Laurel Pine- District Seven female
"I feel like I got hammered last night," Randy said.
"I, being a good girl, didn't partake of the devil's juice before I was of age," I said, laying a hand on my chest.
"I am of age," Randy said.
"Oh yeah, you're old," I said. "But yeah, I have a splitting headache."
"Maybe they sent brain worms that will burst out our noses," Randy said.
"You seem weirdly excited about this," I said.
"That would be metal to have on my gravestone," Randy said. Like a sudden drop in pressure signaling a coming storm, the levity went out of the air. Randy looked away, pretending to be interested in something.
"We should probably make our wills," I said. "Just in case, you know, brain worms come out our noses."
"Don't you need a lawyer?" Randy asked.
"It can be sort of a common-law will," I said. "At least we have plenty of witnesses."
"I don't even know where to start," Randy said.
"I'll give it a try," I said. "I, Laurel Pine, want pretty much all my stuff to go to my parents, to do whatever they want with. They can keep the stuff they want for memories or whatever and sell the rest to fix up the house or send Willow to extra school. And I want Willow to have all my music box because she really likes it," I added. "There, done."
Randy considered, his hand on his chin. "Take like half my stuff and give it to my parents, if they want it. Give the other half to homeless kids. Except my hoodie with the dog on it, since Narcissa borrowed that like a year ago and I don't think she's giving it back."
"Hey, check this out," I said, holding out my arm to show Randy the black spot on it.
"I hope this isn't one of those diseases that takes forever," Randy said.
"I already feel pretty bad," I said. My chest caught, and for the first time, I realized how close to death we were. How close I was.
Randy nervously laughed, and it turned into a cough. "Oh, ew. That's not supposed to be that color," he said, wiping his hand on the grass.
I coughed a little in my throat and tasted blood on my tongue. I was glad we'd done all that frolicking over the last two days, because I was ready to sit a while and relax.
Randy Mills- District Nine male
Did diseases take longer if you were bigger? Because I felt like garbage, too. I felt as bad as Laurel looked.
It was hard to breathe. When I tried to take in air, it got caught, like my lungs were clogged. They probably were clogged, since I kept coughing up gunk. It was weird to feel so weak. I couldn't remember ever feeling like if I wanted to run a mile or climb a tree, I couldn't just do it. It was like my own body was betraying me. For the first time, I knew there were things my body couldn't do.
Is this what it's like to be old? Everyone my age things it's better to die strong than get old and weak. Being near death made you think differently, but they were also kind of right. I didn't want to feel like this all day. All those old people I'd seen who couldn't even sit up… they used to be like me. They used to trust that their bodies could do things.
Laurel Pine- District Seven female
I breathed in, feeling the air come into me again. I didn't know how many I had left. Adults liked to say every breath was a blessing and cheesy things like that. Now that every breath was undependable, I did appreciate them more. Being this sick made me see how I was very much made up of organs and tissues, all doing their jobs the best they could. My lungs were trying to keep bringing in air, and the rest of my body was so thankful when oxygen hit it.
Randy was sleeping. Or maybe he was dead- I wasn't really sure. His cannon hadn't gone off, at least not that I knew of. Maybe I'd just missed it. I was feeling a bit out of it, much like Randy looked. Before I'd been going from chills to fevers and back. They seemed to have balanced out somewhat. I felt like I was going up instead of in. I was detached, like I was getting pretty close to death and my soul was getting ready to go.
I caught my breath for a while, and I relaxed. It was dark- even I could tell that- and we were both pretty tired.
Randy Mills- District Nine male
A light tapping on my arm woke me up. I was surprised I felt it at all, but as soon as I opened my eyes, energy jolted through me. Laurel was lying beside me, jerking oddly and making horrible gasping noises. I sat up sharply, forgetting entirely how tired I was.
"Laurel!" I pleaded, shaking her. "Wake up!"
She wheezed, and I wasn't sure if any air got into her. What do I do? Laurel would have known how to do CPR. I just tried to open her mouth wider and lightly smacked her cheeks. There was a dry rattling noise, and she sucked in breath, opening her eyes.
"I thought you were gonna die," I said, and all the tears came bubbling out.
"I'm okay," she whispered, even more hollow-sounding than me.
My arms, which had been propping me up, lost their strength. I fell almost over her, only just managing to move to the side.
"I think you're dying, too," she said. I could breathe, sure, but my heart was flopping and beating all sideways and weird. My arms were covered in black splotches, and I couldn't see out of one eye. If Laurel did that again, I didn't think I could help her. I wasn't sure I'd be alive to see it.
Laurel Pine- District Seven female
Neither of us had much longer. I could only see Randy, and he didn't look good. He was lying facedown, and the grass around him was flecked with the blood he kept coughing up. I wondered if he'd used the last of his strength helping me and knew that was just the way he would have wanted it. His skin was an ashy gray, and it was beaded with sweat. One way or another, I was ready for it to be over.
Randy Mills- District Nine male
I opened my eyes. Somewhere in the night, I'd rolled onto my back. I lifted my head an inch, trying to see Laurel.
She was lying a few feet ahead of me, closer to the river. The dirt behind her was turned up. I crawled after her, dragging myself inches at a time. Her face was turned to the side, resting on the grass with hair strewn across it. I managed to smile when I saw she was alive.
"I'm so thirsty," she whispered. She started to cry.
I thought I'd used up all my strength, but I was wrong. Seeing Laurel cry sent warmth and life flooding down through me. I raised myself on one arm and wrapped the other under her shoulders.
