad had died when she was a baby in a factory accident and Jackie wasn't going to risk losing Rose too.
Though in some respects they were lucky, Mickey passed along what he could spare and Rose had been working for Henrick since she was 13, when he'd lost part of his leg after he'd gotten caught up in a gang retaliation, all too common in the Factory part of District 9. Jackie had immediately volunteered Rose to help out in the store, and between her wages, what her mom made on a small haircutting and styling business and what Mickey passed along (sometimes clothes, money, food…) they'd been able to survive. Henrick wasn't a bad guy either, occasionally he'd send Rose home with some stock that he couldn't shelve, pickled vegetables, canned milk, dried beans, and the like.
Turning off the stove and plating breakfast, Jackie set the plates on the table as Rose grabbed the only forks they owned and sat down, passing the other to Jackie. Mother and daughter shared a look and they ate their meal in silence.