Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. They belong to Suzanne Collins.
Note: Here we are, the Thirty Fifth Hunger Games! Halfway towards Annie's games as any HG fan would know and, if you paid attention to Urchin's timeline, the Games of a person he mentioned in passing. Perhaps not as utterly insane as the previous Games were, but not every chapter can be ridiculously OTT. All the same, hope you all like Librae's tale. :)
"Know anything about this one?" Katniss asked.
"Not much. Just that she was said to be a really good surfer," Peeta replied.
"What's surfing?" Katniss asked
"Don't you know? It's a thing they do in Four; riding waves with boards. Annie says it's a really popular pastime," Peeta said, raising an eyebrow., "How'd you not know that?"
"I've had bigger issues to focus on in life than surfing," Katniss stated. "Trying not to die, for example."
35th Annual Hunger Games
Name: Librae Ogilvy
Gender: Female
District: 4
Age: 18
Kills: 4
In District Four there are quite a few 'factions' of people that make up the grand, varied population. There are the sailors, the factory workers, the lifeguards, the youth who occasionally try to become careers in the Hunger Games and even a few lacking their sea legs who end up in office jobs, if that.
Then there are the surfers.
With Four being right by the sea it's only logical that they are by the beaches as well. Some areas are polluted, but others are simply gorgeous to behold. Such grand places are where the surfers roam and perform their water stunts. Upon the waves they make things like spins, flips and much more complex tricks look so easy.
Librae is perhaps the best surfer in Four, or at the very least somewhere in the top five.
She rides the waves like some kind of a sea queen. She performs moves that would make any other surfer crash and burn amidst a humiliating splash. She always keeps her cool and manages to see a bizarre upside to anything.
She's also a bit of a ditz.
Now, Librae is not what one could call stupid or a complete fool. She'd never bombed a test and she did have a basic awareness of the world around her. However, she lacked in common sense. She was the sort who could easily perform a physical manoeuvre, name any ocean related fact needed or create some amazing artwork on a canvas… but she was also the sort to eat food that had been on the ground and claim the 'five hour rule', touch a sparking battery to see what would happen and she was known for accepting any dare sent her way.
That's why, three days before the reaping, Librae is balancing along a beam set out over the churning, salty, filthy water of a busy dockyard. The goal is simple, walk from one end of the beam to the other. A hundred meters without any break in-between.
Librae accepts the dare with a wink, a grin and a demand that once she accomplishes it her friends will pool money together to buy her a beer.
One would assume Librae would take one step, perhaps six at most, before falling into the water and looking like a dumb prat. But Librae has excellent balance and that is why she's halfway across the beam in just a minute. Her friends watch, stunned, as she parades across the beam. She shoots them a cheeky smirk, practically strutting her way across.
"Get ready girls and boys, I think some of you are gonna be buying me some beer~!" Librae sings, laughing joyously. "Oh wait, no, all of you will be!"
A noisy foghorn fills the air as a boat drives through the dockyard. A tanker, due to transport oil to one of the busy fishing rigs further out from the mainland. It doesn't stop to let Librae safely get onto solid ground.
The beam bends, snaps and bounces apart in an instant. The force sends Librae up into the air with a shout as the remains of the beam fall to the ocean. The foghorn sounds again, the boat leaving the harbour without its driver even noticing the girl he may have run down.
Amazingly, Librae somersaults through the air and lands on her feet in front of her fellow surgers. She winks, making finger guns towards them.
"So, buy me some peach shandy, yeah?" she says, snickering.
Librae would accept any dare at all, but more to the point she could complete any dare as well. Whether she was surfing, working or just walking around her world seemed to operative on a rather simple system.
If something looked like a bad idea, sounded like a bad idea and needed a dare to do it… it's be CRAZY! In eighteen years this hadn't gotten her into any harm yet, aside the odd broken bone or dislodged joint here and there.
"I'm a surfer, it's just an occupational hazard" was her typical response to any sort of injury she received.
Partly Librae just did all this for thrills and fun, but it was a bit more than that deep down. Librae liked people to think she was a foolhardy idiot.
She liked to be underestimated and seen as a dumbass.
After all, asking too many questions and being far too smart for witnesses was the very thing that got her mother hanged and her father beaten into a coma. 'For treason', she was told.
Mere days after her eighteenth birthday the reaping for the Thirty Fifth Annual Hunger Games came by. Even a year later people were still laughing over the insanity of the year prior. With several blunders in the decade already it seemed as though the Districts' natural fear of the Capitol was lessening. It was a toss-up whether the Capitol's inevitable attempts to enforce their will by upping the torture would pay off or just make things worse.
Either way, Librae took her spot with the eighteen year old girls and waited for the reaping to just get over and done with already. There were some killer waves that she wanted to ride on for the bulk of the afternoon.
"I triple donkey dog mutt dare you to volunteer," one of her best mates, Scallop, suggested with a cheeky grin.
"Back at you except it's a quadruple deadbeat donkey donut dog mutt danger dare," Librae replied, winking.
"…Yeah, I'm not insane," Scallop laughed, raising her hands in mock surrender. "That's one dare nobody oughta take, Lib."
The surfers trailed off into silence as the escort – dressed like a neon pink chicken, naturally - plucked a paper slip from the reaping bowl and read it out for the nation.
"Librae Ogilvy."
With a remark about no dare being needed after all Librae approached the stage without showing anything aside a half-goofy expression. Years of practise in the art of looking like an idiot make it easy for her to sell the act of being a simpleton to the nation.
"What's up, Librae?" the peppy escort asked.
"Uh… the sky?" Librae replied, a finger to her chin.
The awkwardness prompts the escort to let out a flustered sort of giggle and quickly move to the second reaping bowl, plucking out a paper slip. The reaped boy, a half blinded fourteen year old, is spared when a boy from the eighteen year old section volunteers. It's quickly apparent that Lure has no relation to the boy reaped prior, simply in this for fame and fortune.
