A/N: Trigger warning for this chapter.
Chapter 4:
Sissel Wetherburn, 17, District Ten
Two Months Before The Reaping
Sissel is probably the only teenager that actually wants to wake up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday. But he always looks forward to getting up early on Saturdays and spending the whole day at the sanctuary.
Sissel uses his shoulder to push open the door, immediately grinning when he is welcomed by little chirps – and one very loud squawk. "Morning, Perry."
Perry – or Pissy as his grandmother named him and his mother desperately tried to convince Sissel and Jules otherwise – the macaw bops his head as he walks over to the front of his large cage, staring over Sissel as he walks over to his cage. "Mother fucker," Perry squawks, making Sissel shake his head.
"So glad that is part of the legacy Grandma left behind," Sissel says as he opens up the cage door and offers his hand to Perry. He lightly bites it before stepping onto his hand and Sissel brings him up to his shoulder where Perry immediately starts nibbling on his beanie. "Hey, not the hat, Grandma made that. I'm working on the food."
Perry nibbles on his ear in response and Sissel gently pushes his large beak away as he goes over to the containers of food. Perry grows impatient as Sissel scoops out some food and starts biting his ear until Sissel holds up his hand full of some seeds for him. "Here, stop being pissy. It's really no wonder Grandma named you that."
Sissel starts about the task of filling the food dishes, starting with Perry, and he puts the macaw back in his cage for now so he stops trying to nibble on Sissel. Next is the rest of their most expensive birds that will someday be bought by the rich in either the Capitol or sometimes the other Districts. He loves the bright colors of the tropical species and even lovingly chirps back at some of them as he fills their dishes. Who could be mad when they get to wake up and feed these little cuties right away?
But the pet birds are not the only ones that need to be fed now, and anyways, he'll be back shortly to clean up their cages to impress the tour later in hopes that some will leave with a new family pet. The sanctuary needs to make a profit somehow so they can keep caring for the birds, and so Sissel can hopefully go study Ornithology and be able to hiring someone to do what he does. Sissel stops in front of Perry's cage and offers his hand once more. "Come on, Perry, time to feed the others."
Perry steps on his hand and is put back on Sissel's shoulder – with no biting this time – and Sissel takes a handful of the bird's food and puts it in his jacket in case he gets fussy, which usually is the case.
Next stop in the morning feed is the poultry and he can hear the birds before even entering the coup. Perry sits calmly, squawking occasionally at the chicken and turkey as Sissel scoops out their food. The chicken only care about their food but some of the turkey give Perry curious looks as Sissel feeds them.
"Bitch," Perry squawks at the turkeys and Sissel shakes his head.
"Perry, they are not bitches," Sissel tells the macaw as he scratches Perry's head. "One of these days they're going to take out their grudge on you for always calling them bitches and you'll only have yourself to blame."
Perry's response is to nip his ear and Sissel gently pushes his head away. "Come on, let's get the eggs before you get the entire rafter of turkeys angry at you." Perry continues to insult the birds as Sissel gathers the eggs, setting a few aside to trade with some of the merchants later. But he leaves a couple behind for the children touring later to "find" since they always get excited about discovering the eggs, and excited children mean parents more likely to donate or buy birds from them.
And then it's back to the tropical bird room to make everything look nice. Perry so kindly poops as they walk back and Sissel can feel it falling down the back of his shirt. He sighs as they enter the building and shakes his head as he picks up Perry from his shoulder. Perry looks all smug as he looks back at Sissel as he enters the room again, "You are such a little shit sometimes."
"Morning Sissel!"
"Morning," Sissel answers Naomi before passing the cranky bird to their cheery part time assistant. She starts cooing at him right away and Perry cheerfully greets her with no swearing, unlike when Sissel entered. He grabs a paper towel and tries to clean up the poop from his back, struggling to reach the spot. "Birds are fed so all we need to do is get the cages cleaned up before the tour gets here at noon."
"No problem!" Naomi answers as she puts Perry back in his cage, leaving the door open for him to come out if he wants to. She looks over at Sissel struggling with both hands to reach the poop on his back and starts laughing as she steps over to help him. "He got you again?"
"Yep," Sissel says with a glare over at the smug bird, but the glare really only lasts a second because he can't stay mad at the bird for just being his normal self. "Thanks," he says as Naomi finishes cleaning up the poop from him before picking up his own supplies to start cleaning. "You'll need to take him somewhere else when the tour comes through."
"Wouldn't want him cursing in front of the children, would we?" Naomi asks as she offers Perry a piece of food that he happily takes from her. "We'll go have a nice walk, how does that sound?"
Sissel gets to work cleaning out the cages and starts to tune out Naomi as she keeps talking away, occasionally giving small non-committal answers to keep her talking. He doesn't need to hear about her latest exploits with this month's boy of interest. But he doesn't tell her to stop, knowing she's the type that would be upset by that and he needs her help with the sanctuary.
"Oh Jared did tell me something about a local woman and it's so sad."
"Yeah?" Sissel asks, starting to pay a little bit more attention now that she's shifting away from every last detail about her latest date.
