Isa James, 15
Victor of the 16th Hunger Games
The warm, light red upholstery of the train booth, the red colouring chosen to invigorate tributes and mentors alike, does nothing to bolster Isa's mood. She shakes her head and sighs as the train rushes towards Six, her fingers entangled in her dirty blonde hair. The locks of hair are twisted even more tightly between her fingers as the train rockets around another bend, and she scowls at Doug with a sour, bitter face. "You're telling me that I can't talk to Tony's family? I can't even say why I convicted him? I think that I'm doing them a favour, giving them money so that I repay them for anything I've done. Isn't that fair? Why wouldn't the Capitol want me to do a thing like that, Doug? Why?"
"N-no, I didn't say it that way," pleads Doug, drumming on the tableside absentmindedly. "But you can't go giving money to them, even if you've had a change of heart about the boy! It does get suspicious, Isa. You have to keep to yourself for a while, at least until the Capitol is satisfied with your performance. If you don't perform up to their standards, there will be consequences. This is how you lose your family, Isa. I know it's hard to understand, but that's your life now. That's our life, all of the victor's lives."
Isa bites her lip in frustration, a drop of blood from the raw, dark pink skin falling onto the table. She doesn't notice. "So I can stay in the Victor's Village with my family, then. Unless they don't want to come live there, of course. I guess… I guess I'll be alone in my house, then. No big deal. I think."
"Then we'll look after one another. And if you want to, you can likely live with your family most days. Just check in at your house every so often, and the Capitol will be none the wiser." Doug reaches out to Isa with his left hand, smiling comfortingly. "You're going to be fine, Isa. I'm just looking out for you."
Isa gives a small smile, shaking Doug's hand. "Well, if I'm going to live with you, I'm going to have to make sure that you stay off of the morphling. Hmm… we need to find you a supplement to keep you off of it, don't we? How about… sugar? That's always helpful for addictions. I know a lot of people who have a sugar tooth. Don't worry, you'll have one by the time I'm finished with you. I can ask our chef to..."
Doug leans back and watches the train hurtle through the last of the mountain tunnels, the tall, striking outline of Six up ahead.
Isa sounds younger than she has in weeks.
.oOo.
She looks out of the car window as the James estate grows closer, the front door open with a woman standing on the front porch. Her mother. Martin James joins his wife soon after, and Briar with a bundle in her arms - what could it be? Clothing? Why would she get clothing for Isa when she's come back from the Capitol? - walks towards the car. "Excuse me?" she asks the driver as the car slows to a halt. "I'd like to walk the rest of the way."
The driver gives a nod and stops entirely, allowing Isa to slip out in a small velvet dress that her escort had made sure that she wore for today. After all, she'll be dining with the Mayor of Six with her family. It's supposed to be a big occassion, and the escort seemed very insistent about Isa keeping a good image.
She doesn't care. If the dress gets muddy, if her hair's stylish locks are mussed, she won't let that dictate how she is. She's still Isa, after all. She still killed others to make her way back home.
It doesn't even scare her to think that. It feels in the past, like everything before the Games began. She doesn't know if she's happy, she's sad, or even disturbed that she feels… nothing about killing those two kids. Bernard and Giovanna, the Capitol said their names were. Should she remember them? Should she forget?
She lets herself forget the Games as she falls into her mother's arms and gives Briar a huge smile, her boyfriend awkwardly standing near the crystal glass panes of the front door. She doesn't have to be a victor when she's home.
She can be Isa.
.oOo.
Doug sleeps in her living room for the first week after she comes home, but tonight he's decided that Isa is trauma-free - an obvious fact - and is sleeping in his own home to get a good night's sleep on the specially designed mattress from the Capitol. And she's happy. Not that Isa didn't want him sleeping in her home, it did feel nice to know that he was there just in case anything did happen, but she has plans for tonight. She wants to visit the Dongalls, to at least meet them and say something about Tony. It's only right.
