There was a certain nervous energy in the house as Mom was running around making sure that the house was clean.
"Angelite, come help me, please," said Mom, grabbing her ten-year-old daughter gently by the arm and pulling a little bit. "We have to clear the table. Whose phone charger is that?"
"CABOCHON!" Angelite yelled loudly to her twin brother. "CAB!"
"What?!" called the voice of her twin brother, appearing in the doorway with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.
"Pick up your phone charger please," said Mom. "And brush your hair, please."
"I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it," said Cab, going over to the bathroom to spit in the sink and rinse his mouth.
"Did you brush your teeth?" Mom asked Angelite, smoothing her hair a little bit.
"Mom, why do we gotta brush our teeth, we're going to eat pizza!" Angelite said, excited at the prospect of pizza as she shook her fists with a guttural cry.
"Because I just want everything to be right," said Mom, smoothing her daughter's blonde hair, and tucking it behind her ear, trailing her fingers down it slowly. "Okay?"
"Yeah, alright," said Angelite cooperatively. "Then I gotta go do it."
"And a comb through that hair!" called Mom.
"Yeah Mom," said Angelite, going through the hallways past her twin brother who was pulling pants on. "Ew, close your door!" she said, grabbing his door and pulling it closed on him as he blew a raspberry and started laughing.
"Hey, Angelite," came a familiar voice, and the girl turned hearing her name and stood up a little straighter. Confident took her shoulders and looked into her face. "Give it to me straight, honey. How is she?"
Angelite looked at him and giggled a little bit. "She's Mom!" she told him with a laugh.
"That was what I was afraid you'd say," he said, gently patting her shoulders a few times. "Let me handle Mom and the house. You just focus on getting all dolled up for Mama Peri."
"Okay!" said Angelite, going into the bathroom to brush her teeth obediently. Now that the twins were getting older, they were starting to understand their family dynamic better – other people were confused by it because they had two biological Moms – each with different body parts. When Mama Peri came to terms with being a trans woman, they split, but they remained best friends.
Then, Mom met Confident, and they got married last year, so now the twins had two Moms and a step-dad!
Now…. Mama Peri was finally bringing her new boyfriend to meet everyone! The twins knew about him for a while – it was hard to not know about him with how often they were texting and the few things he left in her house. But the Moms sat down with them and had the talk that it wasn't the right time for them to meet him. Well apparently now was the time and they were practically bouncing off the walls!
"So what do you think he's like?" Cab asked, hanging in the doorway as Angelite pulled her long blonde hair out to start combing through it – oh she hated when it tangled.
"Oh, I don't know," said Angelite, moving her glasses to the side to twist her hair around her finger to crudely section it off. "Hopefully he's fun. I hope he's handsome and funny! Oh, and I hope that he likes to dance or play games, or maybe has a horse. You think he has a horse?"
"What?" asked Cab, just giggling at his sister. "No! Why would he have a horse?"
"Because horses are cool," said Angelite, like it was obvious. "Duh. Why, what do you hope he's like?"
"Well, I hope he's really good to Mama Peri like Confident is to Mom," Cab said. "I think that's my only real criteria."
"Oh, me too," Angelite agreed as she put her hair in lazy low pigtails and then turned back to her brother. "I hope he's good."
"I mean, if we're being allowed to meet him, it means that Mom and Confident like him, which is a good sign right away," said Cab.
"Yeah, they gotta go through the whole vetting process," said Angelite. "But then again, their criteria is probably based on how much they like him when they're all tipsy."
"Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong," said Cab. "But parents going out for drinks more means we get to be home by ourselves and do whatever we WANT!" he said loudly, beating his chest a little bit in excitement.
"Oh yeah!" giggled Angelite, pulling her pigtails one last time before making a huge face at the feeling of them behind her ears along with her glasses, and pulling the hair tie down a little more to keep the hair finely tucked behind her ears without the bulk of the band pushing her ears out next to her glasses. "You think Mama Peri's gonna judge my outfit?" she asked, pulling out the skort she was wearing, a shirt delicately tucked into it.
"Pfft, don't ask me," said Cab with a laugh as he put up his hands and shook his head. "I don't wanna tell you wrong and get you mad!"
