Okay, sorry guys, but this is the second controversy chapter in a row. I am sorry for misrepresenting anything that goes down here if I happen to, but please be respectful-I'm just a teenager.
Victor #53:
Name: Polyp "Skipper" "Volga" "Victoria" Chelle
District: 4
Age during Hunger Games: 17
Games: 053
Death: 135, Bunny
For the most part, becoming a victor is irreversible. With victory comes unforgettably fabulous memories-as the capitol puts it. Yes, Unforgettable. Fabulous, not at all. Ask a victor, and they'll say that no one leaves whole, or even who they were.
To say that Polyp Chelle of District 4 is an exception simply isn't enough. The victor of Hunger Games 53, climbing over nine fabulously made kills, but to say that she made them all, is kind of an exaggeration. Victors come from rough backgrounds, and rough lives, and Polyp had one of the hardest. (Un)luckily, she didn't have to go through them alone.
Enter: Skipper, permanently aged 29 years old, male
At five years old she works with her father and mother on the village's ship. Thanks to Lilo's victory the year prior, the families now can head out in stability. But demand in seafood has gone up, resulting in the villages already large hundred tons of seafood to go up to double that. Lucky thing that the ship can handle the cargo.
Her father is second in command, second officer Manta Chelle, working alongside his wife of 9 years, Basin Chelle. Most of their days are spent on the sea, week after week in the sun, managing all 55 workers as they navigate through the waves. With both of her parents on the ship Polyp must stay with them, against the usual District custom of one parent staying at home with the children while another cares for the wares. Polyp is a lonely child who usually is in their stateroom with her dolls as her parents work with the captain and two other officers for their haul.
Her holed up routine is interrupted one day, by a loud noise that every ship passenger is conditioned to fear. The Alarm. There are two flashes then two buzzes. Two flashes then two buzzes. Two flashes then two buzzes
"Attention all below decks," the captain's voice, a man not much older than her father, rings through the intercom. "Waves are becoming too much for this ship. Doppler projects record heights in the coordinates 29.5 Degrees north and 93.5 degrees west. Heights are expected to reach 45 meters. All hands to the lifeboats."
The door slams open, her mother runs in, grabbing Polyp's escape bag and telling her to take what she can into her jacket, and run to the deck. The girl is doing as she says but the ship is alreadyy beginning to list severely and it isn't hard for Polyp to lose her balance. "POLYP!" her mother screams as she slides to the starboard wall. A book falls on her, Polyp is dazed, but she recognizes her mother's strong arms carrying her and whatever she has in hand while wrapping her in a massive jacket. "Take her!" she vaguely hears her mother say. Then there's a moment when Polyp flies through the air, landing in the open chute of the lifeboat moments before it falls to the tussling sea.
When she comes to, the ship is nowhere in sight, but she isn't alone. There are four other occupants, a tweenage girl, an aged woman, and two teenage boys. She holds onto her backpack as the lifeboat drifts about in the water, waiting for the waves to die down. There's a long wait before the seas finally settle down, when it's finally available to head out, but the aged woman is actually kind of tired, and who wouldn't be. Most of the occupants are understanding. Well, except for one half.
"Are you kidding me? I've spent fourteen years of my life on the sea, viewing waves as far as the eye can see in the middle of the ocean without land in sight," 'Polyp' suddenly says. Deep down, she's confused, definitely confused, but well, it also makes kind of sense. It is fact that Skipper is a seasoned sailor. But who is Skipper?
"You heard me," she says again. Okay, it gets weird again, but she's seeing stuff through a sailor's eyes now, one that's experienced with 14 years as Polyp, or Skipper claims. "The seas are cold now, we can head up you know. I'm heading out, checking the weather. You-" she, or he points out to one of the teenagers. "Keep this thing sturdy as I check it out."
Polyp's mother is the one with 14 years, and her father has 15, what in the name of Snow- Polyp is only 5, how can she have several years of experience? Polyp-or Skipper's head hurts right now but it can't do anything to a District 4 resident who spends their lives on the sea. Land is far away, but it's there, a small village on one of the ruined islands. If they can just get there…
"Turn the ship ten degrees east, then proceed at 15 knots, that should be stable enough," Skipper, as she decides she'll be known, commands to her fellow castaways. "You-" she points to that tweenage girl. "Check for stuff, we need to see if we can treat a concussion."
