Light trigger warning for domestic/child abuse in Megara's POV. Please proceed with caution.


III. CROWNING CARNAGE PART II


VANITY VON ESSEN - DISTRICT ONE
THE 88TH HUNGER GAMES


For somebody named Vanity, Mr. Von Essen always considered himself anything but that. He's gotten used to all the jokes by the time the finale of the 88th Annual Hunger Games rolls around, the merciless teasing in Elysium's halls, all "Look at him, he's so fucking vain! All he cares about is himself, that's why his name is fucking Vanity!"

It's grating too, especially for somebody who can't look at himself in the mirror without wishing he was dead half the time. And then when it wasn't the teasing about his self-assurance, he'd be damned if he didn't expect the bullying over the fact Vanity was supposed to be a "girls' name," something he puts in quotes because why the fuck do names even have genders, anyways? Worse, a straight man named Vanity with a somewhat flamboyant disposition that he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried.

(At this time, Vanity didn't know he was the furthest thing from straight, that would come later, with Ezekiel.)

(It's funny that the bullies knew before him.)

But he's never drawn much attention to himself, that's what Vanity's always thought, and he could never quite understand why people were so drawn to him, so enamored by him if they weren't ridiculing him for breathing (which they often were).

In a way, the fact that Vanity was so controversial amongst the chevaliers of Elysium was something that gave him strength, he hated to admit it but it was true.

Of course though, in the finale of the 88th Games, Vanity finds himself up against one of those people who didn't like him. Vanity's up against Cleadora St. Clair, his biggest rival from the days of his youth, the twin brother of Charleston who he just beat out for the spot of designated volunteer, arguably the worst person possible for him to be going up against.

So as they're fighting, as Vanity spears her in the stomach, he loses his sense of self. He loses the fact that he's not supposed to be having fun with all of this, and the fact that he's serving his duty, getting his revenge through all of this. As they're fighting, Vanity laughs, he has fun, losing himself completely in the moment without much hesitation. He feels at home when he's at war, and maybe that's a byproduct of the system he grew up in, but fighting is one of the few things that brings Vanity peace.

When he's fighting, nobody cares all that much about his complexities, his eloquent speech which not even he understand then words of. Nobody cares that he's objectively a bit of a weirdo, too dramatic as they've said, even if it's unintentionally so.

So in those final moments when it's him against Cleodora, Vanity once again hopes that nobody cares. She's lying on the ground, drenched in her own blood as Vanity moves the spear through her torso with gritted teeth and a bit of a wild look in his eyes. As Cleodora fades, Vanity can't help but feel grateful.

Maybe he is vain after all…

"Presenting Vanity Von Essen of District One. The Victor of the 88th Annual Hunger Games."


MEGARA BANE - DISTRICT TWO
THE 92ND HUNGER GAMES


Megara's quite familiar with her demons.

She's known them her entire life after all, heavily acquainted with the way they appear in her dreams like they're watching over her, seizing each and every one of her moments like a predator hunting its prey. Megara's convinced she'll never quite be able to consider herself free of them, actually.

Every time Megara closes her eyes she sees her father Pollux and her mother Isador in the kitchen of their broken and empty mansion, just the three of them when Megara wishes it was just her. She sees her father screaming at her mother before throwing the dishes at her head and watching as she falls to the ground in tears, trying but failing to pick up all her missing pieces. And then she sees Pollux cast his glance over to her, and he growls.

He growls and he says "You better not tell anybody about this or you're dead."

But Megara doesn't listen. She's never been the sort to listen. So she tries to get help, not just for her mothers sake but for her own just the same, and instead it just gets worse.

Pollux mocks her as he hits Isador with a frying pan in the temple before she falls to the ground. He says to Megara, "Why'd you think they'd care about this. They've got more important things to deal about. You're next, you know."

