District 8

Woof Casino, (74), Victor of the 17th Hunger Games

Woof winces and grits his teeth as his hearing aid makes that terrible screeching sound yet again.

He fixes the no-good old thing as quickly as he can, which for Woof, is not very quickly. He leans just a little bit more of his weight onto his cane, and heaves a heavy sigh. 74 years of living, being alive for every single Games except for the very first, bringing home two Victors, and having four children all brings him up to this.

Over the years, Woof has attended countless Reapings, either as a child, a potential tribute, a tribute, a Mentor, or simply a Victor. But no Reaping, not even those for the last two Quarter Quells, were as unbearably somber as this one.

Unfortunately, District 8 only has two living male Victors. Or really, two male Victors total. Other than old Woof, there's only Loden, the Victor of the Ancillary 47th Hunger Games, or the 2nd Ancillary Games. Those Games are slightly akin to a Quarter Quell, in the aspect that there is a rule change. In an Ancillary Games, all contestants (still within the 12-18 age group) are actually tributes who have been killed already in a past Hunger Games arena. When a tribute's finger is pricked at the Reaping, their blood is kept, as a sample of DNA. A past, deceased male and female tribute are Reaped from each district, and cloned "brought back to life", still with all of their old memories, to compete in the Games once again. Since then, there have been seven more Ancillary Games. The process of the Games begins on the first Sunday after the previous Victor's Victory Tour concludes. The reasoning for having one of these Games is usually when several districts riot at a time. Regardless of what Loden has done, seen, and been through, he's still a star in Woof's eyes.

And of course, while Woof can recall all of this, if you were to ask him what he ate for breakfast yesterday morning, his mind would go blank.

"Woof Casino!"

Better me than Loden, Woof thinks, slowly limping to the stage. Once he gets there, he has no choice but to wonder which of his district's female Victors will be joining him up here. Woof shifts his neck back over to Loden, and hears and feels something pop. There are gasps in the crowd, but old Woof's just fine. He simply turns his head back towards the ladies again, and it pops right back in.

"Don't worry, District Eight. Old Woof's not gonna die on you just yet," Woof grins.

Cecelia Sanchez, (34), Victor of the 57th Hunger Games

Poor Woof. At least he's in better spirits than Cecelia thought he would be.

With District 8 having two living female Victors, Cecelia knows that she's got a 50% chance of being sent in again. It's either her, or her old Mentor, 66-year-old Lena. Due to the circumstances surrounding Lena's original Reaping, one would think that they'd wanna send her back in. Despite that, however, Cecelia has a bad feeling about this.

"Cecelia Sanchez!"

Even though she knows that she has to go up to the stage, Cecelia stands in place. Big mistake. Her three children, aged eleven, seven, and two, run up to her wrapping their tiny arms around Cecelia's legs and waist, pleading her to stay. Cecelia honestly wishes that Lena would volunteer, but she remembers the agreement they all made. Whoever's Reaped, goes. No volunteering. Everybody's got the same chance.

"I'm sorry, kiddos," says Cecelia, her throat tightening. "Mommy's gotta go now. I'll see you in just a few minutes."

Cecelia's younger two children cry as the Peacekeepers pry them off of her. Her 11-year-old has a dishearteningly stony expression on her face as she guides her younger siblings back to their place in the crowd.

It's okay, Cecelia thinks, mounting the stage. They'll be just fine without me. They'll be fine.

She wishes she could actually be sure.

A/N: And thus, here we are with District 8, Woof and Cecelia! Thoughts on the pair? I hope I did them justice.

Apologies for not updating yesterday, but I just had way too much homework to do. Thankfully, my homework responsibilities will be a bit lighter tonight, so, here we are.

See you guys in District 9!

Until next time.

-Bo