Perch "P.C." Covey, age 25
District 4 Mentor and Victor of the 37th Hunger Games
One month before the Reapings of the 44th Games
"Heeeyyy P.C.!"
I sigh, smiling as I turn around to greet the annoying girl hurrying towards me, her dyed light blue hair bouncing as she runs. She's totally oblivious to the surrounding Capitolites whispering excitedly about her, as well as the fact that I find all her energy to be exhausting. But I put up with her because she's Sayori Mizushima, Victor of the 36th Games.
It's kind of impossible to not like a girl who won back-to-back Hunger Games with you. After my victory gave District 4 its first consecutive victors, Sayori has been my guide to the life of a Victor. Not that I really needed one - I was content to spend my time programming computers, a hobby that led to my nickname - but I've found that it's nice having Sayori around.
"Hi Sayori," I say. "Are you on your way to your club?"
"Yeah!" she exclaims, bounding towards me despite being loaded with a large amount of books and a big backpack. "Wanna walk together?"
"Sure, why not?" I answer with a shrug. "My Capitol place is on the way anyways. Lemme help you with those books."
"Oh, thank you P.C.!" Sayori chirps as she plops the books into my arms. I stagger a little under their weight in surprise, not expecting her to give me all her books, but I can't help but smile as my friend starts smiling sheepishly at me, realizing that she probably shouldn't have loaded everything onto me.
"Why are you carrying these books, anyways?" I ask as we continue walking, the noise of the city in the background. "Who uses books in the Capitol?"
"P.C., have you decided on a club to join yet?" Sayori asks.
"You didn't answer my question," I say with a chuckle. "And I told you already, I'm not interested in joining any clubs. I'm just in the Capitol because I like my place here better than my house in Four."
After the 40th Games, President Salvato announced that from then on, Victors of the Hunger Games would be allowed to travel freely between the Capitol and their home Districts. Shortly after the announcement, Cordelia Kim, the legendary Victor of the First Games, suggested that the Victors form clubs that met regularly in the Capitol. Most of the Victors embraced the club concept enthusiastically, but I've always been a bit of a lone wolf. I prefer being alone in my house in the Victors' Village with my trusty laptop, coding dumb shit. I thought a little about joining the Tech Club, but it's all District 3 Victors and I'm pretty sure they're way out of my league.
Sayori frowns, stopping in her tracks and almost causing me to bump into her. She looks at me sadly.
"P.C., please don't tell me that you plan on spending the rest of your life by yourself on the computer," she says. "I think that if you expanded your horizons you'd be a lot happier, and your happiness is very important to me, y'know!"
"Aww, you're so sweet," I say, giving Sayori a genuine smile. "Alright, I'll look at a few clubs if it makes you happy."
"Yaaay!" Sayori exclaims, managing to jump up and down despite her heavy backpack. "Ooh, do you think you can maybe come to my club?"
"There's no way I'm going to join your Literature Club," I groan, thinking about all the times Sayori rattled off to me about her activities as the newly formed club's Vice President. It's not that I'm trying to discourage Sayori - it's just that my interest in literature is non-existent.
"Aww, no fair, P.C.!" Sayori whines, pouting. "I told everyone last meeting that I'd bring a new member, and Natsuki baked cupcakes and everything!"
I sigh, rolling my eyes and smiling. Even though Sayori seems like an airhead, she won her Games for a reason, and I'll admit I'm impressed by her cunning.
"Fine… I'll stop by to taste Natsuki's baking," I say.
"Yay! Let's go!" Sayori exclaims, bouncing up and down before scurrying forward. I sigh, smile, and roll my eyes, following her through the city.
Today marks the day I sold my soul for a cupcake, I think as we walk.
I follow Sayori into an apartment complex. My friend scans her fingerprint, and the sliding doors open to let us through. We ride the elevator to the top floor, where Sayori strides right over to one of the apartments and flings open the unlocked door with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
"Everyone, the new club member is here!" Sayori yells, full of energy as always as she drops her bag on the floor.
