Previous Vote is still
OPEN.
Who are you?
Gender and Sexuality
[] Male [Bisexual]
> 5 voters
[] Female [Straight]
> 5 voters
Age
[X] 17
[] 18
I've posted this Quest on multiple platforms. Every chapter will have an overview of the voting results.
Unless the
voting is closed, you can always change your answer in
a new reply.
The
[X] answer lined in
BOLD means that the vote is CLOSED.
This is mainly a narrative-based quest. The focus is on the story, not the stats.
PS: I absolutely LOVE it when you get creative and/or elaborate your answers. I get inspired and write faster.
The world glows bright in the light of the sun.
An unseen wind blows over the fields of wheat, making the stalks ripple like a golden sea. You smile as you trail the palm of your hand over the dry waves. These golden ears have absorbed the rich sunshine, good seeds from a gentle earth, and drank up the sweet spring rains.
You recall what the Capitol says about your home, every year during their promotional campaigns.
"District 9 is Panem's bread bowl, giving us the fertile harvest we need to keep rising as a nation. Its amber waves of grain are an inspiration to us all."
Two absent-minded lines for the one thing that keeps this civilization from the brink of starvation. The Capitol's frivolity is just as amazing as it is baffling.
The sky is a bright blue and the sun beats warm on the back of your neck, something you enjoy by standing still and rolling your shoulders. You've already bathed and dressed for the Reaping.
You step onto the small path and follow it back to the District. It's one o'clock, and you're headed for the square. Attendance is mandatory unless you are at death's door. In the evening, officials will come around and check to see if this is the case. If not, you'll be imprisoned.
On your way there, you're accosted by Jude, a schoolmate. She's wearing her cleanest dress and her hair is done in a neat braid.
"How many?" she asks you.
You shake your head. "You first."
"Twenty-four times." She's talking about how many times her name is in the pool.
The reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it. You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year, your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice. And so on and so on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of eligibility, when your name goes into the pool seven times. That's true for every citizen in all twelve districts in the entire country of Panem.
But here's the catch.
Say you are poor and starving. You can opt to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meager year's supply of clean water and oil for one person. You may do this for each of your family members as well. Jude has three younger siblings and no mother.
Some like the mayor's children, who have never been at risk of needing a tessera, have much better odds. The chance of their names being drawn is very slim compared to those who live on the edge. Not impossible, but slim.
District 9 claims seventy thousand in tesserae, making it the fourth most impoverished district. It is a very poor district, though slightly better than District 11. Thanks to your yearly surplus of grain and your almost amicable relationship with the Peacekeepers, starvation is not as big a problem here as in other districts.
How many times does your name appear in that bowl?
That, of course, depends on who you are.
What is your background?
[] Loveless Child
Your childhood was not quite what you'd call happy, despite growing up well-fed and not being forced to do any hard labor. Your mother died in childbirth, which must have broken something in your father, the mayor. Your father, cold and strict, raised you all by himself, with a harsh hand and cutting words.
You grew up isolated from the world, preferring to keep to your books. As a result, you're a fountain of knowledge, and good at medicine.
[] Sunshine Child
You were a happy child. Your parents, while poor, gave you all their love. You might not be the brightest tool in the shed, having missed so much school to work in the fields, but you're strong and can hold your own in a kerfuffle. Making friends has never been a challenge and can charm anyone into paying for your tab.
[] Wild Child
You are an orphan. Growing up partly in the Homestead, District's 9's orphanage, and partly on the streets you quickly learned to fend for yourself. You're resourceful, with fast hands and faster feet, and clever enough to run circles around the peacemakers.
The few times you were caught have taught you how to talk, smile; bribe, cheat, manipulate, play, and lockpick your way out of trouble. Your scars are proof that you survived.
[] ? Child
Write-in (You can combine the above descriptions and/or create your own from scratch. Veto reserved.)
…
District 9 has twelve mills in operation with a population of fifteen thousand, making it the eleventh largest district, in terms of population. Given its large size and correspondingly small population, District 9 is probably the least densely populated.
