Chapter Text
Why did the reaping have to happen in the middle of summer? Not only that, the hottest part of summer, when the district had to deal with unbearable humidity. It felt like her hair and clothes were sticking to everything around her, making this whole thing even more hellish than it needed to be. Maybe she should be happy it’s not raining this year, how the weather usually was like in District 6.
There was also the fact that they had to cram tens of thousands of teenagers in a stadium for this event on top of that.
It took so long to have everyone in place and then it only lasted for 15 minutes max, what a waste.
She tried not to think that it ended with 2 of those teenagers being snatched to the Capitol and sent back home in a box for their loved ones.
Maureen Trevi knew what was the routine by now, this was the 11th year she had to do this.
It was Victor’s duty to be present at these things, now that she had done this for a decade it had finally started to lose the dread that it originally had. Maybe that part was more of an effect of getting high on painkillers before the reaping happened though. The numbness was such a comfort in all of this.
The mayor is doing his usual speech. She is not listening to any of it. Just looking up, focusing on the swirls in the skies, the sunglasses she wore made the sky look like such a pretty color.
She started to flip the glasses off and on to see the difference, more interesting than whatever the mayor was saying.
Then she felt someone poking her shoulder and she looked to her left. Ford was giving her a look of disapproval, his eyes were a bit hidden behind his thick glasses, but she knew what he was trying to say. She stopped playing with her sunglasses and sat herself up straight, still not listening to what the mayor was saying though.
Ford had arrived early at Maureen’s house actually, to make sure she was somewhat presentable for the reaping. Said something along the lines of:
“We want District 6 to look its best this year, don’t we? ”
He was the first victor from the district and was even more used to this than she was. As he won his games almost 50 years ago now- but even he could not get through the game season without getting blackout drunk at some point.
He was just better at “hiding” his problems than she was. Having a persona who was just seen as a harmless old man who sometimes drank too much. Helped that people liked him, she knew that no matter what she did, she just put people off these days.
Ford had picked out a nice black dress from her closet with short sleeves for her. Because of the shortness of the sleeves, she decided to wear some long-sleeved fingerless gloves, she had gotten comments from years before that it didn't appeal to the Capitol audience being able to see needle marks on her arms. Could not be bothered to get those complaints again.
When Ford was done fixing up Maureen’s long dark hair, Ford said she looked beautiful and gave her a reassuring smile.
Kennedy however was pretty blunt with how dreadful Maureen looked for the reaping. Which honestly validated Maureen’s feelings more than Ford’s kind, but false words of encouragement.
Kennedy was the second victor from District 6 who won almost 2 decades before Maureen's own victory. Unlike Maureen she had short black hair that she made a habit of cutting herself. Which made it be rather uneven and stick out everywhere.
Came off as pretty intimidating compared to the other two victors: With the way she rarely smiled and her scars that ran down over her left eye. Unlike the other two victors of six, she thought herself above using drugs or alcohol to deal with the games, at least that's the impression Maureen got from her. Barely touching the stuff, and had made not-so-subtle past remarks at her two fellow victors that they should get their act together more.
Kennedy was sitting next to Maureen on her right with arms crossed; she would glance over to Maureen with her good eye every once in a while. Probably to make sure Maureen did not fall asleep or make a fool of herself during the reaping. It made her feel like a child, she was supposed to be this woman’s peer, not someone that she had to babysit at all times.
Maureen tried her best to ignore Kennedy and decided to try to pay attention to what the escort had to say as he made his way on stage.
There was a new escort this year, he was wearing a canary yellow suit, with a matching wig. His entire look stood out amongst the gray and black of District 6, kind of like an eyesore. At least her sunglasses made his outfit look more palatable.
Unfortunately. because this was his first year as an escort for 6 he wanted to do a “proper” introduction to the district he was gonna represent. This is going to take longer than it needs to be, joy.
He was talking about how much he has loved trains since he was a kid, what an honor it was to represent District 6 in the games or some other bullshit like that.
Even high she knew he probably did not mean a single thing about all of this and was desperate to get a better district, even an outer district like 7 and 10 would be preferable to 6. At least tributes from those districts, even if they didn’t win, were usually entertaining. They also had some semblance of fighting spirit and had the survival skills needed for the games.
