Chapter Four: The Justice Building
District One: Seanna Vipond
"Oh Seana we're so proud of you!" cried her mother, practically bursting through the door and running over to hug her daughter. She pulled back a second later and narrowed her eyes, "But dear, couldn't you have worn anything nicer?"
Seanna rolled her eyes at her mother, she would never be into fashion like her mother and sisters were. Her father patted her on the shoulder and gruffly said, "Good girl, you did well out there."
That was high praise coming from Peljro Vipond, he was usually too busy critiquing her to give any compliments. Seanna smiled, "Thank you."
"Oh, I'm just so jealous!" wailed Jewell, her sister, "Think of all the pretty outfits you'll get to wear in the Capitol!"
"They are going to make you look absolutely radiant!" tittered her mother, fluttering around her like a gaudy butterfly, "I'm going to be absolutely green with envy!"
"She is going to be fighting for her life!" interjected her brother, Leon, looking rather scandalized at his family's obvious lack of priorities.
"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud," reprimanded Seanna's other sister, Alannis, "We all know that Seanna is going to be perfectly fine."
"We don't know that!" Leon retorted and both Jewell and Alannis began arguing with him.
Seanna tuned out her family's routine bickering, instead focusing on the task ahead. By the end of the week she would be in the arena and in there, no one could help her. All she could do was rely on her training, which, luckily, had been extensive. Her father was a ruthless trainer, never settling for less than her best and always pushing her to go beyond that. Having her enter the Hunger Games had first been her parents dream, but now it had become hers as well.
Hadn't it?
District Six: Ariannah LeFaye
"Ariannah!" her mother exclaimed once the Peacekeepers let her into the room. Both she and her mother pretended to appear distraught and only once her mother had pulled Ariannah into a tight embrace did she dare to whisper into Ariannah's ear, "You're in, we did it!"
"I know!" Ariannah breathed back.
"I just wish you hadn't chosen this year...what with the Quell and all..."
"I know," Ariannah replied, sniffing loudly for the cameras she assumed were hidden in the room, "But when Lyssa was Reaped I knew that that was the best chance I'd have to volunteer without instantly becoming a threat."
"Yes, I understand," her mother said, "I'm so happy for you dear, my parents never let me volunteer back in District Two and I'm so glad that you'll get the chance to live out your dream, the one I never got to follow."
Ariannah began to reply, but was cut off by a Peacekeeper who, at that moment, opened the door and said, "Time's up."
Ariannah's mother made a production of wailing and crying, refusing to leave. Finally the Peacekeeper had to forcibly remove her from the room and only moments later, another visitor entered. This one was sobbing for real and ran to Ariannah as soon as she was able to squeeze past the Peacekeeper.
Lyssa threw her arms around Ariannah, "I c-can't believe you would v-volunteer for me."
Ariannah plastered on a fake smile, attempting to appear sweet and self-sacrificing, "You know I would do anything for you, Lyssa."
That's me, the martyr, Ariannah thought, grimacing as she returned Lyssa's hug. She tried to tune out Lyssa's sniffling and stream of optimism, her simpering smiles and infuriatingly kind words driving Ariannah crazy.
"I just know you can win!" Lyssa said, beaming at Ariannah with a mixture of sadness and guilt, but the same annoying optimism.
Yes, yes I will.
District Seven: Tily Walters
"Five minutes," the Peacekeeper said gruffly and Tily's stomach boiled with anger, five minutes, they couldn't give the tributes any longer with each of their friends and family?
Trent entered the room, shooting the Peacekeeper a slight glare as he walked past. Huffily, the Peacekeeper responded by closely the door roughly. For a second, she and Trent just stared at each other, but in a flash he was hugging her comfortingly and Tily was biting her lip in order to keep from crying.
"You're going to be okay," he was saying, "You're going to fine."
"Fine?" Tily demanded, "How am I going to be fine? Either I'm going to be killed or I'm going to have to kill someone else, someone just like me, who was forced into this by the Capitol."
"Well, technically some of them volunteer."
Tily glared up at him, "Not helping."
"Sorry," Trent apologized putting up his hands. He paused before continuing, pulling back and looking Tily in the eyes, "Tily Walters, you are my best friend. You're smart and you're strong, but most of all, you're real. I believe in you and you had better believe in yourself as well, because if you die in the arena...I will quite literally kill you."
Tily made a strangled noise which was a combination of laughing and crying, "You just like me because I'm one of the only girls at school who isn't lining up to be with you."
"That's what I mean," Trent said earnestly, "You don't judge on superficial details, everything you do is because you believe in that action or the people you choose to support. You've taught me a lot, Tily. And I'm choosing to support the person I believe in, which is you. You're not just going to be fine, you're going to win!"
Tily sniffed, her heart still laden down with anger and distress, but Trent's words had significantly lessened the burden.
District Ten: Crisis Secliss
There was a knock on the door and bright blue eyes peeked into the room, as if checking to make sure the coast was clear. As soon as Exigency spotted his big sister, he ran to her, hugging Crisis as if it might be his last time with her. For indeed that might have been the case.
