Trigger Warning: Trauma
Manel
Five minutes before the reaping recap is scheduled to begin, Fawkes leaves the room to fetch Hunter and Patty. We decided to let them both have some free time just because most of us are aware that they don't have much time left.
"So," Lopez says, "Our tributes are both going to die."
I can tell she's been waiting a long time to say that. Usually, when she thinks someone's going to die, she just says it and she doesn't care who she upsets. But this year, Maia, Lopez and I all made an agreement. We would all do our best to protect Fawkes, since it was his first time mentoring and he was struggling so much with his mental health. Lopez' end of the deal was that she wouldn't say anything insensitive that would hurt Fawkes' feelings.
"Thank you for waiting," Maia says. "You did a good job, Lopez."
I nod in agreement. "I think we're all aware they're doomed. We can't tell Fawkes."
"We could," Maia suggests. "Well, you could, Manel. Let him down gently. I think it's cruel to let him have all this false hope."
"I'll think about it," I say. "Maybe he'll figure it out on his own. He's not dumb, just… optimistic."
My boyfriend is the only one us who still has hope that we could win the games this year. He's well aware that Hunter de La Cruz and Patricia Hubbard are both going into the arena with massive targets on their backs. They're two fit eighteen-year-olds from the district that's just won the Quell. The Careers will be out for their blood. Fawkes, however, has this theory that the Careers will be such a mess after the Jack Frost murders and the destruction of Four's training academy that they'll leave our tributes alone, maybe even invite them to join their alliance.
I know why Fawkes is still clinging to this foolish hope. He wants to be a good mentor, to prove himself to District 10, to belong somewhere. He's scared that, if he doesn't do enough, Ten will cast him out like Three did. I've been trying to reassure him that it'll be okay if he doesn't get a victor on his first try and nobody will blame him for it. But I can't stop Fawkes blaming himself.
"Fawkes is taking a while to get back," I say. "Do you think he's okay?"
"He's probably fine," Maia says. "Maybe it took him a while to find the tributes or they're having a conversation. He's pretty comfortable on the train, right?"
"Yeah," I say.
Sure enough, Fawkes arrives with the tributes, just in time for the reaping recap. He sits down beside me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Meanwhile, the tributes sit on the other sofa.
"This is really exciting," Fawkes says. He reaches for the notebook he left on the coffee table, eyes bright behind his glasses. "I can't wait to see what state the Careers are in."
"Yay, Careers," Hunter says. I'm not the best at reading people but even I can tell he's not excited at all. He must know he's doomed. Patty gives him a little punch in the arm, clearly aware of how foolish it is to lie to Fawkes.
"Come on Hunter, we could be witnessing history here," Fawkes says. "This could be the end of the Careers. Or… they might have a couple vacant spots for two strong tributes from Ten."
He smiles that mischievous smile that made me fall so hard for him, the smile that made me believe we could take on the world together. Maybe Fawkes is right. Maybe if Hunter and Patty have the right set of opponents, they might not be doomed.
The recaps begin with District 1. Two tributes volunteer, as usual. The boy, Sceptre Meyer, is the usual tall, blonde, muscular District 1 volunteer. The girl, Tsarina Yezhova, is surprisingly short for a One, with shoulder-length auburn hair and a vicious scowl.
"They look like a pair of regular Careers to me," Hunter says.
"I don't know," Fawkes says, looking up from the notes he's taken. "Tsarina doesn't meet One's beauty standards."
"Why does that matter?" Lopez asks. "Beauty standards don't help you in the arena."
"They can help you win sponsors, though," Fawkes says. "That's why One tries to select attractive volunteers every year. I'm guessing that One has a smaller pool of potential volunteers than usual. A lot of their star trainees have disgraced themselves by murdering their parents. They've probably got a new set of criteria they're using to select their volunteers, since they don't want another Régine Maurin. Between the smaller selection pool and their new set of criteria they're prioritising, they're going to let their standards in other areas that they used to prioritise drop. So in Tsarina's case, they let their beauty standards drop. I suspect she has the skills or something to make up for that. They must've picked her for a reason. But now look a Sceptre. He's telegenic. He meets one's beauty standards. So I'm wondering, have One dropped any of their other standards with him?"
Patty nods. "I can see that. I'll keep an eye on him."
"Will Two have higher or lower standards than One?" Hunter asks.
