AUTHOR'S NOTES: and here's Enobaria, as we reach the point where we get four canon victors in a row. Similar to some of my other 'major' chapters, I've had this one written for a while, and looking at it as I post it, I'm still pretty content with what I've got. Sometimes the name game is hard, resulting in very few named tributes. Other times it feels a bit more natural, and we get more. A few, such as the upcoming chapters that are based on some of my full-length fanfics (74, 75, 91, 92, 93, etc) will be this way, and so will contain a lot of details and a lot of names. However, like I mentioned somewhere in the wall of text that is my Chapter 1 Author Notes, if a certain chapter or chapters are well received enough, I very well might put them on the queue to eventually make full-length stories of somewhere in the future. Also, I head home later today/tonight, and so after that my posting schedule will hopefully resume and go from there. This story might continue to get 3 updates a week if I can get '63 and '64 done in the next couple days, even.
But, I've rambled enough. Here's our friend Enobaria, even if her name doesn't show up for a bit.
Happy Reading!
The 62nd Annual Hunger Games
With the events of the previous year still on their minds, the Capitol's trend of keeping things fresh of course had to continue. This decade might not have been the "Golden Age" of Hunger Games the way the 5th decade had been, but even then, the games had failed to disappoint thus far, and that was a trend that the new Gamemakers intended to continue. No one wanted to be known as the one that ruined the Hunger Games—not among Capitol citizens, at least. As such, the idea of ensuring that the 62nd Annual Hunger Games was a thriller would be a promise they kept.
Intrigue and betrayal were going to almost certainly be a thing and a theme this year, as rocky relationships between the tributes from District 1 and District 2 formed during training. Typical to the haughty children of these districts, all of whom were volunteers as usual, there was ego-tripping going on, with Cristoff Burns and Jewel Clearmont of District 1 thinking that they should call the shots and lead the career pack. From District 2, Marius Belen argued his stance, while his partner glared menacingly at them from behind Marius, as if daring them to try something. All the while, Gadge Lafayette and Ratchet Elwood, a pair of volunteers from District 3, watched on after taking a neutral stance.
While they bickered, the girl from District 2 actually made her way over to the District 11 pair, Morton Shaw and Laurel Fulton. Naturally they were wary of her, but she clarified her intentions right away.
"Alliances aren't set yet," she pointed out, "and if these idiots keep bickering I swear to Snow I'm gonna cut their throats in the bloodbath."
"That's enough for us," Zircon Westover from District 12 called out, introducing the District 2 girl to herself and her partner, Grant Parsons. Over the next couple of days she got to know Grant, Zircon, Morton, and Laurel all fairly well, and they all scoped out the training center for any other promising tributes. Unfortunately it seemed that this was going to be another battle between Districts 1, 2, 3, 11, and 12, which many of them were these days. This proved to be true at the end of the week when training scores were provided. No one outside of these five districts apart from a District 7 boy scored higher than an 8, and no one in those districts except the Zircon from '12 (who scored a 7) scored less than a 9. Either way, ten powerful tributes could still take the games a long way, even with such a formidable career alliance.
However, once they got into the arena, it was clear that things were not going to go as planned for the careers. While Marius did rescind his leadership position to Cristoff, the career pack was only going to be half as large as they thought it would be. Marius, Jewel, and Cristoff were the only ones who lingered around the cornucopia, while Gadge and Ratchet (their friends from District 3), took off with Marius' partner, Enobaria Taos. Before they were out of sight though, Enobaria split from the other two, making it unclear where her loyalties lay. She scored a few kills in the bloodbath, and contributed two of the 10 kills that happened that morning.
The gimmick of this arena was that it wasn't really morning. It was another night arena, except unlike many of the other arenas that the Gamemakers shrouded in darkness, this one was lit up by an absolutely breathtaking, dazzling night sky, which cast elegant colors of purple and blue out over the tributes. As such as it was much brighter than most of the other dark arenas, giving an oddly serene dim light to the place. A bright (most likely perpetually) full moon also shone out form the millions of visible stars, making it rather serene and beautiful to behold.
It didn't stop Enobaria from prowling around on her hunt for tributes. The trio of careers was also on the lookout for others. Enobaria was at a disadvantage by the fact that she had bolted form the cornucopia with nothing more than the clothes on her back, a knife, and a bottle of whiskey she had received as a sponsor gift. The fact that she had managed to kill two tributes with her own speed and brute strength, had impressed people in the Capitol enough already that they did not hesitate to give her a fast but powerful weapon. Her scant supplies didn't stop her from using some of the trees to her advantage. She also managed to impress people that evening by downing the entire whiskey bottle without stopping until it was empty. Smirking, she wiped her mouth and threw the bottle against the nearest rock. With that out of the way, it was time for her to get to work. Crafting spears and other traps, she began hunting. The woods she found herself in were chock full of games, and after a bit more wandering, the woods receded into a rocky valley with a large flowing river. It was a relaxing site, and very easy on the eyes. Enobaria elected to make this place her camp for the evening. Days passed and the tribute pool was thinned. Enobaria joined up with Gadge and Ratchet to betray the alliance from '11 and '12, and the trio slew all four of them over the course of days 6, 7, and 8. The other three careers also offed another few tributes, and so by the time day 9 rolled around, there were only 7 of them left: all from Districts 1, 2, 3, and a girl from District 5 who Marius killed the following evening.
