. . . the reaping. basically, a death sentence- where tributes from the age of 12-18 are chosen to fight to the death in the hunger games, the prime source of entertainment for the capitol. the event that was looked upon with fear and dread. one could only cross their paws and pray that the name that left the escort's mouth wasn't their own. alas, your 19th birthday would be naught to laugh at, for on that fateful day, you'd be free of the risk, free of being chosen. serenity never planned for her 19th birthday to come. she had no use for tesserae. food was never a problem for her household. she had only put extra slips of her name in there to give to the families and children who did. not out of the goodness of her heart, like most would say- it would be more accurate to say she didn't have one. increasing her chances of being picked wasn't a problem for her. she'd been planning on entering the games ever since she realized that being able to feel little to no emotion, no matter what circumstances, wasn't normal. the tesserae were just a bonus- a way to improve her already skyrocketing reputation in district 5. ren waited patiently, as more and more adolescents' names were called. serenity tapped her tail on the dusty ground, humming. two more words left the escort's mouth. the silhouette of a young, vulnerable cat was nearly dragged out of the clusters of felines. quivering. a murmur of disagreement rippled throughout the crowd- they wouldn't last a day in the arena. a fresh rosebud, not even given a chance to bloom- had been plucked from its stem, left to wither. her bright, duel-heterochromatic eyes narrowed. this was her chance. she silently dropped a few eyedrops in, before pushing her way through. she cleared her throat. her vision was already blurry. a nice touch, she thought to herself, subtly blinking back the artificial tears. this gesture, despite seeming mild, would speak thousands of words that she wouldn't utter. leave it up to them to interpret! "...stop." "i volunteer." "i volunteer as tribute." as soon as that statement dropped from her tongue, an uproar could be heard. take her rose instead! take what most would find lovely and fragrant. take what would distract most by the beautiful, pure petals. take her instead, remaining completely ignorant of the thorns hidden below. . . . Beatrix never liked these reapings. They always stressed her out, always shaking every moment in hope that she and Ren were safe. That's why she got a total of zero sleep last night! The coffee this morning hadn't helped at all- Beatrix was still groggy and sluggish. So she hadn't been paying attention to names much, just keeping herself upright next to Serenity until it could be over and she could get some rest. And then Serenity moved up towards the front. Beatrix's eyes widened, but she couldn't chase after. Not yet. She'd caught Serenity's yell, too, though it was a bit fuzzy. It would be fine. " I volunteer as well! " She choked out, trying her best to keep it loud over the commotion. People looked at her, puzzled. Beatrix was confused, too. Were they just wondering who she'd go instead of..? Oh. Now she noticed. On the slip of paper the announcer was holding, it read her name, and yet she just announced she was volunteering. That was embarrassing. Beatrix ran up to catch up to Serenity, now shivering. . . . part one of the writing is by yours truly part two of the writing is by
