Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. They belong to Suzanne Collins.
Note: The second Victor... and something of a tone shift from Mizar's chapter. Every Victor is different after all, and that includes the way in which their tale is told. Not all of them will follow the same format, in ways big and small. You'll see what I mean. Anyway, Pliny! If you've read Spoiled Sapling then you'll remember Nettle mentioned this character a few times. If you haven't, well, read on and enjoy the show. :D
"You couldn't get away with what Pliny did in our day and age," Peeta remarked, smiling down at the face of the second victor on the sidewalk. "Haymitch once said her victory caused Orion to outright develop an ulcer."
"Serves the bastard right," Katniss said, looking at the sleepy girl's face. "I guess she's the reason why staying in one place for too long would make the Gamemakers angry?"
"Pretty much," Peeta said, nodding. "I've never seen her Games, just heard of them. Makes you wonder how she pulled it off and if there was any deeper plan to her sleeping than we know."
"I guess Panem may never know," Katniss said, softly.
2nd Annual Hunger Games
Name: Pliny Aransio
Gender: Female
District: 7
Age: 14
Kills: 1
Panem had been at its most hopeless since the first Hunger Games came and went. Even the victorious District Nine had lost their female tribute despite Mizar's victory and the horrific fact that this was to be a yearly thing forever and always had, simply put, done nothing to make the population feel any less destroyed. Even Mizar's Victor Tour where he'd been polite to all of the Districts had done nothing to raise the hope, but merely rub in the feeling of death and defeat.
This was, of course, exactly how President Skarloey Orion wanted things to be. The more miserable and downtrodden that the population of the Districts were, the easier and easier it was for him to maintain a stranglehold on the nation and ensure his power remained uncontested for another year.
He laughed at the reports of depression across the nation.
He smirked at the silly, futile protests against the Hunger Games that he ensured were met with bullets.
He applauded the way the Peacekeepers were smashing up various parts of each District to instil fear and pain in the District insects.
The current President of Panem, known both for his almost wild mane of black hair and his somewhat bloated figure – it was an actual rule of Panem that calling him fat merited execution – was in his main office of his mansion, having just finished a meeting with his equally bloated and cruel ministers, all very satisfied with the complete success of the first Hunger Games. The instant they had ended planning had started off for the Second Games and by this point everything was ready to go for the mayhem.
All that was needed, really, were the next twenty four tributes that he'd have the pleasure of seeing kill or be killed.
It was fortunate indeed for the President that the next Reapings were due to start in less than five minutes.
"This is the best idea I've ever had," Orion said to himself, pouring out a glass of highly expensive wine. "I should've come up with the Hunger Games years ago."
Sipping from his wine, the portly President watched the fancy televison in his office come to life as the reapings began. He surveyed the crowds of terrified children, his smirk widening.
"The next generation looks nice and scared. They'll be docile," Orion remarked, toasting his glass to the TV.
The reapings passed without incident at first, no tribute daring to make a run for it or try anything funny. With every tribute that was reaped a fact about them would flicker onto Orion's laptop screen via a live read.
District One Male, 15, Shiny Kentworth – Professional Clarinet Player
District One Female, 17, Glitterdust June – Assistant Jeweller
Orion paid little mind to the names and facts he was getting. To him, all of the tributes were nothing more than props there to die horribly and send a firm message of who was in charge. Nonetheless, Orion continued to watch the reapings and all the scared children mount the stage.
Everything went fine until the District Seven reapings. The Escort pulled out a paper slip and read out the name of one Pliny Aransio, but nobody approached the stage. There was a very awkward silence for several long moments, nothing happening.
"Come on, where are you? Show yourself little brat, it'll be worse if you don't," Orion muttered, getting a dark look in his cruel, grey eyes already.
The mics had been tweaked to pick up noise better, in hopes of finding the hiding tribute. For a few more seconds the silence continued.
A sudden, loud snore had Orion yelling in alarm and almost falling off his chair. By the time he had gotten himself stable he saw that the tribute, whom had apparently fallen asleep in the crowd, was now on the stage. The short girl was a redhead much like the girl from Seven the year before, a tired look in her eyes.
Orion ignored the crying boy being Reaped, instead glancing at his laptop screen.
