Porcelain Braavos, 17, District 1
Porcelain sat in the common room as Merlot Francis, one of the younger girls at the Academy, carefully ran a brush through her bright auburn hair. A light smile lit up her face as her eyes scanned the room excitedly. Girls in light frilly dresses were pouring out of the bathrooms, bickering over mirror space and chattering about accessories. They laboriously scrutinized their faces, slathering make-up onto their eye lids, cheek bones, and lips. Porcelain was the only girl above the age of twelve who wasn't wrapped up in the hustle of the reaping preparation. No, she sat on the plush couch, with her eyelids fluttered shut and a hair tie twirling delicately in her dainty finger tips, as others concerned themselves with her appearance.
"You're hair is so pretty today," Merlot sighed as she ran the brush through it another time.
Porcelain sighed, quite satisfied. "Oh darling, I'm sure its just because you did such a good job with it," she smiled endearingly. She wasn't used to this type of princess treatment. For the past five years, she had been one of the other thirty girls who got caught up elbowing their way to the mirror in the crowded bathroom on reaping day. Not this year though. She was chosen this time around, and everybody knew that if the chosen girl wished it so, the others would worship her like she was a goddess, if only for a day.
The chance had been to good to pass up. Nothing had ever tasted so sweet as when some of the younger girls woke her up that morning, all begging to have a chance to do her hair and make-up. The word thrilled didn't seem grandiose enough to cover the joy that sang through her gut.
"Thank you," Merlot smiled back cheerily. "You said you wanted me to curl it, like I do for Jade sometimes?"
"Yes, that would be just wonderful," Porcelain said. "I saw little Jade just the other day getting dressed up for the parent visits, and her hair looked dazzling. You completely transformed her from the way she normally looks. If she looked so pretty with her hair like that, I can't even imagine how gorgeous you'll make me look for the reaping."
Porcelain snuck a glance over to the corner, where a petite twelve year old girl was subconsciously touching her hair as she glanced back over to a mirror. Trying to hide her smile, Porcelain's eyes fluttered shut again. The dig had completely went completely unnoticed by every other girl in the room.
Yes, today was a good day.
After a half an hour of pulls and tugs from the curling iron, Merlot finished Porcelain's hair. With a gleeful bounce in her step, Porcelain glided over to the stairs, and began to descend to the first floor. The other students scampered out of her way as she walked, shouting good wishes as she passed. She felt as if she was positively glowing with excitement when she came out into the courtyard.
Suddenly a strong figure wavered out into the hallway, knocking into her. "Goodness," Porcelain cried out as she grabbed at the railing to steady herself. Her gut flared with annoyance as she looked up to see who she had just bumped into.
A tall muscular man was clutching the wall as he ran a hand through his messy black hair. A light stubble covered his chin, and his eyes were bloodshot. For a moment his shoulders seemed tense. Then after staring at Porcelain for a moment, his frame sagged. "Oh," he hiccupped. "It's you."
"Sterling," Porcelain frowned, carefully as she stepped around him. "How good to see you today."
"Good," Sterling paused, looking unsteady. "S'not good. You're gonna die you know. I don't want to see you today."
Porcelain sighed. Sterling was one of the instructors at the Academy, and the victor of the Sixty Second Hunger Games. Looking at him now though, no one would ever guess that he was so young. The first year he had won, he was the picture image of energetic optimism. He even brought home another victor, Ritz, in his very first year of mentoring. It was the second year of mentoring that had induced the drinking, after Autumn Mistveil, Sterling's sweetheart died. They weren't letting him mentor any new tributes anymore, but for whatever reason, they couldn't manage to fire him from his job here at the academy as a trainer.
Porcelain looked over her shoulder, checking to make sure nobody else was around before she answered. "Really, I'm going to die?" she sneered nastily. "Just because your Autumn wasn't tough enough to win the Games doesn't mean I'm not."
Sterling stared at her, a look of disbelief, anger, and pain splashing across his face. Porcelain didn't wait for him to respond. Instead she continued her gradual decent down the steps, towards the courtyard and towards stardom.