Or so she thinks.
She grabs a pair of running shoes and quickly laces them up, putting on an safely anonymous jacket to hide her identity. She doesn't know how many morphlings - or worse, drunks - had seen her Games, but she doesn't want to run into anyone who didn't like how she performed in the Games - or someone who liked her Games too much. No, it's good to be anonymous today.
The streets feel cleaner than before the Games as she walks along them, and she realizes with a laugh of surprise and intimidation that the logo of her badge - the District Six Community Watch - is emblazoned on dozens of signs around the neighbourhood. Perhaps the Capitol was inspired by her movement, and cleaned up the streets when she won. If they ever mentioned it to her, it came in one ear and out the other.
A small home, dingy yet clean and bright at the same time, emerges in front of her eyes, and she knows from all of her weeks watching the door for Tony to come out with a pack of beer that it is the Dongalls home. Without hesitation, she swiftly raps on the door and waits for whoever is on the other side to open the door for her.
It's a tall girl with bright eyes that opens it for Isa, her eyes losing that shine of hope once she sees the victor and hardening into a dull, mean glare. "Get out."
Isa shoves her foot in between the door before the girl has a chance to close it, holding her gaze for gaze. "I want to talk."
"After you ruined my brother? You demonized him, little Miss oh-so-rich Isa James. You demonized him, with no idea of what he was actually like. I was trying to get him off of the drink. I was trying! And then..." the girl shuts her eyes tightly, unwilling to let Isa see her cry. She only opens them once more when the ave of emotion passes, flashing the victor a glare. "You are a horrible human being, and I'd rather see the girl from Nine come out than you."
Then she shuts the door in Isa's face, a muffled sob escaping through a crack in the side of the door before a set of footsteps hurry up some stairs and slam a door loudly.
Isa stands there for another few minutes in shock, trying and failing to comprehend what the girl had done. Why? Why did Tony's sister hate her so much, even if Isa just wanted to help fix up the mess she had caused, even if she didn't think she had caused it?
Or maybe she did.
Maybe she is a bad person.
Maybe she needs to change.
But first, she needs to go home and hide in her room until these stubborn tears go away for good.
.oOo.
The weeks pass by and she floats through it all, her good cheer seemingly back after having vanished for a bit with the Dongalls incident. But yes, she feels better about the fact that Akira Dongalls told her that she had demonized Tony. There was truth to that, truth that she's forgiven herself for. A James doesn't carry guilt for long.
She feels the first hint of awe that she survived the arena when she sees the helicrafts drop goods around the city, Isa coming to the middle of City-3 to see the little children scream in delight for the goods and luxuries tucked away in the large boxes. Not everyone gets something from the boxes, but everyone who seemed to need it did. But most importantly, the tesserae office is offering free grain and oil to everyone who comes to register for the mandatory one slip. Her victory's doing good in this city, good that it desperately needs. From what she's heard, City's 1 and 2 are celebrating as well, and they're shouting her name in delight in the streets.
She has her first nightmare about the arena when she goes to bed, but when she wakes up, only a smile of relief is on her face. Whatever she suppressed in the arena, it's finally leaving.
.oOo.
The tour passes by quickly, and Isa doesn't mind. She reads off of the little slips that her escort had prepared for her, smiles to anyone who waves, and ignores the stares of the families from Nine and Twelve. They have to accept that she's won, after all. Her discreet donation to both of the families should be more than enough to keep the families satisfied.
And the days fly by once more until like magic, spring comes once more and she realizes with a jolt of panic that she'll be mentoring for the first time with Doug.
It's a victor's life that she's trapped in.
But when she sees her tributes for the first time, she realizes with awe that they're her age, yet they'll be looking up to her for advice. Now that, that's truly terrifying. And when she boards the train once more and sees the light red interior, she almost wants to walk back into the city and pretend her tributes never existed in the first place. But she won't leave. She'll be damned if she can't do anything for them.
