So here are the County 8 reapings! Thanks to Magic Of Every Kind, sea hunny, obsessivegirl73 and for these tributes!
Mrs Everdeen's song: I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables
County 8 reapings
Anastaysha 'Star' Black (13)
I can see Hop in the corner of the barn. She always likes to hide in there whenever there is a storm, or she can sense one coming. The only thing to lure her back into her hutch is fresh carrots. So that is why I now find myself on the floor of our family barn, holding out a fresh carrot to where I can just see her golden eyes, the only thing that can distinguish her from the darkness, her coal black fur doing nothing to help me find her. I lie here waiting for her, I am painfully aware that I have to go and get ready for the reapings but at the same time, I don't want to go until Hop is back in her hutch. She is the only animal that I am yet to put back. Scamper and Coal, my two guinea pigs, were the easiest as they just live in the run or the hutch, it depends on what they feel like and I know what they feel like most days. Guinea pigs are a lot more predictable than a rabbit that is my problem right now. Thankfully Hop is being a little less cautious and I can see her nose snuffling as she smells the carrot and she is starting to come out of her hiding place.
Eventually she has reached the carrot and I quickly pick her up as she starts to eat it, resting the carrot on my arm so she can nibble at it as a gift while I carry her back to her hutch. It is raining as I suspected, the rain starting to hammer on the roof of the barn and I dash, covering Hop and the carrot as we race back to the house. I shake my hair out as I finish closing her cage and as I suspected the house is silent.
"Dad?" I half shout, half talk normally. If dad is asleep, he will not appreciate being wakened, drink being the only reason he would be asleep at three o'clock in the afternoon.
There is no answer and so I go up to my room in the attic and find my reaping clothes. The reaping takes place in ten minutes and luckily, I don't live that far from the town hall. I find a clean shirt and a clean pair of trousers before pulling on my wellington boots, not wanting to get any of my other shoes muddy. Despite living not too far, it is still a muddy track to the hall and I re-fix my hair into a messy bun and clip it with my mother's hair clip which she used to wear all the time. It has a golden star on it and I make sure it is facing behind me before slipping out of the door, grabbing an umbrella and running down to the town hall. It appears that some people were less prepared for the rain. I register quickly and slip into the 13 year old female section. The girl next to me is getting soaking wet and so I let her stand under my umbrella.
"Here, there's plenty of space." I'm not very good with people but I try to sound a little sympathetic.
"Thanks." Is all she says and shuffles closer to me so we are both out of the rain.
Katniss and Peeta come out and they both have umbrellas as well. It is clear that everyone wants to have this over and done with so Katniss heads over to the girl's reaping bowl, which is also trying to be covered, and picks out a name.
"Anastaysha Black."
What? I kind of guessed that there was a chance that I might be reaped but I didn't actually expect it. What will father do without me? I'm the only person who can control all the animals. What will he do when Hop goes missing again? He doesn't know her quirks like I do. I hand the umbrella to the girl who I was sharing it with.
"I guess I don't need it any more. Good luck." She smiles sadly at me as I step out into the rain and make my way up to the stage. I force a smile onto my face. "It's Star by the way." I smile at Katniss who nods, understanding my preference of name.
Priscilla Hart (13)
Why can I never get the plaiting right? There always seems to be one strand of hair that is out of place or they aren't level with each other. Intertwined in plaits my hair looks like dark grass being plaited. My dark green hair does everything to help that and the pale purple dress that my mother has laid out for me, means that I look like lavender. Maybe that sort of innocent look will gain me sponsors if I get reaped. Of course I am sort of banking on the hope that I don't get reaped that is the aim of the game I suppose. I give up, completely.
"Mum!" I call out my bedroom door, knowing that she will be able to hear me. My parents are waiting for me downstairs; waiting to see how I might look for the last time they can see me. Neither of them can come to the reaping, their work has forbidden it. But, of course, they don't have to be into work until I have to leave. Somehow I doubt that they were telling me the truth that they weren't allowed to the reapings, I think they just didn't want to come.
My mother comes into my room and stops at the sight of me. My dress is simple but falls just above my knees, apparently bringing out my eyes quite a bit. I don't really know, I don't really like looking in the mirror for too long.
"You look stunning Priscilla. Can I help with something?"
I sigh dramatically, knowing that she will help me with whatever it is as soon as I do that. "My plaits don't seem to work. I can never get them right. Could you fix them for me?"