Rubin Royal, 17, District 1
The courtyard was the picture of chaos as a constant stream of future tributes and proud parents greeted each other enthusiastically. Rubin walked through the regal gate to the academy and into the gorgeous lawn area, his eyes scanning the crowd, looking for a certain familiar face.
"Hey Rubin," an excited voice called out. Rubin spun around, a grin already stretched onto his face. Of course, there was a lot of people calling his name in the crowd, but it was impossible to miss that one voice. Glint was never a quiet boy.
Just a few heads away, Rubin's best friend stood waving at him. Glint's dark brown hair was greased back, and he was wearing a crisp checkered sweater with sleek black slacks. He looked rather thin in the dress cloths actually, as they brought out the lankiness in his frame. He was about a head taller than Rubin, standing tall in the crowd. He had been talking with a couple other guys from the academy before he saw Rubin, but after spotting him, he dropped that conversation immediately
"Hey man, what's up," Rubin called out excitedly as he jogged over to greet his best friend. The two boy's clapped their hands together and pulled each other into a rather exaggerated bear hug.
"You ready for the big day?" Glint asked as he messed with his dark brown hair.
"I've been ready for years," Rubin replied excitedly. The two boys headed back out the gate to the road as the continued to chat. Glint's parents never came to visit him, and as Rubin's mother had to sell their car after his grandfather had died, the two of them would be walking to the reaping.
"You tell your mom they picked you yet?" Glint asked as they travelled down the cobblestone path.
"Nope," Rubin shook his head.
Glint laughed, patting Rubin's back with one of his hands. "She's going to freak out you know," he informed his friend.
"You can't blame her though. You know she's got some mixed feelings towards the Games after my dad and all," Rubin rolled his eyes. "She'll feel better when I come home though. Then things can go back to normal."
If Rubin just closed his eyes, he could already see the big house in Victor's Village all lit up for his homecoming. He missed the smell of his grandfather's hulking mansion, the smell of home. Ever since the old man had keeled over, Rubin had been working his bones dry trying to make ends meet. He was done with it all now though. No more long hours working in the Diamond mine. No more worrying about how he was going to make rent. Things could be just like they used to, with him and his mom living back in his grandfather's old house, living the good life.
"Ha, she'll never forgive you," Glint cried out dramatically. Rubin rolled his eyes, laughing a little as they walked.
Around them the city was starting to grow. The Academy was located about a mile into the suburban homes of the country side of District One. Students often would go out and visit the city when they had time. It wasn't the largest metropolitan area in Panem, but it was by far the wealthiest one next to the Capitol. Golden streamers and celebratory banners hung from the buildings as people celebrated one of the biggest holidays of the year. Rubin knew that by that afternoon there would be posters plastered all over the place with his face on it, wishing him good luck in the Games this year. He couldn't wait.
"Did you hear who you're going with?" Glint asked.
"Yeah, um, I think the Dean said Porcelain Braavos was going to be my District partner," Rubin answered absently as he admired the decorations.
"Ung," Glint groaned. "Sugar girl? That sucks man. Sorry."
"Sugar girl?" Rubin asked confused.
"Right you weren't there for that conversation. Well, Sugar girl is what Bronze Layman calls her, you know 'cause she's so fake. It's like everything she says was dipped in a bowl of sugar, but you know what's underneath isn't so sweet," Glint explained.
Rubin rolled his eyes. "I think you've lost it," he said, elbowing his friend. "She seemed nice enough the few times I've talked to her."
"That's just it though, she's way too nice. It's unnatural," Glint exclaimed.
"Whatever," Rubin replied as they neared the check in station. "Come on, we've got to go find our spots."
Porcelain Braavos, 17, District 1
Porcelain looked around the square excitedly as it began to fill up. The excitement in the air was palpable as she looked from face to face. Of course, not everyone knew that she was going to volunteer. The Academy liked to keep their chosen tributes a secret so that the regular citizens would be surprised on Reaping day. The only people who knew were the other teachers and students from the Academy. All of the other kids in the District were looking around face to face, trying to guess who would be representing District One this year.
