#rtwtask

His outfit was at least better than his district partner's, and seemed more suffocating than his own. He could at least admire the handicraft in it, with supporting pieces like a waist cincher, collar, and end of the sleeves made out of carving wood. For the more malleable parts, pieces of woods had been carved almost like scales or feathers, overlapping and creating something he could move in. Despite having no pine in the design, he smelled heavily of it, as his stylist had sprayed him down with a perfume that smelled exactly like a chemical version of the woods at home; it was unbearable.

He focused on the feeling of the coarse hair of his chariot's horse under his fingers, trying not to think about the crowd he was about to be paraded in front of. He had never cared much for crowds, and even if they'd be away from him, he wasn't ready for the feeling it gave him.

In District 7, you never felt exposed except when you went into a clear cut area. Maybe something was watching you in the woods in secret, but you could also be watching someone else. Even with the tall buildings and skyscrapers, nothing felt so exposing as being in the Capitol with everyone blatantly watching you. It was unnerving, and he felt like a rabbit wandering into a fox den.

Then again, he supposed that that may be exactly what it was.

Trying to distract himself from the thought, he looked around for a familiar face, but didn't find any that weren't busy with their own fancy outfits and chariots. Thoughts flooded his mind, and it took everything to figure out how to react. Wanting to show pride for his district, at the absolute least, he practiced a warm smile, as if the people out there weren't consumers of him as an object, but people back at home, happy to see him representing their home and their people.

He was doing this for his friends and his family. He would look handsome and perfect and at home they'd think that he'd really cleaned up and presented himself nicely. That was all that mattered.

While no one particularly liked the news that would come up during these things, their grandmother was a stern woman that told them to "keep up with the world around them." Elias wasn't about to risk the swat to the head with her walking stick by pointing out that the Capitol should be considered a different world than the one they lived in, so he kept his mouth shut as his youngest sibling placed himself firmly on his lap.

The family watched with varying points of interest; Elias could tell that his younger sister was watching the fancy visage of the president's mansion, while one of the twins was whispering to the other as she made fun of the president's Capitol accent, for example. The whole group only started paying attention once the man opened the yellowed envelope, clearing his throat before he read it.

The news of the circumstances of the Quarter Quell went by quickly, and even after the president signed off, the family unit sat there in silence as they took it in.

The victors would choose whose name went in? What did that mean? How would they do it?

Even as everyone started to disperse again, Elias' mind wandered.

Surely, they won't pick my name, he thought. He definitely seemed like the right candidate- skilled with an axe and saw, ability to climb, lean muscles, a handsome face (or so his mother told him). He was a good age, as he hoped that no victor was cruel enough to pick someone younger. But that didn't matter- everyone that knew his family knew how close they were, and what he did for them. A victor wouldn't choose someone so detrimental to the survival of seven other people... would they?

Even if they thought he had a chance, that's all that it was- chance. They wouldn't be wicked enough to let that small sliver of a chance of winning be their reason for choosing him... would they?

She got good grades, but good grades didn't put bread on the table. And with her father retired due to his health and age, Pike was the only breadwinner in the house. So, every day after school, and all day during the weekends, she was on call as a Fixer. If someone needed their television or computer or anything fixed, she was the one to call. She was efficient and, honestly, too cheap for how fast she could complete the task. But, it put food on the table.

So she was simply working on her assignment, though thinking about if she was going to be busy after school today when the Capitol announcement music began playing. She gulped subconsciously before watching the screen and listening with intensity.

This was awful. Now there was a chance her name could be in the bowl more times? Sure, Pike wasn't the "friends with everybody" type or anything, but her name was known around town; you needed tech fixed, Pike's your girl. She had even been to Victor's Village a few times to help when one of the victor's computers or televisions.

So... would they pick her?

She hoped the victors would be smart, which all of them were, and not select Pike to add in. Sure, she was clever, but winners had to be strong, likeable, everything she wasn't. She would either have to kill other people, which she knew she didn't have the stomach for, and/or get sponsorships from people in the Capitol who liked her. She wouldn't be suited for either of those things, so if her name got called, she was screwed.

The Capitol logo finally faded from the screen and Pike sighed, trying to calm her restless mind.

The sound of the announcement starting played the second Silver was declared victorious, which did sting a little; he couldn't savor the moment at all with this distraction. He put his weapon back on the wrack before walking towards the screen to listen to the twist.

Silver wasn't really certain what kind of twist he was hoping for, but it wasn't this. This twist basically turned the drawing into more of a popularity contest than before, which was the opposite of what he wanted.

He wasn't a popular guy, he knew that; not with his teachers and certainly not with his fellow students. The past victors that were his teachers didn't seem to notice how much he had improved over the years, how easily he would dominate in the arena the second he got his hands on a longsword. He knew he wasn't as "versatile" as his brother was, but fuck, couldn't they see how much potential he had? How desperately he wanted to get into the arena to prove himself?

Apparently not.

Once the announcement was over, Silver basically pushed it out of his mind; the announcement did nothing to assure him that he was going to be able to get into the games.