What lovely comments you readers give! :) I love you guys. I did have a few questions: Yes, I will be holding reapings for each district. Yes, these may seem rushed. Because they can get a little tedious sometimes. :/ But please enjoy!
Now for the quaint District Six, where transportation is built and sent out to the Capitol and the districts! Our girl Lucia is from Dark Sunshine Angel and our boy Chandler is from fractals123. R&R! :)
Sorry for any typos, I wrote this in the backseat of a car on a bumpy road on a very old laptop. :/
D6 MALE: CHANDLER MATHEWS
I stagger out of bed when I hear the downstairs door open, but I collapse as soon as I take a step. Stupid sports injuries. There are so many people who think I can't play sports at all, and I took up playing ball in the back alleys with them to prove them wrong. Maybe I should have thought through that one a little more, because when I got knocked in the knee by our third baseman, my friend Friedrich, I think it pulled some muscle somewhere. I limp out of my room to the front door, where my mom has just arrived home from her shift at the factory. I don't understand why she works- I mean, Dad is the manager of the same factory and we're plenty wealthy. She doesn't need to take these night jobs.
Although her absence makes her homecomings happier. My little sister Michelle runs towards her with her arms outstretched, and Mom swings her up into the air. She starts singing. "Michelle, ma belle…" It's an old song, and it has words in some other language. French, I think. I can't believe she remembers it, but she has always said she liked music before the Dark Days. I'm not half as interested in songs as her and Michelle. I take after my dad, Drexel- in looks and personality. We're much more… cerebral.
Dad should be out here soon, but I'm hungry already and it's not worth exhausting Mom more just for food. I don't need help, anyway. I take out a pan from the cabinet and start cracking eggs into it. Dad comes downstairs with his blond hair flattened on one side and grabs a bite before he dashes off to work; I grin after he leaves. Normally he ends up late to work, but today he gets off early. The reason for his half-day is awful, though. After breakfast is over, my leg is feeling much better, although still aching, and I head out. My parents don't really keep track of me that well, so they don't know I go down to the alleys every day. Friedrich's family is just as rich as mine, but they live on the other side of town. We meet here in the middle.
"Hey, Chandler!" There he is. He seems preoccupied, though. I hate having things weighing on my mind, and now this is going to bug me until I find out what's going on. "How's your leg doing?" Really? The one time I try and figure out someone's feelings and it's not even a big deal.
"I'm fine. A little stiff and sore, but I'm fine. You?"
"Ready to go down to the ball alley," he says, "I've got a girl with me, too. She can tag along, right?"
"Um…" I'm not good with girls. Or anyone besides my family and Friedrich, really. "Sure, why not?" He dashes down the street and retrieves a red-haired girl who laughs as he pulls her along. I'm really not good with girls. I'm already clamming up. Soon Friedrich, laughing, leads the way down to our little field.
"Hey, who's that with you guys?" one of the other boys asks Friedrich and me.
"This is Electra," Friedrich says proudly. The girl smiles. One of the guys- Tyler- leans towards me.
"Seems a bit too happy, doesn't he?" I nod. "Hope she doesn't ruin the game."
"She's a girl. It's not like she'll play or anything." The boy motions towards her.
"I think she heard you, man!" Sure enough, Electra is marching towards me angrily. Friedrich runs after her.
"Whoa, Ectra! Chandler's not that bad. He's just blunt sometimes!" She doesn't relax, and Friedrich makes a face at me and escorts her from the alley.
"See you later, guys!" We all mutter goodbyes at him and other boys start peeling away from the game.
"I guess she ruined it." One of the guys- his name is Sam, I think- says as he leaves. I turn and walk away as well. I need to get home before the reapings. I make it in plenty of time, but that's not what I was worried about. I dress in a button-down shirt and khaki trousers, punk down on my bed, and pull out a book. Sing, O Muse, of the storm-tossed man…
"CHANDLER! YOU HAVE TO GO OR YOU'LL BE LATE AGAIN!" my mom yells from the door. I can't believe she's still awake. Nervous, I guess. I sure am. I drop the book I got sucked into- he was just escaping from the witch, too! - and run downstairs. Last year I was late and everyone focused on me when I got to the plaza. It was terrible. The streets are empty. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. I tried to plan for delays like this. Hopefully my idea works!
I'm there before the escort starts this year, and I heave a sigh of relief. Friedrich grins at me. He seems happier now that he's freed from that Electra girl (I will never understand why guys want to be around girls so much), but it might just be a nervous smile.
The escort is probably on the strongest drugs the Capitol has to offer. He speaks with slurred words and he sways as he walks. Like the morphling addicts I see sometimes, but even stronger. The Treaty of Treason is barely understandable, much less audible through the giggles. Friedrich elbows me in the ribs and we both laugh as the man totters across the stage. Then the man stuffs his hand into the reaping bowl for the boys. I hope it's not one of the boys from the field. Oh, please not. Most of them have taken out so much tesserae they were sick with anxiety this morning.
