Prologue 4:
One Month Before
Seraphim Lukianas, Co-Head Gamemaker
As with every time they have had a gathering of victors, Seraphim has a sense of dread for the inevitable chaos that is going to ensue. Someone always starts an argument at some point, just how long it takes varies from meeting to meeting. They at least seem to be a bit better about it since Zephyr has stepped up to work with him, but there's always a few that complain about his supposed favoritism for District Two.
He always just tells those victors to ask Odyssey if he has favoritism towards Two and they shut up right away.
Seraphim has seen the list of mentors for this year and asked Zephyr for all potential sources of conflict, and it seems he might have the biggest conflict from the District he supposedly has favoritism for.
"Ready for the chaos?" Zephyr asks him and Seraphim just lets out a big sigh in response, making Zephyr start chuckling right away. "Yeah that's what I thought. Just think, the sooner we start, the sooner this can be over."
"Yeah and the sooner the arguments can start," Seraphim sighs once more and shakes his head. "I haven't had enough coffee to put up with them today. Let's get this over with already."
Zephyr chuckles once more, clearly amused at Seraphim's mood today towards the victors as he gestures for the guards to open up the doors and bring in the mentors. He can't help it, not when he has barely had enough sleep as they work out the last logistics of the Games before they start. There's only so much pressure he can take before he snaps.
Calisto is quiet beside the two of them, fully embracing his role as his intern and staying out of the conversation – or maybe just realizing the victors are a mess to deal with and leaving it to Seraphim. But Calisto is uncharacteristically silent now as he stares down at his coffee cup, pulling on his lip piercing in a nervous habit Seraphim picked up on after not long at all of working with him. Seraphim can only hope that his true identity won't be recognized by any of the victors here today. That's…a controversy he really can't deal with today.
The first to enter is the group of survivors and their fellow mentors, not surprising Seraphim at all considering how much they have worked with him in the past year. Odyssey and Misha don't glare at him immediately – what progress they have made since the Quell, able to tolerate being in the same room as him – as they take the seats marked for the Capitol mentors. Those two will have the first pick of the escorts, given Odyssey's status as their newest victor and from all the help they have done for the Capitol. The couple talks quietly to each other, a hopeful look in Odyssey's eyes about their possible escort.
Fox looks a little disappointed as he takes his seat with Johan for District Ten away from the others in their little group, but the frown doesn't last for very long as he chats with his former and now fellow mentor, catching up after his time spent in Two. Odyssey does glance over at him, giving him a thumbs up with a concerned look and Fox quickly smiles and returns the gesture, letting him know he's doing alright.
Amelia and Matla take the seats for District Three, Matla staying silent as she sits down, writing in her notebook and surely working on whatever ongoing research she has right now. Amelia is chatting away with Elias and Anastacia sitting in the District One spots, the three friends clearly relaxing from the stress of this meeting and having to mentor soon, all because they have been reunited. They could easily visit each other, but with Amelia busy with university, her time is limited. With them is Emilio and Anastacia's dog Shadow, who is staring up at Emilio and waiting for pets. Emilio gives in, unable to resist the dog's look as he watches Jory take his seat beside him, smiling at his boyfriend and taking his hand.
The other District Two mentor hasn't taken his seat yet, and Seraphim looks around, finding him in the back of the room. Drazen has his arms crossed as he stands away from his seat and Jory lets out a sigh as he motions his fellow mentor over. "Drazen, sit your ass down already." Drazen begrudgingly takes his seat, glaring over at Misha and Odyssey a bit before leaning back, letting Jory and the District One team block the Capitol mentors from his view.
Beside Seraphim, Zephyr shakes his head at the younger mentor in Two. "Drazen, don't start any bullshit today or I'm telling Glacia and Darach."
"Fine, dad," Drazen says with a roll of his eyes, but he stays quiet, listening to Zephyr. Of course he doesn't want Zephyr telling the pair about him causing trouble.
Thankfully, the other Districts don't have much drama to them.
Seraphim is still relieved that District Four is not sending Okeanas in to mentor this year – even if that's a disappointment to one of the District Nine mentors. Muir and Iona, the two more rational women in District Four's training center, take their seats, greeting the other career District mentors and Odyssey and Misha, clearly already thinking strategically. Seraphim has no idea if the Capitol will get included in the career pack, but clearly Four is already trying to work out alliances that will give them favoritism. Can't blame them after two years in a row of coming in second place.
Fonio and Lelantos enter, with the old man giving a look at the District Four mentors, disappointed that his maybe partner Okeanas isn't there. Seraphim doesn't know the details of that and really can do without knowing what those two old victors are up to…although a small part of him is really curious about what could have made Fonio finally settle down. Lelantos is the victor from Nine that can best tolerate Fonio, but they don't talk to him much, clearly not friends with him after everything he did to them as a young victor, but able to put things in the past for the sake of their District.