The square's quite large, but not enough to hold District 9's population. Latecomers are directed to the adjacent streets, where they can watch the event on screens as it's televised live by the state.
People file in silently and sign in. The reaping is a good opportunity for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as well. Those of Reaping age are herded into roped areas marked off by age, the youngest in the front, the oldest ones toward the back. Family members line up around the perimeter, holding tightly to one another.
But there are others, too, who have no one they love at stake, or who no longer care, who
slip among the crowd, taking bets on the two kids whose names will be drawn. Odds are given on their ages, whether they're rich or poor or an orphan if they will break down and weep.
What are you feeling?
[] Anger
Quiet anger bubbles in you as you watch the racketeers laugh at your fear, your pain. How dare they mock the torment the other kids are going through, the distress their families are in?
Sometimes, you think you're angry enough to volunteer, just to make every single one of those bastards lose their bet.
[] Surprise
You don't understand why they'd stoop so low. Weren't they once in the same place as you? Don't they remember the fear, the cold sweat, the dizziness, the quick breaths, the numb limbs… That invisible noose around their necks?
[] Interest
You can't help but wonder how much they bet on you if they considered you at all. It's a morbid thought but well… the occasion kind of calls for it. You hope your odds are in your favor, and that everyone thinks so too.
[] Write-in (Veto reserved.)
…
The Justice Building is a place in each of Panem's districts where official business is conducted. It's a huge marble structure. Out front, it has a big flight of marble stairs and a verandah: a tiled expanse between the front door and the stairs shaded by a roof supported by columns.
The camera crews are already waiting, perched like buzzards on rooftops.
You join the line of seventeen years old BOYS/GIRLS. You forget to answer to Jude's question.
Just as the town clock strikes two, the mayor steps up to the podium and begins to read. It's the same story every year. He tells of the history of Panem, the country that rose out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, and the brutal war for what little sustenance remained.
The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens. Then came the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Twelve were defeated, the thirteenth obliterated. The Treaty of Treason gave them new laws to guarantee peace and, as a yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games.
The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland.
Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins. Taking the kids from the districts, forcing them to kill one another while those left behind watch—this is the Capitol's way of reminding the citizens of Panem how totally they are at the Capitol's mercy. How little chance they would stand of surviving another rebellion.
To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the Capitol requires the districts to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others. The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain, water, oil, and even delicacies like sugar while the rest battle starvation.
"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks," intones the mayor. Then he reads the list of past District 9 victors. In seventy-four years, District 9 has had exactly five, three of whom are old enough to be your grand-parents.
The Escort trots to the podium.
Who is your Escort?
[] Dana Nouvelle
Prim and proper, she twitters, "Welcome to the Reaping of this year's Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor."
She's been District 9's escort for the past decade and has become a familiar face in the sea of madness that is the Capitol and the Hunger Games. Rumour has it that she's refused promotion. Infuriating as she can be sometimes, she's loyal to District 9 and has always strived to bring out the best out of her tributes.
- Dana has a lot of connections in the Capitol. High connections.
- Dana is loyal to you.
- Dana prefers tradition.
[] Pelly Lolitree
Bright and bubbly and dressed like a honeybee, she calls out a jovial, "Happy Hunger Games, my lovelies! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
She's District 9's new escort, and looks young. Maybe she's the sign you all have been waiting for. A breath of fresh air that will break the monotonous drone of forgettable tributes of the past few years. There's only so many iterations of a corn costume Panem can stomach before it becomes a death sentence for 9's tributes.
- Pelly is easy to get along with. If she likes you, and she does, the Capitol will too.
- Pelly is impulsive, for better or for worse.
- Pelly is a wild card. That is a good thing.
[] Carmen Abott
Refined and proud, he ambles to the front and greets you all, "Happy Hunger Games, dear citizens of District 9. As always, may your harvest be plentiful, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Like every year since Annie Cresta's games, he's dressed in a relatively sober but tasteful style. Your district likes him because every single tribute since his coming has had better odds.
- Carmen is stylish and so will you be during the games.
- Carmen has a secret.
- Carmen prefers innovation
[] Write-in (Veto reserved.)