Enobaria's kill count was about to get much higher though. Her alliance with Gadge and Ratchet was already shaky, but she was unfazed by this, and continued hunting as she normally did. Not exactly being one for social pleasantries, especially not in a death arena, she ate rather savagely and sometimes even a bit messily, almost to the point where the pair from '3 nearly thought she was a cannibal or something (even if she was not). Thrown off by the discomforting way that Enobaria ate her meat raw from the prey she captured, this ultimately caused the District 3 pair to go their own separate split was mutually accepted, and the three parted on relatively amiable terms and without violence. Enobaria didn't mind being alone for a few days, although was surprised when her comrades from the career pack found her, and even more surprised when they didn't try to kill her.
"Seems we were wrong about you, En." Marius offered his hand. "want to take out that District 3 couple before we turn on one another in the final battle?"
"I've got nothing better going on," Enobaria shrugged, "let's do it." They had been the ones to suggest splitting up. Once they had gone their own way, Enobaria did not care about previous alliances. They were her enemies and she would take them down as such.
And thus, that was exactly what they did. Enobaria kept her promise, turning on the District 3 pair and helping injure Ratchet enough to allow Jewel the final blow. Cristoff was about to take down Gadge but Marius intercepted the kill at the last minute, scoring it for himself. At this point, that only left 4 tributes, all standing in the same general area within 10 feet of each other.
"By District?" Marius raised an eyebrow. Enobaria nodded in agreement, swiftly eliciting nods from the District 1 pair. Despite his clamouring for a leadership position, Cristoff didn't last more than a few seconds against Marius, and while Jewel and Enobaria fought a little longer (with Marius standing on the sidelines hoping the winner would be a bit worn down to enable himself an easier victory), the District 2 girl managed to overpower her and do her in.
At this point, Marius didn't even wait for Enobaria to get back onto her feet, and he tackled her to the ground, knocking her weapon out of her hands. Pinning his partner, Marius began grappling with her and trying to slam her head against the rocks to crack her skull open. Enobaria's vision grew shaky from the trauma being applied to her head, but she managed to pull Marius in and execute one of the most legendary kills in Hunger Games history—which would persist as such for decades after.
Seizing Marius by his head, she brought his throat to her face and sunk her teeth into his skin, biting down so savagely that his scream was already muffled with the sound of blood. She ripped into the muscles the same way she had with the meat and game she had hunted over the last two weeks, before pushing his head back, and essentially tearing Marius' throat out. Naturally, the boy didn't survive that attack, and was killed instantly. A cannon fired to signal his death, and Enobaria shoved his corpse off of her form and shakily rose to her feet, still horribly dizzy from the near-concussion she had just received. She was covered in blood, some of it her own and a lot of it from Marius' body, but she was alive, and she had won. Just like that, Enobaria had become the 11th victor from District 2, and the 62nd victor of the games overall.
Despite nearly turning into a cannibal (she had spit out the chunk of Marius' flesh that she had ripped from his neck), Enobaria had no real trouble eating meat. If anything, she enjoyed it even more from her time in the arena. Since she had volunteered, she was not terribly traumatized by it, having a good idea what to expect, but she still did not really socialize much, and remained by herself with her carnivorous diet. One thing was certain though: she'd make a great mentor, and would help District 2 to produce some vicious and ruthless tributes in the future…
VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)
42HG: Niles Lincoln (#8, District 2)
43HG: Blight McKay (#4, District 7)
44HG: Sagittaria Svenja (#4, District 11)
45HG: Dezna Meraxa (#4, District 6)
46HG: Alice DeSiete (#3, District 8)
47HG: Aurum Zianja (#8, District 1)
48HG: Layla Aranai (#9, District 2)
49HG: Chip Sangster (#5, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Derrick James (#7, District 5)
52HG: Chaff Mitchell (#5, District 11)
53HG: Brutus Gunn (#10, District 2)
54HG: Tiffany Waxler (#2, District 10)
55HG: Zak Dreggite (#4, District 4)
56HG: Zoroka Chandaki (#9, District 1)
57HG: Cecelia Sanchez (#4, District 8)
58HG: Meili Meisha (#5, District 6)
59HG: Zhin Lyautey (#6, District 3)
60HG: Lucas Drazen (#10, District 1)
61HG: Kara Petersen (#5, District 7)
62HG: Enobaria Taos (#11, District 2)