Adira Hemlock, 17, District 7 Female
Contrary to popular belief, the very first volunteer in the Hunger Games didn't come from District 2. That title belonged to an orphaned waif in District 7, forgotten by most, scorned by the rest.
Silly Adira. That girl believes that she can become something. She'll never learn, just like her parents.
The first volunteer grew up in an orphanage, her father dead from a tree fall, and her mother too crazed with grief to look after her beautiful toddler. So, off Adira went, away to the house that kids warned younger children about every day.
No one manages to survive the orphanage unscathed. Remember Suzie? She lost her parents, and now she's scrubbing floors every day, part of them with her tears. And if you don't give me that chocolate bar, you'll be next.
But Adira was stronger than others. She managed to survive the chores, the negligence, the hostility of the other children. They resented the way she could find her way through the darkness of the place and still dream of better things. She squirmed her way through the doors of the orphanage, and hid outside, dreaming of greater things for herself.
There goes Adira again! She's a dreamer, that one. Now, I heard that you would like to adopt Bridget? Right this way, she's just helping with the dishes in the back. She's a worker!
One day, when Adira was playing outside, she stumbled across a pair of lumberjacks, tramping into the forest, ready for their long day of work. Adira was awestruck. She followed the two, rejoicing in the bright and happy colours of their shirts, and fascinated by the sharp axes that they carried into the forest. Adira had only touched an axe once when she was christened by her parents. They had brought out the large axe that her father used for work, and while she was still squirming against the cold of the steel, her mother touched Adira's forehead and said the words.
Little child of mine, you shall be known as the strong Adira. No one will forget you with that name.
From then on, when the head worker of the lumberjacks came outside to start another day in the forests, he found a little girl in a torn dress and scuffed shoes, looking up at him and demanding to help. She was usually pushed away by him, but Adira kept coming back.
It's that little girl again, boss. Do you think that we should give her an axe? It could just be a small one, one to distract her enough so that we can finally go to work without getting bitten. She's got sharp teeth, she does.
Adira got her long-awaited axe, and she didn't bother the lumberjacks again. She marched into the forest, pretending to be a lumberjack. She whistled the songs that they always sang when they went into the forest, but she never sang them out loud. Adira had always been trained to not utter profanities, and the songs the lumberjacks sang were no exception.
Adira found a tree, one that the lumberjacks would have no trouble cutting down, but one that would take a while for her to cut down. She spent the afternoon chopping away at it, bit by bit, making sure that it would come down the right way. Finally, as the sun started to set, the lumberjacks who were heading home to eat heard a large crashing sound, and a shriek of delight. Adira had cut down her first tree.
From then on, the Lumberjacks received an extra tree every night to shape into a valuable piece of lumber. It was always a bit smaller than any of theirs, and the stump was a bit jagged, but it was still lumber, and the wiser of the lumberjacks always tipped their hats in pride to the little girl who went marching away, walking in pride to the orphanage.
Eventually, Adira grew older, into a strong woman of 12. She was smart, poised, confident, untouched by the horrors of the orphanage through her work in the forests. But that was when her world went to flames.
The Districts had always been simmering under the Capitol's rule, resentful of the way they were mistreated, mishandled, and abused by the rich Capitol. So, the Districts and the Capitol went to war, and nothing would ever be the same again.
Adira always remembered realizing there was a war when the forests started to burn. It was a horrible sight for District 7, one that made grown men cry and women shield their children's eyes. Adira had no one to shield her eyes. Adira watched the trees, the trees she loved so, fall into ashes, ruined by the bombs. She ran into the woods, ready to stop whatever was making them burn.
Several hours later, a troop of Capitolite soldiers found little Adira vainly sloshing buckets of water onto some of the stronger trees, unaware of the sparks around her, ready to set her torn dress on fire.
Hey, look at this little one, Cornelius! Little girl, do you want to come with us? It'll be nice! We've got oranges! And you don't have to breathe all of this horrid air. It makes me want to come back to the wonderful Capitol air, doesn't it, Homer?
When she sat down with the Capitol soldiers, eating the most delicious fruit she had ever tasted, knowing that they had saved her from the forest, and being told that they would help to save the forests, Adira realized that she had a new love. When the Capitol announced the start of the Hunger Games, and when the first two children were dragged off to their fate, Adira was the only person in the District to salute the peacekeepers back.
The Capitol built houses for some of the older orphans in District 7, in an attempt to gain their loyalty and Adira was one of the lucky ones to settle into them. She had to share them with three other girls, three who cared about nothing but finding a man, but Adira just ignored him. She knew who her savior was, and she would always be grateful for their kindness.
Adira grew older, but she also grew wiser. She realized that she couldn't save everything she loved, but she could save some of it. She continued to work with her axe, and became stronger, quicker, faster, everything looked for in a woman of District 7.
There goes Adira, back into the forests to work! That woman will make a man very happy one day, as long as he can stand her temper.
But Adira didn't want to settle down yet. She wanted to show her beloved Capitol how much she adored them, how much they had helped her become herself. She had escaped a horrid fate because of them, and she knew that she owed something to them.
So, when the Fifth Hunger Games rolled around again, and a small little girl was reaped for District 7, straight out of the orphanage and too small to have a hope of surviving the bloodbath, it was Adira who stepped up, declaring that she would take the girl's place. She ignored the gasps of a District who weren't sure what volunteering was and greeted the salutes of the peacekeepers. Adira was a loyalist, and these games would prove it.
In District 2, on the train heading to the Capitol, Clay Wolfe watched the tapes of Adira volunteering, trying to ignore the wails of his two little tributes. He grinned at the way she saluted the Capitol and reached for the phone. "Hello? Mr. Augustus? I'd like to use up that wee favour you owe me."
Hey everyone! Oh gosh, I love Adira so much, it hurts! What do you think of her? She's the very first volunteer, so she's special! How do you think she will do? There are still five spots open in this Partial SYOT, so I would love for some other people to jump on and submit a couple of tributes! Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ
