Dependence - Book Two (Wattys 2013 Finalist)

Capitol Update: Reapings Part One

Universal POV:

‘’ Hello wonderful citizens of Panem! It certainly has been a very eventful few hours! We have half of our brave tributes that will be going forward to represent Districts One to Six in this year’s very special Quarter Quell!’’ Screams the overly enthusiastic voice of the Capitol news reporter – Piper Papillon – who has been the Capitol news reporter for twenty five years.

As she says this, the crowds of Capitol citizens around her cheer and applaud excitedly as they reminisce on the morning.

‘’ We will begin with District One – the District of Luxury.’’ She smiles into the camera. ‘’ Surprise, surprise, we had two volunteers from District One. The wonderful Belle Balentine, aged eighteen and the brave and confident Brutis Glaze, also aged eighteen. Both tributes seem fiery and capable and they both seemed very confident that they would do their District proud.’’

The crowd then erupts into a symphony of cheering – screaming the name of their favourite tribute – mostly Belle but there is quite a lot of cheering for Brutis as well.

‘’ From District Two – the District of Masonry – we had a bit of drama to say the least. As you all know, in some of the Districts, the children attend training centres to prepare them for the Hunger Games. They spend most of their lives training and when the time for the Hunger Games comes, the trainers vote and elect one male and one female to enter the Games. Those elected then volunteer at the Reaping. Although, as you know that wasn’t what happened this morning.’’ Explains Piper.

As she talks about Ravina’s actions, the crowd boo – disgusted that she would screw up the system of District Two.

‘’ Ravina Quill, aged sixteen volunteered as tribute before the elected female had the chance and therefore Ravina was put forward to enter the Hunger Games. She better hope that she does well, or her District will never forgive her!

Thankfully, Margo Mead – aged seventeen – managed to volunteer as he was supposed to without being beaten by a cheater. He seemed very capable of entering from what I’ve heard from some of the comments of the trainers so I look forward to the interviews when I can chat with him. As well as this, he used the word ‘necessary’ to describe his participation in the Hunger Games – so that will probably be an interesting thing to talk about in the interviews as well. So anyway, that was District Two!’’

As she says this, the crowd explodes into a mixture of cheering for Margo and booing for Ravina, yet Piper manages to quieten them pretty quickly.

‘’ Now, for District Three – the District of Technology!’’ Begins Piper and the crowds scream. ‘’ Do I sense the beginning of a love story? Or are they really just friends as young Osmo Overton – aged fifteen – said to his escort? I certainly hope not! Echo Sparks – aged fifteen – was the person Reaped first, she looked very dashing with her beautiful white hair and obviously Osmo feared for her safety so felt he had to volunteer to make sure he could protect her, let’s hope the two get paired together or this could get difficult for the two of them! They will definitely be a very interesting duo to interview in a few days.’’

The crowd goes wild, screaming the names of both Osmo and Echo crazily – the two of obviously among the crowd favourites so far.

‘’ Next, District Four – the fishing District! This was definitely a very memorable Reaping if I do say so myself! For the first time ever in Hunger Games history, the daughter of a Mayor was Reaped! Little Lilly Cullen – aged sixteen – is the daughter of District Four’s Mayor and was chosen to represent District Four in the one hundred and twenty fifth Hunger Games. I bet her father is so proud of her!’’

The causes the crowd to burst into screams of admiration.

‘’ As well as this, we have another love story brewing between the star crossed lovers of District Four. Caspian Reef – aged sixteen – volunteered as tribute just like Osmo to protect the girl he loves. How romantic! I am certainly excited about interviewing the tributes from District Four as well! I think they’ll provide us with lots of entertainment!’’

The crowds of adoring Capitol citizens obviously like a good love story because they scream crazily for Caspian and Lilly as they did for Osmo and Echo.

‘’ Now then, District Five – the District of Power – was again a very exciting Reaping! For the first time in a very long time, twenty five years to be precise, a set of twins were Reaped. The hasn’t happened since Percy and Felicity Jones back in the Ultimate Games when I was first a news reporter for the Capitol. Ethan and Ellie Rhodes – aged sixteen – were both chosen to enter the Hunger Games this year to represent District Five.

It certainly was quite an eventful Reaping. Ellie was chosen first, and she went up to the stage. She had been very pale – that much is clear – and when her twin brother Ethan was also picked to enter the arena with her, she simply fainted on the stage. The two of those will certainly be interesting to speak with for the interviews!’’

The crowd cheer again, screaming the names of the twins as well as the occasional cheer for Percy and Felicity Jones – who unfortunately perished.

‘’ Finally for District Six – the District of Transport! This was quite an interesting Reaping, as our two youngest contestants so far were chosen, fourteen year old Odhan Tyrell and twelve year old Acacia Frost. Both of our tributes seem quite innocent, poor Odhan even had a limp but I bet the two will be more than they first appeared to us – well, at least I hope they do!’’

Again the crowd cheer.

‘’ Now then, we have gone through first twelve tributes, I have a few announcements for you all! Firstly, regarding the arena. Just like in the last Quarter Quell, we have decided that we want the citizens of Panem to be more involved in the Games so you, the citizens of Panem will get to vote on what arena the tributes will be entering. I have here an envelope with the three options you have to choose from.’’ Begins Piper whilst opening a golden envelope and removing a piece of parchment from inside.

‘’ Option one is a completely natural arena, with large forests, a lake, mountains and lots of wild animals for the tributes to hunt. This will be quite like many of the normal Hunger Games that we have had in the past!

Option two is an island. It will be quite a large island with sandy beaches, a volcano, plenty of palm trees, some abandoned ruins of a temple and some forests as well! This will obviously be exciting as there would be lots of beautiful scenery and lots of nice spots where the tributes could fight.

Finally, option three is quite different as it has never been done before. It is also an island however it is an island with a small village on it. It will have forests, beaches, lakes and rivers, but it will also have houses, shops and other interesting buildings that the tributes will have access to including a school, a boat yard and a dock area!

So please send in your votes to the Capitol, you have until the next Capitol Update which we air once the final six Districts have finished with their Reapings!’’

The crowd screams excitedly at the thought of getting to choose the arena, and I spot quite a few already taking out their phones to send in their votes.

‘’ As well as this, we want you to send in your thoughts on the pairings for the Games. Unfortunately you don’t get to choose the pairings between tributes, but if you could choose them, which tributes would you pair together so far?’’

The crowd shout out a few suggestions such as ‘keep Osmo and Echo together!’ or ‘don’t separate the twins!’ and Piper smiles.

‘’ Good choices! Now then, that is all I have to say for now, I will talk to you all as soon as the District Twelve Reapings have concluded and we have our next batch of twelve contestants. So until then, Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour!’’