Chapter Text
In the morning of the Reaping day, it's still a little cloudy, normally in District 4, at this point should already be sunny. Not like the other kids, there’s still mud on my arms, some on my ankle and lower parts of mine legs. I’m wearing a light gray long-sleeve and black pants; it's still summer, even though the sun was covered by clouds today, the temperature outside was not cold. A slight breeze that smelled of the sea blew over the body and a slight layer of goosebumps rose up. I follow the crowd of boys and girls in different age, waiting for the staff to put me on file. After she took a few drops of blood from mine finger, i followed the other girls around my age to the front of the stage.
As usual, mayor, and the previous victors came out and sit on the stage, I watch Mags, Finnick, and Bruce came out one by one. And finally, the escort from our district came out, Angelica Miller. Her face was white like a dead body’s face with the thick layer of foundation, and she was dressed in those exuberant garments that Capitol people love to wear. She flicked the microphone and started saying the exact same speech lines as in previous years.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome. Happy Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor.” Her pompous accent sounded extremely funny, and then she played that film that is shown every year on Reaping Day. I’d almost memorized the contents. War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child. As Snow's pale voice came through, I couldn't help but feel a little bored. So I stare at the blank space next to me and gawk, it’s better to do this than watch that boring film. After a while, the film finally ends. The annoying voice of Angelica Miller sounded again. It’s time to select the tributes of the year.
As she reach her hand in the girl’s reaping bowl, they always select the female tribute first, for some reason. I don't feel as nervous, I always know my odds of being chosen increase each time I get those tesserae for exchange of extra foods. Compared with other districts, the overall conditions in District 4 are quite good. Residents are allowed to go fishing in the sea, so people do not necessarily have to face famine. But the problem is, mind orphanage is not a conscientious orphanage. They weren't one of those orphanages that trained orphans to become Careers, they’re just normal, and even worse conditions than other orphanages. During the days without schools, they let the orphans go down to the sea to fish, which they call “exercise”. But there is not enough food at all in every meal.
Fortunately, the staff at the orphanage cared too little about the orphans. One time I found out I could go into the woods near the orphanage. And after that, I sneak into the woods once in a while to get some real “exercise” and get enough nutrition by hunting small animals. I’ve been doing this for almost five years now. But there aren’t always critters in the woods, so I’ll have to get tesserae sometimes. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, I know exactly how to keep my presence down and become invisible.
Getting close to no one, making no noise, getting into no trouble. Becoming a backdrop. Become someone who doesn't exist. No one noticed that all along there was a girl sneaking off to the woods during working hours.
Thoughts coming back to me, I stare at Angelica Miller’s hand as she dramatically reaches her hand into the large, transparent bowl filled with the names of all the girls aged twelve to eighteen, pulling out a piece of paper after a few seconds.
“Y/n Spector!”
I immediately keep my head down and consider in my mind how to react before everyone turn their head to you. Should I act like one of those proud and arrogant Careers, or the normal 14 year old girl who is panicking, or the person who is calm on the outside but all the audience can tell she's actually nervous? Too late to decide, the people nearby finally reacted to the fact that the person who had kept her head down was the Y/n Spector that the Escort had selected.
I can feel the camera on me, and for the first time I’m reaping the attention of so many people, I am finally starting to feel nervous. Especially when I realize there is no volunteer this year. I make a quick decision to become the kind of person I’m best at playing, a characterless person. You walk up to the stage with a blank face, watching the short path become extraordinarily long and torturous at this point.
I can fish, I can swim, my accuracy with knife is pretty good, I also know how to hunt in the woods. I say this in my mind, this is what I usually do. Better to talk to myself instead of others that I don’t trust. I take the stage and realize for the first time that there are so many people in District 4. If I knew I was really going to be chosen as tribute, I would have taken a shower earlier, or at least not gone out into the woods to get some fresh air so I wouldn't have any dirt on my body. I stand next to Angelica, the smell of her perfume taking my breath away. She looks at me for a few moments before walks over to the bowl of boys to her left, and picks out a piece of paper to reveal this year's male tribute.
“Pavel Carrey!”
She calls out the name, which sounds familiar to me, and as I look in Pavel’s direction, I realize that I do know him. He's sixteen and in the same school I go to. He walked timidly up to the stage with an uneasy look on his face. We both gave a token handshake, and after Angelica finished her closing remarks, “Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor.” I was led to the building behind the stage. In the room where tributes could meet their friends and family for the last time, no one came to see me, unsurprisingly. After Pavel done says goodbye to his family and friends, we sit in silence in the car that brings you to the train, I ignore Angelica’s incessant politeness as I look out the window.
