District Sixes Axel Maloney's POV:
I'm awoken like most morning with a poke from my sister Alexis and a cold draft as she pulls off my covers. I blink a few times and rub my eyes before focussing up at her.
"Mornin'" I say with a smile.
"There's some porridge on the stove" she says slowly "and Mom says that because Dad is home tonight we're ... station ... eat ... later" I miss a few words at the end of the sentence as she speeds up but the point is clear enough. Dad will be back from working driving in the capitol this evening so we're having a special meal for him, I'm looking forward to it, he always has the funniest stories to tell about the capitol.
"Time?" I ask as I slip my feet out of bed and continue to look up at her mouth as she talks.
"It's only Seven, you have time before work"
"Thanks"
Alexis leaves me to get dressed and I emerge into our kitchen a short period later and take the bowl of porridge from my sister, with a smile I perch at our table and begin to eat. It's a bit rough and chewy but it fills a hole and as I scrape my bowl clean Alexis catches my eye.
"Do you want me to walk with you?" she says slowly.
I shake my head "I'm good. You have school."
"School sucks" she says "I wish I could work like you"
"No you don't"
She just smiles again in reply and gives me a peck on the cheek before disappearing out of the front door, I watch out of the window and see her run off down the street where she manages to catch up with a couple of friends. I love my sister so much for everything she does for me, of course it's not that I'm incapable of making porridge or waking up as the sun rises but sometimes a helping hand is very much appreciated.
Checking my pocket for my key I also head out of the door and lock our little house behind me, before jumping on my bike and heading in the direction of the scrap yard. I wave at a few neighbours and Mr Jeffries waves me over from his wheelchair out the front of his garage.
"Axel" he says as I jump of my bike and wheel it over to me "haven't seen you in a while"
"I've been trying out some new routes to work" I reply
"Avoiding me?"
"Of course not" I laugh, I've been avoiding your daughter I think, she's gotten so sexy since I used to know her at school as a weedy tomboyish girl. Ugh I was being stupid though, every guy in the area would want her now and I knew she'd never look twice at a guy like me.
"Aston's missed seeing you" Mr Jeffries says before turning around and calling over his shoulder, please don't I think as his daughter Aston appears from the garage whipping her greasy hands on her overalls.
She says something to her father quickly who I suppose replies but he isn't facing my way "I better be off" I say "I have work"
"Nic to see you Axel." Aston says with a grin, "I've missed you around school lately". I blush, no way did she actually think about me.
"Bye" I reply before jumping on my bike and disappearing around the corner before either of them can say another word to my face. My heart is beating like mad and I can't focus on the road I almost run into an old woman walking along the street. I pull my bike up to a standstill and try to apologise but she's talking so fast and keeps moving her head around so I don't know what she's saying.
"I'm sorry but can you keep your head still" I say
"What!" she cries the first word I've managed to read from her.
"I need to see your mouth" I say "I'm deaf"
She looks taken aback for a moment before scowling at me "then you should be more careful and look where you're going young man"
"I know" I say "I'm sorry"
"You're speech is very good" she tells me and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
"My sister helps me" I tell her, I'm about to mention how I'm late for work but she'd begun to talk again. Faster this time, something to do with an uncle or brother or someone, I assume they were deaf or why else would she talk so rapidly about them to me now but I don't get a word of it. I nod as she talks though and when she finally stops I manage to get a word in.
"sorry I almost hit you" I say "But I must be off for work now" I jump on my bike again and cycle away as fast as possible, I'm running late now I can feel it so I speed up and take a short-cut around a couple of dirt tracks away from the main road, arriving in the scrap yard through the back gate I dump my bike and run up to clock in.
The foreman Edom taps his watch as he sees me approaching; I shrug at him and walk past the box of protective head phones into the apparently very noisy disassembly room.
Most of the other guys are already focussed on their tools as they work pulling apart the abandoned motor vehicles from the capitol. So I just step up to my station and start working on the pile of gear boxes that I'd collected the day before. My work is easy and I do it quickly enjoying the small satisfaction I get from removing a particularly tricky wire and tossing it in the correct box.
I notice a shadow coming over my workstation at about midday and look up to see Liber miming eating something, I nod and drop my pliers as I join the other men outside. I like sitting with the grown men I work with, I've always felt I belonged more with grownups than immature kids I knew when I used to go to school who never seemed to grasp that I wasn't really that different from them.
I don't have any lunch to eat but I take a swig from the bottle of cider someone is passing around, looking out to check my bike is where I left it I notice Liber has stood up and is looking angrily down at Saturn who glares back at him.
Liber yells something to Saturn who seems just as angry, but the two men are so animated I can't really figure out what either of them are saying. Other men are getting involved now standing up and joining in the yelling but I only pick up the odd word "bully", "Woman" and a few expletives. Edom steps up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Go" he mouths pointing towards the gate, he mimes running with his fingers too.
I scowl and step past him standing on the side of Liber, I don't know what the fight is about but I'd never really liked the look of Saturn and if there was going to be a rumble I was going to be a part of it. I may be young but my muscles had built over the year I'd worked in the yard were itching to be used in a punch up, I can't help but grin as Saturn throws the first punch at Edom who was now starting to try and defuse the situation. This should be fun.
District Sixes Porscha Lance's POV:
Corve is grinning as she finally turns up at Tina's house for rehearsal half an hour late, this of course could only mean that he had a secret to tell.
