I woke up at the crack of dawn, too excited to see what I can do in this new body. I let Lila sleep in a bit more and open the door to the living room to see my mom getting breakfast ready and dad is still sleeping, getting a bit more rest in before his 10 hour shift in the mine starts.
"Hey little sprout, would you mind running and filling up the water bucket for me?" Mom asks me from the kitchen
"Sure mom, no problem" I grab the bucket on the counter and run outside, trying to keep the front door from making too loud a noise. I decide now's as good a time as any to test myself so I start sprinting to one of the freshwater taps in the town square. There are a couple closer to our house but I decide to take the long way. It doesn't take long for me to notice a difference. It feels like I'm bouncing off the ground, quicker than I have ever been and my breathing is steady as a horse. I made it all the way to the tap and not a single bead of sweat appeared. 'Yeah, I could get used to this'
I end up having to wait for the 4 people who got here before me to fill up their buckets and bottles, but luckily don't have to wait long. I fill up our bucket and when I go to pick it up, I brace myself for the usual strain but I feel almost no resistance on the way up. In fact, it feels like the handle might buckle under the weight instead of my arms. It seems like those 'mild boosts' were more severe than I thought. And I'm only 10! Now that I have a general feel for my abilities now I make the trek home. The only hard part being balancing the bucket so I don't spill all the water I just collected. I make it back without losing much and again open the door as quiet as possible. When I get to the kitchen to deliver the water I see my dad is up and drinking his hot cup of pine tea watching Mom finish up his eggs. A good breakfast for many in the Seam.
"Hey bud, thanks for getting the water. What are you gonna do before school starts?" Dad asks me.
"Probably head over to Gale's and meet up with him and Katniss to see if they need any help around the place. The Hawthornes always need more hands around it seems." I replied.
"No doubt about that. Poor Hazelle has her hands full with those boys and their newborn. Take this over for them." Mom tells me, ripping her loaf of bread in half.
"Will do, bye Dad. Love you, be safe! See you soon Mom." I say goodbye to my parents as I again head out, this time only across the street to my friends' houses. I can see Gale is already outside gathering the now dry clothes Mrs. Hawthorne set out to dry last night.
"Morning Gale, is Katniss up yet?" I ask, grabbing his attention before I climb up the porch.
"Hey Liam, yeah she left already to get our water. I was about to go check on Lady before Prim got up, wanna help?" Lady was the Everdeen's pet goat which they used for milk and cheese. A luxury most of the year around here.
"Sure, as long as she doesn't try to eat my shoes again. Stupid goat doesn't realize how close it is to being demoted to 'emergency food rations'" I snark. That goat seems to have it out for any member of the species with a thing between their legs. It always goes to gnaw on our clothes or tries to knock us over.
"HA, you're right about that. It totally ruined my favorite pair of socks a couple months ago. I still haven't totally forgiven her!"
We make our way to Lady's pen and see her pacing, obviously eager to be let out to graze in her cordoned off area.
"Yeah yeah calm down you monster, I'm letting you out." Gale mutters as he goes to flick the latch. Once he does Lady immediately rams her head against the gate and flings it along with Gale flying backwards. Lady scampers off doing the usual goat hops of joy meanwhile I'm dying laughing after making sure Gale isn't hurt besides his pride.
"HAHAHA, nice going Gale. When will you learn to leave Lady to the professionals?" We both turn our heads and see Katniss coming with 2 buckets of water. She plants one on the porch of Gale's house and carries on towards us.
"Hey Kat, how's Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen?" I ask
"Hey Liam, they're ok. Dad's black lung seems to be clearing up nicely."
"Great news, I'm sorry he has to go back in today. Hopefully he can keep from aggravating it so soon." I reply. Black lung is an all too common 'sickness' in the Seam. Breathing in coal dust for a majority of your life will do that to anyone. Thankfully we have many remedies that seem to help, but nothing totally cures or prevents it. That's the main reason elders in District 12 are held in such high esteem.
"My Dad's tough, a little dust won't take him down!" Katniss seems to be in high spirits. Something I know will change after the accident. Just thinking about it sends chills down my spines. All our dads work in the same group, so the accident that they die in will probably include my Dad as well. I stayed up for a while last night trying to think of any way to prevent it but there is nothing. Their entire lives are work. There are no sick days, and even if there were I don't know the exact date it happens. They know the risks so a warning won't do them any good. I'm not giving up on thinking of a way to stop it but I genuinely don't have a clue.
