Regina Peil, 17

District 6 Female


"Alright Reg, you know the controls, right?"

"Yep dad. You two can sit back, I know what I'm doing."

My mom leans back in the passenger's seat, but my dad leans forward, and has his eyes peeled on the controls, making sure I follow every move correctly.

Today is the day that I prove to my parents that I can get my pilot's license. Both of them have been hovercraft pilots for over twenty years, and I've been training to do so as well for most of my life. They earn good money from their job, and we live in a nice big house.

I start the controls, and lift the lever to pull the vehicle up, and watch as the district gets smaller and smaller.

I breathe a sigh of relief, and although I don't look behind me, I can almost feel my parents smiling.

I then use the controls to move the aircraft forward, and my mom warns me to not fly past district boundaries. Her voice is stern, and although I've never been told the consequences directly, I have a feeling of what would happen if I did that.

It is a beautiful sight from up here. I cherish being up in the sky as one of my favorite moments, because the buildings and cars from below look like the small toys I used to play with as a young child.

After a few minutes in idle, I circle back to above the landing strip. I hear my parents whispering as I prepare to land, but I can't quite make out what they are saying.

I land the hovercraft fast and smoothly, and once all of the controls are off, my mother walks over to my seat and hugs me.

"Guess who is getting her pilot's license next week?" My dad says from behind.

I grin and my dad walks over to give me a pat on the back.

"Good job kid. Let's celebrate with ice cream."

"Wait, really?" I beam. "Thank you so much!"

The truth is, my parents are typically really strict and I'm not allowed to eat sweets ever. My grandma Rosetta used to sneak me to the ice cream parlor from time to time. That was the last time I ever ate ice cream, before she died a few years ago.

I just know that I'm gonna make the best pilot in District 6. But then I remember that reaping day is the day before I get my license. I know my chances are slim because it's a large district and I don't take tesserae, but I feel the worry sink into my stomach.


Lily Tang, 18

District 7 Female


I finish the last touches of my sketch, and am quite pleased with what I came up with. Navy blue, and with a nice floral pattern, it will look lovely on me at the reaping next week.

"Girls, I'm finished!" I show the design I made in my sketchbook.

"Beautiful!" says Oakleigh.

"You'll look great." says Harper.

"I quite like the blue. It will look so unique!" says Emma.

I smile. "Thank you all!" I do a curtsy, and my friends clap.

Then there is a knock on the door, and I roll my eyes. My mother is in the Capitol doing a photoshoot today, so it could only be my stepfather.

"Bubu, what do you want now?" I yell at the door. "We're busy in here!"

Then the door opens, and my frown subsides once I see May's face. My girlfriend walks inside my room and gives me a quick kiss.

"Oh thank heavens it's you!" I say. "I wouldn't have been able to stand Bucephalus yelling at me about something again."

May and the others laugh. My mother has had a lot of boyfriends due to her job as a model for the Capitol, and Bucephalus is trying too hard to be my dad. But honestly, I've never met my real dad and don't really care to.

"I was just showing the girls my new dress design for the reaping! I'll have my seamstress start working on it tomorrow."

I show May my design, and like the others she compliments the color and floral print. But honestly, it's not my most special piece of work yet. Last year on a trip to the Capitol, I showed our district's stylist my designs, and she let me design the chariot parade outfits for that year! And that's when I realized I wanted to be a stylist one day.

"Babe, you wanna go shopping later?" May suggests.

"Of course! I need to find a new pair of earrings that will go with this dress."


Asa Gagneux-Boerio, 18

District 11 Female


The last of the guests leave, and then I look at the tables. Glasses of champagne are still left out, and platters of food still line the plates. Our avox maid Lucinda timidly begins cleaning up.

I look away from her. Considering I was the one who had to cut her tongue out, Luncinda has every right to be fearful of me. Although avoxes are permitted to Capitol citizens only, my family still keeps a few to do work for us.

