Mazie's Aesthetic
MAZIE FORST
DISTRICT 9
F | she/they | 16 | Reaped
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Mazie’s parents were both executed when she was eleven, as they owned a photography shop and unknowingly took photos of secret locations and materials. Since then she has lived alone, growing her own food. She has a pet cow named Honeysuckle whose milk she is able to sell for money to buy new clothes. She also has two dogs, one named Clementine (a poodle) and Spud (a golden retriever) who were her parent’s pets, a surprise for her from the week before their execution. She had three sisters, all of whom have died in the games. Ambrosia in the 46th games when she was thirteen, Anise in the 47th games when she was seventeen, and Olive, her twin sister in the 48th games when she was 12. Her best friend is also her boyfriend and is named Barley. He promises to look after her land when she is reaped. When he goes to see her, he is in tears and presents her with a ring, saying that they will get married if she survives the games as they are all each other needs.
THE REAPING
Three more years and I’m done with these games. Three more years and I can marry the man of my dreams and live happily ever after without the threat of the games coming to hurt me again. The Capitol took so much away from me - my parents, my sisters, and almost my home. I barely have anything left. I just want this to be over. I crowd around with the other sixteen-year-old girls, staying silent despite the others talking some of their nerves away. I have no friends other than Barley, my best friend and boyfriend. Ever since my parents died, everyone has looked at me like a square peg in a star hole, acting like I should be avoided at all costs. The girls next to me won’t stop squealing like pigs that I can’t hear the announcers announce my name until Peacekeepers drag me out from the crowd and up onto the stage.
“I volunteer as tribute!” I hear a voice scream and sigh, full of relief until I realize who it is. Barley! I would rather go myself than him!
“I’m sorry sir, but a woman must volunteer for a woman. Do we have any volunteers?”
Finally, the girls go silent. Of course, they wouldn’t volunteer for me - the disgrace, the outcast; they will be happy that the problem of their world will be gone, until they realize a “normal” girl will have to leave next year.
The man who called my name out holds a microphone to my face and says “So, how do you feel, no volunteers?”
My brain is on autopilot with all of the adrenaline so I blurt out “Well, no one here really likes me here, so I’m not really surprised.”
“No one, really? I’m sure that volunteer did.” Oh, shoot yeah.
“Well except for Barley, my boyfriend.” I pause and then realize what Barley just did. If he couldn’t volunteer for me, he will volunteer next. “And Barley!” I exclaim and catch his crying face in the audience. “Don’t volunteer, it isn’t worth it, I love you and I want to be with you so if you love me back you won’t volunteer and maybe I can come back and see you again.”
There are a few pity awws and sighs from the audience and I see him process this and nod, as he understands the odds are impossible of both of us making it back if we go in together. Thankfully, I am in luck, as the male tribute is not him and I manage to get one final look at him before I am whisked away through the doors and away from the crowd. The games have officially begun for me, I guess, but I can tell you what: I am not ending the games the same way that my three sisters ended theirs.
Mazie's Reaping Outfit
THE TRIBUTE PARADE
It’s only my first time on the shiny, golden carriage, yet I feel like I have been here many times before. Forst siblings are no strangers to these games; three came before me, and all failed, but I know this time I can return home. Demeter is mine and my district partners’ Greek Goddess to take inspiration from and my incredible stylist has definitely done me justice. A beautiful golden dress delicately falls to my feet as if it floats on every light breeze that comes my way. My long hair, that has been conditioned for the first time in a long while, is done up into a half up, half down style with a beautiful, pure gold crown in the shape of barley and leaves all carefully intertwined. My shoes are barely noticeable but they are gold with encrusted diamonds that, despite adding an inch or so to my height, are not painful and feel like I am walking on clouds. Zeke and I look at each other in excitement, waiting to see what the nation of Panem will think of us. My stylist and mentor both say our appearance will be one not easily forgotten and I now believe that this is true. Demeter is the Goddess of fertility and the harvest as well as being able to make people hungry so I am a bit stumped on what my mentor could pull off seeing as no one in all of Panem has the power to do what Demeter could. However, my mentor did tell me she left a big surprise for our entrance and that our reaction would be half of the excitement. The carriages started to move up to the entrance but just as District Nine was being called up, I was given a large bouquet of golden roses - at least 50, all shiny and catching the light. I look to the person who has just handed me these but they are already gone. I look at the string holding the bouquet together and find a small note saying “you’ll know what to do” but the funny thing is, I don’t.