The District Five mentors are more reserved than some of the others, Letha still looking like she's trying to come to terms with everything that has happened to her and her sons in the last year. Galen is quietly giving her support, as always. Letha does approach Amelia and give her a hug before taking her seat, no doubt going to chat more with her eldest son's girlfriend later.
The District with the least amount of victors enters next, the two women seeming more determined than ever to succeed this year. Kanzi has always had that energy of being willing to do whatever it takes – just look at how she played her Games – but it's surprising seeing a similar attitude from Pinova. One of the youngest mentor here, it seems like she's finally starting to get hardened by the toll of mentoring each year and more willing to take bigger chances with her tribute to give them a better shot at victory.
Elias's home District's mentors greet him before taking their seats, making sure to check on him since he can't go back to Six for safety reasons. But despite Elias living in One now, Dampero and Jarle still show concern for him and Elias grins at them as Anastacia follows along with their conversation, looking proud of her friend and the progress he has made in the last few months.
One of the last pairs to join them is the pair from Seven, the two men finally not flanked by a guard like they always are in their home District. Glen and Cal are a surprising mentor pair, not because of the fact that they're dating, but the fact that they would send the two youngest victors to mentor this year, knowing what has been going on in Seven. Weariness is on both of their faces as they take their seats, not looking quite ready to deal with mentoring this year. But they have to, considering Stefan isn't exactly in the best mood to deal with the rebels that hurt their partner – even if that partner has returned to escorting. But Winona has always been the more rational of that pair.
Seraphim isn't surprised that Astrid and Clark have chosen to enter at the end. The stubborn pair from Eight slowly walk in, knowing they're holding up the meeting and not looking bothered at all. Astrid walks behind Clark protectively, glaring at anyone that dares to look at him. Clark, meanwhile, is giving a not quite as menacing glare at Odyssey, the young teen still hurting from the victor killing his tribute in the Quell, but he at least takes his seat without making any comments at Odyssey.
Look at all of them, making progress towards not hating each other. It gives Seraphim a small bit of hope that they really can get District unity between all of them. At least until he starts talking.
"Okay, I'll make this quick so that you can move on to the dinner party and get to know the escorts you'll be working with," Seraphim tells the crowd of mentors. "But to do that, you need to not start any drama. Is it too much to ask for everyone to stay quiet and hold in any complaints until after we are done?"
Seraphim raises his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for someone to protest this. But the ones that look unhappy stay quiet, a few nod their heads, some give a thumbs up, and Odyssey gives him a very sarcastic salute with his prosthetic hand – no doubt a subtle jab at him for being the cause of that.
"You all know who I am and who Zephyr is, and no, him working with me does not mean any favoritism towards District Two," Seraphim tells them, giving a pointed look at any of the victors who don't look too sure about that. "And this is my new intern, Calisto Flowers. He is just going to be here and observing things. So now," Seraphim says quickly, trying to not have the victors focus on Calisto for too long. "Before we get started with the escort assignments, I want to inform you of a few things that will impact your time with your tributes in the Capitol before the Games start. Our goal right now is to bring unity between every District, including the Capitol. We have a few things planned to help with that."
Seraphim pulls up a hologram map of the tribute center, one floor highlighted in a different color to bring their attention. "As you can see on the map here," Seraphim pauses and sighs as Anastacia clears her throat very loudly and gives him a glare. "Sorry, sorry. It's a map of the tribute center, the same structure as before. But we have remodeled one of the floors to be a meeting space. Everyone is free to go here during their free time and we want you to encourage your tributes to use it and talk to the others. Please do this."
"Do it or else," Zephyr adds to his statement, making sure to stare down every mentor before turning back to Seraphim and nodding at him to continue.
"It's strongly encouraged and I think if the younger mentors encouraged them, maybe even joined them, it would help," Seraphim amends, looking at the survivors and the youngest victors, getting looks of understanding from them before continuing on, "You'll be transported to the Capitol by hovercraft for safety concerns and so you'll all arrive sooner than usual. The evening of the Reapings, we will be hosting a…not quite a party, but a social gathering of all the tributes, mentors, and escorts. Attendance is not optional."
Amelia raises her hand with a question and doesn't look like she's protesting this, so Seraphim gestures at her to ask, "Is this something being advertised to the country or will it be private?"
"It's private," Seraphim confirms. "We don't want a full scale party out of safety concerns, but we recognize the benefit of time spent together among the tributes." Seraphim pauses as Amelia nods her head in understanding and he looks around at the group. "Any other questions about that? It's nothing fancy, just dinner and socializing together. If not…alright, escort selection."
Zephyr clears his throat and Seraphim looks over at him, finding his partner with a raised eyebrow. "The arena thing?" Zephyr asks in reminder and Seraphim winces at the outburst it will surely cause, making Zephyr sigh as he faces the mentors. "Look…we want to give a fair warning to you. The arena this year is all about showing the country what could happen if a war happens and the price of the Games… The price the victors pay. So there's going to be…certain things in your likeness – including ours."