"I'm guessing higher," Fawkes says.
"Why?" Patty asks. "Aren't they the district that started the whole Jack Frost thing?"
"You could argue that One started it with Régine Maurin," Fawkes says. "I reckon it scared One more than it scared Two. One chose Régine to volunteer for them. They made a big mistake. They must be terrified of making another one. But we have no idea who Jack Frost was. The odds of him being a potential volunteer are pretty low. Maybe Two aren't so desperate to change their selection system."
The boy who's reaped for District 2, Iolaus Dell'Anno, is booed by the crowd. It doesn't really matter because Two has its typical pair of tall, muscular volunteers. The girl's sun-kissed and blonde, while the boy is a colossus with a mop of chocolate brown hair. In fact, they appear to be even more attractive - or telegenic, as Fawkes would probably say - than the regular pair from Two.
"Gosh, they're so pretty," Patty says.
"Which one?" Hunter asks.
"Both of them."
"I think you're prettier than them," Hunter says, frowning.
The tributes reveal their names to be Minaret Gualazzi and Hephaestion Dell'Anno. Fawkes gasps when he hears the boy's surname.
"The reaped boy was named Iolaus Dell'Anno!" He says. "They're related!"
Sure enough, Hephaestion admits to Two's escort that he did just volunteer for his brother and people start booing him.
"That's really rare," Maia says. She's the oldest and most experienced of Ten's current mentors so she's probably kept track of Career reapings far longer than the rest of us have. "Careers never volunteer for their siblings."
"Do you think he got scared?" I ask. "Maybe his brother got reaped, the guy was scared that there wouldn't be a volunteer because of the Jack Frost thing so he volunteered."
"I don't know," Fawkes says. "I suppose he might not be the academy's choice and that's why the people are booing him. But that doesn't explain why they booed his younger brother and he seems like that alpha-male volunteer type. My guess is that he's being blackmailed into the games."
"Really?" Patty asks, eyes wide.
"His family seem to be pretty unpopular," Fawkes says. "Maybe one of them did something bad or one of them got accused of something. The academy got hold of some evidence and told Hephaestion to volunteer, either to stop them from condemning his family or to get the academy to clear their names. And, to make things even more convenient for them, Hephaestion's little brother gets reaped so there's no way he can back out."
He doesn't outright say it but I can tell he thinks the District 2 reaping was rigged to force Hephaestion to volunteer.
"Why would they be worried about Hephaestion backing out?" Hunter asks. "He's a Career. Careers don't back out."
"Because, whatever the Dell'Anno family did or didn't do, I doubt the academy would want such an unpopular victor at a time like this. They don't want Hephaestion to win. They want him to be a meat shield for Minaret. Careers volunteer to be a victor. They don't volunteer to be the victor's meat shield."
"Speaking of meat shields," Lopez says. "Here's Dis-"
"Lopez, don't insult District 3. Fawkes is here." Maia chides.
"I thought Fawkes hated District 3," Lopez says. "They hate him. He should be happy when I insult them."
"It's complicated, Lopez," Fawkes says. Suddenly, all the energy seems to drain out of him. When the concrete towers of District 3 appear on the screen, Fawkes tenses up. I hook an arm around his waist and pull him closer to me for comfort. Seeing District 3 again, even just on a screen, makes me anxious, too. Last time we went to District 3, it was a traumatic experience for both of us. I sometimes still have nightmares, though not as often as Fawkes does.
The two kids who are reaped, Annette Vysotskaya and Axel Vincent, are two pasty-faced thirteen-year-olds. They embrace each other on the stage, crying.
"They're childhood sweethearts," Fawkes says, sadly. "I've got nothing else to say."
The tributes, tactfully, decide to leave the conversation alone. But Ramona Lopez and tact don't really go together.
"Vysotskaya and Vincent," Lopez says. "Weren't they the names of two of the rebels who-"
"Lopez, please, stop talking," Maia says.
I suddenly realise what Lopez is trying to say. Those kids are the children of two of the monsters who tried to torture Fawkes to death. I never learned any of their names, even though I killed all seven of them.
"They went on this suicide mission," Fawkes says. "For no reason other than to hurt me, and they had kids to look after?"
