Adieu guys, Hornet's back! And yeah, I know 70th Hunger Games is not finished, but I just can't focus on one project at the same time. So this is the long awaited... the highly anticipated... the Circle reforged! Okay just kidding. Just reread Will of the Empress and this sentence is funny ^^ So there's three main characters here: Finnick (ofc!), Mags, and Janet, who is my own character XD
FPOV
Mark sauntered up to me, his eyebrows dancing. "I heard Jessica invited you out again." He smirked. I laughed and answered, "She tried to kiss me, but then I pushed her away. In front of her archenemy, Georgia Gesar. You should look at her face!" We both laughed loudly, and everyone in the dock shushed us. Ducking my head, I hauled the finished nets onto the Marocarp, Mark's father's ship.
"It's reaping day today." I said. Mark nodded grimly, the bubbly atmosphere fading away. Both of us were fourteen, still four years to go before we were safe. As District 4 kids, we were trained at school, but none in particular wanted to go. Well, at my form. Last year's volunteers almost fought to become the tribute. They died, of course.
"Mark!" His father called, "Can you help me take the remaining ropes to Mags?" Mark's head shot up in alarm. Mags was one of the three surviving victors, all females, and she was the oldest. I heard her Games was the 13th, one of the earliest. "Oh no," Mark wailed, "Again to the old woman!" For some reason not much people liked Mags. I, for one, avoided her as much as possible, I have only seen her once before, really, from a far shot, but they all say she is a weird hag.
"Never mind Mark, I'll go with you." I said. Mark simply sighed and gathered up the spare ropes, and we set off to the Victor's Village.
MPOV
I watched as Mark and his friend walked up the road from the window, with the ropes Spencer promised me. Today was reaping, and I needed something to distract me. Distract us, in fact. Athenadora and Leganna was at my place today. The doorbell rang, and Athenadora opened the door for me. We were so friends after enduring the Games, we both had the key of the others house, and most people can't even distinguish which house is whose.
It was Mark's friend at the front, with a sweet smile on his face. "The name's Finnick Odair," Leganna whispered. "Fourteen, but a ladies man. My girl saw her eighteen year old classmate try to kiss him today." Athenadora invited Mark and Finnick in, and they did, though Mark a bit relectunt.
"The ropes ma'am." Finnick said politely. He was taller than Mark, he had a lean body shape, and his looks killed. Only if I was younger... Leganna asked the kids to put the ropes in the storeroom, and when they went out of earshot, Athenadora said, "What a looker. Pity if he ends up in the Games." Leganna replied, "The pretty face won't get scarred. Well, if he wins."
Athenadora turned to me and asked, "Hey, it's Gerald's first time reaping, right?" I nodded grimly. Gerald, my grandson, hit twelve a week ago. "He's nervous, alright. His mother is with him. Both of you are lucky, well, maybe not that lucky to you, Leganna. You still have that other daughter."
Athenadora never married, and Leganna's eldest daughter passed turned nineteen a month ago. Leganna shook her head. "Things will get worse for me when Georgia has a baby." She said. "Or come home crying that she can't find a boyfriend." Athenadora commented. The three of us burst out laughing.
Finnick and Mark returned, and I said, "It's almost time for reaping. See you there."
Both kids said their goodbyes and left. Somehow there was a nagging feel. I wondered if their luck had ran out.
JPOV
"Janet!" My seven year old sister shrieked. "Beck!" My eleven year old brother cried, "Janet's busy!" Yeah, sure I was. Po's bow broke, and I had to make him a new one. "Alright, finished. What did you call me for, Beck?"
The kid ran up to me and asked, "Are you and Po going to the woods today?" I shook my head, "I've got to go the reaping, Becky girl. Now stay home and be a good girl because-" "Mummie needs me." She finished. I didn't bring Beck to the woods often, after all she was just a kid. Po, on the other hand, was another matter. I never want to take rations, never.
