Breaking Point Sextet V

Love: The 75th Hunger Games

Chapter Twelve

District 1 Reaping

A/N: Thanks to cupofdeathtea for the wonderful Tribute pair featured in this chapter! Please keep submitting your wonderful Tributes! This is a little break from Justice Building scenes to introduce our new Tributes, but don't worry, everybody will get their Justice Building scene sooner or later! Also, I still don't own the Hunger Games.

Lamè Lunzdior POV

I block the strike before it lands, but my knife is not a particularly suitable weapon for blocking the mace of my opponent, and so I'm forced to block it earlier than I'd like, hitting the handle of the mace. Luckily, I have another weapon, another knife in my other hand, but my opponent's other hand is currently empty. Not that she couldn't pull out a dagger, she just doesn't feel like it right now, apparently. With the mace stuck out of commission for a second or two, hopefully that'll be all I need. Still, I hesitate for a second. I've done this a thousand times before, she's been my best training partners, after all, since most other people don't really want to help, but… soon I could need to do this for real, and for a second I forget this isn't that. That I won't really kill her with this. She leverages my hesitation to free her weapon and step back, disengaging to a defensive stance. Darn it! That was a mistake, and if I want to live, I. Can't. Make. Mistakes. I start analyzing the situation, looking for ways to strike.

Velvet Lunzdior POV

She almost had me there, but she didn't take the opportunity. That's interesting, sis doesn't usually make mistakes. I mean, she's human, so she does, but it's always something to note. Whatever, I survived, so now I have a chance of winning this, which is good. I keep holding the mace in a defensive position as I circle my twin – not the kind of twin where we look the same though – each of us waiting for an opening. She has two knives to my one mace, which makes it kind of hard to successfully pull something off. Yes, the mace can be a one-handed weapon (although right now I'm holding it with two so it's better for blocking), but, well, sometimes you need to use two hands for it. Still, though, there's an opportunity which she might not see coming. Or she might. That's the hard part about fighting someone who you've known your whole life – they know every single move you have. I go for an overhead strike, using two hands to bring down the mace from above. I see a flash of blonde hair as she raises one knife to block instinctively.

Lamè Lunzdior POV

Another strike, interesting choice. Let's see, she knows I'll block that, which means, unless she's counting on brute force to break my block (possible, but unlikely), she has another strategy. This is just a distraction, so I won't see the real attack coming. Is she going to do the leg sweep trick? I look down, no, her legs are properly braced. So then what – one hand has left the mace and is going down to her belt fluidly. Ah, I see. I start to bring a knife up, but she's ever so slightly faster than me, and her dagger is pressing softly into the skin of my shoulder before I realize it.

"Good job, Velvet," I say, panting a bit from the exertion as I slowly hold up my hands.

She smiles. "Thanks, Lamè. Time to go, I suppose?"

I nod. "Yep, let's get home and showered, and to the Reaping."

She nods. "Right behind you, sis."

We walk back to our house, and both go to quickly take showers. Once I'm done, I put on the dress that mom had pre-selected for me, and look in the mirror. My green eyes, the same as my sister's… my green eyes stare back at me as I quickly do my shoulder-length blonde hair into pigtails. Today I'll do it, today will be the culmination of everything we've been training for… Mom will be proud that I've done everything she wanted. That I'm perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Just like she wanted.

I head out to the living room, where there's a note from Mom that says she and Dad have already left, and she's looking forward to seeing us volunteer. Of course she is.

Velvet comes out, her red hair still darker than usual from the shower, also in her Reaping dress and with her hair in its normal bun.

"Hey, Lamè, did Mom and Dad leave already?" She asks.

"Yeah," I say, then check the time. "We should get going too, you need anything else?"

She shrugs. "Not that I can think of, you?"

"Nope," I respond. "Let's go, then."

"Let's," she smiles, and we head out to the Reaping.

When we get there, we head straight to our section, ignoring the children mingling around us. Part of me wishes we had friends, but Mom, the controlling b-h she is, never would let us. After all, friends would be a weakness. Maybe she's right. My reservations about having to kill Velvet are a weakness, they make me less than perfect. Which is what I'll need to be, if I want to do what I'm meant to, if I want to survive the next few days.

