"Fable"
A/N: And here it is, the final intro! Kinda could copy/paste the intro A/N from Everly's intro b/c I kinda have all the same things to say lmao. But yeah hopefully next A/N I can tell y'all "wassup here's an on-time update." But nyways, Vesta is very cool and here she is, hope y'all enjoy.
~Run run Lost Boy, they say to me
Away from all of reality
Neverland is home to lost boys like me
And lost boys like me are free~
Vesta Brigarde, 18
The coals of the fire are sparking, flurries of flame dancing across the night sky and reflecting off of the wide black pupils huddled around its warmth. Fourteen pairs of hands are fighting with one another, stretching towards the firepit for some sort of reprieve from the cold District Twelve night. I hold back, allowing the nippy winter wind to cut against my exposed skin. My breath fogs up in the air as I exhale, and cool air fills my lungs in reply, the sweet taste of winter woods on my lips.
I look up to see stars twinkling in the night sky, as bright as you could ever find them in Panem. It's part of the reason I love these woods. Without the shop lights and ugly brick buildings it's like the whole world is really there, all around me and below my bare feet which dig into the cold wet dirt. The world is more real out here, and it makes me feel small and tiny but at the same time large and a piece of some bigger thing that's all connected.
I swing myself forward, lowering my head from the sky and down to the circle of kids huddled around the fire. The Brigarde Brigade boys are all arguing with each other about something, each of them raising their voices higher and higher to climb over the opposing shouts. Even James and Clark are joining in, and Wendy looks over at me and rolls her eyes.
"What are they arguing about?" I ask, glancing over at them curiously as she slides closer to me, leaning her head on my shoulder.
"Pft, who knows? I stopped listening a while ago." I squint my eyes and try to focus on the conversation, but I can't make any sense of it so I just shrug and turn back to Wendy. My eyes meet hers, and for a moment everything is quiet.
"Maybe they're worried about tomorrow," I say suddenly, the idea coming into my mind and out of my mouth in the same instant as I turn back to the boys.
"Maybe," she says. "You wanna see if you can make some peace?"
I glance back at her, a grin spreading across my lips. "I've got just the story," I say pleasantly.
I sit up straight on the wooden log I'm perched on, making myself tall as I look around the circle and cough into my fist.
"Listen up, boys," I say, and it's almost magical the way that everyone goes silent, all attention turned to me. "I got a story for you all."
"What kinda story?" James asks, Wendy's little brother standing tall across the flames, a hesitant expression creasing his features. "It isn't another scary one is it? I don't like hearing those in the woods, especially not at night."
"Not a scary story," I affirm. "Well, at least not for the most part. There's a little bit of everything. Brave orphans and villains, mystery and suspense and surprising twists."
"Do we already know this story?" Rian chirps up.
"You might know some of it," I say. "But not all of it. There'll still be plenty of surprises in there for all of you." I pause for a moment, tapping a finger to my chin. "Well, I guess that it all started with a girl in an orphanage."
.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
The girl never knew her parents. All she remembered was the orphanage. The first thirteen years of her life were so boring they aren't even worth talking about. She was just another orphan under the thumb of the awful head of the orphanage, Belladonna B. She made them work day and night doing all the work that Belladonna was too lazy to do herself. All the orphans there hated her, and at night they would all whisper to each other while they laid awake in their beds. They'd dream about running away to somewhere where they could be free to do whatever they wanted. Some place where there would be no adults to tell them what they could or couldn't do. No rules, no boring, pointless chores, and no parents they'd have to try to impress to get adopted into some boring, lame family.
And the girl was the oldest orphan, so all the younger boys would whisper their complaints and dreams to her. And she wanted them to feel better, because she just wanted them to be happy, that was all, and so she would lean over the edge of her bunk bed, pillow clutched at her chest as she'd whisper back stories of her own. But they weren't bitter, cynical complaints. They were crazy, wild stories, stuff that seemed impossible. She'd tell them stories of the orphans going on adventures together in the world outside of District Twelve. They were stories of exploring and living next to all the wild animals as far from the orphanage as possible, and going to bed every night staring up at the stars in the sky instead of at a leaky grey ceiling.
And then one day, after the girl had gotten done telling them a story of them climbing rocky cliffs and finding hidden treasure, one of the boys asked the girl, "what's keeping us from just leaving and living those stories for real?"
"Nothing," the girl decided, and the rest of them all agreed. And so on that dark night at the end of the winter, with snowflakes the size of eyeballs falling down on them and peppering their faces and hair, they walked away to begin their adventure.
