Hello everyone! This is our second reaping chapter, so that means nine left after this! Hopefully I'll be able to keep riding this momentum of having a chapter out every couple of days, but we shall see. Without further ado, let's get into it!

Zeno Capricci

Aged 17

District 3 Male

Zeno was already awake before the sun rose, but not before his parents left for work. They worked long hours and spent more time with their coworkers than their son. He was used to it, the isolation allowed him to make more improvements to his tech without interruptions.

It was a common thing for him to get so engrossed in his robotics that he let hours pass without even noticing. To prevent that from happening today for the reaping, Zeno had set an alarm for an hour before he needed to be there so he had time to clean up, get ready, and make the short bus ride to the town square.

He often worked on his projects in the early morning hours before his couple of classes at school each day. Zeno was at the top of his class and had already taken several required courses early, so he was taking the only required class he had left and a few extra robotics classes that he was in to learn how to improve his programming and design skills.

His most recent work in progress was taking him a bit longer than he would have liked, but he needed to refine all of the wonky details before he let the public (aka his robotics teacher) take a look at what he had been devoting his time to for the past several months. Zeno's project was an attempt at making an android that could replace peacekeepers in the future. He had two main reasons for doing so: avoid as much bloodshed as possible during rebellions and stop peacekeepers from being unjustly violent towards innocent citizens.

Some would think that his projects were rebellious, but Zeno didn't care. He was just trying to do his part to make Panem a better place, at least in his eyes. It was a country full of corruption and bribery and it wasn't fair for those who didn't have the resources to voice their opinions or seal their vote on some matter. The rich and powerful always got their way and Zeno was tired of wealth deciding the top dogs instead of intelligence.

When he finished with his inventions and released them to the public, Panem would finally be a place where the ranks were decided fairly and everyone had a chance at success, no matter their background, wealth, gender, age, or race. It would be a country with less casualties, his peacekeeper bot keeping rebellion losses lower than if peacekeepers remained human instead of android.

Zeno sighed, frustrated that he had allowed himself to be so sucked into his thoughts of success in the future. If he continued to let that happen, he could kiss those dreams goodbye. Every good robotics student knew that zoning out while making adjustments could cause some serious damage because if you aren't paying attention fully, anything can happen. Luckily, it didn't happen often and only occurred when Zeno was alone in his room, so nobody would know about it and make fun of him for it. Being bullied for being a teacher's pet was already enough, he didn't need to give those bratty gossipers more reason to spread rumors about him.

He was currently examining the programming for the peacekeeper android, and he had noticed several mistakes during his read over. Shaking his head, he pressed his lips together in disappointment, knowing that he could have done a lot better. There was no excuse for making mistakes like these, no matter if it was at midnight or noon.

Zeno started to correct his coding mistakes, knowing he would probably have just enough time to fix some things and skim over it once more before his alarm would go off and he would have to prepare for the world's worst waste of his time. He drug himself through the process of readying himself for the unnecessary spectacle of the reaping, barely taking the time to care about how his hair looked or if his shirt and pants matched.

Once he was all freshened up, Zeno picked up his room a bit, setting all of his tools back in their designated spot and plugging in his computer. It was so that he could feel some sort of a reset once he returned from all of the chaos and drama of the reaping. He took some deep, relaxing breaths in order to lower his heart rate and calm his mind for the crowd he would have to be in for a period of time that was longer than necessary in his opinion.

It didn't take him long to leave his room and make his way to the front of the house. The lower floor of the house was a gleaming chrome and white, a great contrast to Zeno's matte black and dark gray room. He was more of a fan of working in the dark by the light of a screen, while his parents were all in favor of natural light. They were constantly encouraging him to do his work in the kitchen, no matter that they weren't ever home to observe any of it in the first place, so what was the point. If he preferred the dark, he was going to stay in the dark, not be in the light and squint half the time from the brightness of the sun.

