Warning: There's some really bad language in this chapter, including a homophobic slur. I don't like writing bad language but it's pretty plot relevant in this case. I definitely don't agree with the views of the character who uses it.
Gajin Nakamura, District 3
"It's etiquette, you idiot!" -
Vampire Weekend, Finger Back
Volumina Gaul was not satisfied with the Eleventh Hunger Games.
Sure, it had been a lot more successful than the Tenth. With all the money from sponsors and gamblers, Volumina had been able to set up cameras in the tunnels so the audience could see what tributes were doing even when they were hiding. She'd also been able to improve conditions for the tributes, not because she cared about their wellbeing, just because she didn't want any of them to die off-camera.
As for the victors mentoring tributes, with peacekeepers standing in for those districts yet to win, was a brilliant idea. Who would've guessed that Surf Depthell, Emerald Kiesler and Saloven Field would get so competitive and try to out-charm each other? Thanks to them, Capitol interest in the Hunger Games was at an all-time high.
But Volumina Gaul was not satisfied. In fact, she was bored. Where was the challenge?
So she set about designing a new arena.
When the tributes for the Twelfth Hunger Games were launched into a giant maze instead of the usual sandy amphitheatre, Volumina cackled at the sight of their confused faces. Eventually, some of the tributes realised they'd need to run, either to grab a weapon or to get away from the bloodbath. Many more panicked so badly that it was easy for those who'd grabbed weapons to murder them where they stood.
Two days in and only eight tributes remained, fourteen having died in the bloodbath and both from Ten having succumbed to the wounds they'd suffered defeating a minotaur mutt. Sixteen cannons had fired, a new feature added to the games so tributes could tell how many opponents they had left.
Volumina decided, on a brilliant, gleeful whim, that she was going to kill one of the tributes off. Wouldn't that be fun?
Giving her brilliant plan a bit more thought, she realised that she'd need to kill the most boring of the eight tributes. Six of them already had kills and looked like they'd be able to provide a good show for the audience. The other two were the boy from Three and the girl from Five. Both were scrawny and sickly, unlikely to put up much of a fight.
One of them, however, had delivered a fairly impressive interview and had been the first tribute off their plate and grabbing supplies. That tribute had displayed some initiative. The other would probably die of starvation like so many tributes had last games.
With the press of a button, the girl from Five fell into a spiked pit. Her blood sprayed everywhere, her agonised screams music to Volumina's ears.
Now she needed to put some pressure on the boy from Three. Maybe she could force him towards another tribute and find out if he knew how to use the knife he'd picked up from the supply pile, the Cornucopia...
Suddenly distracted, Volumina turned to her notepad and wrote down "Thirteenth Games: Massive horn of plenty. Make it dramatic!". When she returned to her screen, the camera that had been pointed at the boy from Three was gone. Disconnected.
"Someone get a camera on Three!" She cried.
"We can't!" One of her junior gamemakers - a boy with terrible acne who she could not remember the name of - responded. "Our cameras don't move."
"What if we put a camera on a drone?" A dark-haired girl spoke up. Volumina knew her name. That girl was Io Jasper, one of Volumina's protégés from the whole Tenth Hunger Games disaster. As a mentor, Io had been fairly ineffective, intelligent but not competitive or ambitious enough. But she'd also shown a passion for mutt-breeding that made her a brilliant addition to the gamemaking team.
"Let's do that," Volumina declared, "I don't want any of the tributes to disappear."
She watched with anticipation as the drone flew into the arena, towards a dark shape in the maze - the boy from Three crouching down and examining something shiny.
"What's he doing?" Volumina asked, aloud, "Move in closer."
The boy crouched on the wall, laying out a few scraps of metal in front of him. Volumina recognised the remains of a camera, the one the boy must've disabled.
He was building a weapon.
"Should we kill him?" The junior gamemaker with acne asked.
"No," Volumina decided, "Let's see what he can do."
Volumina was content to let the tributes wander the arena for the rest of the day, let the people speculate who the victor would be. The people seemed to have decided already, though.
Over the course of the day, sponsor gifts rained down on the boy from Three, who bowed politely and thanked the Capitol on behalf of his entire district.
Strange, Volumina thought, He's nowhere near as tough as the others.
Maybe it had been his interview that had won the people over. The tributes had been a surly bunch this year, most of them barely able to hide their contempt for the Capitol. The boy from Three, by contrast, had been a breath of fresh air, all smiles and respect.
On the fourth day, the lack of water in the arena, apart from in bottles supplied at the Cornucopia and given as sponsor-bought gifts, began to take its toll on the tributes. The alliance between the boy from One and the girl from Seven fell apart, leading to a brutal fight. Volumina couldn't help but notice the boy from Three sneaking towards the sound of the battle, knife in one hand and mysterious metallic weapon in the other.
By the time the boy from Three neared the fighters, the boy from One was dead and the girl from Seven was clutching her wounded leg and moaning with pain.
"Fuck..." She murmured, tying the bandage around her leg.
"Language." The boy from Three darted around the corner and stabbed at the girl with his mysterious weapon. The moment it made contact with her skin, she jolted backwards and started shaking uncontrollably. Before she could recover, the boy slashed his knife across her throat.
He retreated as the girl gave her final gurgle, eyes haunted.
"He built a taser," The junior gamemaker with acne said, "Is that allowed."
"It is now," Volumina cackled. She'd always enjoyed watching chaos unfold in the arena.
The two remaining alliances began to run out of water. The pair from Two, brother and sister, died moments apart on the fifth day. The alliance from Four, who'd collected the most at the Cornucopia, collapsed on the sixth day when the boy decided to kill his district partner.
The boy from Three drew ever closer, towards his final opponent. As he approached, something alerted the boy from Four to his presence, maybe a shift in the air or a quiet footstep and the fisher boy lashed out with a sword. The boy from Three dodged but not fast enough. The sword sliced up his back and he crumpled to the ground, wounded.
"This is what you get for being a Capitol-loving faggot." The boy from Four croaked, the dryness of his throat clear in his voice. Volumina realised that the people would be very disappointed in the victor this year and wondered what it meant for her job.
"For crying out loud," the boy from Three stabbed his taser into the other boy's leg, "Watch your language!"
The fisher-boy toppled, landing on his opponent's body. The boy from Three stabbed desperately at the fisher-boy, before he could recover. When the boy from Four finally died, the new victor didn't have the strength to crawl out from under the corpse.
The Twelfth Hunger Games were over. Volumina Gaul was more satisfied with them than the Eleventh Hunger Games. The new arena had surprised viewers and the new victor, Gajin Nakamura was easily the best tribute of the bunch.
But they still weren't perfect. Volumina had big plans for the Thirteenth Hunger Games, unlucky for some. She'd have to prepare all year to put those plans into action.
The arenas have started being changed up and my favourite district now has its first victor. Gajin is probably the most polite victor of all time. There's more to him than just hating swearing, though. One of the things about switching up the POVs is that we don't always see every side to a character. Even though he started out as just a comedically polite guy, Gajin developed a lot more as I carried on writing him, especially as I wrote other victors from this period for him to interact with.
Part of me regrets not including him in The Bride and The Widow because it would've been absolutely hilarious imagining him reacting to Binah... just being Binah. I left him out not wanting to reduce him to just comedy but now I can picture some more serious scenes with Gajin.