Joyce Davidson (District 4 Mentor and Victor of the 101st Hunger Games)
Just when I thought there was no possible way today could get any stranger than it already was, Allure decided that she just had to go and pull a fast one on me by finding a way to cook up this incredibly unexpected and romantic little dinner for the two of us. The fact that she found the time to do all of this while I was doing everything in my power to drive myself absolutely bonkers, in what I now realize was nothing more than a completely and utterly futile attempt to keep the President's unexpected little announcement from turning tomorrow's reaping into a bigger clusterfuck than I already think it will be, is nothing short of a miracle. Of course, to me, it's just one more little reminder about just how special and amazing my girlfriend truly is.
"Are you….Are you ok Joyce?"
"Of course I am babe. I was just….I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have such an absolutely wonderful and amazing woman like you in my life."
"Oh is that all? And here I thought you might actually be thinking about something a little bit more important. Like just how wild and out of control tomorrow might get if we end up having even half as many kids trying to volunteer for the Games as Finnick and Phox think we will."
I know she meant that as a joke, or at least I think that's what she meant it to be. Unfortunately for me, that's not the way I end up taking it and within a few seconds, I'm doing everything within my power to stop myself from bursting into tears over what the logical part of me knows full well was nothing more than an incredibly lame and corny attempt at humor by Allure. But the emotional and illogical part of me doesn't seem to care about any of that, and even though I try anything and everything I can think of to keep myself from doing so, it only takes a couple of seconds for my already shaky composure to crumble as a small but steady stream of tears starts to dribble out of my eyes and down my smooth, bronze kissed cheeks.
And even though I do my best to hide my tears, or barring that to make them look like they were brought on by the sheer hilarity of her joke, it takes Allure all of half a second to realize what's going on. And within seconds, literally no more than half the time it takes me to blink under normal circumstances, she's standing behind my chair and wrapping her arms around me before planting a series of small and obviously apologetic kisses on my neck before doing everything she can to figure out just what it was that she did to set me off like this….
"I'm so, so sorry baby. I should have….I should have realized that this wasn't the best time for me to start making jokes like that. Not after the incredibly hectic and unpredictable day you've had."
"It's not….It's not your fault babe. I'm just….I'm just still trying to process everything that's going on and my inability to do so has my brain screaming at me and my stomach tied in all sorts of knots."
"I know baby. And I know that all of this is hard for you, especially the thought of having to work with and mentor volunteers that insist that they know exactly what they're doing without knowing for sure that they do."
"That's not….That's not what I'm upset or worried about Allure. I wish it was, because it would be a whole lot easier for me to deal with all of this if it was."
"Then what is it, Joyce. You know that you can tell me anything babe, so please, do so. Let me help you with whatever it is that's hurting you. Please…."
"That's just it Allure I don't….I don't know how I'm supposed to explain what's wrong because I don't actually know what's wrong. I mean, my emotions are all over the place, my stomach is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, and that's….That's just not how this is supposed to work."
It's in this moment, when I'm doing everything I can to keep myself composed while bearing my soul to the woman I love, that Allure does the one thing I never expected her to do. She starts giggling…..And even though I know that I should be pissed, I can't seem to bring myself to be anything other than dumbstruck.
"This may….This may come as a bit of a shock to you Joyce, but being a nervous wreck, especially the night before the reaping, is kind of a prerequisite for being a mentor. Because despite what it may look like, or what you may think, all of us, myself included, are just as nervous and unsettled about all of this as you are."
I think it's safe to say that I'm more than a little surprised by Allure's admission, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to express said surprise in a way that's even remotely understandable. Instead, I force myself to collect my increasingly jumbled thoughts just long enough to ask the only question I can formulate at this particular moment in time.
"Then how….How come all of you always seem to be so calm and collected? Especially at this time of year?"
"By finding something, or more often than not someone, that we can rely on to support us. For Finnick those someones are Annie and their son, for most of the others it's the career academy, and for me….Well, for me it's you. You're the person that keeps me grounded Joyce, the one that keeps me calm and sane in this incredibly crazy and insane world."
"I didn't….I didn't realize how important I was to you. I mean, I know that you're the most important person in my life, but I didn't know that I was the most important person in yours."
"Of course you are Joyce. I love you, that's why I went through all of this trouble to make sure tonight was as close to perfect as I could possibly make it."
"I….I love you to Allure."
"Good. That means this next question should be an easy one for you to answer…."
I"m not sure what she means, at least not at first. But after an incredibly tense couple of seconds, during which Allure spends most of her time looking for something in her pocket, Allure drops to one knee and gently opens a small, emerald colored box with the most beautiful, sapphire gem studded ring in the middle of it before asking me the most important question I've ever been asked.
"Joyce Davidson….Will you….Will you marry me….?"
A/N: Hey everyone, we're just one week away from the submission deadline so I decided to pop in and drop another fun little update so I could let everyone know where we stand on the submission side of things, and because I love Joyce and Allure's relationship and I wanted to make sure they get their happily ever after, with 7 days to go.
So at this point, I currently have 19 submissions, 18 of which are single submissions to a district, so there's still plenty of room for more amazing tributes if you haven't submitted one yet. For those of you who've already submitted, thank you so much for doing so, and for those that are still working on their submissions, I eagerly look forward to meeting them when you finally send them in :)
But enough about that, we'll have plenty of time to go over all of that next week when we get our first looks at Verity, my first victor, and my most recent victor James, when I introduce this year's batch of tributes :) So keep being your awesome selves and read and review as you prepare yourselves for yet another adventure in this, our One Hundred and Fifth Hunger Games!