The one thing he had chosen to bring with him was his notebook, which was currently tucked into his jacket pocket. The item was small and worn, but it made sense due to the fact that he had owned it for years. It was what he wrote all of his ideas for future projects in, all inspired in different ways to help make Panem better.

Zeno opened the front door and walked out, the only sound heard was a tiny snick as the lock clicked behind him. Leave it to his parents to have an extremely kept up house to never even be in it for more than a couple of hours every couple days.

It was only a block to the bus stop and he arrived just on time as the bus was just stopping as he reached it. Zeno swiped his bus card and took an empty seat close to the front behind the driver. The scenery drew him to observe as the bus continued down the route to reach the town square. After about ten minutes, the bus slowed to a stop and the door whooshed open across the street from the square.

He was grateful that he didn't have much of a walk at all, but his chest grew a bit tighter at the sight of the already growing line of teens waiting to be registered and released to the area in which they are assigned by age. Thank goodness Zeno only had one more year of this torture after this one, it was almost over for him.

Thankfully the line moved quicker than what he had remembered from last year, so he was at the attendance table in about five or so minutes. It was hard to tell time surrounded by a bunch of people, but it felt quick to him so that was his guess. The woman sitting at the table grabbed his wrist with her gloved hand and pricked his finger before he could even feel it. Zeno was tired of the roughhousing that they received every year at the reaping, but he could understand her frustration after having to prick hundreds of fingers, some reluctant to give her their hand.

He was towards the middle of the crowd getting out of the line, which meant there was going to be at least another ten to fifteen minutes of waiting for everyone else to get registered and in their places.

Time ticked by slowly, almost as if some supernatural force was focused on making Zeno as uncomfortable and irritated as possible. He didn't like crowds and standing in one like this made him more anxious by the second.

At last, the strange-looking escort with pink hair made his way to the microphone and tapped on it until it screeched with feedback. Everyone around cringed at the noise, but Zeno didn't move a muscle, instead focused on observing the behaviors of the peacekeepers around them. It sure was an odd method of collecting research data, but it would work.

They pulled down the projector screen and started that dreadful video soon after the pink man had introduced himself and welcomed everyone. That video needed to go. It bothered Zeno, to use something so outdated when it would take such little effort to film a new, updated version of the famous reaping video. It seemed like they were hesitant to let it go though, so it could possibly take a lot of convincing if it was something he wished to change in the future.

His observance time was cut short by the end of the video, but it made him thankful that he knew that the reaping for this year was almost over. Just time to find out who the people sent to die this year were, and then it was time to get home to continue work on his android project.

The pink man drew from the girls' bowl and a thought occurred to Zeno. How crazy was it that someone's fate was decided by a random person from the Capitol picking that tiny little slip of paper out of a jar of hundreds. The ones who were reaped might think the odds favored them, but their prediction would come back to haunt them in the arena when they were fighting for their lives.

The female sacrifice was called and everyone turned to look at the girl from Three who was probably not going to make it home after she left for the Capitol. She was around Zeno's age and was taller than most of the girls around her. The blank look on her face and the few tears that streaked down her cheeks made it obvious that an overload of emotions had just hit her.

She had a normal gait walking up to the stage, but when she turned to look at the spectators, her eyes were empty. It was almost as if that giant wave of emotions had washed them out of her.

Continuing on his merry way, the pink haired escort yanked a slip of paper out of the bowl of eligible boys from the district, almost as if he was looking for it to be over soon as well. The way he opened the slip of paper was almost aggressive for a Capitolite, causing Zeno to wonder what was going on with the strange man.

"The male tribute for this year's Hunger Games is Zeno Capricci."

He inhaled in shock as his eyes widened slightly. Of all of the people to get chosen out of that glass bowl, it was him? The bitter laugh that followed surprised him at first, but he relaxed and smirked as he accepted what was happening. There was no getting out of it, no paying off some high up person in the District or the Capitol. It was ironic, since he was the one who waxed poetic about how the government should be fair and nobody should be able to pay their way into or out of something.

