"Competitions are a great way for everyone to do their best and reach their full potential."

Galvan Phelps, 15

District 5 Tribute

Splash!

"I'm coming in too, wait up!" Kelvin yelled before jumping in the cool water himself. As he resurfaced, he glanced around. "Hey, where are you?"

"Gotcha!" Galvan laughed, pulling on his twin brother's leg in the water. "Hey, race you to the other side?"

Kelvin swam away from Galvan and more towards the other bank, getting an early lead. "Yeah, GO!"

The twins swam to the other side, where one of the hydroelectric power plants were located. The water was cold and crisp but comfortable, and Galvan and Kelvin swam there consistently; they had gotten the 'okay' from one of the power plant heads.

"Hey, so are they coming today to catch a cool off before the Reaping?" 'They' was referring to the gaggle of people Galvan always had with him, being incredibly extroverted.

"Yeah, Aura's coming as well, bro."

Aura was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and who, Galvan was slightly embarrassed to admit, he crushed on, competing with his twin for her affections. His alpha-male feelings had really come out in unhealthy ways then.

"Oh, there they come!" Galvan shouted.

"They're here!" Kelvin screamed at the same time.

"Ha, I said it before you."

"We'll see how that translates to swimming speed. I'm going to beat you so badly, you're going to be eating my bubbles!" Kelvin declared.

"Hey, who's gonna be winning here? If it was anyone, it'd be me." A new voice entered the conversation and the two in the water looked up, grinning as they recognized his face.

"Siv! Man of the hour right here," Galvan joked. Then turning to the rest of the boys on shore, he asked, "Hey so you all wanna come in the water for a little race?"

He was answered with a spray of water in his face. And then another, and another, and another. "Winner takes all! We're going to the dock. Ready... set... go!"

They all swam, with various degrees of speed and skill, to the dock. Galvan held his breath and freestyled his way to the finish line, which he estimated was about fifty meters away. I just need to pass Kelvin and I'll be in first! He sprinted as fast as he could, kicking fiercely and pulling the water with strong arms. This was what he loved about competition. The strain of his own physical capabilities and revealing his full potential by pushing himself to the fullest. There wasn't any fun in competing with himself; it had to be with other people as well.

The adrenaline rush fueled him and with a series of intense kicks and pulls, he pulled right past Kelvin, touching the bank a fraction of a second before him. He burst out of the water, panting from holding his breath, shouting, "First!"

"Darn it, Galvan!" Kelvin chuckled, breathing heavily. "I was so close to finally beating you."

"Key word being 'close,'" Galvan returned with a grin of success. "Dang, I thought you had me beat there, though."

"I did as well, bro. Hey, at least we have time now to catch our breath before the swim back, right?"

The two didn't have to wait for long; their friends appeared soon after, latching onto the bank with their hands and taking in deep breaths. "Good going out there, guys," Galvan said. "You all are improving at such a fast rate, you're going to beat me in a few days!"

Siv grinned at Galvan's compliment along with the other boys. "Thanks mate, but as we get faster, so will you."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Galvan said with a witty smile. "Except I'm gonna get lazy sometime, thinking my boys who I taught to swim'll never catch up." He knew it was unlikely, but he had to give them some hope. Some hope was good for pushing people to their best selves, but give them too much, and it was false hope. Blind manipulation, which was not good for having fun with friends.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that day in mind forever. The day I finally beat Galvan Phelps... in my dreams."

"Don't underrate yourself, Siv! You're amazing and have so much talent; I've been swimming since three, from that time my parents took this guy," he pointed to his twin, "and I to Lake Powell. So just work at your own accord—I know we've been competing and all, but they're friendly races. What's more important is competing against your own self than to compare yourself against other people. It's more fun the first way." He smiled. "This goes for all of you, by the way. I know it sounds cheesy and cliché, but racing is all in the fun, right? Now, if it were a real competition..." Galvan joked, the other boys laughing.

They all knew he was always provoking them to race against him, but only recreationally, and it was for good fun. However in the pool, he was someone to be frightened of. Galvan's face grew dreamy as he recalled his earliest memory—his first swimming experience.

Galvan's heart and body warmed despite the chilly water at the pleasantness and nostalgia. It was at Lake Powell where his parents had taught him how to swim. Well, not really swim, per se, but it was where they had first introduced him to the water and Kelvin and Galvan had splashed and paddled in the shallower areas on the banks. He was jolted out of his reminiscing when a stream of water hit him in his left eye.