Museida scoffs in disgust at the sight of another Career from his own District. Mags keeps her gaze neutral until she hears more. Tide starts working out the odds of either tribute coming home and if she'll bet on her own District this year or perhaps take a gamble with District Five.
Librae just keeps a goofy, slightly vacant look on her face as she surveys the crowds and the cameras. She ponders what to do first, knowing that the Games have begun.
She gives the camera a friendly wave.
The ride on the tribute train is slow. Perhaps not literally due to its immense speed, but certainly in how time seems to drag to a crawl aboard the Four team's tribute train. From Museida being displeased to have to mentor a career – even if his desire to save a life overrides hatred for those sadistic types of tributes – to Tide already on the phone with somebody in the betting business the atmosphere quickly becomes tense.
So tense in fact that Librae wonders if the mentors have forgotten about the tributes they are supposed to mentor. Figuring that they have Librae chows down on the food and leaves the room, intending to catch a good nap and maybe read a book.
Ok, mainly just the nap.
"Where are you going Librae?"
Librae glances back at her escort and gives a casual shrug, letting a vacant look fill her eyes.
"Oh, y'know, somewhere that's not where I am now," Librae replies, giggling. "May as well explore since the tension is, like, gnarly."
"Gnarly?" the escort blinks, curious. "I've never heard that word."
"Surfer slang, my gal," Librae returns to the table, sitting beside the escort. "It's the lingo though of us who ride the waves know best."
As Librae sits back down she and her escort, whom introduces herself as Tuti, begin a pleasantly animated discussion on surfer lingo and the beaches of Four. This being her first year as Four's escort Tuti pays rapt attention, eager to learn more.
They talk on and on until eventually Lure has to smack the table in front of them to get their attention for even a moment.
"Hey, we're discussing tactics," says the powerful boy. "I'm planning to join the Career pack and I think you should as well. Librae, wasn't it? You seem strong enough to stand a chance of getting in."
"But… aren't the Careers evil?" Librae asked, tapping a finger to her chin. "They might hurt me."
"They'd kill anybody, including each other," Lure replies, shrugging. "I'm just saying, if we both join their alliance then Four is more likely to have a victor. I don't want to be the odd man out in that pack, Lib."
"Weeeeeell… okie dokie," Librae puts on a relaxed, slightly goofy smile. "But I'm not trained or anything. I mean, I'm on a train right now, but…"
"…Just let me do the talking," Lure says, slightly shaking his head.
Watching the reaping recap is a highlight as it always is. Two beautiful sadists from One, a pair of bloodthirsty warriors from Two and then a pair of tiny brainiacs before Librae sees herself and Lure on stage.
She feels unsure of the first four being her allies, but smiles as one of the commentators calls her special.
"You hear that, I'm special," Librae giggles to herself. "Kickass dudes."
"I… don't think it was a compliment," Tuti says, uncertain.
As the other mentors and Lure continue watching the recap with rapt attention Librae leans towards Tuti's ear.
"I know. I'm just messing around," Librae whispers. "I got this."
Tuti cannot help but smile eagerly. She's the secret keeper to a powerful girl exaggerating her doofus side. What fun!
After Four made a smash debut in the parade with a combination of Lure's sea demon costume and Librae's athletic display on the chariot it was common sense for the Ones and Twos to seek them out right away from the moment training began.
Beauty and Coolio from One shook hands with Lure while Di and Bronn from Two awkwardly let Librae high-five them. From there the pack of six began to train, train and train some more.
It was soon apparent that not only was the pack stronger than they were in most years – which, to be fair, was already quite strong – but there were factions forming within the pack itself. The Ones were incredibly close due to being lifelong friends back home, the Twos had been sparring partners for twelve years and… well, Lure and Librae were close by default.
"We need to stick together in that arena," Lure tells her as they work on their skills with tridents.
"With glue?" Librae asks, having not dropped the simpleton act.
"No, bait brains," Lure groans. "I mean we need to be each other's closest ally. The Ones are tight and so are the Twos."
Librae knows what he means. It'd be impossible to not notice the bond that the other duos have. But Librae always was a bit of a cheeky troll whenever the opportunity presented itself. She cannot resist the chance she's been given.
"Tight? I never took you for such a naughty flirt!" Librae giggles giving Lure a cheeky wink.
It takes Lure a while to regain his composure and resume his talk on battleplans, his face burning red from the implications of Librae's words. In the end he's only able to stammer out that they need to stick together and split from the pack when the numbers fall to around ten or nine left.
"Okie dokie," is Librae's response to most of what Lure says.
By the time the private sessions arrive the career pack have asserted themselves as hands down the biggest threats within the games. Even with Librae as a solid sixth in their group she's still far ahead of the unofficial seventh strongest tribute, the hulking monster of a boy from District Eleven.
But the private training is Librae's first true test of her resolve. If she scores too low then she's out of the pack, no doubt about it. Lure wouldn't risk his own spot to try and back up the 'simple surfer'.
"Librae Ogilvy, report for your private training session," says the automated voice.
"Wish me luck," Librae says with a cheeky grin.
Lure vaguely waves her on and Librae makes her way to the training hall, the place eerie and empty now that the usual clatter, shouting and desperate amounts of mass training aren't ongoing.
It's just her and the Gamemakers, all of them observing her as she makes her way to the centre.
She freezes in place as she locks eyes with a particular Gamemaker off to the side. A man with a rather tidy appearance and a scar upon his forehead. To many he's just another Gamemaker, but to Librae he's something far more.
She flashbacks to the day her father was beaten, and her mother was hanged. This man, once a Peacekeeper who had forgone his helmet in the raid, must have finished his service and changed his career.
He looks down at Librae, dismissive. He doesn't even remember her as the girl he punched to the side when she cried for her mother.
"Begin," says the Head Gamemaker a second time.
