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Grian was vaguely aware that there were now two peacekeepers with hands firmly on his shoulders guiding him towards the stage. He saw his peers make space for him and move in unison to avoid standing in the way, but all he was really able to notice were the gut-wrenching screams still coming from his sister as she was dragged back inside the Justice Building.
Ren was quicker than most to recover, as he introduced him to the crowd whom he’d grown up with and those behind the Capitol screens.
“Well, well that’s quite the reaction, I’m sure that if this sort of energy is carried into the city, the Capitol will be incredibly excited to learn your story!”
He took the reins in Grian’s movement, guiding him to wave at the cameras, he cringed when Ren’s hand touched his shoulders and he tensed up even more if possible, Ren noticed and adjusted his touch to be as light as he could make it.
“So please give a big applause to Grian, the District 12 tribute for these exciting 149th Life Games!”
Once again the crowd did not react well to Ren’s call to action, instead they almost simultaneously bowed forward, in a rather uncomfortable manner, with their back straight and their arms pressed to their sides. Grian recognised the last bow that is given to the fallen, an old district gesture, symbolising respect and a deep connection to those who we can no longer understand.
He mimicked the bow, to thank them, then he was getting dragged into the Justice Building by Capitol peacekeepers, who had no regard for his well being, unlike the District 12 ones who had known him.
The Justice Building was less warm, but the air was still sticky and thick, and Grian took what might have been his first breath in the past 5 minutes.
He felt his knees buckle and he landed on the floor with a thud, only for the peacekeepers to immediately start dragging him again, over into a small room, where they unceremoniously plonk him onto a velvet loveseat.
The paint on the walls is fancy, but chipping, the chairs are uncomfortably plush and the decor is tacky in its way of mimicking elegance. The decorative vase that was sitting on a small table the year prior had not been replaced after Pearl had smashed it into the wall during what was supposed to be their last goodbye.
Now Grian was back in there, as a tribute himself, and he wondered who would come to say goodbye to him. Obviously Pearl wouldn’t, even if she hadn’t been his mentor, Grian could still hear her scream in the next room.
He didn’t have many friends from school, and most of them had avoided him since last year's games, as he’d started to sulk around a lot. And not having yet started to work in the mines it’s not like he hung out with that crowd either. There might have been a few people that were kind to him at the black market, but none of them would ever care enough to come say goodbye to him.
As he wondered the answer walked through the door; the door was opened by a peacekeeper as Matilda and Evelyn’s, his kind landlords, stood there in silence that looked like they might have been whisper-arguing seconds before. It wasn’t unexpected, as they were always bickering, even after 50 years together, a sweet sight really, something that brought a sense of relief and familiarity to Grian.
The moment the door closed behind them Grian started sobbing, and immediately they were beside him, trying to console him as they had the year before, or when he was orphaned all those years ago and they took him and Pearl in. He cried because he was going to die, he cried because he was alone, he cried because he missed his sister and he cried because it just was not fair, when he finally managed to calm himself he noticed that Matilda and Evelyn were teary eyed too.
“That’s alright Pesky Bird, it’s going to be alright, you are not alone.”
Matilda’s gentle words and his childhood nickname snapped him back to reality.
“It’s not going to be okay though,”
Grian stood up slowly and walked away from where they were sitting.
”I am going to die and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I will die, and I will be alone when I do.”
He really wasn’t in the mood for meaningless kindness, his situation was desperate, and no amount of comforting would change that.
The sobs were welling back up in his throat when he felt Evelyn’s firm hand on his shoulder, nudging him to turn around and face her. When he did, her expression did not convey sadness or despair, instead she looked almost disappointed.
When she spoke her voice gave no hint of the crying that her red eyes betrayed.
“First of all, you could win. Do not think of yourself as dead yet, that will not help. You are a fighter, and if there is anyone that can help you it’s your sister, and Pearl will do everything in her power to help you. She loves you.”
Grian opened his mouth to point out how they hadn’t spoken for over 8 months, and that she had refused to see him, but Evelyn did not allow him to get a word in.
“Secondly, even in the arena, you will not be alone. We have something to give you, a gift from your mother, an old family heirloom she entrusted us with until you’d be all grown up.”
Matilda pulled a small brown packet from one of the many pockets of her dress. It was a small thing, wrapped hastily with recycled paper and string. When she handed it to him it felt heavier than he’d have expected it to be.
With shaking hands Grian undid the bow and opened it. Inside was a small golden animal skull, maybe a pig, whose jaw was hinged as to open and close, laced with rope so that it could be worn as a necklace.
