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Kassiani "Kassi" Dolcetto

Aged 18

District 10 Female

Kassi's morning was usually decided by a coin toss, her father either woke her up early to get ready to head to the restaurant with him or he let her sleep in and stay home. Today was one of those days where she was awakened by her father just before the sun rose.

"Kass, you've got to get up. I need you to do some small things at the restaurant before you head to the Reaping," her father whispered in her ear.

Kassi opened her eyes just a smidge and offered her father a small smile, letting him know that she understood and was going to start to get ready.

"Okay, I'll be down in like fifteen minutes."

"Alright sweetheart, see you then."

Her father quietly backed out of the room and back into the hallway, closing her door with a soft click. Kassi smiled, grateful that her father cared enough personally to wake her up with such gentleness every time. This way of awakening had only begun about a year or two ago, with her father finally able to work a slightly shorter shift everyday as he had just been able to hire several more staff members who would take care of some early morning duties for him.

She actually really enjoyed helping out at the restaurant, it made her feel like she was slowly paying back her father for everything he had done to support her and be there for her after her mother died when she had just entered the world.

Kassi was very fortunate as a child, albeit lonely, but there was a period of time where she wasn't alone. She had met her best friend, Taraji at her father's restaurant, back before all of the events involved in the Mockingjay Rebellion. She went from having a babysitter who left her to stare at walls to having fun doing little tasks at the restaurant with her closest friend.

Taraji's father was the head chef at her father's restaurant, and he was an excellent chef at that. The perks of his long shifts caused their friendship to form after all. Once he started bringing his daughter to work and Taraji and Kassi officially met, they were inseparable.

Kassi truly missed her friend, turning to stare at that one picture of them she had sitting beside her bed like she often did every morning. She couldn't believe that it had been almost five years since she had last seen her best friend. They had been separated by the rebellion, like several other families and good friends in the districts too.

Zade and Taraji had moved to Five about a year before the Rebellion broke out, but they still did communicate often during that period by sending letters to each other every couple of days. Once the bombing on Twelve happened, most communications between Districts were closed off, not allowing correspondence to enter or exit the District where you were at.

She wiped away a tear, reminiscing all of the good times they had the opportunity to experience as she made her bed. It was always the first part of her morning routine, she kept it the same and felt that it motivated her a lot more to do all the things that she needed to do before taking on the world.

A bit more time than she liked had already passed while she was recalling all of her amazing memories with Taraji, so Kassi did her best to move more quickly, yet not rush. She only needed to wash her face, brush her teeth, roll on some antiperspirant, and fix her hair. She could do that in ten minutes.

The cool water felt refreshing against her skin as she gently scrubbed against her face with a damp washcloth to remove any leftover suds from her face wash. After patting her skin dry, something that had been drilled into her by none other than Taraji, Kassi squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth. For some reason, Kassi still sang the abcs in her head while brushing, but hey, it worked. Once the song in her head ended, she almost automatically spit the toothpaste and water combination out of her mouth and into the sink, washing it down with some water.

The rest of her simple little routine passed by quickly, and before she realized it, Kassi was grabbing a pair of tights and a mid-length dress out of her wardrobe. She pulled them on quickly, wanting to go ahead and get downstairs so she wouldn't make them late to the restaurant. Before leaving her room, she grabbed her pair of black flats, the shoes she always wore to the Reaping. It had been a present from Solene, Taraji's mother, before she passed. Yet another reminder of how much she missed her friend, although it was a good way to keep their presence memorable.

Upon hearing her near the bottom of the stairs, her father smiled at her and said, "Come on kiddo. Let's get a move on so you can do your little job and we can get to the Reaping early."

Kassi grinned brightly back at him and nodded, following her father when he opened the front door and closing it after she stepped out of the house.

The pair rode the bus to the restaurant, they didn't actually own a vehicle like some other families on a similar income level as them. Kassi's father thought it was a waste of money when there was a perfectly good bus that could take them everywhere they needed to go on a daily basis. He would rather invest that money back into the restaurant instead of spending it on something major to only benefit them.

