Wiress Haynes, 69
Victor of the 49th Hunger Games: District 3
Pottery had always had a way to calm Wiress down. When she was young, she would always admire the beautiful hand-made ceramics in store windows, the glaze glistening under the display lights. Her family could never afford to buy these pieces, and even if they could, why would they? Even though it was one of the wealthier Districts in Panem, most citizens in District 3 simply had no use for dishes that were too pretty to cook with. Still, Wiress yearned to have a collection of ceramics to herself; to hold the shining dishes up to the sunlight and feel the cool touch of the hardened clay against her skin.
The first thing Wiress Ratner did after settling into her house in District 3's Victor's Village was to custom order everything she would need to furnish her own pottery studio from the Capitol. In just a matter of days, packages began to arrive with all of her supplies, and she gleefully set it up in one of her many spare bedrooms. It took time to get the hang of everything, but with nothing but time on her hands, she was quickly forming vases, bowls, and mugs that she lined her shelves with.
After her Victory Tour, Wiress reconnected with a boy she had gone to school with, Bernard Haynes. Their paths had never crossed much in school, but when they bumped into each other in the District Square, Bernard couldn't help but ask her to join him for a picnic that weekend. On their date, he complimented her bravery and intelligence during her Games, and Wiress was flattered. They began seeing each other constantly, whenever he had time off from his job at one of District 3's factories. She introduced him to pottery, guiding his hands and reminding him to be patient. They fell in love over a wheel, their hands wet with the clay that would later become the decorative pieces that would later line their shelves.
After three years of dating, Wiress and Bernard decided to get married. They agreed immediately that they didn't want to ever have children. They liked other people's kids well enough, but after Wiress having been in the Games, they decided that it was best not to bring their own children into the world.
The two were blissfully happy together for eighteen years. Bernard was able to quit his factory job thanks to Wiress's Games winnings, so the two spent their days relaxing in the sun, buying homemade wine from Haymitch Abernathy, the boy who had won the year after Wiress, and, of course, making pottery. Wiress always liked to make the decorative pieces that she admired in her childhood, like vases and ashtrays. Bernard, on the other hand, liked the practical items like cups, bowls, and plates. In no time at all, he had made enough dishes for them to eat off of them every night.
But one day, the unthinkable happened. Bernard was walking home from the bakery, two loaves of bread in hand, when a homeless teenager stabbed him in the side and ran off with his bread. By the time the Peacekeepers found him, he was already dead.
From that point on, Wiress became incredibly reclusive. She could tell that she was withdrawing from everything and everyone, but she didn't care. She loved Bernard more than anything, and she had forgotten what it was like to live without him. For the first couple of weeks following his death, all she could do was lie in bed and cry her eyes out. Her mother came over every day to coax some food into her and stroke her hair and tell her everything would be okay. As much as she appreciated the company, it was hard for her to believe she would ever be okay again. She wasn't even 40 years old and she was a widow.
Throughout the years, Wiress's mental state declined rapidly, particularly when her mother died five years after Bernard. No matter how much time had passed after his death, she never found it easier or less painful to think about him. Despite this, she did her best to never let his memory fade away. She never remarried, and chose to keep his last name. But most importantly, she kept making her pottery. Although her passion was always decorations, she started making more standard pieces, knowing that that was what Bernard would have wanted.
In the years that followed, her memory and cognitive skills began to worsen. She had Bernard's picture sitting on her nightstand beside her bed and looked at him every night. As she got older, she started to have trouble remembering his name, and eventually completely forgot how she knew him. Within the past few years, she was even unable to recognize the young girl in the white dress in the other photos. But even though she didn't remember who the man was, she knew that looking at him made her happy, and she never got rid of the photos.
She wasn't all gone, though. Even when her brain had trouble keeping up, her hands still held the muscle memory of decades of spinning clay on a wheel and painting designs on them after they had been fired. Although her work became shakier with time, she still found solace in the calming actions that pottery had always brought her. And on the hard days, she still ran her fingers over the smooth ceramics, just as she had done when she was little.
Alright, there was the last prologue! We're going to start meeting the tributes next chapter and I'm so so excited. I'm going to try to have everyone's current sponsor point amounts up on the blog before the first chapter is posted, and I'm going to do my best to stay on top of that.
1. Thoughts on old lady Wiress?
2. Which District are you most excited for (besides your own)?
