Maple Jetsin, aged 16
The day has come to an end in the Training Centre.
The setting Sun shines through the windows as a young Avox completes the last of her daily chores. She approaches a bathroom attached to a tribute's bedroom, gently replacing the dirty towels with fresh ones. As she leaves, she closes the door behind her. She then makes her way towards the kitchen, but is startled when Maple runs past her and into the bedroom. The door slams shut.
The confused Avox glances the way Maple came, where, two Victors sit at the dinner table. Johanna has a nasty scowl on her face, whereas Blight, exiting form the kitchen with a cup of coffee, just looks exhausted.
Maple flings herself onto her bed and begins to cry. After a few minutes, the door opens again. It's Blight. He quietly sits down on the bed, across from Maple. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Go away."
Blight folds his arms. "I'm not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what's wrong."
Maple lifts her head. Her face is stained with tears and snot dribbles from her nose. "Jo..J-jo...Johanna h-hates me!"
Blight doesn't even flinch. "Yeah, well, Johanna hates everyone."
"She...s-she refused t-to mentor me!"
Once again, Blight isn't surprised. But he has to say something to calm Maple down. "I get that Johanna can be a pain to listen to sometimes...but she's just stubborn. She speaks before she thinks. Trust me, she wants to secure a victory for our district as bad as I do. Now, what happened that got her so upset?"
Maple hesitates. "I...I was scouting for allies today-" she's cut off by a hiccup. "I told her...that girl from 6 was kinda cute...and that I wanted to...well...talk to her...""
"What else?"
"I...she got mad and yelled at me...t-told me to get my h-head out of the clouds and to stop v-viewing other tr-tributes as sex partners...I-i can't control it! It w-was just a harmless com-compliment!"
When Blight doesn't respond, Maple automatically assumes he's mad at her too. So many thoughts are overwhelming her and she doesn't know what to do. Heck, she's never known that she had a thing for girls until now. Then, she thinks that a fellow tribute tickles her fancy, then Johanna yells at her, and now she's a sobbing mess.
Blight lets out a low whistle. "Okay, from the way I see it, you've got two options."
"What's the point," Maple whines. She's usually not this pessimistic, but then again, she's usually not this miserable. "Johanna will just leave me to die."
"That's one option. Just give up and lose hope because there is something you and your mentor disagree on. Which happens all the time. Or, you take Johanna's opinion with a grain of salt, march up to that District 6 girl tomorrow, and ask her to be your ally."
"What?" Maple's cheeks turn a bright red.
"That's right. Look, I know you're upset and probably confused. All I'm gonna say is, you're a teenager. You're gonna start having questions about your life and your identity. That's normal. Is it gonna interfere with the Games? Yes. And you need to figure these things out for yourself."
Maple straightens herself up a bit.
"Johanna can't tell you how to live your life. I can't tell you how to live your life. You need to tell yourself. And, if I'm being honest, who knows how much time you have left."
Maple frowns. "That's not very helpful. And I'm not good at making smart decisions."
"Is that so?"
"If I was, I wouldn't tell Johanna anything!"
Blight sighs quietly. "Okay, you've got a fair point. But let's move past that."
As much as Maple doesn't want to cooperate, she knows that she should probably take Blight's advice...or at least listen to what he has to say. "Alright."
"And don't worry about Johanna. I'll try and talk some sense into her...trust me, when the sponsors start pouring in, she'll smarten up and figure out she can't just leave you to die."
Maple is now sitting up on the bed, next to Blight. She wipes the last of her tears away. "Okay, that...that helps...a lot. Thanks Blight."
"Any time, kiddo. Now do you wanna go finish your dinner?"
"Uh...I'm not hungry. I think I'll just go to bed early."
"That's fair."
Once she's alone, Maple closes her bedroom door and changes into some nightclothes. She dives underneath the blankets, her mind racing. However, she decides to take Blight advice and the next morning, notices the District 6 girl attempting to put together a small snare.
"Hey...Tamora, right? I'm Maple. Wanna be...wanna be allies?"
Tamora glances up at maple, and she smiles. "Well, sure. I thought nobody would ever ask."
Maple just grins; her cheeks turn bright red, but she doesn't care. Her stomach churns. But all she can think about is how glad she is that she ignored Johanna.
