Citrus Sabrilla,17,District 11 male
"Here's your dirty martini, extra dirty just how you like it!" I wink at the female customer who is sitting at the counter waiting for her drink. She looks up at me gives me a smirk.
"You mean that figuritively or literally?" She questions.
"Why do I have the feeling you already know the answer to that?" i smirk back at her as I lean on the counter across from her and she twirls some of my curly hair in between her fingers, edging her face closer to mines.
"Well lets just say your feeling wouldn't be completely wrong" she whispers in my ear.
Yeah, she's definitely pushing all the right buttons on me tonight! I'm a bartender at my parent's bar and honestly I'm the quite the looker. I have black,hispanic and asian heritage coursing through my blood and my skin is caramel tone with almond shaped beautiful brown eyes with average length curly hair. Some of it comes down to my left eye and girls just love playing with it. My hardworking parents owned a bar before I was born, the bar unfortunately closed down but that didn't stop them. They continued working hard and when I was seven, they opened up a new bar called Sabrillas. It wasn't much at first, but it slowly got bigger and became famous. I've been working here with my family since I was 11, and all the reuglars here love me. I love them too!
"What's your name darling?" I ask the attractive woman. I know the names of all the regulars here. Locust, usually a fiesty and aggressive drunkard, but I took my time to talk to him and learn more about him and honestly, he's a pretty decent guy. Robin an elderly woman who can literally drink a truck full of booze and she still wouldn't get drunk, then there's Gregory, the father of my bestfriend Oliver. An amazing guy all around.
"Paige" she seductively say continuing to twirl my hair in between her fingers.
"Well Paige, you seem like an interesting one, why don't you open your book, let me read more of them pages." I flirt back with her.
"Oh Citrus, I'll open up much more than that, all for you." she whispers in my ear and a sly grin spreads across my face, I'm about to score again. This is the one of the best perks about working here with my family, so many beautiful girls come here to visit and yeah I'm a huge flirt. Things usually escalates very quickly and yeah you can use your imagination to figure the rest out haha.
I however feel a hard nudge on my waist and I jump up and spin around to see my co-worker Cory glaring me. Boy is she always serious. She's been working here as a server for as long as I can remember and only cares about doing her job so she can go back home to her family.
"Citrus, there's customers sitting around waiting to be served! Get your ass up and do your job! you got plenty of time to flirt after!" Cory barks at me.
"Cory! Cory! My favorite person! We were just talking about how great your hair looks, I mean, heck it looks much better than the fluffy dog I have glued to my head!".
I'm ofcourse making fun of my hairstyle. It really does look like a fluffy animal is glued to my head. I see her crack a smirk for a split second, but shes all serious again.
"Customers are waiting to be served!" She barks again and storms over to my brother who's also a bartender sitting on the other side of the bar flirting with a female customer. Once she reaches him, she immediately pulls his ear.
"ouch ouch ok! You got it!" my brother throws up his arms in defeat as he goes back to work. My brother's name is Basil. He's four years older than me and moved out of our home that's literally right above the bar to get his own place. He doesn't live with us anymore, but still works here with us. He's a huge prankster around the district and enjoys causing trouble, much to everyone's dismay.
"We'll have to continue this conversation another time, beautiful!" I wink at her.
"it appears we do handsome, I'll come by tomorrow, so you can get these juices flowing again." she licks her lips as she stands up.
"I'll make sure I'm extra thirsty tomorrow evening then!" I wink back at her, and she smiles before leaving.
I walk over to Locust who is in a lovely mood as always as he sits at his table pouting with an empty glass infront of him. I already know what kind of drink he wants and I smile as I launch a half filled bottle in the air, casually catching it in my hand.
"Good evening Locust! hows life treating you?" I greet him as I proceed to fill his glass all the way to the brim and he quickly gulps it down.
"Ah, same shit,different day." he grunts as he slams the glass down on the table and I happily refill it.
"Maybe you need to try taking a different shit every once in a while!" I joke.
Locust laughs before putting his glass back on the table which i refill again.
"Heh heh, always got jokes you damn kid, always got the ladies too! What is she like the tenth girl I've seen you with this week?" he asks as he gulps down another glass.
"Ten and counting, well trying to count anyways, I barley remembers my ABC's, it'll be quite the miracle if I can count past ten!" I joke again.
