Chapter 21: Beauty Devereaux
You stand at the mouth of the Cornucopia, staring out at the dazzling northern lights coloring the skies above this frozen tundra. Working nights should make you feel tired, but instead you feel exhilarated, as this is your first day – er, night – on your dream job.
Arena tours of past Hunger Games have become a lucrative market in the Capitol ever since Mags Flanagan's day. You're only fresh off of graduation at the local high school, yet you already feel like you have reached the pinnacle of your life. Ever since you were a little girl, you have loved the Games. Everything about them, right down to the way they evolved, especially a couple years ago, when the President allowed prominent undergraduates at Capitol University to escort the tributes themselves! Consort with the Victors and all the latest stylists too! Many of your classmates, including your best friend, Miranda, are entering the University with every intention to declare Escorting as their major. The School of Escorting is still in its infancy, but appears to be rapidly gaining the reputation as one of the hardest programs to get into.
Not that you would be interested in Escorting anyway. The Games are too exciting in every aspect to confine yourself to just one. Besides, you're too much of a nerd – you would spend more time yammering the tributes' ears off about their mentor's stats, their weapon of choice, the number of kills they earned. Now, if only there were a Hunger Games History major available at Capitol U! You adored the course when you took it in high school – got a 5 on the AP exam! There are Hunger Games historians, you've seen them on TV, but they make a career out of writing books and going on the speaking circuit – exhausting work even for the most enthused and it doesn't always pay well for lack of job security.
But this… this is the next best thing. You slaved away on the application, wanting to make sure that it was absolutely perfect, and making sure to emphasize all the drama electives you took in high school. When you got the phone call requesting an interview while out getting mani-pedis with your mother at one of the Capitol's finest salons, you screamed so loudly that a major hair care disaster occurred two salon chairs down.
You and Mom stayed up all night before the interview prepping and running practice questions. You were a bundle of nerves when you went to Arena Tours Inc. the next morning, but the interviewer and staff there were friendly and put you at ease. Following the conversation, you were given an offer on the spot, to act as a tour guide for the 21st Hunger Games arena, won by the immaculate Beauty Devereaux of District 1!
So here you are, clad in a parka and somehow finding a smile against the bitter cold that remains here in this land of ice and snow set deep in the Great Mountains, as all but one of the two dozen of the pedestals creak and hum, launching all twenty-three of your guests into the arena. You take a deep breath and step into your role.
"Greetings, tributes! My name is Beauty Devereaux of District 1! Fear me if you dare!"
You know already that role-playing is going to be the most entertaining part of your job. You know kids who were several years ahead of you in high school who are now finishing at Capitol University and are signing up for summer internships to play cartoon characters in the Disney Exchange program (Disneyland and Disneyworld, two of the most popular amusement parks before the Dark Days, were transferred here to the Capitol and many of the rides repaired). Stepping into the part of the gorgeous Career girl is like putting on another skin.
It also helps that you have "the look." Arena Tours, Inc. prides itself on accuracy as much as possible. Beauty Devereaux is one of the most beautiful Victors to emerge since perhaps Acacia Ivy or Calista Yumi, so to be asked to play here on account of a striking resemblance is quite flattering. When she was competing a couple of years ago, Beauty turned a lot of heads because she wasn't the classical blonde bombshell like say, an Amber Fairsmith. On the contrary, she was – is - a carved-by-angels brunette. Long, flowing brown hair that tumbled halfway down her back. An unblemished face of alabaster skin, topped off with hazel orbs you just want to dive in. Strikingly full, very kissable lips… No, focus, Agrippina.
"The 21st Hunger Games are about to begin!" You call out, striding towards the one empty plate that has been left open for you. The boss says he is considering having you meet the guests down in the catacombs and enter the launch tubes yourself, for better immersion; he is expected to hand down a decision next week. For now, you mount the spare pedestal. "When the gong sounds, I want each of you to walk…" You eye some of the rambunctious kids and preteens pointedly "… to the Cornucopia, and I will tell you the story of how my journey in the arena began."
You watch with the guests as the holoclock begins to count down above the horn. Seven pedestals to your left, a little boy aged about nine raises his hand. You nod and point to him.
"Why can't we move earlier?" he whines impatiently, and you can't help but giggle.
"I suppose you could," you hedge. "The landmines that were here are deactivated now. But you wouldn't want to leave Mommy and Daddy behind now, would you?" The little boy pouts, but stays where he is.
At zero, you and the others step off your plates and begin a leisurely stroll towards the horn. The image is jarring considering the context of where you are, but in this case, safety trumps realism. Boss's rules. Even the weapons now scattered around the Cornucopia, in as accurate a layout as possible to the real event, are fake.
The tour group gathers around you at the mouth of the horn, and you turn about to smile at them, giving the grin a tinge of deadliness.
"Now, when I first got to the horn, I had the monstrous boys from 5 and 9 try to attack me. I skewered them both with the pair of glaives I had recovered. To demonstrate what I mean, I am going to perform a re-enactment of that fight, so I'll need two volunteers."
The little boy who complained about staying on the pedestals eagerly raises his hand, and you give him a pretty smile. You appreciate the enthusiasm, but he's too small. You lift your eyes to his chortling father, and point to the man. "How about you, sir?" His eyes go big and he points to himself with a 'Who, me?' expression. "Yes, you! You can be the boy from 5!" You select another dad to be his ally, the huge boy from 9. These young fathers clearly remember watching these Games, for they pick up the weapons befitting their respective roles without you having to direct them.
You level your glaives at the both of them. "Come on, then! Attack me!"
