Gabriel "Gabe" Vine, District 11
"So when the chariot arrives,
You'd best enjoy the ride
'Cause when we get to heaven's gate,
We're not getting inside."
TV on the Radio, Let the Devil In
The Cornucopia, Deluxe Victory Issue #58
Bad Boy from Farming District Steals the Show
Last night, viewers were treated to the stunning conclusion to the Fifty-Eighth Hunger Games. For those of you who've been living under a rock, the victor is Gabriel Vine from District 11. I can't say that anyone's disappointed.
We've had pyromaniacs in the games before but never one as smoking-hot as Gabe. Gabe became a fan-favourite as early as the reaping. Just one look into those intense, brown eyes told us all we needed to know - Gabriel Vine was bad to the bone and looking good.
Gabe's interview added even more fuel to his fans' fires.
"I suppose my strategy is to play aggressively," Gabe said in his interview. "My opponents aren't just going to keel over and die. Sometimes, to win, you need to bring your knights out."
"Do you play chess, Gabe?" Caesar asked.
"No. I'm not a nerdy loser! My right fist is called Lancelot. My left fist is called Mordred."
Whatever that means, the arena seemed to throw a wrench in Gabe's plans to punch a hole through his competition. New head gamemaker, Aristaeus Malone decided to put the tributes inside a giant tracker-jacker hive!
After five tributes succumbed to the stings over the first two days, it was clear that this games had two front runners - mysterious bad-boy, Gabe, and Moss Hawkins, a handsome biologist from District 7. They were the only tributes who realised that the tracker jackers were an easily beaten obstacle. The mutant bees could be placated with smoke.
Gabe was also the first tribute to realise that tracker jackers weren't the only threats that could be neutralised using smoke. After a week of staying out of trouble, he revealed what he'd been planning for the entire games - a series of fire bombs guaranteed to burn the other tributes to cinders! Five tributes of the seven left in the arena were swallowed by the blaze, while Moss, who'd desperately fought to escape the blaze, lost his life to smoke inhalation.
As our newest victor recuperates in the Remake Centre, Panem is left wondering what will become of him. Will he fall to alcoholism like the other men from his district or will he recover fully from his games? I suppose we'll have to see next year...
Victors - Where are they now?
This year's Hunger Games season is drawing to a close, which means that our delightful mentors will soon be returning home. Here's a snapshot of what Victor's Village is like in every district.
We begin on a sombre note with Emerald Kiesler, currently the oldest mentor in Panem. A recent heart attack has left the first ever volunteer in ill health. However, Emerald is hoping to give us something to hope for.
"I've put Tesoro Bullion in charge of planning my funeral," he told our reporters. "If I'm going to die, it might as well lead to the party of the century."
Meanwhile, wedding bells will soon be ringing in District 2. Tacitus Pernice, Panem's favourite father is soon to be the father of the bride. It has been a joy to watch little Selene Pernice grow up into a beautiful young woman. Varro Fratelli, the groom-to-be is a very lucky man.
As for District 3, Gajin Nakamura has formally announced his intentions to challenge Gabriel Vine to a chess match. It seems to be the only kind of match that District 3's victors are getting at the moment. Remember when Beetee Latier was a teenage heartbreaker? Those days seem to be long gone as all three of the tech district's victors remain obstinately single.
But if there's one victor who isn't single, it's Sirena Current. District Four's Atlantean princess was spotted at a premiere of Sandy Island Nights. And you won't believe who had a hand in her bucket of popcorn! Claudius Templesmith!
District 5 has had a year of debuts. Elisabeta Silverpine's debut year as mentor was anticlimactic, as her tribute was among the first casualties of the bloodbath. Becky Heartmerry's debut year as retired victor, however, was far more exciting. Rumours have been spreading about a relationship between Becky and fellow Victor's Village resident, Arcas Starkwain. Could the power district be home to a new power couple? Only time will tell...
You'll never guess which victor from District 6 was checked into rehab last week. Was it Lua Toyota? Was it Royss Cardinal? Perhaps it was Lua Toyota and Royss Cardinal.
District 7 may have lost a fine young man this year but it looks like they'll gain one soon. One young man in particular is due to be born in March next year, to a victor and his second wife. That's right! Bernard and Maris Barkley are having a kid!
Woof Casino, meanwhile, had another one of his 'little episodes' this year. He was seen two days ago at the zoo, asking the animals if they'd seen his brother. None of them replied. Go figure.
However, Woof isn't Panem's craziest mentor, not by a long shot! Derrick Miller was spotted painting some very interesting graffiti on a house in the northwest area of the city. Experts state that that house may now be worth nine-million denarii.
Meanwhile, in District 10, Stallie Burton has a 'gut feeling'.
"Next year is our year!" She told our reporters. "I'm going to bring one home for District 10. I can feel it!"
As it's been twenty years since Stallie's nephew, Palomino, broke Panem's heart trying to get back to his abusive and murderous wife, we're hoping that Ten can get another victor and that Palomino and his children rest in peace.
District 11 has a lot of cause or celebration this year but for all you fans of Chaff Mitchell, there's another reason to celebrate. The victor of the Forty-Fifth Hunger Games has announced that he doesn't want to retire from mentoring.
"I've made a lot of friends," Chaff declared. "If I retired now, I'd miss seeing them every year."
It's no mystery who Chaff had befriended. It's probably old news to most readers that Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the Second Quarter Quell, is Chaff's best friend and drinking buddy. The duo's wild night of drinking and partying over Gabe's victory is probably old news as well. I don't think there's a single bar that the pair didn't visit.
So there you have it, folks! A sneak peek into the lives of victors from every district, from One to Twelve and everywhere in between.
I don't read a lot of gossip magazines so I hope I did a good job at writing a couple of articles from one. Gabe is a rather elusive victor. Like a lot of victors from the fifties, I didn't really have much of an idea of what to do with him at first. Then I came up with the idea of him being a massive nerd. He does a good job at hiding it from people but he does play chess (and he covered up his chess reference with a reference to Arthurian Legend, which is equally nerdy). Gajin made a big mistake challenging him to a match.
As for the other victors, I decided to take a look into their lives because it's a major year for some of them. And I feel like I need to cover Beetee being a teenage heartbreaker. The biggest piece of news is probably that Emerald isn't long for this world. He's going to die at some point over the next year, though he's almost seventy. That's pretty good going.
There are sixteen victors due to die (or disappear) before the Quell so I'm going to start killing them off over the next couple of decades. Since most of the deaths are going to be peaceful and age-related, they might not be mentioned at the time. So far, ignoring deaths that occur in flash-forwards, Lucy Gray, Rarity, Lachesis, Brock and Palomino are all dead. Emerald will be the next to die. The eight remaining male victors from Aeneas to Gajin are due to die of age-related causes at some point in their seventies or eighties. The other two deaths are Norah and Lumas, both of whom were covered in earlier chapters.
