...
Noor Andel, 18
"I knew the Academy could be reliant on your help, Miss Andel." The voice of District Two's oldest victor, Ellara Knut, still held some of the silky smoothness it once did when she won her Games all those years ago. "As expected from Amir and Saff's daughter - and our designated volunteer, no less."
Noor attempted a smile though it manifested as a terse creasing of her lips. "Of course. Who better to show around the wannabes than the volunteer?"
When Ellara smiled with that knowing gleam in her eye - the way she often had done and was doing willingly - she looked younger and still capable of killing with her mace. Not that Noor doubted that for a second; she more than anyone could recount the district legend that it was Ellara who personally oversaw the execution of one Enobaria Bazile. A younger Noor had spent countless days doubting it or trying to imagine how it had played out but the older, weathered version of her simply took the older woman's air of capability as being testament enough. Now, as the woman was older, the gleam signalled approval or warm amusement.
"Precisely. Mr. Ventura is showing the prospective parents the accommodation facilities whilst you show the hopefuls the armoury. At noon sharp you'll switch, all to be done within the hour for the reaping. Understood?"
Though Noor was no stranger to Ellara's rigidity and the tight ship she ran called the Academy, since becoming the designated volunteer she had learnt just how demanding the role was. She hadn't been able to sympathise with last year's volunteer, Agatha, before but now she could. Just about. Yet even then, when Agatha had openly scorned how arduous all the extra work was, Noor found herself leaning into it. She supposed it was just natural of a Two kid to like orders and being told what to do - they had to learn how to replicate it in the arena. Or, maybe, she was isolated and found comfort in someone laying her path for her.
She nodded, knowing what the consequence was for shirking the work. Only a fool would risk bequeathing the volunteer spot to the backup to avoid known duties of the volunteers. A guy a few years back had made that mistake, costing what was likely a victory for District Two.
"If we're prompt we could probably do a Q&A session as well." Noor kept her sarcasm hidden beneath some veiled sincerity. She only had a few more hours to stay on Ellara's good side before she could drop the act of gratitude. She thanked the Keepers that Ellara had long since gave up her trips to the Capitol as a mentor; in the Tribute Tower, all she would be able to do was watch as Noor did as she pleased.
That thought brought a tearse smile to the trainee's lips.
...
Once upon a time, as in before the Games had utterly consumed her entire being, Noor would've loved showing the prospective trainees around. That was when all the training had come natural to her with little effort or before being the designated volunteer had proved to be more effort than it was seemingly worth. Nowadays it seemed more chore-like than it was - another thing that needed to be ticked off before the reaping.
Noor's interest was piqued, albeit only for a second, by a young boy who wore an engrossed expression as he took in everything around him. She had seen him a few times when the Academy kids went to the local restaurants, him being known amongst their ranks for being the perky kid that seemingly remembered everything. That and he had an endless bombardment of questions. From the general schedule of a trainee to the order in which they were able to learn the weapons, the kid wanted to know it all. Noor commended him; intelligence was often at a loss for most of the guys of Two.
The volunteers of District Two past had often spoke about the joys of seeing the new recruits before the rest of the Academy did. Often, they alluded to a sense of pride and optimism, telling Thyone that they were glad that the future of their district was in good hands. As it just so happened, Noor found out that most of it was a load of bullshit probably meant to scare the Outer kids. How anyone could feel optimism from a bunch of eight-year-olds and the odd nine-year-old reject from the previous year was beyond her. She wondered, if only for a second to humour herself, if people thought that about her when she was the hopeful with widened, round eyes. They didn't, clearly, because she had been commended for the talent she possessed. If only it didn't get harder.
...
"We'll see you inside the Justice Building afterwards." Just as she had done all of Noor's life, her mother held her at an arm's length. Close enough to do what was expected of a mother yet far enough that no real attachment needed to be formed. "May Two's might see you through."
Noor managed another terse smile, dipping her head slightly. "Thank-you mother. I'll request for you two first - if Ellara hasn't prioritised herself."