The reaping was a grim matter for all of us. Before Beck was born, in fact, our family still lived in the Seam. But Father and Mother saved money and now we were here, in the town, where Beck grew up. We didn't necessarily need to hunt, but I preferred that to having one more sheet with my name, or Po or Beck's name in the ball.
Half an hour later, in my white dress, Po and I set off to the towncentre.
The reaping, same as every year, was silent. The only sound present was the annoying chit chat of Effie Trinket, the new escort for our District, or the drunken grunts of the only surviving victor Haymitch Aberthany. "May the odds be with you!" Effie chirped, then she said, "Ladies first!" Her hand grabbled around the ball, and my eyes met Po's beyond the ropes. He was biting his nails, this was the first time he has ever been present at the reaping.
Calm down I mouthed. Po put his hand down but started to bite his lip. Effie drew out the sheet of paper, carefully unfolding it. "Janet Maldex!"
The world collasped around me.
FPOV
"There ain't seem to be Careers this year." Mark whispered. I looked around. True, no-one seemed very happy or excited or... acting Career-like. Perula, the District 4 escort, bounced on stage. "Good morrrrrrrrrnin gentlemen and ladies, welcome to the reaping of the 65th Hunger games!"
The flouncy Capitol woman bounced around, as if she couldn't wait for the mayor to finish his speech, or as if she didn't want to acknowledge the three mentors, and when she finally stuck her hand into the male's ball, she was practically jumping her head off. "Today I got this special feeling this will be something different. May the odds always be with you!"
She giddily drew the paper out, but for some reason why, she dropped it. It floated out into the air, and she asked, "May someone read it out for me please?" The paper slowly dropped, and dropped, and dropped, to my feet. Every eye stared at me expectantly. "Hey dude. It's you." Mark nudged me.
But the huge stone in my heart weighed down, I just couldn't bend down and pick it up. Mark, seeing I didn't react, knelt down and picked it up for me. "You wanna read it?" After waiting for a response from me, he shrugged, he opened it. Then his eyes widened, and the sheet slipped from his hands as he staggered back.
"No... not..." Mark almost collasped, if not there were other boys holding him up. One of the other boys, one I didn't know, picked it up and read, "Fin... Finnick Odair."
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What
The
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MPOV
The reactions from everybody else, especially the girls, were priceless. They gasped and shrieked and screamed, some acted the damsel in distriess and fainted. "Oh no." Leganna whispered. Perula's face was a mask of confusion. I guess she doesn't know what she wants to feel. Happy, because he's good-looking, sad, because the odds against him is high.
Finnick's own face was one of unbelieving shock. His friend had fainted. And the boy who had read his name out crouched onto the ground, burying his face in his hands. It seemed that he was not only a ladies man, he was popular with the boys. Finnick's eyes snapped suddenly to the stage, and walked robotically and stiffly onto it. Perula put an arm around him, drawing him close, but he did not react. "Well, well. It seems that District 4 has got itself a looker this year!" Perula purred. Then she put her hand into the female's ball.
"Corinna Ferda!" A twelve year old girl shrieked and somewhere parents began to cry. But suddenly someone shouted, "I volunteer as tribute." People searched for the speaker in vain, but Perula clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Great! Are there any volunteers?" No one spoke. "What is your name? Come on up!" Someone came up from the sixteen year old girls. "Diana Gesar."
Leganna started hyperventilating, a bad side effect left from the Games. She clutched her chest as she retched with pain, and medics immediately rushed ot her and brought her to the Justice Building to heal. Meanwhile, her younger daughter, the striking image of her mother, walked on stage haughtily. A Career. Finnick turned his eyes on his tribute partner, his green eyes meeting her blue ones. Finnick's lips curved in distaste.
Athenadora clutched my hands. "We cannot let Leganna mentor her own daughter." she said. I nodded. "Agreed." A few years from now on, I would regret on forgetting about this exchange, leading to my mistake. Something I could never change. Something that cost me lives.
"And so," Perula announced, "The tributes of District 4 this year is Finnick Odair and Diana Gesar!"
