TW: Mild transphobia
Chapter 1: A New Normal
14 November, 168 ADD
Riin jerked her hand back in surprise, a tiny yet growing drop of scarlet blossoming from the prick on her index finger. The silver needle glinted innocently in her other hand, a thread of tinted rose trailing from the eyelet to the stretch of canvas she was embroidering. Careless.
Setting the project down on the wobbly classroom desk, Riin's gaze fell to the bead of blood squeezing out of her finger, drawn to its deep, potent red.
Hardly an unfamiliar sight. The stain on her hands seemed to expand as she watched, dripping with blood that she knew wasn't hers; no telling which of the nine possible candidates it belonged to. The insistent gurgle of flowing water echoed in the back of her mind, the rustling of leaves as a breeze swept through the treetops—
A chair screeched against linoleum, snapping Riin out of the ghost of memories as one of her peers left to go to the bathroom or something. Riin lifted her head, tracing her tongue along the edge of an elongated tooth, another reminder of her new life. In front of her, Cosima Herkimer's angelic golden curls glinted under the dull fluorescent lights of the classroom, the girl's shoulders bent over as she focused on her own embroidery project. Etched onto the chalkboard in the front of the room, a sparse set of instructions detailed the requirements of the project; below, Mr. Gaberdine, the embroidery teacher, lounged in a worn swivel chair, his nose buried in a cheesy and equally worn romance novel.
Riin frowned, glancing again between her finger and the unfinished outline of a strawberry on her embroidery canvas, suddenly questioning why she'd bothered to come back to school at all. This is a waste of time and a useless distraction. She certainly hadn't made the decision based on her desire to learn basic embroidery techniques.
From the impression that Riin had gotten, it varied whether Victors returned to school after winning the Hunger Games or not. It wasn't a requirement, after all. Neither Janus or Barnabas had, as they'd been nearly finished at the time of their respective Victories. Her mentor hadn't expected Riin to either (he'd presented homeschooling as an option to avoid the stress of socialization), but after a summer of recuperating in the relative isolation of her mansion in Victor's Village, she desperately needed a change of scenery, something to drag her mind from the pit of the arena. The mansion didn't quite feel like home yet, with raw memories creeping up on her more easily when she had nothing else to focus on. She needed distractions, and in the summer, that took the form of dragging her brother or Cosima out into the city for various activities: roller skating, shopping, indulging in curious district reporters, more shopping, etc. She'd even signed herself up for self defense classes downtown again as well, unable to escape the nagging feeling that one day she'd need them.
It wasn't enough. The idea of being stuck alone in the mansion while Iden was at school and her parents at work made her uneasy, so on the third of September, she'd announced to her family that she would, in fact, be joining Iden that morning to start her first day of high school. She'd almost regretted the decision immediately with the amount of schoolwork they'd thought necessary to give her, if not for the deer-in-headlights look on Cosima's face when Riin took the seat next to her "best friend."
Scooting out of her chair, Riin swerved into the tight aisle separating each workspace, pausing in front of Cosima's desk. The girl looked up cautiously at her approach; Riin didn't miss the way she pulled the embroidery hoop closer to her chest. "Oh, let me see what you have," Riin said, the hint of a demand in her tone. Cosima hesitated for a heartbeat before placing the piece in Riin's outstretched hand.
The stitching wasn't quite finished yet, but Riin could clearly see the aim of her project. Deep green vines circled the half-filled outline of a white rose, gleaming brightly against the beige color of the canvas. It was truly a fantastic piece of work, shadows stitched in light purples and blues to add definition to the forming flower petals. White was a difficult color to use, she'd heard her father grumble about it enough with his own projects, but Cosima really had a knack for it, apparently. "It's beautiful," Riin mused, gently stroking the rose with a finger. A trail of scarlet followed her touch, seeping into the soft-colored threads. "Whoops," she said, mimicking an apologetic grimace.
Cosima snatched it out of her grip instantly, her face falling as she took in the damage. "Look what you did! I swear, I—" She cut herself off, sucking in a breath to calm her initial angered reaction. "Riin, you're bleeding," she said, her clenched teeth contrasting with the false concern in her tone.
Riin held up her hand, inspecting the culprit finger. "Huh, you're right; I hadn't even noticed." Wiping the rest into the fabric of her dark skirt, Riin turned back to the object of her provocation. "I didn't mean to ruin it, honest."
"Girls, what's going on?" Mr. Gaberdine appeared next to Riin, his tone slightly irritated at the interruption of his reading hour.
