District 2 and 4 reapings: Barcarolle
-Latika Hari, 18, D2-
Let's get one thing straight: I would rather be caught dead than caught cuddling with anyone. I like cuddles, of course, but nobody needs to know that! I was going to volunteer for the Games that morning, and it was direly important that I kept up my image.
"Are you nervous?" Daniel asked, burying his face in my back.
"Of course I am," I sighed quietly, shifting slightly in his arms. "It's only human."
"True. But you're Latika Hari. You're going to knock their socks off." I heard the smile in his voice.
I realized in that moment that I had no idea how we got there, how I knew someone so intimately, especially someone I initially wrote off as an idiot. He really wore me down. He didn't give up and took the time to get to know me, and it… Happened. I found that I'd fallen for the idiot. And that was fine with me.
"True. I just hope everything goes smoothly."
"It will. Just don't overthink it." I nodded a bit, and we lay together in silence under a fuzzy blanket. He ran a hand through my dark hair, letting it fall between his fingers. "Will you leave it down when you're a Victor?"
"I suppose. I usually only keep it up when I'm training. When I'm a Victor I won't spend nearly as much time in the Center."
"Good. You need some time away from the Center. It'd do you good. You're super tense, Tika."
"How can you tell?"
"I know my girlfriend." He pulled me closer to him and I relaxed slightly in his touch. We were up pretty early, but I felt the pull of sleep once again tugging at my eyes.
"I was going to go for a run," I said, trying to sit up. He kept me down, though, laying on his warm bed, under the warm blankets, pressed up against him.
"You were," he said. "But now you're going to get more rest. You can worry about training later. Do some jumping jacks on the train for all I care. But now you sleep." His tone got more serious as he said, "I want to enjoy these last hours with you before you leave. Because who knows how much press will be following you around when you're a Victor?"
I relaxed again in his arms, rolling over so I'm laying on my other side, resting my chin on his chest and gazing up at his face. His blue-gray eyes were half-lidded as he was struggling to stay awake, his blond hair a static-y mess on the pillow. He was just as cute as awake, polished Daniel. I relaxed in his arms and felt myself falling back asleep.
I woke up the second time at a decent time to Daniel's alarm. He groaned as he was pulled out of sleep, but let his grip on me go so I could sit up.
"I should get going back home," I said, yawning.
"Okay."
I kissed his cheek, causing him to give me a sleepy smile. I got out of bed and grabbed my overnight bag. I was sure most of my family and friends assumed when I made this walk that we had a long night of passionate sex, or whatever their dirty minds concocted. I'd honestly would have rather had them thought that instead of discovering the truth.
I started out the door, sneaking past Daniel's family eating breakfast already in the kitchen. I quickly made my way home, checking the time as I went. I promised to meet Indira at my house at half past eight, and I was cutting it close. I slipped in the door, glad that I arrived before she did.
"There you are Tika!" ...Dammit. Or so I'd thought.
"Sorry. I was-"
"With Danny boy, yeah yeah. Come on, we still have to get you ready for the reaping! You surely don't think you can volunteer looking like a disheveled mess, do you!?"
"Of course not!" I went to my room quickly, her following. I took the quickest shower of my entire life and she immediately got to work making me into a beauty queen. I can't say I liked it, but I knew I'd have to get used to it as a Victor so I sat still.
Indira was my best friend, I considered her a sister. She had brown skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. She was a girl that liked to have a tight schedule and stick to it. She hated when people weren't punctual. She hated being behind schedule, and behind schedule we were. She did my hair and makeup in record time, frantically watching the clock the entire time. She was complaining over the loudness of my hair dryer when Ravinder finally appeared in my doorway.
"There you are Tika!" said the 15-year-old. He had my same skin and eyes, with black hair that was short and messy and thick. His eyes were lit up with a kind of excitement for I had long since matured out of. By that point he should have been at least mostly realistic, but my brother couldn't seem to pull his head back down from where it was up in the clouds. His idealistic nature proved his lack of intelligence, of course. He believed he still has a shot at volunteering, though he was not even in the Top 20 of his class at that moment. He will only be met with disappointment in the future. I could only hope he would mature enough to take it like a man by then. He had three years. "Mom and Dad have your breakfast ready!"
"Oh. Alright. Tell them Dira and I will be right down."
