Trigger Warning: Alcoholism.
Tesoro Bullion, District 5
"All that I want is a photograph of photo Jenny
How will I get one?
I don't know."
Belle and Sebastian, Photo Jenny
10 Photographs of Tesoro Bullion
1.
Any of the Bullion siblings could've been the baby in the photograph. Edda became a teacher. Currin became an engineer.
Tesoro became a victor.
His siblings both agreed that, if he hadn't had to volunteer, he'd probably be unemployed and wasting all his family's money on drinks. Or in prison. Or dead.
Well, he ended up dead anyway.
2.
Tesoro looks angelic in the photo taken ten years before his victory. Curly, blonde hair. Wide, blue eyes. Smart clothing for a smart schoolboy.
Over the next ten years, he'd discover girls. Then he'd discover parties. Then he'd discover beer, whiskey, wine and vodka.
Suddenly, his family and friends would look at him and realise that he wasn't so smart anymore.
3.
It's a mugshot. A prison mugshot. Tesoro's eyes are sunken, his hair lank. He looks like a real criminal.
His charge - 'operating machinery under the influence' - is punishable by death in District 5, were machinery is the difference between life and nuclear disaster.
There's only one way out for Tesoro. Criminals of reaping age are given a chance to volunteer at the next reaping instead of taking their full punishment. It's certain death or uncertain death. One option mercifully quick, the other slow and agonising but with a small chance of life, riches and glory.
A lifetime of the best parties the Capitol can offer...
4.
This one's a classic - Tesoro's tribute photo. The one that was never shown in the sky.
The tribute photo is proof that Tesoro Bullion's reputation as a heartthrob was well-earned. Earned by the hard work of his prep team. His skin is clear, his hair in flawless, golden curls. Not much of his body can be seen but it was impressive as well. Tesoro had spent his ten-month prison sentence working out.
In all of District 5's history - in all of Panem's history - there'd never been a teenage convict so determined to volunteer. Winning the Hunger Games had been Tesoro's goal, right from the moment he'd been convicted.
It's clear from the light in his eyes, a light that wasn't there in the mugshots. He's seen the Capitol. He's seen it and he wants it. The colours, the lights, the tastes, the parties, the decadence.
He's willing to sacrifice everything for it.
5.
This is the moment that Tesoro Bullion wins the Forty Eighth Hunger Games.
He stands, victorious, over the bodies of the Career pack. There's hardly a scratch on him. Seeing the photo for the first time, it would be easy to assume that Tesoro had followed in Beetee Latier's footsteps and killed them all.
The truth is that Tesoro had only killed the boy from Four.
The Careers had made the fatal mistake of letting him into the pack. He'd had the fighting skills from surviving prison for ten months but a laidback, party-boy attitude that had lulled them all into a false sense of security. They'd all made friends with Tesoro. They'd all assumed that he wouldn't have the ruthless ambition to stab any of them in the back.
When it had just been the seven Careers remaining, the six fully-trained Careers had all launched into the fight with each other. Tesoro had taken a step back. All he'd needed to do was wait for five Careers to die and then stab the last one standing.
Even black-sheep victors like Tesoro Bullion were capable of something. And the thing that Tesoro was capable of, that nobody expected, was cunning.
6.
Tesoro has just reached the final destination of his victory tour - a wild Capitol party. When he goes to bed, it'll presumably be with his first client but he's not waiting that long to take his clothes off. His shirt is already open and sliding off his shoulders. His bare skin is covered with glitter. He's clearly drunk, cavorting with some scantily-clad partygoers with bright, Capitol faces.
Will he remember this when he wakes up? Will he regret it? Or will he just order a Bloody Mary, slip on some sunglasses and wander out into the world in whatever clothes he can find.
7.
It's a group photo, taken in black and white a few weeks after the Second Quarter Quell was announced. The Capitol were excited about almost every victor having to mentor a tribute, since there were four tributes from each district this year. Capitol magazines ran as much content on the victors as possible.
All four of District 5's victors are in the photo, having a picnic by a field of solar panels. Only one of them looks convincingly happy.