"What's the gossip?" I ask her
"It's about Vince" she screeches
"What did he say he liked me?" Tina screeches back
"Well not exactly" Corve replies "but Liza said that she heard Miro tell Stamen that in the locker room Vince was talking about a blonde girl he wanted to ask to the dance"
Tina screams and I can't help but laugh "there are a hundred blonde girls in our school" I reply
"Yeah but none of them are as hot as me" Tina says
"True" I reply with a smile
"I wish someone would find me hot" sighs Corve and I laugh
"Plenty of guys like you Corve" I respond "Rutch was all over you just last month till you turned him down."
"He was too skinny" she says "I need a guy with muscles, someone like Dikko Kay"
"Dikko likes Porscha" Tina blurts out "I heard him tell Amil the other day"
"What!" I gasp "you never told me this before"
"Forgot till just now" she replies, I look over to see Corve looking like she was about to get mad at me so I laugh.
"You can have him Corve" I say, remembering the promise the three of us made when we were twelve and Tina suddenly grew boobs to never let a guy get between us "he's too tall for me" I add.
"Good" she replies with a grin, she slips off her coat and throws it on the floor next to ours, "Anyway didn't you say you had a new routine to show us Porscha?"
"Oh yeah" I say remembering "It's something I thought we could show at the dance."
"Great idea" replies Corve, "I bet once Dikko sees me shaking my thing he won't be able to keep his hands off me." She wiggles her hips and Tina and I laugh.
"It's a plan then" I reply "now get that butt over here and let's practice."
Two hours later and I'm hungry and tired and the three of us could do my routine in our sleep, that and Tina's parents were due back from work and she wanted us out so they could have a family dinner.
"See you tomorrow hun" I say as I hug Tina goodbye, Corve does the same and the two of us head down the street away from the 'nice' part of town. Corve detours off a few streets over down to the section where the railroad workers live and I keep on going. Don't get me wrong my house isn't the bottom of the heap but the way mom pays for it, we may as well be.
We live just down from the barracks where the peacekeepers who protect us live and I have to pass several of them just to get home. They smile at me as I pass and I feel the corners of my lips lift in a polite smile. I hate them all really, but keeping up appearances is important to survive, a fact I learnt when I was eight and smart talked one. It was right after my dad died and some spotty faced new recruit was making comments about the state of my District and I flipped out.
Of course it didn't go well for me, some slip of a kid crazy with grief against a six foot something reject career, I still have one of the scars. I've since learnt to keep my mouth shut and a smile on my face.
I arrive home to see Mom painting her face ready for some big 'date' tonight, she's been calling them that since I was ten. I've known the truth since I was thirteen and Anicus one of the peacekeepers who disapproved of 'that sort of thing' told me in all too graphic detail.
"When will you be home?" I ask her.
"Late" she replies "Lock the door after I go okay"
"kay" I reply and leave her alone in the front room, some days I try and be polite to her, but today isn't one of those days.
I perch on my bed and grab a comb from the table beside my bed, looking into my mirror I focus on my hair. I think about my friends and the dance we're working on, maybe if I speed up the second section and if Tina could show me again the move she suggested for the end then it would be perfect. Yes perfect.
Head Gamemaker Otho White's POV:
District Six looks rather active I think as the camera spans the crowd, many of the citizens seem to be bouncing around impatiently and I get the feeling they'd much rather be doing whatever jobs they do all day than standing in the District Square as Char Royal does a little bit with the mayor about the train she rode there in.
When she's done she steps up to one of the bowls with a small skip and a dramatic pose to the crowd.
"Boys first" she announces and after digging around to the very bottom of the bowl she removes a slip.
"Axel Maloney" she calls and after a moment of nothing she calls again "Axel Maloney"
A murmur moves around the crowd and finally it becomes clear who the reaped tribute is, a tall boy with dusty blonde hair and a slightly muscular torso. I would say that he would do well but he appears to either be a whimp or a moron who doesn't know his own name.
A few of the boys around him points up at the stage and try to push him up and after a bit of manhandling he's finally up on stage, without a word he grabs the slip from Char's hand and reads it.
"Crap" he mutters.
"Girls then" Sings Char as she steps to the girls bowl, as she digs around dramatically for a moment I keep watching the boy trying to figure him out.
"Porscha Lance" calls Char and the tribute moves quickly this time, stepping onto the stage with her head held high.
As the two shake hands and are led into the justice building I look down at my screen to see the notes on the tributes pop up.
'Deaf since birth' the phrase jumps out at me from under Axels picture, a screen shot taken moments ago up on the stage. I don't remember having a deaf tribute in the games recently but despite his muscles those with disabilities never win.
Porscha has a stronger looking history, dead father but seemingly many friends and an active lifestyle, she was a dancer. Jason Zheng from Eight, one of my favourite victors from the recent years was a dancer too, he was making us good money in the capitol at the moment, and I circled that stat on my pad.
The two tributes have reached their farewell rooms now as Marcellus informs the capitol of the information I'd discovered moments ago about the two tributes. His researchers have found a deaf tribute from the 134th games apparently but she was a bloodbath.
In Six Porscha was hugging her mother and apologising for something and Axel and his sister were talking animatedly, I figure that he must be lip reading but I do find it strange how a deaf kid can talk so well. I guess even I have something to learn from these tributes.
A/N: Thanks to zep182 for both Axel and Porcha, I hope you liked how I wrote them.
Edit: added reaping scene because I was too impatient and forgot to write it first time around.