District 6, the transportation district, didn't have any useful skills to bring in the games, no fighting skills, and even less so when it came to survival skills. Most tributes from 6 usually died in the bloodbath or got taken by the elements. Haven’t even had that many memorable runner up tributes either, just getting lost between the other 22 tributes in the game. A great sacrifice to remind the district of its crime during the dark ages.
Maureen felt a bit of rare solidarity with Kennedy when she looked at her side because that woman was not hiding how done she was with the new escort. Sending daggers with her glare that the escort was oblivious to was coming his way.
Maureen was sure if the escort went on for any longer now Kennedy would get up and hit him with the microphone herself to get him to shut up. Everyone wanted this to be done as soon as possible and this fool was keeping everyone hostage. What did District 6 do to deserve this?
He was finally done with his introduction and did a grand gesture to pick up a slip of paper from the girl’s bowl. He read the girl's name and Maureen could hear someone yell for the girl in the crowd, maybe a brother? a friend? a partner? Maureen did not know and tried not to care.
She started to sway back and forth in her chair, humming quietly to herself and digging her nails into her arms. Why can’t this be over already?
“Can you get her to shut up?” the Mayor hissed towards the other victors like she could not hear him.
Ford said something back to the mayor, Maureen did not catch what he said, but from the tone, it seemed to be one of those days he did not care to be nice to the mayor. Then she felt Ford reaching for her hand, trying to stop her from digging her nails into her arm. She proceeded to clutch the fabric of her dress, rubbing her thumb over it.
The girl finally made it to the stage, Maureen glanced to see her, she had long red-gold waves, that was sat up in a ponytail. She couldn’t see the girl’s face from where she was sitting but it was clear the girl was sobbing.
The reaping of the boy's tribute went by a lot faster. He wasn’t crying or shaking, he was as matter-of-fact about this whole thing as he could be. Just walked up next to his district partner with no resistance or hesitation. Having his head held up high to the crowd.
The escort made the tributes shake hands. The anthem started to play and they all had to stand up to it. Maureen almost fell over, but Kennedy caught her before she could do that. Hopefully, the cameras didn’t catch that. When she felt the vertigo go away she brushed Kennedy’s grip off and proceeded to look up to the sky again. After all, it's been more than a decade since her games, she knew what was expected of this whole ceremony by now.
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“Maureen Trevi!'' The voice of Vivi is still echoing in her head even though it’s been hours since the reaping. She almost knew deep down that the games were gonna get to her one day. Call it irrational, with District 6 having one of the biggest population among the Districts, what would be the chances really to get picked for this? Especially her last year being eligible for the games.
But here she was, sitting on the train to be taken to the Capitol for their sick entertainment. She was still thinking about her family. Her dad and sister’s words were still playing in her head. It was one of the first times she had seen her younger sister cry over anything, Sam was usually so tough. Telling Maureen how much she was going to miss her. Her dad told her to be brave, but Maureen did not feel brave. Felt like a child who was just waiting to be woken up from her nightmares any minute now. But she had put on a brave face for her family and did not want to taint their last memory of her, with a hopeless crying mess.
Had almost hoped her mother would show up as well, but she didn't, which Maureen wished she could say was a surprise.
When her best friend came to say goodbye to her, that was when she finally broke. Just crying her eyes out, Sienna comforted her to her best ability. Even told Maureen she was rooting for her to win this and that they were going to see each other again. She had seemed so sincere in that statement, Maureen almost believed it. Sienna even gave her necklace to Maureen so it could be her token for the games, saying she was expecting Maureen to give it back herself in a few weeks. She wanted to give it back immediatley, could never accept something that was so precious, but knowing Sienna she was never gonna accept back except under her conditions.
Maureen knew she had to at least try to win, and couldn't just let herself give up before the game had even started. Even managing to find an appetite to eat some of the plenty of food in front of her. All this food was supposed to be their lunch? Unbelievable, she would not even eat lunch most days. How nice of the Capitol to treat her so nicely before they root for her death.
She looked over her district partner, his name was Dev she had learned. He was around the same age as her sister and his dark eyes did not seem to have a single thought behind them. Maureen didn’t know him, which she felt bad for thinking was a blessing. Would never want to enter the arena with someone she knew or cared about at any level.