“Looks like someone’s got an admirer,” Zeke whispers and I laugh and then lightly punch him in the shoulder.
“Admirer? Me? If anyone’s got one, it’s you!” This makes him laugh, too, just as we pull out into the eyes of the Capitol and massive cheers erupt as all eyes dart to the golden girl and boy from District Nine. We wave and smile for a few meters before I say to Zeke out of the corners of my mouth, “What’s the surprise for me?” Zeke looks at me and points up to the sky, in which I see a hundred drones fly past in an orderly formation. Then, one by one, each drone drops several small parachutes from the sky and as they float down, the citizens of the Capitol look up and cheer even louder. Some parachutes finally make it into the hands of the people and now, snugly fitting into the largest of palms, are small loaves of circular bread. The smell overwhelms me with memories from back when my family was normal in society, when I could afford bread like this. There are several moments of silence in which I think that I have blown this and that I will be another forgotten tribute, but all of those worried thoughts vanish when cheers erupt once again, everyone looking at me and pointing at the bread with grins from ear to ear. A woman from the crowd throws a loaf to me and when I catch it, I notice what is on that bread. My name! My name is on every single loaf of bread here! Zeke takes the bread, pulls it apart and we take a half each. “YUM!” This is the best thing I have ever tasted, and clearly it is the same for the Capitol, as they are in just as much awe for the bread as I am. I’m so happy for the surprise that I almost forget... MY ROSES! I don’t know if this is what my mentor had planned for me to do with them but I have to give it my best shot. I scan the area again and find the woman who threw me a loaf of bread. I then pick a rose out from the bouquet and throw it to her. As soon as the others see this, they are all clapping and cheering and trying to get my attention, I throw several more roses at the crowd, all of which are almost tackled upon to be collected. I still must be kind, I think, as I give half of the roses to Zeke and now we both throw roses at either side of the parade. If either of us win, these roses will become collector items for all the citizens to fight for! As we pull into our final formation for the parade I only know two things: the crowd is mainly interested in us now and we are going to be all they think about in the days to come, as they savour every last crumb of their loaves of bread. All I’ve got to say is … let the games begin!
Mazie's Parade Outfit
TRAINING
Mazie Forst received a training score of 11.
Training days
I decided to spend the three days of training like I would spend them in the games. First comes either running or fighting in the bloodbath, then surviving the cold, endless nights and then finally, the final fight, if I even make it that far. I spend the first half of the day practicing sprints. I am actually quite fast, as I spent many of my days as a child running away from either Peacekeepers suspicious of me or the bullies at school who thought I was the child of a criminal. I manage to do the 100 meter sprint in 12.5 seconds, seeing as someone can die in the first ten, this is a good sign that I will be able to get out of danger ASAP. At lunch I sit down with Zeke and joke around about how bad some of the tributes were with the weapons. After lunch, I go around to the knives section. I haven’t told anyone, but I am a genius with throwing knives, but I don’t let the others know this and throw the knives off center on purpose. Some other tributes snicker, but I think to myself that they won’t be laughing if they are on the other side of the knife. I also practice sword work for two hours with a staff member and he says that he was really impressed with my work.
On day two have one sole purpose: SURVIVAL! Last year's arena was freezing and if I can't get a sleeping bag or warm food, then I should try to practice lowering my temperature. I manage to get down to 2° before I start to shiver so that’s a good sign. I struggled to identify poisonous berries from safe food, but by the end of the day, I was getting them 9 out of 10 times. I also now know how to identify if my food has been tampered with, so that limits the chances of what happened to several tributes last year, such as Leah when her allies turned against her, from happening to me.
