Hello, hello! Welcome to Ad Meliora, the direct sequel to Ad Mortem! Super excited to get started with this :D
01 - The New Norm
Valerian St. Clare, Head Archivist for the Capitol
Two months before the reapings
That dumb cat was walking on the table again.
Valerian sipped at his lemonade with a glare trained on the small calico, and his other arm curled around his plate of snacks protectively. It'd already eaten all the of salmon on Carna's plate, the new Head Gamemaker too enamoured by the feline to deny it a snack. Even now, as it eyed the prosciutto on Valerian's plate, Lola was trying to tempt it over with one of the shrimps from her cocktail. Hell, Nirav had more meat on his plate and even more fish than Valerian.
But no. It was Valerian's food the furball wanted.
The new team of Gamemakers just watched with amused expressions. Valerian had already been introduced to all of them, notes having been taken extensively. Horace had yet to arrive, and he was fairly certain the cat wasn't game enough to lunge for his food just yet. Valerian looked over each one of them, reciting what he knew about them in his head.
The first was Huang Ma, seated closest to the edge of the table and nursing a glass of water. Apparently she and Carna attended the same university, though Huang gravitated more towards the study of various fauna and how to splice them safely. Only twenty-six and rather plain compared to her coworkers—simple, straight black hair, unaltered almond eyes, and just the application of bold red lipstick to stand out—though the same could be said for the youngest member of the new team. According to Carna, it was Horace who'd picked Huang to be part of the new team.
To the right of Huang was the youngest member in question, and another member of the Becskei family. Calla Becskei was only eighteen, his birthday having recently passed, and of all the members of the Gamemaking team he looked the most exhausted. Not physically, Valerian had noted the first time he'd seen the boy, but emotionally and perhaps even mentally. The official story was that he was Horace's son, who'd recently been hospitalised due to bronchitis; Valerian wasn't entirely sure he bought it, but it was hard to imagine this awkward blond lying about it with how nervous he appeared in front of everyone. He was closer to Huang than his cousin, too, which struck Valerian as odd when he'd found out he only just met her after the team was formed.
After Calla was Carna herself, the nibling of the interim president. The antlers implanted to the crown of her head were modelled after a deer's, and she took quite extensive care of them. Carna Becskei was also… odd. She thought outside the box, but more outside than most tended to. It didn't make sense when he put it into words, but the fact remained that she was an oddity. The opposite of her flora-specialist cousin, who was grounded in reality despite his anxieties.
Next to Carna, reviewing what was most likely a draft for this year's arena, was Magnus Tweed. He was one of the few previous Gamemakers to stay thanks to Carna's glistening review of his work ethic. There wasn't much that Valerian didn't already know about Magnus: Been around since the 85th Games, had a close relationship with Adele Martin from District Three, hated not having things to do. He was a simple man with simple needs, but complicated all the same. It was hard to tell what he was thinking at times, and Valerian always made sure to file away any facial tics for future reference.
The final member, also newly recruited, was the new muttation designer next to Magnus. Sloane Black wasn't much older than the newcomers, but they were definitely the kind of person who acted twice their age. They took great care in their appearance, making sure their hair was curled in just the right way and that their eyeshadow and eyeliner matched to a T. The others weren't as close to Sloane as each other, but for the most part they seemed to have a good working relationship with Magnus—well, Valerian assumes so based on their cryptic conversation earlier about arena ideas and muttation positioning.
The damned cat yowled at him to give it food. Valerian, refusing to budge, picked up a handful of his prosciutto and stuffed it into his mouth. The cat's owner finally decided to address him, no longer able to ignore the man.
"The chipmunk face doesn't suit you, Mr. St. Clare," Gossamer Wormwood drawled. He leaned back in his seat and sipped his tea with a dry glare trained on Valerian. At the sound of its owner's voice, the calico cat bounded over to Gossamer's side. Gossamer lifted his arms from his lap as the cat crawled on him, settling down with a pleased chirp.
"Didn't ask," Valerian huffed around his food. Gossamer wrinkled his nose at him. The conversation could have gone on, Calla now half-grinning at the exchange while Lola, sitting beside Valerian, forlornly put her shrimp back in her cocktail. But the doors opened, two Peacekeepers filtering in, before finally the man of the hour made his appearance.
