Am I back to the month to month updates? Yeah, I really don't know. Anyways, because I am done with the reapings after 2 years-I could get out quicker updates. So far 2021 has been a shitshow at least for me, and not treating me kindly. I'm at this burnout stage of everything and it's mainly due to the pandemic. I've been in quarantine for almost a year.
Interlude 2/Reaping Recap
~Tell me, when did your winning smile
Begin to look like a smirk?
When did all our lessons start to look like weapons
Pointed at my deepest hurt?~
President Charlotte Carstairs
President Charlotte Carstairs progressed well in this last week. She was starting to get a groove on the presidential duties she had. Of course, she had previous training when she was a teenager, but being in training and being president-was two very different things. She understood why her mother ruled with an iron fist and treated her advisors harshly. There were so many difficulties in running a country, including its weaknesses of it's current system and society wise that needed to be addressed.
Right now, she was meeting with her advisors in the hopes of ending the small rebellions in the districts. She wasn't worried about certain districts like 1 and 2, who stood by the Capitol during the days of the war. She was merely worried about the outlier districts where there were reports about small gatherings of incited rebellion activity.
"Madame President, with your permission-we could send out more peacekeepers in the Districts?" Her advisor, Runin Fang inquired. Runin was a small woman with brown skin, thick black hair cut short choppily around her shoulders. She only had one hand since her other one had died from an infection from the war. Runin was once a war soldier who quickly turned into an advisor after the Dark Days.
She had undying loyalty and someone that Charlotte could trust. Charlotte wasn't going to call her a friend, because frankly; Charlotte didn't have many friends. Most of her friends that she made during high school moved on with their rich lives and sadly, Charlotte had presidential duties. It was just fine for her. It was easier trying to do this alone instead of risking someone who turned out to be a spy or something to know the secrets of the way she handled the Capitol.
She had to avoid having another similar Dark Days event, especially because the country was still trying to build back stronger. They didn't want another insurrection or a civil war upon its districts. Right now, they had to learn their lesson about what would happen if you try to overthrow the Capitol.
"That wouldn't do," She said, frowning.
She looked at the piles of reports from the districts. Some of it was good news with no reports of rebellions even from within the rural areas of the District. She placed them in a different pile and focused on the ones that have reported recent rebellion activity. There was quite a bit of rebellion activity, some small-about not going to work for the Capitol, intercepting shipments meant for the Capitol et cetera. There was nothing that would pose an immense danger, but even if there is small activity, it had to be stopped before a bigger, and larger rebellion happened and caused another war.
Right now, she had to send a message. Something to stop the uneasiness of the recent activity. The right message. It was a game of chess. If she made the right move, she could checkmate the opponent and win. If she didn't, the other opponent would win. Charlotte wasn't really good at chess, but she loved squishing things really quickly even if it hurt others in the meantime.
There was only one thing she needed to do.
Her dark blue eyes locked on Runin's brown ones before she said in a rather cold manner,
"Find those in charge, and have them executed with the whole district to see. Make sure to execute them, their families, maybe their friends, along with whoever knew about it," She ordered. "Now leave my sight."
"Yes, President Carstairs," Runin said, bowing to her. Runin left without saying another word, leaving President Carstairs alone with a stack of paper in front of her. She snapped her fingers together at a nearby avox who was positioned in the corner of her office.
The avox came forward. Its pale skin looked sickly with its oily brown hair and it's large, brown eyes looked at her.
"Give me in a glass of wine, and be quick about it," She ordered.
The avox scrambled to get out of the room quickly. Charlotte shuffled the papers in the manila folders and put them in her cabinet. She sat down in her chair while she awaited for the avox to return with her glass of wine.
A couple minutes passed before the avox came back with a silver platter and on top of it was a wine glass filled with clear wine. She grabbed the wine glass with her perfectly manicured hands and took a sip out of it. The avox left her presence and returned to its position to where it was assigned too.
Her blue eyes caught a glimpse of a mark on her hand that was rough, and irregular on her lightly tanned skin. It still had a red appearance. She brushed it briefly, remembering the horror on how her mother inflicted a reminder on her. A first time that her mother actually gave her a physical reminder on who was in charge.
"Remember who is in charge," her mother whispered to Charlotte. Her pink lips were parted out as she looked back to her burned hand and back to her mother. Her mother grabbed a lighter and put it on her skin because she had spoken out. Burned skin looked red and pain kept radiating from it's site.
Tears leaked from her eyes as she looked at the reminder. Her mother was never abusive towards. Yeah, she always hit her if she had spoken out or did something wrong-but it wasn't like she was constantly being abused. Right now, she was in shock, anger that her mother dared to mark her.