"Heh heh! Get out of here you damn kid!" Locust laughs. After serving the rest of the costumers, we begin cleaning up as we prepare to close shop soon. The reapings are in the morning afterall. It really is so convenient living right above the bar. I can just head upstairs and pass out on my bed. After we close shop, Locust is the last one to leave as my mother gives him a nasty look. She's real strict and doesn't really like Locust here as he often gets into fights with the other drunkards. After I do some convincing though, she just lets him stay. Yeah we sometimes have to break up fights, but still I enjoy having all of the drunkards here. They were fun and good people at heart.
"Hello my beautiful mom and sister!" I hug the both of them. My sister's name is Marjoram, one year older than me, but she's likely the nicest person in this district. She shows her playful side around me and our brother all the time, but is pretty shy around others.
"Citrus I smell perfume on you, what girl were you flirting with this time?" Marjoram giggles.
"Hey I wasn't flirting, we were just talking about cooking, like how to make a good bowl of cereal!" I joke and she laughs.
"You're so silly, how do you cook cereal? can you even screw up a bowl of cereal?" she laughs.
"Well you can put too much or too little milk, uh mom help me out here!" I request but my mom only smirks as she walks away from us.
After I head back upstairs, I see my uncle Dill slumped on the couch with several bottles of booze next to him. Dill's been through a lot. After his son Bayleaf was tragically killed in the hunger games, he turned to alcohol, and it took over his life. His wife kicked him out the house and he's been crashing with us ever since. My mom doesn't like him here since she considers him a "freeloader" who always takes advantage of my brother. Dill is a good guy though. Everyone but my mom likes him and he always have good stories to tell too! He's out for the night, so i'll just bother him tomorrow. I make sure to clean myself up and pass by my dad on my way to the room.
"Hi…" he only greets me before going into his room and I let out a small sigh. I know my dad loves his family, just wish he'd open up more. He's battled alcohol and depression in the past. He was able to overcome It however with help from my mother and he's the most hardworking and honest man I've ever had the privilege to meet. I pass out shortly afterwards in my bed and my sister playfully smacks me on the face as I jump awake to her laughing as she runs out the room.
"I'll get you back for that!" I joke and once we dress up and eat breakfast, there's knocking on the door. I quickly swing it open and there's my bestfriend Oliver. He's kinda a nerd, taking school seriously and stuff. I wasn't really into that, but that's why we balance each other out. I couldn't ask for a more dependable friend. He often helps us out at the bar and he's loved by many of the regulars there aswell.
"What's up my favorite nerd!" I greet him and he only laughs as he postures his glasses.
"A nerd that also gets all the girls." he adds.
"Ah fair enough, my family will be right behind us, let's start walking" I suggest and we both leave the house as we walk to the square.
Calla Fable,16,District 11 female
The fire...all I can see are dancing orange flames as everything around me crumbles.
"Calla!" I hear a distant voice.
I look down and see a giant beam that has my body pinned to the floor and I can't move.
"D-Dad!" I cry out.
"Calla! I'm coming!" I hear his voice slightly closer.
I don't know what happened. I remember kissing my parents goodnight, going to bed and just waking up to this.
"Calla! Calla! I'm here!" my father shouts and pulls the beam off of me as the flames draw even closer. He uses all of his strength to get the beam off of me but another beam lands right on top of him pinning him to the floor as he cries out in pain.
"Calla! Calla! Help me!" He cries" but I only look at him in utter fear as pieces of the burning house are falling everywhere around me.
"Calla!" he cries once more.
I'm so scared though, and i don't help him…I was too scared to help him. I only run out of the house to safety while my parents burn alive. hearing his horrifiying screams of pain until he draws his last breath.
My eyes shoot open as I look up at the dark ceiling. I slowly sit up from my bed and rub my eyes and look across from me and see all of the orphans still sleeping. It was that dream again. Not a single night goes by where I don't have that dream. The dream that reminds me over and over what a coward I truly am. It's still early, reapings are today…and honestly it'd be for the better if I got reaped. I have nothing to live for, no one to love and certainly no one to love me.
