Only a week between updates? Who am I?
This victor is basically an OC, but I've adapted her name from a victor named by SakuraDragomir.
Enjoy!
~ Meghan
The Capitol
Aru Redbird, 41, District 10
Victor of the 39th Hunger Games
"Are we done yet?"
"You're trying to rush perfection."
"I already am perfection, isn't that what you always say, Cyril?"
My stylist makes a face at. His sparkly fuchsia lips twist as he circles me, straightening his gold glasses. He's shorter than me, gentle-spoken, and always has a reprimand poised on his tongue, but he's also incredible. In over two decades he's never put me in a bad outfit.
This one is yet again a fantastic piece, all glittering red and fanning out behind me with golden scales. The adage to Sakura's dragon dress at the interviews is obvious, but so expertly done that I could wear this dress a second time and it would still be stunning. Not that Cyril ever lets me wear a dress a second time, that is.
He reaches a final hand up to adjust one of my curls before nodding. "Incredible."
"Thanks," I say, gladly off the podium.
"Not you, my dress," Cyril says and sighs dreamily. "Saphra and I have outdone ourselves."
I roll my eyes good-naturedly. After a while, I've gotten used to his attitude. "Speaking of Saphra, is she still in her interview?"
Ever since the announcement happened for the feast a hours ago, the Capitol has been whipped into a frenzy. Saphra was immediately yanked in for interviews, due to her being Sakura's stylist. No doubt the other stylists of the remaining tributes were doing the same thing. As for me-
"You'll have to leave soon," Cyril says, glancing at his gemstone-encrusted watch, "they don't like to be kept late for dinner."
The limousine that takes me is as spacious as always with any drink I could imagine in the back for my choosing. The car is not to my choosing. The windows aren't tinted, and the car drives slowly through the main streets, allowing all the passerbys on the sidewalk out for a late-night walk to see me. Then again, I don't know many people who will be retiring early tonight. The excitement for tomorrow's event has ignited parties and betting pools. The city will be up late tonight, and even later tomorrow after the blood has dried.
Cameras flash when I step out of the car.
They dazzle my vision, and the shouts from Capitolites is disorienting, but I've had practice at this before. I put one stiletto in front of the other and sashay to the door the way Saphra would demand. I spare a couple blown kisses for the Capitol gathering around me and accept a flower from another.
"Good luck to your tribute!" someone calls.
Her name is Sakura.
"Thank you!" I call back demurely, fluttering my fingers as I walked into the apartment building. The air conditioning and quiet are a relief once the doors shut behind me. Even for the Capitol, this is a luxurious building. The chandeliers aren't crystal, but diamond, sparkling above me as I my heels click on the marble and gold floor. An attendant selects the floor on the quartz elevator for me.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Redbird," he says and smiles.
"She's a fighter, that one," I say, letting a laugh bubble out after.
The elevator opens to the penthouse. Chatter and string music meet me as I enter the room with vaulted ceilings and a full view outside of the glimmering Capitol skyline. I don't have announce that I'm here. They automatically look over, and smile at me, some lifting their champagne glasses. I've always been tall, but in these shoes I look the tallest man in the eye. I sweep past everyone, lifting my chin and keeping my eyes forward. They're waiting at the back, greeting someone else, but their attention swivels immediately once they spot me and the others are forgotten.
"Aru, my darling," Mrs. Vestal says her voice rising an octave. She embraces me, placing a hand on the candelabra-headdress balanced on her complex hairdo of braids and ribbons. "You look to die for."
"Absolutely breathtaking," Mr. Vestal says, kissing my hand.
I smile. "It's good to see you both again."
Mrs. Vestal snaps her fingers once and an Avox no older than twenty appears, staring at the floor. "We'll be back. We're not to be disturbed. If anyone says they needs us - tell them they don't."
I follow the two as we walked through a set of silver doors and into a private sitting room. Closing the doors behind us, Mrs. Vestal waves at the table of crystal flutes. "Champagne?"
"No thank you," I say.
"Any reason?" Mrs. Vestal says, arching an eyebrow. She glances at my stomach questioningly.
I shake my head. "Nope. And like I said last year, I think I've had my last. Call it intuition."
She laughs and they sit with me on the silk furniture. My favorite place is always the chair, brocaded with silver thread and inset with rubies on its mahogany handles. I thought my home in the Victor's Village was fancy when I first stepped through its doors. But it would seem homely compared to this level of opulence. As a teenager, I was jealous of their home. I wanted enough money to have golden cutlery and a new outfit every day. Now it just seems too open, too gaping, too... much.
"Sakura is going extremely well so far," Mr. Vestal says.
I smile demurely. "She's a shrewd girl. She has backbone."
"That's why we support District Ten," Mrs. Vestal says. She lays a gloved hand on her husband's. "Twenty-two years together, and we always relive that first anniversary sponsoring your tributes. You were our good luck charm that year, and watching you win... well, I know that you haven't had a victor in a while, Aru. But the ones from District Ten have... grit. Your tributes are always surprising."
"Of course, we had expected the boy to do better," Mr. Vestal says with a frown.
His name was Tasi.
"There can only be one victor either way," I say.
Mrs. Vestal nods once and her earrings making a tinkling noise. "The feast tomorrow evening will be pivotal, especially with our girl in a new alliance. The betting pools are only going to get more intense."
I lift my chin. "And I can count on your support through it?"
They exchange a look before Mr. Vestal smile. "As always, Aru."
