BINARY I
The sun had rose and set by the time that Binary had left one of District Three's many programming facilities.
That had been the same with most of the citizens as with the nearing Hunger Games; the games meant more work and more work meant more money, many were jumping at the opportunity to earn more money as most in near abject poverty would be. In all truth, Binary preferred leaving at midnight to the middle of the day: she worked well and earned good – for what it was – money which was much needed by her family. That was also supported by her favour for working in the dark engineering offices of the facilities as after many generations of doing such, Binary's family (and her as a result) had developed vision overly sensitive to light.
Unlike the increase in household funds, the Hunger Games was not something that was eagerly welcomed in District Three.
It wasn't as if Binary couldn't tell why but the more apathetic part of her was bothered by the hype over it – she wondered if the other districts panicked as much over it. District Three, being one of the poorest districts in toll with its industry not being as physical based as many of the others, barely ever stood a chance in hell of having a surviving tribute. It was the talk of the Base-two facility that day – she recalled every repetitive word of parents' panic over their freshly turned twelve year old – and she was starting to care less and less about it.
That was just how the capitol wanted things to go – for them to all sink into submission and say "well that's how it is, we have to deal with it."
She was as at risk as any of the others that were going to attend the reaping and she knew that whether she was reaped or not that the entire district was going to be witnessing a slaughter of the people that they care about. Binary was just as aware of her chances too – she carried herself on high intelligence but physically, she was much weaker than the vast majority of past tributes she had seen (and who she would size up as a model for the district's statistics) so she didn't fare much better than most younger tributes.
Like many, she'd rushed home not wanting to be caught in the dark, dingy parts of the district that didn't seem much safer even with the influx of peacekeepers. Since the second rebellion, many of the districts had been in poor condition even more so than they had been prior. Whenever Binary opened her mouth to complain about the lifestyle she had, she took a moment to think before she closed her mouth again: at least she wasn't in District Twelve.
"I'm home!" she called into the shabby apartment as she walked inside. She swore the door was going to fall off of its hinges one of those days; the paint had already chipped off years ago.
There was no reply.
"Mother? Father? Boo'?" she called out, looking for some acknowledgement.
This time, she heard coughing from her and her sister's bedroom prompting her to stroll through there.
Having her walk in made the room feel cramped already: having a bunk bed, cabinets and a lamp was already too much to have in toll with people there too. There she found her elder sister lying in bed with a cover over her and with all light being blocked from the room.
"Boo'? Are you feeling okay?" Binary asked, kneeling down beside her sister's bedside to get at eye-level with her.
Her elder sister groaned in response making Binary roll her eyes at her. Binary had inherited little of her mother's (overly) caring and lacked the patience to put up with her as her parent would have.
"Boolean!" Binary snapped at her, using her full name, "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm just sick – you know how it is," Boolean coughed, brushing out the black hair that was sticking to her flushed and sweaty face away, "Loads from people from my engineering section are coming down with something lately."
"Have you ever thought of actually telling someone about this!?"
"Like who? This is common in District Three," Boolean made an effort to chuckle but it came off sounding uncharacteristically bitter to Binary's ears, "We're over-populated – no real authority figure's going to care for some disease, at least until it gets to them."
"You're being over dramatic," Binary was just trying to make her feel better. She was probably more aware of the government's apathy for the common folk more so than her elder sister.
"I'm not," a hearty cough came from her.
"At least you're not eligible for the Hunger Games anymore," Binary shrugged, pulling her long brunette locks into a tight ponytail, "It's one less lecture of mother telling us that our ancestors cursed us."
This time, Boolean laughed at the reoccurring memory of years past, "I know 'our ancestors cursed us the moment they left China to come here, you believe me, no? It's all their fault'."
Binary laughed, "That's all the past for you – I still have two reapings worth left."
Boolean went quiet again; Binary titled her head in confusion at her sister's silence, "What?"
"Just, don't get picked okay?" Her hand reached out to her younger sibling.
Binary chuckled, "It's not my choice."
"Just don't," it sounded more like a plea than anything else.
"I'm not twelve," Binary basically spat out the words with spite, "What happens, happens."
"We need you here," the grip on Binary's hand was tightening now; the circulation felt like it was cutting off.
"Other families need their children too."
"Not all other families were lucky enough to get a kid in the programming facility so young – you're basically our source of income right now. If you were gone, we'd be even worse off."
"What happened to marrying rich? I thought you were going to run off to the capitol and meet your pink haired prince? That's what you used to say."
"When I was ten!" Boolean raised her voice to sound intimidating but was put to silence by her own coughing and the heavy feeling in her chest.
"And you've not grown up since," Abruptly, Binary stood up, dropping her sister's hand, "I'm going for a walk."
Binary walked out of her apartment with no spring in her step, looking around at the people teetering around in the darkness.
She imagined for a moment what the people in the capitol would be doing if they could see the state that the people of Panem lived in. Binary imagined their eyes pricking with tears for a moment with a sadness that a new glass of quirky alcohol could fix; staring impassively at the suffering as if it were fiction.
A/N: Here's the second of the character introductions. I hope to get more/most of these out soon while I wait on more tributes but I think it's good to just be getting character foundations out right now. They'll probably come out in a somewhat similar order to the order in which I received the tributes.
Binary Edison was submitted by myself.
