Daveth Brass, 17- District Six male
There are no small parts, only small actors. Each of us has a place on the stage suited to our abilities. Some are meant to design the set or write the lines. Others are supporting actors, needed in their small amounts like salt in a soup. Some are meant to star. I can't claim any credit for what I was born with. I was always a performer. Theatre just set me loose.
"I also am weary of life, and present my throat to you and your ancient evil. Not to slay me would prove you a fool, since I have pursued you with hate and slain your countrymen…" I continue the monologue, my favorite part of any play. Just the word- monologue, 'monos logos', 'speaking alone'. No one moving but me, no one speaking but me, every pair of eyes in the audience riveted on nothing but me. Other actors are nervous about messing up at such a critical juncture, but for me, it's the easiest part. The more people look at me, the better I remember, so that I can give them the best performance they have seen. The better I remember, the more I look. It's the positive feedback loop that gives me life.
Francine greets me as soon as the curtain falls. It had taken me a few days to get over the idea of calling a seventy-year-old woman by her first name, especially a Capitolite, but Francine insisted we were coworkers and equals. She wasn't exactly a conventional Capitolite, either, as evidenced by her living in Six. She's been a theater woman in her youth and discovered me at a performance of As You Like It. I despise comedies, but that one will always be dear to me.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Francine says in her nasal but jubilant voice. She can't clap her hands, since she's leaning on her cane, so she taps her free hand on the cane instead. She holds out her arms for a hug. "Another tour de force!"
"That's what I do," I say, taking a final bow. Usually I'm more modest, but I can be myself with Francine. We're a couple of exuberant drama nerds. We understand each other.
"It's only up from here," Francine says. We have big plans. Once I hit eighteen we're lighting out for the Capitol. Francine has travel privileges as a Capitol citizen and I'll be her ward. She has the connections and I have the talent. Soon I'll be all over Panem screens. I'm not going to stop there, either. I have a list- everything from 'perform for the President' to 'take over Caesar's job when he retires'. This face is going to be universally recognized.
I used to think it was such a waste I was born in Six. If I hadn't, though, I wouldn't have met Francine. I still would have made it on just my talent, but it was good to have a mentor. Even I could admit I had things to learn, and the big screen was a dangerous world for young and attractive people. I may have had a humble upbringing in Six, but all the better for my glorious story about overcoming mediocrity and making it big. I was an example for all of us.
Makenna Ja, 18- District Six female
The world is as nice as you make it. I make my world nicer by thinking about what could be. There are a lot of things I know won't happen in my life. I won't marry a rich guy or invent something that makes me a millionaire. The Capitol won't suddenly decide to stop having the Games and share their wealth with the Districts. Tomas will never come back from the dead. But I can look out my window and think about different worlds, worlds where things like that happen. It's not real, but just thinking about it brings emotion, and the emotions are real.
There's something philosophical in there, about perception and reality. I should read more about that. I like philosophy, I think.
There's a lot of bright things in the world if you choose to focus on that. When my parents say they're working early and ate breakfast before I got up, I focus on how much they love me, not the fact that we can't afford food. I eat as little as I can, so we can eat lunch together, and go back to my room to write to my friend Alice. Sometimes the letters aren't entirely true. I don't really mean to deceive anyone, not for my own ends or anything. It's more like presenting an alternate reality that isn't true but could theoretically be. I'm really interested in that- how perceptions and reality intersect and how our senses determine how we experience the world. How do I know what I call red isn't what someone else calls blue, for instance. How do you even describe red and blue?
In a few weeks it will be Reaping time. I don't really think about the Games much. There are so many children in Six and only two names in the bowl. It's like being afraid every time you get into a car. You're far more likely to crash than you are to get Reaped. Or to get cancer, like Tomas. People are only so much more invested in the Games because they're so personal. You get to see the people and watch as they draw closer and closer to their deaths. One in the Games is a tragedy, one thousand in crashes are a statistic.
I find myself daydreaming about the Games. How would I do? What would it be like? I'd be older than a fair amount of Tributes, but the Careers would be my age. I'm not strong enough to be a threat, so they might leave me alone. I imagine the kind of Arena I would do well in. Something indoors, preferably, but that probably won't happen. I hope it would be somewhere pretty. A forest. Rolling hills. Somewhere with a waterfall. Maybe I'd make some allies. I always made friends easily. Maybe I'd even win. Because this was a daydream. It doesn't have to match reality.
Daveth: 5'9, thin and lanky. Pale, with unkempt brown and black hair. He has green eyes, but likes to say they're amber. His face and body is very animated.
Makenna: Makenna has entrancing, sparkling green eyes and she is average height. She has a stocky frame and wavy caramel blonde hair. Her skin is a fair Caucasian colour.