Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. They belong to Suzanne Collins.
Note: Back again with another Victor. The third decade is getting so, so close to the end now and I am certainly motivated to finish up with it. Might not take me ages to get us to #30 and the absolute mayhem beyond it. Oh, you'll see what I mean soon... but until then, here's #29 on the list of Victors!
Katniss and Peeta looked down at the image of Crimson imprinted upon the concrete ground, silent in respect for a few moments.
"So, she was smart then?" Katniss asked.
"Yeah, so I hear anyway. Apparently she could recite pi to around four hundred digits and all of her schoolwork achieved absolutely perfect marks. One in a billion chance of being so brainy, I think," Peeta crossed his arms, uncertain. "Not sure what became of her. Never heard her name attached to amazing discoveries."
"Let's be honest, the Capitol would have just stolen all the credit anyway," Katniss replied, her frown quick to return. "They steal lives, not so hard to imagine them stealing credit."
"Yeah, I... can't really argue with that at all," Peeta admitted. "Still, perfect classwork... have to respect that."
29th Annual Hunger Games
Name: Crimson Flanders
Gender: Female
District: 5
Age: 18
Kills: 2
BRAINS
In District Five education is everything. One's brainpower is the only thing that will get them anywhere in life, the industry of Power being so complex, vital and potentially dangerous that without good grades or a family business the only other option was to join a gang. Numerous gangs were on the prowl along the streets after hours, generally looking for food or trouble. The fights were sometimes even as bloody as those within the arena during Hunger Games season.
Crimson, the eldest of the six Flanders siblings, was not somebody with any plans to join a gang. Her brains and ambition was to lead her right to the top of the job totem and to the cosy desk job of an executive overseer at one of the top power plants, such as Plant 4 or Plant 9. Her perfect grades were certainly keeping the odds in her favour for her dreams to come true.
Some claim it was immensely dedicated study habits that kept Crimson knowing seemingly everything. A few claimed that she was somehow finding a way to cheat. There were even some that thought she was actually an android who had access to a limitless database.
In truth Crimson didn't really know how to explain her vast knowledge. She just 'knew'. If it meant getting a perfect job to keep her family well cared for then she'd always have the knowledge in mind when it mattered most.
It was a week after her eighteenth birthday, just shy of a month before the Twenty Ninth Hunger Games, when her final results came back. Her teacher, Professor Nordscov, beamed with pride as he set the file down onto her desk.
"Open it," he said, giving an encouraging nod.
Crimson did so, her pretty face lighting up like one of the thousands of nodes and bulbs at the power plants when she saw her overall final grades.
A's all around. A flawless 100% record, unheard of in all the history of Panem. A sure-fire ticket to the easy life, even in a place within the Districts.
"Sir, is this... are these marks accurate?" Crimson whispered, her hands ever so slightly shaking.
"Want to take a guess? You've never been wrong about anything before," Professor Nordscov gave a grin to his favourite student. "Congratulations."
While normally firm, mature and quite the calm bookworm the fact was that even Crimson had no way to resist breaking out into a victory dance after this kind of good news. After a groove of triumph the genius realised that she was still in class for the next hour.
Her classmates were all smirking, having seen Crimson doing her dance.
"Uh, well... just as expected. Only normal to get such results after studying so much," Crimson said, awkwardly coughing. "So, what did you guys get for question four? It took me about two seconds to see it was seventy point six three zero two degrees."
The class laughed and Crimson sighed. Perhaps the one thing she didn't know was how to be the most popular person around. Or, perhaps, how to respond to popularity and attention. She was a girl that liked the quiet life. A good book and some fine coffee was all she needed to be happy.
BEAUTY
Crimson wasn't merely the 'smart girl'. It was true enough that she was also seen as one of the beauties of Five. The combination of her polite manners, soft smile, sunset orange hair and big bust were a few factors that led to a lot of people having crushes on her. Some crushes were merely phases that went away. Others were long lasting.
Crimson didn't mind the attention at all, though had made clear she wasn't looking for romance until after school was over and she had a proper position at the top of the totem in one of the power plants. As luck would have it, she had scored a brilliant job over in Plant 4 that was due to start at the end of July.
