Victor #38:
Name: Zephyr Cavalieus
Age during Games: 18 years old
District: 02
Hunger Games: 038
Death: Hunger Games 110, Tausret
The Victor's lounge is quiet in the morning. A new president allowed the expansion of the lounge to become truly a regal sight, the legendary tapestry created by District 8's first victor now covers the entirety of the wall closest to the center of the room. There's still room for more, and Razer Castle of District 2 works with that very victor late into the night at the top of the tapestry, using the rough tool of chalk to create a loose outline for the arena that year, a floating zeppelin, thousands of feet in the air. District 2 brought home another victor this year, 18 year old Zephyr. If Delly's pissed about it, it doesn't show, hell it never does, she's almost never pissed.
They're both deeply immersed in their work that they don't take time to notice one of the other occupants, Zephyr of this year, mourning at the bar. He noticed the trellis as he walked in, the newly built two stories allowed for more creative freedom and just much more amenities than usual. He hopes that the two at the very top don't notice him, Razer was one of the first to be trained and he'd be damned if he saw him, Razer's awkward, but ruthless, and the alcohol's clearly getting to him when he hears the door opening and closing tightly. "Come on Zeph, we don't have you drink here until a year later," headmistress Lumin chides.
"How can you stand it?" he asks in a slur.
"Xer-Zeph. We don't waste our lives on illicit goods or anything like that. I've been trying to get rid of the bar for years, but Tody and Trusty treat it as their love child. Don't ask. Besides, we don't let you in here until three days after victory, we need to unveil your portion of the tapestry. It's tradition."
"So it's tradition to feel remorse at the souls of 8 dead kids on your back?" he hisses abruptly. There are only five victors in the room at this point, Irumn is on the second level, sipping a warm glass of milk and rubbing her swolen belly, as seen through the glass floor. She had finally settled down in District 6, in spite of having lost every tribute to come after her, and her first child was on the way. "I don't know how you can live with your children, headmistress, they surely must know that their mother is a killer."
"Cut him off," Lumin directed to the bartender. The avox nodded and shut off the tap. "Head to bed, you need it. Now Zephyr-"
"'Tis but the tradition of the District to uphold the honor and will of the capitol by producing victors from its legendary gift," he interrupted mockingly.
"I understand," Lumin continued. Even after years of working at the pinnacle of District 2's peacekeeper training facility, her eyes still bore the pain of having lost so many friends in 4 days. "If you want to talk, go ahead. I won't interrupt. Lupus did the same for me years ago."
"Still don't see why you aren't hating me for backstabbing Villia, considering she was your tribute as much I'm Onix'," he grumbled.
"As headmistress, I need to see if all my friends are capable enough to keep training on at the facility. Yes Zephyr, friends. We're on the same ground now, I no longer have control of you, but I can cut you off if I see fit. Come on, I know that isn't what's eating at you, let me see if your biography from training entails anything." Her eyes went blank as she imagined the paper in front of her and read it outloud, "Name, Zephyr Cavalieus, 18 years old. Birth, five days before victory, Hunger Games #20, Radiance Mernal. Family, all dead to me… Motivations for volunteering, to give myself a worthy sacrifice. Now, I'm sure it has to deal with your dead beat iron polisher father, and your estranged mother, huh?"
He sighs dramatically and slams his fist on the table. "I forget you have the memory of an elephant, Chameleon. I kind of wish I had it, considering I'm elephant. HAHA! Jeez, the bartender can't make a stupid cleansing tonic."
"Check again, I'm making one for you," Lumin told him from behind the bar.
"When did-"
"My mother worked in the District winery, my sister took over the role, and I can make tonics rather well. Where else do you think we get the necessary materials for molotov cocktail practice?"
Zephyr looks at the shot glass in front of him before gulping it in rapidly. "Thanks. But I think you should go, I'll clear my head off for the night and I'll be up momentarily."
"You aren't a good liar, you know that, right?"
"Can't blame me for trying. What time is it anyway, four, five?"
"SEven. More of us are going in soon, and you can't present yourself like this."
"Well screw me up the ass," he complains. "I guess we need a bartender for today, and pack my bags for tomorrow, huh?"
"No, actually, I agree. You need the time to cool off. I know you've worked in the mines, and are with Romulus in mountain worship. Do you need the spiritual uplift or anything?"
"I'll check the library upstairs, I might need to recall a hymn. It's therapeutic., and it's a good comfort . Should you go get the bartender back?"
"I need to brush up on my skills behind the bar, and dammit we aren't going to serve alcoholic meals today. Not when we have two or so pregnant women here and you're still volatile. Besides, we already have like half a dozen drunkards. You're not joining them," Lumin adamantly demanded. "Go on, look around. That tonic lasts for several hours, so spend as much time as you need."
