District 5 had a constant hum. A low and inescapable rumble at a pitch that annoyed every visitor but had somehow been long forgotten by the residents that fell like fog from the power towers sprinkled throughout the city. Rumor had it that the hum had never been ignored by residents of District 5, but rather it had incorporated so deeply in their everyday life they heard it everywhere. Victors that left on the Victor Tour heard it in the back of their mind, Tributes heard it in the stark silence of the arenas, and it was as much a part of the residents as was their heartbeat. To top of the annoyingly steady hum, various buildings down various alleyways would thump and drone on with electric noises set to various beats and times in a weak attempt to create music while colored lights flashed over purposefully darkened rooms allowing bodies to move so close together it was almost pointless to even consider yourself a singular being.

It was a therapy to most, a way to feel closer to people rather than trying to actually converse with those around you and for the few Victors in District 5 it was a way to avoid the constant questions about their survival and strategy. Victors seemed to have a much harder time falling back into a simple routine and so a room full of blinding lights and numbing noise was the only place where even the Capitol couldn't get you. Thoughts were erased, memories put on back burners and the only sensation that was comprehensible was how the low bass and electronic noise literally tore through the body and changed your very heartbeat. Some people thought the sensation was how being electrocuted would feel; how the sound would vibrate through your very bones and cause your heart to skip or speed up, but it was hardly close. Being electrocuted was painful and more often than not deadly.

Rodyn was usually one of the first in the doors and one of the last out at such a place, but tonight she sat on the darkened porch of her Victor's home watching the electric lines crisscross through her District. Sometimes there would be a spark near a pole where the current was being dispersed to a home or building in the District but for the most part it was just something stable and unchanging she could watch and not have fade away. So few things were constant in her life; so little things absolute and unchanging that even something as simple as power lines brought on a comfort.

"You weren't in town tonight," a sweet voice bubbled from behind her. Rodyn glanced over her shoulder as the blonde slowly crept around her house to step up onto the porch. Her heels made strange hollowed sounds on the weathered wood as she walked to the place Rodyn sat on the banister, a mug of tea clutched between her hands. "I almost didn't believe you were up either, thought you had run off again," she teased while leaning against the banister on her forearms. Rodyn didn't look away from the landscape she was staring at, mentally making note of every little roll of land and dip of valley. The part of Five Rodyn lived in was close to the mountains which she could see in the distance, but she wasn't sure how she felt about being closer to the Capitol. A part of her wanted to be as far as she could, even if it meant having less and less to eat and live on.

"I didn't really feel like it tonight, Electra," Rodyn said lifting the mug to her lips. Electra shrugged her shoulders while pouting her lips carelessly,

"Oh I didn't mind either way, I just heard you were venturing from your mansion and thought you'd be there." She smiled when she referred to Rodyn's Victor house as a mansion and Rodyn spared a grateful laugh. She shook her head while looking at the hands tangled together in her lap before smiling at the blonde woman beside her.

Electra was nothing like the girl Rodyn volunteered for so many years ago, Electra had grown up. Neither of them were the girls they had been, Rodyn in different ways and Electra in more obvious ways. The once quiet and self-aware girl had grown into a friendly and carefree woman, throwing caution to the wind and trusting those around her to care for her, as Rodyn had. Rodyn had lost her childish nature in the arena but it didn't quiet her rebellious and confident charm. They were good for each other; Electra convincing Rodyn to lose herself in a dance or a drink or even just a laugh and Rodyn teaching Electra how to be aware and safe when she was on her own.

The natural hum of the District fell a bit heavier as a silence accumulated between the two. Electra threw a leg over the banister to sit beside her friend as they looked out to the hazy mountain silhouette in the distance. Electra pulled her sunshine colored hair over a shoulder and lightly kicked her feet while Rodyn leaned forward against her knees. Rodyn wavy dark hair caught lift in a breeze and she crinkled her nose a bit. She wasn't sure why, but to her the air in District 5 smelled off. And felt off. There was just a constant electricity to the air that always had her ready to jump out of her skin, so badly that she sometimes wished she could get back into an Arena, if only for a moment of fresh and still air; if only for a moment of clarity where her head wasn't buzzing and her skin wasn't crawling. Maybe then she could get her life in order, set her mind back in place.

"They announced the terms of the Quarter Quell," Electra said nonchalantly, to make conversation. Rodyn looked at her with dark eyes shining as she asked in disbelief,

"Really? Already?" It hadn't felt that long since the last Quell, or was it that time had just lost meaning to her and therefore she didn't really keep track of nights brightening to day and day darkening into a music filled night? Electra just nodded while smacking her lips absently. Of course she had little opinion on the matter of Games. Rodyn was the only one she had ever known to be chosen and she was old enough now that she wouldn't be in the drawing, but it was still talk of the District as the Games usually were and so Electra had to share with someone.

"Yep and they announced the little trick for this year, like the um-," she faltered on the word.

"Gimmick?"

"Yes! Yes they announced the gimmick," she said nodding in agreement, her white teeth shining in the fluorescent lighting of District 5. Rodyn tilted her head towards Electra with eyebrows raised in anticipation. She never was a very patient woman and Electra loved to push her tolerance to the edge. Electra hummed as if she was unaware Rodyn wanted to know the rest of the announcement then grinned as Rodyn's exasperated groan, "Yes, yes, impatient. Well I don't think you're going to like it," Electra confessed with a genuine frown creasing her usually uplifted features. Rodyn frowned praying it wasn't a change on the ages of Tributes or demanding more children than the District could offer. The worst year of her life was when the Quell was double the Tributes selected and she had to watch so many young kids die. She couldn't bear it another year if that was what Snow had planned. Electra shifted a bit before she looked Rodyn in the eye simply yet gently saying, "All the Tributes will be selected from past Victors. You'll be in the drawing again."

Rodyn studied Electra a moment, processing her thoughts knowing she was going in again. Rodyn nodded simply and looked out over the cityscape while pulling a strand of dark hair over her upperlip. Electra took the gesture as a sign of unease and emotional shut down and she was all too quick to offer,

"But who knows! I mean, we have a fair share of Victors you could not even be chosen again. You might just stay here and nothing will change." Rodyn smiled to herself as she drummed her fingers along her lips. It was amusing to hear Electra sound so hopefully convincing. She had never had a problem convincing herself of anything, Electra. All too many times she had managed to talk herself out of the deepest pain, but Rodyn wasn't like that. She was a turn and face it head on type of person. If it hurt, she'd take it. If it threatened her, she'd fight it. If it scared her, she would embrace it. Electra knew that small quirk and so she wasn't entirely surprised when Rodyn looked at her, smiling, saying,

"Oh no. I'm going back, I'll be Tribute."