On the train, I’m sitting awkwardly with Pavel. Neither of us seem to care to engage in communication with the other. But I can feel Pavel’s eyes on me all the time, watching you. I don't want to expose my softness to a future enemy at this point, so I just keep up the same old stand of indifference. After a few minutes, the three mentors entered the compartment, the same three that were sitting on the stage earlier. Mags, the only surviving female victor now. Finnick, the youngest victor, won his game two years ago. Bruce, an alcoholic, won the 52nd Hunger Games.
The first time I saw Finnick was not on Reaping two years ago, he had long been the center of discussion among the girls because of his handsome face. Especially when he was chosen as a tribute, literally all the girls in the school were talking about him. But when I see him up close now, I realize that he is indeed good looking, two years ago on Reaping I only get a chance to saw him from a distance.
Angelica has opened her mouth to introduce Pavel and I to these three people, although it is completely unnecessary. “Mags Flanagan, Finnick Odair, and Bruce Cartier. They are your mentors. In the next few days before the Game, they will be helping you in all ways to make you win.” I decide to show some polite since they are the only people that can help me. So I stand up and put on a friendly smile. Shake hands at each of them, “Thank you in advance for all the help you will give me in the future.”When I shake Mags hands, she also gives me a warm hug. After you finished shaking all three of their hands, Finnick spoke up in an uncertain tone and asked me, “You look a little familiar, I think I’ve seen you in the woods near the border.”
I froze for a moment, not knowing how to react, there was still a monitor in this carriage. I don't know if these victors have the privilege of going in, but if the peacekeeper heard what he said, I might be punished. Entering the woods was against the rules in District 4, I was only able to sneak in because there was a small hole cut in the fence. I immediately deny what he said, and raise a smile again to hide my fluster. “You must be looking at the wrong person, during the daytime then I’m going to follow the kids from the orphanage to fish. There are always supervisors with us.”
Finnick smiled a little, like he knows what I’m thinking. “Relax, no one even looks at the monitors here, and I know the person I saw in the woods was you. I saw the whole thing about how you quickly killed a rabbit with a knife. Very impressive.”
I hesitate for a while, then decide to admit the fact that I did went to the woods for a “few” time, since there’s no point to lie to my mentors anyways. “Well… yeah, I occasionally sneak into the woods to get myself some nutrition. Small animals like rabbits and squirrels move fast, so over time I’ve developed the ability to throw knives.” After hearing what I said, Bruce raises an eyebrow and nods his head in recognition. But then he asks me, “Where did you get those knives? Kitchen knives don’t sound like tools that can kill rabbits and squirrels.”
I hesitated for a few seconds, then decided there was little need to hide it from him. “Well... you know there are always people in the Career Academy who are careless and like to show off their stuff. No one would notice if someone like me, who has little presence, sneaks up behind them and thieves one or two. But when I was younger I used homemade knives, or lighter knives used for fish.” Finnick laughs at my words, “Stealing someone else’s knife? A rare approach indeed. So I suppose, you’re not a Career?”
“Yeah, my orphanage is not the kind of orphanage that's designed to train orphans into Careers.” I answered, but still feeling a slight awkwardness of what I just explained about the origin of those knives I used.
“Got it. You?” Finnick turn his head to Pavel who stand right next to me, still with his panic look. “I’m also not a Career…. But I always help at the docks, so I’m good at fishing and stuffs.”
I can tell that district 4 doesn't have much of a chance of winning this year, none of the two tributes are Career and neither one has any bright specialties. But over the course of my time with the people in this compartment, I’m gradually become less nervous than I was when I were first selected. I do have to admit that I’m still quite comfortable with Finnick, he's not as stupid as a lot of boys his age, and everyone here always kept a suitable sense of distance from me. I notice avoxes coming into this compartment, and I realize it is already lunchtime.
Once we are seated, my attention is immediately drawn to the abundance of food on the table. Still, I control myself to try and look as normal as possible, and while you're busy stuffing a bunch of food down your gullet, Finnick says to the table “I think it's time to start talking about strategies to use on Y/n and Pavel.” Bruce nodded and continued his words down the line, “I won’t try to hide the fact, but it's true that neither of you have shined so far. You are neither Careers nor did you come up here voluntarily.”
“Perhaps we should look at tributes from other districts? See how we can adjust our strategy for Y/n and I based on what we’ve got this year?”Pavel also forced himself to calm down and get involved in the discussion.
Bruce nodded and agreed. “We can do that. But both of you have to understand that the Capitol residents expect tributes from District 4 to be powerful like 1 and 2. Normally that's really how it should be, but this year was kind of a surprise.” When Bruce finished his sentence, the whole table fell silent. This year’s situation was by no means ideal, not a single volunteer or Career in District 4.