It takes five more hours since the sinking of the S.S. Swordfish and the five of them finally reach land. It's almost dark, but a shore fisherman and his family spot the refugees, tending to scratches on the sandy beach only guided by the moonlight. The family runs up to them, all out of concern, asking questions faster than a fish flops when fried. "There were two more lifeboats from the S.S. Swordfish," one of the teenagers explains. "We assume that there were 15 others spread through the two of them-our oldest…"
As he continues to blabber the eldest fisherman turns to Polyp. She's cautiously holding her head and is just looking up with the widest eyes. "Sir...where am I? Where are my parents? Where's the Swordfish?"
The man instinctively runs the back of his hand across her forehead, drawing it back when he feels a sudden warmth and calls forward his sister. "Take her to the hospital, she needs to talk." The family takes the rest of the survivors of lifeboat Gamma into their home for several weeks, until the last survivor of the S.S. Swordfish, a malnourished third officer, is found adrift in the ocean. By that point, Polyp and Skipper know that their parents are dead. Yet it doesn't stop Skipper from venturing out into the ocean.
It does stop Polyp.
Enter: Volga, permanently aged 14 years old
For five years, the only people in Polyp's heads are her and Skipper. They don't quite work out how to share the brain as often as they want to, and Skipper does randomly appear in school, but the doctors say she's normal, or at least would be if they knew just what the fuck Polyp was going through. The old documents diagnose her as schizophrenic, but newer ones say she has something called D.I.D, with the potential to create more...alters, as Skipper is called.
"Are you sure that you were the first?" Skipper asks in the dark of the night.
"O-of course, I remember that we were on that ship," Polyp would feebly reply in her sleep.
"Aye, but that shouldn't matter, I've had 14 years of experience by the time you were five, so I must've been first ya know," he would counter every so often. The orphanage is kinder to Skipper, who can spin a marvelous tale of a day on the ocean (which happened often, but not as exciting as Skipper puts it) better than Polyp can. Skipper only seems to be around for story purposes, at least ones that he remembers.
Of course, a ten year old girl is bound to have interests other than what her male counterpart likes. Much like her few girlfriends, they have a lot of fun gawking at those sexy career boys...and girls for when Skipper is in control. Yet, for that young trainee who also lives in the orphanage, there's just something special about him. He does listen earnestly to Skipper's stories but just spends a lot more of his time with Polyp more. Maybe it's his twinkling eyes that has strength, or the light muscles on his 12 year old frame, or his hearty laughter, but Timor Cebuan is definitely her first crush.
And like all impulsive District 4 girls, she just has to do something about it. She finds that boy walking through the garden occasionally, looking at the Wedelia flowers, simple, but he thinks they're pretty-probably. A plan concocts in her mind, with Skipper respectfully taking a step back for the moment, and she pulls out a pair of scissors.
The next day he's where he usually is with fellow 12 year olds, skipping stones in the pond closest to the orphanage. It's been banned by the orphanage matriach numerous times, but they don't care. Timor breaks away from his friends for a quick moment, grabbing his shoes from a rock, and young Polyp makes her move. "Hey," she says shyly. "I, uhh, I'd like to thank you for listening to me in the orphanage."
"Oh, you're that sailor girl, aren't you?" the tween replies respectfully. "I like your stories, they're pretty good to listen to."
She giggles lightly, blush running to her face, then hands him a boquet of flowers. "I picked these for you, from me and Skipper you know?" She clamps her hand over her mouth abruptly, realizing she's said too much. "Uhh, if you don't like them, you can always put them somewhere else, but I hope you do. Got to go, bye!"
She runs away swiftly, over the sand and pebbles. She doesn't see Timor smiling at the flowers or putting them down, but still, she knows he does. And it's because her intuition tells her that he knows that she keeps doing it. Every week when she can catch him alone it's another bouquet, maybe with Jasmines, or Wedelias again, but he always takes them. Until she gives them to him when he's with a girlfriend...yeah that's when things kind of get sour.
The girl he's walking with, Sumatra Rhone, is tall, curvy, with the wind flowing in her back. "Aye, she be a mighty fine mermaid off the coast," Skipper absentmindedly says.
"Shush, he can't see that in her, can he?" Polyp says to Skipper. He shuts up. Lucky thing that the sailor is so respectful to his owner. It's just a girl, Polyp rationalizes. It won't change what they have, she thinks as she walks up to him, flowers behind his back. She's expecting the usual smile and lighthearted ruffle when Sumatra speaks up.
