Luminara Whytt, 16
District 6

Luminara Whytt woke up on the morning of the Reaping for the 100th Hunger Games filled to the brim with excitement. It was finally the day that her biggest dream would come true: it was finally the day that she would see the Capitol.

The glitz and glamor of the shining city had fascinated Lumi ever since she was a little kid. Both sides of her family had worked for the Capitol since even before the Dark Days over a hundred years ago, and her mother, Saira Whytt, was no exception. When she had finished high school, she got an entry level job with the largest provider of transportation for the Capitol: McLaren Automotives. A few years in, she had a major breakthrough and was swiftly promoted up the ladder.

Working as the Director of Research and Development, she took long and frequent business trips to the Capitol, but always came back with tasty snacks, cute accessories, and most importantly, stories. Her mother wasn't home often, but it was clear that she was still trying to be a good mom by giving her daughter everything that she wanted, whether she asked for it or not. Lumi loved when her mom would come home, kick off her heels, and tell her father, a stay at home dad, everything. Whether it was a street performer playing three instruments at once and swallowing fire or a crazy wedding dress in a boutique window, Lumi was hooked.

From a young age, Lumi was both enthralled and skeptical about her mother's stories from the Capitol. Could it really be as magical a place as she was making it out to be? She always begged her mother to take her with her next time she had to go to work, but she never succeeded. Her mom always told her that she couldn't just bring her across District borders, and that if Lumi really wanted to see the Capitol that she should work hard and earn it like she had.

Luminara had everything she could possibly want. All that was left was a trip to the Capitol. And the best way to do that was by volunteering for the Hunger Games.

Now, Lumi wasn't stupid. She knew that if she were going into the Games that there was a good chance that she would never make it out. So when she was just twelve years old, she convinced her parents to buy her the makings of a home gym and take knife-throwing lessons with District 6's Head Peacekeeper, Vivienne Sculla. It was relatively easy, since her parents didn't think she actually had any intention of volunteering. They thought it was simply a hobby, and that she would grow out of it sooner or later.

They were wrong.

Lumi was originally going to wait until she was 18 to volunteer, but she just couldn't help herself. Vivienne had told her at their latest practice session that she thought that she was just about as good with throwing knives as she was going to get at that point; that Lumi was just about as fast an accurate as she was, and that there was no way for her to teach her to better than she herself already was. Her other motivation was the year's Quarter Quell. Even if there wasn't really a twist that year, Lumi figured that the Capitol would be booming even more than it did for a regular Hunger Games, and she did not want to miss out on that. But most importantly, Lumi just couldn't wait any longer. She had grown more and more antsy by the day and thought that if she waited any longer, she might actually explode from anticipation.

So on the morning of the Reaping, Lumi woke up as the sun rose and immediately knelt at the east-facing window in her bedroom. She ducked her head and began to recite her hopes and her dreams, like her mom told her her family had been doing for centuries. She didn't really understand the significance behind it, but who was she to end a centuries-long family tradition?

Please let my volunteering go off without a hitch. Please let me be respected by my District, my country, and my fellow tributes. Please let the Capitol be everything that I dreamt of and more. Please let me come out of the Hunger Games alive.

When she was done, she went downstairs for breakfast and found her dad, already showered, shaved, and dressed standing over a pan of scrambled eggs.

"Morning, Lumi," he said. "Want some breakfast?"

"Yes please," Lumi said, grinning widely at him.

While her mother was frequently in the Capitol on business, her dad was always home with her and ready to spend time with her and make snacks for her and her friends. Lumi was an only child, and her dad always said that he was more proud of her than anything in the world. Sometimes it was like being Lumi's dad was his entire identity. He passed her a plate of eggs, toast, and strawberries, then sat down to eat with her.

"Where's Mom?" Lumi asked between bites of breakfast.

"Still on the train. She should be home around noon. How would you feel about all of us grabbing dinner after the Reaping?"

Lumi paused. She really didn't want to lie to her father, but she also knew that if she told him that she was planning on volunteering that he would just try to talk her out of it. Was it still a lie if she just didn't tell the whole truth?

"Dinner sounds great."