Librae springs into action as she demonstrates everything she has picked up over the past few days. Trident usage, knife fighting and even binding a wound with a tourniquet. But Librae fears her technique is sloppy from the anxiety of her mother's killer being one of the Gamemakers. Even her expertly displayed swimming doesn't feel as effortlessly easy as it normally would. All she can picture in her mind is that night…
She manages to keep her composure, but it's a very close thing overall. By the time Librae is back in her room she's rattled and hardly showing the image of the airheaded surfer she'd been crafting for so long.
She cries that night. Even the fact she scored a nine doesn't give her much to feel good about.
Librae's interview goes well enough, her goofy persona making it easy to charm the spoiled and oblivious audience. The silly jokes, the dimwit mannerisms, the tales of riding waves in Four… all this and her score earns her odds of six to one. Hardly the worst ever seen.
Her interview was also a load of fake crap. Librae told barely any truth at all, just sticking to an ideal fictional account rather than reality.
It's Tuti who she tells the tale of reality to later that night when the escort, having a night of insomnia, overhears her sobbing. To the escort's credit she's rightly horrified by what Librae tells her of what became of her parents.
"Dad might never wake up. Mom… well, you know what they say about the dead sleeping forever," Librae chuckles in her typical goofy way, though anybody could tell it was broken. "It's a lot safer to just talk a load of complete chum."
"What do you mean?" Tuti asks.
"My parents were too smart and got careless just once. The Capitol had them killed," Librae shrugs. "I figure if I just act dumb then I'll be safe. I already act pretty crazy so it's not hard to pull it off. Though, since I'm here anyway… whoops."
"Wait, wait… the Capitol did that?" Tuti stares with wide eyes, like her brain were breaking.
"I mean, Tuti… well…" Librae tries to think of a way to word things to the escort she'd befriended. "They kill twenty three children a year. Is it that strange to imagine they'd kill my parents?"
Tuti opens her mouth to voice a strong objection… and no sound comes out. The gears of her kind turn, realisation that Librae is correct setting in fast.
"What… what…" Tuti stammers, going bug eyed. "What's going on… I… I…"
"It's a dangerous world. Safer for idiots who don't raise a reg flag to anybody," Librae lays back on her bed. "Mind if you do me a favour? Don't forget me if I die."
"That's impossible," Tuti replied, her eyes starting to glimmer. "Because you're not going to die. You're going to be the Victor."
"By playing dumb?" Librae guessed.
"No, because you have something those other Districts do not have," Tuti flashed a grin to her barely younger tribute. "You have a great Escort backing you up. What do you think you'll need in that arena?"
"Well… food, water, a trident…" Librae trailed off at the look in Tuti's eyes. "Why, is there a correct answer, dude?"
"Let me put it this way," Tuti moved closer to Librae. "What do you need to make it home? What would give you an advantage like no other and, unlike guns, is a legal sponsor gift? Think carefully."
After two minutes of the deepest thinking of her life Librae was struck by realisation. She knew what the ultimate sponsor gift would be.
The only question was if the arena would make it a viable thing to use.
Librae wasn't greeted by light, but by darkness when she and the other tributes entered the arena. For miles and miles around them black was the only colour they could see upon the ground. It was little wonder why; the arena was another desert, this one filled entirely with sand as black as the deepest shadows in the darkest of nights.
The sky was a contrast to the dark sand, being a blood red sort of crimson with a moon of an even darker shade. The whole place looked so… wrong. So… off. So foreboding. Aside the sand the only landmarks of real note were the occasional cliffs formed from gigantic, eroded boulders and the golden cornucopia
The Outliers trembled and the career pack readied themselves for the bloodshed and violence that loomed near… except for Librae. She just played around with her hair and fiddled with her beanie hat, her tribute token.
When the gong rang most of the tributes charged into the carnage with Lure leading the pack. Librae bought up the rear, observing the chaos going on from a safe distance as she scooped up minor supplies along the way.
It was chaos from the moment Lure jammed the prongs of his trident into the neck of the tiny girl from Three.
Librae cartwheeled out of the way as the girl from Seven tried to jump her with a knife and performed a further backflip to avoid the follow-up slash. The moment the girl spent staring in bewilderment at the acrobatics was all the time Librae needed to wrestle away the knife and cut the girl down.
The girl's district partner had seen what went on and made the move to attack. Presently Librae found herself face down in the sand while the boy from Seven pummelled her with his fists. Just as her back began to flare up in agony the weight upon her was gone.
"What the hell?" Librae cried out, slumping down again. "Dude, like… fuck…"
Librae forced herself to rise up and take note of the battlefield. Almost ten corpses lay in crumpled heaps with the last fights starting to wind down. She caught side of the massive boy from Eleven charging off into the desert just as Lure knocked out the boy from Seven and broke his neck.
"You ok?" Lure asked.
"Eh, kinda?" Librae accepted Lure's hand, letting him pull her up. "My back, man… ow."
The corpses were quickly counted up and notes made on what District they were from. Beauty was initially pleased to note that eleven tributes had died in the opening bloodbath, three by her hand, though that pleasure turned to annoyance when she saw that Coolio had broken his left arm in a fierce altercation with Rhett from Eleven.
"Urgh, useless," she spat, shaking her head.
"Hey, I only need one hand to use an axe," the boy retorted, grunting. "Somebody give me a painkiller."
Before long the career pack were all patched up and, once the bodies had been taken away, ready to go hunting. Of course, choosing who to keep as a guard set off the first of several arguments the pack would have that year.
"I'm not staying here. I had the most kills," Beauty put her hands on her hips, snorting. "We'd be worse off without me in a battle."
"Fine by me," Bronn said, trying to decide between which of the two spiked maces he would take with him. "I'm going, just saying."
"I mean, obviously," Beauty agreed. "Maybe Di should say?"
The girl from Two, mute aside the limited ability to make guttural growls and grunts, shook her head firmly. She gripped her spear, as if daring somebody to make her stay.