A James always keeps their word, after all.
Isa is shallow and rude but she's a wonderful victor anyways and I won't hear anything else about her unless you have deep and interesting insights that you want to share with me :P
And to everyone here, heyo! It's nice to have you here! You might be curious about what this story is, and I'm here to briefly inform you of what is happening. It's a partial SYOT, but with 24 open spots for all of you lucky people to submit to!
:o
I know, it's kind of strange and you may be questioning the fact why I have 24 open slots, instead of only like ten where the pov tributes go. The answer? I am too lazy to write a full SYOT, but am simultaneously too lazy to make OCs and want y'all to give them to me instead. I'm too good for this world, I know. The chapter lengths won't be long, the updates will be quicker, and it's going to be a good time.
Now don't worry to those who are panicking over what slots are POV slots, there'll be 12 designated POV slots. Those spots? They are: the
District One Female
District Two Male
District Three Female
District Four Male
District Five Female
District Six Male
District Seven Female
District Eight Male
District Nine Female
District Ten Female
District Eleven Male
District Twelve Male
And that's it! The other spots will be open, but they will have no povs and will not be able to win. :( but the ones open will! :D Go submit to the ones listed above if you want povs! Most of them will be open until February 3rd for submitting, but I'll also be closing slots that I'm happy with so that we get started on intros while simultaneously promoting the story. So: POV slots are competitive, and non POV slots are first come first served!
POV TRIBUTE FORM
Name:
Age:
District:
Gender:
Appearance:
Picture (Either this or appearance is optional, but you need at least one):
Personality:
History:
Family:
Friends/Enemies/Acquaintances:
Reaped/Volunteered:
Reaction/Reason:
Token:
Strategy for Training:
Private Sessions:
Predicted Score Range (0-3, 6-9, 10-12):
Chosen Weapon:
Interview Outfit (Optional):
Interview Angle:
Thoughts About Killing:
Allying? With Whom?:
Would They Trust Their Allies:
Bloodbath Plan:
Will They Die in the Bloodbath (subject to change, I do like big bloodbaths):
Plans for the Games:
How Might They Win:
How Might They Die:
Predicted Placement:
Would They Go to a Feast:
Fight or Flight Instinct:
Theme Songs (At least three)
NON-POV TRIBUTE FORM
Name:
Age:
District:
Gender:
Appearance:
Picture (Either this or appearance is optional, but you need at least one):
Personality Traits:
History: (short)
Reaped/Volunteered:
Reaction/Reason:
Token:
Strategy for Training:
Private Sessions:
Chosen Weapon:
Interview Outfit (Optional):
Interview Angle:
Allying? With Whom?:
Would They Trust Their Allies:
Bloodbath Plan:
Plans for the Games:
Predicted Placement:
Would They Go to a Feast:
Fight or Flight Instinct:
And here is the form. There are reasons why I ask for so many songs for our pov tributes, reasons that you will come to realize. Google random ones if you don't know what songs are and you're from the North Pole or Mars ;D I can also decide ones for you, I gotchu! Just be prepared for them to be cringy and not thought inspiring
To clarify, no review submissions are allowed, sorry guests :( as well as this, you can only submit one pov tribute, but you can have a second tribute in the non pov crowd! Hooray! If it takes a while to fill up the non-pov peeps, we can open the waters to two non-pov tributes per sub and so on, but for now it's a soft cap on one of each. You can submit more than one to both, but only one will be accepted.
Please title your PM to me something with the words 'Caveat Lector Form' in it. Makes it easier for all of us.
And that's basically it! You can look at my worldbuilding and list of victors for more clarification on this verse, and use the form both here and on my profile to make your tributes! I wish all of you the best of look, and hope to see a lot of you submit! By the way, we're diving straight into intros first. No cutting around the corner with this. See you with our first pov tribute, which could be any of the slots that I'll close before I write the chapter on my profile so you don't make a tribute for an already closed slot. :P Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