He's shaking. He looks like he might cry. I was worried that something like this would happen if Fawkes mentored this year, that there'd be some aspect of the games that he wouldn't be able to avoid, that'd remind him of what he went through in Three. I could've stopped him if I'd wanted to. About a month or so before the reaping, I got a call from the Capitol, asking me if Fawkes was in a fit state to mentor. I could've said no. I could've told the truth.
But if Fawkes isn't in a fit state to mentor, he's not in a fit state to live on his own in District 10 while I'm mentoring. If I left him alone, I'd be terrified that he'd have a flashback or go on one of those self-destructive spirals and I wouldn't be there to comfort him or hold him back from hurting himself. This is nowhere near ideal but it's the best option we have.
"You don't have to worry about them," I whisper to Fawkes. "You don't even need to think about them if it's too hard. They're just kids. They're probably going to die early on and have no effect on the games."
"Do you think it's my fault they're going to die?" Fawkes asks.
"No," I say. "It's their parents' fault for being rebels. You've done nothing wrong. Look, District Four's starting now. They're the one you're excited for, right?"
Fawkes nods and takes a shaky breath.
"Okay," he says, "Moment of truth. We're hoping for two reaped kids, the weaker the better."
A twelve-year-old girl named Valerie Quay and a fourteen-year-old boy named Deckard Franklin are reaped. Valerie looks like the average twelve-year-old weakling but Deckard looks surprisingly strong.
"He's looks like he's done some training," Fawkes says.
"Do you think the Careers would take him?" Patty asks.
"Probably not," Fawkes says. "He's fourteen and he's from a rebel district."
We wait for volunteers with bated breath.
Nobody volunteers.
Fawkes, Hunter and Patty all cheer. I feel a brief twinge of sadness. Even though they're a rebel district, my best friend, Finnick Odair, is from Four. We write to each other regularly. I know he was deeply affected by the academy being raided. Seeing two kids from his district get reaped must be really hard for him. But it's hard to feel sad for Finnick when Fawkes is celebrating.
"Hunter, Patty, welcome to the Careers," he declares, grandly.
"Wow! Really?" Patty asks.
"What if there are other strong outliers?" Hunter asks.
"We have an advantage over them," Fawkes says. "We'll start working on the Career mentors straight away, try to set up an alliance. Maia is friends with Cashmere so we already have a way in. You two are a pair. You have a solid alliance. I have a feeling the Careers are going to value that. They're going to want some stability. I'll see if I can get some information out of the mentors before training but, right now, I think it'd be best to appeal to Minaret. She seems to be the most classic Career out of the four, the one who values stability the most."
Even Lopez seems impressed by Fawkes' plan.
"Nice to see you've still got it, Chau," she says.
Fawkes laughs. For a moment, there's genuine hope that District 10 might actually get a good result in this games.
Then the District 5 reaping happens.
The girl, Tornada Crossway, is totally ordinary. The boy is a Starkwain.
"Shit," Lopez says, when Dynamo Heartmerry-Starkwain is called up to the stage. "He was my friend."
"Let's hope there's a volunteer," Fawkes says. There's a darkness in his eyes that worries me. I glance at his notebook. He hasn't even written Dynamo's name.
There is a volunteer. He steps out right from the front of the crowd. I recognise him instantly as Guston Starkwain, Dynamo's older, more athletic cousin.
"Well, that's a relief," Lopez says. "I don't care if that one dies. He's boring."
I look over at Fawkes, expecting him to disagree with Lopez. It's pretty obvious that Guston is a much bigger threat than Dynamo. Even I can see it and I suck at strategy.
He's gone pale with shock. His hands are shaking.
"I… I have to go," he says. He shoves the notebook off his lap and bolts from the room.
I look over at Maia and Lopez. "I'll go make sure he's okay."
Then I leave. We've already planned for events like this. We've agreed that, if I have to, I can drop everything and comfort Fawkes. Maia and Lopez are both willing to look after Hunter while I'm gone. Back when I was drinking and I wasn't really trying to mentor a victor, they'd always take my tributes under their wings.
I find Fawkes in our bedroom, curled up in a corner, crying. I kneel down beside him.
"Fawkes," I say. "What's wrong?"
"Stay away from me," he says. His voice is shaking. He sounds terrified.
My heart sinks. Normally, when Fawkes is this scared, he wants to be close to me. He wants me to make him feel safe. But sometimes he gets overwhelmed by self-loathing and he pushes me away.