"Easy answer here, let's just have the guy with a broken arm stay here," Lure added after a moment of silence. "C'mon guys, what can he really do?"
"More than your partner can," Coolio hissed. "She's just a simple surfer."
Librae pretended to not listen, instead making a show of balancing on a crate and looking at the beautiful night sky.
"She has two working arms. That's more than you have," Lure stated, not backing down.
"Coolio comes with us," Beauty said, stomping her foot. "He's our best navigator and the simple surfer can't tell up apart from down."
It soon became a big argument with each career involved refusing to go hunting without their partner being there. Nobody wanted to have two guards remain behind and so the argument kept going, all the while giving the outliers a chance to cover more ground.
Librae thought it was rather funny seeing her allies shouting and barking like hounds. Far more amusing to look at than the corpses that had been laying around not even an hour ago. She discreetly gagged at the puddles of blood that remained, having not quite sunk into the sand just yet.
"Hey, dudes?" Librae said right before the argument turned into a battle. "Mind if I stay here? I've always wanted to try being a guard."
Her allies all stared at her, unblinking.
"Why didn't you just say that half an hour ago?!" Beauty yelled.
"Oh, were you talking? Dudes, I didn't even realise," Librae covered her face, as if embarrassed. "How bogus of me. My bad, dudes!"
One nasty tongue lashing later Beauty led her allies off into the desert, muttering about the 'simple surfer' as she went. None of the other careers had anything nice to say either. Even Lure had to admit that Librae's airheaded nature got grating after a while.
Once they were gone Librae dropped the act, letting out a deep sigh of mixed relief and pain.
"Jeez, those dudes need to take at least fifty chill pills," Librae remarked, shaking her head. "…And I need maybe a hundred pain killers."
Time passed without any sort of action or danger. Librae paced around, make sand angels and a sandcastle and even used some camouflage paints to make several fish pictures upon the cornucopia. All the while her back continued to ache from the numerous bruises she had suffered and not a single cannon fired.
Bored out of her skull Librae grabbed one of the wooden planks set by the cornucopia and started to use it as a makeshift surfboard.
Life seemed to enter her eyes as she surfed the dunes and sandboarded all around the cornucopia. As she pulled off a few acrobatic tricks the sponsor funds began to rise up and up. It was the most fun anybody had ever had in the always thankless job of guarding the supplies.
Certainly more fun than the terrified outliers were having as they hid away across the desert and more fun than the other careers who were nowhere near the outlier closest to them.
Day four rolled by, during which only one of the outliers had died, and it wasn't even a death from another tribute. Just dehydration. The lack of major action had the audience howling for more action, as even the admittedly fun tributes couldn't carry the show alone, at least not in the eyes of the Capitol citizens.
The Gamemakers were more than happy to unleash a few mutts they'd been working on for the past four or so years, thusly letting loose the sand sharks. Nasty, highly aggressive sharks that swam through the sand like it were a tranquil ocean.
It was easy for them to devour the pair from Nine in horribly graphic detail for the cameras to show to the nation. It was less easy for them to catch one of the Careers, the alliance having been on their way back from their hunt and taking some refuge upon one of the cliffs scattered around the desert. With no way for the sharks to reach them they were left perfectly safe from harm.
However, the boy from Twelve wasn't so lucky. Having been upon the same cliff as the careers he surrendered, weeping as he requested a quick death by the careers due to seeing it as the better way to go out than by the sand sharks. Lure did the deed without hesitation, quick and clean.
Around the cornucopia Librae found herself encircled by a trio of nasty sand sharks, the beasts getting closer with each completed circle. Rather than respond with fear however, Librae simply grinned at the approaching challenge as the sharks took their time moving closer to her.
"I've seen worse sharks back in Four," Librae said, chuckling as she crossed her arms. "Tuti! If you have the funds then send it down!"
The sonar of a sponsor parachute rang out as an item descended from the sky. It came to a landing right into Librae's arms not a moment too soon, its presence making Librae unable to hold back a genuine smile.
She looked over her surfboard, chuckling in near-glee. The signatures of her parents written on the underside with a new message from Tuti added – one of sincere encouragement – was all Librae needed to feel ready for what was to come.
"Surf's up!" Librae exclaimed, mounting her board and grabbing a short sword from the top of a crate next to her.
The speed of the sand sharks made the dark sand become unsteady, practically turning it into a series of waves just like those near Librae's home. In moment's Librae was surfing around the cornucopia and the surrounding area, easily evading the sharks and taking a swipe at them with her weapon any time they came too close for comfort.
"Oooohh, so close!" Librae teased, launching herself right up into the air and doing a 720' spin.
Time passed like this, the audience cheering over the exciting action until Librae slayed one of the sharks. Seeing this as acceptable action, the gamemakers called off the sand sharks. As Librae came to a stop at last all was silent within the arena, save for the surfer girl panting in mixed fatigue and relief.
Of course, such silence wasn't going to last forever. Not when the rest of the careers were starting to resume their journey back to the cornucopia.
"Hi guys, I thought you'd forgotten all about me," Librae waved to her allies as they made their way over to the silver horn. "How was the hunt?"
"Pathetic," Beauty spat. "Only one kill and he asked us to do it."
"A kill is a kill," Lure stated, shrugging. "Relax."
"It's not enough though. How many of us are left? Nine, that's how many. It's gonna be a nightmare tracking those three down in this kind of an arena," Beauty grumbled, gripping at her luxury item – a beret – with sulky eyes. "I just can't deal with boredom."
"Careful what you say. They might make the sharks come back for some 'excitement'," Bronn said, shaking his head. "Just chill."
Di raised a hand. She put up three fingers and made a questioning sort of gesture.
"Who's left aside us?" Coolio asked, getting a nod in response from his mute ally. "Boy from Eleven is still out there. So is that tiny cowgirl from Ten and the nerd from Five."