"You're from the Academy right?" an excited voice asked next to her.
Porcelain looked over, an exaggerated smile already stretched across her lips. "Why yes dear," she said. The girl she was speaking to had long brown hair, and a big nose that didn't quite fit her face. Honestly, she was rather unattractive, but she was wearing that admiring glimmer in her eye. Porcelain decided that she would tolerate her.
"Oh, that must be so exciting, do you know who's going to be volunteering this year?" the girl gushed.
"Of course I do," Porcelain nodded.
"Don't tell me," the girl said quickly. "I love surprises."
"Yeah, surprises are just splendid aren't they?" Porcelain agreed.
On stage, Mayor Cunningham stepped up to the microphone, tapping it gently to get everyone's attention. His son volunteered two years ago. Porcelain believed the boy's name had been Eros, or something to that effect. It had been rather embarrassing for the Mayor when his son had died. He had bet a rather large sum of money on those Games. He was the laughing stock of the District for months.
"It's good to see everyone gathered together again," the mayor began as he started his annual speech. Porcelain had already memorized every single word of it already though. She had heard it repeated a thousand times over in the old reaping re-runs that they aired in the Academy's cafeteria. It lasted about fifteen minutes before Neptune Boxright, their District escort stepped up for his turn in the spotlight.
His shaggy blue hair was longer than Porcelain remembered, and his skin seemed even paler than normal. Other than that, he seemed to be the same Neptune that had been escorting District One tributes for the past four years, with his huge genuine smile glowing warmly on his face. "Oh, how good it is to see all of your shining faces again this year," Neptune beamed. "I guess we should keep things short. Let's start with the ladies."
Porcelain felt her heart swell as he reached into the bowl and pulled out a name. "Do I have a Ravish Turlington?" A girl in the eighteen year old section jogged up to the stage, looking slightly annoyed that the reaping bowl had pulled her away from the conversation she'd been having with her friend. Once she had reached the stage, Neptune looked back out to the crowd. "Any volunteers?" he asked hopefully.
Porcelain shot her hand into the air. "I do, I volunteer," she called out as she delicately made her way up to the stage. Excited whispers travelled through the crowd as they watched her take her spot to the right of Neptune. Obviously they already loved her.
"Onto the boys," Neptune grinned, reaching into the reaping bowl. He pulled out another slip of paper, and carefully unfolded it. "Burgundy Platt?"
A small boy from the seventeen year old section jumped cringed slightly at the sound of his name, of course he wasn't up on stage long before Neptune asked for the male volunteer.
"I volunteer," a deep husky voice called out, also from the seventeen year old section. Porcelain watched as Rubin made his way up to the stage, grinning and waving to the crowd. He was tall muscular and blonde, with a strong square jaw and bright blue eyes. Obviously the Capitol was going to fall in love with him over the course of the following week. Back at the Academy, he was one of the more popular guys, though he and Porcelain never talked much. She knew he was going to be a strong competitor though. Something about that knowledge though made her even more excited. Oh, she couldn't wait for the Games.
Rubin Royal, 17, District 1
"Mom, really, it's going to be okay," Rubin said as she patted his mother's back. The woman was sobbing into his shoulder as he tried to console her, unsuccessfully.
"That's what your father told me you know," she cried, shooting him an accusing look. "I should have never let Price send you into training after your father died."
"Come on, don't blame Grandpa. You know it's not nice to insult dead people," Rubin joked with a sigh. "I'm more ready than dad though. Don't worry. Any ways, if he made it all the way to third place, then I should be solid. This is what he would have wanted, you know."
"You couldn't have told me that you were going to volunteer? How long have you known? A couple of days? A week?" she sobbed.
Rubin frowned, he hated seeing his mother, Platinum, like this. He loved her more than anything. Perhaps he should have told her that he had been chosen to volunteer earlier. That way these last few minutes with her wouldn't be marred with tears. "Mom, please stop it. Come on, be happy for me. This is what I want," he protested gently.