In those moments Pollux forgets that his daughters been off training and she's better than the sort to get killed by a frying pan. To put it simply, the Bane family's kitchen had a wide array of knives and Megara knew how to use most of them. Pollux didn't.

Yet his ghost haunts her whenever she tries to sleep and it appears to have haunted her just the same when she finds herself in the finale of the 92nd Hunger Games with a boy from Seven across the arena of dust and debris, and his eyes look just the same as Pollux's did.

Perhaps that's what compelled her to do what she attempted to do to that poor boy.

Megara practically lunged at him with her broadsword, every intent to kill him as brutally as possible so it can be like she's killing Pollux all over again. She wants his body in pieces, on the ground and under the soul of her shoe. She wants him beyond dead, Megara wants Seven so fucking dead that everyone's forgotten he was ever even alive. And she knows she's being beyond petty, but Megara doesn't care. She wants what she wants and she expects to get it to.

But of course, she doesn't. Instead, Seven just takes his own blade and stabs himself in the heart, blood jutting out the wound while all Megara can do is stand and stare at what could have been her way at dealing with the demons she created when she was just fifteen.

"Presenting Megara Bane of District Two. The Victor of the 92rd Annual Hunger Games."


LATIMER LINK - DISTRICT THREE
THE 89TH HUNGER GAMES


Latimer's always said that if he was going to win the Hunger Games, he would do it in his own special way, so of course he kept that in mind when he was riding the back of a robotic dog muttation, the wind in his hair as he traveled up and down the hallways of the haunted mansion he'd called his broken home for the past week and a half.

At the Institute, everybody referred to Latimer as the Mutt Tamer, because that was exactly who he was. Any mutt, Latimer would be able to put it under his seemingly magical spell, getting it to obey his commands in every single simulation. There truly was nobody like him, yet people had their doubts about Latimer, said that once he got to the arena he wouldn't be able to rely on his magic with the mutts and everything at the Institute was just a matter of luck.

"They should see how stupid they sound now," He laughs as he strokes the hair of the oversized dog, racing down stairs into the basement, "They've got to be locked down there," he refers to the pair from Eleven who's somehow outlasted all the other Careers.

The dog uses his head to knock down the door, and sure enough both Elevens are there. As he'd expected. So again, Latimer just has to laugh. So what if he's too fucking cocky for his own good. He sure as fuck deserves him, just look at the fellow with his six kills about to be eight. Latimer carried the Games on his own two shoulders, and he's willing to do it all over again.

(He just hopes that he's good enough, that's all. He hopes that his parents are proud of him and aren't complaining that he could've, should've killed nine or ten. But then again, nothing will ever be enough for them so Latimer doesn't know why he even bothers. He's just, too fucking goofy for his own good, or so they say.)

But the Elevens don't know all of that. Instead they know the dog's teeth biting into their necks as they fall to the ground, the girl first with her partner following immediately after. Latimer didn't even have to tell the dog what to do, it just did it.

So Latimer hops off it's back and patts it on the head, "What a good boy."

Eleven's still on the ground, still bleeding. And Latimer's laughing at the fact that the last thing they'll ever see is this skinny guy with a giant dog mocking them. There's worse ways to go out, he'll give them that, but his second hand embarrassment is still prominent and present.

The cannons fire in quick succession and Latimer finds himself once again thanking the dog.

"Presenting Latimer Link of District Three. The Victor of the 89th Annual Hunger Games."


CALYPSO RAVINE - DISTRICT FOUR
THE 91ST HUNGER GAMES


Calypso doesn't understand why she isn't happy.

Her whole life she's been told that the finale of the Hunger Games, the moment where her enemies are bleeding out around her should be the happiest moments that she ever experiences. But all Calypso feels is anger, she's so fucking angry at the world she's been put into and she finds herself pushing and pulling for some way out of all the nonsense.