"Chandler Mathews!" I feel like I've been punched in the gut by a District Two tribute. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. I look around wildly, and see Friedrich beginning to freak out as well.
While I'm hallucinating, I might as well win the Games. I at least have a shot. And I'll be the first thirteen-year-old to do so. I step forward into the gnawing jaws of realization. This is no dream. But I'll still win.
D6 FEMALE: LUCIA GREENE
The doll is far from cute. The shop is a total abomination! My mother said it was the best toy store in all of District Six, but now I see the truth. There are just pricey things, none of which are sufficiently cute. I look at the horrid doll for a moment longer, considering its ugly face. If it had a smaller nose, more hair- a nice light brown like mine, and bluer eyes… it would be passable. But it doesn't and I hate it. I turn to my mother.
"Leena!" She hovers over me fretfully, wringing her hands.
"Darling, I told you to call me Mother, or Mommy!" I snort and cross my arms. Those are not cute and I will not call her by such silly epithets. Leena is a much prettier name.
"This is not cute. I have to make it cute." Leena bites her lip. That's not very cute either, but I can't try and make my own mother cute. That is too strange.
"I'm sorry, dear, but we can't buy the doll. Your father's pension doesn't go that far."
"But you've always gotten things for me before. Ever since he got hurt, we've had to do un-cute things! Why did he have to run into that train?" Leena tears up at the mention of my father's 'accident'.
"Dearest Lucia, you must not speak that way! That train was derailed and he couldn't know what was going to happen! You're lucky we got to keep the house!"
"I'm sorry, Leena," I whisper. I reach up and smooth a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear. My mother is very cute. I love her. "Can we go back home so I can get my cutest doll to show the toy store what they should sell?"
"No, dear. The reaping starts soon. Which doll is the prettiest?" I pout. I told her not three days ago!
"Halliea, remember?" She has perfect green eyes like mine and the same brown hair. I'm very cute. I have to be; otherwise I would have to make myself either cute or dead. Dead is not cute.
"Ah yes." The Peacekeeper in a white uniform marches up to Leena.
"Ma'am, we are beginning to bring children to the plaza." Leena nods and turns me over to the man. He is not cute at all. I dash back to Leena.
"No, dear. You have to go with the man!" He picks me up from behind and I twist around snapping at him. Why is such an ugly thing touching me? He carries me to the section of the plaza at the very back of the crowd, far away from the stage. Another man gets up there and begins to talk. Is he from the Capitol? I've heard that's the cutest place of them all! I strain to look at him. He's not that cute. I hope there are ways to make things very cute in the Capitol. The not-cute Capitol man begins to speak, and I can't hear what he says. This is terrible! What if the Capitol is not really that cute? Did I miss things when Leena took me out of school? She said it was because I hoarded things, but I got to stay with my cute things all the time and play. Now I wonder if school might have been a good thing.
"Chandler Mathews!" It's the boy tribute. He gets to go to the Capitol. He's not ugly, either. He has short blond hair and he's not starving like the ugly beggars are. I turn my head to the side. He looks just a bit older than me. He shakes the ugly man's hand and turns to face the crowd. Some of the boys seem sad, but I don't care. He's lucky to go to the cutest place.
The ugly man goes to the other reaping bowl and pulls out a girl's name. "Qantas Keen!" An older girl, about sixteen, steps forward, her eyes already red with tears. She stumbles up the steps, chestnut hair flowing behind her, and shakes Chandler's hand. The Capitol man talks for a few seconds more and then asks, "Are there any volunteers?" The plaza is totally silent. The tributes face the crowd. Qantas is not cute. She should not be allowed to represent District Six in the Hunger Games. The escort opens his mouth to finalize the tributes when I open my mouth.
"I VOLUNTEER!" The district seems absolutely silent as I run forward, my footsteps pattering on the gravel ground. My mother shrieks from the audience and I run onstage heedlessly. The Qantas girl gapes, but does not hesitate to run back to her friends. The escort looks equally surprised, and Chandler is staring openly.
"And what is your name?" The man asks.
"I'm Lucia Greene," I chirp, "and you are not cute at all." I'm going to the Capitol!
"Well, here are your tributes, District Six! Lucia Greene and Chandler Mathews!" I'm led into the very cute Justice Building, where Leena bursts into my new room and gives me a hug.
"What were you thinking? My darling, why? I love you so, and these Games are so dangerous!"
"She wasn't cute enough." Leena mouths the words 'wasn't cute enough' slowly, like she doesn't understand. Then she cries and hugs me. I motion to the Peacekeepers to take her away. As they drag her out, she shoves a butterfly pin into my hand. A token! It's the cutest thing she owns, too. I smile and turn it over and over in my fingers. I'm going to see the Capitol!
So, tell me what you think, because I know you guys are good at that! :) And a little extra thing here... tell me 1) what song Chandler's mom was singing and 2) what book Chandler was reading.
Here's another tidbit. I was on vacation this weekend in the (future) location of District Twelve. :) And the entire time I was there I kept thinking about that. This story just takes over my life...