She smiles; at least it wasn't something ridiculous. "Of course."
She comes over and starts to work deftly on my abysmal attempt at plaits. I can hear someone knocking on the door and the exuberant voices of my friends Maria and Aria. They are older than me, Maria is 17 and Aria is 15, but they treat me like a younger sister which I like especially as I am an only child. Mum fixes my hair within a few minutes and we go down together. Maria and Aria are looking stunning in red and baby blue dresses respectively and Aria gives me a big hug as I come downstairs.
"You look so lovely Priscilla. It's raining outside so we'll have to run to the town hall. Goodbye Mr and Mrs Hart!"
My parents give me a brief hug before the girls pull me outside the door. My other close friend Lelouch Arinside, who Aria has had a crush on for a long time, is waiting in the porch and grins as he sees me.
"Hey 'Cilla, good to see you."
I high five him as we start to run in the rain. "Good to see you Lee."
Neither of us like the nicknames we have of each other so when one of us uses the nickname; the other merely uses the other nickname just to aggravate them. We keep running until we get to the town square. We sign in and run to our places. We want this to be over as soon as possible. The girl next to me has an umbrella, she's smart. I'm getting drenched and she clearly takes pity on me, so she smiles.
"Here, there's plenty of space."
I am so grateful but all that can come out of my mouth is a quick "Thank you."
I shuffle under the umbrella and feel immediately better as the rain stops falling on me. The girl ends up being reaped and she hands me the umbrella, muttering something unintelligible that I can't hear. She looks a little pathetic, walking to the stage in the rain, her sleek black hair that's tied up, looking slightly bedraggled already. I wait patiently, hoping that the next name…
"Priscilla Hart." Katniss says in her monotone voice and my heart sinks.
That sounds my death knell; I know that I won't get very far in the competition, certainly not against 75 other tributes that will mostly be older than me. I take down the umbrella and walk all the way up to the stage. Star Black recognises me and I give her back her umbrella with a small smile before I shake hands with Katniss and Peeta. Maybe there is a chance I might have an ally.
Prion Hagen (16)
"I am telling you Diana, that was SO my point. There is NO way that you got that point." I try to argue my point.
My best friend Diana and I are playing 21, a card game, and we both have the same hand. Except that I have higher suits and yet she is still insisting that she has won. She is the best friend that anyone could have; we've known each other practically since birth and have grown up together, not even separated by the rebels at the split of Panem, eight months ago. Yet Diana can be so annoying in her persistent belief that she is always right, which of course she isn't.
"You're winning by six hands Prion; you might as well give me the point and a small chance to catch up." She counters and I note she has a got a point. Despite her enthusiasm, she certainly doesn't have the skill for it, playing crazy hands and sometimes annoying the heck out of me. I sigh.
"Alright, you take the hand. Although I will drill it into your brain one day that spades are higher than hearts."
"No they aren't." she sticks her tongue out at me as she takes the cards to deal again.
"I give up." I say before she can deal. She agrees and she leans her head into my shoulders as we rest against the tree we've been playing under outside her house. She's a lovely girl and I hope to marry someone like her eventually, although not her. I don't think that, despite our close friendship, she is the person for me. One day, some boy is going to be very lucky. "I wonder what it's like to be in love." I muse aloud and immediately Diana sighs.
"Prion, seriously? This topic again? How many times am I going to have to listen to your moans and groans about how romantic the idea of love is and yet you can never seem to find the perfect girl? At least let's talk about something other than that and the fact that we have to be at the town square in," she checks her watch and then her eyes open wide, "six minutes! I've got to go Prion, get Zoe ready!" she jumps up and I have barely time to say goodbye to her before she dashes away.
Zoe is her younger sister; she's twelve and a miniature version of Diana. I get up and take the pack of cards she left under the tree. I'm someone who tends to wear one colour per day and today it is green. I don't know why, maybe it'll make my eyes, which are hazel, seem more green, or (the less likely option) that it'll make me look like a daisy flower. My hair, people say, is very light blonde, like Luna Lovegood, whoever she is. I double check myself in the mirror before I head downstairs and out the door, meeting Diana as she runs. We can hear the first girl's name being called and I am still panting as I sign in and slip into the 16 year old male section. I watch as the girls go up and shake out my hair like a dog as the rain lashes down on us all.
