[D5] 75th Hunger Games Volunteering Thread

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[attr="class","mattioshimpost"]**callixtus shim volunteers for a spot.**

--

He watched Sol's vibrant sun begin to crawl back into it's whole, under the horizon. Callixtus's family didn't like for their children to stay up late the night before the reaping, but Cal did it anyways. The last beams of light began to be blocked from his view as the towering factories and other buildings cut off his bond from natural light. The last specs of blood orange were dragged along with the sun for the next twelve hours or so.

The loss of Sol would happen everyday when the sun would drop itself below the Earth for nighttime. Although it meant Luna would come out with her constellations once more, she was only a cousin. Sol Shim was Callixtus's flesh and blood, stripped away from him three years ago. He mourned silently on the back steps of their house, waiting for the sun to rise in the east. Only a few hours.. only a few more hours until the three year anniversary of losing his brother..

The moon was a crescent, less than have of it's identical-nightly structure to be seen. His eyes kept watch on the moon as it rose up into the sky, passing it's stars along the way. Cal didn't mind sitting in the thin-layered snowy ground. The cold air was refreshing to him, and in order to see the beautiful star-lit sky, it was worth the wetness.

He waited, and waited.. and waited. He waited until the starts began to make their retreat, and when Sol's symbol would rise forth and march onward for the next dozen or so hours.

He was drained of energy as he stepped back into his house. Thoughts ran in and out of his mind.. What would this year's twist be? Who would be the next victim? When can it end..

Cal prayed that Hayk didn't notice his absence in their bedroom. He knew what questions his little brother would have if he had noticed, and the teenage boy's energy was too expired to think, too expired to explain. Mindlessly he walked into his room, got dressed for the day, and sat on his bed.

"Are you ready?" his baby brother asked.

Callixtus Shim shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to rub his eyes, hoping to get a burst of energy to help him through the next few hours at least, until he returned home for the day.



He stumbled down the two front-porch steps and began the journey to the center of District Five. Beside him was his brother and two sisters. He didn't think.. he just put one foot ahead of the other and repeated the process. It continued until his brother and sisters split were split apart from him in the Reaping chaos.

Callixtus looked down to his feet. With every breath his body hurt more. It was a bad idea to stay awake all night, just to be able to see the sunrise. There would be thousands more to see.. wouldn't there?

The snow continued to fly down to the ground. Perhaps the flakes, the cold air, and the breeze were the only things keeping him awake and somewhat attentive.

This quell, they would look for volunteers, or the people within the District were to be punished.

"Cal.." he heard someone call out to him, but he didn't think too much of it.

One person arose-

"Cal."

-then another threw a fit-

"Callixtus.."

-a third brought herself to the stage-

"Please."

-then there was silence, the only voice was inside his mind.

"I miss you."

He opened his eyes and looked back up to the stage. Cal let out a deep breath, the exhalation beginning to frost just as it left his mouth. Three people had already given up their life to help the people of their District. A sacrifice that Callixtus Shim couldn't make up for in words or to tell his children when he was of that age.

He stretched his hand, slightly bumping it into the person next to him.

Cal closed his eyes. The silence continued, almost as if they wanted more than just three volunteers from the District. With his eyes shut he saw more than just the flakes of white cover everyone in the chilling area.

A smile formed upon his freezing face with a reason that was bittersweet. He raised his hand, signifying what he planned to do. It was bitter because he started the voluntary process of taking himself from his family. It was sweet because he was fulfilling someone's wishes.

{District Five's..}

"I volunteer," Callixtus said, mindlessly breaking away from the link of terrified teenagers that lined the District Square. He kept his head down, making one step at a time to approach the stage.

"Thank you, Cal."

He managed to get up two out of three of the stage's stairs before tripping up on the final one. Only he was to blame, his tiredness and exhaustion causing his body to slip and fumble. Regaining his balance, he walked closer to the three people who were already upon the stage.

"You're one step closer to seeing the Sun for the rest of your life.."

{too bad his days became endangered when he volunteerred to go to hell.}

CASTLE RUINED

Reaping day. At that, it was the last one for Castle. She just hoped that all would go well. She just wanted to be safe. She wanted her family to be safe. Whether it was a sibling or a cousin, she didn't want anything bad to happen to any of them. Although, with the Hunger Games being a reality, nothing was set in stone as 'safe'. No one was guaranteed life if they were of reaping age. It wasn't too long before Castle had the safety of age nineteen, but that didn't mean that everyone she loved would have the same safety.

Castle was dressed in her typical reaping outfit. It was the second one she'd ever worn, as she outgrew her first one at age sixteen. She'd had this newer one since then, but even if it was the nicest piece of clothing she owned, she still dreaded putting the off-white, knee-length gown over her head. Castle had barely eaten breakfast that morning. It wasn't just the morning of a reaping. It was the morning of the reaping for a quell. The 75th Hunger Games were upon them, and that meant that there was going to be some sort of twist that the Capitol had devised for the Districts. Castle had no idea what it was going to be, which made her stomach do a flip. Her nerves were taking over.

When the members of the Ruined family that lived in Castle's household all left for the reaping, she remained silent on the way there. Not saying a word, she didn't want to think about, much less talk about, whatever the Capitol's idea of a 'fun' twist would be this year. Eventually, she reached the District Square and signed in. As usual, the Peacekeepers that checked everyone in took a bit of her blood to confirm who she was, and she made her way over to where the other eighteen year old girls of District Five were gathered.

Then, the announcer came up on stage to explain the twist. Castle's heart was pounding now, and it felt like it was just going to jump out of her ribcage. As words boomed out of the microphone and into the crowd, she listened worriedly. When the twist was revealed, Castle stopped shaking. It was to only be volunteers. That meant she was safe. Then, she heard a familiar voice.

It was one of her cousins.

It was Lorenzo. Lorenzo Ruined. He'd volunteered. He'd put himself forward to fight to the death. Castle's jaw dropped. She didn't know how to react to this. They'd been safe. No one had to die, and then Lorenzo decided to challenge that fact. What the boy said into the microphone before it cut out got to her, too. He was volunteering for Pixie.

Pixie Ruined never deserved to die.

Neither did Lorenzo.

word count: 469
notes: Castle's reaction to Lorenzo volunteering