Johanna Mason, aged 21
After breakfast, Bunyan Mason gives his wife a quick kiss on the cheek before he leaves for work. He does the same thing every day, but today is a different day. Two of his children, Max and Johanna, are coming with him.
Truth be told, Bunyan is only taking them because baby Alvin is sick, and Brooke Mason is staying home from work to take care of him. Both adults have decided to take the other kids out of the house, so they don't catch something nasty. Not that the kids mind anyways. They follow their father out to the large truck that carries him and the other lumberjacks to the forest.
Six-year Max climbs in without any help, but four-year Johanna stubbornly extends her arms, demanding that her father pick her up. Bunyan chuckles and sweeps his daughter into the truck. "Up we go, Johanna. My, you're getting big!"
For the entire duration of the ride, Johanna sits in her father's lap, basking in all the attention the other lumberjacks give her as they coo and make faces to try and get her to smile. Max is starting to get jealous, so Bunyan leans over and ruffles his hair.
Eventually, they arrive in the forest. Bunyan collects his supplies, Johanna and Max at his heels. They head deeper into the trees, Bunyan looking for one to chop down and Johanna and Max jumping on as many twigs as possible. Finally, Bunyan picks a tree out and lifts up his axe to prepare a swing. "Stand back kids. Daddy's gonna show you how it's done."
After a few chops with the axe, the tree tumbles over. Johanna screams excitedly and Max starts clapping. Bunyan then shows his kids how to chop off the tree's branches before breaking them into smaller pieces, which makes them easier to transport.
Then, it's time to clear the tree. Bunyan drags the tree along the ground. Johanna and Max are tasked with carrying the branches and twigs. They make their way over to a paper mill, where Bunyan hands off the tree to be cut and turned into paper. Behind him, Max is bragging about he's stronger than Johanna and able to carry more sticks than her. Johanna just sticks her tongue out at him and Bunyan shoots both kids a glare, silently telling them to behave.
The paper mills workers also accepts the branches from Johanna and Max. They reluctantly hand everything over. Bunyan then leads them a large garden where some worker are planting and pruning tree saplings. One of them hands Bunyan a small tree, barely any bigger than some of the twigs Max bragged about carrying. Bunyan gets down on one knee, carefully cradling the tree as he lets Johanna and Max have a look.
"It is for me?" Max asks.
"It's small," Johanna says as she pokes a little green leaf.
"It's so cute! Can I have it?"
"No! I want it!"
"It's for neither of you," Bunyan says. "We're going to plant it where that big tree once stood."
After learning the tree is not for them, both kids quickly lose interest. "Do we have to?" Max complains.
"Absolutely. Nothing gets wasted in District 7. If we don't plant the sapling ins place of the trees we chop down, there won't be any left!"
Johanna gasps. "No trees!?"
"Don't worry, sweetheart. As long as we give back to the earth, there will be plenty of trees for everyone."
This satisfies Johanna. She runs alongside her father, pointing out various trees and babbling like crazy why they're her favourite one. Max, who's fallen slightly behind them, is making faces at his sister's back, until Bunyan sternly tells him to knock it off. When they reach the spot where they chopped down the old tree, Bunyan carefully plants the sapling in its place.
The kids jump back, as if they're expecting the tree to instantly shoot up. But nothing happens. It's going to take years and years for the little tree to grow. When that happens, Bunyan tells them, Johanna and Max will be all grown up! maybe even taking their own kids out into the forest.
The idea of her silly big brother becoming a mature and responsible adult, let alone a father, makes Johanna giggle. Max glares at her, before grabbing his father's hand and saying, "When I get older, I'm gonna live in a house with just boys! No girls allowed!"
Bunyan picks up his axe and tucks it into a holster on his belt. "That would be fun, wouldn't it, Max? Come on Johanna, let's go get some lunch."
"Coming!" Johanna yells, before giving the tree one last look.
Over time, the tree gradually gets bigger. Nobody's watching it, but it grows. It grows until it's practically indistinguishable from the other trees in the forest. Plenty of years pass, until the tree is fully grown, patiently waiting for its fate of being chopped down and shipped off to the paper mills.
Johanna stumbles into the forest, throws her axe into it, then immediately realizes what she's done. She slowly sinks down beside its trunk, and starts to cry.
It's the one thing she has left to love.