"I just wanted a - oh, hello, Yuri," I say, dipping my head respectfully at the elderly Victor from Twelve. Yuri Coulson is her District's only Victor, winning the Second Games at age eighteen. At age sixty, with white hair and a slightly hunched back, she's also currently the oldest Victor in Panem. Yuri is known for being shy, withdrawn, and haunted thanks to being unable to bring any tributes home over the years, despite her best efforts. I'm surprised to see her here, but I'm happy that she's starting to reach out.
"Hello, Perch," Yuri says quietly, dipping her head back. "It's a pleasure meeting you."
"I usually go by P.C., but if you want to call me Perch go ahead," I say, a little flattered by the oldest Victor's respect towards me.
"Sayori always says nice things about you," Yuri says, smiling. It's hard getting used to the Twelve Victor's soft voice after spending so much time around Sayori, but I'm sure I'll adjust quickly.
"Seriously, Sayori?" the second Victor in the room asks, seeming annoyed. I immediately recognize the small girl as Natsuki Barkley of District 7 - her black hair is shorter than when I last saw her, but otherwise she's the same as always. Natsuki is the youngest in the room at eighteen, but she looks assured.
"You brought a guy?" Natsuki says. "Now we can't talk about periods!"
My face flushes, but the third Victor in the room cuts in. I recognize her face and her dark brown hair worn in its signature high ponytail. She's from District 1, or is it 2? I can't put a finger on her name.
"P.C.!" the middle-aged woman exclaims, smiling broadly at me. "What a pleasant surprise!"
"Uh-" my voice catches in my throat. "Sorry, who are you? I know you're from One, but…"
"I'm Monika Mendoza of District 2," the woman says, "Victor of the 27th Games! Remember? The outer space one? I won it at eighteen, if that's any help."
"Ohh," I say, embarrassed. I guess I haven't paid much attention to the Victors of One and Two, despite living in a pseudo-Career District myself. Maybe it's because there are a lot of them, but now that Monika mentions a space Arena I recall that she was the tribute with the highest Training Score - a ten - and got through her Games with the help of her beauty and intelligence as well. She definitely looks different from how she was during her Games, but I decide not to mention it.
"Monika's the President!" Sayori exclaims, clapping the older Victor on the back. Monika smiles at Sayori warmly.
"Um, it's nice to meet all of you," I say awkwardly. "I mean, I knew about you three, but, well, you know what I mean."
"Does this mean that you'll be joining the Literature Club?" Natsuki asks. She's smiling, which makes me smile back because despite her comment earlier she seems to want me to join.
"Uhm…" I say. To be honest, I was dreading this question. I've never been into literature, and being the only guy in a club full of women feels pretty awkward.
"I know we're pretty small, but I hope to really make this place special," Monika says.
"You don't have to join if you really don't want to," Yuri says gently, "but we'd love to have a new member, Perch."
"Come on, P.C.!" Sayori chirps. "Why don't you at least give it a try? Who knows? You might discover something new."
I look between the four female Victors. They're so different, and yet so interested in the same subject, expressing their passions in different ways. I realize that there's no way I can turn them down.
"Alright," I say. "I'll kind of sort of participate in this one meeting and decide from there."
"Yaaay!" Sayori exclaims, jumping up and down.
"I promise we do more than talk about periods," Natsuki says with a cheeky smile.
"I'm glad you're here, Perch," Yuri murmurs, smiling.
"Let's get started, then!" Monika chirps, clapping her hands together.
A/N: Uh, yeah, long time no see everyone.
First off, I'd like to deeply apologize for running off. I was dealing with a lot of drama and stress, but now that I'm older and hopefully wiser I'm back to finally finish Reality, the SYOT I started years ago. There will be a few significant changes to the story in this rewrite, but the tribute list will be the same as the original version. However, if you are a submitter and you do not want your tribute in this story for any reason, you have until the end of August 2023 to let me know.
Here's the story blog, updated for this rewrite (remove the spaces):
realityhg . weebly . c o m
May the odds be ever in your favor!