Dev wasn’t touching any of the plenty of food he had on his plate, just stirring it around with his fork. Even if she did not know him, she could not stand how defeated he looked.
“You should try this one” Maureen picked up one of the bread pieces from the basket. “It’s my favorite, it even has salt flakes on it”. She handed the bread piece to Dev. He reluctantly accepted it and started to nib at it slowly.
Maureen glimpsed up to see the former victors of her district. The woman, Kennedy Thomas was not hiding how little hope she had for the tributes sitting across from her. With her shaking her head subtly seeing Dev barely eating anything already assigning himself to his doom. What was she expecting from them? Dev was only 13, he was already doomed.
The woman had won the games the year Maureen was born, so she didn’t have any memories of her games at all. Must have been a brutal game looking at the scars she most likely got from them. She looked away when Kennedy caught her staring at her, she hadn’t meant to stare for that long.
Did not call her out on that though, she was probably used to it.
The other Victor, Ford, a man who was around the same age as her dad with thinning black hair and thick glasses who was sitting next to Kennedy, seemed at least a bit nicer. He explained a bit of what they were going to focus on before the games started. From the slurring of some of his words, Maureen could tell he was already a bit tipsy. Could even smell it a bit from him but he was still trying to explain the whole concept of mentoring to her and Dev. Telling them they could pick which one between the two of them they could have.
Maureen just ended up telling Ford that she needed some time to think it over and if anything Dev could pick first. Dev did not say anything to that, maybe giving a small nod.
When they were watching the reapings from the other districts Vivi, the escort for 6 these past few years was going on about how this year’s game is probably not gonna be as hard. The second Quarter Quell was next year. The arena was hopefully not gonna be that advanced, using the budget on next year’s game she speculated. Like that was supposed to make them feel better, it’s not like they had a chance to begin with, even if the arena wasn’t a technical masterpiece.
District 1,2 and 4 had their usual strong and beautiful tributes. She could barely believe some of them were supposed to be the same age as her. They were practically twice her size, she would look like a child next to these brutes. The girl from 4 seemed to be capable to pick Maureen up and break her spine like nothing if she got the chance. The tributes from 3 and 5 didn’t stand out much. They just looked like scared children, not a threat. It felt so cold to think about them that way.
Maureen felt herself cringing seeing herself on the screen. She looked pathetic honestly, with the way her face had gotten 3 shades paler and missing what Vivi said to her and just replied with a “huh?” right into the microphone. She stood out in the worst possible way. Everyone in the capitol must already decide to not bet on her victory or give her any sponsor gifts.
If anything they are probably betting she would be one of the first casualties of this year's game. Dev did not look much better either seeing as he looked like he was about to throw up when he arrived on stage. The commentators said something about maybe District 6 will surprise us in the arena which honestly meant
“These tributes don’t have a chance”
In District 7, a stoic girl was picked, Maureen wished that was how she looked for her reaping. It would be better than a girl that looked she was about to faint. When it came to the male tributes, a young boy with red-brown curls got picked. When the cameras picked him out of the crowd he gave a big cheeky smile to it.
Oh, he is going to be a joy in the arena, Maureen thought to herself. It reminded her of the big fake smiles the kids from 1 would give to the camera, in an attempt to get the audience to fall in love with them before the games started.
The camera suddenly switched to the victors of 7 and Maureen noticed one of the victors having the same curly red-brown hair as the boy. The woman pressed her lips together and a fellow victor put his hand on her shoulder.
“Oh poor Rowan, at least she has two other girls” Vivi sighs, shaking her head.
Dev started to sniff loudly, Maureen remembered there was a woman being comforted by three other girls in the justice hall, was that how he comforted himself? At least his mom has his sisters. Would her dad be okay if he at least had Sam on his side after Maureen dies? She tried not to think of that.
Maureen looked over at the two potential mentors. Kennedy seemed to roll her eyes seeing Dev and Ford had already taken a bottle of some type of booze downing it slowly.
What great choices for mentors we got here, Maureen thought to herself. A woman who could not give a shit about her or an alcoholic who immediately reached for a bottle when he got upset.
She didn’t know these people that well. However, seeing how Maureen had lived an entire lifetime without seeing a single District 6 victory they must both be pretty terrible at their job.