"It's okay," I say. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'll hurt you," Fawkes sobs. It's not a threat. I can tell he doesn't want to hurt me. He's scared of it.
"You won't," I say. "I feel safe with you."
"You're not safe with me. You'll only be safe if you leave me. When… when the rebels come for me… they'll hurt you."
"Fawkes, the rebels aren't going to come for you."
"They will. I know they're going to come and they're going to kill me and I… I just want you to be safe."
I think for a second. I need to get Fawkes to stop pushing me away. I need to convince him he isn't putting me in any danger. Then I can convince him that the rebels are never going to hurt him again.
"So you think if we break up and the rebels take over Ten, they'll just leave me alone?" I ask.
Fawkes nods.
"They're not going to care about the seven rebels I killed in District 3."
Fawkes hesitates.
"If the rebels take over Ten, we're both screwed," I say. "Whether we're together or apart. I don't know about you but I'd rather we were together."
Fawkes nods and wraps his arms around me. He's crying on my shoulder. Gently, I lift him up and carry him over to the bed. I know he always feels safer when we're wrapped up in the covers together.
I remember exactly a year ago, Fawkes and I were in this exact bed, hugging and kissing and sharing secrets like two childhood sweethearts at a sleepover. We hardly knew each other. We'd been on one date before then. I hadn't even told Fawkes about what the Capitol did to me. He still thought I was some heartbreaker playboy looking for a casual fling and he was fine with it. He asked me if I wanted to have sex. I told him I wasn't ready. He didn't push any further, he just accepted that I wasn't ready and stuck to hugs and kisses.
It'd meant a lot to me, just being able to say no and being with someone who actually listened.
After a few minutes of just holding Fawkes in silence, I decide to return to our conversation.
"How do you know the rebels are coming for you?" I ask.
"I don't know," Fawkes says. "I just have this horrible feeling that I can't explain."
I've spent enough time with Fawkes to know what that means. Politics.
"And I have this wonderful feeling that everything is going to be fine," I say. "I'm going to protect you. The people of Ten have been trying to protect you. The rebels are never going to come near you again. Who's gut do you trust more, city boy, mine or yours?"
While I'm talking, my fingers trace letters on the small of Fawkes' back.
TELL ME
Fawkes laughs, shakily. "Yours, farm boy."
He leans in to kiss me. While we're kissing, he writes on my back with his fingertips. This is our secret language.
Ever since the Victory Tour Attack, Fawkes has been trying to appear like a broken and empty shell of his former self so nobody sees him as a threat. I'm the only one who knows the truth. Fawkes is incredibly traumatised from the attack but he's still a schemer. He's still aware of politics. This is how he tells me all the things he doesn't want anyone else to know he knows. Snow is probably keeping a close eye on both of us. There are probably hidden cameras and microphones in every room in our house, every room on this train. But when we're in bed, tracing letters on each other's skin, we're hidden under the covers and we don't make a sound. Whoever's watching us right now will probably think we're just cuddling, which isn't suspicious at all given that we're dating.
GAMES ARE RIGGED
NORMAL, I reply.
ITS TOO OBVIOUS - GUS MEANT TO WIN - CAPITOL LOOKS WEAK IF GUS DIES - REBELS HAVE AMMO
I realise what Fawkes is trying to say. The Capitol were willing to rig the Quell in Fawkes' favour because he was willing to support them and charismatic enough to appeal to the people, though he didn't end up needing much help in the end. He was the best victor the Quell could offer but he still wasn't ideal. I've seen Fawkes challenge Snow in private, and his victory seemed to make the rebels in Three and Eight angrier. Rigging the District 5 reaping so one of the Starkwain kids ended up in the games must be an attempt to manufacture the perfect victor, one who's heroic and popular and utterly devoted to the Capitol.
And if that attempt goes wrong in any way, any remaining rebels will seize on it.
NOT SUBTLE, I say.
CORIOLANUS FUCKED UP - Fawkes says. MADE ANOTHER MESS
I laugh. There's just something cathartic about insulting the man who'd once held so much power over me, even if it's just in secret.
HOW DO WE CLEAN IT UP? I ask. Normally, when President Snow makes a mess, Fawkes and I are the ones who clean it up.
Fawkes stares into my eyes. All I can see when I look into his eyes is darkness.