After breakfast, Lumi went back upstairs to her room to take an energizing shower to get her body ready. She still had a few hours to go, but she was so excited that she didn't know what to do with herself in the meantime. She came out smelling like lemons and wildflowers, and painted her fingernails a pearly shade of pink before she got dressed. Finally, she put on the outfit she had picked out weeks ago: a navy blue pantsuit with a white blouse, and a blue and yellow scarf to cover her hair- yet another family tradition. She looked just like how her mother looked for her business meetings: professional, modest, respectable.

She was ready.


Chevvy Carnegie, 17
District 6

The last few months of Chevvy Carnegie's life were the hardest he had ever faced.

In January, his girlfriend Torque of nearly three years turned 17. He had asked her for weeks before what she wanted for her birthday, saying that he would save up and get her anything she wanted. But every time he asked her what she wanted most of all, all she would say was that as long as she had him, she had everything she needed.

So he saved up for months, and on the evening of January 11, Chev got down on one knee in the show, presented Torque with an opal ring, and asked her if one year from that date when she turned 18 she would marry him. He still remembered how beautiful she looked with snowflakes in her dirty blonde hair and tears in her eyes before she got down to his level and kissed him.

However, the teenagers' happiness was short lived. Almost immediately after the proposal, Torque had started complaining that she felt tired and weak all the time. She was always thin, but she started losing weight rapidly, and her skin went pale and started bruising easily.

On February 1, Chev and Torque went together to pick up that month's supply of tessera. He had never taken any out himself, but he made a point to go with his girlfriend each month when she picked hers up so that he could help her carry everything home. But that afternoon when the Peacekeeper on duty took a sample of Torque's blood to confirm her identity, he told her with no sympathy in his voice that the machine had picked up leukemia, and without treatment, it was unlikely that she would live to see 20.

Since then, Torque got exponentially worse. So Chevvy spent the next five months rarely leaving Torque's side. He spent every waking moment laying next to her and stroking her hair, kissing her cheeks, and reading all of the poetry he wrote about her. Poetry always made her the happiest, and it had for as long as Chev could remember. They met when they were just 14 in English class, when the teacher asked for volunteers to share their work. It always made her blush when Chev said that the most beautiful girl had shared the most beautiful poem. After a few weeks, he finally gathered the courage to ask her on a date, and the two were inseparable immediately.

The morning of the Reaping for the 100th Hunger Games, Chev woke up with a trembling Torque in his arms. She was still sleeping but restlessly, and he went through the same internal battle that he had with himself every morning after they spent the night together. Should he let her sleep, or should he wake her up? He really hated to see her in such distress, especially when she was sleeping and there was nothing he could do to comfort her. But he also knew that she was weak, and probably needed all the rest she could get. He decided to just hold her close to him, his arms wrapped protectively around her until she finally woke up.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Hi," she said weakly before burying her face in his chest. He held her there for a moment before she looked back up at him, pain in her eyes. "It's Reaping Day."

"I know," Chev said, brushing a stray hair out of her eyes. He really hoped that his face wasn't showing how worried he was. "But it's gonna be okay. After this year, we only have one more of these to go!"

The two spent the last few hours before the Reaping together, squished in Torque's small bed, holding each other and promising that they'd always be there for each other. That no matter what happened, they would always love each other.

Eventually it was time for them to get ready for the ceremony. Chev had packed his Reaping clothes before coming over so that he wouldn't have to leave Torque on such a difficult day. After the ceremony, he would go home to his family and spend the rest of the day with them. After getting dressed in his button down and khaki pants, he carefully helped Torque into her soft white Reaping dress; the same dress that she had worn with a jacket when he asked her to marry him.

They had to leave early to make up for Torque's slow pace and need to take breaks, and Chevvy decided eventually to just carry her the rest of the way there. Once they got to the Square, they checked in together and stood together in the section reserved for 17-year-olds. Some Districts separated the kids by gender, but District 6 wasn't one of them.

Once everyone had filed in, District 6's manic escort announced that as a special Quarter Quell treat, they would start the Reaping with the male tribute. Chev held Torque's hand, careful not to squeeze hard enough to hurt her, and held his breath.