A brief pause; Cosima glanced uncomfortably between Riin and the schoolteacher. Riin gestured for her to speak, curious as to what she would say. "Oh, um. Riin pricked her finger and accidentally ruined my piece," she said, her tone cautious not to place blame. "It's fine, though, I can just restitch it."
"Well, that's good to hear," Mr. Gaberdine said disinterestedly, straightening his shoulders to turn to Riin. "Are you alright? I can write up a pass for the nurse's office, if you need it."
Riin smiled in thanks. She had quickly become accustomed to people walking on eggshells around her, and it certainly wasn't unwelcome. "Oh, I'm fine, Mr. Gaberdine. I've had worse."
"Right." With that, he shuffled back to his desk, disappearing once again into the contents of his novel.
Riin turned back to Cosima, who was currently pulling the stitches from her rose with stiff movements. "It really is a lovely rose," Riin said honestly. Irritation seethed behind Cosima's bluebell eyes as she rethreaded her needle, offering Riin a terse expression of thanks.
The loud clangor of the lunch bell interrupted them before either Riin or Cosima could make much more progress on their embroidery, though even with the setback, Cosima's rose held more shape than Riin's strawberry. Quickly, Riin packed away her things, tossing her bag over her shoulder as she and Cosima exited the classroom.
As usual, Cosima's boyfriend waited for them outside the door, leaning casually against a locker. Asher Viscose, by popular opinion, was one of the most prominent players on the Central High lacrosse team with his effortlessly but too-perfectly disheveled chestnut hair, strong jawline, and athletic physique. A sophomore as well, to the jealousy of nearly every girl (and some of the boys) in Central High's freshman class. Not Riin, though.
Asher ran a hand through his already-tousled hair, greeting Cosima with a "Hey, babe" and a kiss on the cheek. Cosima giggled, wrapping her arm around his to tightly lace their fingers together, her irritation from the past couple minutes forgotten under his attention. No, Riin wasn't jealous of Cosima at all.
Whatever. Asher gave her a friendly wave as well, and they joined the flow of students with last-period lunch heading towards the cafeteria. Two of Cosima's friends (or minions, as Riin usually called them), Mira and Mika, found them, latching to Cosima like the useless leeches they were. Riin rolled her eyes. The last one, Velveteena, was no doubt at the cafeteria already, saving their table.
When they arrived, however, their usual table was already occupied by a group of upperclassmen girls.
Riin's eyes narrowed, her expression mirrored on Cosima's face. "Where the hell is Teena?" Cosima muttered, and Mira and Mika exchanged nervous looks. With an icy stare, Cosima shoved her bag into Asher's arms, storming over to the table. Riin followed close behind, swishing her ponytail over her shoulder as she glared coldly at the intruders, catching the eye of the red-haired one. Plastering a horribly phony yet still breathtakingly beautiful smile on her face, Cosima addressed the girls. "Excuse me, but I believe you're sitting at our table, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
The three girls exchanged irritated looks, but neither seemed eager to speak up. One of them nudged the red-haired girl, and she relented. "Sorry, but we were here first," she said, an equally phony smile on her lips.
Cosima didn't budge. "Oh, but I'm sure you've seen us sitting here every day," she pressed, annoyance leaking into her demanding tone.
The first girl nudged the red-head again, jutting her chin at Riin. "Bonnie, that's, y'know…" Riin raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we should go," she said. Wise move.
Bonnie glared between Cosima and Riin, ignoring her friend. "I'm not gonna be bossed around by a couple of freshman," she scoffed. "This was our table last year."
Cosima folded her arms. "Things change," she said dismissively.
Still, Bonnie made no move to leave, locking Cosima with a hard stare.
At this rate, lunch will be over before we get to eat. Placing her hands on the table, Riin leaned in towards the upperclassmen. "Listen," she commanded, drawing their attention. "This whole thing you're doing, it's cute, really." In a swift motion, she shifted to seat herself at the edge of the table, snatching a bright red apple from Bonnie's tray. "But we asked you to leave. And we won't ask again."
Bonnie bristled with indignance, and Riin flashed a pleasant smile, taking a bite out of the girl's apple. She made a shooing motion with her hand, and Bonnie's friends took the hint, reluctantly dragging her away from the confrontation.
"Fucking whores," Cosima scowled, and Riin snorted a laugh.
They waved the rest of the group over, Riin placing her bag next to Asher at the circular table. Cosima sat at his other side, of course, and Mira and Mika closer to Riin, though Mira left a chair in between them.
As they stood to get in line for food, the last member of Cosima's little group, Velveteena, finally decided to show up, a full lunch tray already in hand. "And where the fuck were you?" Cosima demanded.