I get out of my bed, slip on my slippers and sneak out my window being sure not to wake up any of my room mates. I land on my feet with a small thud and I wrap my arms around myself as I'm wearing nothing but a night gown. Its a lot colder out here than I thought and I continue walking to my destination in the cold and empty district. I arrive there within moments and still see the place my house used to be at. Its now a convenience store, but I can still see the burns on the ground as I stand on it. This is where my house used to be. I still remember my life when I was six. It was nothing but happiness. The only things i knew were Joy,love and happiness. I didn't know anything about the games, about death, about tragedy, about anger…about life. I remember my parents like yesterday. My mom being so kind, so funny and so loving. She was able to liven up any situation with her postive energy. My father who was quiet but also very brave and loving who would do anything for his family. I still remember his singing and playing guitar. He always told me he'd teach me how to play when I got a little older.
This happiness all came to an abrupt end however. A serial killer ravaged our district killing people and burned down numerous homes. my home being one of them. My mother who was in her third trimester with my little sister died and my father also died since I was so much of a coward and didn't help him when he needed it the most.
If I were able to cry now, then I would. It's been ages since I've last cried, but my father's death will always haunt me…knowing he'd still be here if I was more brave. since their deaths, I've been living in an orphanage. Practically everyone here teases and bullies me. Wheter it's beating on me, stealing the little bit that I have or making fun of my appearance. Burn marks cover my face and arms, one of my eyes are glassy and gray due to being damaged in the fire while my other eye is brown and my roommates just love to laugh about it. I really am so ugly though. it's unbearable to look myself in the mirror. I see nothing but filth and worthless trash. Their abuse really affected me at first, but I eventually just grew numb to it. I deserve it, it deserve all of it and I don't have the right to be happy, I'm just a coward who deserves it all.
"Meow" I hear a familiar cat cry out and I immediately spin around to see my only friend in the district. I sit down on the ground as my friend meows again and runs up to me. His name is Lucifer, a black cat who lives at the orphanage with me. He must've seen me sneaking out the window and decided to chase after me. No one in the orphanage likes him though. They feel that he brings nothing but bad luck, but I find a lot of comfort in knowing that he atleast cares about me. He lays across my lap purring and I pet him as I look up at the sky. The streets are going to flood soon with people rushing to the square and I have to get back to my room so i can start getting ready. I walk back to the orphanage, Lucifer happily following me and I sneak back into the window being sure to help Lucifer inside aswell. Since I'm still the only one up, I go into the restroom and start getting ready. I try to avoid looking my hideous self in the mirror while I'm in there and I throw on the same gray dress that the orphanage gave me years ago. I'm small and skinny but even so this dress is getting too small for me as I struggle to fit it on.
Once I'm in this uncomfortable dress, I wait in the cafeteria and daydream until it's floods with all of the other orphans here. I sit at a table alone and just pick at my jelly toast and I can hear chatter about me from the other tables.
"Look at the burn face girl!"
"Sitting alone like she always do with her ugly ass!"
"She really is so ugly though! How can anyone love her?"
"it would've been better if she died in the fire along with her stupid parents!"
This is nothing new. I'm the laughing stock of this district. I only hold my head down withstanding the verbal abuse but a jelly toast suddenly lands on my face and laughter erupts.
"Hey she actually looks better now that the toast is covering her ugly face!" one of them laughs
I throw the toast on the floor and get out of my seat as I head towards the exit but one of them trips me and I crash onto the floor as the laughs grow even louder.
"You're ugly and a klutz, those don't mix well together!" I hear a shout.
I grit my teeth as I stand up and exit the cafeteria ignoring the rest of their disses. One throws a container of milk at me but it misses and hits another orphan in the face instead.
"Ahhh! My dress! what the hell Lana!" Mandy shrieks as she wipes milk off her face.
I wish I can smile at that, but I forgot how to smile...i head outside and walk towards the square, holding my head down not wanting anyone to see this hideous face.
"Hey ugly get over here!" I hear a familiar voice.
"Yeah ugly where you think you're going!?" I hear an almost identical voice and I pick my speed up, but don't want to make it look like I'm running away.