"Smart boy," said Angelite, grinning as they heard the doorbell. "EEEE! They're here!"
"Yessss!" said Cab, grabbing his twin's hand and dragging her out a little bit to the door where Mama Peri was taking off her coat and hanging it up nicely. "Mama Peri!" he said, running right to her. Peri let out a laugh and grabbed him, holding him tightly with her strong arms and lifting him up a little bit, ruffling his hair a whole lot with a grrrrrrr while he giggled excitedly.
Angelite didn't run too fast, but followed her brother, sinking back a little bit and waiting until he was done hugging her to wait to be acknowledged.
"Where's my girl?" asked Mama Peri, looking at Angelite. "There she is," she said with a grin as Angelite went over to give her a hug and closed her eyes happily. Whether she was known to them as Dad or Mom, her hugs were always so comforting. "Beautiful," she said, smiling at her as she let go and gently set her down.
"Thanks Mama," said Angelite, before the twins laid eyes on the unfamiliar man that in the doorway, shaking hands with Confident and getting some polite cheek kisses from Mom.
"Ooooooo! He's cuuuuuute," said Cab, grabbing his cheeks with a giggle as he had a little blushy on them.
"I guess," said Angelite with a shrug, but she was giggling too because he was cute.
"Alright you two," said Mama Peri, going to take her beau's hand and walk him over. "This is my boyfriend Gift. Gift, these are my twins." She had a look of pride in her eyes as she looked at them. "Cabochon, and Angelite."
"Hi there!" said Cab, grinning. "You're dating our Mom! You'd better be good to our Mom!"
"He's very good to me," said Peri with a chuckle as she went over to pinch Cab's cheek a little bit and then sweep him up off his feet as he squealed and kicked a little bit. "This is my little protector!"
"Mamaaaaaaa!" said Cab with a squeal as he wriggled a little bit.
Gift smiled at Peri with Cab and had his hands tucked behind his back a little bit.
"Well, come on in! Make yourself at home!" said Mom, putting an arm around his shoulders as Confident showed them into the living room. "Come in, stay a while, have a drink, find a place to sit!"
"Thank you," said Gift with a small smile as he sat down, and Mama Peri threw Cab into a beanbag to go over and then sit next to him. Angelite went to sit next to her brother once he'd sat up the right way, his hair all the way messed up by now thanks to the roughhousing. She was staring at Gift with her blue eyes wide, peeking over her hand at him. She just wanted to know everything about him! But she didn't even know where to start! "So… I know this might feel somewhat sudden, but… Do you have any questions for me?"
"It doesn't feel sudden!" said Cab right away, clapping his hands. "The more the merrier!"
"Yeah, we don't mind," said Angelite, still staring at the new man as mom and Confident sat down on the loveseat together. He had his hands awkwardly on his lap.
"So…" said Cab, tilting his head all the way to the side to look at Gift. "Uhhh…" He looked at Angelite to figure out what questions to ask adults.
"Do you have horses?" asked Angelite with a blink, tilting her head the opposite direction without even thinking about it.
"Oh, no, I don't," said Gift, blinking a few times with an awkward chuckle. "But I like watching them."
"I like watching them too," said Angelite with a smile that was returned a little awkwardly.
"Alright pizza is on its way!" said Mom. "And until it's here…" Angelite looked up when she heard a familiar sound of a game box shaking and saw Confident holding up Ultimate Games Trivia Competition, Volume 2. "Who wants to play a game?"
"Oh, you're going down!" said Peri right away with a huge grin.
"In your dreams," said Confident, exciting Cab because he loved to play games and got so competitive.
"Yeah yeah YEAH!" said Cab right away, looking at them. "Okay okay, I wanna be on… Mom's team! No, Mama Peri! No! Mom!"
"Cab, why don't you ask Angelite what team she wants to be on?" asked Mom.
Angelite felt a little uncomfortable with all their attention on her. She looked back and forth between Mom and Confident, and Mama Peri and Gift. She knew that there was no pressure to pick one or the other as they were a very competitive family. "Um… I wanna be with Mama Peri," she said finally. She went over to sit up on Mama Peri's lap, who hugged her happily and bounced her on her legs a little bit – but gently as she was never into the boyish things like horsing around.