Kassi felt like her luck today was pretty good, considering that they had just made it to the bus stop right as the bus was pulling up. She hadn't had to take out any tesserae, so she only had seven names in that dreaded glass bowl. There was no way she was going to get picked among thousands of slips with the names of all of the other girls' in the district, especially in her last year.

The bus slowed to a stop and the door opened with a ding, one of the more annoying updates to some of Ten's technology. The people in charge just had to have their identifying noises for everything.

They were the only ones to get off at the stop near the restaurant, which made sense because of the date and how early it was in the morning. Nobody showed up in the morning to the restaurant district when there weren't any breakfast restaurants there in the first place. Their first customers would normally begin to arrive around eleven, but it would most likely be later due to the Reaping.

Her father pushed open the door and Kassi heard the little bell chime above her head before the door closed behind her. As expected, the restaurant was calm, unlike the hustle and bustle it experienced at the height of the night when it seemed like everyone wanted to eat here.

The pair headed back towards the kitchen, finally seeing someone in the ghost town that was the restaurant. It was their new head chef, Antony. He was wearing his apron, which wasn't uncommon for him since it seemed like he spent a majority of his time here instead of wherever he lived.

Antony had a bit of a strange accent compared to how most other people from the district spoke, but nobody really questioned it. Kassi secretly imagined that Antony's accent was what made him so good at cooking. Not as good as Zade, but still very successful at what he had chosen to do.

The chef finally noticed them as they got close to the doorway to the kitchen, looking a bit surprised at the fact that they were there.

"Hello there, Milo." Her father nodded before Antony acknowledged her, "Kassiani."

"Good morning Antony," she politely replied. Kassi had always been taught to respond when spoken to, at this point it was pretty much drilled into her.

"We weren't expecting you two this morning," Antony said before her father had a chance to fully greet him.

"Well we were just coming in for a little bit to help prepare for the lunch rush," Milo told him.

Antony clicked his tongue and shook his head, "There's no need for you two to do such. We're already almost done, and why don't you two just go ahead and go down to the Reaping. It is Kassiani's last year of eligibility after all."

Her father's eyes brightened at the thought of not having to worry about his only child being sent to die after this morning. It had been a hard endeavor for her parents to have her, and now she was all that her dad had left of his wife.

"Thank you, Antony. We both really appreciate your thought and hard work around here."

The man nodded in response and turned back into his workplace as the pair began to make their way to exit the restaurant.

It was a bit of a longer bus ride to the square since the restaurant was farther away than their house was. The ride was pleasant, not many people were talking around them and Kassi took the opportunity to watch her surroundings. Even if the center of Ten wasn't too terribly full of nature, she still enjoyed looking at the scenery, even those monotone gray buildings that they passed by when they neared the square.

That annoying ding went off again as they reached the stop nearest the square, which was set up for the Reaping. It was a familiar sight, Kassi had been going for the last several years, but it was still hard to get used to that feeling in your stomach right as they were drawing the names. All you were thinking during that important moment was that you hoped and prayed that your name wasn't on that slip the escort had in their hand.

Kassi and her father separated once they reached the check in line, Kassi entering said line and her father heading towards the roped off area for spectators and nervous parents. She only had to wait for about five minutes before she was at the front of the line and it was her turn to get her finger pricked so she could be marked as present. Kassi closed her eyes as the woman took her hand and pressed the needle pen to it.

The sharp pinch hurt and went away for the most part, but she could feel it dully throbbing as she walked to her place in the area roped off for kids her age.

The teens around her chatted anxiously as they awaited the beginning of the Reaping. Yet another thing that made her long for her best friend. It made Kassi sad, seeing all of these kids her age talking to their friends about anything and everything, while she had nobody to talk to except for those few servers who took pity on her and talked to her while she was at the restaurant with her dad.

Thankfully, her spiral into feeling bad for herself was interrupted by the red-haired escort tapping on the microphone with a finger. Well, she mostly tapped on it with her fingernail, which was rather long.

"Welcome citizens to the Reaping for the 80th Annual Hunger Games! Now who's excited to watch our video?"

There were some little cheers from the section of the youngest eligible kids, not having seen it before from this perspective while there seemed to be just one big groan of annoyance from the older kids who had seen it several times over the past years.