The rest of the party goes as usual. I avoid the posca, I make rounds to every guest and pretend to recognize the ones I can't remember, and I take my leave after midnight. The drive home is bright with lights igniting the streets in rainbows of color. The highlights of the Games so far are projected onto one of the skyscrapers, and a crowd has gathered below to watch the Career Pack run through flames. As we pass a street corner, a family waits to cross. The little boy is no older than my own son, and he gapes as he watches my car drive past, waving wildly.
I close my eyes, leaning back against the leather sits, and daydream about going home.
I'm up late in the Games Headquarters as usual. I don't even bother to change out of the clothes Cyril put me in. Some of the other mentors left are out, no doubt talking with sponsors or giving interviews. The room is quiet. Ariana gets up, wiping her eyes, and wanders out after 2 am, tapping furiously at her tablet. Ersatz comes back in after 3 am, but only to get his reading glasses he forgot, and then heads to bed. Even the pair from 8 stop whispering and slip out.
By sunrise, it's only Garnet and I left. Or, I guess Jan - he keeps saying to call him that.
He's bent over his tablet, flicking through the screens, his messy blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Sometimes he almost looks like the kid I watched on the Victory Tour with the same cocky smile and charming personality. Other times... I don't even know who I'm looking at.
He bursts out laughing.
"I can feel you looking at me," Jan finally says, turning to look at me.
I hold his gaze. "Do you want some coffee? I might try and go get some."
"I'm not Emerald, I don't chug that stuff." Jan turns in his chair and crosses his arms behind his head, looking more casual that I've felt in days. "Congrats on your tribute. She's a fighter. Half of the tributes from Ten always look so dead inside. But even I'm impressed. Too bad she's decided to ally with that boring trio."
I arch an eyebrow. "That boring trio has outlived most of the other tributes."
"Most," Jan repeats.
Quiet passes between us, and I'm considering getting up to get the coffee, but then he speaks up again.
"To be honest, I'm surprised Zircon made it this long," Jan says.
That's not what I expected. Typically it's frowned upon for mentors to speak poorly about their own tributes, but here in the Games Headquarters, there aren't any potential sponsors around to hear.
"Why not?" I finally ask.
Jan tilts his head. "Well... the kid's a good fighter and intelligent, it looks good on paper. I see why the Academy chose him to volunteer. But that doesn't always translate well in the arena. To me... he just seems like a naïve kid charging to his death."
"That's pretty harsh."
"But true. He needs to get away from Jade already, prove he can actually do things alone. Maybe stab her in the back for good measure."
"You mean the figuratively."
"Maybe," Jan says and laughs again. "Em would be upset about it for a day, but she'd move on. We'd be all jolly again."
I look down at my tablet. On the nightvision camera, Sakura is sleeping soundly. "Well, I actually happen to care about my tribute."
"You think I don't care?" Jan snaps.
"You don't sound like it," I retort right back.
"I'm saying this because he shouldn't be in the arena right now," Jan says, finally seeming serious. "Besides. My tribute isn't the one putting on an act like yours. It's only a matter of time before her allies realize what she's up to and decide to handle things on their own." He scoops up his tablet and notebook and heads towards the door. "And by the way, Aru, you should be getting some sleep. Even Ari is in bed. Staying up later won't keep her alive, you know."
Just before the door shut, he gives me a cruel smile - the kind he wore when he used another tribute as a human shield.
"Nice dress, by the way," he says in the most mocking tone I've heard him use.
The door clicks and I'm alone in the room. I should probably sleep, but I can't. Back home, we would've been asleep, the baby sleeping resting soundly in his crib. A few hours before, I would've read Hyde a bed-time story, and let him kiss his baby brother goodnight. I can't see the farms from the Victor's Village, but on some quiet nights I can just make out the cows lowing before bed and the roosters at sunrise.
Sunrise here comes without much fanfare.
There aren't windows in this room, but the ceiling lights shine rosy colors to mimic the sky. On the large television screen, the area time is displayed, only a couple hours ahead of our own time. Day Ten. The parties will run throughout the city all day, up to the evening when everyone will gather to watch the feast. Most of the time, feast days are quiet. The Gamemakers give the tributes a few hours of peace before the bloodshed starts.
Sakura starts her day off with stretches like usual. My tablet allows me to watch her go about her morning packing ritual, even as the main television swivels around the tributes to show them all waking up.
It doesn't happen until breakfast.
Kale and Zephyr get roots and berries for their morning meal, and managed to snare a small bird. They cook together, with Sakura and Twila gathered beside them, even if Zephyr gives Sakura glances every now and then.
Sakura offers to divvy out the food for everyone, counting and distributing the berries as they all chew on the bird meat. She hands Zephyr his last.
The television is only showing them now.
With the deft of a player at a Capitol casino, she pours several castor beans into the berry mix. She sets the berries down in front of him.
"I'm not that hungry anymore," he says, and gives her a pointed look.
My heart skips a beat. He's noticed. He noticed what she did.
But he just looks away, and continues eating the meat.
"I'm still hungry," Twila says and Kale laughs as she grabs Zephyr's berries and starts eating them - and every single castor bean.
The cameras focus on Sakura's face, stricken as she watched. But just as quickly, her face turns as placid as ever, and she turns to her own food.
I lean back in my chair, all alone in the Games Headquarters.
I wasn't going to sleep before. I can't imagine when I will again.