"Okay!" he beamed at me, his eyes sparkling with admiration. I knew I needed to get used to this if I was going to be a Victor, so I didn't chastise him like I wanted to. I just sat still as Indira helped me into the gray and black dress I was to volunteer in. I thanked her politely as we went to the kitchen for breakfast.
Father handed both of us a plate, glancing at us each one at a time. I could see in his eyes how glad he was that his oldest was someone as mature and powerful as me, and not someone so flighty and disorganized like Indira. He gave me an approving nod as I started to eat.
Indira had been my training coach ever since the girl who had once held the position was forced to drop out after overworking herself. Indira's kept me perfectly on track to the amount of training I can do to improve while staying healthy. I didn't know what I would've done without her, she's been the greatest personal trainer I could ask for.
"Anyways, I was saying that the Games have become far too much about fame and celebrity status, I think it needs to go back to the good old days, when the Games were about honor! Honor is the most important thing, honor for District, honor for family, honor for your name and integrity! It has just become so commercial and glitzy," she sighed, complaining.
"Don't worry Mother, I will bring those things back to the Games."
"Oh, my girl!" she got up from where she was sitting to hug me while I was eating. I let her do so, but continued shovelling French toast into my mouth.
When breakfast was over, I was excused to find Daniel and walk to the reaping. A volunteer should always strive to be early, I thought. I went with Indira, the two of us walking together to Daniel's house.
"Hopefully he actually got his ass out of bed after you got up," Indira remarked, snorting a bit to herself.
"I'm sure he did." It wasn't like me to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I could be lenient for Daniel. I really loved that big squishy sap. I didn't even mind that he dropped out of training. The last thing I wanted would be to volunteer next to someone I loved. No way in hell I would ever want to have thought about killing Daniel, and besides, I liked a man that could step back and let me wear the pants.
We were about to knock on Daniel's door when his little sister flew out the door, pushing past us with a hurried "Hi Tika!"
Daniel appeared behind her, his hair tamed, dressed up in his best for the reaping. He looked damn good like that. I took his hand and kissed his cheek, charmed by the inch that separated us in height (I was taller than him, which I didn't mind at all, of course). We kept holding hands as we walked with Indira to the reaping. We rarely got to spend time like this together, so when we had it we always took advantage of it.
We reached the Town Square just on time to get checked in. I reluctantly let go of Daniel's hand to get pricked by the Capitol needle so my blood could be documented, and waited for him to do the same. When he walked past the table to meet me, he gave me one last hug.
"I'll see you after you volunteer, my dear," Daniel said, kissing me on the top of my head. I gave him a quick peck on the lips. Usually I despised PDA, but this was a special occasion, and most people weren't paying attention anyways. I flashed him a brief smile and went with Indira to my spot for the reaping to begin.
Our escort, Emmanuelle, took the stage, her dark skin sparkling with golden tattoos and glitter. She gave us a smile as she introduced the video straight from the Capitol. The video played and I barely watched. Instead I spent the time exchanged excited glances with Indira. She smiled brightly the whole time. I felt nothing but relief that my best friend had no feelings of jealousy towards me because I was volunteering. It meant everything to me.
After the video faded to black, Emmanuelle gave us another smile. "Who's ready to meet our tributes!?" The crowd roared, the teenagers yelling the loudest of all. I usually abhorred this behavior, but today let go slightly. I didn't cheer along with them, though.
"Very good!" said Emanuelle. She walked to the females' bowl and chose a name. "Augusta Aston!" A girl started out from the 15 section.
I stepped out of the 18-year-old section and put up my hand. "I volunteer!" I shouted, loud and proud and confident. I walked to the stage, mounting the steps with confidence and wearing a huge, winning smile. I thought I might have to fake it, but the happiness came to me naturally as I looked out at the crowd.
"Wonderful, just wonderful! Tell me dear, what is your name?"
"Latika Hari," I said, calmly but proudly.
"Oh, wonderful!" she smiled and walked to the males section. She took a name from the very top. "Hiran Tamboli!" The boy looked somewhat dazed, as he walked out of the 14 section. "Do we have any volunteers?"