Velveteena flinched, nearly dropping her food, a guilty look in her eyes. "Wait, what happened?"
"Some juniors tried to take our table," Riin supplied.
Cosima shot the mousy Vetveteena a glare. "Yeah, because someone wasn't there to save our spot."
"I-I'm sorry, I had to buy lunch today!" she squeaked, her eyes wide under Cosima's scrutiny.
"Could've just waited for us, but whatever." Cosima rolled her eyes, stalking off to the lunch line with a dramatic flip of her hair. The rest of them followed, leaving Velveteena to forlornly guard the lunch table and their bags.
According to Asher, the quality of the school lunches had increased dramatically from last year, thanks to the monthly Parcel Day gifts from Riin's Victory. Since it wouldn't last, Riin took advantage of the free desserts that the staff slipped onto her tray while she could, flashing the amiable old lunch lady a smile of thanks.
Back at their table, Velveteena sat alone, halfway through her meal of breaded chicken. Of the two remaining seats, she'd chosen the one furthest from Riin's bag. She brightened when the five of them returned, the air filling with meaningless chatter as she swapped stories with Mika, adding to the drone of the cafeteria.
Bored, Riin took another bite of Bonnie's apple, turning her attention towards Cosima and Asher. He was currently giving some long, drawn-out explanation of an obscure lacrosse rule, which apparently outdated the formation of Panem. Cosima simply smiled and nodded; Riin doubted she actually understood, or cared to. Engrossed in his explanation, Asher seemed to have completely forgotten about his lunch. Stealthily, Riin nabbed a potato fry from his tray, adding it to her own.
Asher didn't notice, of course, but Cosima did. Frowning, she glanced at Riin, and then back to her boyfriend. "That's really interesting; Riin, did you know that? About the goalkeeper possession?"
Sitting up straighter, Riin tilted her head in curiosity. "No, I thought that wasn't true."
Asher shook his head, turning his attention to her. "Ugh, that idiot Reggie needs to quit spreading that around. I check him once and he tries to change the rules of the damn game—"
Riin hummed in agreement, pretending to listen to Asher's lecture. Her eyes wandered to Cosima, currently reaching for one of her boyfriend's fries while he was distracted. "Huh, Cosima, have you seen Reggie play before? I haven't been to any of the games last season."
Cosima was quick; Asher turned around just after she dropped the fry on her tray, folding her hands neatly. "I don't know, he made that one really good save right after the week of the Games."
"Babe, come on, he sucks."
Quick as lightning, Riin's hand shot forward, grabbing two fries this time while Asher shook his head at his unfortunate teammate's lack of skill.
"Riin, you'll have to come to a game next season," Cosima said with a smile, successfully snatching a small handful of fries when Asher's attention turned back to Riin. Glancing around, she saw that their little game had caught the attention of Velveteena and the others as well; their eyes flicked between Riin and Cosima like a flying shuttle.
"Yeah, you totally should; it's a lot more fun when I've got someone watching," Asher said with a grin as Cosima snagged yet another fry behind his back, frowning at his words. Riin returned the smile, propping her elbow against the table. "The season starts in spring but it goes on through the whole summer," he supplied.
Riin hummed, taking another bite of her apple. "I'll have to check my schedule," she said when she finished chewing. "We'll make it a date then; Cosima, you can come too."
Asher huffed a laugh and Cosima scowled. "Funny, Riin."
"I'm kidding, obviously." Riin glanced between Asher and Cosima; the number of fries on Asher's plate were dwindling, and Cosima had definitely taken more than Riin. "Cosima's clearly the prettiest girl in the entire district, no competition."
"Can't argue with that," Asher said with a shrug, giving Cosima a peck on the cheek. Quickly, Riin plucked a couple of fries, depositing them on her tray with a smirk.
A singular fry remained on poor Asher's plate; Cosima eyed it covetously. "Maybe you could date Reggie instead, Riin."
Riin's nose wrinkled in distaste, though she didn't remember what Reggie looked like. Asher didn't seem too keen on the idea either. "Nah, he's a senior; that would be kind of weird." He peered around the table, as if trying to pick out Reggie in the crowd.
On either side, Riin and Cosima tensed.
"Besides, have you even met him?" Asher said with a glance at Riin. "I feel like you wouldn't get along."
In a heartbeat, Cosima snapped up the last fry, grinning in triumph. Riin slammed her fist on the table, to Asher's confusion. "What—" His head snapped between Riin and Cosima, who popped the fry into her mouth, and then back at his own plate and its lack of fries. "Hey!"
