Rose had always enjoyed being out early, before the factories started. Here, if you didn't get up early someone else got all the fresh air and the only glimpses of the still starry sky. It was the only time clear enough to see the moon and stars, and Rose had always loved the stars, even if the pollution meant that she couldn't see all of them. But as soon as the factories started up for the day, the air would be thick with smoke. Not that they'd be starting up today, it was a holiday. She rolled her eyes as she ran down the stairs of the apartment block.
Halfway down she nearly collided with Mickey. "Why you up so early? He asked, picking up some electronic thing that had fallen out of his pocket.
"Could ask you the same." She replied with a laugh as the thing fumbled out of his hands and she caught it.
"Couldn't sleep, figured I'd go down to the workshop. Tinker for a few hours, who knows, maybe I'll finally fix that damn water heater."
Rose cracked a smile at that. Mickey was 5 years older than her, so hadn't had his name in to be drawn for a while, but he worried every year still. When his name had been in there, he'd taken out tesserae a few years while his grandmother had still been alive. She'd died when he was 16 and he'd supported himself by repairing clocks and electronics. He was good at it too, they'd often joked that he'd been smuggled in from District 3, Jackie had even said he was like tech support to the Peacekeepers, who were among his best customers.
Hell, he was practically family, if he wasn't in the basement or sleeping, he was at the Tyler's, bantering with Jackie while they cooked. Rose and he had tried dating, they'd been an on again off again thing for a while until they'd both figured out they were more siblings to each other, still it didn't stop the rumors that they'd be married. Mickey didn't mind it so much as Rose did, she hadn't really been one for relationships since Jimmy Stone. And rumors about her and her best friend marrying in the future didn't help much. Not that she wanted to bring any potential kids in to this world anyways.
"Yeah, I figured I'd finish up shelving stock. Perfect day for it, no interruptions." Rose replied as they made their way down the stairs.
"Makes sense I guess, want me to get you when you need to get ready?"
"Sure, I'd probably forget if you didn't." That much was true, once she got into something she really lost track of time. Once she'd stayed all night cleaning, worried her mom when she didn't come home. Plus, Mickey was just as worried as her about this year. It was her last year, and they didn't want any trouble from that.
With a small wave, they parted ways at the bottom, Mickey heading off to his workshop and Rose heading up the street to Henrick's general store.
Entering through the back, she stepped over a few loose cans and called out "Henrick, you here?"
"Up front Tyler!"
He was the only person who called her by her last name, but he did it with nearly everyone. No one knew why, it was just how Henrick was. She made her way to the front where she found him tinkering with the cash register.
"Reaping's today, what're you doin' here?" He asked, looking up from his tinkering.
"Need something to do, figure I could finish up re-stocking." She replied with a shrug.
He looked sad for a moment, then nodded. "Go ahead, tomorrow will probably be a busy day."
He was right; the store sold everything but fresh produce and was one of the approved "Capitol Resale" places, meaning he could sell things the Capitol sent to the district. He may have an abrasive personality, but to his credit he kept everything as reasonably priced as he could, most of the people on the Factory side lived off the food sold from the store.
He also sold local goods, Mickeys repaired or cobbled together electronics and clocks, Agatha the beekeeper's honey and beeswax candles, tailors that bought their fabric made clothes and sold it back to him, fishermen from lake country sold dried and smoked fish, even the hermit apothecary, who hated dealing with people, sold to him and let him haggle prices with customers. Most anything bought or sold on the Factory side went through Henrick, and he also sold wares to the stores on the Field side, who hardly if ever crossed to the Factory side.
Overall, it wasn't bad really, living in the Factory part of the District. It was rough, but the standard of living was a little better than the Field part, though it came with a lot more crime. If you screamed on the Field side, the Peacekeepers paid attention, but here they weren't even bothered. Gangs prowled the streets between the concrete blocks that were buildings looking for trouble. No one even tried to remove the tags the gangs had managed to scrawl on the buildings, alley ways, any place they could mark out their turf. No matter how many times it was fixed by the next day it was back and no one really cared to know how they managed it.
Rose had wound up in her fair share of scraps; the ugliest one she'd been in had involved Jimmy Stone. She'd been going with him when he'd joined a gang and he didn't like it when she'd rejected his company because of it. She'd gotten through it though and he'd eventually pissed off the wrong people and wound up in the pen.
But Henrick wouldn't have it, and anyone trying to start anything with him or the store found their life got hard very quickly. The community relied on him and the store, so even here in gang land community disapproval meant something. From time to time the gangs had to be reminded of that.
Still, he kept the Bō staff from his more able bodied days around, just in case. She was now in charge of it, and he'd taught her how to use it quite well. Mostly though, it wasn't necessary, even with part of his leg missing he was still an imposing figure and she was Jackie Tyler's daughter; and that meant she was ready and willing to crack a few skulls.
After a few hours of opening boxes, stocking shelves, and heaving grain bags among other things around, Mickey came by to pick her up. By that point she and Henrick were having a laugh and sharing some fish jerky, both were glad for the work that kept them from thinking too much about her last reaping.
"Rose, Henrick." Mickey addressed the laughing pair.
"Smith, come to collect our Tyler here for her last Reaping?" Henrick asked, mock serious.
"Yes sir." Mickey nodded. "I don't want Jackie angry at me for anything."
"Mickey she likes you, she could never stay angry at you. Well aside from that one time… I was only gone 12 hours but you'd have thought it was a year. How she thought that you'd murdered me I'll never know…"
"Still, no one wants Jackie Tyler angry at them. I've seen her slap, it's dangerous." Mickey affirms, with Rose nodding her agreement.
Rose stands up and quickly stretches, then turns to Henrick. "I'll see you tomorrow boss."
As she and Mickey turn to leave Henrick stands. "Hang on a second Tyler."
They look at each other and shrug as he disappears into the back. After a few moments he comes back with a small packet and hands it to Rose.
With Mickey watching over her shoulder, she opens the packet and looks inside.
"Cookies!" Mickey and Rose cry in unison. They both know the cookies, even though they're broken, would be pure profit for Henrick.
"Yup. Gave the baker a deal on flour yesterday, so I got the broken one's from the latest batch this morning. I want you and your mom to have em', never been big on sweets myself."
"Wow… thank-thank you." Rose hugs him.
"Yer welcome, now get outta here. Can't miss that tram." He smiles.
She nods and follows Mickey out of the store. She tucks the gift into her pocket before jogging to catch up with Mickey. She hopes the gift is how the evening will shape up, the potatoes from the roof top garden are ready and Mickey was going to head to the market to get a fish. If the odds really are in their favor, it'll be a wonderful little celebration.