This is only my second SYOT, so please don't flame if it's terrible. Please let me know what you think and if you want to submit a tribute, the form and details are at the bottom. Enjoy.
The first reaping in this chapter is of Finnagen Gold submitted by Redwut, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined.
Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.
I shut the world outside until the lights come on: Every teardrop's a waterfall - Coldplay
Paylor's POV
I sigh as I step onto the platform to make the public announcement. I don't want to do this, but Coin had suggested it and the victors voted on it. Even after Katniss shot Coin the ones that voted for the games pestered me until I said I would look into it. Johanna Mason can be surprisingly irritating when she continuously rings you at 2 am asking you about it.
I put together a committee with a few representatives from each district. I didn't know either of the ones from District 1. District 2 had Enobaria and someone else I didn't know. District 3 was Beetee and some other victor from years ago. 4 was Annie and another random citizen. 5 and 6 didn't have any victors that weren't dead so they were just random citizens. 7 was Johanna, when I tried to suggest otherwise she offered to rip my head off, plant flowers in my throat and then water them with my blood. I changed my mind quickly, she probably would carry out the threat. There was also some other guy that Johanna sort of knew before the rebellion. 8 was someone called Twill who turned up almost dead in the Capitol just after Coin was killed. She claimed she was from District 8 and had run away with a girl called Bonnie just before the revolution and they had tried to make it to 12 but Bonnie had died on the way so Twill gave up and walked back to the Capitol to give herself up. Katniss vouched for her. 9 and 10 were again random citizens. 11 was Rue's mum and Thresh's grandma. I wasn't really sure why the victors choose them at first but they proved pretty helpful. 12 of course was Katniss and Peeta. 13 was Plutarch and anther random citizen.
We didn't get a representative from the Capitol because I knew there would be no point. The districts would have just overruled them.
"We need to heal rifts between the Capitol and the districts, we have voted and we feel the best way to do this is to have one last hunger games with the children of the Capitol." Yells of anger erupt from the crowd here, but I continue none the less. "One last hunger games to symbolize the start of a new era, rising out of the ashes of an old one. After these games, we can move on. Build up a new country where those from the Capitol and the districts are all treated equally." People are getting angrier and screaming. "That is all." I say. I don't want this, but I need to get the districts on my side. The Capitol will be angry for a time, but they forget things quickly enough. I turn around and I'm just walking off the platform when I hear one scream above the rest.
"Where was our vote?" I stop. Maybe if I tell them they may calm down, just a little.
"Did you see us protest like this at every reaping?" I ask them. "Did you see our vote on whether we would do the hunger games or not 76 years ago?" I look at the crowd who are silent. "No! This is a necessary evil. You want revenge on us for this, don't you?" I ask the crowd. They scream yes. "Well we haven't had any revenge for 75 years' worth of games. If we do this, less people would die than the alternative option. The people who normally run the hunger games would have had to be executed. Anyone who personally worked for Snow, would have been executed. These games are a message to the children of the Capitol. So they understand what we went through. And then it will all be other. We can live in peace. This is for the greater good." Then I walk off. There are still shouts of anger, but not as many. I hope the victors were right. I hope this does work.
Finnagen Gold's POV
(Sector 1 reaping day)
This is absolutely ridiculous. What did us Capitol kids ever kids ever do? Now we're being divided up into 12 'districts' and being reaped. This new president, Paylor, or whatever her name is, is bang out of order.
"We need to heal rifts between the Capitol and the districts, we have voted and we feel the best way to do this is to have one last hunger games with the children of the Capitol . One last hunger games to symbolise the start of a new era rising out of the ashes of the old one. After these games, we can move on. Build up a new country, where those from the Capitol and districts are all treated equally." Was what she said when she announced it. How is it going to 'heal rifts'? It's just gonna make us from the Capitol hate them even more, come on turning the games against us though?
Okay, yes I did used to watch the games. They were good entertainment. It's not like the kids that died in it had much to live for anyway. They'd just go back to their districts and live their lives there for the rest of their days while mentoring other tributes to go into the games. And before the games? Well their lives were even more insignificant then. They lived in poverty, the games gave them a chance for wealth. Well not that much wealth, not compared to here in the Capitol, but they have a lot more money than before.
And anyway when was this supposed vote? No one here in the Capitol knows anything about it. They say they want to bring us together as one, but how's that going to work if they leave us out when voting for stuff. Especially when it affects us directly. This new government is just going to be corrupt.
I unscrew the pot of pomade on my chest of drawers and start styling my short hair. I comb one side to the side and make it look sleek and shiny. It's the new range at the Capitol because we can't get many hair products to do really fancy styles at the moment anyway. I do it like this almost every day so I'm soon finished. I check in the mirror and see my pale reflection staring back, my bright teal hair looking startlingly vibrant compared to my pale complexion. I've always been pretty pale but this hair colour I tried out just before Katniss shot Coin and Paylor became president makes my skin look even paler than usual. I'll have to stop dying it soon. I've only managed to keep it this colour for so long because my dad owns a hair dye shop/ tattoo/ ear piercing parlour. I managed to persuade him to let me have all the teal coloured dye packs, but that was almost a year ago and they've cut back on the number of luxuries we get now. You can still get your hands on hair dye, it's just more expensive to get your hands on the stuff to make the dye so lots of people here don't bother now. I can't afford to buy dye now because Dad's almost gone out of business because people can afford less and less luxuries now.