I already know who they are. It's Summer and Winter, the identical twins who make sure to beat me down or tease me whenever they see me. I continue speed walking, making sure to cut through an alleyway so they'll lose me and I make it to the square. Our escort Zara, a pale young woman with white hair, no eyebrows with purple lipstick and dressed as what looks like a witch of some sort is introducing our victors. We only have two living victors. A very old woman name Pocha who won the 24th hunger games after hiding while a pack of dinosaur mutts devoured the two careers from district 1, who worked as a duo wiping out everyone else in the arena. Our other victor is Trifton, a middle aged man who won the 57th hunger games after smashing in the skull of the district 7 male with a sledgehammer. As you can see, our district almost never wins as most of the tributes are weak,malnourished and don't stand a chance against most of the other tributes.
"Now that we introduced our two wonderful victors, lets start with the males." Zara nonchalantly say as she takes her time walking over to the male's bowl and draws a name.
"Citrus Sabrilla." Zara yawns.
Sabrilla, isn't that the name of a bar that the more fortunate residents here visit? I hear several gasps along with a woman's cry who is probably his mother, but I see a…very attractive male emerge from the seventeen year old section with a nicely ironed black tuxedo and he's all smiles and giggles.
"Hey don't worry guys! Everything will be fine, just say my name in the mirror five times and I'll be back!" he laughs doing a thumbs up. but gets no reaction. I had to cringe at that. He seems nice though, healthy, relatively strong and a lot to live for. Maybe this district will finally have another victor.
"Errgh what I meant to say was that, hey my name sounds like some capitol food dish right? Maybe they got the menu dishes mixed up with the reapings list this year! Technical error! I'll be back in no time once they realize that!" he laughs again but once again no reaction. He stands tall on the stage smiling and giving a thumbs up to the crowd as Zara only rolls her eyes.
"No volunteers? Ok onto the females." zara yawns again as she plucks a name from the bowl.
"Farah Jones." she yawns and i immediately hear screams of pain coming from her family as a small and terrified girl emerges from the twelve year old section.
"No! No! That's my daughter!" her father shouts as he tries to push through the peacekeepers to reach hs daughter, but they quickly subdue him, the same happens to the mom after she tries the same, but a massive group of people begin protesting and trying to fight the peacekeepers as chaos is quickly starting to break out. This child still has so much to live for…so much to live for. I was too much of a coward to save my father, but I now have the opportunity to save someone else. I couldn't back down from that. Besides it'll be better if i died anyways.
"I volunteer as tribute!" I scream as loud as possible hoping it got through the massive crowd of protesters and everything goes silent as everyone looks at me. We never had a volunteer from this district before and understandably so.
"Oh a volunteer? Well what are you waiting for? Get up here!" Zara impatiently say as I head towards the stage and Farah is being escorted back to the twelve year old section.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" her parents cry profusely and I do a small nod before walking up to the stage as Citrus is giving me a puzzled look.
"Well you're a brave girl, or just a really stupid one, what's your name?" Zara nonchalantly asks.
"Calla Fable…" I mumble.
"ok here's our tributes representing district eleven this year, shake hands you two." and Citrus does a friendly smile as he holds out his hand and I immediately shake it as I look at him. Seeing him smile suddenly lifts my mood. I don't know, I couldn't really explain it, but I look at his smile and I just feel like…everything is going to be ok. We're escorted towards the justice building afterwards where I know absolutely no one will visit me.
"Hey uh Calla right?" Citrus asks but I ignore him.
"Just want to say that was really brave of you, saving that kid and all." he adds but I still continue ignoring him. I don't want to be rude but I want him to leave me alone. He looks nice and all, but I bet he's thinking how ugly and stupid I am. How long before he's teasing and bullying me like everyone else in the district are? After I don't respond this time, he gets the message that I don't want him speaking to me. Hopefully it stays that way too.
Hey everyone so here is the district 11 reapings introducing Citrus Sabrilla and Calla Fable. Let me know what you think of them. As you probably already figured out, i won't be doing the reapings in order. I'll just choose a random district that i have both tributes for and take it from there. While not required, i will appreciate if anyone who submitted a tribute follows the story and/or even leave a review. I'm not going to be the kind of person that kills off your tribute just cause you're not reviewing, but it helps alot and keeps me motivated. Don't worry though! This story will be completed. I know its still early but i actually have two sequels planned after this. Madness returns and Madness ends. That'll be a nice little trilogy I'd be happy with. Anyways i still have quite a few slots open, check out my profile to see which slots i still need filled. Till next time!