Was it because Charlotte couldn't meet her impossible standards? Was it because she just never seemed good enough for anyone? It was so fucking exhausting on never pleasing her mother. She wished that her mother gave her a compliment whenever she brought home an A, or when she passed a couple of concurrent enrollment classes.
"You're going to blame me for everything that my family did?! You should be lucky that I cared for you! My family never did, you should be grateful!" Her mother hissed at her. She slapped Charlotte across the face that it caused her to gasp out in pain, and touched the site with her non-injured hand.
"You're grounded. No nothing! It's always my fault isn't it?!" Her mother screamed at her more. She stormed out the room, and slammed the door behind her. Charlotte laid there in her bed crying as she stared at her now injured hand and the pain that was radiating on her body, most likely will give her bruises and issues walking later.
It was all because she was talking to some of her friends about what her family had done throughout the years. She was immersed in the presidential duties while she grew up, but they never really talk about what her family has done to others just to gain power. Of course, when comforting her dear mother, it never went well.
Charlotte hissed as she flexed her fingers on her burned hand. She moved off her bed silently, still hearing the yelling from her mother. She looked around her messy room, trying to find something to stabilize her hand for temporarily until it healed.
She ignored it as she grabbed a piece of cloth that was lying around and tied it around her hand, wincing as pain radiated from the area more. She ignored it before she grabbed a nearby backpack and stuffed it with clothes, and stuff. She opened her window and looked below, watching if any guards were nearby before she climbed down the tree. She made a break for it as soon as her black tennis shoes met the green grass.
A sixteen year old having to lay low for a while, wandering the Capitol's streets, sleeping in alleyways and scrambling for food. It only lasted for a good couple of weeks before the guards finally caught her and dragged her back to her still angry mother. And the rest was history, or well, she was grounded for three months because of her runaway stunt.
Sixteen year old Charlotte was really naïve. It wasn't until she was older that she realized that her mother was truly an abusive person. You didn't have to leave marks on a child for it to be considered abusive. It was the words that caused harm. Her mother was really an emotionally abusive person and her gaslighting whenever Charlotte always tried to say something, just made it worse.
"Good riddance mother… I am so glad you're dead," She whispered to herself.
….
President Charlotte retired to her quarters after a long day of dealing with incompetent people and loads of paperwork to handle. It was mainly trivial things that could have been easily done right if a certain assistant of hers didn't have googly eyes towards one of the recent hires. She turned on the TV. She switched it to the right channel. The channel where she gets to find out who this year's chosen tributes are, and which tributes to watch out for. She always anticipated this moment because it was so fun.
Charlotte had always been a fan of the Hunger Games. It was certainly genius the way her mom and several other lawmakers handled it. It was the blood, the gore, the death that always followed and always made it entertaining.
It looked like she didn't miss much-if any at all. She missed the luxury building insignia of District One. Right now, they were at the part where Karou was reaping the two tributes. It was a nice sunny day with Karou in her blue dress that reached to her ankles and was peaking out, was sandals with gemstones covered on it.
Karou had dipped her hand into the reaping bowl and pulled out a slip. She read the name out loud in the microphone and called out,
"Paper Goldy!"
There was a brief silence and a little bit of a movement in the background before a loud voice was noticed. A tall, dark man, looking around to be seventeen or eighteen came into the view of the cameras. HIs dark, long hair was in a ponytail that matched his brown skin tone. He stepped up to the stage and gracefully answered the question the escort asked him.
Karou moved on and pulled out another name, this time female.
"Affluence Cardeza!"
A young girl with blonde hair and light skin walked out with a little hesitation in her steps. There was only silence as the girl-Affluence stepped onto the stage. She had on a dark blue dress with her blonde hair in a ponytail. She was somewhat shaking, but she put her head up high and smiled while she was on stage.
"Your two tributes-Merille Tesfa and Affluence Cardeza!"
The tools of the District Two insignia appeared on the screen. The district 1 scenery changed into the capitol building of District 2. It's civilians, half of which looked excited about the Hunger Games, and some of them looked apprehensive. It was a nice sunny day and the sun shone on the mayor while he was introducing the escort and the past Escort-Theordore Avis was seen wearing a black suit that was typical for him with matching shoes. He had always been the professionally looking kind while escorting. He sat next to the two victors-Gabriel Wesley and Sam Jenkins. The mayor finished his lively speech and allowed Theodore to say his speech and reap the two tributes. He started with the girls first, and called out a name.