District Seven Female, 14, Pliny Aransio – Caught sleeping on the job at the saw mill seventeen times a month, at minimum.
Orion didn't spare much thought for how the lazy girl could fall asleep in a noisy saw mill or why she hadn't been fired yet. He focused morose on what kind of a death awaited this useless girl in the very near future. Even her District Partner, a thirteen year old missing an arm, seemed to have more chance.
"This is going to be a great Hunger Games," Orion said, ever so smug.
It would be, though not in the way the tubby tyrant wanted...
Orion watched the parade from his presidential balcony, enjoying the show of the well bred stallions, fancy chariots, hilarious costumes and trembling children. He couldn't help but nod approvingly as the boy from District Two (Titanius Morag wasn't it? A body builder, perhaps?) waved to the crowd. The audience loved it, throwing roses in his direction.
"I've got my money on that boy," Orion said, confident. "He has the right idea. He knows who is in charge."
"He's certainly got plenty of muscles," one of his ministers agreed. "He should be able to swing a sword just fine."
Orion only half listened as his ministers weighed out the pros and cons of each tribute, choosing who they were going to support. It was an unspoken rule Orion had laud claim to Titanius and it was most unwise to challenge such a claim.
"I say, that girl from Seven... what's she doing?" a minster asked, disdainful.
Orion frowned as the girl who delayed the reapings was focused on by the cameras. Pliny was laying over the front of her chariot, fast asleep in her tree costume and oblivious to the world. As she snored and drooled with her District Parter observing her awkwardly, Orion felt himself getting all the more angry. The sleepy runt hadn't shown any fear since her reaping, only sleepiness.
"She should be terrified," Orion hissed, clenching his fists. "...No matter. A day of training will sort her out. If not, then the arena will."
The parade had no further issues and the bets were maid amongst the ministers, with Orion shelling out twenty thousand caps upon Titanius. He and his ministers had all laughed when the janitor put down ten Caps on Pliny.
Orion assumed the lesser man had done so in jest, but you know what they say about assuming...
The president felt his mood improving as the day of training went underway. He stood amongst the Gamemakers, watching the tributes scurry around like bugs at his feet and wondering which of them would emerge alive. Titanius, he was sure of it. The boy seemed loyal enough to the Capitol and had age and size on his side to back him up.
"I feel like we could get more action out of the tributes if they had longer to train," the Head Gamemaker, Gossamer, had said around midday.
"We'll talk about doing so in the Third Games once this year's Games are over," Orion replied. "I want at least ten of these little bugs dead by the first death anthem. Make it happen."
"Yes sir," Gossamer said, saluting. "We've got some new traps this year we think you'll find quite satisfying."
"Will the Districts find them terrifying to watch?" Orion asked, smirking.
"Naturally," Gossamer assured, his smirk matching that of the president. "Of course, that's all for tomorrow. We still need to score these kids... care to keep watching the show? I must confess, the way they scamper around is rather amusing."
"I quite agree," Orion said, toasting his glass to Gossamer's own.
Orion sat lazily in a grand armchair to watch the tributes as they trained for the looming death-match in the arena. The pair from Three struggled to work out how to properly light a fire while the boys from Eight and Nine spent time training with throwing knives, albeit not with a great amount of success. The girls from Six, Ten and Twelve were content to pass the day by at the survival stations, a step above how the boy from Four cried away the hours at the climbing frame. Orion laughed at it all, finding it all very humorous to see the kids try and fail at gaining skills.
"Seems like Titanius is the only one with any real chance," Orion noted, watching as the tough boy stabbed a training dummy with a spear three times in a quick sequence. "He'll be an acceptable Victor."
"I think Shocker has a chance too," Gossamer added, thoughtful. "I'd put money on him if I was allowed to bet."
"Shocker? Which District was he from again?" Orion asked.
"Boy from Five," Gossamar said, pointing to the large boy hitting a dummy with a mace. "Wrestling champion at his school three years in a row."
Orion dismissed the boy from his mind, seeing him as lacking the killing instinct. Glancing around the room he suddenly paused, realising something was amiss. Or, rather, someone. Counting up the tributes quickly he felt his temper rising, his face turning red to match it.