NO IDEA
I try to stay calm. I know that Fawkes is so close to me he can sense my heartbeat and my breathing. He can read me like a book. If I panic, he'll panic.
I'm not used to Fawkes not having an answer.
THE PROPOSAL? I ask.
It was February when President Snow has been trying to get me to publicly propose to Fawkes. I understand why he wanted it so much. It would've been such a boost for morale after the Victory Tour Attack. But Fawkes had only just got out of hospital. He had a flashback so bad he couldn't breathe the day I was supposed to propose to him on live TV. I couldn't go through with it. I knew I'd be putting too much pressure on Fawkes. I wanted my proposal to be for both of us, not for Snow.
We found my mother's head in our bed when we came home.
Since then, we've come up with a plan. I proposed to Fawkes in secret and he said yes. We had a secret unofficial wedding in our garden. I still don't really think of him as my husband. Fawkes told me not to, in case I accidentally let it slip that we had a secret wedding. We've already had one proposal and one wedding that was just for us. Those are the ones that matter to me. I honestly don't care when or how I propose to Fawkes in public. I wanted to do it at the reaping to get it over with but Fawkes talked me out of it. He didn't want to upstage the tributes.
MAYBE, Fawkes says WE NEED TO PLAY OUR CARDS RIGHT
I find myself smiling. To me, my public proposal is a chore I have to do to get Snow off my back. To Fawkes, it's a card to be played. Our card. Our little piece of power over everyone in Panem - the Capitol, the rebels, everyone. We just need to know how to use it.
I think, when the time comes, Fawkes will know exactly how to use our power. When the time comes, he'll tell me.
"Are you feeling better?" I ask.
Fawkes nods. "A little. I don't know if I can go back. I don't think I have the energy to deal with any more reapings right now."
"That's okay," I say. "You can take it easy today. Maybe at some point, I'll go check on the tributes and I'll catch you up on the other reapings. For now, we can stay here."
Fawkes gives me a fragile smile. I know he's tired. He hasn't been sleeping well, recently. He's been worrying about the games. I've been trying to reassure him that he shouldn't worry, that the Seventy-Sixth Hunger Games don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. He doesn't have to contribute at all to mentoring if he doesn't feel like it. He just needs to focus on looking after himself.
But if Fawkes is right about Guston Starkwain, the Seventy-Sixth Hunger Games are important. Too important to ignore.
Sotope
I've been watching the reaping recap with Luka and Gus. Gus and his district partner came to the mutual agreement they don't want to work together before they even stepped on the train, so she and her mentors are in the other room watching the recaps on a different TV.
The three of us are in high spirits as the District 6 reaping begins. The reaping recap got off to a pretty bad start when One and Two both had typical Career volunteers. Luka got annoyed because he'd been hoping that the Jack Frost murders would lead to the Capitol shutting down the Careers, at least temporarily. I'm not that bothered that Gus has to fight Careers. Provided he wins, of course.
Careers are much more fun to fight than outliers. It's just like how, in gym class, it's much more fulfilling to play a team of fellow athletes than to play a team of losers who are only there because gym class is compulsory. That's why I killed four Careers in my games. Luka doesn't understand. When he was in the Hunger Games, Careers hadn't even been invented yet.
Things did improve as the reaping recap carried on. Luka was happy that both Four tributes were reaped. Now, Gus has the option of joining the Careers, which is an exciting prospect. I think it'll be good for Gus. He's a team player. He's going to want the best team.
The District 5 reaping was a success as well. Gus looked really confident and heroic onscreen and the lightning made the reaping seem so cinematic. I'm sure he has the attention of the majority of potential sponsors as well as some potential allies.
District 6 has a fairly mismatched pair of tributes. Petra Ryder, a hard-eyed eighteen-year-old with neon-streaked hair and pierced ears and Rory Turner, a thirteen-year-old who tries to look cheerful but doesn't fool me.
"Do you think she's a rebel?" Gus asks, frowning at how Petra glares at the camera. Six was one of the less rebellious districts but they still had some rebel groups.
"I think she's just angry," I say. "I was angry when I was reaped. I missed the big lacrosse tournament. Some complete waste of carbon thought it was a good idea to schedule the big lacrosse tournament during the Hunger Games."