Zephyr nodded at the leader of the peacekeeper academy and made his way upstairs to the massive wall of books spanning the length from one wall to its opposite on the other. Aimlessly he pondered over a section devoted to the culture of District 2 before finding the book of hymns from years ago. He spent lots of time in the mines when his time in the Peacekeeper academy allowed it, and the messages that stuck from his bastard father were to keep his faith. He pulled out a book about an inch in diameter and rifled through it.
Most of the songs were about the cataclysmic events in the thousand years before the inceptions of the fourteen countries, then the merging of the countries, then the dark days until the Hunger Games' inception. He runs his finger over the illustration accompanying his favorite song, about the massive eruption of a long dormant volcano that destroyed most of the areas surrounding an ancient sea, and lets the words take him over as he sings them outloud.
All these years, and you were found
Silently sleeping, not a single sound
I could see your beauty in the resting frame
Though you were here, all I had, was the memory of your name
Lost from you when the ground fell below
All those years, you were there, somehow I'd know
And there you were, resting drearily
Now in my dreams, I'm with you peacefully
To be with you once more,
All my heart, my dreams, my love
Every single thing you've said.
Simple thoughts only flowing through my head
Voices dancing through the night
Screaming in such a major fright
~
"Contrary to popular belief, the song is not to have been attributed in regards to a lover long ago, but a daughter, separated from her father as they escaped the Plinian eruption of Ancient Vesuvius," Zephyr read the author's note aloud. Call him crazy, but he thought it was a message from a dog lover to his loyal companion, a dog from years ago. The verse he read was just one, and the rest described the comfort felt with the recipient in his arms, the warmth of her hair-or fur as he believed, and the smile that would always appear.
He rifles through the book again, stopping on an image of a mighty monument collapsing in its base into the ocean. As if to represent the collapse of the state befalling the world, an artificial archipelago was destroyed by the once mighty spire atop the tall building, noted as the tallest building in the world at the point. He could find a family in the building, holding onto each other as the tower began to collapse, and the artistry was so prominent. It's when he looks at the most distracting feature in the tiny illustration that brings tears to his eyes, the one thing unstable in the district is Family.
Family doesn't last long in the District, most children who leave home never return. Most of District 2's victors has no one in the general public to fall back on in the general populace. Romulus has since grown apart from his brother, but his children are somewhere in the facility. Cleopatra was separated by her parents, and lost her brother in the arena. Razer was an orphan, but strong, though he doesn't have many friends in of the District. Lumin's family wanted her in the winery, and she isn't on good personal terms with her mother. Minercal, much like Razer, was an orphan, strong, but lost her parents in a mine shaft collapse years ago. Only Lupus is on consistently good terms with a member of his family, and Crista is on equally good terms with the rest of the victors. Zephyr's father was a bastard who spent too much time down at the forges, but there always was a promise with him that the elder Cavalieus would make it home with more songs.
Maybe it was just because Woof Dagmar was on his mind as he remembered the song in his youth. Every Career district has a friend in the outliers, for District 4 it's District 7. In District 2, it's District 8. District 1 isn't as obvious in its camaraderie with District 9, but if Gerry and Leo, decades strong at this point, District 1 and District 9 were tight friends. The song very much reminds him of District 8, and Woof's endeavor to get back home, only to find it changed. Woof was someone of a cult classic in District 2, his story of his attempt to make him home, and the promise to his brother certainly warmed tender hearts in the District.
And who is it to break the silence after his song but Woof himself? The sound of applause resonates through the lounge, led by the only male victor from District 8. "Good job son," Woof says admirably. "Could use some of that in District 8 to revive our passion. Guess the mines treated you well."
"If you would, sing another one?" District 8's most recent, a new mother with a child not a month old, asks timidly.
"Anything for you and your children," Zephyr said bashfully, shocked at the sudden cooing of the child as he smiled.
The look on Zephyr's face as he went slack with astonishment caused a round of laughter to roar through the open second floor of the victor's lounge. He manages to catch Razer's eye from the scaffolding, and he nods approvingly. He and Lupus are quite the successful mentors, more boys made it home than girls from District 2, and it's mainly thanks to the two of them. Zephyr echoes the smile widening on Razer's face and lets Weaven sort through the hymn book. Family is going to take a while getting used to.
Hey Guys, Hopps here
Sorry if the updates are going to be a little less frequent from now on, but I'm going back to school tomorrow, and this won't hinder my attempts to keep this project going on.
I hope that this closes off summer rather well, and that you've enjoyed this so far. Tell me your thoughts on this chapter, Zephyr is the last victor of a period that I call, 'District 2's early prime.' It'll be about a decade or so before their next victory, and the next decade is going to be a little more balanced. [Birkaran, if you don't mind, leave a review like you did for Dior and Cane and Pharlax, those were great]
Hopping out
Hopps
P.S. Next chapter, the first victor dies. Barbara is going to be the first victor in a string of outlier victories, so look forward to that.