She continued to watch the reapings, the tributes from 8 were both under 15, which gave her an uneasy feeling. The outer districts had some standouts like the boy from 10 and the girl from 11. Honestly, all the faces and names of her competition were becoming a big blur. After the reapings are done playing, she just got up and walked to her room. Vivi was saying something to her but she ignored it.
When she was standing in her room, she was starting to think how many other girls had stood in the same spot as her. There was a nightshirt layed out in the bed for her. It was a bit too big for her, but so impossibly soft. Lying in the bed fidgeting with Sienna’s necklace. Thoughts around her dad, sister, Dev, and Sienna is rotating in her head, and most importantly how she was most likely going to die in a week, almost managing to find some comfort in that.
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Maureen woke up in the armchair in the main lounge of the train. Had no memory of how she ended up here. She must have been sleeping for a while because the sun was starting to set down and the cart was painted with an orange hue. The feelings of the Morphling she took earlier this morning were fading from her body, she had some more in her bag, but where was it?
Had she put it in her room? Did not want to wait to get to the capitol before getting a new hit. Pathetic that was the only thing that was on her mind, but honestly the more numb she felt the more bearable it was to revisit the Capitol and the games. At least that’s what she told herself.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
The voice calling to her slowly takes her out of her drowsiness, was it her imagination?
“You are awake right?”
Finally, she adjusted properly to the vision in front of her and flipped her sunglasses up her head.
A young boy was sitting on the couch to the left of her. She concluded in her head that this must be the boy tribute for this year's games. It was the first time she had a good look at him. His clothes for the reaping did not fit quite right. Both the sleeves of his shirt and his pants legs were too short for him, making him look more lanky than he already was.
His dirty blond hair was on the longer side covering his ears. It seemed he had spent a good amount of time fixing it up for the reaping. Perhaps to make up for his old clothes.
“How long was I sleeping?” She asked him, rubbing her eyes and trying to wake herself up more.
“Oh basically ever since the train left 6” He answered, he turned to look out the window. “Think we are soon at the District 9 border maybe?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked him, Shouldn’t this kid be doing something else besides making sure she was awake? Usually, Ford was the one who came to check on her or if she was unlucky it was Kennedy throwing water in her face.
“Well, I wanted to spend some time with my mentor before the day was over” He smiled at her, but she didn’t smile back.
Maureen felt bad the boy had gotten her as a mentor. Honestly, he must be thinking the same thing, all her tributes usually did. With District 6 having 3 victors they were supposed to change it up each year who was gonna have the main responsibilities as the year's mentor for the kids, she must have missed it that she was supposed to be one this year.
“We also ate dinner. Mr. Wright said you probably did not want to be woken up, but I took a plate for you,” He pointed at the plate that he had put on the table in front of her. It was some sort of beef stew with two pieces of bread on the side, she didn’t touch it. Guess it was nice of him to think about her, but she was not hungry.
"Soooo do you have any advice? I know you hid for a good amount of time in your games. How did you do it?" the boy asked her while he moved closer to her, so they were sitting across from each other.
She did not want to talk about her games, she tried so desperately to forget it and everything after it. Now this kid wanted her to talk about it. Perhaps a bit selfish to not want to talk, but he did not need to witness her getting a panic attack.
“I remember you did that in your game” he started to ramble after she did not respond. “Your game was the first game I remember watching” He continued fiddling with his fingers while talking. Where is this going?
“Good thing you won that year, pretty sure my sister and I wouldn’t have survived that winter if it wasn’t for your victory, that parcel food really helped”
“Why are you telling me this?” She finally said to him, was not sure if it was the drugs, the lack of drugs, or something else that made her confused.
What was this kid talking about? Did he try to get on her good side? Why would he bother doing that, her job was to help him no matter what. She has had ruder tributes than him, she still tried to help them, even if it was clear they had no respect for her.
“I…I don’t know…I guess it’s me saying thank you....for you know saving my life....kind off” he trails off, looking away from her and instead looking at the floor.
Maureen wanted to protest, she did not save lives. She was a coward that had let 23 children die so she could just waste her life away in her big empty mansion. This kid thought she was a hero? What was wrong with him?