"Hey!" Galvan ducked under the water and, opening his eyes, identified the shooter as Kelvin. Of course. Kicking back upwards, he cupped his hands together and when he broke the surface, squeezed them together, sending a jet of water towards his twin who flinched backwards as the water hit him. "Gotcha!"

"WATER WAR!" Siv shouted.

Hoots and cheers filled the air as the group of boys started splashing at each other, the water in the lake rippling.

Out of the corner of his eye, Galvan thought he saw someone on the shore walking towards them. "Hey guys, Aura's here with Sunny and Rain!" he shouted, knowing the group's fondness for the fifteen-year-old, her friend, and her friend's brother. The splashing stopped and the water's surface returned back to slightly calm, no longer unpredictable and going everywhere.

Aura giggled and slipped inside the water alongside the other boys, splashing Sunny playfully with a wave of water as she laughed, got in, and splashed back. Rain stayed on shore, not wanting to get his slacks wet.

Though it was nice, idling without a purpose except to play and have fun with the newcomers, Galvan was impatient and wanted some sort of competition to focus himself on. Because more than anything, he wanted a purpose to throw himself at.

"Do you guys want to do relays?" he asked when the water war looked as if it were about to start up again.

Everyone agreed. He sorted them into fair teams and they all agreed that each person would race to the other side and back, with Rain as the fair referee.

"On your marks. Get set. Go!" he shouted, and the leadoffs sprinted towards the bank and back.

The waves of water radiating from the leadoff swimmers' strokes reminded Galvan of his dream.

Would this be like what the ocean waves look like? Galvan thought to himself. He couldn't imagine it was the same—the difference between freedom, water without bounds, compared to this place. Sure, it was good, but Galvan had never been the type to settle for good, ambitious as he was. He wanted the best—the ocean, with its limitless water. But it was only a faraway dream, as frivolous as a promise. There was no way for him to get to it despite his best efforts. He was practical; the only way to get there would be to... well, he wouldn't even go down that road, one of death and gore.

"Does anything really matter anymore?..."

Esfir Voltaict, 14

District 5 Tribute

"Esfir, darling, could you please run some really quick errands for me? Then you can have the rest of the day to yourself and Namid," their father Kolya told them with a wink and The Look.

"Y-Yeah, Dad, sure, that's, um, fine with me." Realizing they didn't know what errands they had just promised to run, they added, "Uhh, so what errands, again?"

He smiled gently, picking them up and hugging their body. Esfir could feel their bones jutting out against their father's lean muscle and his arm against their binder, ever squeezing their chest flat, triggered painful memories.

The fracture. Dirtied bandage wraps lined their vision, the slight pain in their chest more pronounced than ever, just like it was before they had came out and felt comfortable enough in their own home to ask for a real binder.

They couldn't help gasping out in pain, breathing becoming shallow, pupils dilating with fear.

Their father realized something was wrong and put Esfir down. He didn't waste any time asking if they were all right; it was obvious they weren't right. Esfir murmured a silent thanks to their father for getting straight to the point like he always did.

"What do you need?"

But alas, it was talking, again. They hated talking. All their anxiety spilling out into words, they never could put their thoughts together anyway, and no one could truly understand them because their thoughts weren't the same as their words and—

Breathe. They focused their breathing, forced it to stabilize and for them to calm down. In and out. Out of the corner of their eye, they could see their father looking at them, worried. "Do you need something, my precious child?"

Esfir rehearsed what they were going to say in their mind. Just some time, that's all. Or a little air. I'm fine. They opened their mouth to speak. "Uhh Dad, all I need is some t-time, that's all, yeah. Um, maybe air as well. Yeah." They knew they were about to say something, but they couldn't remember. What was it, again? Esfir took a look at their father, his scared gaze, scared for them.

Oh, reassurance! they thought with a relieved breath. Esfir added, "So I'm f-fine."

He examined them, looking Esfir up and down with concerned eyes. Usually people staring at them made Esfir uneasy, self-conscious, most of the time, but this was a gaze of love. As in, the paternal kind. "Esfir, if you want to just..." he hesitated. They already knew what he was going to say. Talk with me.

"I'm always here for you, remember that." The doorbell rang, causing Esfir to flinch at the sound. "That's probably Namid. She'll want to see you."

Esfir's face brightened at the mention Namid, their worries washed away. She made everything better, and they even felt comfortable talking with her. "R-Right, thanks, D-Dad." Their voice shook, but it shook significantly less than their earlier stages, thank goodness. They walked to the door and opened it, attempting a smile.