She hugged him back tightly, running a hand through his hair with a motherly attitude and saying, "It's going to be alright, you're going to be fine."
"It's not me I'm worried about!" Exigency burst out, "You're the one in danger."
"Hey," Crisis said, pulling his chin up, "Nothing is ever going to stop me from coming back to you. You don't have to worry about me. Mira is going to take care of you while I'm gone, but when I get back then it'll be the two of us again."
Crisis figured that Exigency must be really worried about the Games if he didn't complain about going to stay with Mira, an old woman to whom Crisis sold sheep. Bald and withered, Mira was a great source of comfort to Crisis and always mothered Exigency, but he was at the age now that he didn't want anyone to baby him, except Crisis, and he said that her place "smelled weird".
Crisis hugged him tighter and the pair didn't say anything, each one just hugging the other in a show of mutual support and comfort.
A Peacekeeper came in and signalled to Exigency, their time was up. Exigency didn't move, but Crisis softly pried his hands from her, pushing him towards the door.
"Don't worry," she said, "I'll see you soon."
Crisis smiled and tried to push any remaining doubts or fears to the back of her mind, she couldn't let her mind become clouded because in these Games, she wasn't just fighting for herself.
District Thirteen: Theron Hawkins
Theron rested his head in his hands, the misfortune his choices had caused overwhelming him. No one would be coming to see him, so he knew that he would have all of this time to think. To think about how he had unwittingly pitted himself against the only girl he'd ever really wanted and killed his own father.
It had only been four hours prior when Theron had sat down with his father for breakfast. He didn't eat much, he was too nervous. In a matter of a few hours he would be volunteering for the Games and his father, a prior victor from Snow's Games, would be his mentor. They had been discussing strategy for years and now, during Theron's eighteenth year, he would volunteer and easily become the victor. All their planning was cast aside when his father decide to drop the bomb on him.
"I don't want you to volunteer."
"What?" Theron had spluttered spitting out his cereal.
"I don't want you to be in the Games. I know, that we have spent years training you for them, but for what reason? Money? We already have enough of that. Fame? You don't need it, you're smart boy, you can easily get any job you want here. Find a girl, live life, be happy. You don't need to be haunted by the memories of those who died by your hands, those who begged for mercy...but you killed them anyway. They don't tell you how it hurts, the victors from the Career districts, because they don't want to be seen as weak. But hurt it does and I just can't believe that I've been misleading you all this time," his father has said, looking haggard, but Theron couldn't see the love in his eyes. All Theron could focus on was how weak his father looked, he had always looked up to his father, where was the strong man he had admired?
Theron had opened his mouth to talk when realization hit him.
"You just don't want me to overshadow you. You can't stand thinking that people will pay attention to me instead of you."
His father had looked aghast, but Theron had taken it as a display of guilt.
"Well, I hate to disappoint you, Father, but I am tired of living in your shadow and there is nothing you can do to stop me from volunteering," Theron had yelled, proceeding to slam his breakfast back onto the table and stalking out of the house. And that was the last time he had seen his father. All of the mentors were supposed to be at the Reaping, the bloke from the Capitol was there to fill in for one of the spots, Maldor had made it mandatory for there to be a mentor for each tribute, but his father never showed up.
The escort for District Thirteen always announced the male tribute first and by the time the news came, it was already too late for Theron. His father had been found dead, the Peacekeepers didn't allow the man to state the cause of death, Theron assumed that was because they didn't want his father's suicide to change anyone's mind about the Hunger Games. Having a previous victor commit suicide was did not speak positively about them. Of course Theron had not been told what his father's cause of death was, it couldn't be something natural, or else the Peacekeepers would have let the man announce it. His father didn't have any enemies that Theron could think of...the only thing that had been bothering him was Theron's determination to volunteer for the Games.
Theron was barely able to hold himself together for the cameras, but he knew that this was a defining moment for his standing in the Games. He stood stoic and strong as the escort had dipped her hand into the Reaping ball once again.
"Ardis Campion!"
His heart plummeted, his father had been right. The Games led to nothing but heartache.
First off let me thank the fantastic people who made this chapter's tributes!
Seanna Vipond- DustryStroodle228
Ariannah LeFaye- i-am-foxface
Tily Walters- Small Town Girl 2014
Crisis Secliss- The Moonlight Sonata
Theron Hawkins- kitkate1627
Secondly, I made a mistake previously. I stated that this would be Sunday's chapter (which is basically a list of the tributes with a little general information), however, I realized that the Justice Building and Train Rides would come first. So, we get to meet more tributes first!
Thirdly, some have expressed that they wished they wanted to know where each of the tributes were hailing from and at the beginning of each character's section I have now added a header (and for the previous chapter, if you're curious). I wanted to avoid doing this as I felt it sort of broke the flow of the story, but I now realize it's the only way for me to avoid confusing you guys!
Thank you for reading, please review, and I can't wait for the next chapter!
-Sydney
