D2 F: Kyanna Davenport
Age: 18
. . .
Kyanna threw the dart, hitting the bullseye; Kalis groaned.
"I win!" she said with a smirk.
Kalis ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, yeah, Kya; you win just like always."
"Don't call me that." Kyanna hated it when he called them by her childhood nickname; everyone who heard it started shorting her name to that. Just like Talon, he heard Kalis call her that once when they were children, and he hadn't stopped calling her Kya, no matter how much she asked.
Kalis looked at her with long-suffering eyes and said, "It is your name; Mom called you that."
Panem above sometimes hated her twin, "No, mom doesn't call me that; she is the one who stopped me from introducing myself as Kya in the first place."
Kalis looked at her with almost sad eyes before saying, "Whatever, I love you, Kya."
Kyanna groaned. Kalis was getting sappy, "I love you too, Kal, but I'll be home in a month at most."
Kalis nodded his head before looking at the sky. The sun was burning, and there were no clouds in sight. It was almost reaping time; Kalis had dragged her out here for one last game of darts before she volunteered.
Kalis opened his mouth almost as if to say something before deciding against it.
She shook her head. "It is time to go, Kalis."
Kalis nodded before yelling, "Race you there!" and ran off.
She would get in so much trouble if she dirtied her dress, but she was not about Kalis to win.
Besides her mentor, Enobaria would not care; she was already grumbling about her being put in a dress in the first place. She would like it more if it got muddied up, and she would say it made her look more brutal. Enobaria liked to say that she looked brutal. She was proud of it, did not talk about her scars like her mom, and did not need her dad to remind her mom that she did not need beauty like a 1.
Enobaria always told her to embrace it, that she was a brutal beauty, and that she was so much better than any ditzy girl from one, more interesting.
As she caught up to her twin brother, the crowd started to get too dense to run through. Kalis looked at her and said, "We'll call it a tie." Frustrated but knowing they couldn't run through a crowd on reaping day, she nodded in agreement.
As she turned to start walking into the female section, Kalis grabbed her hand, making her stop. "Kya, I love you."
Panem above Kalis needed to stop talking like she was going to die. Surely, he knew that was bad luck, but as she looked into her brother's almost panicky eyes, she couldn't bring herself to reprimand him. "I love you, Kalis."
She let go of his hand and walked to her place among the eighteen-year-old females lined up alphabetically, with the oldest at the front and the twelve-year-olds at the back. It took about 15 minutes before the Victors started to fill the benches on the stage, while Brutus and Enobaria took the only chairs showcasing their status as mentors.
By Snow, Enobaria was in a dress, and she did not look happy. She almost winced with the knowledge that Enobaria was going to be pissed when they were on the train.
District 2 Escort Rainan Cruise pulled her out of her thoughts as he walked on stage, smiling. Rainan was wearing a suit that seemed like liquid gold. It looked like something the Escort from District 1 would die for.
Rainan clapped once to acquire the attention of the city centre. Not that he needed to; The city centre held almost 6000 children and had parents overflowing around those kids, and not once did they fully focus on Rainan from the moment he walked on stage.
"Happy Reaping Day! Rainan began speaking, "Now, I know everyone is excited, but before we get this show started, we will hear a few words for our illustrious President."
President Snow's face flickered to life over the billboard screens broadcasting all around the district and the speech began.
After the speech ended, thunderous applause rang through the city in honour of the Capitol. Rainan just smiled indulgently before gesturing with his hands for everyone to calm down.
"Now, everyone, I won't keep you in suspense. Let's start with the boys."
Kyanna was informed that because of the quell, all the Escort would want to be original and would most likely pick the boys first. Kyanna wondered how pissed Rainan would be if he knew that others would have the same idea as him.
Kyanna waited as Rainan picked a name from the boy's bowl; "Talon Carter."
Kyanna felt her jaw drop, of all the luck. Her volunteer partner was reaped. She shouldn't have been worried about Kalis jinxing her; she should have been worried about Talon, of all people. Everyone knew this was a jinx, and sponsors knew it was a jinx, and she could not partner with him. Snow, if they went through with getting paired together, she would be infected with his bad luck.
She didn't even have time to freak out before Rainan was speaking again.
"Well then, Talon Carter, our male tribute, onto the girls."
Without any flair or flourish, as if Rainan Cruise was shaken himself, he pulled a name out of the girl's reaping bowl; "Athena Brots," a girl from the 15-year-old section, fainted.
Just great, and now her volunteering would be tainted by a coward. Anger filled her; this wasn't how a District 2 girl behaved; now she was volunteering for a girl who obviously would end up a drain on Panem.
"I volunteer as tribute," she roared out, shoving her way through as the crowd was still stunned by the events.
She made it to the stage, and before Rainan could say anything, she swiped the microphone and said her name, "Kyanna Davenport."
. . .
Thank you so much Paradigm of Writing for beta reading this chapter! Please, everyone, give Paradigm of Writing some love!