"Boy or girl?" Bronn asked.
"Boy, but who cares really?" Coolio paced around, bitter. "Going out as one is not working."
"Then let's split up?" Beauty suggested. "We'd cover more ground that way."
"Sure dudes… who goes with who?" Librae asked.
From there it soon turned into another argument, each member of the pack wanting to go with their District partner. This would have been fine if not for the fact that nobody wanted to stay at the cornucopia and do nothing. It seemed like a split in the pack was looking near, a fight even closer, until Lure spoke up.
"Ok, new plan, let's just not have a guard. That way we'll cover ground faster," the fisher boy moved to stuff some bottles of water into his pack. "With six of us together and three of them sailing solo is it really that likely they'd come back here?"
The other careers agreed one by one, seeing that logically Lure made a point and even if he was wrong they would always outnumber the Outliers regardless. Being the sort of career to not leave things to chance, however, Bronn ordered his allies to take all of the water bottles with them on the off-chance that an outlier came running back.
"You don't give the orders around here," Beauty muttered, crossing her arms.
"Who cares who gives them? The end result is the same; the outliers cannot fight without water," Bronn replied, shrugging indifferently. "C'mon Di, let's go."
The pair from Two wandered off into the desert, over a particularly large dune and out of sight. From their the Ones took their leave, moving off in the opposite direction. Before long the Fours were the only ones left at the cornucopia, Lure picking out a new harpoon from within the silver horn while Librae gathered up several knives into a duffel bag.
"So, like… where now?" Librae asked.
"Well, we can't follow the other careers. Eh… let's go this way," Lure suggested, leading Librae along south from the cornucopia. "As good a direction as any."
"But, what if we find another tribute?" Librae asked, putting a hand to her chin.
"We kill them, simple surfer," Lure replied, shaking his head. "You know how to do that, right?"
"Uh huh," Librae said, saluting.
The pair from Four trekked off into the dark desert, silent for the most part. Indeed, they shared no word for quite some time, save for Lure asking about Librae's surfboard.
"Oh, just a gift from a fan," was her answer.
"They didn't send you anything useful?" Lure replied, quirking up an eyebrow.
"Sure they did, they sent me my surfboard," Librae replied, letting out a dim giggle.
Lure rolled his eyes, but didn't push it. As far as he was concerned the simple surfer was his lowest threat in the entire arena, so what reason did he really have to complain?
Splitting up led to triumph and agonising defeat over the next three days for the three career duos. Beauty and Coolio travelled far and wide across the desert, eventually tracking down Rhett from Eleven. On the one hand their number advantage and superior equipment made it relatively easy to lay some painful cuts upon the massive field worker.
On the other hand Rhett was still much bigger than his better trained adversaries, one of whom still had a broken arm. All it took was kicking Beauty down and tearing Coolio's arm right from the rest of his body. The boy swiftly bled out after that, lacking any sort of tourniquet or medical supplies, while Rhett sped off with the arm as some kind of a makeshift club. Beauty scattered off pretty swiftly after that.
Bronn and Di worked well together, managing to fight off whatever mutt got sent their way – a total of four nasty snake mutts – and remain relatively unscathed, especially of any serious wounds. It was a simple enough matter for them to survive long enough to find Clicker from Five after a couple days of travel. The terrified nerd was too dehydrated to run far before the careers tore him apart.
"That was a fine work-out!" Bronn remarked, raising up his bloodsoaked sword in triumph.
Di nodded her agreement, letting out a guttural sort of growl to match the content look on her intimidating face. For the Twos, their only real issue was how their food supply was running out faster than they had expected.
As for Lure and Librae, the sailor and surfer were trekking across the desert aimlessly in search of their next target. Lure was getting annoyed by the lack of real action going on while Librae felt increasingly anxious around her increasingly bitter district partner.
"Dude, chill out," Librae said on the seventh day of the Games. "We're alive, so no worries yeah?"
"We're gonna get forgotten about by the audience if we don't kill anybody soon," Lure replied, huffing. "You saw the faces in the sky. Two deaths and we had no part in either. If we aren't relevant we'll lose… and you know what that means."
"Um… dying?" Librae guessed, making her voice notably slow in speed.
"Dying horribly," Lure corrected, shaking his head in unease. "I thought that things would be a bit more exciting than this. Didn't you?"
"I was reaped. Like, dude, you're the one that gambled your life by volunteering," Librae said, shrugging. "Why did you anyway?"
"Orphan aboard a noisy, foul ship. Seemed like the most direct way to the good life," Lure replied. "I'm still alive, so it's still worth the-URK!"
Lure dropped to his knees, wheezing from the arrow suddenly lodged into his lower gut. He breathlessly let out rapid curses, struggling to keep himself from falling. Librae had hardly any time to react as another arrow whizzed by, grazing her shoulder.
She was quick to spot Millie from Ten upon a dune, the tiny cowgirl loading another arrow into the crossbow she'd swiped from the bloodbath days prior. It was only a few seconds before she let the third arrow fly.
Librae only avoided the arrow piercing her heart because she used the surfboard as a shield, the board easily stopping the arrow from getting through. Her makeshift shield in one hand and her short sword in the other Librae made a charge at Millie.
The small girl fired off one more arrow and ran for her life when she saw it get blocked just as the first one did. She didn't get far before Librae caught right up to her and bought the bladed weapon down to her neck.
Librae returned to Lure, a haunted look in her eyes. The boy had by now managed to stagger himself up, though the pain hadn't lessened at all. He groaned out for a sponsor, almost sobbing in relief as a parachute fell from above with the supplies he direly needed.
"Than you," Lure croaked out, quickly looking over the instructions that came with the medical kit. "Nice job Librae. Not bad for a simple surfer."
"…" Librae had little to say, freaked out over killing somebody so young. "…Nothing to it. Just a matter of swinging the, um, thingy at what you want to die… yeah?"