He held it up in his hands, taking it in from every angle, the craftsmanship was remarkable, extremely more detailed than any other piece of jewelry he’d seen before, and it’s hinged jaw made it more than a simple necklace, it was intended to be used as a nutcracker, and it obviously had been through the years as its teeth were slightly chipped.
“A pig? Why?” Pigs weren’t exactly common in District 12, as farm animals or as butchered meat. Poultry and goats were much more common.
“It’s a hog, not a pig. And if I’m honest, I’m not really sure, but according to your mother it’s been with your family since before the rebellion.” Evelyn replied.
“It’s beautiful, I just hope they let me keep it in the arena, they usually don’t allow tokens that could help survival.”
Grian slipped the necklace on and played with the jaws, making them snap open and closed again, to point out its usefulness as a nutcracker.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, I doubt any of the Capitol folks have ever had to crack their own nuts.”
Matilda had always known how to be cheerful, in the direst moments, and so she managed to get a chuckle out of Grian despite everything. But the levity of the moment passed and from outside the door the peacekeeper called time, so they hugged him, wished him good luck and in no uncertain terms ordered him to not despair.
Grian was going to immediately disregard that order, but instead of the loneliness he expected, someone else walked in the door.
The mayor of all people was not someone who he’d have expected, as far as he knew she had not visited any of the previous tributes.
“Good afternoon young man, I trust your previous visits went well.”
Mayor Williams is an angular woman, both in her appearance and her demeanour. She did not care for the common folks of the Seam, and only concerned herself to better the inner town area of District 12, in a pathetic attempt to mimic the capitol she had visited once upon a time, as she reminded everyone during all her speeches.
Grian stared at her sheepishly, unable to imagine what she had to tell him.
“As you probably know, I do not usually visit the tributes before they are sent to enjoy the Capitol, honestly I’d be too jealous if they get to visit it.”
She said as she placed a well manicured hand on his shoulder.
Even with his depleted emotional bandwidth the comment was outrageous to get Grian angry, how could anyone be so insensitive and brainwashed was beyond him.
“I am going to die, where do you get off?”
He barely kept himself from shouting out. He did not keep himself from slapping her hand away with decisively more force than necessary.
With a shocked face of someone who couldn’t grasp that they were being disrespected, she cleaned her hand in a white handkerchief.
“There is no need to get hostile with me young man, I am just here to confirm that the reaping was in fact not rigged, as the people seemed concerned that had been the case, for whatever reason. But I guess since you’re going to die either way it doesn’t really matter, I don’t see what that crazed girl is worried about.”
The mayor was already turning around to leave when Grian spoke up.
“Take that back.”
“Excuse me?”
“My sister, she’s not crazy. She has been through more than your pompous ass could ever imagine. Apologize.”
A flash of realisation went over Williams’s face, as she realises for the first time why the accusations of rigging could make sense.
“Really you should stop raising your voice at people, have some respect for your superiors and maybe this little trip to the Capitol can be good for you. Really the youth-”
She did not have time to finish her lecture as Grian punched her square in the jaw.
She fell hard on her ass and immediately started screaming, frantically calling for help, saying that he was gonna kill her. Grian for his part stayed perfectly still, in a state of stupor over what he had done. It was only when the Mayor was escorted out still wailing that he moved, he sat back down on the couch, knowing that he would not be punished, what more could they do to him anyway.
In the other room Pearl had at some point stopped screaming, but he wasn’t sure when.
Even if they were twice her size, the two Capitol peacekeepers that had been assigned to monitor her for the day struggled to carry Pearl back inside the Justice building. She had wondered why they had been put there, it was not a good day for sure, but what was she gonna do.
Well now it was clear, they figured she would cause a scene when her brother was reaped, and they were right.
Of course she was going to scream, the Reaping had to have been rigged, it was punishment, for not being likeable enough, for not obeying the Capitol’s rules. Even though no one knew what she had really done to win her games, no one but the Gamemakers and the President, she was being punished. And she had dragged her brother down with her.
They shoved her in a side room and stood guard at the door as she wailed on the floor, but they didn’t care for anything she tried to say through the sobs.
She had to set this right, to talk to someone who had even a lick of power. Maybe the Mayor could do something, if she managed to get the word out that the Reaping had been rigged the people would be angry, they would have to re-do it.
When the door opened, Pearl hoped it would be the Mayor, that her protests had been heard. Instead it was Ren, their new Capitol chaperone that came in.