The dreaded thing started playing, with the little ones looking a bit interested and most older kids just staring off or watching boredly, trying not to roll their eyes. There was one good thing that everyone knew though, it only lasted for a few minutes.

Soon the video had ended and it was finally that lip-biting, nerve-wracking time for the escort to choose the tributes that would most likely be sent to death. Kassi thought it was a bit strange, having some stranger with a red wig and a pile of makeup and clothes choose which kids were fated to die. There was nothing she could really do to change it, but she still imagined a better system.

Each step the escort made resounded in Kassi's chest, the loud noise amplified by the silence and nerves of all the kids and adults in the square. It seemed as if everyone took in a deep breath at the same time, preparing themselves for the worst and the best as the woman walked back from the glass bowl full of paper slips containing the names of all of the girls in the district.

When she was standing at the microphone, opening that little paper slip that would decide someone's fate, Kassi inhaled her own deep breath. It was going to be okay. She just had to get through this next moment.

"The female tribute for this year's Games is Kassiani Dolcetto!"

That deep breath she had just taken was expelled from her lungs with a gasp. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't her father protect her from this? He always said he could protect her from everything. Now, it was just up to her to protect herself in the Games. No more relying on her father to keep herself safe and fed.

Taraji Copeland

Aged 17

District 5 Female

Taraji was used to the sun shining in her eyes as she woke up, curtains just not a luxury that she could afford at the moment. The income she now received, which pretty much just came from her father's death check, was a much smaller amount than what the family income was when Zade was still working as the head chef under Milo Dolcetto.

Yes, her father had worked for Milo Dolcetto, the owner of one of the most well-known restaurants in District Ten. It was actually how she had met her best friend Kassi. Due to the fact that her father had to often work long shifts at the restaurant, most of the time she went with him.

Taraji would sit there boredly until that one day she discovered the little girl playing with those expensive toys in the corner. She had then politely asked to play with her, and to her delight, the other girl accepted.

It was the beginning of a friendship that would last for years to come, and still existed, no matter how far the two were apart. The duo had been devastated when Taraji's dad had decided to downsize and move districts, not wanting to be separated from each other. After being fired for mistakes, Zade didn't really have much of a choice except to move simply because of how ridiculed he was because of his incorrect actions. Even though Taraji and Kassi's fathers were friends, there was no excuse for Milo to not fire him after a large food poisoning outbreak while one of the Capitol's most infamous critics was dining at the restaurant.

Normally her father wasn't the type to make mistakes, but that was before her mother passed away and he drifted farther and farther into the deep end. Solene had gotten sick when the girls were barely teenagers, about to enter high school. It had taken a toll on all of them as well. Kassi had basically been raised with Taraji by Solene after Milo had hired her to babysit the girls while he and Zade were working.

Thinking of her father, it made her long for her parents to be alive once again. She really did miss them, and being an extrovert with nobody left to talk to didn't really help her much either.

Nowadays, she lived in a shelter filled with other teens who lost parents in the revolution. Her father had basically worked himself to death as an army chef after they had been forced to move with the food poisoning scandal, and one day he didn't come back from work. His camp had been bombed and everything within had been destroyed, including the only family that Taraji had left.

Rather reluctantly, Taraji dragged herself out of bed and begrudgingly started to get herself ready. She repeated everything she needed to do in her head: brush teeth, wash face and armpits, and get dressed.

No matter how lazy she felt, she always did those basic hygienic tasks. Nobody liked someone with bad hygiene, no matter how poor. At least the people who cared tried to do the best they could with what they had, and that group included her now as well.

With another dramatic sigh, Taraji left the bathroom and headed back into her room, intent on picking out an outfit before she got distracted or plainly just didn't want to anymore. She could always remember that first reaping where her mother told her to always dress nice for the reaping, to make it look like she had at least put some effort into herself for one day out of the year.

This year, her outfit of choice was a nice pair of khaki pants without any holes in them and a green floral blouse. It was hard to come across clothes that she owned that looked somewhat new and were in good condition, but she did have these that looked impeccable for Five's standards now. The only item of clothing she was wearing that didn't exactly fit in with the quality of her clothes was her favorite pair of beat up brown boots. They had lasted for years, and they didn't even seem close to giving up in the near future.

