District Eight's Cecil Maeve's POV:
My mother once told me that the on the day I was born she cried so hard for me that the doctors had to knock her out with a shot of morphling. I used to think she meant she was happy for me, happy to have given me life in this world but as I grew and discovered the world wasn't made of rainbows and flowers I understood the truth, that she cried in despair. The world I live in isn't a happy place and despite the bright fabrics that swirl around my home district we are not a happy people.
It's raining as I walk from my work in the sock factory where I work every day, I haven't bothered with school in a lot of years. What was the point in studying stuff when I could be out there doing it? I step around a couple of puddles and pull my cigarettes from my pocket before ducking into a doorway to light one not wanting to get my precious tobacco wet. I can only afford enough to make about twelve sticks a week so I save them for my dark days which today was quickly becoming.
It had started out normal enough, waking up to my father passed out drunk on the kitchen floor, mother stood beside him begging him to stand up so she could help him to the table. I'd grabbed a small roll of bread off the side and slipped out of the door before even of them had even noticed I'd come into the room.
I'd met up with Broden outside our apartment block and we'd walked pretty much in silence to the factory gates where with a quick polite nod he'd headed to his section and me to mine. At lunch I met up with him and Alicia to get some stew with our tokens, one of the few perks of still being under eighteen and working were the new meal tokens the mayor had introduced in the last year where we could get a free lunch. It was never really much, cheap grain and brown slop we could pretend had meat in, but it filled a hole.
Alicia talks all the way through lunch giving me and Broden little time to talk ourselves, she usually had a bone to pick with someone and today it was her forewoman, an older lady by the name of Ellia Trent.
"She's just constantly there you know" she rages "mind that stitch Alicia, use a different thread Alicia, and don't stab me with those scissors Alicia"
I smile as Broden laughs nervously "You didn't really stab her did you?" he says.
"Yea and then they let me go down to lunch with all the other good little boys and girls" she says with a laugh "I like you Broden, but you can be an idiot at times"
Broden mutters something about his baby sister keeping him up all night in response and continues to eat his stew, after a moment of eating herself Alicia looks up at me. "You've been characteristically quiet today Cecil, you having an apocalypse day?"
I look at my stew "Every day is like this Alicia." I say "It's called life"
"Alright grumpy" she replies as the buzzer sounds to signal the end of lunch.
I brood over Alicia as I feed material into the cutting machines all afternoon, she would probably take my comments and twist them in some way. She was prone to turn on people for the slightest little infraction and I didn't want to fall on the wrong end of that again.
After work I left quickly and didn't wait for Broden or Alicia to join me, it was then that the rain began to fall and I ducked under the doorway to light my cigarette. Two wasted matches later and it's finally lit.
Breathing in the smoke calms my mind and turning up my collar I begin to walk into the rain heading towards home. Getting to the end of our cramped little street I pause, it's wet and it's cold but I'd much rather stay here than have to face that front door again, I lean around a corner and finish off my cigarette.
Chucking the stub in a puddle at my feet I pull out my packet and look into it forlornly five were left and I wasn't getting paid again for at least two weeks, was it worth it? Up somewhere in the sky a bolt of lightning flashes and moments later it's joined by the sound of thunder. The drama of it all thrills me and I decide life is too short so I pull out another. I light this one on the first try and am just enjoying my first puff when lightning flashes again, closer this time I think as thunder sounds moments later.
"fuck that's close" my eyes shoot up to see Alicia standing over me, her blonde hair dripping wet and her grey blouse is so soaked through that it's almost transparent.
"Eyes off my tits pervert" she snaps "You got a spare one of them?" She nods towards my damp cigarette.
"Not really" I reply, thinking of the four lone sticks I had left "I'm saving them"
"For what?"
"Days like today"
"Apocalypse days?" she says with a sly grin "told you man you need to lighten up." She nudges me with her elbow "Come on mate, just the one?"
"Sure whatever" I reply pulling out one and passing it to her.
"You gave up way too easy there" she replies "I expected better of you Cecil"
I pass her a match, "Do it in one or I'll have it back" I say, trying to hide my smirk.
She grins and in one movement strikes the match against the wall and lights it in one strike before lighting the cigarette between her teeth. I raise my eyebrows and allow myself to smile "Impressive" I say.
"It's good to have a skill that doesn't involve a needle and thread" she replies, taking a drag he shoulder relax and she smiles. "That's a good batch" she says "better than the crap you usually buy".
