A/N: You're getting warmer...

Today's Spotlight Story is The 407th Hunger Games: SYOT by TimmayIsAwesome. As the title suggests, it's an SYOT, so yeah. Submit a tribute :)

Thanks to Fifidear for both of these characters.

Robyn Kramer (14) POV

Flashback/Nightmare

I'm in my backyard, and I stare up at the apple tree I've been trying to work up the nerve to climb for ages. I look up, as high as the branches will go. It can't be that hard... can it? The first branch is just over my head, and I take it between my hands and pull myself up. I repeat the process many more times, until I reach the top of the tree, to the spot where Mom always says the best apples are. I see a perfect one, perfectly, uniformly red, and bigger than any apple Mom has ever brought back.

Before I can reach for it, a robin lands on a closer branch to me. I make the robin my target, rather than the apple. The bird for which I was named. She's staring at me, willing me to touch her silky feathers. I reach out to her and she flies away. My brain didn't tell my body in time, and I fell off the branch, still reaching for the robin.

One my way down, I see a rock that I hadn't noticed before. I'm sure my head is going to hit it. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the end to come, but it never does.

I wake up, gasping for breath. The memory haunts my dreams every night, but I find the consistency comforting, because it's the only thing I can ever remember, other than the events of the day. After I hit my head on the rock, the doctors told my parents I was lucky to be alive. That is, until they told us I was diagnosed with short term memory loss. All that means is that I have a hard time remembering things, but the kids at school think it makes me a freak. Maybe because I have a scar from where they did the surgery. After a while, they started making fun of my best friend Irene, and she went from being my best friend to that girl from that place that one time.

I rub my eyes, trying to wake them up, deciding that sleep is not an option. I get out of bed and brush out my wavy brown hair. It usually misbehaves, but it feels somewhat damp, so I think I might have bathed last night. Why did I need a bath last night? I shrug off my concerns and look at the dress placed at the foot of my bed. It's blue and fades into white as it gets closer to the ground, where it stops. Why is the dress so fancy? Is it the same reason I think I took a bath last night? I put it on cautiously, as if it might bite.

I walk into the kitchen, and my sister Tessa is wearing a pink dress similar to mine. Mom is wearing a black skirt and a white button down, and Dad is wearing black pants and a blue button down.

"Why is everyone so dressed up?" I ask. "And why is my hair damp?"

"Robyn, it's reaping day," Tessa says, softly. "Don't you remember?"

Reaping. Reaping. "What's a reaping?" I ask.

"For the Hunger Games," Mom says, gently.

"Hunger Games?" I ask. "Is that a board game?"

"No, Robyn," Dad says. "Remember what's on TV every year?"

Oh. That reaping.

Felan Hirdler (15) POV

I'm sitting cross-legged in the meadow with Kira, Owen and Nelson. Nelson is Kira's brother, and I'm really closer to Kira and Owen. Up until two years ago, my brother Austin would be sitting here with us, but he volunteered for a younger friend.

Owen found an empty beer bottle on the side of the road, so we decided to play an old game called Truth or Dare. It was Owen's turn, and when he spun the bottle, it landed on me.

"Truth or dare?" he asks.

"Truth," I say.

"If you could date any girl in the district, who would it be?" I mumble something unintelligible. "What was that?" he asks.

"You don't know her." Lie. Total lie. She's sitting two feet away from me.

We play for a little while longer until we have to get home to get ready for the reaping. Kira and Nelson walk together because they're siblings, and they live in the same house, and Owen and I walk together since we live on the same street.

Why didn't you tell her?" Owen asks, as soon as Kira and Nelson are out of earshot. He's the only one I've told about my crush on Kira. I shrug. "Man, please talk to me. You've hardly done anything but mumble for the last two years."

I sigh. "Hi."

He pinches the bridge of his nose. "It's a start."

We turn down onto our street and we go our separate ways to get to our houses. I walk into the door and my mother greets me at the door.

"I put some clothes out on your bed," she says. "After you're changed, we can eat."

I think about what Owen told me, about talking more. "Where's dad?" I ask her.

"He's working," she replies. "He's going to meet us at the reaping then go back to work after."

"Okay." I walk to the room that I used to share with Austin and get dressed in the clothes Mom left out for me; a white button down that has yellowed from years of use and jeans.

When I leave my room, I go into the kitchen and get a slice of bread from the box on the counter. I eat the bread, then have a glass of water.

The bells chime, and I leave silently, not quite bothering to wait for my mom. I walk a little ways down the street and eventually catch up to Owen. We see Kira and Nelson a few hundred yards in the distance, so we half walk-half jog over to them. When we catch up to them, Own and Nelson fall behind Kira and I, and they start to have a conversation without us.

"Nervous?" Kira asks.

I shrug. "A little, I guess."

Silently, she inches her hand toward mine and curls her fingers around my own. I take a sharp intake of breath, but it's quiet and I don't think she notices.

"How many times is your name in there?" she asks. Normally, I wouldn't want to talk about it, but her big green eyes have a way of pulling answers out of me.