"Mutts," Seraphim says before anyone can ask, just seeing a few of them ready to ask. "We're warning you but nothing you say is going to stop us from using them, so don't even start – Astrid, I'm looking at you."
Seraphim stares down the victors, crossing his arms at a few of them looking stubborn and wanting to protest him, but he's done bending to their every complaint. No more of that when they're on a verge of a war. "No comment? Good, now escort selection."
Seraphim goes silent for a few seconds, bracing himself for the potential conflict. "You all met with our choices of escort and got to know them, then provided us with your top choices. We then used that and the preferences of the escorts to assign them to Districts. The order of assignment was partially random. Odyssey and the survivors got first choice – which they deserve after everything they went through," Seraphim points his finger at Astrid when she opens her mouth to protest this, and she closes her mouth and crosses her arms at him. "Jarle and Dampero were higher on the list because of Elias because it is not their fault that Elias can't be there for safety reasons. The rest of the Districts were randomly placed in order as follows: Eight, Eleven, Four, Five, Nine, Seven, and Two."
Drazen scoffs immediately at Two being the very last to get their escort and Jory puts his hand out to stop him, but it doesn't work. "Why is Two last? How come we don't have a higher choice? Odyssey may have questionable loyalties to his District by mentoring in the Capitol, but he is still a District Two victor."
"Yes, Drazen, we know. Someone had to be last and we felt picking randomly was better than going in order of most recent victors, it's more fair," Seraphim controls his urge to roll his eyes. "But we asked him if Two should have a higher preference and he agreed it was not fair since he isn't mentoring there."
"Sucks to be like the rest of us, huh?" Clark calls out to Drazen, making the victor from Two turn to glare at him, but the youngest victor just sticks his tongue out at him.
"Boys, please don't start any unnecessary fights," Letha speaks up, sounding exhausted at the potential argument between them. Clark quickly mumbles an apology to her and Drazen doesn't look as happy, but he soon turns back to face Seraphim, grumbling under his breath. Letha looks at Seraphim when she knows the boys will stay quiet, "I think it's fair. Fair is good in these times. And a reminder that this is what the Capitol is aiming to do with these Games: make things fair across every District."
"That's very well put, thank you Letha," Seraphim gives her an appreciative smile, always grateful for her being a voice of calm and reason among the victors. She truly deserves better than the pain she puts herself through by mentoring. "If no one else is going to speak out of turn…let's get started."
Seraphim gestures to the door at the side of the room leading to the room where the escorts wait is opened. "We'll bring out the escorts one by one. Starting with the Capitol. As the most recent victor and since he's done so much to assist the Capitol in these changing times, Odyssey – and Misha, but as you'll see it was mainly Odyssey – picked first. They have picked Zan Peruseau."
It's a choice Seraphim knew would happen from the first time he met Zan and as they enter the room Odyssey sits up, trying to hide his excitement at his new escort. Misha had been the voice of reason telling Odyssey to consider all the options, but of course Odyssey would choose a fellow drag queen as his escort. Zan would be impossible to miss in a room, just from their appearance alone. Today they're wearing a tight neon green dress with a pink floor length fur coat, metallic platinum boots that make their already staggering height increase, and a huge electric blue wig. Their appearance matches their personality perfectly – at least their personality as a drag queen. Zan treats their entrance like a performance, striking a pose and grinning at their mentors, "Hello my darlings!"
Yet underneath the bold clothes and fun-loving exterior, Seraphim knows the truth about Zan's history – the military background from a home other than the Capitol – a fact that Zan wasn't too willing to share, but had to after Zephyr started questioning them about it. Coming from Odyssey and Misha's own home District, Zan could have been like their mentors, but weren't chosen for the Games, so they dedicated their life to being a Peacekeeper, eventually promoted to the Capitol where they stayed with their family. And now, the cycle has come full circle with them escorting for the very thing they tried to volunteer for.
Zan gives both Odyssey and Misha air kisses on the cheek as they reach them, making Odyssey let out a giggle of excitement. "Yes, queen!" Odyssey calls out and gives applause to his escort, his whole face lit up in excitement. It's the first time Seraphim has seen Odyssey actually get excited about something related to the Games since before he went into the arena. Beside him, Misha is paying more attention to Odyssey than Zan, looking so thrilled at his boyfriend's reaction.
Zan takes their seat and Seraphim clears his throat, ready to continue this. "Next up is District One, who chose their escort because Anastacia wanted, and I quote, 'Some sick ass tunes'. Their escort is Radian Ashminov – yes, there's another one."
Seraphim knows the musical entrance is coming – anyone who doesn't expect it from an Ashminov brother clearly hasn't been paying attention enough – and Anastacia's face picks up in excitement as she turns her head around, waiting for her escort to come in and give her the promised 'sick ass tunes' she requested. They can hear Radian before they see him, the older Ashminov playing his violin as he steps into the room, playing an upbeat song, before ending with a big flourish and holding his bow out dramatically before taking a bow. Anastacia jumps up from her seat to give him applause, surprising her fellow survivors by how energetic she is over this. Elias looks peaceful as he smiles up at Anastacia, just happy by seeing her change in mood.