I shove those depressing thoughts to the back of my mind as Gale asks "Hey, do you guys wanna go to the field and look for rabbits?"
Even before the pressure of providing for their families in place of their fathers, we still regularly attempted to 'hunt' for game. Not yet crossing the fence for big game, but they have both already learned much from their parents, and I from mine, to put to use. We typically set out some simple snares and check on them every morning before moving them so the peacekeepers don't stumble on them if they ever bother to patrol this far out.
As we make our way to the field we see a gathering of men and women around one of the public TVs. Looks like a gossip segment on rumors for the next Games. Something about a ruined cityscape if I heard correctly. I'm not really interested in that right now and neither are Gale or Katniss.
When we make it to the field we make our rounds to the snares and see we caught 3 out of the 7 we placed. A great haul, especially this late into Winter. We quickly celebrate the find and all split up to our house to drop off the rabbits. Mom seems to be pleased we got a whole one today instead of a couple legs. She quickly gets to processing it while Dad steps out to start his shift along with all the other men in town. It's not long before school starts and Lila seems to be almost done getting ready.
We say goodbye to Mom and meet back up with Katniss and Gale. This time along with Prim, Rory, and Vick. It's Katniss' turn to walk the younger ones to their side of the school so Gale and I make our way to History of Panem.
School was incredibly boring. Absolutely nothing of value outside of quick exchanges between some other acquaintances. It's not till the final bell rings that I meet back up with Kat and Gale.
"Hey guys, I was thinking about helping out around the Hob for some coin, up for it?" I ask. Gale seems to be but Katniss needs to get home with Prim and help her with school work.
Gale and I make our way to the 'secret' market of the Seam. A secret only in name really. As we make our way inside we see the usual stalls of knick knacks, dried meats, and some flour stalls. We split up and spend the next couple hours lifting things from one end of the Hob to the other or carrying things home for customers that pay. We end the day with enough to purchase a small cookie at the bakery, but neither of us do so. We both intend on adding it to our stockpile at home as usual. As we each head home I decide to head towards the smith in town. Our smith doesn't make any weapons or armor unfortunately, but he does make nails and the occasional tool for farming or construction. I intend on asking for a job or apprenticeship or something. Not really common in District 12. Merchants typically keep the business in the family, but the smith doesn't have any so I figure it's worth a shot at least.
I knock on the door and a grimy bearded man opens the door. "Can I help you young man?" He asks in a not rude but not particularly kind way.
"Hello sir. I was wondering if you need any more hands around the shop? I can help with materials and menial labor or any other tasks you deem fit." I ask with my best interview voice I can pull off as a 10 year old.
"Ha, wanna help around the shop? Can you even lift a hammer boy?" He chuckles to himself a little.
"Yes sir, watch." I move to the side where there was a bag of gravel near the door and sling it over my shoulder with almost no effort.
"Whistle well I'll be, you got some hidden strength there boy. If that wasn't no fluke then I might have some things you can help me with. Shoveling ore and coal ain't too kind on my back no more. Come back after your classes tomorrow and we'll see if you can keep up."
"Thank you sir! You won't regret it!" I'm excited now. Working at the smith is the only thing I can think of to both train my strength and also learn some helpful skills before out hunting becomes more serious.
"Yeah we'll see about that. No go on, best be getting back home before your old man." He shoos me away
"I'll be here right after school tomorrow!" I say as I turn and walk off.
The rest of the night is the same as last. A simple yet filling meal and a nice family moment in the living space. Tomorrow is the start of my 'training' until our little group starts hunting outside the bounds of the District.
A/N: Probably gonna do a couple time skips and get to the 74th games quickly. These slice of life parts are kind of tedious to write. I enjoy somewhat fleshing out the world but the world is so fucking depressing that I struggle to not make their lives so bleak. Next chapter is a overview of the time before the mining accident. After that there might be a couple chapters before another time skip to the 74th reaping. Let me know if you love or hate that decision or really want to see something in the future. I'm open to any suggestion to help flesh out the story! :)