ˏˋ°•*⁀➷  Cassie  ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Cassie's best dress now had chicken poo all over it. She'd thrown it on for the Reaping, but her sister had called and asked for help with the chicks, so naturally she'd obliged. Forgetting she even had the thing on, she helped her round up all the furry little things and put them back in their cage for sleeping. When she'd look down, there were new white and brown polka-dots smeared all over.

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off, she found the next best thing. It was more like a frock than a dress, and almost swallowed her completely. It had been her mother's dress when she was pregnant with Cassie, and she sometimes wore it to sleep to feel closer to her. It was all she had of her, after all.

And today she'd bring her mother with her to the reaping.

She quickly cleaned herself off, using buckets of water they'd left out in the hot sun, so it was warm. She yanked on the dress before making her sister Fawn braid her hair for her. She could do it herself, but it provided precious time with her sister where they were just focused on each other; they didn't get very much of that.

  Usually, they were running around trying to keep track of all the animals, since it was only the two of them. Their Pa had proven useless long ago and was a well-known guest at the nearby bar. The only downtime either of them ever got was sleep, and while they shared a bedroom, they were too exhausted from the day's work to do anything more than say 'Goodnight' and then pass right out.

  "You look pretty," Fawn assured, smiling down at her. She took the compliment with an awkward thanks, before looking down at her hands. They weren't really the type to compliment each other, unless it was on their work. She considered the fact that maybe it was her that was the emotionally distant one, and perhaps she got that from her father. Or maybe the awkwardness stemmed from the fact that Fawn took on a more maternal role in her life. Whatever the case, Fawn pressed on, hoping to milk something genuine out of her.

"This year'll be your last time."

"Yeah." Normally she'd pull at the fabric of her dress, but as this was a particularly special one, she settled for pulling at her sweaty fingers instead.

"Don't be nervous."

At that, Cassie chuckled, unsure of what to say. Her sister went on, however, used to carrying an entire conversation by now. With Pa rarely showing his face, quiet Cassie, and the fact that the chickens didn't know how to do anything but squawk, it was that or no one would ever talk in this house.

"Your name's only in there six times; mine was in there five times that and I never got called!"

"I guess..." Cassie mumbled. She couldn't argue with that. Maybe cold hard statistics would be what calmed her down, out of everything.

Fawn tapped Cassie's shoulders, signaling to her that she was done. She handed her a mirror and she inspected it, though she knew there would be nothing wrong. There never was. "Off you go now," Fawn said, practically shooing her out of the room. "And hope the odds are in your favor."

･ﾟﾟ･｡               .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.               ｡･ﾟﾟ･

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷  Suede  ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

  Suede hadn't felt the sun in months. For the past twenty-some weeks, he'd been locked in a stone box with three other guys, let out only for their "yard time" every other day, which consisted of standing around in a smaller box with an open roof, where the surrounding walls blocked off any direct sunlight. The juvenile detention center didn't have many windows, and the ones it did were small and barred.

  Because of how urban the area was, there simply wasn't room for a real yard when constructing the place, so it was just a hole in the middle of the design, which is probably why the bathrooms and cafeteria are both so cramped.

  There were only three reasons why you got let out of the juvenile hall; your time was up, you aged out of it, or it was Reaping Day. You didn't get to wear your nice clothes for Reaping, no matter if your parents sent them in or not, just whatever you had on when you were arrested.

  This was Suede's last year in that hellhole. Next year, the only kind of punishment he'd be able to get is a flogging, which to Suede sounded worse than it probably was. He figured he'd been through worse during his countless trips to juvie.

  But none of that mattered now. All that he could focus on was that rare, magical feeling of warmth on his face. It was what made Reaping Day so great. While others in his district dreaded it, he looked forward to it every year for the past five.

  He stumbled forward, his toe jamming on a stray piece of concrete, and was pulled back by the person behind him. "Woah, don't get too excited back there."

  Hands cuffed behind his back, he was escorted by Loom, a peacekeeper who was often on juvie duty, so Suede had gotten to know them enough to make light jokes. Unamused, they pushed him forward, purposefully making him stumble again.

  Once they got to the front table, Loom roughly spun him around, so the other peacekeeper could prick his finger and get a blood sample. Unlike in the shadows of juvenile hall, with the sun shining down on their mask, Suede couldn't see through to their face, which made him a bit uneasy. Almost made them feel more like a robot than a person.

  "If you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask." He said, trying to get a response out of Loom. All he got was roughly turned around again and marched off.

  So much for that. What a buzzkill these peacekeepers are.

･ﾟﾟ･｡               .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.               ｡･ﾟﾟ･

A/N

Hi! Welcome to my story, and meet our first two tributes; Cassie & Suede. I had a lot of fun writing them, but unfortunately this will be their only chapter before the games

This is because I literally have to juggle 24 POV characters and squeeze them all in before the games, since there will be a lot of people dying in the initial bloodbath, and I want you guys to meet them all!

Don't worry, they'll be seen by and maybe even interact with other POV characters as the story progresses, so they won't be gone from the story as a whole or anything

Either don't expect these two's POV for a while or at all ever again. And this applies to all the kiddos pre-games. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have for them in their interviews, which I might make a special chapter for  (wink wink nudge nudge)

But yeah, stay awesome y'all, and I might even through in that interactive part I mentioned in the intro