Taylor Solo, District Eight Female, 13 years old
I always spend the first half of every reaping morning hanging out with my three friends; Livvy, Manila and Gia. As soon as the actual Hunger Games starts, nobody in Eight really goes around and talks to anyone else so this'll more than likely be our last chance to hang out until the Games end or we go back to school. We usually spend the time telling jokes and just hanging out as if there's not the raffle of death hanging over our heads. We're only thirteen though, so based on our chances, we shouldn't get reaped. We all know that the odds can change whenever they want and they're not reliable, but it makes us hanging out a little less sombre.
Our conversation today doesn't stray far from the usual type we have; gossip in our grade at school and, probably expected from girls our age, boys.
"I heard Marlin likes Indigo," Manila says with a nod at our widened eyes, "Woollen told me before school got out the other day."
"The Marlin?" Livvy enquires, shaking her head in disbelief, "The one who's pretty much Career training?"
Everyone has a love-hate relationship with Marlin, the boy from our year. We like him because he's funny and good company but his family's rich and his father insisted his sons train for the Games. His older brother, Declin, volunteered a few years back and got to the final five and most of us think Marlin'd win if he went into the Games, improving on his brother's mistakes. Indigo hates the Games after losing her sister last year, which is why this gossip is fascinating.
"Is there any other Marlin?"
"Has anyone asked Indigo if she knows?" I ask. Gossip in our school spreads quickly so if Manila heard it from someone, chances are that it's made it's way to Indigo herself.
"Of course she has!" Manila says after a second of silence, a grin appearing on her face. She loves gossip and this might just be the gossip of the year, "And she hates it - and him."
We all burst into giggles because that'll be sure to damage Marlin's ego before resuming with other gossip matters like which teacher we don't like and all our current crushes.
When it's about an hour and a half to go before the reaping, I return back home to spend some time with my family and get ready. Since we usually hang out at Livvy's house, I can make it home fairly quickly because it's only down the road. I say goodbye to Livvy, Manila and Gia, thank Livvy's mom for having me over before returning home.
Usually it's timed perfectly that brunch has been made and, sure enough, Kyva's already there making a large amount of unnecessary noise. I love my younger sister, but it's hard to not be annoyed by her.
"Taylor?" My mom calls from the kitchen, "Is that you?"
"Yeah!" I shout as I take my place opposite Kyva at the table. She smiles at me innocently and I suppose she can be forgiven for being annoying - she is only ten after all.
It's not too long after I sit down that my parents bring in the food, taking their places at the table; my mother beside Kyva and my father next to me.
The conversation we have over our brunch is warming and nice; our parents make both Kyva and I, more so myself than Kyva since I'm the one going to the reaping, comfortable and relaxed. It's the little things that they do that I appreciate.
Silver Mahoney, District Eight Male, 18 years old
Reaping days never differ too much from one another with my family; we spend the morning together, leave for the Justice Building together and then come home and celebrate that none of us have been reaped. As the usual pessimistic person I am, I always advise against it seeing as every year the celebrations get more extravagant the closer my sister and I get to getting through the reaping ages.
My family are excessively optimistic today because it's my last reaping, bringing the extravagant meal we might have after the reaping for breakfast. Clearly they're ignoring that I have seven slips of my name in the reaping bowl this year and that there is a likelihood of me being reaped. I digress though, if they want to be optimistic and celebrate too early then they can go ahead.
"Are you excited for today?" My mother asks as I sit down at the breakfast table and take some toast. Usually they wouldn't be this excited or hopeful but I can see why - one of their two kids has a chance to no longer be reaped. I guess, if I wasn't as pessimistic, I'd be excited too.
I shrug, "Eh. I just gotta hope the odds are in my favour."
"They will be," She replies with a smile before turning to my sister, "And you, Gold? Are you excited to get another reaping down?"
My sister, ever the intelligent one, shrugs, "As excited as I can be with my chances as they are."
Whilst I'm just pessimistic about the whole thing, Gold at least takes into consideration her chances. For her, she has less of a chance being reaped than me so I guess that's one thing for her to be excited about.
"Your chances say you're going to be fine!" Our father says as he comes into the room, a smile on his face. He's always trying to be funny and make any bad situation humorous for us, "I think we can all celebrate tonight!"