"Chevvy Carnegie!"

In that moment, Chevvy swore his heart stopped beating entirely. He was worried for himself at the Reaping, of course, but he had never taken out tessera. He didn't think there was a real possibility that he would be selected, especially compared to someone like Torque who had taken out tessera for each family member each year that she had been eligible.

Chevvy Carnegie let go of his girlfriend's hand, kissed her cheek, and made his way up to the stage with shaking knees. He was silent and stoic, not letting him feel anything. He didn't want anyone to see how he really felt. When he got up to the stage, he stood with his knees locked together and his arms behind him, his mouth set straight in a line as he stared forward above the audience. But as he caught sight of his younger siblings beginning to cry, the enormity of the situation hit him. He was going to have to leave everything behind; his parents, his siblings, Torque.

Torque.

What was she going to do without him? She had her parents, sure, but they were always working. Not to mention, it wasn't as if they were particularly emotionally present either. He was the one to bring her her food and her late assignments from school. He was the one who hugged her and held her and comforted her in her worst moments, the one that told her that she was still lovable and beautiful no matter what.

No, he would just have to win. That's all there was to it. Chev would have to win so that he could come home to Torque. Maybe if he won, he'd even be able to afford her medicine.

He stood there for what seemed like an eternity before the escort crossed the stage and plucked a name out of the female tribute bowl.

"The female tribute will be… Torque Frey!"

Chevvy's heart dropped down into his stomach, and all of the oxygen left his lungs. He quickly found Torque's face in the crowd and saw tears streaming down her face as she took shaking steps towards the stage. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but no sound came out. But as soon as she got out of the section and started to walk down the middle towards the stage, her soft white dress fluttering around her knees, Chev heard the most beautiful sentence he had ever heard in his life.

"I volunteer as tribute!"

A smiling girl in a navy blue suit stepped out from the 16-year-olds' section, and Chev almost cried tears of joy before reminding himself to keep his face and body as neutral as possible. It was hard, though. This girl had just saved Torque's life. The girl introduced herself as Luminara Whytt, and the escort seemed ecstatic when she asked the two tributes to shake hands.

He hoped she could see the appreciation in his eyes.


Alexus Muffler, 38
Victor of the 77th Hunger Games: District 6

In all of Alexus's years of mentoring for District 6, she had never seen a volunteer. And that was saying something, considering she and Carver were the only remaining Victors from District 6.

She had watched in horror as the girl who was originally Reaped started to make her way up to the stage. She and Carver had an agreement that she would always mentor the female tribute and he would always mentor the male. But when Alexus watched the fragile looking girl with pale skin and sunken eyes, the one who had just been holding hands with the make tribute, walk down the center aisle, her heart just hurt. She wasn't disappointed that she wouldn't get a Victor. She was disappointed that this girl who was clearly ill and suffering would be forced to fight for her life. She wouldn't last a day. Alexus didn't know how she could bond with this poor girl and watch her die, with no hope that she could make it.

But then Luminara volunteered. She didn't know why, but she volunteered. And tributes who volunteered tended to have much better odds than tributes who were Reaped. As selfish as she knew it was to want her tribute to win a death match against other children, Alexus was so burnt out on her tributes losing. She couldn't handle the pain anymore of putting so much effort into helping someone who would just die in front of her.

Luminara was enough to give her hope. Hope that she might finally succeed in keeping a child alive rather than failing in their efforts and losing a pair of parents their child.

All Alexus wanted was for kids to not have to worry about life or death. Children should be worried about crushes, school dances, and friend drama. They shouldn't be worried about which of their peers was going to die next. She didn't want to- no, she couldn't- watch a single other child die for this.


Thanks to Lulubell2495 for Luminara and kgeesy for Chevvy!

1. Who did you like better, Luminara or Chevvy?

2. What did you like about them?

3. What didn't you like about them?

4. Thoughts on Alexus?

5. Any predictions?

6. (Bonus I guess) Would you be interested in a sort of intermission chapter between Districts 6 and 7, or would you rather I keep going with the tribute introductions?