"Dude," she says with an ugly chortle. "Are you seriously cheating on me with a Shrimp? I haven't even seen her in the Aqueduct, how do you even know her?" Her voice, though angelic, carries the bite of a saw shark with every syllable, punctuated with a laugh akin to an octopus' tentacles. "Oh what the fuck are you going to do next? Marry her?!"
"Hey, uhh, Polyp," Timor adds in a smaller voice. "Thanks for the flowers, but I really can't take them right now you know? You understand?"
Oblivious at the connotation that the words carry, she smiles and nods, already thinking of her next bouquet for the next week. Yet, Sumatra never leaves her mind. Her words etch in her brain continually, echoing endlessly. Most of the time when she sees Timor at the Aqueduct, he's shirtless and working to impress Sumatra through sword play and wrestling, winning every time and acting pompous and so unlike the guy she's crushing on-usually. He still listens to her stories, but Sumatra seems to be Timor's best friend, or someone closer.
But no, Polyp still wants to do this-she still prepares a bouquet of flowers, and fixes her hair when she walks up to Timor. She meets him just as he's about to swim with his friends, while they're stretching on the Aqueduct's beach, his muscles glinting in the sunlight, his hair flattened for his swim, and ruckous laughter all around. She walks up to him meekly, holding her flowers like she normally does, and taps him on his strong shoulder.
"Oh my, who invited you here?" Sumatra exclaims again.
"I thought this was a private beach, free of Shrimp," one of Timor's friends, the one with dark red hair, chortles.
"Timor, is this just a piece of driftwood that washed up?" yet another one insults. This one brings a round of laughter, and the insults continue. Even if she's 10 and he's now 13, poor Polyp is intimidated around the gang of teens, who are all so much bigger and smarter and wiser than she is, as they volley insults around. It's a stressful sight, seeing her crush laugh at her, and she's about to open her mouth when Timor begins to speak directly to her.
"Come on Polyp, I think it's time to stop this now, I've got my own friends and you have your shrimp pod, don't you? It was fun while it lasted, but I think it's time you let these barracuda swim on their own, lest you prawn in on our fun," he says with a sliminess never heard before.
It becomes just a bit too much for her, and she backs away hastily, trying to run from the jeers of the so much more mature teenagers, when she trips and falls on a rock. She grabs the back of her head, and there's fucking blood. Crabcakes...she runs away faster to the infirmary, tears clouding her eyes, and she begins to breathe. Close her eyes, Skipper's there comforting her with his old sailor's charm, and she cries for a good hour.
Then Polyp opens her eyes and speaks. "This changes now," she boldly declares, her voice still trembling. With a harsh slap to her cheek, she recuperates and faces a mirror. "Volga is in control now."
Volga, who has just appeared, makes her way to the Aqueduct. She slams the door open and causes the glass to spider. She trounces up to the secretary, who hangs up his call and turns to face the miscreant. "Sign me up," she hisses. Turning her back to the secretary. "And any mental bullshit you may have me go through, don't bother, I'm Volga, Skipper, and Polyp Chelle all in one. Don't question me."
The man at the desk nods, taken aback by the forceful tone that the apparent ne'er do well has, and sends her into Andromeda's office. She hardly looks up from her paper while rolling over her procedure. It's a height and weight check, followed by a quick interview with the three personalities. "We can work with this," Andromeda mutters to herself. "One last thing, will you require residence here or rather travel here?"
"Residence please, I can't stand to see the faces of those insolent barnacles at the orphanage ever again," Volga says disdainfully.
She turns into a lethal fighter, painfully adept at hand to hand combat and a witch with a double ended spear. When it comes to roles, Volga is the fighter, Skipper is the brains, and Polyp herself is the leader. Volga spends her days flirting and fighting at once, keeping energy from the reliable Polyp and the revealing Skipper. Every day it's all about Volga, and it would be when Polyp Chelle, as Volga, Skipper, and herself, is chosen as a volunteer when she turns 17 years old.
Enter: Victoria, permanently 17 years old
It's down to the final week, Volga, Skipper, Polyp, and the fellow careers are talking. It's the top 10, and four out the six of them are still alive. No one would have expected Volga to turn on the boy from District 1 at 13th place nor Skipper to draw up the two girl a day later. There's peace, ready to be shattered, but Polyp is at the helm for now, keeping the tensions as low as the gentle fire in front of them. The day's only kill, the boy from District 12, is shimmering in the night before fading. All kills will go to Polyp, and he was kill number four.
