A/N: It's finally here! The 1st reaping! Thanks to writer0906 & The Koala of Doom for submitting these tributes (respectively)! Just to let you know: The SYOV is still open! Submit while you can!

snoobydoobydoo :) xxxxxxxx

Saffron Merel POV

'Saffron, you'll be their victor!' Dad yells at me. 'Twice over! Doesn't that matter to you? Does your district not matter to you?'

I bury my face in my duvet. I do not need this pressure again. It's bad enough every year I get send to the Capitol to watch two children die. Yeah, we're District 1 and have had some victors in that time, and yeah, I'm supposed to and have been raised to all my life to be a bloodthirsty Career like my parents and siblings before me, but I don't want to. Why are the Capitol doing this to me again?

I hang my head as I walk up that same flight of wooden stairs to that same wooden stage I have been on every year. There's a large assortment of us on this stage; District 1 has the second-most victors of all the Districts after 2.

So maybe I won't be picked. Maybe they'll rig the vote so it's not me and someone from 1 who won their Games by brute force. I won mine by allying with the rest of the Careers and then running away as soon as there was only us left. I only killed one person the entire Games. Great.

And if I get reaped, I'll be forced to ally with them again. The Careers are the type of people that you just don't want to be with. There isn't anyone more self-centred and arrogant than a Career, and I've met our President.

Our escort, Luvia Walker, takes to the stage. This year, she's opted for dyeing her entire body a deep blue and pairing it with shocking green curls and neon pink lipstick. It's a shocking sight for those not expecting it. Though I know Luvia dyes her skin every year for the Games, because she's got District 1, she's got the ones that are worth it.

'Happy Hunger Games!' she trills in that irritating, high-pitched Capitol accent, also a shocking sight to those not expecting it. 'This year, as you all know, is special! Because this year is the Quarter Quell! And this year a pool of existing victors will take to the grand stage! In this year's Reaping, however, there will be no volunteering!'

Thanks a lot, Sparks. We have a fourteen-year-old who won it two years back and an seventy-year-old who won it almost fifty years back. Thanks a lot.

'And now, for our female tribute,' she begins, sticking her hand in the Reaping bowl.

I'm one of eight slips. It can't be me. We've got people who have won their Games in the most brutal, horrible ways possible. We need them. It can't be me.

'Saffron Merel!'

But it doesn't matter.

Essence York POV

I'll win it again, I tell myself in the mirror. I'll show them.

It's been two years and I'm already going back. I've changed so much, I'm bigger, stronger, and better.

I dive head first into the pool, taking in the beautiful water. The water is a brilliant blue today. The bittersweet of a reaping day, they must think. Stupid people.

'Essence, where have you been?' Mom yells at me.

'Swimming!' I snap back at her.

Ivy, my sister, is dressed in her bright pink reaping dress with a pink satin bow. 'Pretty,' I remark snarkily.

'Shut up,' she mutters under her breath.

Ivy's just bitter I won my Games before she got to volunteer. I volunteered for 1 instead of this lumbering 18-year-old who everyone was obsessed with because of his huge size and mesmerising copper-flecked eyes. But I showed them. My cousin, Caramel, got me into the Careers. She'd been training for these Games all her life as well. For a while we attacked by surprise until the boy from 2 killed Ivy, insisting she was too powerful. It broke my heart so I killed him, preferably in the most painful way I knew, spearing him seven times in the head. Turns out he was the only Career left.

I walk up to the stage and wave to the crowd. I'll win again for you, and then I smile at them. The other twenty-three don't stand a chance.

Of course I barely recognise Luvia. I still remember that canary-yellow perm she had during my Games. She doesn't turn heads like she used to.

She talks about how faithful we have to be to the Capitol, about how we have a twist, blah la la – just get to the reaping, Ocean Eric mouths in my direction – and no volunteering. Oh God. That means Tamarine, a tall, blonde girl with deadly axe talents who won about fifteen years ago, won't get reaped. And she doesn't .

Instead its Saffron Merel. Saffron is a real weirdo and one of those people you wouldn't expect to come from 1, who you wouldn't expect to have trained as a Career like the rest of us. She's half-Asian, skinny and weedy with glossy black hair. Everyone thinks she's really pretty, so they all pathetically feel sorry for her. She's a really awful person, far too shy and shabby, and a bit of an emotional wreck when it comes to her Games. I don't think I've yet spoken a word to her.

'And now for our men!' Luvia sings, literally shoving Saffron to one side. Luvia can clearly already smell the blood of the Games. She trots over to the mens bowl in her skyscraper heels and pulls out a name.

For the love of God, please let it be me.

'Essence York!'

I parade up onto center stage while Saffron shoots me a confused look. Whatever, you're going to die, I want to say.

'Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your tributes for the Third Quarter Quell, Saffron Merel and Essence York!'

The handshake is awkward. I'm gonna be forced to ally with this woman.

A/N: Did you like it? Please rate and review! Or why not submit your own tribute? You can find details in the 1st chapter!

snoobydoobydoo xxxxxxx