"Prion Hagen."
What? I am stunned. I can see Diana screaming but I can't hear her, I feel like all my senses have suddenly gone, except that I can see. I move wordlessly out, I wasn't expecting this. I must look pitiful, my hair now plastered to my head as I make my way up the steps. Oh well, I always knew I was going to die. I guess I didn't expect it to be so soon.
Graphite Mark Gray (16)
I watch them dance around the circle of flowers. How innocent they all look. How innocent they all are to what I have to do today. How I might never return back home after today. The black rain cloud rushing towards us is coming as fast as the reaping in less than an hour. I don't want them to know that. I watch as Izzy spins Eliza around, her plaits spinning at 90 degrees to the ground and she laughs and I cannot help but laugh too. They are all so young, so innocent. Well Izzy is 11 and she insists she isn't young. But seeing as she is five years younger than me, I count that as young.
"Come on Mark!" Cecily, my third sister, calls out to me from where she is playing with baby Annabelle who is the youngest of the five Gray children. At least my parents were sensible in giving them nice names. I mean, what kind of name is Graphite? I refuse to go by any other name than my middle name, Mark.
"Coming Cec!" I shout and I race over to her, scooping her small five year old frame and spinning her around. She laughs as I go faster and faster until I am so dizzy that I have to put her down and then slump to the floor, exhausted. I check the time and realise that I only have twenty five minutes to get to the town hall and we live in one of the furthest parts of the county. "Girls, I've got to go, I'll see you all later! Izzy, you're in charge!"
My little sister grins and they all wave as I go back into the house. I race up to my room and sling on some jeans and a shirt. But I stop before I leave my room. If I am going to be reaped, I should look at least half decent. I rummage in my drawers for a tie and quickly find one that matches my shirt before grabbing my school blazer from my wardrobe. I check myself again and nod to myself; at least I will look presentable. My mother is waiting for me in the kitchen and I give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Don't worry mum, I'll be home as soon as I can."
She nods and I race out of the house and down to the town hall. I like running and definitely long distance over short so I make good timing, slotting into my place just as the first reaping happens. I nod quickly to Justin and Eclipse, my two friends who grin and then turn back to the proceedings. I recognise the first boy who gets reaped. We weren't from the same part of the Capitol but he's in some of my classes at school. The rain is now pretty bad and my hair is plastered to my head, making me look pathetic. Now I wish I wasn't wearing my blazer, it was going to be ruined.
"Graphite Mark Gray."
What? I wasn't expecting that. What's mum going to do? How are the girls going to survive if I don't make it back home? I have to make it back home, I have no other choice. But I can't show any of that. Justin pats me on the back sympathetically as I walk out of line and up to the stage. I can't cry, I must be brave for all of them.
Mentor POV.
Why on earth didn't they give me a career county? I'm probably one of the strongest mentors here and yet I have to be given some crummy district where the tributes all look completely pathetic, the rain doesn't really count, and my fellow mentor looks 12. He has this annoying air of self-confidence that I definitely do not like. He grins at me stupidly, his clothes more like the tribute parade costumes for district 7 than anything else. In return, I flash my gold-plated teeth at him and that certainly wipes the smirk off his face. He backs off from me and I feel a lot more satisfied. I don't want people to think that they can lord it over me and pretend they know better than me. I know how to work the arenas; I've been in there twice.
"Why do you have gold teeth?" the boy is speaking again.
"It's how I won the Games when I did, little boy." I sigh, he really is ignorant.
"Wow, you've actually won the games. Well I guess then I don't need to be here."
Finally, the boy has cottoned on to the fact that I don't like him. "Well I don't have a problem with you going. You have one problem though; you can't escape from this place."
"So why's the window wide open?" he smiles cheekily.
"Well because we won't be able to breath for very much longer if we don't." I retort, this boy is insufferable. "You're thinking of jumping?"
He scoffs. "Of course not, that would be stupid. I'm going to fly."
Okay this boy is completely loopy. But before he can try and climb out, the windows slam shut. "Too bad fly boy."
"It's Peter actually. My name is Peter Pan."
Idiotic name for an idiotic boy. "Enobaria, no last name. Last names are for sissies."
So Enobaria and Peter Pan are County 8's mentors! Please read and review and I will tell you who you have to find a song for next chapter! Its two people because they are quite hard to find a song for! They will get easier eventually!