Well, to let you all know, I will be leaving my home in a week for a vacation. I will be gone for two weeks and my destination has no way to let me upload chapters. My goal is to have all the reapings done my then, and be figuring out things like alliances and POVs for the Capitol pre-arena activities. Please don't think I've left the story, as my first promise (on the original first chapter) was to never cancel this story. Except if I die. :)
Our girl Neon is from d11-olive24 and our boy Newt is from DA Member Hogwarts. R&R! :)
D3 FEMALE: NEON WATTS
There it is- this wire will fit in perfectly with the capacitator and since it has a high rate of electric conductivity, soon the power will be able to flow relatively easily through the machinery! I use a pair of tweezers to lift the plastic-coated copper wire and place it into the tangle of cords and fans that I have been working with. My boss asked me to help with a new wiring system for the computers that will allow the power gird to withstand more flow of energy. I'm not the smartest worker in the department, but I'm the only one who will comply willingly. All the others would groan and whine, but I don't really care. I'd feel a bit bad about declining, actually. So I'm working on the wiring at eight in the morning on reaping day. At least it doesn't involve teamwork to finish the project. I'd have trouble with that.
"Neon!" I yelp and drop the tweezers, losing the wire in the mess of knots. I lift my safety goggles and turn around. My friend is standing there, grinning as I try and regain a quasi-normal heart rate.
"Geez, Mouse, you scared me!" Mouse, known to others as Callie, rolls her eyes.
"Aw, you startle at any sign of another human!" she says, brushing a piece of blond hair from her eyes and bending over my wiring system, "So whatcha doing? Still working on that new wiring system for Mr. Guthrie?" I nod emphatically. "Wouldn't it work better if you had a copper wire right there?" I almost laugh.
"That's what I was doing when you scared me!" Mouse goes to get a pair of glasses and I'm able to find the wire in her absence. Carefully fitting it into place, I barely breathe. After three weeks of work, I think this thing is finally finished! "Flip it on!" Mouse hits a switch and the new machinery starts to hum. The computer monitors flicker on and the hallway lights shine a little brighter. The lab's complex microscopes and fiber-optic cable machinery begin to power up. I squeal a little. "I did it! I finally finished it!" Mouse laughs and bends back over the machine.
"You may have finished this baby, but you've got to get over to the reapings soon! They start at nine and it's eight-fifteen already. Your house is twenty minutes away and you've got to change!" Well, that's nice. I walk calmly over to the switch and power down the machinery.
"Actually, I've been in my reaping outfit all along," I counter. The gray blouse and black trousers have been hidden under the lab coat, which I hang back up on the rack. Mouse rolls her eyes.
"Do you not want to deal with Sil and Ti again? Or your dad?" I hesitate for a moment. My sister, popular Silicon, and my brother, athletic Titanium, tend to get on my nerves.
"Yeah. Sil and Ti will just bug me about being shy and looking like I've got something to hide. And my dad… he'll just not notice me. It's like he only sees big, loud personalities." Mouse nods and we just stand there in the dim lab for a few seconds, the silence getting more and more awkward.
"Well, we'd better get down there anyway, or we'll have to fight through a huge crowd of people to find our seats! Well, our stands, since we don't exactly get to sit down." I shrug in agreement and we head out of the electronics factory.
"Are you here for the Reaping?" A Peacekeeper asks us as soon as we reach the outer edges of the city square. I nod. "This way, please." He leads Mouse and me to a boxy robotic machine.
"What is this for?" Mouse exclaims. The Peacekeeper says that it's a new way to check and make sure everyone is present for the reapings.
"Stick your hand inside, girl!" Mouse does so and the machine lights up for a moment. The little hole where Mouse put her fingers contracts and she tenses up for a second. Then a screen lights up and little words scroll across. Calcium Watson. Age 14.
"Whoa, that's so cool! You've got to try it!" I oblige and put my hand inside. The hole shrinks and my fingertips are pressed to a slick, cool surface. Neon Watts. Age 14. She's right, that is cool!
"Move along, girls," the Peacekeepers gruffly says, shooing us out of the way. There is a growing queue where we once stood alone. Do they only have the one machine? Mouse and I proceed to our age group and stand in one corner as it quickly fills up around us. A few kids wave to Mouse, but I'm not acknowledged.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Seventeenth Annual Hunger Games reaping for the lovely tributes of District Three!" The escort pushes open the heavy Justice Building doors as the Treaty of Treason is read. It's the same one we've had for a while- I think her name is Talinda- and she's so over-the-top it makes my brain hurt. She totters over to the girls' reaping bowl on high heels with bows and ribbons dangling off the sides and spears a name on her manicured talons.
"And your lovely female tribute for this year is… Neon Watts!" Mouse cries out and everyone turns to look at me. The whole world spins before I can regain even a tiny bit of my bearings. She just called my name. My name, now everyone is looking at me, they're all watching, I'm going to the arena, the Capitol wants to watch me die! I gulp and try to control my shaking as I walk quickly to the front of the crowd… everyone is watching. I see some girls whispering. I hear a few conversations. Most of them don't recognize me, and most of them are just happy it's not them. But they still watch me.