All she needed to do was get past her final reaping.
After the reaping, well, she looked forward to what the future would hold. A glance at Handlurr over in the eighteen year old boys' section and his mature, freckly, glasses covered face had her all the more eager for the future to arrive.
"Crimson Flanders!" trilled the escort, this year dressed to literally resemble a handbag.
Crimson was pale faced, terror in her eyes as she slowly walked to the stage and mounted it. She had good grades, a job, a crush of her own... life was perfect!
It wasn't fair! She had never rebelled, not once!
Crimson looked at the crowd pleadingly, silently begging somebody to take her place. Alas, as was the norm, nobody moved a muscle and her fate was sealed. The escort remarked how nice it was to have a pretty tribute 'for once' and pranced over to reap the male tribute.
Crimson didn't know it, but later on when the reaping recaps came on she caught the attention of one of the mentors. One of those who wasn't Shunt or her own mentor Isobel. On the tribute train for District One the male tribute, Marble, watched the TV with his mentor, making notes on the stand-outs.
When Bronze Marley saw Crimson on the stage he couldn't help but smirk at the sight he was seeing.
"Now there's a looker," Bronze remarked, sipping from his fancy martini. "Not bad, not bad at all."
"Pervert," Peridot scoffed as she passed by the sofa, a thick comic book under her arm. "Get your mind out of the swamp. Besides, she's gonna die soon anyway."
"Eh, I guess so," Bronze shrugged, hardly listening.
"And anyway, she'll go to Five after that so... yeah, don't be a creep you creep," Peridot concluded her statement by scowling at Bronze and sitting crossed legged as she began to read the new issue of Pumpkin Man.
Bronze continued to watch Crimson, pondering to himself. After a while the braggart slowly began to smirk an idea forming in his mind.
A late night phone call to his good friend Coriolanus Snow was all it took to pitch a disgusting, greedy idea on the off chance that Crimson ended up winning the Games that year.
"Just think of it. All the profit, all the control... all I ask in return is a share of the rewards every now and then," Bronze had said, relaxing in a recliner with his sunglasses on.
"Bronze... you're a genius," Snow had replied, a sinister look upon his face as he sat at his desk in the Capitol. "Consider it in motion. If not this year, another one very soon. I'm sure Orion would find this idea brilliant."
It had been a dark day once upon a time when shortly after the first Quell Bronze had spoken to Orion, suggesting he give his best mate Snow an intern position. Orion choosing to grant his favourite Victor this boon had led to Snow being one of several who answered to the President and bought him news, events and ideas.
That dark day was about to show off its true scope of darkness at long last. It was inevitable due to what Snow would bring to the meeting the next day...
Crimson knew nothing of this, simply taking an early night to get all the tears out. She vowed that, come sunrise, she was going to think her way through the Games and claw her hard earned life back inch by bloody inch.
BRAINS
Crimson knew she was skilled, but that meant nothing if she could not fight. Alas, with only a few days to learn the life saving skills the odds were not really in favour of her becoming some kind of a barbarian warrior.
It was when she was halfway through her cornflakes that an idea struck her. She needed an alliance to counter the annual career pack and find a way to make the careers themselves start to lose their trust and alliance coordination.
As she entered the elevator alongside her fifteen year old district partner, a boy by the name of Klank, she knew what to do. Of course, that was after pitching an alliance to Klank right away. Time was of the essence.
Crimson spent the morning breezing through the survival tests and other such training exercises with perfect scores. It wasn't like she had expected any less of herself. But as she trained hard she kept an eye on everybody else, picking out good prospects for allies and keeping a track on the Careers.
It was soon clear that the boy from Six, the pair from Seven and the girl from Eleven were the best alliance members available to her this year. It was also notable that the girls from One and Two were not getting along, much to the exasperation of their male counterparts.
After spending lunchtime laying her cards on the table and making the alliance offer – something that Asphalt from Six, Roey and Betti from Seven and Viner from Eleven had all been willing to agree to – Crimson moved forth with her next plan, one that she had Klank, Roey and Viner helping her out with.