"I volunteer!" A boy stepped out of the 18 section, his posture tall and confident. He had wavy ginger hair and pale skin, and looked surprisingly lanky for a boy from District 2. I didn't recognize him at all from any training I've ever done, which is common as 2 is not a huge District, but… This guy couldn't possibly be the selected volunteer!? And yet nobody tried to volunteer in his place…
"Yes, oh yes! And what is your name, dear?"
The boy put on a lazy smile that further sank any hope I had for the guy. "Jack Cherenkov."
"Oh, yes! Wonderful!" Emanuelle beamed at us and put her hands on our shoulders. "District 2, your tributes, Latika Hari and Jack Cherenkov!" The applause roared in my ears as I reached out to shake his head. He made confident eye contact with me as he gave my hand a firm squeeze.
Then, we were brought back to the Justice Building, where I knew Daniel, Indira, and my family would be hustling to in order to visit me.
~.~.
-Orpheus Harper, 17, D4-
I came to pretty slowly, and realized two things immediately.
On the plus side, my nasty cold that had been haunting me for almost two and a half weeks had finally cleared up! I was back to one hundred percent!
On the flipside...It was Reaping Day, and I didn't even feel remotely prepared to face the day. Nonetheless I struggled out of bed and reached for my glasses. The world snapped into a blurry focus.
After combing my white tufty hair down so that it looked at least a little presentable, and throwing some simple cotton slacks and a shirt on, I reached for the small tin on my dresser. The white, opaque, glistening contents I retrieved from the apothecary down the street once a month ever since I could remember was running on the low side. Nonetheless I had enough to get through the week. I rubbed it all over my face and around my neck, down my arms and on the tops of my shoulders. I had forgotten my arms last week, and thus they were an angry blistering red.
I trotted upstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. My parents weren't the kind to be bright and shiny in the mornings, and today was no different. My father was trying to fry some bacon up, and my mother stared blankly at the wall, occasionally sipping at her coffee. I sat down after getting a cup of water.
"It's Reaping Day." Dad tried to spark some sort of conversation. I appreciated the effort, but he sounded like he was still half asleep.
"Yeah." I affirmed. Another round of awkward silence. At least it wasn't total silence. The bacon was reaching a savory sizzle, making my stomach grumble, and I could almost taste it...except I knew my dad was going to overcook it like always. It was a good thing I liked my bacon crispy.
"Your sister would have volunteered this day two years ago." Mom almost choked on her coffee, snapping to attention, when my father added that. She directed a fierce glare in Dad's direction.
"There's no use dwelling on what could have been." she sharply brought the conversation to a screeching halt. Back to the usual awkward silence. Normally, the silence was warm, and comfortable; sleepy. But today it was edged with tension, and my Mom didn't help with that in the least. The morning heat and humidity was already enough to amplify the sweat dripping down my spine from the tension.
"Here." Dad dumped a half dozen strips of bacon on my plate, splitting the rest between himself and Mom. His face betrayed no emotion, but I knew he was thinking about my sister, Calliope.
Just the thought of her was enough to make me feel the shadow of the illness that chased both my sister and I to the brink of death, three years ago. I remembered fever dreams, shaking, not being able to keep anything down, growing weaker and weaker until I had withered away to practically nothing-
I shook my head. I had to keep my head in the present, especially since it was Reaping Day.
"Orpheus, you're not planning on doing anything...you'll regret today, right?" my mother's unusually intense stare froze me in place, gluing me to my chair. Breathe. I bit off a chunk of bacon to give myself more time.
"Of course not. Not after everything that's happened." Somehow, I made my voice level. I surprised myself with how well the lie slid off my tongue.
"Good. I was worried you had prepared yourself for volunteering for your sister's sake." Mother paused to take a bite of bacon. "That would have been a terrible way to uphold her memory." I nodded and the tension in the room eased.
"You'd best head off to the Reaping. It's early this year." Dad stuffed the last strip of his bacon in his mouth and took my plate to wash. Mom nodded and I grabbed my clip-on sunglasses. I was out before anything else could be said.
It was a beautiful day. Through my lenses, the world looked as though a tea color had infused over it, warming it up. The air still lacked the bite of the noonday heat, and with the sea breeze, it was...nice. It wasn't often I could say that about the weather. It was usually miserable, considering how easily my skin burned.
"Orpheus!" I didn't need to turn around to know that Sibyl was calling me. She jogged up beside me with a goofy grin on her face. "You all ready for today?"