Now, the orphans were all just kids still. The girl was the oldest of all of them, but even then she was only thirteen, and the oldest of the boys was only ten. So none of them knew how to survive out on their own, so they had to learn. And at first they weren't able to run away and have the adventures they had talked about, living in the woods and seeing waterfalls and canyons and climbing mountains and sailing rivers. But they had adventures that were even better than that. They had adventures that they had never dreamed of before.
They picked pockets of fat merchants and mayors, stole bread from cruel peacekeepers and store-owners, and chased down animals in the woods with nothing but their bare hands and their wits. They trapped squirrels, tackled deer, and started fires with stones and sticks.
But not everything was fun and easy. See, the orphans took money and food from people who deserved to be stolen from, like any good thief should. They took what they needed and they left, and everyone was happy. But there was another thief in District Twelve.
He was massive. Seven feet tall, at least four-hundred pounds and the shape of a snowball, had only one hand, and he always wore a mask so the orphans never saw his face, but his cheeks were lumpy and he had four warts on his nose, each one the size of a plump blueberry. The orphans didn't know his real name, so they called him Gator.
Now, Gator hated the orphans. He was pure evil, always robbing the stores that the orphans were going to steal from first, but not because he needed the money or the food, but just because he was greedy and wanted everything for himself. Over the years the orphans and Gator got into tons of fights and scuffles, and the orphans would always come out on top, but Gator always just barely managed to escape.
But that was okay, because the orphans wouldn't need to steal their food for much longer. It was three years after the orphans ran away, and they were in the woods, huddled around a fire, laughing and telling stories. And it was the middle of the summer, so there just so happened to be three siblings in the woods at the same time, three siblings who were bored out of their minds and looking for something fun. So when they saw a fire, and heard all the fun that these people were having, they had to see it for themselves!
The orphan boys all immediately became friends with the two younger brothers, who had all the same love for loud things and adventure. But the orphan girl only seemed to notice the oldest of the siblings, a girl the same age as her.
And the orphans all learned lots about the three siblings. They were the richest family in all of District Twelve, and they had a boring, grouchy dad. And their dad found them out by the fire in the woods later that night, and when he did, he yelled at his kids to stay away from those "dirty scumbags" and dragged them home. But the siblings didn't care what he thought, they liked their new friends, and so every night from then on they would sneak out, and they would bring food with them too so the orphans didn't need to steal anymore, and one day all the orphans realized that those dreams they used to tell stories about when they were in the orphanage weren't half so good as the adventures they were having now.
And there was more to the story too, twists and surprises and suspense and mystery, like the fact that the siblings' father only had one hand and was a shape suspiciously similar to a snowball.
But none of that was what made this life so much better than the adventures and dreams that the girl from the orphanage had spun up all those years ago. It wasn't the stories by the fire, or the stars in the sky as she laid down, or the wind in her hair as she slept. It wasn't the thieving or the battles with Gator or the time they found a lake in the woods and swam in it all day long to fend off the summer heat.
The moment her life became better than any of those dreams was when she laid her eyes on the girl that was prettier than she could ever imagine in any dream, or invent in any story. Because the girl, she, well, she um, she really, really liked-likes her. A lot. More than she knows how to say. Yeah.
.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
The air is crisp and the wind biting, my tangled, messy hair blowing around my face as I look at the girl next to me. And Wendy looks back at me, a soft smile on her lips as she presses them to my cheek, and then drops her head back onto my shoulder. And I smile, and decide that this is better than any story could ever be.
So yeah, that was a thing that happened and other than that Vesta just is sort of vibing.
A/N: Ay so it only took me, what, ten months to finish intros? What sped. Well, I'm always slow with intros but now that they're all wrapped up I'm hoping that we can get some updates at a speed faster than bi-monthly lmao. We'll see though, no promises lol. A big thank you to Linds for the wonderful Vesta Brigarde. Such a unique and lovely character that I had so much fun writing, I'm glad intros are done so I won't have to wait very long to write her again, because I have so many more thoughts and ideas for her that I can't wait to delve into! Sorry for the long wait, Linds, and thanks for being patient with me lol.
So there it is. 8 characters. 8 intros. From here on out we get to delve into all these fantastic characters finally getting to interact with one another. Cannot stress enough how thankful I am to all of you for giving me the deadass best cast of tributes of all time and for following me along even inbetween these ridiculously long wait periods between chapters. Y'all are the best.
Next chapter is the Reaping Recap, which I actually already have written cuz I'm just cool like that, so expect that sometime soon!
Trivia: With all 8 tributes introduced, who's your fave? Charts are also lovely and helpful b/c for once in my life I have literally 0 clue who tf I'm gonna have win. I'm bouncing between 6 different victor choices rn like some sort of deranged maniac, so getting to know y'all's thoughts on who you like the best throughout this story will probably play a decent sized part in me choosing which unlucky sob gets to win.