"Eighteen," I say, quietly. She still hasn't let go of my hand. What is this? What is going on?

"I have nine," she says. "Nelson didn't want me taking out much tessera, but we needed it."

We go to the desk, and she lets go of my hand to sign in. After they take blood samples, I walk her to the section labeled Female, 14 Y/O and I go to Male: 15 Y/O. I meet up with Owen and Nelson, who have stopped talking.

"Were you flirting with my sister?" Nelson asks. I shake my head.

"How would he flirt?" Owen asks. "He doesn't even talk." That would sting a little if I didn't know he was just trying to cover for me.

We finish talking and our escort, Bubble comes up to the stage. She has silver hair that shimmers different colors depending on how her head is tilted. Where her eyebrows should be are two arched rows of diamonds. She must be new.

"Welcome, ladies, gentlemen and, most importantly, future tributes," she gushes. "It's an honor to be here today. Without further ado, our female tribute this year is... Robyn Kramer!"

A girl with brown hair in a complex looking braid comes out of the same section as Kira, though Robyn doesn't look more than 10. By my estimate, she's about 4'10".

"Do we have any volunteers?" Bubble asks. Robyn looks really confused.

"Volunteer for what?" she asks. "What is going on? I'm so confused."

"The Hunger Games, sweetheart!" Bubble exclaims.

"Oh, right," Robyn says. "That."

"And now, to find out who the lucky young man representing District 9 will be this year." Bubble reaches her hand into the bowl and her fingers lock around a slip at the very bottom. "Our male tribute is... Felan Hirdler!"

Me? Reaped? Why is this happening? I walk slowly up to the stage, where Bubble is tapping her foot impatiently. "We haven't got all day," she says. Does she really think that this is something we're looking forward to? Well, I'm not sure about Robyn, she just seems confused.

"Tributes of District 9, please shake hands," Bubble commands. "And may the odds be ever in your favor."

Robyn Kramer (14) POV

Hunger Games. Hunger Games. Hunger Games. What are Hunger Games? Not a board game, dad told me that earlier... Something about a TV? Suddenly I remember. Hunger Games. Fight to the death. 24 in. 1 comes out. I'm one of the 24.

"Mom, why did I get reaped?" I ask. "Why is this happening?

My mom takes a deep breath. "We don't know why it's you, sweetheart," she says. "But we know that you have what it takes to come out."

I smile, trying to make the mood lighter. "I guess I'll try," I say, with an unhappy laugh.

"You're allowed to take something into the arena, to remind you of home," Dad says, handing me a necklace. It's a silver chain with a silver charm of a robin on it. The bird for which I was named. "We got this for you for your first birthday, and we want you to have it in the arena."

"What will the arena be like?" I ask Tessa.

"We're not too sure," Tessa says, uncertainly. "Usually it's outside..."

She gets cut off by a Peacekeeper, ushering in a girl about my age with dark hair, eyes and skin. The Peacekeeper tells my family it's time to go, and closes the door behind them, leaving the girl behind.

"Hello," I say, cautiously. "I'm Robyn."

"I know who you are," the girl replies. "Don't you remember me? Irene? We were best friends..."

"Oh yeah, Irene," I say. "I had a friend named Irene once..."

"Robyn, I'm her," she says. "That's who I am. We were best friends, only we stopped being best friends because everyone made fun of you. I didn't want to be made fun of, so we stopped being friends. But I have something to tell you." She takes a deep breath. "Don't lose hope in the arena. We still have a knife in the heart of the Capitol."

Felan Hirdler (15) POV

My mom comes in to visit me first.

"Where's dad?" I ask her, for the second time that day.

"They made him go back to work," she says sadly. "He told me to tell you that he'll miss you while you're gone, and that he's rooting for you."

"How comforting," I say flatly.

"We know you can win, Fel," mom says. "You've worked in the fields; you can use a sickle. They usually have those in the Cornucopia, just for the kids from 9."

"I can't kill with it," I tell her. "Mentally, I can't do it."

We spend the rest of our three minutes with her trying to comfort me, telling me everything will be okay.

When the Peacekeeper replaces my mother with Nelson and Owen, we talk about mindless things until the Peacekeeper comes back.

"Where's Kira?" I ask.

They exchange a look. "Ah, they said we all couldn't come in at once, or something," Owen says.

"She's coming in next," Nelson adds.

As soon as the Peacekeeper closes the door, after letting Kira in, she kisses me. Nothing PG-13, or really even PG, but it's still a kiss, and I'll take it.

"Kira, I-" I start. She puts her lips at my ear.

"Don't worry," she says, sending chills up my back. "We'll be okay. No matter what happens, we'll always have our knife in the heart of the Capitol."

A/N: Are you sensing a theme here? Cuz if you're not...

Questions! I'm sure you all know the drill here.

1) What did you think of these characters?

2) Who did you like better, Felan or Robyn?

3) What did you like about them?

4) What didn't you like about them?

5) Predictions!?

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!