Within a couple of seconds, there was already a volunteer. An eager woman with her muscles defined in her black dress. She was very tall and towered over the rest of the eighteen year olds. She shouted her name as she walked on the stage. Theodore quickly dipped his hand into the opposite bowl and pulled out another name.
"Kairi Oriol!" President Charlotte winced as she heard the name. It was the most terrible pronunciation she had heard from someone because that was not even trying at all. The name was pronounced like Ky as in Sky, but from pinyin translation, it was pronounced 'tsai'.
Movement came out of the eighteen year old section. A guy who looked like he was a ghost with his extremely pale skin, and black hair in gel. He had a black shirt and black slacks as he made his way to the stage. The name caused Charlotte to frown. The name sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't remember where the name was from. It couldn't be from one of the Capitol officials. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch, the more she thought about it. She'll look into it more tomorrow, but for now, these recaps were calling her name.
The factor insignia of District Three flashed on screen. The mayor was introducing the victor, and the escort with the wind whipping his hair around. It was cloudy and looked like it was starting to rain in some places. The escort-Reyna Cardon in her black, long-sleeved dress with matching hair. Nothing about her screamed vibrant, or even enthusiastic about escorting for District 3. It felt like Reyna Cardon was very closed off and moody. It was very unescort-like, and maybe she'd have to get a new escort in doing the escorting for the tributes instead of this miserable bitch who doesn't sound excited. Escorts were supposed to sound happy, not depressed.
It was tempting to go turn it off because it got less interesting until Reyna reaped the two tributes. Veronica Alder was tall. She probably towered over quite a bit of people in her section. She heard a gasp come from a different section, but she assumed it was because a relative or a sibling was shocked to hear the girl's name. Veronica had on a blue cardigan that covered her white blouse with a brown skirt on, while she walked gracefully to the stage.
Reyna then called out male's name-Breccaan Herschel. He was a scrawny kid as he walked slowly out of the section. The cameras focused on him in his black pants and grey shirt as he moved with a white cane out in front of him, slowly. The peacekeeper guided him up the stairs and onto the stage until he was standing right next to the escort.
"Our tributes for this year's Hunger Games-Breccaan Herschel and Veronica Alder!" The escort finished saying.
The fishhook of the District 4 insignia flashed on the screen. The wind was picking up, and blowing peoples' hair around. It was still a sunny day out. The escort-Hades Jordan eagerly waited his turn. He was standing next to the two victors-Emma and Dock, with his hair in a newly dyed hairstyle, and his outfit matching the district colors of the bluish green type thing.
District 4 had one of the most adequate tribute academies with it being one of the very first that had a system going with volunteers and whatnot.
From the loyalty that the District showed along with One and Two, it really wasn't much of a surprise. The Capitol themselves built the academies for them, but they allowed the three districts to have their own system and have it, however, they wanted it.
Hades rushed through the video. He picked the girls first, and read its content. A few seconds later, a voice saying that she was volunteering was heard. Her looks probably rivaled with Affluence, the girl from One, with her blonde hair and sea green eyes had her eyes set on the stage. Her blue shirt and black yoga pants contrasted with her pale, dainty skin. Her muscles were seen as she quickly climbed up the stairs to the stage.
Hades went on to reap the male tribute. It was a surprise that there was another volunteer. It's common to have one volunteer tribute from One, Two or Four. Having two volunteers from one district is still uncommon and only happens in select years. The volunteer tribute had probably a classic look of the district with his tan skin, and his dark black hair covered his eyes. He had on a blue shirt and khaki shorts went nicely together as he walked up the stage.
Hades held up both of their hands before shouting their names out, "Your two tributes-Audrey Holloway and Brine Clemont!"
Five's symbol was shown showing the mayor giving her speech on the mahogany stage. The weather was overcast which made it nice as last year, it was really sunny and hot which caused people to be miserable. The mayor finished her speech and Lucia Bellows came bouncing over in a turquoise sundress and lavender hair. It clashed with her chosen look, but whatever worked she guessed. Lucia skimmed through the video and quickly reaped the two tributes.
"Kalia Haynes!" She called out. "Where is she?"
There was no movement. Suddenly, there was crying and yelling from the fifteen year old section, but no one came out. The cameras focused on the Peacekeepers headed towards who was crying and grabbed the person. The girl with curly brown hair, black pants, white tshirt and black flats, clawed onto anyone she could possibly get a hold of before the peacekeepers dragged her away from anyone. She was still crying and shaking while she was standing on stage.
"Leonardo Temin!"