The animosity that radiated from Calla the moment they locked eyes was enough to make Valerian lose his appetite. That was another thing he wasn't entirely sure of the reasoning behind—Calla seemed to loathe his father, never saying why, and always dropped his shy demeanour in favour of a purely acidic one whenever Horace Becskei entered the room.
Horace took a seat at the head of the table, regarding the Gamemaker team and his guests adjacent to them. Someone else entered the room, delayed by a few seconds, before finally she took her seat at the other end of the table. Morganite was the youngest member in this meeting, but she was far from the most inexperienced. Ever since winning last year with Gossamer, she'd spent so much time working with Horace over new changes made to the Games that Valerian was half-surprised she wasn't also made part of the new Gamemaker team.
With everyone present, the interim president addressed them all: "Thank you for coming to this meeting, all of you. It's important we get this sorted out as soon as possible."
Horace nodded to Valerian, and the man wasted no time fishing through his pocket for his notepad. That was his job now—he wasn't an information broker that sold secrets anymore, but the official archivist for the Capitol. Anything that went on within Panem, particularly within the Games, was Valerian's business first and foremost. He wrote the date and time at the top of the page, and then nodded back to Horace to continue.
"As you know," Horace said, "the Capitol has been in a state of panic ever since the attack on President Snow last year. Recovery of the people's trust has been… difficult. But after a long, long ten months of planning and negotiating with officials, we've finally come to a solution that will lead this country back on the right path again."
Calla huffed and leaned his chin on his closed fist. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't dare speak up in front of everyone. Huang placed a hand on his knee in an attempt at reassurance.
Horace closed his eyes for a second, inhaling deeply at the reaction. This was clearly a topic neither liked to discuss together. "Towards the end of the Quell, I brought up concerns that the people feel they are being unfairly punished after a hundred years of penance for their forefathers' sins. I regret to say it took the unsightly attack on Gamemaker HQ to convince her, but nonetheless we were granted her permission to propose this change."
"And that change is?" Carna prompted. Morganite cleared her throat, standing up and pulling slips of paper from her bag. She dumped Gossamer's on the table unceremoniously, startling his cat, while everyone else was politely handed the papers by hand.
"You'll see the new rules that have been documented and signed by the rest of Pre— Celestia Snow's council," she explained. She rounded the table once before finally making it back to her chair. Valerian skimmed over his copy, and the moment he saw the word execution his hand reached for Nirav's shoulder.
It was a good thing he had, too. Nirav had seen the final rule, his eyes going wide and his lip curling into a sneer; he'd already made a move to stand, and was only held back by Valerian's grip. Despite being chosen by Valerian as his assistant, making him free from practically all kinds of punishment for investigating past events and Games controversy, Nirav was still an avox. Avoxes were still lesser than everyone else.
And Nirav realised this, his expression becoming pained as his sat back down and cradled his head in his hands. No one seemed to acknowledge the outburst but Calla, who had a similar kind of despair on his face as he read the new rules over and over again to himself.
Morganite held her own paper in front of her and announced, "Interim President Becskei and the remaining members of Celestia Snow's council have approved the following changes to the Hunger Games. First—Only those connected through relation, be it blood-related or through legal paperwork, to a rebel shall be reaped. Those who are not related to a rebel, but are a rebel themselves, will also find their name in the reaping bowls.
"Second—Due to the unfortunate circumstances of the Hemingway twins last year, volunteering at the last possible minute will be allowed. Until the reaped tribute sets foot on the train and it leaves the station, volunteers will be accepted.
"Third—The mentor system has been abolished, and all previous escorts are to be forcibly retired unless evidence is provided they can do their job without spreading rebel propaganda. The role of mentor will be passed on to the thirteen new mentors selected for this year's Games."
Sloane leaned forward, intrigued. "Thirteen?" they said. "Are we revealing the survival of District Thirteen?"
Morganite looked awkwardly down at the paper, then at Sloane. She turned her gaze to Horace, helpless, as the seconds ticked by.
"No," Horace said at last. "No, the thirteenth escort will be for our own Capitol."