"Hi, Esfir! Oh, and hi, Mr. Voltaict, nice to see you again!" Greetings were exchanged between the two parties, and Namid asked, "Esfir, would you like to hang out and do something," she blushed, trying to hide it, "maybe at my house?"

Esfir was elated. All their life, they had tried to get in groups with others, who had kicked them away like nothing. That was why they loved Namid so much—platonically, of course, they added; she accepted Esfir for who they were. I think it's been two conversations this week! they thought. And they weren't even one-sided.

They pushed their stutter and anxiety away as best they could. Namid's friendly. She won't judge you. "That would be g-great, thank you." Esfir winced at how awkward their words were phrased, but they had only stuttered once and that was accomplishment enough. Sometimes they wished they could take a bit more initiative, but it was hard; being forgotten and left for nothing for years had made them slightly lazy. Maybe not just slightly... Esfir thought guiltily as Namid wrapped an arm around them and gently pushed them to keep walking to her house.

The two passed the market, Namid filling Esfir's world with chatter, an unusual feeling for them. But this time, they didn't feel pressured to respond in a way that made a good impression; they knew whatever their response, Namid would just roll with it and accept their awkwardness as part of them, instead of doing what everyone else did: shun them or worse, —

Splat!

Esfir jumped back in disgust, staring at the bright red tomato. They liked tomatoes, but to eat, not to have thrown at them. They sighed resignedly. I should have known this would happen. They berated themself for following this route and forgetting everyone was out of school, especially the merchant kids with their stuck-up beliefs and close-mindedness. Their only choice now was to wait until the kids had their fill of humiliating them.

"Esfir, let's run on the count of three, all right?" Namid said, assessing the situation and realizing they were outnumbered by a lot.

They nodded in assent.

"One, two, three!"

The two of them sprinted down the pathway, past all the shopfronts and merchant kids. "You two girls, stop!" They knew that voice. It was one of Esfir's common taunters—Lucis—and his intent was obvious in this case: to subtly make Esfir self-berate themselves even more and strengthen on their dysphoria.

Esfir shifted awkwardly, hiding their face by putting their head down so their feminine looks would be hidden, looks they intended on changing soon. They wanted to shout as loud as they could, I am not a girl! But they couldn't, weren't brave enough to stand up to the shouter.

"Hey, you! Lucis!" Namid screamed at the boy.

"What up?" he said, acting chill. "You hanging with this gal now? I thought you had better taste."

Esfir wanted to punch him. Such violent thoughts never crossed their mind. What was it this time? They were so used to people misgendering them, whether it be on purpose or not, they had learned the art of slowing themself down and ignoring the person as best they could. The thought came to their mind with a chill. Namid.

They expected Namid to join Lucis's side, like their other "friends" they had before coming out, but low and behold, Namid retorted, "I rather think I do have good taste in making friends." She emphasized that word and Esfir felt rays of respect for the girl.

"However," she continued, "You obviously have a better way of spending your life than criticizing other people. I mean, I could do that as well. Tell everyone how closed-minded and unaccepting you are of modern science. But I choose to focus on the positives of people, and Esfir here has an infinite amount of positives and they make my life a lot better."

Do I really? Esfir thought to themself, heart warm and fuzzy at Namid's compliments. They didn't know she thought of them that way, but they knew they thought of her as the same.

"It would pay off for yourself if you were to do the same," she ended, grabbing Esfir's arm with a protective stance, saying, "Come on, Esfir, let's continue on to my place."

They followed Namid without a second glance back at Lucis. "Uh, t-thanks for, uh, standing up for me like that back there," they said, words carefully placed as to compensate for their inability to fully put their appreciation into speech. But they still winced at the pure clunkiness of the sentence.

"Hey, it was no problem at all. Lucis deserved it and you don't. I really meant it when I said you have an infinite amount of positives, friend."

"Seriously? I-I mean, thanks, uh, I would say the same for y-you, but you know like speech and stuff..."

Namid didn't respond to Esfir with a wane condescending smile at her badly put-together response; instead, she exclaimed, "Yay—you're so amazing and brave, I'm so honored to be friends with you. Love you so much, friend." She put her arm around Esfir's shoulders, who did the same. "Ready to meet my siblings?"

"I was once willing to do anything to survive, but now, I'm willing to do anything to keep my loved ones alive."