"We're happy to have you," she said, leaning over to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek as Angelite relaxed back into her chest.
"And we're glad to have our boy," said Confident, lifting him up and holding him just for a moment with a manly groan at his weight before setting him down between the two of them.
"You're getting old," Mom teased him, lightly punching his arm before she leaned forward to get the game set up.
"I wanna help shuffle!" Cab said, leaning forward to get a deck of cards from her and starting to shuffle them while Angelite sat with her Mama and watched him – she was always happier to watch while Cab was the one that did things.
"Alright, what color piece do you want to be?" asked Mama Peri, leaning forward with Angelite in her lap.
"Mm…" She looked at the pieces for a moment.
"How about green?" Gift spoke up. "That's my favorite."
"Ooo," said Angelite, nodding and pointing at the green one. "Green." It would be her favorite too, now.
"Alright, twins roll to see who goes first," said Mama Peri, as Cab tossed the die over to Angelite, who caught it easily and started shaking it in her hands. Her brother rolled first.
"Ah, 4! Beat that!"
"I'll try," said Angelite, letting go of her die.
"…Three."
"That's alright, we'll get 'em," Peri said to her as Cab celebrated with Mom and Con and rolled to take his turn.
"Okay… Blue!" he said.
"You ask," said Angelite, giggling as she handed the card to Mama Peri, who leaned over to show Gift as well.
"Alright," said Mama Peri. "This species of mutt killed two members of the Career alliance of the 33rd Hunger Games. Ready, set… Think!" She leaned over and flipped the hourglass timer to allow them time to discuss in hushed whispers. Angelite giggled with her Mom as she stared at the answer on the bottom of the cards.
When the time ran out, Cab burst. "TREE FROGS!"
"Mm…" said Mama Peri, rubbing her chin. "That's right!"
"Alright!" said Cab with a giggle as he high-fived their parents. "We get to advance a space!"
"I'll roll this time," said Mama Peri as she took the die and threw it, moving their piece. "Alright, orange," she said.
Cab grabbed the card and when Confident pointed at where to read, he read their question. "The name of the second-place female tribute from District Nine in the 36th Hunger Games. Ready… Set… GO!"
"What is it?" asked Angelite, staring at them with wide eyes and tweaking her glasses nervously. She hadn't watched them in a while.
"Oh, oh, it's the girl with the… Uh, the pigtails!" said Peri loudly, making her brown hair into pigtails as she was thinking. "What is it…?"
"I think I know," said Gift, getting a little excited.
"TIME!" said Cab loudly, putting his hands on his hips. "Well?"
"Is it, perhaps… Tristabelle Baer?"
"GAH!" said Cab, throwing up his arms dramatically as the parents laughed.
"You got it," said Mom, advancing their piece one space for them.
"Wow," said Angelite with eyes wide as she looked at Gift, impressed that he knew that. She realized she didn't know as much about the Games as she thought.
"Me!" said Cab, throwing the die excitedly and skipping his piece along, counting the spaces out loud. "One… Two… THREE!" he said happily. "Green!"
"I wanna ask," said Angelite, taking the card and feeling her heart start beating a little faster, excitedly. "Okay," she said as she found the green question. "In the twenty-seventh Games, the ally of Jack Cherenkov gifted him his token which was what?"
"Ooohoo hoo," said Cab, rubbing his hands together before looking at his parents. They talked quietly amongst themselves but didn't even run out of time before Confident answered.
"A black bandana!" he said.
"That one was easy!" said Cab proudly.
Angelite squinted. She wasn't sure if she would have known that without seeing the answer on the card. She liked the Games but she never really kept a watchful eye for the details… "You roll!" she said, putting the die into Gift's hands.
"Alright," said Gift, grinning at them as he threw the die and they cheered when he rolled a six.
"Good one babe!" said Peri with a grin as she hugged him, pushing Angelite into him a little bit which she didn't mind.
"Purple!" said Angelite excitedly, shaking her fists. Even though she probably wouldn't know, she was excited for the Game.
"Alright, I'll ask," said Mom, pulling the card up and clearing her throat. "Okay. Oooo, alright, this one is tough," she said right away with a mischievous grin. "How many tributes died on the first day of the 21st Games?"