The new government is cutting a lot of wages here in the Capitol and raising taxes too. In the districts wages are going up and taxes are going down, somehow I don't understand how that's fair, but then I don't really do politics. I just know enough to understand what's going on now the rebellion is over.
I walk over to my wardrobe and start trying to decide between the millions of outfits I own. A lot of them I've only worn once or twice. I decide to go simple and just put on a crisp white shirt and black skinny jeans. I put the shirt on, glancing in the mirror as I do so.
My stomach is muscular and taut even though I'm standing relaxed. I work out twice a week and it's pays off. My shirt is a bit tight when I do the buttons up so if you look carefully, you can just about make out the outline of the skull tattoo on my back. It's not got any colours on it. I think coloured tattoos are hideous, black and white shows it how it is. Coloured tattoos draw attention to you. They go 'Hey look at me, I'm just attention seeking' I don't know why it bothers me so much. I haven't got a problem with colour or expressing myself, my hair's dyed bright blue for goodness' sake, it just annoys me.
I pull on my black jeans and tighten them with my black belt with studs. I look in my full length mirror. Almost perfect. I just need one more finishing touch. I put on my stud earrings. Now I look good.
Some people from the districts would say I'm making way too big a deal out of this. I don't think so though. None of us guys at school would admit it, but we always spend almost as much time as the girls looking good. In the Capitol looking your best is a big deal if you don't look your best when going out in public, well it's just weird. Why would you want people seeing you wearing ugly clothes or with a hairstyle that doesn't suit you? Your image is everything in the Capitol.
I've spent years building up my image. My image tells people I know how to look good, my image tells people if I warn them to back off, then do. My image reflects who I am.
"Finn, mum wants to know if you want pancakes?" Quint my very annoying younger brother yells up to my room.
"Yeah." I shout back. My mum makes the best pancakes ever. She drowns them in maple syrup and then layers them one on top of each other with a couple of rashers of bacon in between each layer. We don't get them as much now because of the wage cuts and stuff. They're restricting how much of each item goes to the Capitol and how much is distributed to the districts. I can smell the bacon frying as I walk down the stairs.
"Took you long enough to get ready." Cara, my older sister comments as I walk into the kitchen. She thinks guys just put on the first thing they find and hopes it works, she doesn't get that how you present yourself is everything.
"Here you go." Mum delivers the mountain of warm pancakes onto my plate.
"Thanks." I grin and start to attack it. I'm careful though, I don't want to have to change my shirt. As usual they are delicious.
"Can you two get to the reaping okay?" Dad asks Quint and I as he walks in. I nod, chewing a large mouthful.
"Make sure Quint gets there on time." Mum adds, glaring at me. I roll my eyes. Why do I have to be responsible for him. He's 14, that's old enough to be able to go the reapings without his older brother.
"I don't need Finn to take me." Quint says quickly, while standing up to stack his dishes on the side.
"You two will walk together. I don't want either of you to lose track of time so we have a peacekeeper knocking on the door asking after you." Mum says sternly.
"Yes mum." We say together .
"Now Cara wash the dishes for me." I shovel the last forkful into my mouth, take my plate to the sink and dump it next for Quint's plate and head towards the front door.
"We'll be leaving in three hours." I say to Quint whilst putting my shoes on. He nods and I slam the door behind me.
I head out to the den. It's the top of one of the biggest skyscrapers in my section of the Capitol.
"Yo, Finn, how you doin'?" A skinny boy yells, coming up to me with a bottle in his hand.
"Good." I grin, it's my best mate Apollo. "How smashed are you?" He looked pretty shaky coming over to me, and I can't remember the last time I saw him properly sober.
"I dunno. How else am I supposed to get through the reaping though?"
"Fair point." I grin, talking the bottle off him and taking a small swig. "It probably won't even be someone we know." I hand the bottle of booze back and we head towards our usual table. There's a couple of girls I vaguely recognise from school there.
"Hey Finn." The black haired one smiles. I don't know how she knows who I am, but I smile anyway.
"Hi, don't think I've met you here before." I sit down.
"I'm Feyre." The girl with rainbow hair smiles. I didn't really notice her before, but now I look at her, I can see her hair is layered and is multicoloured She must be pretty rich to be able to afford that much dyed. "And this is Melody."
"Cool hair." I grin at her.
"Thanks, want to go get a drink?" Feyre asks. I nod, pulling my wallet out. "It's fine, I'll pay."
"I insist." I smile as she stands up to come with me. "What do you want?" I ask her.
"Whatever you're having." She smiles at me, sliding her palm into mine; gently intertwining our fingers. I look down at her. Most boys would love to be in this situation. I order our drinks and we go to a quiet corner to chat. We curl up closely on the squishy sofa there. She leans her head on my shoulder and sighs.
"What's wrong?" I ask, she sounds... I don't know. Dissatisfied?