There was an awkward silence before a voice announcing that they were volunteering rang out. Charlotte sat up because it was really rare, much like having two volunteers in one district, have a volunteer in an outlier district like in Five. The volunteer with his hair and spikes towered over a lot of people with his height. He was in a white, crisp shirt with khaki trousers.
"District 5 Tributes-Kalia Haynes and Killian Swan!"
The District 6 symbol of trains appeared on the screen before being replaced with a murky, dirty-looking sabel stage. Its citizens were standing stiffly next to each other. There was small chatter as the mayor gave her speech and introduced the escort. Celeste Marrow was in a black and white dress, with the first half being white black, and the bottom half white. She rambled on for quite a bit which made Charlotte roll her eyes in annoyance. After what it seemed to be ages, she finally reaped a tiny girl-Joette Tauruala. Joette was tiny compared to the other tributes so far. She was brown and very fit looking, with her dark hair lying against her pink dress.
"Casey Hearseman!"
There was awkward silence with the escort looking around the stage to find out who it is. Eventually, after some movement-there was hesitance in the thirteen year old section. The cameras eventually found the tribute with his blue button-up shirt, and khaki shorts. He was obviously taller than his district partner. He was letting out sobs and kept croaking, "Please… Save me!" on repeat.
"Your tributes-Joette Tauruala and Casey Hearseman!" she exclaimed!
District 7 lumber crest popped up on the screen before being replaced with a very green, brown, and gray scenery of District 7. Amara Chadwick with her purple dress and black flats. She smiled brightly as she stared at the citizens of District 7. The single victor-Bloom sat down in the background next to the mayor who already finished his speech.
Amara reaped Finley Ryland. She was tiny, probably the same size like Joette from Six, if not a couple of inches taller. Finley was pale and had dark brown hair with what it looked like to be a pencil tucked behind her ear. She wore a dark green dress and was carrying a piece of rolled up paper in her hand. She had on a smile, but from the camera's angle-it was quivering.
Amara quickly reaped the male tribute-Grover Woods. There was a brief pause, before the camera caught movement in the seventeen section. He was probably average height, but had a good few inches on Finley. Black hair was all over the place as he walked stoic to the stage. He had on a black tshirt, brown cargo pants and matching hiking boots.
"Our two tributes-Finley Ryland and Grover Woods!"
Seven's signia was quickly replaced with Eight's spool of thread signia. The sun was shining down on them and from its civilian reactions, they took off their coats and sweaters. It's escort, Riven Harvins, bounced on the stage in excitement. He waited patiently as the mayor introduced him. The Escort took a moment to introduce himself, the mayor and the usual. It took a little bit, but Riven eventually managed to get to the actual reaping. He plucked out a white slip and read it's name before another, "I volunteer as tribute!" was heard.
It was really strange to have some volunteers in outlier districts. The volunteer didn't look like she really had that much strength to survive that long in the Games with her small stature. She was on the small side with her blue dress that had green highlights on it. But the question is why she even volunteered. She didn't look at that strong physically.
Auster Worthing got reaped. There was awkward silence briefly before there was some movement. The cameras managed to catch a short person with brown hair, wearing a white dress-shirt and black pants that looked extremely baggy on him. He was trying to untangle himself from someone standing right next to him. The cameras followed him as soon as he got on stage, and suddenly out of nowhere, his black pants fell around his ankle to reveal his boxers. The gasps, some tomato red cheeks was seen from the citizens and Auster blushed before pulling his pants up again.
"Our tributes for this year-Dorothea Winifred and Auster Worthing of District 8!"
The grain signia of District 9 appeared on the screen before it was replaced with a bright, cloudy day. Its civilians lined up with very limited talking save for the mayor with his lively speech. The mayor introduced Artemisia Blanes, who looked as lively as ever. Her violet dress that reached to her knees and somehow did wonders to her paper-white skin. Somehow, Artemesia had matched her dress with her hair which was in a half-ponytail.
She didn't ramble on, surprisingly. She quickly got straight to the point and got to the reaping of the two tributes faster. Artemisia pulled out a white name that made Charlotte pause. Mary Grace Su. Almost like Mary Sue, save for the Grace part. The poor thing with her incredibly small height was walking stiffly up the stage. Her black dress hid some of her shaking as she went up the steps.
"Consus Cormone!" Artemisia shouted.
The cameras focused on the movement in one of the sections. The guy with brown hair and lightly tan skin walked out of the section with his black slacks and a button up shirt. He was walking oddly composed with his expression blank as he walked up the stage and to the escort and Mary Grace. The cameras focused on them, and from the way he was holding himself up. He looked confident.
