"Ladies first!" The Capitol representative for District five said cheerily as she plunged her hand into the massive glass orb full of names on tiny slips of paper. Tiny death sentences pulled out joyfully by the peppy woman with purple hair who would enjoy watching whoever's name she pulled from the ball fight for their life and kill other children in the process.
For that reason the slight blonde girl in the roped off section for fifteen year old girls nearly passed out when her name was called. Not for fear for herself, though there was also that, but for fear of what might become of her grandmother if she didn't return. Her grandmother had no other family. If Cody didn't make it, there would be no one to take care of her. Cody got the food and Cody got the money to pay for it. Granted, there were certain....illicit activities involved, but she was fifteen. She would take what she could get.
"Cody Catch?" The representative called when she didn't come forward right away, not realizing that it wasn't possible for her to move being slumped over in her seat barely conscious and all. Someone next to her helped her up. She barely noticed as her best friend all but carried her to the stage and left her to climb up the stairs on her own. Nor did she hear the clapping of the crowd or the name that was called. Her eyes were focused on her grandmother whose hands covered her face. The people around her tried to comfort her, but she waved them off. Cody felt tears prick her eyes as she watched.
The name that was not heard by Cody happened to belong to one Ian Karl. He stood sullenly and walked to the stage. He was broad shouldered and tall. He had a fair chance and he knew it, but that didn't mean he liked this any more than his teary eyed district partner. He figured he might try to join the careers because he was no good at surviving. He was from a slightly wealthier family where he had never needed those skills which the less fortunate learned early, and now his family's prosperity was coming back to bite him. Who would have guessed that the lack of want for food in his home could very easily be the death of him?
The District six contestants weren't fairing much better, with the thirteen year old Cielle Junn already on the stage, her thin frame wracked with sobs. Hers was a different pain than Cody's, but no less potent. She had no one to care what happened to her. She hadn't had anyone since she had been abandoned at age seven to fend for herself. She found her own food and she had stolen and lied to get it. But she hurt because she knew she would be all alone, with nothing to tie her to the outside world once she made it into the arena. No person to make her want to return, no one who would miss her when she inevitably died.
"Kayne Sidon", and she sobbed harder when she got a taste of what she would be up against. The huge, muscular boy stood from the eighteen year old section and she could tell, when he was on the stage, that next to him she looked like a puppy. A tiny, frightened puppy.
Kayne's father had been a winner. His uncle had been a tribute. His two cousins had been tributes. Even his twin older siblings had been tributes in successive years. Only Lizzie, his sister had lived. And she wasn't quite right after Jamie had died and she had experienced what he had. So basically, it was in Kayne's blood to go into that arena and try to prove himself like his father and sister had. His father had been secretly training him for this because he knew the odds that he would get picked. And he had been right. So Kayne would enter the arena with an advantage and with the knowledge that he had a chance and he had a legacy to uphold. Even the family that hadn't returned had made it pretty damn far. Not that he wouldn't try to win of course.
Sorry this took so long! I'm too lazy to do the little dashes this time. Sorry if there are any mistakes I wrote this like fifteen minutes! Please review!