Her mother offered her a curt nod before leaving out the door to eagerly chat to some of her students. For a second, Noor wondered whether or not her taking to a bow might've changed their relationship. Probably not.
Her father, much more warm in nature, gave her a small hug. They weren't close by any means - distant was the only word Noor could ever muster to describe it - but there was a mutual understanding between them. She even thought she could feel some of the carefree ideas she used to have radiating from him. Maybe if they had been in another district, a beautiful father-daughter relationship could've been formed. Too bad they were from Two where caring and genuineness, for some, was synonymous with weakness.
"Ellara likely has, yes, but we'll see you all the same." His voice was softer than usual, almost as if there were genuine care embedded into the words. It was foreign, both for himself and their shared district. "You'll do us proud Noor."
Offering him the same unassuming smile, it was only after he had gone did Noor bite her lip. Was this how people treated their volunteer children? With some of the warmth and kindness that had been denied to them all of their lives?
...
"The sooner these Games are done, the better." Noor's sigh was full of exasperation as she ran a hand through her hair loosely, cracking the knuckles after in the habitual way she had developed long ago. "Too fuckin' consuming."
The last morsels of breakfast being spent with her friend Tasha had been a staple in Noor's reaping ever since the two had become friends. It hadn't been disturbed when Tasha left the Academy and Noor hoped with reckless abandon that it would carry on after she came home a victor.
Tasha glanced at Noor, eyebrows knitted in a way that suggested some sort of concern before she nodded. Had Noor focused on it, she might've seen the way Tasha's sigh was a forceful shove of any further attempts to get her to reconsider volunteering. Instead, Tasha offered her a smile and nodded. "Too right - y'all trainees are obsessed with that shit."
Noor allowed herself a small, genuine smile, knowing that Tasha's whole outlook on the Games would be something she'd miss come the arena.
Kaiser Ventura, 18
"Now if you don't mind me asking." Kaiser needn't turn his head to know that the question was coming from one of the pushier parents; another hopeful who was eager to see their child as a victor. "How did you get into the Academy? I want to know all the options for my little Athena - she deserves the best!"
It took little for him to don a charming smile, swivel on his heel and clasp his hands. "It's not an interesting story but if you insist," He said, voice sing-song and dripping with the false courtesies he knew Ellara expected of him. "Yours truly is a scholarship trainee."
Though there were no surprised or even bemused faces - it'd seem that most of the parents who had come along were of the poorer persuasion of Two - Kaiser knew scholarship trainees were viewed as weaker societally. Something about parents being unable to afford what most in the district considered a rite of passage struck a nerve with many. The group of parents he was showing around looked to be the ones who's children were their only chances of a forlorn glory. Kaiser tried not to think too lowly of them; people could say the same thing of him and his mother. After all, even when she was a trainee she was never close to the volunteer spot - she had said so herself. Yet, despite all the odds thrown at him, there he stood as the designated volunteer for District Two.
"Not many shocked faces, huh?" Kaiser's laugh was airy and inviting, indicative of what many would call ebullient charm. "Guess I'm speaking for a lot of us then. Raised just by my mom, a quarry worker. Didn't have much but I was always a sparring kid at school." He shrugged, motioning the parents to follow him a little. "One of the teachers at the Pre-Requisite noticed and sent the word through."
A few of the parents nodded along, their children too being scouted through the mandatory schooling District Two employed prior to the Academy. For many of those too poor to afford the fees of the Academy, the Pre-Requisite was a good way to be discovered. It was a good thing it produced so many successful trainees, otherwise it'd actually have to increase the standard of its non-martial education.
"Just remember to tell your kids that a parent's love is just as instrumental in training as pure grit."
...
Adelaide Ventura chewed on the bread meekly, her eyes trained on the tablecloth's pattern. Kaiser knew she was thinking about the blessing she had given him to seriously go for the volunteer spot - the very thing that could potentially enable him to walk to his doom willingly. No. He knew he couldn't think like that. It was a very real possibility, that much Kaiser had been forced to confront by his mother's insistence he needn't volunteer, but the very prospect of giving his mother a better life was worth any outcome.
