Albin smiled to himself as a very recognisable square came up on the screen-District 1 had always been his favourite, and unless he was really taken by another tribute he always rooted for the 1 pairs. Maybe it was because they appeared more civilised than other districts? Who knew. He just liked them.
He wriggled comfortably into the sofa cushions, watching for the next two tributes.
Chanel wasn't sure about this year.
It used to be that everyone in District 1 volunteered for the Hunger Games. They adored the Capitol, and were always elated to put themselves up for the contest. People would be climbing over each other to get to the podium and announce themselves as tribute- it was still rife when Chanel was younger. She had not-so-privately referred to it as "idiots volunteering to die".
Indeed that was what happened- even the better prepared tributes typically died when faced with the far stronger, fiercer tributes of 2 and 4, and even the most idiotic of District 1's group began to shy away from volunteering. Nowadays they were more concerned with makeup, jewellery and watching the games rather than participating.
Chanel had no interest in makeup and watching the games- but that didn't mean she had any intention of volunteering. Volunteering would mean death, and Chanel was far too comfortable in her life to give it up now.
But every so often there would be one suicidal crazy who wanted to volunteer, and this year there was one undeniable crazy. Sheen Astara. He was huge, bulky and intimidating- a man of very few words and fewer brain cells. Like Chanel, he had never taken to the District 1 look of paling makeup and jewellery and had few friends- but instead of Chanel's method of passive-aggressive annoying all the people who mutually disliked her, Sheen just beat people up. He had recieved numerous warnings from school staff (on the few days Sheen bothered to come in) for aggressive behaviour, but Sheen didn't have enough brainpower to really process these warnings, and just continued on with what he was (brutally) doing.
So Sheen seemed like a certain for volunteering this year- he was in his last year of reapings, so it would be a surprise if he didn't volunteer at his physical prime. Chanel still had two reapings, including this one, to go- so she wasn't sure about the girls a year older than her. But nobody struck her as a homicidal crazy, so she reckoned that there was going to be one volunteer, one reaped. She was glad there was going to be at least one volunteer this year- Chanel hated watching the reaped cry. It summoned up the child inside of her, the portion of her mind that wanted to scream and cry and yell at the pure, undiluted despair that would flit across the tribute's face.
Everyone was contented in District 1, happily blinkered, willing to just concentrate on makeup and fashion and meaningless gossip.
But for a single day of the year.
There was a reason District 1 distracted themselves with glittering objects, with makeup, with fripperies. They needed the distraction to live with the horrors of this single day.
Chanel relied on distractions of her own. She stared longingly in the direction of the district boundaries, wishing to get back to the solitude of the forest, of her home.
A young man with strangely tinted skin and bright blue hair jumped up to the podium in front of her. He had a name, but Chanel forgot it every year. She didn't really care about his name so it never really bothered her.
"Hello District One!" He sing-songed, unheeding or uncaring of the faintly terrified silence that proceeded. "Happy 75th Hunger Games to you all-" He all but skipped over to the first reaping ball, his surgically changed face moving in what Chanel cynically supposed was a smile. "-Shall we begin? Ladies first, as always!"
The mockery of a smile never left his face as he read out the slip.
But the words that he sang sounded endlessly bitter to Chanel, like every syllable was meant to destroy her very being, was meant to shred every nerve and reduce her to nothing more than a pathetic, weeping child.
"Chanel Vienna!"
Chanel Vienna. Her name sounded to her at once a death sentence and a damnation.
Chanel Vienna.
Even as the words reverberated through the air, Chanel stood there, face slack, eyes dimmed, unbelieving and unwilling to believe. Around, murmurs and vicious muttering started up- how the strange, angry girl was going to be a tribute.
And Chanel finally registered what the words meant for her.
The world rushed back to place.
She drew herself up, held a sneer on her face in defiance, and sauntered forward to the podium, ignoring everyone around her.
If she looked back she might break.
She ignored the host, instead turning to face the square. She let the silence surround her- she wasn't here, not really. Her parents weren't crying silently to her right. She was in the forest, surrounded by iridescent colour, life and beauty, nature, silent peaceful beautiful nature. Her face went blank and she let her eyes gloss over.
The rest she didn't truly remember, but she remembered the one tear that escaped her otherwise defiant expression.
Albin didn't much like Chanel Vienna. She was an enigma, really. Albin didn't like enigmas. She had a constant sneer on her face, curiously defiant, but at the same time was crying. She had ignored everyone, cold and distant, but if you were to look into the depths of her eyes you could see sadness.
Albin shook his head. He was thinking too much again. People weren't that complex, she was just distant. Distant Chanel. There. Descriptor and name. Easy to remember.
Sheen Astara seemed more typical. He was a winner. Strong and capable and- well, and brutal. In volunteering he had almost broken the reaped kid's arm. Albin was absently reminded of the many verbal abuses the bullies at his school had inflicted upon him, and he mentally shied away from this memory, instead focusing on Sheen and Chanel.
The two District 1 tributes. Albin wriggled further into the sofa cushions, his safe bubble of reapings having been invaded by unpleasant memories.
Maybe District 3 would be better.
Sheen Astara is self-generated.
Chanel Vienna created by MidnightRaven323.
This summer is my dedicated time to create a buffer, so short and infrequent chapters should be a thing of the past now I have my exams done for this year.