With her allies keeping watch on the career girls – the safety warning, naturally, was to loudly complain about having a leg cramp – Crimson carefully swiped the token of Garter from One's back pocket. Crimson hardly spared a glance at the family pendent in her hand as she placed it lightly into the pocket of Sarli from Two.
Nobody saw her do it. However, everybody saw – and heard – when Garter realised her token was gone. The pretty One girl screamed and snarled, demanding that the thief who took it give it back or she'd kill them where they stood.
"I don't have it," Crimson said, turning out her empty pockets. "I've been looking at edible plants all day."
"Yeah, she has," Klank added, turning out his own pockets.
Garter surveyed the Fives chillingly, soon moving on to demand all of the Outliers turn their pockets out in case they had stolen her token. Obviously, not one among them had the blasted thing. When Marble turned out his own pockets, as if to prove his obvious innocence, Garter rounded on the Twos.
All it took was Tyr showing his empty pockets for Garter to tackle Sarli to the ground, a fist fight breaking out about half a nanosecond later. The screams had everybody on edge as the Peacekeepers moved in to separate the powerful girls, both now sporting a black eye and Sarli having a bloody lip.
"Give it back!" Garter snarled. "Peacekeepers, reach into her pockets!"
One of the men in white shrugged and did as he was requested. To his surprise and Sarli's own he held the missing pendant in his hand.
The fight resumed pretty quickly after that. As she observed the fight getting more and more intense Crimson crossed her arms, nodding to herself in satisfaction. The Careers were weakened alright, just as she had planned.
BEAUTY
If there was one thing Crimson could do without, aside being reaped in the first place, it was the fact her stylist had chosen to put her in a fairly exotic, provocative cocktail dress for the interviews. Standing backstage with the other tributes had her feeling all too exposed, a feeling of shame and embarrassment running through her.
"Stop staring," she muttered, looking away from the career boys and the pair from Nine. "Seriously, that's gross. Stop!"
For one quick moment Crimson felt relieved as she was called up for her own interview, finally away from the tributes who had spent some of their last guaranteed night alive ogling her. She then realised that now the entire Capitol – indeed, the whole nation! - were going to be seeing her in the tiny dress.
Well, if that was their game then she'd give them a whole new sort of game to focus on.
And so, for her interview, Crimson sat calmly and professionally as she talked about chess in fine detail. Caesar found himself enthralled in what she had been saying, all the trivia, the game meta and how it was possible for the game to be won in just three moves. Fascinating! He'd never known that, but now that he did he was sure to never ever lose another match of chess!
Crimson left the stage to a lot of genuine applause. One catcall was among the many cheers, drowned out by the support of the citizens.
Had Crimson heard it and turned back she would have seen Bronze was the culprit, slapped a moment later by Peridot.
BRAINS
The tributes were launched into the arena with uniforms that had their arms and legs open to the air this year. As their launch plates rose up and clicked into place it all became clear why their clothes were so thin.
The hot sun blared down upon them from up above and water came halfway towards their knees. It was a scorching summer day, one ruined entirely by the fact the tributes were forced to spend it trapped inside a massive concrete maze that had been semi flooded. Even the pretty golden colour of the walls didn't raise any of the dampened spirits of the tributes.
Crimson was fully focused on her goal, the Cornucopia. Of course, part of her focus was elsewhere too; she had to faintly smirk in satisfaction when Garter and Sarli began to shout at each other from their pedestals. With two Careers distracted it would be easy to run in and grab some supplies; with her alliance having each been assigned a different task to focus on she felt that things were starting to get dragged back in her favour once more.
But plans only mattered if they worked. Crimson readied herself to charge in as soon as the gong rang, keen to show Panem what a perfectly graded student could do.
The gong rang and the mayhem began.
Due to the inability for the career girls to work together it made it easy for the Outliers to charge in and have only half the normal danger to deal with. Marble and Tyr gave it their all to start hacking and slashing, but with only two of them in the thick of things and an alliance of six moving around with precision amongst the chaos it proved hard for them to make a large number of kills. Meanwhile Roey and Viner took advantage of the lack of career teamwork to slay Sarli.