There was silence as the timer hit the table.
"Wow, I don't remember. So it must have been pretty close to average, right?" asked Gift.
"When was the last time I even watched those Games?" asked Peri, scratching her head.
Angelite thought about it. She watched those Games recently. Two weeks ago. It was… Monday and she was in her bedroom. She thought about the feeling of her fuzzy blanket on her face, visualized Osmium and the Careers counting and she saw the number on Lucy's hands… She could see it. It appeared in her mind… Clearly.
"Ten," she said, confidently, and then again to the other team. "Ten."
"Surely I would have remembered if it was that big!" said Peri, as Mom just gave her daughter a proud grin.
"She's right."
"Daaaang, I wouldn't have known that!" said Cab, his eyes wide with shock. "Wow!" he said. "Way to go Ange!"
"Alright Angie!" said Mama Peri, hugging her and shaking her with a grrr. And the little rough house felt… Good. But not as good as everyone talking amongst themselves about it and celebrating a little bit. Celebrating her. She was right.
"Good job!" said Gift, grinning at her and lightly patting her shoulder. "Go ahead and move our piece up."
"Oh," said Angelite. "Sure." She picked up the green piece, her favorite. And moved it forward on the board. And with that came a… Feeling of pride. She grinned at her family as she went back onto Mama Peri's lap, feeling a warm feeling in her chest, feeling a smile on her face.
She'd never felt like this before.
Something… Changed, that day.
~.~.
She held a green notebook to her chest.
When she was in elementary school, the color green used to be for math, but now that she was twelve and in middle school, it was for Games history. A class that she was starting to love.
She was always a pretty good student, but something about knowing that trivia for the game really sparked an interest for her. An interest that may have been there before, but now was intense.
She always held her notebook out on her chest – it never went in her backpack. She even took it to training with her. It sat next to her while she was learning new weapons. She was really good at archery – it was an easy skill to learn, as opposed to something with a blade that could go haywire if it wasn't well-balanced.
She shot another few arrows and listened with wide eyes as the trainer gave her a few pointers. She was good at learning with her body, but she also wanted to make sure she remembered every word, so she flipped a page in her green notebook – writing from the back of course so she didn't mess up her training notes with her class notes – before she took her next shot.
"Why do you write everything down?" asked Sunny beside her. She asked this more than once. She must have been really curious.
"I don't want to miss a single detail." Angelite finished writing her note, reading them over again before she formed her next shot, adjusting ever-so-slightly as the trainer suggested.
It was the fastest bull's-eye she'd ever shot.
"There you are! I knew that would help." The trainer smile and gave her a high five.
"Yeah!" Angelite said with a grin as that feeling of pride washed over at his praise and made her feel so big and happy. She quickly put a star next to that in her book because that was a winner. But she valued all the advice, even if it wasn't a winner. "Alright, thanks!"
"Weirdo," said Sunny next to her.
"Well she still got the shot!"
"Cab," sighed Angelite because she knew where this was going. "It's fine."
"No it's not, I see how she's looking at you." How they ALL look at you.
"She can look how she wants, I'm just focused on the shot," said Angelite with a shrug, trying to go a little faster and the arrow pinged a little bit as the string snapped back on her arm.
"Ha! I knew it was dumb luck."
"I'll get it," said Angelite, but that great feeling from before was quickly fading away as she went to read her notebook and nervously tweaked her glasses.
"You know, in the Games, you wouldn't have time to read out of a stupid notebook. What Victor do you know that uses a stupid notebook?"
"The notebook isn't stupid," said Angelite matter-of-factly.
"That's it!" said Cab loudly, but he was pulled back by Pygmy.
"Don't fight, my sister will have a cow!" she complained. Everyone quickly put up their hands, intimidated by the District's newest Victor Whimsy Chandler – so much so that even the threat of her sister getting her was enough to cool them down.
"No cows today," said Angelite, putting the bow up. She would have to study a little more before she came back and kept trying to use it. "Cows are cool, though. The animals."
"You sure would think that, because you are one!"
Cab let out a yell and Neon held him back with Pygmy while Sunny just flipped her hair and walked away with a smile on her face.
"Why is that insulting?" asked Angelite as she was walking away. Oh it made Cab mad.
