Just a quick note before I start the chapter (a rare pre-chapter AN, I know!). If you see ~~ on either side of a word or phrase, it means that it has been crossed out. This is the way that Discord makes strikethroughs, and FFN doesn't let me use strikethrough in the chapter text so this is the closest we're gonna get. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Dear Avery,
Darcy suggested that I try writing you some letters. So I could tell you how I'm feeling and how things have been since you died and all that. And also so that I can remember what happened during the Events and stuff. I don't know how I feel about that, honestly. I'm not the best at words all the time, and also I don't know what to say. I mean, if you're watching over me, you'd know everything about what's happening, wouldn't you? Isn't that how it's supposed to work – that you know what's going on in my head? So I wouldn't need to tell you what I'm thinking or whatever.
But I miss you. A lot. I miss the way you used to make us pancakes and the way you made us feel safe. But it's better now ~~without Dad~~ ~~without my~~ ~~without our father~~ without Abraham in the picture. He's away from the family now, locked up in jail in Seven, and they reversed our statute record. Not that that helps anything now, but everyone says it's the thought that counts.
It would've been better if we hadn't gotten put on the statute in the first place.
Things are getting slowly better at home. It's hard for me to trust Mom after everything, and I think she's having trouble putting herself together too. I hope things are going OK at home with me here in the Capitol competing in the Events. Marcella and Sebastian usually get along well enough, so maybe now that things have calmed down it'll be better when I get back. I worry about what would happen if something happens while I'm gone, but I gotta hope everything is gonna be ok.
Anyway, yes, I was picked as a competitor for the Events. They're like the Games but there's no death. It's fine, I guess? I'd rather be home, but we're getting a stipend for this, so I can't complain too much. And like, they specifically picked me. So that's pretty cool, right? Except me and my partner were eliminated the first day, which was not exactly ideal. And we can't go back home until everything is over, so they're keeping us in the training center. It's weird, spending so much time in your old room. And honestly, what's weirder is that things that I like just keep appearing. Every day there's a hot plate of chocolate chip pancakes that magically appears on the counter. When I come into my room at night, there's almost always some nice chocolate waiting for me. But the people who work here claim they have no idea where they come from. It's like magic, or like some sort of angel is watching over me or whatever. I don't know but… but I like it.
At least they're kind of keeping us updated on what's happening in the Events. For some reason that they haven't quite explained, we only get a little tape of what's happened every day so we know who won the morning challenge, who they sent into the elimination challenge, who was sent into the elimination challenge because of popularity, and who got eliminated. But we don't get to see everything that the Capitolites or that our friends and family at home get to see. There's a part of me that wonders what they get to know that we don't.
~.~.~
"Good morning, Ella," Sigmund said, entering the common room of their little house.
"Good morning, Sigmund. How'd you sleep?"
"Well, thank you. And you?"
"Pretty well!"
Ella returned to her book as Sigmund went to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water from the tap. Then, grabbing a muffin for breakfast, he took a seat next to Ella at the table. The two sat in silence, not feeling pressured to talk to each other; there was something beautiful in just sitting and appreciating the light of the morning.
After a little bit, Ella looked over at Sigmund. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Don't you think it's a bit strange?"
"What's strange?"
"Noel and Mack won yesterday. And we didn't go into the challenge."
Ella put her book down. "Huh. I didn't realize that."
"I know. Isn't it weird? Like of all the people, I'd assume we'd go in. Given that Noel hates me, of all people, for some reason."
"Yeah. But we didn't." Ella thought for a moment. "So what do you think it means?"
"I'm not entirely sure," admitted Sigmund. "But for some reason or another, they're not targeting us. So if it comes to it, like if we win a challenge, I don't think we should target them."
"You don't think?"
"No. If they're not gonna target us, why should we bother targeting them? Plus, it's not like they're the strongest out of the Careers; I'm certainly more worried about the pairs from Four and the Capitol than I am about the pair from Two. They don't get along at all, which bodes poorly for the team-based challenges, and Mack is not nearly as strong as most of the older Careers. We – both meaning us and meaning the whole alliance – are better off trying to knock off the stronger teams that get along better and that pose a bigger risk."
"And if Noel decides they want to target us? What then?"
Sigmund replied matter-of-factly, "Well, to be fair, we won't know if they are targeting us, because we don't know which team goes into the elimination challenge because of popularity and which goes in because of the winning team. But something in my gut is telling me that we'll be OK."
"You know him better than I do," Ella conceded. "I trust your gut. I just really hope it's right."
"I do too."