“Haven’t you got quite the set of pipes on yourself! Jealous the attention isn’t on you this year?”
Ren tried with his cheerful demeanor, still vaguely confused by the young Victor’s reaction, he’d been trained to expect the former Victors to be unstable or hostile but all the screaming seemed excessive.
His joke got him a stare that reminded him that the 18 year old girl in front of him had killed before.
“The Reaping was rigged. You need to get me the Mayor now.”
Pearl said, her voice still hoarse from the screaming.
“I can assure you no such thing has happened. That’s just outrageous, you better be careful with your accusations little lady. What would even make you say that?”
“Oh yes because you know everything right? Especially what it’s like to live out here? You can tell by the great way you relate with the crowd. You are a real man of the people.”
“I’m here to help you, have a bit of pity, it's my first day. What are you even worried about, even if it were rigged, it’s not like they can put you back in right, so there is no need to scream or insult me, or to get the Mayor, okay Paola?
“My name is Pearl. And the kid who was just reaped is my brother, now you tell me if that isn’t just a bit too much of a coincidence? So please make yourself useful and go get me the Mayor, or I will make sure your first day becomes the worst, and maybe the last.”
“There is no need to threaten- I didn’t realise- I’m sorry, but I’m sure it’s just an unlucky coincidence, it has happened before-”
He didn’t get to finish as Pearl picked up a vase, smashed it and pointed the sharp end at his neck.
“Get. Me. The. Mayor”
In an instant the peacekeepers were on her, and they injected some sort of knockout drug in her arm, so she collapsed before anyone could get injured. But Ren wondered if she might have been right, and it couldn’t hurt to suggest Mayor Williams double check the name slips, after all she was so desperate to talk to him earlier.
Still on edge from getting held at vase-point, Ren left the small room to go look for the Mayor, and she found her talking to two elderly ladies in the hall.
“Emma, you can’t tell me that’s a coincidence, it’s not possible that both of the kids got Reaped, two years in a row.”
The taller of the women said. The Mayor cringed at hearing her first name.
“Really Evelyn, there is nothing I can do about it, even if I were to believe it was rigged.”
The other lady, who was holding onto Evelyn in a way that made it difficult to tell if she was holding her back or if she needed to cling to her to stay upright, spoke up.
“You used to care, you used to be kind, what happened to the little girl who would give flowers to anyone she met?”
“Oh please. Get out, there is nothing I can do. Don't make me have the peacekeepers escort you out.”
And so Evelyn and her partner turned around and left, with eyes so sad, it was impossible to tell who they were mourning.
Ren made a decision at that moment, that might have been on the reckless side, but he wanted to care for these kids, if he was gonna mentor them through the Capitol.
“Mayor Williams? Emma? May I call you Emma? I have noticed, since I couldn’t help but overhear, that there are quite a lot of folks that believe this year’s reaping might not have been lawful. Now that seems outrageous to me, truly unbelievable, but I’m sure there is something that could be done, making sure everyone doesn’t doubt the honesty of the Capitol, because that would be truly awful wouldn’t it?”
Ren spoke quickly, hoping to twist the words enough, and flatter the vain Mayor enough to convince her to check the paper slips herself, unfortunately the suggestion went right over her head, and instead she decided to stay rather useless.
“Ah, Ren, you may call me whatever you wish, a nice Capitol boy like you wouldn’t know, but the people here are always ready to complain, I’m sure the Reaping was completely in compliance with the rules. I will go talk to the tribute, make sure he doesn’t stir up any trouble for you, and later I will give a speech about faith in our government. Thank you very much for bringing it to my attention, and happy Life Games.”
Mayor Williams walked off, leaving Ren alone, wondering what he could do. At that moment a couple of workers entered the building, bringing in the glass bowl that contained the names for the Reaping.
“Good afternoon, so very glad I could catch you! I may have a slight issue, you see while I was picking the name earlier a ring slid off my finger. Now obviously I couldn’t stop everything to look for it then, but if you were so kind as to let me look in there now, so that I may find it, I’d be eternally grateful.”
He moved quickly over to the two and shooed them off while taking possession of the bowl, and moving for one of the small side rooms around him. Before the workers could object he waved them off.
“I’m sure you both have better things to do than help me look for the thing, just go and I’ll be done in a few minutes, and you’ll get your bowl back.”
So the door closed behind him, and he was alone with the Reaping bowl.
He pulled out a handful of slips and read them all, then another, and another just to be sure, and all of them had Grian’s name on it.