"Where is the District Seven Female," Orion hissed, gritting his teeth.
Gossamer glanced around quickly, paling when he saw no sign of the girl. In an instant he had raised an alarm and started a lock down of the building. Sirens wailed and red lights flashed as the twenty three tributes present were all herded together and told to remain still for the time being.
"Find the missing tribute!" Orion screamed, red in the face. "Find her! If she has set one foot where she is not supposed to then have her enter the arena with both of her arms broken!"
It turned out, after an hour of noisy sirens and Orion screaming himself hoarse, that Pliny had never left the tribute building in the first place. In fact, she hadn't even left her bed that morning. She'd been awoken by a Peacekeeper shaking her and, when asked what she had to say for herself, could only quietly grumble about being woken up from her good dream.
Orion pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched Pliny as she trained. Her entire plan seemed to be 'build a hammock and go back to sleep'. Already this sleepy teen had caused him more annoyance than even some of the deceased rebel heroes had during the Dark Days.
"At least she'll be dead by tomorrow," Orion told himself, chugging back a bottle of wine to sooth his temper.
The fact Pliny only earned a training score of four - "She displayed a good knowledge of survival skills and seemed to understand how to tie extremely complex knots" had been Gossamer's reasoning – only made Orion all the more confident in his assumption the bothersome girl would be dead in the dirt within the first hour.
Assuming things rarely was a good idea when it came to The Hunger Games, be it a tribute or even the President doing so...
The interviews this year were a slight step up from the previous year. Once again Mortimer asked the tributes how they were feeling, but this time mixed it up with two other questions. Every tribute was also asked what their basic plan was and got a personal question added in, mainly relating to a hobby they were known to have.
Glitterdust from One felt nervous and the notably shy boy Beep from Three was terrified. Shrimp from Four said his plan was to not die, while Jerky from Ten was ready to run for his life and never stop running. Titanius from Two spoke briefly of how he liked to sing at the local bar in his area of Two, a contrast to how Shocker from Five mentioned his wrestling success with a flicker of life in his blue eyes.
Pliny gave no response to any of this, of course, as she'd fallen asleep about two minutes into the hovercraft ride. Mortimer decided to just skip over her, feeling that nothing of worth would be lost by ignoring the tribute most likely to die first.
President Orion and his ministers had opened the finest champagne bottles they owned, pouring out drinks as they settled to watch the Games play out. Bets were made, light banter was had and a few smug remarks against the tributes were tossed around. But soon enough they sat quietly, watching as the countdown ticked down to zero.
"Do you suppose anybody will hit the forcefield this year?" one of the ministers asked.
"Doubtful," Orion said, sipping his wine. "Gossamer had the arena this time made to be two miles wider in all directions to make this less likely to happen. More entertaining when they kill each other, I think."
The arena for the Second Games was a bit more complex than the first one had been. Gone was the snowy meadow and instead a pine forest greeted the tributes as they rose into the arena. The nation was treated to some shots of the forest depths, the steep cliffs and a rather big lake full of crystal clear water. Orion had to hand it to Gossamer, he and his team had done a fine job.
When the gong rang, marked by the cheers of the President and his ministers, Jerky from Ten kept to his word of planning to run and sprinted off into the forest. The other tributes made their way to the Cornucopia, notably taking it at a faster speed than the year before.
Orion smirked, knowing it was only a matter of time until the massacre of the previous year would start up all over again. His smirk only widened as several of the tributes armed themselves with various sharp weapons.
Perhaps it was the paranoia that somebody would strike them down first or perhaps it was to stop the same kind of incident from the year before being able to happen a second time. Whatever the case, Orion was left laughing when the pair from Eleven stabbed Beep from Three the moment he picked up a crossbow.
From there, the outcome was inevitable.
This time several tributes had the good sense to stop what they were doing and run away into the pine forest that surrounded the clearing of the Cornucopia. It was a smaller bloodbath, but that didn't stop all the ministers from cheering and applauding as several youths were cut by swords, brained by maces, shot with arrows and, in one particularly brutal case, smashed head first into the side of the Cornucopia itself.