Radian has a mischievous smirk on his face at Anastacia's reaction to his music. Now that he's done playing, it's easy to see the similarities between Radian and his younger brother, with Radian keeping his disheveled brown hair shorter than Ain's and his eye color changed up to amethyst, matching the orchid blazer he wears that the light subtly catches gold flakes in as he moves. The blazer is the boldest part of his outfit, paired with a simple black shirt, dark skinny jeans, lace up black boats, and a black choker. Radian blows a couple kisses at the mentors as he heads over to the District One group, but his smirk turns more into a genuine smile as he greets his three mentors, shaking each of their hands politely and even pausing to give Shadow some well-deserved pets, surprising some of the other escorts by just how serious he has become. "Good day, Miss Anastacia and Mr. Elias. Oh, and I guess hello Emilio too," Radian adds with a wink at the older mentor.
Anastacia chuckles a little bit to herself at Radian's greeting and doesn't look surprised at all by his behavior, because despite having claimed she picked Radian for his music, Seraphim knows she also picked him from the way their personalities clicked and he didn't treat her and Elias any differently because of what they went through – even if there is a lot of curiosity there to know what exactly happened. He saw the way the pair got along when Ain and Radian filmed the promo music video with the group of survivors, but of course Anastacia isn't going to admit that she thinks Radian is cool. Despite his lack of experience, Seraphim knows Radian will do his best for District One, having tried to become an escort for a couple years now. But as Radian takes his seat, he can see Emilio subtly shaking his head a little and seemingly questioning just what kind of chaos he signed up for this year while Anastacia and Elias whisper to each other, a grin still on Anastacia's face.
Seraphim stares down at Radian as he takes his seat for a few seconds, silently telling him to cut it out with the music now that he's made his entrance – this meeting is already going to go on long enough, no need for him to be chaotic about playing music. "Next is District Three. We have one of our few returning escorts, with Rosalina Silver staying there."
It's an assignment that Seraphim isn't surprised by – why would Matla and Amelia want to have a different escort when Rosalina is returning and she is not chaotic or rude like previous escorts? Rosalina looks quite relieved at her assignment since it's the place she's most familiar with. Some of the other mentors duck to the side as Rosalina enters the room, all too familiar with how often she unintentionally smacks things with the large gold wings she has. They all saw the one year Rosalina knocked over one of the glass spheres at the Reaping. But Rosalina means well and it's not her fault that she's just a bit of a clumsy person.
Amelia is brave enough to greet Rosalina with a hug, the two starting to form a bit of a sibling like relationship over the last year. But of course in the process, Rosalina accidentally hits Matla with one of her wings and starts profusely apologizing to the older mentor. Matla just waves her off, used to the escort's clumsiness after years of working together. As Rosalina goes to her seat, a wave of relief passes over Amelia's face, revealing the stress she's been having about mentoring. When she notices Seraphim looking at her, she quickly puts a smile back on her face and acts like he didn't see anything. He doesn't say anything to her, but he's glad that Rosalina returned this year.
"Alright, next is District Ten," Seraphim says, watching Fox sit up and be more attentive while Johan watches curiously. "They have picked Roo Rainer."
Roo enters the room, visibly looking relieved by the District he was assigned to – he expressed to Zephyr that he was nervous about going to a career District given his young age and lack of experience. But with the assignment to Ten, Roo looks confident about his ability to do a good job, giving the mentors a polite smile. Not overly confident, but at least not a scared mess. But in his eyes is a determination to prove himself and get out of the shadow of his older sister, Madeline Rainbow, a well-known makeup artist and model in the Capitol. Yet her influence is still there within his appearance. His outfit is clean, yet colorful, just a simple pair of slacks paired with a royal blue shirt and black jacket, but his face is where he makes his true statement, wearing bold blue eyeshadow to compliment the shirt and a bandaid across his nose, partially covering a spattering of freckles.
Seraphim knows Johan saw the potential in the young boy and wanted to be a mentor for Roo, given his many years of experience. As for Fox, the two boys are close in age and got along well, which was all Fox was concerned about when picking an escort. Roo seems like a good kid, just trying to make a name for himself, and District Ten could certainly use someone good.
"Looking forward to working with you two," Roo tells them as he shakes their hands, smiling politely at the two. Fox warmly returns the smile and so does Johan, but there's a bit of concern in his gaze as he takes in the appearance of the young escort, but stays quiet as Roo takes his seat.
"And now we have District Six – yes, yes, don't start complaining again about them getting higher priority even though Elias isn't mentoring with them," Seraphim holds up his hand to Drazen, already seeing the younger mentor ready to complain. "Jarle and Dampero have picked one of our escorts returning from some time off, Priscilla Rhodes."