D3 MALE: NEWTON 'NEWT' HILLEN
The square root of the sums of the cubes of all the factors of forty-two… Long, yes, but easy enough to do in my head until the last step. I work out a logarithm and soon enough, with a few more formulas thrown in for checking my answer, I've finished my advanced math summer homework. I was trying to finish it before the reapings- imagine if I went in the Games with unfinished business at home!- but the new attendance machines caught me off-guard and I spent probably half an hour watching them do their jobs. Those things are pretty neat, although with a simple reworking they could be half the bulk that they are now. They're still interesting. I pull out my pencil again and begin erasing stray marks as the escort calls up a girl. She's a year younger than I am, but I can't recall ever seeing her before. She's just one of those people who blend in. I keep erasing as the Capitol woman selects a name from the boys' bucket.
"Newton Hillen!" I keep erasing. "Newton Hillen?" The pink eraser tears a hole through my paper and I jerk my head up to face the escort. She called my name. A strange trembling overtakes my body as I walk up to the steps of the Justice Building. It's almost like I float through the crowd, serenely walking, footsteps echoing, through the people who are all watching me with wide-open eyes. It's surreal. I should be freaking out, but all I do it walk up to the girl and the escort.
"This is ruining my day," I say when Talinda holds out the microphone. I shake their hands and go to the visiting room inside the massive building.
"Newt!" Three voices call out unanimously. My family. My mom crushes me in a hug, while my dad puts his arms around both of us. My sister, Jaz, stands off a little bit, but her eyes are starting to turn red. "You have to do this," Mom says, still hugging me tightly, "You're smart, I know you are, and you can do this!" She starts sobbing and blows her nose on a tissue that Dad holds out to her. She rocks me back and forth, and I just let her. I love Mom, and this is one of those times where I'm not going to try and avoid a hug.
"Son, you're definitely the smartest kid out there in that arena, and you're going to make it. We've had a victor before, and this year another child from district Three is going to come home." He's talking about our only victor, a man named Alume who won the second Games. I at least have a mentor who can tell me something about the Games, not like some of the other districts who haven't yet had a victor- like Twelve or Eight. My parents remain for a few more minutes, telling me how much faith they have in me. It helps me, too. I can come home, this'll just be like a game of chess.
They leave, but Jaz stays behind. "Brother… I'm sorry. I haven't ever been a good big sister to you, and now you're going to… to those awful Games!" She's crying… for me?
"It doesn't matter, Jaz. You'll always be my sister, and it was never your job to be a controlling part of my life- that's a parent's job! I'll always love you."
"But I've always been mean to you about being nerdy, and let's face it you're not guaranteed to come back. What if you die and we never really got a chance to know each other?" She's really crying. I don't know what to do.
"Big sisters are always a bit mean to their siblings." I hug Jaz a little tentatively. "It hasn't gotten real, yet, anyways. I feel like I'm dreaming." She bursts out into huge tears and I start to panic. "Jaz, don't cry, please don't cry!" The Peacekeeper looks in the room and sees her bawling.
"Miss, you have to leave now." He drags my sister away unceremoniously, sending a duo of kids in. My friends.
"Where's Laya?" The quietest member of our group, Laya didn't come in with Adonia and Danny.
"She wanted to see you alone. Man, I tried to convince her, but she told us she wanted to come in alone!" Danny says, raising his hands in a gesture of defeat. I laugh.
"Danny wasn't able to argue his point well enough to change a mind? What is this world coming to? Maybe I will die in the Games?" Adonia gasps.
"Don't say that, Newt! You'll come out of that arena and back home, we're sure of it! And anyway, Danny hasn't always won his debates! He's lost a few of them to you!" I attempt to calm her down- futilely.
"I was joking! It doesn't even feel real yet. Just relax. I will be home." They leave so Laya has time to come in before the train leaves.
"Newt! Newt, I'm so afraid!"
"I'm not going to die- I've said it five million times!" her light brown hair swings in front of her eyes as she unpins her hair clip.
"Do you have a token?" I shake my head. Not yet I don't. She sticks the barrette in my hair and my hand goes up to it curiously. "It's to remember us by."
"Well, thanks, Laya!" It's a little… feminine, but I won't refuse a token. She leans forward.
"I can't believe you haven't noticed yet," she says sadly. Notice what? And then Laya kisses me. My mind explodes in stars and I'm so startled I don't even move until she pulls away. "That's to remember me." And with that she leaves the visiting room. As the stars fade, I realize something else.
I'm going to the Hunger Games with twenty-three other kids who will all want to kill me. And I don't know if the odds are in my favor.
I love District Three- in general as a district, since I'm not allowed to have favorite tributes here! :) Hope you enjoyed- tell me what you think! :D