The Sevens give us the first strong outlier Gus has to worry about. Spruce Dolan, a fairly muscular sixteen-year-old who's most likely done a few shifts at one of Seven's lumber yards. I can tell he's trying very hard not to cry and mostly succeeding. He must be aware that boys of his size are usually more popular with sponsors when they're completely stoic. The girl, a pale, sickly-looking seventeen-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses named Lucinda Page, doesn't bother with the whole not crying thing. I don't really blame her. Tributes like her never win sponsors until they start murdering people. She might as well act as weak as possible so nobody sees her coming.
District 8 is the first reaping where I get a sense of something political. Usually, I like to avoid politics. I find it dull. But also, I don't live under a rock. Luka and his family are constantly talking about politics. The girl, Gabardine Bronstein, is only twelve years old but when she steps onstage, she pops her gum and gives the cameras a middle finger. The audio suddenly goes quiet. I can tell it's been edited to hide the cheers of the crowd.
"She's got rebel ties," Luka mutters.
"I guess I'll have to kill her, then," Gus says.
The boy is even worse. A kid named Quilton Lloyd is reaped but he barely has time to step onstage before there's a volunteer. A boy with wild brown hair like a mad scientist strides up to the stage on skinny legs, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"My name is Mitch Fabricconi and I believe in revolution!" He yells into the microphone before doing a mockingjay salute. The weird unnatural silence returns as the boy is dragged offstage.
"Okay, I'm killing him first," Gus says.
"That's my boy!" Luka says, clapping him on the back.
"Why did they edit out the crowd and not… that?" I ask.
"I think it's because the gamemakers need a villain," Luka says. His lip is curled with disgust at Mitch's brazen act of rebellion. "The more rebellious he is, the more satisfying it'll be when Gus kills him."
District 9 is next and they have a very strong pair. Probably the strongest pair I've seen from Nine since the Thirty-Sixth Games. Eighteen-year-old Torte McKinley and seventeen-year-old Gregory Cruster are both tanned and muscular. They calmly and professionally walk up to the stage and shake hands like they know each other.
"They look scary," Gus says.
"They both look like posse kids to me," Luka says. "They might be good allies, if you don't mind being the third wheel."
The next district is District 10. Claudius Templesmith cheerfully reminds us that they just won the Quell and the camera zooms in on Fawkes Chau, Ten's latest victor. He looks pale and sickly, nervous in front of the big crowd. I'm surprised he's even there given that he's been avoiding the spotlight for months due to his trauma from the Victory Tour Attack.
Both of the Ten tributes -Patricia Hubbard and Hunter de La Cruz - are tall, healthy eighteen-year-olds. They also look fairly intimidating.
"Are they from a posse as well?" Gus asks.
"Maybe," Luka says. "I don't think they'll last as long as the Nines, though. Ten just won the Quell. The Careers are going to be out for their blood. Especially since their tributes look like a threat."
Eleven is next. Both their kids - a seventeen-year-old named Mirabelle Cropper and a fifteen-year-old named Jesse Harvest - look mostly ordinary. Mirabelle has some lean muscle but she doesn't hold herself like an athlete like the Nines do. She barely even looks at the cameras. Jesse is skinny but he seems more confident than his District partner.
Eleven is completely upstaged by Twelve, where a familiar face appears.
"Primrose Everdeen," the escort calls.
Katniss Everdeen's little sister walks up to the stage from the fourteen-year-olds' section. She's trembling with fear. Her eyes are hollow but she's not crying. Given how the last couple years have been for her, I can see why she doesn't have the energy to cry.
"You want me to kill her, don't you?" Gus asks.
Luka nods. "She's the rebel figurehead's little sister. She has to die. Since Katniss Everdeen is already dead, you can probably get away with making it quick. But don't say you're doing it out of mercy. Say you're doing it just to get her out of the way as soon as possible."
Gus nods.
The boy from Twelve - a twelve-year-old named Herbie Scullion - drifts up to the stage, sobbing. The reapings are over. I've seen every one of Gus' opponents.
"So," Luka says. "Do you have any potential allies in mind, Gus?"
"The Nines," Gus says. "I don't really want to be a third wheel in a district pair alliance, though. I like the look of the Tens but I don't think they'll last me very long. Maybe Spruce? He's a little on the young side but he seems pretty tough."
"What about the Careers?" I ask.
"The Careers?" Luka asks. I can tell he doesn't really approve but he also wants Gus to have the best shot at survival so he's willing to hear me out.