Despite his noble reasons, he knew she regretted it. She regretted it when he had come second in the Summer Mocks; she had regretted it when he beat all other guys to become the volunteer in the Selection Tournament; she had regretted it when he emerged victorious from the Spring Mocks. His mother had never verbalised her regret, never talk about his achievements in a damning tone, but Kaiser could tell. The way her clasped, clapping hands would fall limp in their motion for a second or the way her eyes would be downcast as if she were blinking away the tears already.
Not once had it deterred Kaiser. If anything he became fuelled by the desire to erase worry from his mother's life - to give her the peace of mind he knew she deserved. Even when he looked at her, eyes still focused on the tablecloth, Kaiser knew he'd do all he could to rid her life of anything negative. Rid of the worries. The stigma she had faced. The arduous quarry work she resigned herself to doing. Maybe he'd even prove to his mysterious father it was wrong to leave her, as sardonic as a thought that was. All of it, he would either give to her or eliminate from her life or die trying.
The two of them sat in silence for a while, the sounds of cutlery on their plates being the only thing of any note. Kaiser ran through the events of the day that were to happen, from the reaping itself right up until the Career meal at the very end of the evening. He reminded himself of Ellara's words of advice, that the Games begin the moment his face is attached to the role of tribute. Though prepared for it, there was a finite quality about the Victor's advice that made him shudder slightly, the grisly alternatives to victory making a home in his head.
"Are you cold, Kaiser?"
Too lost in his thoughts to register that he still had a body that reacted to whatever he thought, Kaiser hadn't realised that the shudder had been too involuntary and done in real life. Glancing to where his mother sat, he saw her eyebrows knitted in worry and her eyes looking expectedly for something she could help with. It was never hard to see where Kaiser found his burning need to better the life of his mother from, for she was the same for him. It could be for that reason alone that he'd risk it all to give her what she deserved.
"No, Mom." Kaiser ignored how much mature he sounded on the day of the reaping, partially wondering if the realisation that the Games were close was hitting him. "Just the anticipation, y'know?"
He flashed her one of his toothy, infections grins to elicit one back from her. She offered him a small smile, one that was reserved from being too big in case it was the last she'd share with him.
Noor Andel, 18
District Two's escort, Persephodite, was something of a relic. Both a woman of great age and grandeur, she had also been the district's loyal escort for the past forty or so years. It was her who had brought back every single one of Two's Victors since the restart of the Hunger Games. She was as precious to the district as she was aged; an irreplicable merit to Two's long line of victors. Ellara had scorned enough trainees at the Academy for mocking Persephodite for Noor to know that the woman was untouchable. The Capitolite held herself as if she was knowing of that.
Whilst other escorts embraced the whirring pace of fashion and its evolution, Persephodite donned a more classic Capitolite look. She looked as if she had stepped from the pages of Noor's history books; her ensemble rooted firmly in final years of the Snow presidency from which the escort had been raised in. Unchanging in her style, some of Two's Academy had toyed with the idea that she was a Snow herself. Though Noor had paid attention to the gossips before for they were the focus of her earlier years when training was easier, she still found herself unsure on their verdict.
Noor despised the reaping film they showed every year. Not because she was some dissenter rebel from one of the Outer Districts who felt like it was a smack in the face year after year. No. Noor hated that she could recite it word for word; loathed the way it would play in her brain at awful times in the night and she especially hated how much pride her parents took in being some of the trainees from Two elected to shoot some of the newer scenes following the Second Rebellion. Though she didn't doubt the pride that must be attached to being in the film, Noor disliked how it made it more of a feature in her life than it needed to be. So, as she did every year, she blocked it out with the unrelenting willing that the inevitable would happen sooner.