"Pretty much," Lure agreed, working quickly to patch himself up. "Ok, just three careers and that beast from Eleven. They'll herd us together soon… 'til then, let's see if we can make another kill."
"Another?" Librae shuddered.
"…Is that an issue?" Lure asked.
"I mean… blood is icky," Librae gagged.
Lure grumbled again about Librae being simple, turning away to finish fixing himself up as best as he could. Librae shrugged to herself, moving to pace around the area until it was time to move on.
The approaching sandstorm was unmissable. Shouting a warning to Lure she charged to the top of a nearby dune, leaping into the air and landing on her board for the surf of her life. Lure watched, stunned, as Librae easily surfed the storm and quickly began to pull away from him.
As Librae's cheers of excitement, extra loud to hide her shattered nerves, faded away Lure was left to be thrown around by the sandstorm. Taking shelter amongst some scattered boulders at the base of a particularly large dune he grumbled, still in pain despite being patched up.
"Maybe she's tougher than I thought, simple or not," Lure said to himself as time passed by. "Anybody want to sponsor me a surfboard?"
Lure's request went unanswered, leaving the boy to sulk as he waited for the sandstorm to die down.
It was a while until the sandstorm died down, the winds howling until the close of day eight within the arena. In that time Di had been killed when the storm sent her smashing face first into a jagged, rocky cliff face. The remaining five tributes wandered aimlessly around the desert, miles apart as they hunted for each other.
The biggest target was, of course, on the backs of the Fours. Them being the only duo left, all bets were off if another tribute managed to find them.
Librae had taken shelter at the base of one of the sparse rocky cliffs, keeping herself safe by hiding within a shallow cave. The shelter offered was minimal, but was at least enough to keep the sand getting into her eyes any time the gamemakers put the sand storm back on once again.
Gone was her glee and goofiness. She now just looked so very tired and horribly uneasy over the kills she had made. The girl from Seven and the girl from Ten.
One fourteen and one twelve.
Librae had made what many tributes both career and outlier would call a very foolish choice… she had learnt and recalled their names before the Games began. Autumn and Millie. Having a name to put with each face she left bloody made it hurt all the more.
Librae busied herself with working on her surfboard, trying her hardest to not show any of her inner turmoil to the nation. As usual she was forcing herself to look like an idiot, wise enough to know letting too much weakness or clear sorrow show would only end up being dangerous.
She didn't want to end up as her mother did. Nor her father.
"Dudes, anybody got some water?" Librae asked eventually. "Kinda running low."
No parachute fell, much to the surfer's disappointment. At least, not at first. By the time the anthem played, no tributes shown in the sky, Librae had been forced to retreat to the top of the rocky cliff to evade the returning sand sharks. For an hour or two it seemed she had been officially trapped.
The parachute fell.
"Spikes?" Librae looked over the metal prongs curiously. "A sail?"
As if to answer her unspoken questions the wind picked up, a lightbulb setting off in Librae's head. She chuckled, relieved though grimfaced at what she would be required to do.
The sandstorm eventually returned, howling and roaring like a banshee as the wind picked up ferociously. By then however it no longer mattered.
With a sail secured to her surfboard and a trio of sharp spikes secured onto the front of it Librae was easily able to ride her way through the storm, laughing and cheering all the way.
Win or lose, this was the hands down most exciting surf she had ever taken part in.
The tributes ended up herded towards the golden horn of plenty at midday of the eleventh day, all worn out and desperate to go home. Bronn and Lure made it back first, both agreeing to at least wait until Rhett was dead before they turned their weapons upon each other.
When Beauty arrived and threw a spear their way, almost hitting Bronn, the plan was abandoned, and the battle began.
Librae surfed over from one direction right as Rhett ran up from the opposite direction. Within the next minute two major things of note were broadcast to the remnants of humanity across Panem.
Bronn had his head taken clean off as Rhett swung his recently sponsored sword in a wide arc, the cannon firing instantly.
Rhett was sent flying, blood billowing from his guts, as Librae's spiked surfboard rammed right into him. The cannon fired long before his corpse finally came to a stop in a truly broken heap.
Beauty and Lure stopped for a few moments, staring in shock as Librae tore around the clearing at an unmatched speed. The simple surfer gave them both a wink, forcing back her vomit over what she'd done to Rhett.
"Missed me?" she called out.
"Kinda, yes," Lure replied, readying himself as he gripped his harpoon tightly. "We need her off of that board Beauty."
"Indeed we do," agreed the girl from One. "Wish me luck."
One moment later Lure fell to the ground, mortally wounded from the knife Beauty had planted into his back. As the fisher boy lay dying on the ground Beauty made a charge towards Librae, clutching a scimitar at the ready.
"Alright simple surfer, let's end this!" Beauty yelled, lunging forth to make a strike at Librae.
The issue became quickly apparent; Librae was an expert upon her board and easily able to evade Beauty's attempts at striking her. All it would take for Librae to win was lining up a hit against the Beauty a single time. The bloodsoaked spikes were nothing short of lethal.
The gamemakers decided to make the fight a little more fair, weakening the wind and sending a few dirt clods flying through the air. Some of them hit Beauty, others hit Librae and several more hit right through the sail. In moments it had been rendered useless.
Librae tore away the sail and surfed on, trying to regain control of her surfboard. All the while Beauty closed in on her, deadly focused and ready to finish the job. Lure lay forgotten, almost dead and lacking any chance at all of making a comeback.
"Come back here, simple surfer!" Beauty shouted, gripping the scimitar hard enough for her knuckles to throb and turn white. "Face me like a woman!"
"Kinda busy right now, mind waiting a 'sec?" Librae replied, veering her surfboard towards the wide mouth of the cornucopia.
"Cornering yourself? Whoa, that's pretty dumb." Beauty couldn't help but laugh as she forced herself to thunder towards Librae. "It ends here!"
