Thanks stuckathomebgs for helping with this chapter especially! Without his help you wouldn't have 4 updates today so if you haven't read the D2, D6 or D8 Reapings yet, go back and look at them!
District 9 Reapings-
POV: Bara Amaranth
Getting up this morning was quite awful, mostly due to the reaping, but also due to the terrible factory smell. The smell of burning oil and manufacturing equipment from the nearby factories just doesn't suit me that well as I choke down a little bit of leftover water from last night.
After our parents were killed in the factory accident, you don't see Kalonji much around the house. He's usually working in one of his three factory jobs. But Saji is there, his wife. She smiles at me while I yawn and sit down at our small kitchen table.
"Ready for today? I've made my special scrambled eggs." She states lovingly.
They aren't that good.
"Well, I guess I have to be ready, don't I? If I get reaped, shouldn't look like a first-day kill in front of the cameras." I respond, earning a look from her. "What? I won't get any sponsors that way."
"Gramma left a dress for you to wear." She responds, chewing her eggs. "It's upstairs in our room, if you want to take a look."
Of course, she's talking about her grandmother. Since my parents were quite old when they had me, my grandparents are long deceased.
"Sure, I'll go up once I finish breakfast." I respond.
I head up after finishing what eggs I can handle and turn a left in our rugged upstairs. I see the dress immediately. It's a dull shade of red, but what can you find that's bright here? There's too much dust and smoke to have anything clean here. I try it on, pick up my black dress shoes and head downstairs.
I see Kalonji, and give him a slow hug.
"Ready to go?" He asks, I nod in response.
Since he's 18, he has to go as well. Saji is just over the age to get reaped, she just turned 19 a few weeks ago.
We head out the door as a family, to the Justice Building, and part ways, him going to the 18-year-old boys, me to the 15-year-old girls.
POV: Nyckler "Nyck" Fawn
I wake up to the smell of breakfast on the stove. I wake up quickly, so I can go help whoever's making breakfast this morning. I see Rosemary on the stove, cooking up some hash browns and some ham omelets.
"Good morning, Rosemary." I smile, stretching, to try to get this sleepiness off of me.
"Good morning to you too, Nick!" She hugs me, getting some of the grease from breakfast onto my clothes.
Almost everyone else had silently gathered at the table, except Bailey, who is probably better sleeping than awake. Decklan then starts in, with Leyah in his arms as they start to prepare breakfast.
Father gives Decklan and I both silent hugs, that's when I realize the situation today. The reapings. A shudder runs through my body as he lets me go. Of course, if I get reaped, I'd have no chance. I'm way too nice. Also, our mentors are almost always drunk or high. District 9 almost never gets victors, and when we do, they usually get wasted. There's been one person that goes that's nice, though, an older woman named Jazmina. She's not an official mentor, but she may as well be.
After eating with the family, I find my dress clothes from upstairs. A nice grey shirt with dark grey slacks, and some black dress shoes, nothing too fancy, but there's not much you can do if you're from 9.
I give the family one last hug, and bring Decklan along with me. He starts to get a little emotional, so I hug him a little more, telling him it's alright. His name isn't in the ball that many times, there are kids a lot worse off than us two. I meet up with our friends in front of the Justice Building, hugging my girlfriend, Annie, with all of my might.
"Just stay calm, Annie." I whisper in her ear. She smiles up at me, and kisses my cheek.
"We'll be together after this, right?" She states.
"Of course." Mycheal says behind me. "There's kids with lots more than us."
"Yeah, that's true." Thelia interjects from behind Annie. "We'll be here."
"It's almost time to start." Decklan states quietly.
"We'll meet here afterwards." Annie says, going with Thelia over to the 16-year-old girls section. I hug Decklan one more time and head over to the 16-year-old boys with Mychael. The reapings begin, after the speech from the mayor and the escort, Milo Kampatra, starts with the names.
"Of course, it's ladies first." He states in his thick Capitol accent, and pulls the unlucky girls name from the bowl.
"Bara Amaranth!" He states loudly.
A girl from the 15 year olds walks out. She doesn't seem to be crying or anything, is she smiling? She flashes a sly smile at the cameras and heads onto the stage, looking very confident.
"Now, for the boys!" He says, browsing through the bowl, and plucking a name. "Nyckler Fawn!"
I'm immediately shocked, Mychael is patting my back as I sit there, astounded. He eventually pushes me out into the aisle as I keep the same shocked face. I shuffle up to the stage, to the opposite side of the girl. She gives me a degrading look, like 'you're making me look bad'. Which, I probably am. I shake her hand, and exit to the Justice Building.
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