"Our two trubutes-Mary Grace Su and Consus Cormone!"
It wasn't until Artemisia called out the female tribute's name. Charlotte let out a small snicker as she heard it. Mary Grace Su like Mary Sue. It was a funny name for such a tiny thing. The tiny thing had a black dress that was clearly worn that matched her East Asian features. The male tribute, Consus Cormone, looked like he was troubled with his oddly stoic expression and the way he held himself up high.
The bull insignia of District 10 replaced the grainy one of Nine. It was replaced by a dusty and dirty district with a grey stage. It almost looked like it matched the district, but it had less dust, dirt and grime on it. The escort-Tobias Ryton in his familiar glittery, purple outfit, his black hair moosed back from his face. He was standing proudly on stage while he awaited for the mayor to finish their speech.
He reaped the female first. The female tribute-Reese Corprican Crolique with her strawberry blonde hair tied back by a checkered bandana. She was pale and on a red, and blue checkered shirt and her denimens. She was a little bit on the scrawny side, with her blue eyes glancing around her. By the time she was on stage, she was already physically shaking and looked a little paler.
"Dov Blair!"
There was silence in the air. The cameras were still focusing on the escort as they didn't know what to do, before the peacemakers rushed to the thirteen year old section, the cameras following them. It took one more minute before the cameras were able to catch the sight of a pale, brown-haired boy who was on the short side with a shirt that looked like it had been worn a lot and ratty jeans in about the same condition as his shirt. He was being dragged by the arms by peacekeepers until they planted him up on the stage on the other side of the escort, where the female tribute wasn't at.
"Our tributes-Reese Corprican Crolique and Dov Blair!"
The agriculture crest of District 11 appeared on the screen for a few moments, before introducing a tightly packed area with mainly Black people, but a few Asian and white people were in the crowd. The peacekeepers hung around every corner of the stage with their guns out as the mayor finished the speech, and Escort Kally Marbel in her butterfly yellow dress, yellow heels and her mahogany hair. She was smiling at the civilians even during the video until it was time to reap the two tributes.
She decided to switch it up and started with the boys first. A "Demitrius Deck" rang through. After a few minutes. A seventeen year old with mahogany skin and dark wavy hair quickly moved out of the seventeen year old section. He was fancy with his dark green and black suit as the cameras picked up as he walked up the stage.
Kally Marbel picked out a slip from the opposite bowl. She read it aloud,
"Jasmine Blanchard!"
There was awkward silence before there was movement. The cameras immediately focused on a Black girl with black hair only reaching down to her shoulders. She was probably average height, but a lot shorter than her district partner. Her green shirt went nicely against were obvious handy-down pants as she walked up the stage.
Finally, it was DIstrict Twelve turn. Everything was practically gray and white, and so dirty looking. From its citizens who were standing there with their gaunt looks, the mayor looked similar, but was more well-fed. Charlotte knew that District 12 was the worst off, but it was their price to pay separately for being one of the most active rebellions besides Thirteen. The escort-Renee Azkin tried to make the district lively with her red, ruffled dress that clung to her hourglass figure. She held her enthuasticness while she reaped her two tributes.
"Alda Rushiv!"
The camera focused on a girl with black hair with what it looked like to be coal-dust in her hair with an ash-grey dress on. She saw plenty of the look before with their gaunt faces, olive skin. They nicknamed it the "seam" look because people look identical with their looks of dark hair, matching skin complexion et cetera. She was seen smiling from the corners of her mouth tilted upwards, with giggles coming out of her.
It was truly a strange reaction from someone especially coming from twelve. Renee quickly hurried to pick out the male tribute after a brief pause. Now that Alda stopped moving, she could see that one of her eyes was in a half-blink position. Alda Rushiv was creepy… yet very disturbing.
The male tribute-Flynn Madigan was taller than his district partner. He was more average looking and less creepy by a long shot. He was pale and brown hair covered his ears while he walked up stage in his slacks, and his blue dress shirt. Screaming and gasping were coming from the background, but the cameras made attention more on the tribute than in the background.
Renee cleared her throat and made no attention to the still screaming person. "Our two tributes-Alda Rushiv and Flynn Madigan!" She quickly ushered the two tributes into the building and they returned to Atticus Forest and Circe Ashton with the commentary about this year's tributes. She turned off the TV.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," Charlotte said to herself.
So uhh I underestimated how long the actual reaping recap was. I expected like 3k words in total combining them not 5k. I'm definitely excited to get some more tribute interactions. Leave a review down below and tell me which tribute(s) you'll love to see next chapter!