Seraphim was a little surprised by the District Six team's choice, having expected Jarle to pick one of the other escorts given his history – but he suspects Jarle simply didn't know the connection. But, Jarle and Priscilla do share a common history. Priscilla only escorted for four years in District Eleven, until she had to stop after the 141st Games due to a sudden illness that came on and took months to be cured, and still another two years in recovery. So it's not too much of a surprise that Jarle picked her since he went through his own treatment after his Games. Dampero definitely seemed to not care too much about picking the escort, letting Jarle take the lead since he's been through so many different escorts over the years, he's seen so many of the different personality types. And because at the end of the day, he would rather be at home with his dogs than talking to people.
Priscilla also seems a little surprised by her assignment as she enters. Compared to some of the other escorts, her appearance is more out there, having a color of the day that she picks for her whole outfit, from curly wig and eye color all the way to her shoes – today's color being purple. But as Priscilla gets adjusted to her assignment, she also starts to look a bit excited about being with Jarle and Dampero. After all, she had opened up to Zephyr during the interviews how she had lost many of her friends during her recovery, and maybe she's hoping her and Jarle could become friends with their close age. She'll be a good fit for the team, maybe even get Dampero to come out of his shell a bit more with her warm personality and dedication towards helping her tributes. But then again, if Jarle can barely do that, seems unlikely that any escort will be able to accomplish that in a short time.
"Okay, at this time, I just want to remind everyone that the remaining order was selected at random," Seraphim tells the remaining Districts, staring each of them down to make sure none of them are going to start drama. "First, District Eight. Clark claimed to just want someone that isn't, and again, I quote, 'a walking joke', while Astrid was actually decisive. So they picked Iris Moretti."
"Sorry Letha," Clark whispers over to Letha when he sees her look disappointed at Iris not being assigned to District Five after years of working together. But what did they expect when Astrid picked? Of course Astrid was going to pick her girlfriend's best friend.
Iris's appearance hasn't changed too much over the years since her seven years escorting from the time she was eighteen for the 137th Games, just looking more of a mom now that she has four adopted kids. Her hair is still dyed light pink with the tips light blue, but curled up into a practical mom style and she still wears flowers, just in a more mature dress. Iris gives Letha an apologetic look as she enters, clearly having wanted to return to District Five – and she would have, if Five picked before Eight. Her and Letha have remained friends over the years and Letha's youngest son is even friends with Iris's children now. But, the look is soon replaced by some excitement at being in District Eight with Astrid. The two know each other, but not as well as they could, and both look excited at getting the time to bond.
She greets both Astrid and Clark with hugs – something that Clark tries to subtly push away because getting hugged by a mom is not cool as a teen, but he fights back a smile that soon disappears as he glares at Seraphim watching. Iris whispers something to Astrid before the two both glare over at Fonio. The old man lets out a huff of annoyance at their glares, shaking his head at the two. "Why are you glaring at me, Mari and I are on speaking terms now!"
"We're not quick to forget what you did to our girl," Astrid says defensively and Iris nods her head in agreement. But Iris glances over at Seraphim watching and makes the decision not to start any further drama now, instead taking her seat with another well placed glare at Fonio.
It's probably safe to say that the District Eight and Nine teams won't be working together this year.
"Alright, moving on before there's any fights," Seraphim clears his throat, getting two innocent smiles from the women of the District Eight team that look anything but innocent. "We have District Eleven." Seraphim watches as Pinova sits up in excitement at this, still looking a little nervous that maybe for some reason she won't get her escort choice, but everyone before her knew better than to step on Eleven's toes by taking their escort. "Shouldn't be a surprise at all that they have returning for the third year, Aineon Ashminov."
Seraphim notices as Radian subtly shifts in his seat, bringing up his violin so he can start playing a foreboding dun-nun that increases in volume and speed, all the while Radian has a smirk on his face as he chuckles to himself. Ain steps into the room, ready to start playing his flute, but stops when he realizes just what Radian is playing, making Radian stop to burst out into laughter at his younger brother's reaction. Ain fixes his older brother with an exasperated look for a moment before smiling politely at the gathered mentors. Seeing Ain in the same room as Radian, someone would have to be blind to not realize they're brothers – and Seraphim still thinks Anastacia would be able to tell. Ain's short shaggy brown hair has copper highlights in it, lightly curling at the ends, matching his dark brown eyes with copper flecks. His style hasn't changed too much over the years as an escort, maybe being the most different compared to the typical Capitol style. He wears a faded white shirt under a burgundy red hooded jacket with tassel drawstrings, the shirt tucked into black skinny jeans. To accent the outfit, he wears khaki green boots and a mustard yellow sash belt around his waist.
While his appearance hasn't changed, his mood has certainly shifted. Ain didn't exactly reveal it to Zephyr directly in his questions, but they were able to piece together the information. After everything that's happened in the two years since he first started as an escort, Ain has grown to question everything about the Games and the morality behind it, especially his part in picking the tributes to be doomed. Some Head Gamemakers wouldn't have wanted an escort with such conflicted thoughts on the Capitol, but right now when they need to get the Capitol to see just what the Games do to the Districts… Ain is ahead of the rest. And Seraphim needs escorts that can help lead the change.