"Yeah, this woman was walking home from work yesterday and she got assaulted by some man," Naomi says quietly and Sissel stops what he's doing to look over at her, tensing up at this information. She shakes her head, looking a little scared as she continues, "It's scary, you know, being afraid to just walk home and have someone attack you for no reason… So Jared is going to come walk me home later today."
Sissel's hands shake as he turns away from her, trying to keep his anger from building at this information. He stares at the parakeet in the cage he was cleaning, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm. "Do they know who did it?"
"Yeah, some merchant's son or something," Naomi tells him as he gets back to cleaning, trying to hide his growing anger. "Some rich family who paid off the authorities to keep him out of jail."
"Fucker," Sissel mutters under his breath, having to stop what he was doing as his hands shake so badly. Of course the guy got away with it…just like what happened to his mother. But unlike where people didn't believe his mother, this bastard gets off free all because he's rich… "People like that deserve to be punished."
"Oh I completely agree," Naomi tells him, unaware of Sissel's growing anger. He tries to take deep breaths to calm down, knowing the anger now won't do anything and that man will get what he deserves soon enough. "It makes me so sad… I always wish I could do something in these situations."
"So do I," Sissel answers her quietly, resuming his cleaning of the bird's cage, trying to concentrate on what he's doing, but his mind is turning from that news. "So do I…"
"Welcome to the Wetherburn Avian Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Center!" Sissel greets the field trip group gathered at the entrance of the sanctuary. Two Capitolite teachers herd the group of six year olds, doing their very best to keep the excited children in line. "Who wants to see some birds?"
The children give a variety of exclamations at this, making Sissel smile at their excitement over birds, reminding him of how he was as a child when he got to see the birds. "Well follow me!"
Sissel starts to lead them first over to the chicken coup, talking away about what they will see today. "So we will start with our poultry, including chicken, turkey, and ducks. Then we will look at some of the birds that are brought in from the District that are hurt and we help them get healthy once more. And then finish up with our tropical species of birds that are all available for adoption!"
A few of the children walk excitedly next to him and Sissel starts telling them and the others facts about chickens on their walk over. "Did you know that chickens have their own distinct language with over 30 different sounds? They are also omnivores and if they don't have a satisfactory diet, they will actually eat their own – ah, well, they do like to eat bugs. And here we are."
Sissel opens the door and lets the group enter before him and the children gather in front of the chickens right away. "Now the chickens we raise here are for both laying eggs and-"
"I see an egg!" One of the children says loudly, interrupting him and making one of the teachers give an exasperated sigh as they remind the children not to interrupt Sissel.
Sissel grins as the kids gather around to look at the egg. He steps over and into the coup to grab the egg he left behind early. "Well look at that!" He says as he holds the egg out for the kids to get a better look. "These eggs are traded both locally and across the country. In addition to the eggs, the chickens we raise are also for poultry."
One of the little girls that is crouched down next to the fence and looking at a hen on the other side raises her hand before asking him, "What does poultry mean?"
"Birds for food," Sissel answers as he puts the egg away. "That chicken right there might someday end up on your dinner table." The girl's eyes widen at this and she steps away from the hen as Sissel clasps his hands in front of him. "So, who would like to see some ducks? It's their lunch time too so maybe you'll even get to feed them!"
That's enough to get the children excited once more and forget about the chickens possibly being their next dinner and Sissel happily leads the way over to the ducks, even though he has to keep some of his facts appropriate for their level. The teachers generally aren't excited when Sissel tells the children that ducks have corkscrew penises. "Ducks' feathers are waterproof and their feet have no nerves or blood vessels, so they don't feel any cold. I think that would certainly be nice."
Sissel brings the children into the pen for their ducks and instructs them to line up near the fence and hold out their hands for him to put some food in. "Now the ducks here are all very friendly, but they have been known to mistake children fingers for worms in the past so just put the food on the ground in front of them."
"Why is there stones in their food?" One of the little kids asks him as Sissel puts food in his outstretched hands.
"Excellent question," Sissel says as he finishes putting food in their hands and takes a handful for himself and holds it out for them to see. "Ducks – and some other birds – need grit to help digest their food. So by extension, that means that when you eat these birds, you are also eating sand and gravel."
The children all look at him in various levels of confusion and Sissel quickly realizes they are not going to listen to him when they are excited about feeding some ducks. "Alright go feed them."
The children quickly scatter around the pen to feed the ducks and the sound of quacks and laughter quickly fills the air. Sissel takes this time to replenish their food supply until it is time for them to move on to his favorite part of not just the tour, but the entire sanctuary: the rehabilitation center.
"Now the birds in here," Sissel tells them as the children look around at the various birds of prey in the room with scared eyes, "Are all birds that have come in from the wild and were hurt in some way. We help heal them and also rehabilitate them so that they can eventually be released back into the wild. But some of them can't be released back, either because they are too hurt to survive, or some like this little guy here have imprinted on us." Sissel goes to one of the enclosures and brings out a tiny little elf owl that hoots happily at the sight of him. He holds him on his finger and shows the group of children. "This is an elf owl that came in as a baby after his nest was found abandoned. We took care of him and his siblings until they were old enough to survive in the wild on their own. But this little guy, Tiki, well, he thinks I'm his mother and we couldn't release him. So now he is here for education!"