Erwin Faraday, 39

District 5 Male Mentor

"Welcome to the District Five Reaping for the fifty-seventh annual Hunger Games!" the escort, Gladiator Pelvismith, announced over the loudspeaker. Concise and to the point, he continued, "First, the video." The Capitol video of the crushing of the rebellion played like it did every year, followed by the past Hunger Games. Erwin snuck a sideways glance at Cicera, a sad but pleased smile on his face. She would never have the same feelings towards him like he did, he thought with a pang of melancholy emotion.

But then why did he stay, tied to her, when he could have just moved on, finding one of the perfect girls groomed by their rich parents to sell off to even richer people? He had done it in his Hunger Games—ditched the concepts of loyalty and morals and friends, and after all, he had won. Inside, however, he knew the real reason was that he had made an internal promise to never betray like he had again. Not even for survival. It wasn't the type of person he wanted to become.

Erwin grasped Cicera's hand when they showed the highlighting footage of the forty-eighth games—Panther Eguchi's games. The arena was a representation of the seventh circle of hell, originally thought of by a man named Dante or something. He had to mentor that year, along with Ridge. His tribute, like all of them except Panther, perished, Ilven himself burned alive, then torn apart by dog mutts.

He had comforted Cicera, Arianne passing away during the year of the forty-seventh, memory fresh in her mind and distracted her from the hellish arena and its likeliness to the burnt-down power plant Arianne was found in.

"I'm here, Cicera," he whispered, feeling the cool palm of Cicera's hand tightening around his own. "It's only for a few more seconds; bend down and pretend to adjust your chair if that helps."

She did as so, and the rest of the video passed quickly. "Ready to see your tribute this year?" he asked her gently. Erwin always liked that moment, the pure mystery and chance of it, which quickly flew away when he realized, every year, that the boy Reaped would likely die.

"First, I shall reap the female tribute," the escort broadcasted gravely in a monotone. "And her name is... Esfir Voltaict!"

"She's yours!" Erwin whispered fiercely.

A loud shout came from the audience. "And THEIR name is Esfir Voltaict, Sir!" Erwin kept it in mind to call Esfir via they/them pronouns; personal respect was of the utmost to him.

"Is it really?" Gladiator said. "Esfir Voltaict, please come up to stage and explain."

As she—they, Erwin corrected—walked up to the stage, he found himself assessing them as if they were his own tribute. Little to no muscles, flat chest, short and skinny, all bones. They carried themself with a cautious and wary air, even when Gladiator handed them the microphone.

"Esfir, do you have any words to say?" he asked, voice still broadcasted somehow despite the microphone being in Esfir's hands.

"N-N-No," they replied slowly, only responding after a while.

Gladiator recovered, "That was Esfir Voltaict, everyone! Now, I shall reap the boy out of the males' bowl.

"And his name is... Galvan Phelps!"

Galvan Phelps. Erwin tried out the name, liking how it sounded, with flow. He raised his head, craning his neck to find the boy.

"ARGH!" a shout came from the audience, and Erwin's eyes followed that shout, which turned out to be from a tall and muscular boy with light blonde, almost white, hair and pale skin. For the first time in a while, he felt like his tribute had a fighting chance. Galvan stomped up the stage, footsteps loud. Erwin could feel the vibration on stage.

Gladiator did the same thing as he did to Esfir, handing him the microphone as he asked, again, "Galvan, would you like to say anything before you leave?"

"Yes," he declared. "Citizens of District Five—I shall come out of the Hunger Games just like how I come out of the pool at swim competitions: victorious and having done my utter best."

Galvan handed back the microphone and took a seat beside Esfir. Gladiator said, "That is all we have for today. Our tributes—Galvan and Esfir!"

A/N: This was /totally not/ very late. Sorry about that. But just an announcement: My family and I are going on vacation from July 16th to July 27th without wifi nor internet connection, and I won't be able to write because I won't have my laptop. I'll do my best to get the District 6 Reaping before then and perhaps work on a short interlude chapter during my trip, but no promises, as I'm very busy this week with packing, prep, and stuff.

QOTC: What is the name of the lake Galvan learned to swim at? It's an actual lake located in Utah, actually.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and our two tributes from Five! Just a note: Esfir uses they/them pronouns, as they are non-binary. Opinions on our two tributes? Predicted Placements? Again, this chapter may seem a little long, but it may or may not be because Erwin's POV got sort of long...

Veni, vidi, vici,

Tigress