Of course, she does not say any of that out loud, she had enough sense to not be mean to a kid that was gonna die in a week.
“…Nice to hear something good came from that”
Shame it amounted to nothing in the end, with him being reaped for the games himself.
“So back to the original topic, is there anything I should do before the games start?” well he was not giving up getting her to talk.
What could she possibly do to help him, he was going to be sent back in a box. She didn’t have that much power to prevent that, but she wasn’t gonna break the kid’s delusions that he had a chance to survive this thing.
“You should focus on survival skills” Maureen tried to explain, trying to think back to her games and the 10 games that came after hers and some from before.
“Are you fast?” she asked, she could try her best to pretend to believe she could help him.
“I’m one of the fastest boys in my class, actually” he proudly claimed.
“Good, running is good” He was probably nowhere near as good as the careers or a mutt, but him not having a problem running was promising at least. Maybe he can live through the bloodbath with that.
They continued talking about strategies throughout the evening. Or more accurately he would be the one to ask a million questions to her about the games and different strategies he had thought about. She would just try to answer to her best ability. Sometimes she would zone out and he had to snap her back to reality. But he still was listening intently to what she had to say. The boy at some point even took a pen and napkin from his pocket and started to write down the tips Maureen gave him.
She did not have the heart to tell him she won through sheer dumb luck in her opinion, most victors were like this, especially if you were not from a career district like 1,2 or 4. Still tried her best to answer his questions even if all she was thinking to do was get out of the room and get her hit again. She felt the headache was creeping up on her slowly.
Neither she nor the boy even noticed that Kennedy had walked into the cart before she slammed her hand on a table next to her. It made them both turn to where she was standing.
“Good evening Ms. Thomas, was there something?” The boy said to Kennedy, giving her a smile as she was walking up to them.
“You should go to bed, kid,” Kennedy said back, with considerably less enthusiasm than him.
“I’m not tired and I still have more questions,” the boy insisted, holding the napkin he was writing on, showing it to Kennedy proudly. She rolled her eyes.
“Ask them tomorrow then,” she said with a snare.
He was about to protest again, but he caught the look she was giving him. He gave a big sigh and started walking to his room.
“Good night Ms. Trevi, thanks for the talk, '' he said before closing the door behind him. Maureen was gonna say it back, but then she realized she did not know what his name was. Now she felt bad they had gone through this entire conversation and she never asked what his name was once.
“Well looks like you two were productive,” Kennedy said while sitting down where the boy sat earlier, she pointed to the plate in front of her. “Are you gonna eat that?”
Maureen just took a piece of bread, that was all she had the appetite for and she felt bad that the kid had gone out of his way to give this to her. Also did not need Kennedy to pester her about eating something.
“Did you figure out what's the deal with the kid?” Maureen looked over at Kennedy.
“What are you talking about?” Maureen said, dipping some of the bread in the stew.
“I mean he asked if he could have you as a mentor and I just haven’t figured it out yet” Looking up and down at Maureen.
Well, that was a new one, he wanted her as a mentor. Why? She did not have a good reputation as one, too out of this world to do anything useful for her tributes.
Did not even have that much respect amongst her fellow victors, she knew they all just pitied her more than anything. But this kid wanted her as a mentor? It was hard to say that did not get her attention a bit.
“He said something about my victory saving him and his sister from starving…but I don’t know…I didn’t know he wanted me specifically”
Kennedy seemed a bit disappointed by that answer. However, she seemed to let it go.
"Another year as mentors together I guess," Kennedy said, Maureen nodded to that. Then she remembered she had not even seen Kennedy's tribute at all since traveling on the train.
“How is the other tribute actually?” Maureen found herself asking, she remembered how distraught the girl was earlier. Kennedy clasped her hands together, clicking her tongue.
“A mess honestly, I give the boy credit he is at least hiding it better,” she said.
“I don’t know, he seems confident that he has a chance somehow,” Maureen told her.
“He’s an excellent actor then” Kennedy dismissed Maureen’s comment and Maureen decided she did not have the energy to argue with her.
Still, she thought back to the boy, she was not confident to call it just acting.
He seemed to have a plan, but what that plan was she had not bothered to put together. Maybe his planning would at least make him live in the first few days, that’s the best she can hope for any of her tributes.