"If you can't beat them, join them," I say. "The Careers will probably be willing to work with you. You're the biggest guy going into the arena besides Hephaestion. You're already an established name. You'll be popular with sponsors. It could be useful, allying with the toughest tributes in the arena. They'll challenge you. They'll probably help you hunt down rebels. Plus if you don't join them, they might view you as a target. I suggest you take advantage of the gap the Fours left in the Careers and join them."
"That could work," Luka says. "What do you think, Gus?"
"I like the idea of working with the best of the best," Gus says. "My only issue is Hephaestion…" he trails off. Not sure what to say.
"Is it because he's bigger than you?" I ask.
"No, it's because they booed him at the reaping," Gus says. "Two obviously doesn't think he's the best of the best."
"What does Two know?" I ask. "They're a bunch of idiots."
"If you're not sure about Hephaestion, I can ask the Two mentors about him," Luka says. "I'm a little suspicious of him, myself, but… I don't know. Two has different values to us. Maybe he got booed for something totally acceptable in Five."
"What if I do something totally acceptable that offends the Careers?" Gus asks.
"I can teach you some Career etiquette." Luka says. "I was actually quite good friends with Constantine from Two back in the day. Sotope was also pretty good friends with Emerald from One."
I'm about to say that I'm not very good at etiquette when Pyramus walks in.
"I have a call for Miss Baymark," he says, holding out a communicuff.
"Can I take it?" I ask.
"Go ahead," Luka says.
I take the communicuff from Pyramus and walk into the other room, wondering if Gus has a sponsor already and, if so, why they're calling me and not Luka.
"Hello, Sotope," Caesar Flickerman says. "I heard you were mentoring again this year."
"Hey Caesar," I say. "Yeah, I'm coming back. It's been a while."
"It feels like it was only yesterday."
"Are we going back to our usual arrangement?" I ask.
Back when I was mentoring and President Snow was selling my body, Caesar was my number one client. Or, more accurately, my only client. When I found out that President Snow was going to sell my body, I convinced Caesar to outbid anyone else who tried to buy me. He'd already been trying to woo me for the last three years so I knew he was interested. He was rich enough for my plan to work, no matter who bid on me. But, most importantly, I liked him. He'd always treated me like a queen. He'd sent me flowers during the Twenty-Ninth Games, when I was in the hospital with exhaustion.
I still like Caesar. Maybe I love him a little bit. We tried to have a normal relationship. He told me on our very first date to ignore the fact that he was buying my body and pretend that we just had a normal relationship and he was paying Snow to keep all the idiots away from me. He said I was free to turn him down whenever he asked for something. In the end, we split up, not because Snow stopped selling my body but because I'd stopped mentoring and neither of us were able to maintain a long-distance relationship.
But now I'm coming back to the Capitol, it shouldn't be a problem. Caesar and I could get back together, just for this year's games. My only worry is that we're both in our late sixties now. Caesar hasn't aged a day since I left but I haven't had access to all the fancy anti-ageing treatments he has in the Capitol. I look young for sixty-six but I still don't know if Caesar will want me.
"Snow isn't selling you anymore," Caesar says.
"Really?" I ask. For a moment, I panic. Am I too old and ugly now? Then I remember my parents have both died of old age since I retired. "I thought Snow would threaten one of my… uh… grandkids, get me to sign a new contract."
"You're a grandmother?" Caesar asks.
I can feel myself blushing. "I adopted Becky, remember? Her kids are my adopted grandkids."
"Oh, now I remember," Caesar says. "I thought you'd had kids with someone in Five and kept it to yourself. You've always been a woman of mystery, Sotope. But, since your grandkids are Becky's kids, that makes sense. Snow probably doesn't want to threaten them. They're loyal. They've got too many connections."
"But not too many to be reaped," I say.
Caesar laughs. "Nothing gets past you, does it? I know why Dynamo was reaped. Snow told me. I'd pass it on to you but… you know what Snow's like. He wants to explain it all to Gus and Luka himself. You'll probably find out tomorrow."
"So it's politics?"
"Yeah."
"Then it can wait until tomorrow. I don't want to get Luka talking about politics."
Caesar laughs. "You haven't changed, Sotope."
I laugh, bitterly. Of course I've changed. I'm a grandmother now.