"She's implying that you're fat – which you're not," said Pygmy right away, waiting until Sunny was gone to let go of Cab. "Cool your jets."
"Cool my jets?!" he asked, looking at everyone. "That's my sister!"
"I know I'm weird, Cab," Angelite reassured him, putting her notebook back under her arm and frowning. She hated when things got him so mad like this.
"I just hate that stupid smile. I can see her talking to her friends!"
Angelite looked over at the group who were obviously looking at her and laughing. She just shrugged. "My notebook just makes me happy. It's not a big deal. And I'm not happy seeing you not happy," she told her brother. "Walk me home now?"
"Yeah yeah," said Cab, still simmering a little bit as the twins went to collect their backpacks together – watching one of the older boys kick Angelite's as he walked past it. "Hey!"
"No," said Neon, shaking his head. "Bro, as your best friend I'd have to back you in this fight and there ain't no way I wanna do that."
"He's right, you're way outmatched," said Angelite as she picked up her backpack. "Even all three of us would be."
"I just… Ugh. I don't get why everyone has to pick on you!"
"I do," said Angelite with a shrug. "It's fine, I don't like them either."
"Still," said Cab, shaking his head as Angelite picked up her bag, still keeping her notebook close to her chest. The three of them walked out together and the slight breeze and sunshine felt so nice.
"Oh, I think it's the parents' night out," Angelite said, trying to calm Cab down. "I hope they bring us back some fried mozzarella."
"I mean, me too, I just…" Cab released a frustrated huff from his nose.
"Dude, chill, it's over now," said Neon, patting his shoulder a few times. "Aight?"
"I know," said Cab. "One of these days, though…" He didn't know what he was gonna do but it sure as hell wasn't gonna be pretty.
"Well it's done now," said Angelite, "Just as Neon said." She pulled out her key first to unlock the door of the house. Sure enough, Mom and Confident had dinner in the fridge for them to microwave as they were out with Peri and Gift at the bar. "Oh, apples and peanut butter, don't mind if I do," she said as she took a piece of apple and dipped it in the peanut butter.
"I love your parents!" Neon said right away as he went to take a few pieces and Cab ate the apples and peanut butter separately – the apples first, then the peanut butter off his finger.
"Alright, so what are we gonna do while they're gone? I got a new video game." Cab grinned as Neon gave a quick assent.
Angelite once liked to do that kinda thing, but not really the type of games the boys liked playing. Not really her thing. In fact she knew what she wanted to do. "I think I'm just gonna go… Watch the Games."
"Bo-ring!" said Neon, but he knew that most of the games were only two-player and hated a small split screen so he didn't try that hard.
"Are you sure, Angie?" asked Cab with a frown. "I mean, we can do something else if you want."
"That's okay," she said, smiling as she got a few more apple pieces for the road. "Have fun though."
"…If you're sure," said Cab with a frown. And she was more than sure. Cab and Neon went to flop on the beanbags as Cab turned the TV. Angelite watched them for just a second before she hurried off to Mom and Dad's room – she loved watching on the big screen they had in their room. She reached over and turned the TV on, and was glad she only missed the first part of chariot rides.
Like clockwork, she got out her laptop, and pulled up her masterpiece.
The spreadsheet.
It was her pride and joy. A profile of every Victor to ever walk out of the Arena, a separate tab for every mutt, a spreadsheet for every natural disaster. She watched for every single detail. She leaned forward towards the TV as she watched it happen. It was almost as if it was live.
It was the 40th Games – one she hadn't watched since it was live and she didn't know better.
Bronx Stringer. District Eight Male. He had black hair and greenish hazel eyes. He was 5'10". He used a sword and hand-to-hand combat. His angle was a great journey – standoffish at first, and a true patriot by the time of his Victory.
Her eyes were glued to the screen as she watched in the dark and her fingers were flying across the keys for every detail. Oh, she wanted to watch that again. How did they do that?! What kind of maneuver did they use? Now that she was in training herself she started to understand even more the techniques she was seeing on the screen, which made it so much more fun and interesting.
The bloodbath had 7 deaths.
The Arena was a castle on an open landscape. There was very little room to hide.
Bronx had zero allies.
Bronx killed four tributes.