At the indignant expression on his face, Riin and Cosima dissolved into giggles, echoing in waves around the rest of the table.
More amused than mad, Asher grabbed one of his fries from Cosima's plate, holding it teasingly in front of her. Cosima snatched it from his hand with her teeth, earning a laugh from Asher and a heavy eye roll from Riin. She shifted away as Asher continued to hand-feed his girlfriend, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
The sound of approaching footsteps thankfully drew her attention, and Riin turned to see her brother sliding into the seat next to her. "Hey, nerd," she said, finishing off the last of her apple.
"Nerd, yourself," Iden said, poking her in the arm.
Across the table, Cosima's face brightened at Iden's presence. "Iden! Nice to see you again," she said, leaning forward with an almost-flirtatious smile.
"Hi, Cosima," he said nonchalantly. "I've come for Riin's dessert; they always give her the best ones."
Riin smacked his hand away from her tray. "Like hell."
He took it in stride. "No, but actually," Iden said, jerking his chin over towards the group he usually sat with. "They won't shut up about rehearsals for Coriolanus, and if I have to hear 'You common cry of curs!' again, I am going to lose my fucking mind."
Since Riin now attended the same school as her brother, Iden frequently oscillated between sitting with Riin and sitting with his drama club friends during lunch. Iden wasn't actually in the drama club — their father had made him join his freshman year and he'd absolutely hated it — but he'd been lucky enough to retain the friendships he'd made. Riin didn't know why he bothered; they seemed to piss him off for the most part.
Riin pursed her lips. "You'd better not drag me with you to go see it this year," she warned.
"Oh don't worry, I'm planning on 'forgetting' to buy tickets," Iden said, making air quotes around the word.
Cosima frowned. "Oh, but that sounds like fun, though. Maybe we should go," she said, nudging Asher. He shrugged, clearly indifferent. She turned to Iden. "Well, at least if they're any good."
In response, Iden waved a hand. "Eh, they're alright. But if Kevin doesn't get his head out of his ass—"
A loud laugh interrupted Iden, causing his shoulders to tense. "Look who decided to sit at the little girl's table today!" The voice came from behind, belonging to an athletic kid with a dumb-looking grin in his face. "Nice to see you know where you belong, Mister Kres," he sneered, giving Iden a firm shake on the shoulder.
Bristling, her brother shrugged the kid's hand away. "Fuck off, Reggie."
So that was Reggie. Riin narrowed her eyes, turning around to get a good look at the senior. The way he carried himself reminded her of Blade, the Career from District Two; darkly, she imagined slitting Reggie's throat as well.
"Woah, don't be rude," Reggie said, raising his hands defensively. "Just saying 'hi' to my friends, that's all. 'Sup, Asher?"
"Dude, stop being a dick," Asher said, irritation lacing his tone.
Reggie chuckled. "Hey, at least I have one."
A burst of anger flashed through Riin's chest; discreetly, she reached for her bag under the table, but a hand clamped around her wrist, stopping her: Iden. He shot her a warning look, releasing her when she withdrew her hand. Glaring up at Reggie, she stood, folding her arms. "I thought my brother told you to fuck off," Riin said harshly.
Despite Riin's recent growth spurts, Reggie towered over her. "I'm just teasing," he deflected casually. "Don't get your little panties in a twist."
Metal scraped against linoleum as Iden rose to his feet, a dark look in his eyes. "Careful, Reggie," Riin said, the warning evident in her tone. "You won't find it so funny when your name gets called next Reaping, will you?"
At least the kid could recognize a threat when he saw one. "You can't do that," Reggie scoffed, though he sounded unsure.
Perhaps it was just Riin's imagination, but the chatter of the cafeteria seemed to dim in the face of the confrontation. Riin allowed a smirk to creep onto her face. "Do you really want to find out?"
A brief pause filled the air while Reggie's thick skull processed her words, a scowl forming on his face. "Fucking psycho," he muttered, breaking her stare. Riin smiled in satisfaction at the victory as he stalked away.
"You're a shit goalie, Reggie," she called after him.
Satisfied, Riin went back to her lunch, managing a few bites of breaded chicken before she realized that the conversation hadn't picked back up after Reggie's disappearance. In fact, the entire table was still staring at her, with the exception of Iden, pointedly glaring at Riin's lunch tray and drumming his fingers on the table. "What," she demanded.
Velveteena spoke cautiously. "Can you really do that? Tell them who to pick?"
Could she? Riin shrugged indifferently. It didn't matter whether she actually held that influence or not; if her peers believed that she did… Riin smiled. "I'll have to look into it."