"I've got you," I said. I crawled toward the water, Laurel hanging limp under me. It wasn't hard at all, not really, even when things pulled loose inside me. Laurel needed me.
Laurel dug her fingers into the mud, tugging herself into the water. She slid into the shallows up to her shoulders, smiling. "It's so cold," she said.
The water was cool on my sore, burning skin. The water rippled as Laurel breathed, unable to lift her head fully out of the water.
In the corner of my eyes, I saw a glow. Five pale-blue dots came toward us, and then the sound of seals calling. I craned my neck to see them. The selkies formed a half-circle, their eyes peering out of the darkness. Water rippled around them, tickling my face. Laurel smiled with me.
Laurel wiggled, pushing herself farther into the water. She was half-submerged now, almost far enough to be pulled away by the current. She fell still, and her eyelids fluttered.
"You're my best friend," I said tiredly, my throat closing.
"You, too," she said. "What a place to die." Her eyes reflected the selkie's lights as they closed.
She was trying to get to them, I thought. What a place to die: winding down the river, with the selkies and out of reach of the Capitol. My arm was thrown across her. With what was finally the last of my strength, I nudged her in. Her clothes billowed out as the water took hold. She slid under the surface and didn't reappear.
The surface danced as the selkies ducked underwater. They reappeared downstream, swimming into the night. The cannon must have sounded, and the Anthem must have played, but I didn't hear it. The river lapped against my cheek, and I knew something no one could take from me. No one would believe a half-dead, brokenhearted Victor, but I knew what I saw. Five selkies swam up to us, and six swam away.
2nd place: Laurel Pine- Black Death
I'm not SAYING she turned into a selkie, but...
I feel like acknowledgement must be made to Silver for making two characters so popular they both dominated a voting Games all the way through. Laurel and Randy were by far the frontrunners from the Bloodbath and never faltered (the only one to come close was Cormac). I expected initial popularity and then a gradual tapering, since they were lighthearted and not too skilled. But NO, they persevered! Maybe it was their friendship, or their old-fashioned doggedness, but here we are. About two chapters ago, I saw the writing on the wall and started setting this up. About six chapters ago it was pretty clear one would win, so I started setting them up to be worthy Victors with development and such (the same time I made last-ditch boosts for the other three). When I was pretty sure it was Randy, I set this up for Laurel. While there are plenty of Scottish stories of humans turning into animals (mostly selkies, actually), I did cheat a bit, because my main inspiration was the IRISH story Children of Lir, in which the sons were turned into swans. I also utilized the classic fairytale element of the heroine helping a passing animal (feeding a selkie) and later being rewarded by that same animal (that's mostly German stories in my experience, but a fairytale is a fairytale. So good job, Silver. The voting Games are always this close, but never before between the same submitter. It was the best way to turn this unavoidably heartbreaking final two into something good.
Lest there be charges of nepotism (I AM human, so I'm not saying I'm totally innocent), there's precedent for this. Hailey Falkenrath explicitly turned into a phoenix in the first Resurrection Games, and I wink-winked that Elara is now a poltergeist haunting her graveyard with her poltergeist mutt friend. I do occasionally get weird. This is sort of a magical realism universe. Since Laurel was so massively popular, the votes were so close, and it fit the Arena, I went for it.
Laurel averaged around +5 from the Bloodbath. At the final count, she had four votes for Victor, plus like 3/5 from guests.
Victor: Randy Mills, District Nine
Looking at the Tributes, who would you have thought? One of the pair from Two, both likeable and competent, with a kid at home? Maybe the streetsmart daredevil from Six? The prim and subtle poisoner? Or... Patrick Star the sugar baby? And yet, here we are. Randy was also massively popular all the way through. He and Laurel switched places in first multiple times, but Randy had the spot slightly more often. It was super close at the end, and as is practically traditional, it was two votes that decided it. We were deadlocked until I had to pause before the last couple POVs in this chapter to solicit last-minute votes. Silver and I both ended up not affecting the tally, even though she said I could vote. We both would have voted Randy, btw. What got Randy through was that he's genuinely a good guy. He's the purest, sweetest Victor since Nubu, another huge fan favorite. So many people value intelligence in a Tribute more than anything else, but Randy shamelessly wasn't smart and did his best with what he had. He had vulnerabilities, and insecurities, and feelings. I'm super stoked he won, because he's both a great example of getting past sexual trauma as a man (which happened organically- it wasn't in his form) and he's a wonderful example of non-toxic, healthy masculinity. He's big, he's buff, and he likes makeup and pretty things. He's just a guy. Not "manly", not "girly", because both those things are entirely arbitrary and have no meaning whatsoever. He's just plain a good guy. I'm glad it went this way. And I'm glad Silver got a Victor! Even though I'd killed her enough by now that I considered her Tributes equally eligible, it never happened yet and no one can complain this time, because you all made it happen!
Randy averaged around +5-6 throughout the story. At the final count, he had 6 Victor votes, plus like 3/5 from guests.
(Had the votes gone the other way, I was fully prepared to have Randy be the selkie. He's already a hot guy, so... but it did work better for Laurel, so while the votes would have worked either way, I think this was the better outcome)
A few cleanup chapters and then the next one will start! It's sort of unconventional, so don't get all fired up yet.
Fun fact: I picked Black Death because there were a few outbreaks of that in Scotland. I would have gone with smallpox, but from what I read, there was never a real epidemic of that, just the normal amount.