Ain greets Pinova with a polite kiss on the cheek, making her start grinning so much, before heading over to his spot with the other escorts, making sure to take the time to smack Radian in the head with his flute. This earns him a smack in return from Radian's bow, only making Ain a bit more exasperated by his older brother seemingly not taking this just as seriously as Ain is. Elias is whispering to Anastacia what's happening and she suddenly bursts out laughing, making everyone look over at her. "I like him, he's fun," Anastacia comments, encouraging Radian's shit grin as he turns towards Ain, smug and briefly sticks out his tongue before sitting back in his chair.
"Let's try to minimize how much we hit each other. Next up, District Four," Seraphim says, turning to face Muir and Iona. Once again, he's grateful that it's these two mentoring this year and not Okeanas. He can only imagine how much she would bitch about picking eighth. "You two will have Lucky Camden as your escort."
Lucky seems quite surprised – and nervous – about his placement as he enters the room, a funny contrast given his tall stature. He didn't really want to be placed in a career District, after having to admit his belief in careers being scary and bloodthirsty to Zephyr after he was very nervous at the start of their interviews. He had wanted to be in Six and if Jarle would have known Lucky's history, they would have picked him as their escort. But patient confidentiality laws – and different last names – have prevented Lucky from telling the victor that his adoptive uncle was the oncologist who treated Jarle all those years ago. But of all the career Districts to be placed with, Seraphim knows Four will be the least intimidating to Lucky, once given some time to get to know them.
And despite Lucky's nervousness when being interviewed by the pair, Muir still wanted him as a top choice, able to see his gentle soul. Muir stands up to greet Lucky, the man towering over her, yet looking more afraid in that moment. She shakes his hand and gives him a gentle smile, one Lucky starts to timidly return. She gives him a pat on the shoulder before he heads over to his seat, something he very slightly flinches at, before looking embarrassed by his action.
"Okay Letha, you're up," Seraphim tells her, the older mentor sitting up in curiosity. She still looks a little sad that she wasn't able to have Iris as her mentor, yet like always, she takes it as it is and makes no fuss about it. Some of the mentors could really learn from her. "District Five has Sloan Sonnino as your escort."
Seraphim knew from the start of the hiring process that they needed to give Letha a good escort after everything she's gone through and her continuously supporting the Capitol. Sloan is exactly that kind of person, despite their exterior suggesting otherwise. Most of their outfit is edgy and all black, with some accents of pastel pink and lavender scattered throughout. Their hair is a cotton candy color, contrasting with the silver piercings in their lip and eyebrows. But just get to know them a little bit and anyone will realize they have a good soul. They've gone through so much in their life, from losing their birth parents at thirteen, being in the hospital for a long recovery process from that car accident, to losing their adopted mother at seventeen, yet still want to help others by being in university to become a nurse.
Really, they could use a mother figure right now, and Letha saw that and wanted to have them on her team.
Sloan greets Letha super politely, making a few of the mentors and other escorts give curious looks at them, going to shake her hand and being surprised when she gives them a hug instead. Sloan blinks a few times after she's done hugging them, clearly a little emotional from the loss they've felt still being recent, before turning to the other mentors and holding out their arms. "Hey, I'm all about giving some hugs if anyone else wants them. But I'll have to charge for hugs from anyone that isn't from District Five."
The rest of the mentors, unsurprisingly, don't take them up on that offer, so Sloan just gives a shrug as they go over to their seat. "Okay fair, I wouldn't want to hug the weird goth kid either, it's cool, it's cool," they say with a chuckle, slowing as they pass some of the other escorts. Sloan gives a wink at Roo, making the young man start flushing immediately, "Maybe you could get a free hug."
Seraphim rolls his eyes at Sloan's obvious flirting with their new coworker, wondering if he needs to make a rule about no dating coworkers – until he realizes he'd be breaking that. "Moving on!" Seraphim says quickly. "District Nine. For the first time in over 50 years, you have a new escort this year," Seraphim tells them, watching Fonio and Lelantos give each other a nervous look about this. "Yes, you should be nervous. Have fun with Mordecai Sharma and try to keep him from injuring himself too much."
"Parkour!" Mordecai yells as he runs into the room, trying to jump up on one of the chairs that unfortunately Clark is already sitting in, resulting in the youngest victor shoving the escort away with a look of annoyance and disgust on his face. Mordecai brushes this off right away, not seeming bothered at all by Clark pushing him while the District Nine mentors watch on with a look of horror. "It's alright, yolo my dude." Mordecai tries to pat Clark on the shoulder, resulting in Clark slapping his hand away.