The data was so exciting.
Cab opened the door, letting light into the room and making Angelite cry out and press pause on the screen, eyes a little wide. Had it been that long?
"Hey," he said, before looking at the screen and the laptop she'd quickly slammed shut. "…What are you doing?"
"It's a…. Secret project. The same."
"Aha," said Cab with a small grin at her. "Alright, then I won't pry. But I want to!"
"I know you do," said Angelite. He hated when she kept secrets from him, and honestly, vice versa. But nobody could see this until it was ready. And right now it wasn't ready yet. So he would have to wait. They all would have to wait.
"Well, I have dinner heating up now," he said. "Will you come eat with us? Please?"
Angelite thought about that for a moment. She didn't really want to, but… She couldn't disappoint him. "Alright, sure," she said, and smiled when he grinned.
"…But I have to finish this finale first. So let me be til then!"
~.~.
Graphs.
A fourteen-year-old girl was looking at graphs. They were so beautiful.
In the background played the 44th Games where District Three's Ace Holiday was receiving a sponsor present. He ran a hand through shaggy dark brown hair.
"W-Wow, thank you."
She spoke with him at the same time, in the same tone of voice. She knew all the words. She went back to her graphs, speaking along with the Games on the screen while she typed almost mindlessly.
"I won't let you down."
He got a total of five sponsor gifts. Above the average of four. But the average was skewed by Donovan Osten who got a sponsor gift every day of his ten-day Games journey. Then there was Luther Pultzer of the 41st who got none at all. And that wasn't accounting for the few years where sponsoring was seen as slightly taboo – the mood shift had something to do with the data as well.
She was always searching for why along with the numbers. It was something she was interested in, and passionate about.
"Yo, Ang," Cab said, knocking first before he opened her door and then just looked at her for a moment. "…Spreadsheet?" he asked finally.
"Yeah," she said. "Oh, but look at this, I'm crunching numbers for whether more tributes were killed by bipedal or quadrupedal muttations and it's interesting."
"Cool," said Cab mildly.
"You barely even looked!" she protested right away.
"I'll look later," he promised. "But well, Neon and I were gonna go out shopping since we got our allowances and I want you to come with us."
"Mm." Angelite sighed a little bit, feeling an angry feeling pricking at her fingertips which just wanted to keep typing. She just wasn't in the mood to go out. "I don't know Cab."
"Come on! I heard that there's a sale on engraving right now! I know you were talking about a possible future token."
"Yeah," said Angelite, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. The majority of Victor tokens weren't engraved, but they were jewelry. But they were family jewelry, not bought jewelry. Of the tokens, only 2 of them were necklaces, one a bracelet, and a staggering six rings. So obviously she knew what she had to take. Only four of the jewelry pieces were engraved, and only one custom-made. "I think I'm alright."
"Well I don't want you to just sit in there by yourself," Cab said with a sigh as he looked at her. "Have you even seen anyone besides the family recently?"
"I guess not," Angelite said as she thought of it. But she didn't mind all that much.
"WellI'm sure the majority of Victors had friends."
"The average number of final eight interviewees for Victors is five," said Angelite. "So I already have both sets of parents, and you. Done!"
"And Neon?"
"Sorry, he's out."
Cab just sighed and shook his head, a slight smile on his face, but it was disappearing by the second. "That's just a little heartless, don't you think?"
"You just say that because of your big stupid crush," laughed Angelite, finally closing the laptop and getting up to punch his arm as she pulled off her glasses to wipe them a little bit before putting them back on.
"It's not a big crush," Cab said, grabbing his arm a little bit. "Ow."
"Oh sorry," said Angelite with a chuckle. She was starting to become so strong she forgot about controlling it. Which is good because almost all of the Victors went into the Games toned. "Neon's more your friend than mine now anyways."
"Oh, that's not true," said Cab right away as they went out to the kitchen where the aforementioned was sitting on a game system waiting for them.
"Are we going Cab?" he asked, flopping over dramatically. "I just want to see the pretty girls that shop downtown!"
"Yeah, we can go," he said, elbowing his sister a little bit. "Come on, Angie."
"Angie's coming?" Neon asked, laying his head on his cheek.
"Yes," said Cab.