"Rent had a fresh batch in for a change" I reply, talking about the guy down at the thread market who usually sells me the tobacco "he also says he might have something a little different from down in Eleven next time"
"What kind of different?"
"He wouldn't elaborate really" I say "just said it gave you a much more chilled reaction than this stuff."
"Sounds cool" she replies "let me know if you get some, according to Ellia Trent I have anger issues.
"Will do" I rely with a laugh, I finish off my cigarette and drop the butt on the floor next to my last one "Well I'd better be off Parents should be passed out by now so I can grab something to eat before bed."
"Yea I'd better be off too" she says "see you tomorrow Cecil"
"See ya" I say and we walk our separate ways, stepping through my front door I kick the broken glass on the floor in the kitchen to one side and not finding any food in the cupboards head upstairs to my bed. Laying there I find myself thinking about Rent's offer to get me something a bit 'stronger' there was always so much filling my mind, so much to hide from I almost understood Dads draw towards the alcohol that controls him, at least it blurs his mind.
District Eight's Lurex Lalita's POV:
"Lurex" Sasha calls from outside the schoolroom window "Lurex are you coming" I glance towards the door where Ms Trenton was due to walk though at any minute before standing up and looking down towards her a story bellow. "We're going down to the Tread market" she calls "Harvey's mom gave him some money so we're going to find something sweet to eat. You should skip extra class and come with."
"I can't" I reply down to her "We're going over some really important stuff to go over this evening"
"Your loss" she calls back as she scarpers away.
I sit back in my chair and continue to read my book on the political system of the capitol, but beyond the president and a couple of her advisors none of the names are sticking. I scrunch my eyes closed and rub my head, maybe I should have gone with Sasha.
"How's it going in here Lurex?" my teacher Ms Trenton says as she steps through the door and perches at the desk next to mine.
"It's just not sticking" I say with a sigh "I'm trying so hard to remember the names of the District Advisors but I get stuck after Four."
"Carbohydrate" she replies
"No his name is Bytan" I reply "his parents named him after a District Three tribute they were obsessed with at the time."
"Very good" she replies "but no Carbohydrate is the word I use to remember them all, who is District One's advisor?"
"Carmon Le Gold" I reply
"and Two's?"
"Aaronite Westland" I say understanding her "Roland Franks, Bytan Hannity, Orion" I scrunch my eyes closed as I try to remember and images of the stern-faced advisors I remember from the textbooks swim into my mind. Thinking of the word carbohydrate as I go.
"Orion Dent, Hyacinth Luscious, Yan Kim, Drax Mare, Rita Steele, Ajax Snow, Troy Marks and Gita Erickson." I open my eyes "that last one doesn't work" I tell Ms Trenton.
She smiles "It's as close as I could get it."
"Carbohydrate" I repeat "That's a pretty clever technique" I say "What happens when they change though?"
"Then we lose our clever technique don't we" she says, "now what does each of the twelve district produce for the county?"
"Easy" I say with a smile before rattling off the twelve products of the districts, after politics we talk history for a while and discuss the Dark Days and the Mockingjay rebellion. The history books don't tell us much about these events and most of her tutorage here is about the correct way to discuss them with a class of inquisitive children.
"You need to mind your words" she tells me "being a teacher will be the most dangerous thing you do with your life."
"But as a teacher I'll escape the mills, I'll build a good life for myself like you have."
"You never heard this from me" she says and I nod "when I was a girl, a few years younger than you now, maybe thirteen at the most I had a teacher who inspired me to ask questions and think beyond what the text books told me."
"She sounds amazing" I say "Where is she now"
"Dead, the peacekeepers dragged her out of class one day and hung her in the square."
I gasp "What did she do?"
"Nothing in particular, they just didn't like what she was telling us. Now head home and think about that Lurex before you really commit to this"
"There's nothing to think about" I tell her "I want to be a teacher like you."
She smiles "then I'll do everything I can to help. But you should be off, I need to prepare for tomorrow."
I nod and pack up my books as she moves back over to her own desk and pulls out the pile of test papers she gave to us yesterday "How did I do?" I ask as I walk out of the door.
"A Plus as usual Lurex" she replies.
I grin as I run out of the school and down to the Thread market where I find Sasha and Harvey pretty quickly, they are sitting on a bench out the front of the large warehouse building with Poly and chatting and laughing as they pass around a small paper bag.
"Lurex have a candy" Sasha calls and I take one from the bag.
"yum" I say as I suck on it and sit beside them, we chat for a while about friends and family and the funny looking dog Harvey saw that morning.
