TEAM 13 : DISTRICT 12
Fred : Sean
Score Reveals
In District 12 both weddings and funerals were treated very similarly in terms of tradition.
Bells would be rung, speeches were given, and the celebrated—the dead or the newlyweds—would be covered in green things, covered in the life that grew so sparingly over the massive mines of the region.
Both were, truly, a celebration of life—a life brought to an end, or two lives brought together.
Fred still preferred the weddings of his old world (there was more food, for one, and more gaiety. The celebrants were happy in both, of course, but District 12's weddings never managed to truly escape from the world that surrounded them) but they were still nice, still pleasant to go to.
He hoped that he'd be able to celebrate one with Alicia one day.
For now, though, they had a grander goal in mind.
In truth, Fred had never been much of a fan of grand goals.
He wasn't that good at them, all things considered (the last one he'd tried had killed him, so there was that.)
There was also… he was a selfish man, truly. His goals, even in his first life, had been primarily personal: start a joke shop with his brother, live a long and happy life with his beloved, protect his family from any threats, external or internal, laugh and play and have a good time.
If it weren't for how the war threatened his family directly, he wasn't sure if he'd have fought the first time.
That sounded awful, didn't it?
Still, it was true for most. It wasn't like he had flown to Uganda, or Myanmar, or did something about the Uighurs, and it wasn't like most others had either. At least he was honest about his selfishness; it was something he and Alicia had wholeheartedly agreed about.
In this life, though…
This was not a life he'd earned.
No one deserved two lives.
No one deserved two chances.
He'd gotten them.
Maybe, if Death decided to do this again, he'd be more actively selfish in his next life. In this one, however, he'd try to be as selfless as he could (within reason. Yes, it sucked for George and Angelina, but he had his limits.)
He sat beside Mada and Nevan, the 12 and 14 year-olds from his District. The whole of the District 12 tributes were gathered in the main room of their apartment, now, watching the absurdly wide screen as Cicero and Luxe amped up the upcoming score reveals.
"…and we will, as usual, begin with District 1. Now, I know there was some debate as to whether or not we should go team by team, but this way everyone rooting for a specific age gets a bit of information from beginning to end."
"Yes, I really do—oh! And we're starting! Here comes the first score; Opal, the youngest District 1 contestant!"
The camera cut away from the two faces, fading to black and gold sparkles, before a picture of Opal, a 1, and an 11 all appeared appeared on screen, with a black box underneath. Within the black box a golden 8 faded into view.
"Ooh!" Fuzzy Glow, their escort said. "I'm so excited! Remember, kiddos, it's not just how well you do—it's how well you do compared to everyone else!"
Fred rolled his eyes. Inis and Adeen, the oldest of the tributes, outright laughed. Part of that was probably because both already knew there was no way they were doing well.
"Yeah, I'm eager to find out if I'll be killed first or fourth." Renny, the fifteen-year-old, said.
On the screen first of Team 13 flashed on screen: Tourmaline had earned a 10.
"Good for you." Mada said.
"Yeah, she's pretty good."
District 1 finally finished—every one of them had scored between an 8 and 11.
Next, District 2.
Roman: 12.
Beside him Mada cursed and Nevan laughed. "I didn't even know anyone under 16 could even get that score!" He said.
"Yeah… he's… something." Fred said. He wasn't as thrilled about it as his neighbors—Ron was still his younger brother, and he wasn't exactly pleased about what it took for him to earn that score.
Hermione scored a 9, which was still far above the average 6.
Percy, unsurprisingly, got the worst score for team 13 so far: 6. That was fine, he wasn't supposed to score that well, and neither was Harry, who got a 5.
"Fives for five!" Fuzzy Glow chittered. Eight of them had ended up with that score, and Fred wondered if the scorers did that on purpose. The citizens in the room certainly seemed to enjoy it.
District 6 brought Angelina (who had threatened to do very, very discomforting things to him if George died before they could see each other again, and somehow had managed to do it in a way that neither drew attention nor watered down the specificity of her threats.) 8.
Oliver got a 7, which sucked as he had been aiming for an 8.
The score for Orvin, District 8's eleven year-old, flashed on screen, and for the first time that day Fred took a deep breath.
He wasn't looking forward to this, wasn't looking forward to knowing how well Alicia did. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't do it—George had been all too clear about how the war went after his death. It was just that he knew Alicia, had known her since they were tiny little tweenagers, and he knew that she would hate every moment of it.
Orvin got a 5. Putnam got a 3, which was the second worst score to date (although he had no doubt that at least some of his District mates' scores were just as low.)
Verona's name flashed on screen, 8 and 13, score: 11.
Fred winced.
That was high.
Really, really high.
That sucked.
Katie got a 6, Luna the same, Neville a 7.
Fred got a 7 too.
They had, in the end, scored about how they wished, such that many of their skills would remain surprises but they would still seem like good enough candidates to get Capitol support: their average was 7.8, compared to Team 14's average of 6.4. The only teams that scored higher were 18, at 8.2, and 17, at 7.9. Even Team 16 only got 7.5.
That was good.
Everything was good.
Fred sighed, leaning back in the class as Cicero and Luxe reappeared on the screen, ranting and raving about the scores and trying to build support for every team choice. Well, that was today done. Tomorrow was still going to suck.