Though she had no need to, Noor watched as Persephodite strode across the stage. Ten years on from beginning her training, the pomp and grandeur of the reaping ceremony was one of the few things that she hadn't come to despise about the Games. Unlike the same old training and reused commands from the trainers, every year the reaping was different. After all, the choosing of the original names was one of the few things Two couldn't control about the pageant. It was the raw, primal fear that could be felt across Panem that laced the event with a different kind of electricity. Even in the Career Districts where children willingly threw their names into the ring, the fear from the remaining nine districts were apparent.
Noor vaguely remembered her mother referring to the fear as deserved as if being born from an Outer District was a condemnation to suffering. Sometimes, when the jaded thoughts leered inside her head, Noor wondered if most people from Two volunteered to try and escape the stressful lifestyle; just like her.
Age had withered the theatrics of Persephodite choosing a name - instead of something quintessentially Capitol, the escort simply chose a name and returned to her place as the centre of attention. It never mattered what name was on the slip as all Persephodite had to do was wait to be told through an earpiece where the designated volunteer was. Noor wagered she had already been made aware, judged solely on how they seemed to share eye contact as Persephodite opened up the slip.
"The female tribute that has the unparalleled honour of representing District Two in the One-Hundredth and Fifteenth Hunger Games is... Bellona Martinez!"
In the brief second before clockworked routine took over her body, Noor recognised the name as being one of her mother's prodigies - one of the ones she was forever gushing over as being a potential volunteer. In the brief seconds between shouting her intentions to volunteer and being zoned by Peacekeepers, Noor thought it was fucked up that her mother cared more about a random trainee's progress than her own daughter's.
Then again, training came naturally to Noor. She was born to be a tribute. Perhaps Bellona fell short.
Or maybe, even, she had got it all wrong and her mother cared more about her.
Who knew? What Noor did know was that she was the one being escorted to the stage to take her place beside Persephodite. It was her who would be the female tribute for District Two and, President Augut be damned, she would be the one to come home the Victor.
Or die trying. As was the motto of District Two's Academy.
If Noor hadn't known better or she was gullible enough to deceive herself of parental love, she might've said her parents looked proud. Her father more than her mother, of course, but proud all the same. Maybe, in another life where she lived in a different district, it might've made her smile more genuine. But in the life where the Games had become tiresome and something Noor wanted over soon, it was a fleeting emotion that stood to become an obstacle.
Kaiser Ventura, 18
Maybe if I hadn't trained with her for half a year, she'd be scary.
Kaiser tried to put himself in the position of his soon to be competitors as he watched Noor take the stage. In District Two they were aware of their reputation and knew exactly how they'd be viewed. Ellara had often told them to seize the opportunity, leading to the cyclical continuation of Two's savagery in the Games. Beyond that, Noor looked scary. Not in the overt sense of gore or eye soreness but rather unnerving those around her. Unlike her predecessors, Noor's display of bold confidence that had been installed within the trainees since the day they joined the Academy was accompanied by something off. She alluded to him once that it was the wear and tear of the Games finally catching up to her but, not really knowing her, Kaiser hadn't ever considered the merit it had. As she stood on stage, however, his mind was cast back to their conversation as he waited for Persephodite to begin with his formalities.
In any case of what he and the rest of Two thought of Noor, Persephodite seemed thrilled to place a moving body to a picture and a name. After announcing the girl as the formal tribute, she clapped jovially. Though, by now, the district was aware of who their female tribute was, the crowd made sure to mirror the escort's excited smile and eager claps. Anything to scare the other districts' tributes into early submission and acceptance of defeat.
"And now to find the gentleman who'll accompany Miss. Andel to the Capitol!"
As Persephodite made her way to the crystalline bowl full of male names, Kaiser's mind briefly wandered back to a conversation that Ellara had with him once.
"Our male tributes are the hallmarks of a Career," She had said, looking at him expectedly as if she were hoping he'd pack on more muscle or grow taller. "But alternate strategies never hurt anyone."
Kaiser knew what it had meant - what it was. The unspoken acknowledgement that, compared to Two's male tributes of past, Kaiser's lither and foxish appearance was a departure from the norm and thus he had extra to prove. It hadn't ever bothered him, not then nor now, and he had simply flashed Ellara a charming smile and told her to rewatch the Selection Tourney if there was any doubt on why he won his spot. Despite the way she smiled at his response in bemusement or the faith she seemingly placed in him, he found himself stealing a glance at the aged-victor who stood as Two's very own matriarch of victory.