Luka Starkwain is dressed impeccably. His hair and beard are perfectly groomed and showing a few streaks of grey. Over the years, he'd grown alarmingly good at faking a smile. Perhaps he is really happy. Perhaps he's relieved that his daughter had aged out of the reaping last year. But not everything in Luka's world is perfect. His son is still very vulnerable to the Quell. As well as this, he'd never quite recovered from Tesoro's victory. The fact that his district's fourth victor could be a criminal disgusted him.
Sotope Baymark has aged even better than her mentor has. She's just turned forty but she still looks in her late twenties due to a combination of regular exercise and Capitol surgeries. She's still dating Caesar Flickerman, a man trapped in an endless quest against ageing. Her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. It's likely because she can't stand Tesoro. She hates the fact that Turbin managed to mentor a victor before her and that the victor she now has to mentor alongside is so loud and annoying.
Turbin Bloodhawk is at the very back of the group, trying to hide from the camera. He's in his early thirties but he looks older. His eyes are dark and ageless. Turbin makes no attempt to look happy and the photographer had probably long ago given up on trying to get him to smile. However, unlike his two predecessors, Turbin is actually glad to have Tesoro around. It's nothing to do with Tesoro himself, simply that, now he's mentored a victor, he no longer has to mentor.
As for Tesoro Bullion, he's still young and handsome enough for the Capitol to tidy up his appearance for photos. He's even wearing a tie, though it's somehow managed to become crooked. His smile is vacant, a little bored. He's staring, longingly, at the bottle of champagne in the picnic basket.
8.
Tesoro's second tribute photo, taken twenty-seven years after the first, looks like the photo of a different man. Decades of drinking and partying have taken their toll. Tesoro's skin is wrinkled and flushed. His hair and beard - despite stylists' best attempts to neaten it up - are wild and unkept.
But, most importantly, his eyes are defeated. He's lost that spark that he'd once had.
Tesoro Bullion knows that the party could be over.
9.
It's hard to tell who's the star of this photo: Tesoro Bullion - middle-aged, ugly and defeated - or Finnick Odair - young, gorgeous and stabbing a trident into the older victor's chest.
It's common for stills from Hunger Games, especially those depicting tributes' deaths, to be used in magazine articles or history books. They can even be framed and kept by superfans. Given that the photo contains Finnick Odair in his prime, it's likely to be very popular among fans.
To the fans of Tesoro Bullion, the photo is frustrating but also comforting. It was heartbreaking for them to watch him die but it would've been worse to watch him grow older and more sickly.
Tesoro Bullion had fallen far. He was lucky not to have fallen further.
10.
The last ever photo of Tesoro Bullion is the coroner's photo. He's nothing more than a corpse on a slab with three gaping holes in his chest where Finnick's trident went in.
Still, Tesoro Bullion had the privilege of having his cause of death confirmed and his body laid to rest. Many victors' bodies were never found. Some, like Finnick Odair, had eyewitnesses to confirm they had died. Others just slipped away and never came back.
District 5 is the worst district for this. Four of its six victors - the four that weren't reaped for the Quell - vanished during the rebellion. There have been rumours of a rogue group of rebels staging a kidnapping to threaten a certain Capitol TV personality and a certain victor sacrificing himself to rescue people from a flood. But there was never any concrete evidence.
Tesoro Bullion had a life that could be mapped out from beginning to end.
A lot of victors are addicts, mostly due to the trauma they've endured. Tesoro's probably the only one who became an alcoholic because he liked drinking. He's a bit of a foil to Luka because they're both handsome, pro-Capitol victors who had fighting experience before the games but Luka is the vigilante with a code of honour while Tesoro is the extremely irresponsible criminal. One of the reasons why he's District 5's last male victor is because he can't be bothered to put effort into mentoring. Maybe if he'd done that, he wouldn't have been killed in the Quell. Even though Tesoro's not the brightest of victors, his strategy was pretty impressive. It just goes to show what people can do with something motivating them.
