Jamison Verga
"At least I won't be hungry" That was the first thought that went through the head of Jamison when the escort pulled his name. For someone coping with their own death, he handled it quite well. That's all the Reaping is, death sentences for children. It's not like his life was worth living for anyways. His family was poor. Every day was a struggle for food and water. Jamison's parents were alcoholics and he was left on his own. Jamison is incredibly malnourished and has spent many nights wandering the streets of his District looking for something to eat. Jamison had nothing to really live for. Why bother. If he would have survived the Reaping he could get married and have children who he would have to feed and then send them to face the Reaping too. And he would have to get a job in textiles and then grow old and die, or not get a job, starve then die. Now that entire process had been abbreviated to this: go to the Capitol, eat like a king, then die. Three different stories that all end the same. The only difference is this way Jamison wouldn't be hungry.
Piper Ann Philps
Piper was blissfully unaware of the prank that her older brother, Patrocinio was playing on her; she was deep asleep in the late morning hours of the Reaping day. He giggled as he maneuvered the dark marker in his hands, and began to laugh even harder as his other two brothers came over to see what was going on and join in the fun. It was this laughing that finally woke Piper up to the sight of her brothers playing one of their favorite games on her arms: connect the dots. Piper yelled and jumped up, snatching the marker and flinging it at her brothers. She had black lines, in the shapes of sailboats, smiley faces, and stars all over her forearms. Her brothers have played this game on each other and on Piper since all were small children; it was only natural given the sheer amount of freckles on all the siblings' faces and limbs, there was just so much artistic potential. The brothers all laughed and tried to apologize to Piper through their chuckles, but she wouldn't forgive them until she had washed all of the doodles off. Upon returning from the bathroom with bright red forearms, matching her vibrant red hair, her brothers had calmed down and seemed to be sincerely apologetic. "Sorry Piper, we were just trying to lighten the mood," the oldest brother Paal said sheepishly, suddenly feeling too old to still be playing this game. Piper sighed, she couldn't be mad at her brothers, besides, she was just as guilty of playing connect the dots as the boys. "It's alright, good as new," she said, holding up her marker-free arms.
The Philps children made quite a sight all walking together to the square, four read beacons in a District full of, as the kids saw it, dull-looking individuals. Piper, the youngest, at 13, and the smallest, walked naturally in the middle of her brothers like they were her bodyguards. The boys had grown comfortable in the role of Piper's protectors, ever since their mother died and their father picked up extra work to occupy his thoughts rather than let the pain of his wife's death in. The kids parted ways when they reached the square, making plans of where to meet up again after the ceremonies were over. Piper made a quick stop in the 14 year old group of boys to greet her best friend Blaze with a hug. "Better not let my parents see you hugging me," Blaze said with a grin.
"Oh I'm tired of them, always telling you that you can't spend time with me. I know some girls who would be much worse for your reputation than me!," Piper replied, and both laughed. Blaze's parents didn't approve of him having a friend from the poorer part of town, but Blaze couldn't care less. The friends parted ways as the Reaping began.
After what seemed like the fastest and blurriest minutes of her young life, Piper found herself holding back tears and painful thoughts in the waiting room of her District's justice building. Her brothers had practically raced her there, sure to be in that room with her as fast as they could.
"How could this happen?," her brother Paolo asked, "we made sure we boys took all our family's extra tesserae so you wouldn't have any extra help getting Reaped, and here we are." Piper nodded, fearing that if she spoke what was on her mind then it would shortly be followed by tears, and she didn't want her brothers worrying about her being afraid. The kids sat together, wondering if their dad would come to see Piper off, and wishing silently that their mother was still alive to impart some words of comfort and perfect advice for the upcoming events. With just a few minutes left in her allotted time to say goodbye, Blaze came to the door with red, raw eyes. The brothers beckoned him in, but he stood in the doorway and asked, "Could I talk to Piper alone, just for a second?" Everyone knew that "just a second" was all Piper had left before she had to board the train, so the red-headed brothers gave Piper one last, strong hug and walked out the door without looking back. Piper stood and hugged Blaze, still not trusting her voice to not betray her emotions. Blaze pulled back from the hug and looked down at Piper, a confused and distraught look on his face, appearing as if he was trying to think of just the right thing to say to her. "I think," Piper began, but before she could say anything more, Blaze leaned down and kissed Piper's lips lightly and quickly. Piper was shocked, she and Blaze had always been best friends, but she never thought he had any feelings for her beyond that. She was taken aback to find out his true emotions, but, to her surprise, felt herself rise on her tiptoes and kiss him back, more purposefully this time. Piper didn't know why she was doing this now, only that she didn't want to stop, didn't want to get on the train, didn't want to fight. What a wonderful feeling and what terrible timing was the general thought going through Piper and Blaze's minds as the Peacekeeper entered the room and cleared his throat loudly.