She never expected to fall in love with Genevive Belassario of District Two, hell Calypso didn't even know that love was a thing she was meant for. Maybe that was her parents fault though, since they were the assholes who promised her to Soloman Ryder once she won the Games. They claimed her former trainer was the perfect man for her, and she'd be able to have a long line of happy Victor children if she married him. He's a miserable man though, it's no secret. And because of that, Calypso knew that she'd never be happy if she had to live a single moment by his side.

But Genny was different. She showed Calypso love in ways she didn't know existed, tending to her wounds after a heated fight, tying back her hair before she went to attack. It was painfully tender, and maybe it was a good thing that it was so long lived, because now that Genny was gone, Calypso didn't know what she'd possibly do with herself. She didn't know what she would do if they'd known each other longer than they actually did only to once again be torn apart, because that's the only thing that could have made it hurt more.

Calypso finds solace in that but what she doesn't find solace in is killing the District Ten beast who took Genny from her. All she feels is numb, and she feels hopeless too. Because now she's more than certain she'll never find love again. She'll just be plagued to doing the same thing year after year, losing more and more children with every passing day and for fuck's sake it makes Calypso so fucking miserable she has no idea what she's even supposed to do with herself.

And once the Ten boy's cannon fires, she still can't find a reason.

"Presenting Calypso Ravine of District Four. The Victor of the 91st Annual Hunger Games."


If you actually read that chapter then your meat is huge. Tell me what your favorite Victor is I guess. Okay, now I will Paste what I said on Discord because I do what I want. Also, blog reviews are sexy, and some of the kids have moldboards.

Thank you so much to everybody for submitting to Semper Idem! These past six weeks have had me on my toes as I awaited all the submissions, and I'm so glad that I have received the best Tributes that I have ever laid my eyes on. This cast is phenomenal and I am so excited to begin this journey.

That being said, if your Tribute didn't get accepted, I am truly sorry. I received so many amazing submissions and I promise that this decision doesn't mean anything in regards to my opinion of you as a person or as a writer. I understand that you may be upset, but I kindly ask you refrain from spreading negativity in the server.

Along with this chapter, comes the blog, and I'd love to hear your initial thoughts on what is probably the most obnoxious and problematic cast in SYOT history.


The Tributes of Semper Idem:

District One Female: Countess "Tess" St. Cabernet (Firedawn'd)

District One Male: Lavish Tarro (FlawlessCatastrophe/Ripple237)

District Two Female: Melvina Parrish (Annabeth-TheTributeWhoLived)

District Two Male: Sampson Santoro (optimisms)

District Three Female: Claris Varsenova (dyloccupy)

District Three Male: Lucius "Luz" Laravel (Remus98)

District Four Female: Cordelia Thalassa (kremit1000)

District Four Non-Binary: Danube Amphorae (tracelynn)

Filler Tributes

District Five Female: Salome Kohli (twistedservice)

District Five Male: Thorin Robiquet (symphorophilia)

District Six Female: Thalia Caldron (symphorophilia)

District Six Male: Cason Thessell (tracelynn)

District Seven Female: Olla Archavsky (lexi486)

District Seven Male: Xavier Glenn (Ripple237)

District Eight Female: Lorelei Presser (Annabeth-TheTributeWhoLived)

District Eight Male: Scott Nicholls (Firedawn'd)

District Nine Female: Wendy Grant (Ripple237)

District Nine Male: Aston Haskell

District Ten Female: Azalea Arden (Firedawn'd)

District Ten Male: Pio Athelusar (FlawlessCatastrophe)

District Eleven Female: Donamira Ruiz (Firedawn'd)

District Eleven Male: Kolton Bluestem

District Twelve Female: Fiore Fiander (Firedawn'd)

District Twelve Male: Donovan Sepyre


Blog link is semperidem . weebly tributes and a playlist is on the blog's home page!

Would love to hear what y'all think, and see y'all soonish with Tess' intro which I'm sorry for in advance... stan her though, that filthy fucking whore.

Fuck this shit I'm out,
Linds