When the dust settled with the final screams of Asphalt fading away into gurgles within the water seventeen tributes remained alive in the maze. Crimson led her alliance of five in various random directions, often pausing to mark a line on the wall by pathways they did not go down.
"Why are you doing that?" Betti asked after the eighth time Crimson marked a wall with the chalk she had swiped from the Cornucopia.
"The careers and solos might think people went down the marked paths. It'll keep them away from us for a while," Crimson replied. "They can't kill us if they can't find us."
"They can't, but mutts sure can," Klank said, gulping.
"That's why there are six... uh, five of us and we all have weapons," Crimson replied. "Try to aim for their eyes. A blind mutt is normally not an accurate mutt."
"And if they have no eyes?" Roey asked.
"The heart, of course," Crimson said, marking another pathway. "C'mon, this way. The silence is promising."
BEAUTY
While most arenas of the Hunger Games would result in everybody looking all kinds of filthy even before their near-certain deaths, the flooded maze of the Twenty Ninth Games was an exception. The general lack of any dirt combined with the water – which, as one may imagine, became pleasantly warm due to the sunlight – made it easy for the tributes to keep themselves clean.
On the fifth day in the maze – when thirteen tributes remained alive after the death of the boy from Ten three hours prior – Crimson spent some of her afternoon bathing in a particularly deep and warm section of the watery maze, one cast in the glow of the sunlight, and cleaned herself off until she felt almost like her old self again.
"Parachute," Roey said, pointing upwards.
"Another? That's five since I started washing myself." Crimson raised an eyebrow, confused. "I'll not say no to sponsors, though they kind of give away our location. We'll have to move on soon."
Crimson looked over her sponsored gift – one full loaf of a luxurious brand of buttered honey bread – and smiled. She figured that her brainpower must have really impressed the nation, taking a content bite from the delectable gift.
What Crimson was unaware of, especially as she and her allies began to run through the maze away from a nasty land shark sort of mutt, was that several of the sponsors were supporting her for reasons entirely unrelated to her brains.
Spurned on by Bronze and Snow's whispers of their idea here and there they sponsored Crimson out of pure desire, lust and greed. The two men sat in a bar watching the Games on TV, joining the cheers when the land shark caught Viner and began to tear her to shreds.
"It almost seems like you'd rather Five won this year than One," Snow remarked, clinking his glass to Bronze's own.
"I'd say it's about equal," Bronze replied, chuckling almost good naturedly to his best friend. "I benefit either way, just in different kinds of ways you know? More proof I'm awesome, winning when my own District loses."
"I can't deny that," Snow said, laughing.
BRAINS
After ten days in the maze it was clear to all that Crimson's plan to mark the pathways her alliance had not gone down was working effectively. The careers had been unable to track them down since the start and had been lucky to find even the most loud and obvious Outliers. The lack of any real progress and Marble almost dying after an attack from a second land shark mutt had the careers feeling miserable.
Crimson's alliance, however, were well sustained by sponsors. For the first time in her life Crimson did not have a certain answer for this, but didn't question their good fortune.
"We must really be popular," Roey remarked, sipping from a bottle of cherry flavoured water.
"I guess the Capitol likes it when a smart alliance pops up that can challenge the career pack," Crimson replied. "Now, careful with that water, we need to make it last."
"There's water all over the maze," Roey said, shrugging.
"True, but watch it turn out to be poisonous in large doses or something to that effect," Crimson replied, letting her hair out from its ponytail and picking away a few specks of dirt from within. "Can't be too careful."
"Just too bad really that we can't do what Runa did years ago and climb on top of the walls," Klank added from his spot at the back of the pack, sighing.
Klank was right. This year the Gamemakers wanted to ensure nobody would try and repeat Runa's winning tactic from the word go and had added a forcefield to the top of the maze walls, one that would prove fatal to anybody who touched it. It was why Betti was dead and only three members of Crimson's alliance were still alive, after all.
By now nine tributes were still moving around the large maze; two alliances of three and three stragglers. The suspense could only keep the Capitolites amused for so long before they began to get annoyed and so that is why - around an hour after Crimson had been sponsored a bladed metal whip by a very rich sponsor who always sided with District Five – the Gamemakers decided to interfere with things.