"I could get reaped," Is all I say and Gold nods.
"His chances are a lot higher than mine, but there's a probability he'll be fine."
The momentarily worried faces of my parents smile again as my father nods as Gold, "See? If she's thinking of your chances and saying you've got a good probability of coming out then you've got nothing to worry about!"
Gold and I glance at each other, probably sharing the same mental thought that I father perhaps shouldn't be making a happy situation. Then again, I'm sure he understands there's always the risk and this is just his way of getting through it.
"I'm sure you'll be fine Silver," My mother says, smiling warmly at me. She's just as optimistic as my dad is that I'll get through the reaping but I think she has a better perception of my sister's words. I think she's accepted there's a chance I can be reaped but is actively choosing to be optimistic to forget about it. I can only assume having children makes you want to see the positive rather than the negative - nobody wants to actively think about a relative, let alone their own child, going into the arena.
"I hope so," Is all I reply with, not letting my pessimism get the better of me for once.
Nobody's PoV
District Eight is another District who's reapings never truly garner a whole load of attention. They, like Three and Five, just want it over and done with so they can continue with their lives and so the two families can lock themselves away. Nobody in Eight likes the way the reapings are drawn out, finding it unnecessary and, for a lack of a better term, offensive. To a lot of citizens, it's enough that two of their youth are being snatched from them but to prolong the entire choosing? It's just salt being rubbed into the wound.
Those in Eight watch the standard film with vacant gazes and listen to both their mayor and the escort speak, but don't take any of it in. To District Eight, bar seeing their tributes die, the worst thing is how drawn out the whole process is.
The escort, an elderly woman, always understands this and does her best to hurry up - much to whatever gratitude District Eight can muster up to give her.
"We'll start with the girls," She says before walking to her left where the bowl of female names is. She picks one from the middle of the bowl and breaks the black seal as she walks back to the microphone.
"The female tribute for District Eight is... Taylor Solo!"
A girl who's just on the taller side of short emerges from the thirteen-year-old's section, long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Although she freezes up for a second as she gets into the aisle, as soon as she walks, little things like her skinny frame with some muscle become obvious. It's clear under the summer sun she's tanned a little and, when the camera pans in on her face, it shows her emotional guard fails her as a few tears come from her hazel eyes.
It's always sad when a younger reapee is reaped and Taylor is no different; a few girls in the same age category as her wail and the mood of Eight has become a lot more sombre, almost as if there's a mutual understanding amongst the entirety of Eight that it's unlikely Taylor'll come home.
The escort nods, "And now we'll do the boys!"
Like before, she picks a name from the middle of the bowl of male names and breaks the seal on the way back to the microphone, clearing her throat before she speaks.
"The male tribute for District Eight is Silver Mahoney!"
A tall, muscular boy from the eighteen-year-old's section steps forward, a clear contrast to Taylor. Although darker in skin tone, he has a paleness about him but most tend not to take notice of that and instead look at how marketable he is towards the Capitolite audience. He looks to mutter something under his breath, his brown eyes looking down, but he makes his way to the stage nonetheless. As he takes his place next to the escort he runs a hand through his black hair, probably to release some of the stress that's inevitably building up inside of him.
The escort smiles at the two tributes and presents them to the cameras and District Eight.
"Here are the tributes from District Eight for the Sixty-Fifth Annual Hunger Games! You make now shake hands."
The stark contrasts between Taylor and Silver are only emphasised as they shake hands; the latter dwarfs Taylor and pre-Games outcomes are already being predicted as the two are led into the Justice Building.
And here's our District Eight pair Taylor and Silver! I
I will admit, I struggled with this chapter. Not because the tributes were hard to write, but for the past few days I've been in one of those moods where I'm not satisfied with whatever I write. It's not writer's block, it's just this dissatisfaction. I did contemplate redoing this chapter but I had done so much and I think deleting what I had done would've demotivated me and that's the last thing I wanted to happen, so although I've honed in on a couple of traits from Taylor's and Silver's personalities, in their Goodbyes and Train Rides I'll make sure to show you all the rest of their characters!
As always, thank you to District 9 Tribute and BabyRue11 for Taylor and Silver respectively, I hope I did them justice!
District Nine is next! We're getting there!
As always, reviews make me happy!
~ Oli