Thank you to lionkingfactsguy3 (Buck) and Anna Banana (Arabella) for these tributes!

Also, sorry Anna Banana, for changing Arabella's age. I had a lot of thirteen-year-old girls but no twelve-year-old girls so I lowered it. I hope that's okay.

District 10

Buck Hayford

I've finally finished carving the meat for today. The carved carcass of the cow rests on the table, with the innards off in a pile to one side and all of the available meat off to another. I use my forearm to wipe the sweat off my brow. I can finally go home now and get ready for the Reaping.

I've been cooped up in this tiny butchering room for hours now, and it gets really stuffy in here, especially on a hot day like today. District 10 usually has really warm winter, which is lucky, since it's much more difficult for us to take care of farm animals and get our product to the Capitol on time when it's colder. I don't really have to worry about that because the butcher pays me whether he has an animal for me to chop up or not, but it's generally better for our District.

I'm not supposed to rush with my job and be careful with things, but I'm really anxious to get home to my mother. She suffers from dementia and doesn't really take care of herself anymore. It's up for me to support us and take care of her. I'm always really nervous when I'm not home to help her. I'm afraid something may happen to her if I'm not around to help out, so it's really tough for me to be away from her.

When I'm done carving the animal, my only remaining job is to pack it up and deliver it to the Peacekeepers. The butcher also keeps some to sell, but he also has to give some to the Capitol for free in order to stay in business.

I take the wax paper from the wall and unroll it. I clumsily use string to pack the meat together and wrap it up in the paper. The wax string is to keep it bunched together; it's much easier to transport this way. If I were to not use the string, the whole thing would fall apart during the delivery and both myself and the butcher would get in trouble.

When the slabs of meat are secure and wrapped up in the wax paper I lift it onto my wide shoulder. I grunt, straining under the effort of carrying something so heavy. I'll be able to manage, though. I'm really strong and have done this loads of times before. I carry the package out of my little carving room and into the main shop, where the rest of the meat is displayed and customers buy it. It's currently empty, save for the butcher, who is tossing out expired items. The shop is closed on Reaping day, since nobody's really in a celebratory mood and it's respectful for the children who get Reaped.

I nod hello to him, and he waves back. The butcher and I have gotten quite close over the years. He's sort of like a dad to me. My actual father was executed years ago just for demanding help. I used to be furious about it, but my anger has faded along with a lot of my memories of my father.

I exit the shop, still hauling the heavy package on my shoulder. It starts to slip off, so I'm forced to stop walking while I readjust it. I'd get in a lot of trouble if I dropped this. My bike is leaning against the side of the shop, chained to a post (of course). There are a lot of thieves in District 10, especially in this part, the town part.

District 10 is divided into three parts; Town, where the buildings are tightly packed and small and smog clouding the skies from the factories, this is where the middle-class and merchants live. It's close to all of the shops, but there's also a lot of thieves, because the homeless live here, as well. There's also the farms where all of the rich people live. These are ranches on the outskirts, with rolling hills and green grass. Sometimes, in the spring, it looks very beautiful and on one or two occasions, I've seen Capitolians visit it for a little vacation. I've heard District 4 is a much more popular destination, but District 10 in the spring is very nice. Traveling is very rare, though, because of the expense, even for Capitolians. Finally, the last part of District 10 is where the poor people, like me, live. This is just past town, but it's still an unfortunately long walk to get to Town Square and all of the shops. The buildings here are even smaller and beat up. Nobody likes to live there.

I unchain my bicycle from the post and straddle it whilst securing the meat to the package carrier with a few feet of rope. When I'm certain that the meat is well-attached, I pedal off.

The streets are surprisingly occupied, considering it's a vacation for most people and the Reaping doesn't begin for another few hours. I was hoping they would be empty, so that I wouldn't have to worry about running into pedestrians. But it looks like it won't be that way, so I'm forced to swerve about, trying not to knock into anybody. I hear some people shout at me in anger to go slower or be careful, but I don't really have an option. I've learned that if I pedal at a leisurely pace, some thief won't waste a second before snatching whatever's on my package carrier. And although my knots are good, they're only meant to keep the package in place. Someone could easily snap through them.

I hurry my pedaling, for no reason other than going slowly down these streets make me feel uneasy. I want to get to the Peacekeeper office soon, so I can relax.

I speed into the office, skidding to a halt right in front of a Peacekeeper.

"Delivery," I explain, panting, out of breath. The Peacekeeper points to the entrance to the building, and I walk my bike inside.

District 10

Arabella Cantros

"Arabella Cantros," the escort, Renee Klaiar, announces. I blink, unsure whether I heard her correctly. Could she have really said my name? It doesn't seem likely, considering I'm only twelve years old and I didn't even take out any tesserae. My name was only in there once… out of all of the District 10 youth, how could it be me that was chosen?

I look to my left and see my friends, Breanna and Taylor look at me in sad shock. Taylor covers her hand over her mouth and tears begin to stream down her face. It was me…

"Arabella?" Renee repeats, scanning the crowd for movement. I take a deep breath and skip out into the aisle. I might as well appear confident, despite the sinking dread I'm feeling in my gut.