The first move made was to split up the alliances of three, a feat easily accomplished by making the water become powerful and almost like rapids followed by raising a few new walls into the arena.
The second move was to send a crocodile mutt after each remaining tribute and not call them off until three cannons had fired. It wasn't long at all before the final cries of the girl from Four faded away, replaced by a cannon shot as the vicious reptile tore off her upper half in one unceremonious chomp.
While the seven others battled against their own monstrous opponents to varying degrees of success and deathly failure, Crimson was soon cornered upon a pile of rubble in a dead end with her shirt torn. The crocodile widened its maw, as if grinning.
"Wanna take a bite?" Crimson asked. "Ok, chew on this!"
Crimson swung her whip at the crocodile, the cord getting entangled upon the teeth of the mutt. Before the mutt could do anything aside from hiss in frustration Crimson threw the metal handle of the whip up above her and took cover.
Sparks flew.
The current of the forcefield charged down the metal whip and fried the mutt to death in a matter of seconds as well as super charging all the water in the vicinity. When Crimson descended back down into the water a few minutes later it was to much applause and cheering from the viewers in the Capitol and in Five.
Orion and the Gamemakers were all quite pissed off that the forcefield had been weaponized against the mutt. But when the Gamemakers offered to spawn ten crocodiles at once to ensure her death he merely shook his head.
"The audience love her," he had said, shrugging as he poured himself a drink. "Let them have what they want."
"But can we really just let her get away with that?" Head Gamemaker Fjordar had replied.
"Like I said, we give the audience what they want," Orion insisted. He smirked, raising his glass. "As it stands, they want her. All of her. Either she wins and they own her, or she dies and the problem dies with her. No issue here."
And with that, the matter was dropped. Crimson knew nothing of this, of course. She spent the rest of the day searching for her allies, her heart dropping when the anthem that night confirmed the death of not only Garter and the girl from Four, but also Roey.
BEAUTY
By the time just three tributes were left in the arena on the thirteenth day of the Games the betting was getting insanely explosive and frantic, with each of the tributes having their supporters. Marble had many fans as a boy from One typically would and Klank had his own fanbase cheering him on towards the victory that couldn't be far away for any of the finalists now.
But Crimson had hands down the most support. Even with sponsor prices soaring and hardly anything being sent into the arena anymore she still got at least a single bottle of water sent to her every day. Naturally, it was lemon flavoured – her favourite, of course.
The Gamemakers used the current of the water and their power to raise and adjust the maze walls to gradually lead the last three tributes together for the final battle. Bronze and Snow watched from the living room of Orion's mansion as the tributes got ever closer. Four guards had guns pointed their way as a precaution due to being seated with the President of Panem, but by this point they were unfazed by it given the distractions of the TV and the fine wine.
"So, what do you think will happen men?" Orion stretched out, relaxing.
"Two kids will die," Snow said, chuckling.
"Two insects," Orion corrected. "But, more or less correct. What do you think Bronze?"
"Either District One wins or I get a personal victory," Bronze chuckled, giving a playful shrug. "I don't see myself losing."
"Unless the boy from Five wins," Snow added, frowning. He ran a hand through his blonde hair. "That would mess things up."
"I'll take care of it. I gain nothing if he wins anyway and I always thought his eyes were ugly," Orion picked up a phone, lazily dialling a number. "Kill the District Five male."
Not even a minute later Klank's cannon fired, the crocodiles leaving very little left of the poor boy. Bronze and Snow applauded as the President took a short bow.
"You know, you boys are alright," Orion remarked, relaxing once again. "Bronze, you've always been a decent Victor. And Snow... I feel you may be getting close to a promotion."
"I'd be honoured to received it, sir," Snow said, smiling.
The trio relaxed as they continued to watch the remainder of the Games play out. Bronze was especially invested, a sick sort of grin crossing his face as the last two tributes closed in on each other.
"Come on, come on," Bronze muttered. "You're nearly there."
Nobody ever knew if he was referring to Marble or Crimson.