Today I turned eighteen. The party was really not something I planned, of course my parents planned it. Like always, it was quite a lame occasion. Nobody my age showed up, not that I invited anyone from my school to attend. Only adults showed up, and they weren't even here to celebrate me. They probably came to talk business with my father.

Speaking of, my father walks in, still wearing his black and crimson suit. He clears his throat, and although he doesn't say anything, he implies that it is time for the meeting. My father mentioned an important meeting would come after my party.

We walk down to the basement, to our dimly-lit lounge. I shudder at the sight of the two metal cages at the end of the room. On one side is a young woman, with a shaved head and tattoos on her face. On the other side is a skinny man. Both captives wear dirty clothing, and have their mouths stitched shut and hands tied back.

My mother sits on the lush black couch, and has a cigar propped in her mouth. She grins at me and tells me to sit down.

"Honey! Congrats on the big 18! I hope you enjoyed your presents."

I nod, I got a new set of throwing knives this year.

"Mother, why did you guys stitch their mouths shut? You won't get any information out of them" I say, pointing to our captives.

My mother puts her hands on my cheeks. "Oh sweetie, we don't need anything from them this time. We thought maybe you would like something more efficient to test your new knives on!"

My father smiles as well, and I feel disgusted by this.

"Excuse me. So you are telling me that these aren't even rebels?" I say, my voice louder than before.

My father puts his face close to mine, enough where I can see the golden flecks in his black eyes.

"No they are not. They signed up for this, you know. Lots of people in this district have starving family members and would do anything to give them some money." He says.

"Your father is right!" Mother says. "It's for a good cause. They are both very selfless for volunteering themselves to do this." She smiles at the female captive, who now has tears flowing down her eyes.

I'm getting frustrated. "Okay, now tell me what this meeting was about?"

"Okay." Father says. "To put it shortly, you've turned eighteen now. When I was your age, I acquired leadership of the family."

"Father, I don't want to! And I certainly do not enjoy our job, I thought now that I'm an adult, I can go out and live my life, not stay a criminal for the rest of my life!"

My father pulls a knife out of his pocket, and puts it to my throat.

"Well, if that's the case, then you are no longer apart of this family."

My mother pushes his hand away, and stands in front of me. I barely have time to react.

"Ivan, that's enough! She's our only daughter, our only flesh and blood. We are not going to kill her for choosing a different path."

My mother, despite how deranged she is, still respects me, unlike my father.

"Well then, looks like we'll have to make a compromise." My father smirks, and rubs the knife with his fingers.

"If Asa here really doesn't want to lead this family… She'll have to volunteer for the upcoming Hunger Games. If she wins then she'll have proved herself worthy to leave the family."

My mother does not protest, and I think about it for a few seconds. What if I agree to volunteer, but instead I run away? There would be nowhere for me to run to, and my family would likely track me down somehow, and I fear the worst would happen. I would be seen as a rebel.

"Fine. I agree. I'll volunteer." I say.


Lily Faceclaim: Fernanda Ly

Asa Faceclaim: Mical Bockru


Well... Looks like we are now done with all of the intro chapters! I am really proud of myself for making it this far, it might not seem like a lot but I've done a few SYOT's before and I never made it to this point so... Thank you for reading and submitting! I am super motivated to do this story, so expect chapters to come pretty fast. I've also been writing excessively because I plan on applying to grad school soon, so who knows how much time I'll have at that point. I was pretty busy with school in the past and was not able to write this much. Anyways, thank you to GalaxyQueen500 for submitting Regina, fiona11303 for submitting Lily, and Gomex for submitting Asa! These three were super fun to write. The reaping recap is next, and there's a chance it might be uploaded tomorrow :)

P.S I am suuper sorry for saying in a previous chapter that all pov tributes would be bloodbath survivors. I got a lot more tribute submissions in than expected, so I had to make some changes, and some tributes with pov submissions will likely end up being bloodbath deaths. Just wanted to clarify!


1) Which of the three tributes in this chapter is your favorite?

2) Which of all of the tributes introduced so far is your favorite? (excluding your own)

3) Would you volunteer for the Hunger Games to save a loved one?


-xo, cassy