Gia O'Connell, District One Escort, famous for maybe stealing the job by changing the other applicant's paperwork to read Ten instead of One, starts the Reaping. "Everybody to their places!" Well, we're already here, Gia, and you need not worry about whoever you'll Reap. I'll volunteer, like I'm meant to. "Okay, so I'm sure you've all heard about the twist this year! If you want to volunteer, you can only volunteer for the first person, and you must bring the person you love most with you!" I suppose she thinks that'll discourage us. If we hadn't been training for so long for this, it might. She reaches into the bowl. "The Tribute from District One is…"

"I volunteer as Tribute!" I shout, before striding confidently to stage.

"And what is your name, young lady?" Gia asks.

"Lamè Lunzdior," I respond.

"Pleasure to have you, Lamè," Gia says. "And now, who is the person you love most?"

I notice a screen, flashing Velvet's name at me. I couldn't lie even if I wanted to, even if there was somebody else who would be plausible, not that there is, and I can't say no one. They already know. "Velvet Lunzdior," I say.

"Velvet Lunzdior, please come to stage," Gia says.

Velvet Lunzdior –18- -D1- POV

After our little training spar, me and Lamè return home to get cleaned up. As I'm working my shoulder-length red hair into a bun, with little choice but to stare at my own green eyes, I wonder if I could just… not. I mean, if Lamè volunteers, but she doesn't love me enough, I couldn't go. But I suppose I could also just ask her not to? No, that… wouldn't work. She's obsessed with being perfect, like, I mostly want to be perfect and do what Mom wants us to, but she's… really into it. Whatever, it'll be fine. I do wish this twist hadn't come though, then I wouldn't need to worry about… well, about having to kill her. I… don't know if I could do it, I certainly don't want to. But I can't worry about that now, it'll just make me weaker. Hopefully it just won't come up. I feel horrible for thinking that.

We do get to the Reaping uneventfully, and… Lamè does volunteer. Of course she does. It's what we've been training for, after all. Well, now comes the moment of truth. Does she love me? I love her, I know that, and I'm pretty sure she does me, but… well, in this moment, it would certainly be better for us if she didn't.

"And now, how is the person you love most?" Gia asks.

"Velvet Lunzdior," Lamè responds. Well, I guess she does love me, that… should be good news. Ah well, I suppose it is. We'll get to fight side-by-side, like we always wanted to. It'll be great… and I won't think about when it won't be.

"Velvet Lunzdior, please come to the stage," Gia says. I stride up as she asks, smiling. "Hello, young lady, you're Velvet Lunzdior?" Gia asks me.

"Yes, I am," I say.

Gia smiles. "Excellent! The Tributes from District One are Lamè Lunzdior and Velvet Lunzdior!"

A/N: Well, two more careers enter the Games… I wonder how the other Tributes will fare! We now have more Tributes than we don't, any predictions or favorites? District Eight Reapings up next!

Tribute List:

D1R: Lamè Lunzdior, 18, by cupofdeathflowertea

D1L: Velvet Lunzdior, 18, cupofdeathflowertea

D2R: Candence Fellows, 18, by BeeBoo15

D2L: Foxtrot Suevite, 18, by BeeBoo15

D3R: Elara Sora, 14, by Draph

D3L: Yuna Odalis, 14, by Draph

D4R: Nerys Pacifica, 18, by Son of Arryn

D4L: Halian "Hal" Maui, 17, by Son of Arryn

D5R: Daisy Brownstone, 15, by chcolate

D5L: Matilda 'Mattie' Edlington, 17, by chcolate

D6R: Seras Axis, 15, by TheWatcherofTheVoid

D6L: Remington Axis, 18, by TheWatcherofTheVoid

D7R: Rowan Mildberg, 18, by Pengu54324

D7L: Cedar Mildberg, 15, by Pengu54324

D8R: Cambric Frymith, 17, by Dreadfulsorrow

D8L: Nira Telatto, 17, by Dreadfulsorrow

D9R: Open

D9L: Open

D10R: Gadge Paddet, 17, by Professor R.J Lupin1

D10L: Simon Hazel, 17 by Professor R.J Lupin1

D11R: Open

D11L: Open

D12R: Open

D12L: Open