The pair of men chuckle and make a self-conscious attempt at performing for the rest of the group. One of the dads rushes you, but you step to the side just as Beauty Deverauex does on the tape and flip him over your shoulders. You do it more gently than the real things, as your fight coordinator showed you – fight calls are required every shift that you check in, to ensue you keep the guests safe and no one actually gets hurt. You skillfully detect the fallen "tribute" in your peripheral vision and stab down behind your back, aiming and getting the rough equivalent of his lung, as occurred in real life. The dulled blade you use doesn't even come close to breaking the skin.
With your other glaive, you parry the curved dagger of the "boy" from 5, then aim for his shins as you kick his feet out from under him. Once he's on the ground, you straddle him and press the glaive's blade to his throat, pretending to slit it. The young dad beneath you chuckles happily, much to his wife's displeasure, whom you see frowns out of the corner of your eye. You quickly rise off the dispatched "tribute."
"Let's give these good sports a hand! Well done, Dads!" The other guests burst into applause. "Well, once I took care of those two tributes, I ran to meet up with my allies, Glitzy, Alexis and Orion, and we took down some more cannon fodder. Now, if you'll just follow me, I'll take you to the embankment where we spent our first night hunting for more cannon fodder. This way!" The group follows me at a leisurely pace towards a snowy knoll in the short distance….
You are nearing the end of the Games and thus, the end of the tour now, and you're back at the Cornucopia where, on the eleventh day, the Gamemakers called a Feast for the Final Four.
"My former allies and I were the only ones left. We proud Careers thus went into what is becoming known as melee." You stride around the bodies of a couple who volunteered to portray Glitzy and Orion, the boy tributes from One and Two – tributes who would wind up dead.
The little boy from the start of the Tour raises his hand and you acknowledge him.
"What's melee?" He asks, even though you sort of already answered the question. You indulge him, however, smiling.
"Melee is what happens when only the Career tributes are left alive and they must turn on each other. Now, I need a volunteer to portray the girl from Two, Alexis."
Every guest stays still, shivering a little, and you know you need to wrap this up quickly and get them into the heated rooms post-Tour. "Anybody?"
"I'll give it a go!"
Your heads all swivel in the direction of a twenty-fifth guest suddenly walking up and your heart nearly stops in star-struck astonishment when the figure throws back her hood. Beauty Devereaux herself has just shown up in the middle of your tour!
Of course, you're playing Beauty Devereaux, so you try to remain in the world of the play by cracking a joke. "Didn't know I had an identical twin!" The tour group's laughter is strained, many of them not daring to believe who is in its presence the same way you can't.
Beauty Devereaux picks up the pair of throwing knives that was Alexis's weapon of choice and begins to circle you.
"Hold on!" you call out, and beckon her forward so you both can confer. "Do you want me to play Alexis?" you ask. "You should be playing yourself."
"Nah, relax," Beauty gives you a wink, and your heart stutters. "You're amazing! You do me better than I do!"
"Th-thank you," you splutter and backing up, you and the Victor begin the circle dance. And when Beauty rushes you, it is not with the timid self-consciousness that most tour group volunteers display. You commit to the part and give as good as you get, pressing the advantage and dodging thrown blades as your glaives whirl. As she's playing her last vanquished opponent, you both know Beauty will eventually have to "die," but she doesn't make it easy for you. By the time she lets up to likely give you the opening to close in for the kill, you are sweating through your parka, but you finally make the killing blow, blade's tip brushing her carotid artery.
Beauty makes an over-the-top showing when performing Alexis's death scene, lying chillingly still in the snowdrifts for a few moments too long before leaping to her feet. "Ta-da!"
The kids and even some of the tweenies cheer at getting to see a real live Victor act out her own finale, never mind that she wasn't actually playing herself.
"All right, everyone!" you laugh. "Time to remount your pedestals and go back down into the catacombs. Your valuables will be in the cubbies where you left them, and there will be soup and hot chocolate on hand in the heating rooms!" You watch the group hustle to their pedestals to go down into the warm depths, when a hand suddenly brushes your arm.
"A word?"
Startled that Beauty Devereaux actually wants to talk to you, you nod dumbly and the both of you huddle just inside the Cornucopia for privacy.
"I just gotta say that was an amazing re-enactment you did!" Beauty gushes, completely sincere. "You been with Arena Tours, Inc. long?"
Your cheeks turn as pink as the northern lights still dancing above your heads. "Today's my first day, actually. It's my dream job."
"Yeah? Well, keep it up. You're really good at it. And the resemblance seriously is uncanny." Beauty ducks her eyes almost shyly. "What's your name – your real name?"
Your tongue refuses to work for a moment, but you manage to get out. "A-Agrippina Bucater."
Beauty nods, you can see her turning it over in her mind before she takes out a small slip of paper and scribbles something on it. "Here's my number. I'll be in the city for the next week or so. Maybe when you get off your shift, you can call me up and we'll get a coffee?"
Your eyes expand in astonishment. Is Beauty Devereaux really asking you on…. on….? "Y-yeah. That sounds great."
Beauty beams so that her hazel eyes sparkle, the way they did in her interview with Lucky Flickerman. "I look forward to it…. Agrippina." And before you realize what is happening, the Victor of the 21st Hunger Games pulls you close by your waist and kisses you full on the mouth.
Her lips really are as soft as you've imagined and it's almost embarrassing how enthusiastically you melt into the kiss, sinuously reaching up to grip her shoulders and dare your fingers to play with the strands of her chestnut tresses. The Northern Lights dance in her hazel eyes when you break apart, the puffs of your breath mingling in the frigid air, and you let out a shuddering gasp.
Beauty just grins radiantly and then saunters away towards the same pedestal she was launched in only a handful of years ago so she can exit the arena, leaving you flabbergasted, speechless and blushing under the glowing heavens.