Beauty raced for the golden horn. Librae surfed right into the empty interior and, with years and years of surfing practise behind her, surfed her way right up the inside walls of the horn of plenty. Sparks were sent flying as the spikes ever so slightly grazed the metal walls as Librae rode around the inside of the cornucopia.
After three loops she'd managed to turn the surfboard around and, at great speed while looking totally unfazed by the sheer speed and whiplash of the right, sent herself flying right towards Beauty.
The girl from One didn't have chance to dodge or even scream before the spiked surfboard impaled her right through the chest. She collapsed as Librae soared through the air, tucking and rolling into three flips.
The landing was far from perfect with Librae breaking her left foot during the landing. But compared to how mangled Beauty's corpse looked she knew she'd gotten off lightly. Limping and fighting back tears, she approached Lure. His cannon hadn't fired yet, but he was almost gone.
"…Thought you were simple…" Lure muttered, wheezing.
"I might have told a bit of a white lie," Librae relied, panting and forcing a painful smile. "I know, I know, I'm such a bad girl right, dude?"
Lure managed to snicker, amused by what had happened.
"Coolest kill ever. Weaponizing a surfboard… how crazy is that…?" Lure trailed off, his eyes rolling back into his head.
As soon as the cannon faded away the trumpets rang out, the hovercraft descending to collect Librae a moment later. She collapsed into a seat within the passenger bay, accepting the drink one of the staff offered her. She gazed around the room, haunted by the empty seats once filled by the other twenty three tributes, four of whom she'd personally killed.
The unnerved look on her face only got worse when she gazed at her surfboard propped up against the seat beside her. The blood had started to flow down from the spikes and onto the main body of the board itself.
Some of the blood had stained over the messages written by her parents.
For the duration of the ride back to the Capitol Librae tried to get some sleep and forgot the nightmare she'd been through.
For the same duration of time her final kill was broadcast across Panem over and over, often in slow motion. It was listed as among the top ten most amazing kills in the eyes of the Capitol citizens.
Tuti remarked that Librae had made a good point over how not all of this was particularly funny or alright to watch. She didn't know that a certain trusted personal assistant had been passing by and overheard this.
In most Hunger Games the after-party attended by the Capitol's richest and finest was a source of memories for years to come for all who attended. The same was entirely true of the after-party that followed the Thirty Fifth Hunger Games.
Nobody ever forgot what happened.
The event started peacefully enough, Librae trying to enjoy herself and dance with the other victors in attendance at the party, mostly those from her own District. It was impossible to miss the frosty eyes from a few of those in attendance, but Librae was good at forcing a goofy smile and acting like she wasn't bothered by anything.
"Having fun?" Tuti asked, having gotten permission to dance alongside Librae for a while.
"Well, more fun than I was having when those sand sharks came swimming by," Librae replied. "Thanks Tuti, you really came through for me. If you hadn't gotten that surfboard… shit… yeah, I'd be dead."
"Just part of being a good escort. My job is to at all times encourage and support tributes in my care. If supporting them means ensuring a surfboard is sent in so be it," Tuti took Librae in for a hug. "You did great. You did Four proud and… you opened my eyes a bit."
"Your eyes?" Librae replied.
"I'll explain after the party," Tuti said, adjusting her fancy golden dress. "Anyway, I better be getting a drink. They're bringing out a new type of wine and I for one do not want to miss out. Seriously, even parties like this run out of new brands very quickly."
Time passed by and the drinks were handed out, though nobody was to drink until Orion made a toast to the success of the Hunger Games. The party attendants, both victors and Capitolites alike, sat and stood around as Orion stood up at his table of loyal, cruel ministers.
"I think we can agree that was a successful Hunger Games, can't we? No accidents, no trickery from the silly tributes and not a single slip-up from our Gamemaker staff. I think this Hunger Games was one of our best yet, a clear step-up from the technical errors that regrettably occurred over the past few years," Orion gazed around, as if daring anybody to remind the room of anything that had happened. "Gore galore, magnificent battles and no retakes – only double takes from the Districts! Let's have this year set the standard for the rest of the decade, the rest of the century and then however long after that this great country shall live on for."
Isobel discreetly got up from her chair, disgusted by what the president was saying. Muttering to Shunt not to steal her drink the karate girl took her leave from the party to calm herself down. A peacekeeper followed, just in case.
Shunt eyed the drink Isobel had, a new sort of beer that precious few people had been lucky enough to get a sip out of. Chuckling to himself he swapped his glass with Isobel's own.
"A fine year it has been and I look forward to seeing you all here next year once we have our next Victor. Panem today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever. Long live the wise, generous, benevolent Capitol," Orion said, raising up his glass in a toast.
Some reluctantly toasted, others very willingly but regardless most of those in the room drank down a gulp of their expensive drinks.
That's when the biggest turning point for Panem, outside of the stunt with the berries and everything thereafter, made its debut into reality.
Orion was silent one moment. A second later the tubby tyrant was howling and screaming in pure agony. He collapsed to the ground as did several of his minsters. All of them clutched at their throats as their flesh began to dissolve bit by bit, the greedy ministers treated to truly terrible demise.'
The crowd began to scream and shout in panic, the precious bubble the Capitolites lived in becoming threatened to burst. They abandoned their president as they stampeded for the exit in terror, several of them being trampled in the process.
Librae could only watch in horror as the minsters let out their final, painful croaks before they surrendered to the reaper. Some of the victors had fled in a panic, others stood in place as they stared at the dying or dead tyrants. Olga looked like her brain had broken, as if unable to process the fact that Orion had just died in front of her like he was nothing.
Except, he had not died yet. His drink had been different than the rest, as he wasn't dead yet. He'd merely started what would end up being a ten hour period of his innards being systematically broken down, dissolved and destroyed. Every whimper, scream and breathless cry for help went unheeded.
It wasn't long before Snow ordered a lockdown of the area and for all of the victors to be taken back to their room and put under guard for their own safety. Most went willing, some went with words of complaint.