The cannons fired one after another, each one making Orion's mood get better and better. Transmissions to his laptop showed the reactions in the Districts and the heartbroken wailing of the families of the dead. Even the families of the survivors were hardly doing any better, especially if their child had committed murder.
Orion began to open another bottle of wine as the cannons finished firing, sparing a glance at the TV at the footage of the remaining tributes making their separate ways through pine forest in search of hiding places.
"So, which kids died?" Orion asked, starting to carefully pour another drink.
"Twelve in total," one of his ministers – Zeus, was it? - said, looking at his own laptop's live transmission. "Boy from One, both from Three, girl from Four, girl from Five, boy from Six, boy from Seven, both from eight, girl from Nine, boy from Eleven and boy from Twelve."
Orion had almost spilt his wine upon realising a certain redhead was missing from the list of the dead tributes.
"Wait, you mean the District Seven Female survived?" Orion asked, turning red. "Explain."
Lucky for Zeus, that was the moment where the highlights were played. Each surviving tribute had their actions in the bloodbath shown. Orion couldn't even feel pleased that Titanius had slain the boy from Twelve with a mace, not when he saw how Pliny had survived the opening battle.
During the chaos she had ran into the Cornucopia, grabbed a big loaf of bread, climbed into a chest at the very back of the golden horn and hidden inside it beneath a blanket. With bread in hand and several water bottles within the chest laying around her she had already fallen back to sleep.
Orion cursed and spat, yelling at the screen, shouting at Titanius – the only tribute still at the Cornucopia – to get back in the horn and murder Pliny. His shouts were left unheard, the strong boy from the Masonry District instead choosing to head directly south to scout around the area.
It took two whole glasses of wine for Orion to calm down, assured by his ministers that there was no way the girl could win and that it was very safe to assume that either another tribute would return to kill her or that the Gamemakers could simply fire off a trap before long that would take her out.
Assuming was never a good idea...
The sun rose on the second morning with ten tributes still alive, two having died during the night. Glitterdust from One dying after being shoved off a cliff by Shocker from Five, and Apricot from Eleven passing away after eating from one of the five nightlock berry bushes in the entire arena.
Most of the tributes were slowly ambling around, afraid to break into a run in case it gave away their positions. Pliny, meanwhile, had remained asleep. She'd done literally nothing since the Games began, unless sucking her thumb counted.
Orion was officially sick of it and ordered Gossamer to demonstrate the new traps on this bothersome little girl. The Head Gamemaker had been happy to obey, simply telling Orion to stay tuned and try not to blink.
It was around midday, right after Combee from Nine sprained his ankle from falling down a hill, that Gossamer set off the first of the new traps. Being the kind to enjoy starting slow and building up to a big finale he began by activating a massive burst of wind targetted at the mouth of the Cornucopia. It was a strong gale that sent crates, weapons and all sorts of supplies hurtling around the clearing. In seconds the interior of the Cornucopia was a mess.
Orion's satisfied smirk vanished when he realised Pliny hadn't even woken up for a moment. The blast of wind wasn't able to target the very back of the Cornucopia as it was simply in the wrong sort of angle.
A screaming fit and two more pints of wine consumption followed this embarrassment, the deaths of Shrimp from Four and Filly from Ten not doing much to improve his mood.
The next day Gossamar tried again, warned to do it right this time by Orion. While most tributes were headed in the direction of the lake, all in need of water and not quite remembering where the Cornucopia was, Pliny remained asleep inside the golden horn. She had only woken up for two brief periods of time, merely nibbling bread, drinking water and peeing in a bottle. Hardly riveting television.
This time the strong wind was left behind and the second trap unleashed. While a light shower of rain was turned on for the afternoon, mainly for some atmosphere and a way to soak the other seven tributes, Gossamer had something much worse in mind for Pliny.
Rocks.
Simply put, dropping rocks from above was deemed as a decent idea for an early trap. The hovercraft in the sky had several prepared, all around triple the size of an average man's fist, and was ready to drop them, at a moment's notice.
Orion watched smugly as the rocks began to rain down, smashing onto the Cornucopia. It was surely only a matter of moments before one would break through and smash right onto the chest Pliny was inside and, more importantly, right on top of her skull.
