Heyyy I'm back! I was back home surprising my family for labor day! I've always wanted to do that XD We had a ton of fun.


Gavin Booth- District Ten male

"Heyyyyyy, batter! HeeEEEEeEey, batter! Maybe wanna hit it this time? Try something different maybe?"

I'm not a jerk. This is just baseball. There's a time for messing around and tossing a few zingers, and when better than when your opponent is trying so hard to concentrate and it's so much fun to hurl increasingly bizarre taunts at him? It's all part of the fun. Who would play baseball if they didn't get to kick dirt and jeer the batter?

We didn't exactly have enough people for full teams, so no one had a set spot. After a few hitters, I rotated to the outfield. Most of the people out there were on my team, but a few were from our mortal enemies. "Team" was a fast and loose term with us. We kept score each inning and both teams always claimed to win, but it was hard to tell when someone who was batting one minute was in the outfield the next.

There was a mighty crack as someone hit the old, taped-together baseball just right. It arced into the air, heading for the sticks we'd laid out to measure the boundaries of a home run. I sprinted underneath it, not noticing a lengthening shadow until too late.

I didn't catch the ball. Neither did the boy I'd collided with. We hit the ground flat, me landing mostly on top of him.

"I promise I'm usually not this forward," I said as we got up. The ball was already out of bounds, so there was no rush. As the other boy stood, I noticed it might not need to be entirely a joke. There were worse-looking people I could have crashed into. He smiled as he dusted himself off.

"Hey. I'm Gavin," I said. We'd seen each other in passing, but we'd never actually swapped names.

"I'm Tyler," he said. "Guess you're better at catching than… well, catching. Horizontal catching than vertical catching? You know what I mean."

That was the start of a long friendship. I had lots of friends- I was just generally a friendly sort of guy, and people seemed to think I was witty- but Tyler was my best friend. There was a lot wrong in Panem, and a lot of problems I'd dealt with or had never even thought about but would experience eventually, but some things were simpler. For example, I was able to fix the problem that led to me meeting Tyler in the first place, good outcome notwithstanding. From then on, when I noticed a human-shaped shadow coming at me and getting bigger, I dodged.


Paloma Bennett- District Ten female

Chimera was getting older. My parents remembered when he first took over as Ten's mentor. They said he used to be super awkward and adorably eager. My mother also said his butt looked better then. My father didn't have an opinion on that.

His hand was still steady when he dipped it into the bowl. He didn't seem as excited as most mentors to pick a kid to kill, but he still did it. He took out a slip of paper. It was hard to care about anything when all your life, all your choices, your effort, your grades, your hopes, all came down to a piece of paper. I got good grades in school, but for what? I still wouldn't get a good job, or go to college, or ever get out of here. That wasn't anything to cry over. It was just life. I got good grades because school was easy, not because I earned them.

"Paloma Bennett!"

I thought I was going to throw up. I thought that was just an expression, but it was really true. My stomach got all tight, and my throat felt like it was turning inside-out. I felt like I was hollow inside and full of bad air, the kind that kills you when you breathe it. My mind was hollow, too. All that was in there was disbelief, craven fear, and the knowledge that it could never be taken back. And then I noticed the silence.

There were no screams, no wailing or tears from the people around me. None of the girls standing beside me were even looking at me. And it wasn't because they didn't like me. They didnt know who I was. Not a single soul in the crowd knew who 'Paloma Bennett' even was. No one remembered the face of the quiet kid who never spoke up in class, or the name of the girl working alongside them in the pasture. There would be half the mourning in Ten this year, since my name was never remembered to be forgotten.

I was standing on the stage, looking out past Chimera's hand. Did they drag me here? I didn't remember that, but I also didn't remember walking.

"Do we have any volunteers?" I heard Chimera say.

"I volunteer!"

Verlynne. My sister, the only one in the crowd who knew my name. She'd been with the other eighteen-year-olds, too far away for me to hear any sign of her. And now she was pushing her way to the stage, dead-set on saving her little sister. My sister Verylnne, who loved me more than her own life.

"No!" I yelled, surprising myself with how quick it came. "She can't volunteer!"

Chimera looked at the side of the stage, searching for a teleprompter or any sign of what the rules were. I racked my mind for anything I could use.

"She's not a girl!" I blurted. Chimera did a wild double-take. Peacekeepers intercepted Verylnne as she got to the stage, holding her back as she clawed and protested.

"Check her birth certificate!" I yelled, my chest heaving. I listened to Verlynne's desperate pleadings and protests as they slowly dragged her away. With each second, I was aware of how simple it would be to tell the truth, to take the miracle deliverance from my death sentence. I heard my sister, my big sister who had protected me from birth, begging me to let her do this, and I felt the seconds draw out as I refused my only hope.

It was a lie, of course. My sister's birth certificate said Verlynne Bennett, female. But it would take time to dig up the papers, and by the time they were sorted, it would be far too late to volunteer. My sister had done the bravest thing anyone could do, and I would never forget it, but I couldn't let her. In the most important moment of my life, the moment that would almost certainly end my life, I finally found my voice.


The requested scene was Paloma refusing the volunteer. Since Catching Fire had Haymitch unable to refuse Peeta's volunteering, I had to get creative. This isn't a comment on how Panem handles transgenderism, since I haven't speculated much on that since it hasn't come up. The birth certificate was just a way I could make it take long enough for Paloma to remain the tribute.

Gavin: 5'10" tall, well-built but not overlarge. His curly brown hair is kept long along the top and back of his head, the sides almost entirely shaved down. He's considered attractive by the young women of the District.

Paloma: Long dark hair, grey eyes, tan-ish skin. Average height and build. Has a scar on her cheek from being kicked in the face by a horse at twelve years old. Look alike is Adelaide Kane