Zeno joined the girl on stage, who had dried her tears and looked like she was holding it together fairly well. He stared off as the escort finished his spiel and finally, they were escorted away from the crowd.

Patting his jacket pocket that contained his notebook, Zeno found the bright side of his fate: at least it's a great opportunity for research and observation.

Valerie "Val" Wright

Aged 15

District 7 Female

Val kept her eyes closed tight and her breathing slow as her brother opened her bedroom door with a tiny squeak. The hinges needed a bit of oiling, but that was the least of their problems and would likely not happen in the near future. Vince stepped quietly across the floor and "woke her up" with a gentle shake to the shoulder. Let him think that he was finally waking her up so she would be ready just in time.

She had actually been up since dawn, having spent about an hour in the woods waiting for prey to hunt. Val normally waited for a bit longer before leaving the woods, but since today was reaping day, she didn't want to take the chance that Vince might wake her up early and discover her missing. He knew that she brought squirrels and rabbits home for them to eat, but he had never questioned her as to where she had gotten them from. Her guess was that he assumed that she traded some nuts and berries she foraged at the market for them.

Their father had been the same way, an illegal hunter in order to keep the four of them fed, at least before the revolution. Val and Vince's parents had been killed by rebels, just two more bodies added to the piles of casualties from the fighting. Her mother hadn't liked what they had been made to do to survive, but she couldn't find a replacement, so her father had no choice but to shoot the squirrels and rabbits he was looking for in the woods. After years of eating such venison, Val had gotten used to the taste, but it still was no beef or lamb. She longed to taste such expensive meat again, but with the life that the siblings were living, it was likely that she would never be able to taste such finery again.

She slipped out of her bed with the stealth and grace of a hunter, not wanting to be too terribly loud due to her brother being downstairs. Pulling her favorite dress out of her closet, she laid it on her bed along with her well worn sandals. The dress she loved so dearly was from her mother, the green color complimenting its white embroidery.

Val took her time actually getting ready for going out in public this morning, being careful to scrub her face and armpits before patting herself dry with a towel. Just a quick little detour to her brother's room to grab his deodorant, they couldn't afford to have all separate toiletries and be fed more than once a day, and she was ready to start her routine to prepare herself for the public eye.

Just because they couldn't afford many luxuries didn't mean that Val didn't do a little experimenting with natural sources to create some self-care products for herself. She used berries for her lips and rosy cheeks, a plant that was known for healing properties as lotion, and some pine needles to make a soap for herself and Vince. They were a bit secluded from the other houses in the District, but they liked the almost hidden aspect of their quaint little house full of memories and it was only a few minutes from their future location for the morning.

This was the house that Val was left on the doorstep of, the house that she was raised as a family member in. It might be falling apart a bit, but Val would still love it the same.

She could hear the dishes clinking downstairs, making her wonder what her brother was doing while waiting on her to finish up getting ready. Val only had a few theories, but she would rather use her time to get ready, not ponder what silly old Vince was doing below her. Multitasking, she applied deodorant as she held her toothbrush in her toothpaste-filled mouth. It would take less time if she did more than one simple task at the same time.

Soon enough, Val finished with her routine and reentered her bedroom to get dressed. She pulled the dress gently over her head, trying not to stain it, and completed her goal successfully. It took even less time to slide on her worn leather sandals. Standing up and walking towards the door, Val twisted the doorknob open and once she was in the hall, pulled it shut behind her.

The stairs squeaked with each step she took down, but Val was used to the characteristic noises that the house made. She loved them, in fact. It reminded her of when she and Vince were closer, one day he just stopped talking to her and started acting so cold around her. It was as if he didn't want her to exist anymore. His interactions with her were very closed off and extremely short now.