"Here I am!" I say in a cheerful tone, skipping up the aisle. I guess I'm also going for the weakling angle, as well, because I sound ridiculous right now. My enthusiasm stands out more against the grim silence of the audience. I make my way up to stage. My eyes meet with the camera pointed at me from atop a rooftop, and I smile and wave at it.

"I'm glad to see your confidence," Renee remarks, although there's an obvious disappointment in her voice. It's clear she was hoping for a more powerful tribute than myself. I can't read her thoughts, but I'm guessing that she must be taking in the similarities between me and last year's tribute, Lexi. We've both got the same enthusiasm, although I didn't volunteer. Renee doesn't hide her emotions easily, and I can tell she's already marking me off as a bloodbath tribute.

Don't count me out just yet, Renee, I think, still grinning ear to ear. I'm not deluded into thinking the odds are on my side, but I'm definitely not as stupid or as oblivious as she's expecting.

"Are there any volunteers?" Renee asks, scanning the crowd.

I'm not going to lie. A part of me wishes one of my sisters, Eva or Dixie would volunteer. We're pretty close and they both stand much more of a chance than me - Eva's smart and Dixie's super athletic, so both have a fighting chance. In fact, I'm almost expecting one of them to Volunteer for me.

But not a movement is made. I can't see Dixie, but Eva's eighteen and right up at the front. She was looking at me, but her eyes immediately dart away when she sees that I've spotted her. She doesn't say or do anything.

"All right," Renee says. "No volunteers. Now, let's draw a boy, shall we?"

I don't blame Eva and Dixie for staying quiet during the call for Volunteers. Siblings don't often Volunteer for one another, even if they're as close as we are. But a small part of me kind of expected one of them would step in. I guess that was an unfair assumption.

Renee rejoins me next to the mic, now holding the slip of paper that holds the name of my District partner. She unfolds it quickly, not wasting any time to increase anticipation or anything like that.

"Buck Hayford," she reads. Heads all swivel every which way, searching for the unlucky boy. The unlucky boy emerges from the eighteen-year-old section, and I already know that I'm in trouble.

He's six feet tall, more than two feet taller than me, and is very well-built. He looks really strong, and his casual farm clothing suggests he's no stranger to hard work. I glance nervously at Renee, who must be thinking along the same lines as me, because she looks thrilled.

Buck storms up through the crowd, appearing very angry. He stands on the other side of Renee, crossing his arms, angrily.

"Are there any volunteers?" Renee asks, cautiously. I faintly recall that last year she got a promising tribute, then Lexi volunteered. I'm sure she doesn't want the same blunder to occur, or else she'll never be promoted.

But, luckily for her, the crowd doesn't move an inch. Nobody steps in to replace Buck.

"Very well," Renee says, obviously pleased. "Shake hands!"

I turn to Buck, smiling, with a hand outstretched. He looks hesitant, and slightly suspicious of me, as if I hold some sort of threat to him, but decides I'm safe and shakes my tiny hand with his large, calloused one. He even nods politely at me, which I suppose is supposed to be a kind gesture.

"District 10, may I introduce to you your tributes for the 248th Hunger Games; Arabella Cantros and Buck Hayford!"

The crowd claps politely. Buck lets go of my hand and I grin at the crowd until I feel like my face is going to split in two. I wave at them, frantically, waving at the cameras, too. The fight for sponsors begins immediately, and I don't want to fall behind.

Also, I've noticed a decline in reviews. I suppose some of it has to do with my updates becoming less frequent, but I just want to remind you guys that if you read, a little review would be appreciated. Even a small one to prove that you're reading would be nice. Of course, I love long reviews, but a short review is better than none at all! If I don't think you're reading, your tribute will probably be killed off in the Bloodbath.

I also want to let you guys know that while I've been slacking off when it comes to writing, lately, my updates will become much more frequent. I get out of school in a few days, and I'll have a lot of time to write during summer break. I'm hoping to be done with the Reaping by the end of the week.

I'm also a bit behind on sponsor points. I'm not sure when I last added them, so I'm probably just going to pick a random chapter and go from there to add on points. If you notice a mistake with your points, just alert me and I'll fix it. Polls will also be hard to keep track of. Apologies.

For those of you who have a tribute in the Capitol Games, I'm going to apologize some more. I haven't updated The Capitol Games in a while, mostly because when I have an opportunity or desire to write, I focus on this story. At the moment, Rapids is my top priority. I'm planning on getting the rest of these Reaping out of the way and resume writing the Capitol Games when I'm in the pre-games. All of the Reapings are stacking up, and I have no desire to write twenty-four in a row.

QUESTIONS:

1. What did you think of Buck?

2. What did you think of Arabella?

3. Who did you prefer?

4. Who do you think will make it further?

5. What's your favorite band? (I don't have a favorite, but I like Imagine Dragons and P!ATD)

- Lilah