Half the Gamemakers jumped to their feet in shock, as did Gossamer and Lola. Valerian wasn't all that surprised by the change, if he thought about it; everyone at some point wants to fight the society they live in, and those content in the Capitol were no exception. Sooner or later people wanted more, or suddenly developed bleeding hearts for the Districts.
"We discovered a good number of our own among the names of rebels during interrogations," Horace went on. "The Capitol will form a thirteenth District, and a small portion will be sent to random Districts to fill numbers."
Gossamer slowly sank back into his seat, his cat snuggled safely in his arms. He looked to Morganite and said, "And you were fine with this? You think they deserve it?"
She gave him a stare so empty of emotion as she replied, "It's not about who deserves it, right?"
"Yes," Horace agreed. "But moving on—if you will, Miss Gardierre?"
Morganite nodded. "Fourth—Children of rebels and rebels at the age of eighteen who are not reaped will receive punishment following the reapings. This punishment has not been made known to the public, but those who resist reeducation will face execution."
There was what had Nirav and Calla angry. Valerian scribbled the details of each rule and each members' reactions as Morganite continued.
"Finally, fifth—The tribute who wins out of the twenty-six in the arena will be rewarded with rehabilitation, particularly if they are a rebel, and returned to their District by the start of the next Hunger Games after. The aim of this change is to ensure that the Hunger Games returns to its roots, acting as judge, jury and executioner for the children of rebels and those who fight against the Capitol."
The room was silent. Morganite looked up from the papers, back at Horace. He sucked in a deep breath and nodded to her, satisfied by her report.
"That's where we're at, everyone," Horace said. Carna raised a hand, a curious look on her face. "Yes, Head Gamemaker Becskei?"
"Will there be additional changes before the Games begins?"
Horace shook his head. "No, this was all they were willing to budge with. No matter how much I tried to tell them that this would benefit the country greatly, they were still concerned with a minority slipping through the cracks."
Valerian hummed. So they should be, he thought. If Horace dared ask him for names, he'd probably have more to give than the poor sap going through "interrogations" right now.
"How many names do we have?" Lola asked. Horace looked to her dryly, but still answered with a number.
"Over four hundred."
Lola let out a flat grunt. She muttered to herself, "Got my work cut out for me."
"Sorry," Gossamer jumped in again, "what does my therapist and the former host of the Hunger Games have to do with this? Didn't you kick her out of the Games team over all this?"
That was easy enough for Valerian to answer. He looked up from his notepad and leaned behind Nirav to address Gossamer. "Lola's been reassigned to a new position that Horace agreed with. After the whole affair with you being quasi-diagnosed during the interviews, we all thought it best that each tribute have their mental health assessed prior to the arena launch."
"That'll extend the pre-Games by at least a day," Gossamer argued.
Valerian nodded again. "That was the easiest part to get the council to sign off on last year. All of this was the hard part."
Lola was looking at Gossamer with a smug expression. He looked past Valerian at her, and when he relented he waved a dismissive hand at her. "Carry on," he sighed.
It didn't take long for the meeting to conclude, the new details of the Games made clear and the roles everyone would play announced. Valerian and Nirav would document it all. Carna and her team would control the arena and its machinations. Morganite would escort for a District of her choosing, and Gossamer would host in place of Lola. Lola, going into the greatest change of career of them all, would be the one to assess and analyse each tribute in future Hunger Games.
Horace was the first to leave, and the rest slowly filtered out. Valerian and Nirav remained, finishing their notes and reviewing the papers Morganite left for them. If this was how Horace hoped every subsequent Hunger Games would operate, then everyone surely had their work cut out for them.
Valerian grabbed his bag from under his chair and stood with a grunt. Nirav soundlessly joined him, his hands tucked in his pockets in his own little way of saying, Don't want to talk.
Fair enough, Valerian thought. They had too much work to catch up on to talk much anyway.
Well, we got our POV from Valerian for our first opener! As you can see from this chapter, as well, all of the tributes will be rebels or related to rebels, and no one else. As mentioned above, the mentor system is abolished and instead thirteen new escorts are chosen for both the role of mentor and escort, so if you're interested in sending someone feel free!
Information for Meliora can be found on my profile. Hope you all enjoy, and I look forward to the story ahead! For now, I'll close off with a CQ!
CQ #1: Of the Games staff and archivists shown, who caught your interest the most and why?
