I do not own the Hunger Games.
Thermo Austale, Victor of the 66th Hunger Games
Through his kitchen window, Thermo watched with a humorless smile as Flouric Weber paced up and down the street. District Three's most recent victor liked a great many things, but watching children die was not one of them. Worse yet, his sister was due in the next few days, and instead of being there to greet the new child, the man would be in District Zero, trying to keep someone else's child alive. The Games had a remarkable tendency to disrupt family life.
Thermo had a family once. Well, just a mother, but she was enough. Everything a mother was supposed to be: kind, loving, hardworking, empathetic. She sacrificed her time, her energy, her everything to ensure that he could stay in school and have a better life than she ever did. He spent the majority of his childhood just trying to be a son worthy of such a woman.
When he won his Game, he thought he could finally provide for her in the way she'd always provided for him. At last, he could be the man of the house, a better version of the one who walked out only a few months after his birth. If his mother couldn't have a proper husband, at the very least, he could be a proper son.
But he'd killed people. The arena had been a nightmare, and it rubbed off on him. Turned him into something he didn't want to be.
His mother had watched him fight. She'd watched him crumble. She'd watched him change.
And they both knew that he could never be a proper son. Anything and everything he offered, no matter how lovely or useful or prudent, always reeked of blood, desperation, and the children he'd killed.
She'd gone to her grave knowing that her son was a murderer.
Thermo opened his front door, and called to Flouric. "You're going to wear a track in the road."
Flouric responded with an unkind gesture, and Thermo tried to smile.
He missed his mother dearly.
Aphelion Andros, Head Gamemaker
Her assistant stared at the diagram, resting his chin on his fist. "I think everything's taken care of." He looked to Aphelion. "Did we miss anything?"
Aphelion shook her head. "Nearly all is in place."
He pointed at a flashing corner of the hologram. "What about solitary confinement?"
"It's being stocked." She referred to her tablet, and raised her eyebrows with a sigh. "Should be ready in two hours."
The poor kid was gnawing on a hangnail, more nervous than Aphelion had ever seen him, and she couldn't help but wonder why. It wasn't as if his reputation was on the line.
"What's on your mind?" she asked.
The young man looked up, startled, and his hand flashed to his side. "I, uh. Nothing, ma'am." After a moment's consideration, he relented. "Actually, it's… it's my sister. She lives in District One and we've never had to worry about her, but she's seventeen, and with the quell twist, this time…" He sighed. "I just don't want my sister to get killed by something I helped create."
Aphelion pursed her lips. "But if your creation kills the sister of a stranger, it's okay?"
"What? N-no, not at all, I just-"
"It's a tragedy regardless of relation. We're guilty all the same." A little wistfully, she added, "No matter how hard we try, we can't escape our base nature. But we can fight it. We should fight it." She smiled at the screen. "This prison of war."
District Zero
Male: Enoch Emeris, 18
Female: Charne Valle, 18
District One
Male: Florian Casimir, 17
Female: Danique Vittori, 17
District Two
Male: Tullus Marl, 18
Female: Medea Torrell, 15
District Three
Male: Emery Sobel, 14
Female: Polly Brady, 18
District Four
Male: Owen Blackwood, 17
Female: Dabria Lane, 18
District Five
Male: Damian Ridge, 18
Female: Maelyn LeBrenton, 16
District Six
Male: Tristan Vorassi, 18
Female: Ryder Corinthus, 17
District Seven
Male: Darian Kesslar, 16
Female: Magery Kappel, 18
District Eight
Male: Denim Luxley, 17
Female: Evelyn Arellis, 15
District Nine
Male: Samson Galloway, 16
Female: Nynette Saghas, 14
District Ten
Male: Benjamin Stavros, 18
Female: Aviana Recine, 16
District Eleven
Male: Armand Castillo, 12
Female: Sinora Midori, 16
District Twelve
Male: Ace Wilder, 15
Female: Adara Tassin, 18
District Thirteen
Male: Niko Sundita, 16
Female: Brand Coil, 17
Some more background, yay. And now you know that the arena is one big metaphor for the human condition. It's almost like we're back in English class!
Oooookay. I received almost sixty submissions, so I had to reject about thirty tributes. I appreciate the effort that went into each submission, and if any of yours aren't on the list, I'm sorry. Some details might be different than you expected, so check every district. I had to put a few tributes into different districts than the ones listed on their form, and the overwhelming majority were older kids, so I had to push down a lot of tributes by one (or in one case, two) year(s). But rest assured that this won't affect their performance in the game. I just wanted to make the spread of ages slightly more realistic.
Let me know what you think of the tributes! I love full blog reviews, but I understand that's fairly time-consuming, so I'd alternately appreciate a mention of your favorites/least favorites, or even just the ones who stood out.
Anywho, the blog is posted, and it's 3:15 in the morning right now, so I should probably wrap it up. Thanks for reading, thanks for submitting tributes, and I hope to see you next time.