He went from smug to snarling when it turned out that his order to 'make the Cornucopia out of golden metal and able to stand the rest of time' made it impossible for the rocks to actually do anything to break inside. They hadn't even dented the metal at all. Pliny had woken up from the noise this time, but soon shrugged and went back to sleep.
For the next hour Pliny sucked her thumb and Orion screamed so hard that his throat burned. He warned Gossamar, right before Coalette from Twelve had her throat slit by Carol from Two, that he was losing his patience.
Seeing Jerky run into a tree improved Orion's mood somewhat, especially as Titanius caught up to him and slayed the boy with a sword a minute later, but Pliny's continued existence angered him in ways he could hardly describe. She was making the Capitol look stupid and the worst part was she was clearly not even trying to,. The damn girl just wanted to sleep.
If the increasingly erratic President had his way then he'd send her off to an eternal rest by lunch time.
While Shocker, sick at himself, held Moira from Six under the lake water until she drowned Gossamer tried for a third time to get rid of Pliny.
It should have been obvious from the start that making trees fall onto the Cornucopia was not going to work. The golden horn was simply too strong to be affected by any of them and the slight incline of the ground right in front of it made any trees that fell there just roll away, preventing the possibility of trapping Pliny inside. Not that she'd have noticed such a thing.
"Why won't that girl die..." Orion hissed, his eye twitching madly.
His ministers, all yes men at heart, did not dare speak up. When their President was angry it was a great risk to one's job, and life, to talk to him. One wrong word and a firing squad awaited the poor bastard to piss him off.
"Gossamer!" Orion screamed into a phone. "I don't care what your excuse is, I don't care how you do it, just kill that little shit!"
Gossamar promised that he had the perfect plan and it would all become clear the next day when the finale began.
As Muttations were still an idea that hadn't left the 'Hunger Games drawing board' and wouldn't for at least two years, Gossamar's idea was much simpler than one may otherwise assume it to be. If traps couldn't enter the Cornucopia to kill Pliny then why not just have another tribute do the job for them?
The rain continued to fall that day, Pliny sleeping soundly through it and the remaining four other tributes trying to find shelter. The moment loud thunder boomed the finale officially began.
The four tributes began to rush back to the Cornucopia, herded along by powerful winds and trees falling every so often. They were fast and it seemed inevitable they would reach their destination in around half an hour.
Orion could hardly contain his excitement at the looming, painful death of the sleepy girl who had caused him so much fury.
The death of Carol from two via a falling tree did nothing but amuse him, her never being a tribute he'd paid any mind towards anyway. Similarly, seeing Combee collapse from the pain in his sprained ankle and get splatted by a rock dropped from above had him howling with laughter. He could only assume the rest of the Games would be similarly satisfying.
That's when fate decided that it would be ever so much fun to take a steaming shit on the smug President and punish him for his assumptions.
Titanius and Shocker crossed paths on the way back to the Cornucopia, the latter slipping right into the former on the muddy forest floor. The fight was savage, lasting a full five minutes as the storm raged on. Orion would admit that Shocker was doing better than he had expected, but it seemed inevitable the older and stronger Titanius had it in the bag.
The issue was that the wind had been set too high and ended up knocking over a tree that had not been set to fall over. No sooner had Titanius lopped off Shocker's right arm a tree fell down and crushed the boy from Two into a pulp, dead before he knew it. Shocker's agonised screams filled the pine forest.
They were nothing to Orion's screams of fury that filled the Capitol that day.
"...Sir, Shocker is very close to the Cornucopia," one minister timidly added.
"He's bleeding out," another minster added, wary.
Orion could only watch, his temper getting all the worse by the second, as Shocker limped his way towards the Cornucopia. The boy moaned in pain, practically whimpering as the agony continued. A flash of lightening filled the sky as he staggered up to the Cornucopia.
This lightning strike woke Pliny up, the small girl finally getting out of the chest with a yawn. As she got out, she gasped upon seeing Shocker collapse a few meters away.
"Oh my goodness!" Pliny exclaimed as she ran to the fallen boy.
Orion could only watch, as much horrified as sickened, as Pliny gently comforted the battered boy in his clear final minutes He howled, agonised from his wounds, and pleaded for Pliny to end his unbearable suffering.