BRAINS
The fight was vicious and frantic, the combination of the maze walls and the water making it hard for the tributes to dodge each other's powerful attacks and remain balanced. The Gamemakers had chosen to switch off the forcefield above the maze, hoping to ensure Crimson could not repeat her earlier trick for an easy victory.
That trick may have been out the window, but that did not mean that Crimson was out of ideas. Her whip kept Marble from narrowing the gap and using his sword, an accomplishment that bought her some precious time. Just enough time in fact to come up with a final idea of how to take out her opponent. Something that was common knowledge.
She stopped trying to strike Marble at his chest, head and arms. Instead, she started to strike the nasty whip towards his boot covered feet. The first strike took him off guard and from there it only required two more strikes for the whip to get around his ankle so that he could be knocked to the ground and into the water.
Crimson took deep, frantic breaths as she tried not to focus on the fact she was holding a fellow human being under the water. She only loosened her grip a few seconds after the cannon had fired and the trumpets began to ring out.
Crimson staggered up, leaning against the maze wall with a dazed, broken and shell-shocked sort of look in her eyes. As the ladder of the hovercraft came down to take her out of the flooded maze she spotted a nearby camera built into the wall and gave it a short, smart nod.
"It was common sense, really," she told the nation watching her. "As you'll learn in school, or just while out and about, human cannot breath underwater."
Nobody could argue this fact. It was something that would be proven again and again in the Hunger Games as the decades went by.
BEAUTY
The after-party of the Hunger Games was a massive spectacle just as it was every year. Shunt and Isobel were especially pleased to finally have a third victor join them in the Victor Village of District Five. It seemed that for once there were no extremely toxic feelings aside the norm, given the way Crown and Isobel casually talked by the snack table and both Shunt and Crystal exchanged fedoras as had become something of a tradition between them.
Things seemed alright, but that was certainly due for a terrible change.
Crimson casually sat at a table, enjoying a few drinks and the fine food. She'd had her life clawed away and she clawed it right back for herself. It seemed, despite the shitty month she'd suffered, things were going to more or less go back to normal and on course for the future she'd built towards for so long.
Too bad things were about to be clawed away from her once again.
"Meet me in the hedge maze in an hour," Bronze said as he passed by her table. "President's orders, can't really say no to that guy. Trust me, nobody wants to do that Victor or not."
Crimson didn't know Bronze at all – beyond how Peridot thought he was a tool – and so didn't think anything much of it. If he wanted to get angry that she killed his tribute then so be it.
She met with him as requested an hour later and, at his polite request, began to take a walk through the maze with him. When asked about the chances of getting lost he only chuckled.
"The Capitol would never let a Victor disappear," he replied. "Anyway, I'll get right on to the point. It could've been Orion who said this or maybe one of his ministers or interns, but as it stands... lucky me got the role to be the bearer of news."
"Oh, really? And what kind of news is that?" Crimson asked, uncertain. "Because if you're angry that I killed Marble-."
"I couldn't care less," Bronze interrupted, shrugging. "I've lost a few tributes by now, it doesn't really bug me if this one didn't make it home. Win some, lose some. Trust me, you'll get used to that when you start to mentor people. Oh, on that note, try not to get attached to them."
"I guess that makes sense," Crimson said, slowing her pace. "So what is it then?"
"Well, let me play it all on the table. You know how the Capitol likes pretty things, yeah?" Bronze began, leaving the question hanging for a moment.
"Yes, I do. So?" Crimson raised an eyebrow.
"That includes you, and not just because you're a popular victor after that thing with the whip and the forcefield," Bronze chuckled. "See, all those sponsors? People think you're beautiful and frankly I gotta agree with them."
"...Ok, why is this relevant?" Crimson took a step back, starting to look slightly unnerved.
"Lots of people basically invested in your victory and, you know, your life," Bronze continued, casually giving a pebble a light kick. "So, they want return on that investment."
"...I don't follow," Crimson said, slowly.
"That must be a first, right?" Bronze chuckled. "Basically, they want to have sex with you."
Crimson's horrified gasp was hardly the worst sound she would let out that night. She paled, looking absolutely stricken.