Her partner, the 16 year old Carpath, adds more fuel to the dying fire once the anthem disappears into the night. He clutches his glaive expectantly, worried at the night to come. Little does he know, he has every right to. The two boy, Zeke, has been plotting this since his partner died a while ago. With blame placed on the sailor permanently in control for Zeke's partner Zeke makes his move. The knife whizzes over the dwindling flames as Polyp ducks, letting her fall into Volga. It's just in time, because Gemma, the one girl, has finally figured out who the bitch who killed Silver was.
Nimbly Volga bends over as Gemma throws her disc, saving her from a clean beheading, and it lands in Zeke's elbow. The two boy, massive due to alternating work in the mines and training academy, lets out a roar as he plunges a syringe into his thigh. Adrenaline is high for all four careers, but none higher than Zeke, who is a beast that begins to tear apart Carpath as Volga wages a duel against the glamour from one.
Gemma punches her straight in the head, and it's enough to send her staggering backwards, almost in the ashes of the wood already burnt. Volga recovers, but her breath becomes hasty with every block she makes against the incoming blades that dance with sparks in the night, having shadows projected much like a film on the bending silver. With every clank, Zeke is closer and closer to killing Carpath, who gets slit on his shoulders, his legs, and his torso. There are two shouts as Zeke and Gemma both move in for the kill, and only one is successful.
Carpath falls to the ground with a dagger in his forehead, and his killer retreating far into the forest, fed by rightly justified worry of the others turning on him. On the way he runs into the 9 boy, the outlier who rejected the offer to come in the careers in favor for his alliance with the girl from 7 and the boy from 8. Zeke makes quicker work of him and runs further.
Meanwhile, blood still trickles on the campsite from Gemma and Polyp's battle. In a dangerous move, 'Polyp' has caught Gemma's blade, with her own blood sliding down the metal and down on the dirt. She fights through the pain, and kicks Gemma in her stomach, turning her sword unto herself. The glamour girl coughs up blood and takes her dying breath as her feet kick the dying embers. Her last breath signals three cannons. "The bastard killed another," 'Polyp' deduces. She grabs the ditched supplies, but not before looking at the hovercraft pick up the nine boy, and not before passing over Carpath. "This is District 4's battle to win, my good friend," she whispers to his corpse. "I'll make it true, Polyp, Volga, Skipper, and I-Victoria."
It's the moment people call her a victor, when she grabs the sword aimed at her head and turns it on the girl from District 1. Four victors in one body, nine kills, and a victor who is both crazy and rational. The funny thing is, who they crown victor, Polyp Chelle, never made a kill in the arena. It was either Volga or Skipper and to the end all Victoria, who brought them out of the arena, another victory to the weakest career district so far.
Enter: Polyp Chelle, ages naturally
She returns to Polyp after her hunger games, after her valiant salute to the camera from wicked cheers atop the victor's throne, after the victor's lounge party that resulted in all four of them drunk as a shark near a magnet, and finally home. Her victory meant that there were now 8 victors, four girls and boys, four official ones at least. Skipper, Volga, and Victoria included that's five boys and six girls, offsetting the victor-victoress ratio to 5-6.
For her time in town, the beach, her home, anywhere but the sea and training center, she is Polyp Chelle, the official victoress of Hunger Games 53. On the sea, she Skipper, the hearty sailor who has a mouth that spins a tail out of the natural fabric of words-once you get past his swears. In the training center she is Volga, that crafty bitch who inspires a new generation of sharks and minnows without a care in the world. When mentoring, she is Victoria, the queen of the sponsor floor, an adept assistant to her fellow mentors.
But catch her most of the time outside of the games, she is Polyp Chelle. Polyp Chelle, who is an orphan after the sinking of the S.S. Swordfish, who had her first crush cruelly laugh in her face, who became the victor after three long weeks, and a respected and gentle citizen. She won't talk about the 1 boy or girl, the 2 boy or girl, the 6 boy, the 7 boy, the 9 girl, the 10 girl, or the 12 boy. She'll talk about the weather and the fish and her new talent, interior design.
Now if only her mind was as organized as her home…
Hey Guys, Hopps here
I am sorry if my portrayal of DID is inaccurate, I did the best for a guy whose main experience with it came from media such as Total Drama or Danganronpa… if you have a problem with it, please PM me, don't flame.
Polyp's chapter was one of the hardest to write, I struggled for two weeks over her, so I'd really really appreciate reviews telling me how I did.
Next chapter is probably going to be easier. You don't really know the *chaff of it, but this next chapter does include chess, so if incorrect chess strategy is your trigger...I apologize in advance
Hopping out
Hopps