Orion swore, practically turning blue from the lack of oxygen, watching as Pliny grabbed some poison that had been laying around in clear sight ever since the powerful wind several days ago. Gently stoking Shocker's hair and mumbling words of comfort Pliny helped him swallow a few drops of poison.
He was gone, painlessly, less than twenty seconds later.
The cannon startled Pliny, but the loud trumpets had her utterly alarmed.
"What's going on?!" Pliny squeaked.
Pliny gasped in awe, stunned as she was declared as the Victor of the Second Annual Hunger Games.
Orion swore viciously for the same reasons, forking over a huge chunk of money to the lowly janitor who bet on Pliny's victory. Red in the face, twitchy eyed and full of murderous rage he made the snap decision to have Gossamer hanged for his failure to kill this bothersome little girl.
Pliny's victory was deemed as complete national embarrassment for the Capitol. She'd done literally nothing aside for the bare minimum and her one kill had only been possible because of Titanius having earlier wounded Shocker so badly. The tiny teen sat on the victor's throne, a crown on her head and very much overcome with surprise at how it had all unfolded.
"Thanks for the crown," she had politely mumbled when Orion had, per his own rules he had written, crowned the nation's newest Victor.
Orion didn't bother saying a word to her. The sooner she was out of his sight and he was back in the luxurious hot tub of this mansion, the better.
Pliny went home, unharmed and with almost zero mental scarring from her experience. Orion could do all he wanted to make his people suffer and increase quotas, sure, but he couldn't do a thing to change the fact the Districts were privately laughing at him. Him!
"There's nothing? Seriously?" Orion whispered, enraged.
"I'm afraid not, sir," replied Zeus. "It turns out Pliny lived at an orphanage. No family who survived the Dark Days. No friends either from what we can tell."
"Any boyfriend or even a girlfriend?" Orion asked, desperate.
Zeus slowly shook his head.
"We're stuck with her and we can't make her suffer for any of her non-actions," Zeus said, defeated.
Orion went into a frenzy of rage that lasted upwards of ten hours, by which time twelve of the rooms in his mansion had been utterly decimated.
Of course, Pliny knew absolutely none of this. As far as the small redhead knew, she'd just gotten very, very lucky and was grateful for it. She settled down that warm summer day upon the roof of her new mansion. Laying on a deckchair, clad in a swimsuit and with a drink in hand, she could only smile.
"Life is good..." Pliny said, yawning as she settled down for a good sleep.
Peeta let out a low whistle, shaking his head.
"If only it was so easy as to sleep through the entire games," Peeta mused, wistful. "Imagine if that was all we'd needed to do instead of all the fights and... and everything..."
"Yeah," Katniss said, looking jealous as she gazed down at Pliny's face. "Some girls have all the luck."
"In a way, we got lucky too. I mean, we survived the Hunger Games. Twice," Peeta said, as he and Katniss moved on. "I guess in a sense we're sorta like Pliny."
"How do you figure that?" Katniss asked, curious.
"We both really annoyed a President of Panem," Peeta said, a faint smile on his face.
"That's putting it lightly," Katniss remarked, snickering.
The young couple moved on a few paceds soon coming to the next face on the sidewalk. The firm, serious face of a young man looked right back at them.
"Museida Selkirk," Katniss noted. "Wasn't he the one they called the 'hermit crab'."
"Yeah, he was," Peeta confirmed, lightly nodding. "From what little I've heard, the name fits."
And there we have it, Pliny's national embarrassment / victory. I've always been a guy to find it sort of funny when people sleep through catastrophes, so I figured what if somebody somehow slept through the Hunger Games? Naturally it had to happen early on, prior to Career Packs, Mutts and the most complex of traps. Hopefully you guys like this little gal more than Orion does, haha! Two down, seventy one to go. :D
Stats
District 1: N/A
District 2: N/A
District 3: N/A
District 4: N/A
District 5: N/A
District 6: N/A
District 7: Pliny Aransio (2nd Games)
District 8: N/A
District 9: Mizar Aldjoy (1st Games)
District 10: N/A
District 11: N/A
District 12: N/A