Platinum drew away from him, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "You're too much like your father for your own good," she sighed.
Rubin laughed. "Well good, I hear he wasn't all that bad a guy."
"Now you listen to me," his mother said, a sudden stern edge present in her voice. "You try your hardest to come home to me. I know that this past year hasn't been easy on you without your grandfather, and I know you haven't been as happy as you used to be, but you need to be smart, understand? You can win this. You have to."
"Yeah alright mom," Rubin sighed as he hugged her one last time. "Just don't worry. Everything's going to be fine."
Porcelain Braavos, 17, District 1
A short man with dark, greying hair stepped into the room. He was wearing a black suit that made his eyes seem infinitely darker than they actually were, and his chin was smooth and clean shaven. His stomach was rather round and paunchy. The man was ridiculously clean and tidy, without so much as a speck of dust interrupting his pristine get up, yet despite this, the air around him had a rather dirty feel to it. It was as if the man radiated some kind of untangible chilly aura.
"That's my little girl," he grinned, opening his arms up. Porcelain smiled back at him, eagerly accepting his hug.
"Hi daddy," Porcelain said happily.
"You didn't tell me you were volunteering this year," he said, a teasing accusation in his tone.
"Oh, well I wanted it to be a surprise," Porcelain dismissed nonchalantly. Though, it had been a combination of that and the fact that the man never visited her at the Academy. She wouldn't have had the chance to tell him in person even if she had wanted to.
"Very good then," her father nodded. "How have you been?"
"Oh, well you know that the people at the Academy are just dreadful," Porcelain rolled her eyes. It was always nice talking to her father. She didn't have to pretend around him. "I've had to put so many of them in their place. But things have been better since I got chosen. They've started giving me the respect that I properly deserve."
Her father laughed a deep gritty laugh. "I bet they have," he grinned. "I'll be so proud of you if you win, Porcelain."
"Aren't you proud that I got picked?" Porcelain said, a little too quickly.
"Of course, princess. But I'll be so much more proud after you win," he responded, smoothing back his hair. At the door, the peacekeeper poked his head in, signalling that their time was dwindling. Porcelain smoothed down her dress, slightly disappointed with her father's response.
"I'll see you on the homecoming day daddy," she hugged him one last time.
"Luster Braavos, father of the famous victor Porcelain Braavos. I can hear it already," the man grinned. "I will see you soon darling."
"See you soon," she replied. "See you soon."
A/N:
Hiya,
So most importantly, the blog is up. Here is the URL (you have to remove the spaces): findingthelighthg. blogspot. com
If that doesn't work the link is on my profile page. It'd be awesome if you let me know the top 3 tributes that stand out to you along with why (the picture is an acceptable reason)
So this past week has been painful. I can't go an entire week without writing. It just doesn't work that way. But its okay now because I can start writing again. Any who, the official tribute list is bellow. I've pm'ed everybody so that everyone knows what's going on with their characters personally.
So everybody knows, I'm doing the reapings in order this time (so next up is D2)
Also appoligies if this chapter has some errors in it. I wrote it pretty quickly.
Here's the list:
District 1-
Male:Rubin Royal
Female:Porcelain Braavos
District 2-
Male:Vladimir "Vlad" Pekelo
Female:Alexis Hayden
District 3-
Male:Avell Watts
Female:Auden Eneis
District 4-
Male:Airin la Aguila
Female:Rocio Grievers
District 5-
Male:Petro Joule
Female:Mae Themis
District 6-
Male:Remendado "Dust" Lectart
Female: Crescent Lollium
District 7-
Male:Kan Murcius
Female: Rowan Diatello
District 8-
Male:Dice Bromton
Female: Avana Welcher
District 9-
Male:Ghram Aintree
Female: Zea Bachmier
District 10-
Male:Whisper Releig
Female:Mellivora "Ranger" Capen
District 11-
Male:Damien Creast
Female:Cree Ophelia
District 12-
Male:Burnet Stevens
Female:Cutter Wryer