Seraphim clears his throat, bringing Mordecai's attention to him. The young escort just screams chaotic, from his bright red mohawk, many facial piercings, to the collection of low quality tattoos scattered over his body, ranging from things like the word 'horny' to a smiling sun that just looks creepy, not cute. Even his canines are sharpened, only adding to the vibe. His outfit looks like it was quite literally thrown together, the only thing that seems consistent from day to day being the yellow bandana with white polka dots around his neck. This is why they put him with District Nine. They're the only ones that have a chance of actually tolerating Mordecai. And, honestly, he didn't know who deserved to be put with him because no one put Mordecai as their top choice. And Zephyr wouldn't let him put Mordecai in Two even though they're last to be assigned. "You're with District Nine, not District Eight."
"Ah, okay that's lit," Mordecai says with a chuckle as he goes over to Fonio and Lelantos, giving the old man a big hug before Fonio can try to avoid it. "Hey gramps, looking forward to working together."
Seraphim isn't sure what Fonio looks more mortified about: Mordecai or getting called gramps. "Mordecai, just go to your seat," Seraphim says with a sigh, pointing over to the rest of the escorts that are all watching with various expressions, ranging from alarm on Roo's face to amusement on Sloan's. Mordecai thankfully listens to him and goes to his seat with minimal interactions with the other escorts, aside from jumping onto his chair before sitting in it.
"Okay we're almost done here, just two more to go," Seraphim tells the mentors, noticing many of them starting to look like they want to be anywhere else but here after Mordecai's display. "Second to last is District Seven. You'll have an old friend there, someone who can handle any potential…problems. Winona Samson."
Winona's face shows her confliction about her assignment as she enters the room, yet she accepts it with resignation. She knew from the moment they asked her to come back as an escort that more likely than not, she would be placed in District Seven as they need someone there that can handle any potential problems with the rebels. Unfortunately, Winona was their best option. If there was someone else, Seraphim would have picked them, instead of reopening all the wounds she has from losing her sibling at the hands of the rebels not even a year ago. Yet despite all the loss she's felt, there's a fire deep in Winona to do something about the rebel threat after years and years of her family working on the Capitol's side.
Glen and Cal greet her with subdued looks, both all too aware of her current state of mind – something evident by her attire. Where Winona used to wear bright flowery prints, she now wears all black, mourning her sibling to this day. Yet she still goes up to them and gives them a hug, both of them just as much her family as Luciano was after years of being an escort for Seven and her dating Stefan for even more years. Glen whispers something to her, getting a solemn nod of the head from her, before she heads over to her seat. Winona's entrance has subdued the group, a sharp contrast to Mordecai.
"Drazen, you can stop scowling now," Seraphim tells the younger mentor, getting a scoff from Zephyr at him calling out Drazen. Jory fights back his own snicker as Drazen gives him a glare for siding with Seraphim. "You're finally up. You two will be with Lotis Culpepper."
Lotis looks anything but pleased as she enters the room, as being placed in a career District the last thing she wanted. Part of her didn't even want to apply for the job since her overbearing mother had threatened to stop funding her lifestyle if she didn't, and Lotis nearly went through with it, but applied last minute because she can't afford her sculpting materials on her own. She had been hoping for Ten or Eleven, just because her mother had been the most against them…but those two Districts both had higher choices. In fact, most of the other Districts had higher choices, not exactly wanting to be with the very sarcastic and impatient young woman. She had tried to hold it back during the interviews, but it still showed. The only District where she would have fit in had put Iris as their first choice long before they talked to Lotis.
She crosses her arms as she goes to greet her mentors, trying her best to hold back a scowl, but she's not doing too well at it. Drazen stands up to greet her in return, starting a staring contest between the two as they try to assert who's in charge here. It's kind of funny to watch, with Lotis standing over Drazen's height, her style choices standing out even more next to the normal looking District person. Parts of her skin are dyed green, mainly the bones she's made more prominent on her collar bones and her hands. Her hair is a pale green, long and wavy on top with an undercut filled with arrow lines. She doesn't wear too extravagant of clothing, just tight jeans and a simple blouse that shows off her alterations.
"So you're our new escort," Drazen says to her, raising an eyebrow in questioning as Jory stands up, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him in line. "You better not mess up our back to back wins."
"Honey, I won't be the problem there," Lotis responds, voice dripping in sarcasm, and Jory once again holds back his amusement at Lotis and Drazen. "I'll still work as hard as possible, despite you being my last choice."
With that, Lotis stomps over to her seat, grumbling under her breath about getting put with a career District and leaving Drazen with a stunned look for a couple seconds, before he realizes people are staring at him and he quickly sits back down with a scowl. Seraphim looks at Jory, who gives him a reassuring look, silently letting him know that he'll keep the two younger ones in line.
Seraphim takes a deep breath, glad to finally be through all of that. He takes the time to look at the mentors and escorts before him, hoping that these teams will actually be able to work together well and support all the changes that are happening. Some he has more hope about than others…but he has to have faith in them.
"Thank you all for being patient," Seraphim tells them slowly. "At this time, if there's no more questions…well, you have the remainder of the evening to get to know your escorts and start working on some strategy. Good luck."