Now, it was nearing close enough to the reaping that the matron of the shelter came around clapping her hands loudly, waking any late risers so they would be on time for the reaping and so that she wouldn't have to face any consequences for it.

"Get up children! You all better be on time for the Reaping!"

Taraji took this as a sign that it was almost time for her to depart, considering she liked to say hello to a few kids she sees at school every morning. The extrovert in her just can't say no to a conversation, and her first year she had learned that the hard way. She had gotten carried away in a conversation with someone and had been the last person in the line before they closed it and started punishing anyone who wasn't there by then.

Walking out of the door, she pulled it shut behind her and began her walk to the square. It didn't often take very long since the shelter was near the center of the district where the square was, but sometimes the traffic could hold people up for a bit.

Luckily for her, there wasn't too much traffic because she had headed out a bit earlier than most would. Taraji turned the corner, and there she was. The square, which was set up for the Reaping, had already begun to fill up.

She headed for the already forming line of girls waiting to check in, giving her another reason to thank herself for coming early. The check in lines would get so long just before the reaping started and it was nerve wracking waiting for your turn. You never knew if they were going to just close the line and punish you for not coming sooner.

Taraji reached the front of the line quicker than expected, the woman who asked for her hand a familiar yet uncomfortable sight. She wasn't known for her gentleness, Taraji knew that for a fact.

She didn't see the needle coming, but she definitely felt it as the woman jabbed her with it then shoved her now bleeding finger onto the paper in the next empty box. Just a quick flash of that strange handheld machine and Taraji was cleared to head off to her section to wait for the Reaping to commence.

She made some hints of a conversation with a few girls near her, but it wasn't nearly as full fledged as it could have been if it had been Kassi standing next to her. About to breathe in a deep breath before she got remniscent and emotional of her lost family and friends, she was interrupted by the yellow-haired escort who had tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention.

"Good morning everyone, and may the odds be ever in your favor. Let's watch our short film, and then we will get to seeing who will be representing District Five in the Hunger Games this year."

She strutted over to her seat and sat down as the video began to play. Everyone knew it, and everyone pretty much hated it with a passion. Like, they hadn't even made a new one since both of the rebellions had occurred. That just seemed downright lazy to Taraji. She didn't think the Capitol really cared about it being an old video, with evidence directly provided by the escort who was currently clapping her hands in delight at the video.

Thankfully, it was a bit of a shorter video, so it ended quickly. The sooner Taraji could get done with the Reaping this morning, the better. Just because she was talkative, didn't mean she terribly enjoyed being surrounded by some strangers and some friends stuck in such a densely packed area.

When the escort with the yellow wig stood back up and headed towards the glass bowl for the girls, Taraji got a bit nervous, despite knowing the chances were with her, not against her. You could never know, fate could decide that it wanted to pick you for the one thing that you didn't get chosen for.

She chose a name with flair that you would only see a person from the Capitol show, most others from the Districts wouldn't be enthused choosing the names of kids who were most likely going to die year after year.

"The female tribute for this year's Games is Taraji Copeland!"

Taraji sucked in a deep breath, not entirely expecting this outcome, but not entirely processing it as well. Did the escort just say her name? Did she just get reaped for the Hunger Games?

She was sure her expression was a mixture of horror and shock as hundreds of teens and parents alike stared at her as she walked up to the stage, still trying to understand what had just happened to her. The thud of her heartbeat resounded through her head as she blocked out her surroundings, briefly feeling the escort touch her on the shoulder in order to get her in the right spot on the stage.

Reality had finally begun to set in. She was going to the Hunger Games, and now she had to do all she could to survive. Taraji just hoped that Kassi was having a better Reaping Day than she was so far.

Two more reaped kiddos! A huge thanks to goldie031 and rising-balloons for Kassi and Taraji respectively, although they are quite connected with their backstories. What do you guys think of this pair of separated friends? I really enjoyed getting to write them, and I hope I did them justice in the eyes of their creators. Thank you guys so much for reading! I think I'm going to try to at least get one new chapter out per week, but hopefully the next update is sooner! (Also, how is this 4k words? That's absolutely insane, I'm so proud of myself for improving so much on my writing skills.)