"Yeah, I think so." I smiled a little. She had been my motivator when I lost hope periodically during training.
"Not going to let how you exist get you down?" she raised an eyebrow almost comically. "Not going to talk yourself out of it because of how impossible it should be that an albino kid with a weird eye condition learn how to fight like you have?" As if on cue, I felt my vision worsen. It always got worse with stress.
"Not at all." I felt a weird kind of quiet calm. I was worried it would wear off once we got to the Reaping plaza. But for now I could savor the balming effect to my nerves.
"You're not going to tell yourself that your sister should be doing this because she turned out normal and was your parents' pride and joy and you're just the replacement?" her voice turned stern. I sighed.
"Look-no-I won't-Sibyl. Give me a break." I mildly requested, finally able to get a sentence out. She glanced at me with concern but the side of her mouth quirked up into a smirk.
"Alright, alright." My hands were already shaking but I couldn't tell Sibyl that. "I've got faith in you."
"Thank you." We walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. The quiet bothers some people, but I can't understand how. Sometimes it's enjoyable to listen to the atmosphere in good company.
As we arrived, she spun and waved. "See you after!" and without another word she skipped off to go see her other friends before checking in.
I got my blood taken and printed at the front desk quickly and sat down in the 18-year-olds section.
I had made my choice years ago, even before my sister passed. We were both severely weakened by the wave of illness that swept through the District, but it proved fatal for her. I was able to recover and bounce back, against all reason and logic.
I had been sick on every single birthday of mine until Calliope died. I had been underweight and fragile and couldn't even see straight. Yet she was the one who couldn't keep anything down for days, and vomited and shivered until she withered away into nothing.
I took a deep breath and unclenched my fists. There was no need to get fired up about something I was about to remedy.
"Good morning District 4! How are we today?"
I barely heard the escort, a blur of blues and purple that called himself Borealis Greene. He was going on with the same formulaic Capitol speech the escort gives every year.
I felt so...distant from it all. Even the sun bearing down on me, the loudness, the brightness; I felt far too calm and removed. I needed to snap out of it, but it was like a haze over my mind that I couldn't escape. C'mon, wake up, get with it-
"And our boy is Raymond Drake!"
My heart stopped and everything came crashing down. The moment it restarted it set off at a lightning pace to match the speed of my feet flying to the stage before the words were even out of my mouth.
"I volunteer!" The people I shouldered past looked beyond surprised. I couldn't guess if it was because of whatever crazy thing my eyes were probably doing or if it was the fact that I was volunteering. Borealis looked stunned.
"So...we have a volunteer!" he tried to move on after getting past my appearance, but he still looked bothered. "What's your name, young man?" I was sweating like a pig, but my breathing was still even. Good.
"Orpheus Harper." Borealis nodded, looking me up and down. Sure, with my long sleeves and baggy pants I probably looked like a scrawny twerp. But it was entirely to my advantage that everyone would underestimate me.
After an awkward silence, he moved on to the girl's bowl. "Solana Lupa!"
Immediately an energized call answered him. "I volunteer!" She swaggered up to the stage at an efficient, but eye-catching cadence. A wide smile graced her confident face and Borealis didn't even hold the mic out to her: she took it. Her eyes were lit with a playful flirting light when she delivered the crowd her name. "I'm Valencia Ferriz!" Borealis fumbled for the mic back, slightly flustered.
"A-and there you have it, our District 4 tributes for this year!"
The two of us were swept back to the stationhouse of the train, each of us being crammed into a tight office room. I was certain a Peacekeeper was stationed outside, and my inference proved true when Sibyl was thrown in.
"Orpheus, you did it! You looked awesome!" She smiled widely, nearly bouncing. "The hardest part is over for you!" I burst out laughing with her.
"There's still...the Games...you know?" I sputtered between snickering. "Don't talk me up that much." She rolled her eyes and her smile faded.
"Your parents aren't coming you know." I nodded. I figured they would be beyond upset with me. It worked out for the best, though. There was nothing they could say to convince me that I wasn't just a replacement for my sister to them. "But I wish you the best of luck!" She gave me a quick hug and was out before her time was even up. She was odd like that. Always rushing off for no reason.
Within minutes I was back with Valencia and boarding the train to the Capitol.