After lunch I went together to watch the videos from the other districts. It's kind of fortunate that the other districts don't seem to have any particularly colorful tributes at the moment, except for districts 1 and 2, there are two 17 years old Careers, and one 18, one 16. Meanwhile, while I had thought I sucked at my performance during Reaping, now it seems that the dirt on me, and the low body fat due to occasional nutritional deficiencies makes me look all muscular, and these just make me look like a strong competitor. And the look on my face when I walked on stage wasn't the look I thought most people would have, that look on me instead looked like I had everything under control, with no hint of panic or any other emotion. I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
“You two are going to act like mysterious at the Tribute Parade later on, so at least don't let your future sponsors decide you’re not worth the money invested.” Finnick exhorted us before I was about to arrive at Capitol. Angelica speaks after him, “If I remember correctly, we got new stylists this year, hopefully they can get you two enough attention at the Parade.”
“Now walk up and greet the Capitol fans you already have now, at least you both have good looking faces.” Finnick tease with me and Pavel, but I know he’s also signaling us to give response to those people waiting outside. As soon as the train arrives at the station, the noisy voices of the Capitol people immediately reach the train. I walk over to the window and greet the crowd with the same expression I used in the Reaping.
Later, I’m transferred to a room where a group of people with strange makeup clean every parts of my body, and weed out the stray hairs. After this torturous time has passed, I’m taken to a small, separate room where I lie on a hard board, waiting for something. After a few minutes, a person walks in. I rise warily to watch her approach; she doesn't look like any of the oddly-suited Capitol residents I’ve seen so far. She wears a regular suit, is bald, and the only thing somewhat distinctive about her is the surprisingly large number of piercings in her ears. I can’t actually tell if they are her actual ears or she just put a fake ear on herself.
“Hello, Y/n, I am Phanie. And I’m here to make the audience love you. I saw your performance on the Reaping. You’re more mature than people your age, and I’ve got just the right design for you.”I look over at her with some confusion; in past years, the stylists usually had the tributes from District 4 dressed as fish or fishermen. I can't help but be a little curious, what is she going to dress me up as?
Phanie walks in pulling a coat rack. She takes my hand and leads me to the cloth. I’m a little drawn to this dress, unlike the previous District 4 costumes, which were all light blue or yellow, the two representative colors of the ocean. This dress is turquoise blue on the inside of the baselayer, and the color changes slightly to follow the light. But on the outside there is something like a reef attached, and the closer I get to my upper body, the more dark red paint that gets on the reef and on the bottoming jacket. I can tell this red stuff represents blood. It slowly turns from a regular sea to a sea of blood, this dress seems to tell a story. When I put it on, no surprise it fits me well.
“Is Pavel’s cloth the same design as this?”
“Yes. But he's the other way around, your color shift is from bottom to top, his is from top to bottom. You’ll see how he looks when your makeup’s done.” As I walk outside with Phanie to the chariot, I meet Pavel, who is visibly blown away by the makeup on my face, “Woah, Y/n, your face looks like you just got out of a bloody battle.”
“Is it really that gory to watch? Then hopefully the Capitol's kids won't cry at me. I don't want to lose the sponsors who have kids. And Pavel, you look like you’re glowing.”
“My partner add noctiluca scintillans on his makeup and costum, so it does glow in the dark.” Phanie explained to me, and she strokes my shoulder in satisfaction. “Well, your sweet mentors just told me the two of you will be an opposing group in your personas. Y/n, you will continue to play the same unruffled look you did before. And Pavel, you will be the scared but still eloquent little boy.”
I nod my heads and walked up to the chariot. After the first three chariots have gone District 4’s chariot start to move as well, and the sudden jerking forward of the chariot almost makes me unsteady, but luckily my right hand holds on to the body. The applause and shouts of the crowd are about to deafen me, I ignore the noise on both sides, looking straight ahead as if nothing around me matters. I glanced to see Pavel waving enthusiastically at the audience. I bet the both of us definitely caused a great sense of contrast.
When the Tribute Parade ends, Pavel and me unsurprisingly gained a lot of attention. My team celebrated at dinner, while I’m still frantically picking up energy from the dishes near me. Finnick must’ve notices my behavior, and he joked. “You are still fortunate to have such tolerant mentors, the tributes of districts 1 and 2 are strictly controlled food intake even when they come to Capitol.”
I happen to swallow a mouthful of food in my mouth, “Then it looks like I'll really have to thank you guys for not stopping me from enjoying these treats. This seems to be one of the few benefits of not being 1 and 2’s tributes.”