A/N: And here are the Reapings! Let's go to Terkast and Maylin for the details! Enjoy!
The Reapings were today, and Terkast fiddled with the pages in front of him nervously. This was the last Reapings he was in charge of, ever, and the tributes had to be compatible. The 9 TVs were already on, four on one station and five on the other.
Charmain Dinkleberg was talking animatedly about what the arena could be from the gossip and how he, Terkast, was doing on it. This station was available only to the Capitol, so they could say what could or could not happen. On five TV screens were the program the Districts were seeing. Mikla Bayone and Etta Seedra spoke quietly on previous games, and highlighted the events that the victors had done.
Maylin sat next to Terkast, for he wished to keep a good eye on her. Maylin quite liked the attention she was given, though. Other Avoxes waited on her, and she got rich and exotic foods she couldn't dream of having before. Still, there was some guilt in taking this while the others couldn't, or the annoyance of being watched.
"Shh, shh," he motioned to Maylin, who rolled her eyes. It's not like she could even make a noise. The escort for District 1 came on the five televisions, before following suit on the other four. It was kind of annoying to have all nine televisions on the same program, and the noise was deafening.
"Hello District One, I'm Lilita Tinno, and I'm your escort for this year," the escort cried out into the microphone. The crowd in front of her was already riled up, so she need not excite them anymore. Terkast saw her around the Capitol occasionally. With her bright red body and flaming orange hair it was hard to miss her.
"This year's Quarter Quell is going to be so exciting," she gushed, drawing forth a large cheer from the crowd. "Let's pick the tributes now, ok?" She dug her arm around the clear bowl filled with pink slips. Of course, Lilita had to be different from every other escort.
"Cree Sooke?" she said, earning many groans from the crowd. A tall, copper-skinned girl walked out from the 18-year-old section, her black hair blowing out behind her. She got up onto stage, and introduced herself, glaring at the crowd. A young girl screeched in the throng, and the cameras frantically tried to find her. They came up with a twelve-year-old girl looking just like Cree on the stage.
"Interesting," Terkast muttered, grabbing a sheet of paper and flipping it over so he could write. "Not the usual blonde and blue, feisty. Cares about her sister dearly." Maylin looked horrified at the last part, and how Terkast said it. He sounded if he enjoyed this part, coming up with ways to kill children.
"That's great," Lilita said to Cree, and ushered off to the side. "For our boy, we have Alba Tyto." A 16-year-old boy came from the crowd, looking as if this was his best day. "Any volunteers?" she asked, completely expecting them.
"Me!" A black haired boy said, and nearly stalked onto the stage. The other boys stopped their vicious fighting to get onto the stage, looking appalled as he stood up and introduced himself as Jet Vermeil. There were no volunteers for the girls, since Cree stood her ground, and gave the evil-eye to the crowd.
"Well," Lilita said, "here are your District One tributes! Good luck!" The two tributes walked off the stage following Lilita, and District Two came on the screen.
"Jet… Vermeil…" Terkast muttered, writing furiously. "Seems stealthy, not normal."
"Hello, I'm Chambers Paulson and I'm District Two's escort this year. Since it's a Quarter Quell, let's start it off differently by picking the male first, ok?" He dug around in the blue tinted bowl, and pulled out a slip. "Thumper Teatro?" he read, calling forth a young 13-year old.
"Me!" A large boy pushed his way, making Thumper fall to the ground. "I'm Floyd Barabe, and I'm going to win this year!" he announced into Chambers' microphone. The escort was looking a bit shocked still, and took a second to regain himself.
"Ok," he said. "Our girl tribute is Amika Davidson!" A twelve year old came up to the stage, looking frightened by Floyd. "Any volunteers?" he asked, glaring at Floyd, who smirked.
A fight broke out between the girls, and a tall girl came out on top. She laughed at the others as she pushed people off the stage, reaching the microphone just in time. "I'm Tamara Lively," she said confidently, scarcely out of breath.
"Tamara and Floyd. Both look as if they're training to be peacekeepers. Would be fun for a Career group." He looked up at the screen, which showed the two tributes shaking hands. "Will you go get some food? I want some roast lamb, if you don't mind."
Maylin got up on the wave of his hand, and gladly went to go get some food. She'd probably take longer, since watching the Games with Terkast was so twisted.
"District Three," he muttered, writing the name on top and underlining it. He watched his brother, Kornicu, get up on the stage. His mother was so proud of the boys, since they had become escorts and Head Gamemaker respectively. It was her favorite pastime to watch the Games to see her three sons.
"The female tribute is Marielle Bernstein!" Kornicu announced, waving his slip wildly in the air. Although Kornicu was one of Terkast's triplets, it was hard to say they looked alike. Kornicu took the path most escorts did, and looked semi-normal. His skin was a regular color, and the only thing different about him was his light blue hair and yellow eyes. Marielle came up, and Kornicu steamed right through without asking for volunteers, since there would be none.