Most of the children are focused on the small owl – and Sissel can't blame them, Tiki is five inches of cuteness. But one kid is looking over at the very first bird Sissel trained with fear in his eyes. "What's the scariest bird?"
Sissel stares straight at the little boy that asked the question, head tilted slightly before speaking in a deadpan, "Geese." The children share confused looks at this, surely expecting him to answer that one of the birds of prey in the room is the scariest, and Sissel shakes his head at them. "Birds aren't actually scary when you realize they are simply acting out of instinct. They are doing what evolution has ingrained into them and are simply trying to survive. But geese are nasty birds and will hiss and attack you, even if you aren't doing anything threatening to them."
The children don't seem quite too sure about this answer as they look around at some of the hawks, falcons, and larger owls. But it's the honest answer. These birds aren't scary at all once their behavior is understood and they just act out of survival, unlike humans. But Sissel will do his best to help them see this.
"Now," Sissel tells them as he puts away Tiki. "Who wants to feed a falcon?"
Icarus Clo, Escort for District Ten
Icarus steps out on the stage of District Ten for his eighth year, part of him surprised that he is still here. He certainly expected when he first started to be somewhere else by this point. But, given Ten's poor attempts towards victory lately…he's not that surprised that he hasn't been asked to move to a new District yet. But maybe this year is going to be different. As long as Danila doesn't fight back too hard with him over decisions they make for the tributes, both of them too stubborn to let the other take control even though they are both trying to achieve the same thing.
"Hello, District Ten," Icarus says slowly to the crowd, trying his best to stay optimistic that this year is going to be different. "It's me, Icarus Clo, once again. Shall we see who our tributes are this year?"
Icarus brushes back his mop of curly green hair as he heads to the familiar glass sphere, leaning down a little to reach into it to pick a name. Really, they couldn't have gotten a taller stand for him? They've known him for years now. He contemplates for a moment before picking his first name and returning to the microphone, trying again to bring it up a bit because it never seems to stay raised for him. "Our first tribute is Ally Ishmael, come on up."
From Icarus' tall stature, he has a good view of the crowd and notices very quickly the motion from the fourteen year old section as Ally makes her way out of the crowd. She's tall for her group and one of the first things Icarus notices as she makes her way up to the stage is the black hijab framing her scared face. As she gets closer, visibly taking deep breaths, she smooths out her dress as she tries to hold back her tears. Icarus gives her a friendly smile as she takes the stage and when she stops next to him, she has to crane her neck to look up at him. "Hello, Ally, welcome. Now are there any volunteers for Ally?"
Just like every year Icarus has been in Ten, the crowd stays silent at this question. He lets out a small sigh from slight disappointment, "Very well, let's find out who our second tribute is this year." Icarus stubbornly tries to pick a name near the bottom and has to lean down so far to reach it, getting some snickers from children in the crowd. He presses his lips together as he returns back to the microphone, doing his best to hold in a passive aggressive comment. "Our second tribute is Sissel Wetherburn."
A scrawny looking kid steps out from the seventeen year old group, scratching his head under his beanie and looking deep in thought as he approaches the stage. As he gets to the stage, Icarus notices a few things about him that are quite different than typical tributes he picks in this District. First, just how short the boy is, at least a full foot shorter than the escort and maybe not even taller than Ally. And second, the stains all over his baby blue shirt that Icarus isn't sure he wants to know what they are from. As he stares longer at Sissel, he notices something…white and brown in the boys tangled curly mess of hair and cringes a little as he realizes it's bird poop. How has he not realized he has bird poop in his hair?
"Welcome, Sissel," Icarus says to the boy, earning a stare from him as Sissel tilts his head in a very…odd way. Icarus quickly turns back to the crowd, just a little weirded out by Sissel's attitude, but this certainly isn't the first time tributes have acted oddly at the Reaping. "And any volunteers for Sissel?"
Icarus hopes there will be a volunteer for Sissel, but again the crowd stays silent. Well…guess this is the pair of tributes he has this year. No changing that now so Icarus accepts that this is his pair and decides now to make sure he does everything to help them like usual. "Okay District Ten, this is your pair of tributes for the 137th Hunger Games! Ally Ishmael and Sissel Wetherburn."
We have finally reached our resident birb boy XD Big thanks to Sinfonian Legend, foxfox12, and misfit-right-in for Sissel, Ally, and Icarus respectively! I hope you all enjoyed birb boy and the facts that took a lot of research XD Also big thanks to Legend for helping me with a lot of the bird information in this chapter!
So what are your thoughts on Sissel?
CQ #4: We'll have a Sissel-themed question. What's your favorite kind of bird?
Alrighty, the next update will most likely be in 2020 where we will be looking at the second of my four tributes, Sasha in D3! See you then!