"I've missed you, you know," Caesar adds.
"I've missed you as well," I say. "Do you think we could get back together, just for this year's games?"
"Really?" Caesar asks. "Snow's not selling you to me anymore. You don't have to."
"I know. I just… still want to be with you, Caesar. I liked being with you. Do you… not want me, because I'm a grandmother now?"
"Sotope Baymark," Caesar declares, "You are… the hottest grandmother in Panem, of course I still want you. I'm surprised you still want me. I've aged badly."
I'm caught somewhere between laughing and crying.
Thank goodness you kept your relationship with Caesar private. You're absolutely insufferably sentimental around him, Sotope. It's a good thing you never inflicted this on anyone else.
"Between you and me, Caesar," I say. "The lavender was a mistake. I'll put it down to a midlife crisis."
Caesar laughs. "A word of warning. The midlife crisis continues. I've gone green."
"What shade of green?" I ask, hoping for a specific shade.
"Grass green."
"That's my favourite colour, Caesar!"
"Is it actually?"
"Yeah, midlife crisis looks good on you."
"Alright, when should we meet up?" Caesar asks.
The question throws me off a little. I'm not used to arranging dates with Caesar. Normally, neither of us chose the time. He just bought me whenever someone else was trying to buy me.
"I'm not sure," I say. "I'm probably going to be pretty busy until the games are over. But I think I'll be free after the interviews."
"I understand," Caesar says. In the past, some utter pieces of nuclear waste have tried to buy me when I was busy mentoring, so I'd end up stuck on a date with Caesar when I should've been in the Control Centre. I used to complain to him all the time about it. Now I have fewer responsibilities because I'm Luka's backup mentor and he only needs me to watch Gus while he's sleeping but that's still a lot of responsibility, backup mentoring a kid who I've known since he was a baby and I consider part of my family.
"Okay, I need to go soon," I say. "Luka expects me to help him teach Gus some Career etiquette."
"That sounds horrifying," Caesar says.
"Yeah," I say. "I didn't even know Careers had etiquette. Emerald and I just insulted each other as a joke for twenty-four years but we were still friends. I don't think that'll work for Gus. He's too polite and he doesn't have a sense of humour."
"And the fact that most Careers don't like being insulted," Caesar says. "Not even as a joke."
"Yeah, that too."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"
"Bye!"
I hang up. Then I punch the air with excitement. I've got a date with Caesar Flickerman! I've still got it! Then I compose myself. I put the communicuff down and return to Luka and Gus.
Let's begin with the elephant in the room. Maia Nuñez is actually in this chapter! She exists!
I originally wrote this chapter from Finnick's perspective to do a bit of District 4 worldbuilding, but, you guessed it, he didn't fit the theme, so I gave Manel and Sotope POVs instead. We now have a full cast of tributes! Which one is your favourite? Who will Gus ally with? What's the deal with Hephaestion? Am I regretting naming a character Hephaestion because his name is hard to spell? I'm aware that I lied a couple chapters ago about the posses in Nine and Ten not being relevant to the story. While writing this chapter, I had a spur-of-the-moment decision to change the Nines' backstories to make them both members of a posse, since I wasn't satisfied with how I wrote them in my first draft. Also, apologies for putting Prim in the games. Let's be honest, it's totally something Snow would do. Also (spoilers for Mockingjay), if Prim dies in the games, she'll still be older than she was when she died in the books, so yay, I guess?
With this chapter, we also complete our full set of POV characters. Did you see Manel and Sotope coming? Sotope completes the set of Gus' mentoring team. She's more of a risk-taker than Luka (even though she still views Gus as family) and she doesn't care as much about politics. She's also currently rekindling her relationship with a certain Master of Ceremonies. No prizes for guessing who's getting the interviews POV.
Manel is a bit more of a random choice for a POV character - he's not even from Five. To be honest, I didn't really choose him as a POV character because of his relevance to Gus (though Gus did briefly have a crush on him, which Manel is still completely unaware of) but because I wanted to continue Fawkes and Manel's arcs from Star-Crossed. I felt like one of them had to be a POV character and Manel fits this story's theme better than Fawkes does. Fawkes has also spotted an unexpected consequence of Gus potentially being rigged into the games - if he dies, the Capitol will be humiliated. And this is a bad time for the Capitol to be humiliated…