"Asher Decon?" he asked, and a small boy came up onto the stage, his knees shaking in fear. "Here are your tributes, Panem! I'm Kornicu Nilgwis, enjoy reaping day!" The overall crowd's hiss of anger was cut short as the sign for District Four came up.
Terkast sat in wait for District Three to end, for he knew Kornicu would call later and dish out things on the two tributes. It would be the same thing for District Nine, with his other brother, Worsol.
"District Four, are you ready for some Reapings?" Chastity Nicolet called. She had been with District Four for so long, she didn't even have to announce her name. "Seel Wigman?" she cried out, getting no response. A small, ginger kid was pushed into the aisle, and he started crying as he went up.
"It's going to be fine," Chastity said, before picking out a female name. "Swan Tindle?" she called. Once the darker girl got up on stage, the words weren't even out of Chastity's mouth when girls and boys started toward the stage. Two seemed to be working together, and they climbed the stage while fighting others off.
"I'm Caddis Tipper!" the girl shouted into the microphone before kicking another girl in the head. The boy punched another boy, and kicked him when he was down. He introduced himself as Joss Summers as he then pushed the kid off stage.
"Enough!" Chastity shouted, stopping the fight in its tracks. "We have our two tributes, thank you. Thank you."
Terkast laughed at Chastity. "Caddis and Joss. Seem to both be strong, good at fighting, willing to make an alliance to better themselves. Good Careers."
Maylin came in then, carrying a tray full of sandwiches and a few legs of lamb. "Thanks, Maylin dear," he muttered, watching carefully as Shearon Kukana picked up the pink bowl for the girls. "Our girl this year is Samantha Keller!" A skinny 18-year-old walked up, trying to act calm although she was clearly disturbed.
"And we have Corson Livington for our male tribute. Come on up Corson!" Shearon moved to make the tributes shake hands when a call came from the crowd.
"Wait! Uh, wait!" A small girl with long hair came up onto the stage. "You never asked… if you wanted volunteers, and I… I want to be one," she stammered, trying to overcome her fear. Terkast grumbled, since he already wrote Samantha's name at the top of the list. He crossed it out, and his pen poised waiting for the girl to say her name.
Shearon gaped for a few seconds, before regaining her composure. "I, uh, thought there wasn't going to be any, so I didn't ask. What's your name?"
"F-f-f-Frankie Heathome," the girl said, drawing a long cry from a boy in the pens. He cried out that she couldn't, but Frankie ignored him.
"Alrighty then," Shearon said. "You two shake hands. Give it up for Frankie Heathome and Corson Livington, your District Five Tributes."
"Weak, weak," Terkast muttered, writing the exact words he said next to their names. Maylin looked aghast at what he was doing. She herself was from District Five, and she personally knew Corson's older sister Lilianna. District Five isn't weak, they just chose brains over brawn. Oftentimes that didn't work out in the Games, but they still won more than District Twelve!
"District Six, halfway done," Terkast said, taking a lamb leg off the platter. "Take what you want," he said, waving a hand at her and taking a big bite.
Grease dripped down from his chin as he chewed the savory lamb, his eyes locked on the nine screens in front of him. "Linea Navy!" The escort, Thom Bell, announced happily. He then called out the male tribute, Wolf Spanes. From the look of it, District Six was young this year. Wolf was only 12, while Linea was 14. They wouldn't have much chance in the arena, Maylin thought sadly to herself.
"And now we're going to have an intermission!" A loud voice made Maylin jump. She realized it was Charmain's happy face on the screen. "So far, there are a lot of good tributes! It's going to be an interesting Quarter Quell, right guys?"
Terkast looked down at his notes, and then back at the screen. He nodded at Charmain, his lips moving quickly. Maylin realized that he was reading over what he had written at each of the Reapings. To her horror, he clicked his pen and wrote one word she knew very well, arguably the only one she knew other than her name. Mutts was written in capital letters at the top of a page, and a bunch of other letters written underneath.
"I'll be back in time for the rest of the Reapings. Uh, don't do anything dangerous, and don't touch any buttons. Uh, duty calls!" Terkast added with fake cheerfulness, and hopped out of his seat. He padded quietly across the room, and shut the door after him with just as much noise.
Maylin was left alone in the large room, surrounded by blinking lights and piles of papers. She got up carefully, knowing it would take Terkast at least ten minutes to go to and fro from the bathroom. Maylin slid a piece of his work towards her, stunned by the squiggly lines on the page. They were in a seemingly random order, which she couldn't pick out.
A few letters popped out to her, such as M or Y, since they were part of her name. Mutts glared at her from the top of the page, and she mentally shuddered away from it. The name brought back the memories of being hunted down by them, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Maylin replaced the page on Terkast's desk, thoroughly haunted by the group of letters. She would do just as he said, and wouldn't touch anything.
A/N: I know, kinda short, but I was getting bored… The other Reapings will be up soon, I promise!