"What?! No way, that is completely out of line, totally unacceptable! I don't know them!" Crimson stammered for a moment. "I refuse, they'll just have to find some other way to be entertained."
"Sure, nobody's forcing you," Bronze shrugged, casually starting to walk away. He paused, slowly turning around. "Oh, but Orion thought you'd say that. That guy thinks ahead, huh? He said if you don't do it then all of your family will be killed. Just like that."
At the word 'that' Bronze snapped his fingers and Crimson almost had a heart attack.
"What... I, what... why... no..." Crimson stammered, about ready to pass out. Her face was covered in a cold sweat, tears in her eyes and her face white as a sheet.
"Say no and they die. Say yes and they live. I know what I'd chose," Bronze tucked his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "So, what's it gonna be? One client is pretty interested in a 'trial run' tonight."
It took only one moment of thinking about her beloved family – her dear, doting parents and her five precious little brothers and sisters – for Crimson to sob and nod her head.
"So be it," she whispered, looking about ready to throw up.
"Wonderful," Bronze said, moving over to shake Crimson's hand. "Don't worry, considering you're alive and all the amazing things the Capitol gives its favourite Victors all the time you're gonna enjoy this. Being a Victor is amazing."
"...Who is the first client?" Crimson spoke in barely a whisper, shaking like a leaf.
"Me," Bronze said, winking as he made finger guns. "My idea, actually. C'mere, stupid sexy Flanders."
Sobs were not the only sounds that came from the maze that night.
BRAINS
In District Five the citizens know her as a genius, a damn good mentor, a reliable friend and a wonderful occasional guest speaker in schools here and there.
They don't know why she is always crying.
BEAUTY
In the Capitol they know her as a beautiful women, one who will do anything behind closed doors and whom always gives those who buy her company a wonderful, passionate, refreshing night.
They don't know why she is always crying.
"I guess in some arenas the brain cuts more than a sword does," Peeta said, crossing his arms.
"...What?" Katniss said, confused.
"Um, nevermind. Just being theatrical... let's just move on," Peeta replied, embarrassed.
Peeta walked on with Katniss following close behind him. The couple soon stopped about a dozen or so paces further up the street and came to the next face upon the ground. A girl with her hair in a particularly fancy pair of braids looked back at them, her expression somewhat anxious and her cheeks a bit sallow.
"Paige Murphy," Peeta said, looking the face over.
"She seems anxious alright," Katniss mused.
Yeah, the whole 'victors get prostituted' thing is like my overall least fav aspect of HG canon in all honestly? Of course, I am a stickler for canon facts and thus I knew I'd have to bring it up at some point, so... yeah, here we are! That was Crimson and boy, her tale sure made me feel so... I guess 'wrong' as I writing it? Emotional, perhaps strongly so, but ick all the same. Bronze and Snow are rising in power, and Orion still rules the roost... how long may this last? Stay tuned for more, the 3rd decade of the Games is nearly over!
Stats
District 1: Peridot Gaudy (8th Games), Crystal McCree (14th Games), Bronze Marley (19th Games), Crown Martins (24th Games)
District 2: Baron Overwhill (4th Games), Runa Peace (7th Games), Olga Machete (10th Games), Rook Valiant (17th Games), Boulder Atherston (20th Games), Vercingetorix Carnby (25th Games), Dragon Batofel (27th Games)
District 3: Honorius Perthshire (5th Games), Pi Orbit (22nd Games)
District 4: Museida Selkirk (3rd Games), Mags Flanagan (11th Games), Tide Luther (23rd Games)
District 5: Shunt Gaspar (12th Games), Isobel Sparks (18th Games), Crimson Flanders (29th Games)
District 6: N/A
District 7: Pliny Aransio (2nd Games), Fir Buzz (9th Games), Jack Tylos (21st Games)
District 8: Woof Casino (16th Games)
District 9: Mizar Aldjoy (1st Games), Gwenith Rosebud (13th Games), Teff Withers (28th Games)
District 10: Stallion March (26th Games)
District 11: Bear Redfoot (15th Games)
District 12: Duke Saint-Rose (6th Games)