On day three I went archery and I shot half of the targets. This means if the bow and arrow is my only option, I can at least not be entirely hopeless. I then spent the remainder of the day seeing what my allies were doing and tried to do the same, together, and also look out for my competition and see what they are good at.
Private session
In my private session l go for two things: the throwing knives and the sprints. In the knives, I don’t miss a single shot from straight down the centre of the target, and in the sprints I get 11.76 seconds and, despite being from District Nine and the gamemakers already almost falling asleep, when the sprint machine signals a new record, some even start applauding. Breaking the current record of 12.09 seconds means that no matter who set that before, I am at least better than the other tributes at sprinting. With the right amount of adrenaline pumping I believe I may have what it takes to win these games.
But one can only hope…
THE INTERVIEW
Hello, you look dazzling tonight! Tell us about your outfit.
Well Hello Caesar, it is amazing to see you today. The outfit of my choice is this stunning red dress as you can see. *stands up and spins around* And as you can see, the dress catches the light so delicately, almost like a rose, which was my designer's inspiration for my outfit. But remember everyone! Every rose has its thorns, just some are more spiky than others.
How do you like being in the Capitol so far? What has been your favorite part?
The food would have to have been my favorite experience so far, apart from of course the amazing people I have met along the way including you amazing audience *blows kisses and crowd goes wild*. Speaking of food, did anyone see the raining bread at the tribute parade? How cool was that?!
Any thoughts about the other tributes? Have you made any friends, or enemies?
Almost everyone who I have met in these games has been so kind to me. I know that the loveliness will have to end sooner or later but I do have some friends who I hope to keep going into the arena. However, I do want to save some secrets for the amazing audience here tonight, so you may just have to wait and see who my alliance members are.
Do you think you have what it takes to become a victor? Who or what are you fighting for?
I think this question is rather self-explanatory. I am not the first Forst sister through these games. To be exact I’m actually the fourth. We have Anise, the eldest, who was so brave - she would be 22 now. Then we have Ambrosia, who would be 19 now, and then my other half whom I lost four years ago when she was just twelve. My twin Olive. Olive and I both lived through Anise and Ambrosia’s games together, however, not long after my parents were killed in something that was not their fault. I won’t go into much detail but let’s just say that was the last straw in what my family barely had left. Then when Olive was reaped the year after I knew that she wouldn’t see me again. I wanted to be there with her in her last moments. I wanted to hold her hand and tell her everything was going to be okay. What broke me the most though was that I could feel inside my soul that moment when Olive gave into death, and I haven’t felt the same since. Oh, I almost forgot! Here inside my locket is a photo of each of my sisters. My mentor said that there would be some sort of special way to open it truly but I haven’t been able to figure it out. Keep a close eye on me in the arena and see if I can figure it out as I hope I have what it takes to win and be the first of my sisters to return home.
Do you have any expectations for the arena? Perhaps a preferred terrain?
I’m hoping that the arena has lots of hiding spots as I’m good at climbing, but also terrain that is easy to travel through as my skills in running, despite not being absolutely incredible *winks* may help me out. If you can’t catch me, it’s going to be a lot harder to kill me! As for temperature, I really hope that it is more of a neutral temperature with cooler nights as I don’t think I would have been able to survive the last games with the freezing arena that it was.
What do you miss most from your home district? Any shoutouts for anyone back home?
Hmmmmm, of course the biggest shoutout goes to my boyfriend, Barley, I miss you so much honey and I love you, I will always love you and I really hope I can see you again soon. Also, added shoutouts for my pets Honeysuckle, the adorable cow, and Clementine and Spud, my beautiful puppies.
Any last thoughts before we let you go?
Remember, Capitol and everyone of Panem... My sisters did not get their happy ending. Let me receive mine. I am the girl from Nine with an eleven. Let me be the rose amongst the thorns. And next time you see a loaf of bread or a rose, think of me fondly. Goodbye Capitol I love you MWAH! *with that, her dress explodes into a million red roses all over the audience and the crowd goes wild!*
Mazie's Interview Outfit