~.~.~
But there's also a part of me that doesn't care that much.
Today was the fifth day of competition. Each day has to do with a theme, related to like some sort of value that someone picked out. That's how I was picked. So today, the theme was Heart, which is kinda right for District Twelve, because you need to have big hearts to be willing to give of yourself to help others. Also the heart is a body part so that makes sense. The challenges were pretty cool, I think. At least the morning one was. They had the competitors in some sort of wacky virtual reality simulation where they had to make choices of how to best help a bunch of people. The teams were able to talk through their decisions even through the virtual reality, and they had to agree on what choice to make. I'm not at all surprised that the pair from Twelve won, honestly. There were a few teams who just outright chose not to help the people they encountered so, like, obviously they weren't going to win. But the girls from Twelve are just the sweetest things, both kind and caring and always willing to lend a hand. So them winning made sense.
What I think was a bad move was who they decided to send into the elimination challenge: the team from Two. There is no more volatile team than those guys, honestly; Noel is a ticking time bomb and I would not put anything past them. Admittedly, if they'd lost, it wouldn't have been such a bad move. The team from Two is spearheading an alliance of the four Career districts (One, Two, Four, and the Capitol), so without the team from Two, it increases everybody else's odds, in a way. Unfortunately for everyone else, the team from Five was sent into the elimination challenge because of popularity. Now, to be fair, there are nearly no challenges that Five could have reasonably beaten Two in, but today's elimination challenge was particularly stacked against the team from Five. So now I'm pretty confident the Two's are going to be targeting the Twelves in particular, which of course bodes poorly for the Twelves.
The challenge was… interesting to say the least. Violet said it was based on an ancient game called Operation. Lying on an operating table was a wooden cutout in the shape of a human. Cut into it were a bunch of holes of a variety of shapes and sizes, and lying in those holes were plastic pieces of various shapes and sizes, some in Two's red and some in Five's orange. One by one, the competitors took these giant tong things tried to pull the tokens out of the holes; if they touched the wood, they forfeited their turn. The first team to pull out all of the tokens in their district color won. For a normal person, it was a difficult challenge; for a boy as clumsy as Herman, it was nearly impossible. The pair from Two absolutely wiped the asses of the pair from Five, sending them home in two rounds.
I don't know why I'm writing so much to you, Avery. It's not like you care about this anyway. But… I don't know. You always liked to listen to me. And I like pretending that you're there to listen. Maybe Darcy was right.
I think I'll write you another letter in a few days.
I love you, Avery.
Love, Oksana
Full Placement List:
1st: Twelve
2nd: Six
3rd: Nine
4th: Eight
5th: Five
6th: Capitol
7th: Four
8th: Eleven
9th: One
10th: Two
Herman LaPorte:
Herman! One of my comfort characters for sure. As a fellow absolute klutz I can totally empathize with Herman and his antics. The way he just has the biggest golden heart in the world made me so happy, and his eccentricities were a lot of fun to write as well. In another story, in another timeline, I might have been able to do more with him, but sadly, his time ends here. Thank you so much to GenevieveLeigh for Herman!
Kiyo:
Kiyo! What a neat concept for trust. It might not be the most realistic concept but I thought it was such a clever thought! Of course, the core to Kiyo is that, because they spent so much time pretending to be other people, they never really got to figure out who they were. This is another case where, in another world, I might have been able to do more with them, but alas, this is the hand that they were dealt. Thank you so much to SparkALeah for Kiyo!
~.~.~
Hi everybody! I know this is a much shorter chapter than the previous ones, but I've really been enjoying trying out some different formats for these chapters which also happen to be much shorter. I think they'll add some fun texture and color to the fic that we haven't gotten a chance to see yet, and it gives me a chance to stretch myself as a writer! So all good things all around. There are two other like, broad formats I'll be using across the next eight - well, now seven days of competition, so all the way up until the final two, and then I'll be going back to a more conventional style with the variety of POVs and stuff.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this little peek into Oksana's head! This has been something I've been excited to do for a while, honestly, so I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me! Did you catch the hints at who might be doing the things she's talking about? And what did you think of the challenges, or what little we saw of them? I know they weren't quite the focus of the chapter but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I have two more chapters of about this length stockpiled so I'll be posting… maybe weekly? maybe biweekly? We'll have to see. I am targeting a finish date for this story of around June 13, at which point the sequel will also open! No promises on that but that does feel like a feasible plan! So keep your eyes peeled for that.
Anyway, thank y'all for your support! I'll see you soon for the next one!
-goldie031