He briefly wondered, for a moment, if there was a world where he was concerned with what Ellara said; a world where the words of a Victor tread harshly upon his resolute goal of elevating life for his mother. He knew for sure it wasn't the one he lived in; his determination to wreath his mother's golden curls in the victory laurel and present her with a new life stood like a titan against all odds against him.
Ellara could find stronger, more bulked trainees but Kaiser wagered that she knew she'd struggle to find one with his resolve. No, he knew she'd struggle - he had broken many of them.
Kaiser stifled a laugh as the name of one of the rivals in his platoon of trainees was called as the reaped. Nobody ever wanted to have their name read out for the jovial mockery from friends had a tendency to be incessant yet eighteen-year-olds were devoid of that. Though disappointing, Kaiser took pleasure in knowing that it'd be the neat little jewel on top of what was a bad year for the trainee; making Ellara furious, being Bloodbathed in both mock games, coming third in the Selection Tourney and now being reaped? It almost made up for all the vicious comments the teen had made towards Kaiser's mother.
As Noor had done before him, Kaiser followed the strict protocol that was laid out for him. He could feel the metaphorical daggers on the back of his skull as he left those who failed to attain his position behind him. He wished he could turn around and bestow them better luck for next year, only to sarcastically remind them that there wouldn't be one or just to watch their faces morph with deeper contempt. He knew it would be tactics like that which would help him in the arena, hopefully giving him an edge over his counterparts from One, Four and Seven. As he had always done, Kaiser held his head high and made the mental note to be pleasant to his peers when he returned home a victor. They deserved some pleasantries, after all.
Taking his place beside Noor had grown to be something of a known, welcomed feeling. Half a year of being the golden children of the Academy had enabled such a feeling of familiarity to exist between the two of them, something Kaiser was sure he'd be grateful for come the pre-Games and then the time in the arena itself. Someone he recognised - someone from home - would serve him well.
Until Noor dies so you can win.
Kaiser pushed the thought aside. He didn't necessarily feel too much attachment to Noor - as he was sure she didn't to him - yet thinking the dark thoughts that had plagued him for the time he had spent as the designated volunteer would distract him. He was sure of it. Instead, he focused his eyes towards the crowd to take in their reaction; their pride. When Kaiser looked out and saw his mother, her saw the apprehension flooding her face. He saw the way she tried to hold her head high as those around her congratulated her on his success. Most importantly, however, he saw a woman who would have her life changed for the better in just a short few weeks.
It was with that final thought firmly in his head that Kaiser smiled brightly as he shook Noor's hand, as Persephodite announced him and Noor as the tributes and as he was escorted into the Justice Building.
Talk from the Capitol:
[HungerGamesDaily] Noor's looking hopeful! Such a cool tribute from Two. Polls already predict she'll make it to the final ten!
[StillMissingCherryChaplin] fucking wild that d2 is giving us the charming career. kaiser's giving twink and im HERE for it! #d2twinksarebetterthand1twinks
And that's Noor and Kaiser for you! Big thanks to Lumi and Lance for submitting them!
I really do love this pair for the aversion to the expectations that typically go towards D2 tributes. I especially like that both feel strongly towards their parents but in different ways and how these emotions definitely fuel their motives for volunteering. Also, just sending a small thanks to Nell for the idea of the Career's having dinner together - it definitely scratched that Career loving side of me who loves Career interactions. With that, however, is 3/4s of our Career pack! Not long until we meet our pair from D7.
The next reaping are the four from Twelve! I can already foresee quite a lot of worldbuilding in the latter portion of the chapter, so do be prepared! Likewise, I suspect I'll deviate from 'the morning of' format I've been doing, mostly because I want to try something different for the Twelvies.
Irrespective, I hope y'all enjoyed! Reviews are greatly appreciated.
~ Oli