Alas, there really wasn't much she could do about it, so she didn't bother to waste energy on something that wasn't going to work. Once Val reached the bottom of the stairs, she could see her brother setting all of his work stuff on the table, probably so it was easier to grab and go once they got back. Vince worked a lot of long shifts, which most of the time left Val at the house alone for long periods of time. It could get lonely, but sometimes she took advantage of it and went hunting for a bit.

Her brother approached the front door and offered her a rare smile, and it made Val wonder what she had done to merit such an interaction from him.

Vince opened the door and mumbled, "Let's go Valerie."

She followed him over the threshold and closed the door behind them, just listening to their combined footsteps along the worn brick path.

As usual, the pair didn't converse on the short walk to the square and went their separate ways on arrival. Seven had a new system implemented where there was one check in line for boys and one for girls. Val had believed them when they said it made check in quicker, recalling a distant memory of her brother complaining about having to wait in that long line during the year of the 74th Hunger Games.

It took no time at all to have her finger pricked and roughly pressed on that dreaded piece of paper. What she would give to not have to do this every year. At least she was over halfway to being ineligible after this year.

Her square of girls her age was already filling up fast, which had a positive and a negative to it. The good thing was that if it filled up quickly, the reaping would start and be over faster, but the bad thing was that Val might end up being crammed in a spot that surrounded her with girls that were packed very tightly into that cramped square.

Val took her last deep breath in, valuing her personal space that would soon be gone after she entered the section of girls her age. She would get used to it soon, knowing the feeling of being contained in such a small space from the last few years of being eligible and attending the reaping.

Rather quickly, the green haired male escort started the video that every kid in Panem knew so well. They hadn't made a new one after the Mockingjay Rebellion, so even some parents knew the dialogue too. It always felt like it took a long time for the video to end, but once it did, it felt like just a second had passed.

The cheerful escort started speaking almost immediately after the conclusion of the video, his squeaky voice making Val wonder if he was actually a man or not. It got annoying after the first few seconds of confusion, and Val let out a sigh to release her frustration and her wanting of the man to stop speaking in that dreadfully high-pitched voice.

Her ears finally got the break they wanted as the man walked over to the girls' bowl and selected a slip of paper with some very unnecessary flair. Bracing herself for the aggrivating sound of the male escort's voice, Val took in as deep as a breath that she could while surrounded by the other girls in her section.

"The female tribute for this year's Hunger Games is Valerie Wright."

The deep breath Val had just taken was expelled from her lungs. Her ears were ringing and her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest. Was this really happening?

It was like her feet moved by themselves, Val not even thinking about what she was doing as she walked to the stage to accept what was happening. There was nothing she could do to change it now. She could blame it on the green haired man, but that was just making an excuse for something that nobody but fate was at fault for.

However, when she thought her shock was just beginning to wear away, the next event that occurred caused her shock to be magnified. Whilst she had still been processing her fate for the next few weeks, perhaps even the last few weeks of her life, the escort had made his way to the boys' bowl and selected a name.

He hadn't even started to read it out loud before someone burst out of the crowd shouting, "I volunteer!"

It was her brother, Vince who hadn't spoken more than five words to her at a time in years, had volunteered for the Games to be with her. It might be a selfish thought and a wrong one at that, but she was trying to give herself some comfort after her fate had basically been decided for her.

Val had drowned out the noise from the crowd and everyone else around her as she finally had a chance to truly process what was happening to her and to her life. She had been reaped for the Hunger Games. Her brother had volunteered for her. Val didn't know what was going to happen now, but at least she had her brother and she wasn't alone in her turmoil.

Well we've had a chance from the last chapter, these two were reaped instead of being volunteers, what do you guys think of their reactions? A huge thanks to EpsilonChix and AstralKnight98 for Zeno and Val respectively, I loved getting to write them and I hope I did them justice in your eyes. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported this story so far and I will hopefully be back with the next reaping chapter soon!