I'm just gonna put the list now before I start saying stuff because I know that's what everyone wants to know lol. Make sure to look at the full list because I did move a few tributes around!
Capitol:
Adonis Syvlester, 18 - HogwartsDreamer113
Bezel Dorsey, 18 - CelticGames4
Escort: Zandrya 'Zan' Peruseau, 38 - LordShiro
District 1:
Ardent Sterling, 18 - mistycharming
Mercy Marseille, 18 - foxfox12
Escort: Radian Ashminov, 21 - ShunKazamis-Girl
District 2:
Vulcan Adamos, 18 - 66samvr
Chantelle Wicks, 18 - chcolate
Escort: Lotis Culpepper, 21 - later. glader
District 3:
Ryam Driver, 15 - Tyquavis
Riley Roomer, 15 - chcolate
Escort: Rosalina Silver, 27 - Golden Moon Huntress
District 4:
Juno Ladair, 18 - SinfonianLegend
Valletta McClellan, 17 - Sexybonbon
Escort: Lucky Camden, 25 - HogwartsDreamer113
District 5:
Morris Holmes, 15 - ladyqueerfoot
Ciana Devereaux, 18 - House Elf Liberation Front
Escort: Sloan Sonnino, 19 - TheEngineeringGames
District 6:
Farren Masou, 18 - later. glader
Kasada Masou, 17 - later. glader
Escort: Priscilla Rhodes, 35 - foxfox12
District 7:
Karter Beckwith, 16 - TheMayflyProject
Baylor Lennox, 18 - goldie031
Escort: Winona Samson, 54 - TheEngineeringGames
District 8:
Kazuyuki Ikeda, 14 - Yugi-Smallymcsmall
Rhiannon Collier, 17 - TheMayflyProject
Escort: Iris Moretti, 32 - HogwartsDreamer113
District 9:
Lobo Mirazul, 15 - DracarysWolf
Inutil Vaquero, 16 - goldie031
Escort: Mordecai Sharma, 20 - CelticGames4
District 10:
Cimmerian Hart, 14 - musicaltheatrecake
Shams Seif-Eldeen, 18 - LordShiro
Escort: Bruno 'Roo' Rainer, 18 - CelticGames4
District 11:
Frederick Baldwin, 15 - House Elf Liberation Front
Sonya Starling, 14 - lexi486
Escort: Aineon Ashminov, 20 - ShunKazamis-Girl
Thank you to everyone that submitter a tribute and escort! I had more subs than spots available, so unfortunately I couldn't take tributes from everyone. And at the end of the day, I made the choices that will make me happy writing this story and those that will fit in with my plans, so thank you for being understanding if I didn't accept your tribute. I highly recommend you check out the SYOT Alliance Forum (the link is on my profile) and check out the many other SYOTs that are open at this time and sub to them!
To those who were accept, I'm very much looking forward to writing all of your tributes! I'm quite happy with the diversity of the subs! The ages I anticipated being more on the higher end with the volunteering change, so I'm cool with it too! There's quite a bit of gender diversity! Many of these tributes use pronouns other than she/her or he/him (or both!), so keep that in mind that their District spot does not necessarily mean they might use certain pronouns. Please check the blog to find everyone's preferred pronouns before you talk about them! I've updated the blog with pages for both the tributes and the escorts - blog reviews aren't necessary at all, but I would appreciate just taking the time to check it out since I put the time and effort into it :) (and because finding some of the faceclaims was a real long struggle lol).
If you have an accepted tribute and/or escort, I do hope that you'll truly stick around with the story in some sort of capacity - it makes it so much more enjoyable for me as a writer to know the submitters are still around and also increases the odds for your tribute. I know real life comes first and life happens at times and sometimes you can't read everything right away. Reviews are always appreciated but please don't feel pressured to review every chapter if it isn't good for your mental health or any reason. A simple PM or something saying you're still around is all I need :) Reviews do earn sponsor points and sponsoring in the Games can have a big impact on how far tributes go (*looks at Clark's sword) so hey, bonus there lol.
If you do want to talk a bunch about this story, I do have a discord server! I always forget to advertise about it lol. If you're interested in joining, send me a PM here or you can add me at TheEngineeringGames#5309 and I can send the link there. You don't have to have a tribute to join!
So let's talk about this chapter! I know, it's a doozy lol. I just can't help it when I have all of the mentors together and then also introduce the group of escorts. Which mentor/escort combination are you most looking forward to seeing? And thoughts on the banquet that will happen on the first day?
Looking ahead at the update schedule, I'm hoping to try to keep up weekly updates with this on Fridays, at the very least every other week. At the time of posting this, I've worked ahead while waiting for subs to close and have 7 out of 24 intros written so far! I have the first set of intros done so those will be up next Friday. I'm going in a bit of an unconventional order (District pairs are together still) and I'm curious to see when people start to put together the order - it may seem random, but I promise you, it's not.
I can't wait to get this story moving! I will see you next Friday with the first District pair!