"The reaping. It's dumb." I nod in agreement.
"It's bought one good thing though." I say draining my glass.
"Oh yeah?" She raised her eyebrow.
"I wouldn't have been here otherwise. I would never have met you." She puts her glass down on the small drinks table in front of us and looks up at me. I didn't notice it before but she's had alterations done on her eyes. They're large, round and rainbow coloured. They reflect different colours each time I look at them.
"I guess you're right." She smiles sadly.
"I love your eyes. They're beautiful." She smiles again. "Just like you." I lower my head to the same. level as hers and brush my lips gently across hers. They are soft and taste like strawberries and alcohol. It's a surprisingly good mixture. Then I pull away. I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't mess with her emotions. It will only end in heartbreak. People are starting to suspect though, I have to keep up my image. I cannot let the mask drop. Even for a second.
"You got any more of those?" She asks, huddling into me, spreading her long slender fingers across my chest.
"For you, of course?" I say to her, ignoring any doubts. Soon we are lost in a bubble of happiness, kisses and hugs.
"Yo lovebirds it's time for the reaping." Apollo calls. She reluctantly pulls away from me.
"To be continued?" She grins.
"Try and stop me." I stand up. "I have to go home first and walk with the irritant known as my brother, but I'll meet you here after?" I ask.
"The thought of your lips will be what gets me through the reaping." She says. "I'll see you soon. " I walk out and go down the elevator. I hurry back home to pick Quint up. I'm just checking my outfit in the full length mirror we have in the hallway to make sure I didn't mess it up at the den. It's slightly crumpled but it'll have to do.
"Finally." Quint grumbles, seeing me in the hallway. "I thought you'd gone without me."
"Aww. Little Quint was scared to go to the reaping without his big brother." I traded him whilst opening the door to go out of the house again. Quint slams it shut behind him.
"You might want to wipe that lipstick off your cheek." He grins at me cheekily. I haven't actually got lipstick there have I?I look at my reflection in a shop window. I do as well. I scrub at it quickly and it soon goes away, leaving my cheek slightly pink from rubbing.
"Thanks." I mutter to Quint.
"Was it anyone I know?" He asks.
"She's called Feyre." I say as we enter the square for the sector of our part of the Capitol. Peacekeepers take a prick of our blood and lead us to separate pens to wait for the start. Everyone in my pen is standing nervously. We all know our chances are low, but it has to be somebody. I just hope it's not me. Or Quint. However much I seem to hate him, we do get on really.
"Hello. Welcome to the reaping sector 1." Katniss Everdeen is up on the stage. The Capitol has been divided into 12 sectors, each one gets a remaining victor or one of the representatives that decided whether to have these games or not as their escort and mentor. Sector 1, where I live, gets Katniss. "We'll start with the girls." She walks to the reaping bowl on the left of the stage. I hope it's not Feyre, she seemed nice. "Raven Canihi." She reads off the card. I don't know her, that won't make it any easier watching her die though. These games are just stupid. "Now for the male tribute." She goes to the other bowl. It shouldn't be me or Quint. "Finnagen Gold." No. No, no, no. What on earth? How is it me? My feet are anchored to the ground. I can't move. I'm just standing in shock. These whole games are just dumb. The crowd in front of me swiftly parts and I finally manage to stumble up to the stage. "We are sorry for taking these two children away from you, but it is a necessary evil, after these games we can forget the past." Katniss says and we are led off to the rooms where we will say our goodbyes. Quint is my first visitor.
"We'll sponsor you." He says coming in. "I'll start up a collection. You have to win this." He's trying to be optimistic, but we both know he's lying.
"I'll miss you." I say.
"Me too." He says and starts to break down. I can't deal with this now.
"I think this is just upsetting you and you should go home." He nods and bumps my fist on the way out. We never hug. We always fist bump.
"Honey, my little baby boy." My parents come in now. They hug me and try to give me advice but it's not long before they break down too. Apollo comes in next.
"Mate, I'm sorry. I'll try to get a sponsor pool going." I nod.
"Thanks."
"Just don't do anything stupid. Think everything through before you do it. Make sure you pick up survival skills too, you won't have to worry about being killed by other tributes as much this year, it's the arena that'll be more likely to kill you." My final visitor is Feyre. She walks in and collapses in my arms. I sit and stroke her hair trying to comfort her. My heart is heavy in my chest, but at least if I die in the arena she'll never find out. I'll never have to tell her.
"You have to win." She whispers and kisses me.
"I'll try, the thought of you will keep me alive." I say, we spend the remainder of our time together hugging and kissing. She's crying too.
"I love you." She says when she has to go.
"I'll see you soon." I say. Now I'm alone, the horror of it all kicks in. I feel sick. Bile rises up in my mouth and I swallow the sour, bitter taste. I have to stay strong. If I want to get out of that arena alive, I can't afford to break down.
SYOT form:
Name:
Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):
Opinions on the games before the rebellion:
Opinions on these games:
Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):
Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):
Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):
Training score:
Would they ally or not:
Do they normally sponsor in the games:
Personality:
Age:
Additional information:
Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.