Two did not go anywhere.
Librae sobbed, kneeling by the corpse of Tuti. Her dear escort lay dead, her eyes staring into nothingness and her throat partly melted away. She was soon yanked up by an unknown figure and taken away to the exit of the party room.
"Trust me, you'd rather not see any of this," said the man.
One glance back had Librae paling, the man being the very same gamemaker who she knew had been the one to destroy her once happy family.
"Fancy meeting you here," he said, his voice sicky sweet and incredibly smug.
Librae didn't fight as she was led away. She was too busy thinking. Thinking that it was time to stop playing the role of a fool and start putting her mind towards the things that mattered most. Rebellion and keeping safe those she loved.
That is, once she had calmed herself down from the nightmare that clearly hadn't ended when the last cannon boomed.
The other victor to not leave had been Shunt. It was hard to leave a room when one had died from a horribly poisoned glass of wine.
A glass that had been meant for Isobel, per the decision of Snow and Bronze. His body was taken away right as Isobel came back from her break just outside the mansion.
"Shunt? SHUNT! Shunt, no!" Isobel began to quickly breakdown at the sight of her dead friend and mentor from nearly twenty years ago. "No… not you…"
Isobel was soon dragged away to her room, unaware of just how lucky she had been. Panic and chaos reigned supreme for several hours, way into the night and the arrival of dawn. The chaos only ended shortly before Librae left the Capitol and returned to her home via the train.
Orion and several of his ministers were dead.
Shunt was the second victor to die, a tragedy that struck Isobel and Crimson to their very core. Many other victors were left incredibly shaken too.
Under the glow of the morning rays the following day Orion's personal assistant Coriolanus Snow addressed the nation.
"It's my sad duty to report that a great man has fallen. President Skarloey Orion protected and loved us all, treated much of the nation like we were his own children. Such a cowardly, unprovoked attack by traitors will not be going unpunished. Agents are working triple time to catch the culprit, or culprits, behind this massacre. Orion would want them dealt with, as would his ministers. The funeral will be coming next week," Snow took a moment to compose himself. "Regardless of who did this, the end result is the same. We currently lack a president."
Snow paused, letting the crowd's reactions play out until he raised a hand for silence.
"Normally, the role of president would go to a minister or another person of a similar rank. However, many such ministers are dead and other are undergoing questioning with several particularly vile offenses being unearthed," Snow paused again, sighing. "So, for the time being at least, the only choice that has been deemed practical is for myself to step up as Interim President of Panem. At least until we can sort things out. I promise you all this, I will do my very best to lead us into a new era. A golden age. Something to make Orion proud."
The Capitol crowd burst into a huge applause, all inspired by the bravery and courage of the young man before them. A scattered few victors applaud, though most who are still within the Capitol remain stony faced.
"It's a hard time we live in, especially with the tragic passing of Shunt Gaspar of the Twelfth Games… but we must move on towards bigger and better things," Snow looked right into the camera, firm. "It is almost certain that the culprit behind the massacre was a District citizen. You can remain assured that fair process and a due trial shall be used; if you've nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear."
Snow, with practised ease, hid the horrible smile he felt the urge to show.
"Until we can be sure of the guilt and innocence of those within the Districts… all wages are hereby halved, with curfew and security tightened. Furthermore, food imports are to be reduced to what is needed and without the luxury of excess, at least for now," Snow gave a salute, bathing in the sounds of despair and agony he was sure echoed throughout the Districts. "Panem today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever."
Librae left the area wondering who had done the deed and what the future would be like for her and her fellow surfers. She hoped it would be better than it had been before.
Snow left the area wondering how it had been so pathetically easy to kill Orion's political cabinet and smirking over the perfect future awaiting him. The culprit would never be found, as he wasn't going to confess. He decided the Districts could simply make do with harsher rules and lesser rations forevermore.
Bronze left the area with a Capitol woman under each arm. He didn't really care who was in power, so long as he could continue his hedonistic lifestyle undisturbed. With his best mate at the help, he felt confident this would be easy to accomplish.
The next era of Panem had begun.
The victors from Twelve held a moment or two of silence for Librae and continued on their way further down the street. Before long they came to the next face upon the sidewalk. Imprinted into the concrete was a girl with an anxious, grim look upon her boney face with short, shaggy hair that went a little ways past her neck.
"Laurel Flamsteel," Peeta said, glancing at the name below the face. "She was in the Quell, at least for about a minute until…"
"Yeah…" Katniss trailed off, unable to say anything more.
There we go, Librae surfs her way to a win and now things are a little bit crazy in Panem. All that mania and Snow is stepping up as the president, and we all know where that takes canon… But anyway, Librae! I'm kind of a fan of the 'obstuficating stupidity' trope and though that it'd be fun to write out a girl who played the dumb card up. Wanting to go further than have her being dumb to not be a target, which isn't really as easily applicable in Hunger Games as it would be in the stories of other fandoms like TD or Survivor, I felt it'd be interesting to have her hide a lot of her more thoughtful and cunning side due to being smart having cost her parents everything they were. Think she turned out alright, or was she a bit of a wipe-out? In any case stay tuned for more, another canon victor looms near!
Stats
District 1: Peridot Gaudy (8th Games), Crystal McCree (14th Games), Bronze Marley (19th Games), Crown Martins (24th Games), Dollar Dettwieller (32nd 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), Librae Ogilvy (35th Games)
District 5: Shunt Gaspar (12th Games), Isobel Sparks (18th Games), Crimson Flanders (29th Games)
District 6: Chassis Macalister (31st Games)
District 7: Pliny Aransio (2nd Games), Fir Buzz (9th Games), Jack Tylos (21st Games), Snag Nakamura (34th Games)
District 8: Woof Casino (16th Games), Paige Murphy (30th 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), Seeder Howell (33rd Games)
District 12: Duke Saint-Rose (6th Games)