I can't keep my thoughts way from what Ms Trenton told me about the lack of information we have on the history of the Dark Days and Mockingjay rebellion. After Harvey and Poly head home me and Sasha walk the opposite direction from them, back to our own homes.
"You're quiet tonight" she says "what's up?"
"What do you know about the Dark Days?" I ask her
"That the Districts rebelled against the Capitol and now we have the Hunger Games to pay for it. What is this a pop quiz?" she chuckles "You practicing at being a teacher already?"
"But who started it?" I ask her, she shrugs in response "which of the Districts were the first to rebel? Why did they do it? Were any of the districts on the Capitols side?"
"One, Two and Four were" Sasha says "that's why they have the careers now."
"Is it?" I say "because I've never read that in a book, it's just what people say happened, where is the proof, you know we never see film from before the Dark Days or anything from around the Mockingjay Rebellion"
Sasha breaths in quickly through her teeth and I know I've said too much. "Firstly who knows if they even had cameras back then" she says "and secondly we've been forgiven by the capitol for being manipulated by Katniss Everdeen into the second rebellion and I for one don't want to repeat that shameful part of our history."
"but writing about it won't make us repeat it, we need to remember"
"No we don't Lurex, my father always says that what we don't know won't hurt us so I think you should leave it" she smiles as she brings me into a hug as we reach the point where we split off to continue home "I'd hate to be those poor pupils that you're going to teach if you're asking them hard stuff like this." She says with a giggle "See you tomorrow Lurex"
"See you" I shout as she rushes along the thinning roads up to her home, I don't have far to walk to my front door and as I open it and spot my mother sitting by the fireplace and reading her book I can't help but remember what she always told me, to ask questions, be curious and never take the most easy answer as the truth.
Nina Ricci's POV:
By the time District Eight appears on my screen I had consumed a rather large amount of alcohol. It may have only been eleven am but I was well and truly wasted. I'm talking to my screen now, commenting on every moment that I see.
"And here we have the bright and colourful District Eight" I call into my empty room "as usual the crowd have dressed up for the occasion and as usual they look horrendous" I cackle "oh that one is particularly bad love" I scream as I see one woman who looks like a knitting machine had vomited on her. I throw down another shot as Sors steps onto the stage and welcomes the crowd.
"Whore" I yell at my screen "fucking man stealing slut" I cry, I'd never really liked Sors since she stole the guy I was trying to get with in high school and therefore my chance at prom queen. Of course I had thought that my role as host always trumped her lowly escort status but now I was nothing all that anger had risen to the front again.
"Her nose held high as the spiteful cow she is Sors steps to the boys bowl first, because she's a whore" I cry to the screen as I begin to drink from the bottle, today wasn't really my day I almost longed to be stood in that crowd bellow the reaping stage as a way of escaping the prolonged humiliation I was currently suffering.
"Cecil Maeve" Sors calls and a tall boy with scruffy black hair and a half face of stubble steps to the stage, his face is angry and he scowls at Sors as she asks for volunteers.
"I'm with you Cecil" I cry "do me a favour mate and punch her" I cackle
Sors calls the girl next "Lurex Lalia" is another black haired kid with pale skin and hazel eyes she seems to shrink into a ball as she reaches the stage.
"Just don't tell Sors about any boys you like" I cry at the screen "she'll probably steal them from you"
I'm cackling at my own drunken sense of humour when a loud knock at the door interrupts my frivolities. "Fuck off" I cry "I'm watching the reapings". The interrupter doesn't go away though they just knock louder. With an angry growl I stand up and stumble over to the door.
"What!" I cry as I fling open the door to my long time friend Afrika "oh it's you" I say "thought it was that nosey old bat from upstairs again. How she loves to enjoy my downfall, I swear she's selling my photos to some magazine or another."
"Get some shoes on" Afrika says "You're coming with me"
"But the reapings" I whine "We're almost up to Nine"
"Not important" she says as she grabs a pair of my shoes from the side and drags me barefoot from my home, down the stairs though the elevator would be faster and throws me into a car.
"What is up with you" I cry "I was having fun there" I say as I wobbly fight my way into my shoes.
"The president was planning to have you killed this evening" she exclaims calmly, sobering me up instantly "this is a rescue mission"
"Fuck" I sigh throwing my head into my hands, what had I done this time?
A/N: Thanks again to the creators of these tributes; A Nihilistic Queen for Cecil and dakota77 for Lurex. I hope you liked them both and didn't mind the wait between the chapters too much. I'm pretty busy this summer but I'll do my best to keep writing and update when I can.