JPOV
I barely registered anything as I walked up the stage, standing beside Effie. She called for the boy, and Mark Jefret walked on stage. I knew him, he was one of the town boys who worked out in the carpentry. I heard from the carpenter that he was a rather talented carpenter. Too bad he was doomed.
My eyes involuntarily searched for Po's. His eyes were watering, his face grim. "Janet..." I thought I heard him whisper. At the corner of my eye I saw Effie motioning for me and Mark to shake, and I did that, robotically.
Led by the Peacekeepers into the Justice Building, one of them, the jolly Darius, he said, "Good luck to you." And then I was left there, in the room, waiting for my family to come.
FPOV
My father was the first one to come in, with my little sister Loretta. She was only five. "Finnick," My dad said gruffly, "Stay alive. Don't hesistate. I can't handle the business and your sister at the same time." That was only one sentence, but that meant a lot. I mean, after Mother's death we weren't on the best of terms. Loretta leaped on my lap, her small hands wrapping around my neck. "Finny?" Her eyes were wide with worry. We hadn't, exactly, explained the Games to her, but she knew something was wrong, she knew every year one of her classmates would return to school with puffy eyes.
"I'll be alright, Lory-tory. No need to be afraid." I said, smoothing back her tousled hair. "I'm not afraid." She said stubbornly, but her lips began to quiver. I hugged her close, breathing in the natural smell of the sea. "Hey, calm down, I'll dazzle my way out." I grinned. Loretta always said I kept on 'dazzling' her friends.
She giggled, but tears began to leak out.
It seemed to fast when Perula entered asking Father and Loretta out. So I waited, thinking who would come in next. My neighbour? My cat? I don't know. So I waited for like ten minutes before my next visitor came. To my surprise, it was Leganna Gesar.
"Finnick Odair." She said gruffly. "Mags' going to mentor you, Athenadora Diana." She buried her face in her hand, saying, "Help keep my daughter safe, Odair. I don't what the hell has happened to my daughter, I never knew she trained, she yelled at me just now. I don't want the Games to change my Diana."
As I stared on speechless, she explained, "I'm not saying you kill yourself, Odair. Just don't let her die so quickly. Let her have a greater chance to live."
That was all she said, leaving me sitting there, open-mouthed.
JPOV
Beck was sobbing, having raced over immediately after she found out. Po was relatively stronger, but, he was still only eleven. Father and Mother looked on passively, their eyes ashen pale. "Why doesn't District 12 have Careers?" Mother moaned. This was more of a statement than a question.
"Don't die." Po and Beck said in unison. "We love you." Tears came to my eyes and I hugged them tight. Heaven knows when I can hug my babies again. "I love you too." I whispered.
The short meeting was tense, full of tears and goodbyes. As my family filed out, Po and Beck each stole a quick kiss from me, before being ushered out by the Peacekeepers.
The next to come in was a man, surprisingly, a stranger. "I knew from Greasy Sae you hunted as well." he said immediately. My mouth was a perfect circle. "The bow man." I whispered. He blushed a bit, saying, "Well, actually, since we're both hunters, it would be a shame to see you die out there. One thing: Keep to the trees. Beware the ground. Use everything you can use, even hazards the Gamekeepers set on you. Don't keep your guard down, and don't built a fire unless necessary."
"Thank you." I whispered. He scratched his head. "It's nothing. It's just that I've got a daughter as well. It's a pity to see someone's daughter die out there."
Alright I first give you mushy scenes (laughing from head to toe) 'cause I'm hyper and I'm dragging this out. This is the LONGEST chap I've ever written! *going hysterical PLEASE REVIEW! So sneak preview (who can guess which POV this is in? It's rather easy!):
My gaze rested on the soft cushions. Is this what the Capitol have everyday?
Hey you with the face on it. Look over here.
The words were slurred.
I turned
I'm your mentor.
Instructions: Follow the Arrows and Press the Button
Time allowed: Five minutes
You may start now
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