Another awkward silence followed, broken after a minute by Iden. "Riin, can I talk to you for a second?"
Frowning at his concerned expression, Riin allowed him to lead her away from the table, though not before she grabbed a handful of fries from her tray in case Cosima decided to steal them back.
He pulled her into a quieter corner of the cafeteria, away from prying ears. "I thought Dad told you not to bring a fucking knife to school," he hissed under his breath.
Riin popped a fry into her mouth, tilting her head. "Not sure what you're talking about," she said innocently.
"Bullshit, Riin; I know you better than that." Iden folded his arms, giving her a stern glare. "Not saying I don't appreciate the sentiment, but what the hell were you thinking?"
Riin shrugged, still chewing. "Oh come on, if anyone deserves it, it's that asshole. I doubt the lacrosse team would miss him anyways."
"Not funny."
She grinned. "I'm just kidding. Potato fry?"
"I— oh, thanks." He made for the fry in her outstretched hand, but Riin let go just before he could grab it.
"Whoops," she said, offering him another.
Iden picked up the fallen fry, tossing it into a nearby trash can. "I'm serious, Riin. You're gonna get in trouble with that." He reached for the fry, but she dropped it again. "Really?"
She snickered as he stooped to pick it up again. "Here, for real this time," she said, holding out another.
Iden gave her an exasperated look. She wagged the fry in front of his face, watching her brother follow the movement with his eyes. Cautiously, he stretched a hand towards the bait. Riin let go just before his fingers grazed the fry; his hand darted forwards, snatching it out of midair. "Hah!" he crowed, tossing the fry into his mouth and giving her a lighthearted shove. "But really, Riin," he said, his voice lowering in seriousness. "You're not...you're not in the arena anymore. You don't need to worry about that kind of stuff."
"I know that," she snapped. Obviously she knew that; she wasn't stupid. But how could she explain to Iden that feeling of panic that threatened to close around her throat without the presence of a blade within reach?
Five months and it still hadn't left. She had a feeling it might never leave; after all, her mentor still carried a knife in his pocket even after almost three decades since his Games. Janus was the only one who understood.
Despite her glower, Iden's gaze softened. "I know you do," he said sincerely. "I just don't want you getting in trouble, especially not over assholes like Reggie."
Relenting, Riin dropped her glare; it wasn't Iden she was mad at anyways. "Yeah, maybe one day Asher will snap and shove a lacrosse stick up his ass."
Iden snorted at that. "Going to a game might actually be worth it then."
With a giggle, Riin held out another fry. "Last one?" Iden shrugged, reaching for it, and Riin snapped her hand back, popping it into her mouth. "Just kidding," she said with a cheeky grin.
"Brat," Iden sniggered, elbowing her again just as the lunch bell rang.
A/N: I'm so excited to start posting this, y'all have no idea.. ;-; It's been a work in progress for a while haha.. I'm especially hype to finally be sharing more about post-Victory Riin ! She's always Something, isn't she? fhf. And also Riin and Iden's relationship, bc I really just love them so much, and I hope you guys do too ;-;
Lol, any guesses to what my most-watched movie in middle school was? (It was Mean Girls wheeze).. Also sorry about the transphobia; while I do think the majority of Panem (esp Capitol, city districts) Probably doesn't care, some people are just. Assholes. Also, fair warning, there will be a Lot of things happening in D8 before we get to the actual Tour.. And these guys definitely attend what would be considered the "rich kid" high school in D8, where they get Sports! and School Plays! Fun stuff.
Ok, another warning I feel like I need to apply to this story as a whole regarding the themes.. There will be discussions surrounding the whole Victor prostitution thing, since the Capitol is composed of absolute fuckin degenerates (that's what the M rating will be for).. I have absolutely Zero intentions of writing explicit things in detail, but these are topics that the characters will discuss frequently. Please proceed with caution for the rest of the story if that is a triggering subject for you (I'll also put a TW at the beginning of the chapter for things like that, like I did for this one). I don't enjoy holding this kind of thing over people's heads, but I also don't want to spoil the story by giving away important plot points, so that's all I will say for now.
Aside from that, this story IS also going to contain spoilers for True Vengeance (and the sequel that I'm planning for it that I haven't started writing oops..) and I'll include chapters to be wary of if you don't want those either. Will probably put a spoiler-free summary at the end in the AN's.
Final notes: for the moment, I'm going to be sticking with a weekly update schedule for this (idk what Day, but at least once a week!), at least until the whole thing is done being written loll.. Yeah! So uh. Happy birthday to me, and see you guys next week!
- Nell