"I don't have to," said Angie, putting up her hair and tucking it into a hat.
"What are you gonna even get? You can't buy data," Neon told her.
"She's going to look for a Games token," said Cab.
"Nah, that's alright, I guess I'm just going for Cab."
"Well that's no fun," said Cab. "Come on, you have your allowance."
"Yeah, but you get more than me because you do more about the house." Her parents never got mad about it because they were getting more and more excited about her success in training. After all, she was in the top ten of her class at this point thanks to her ability to learn quickly.
"You could get more if you weren't such a hermit," said Neon.
"Bro," said Cab, flashing him a bit of a look as his lip went down in a bit of a scowl.
"Let's just go," said Angie. "I'll look for you guys."
"Oh, I know what I want," said Neon as he got up and started out the door. "Your boy needs some real man's cologne so I can smell good."
"Okay, smart," said Angie because he did smell bad.
"And I am looking for new shoes," said Cab, putting out his foot with shoes that were slightly dirty and a little scuffed. "Bleh."
"Cab? Buying new shoes? No," said Angelite sarcastically as she pushed her ponytail more into her hat and pulled down on her sports bra before she put on her tennis shoes. "Never could have guessed." But she was watching the 44th Games still, in her head. She was watching the giant beetle decapitate the boy from District Nine. Straight for the neck. The only mutt that did so, it was so interesting. An outlier. Most of the quadrupedal mutts scratched and bit. Then again, none of them could really fly either.
"Alright Mom! We're going!" Cab called into the family room.
"Do you have everything?" Confident called back to them.
"Yeah yeah," said Cab, but Mom was already up to check them and she blinked when she saw her daughter.
"Oh, Angie, you're going with them."
"Is that… Okay?" Angelite asked, looking at her. "Because I really don't have to go."
"That's great," said Mom, patting her cheeks a few times. "Have your money? Go find yourself something nice."
"Yeah, I might," said Angelite with a shrug.
"Alright, please don't forget to pick up some produce on your way home, alright?" she asked, kissing the tops of all three of their heads.
"We won't!" said Cab with a smile.
"I'll make sure they remember," said Angelite.
Produce. She thought about the big apple tree in the 34th Arena. Bee mutations lived inside all the apples on the ground and caused some damage – killing the girl from 4 slowly who was allergic to bees. No allergies.
"I know you will," said Mom. "Alright, have fun you three."
"We will," Cab said, grabbing Angelite's hand to keep her from running away and pulling her out the door as Mom watched, and Neon waved and then followed them.
"Alright, out on the town!" said Cab excitedly. "Oh I'm so ready! I have my eyes on some Adventrs!"
"Dude, those are so expensive!" Neon said.
"And so is fancy cologne!"
"I just wish that brand could fucking spell," said Angelite.
"Oh me too," said Neon with a chuckle. "Oh, I love downtown, it's so nice here!"
"Nice when there aren't people everywhere," Angelite said. It was still busy, but a little calmer.
"Ice cream?! I want some ice cream!" said Neon right away when he saw a little kid carrying a cone and licking it happily. "Hey kid! Where'd you get that?!"
The little boy looked at them with dark blue eyes deep as the sky and then shook his head quickly. "Puma said no to strangers!" he said, running over to a woman and a… Uh… Man? She wasn't really sure and didn't really assume things.
"Oh, it's okay, Ne," said his parent, chuckling and smoothing his hair. "There's a place a few blocks that way, down third street," they said, pointing down the intersection.
"Oh, thank you," said Cab right away. "I like me some ice cream too. We should definitely go."
"No problem, boys. You guys enjoy."
Boys?
Cab was pulling them along toward the ice cream place, but hearing that made her feel a little… Funny.
"Haha, that guy totally thought you were a dude!" Neon said with a laugh.
"Yeah, that was kinda weird," Cab said with a slight chuckle.
"I mean…" Angelite tapped her cheek a few times. Huh. "…Meh." She reached up and tucked even more of her ponytail in her hat, straightening up a little bit so she could feel the sports bra tighter against her chest. Did she really look flat like that? Her T-shirt was kinda oversized so it was hard to see definition in that area. Huh. She pulled her jean shorts a little bit down her legs as she couldn't stop thinking about it. Boys.
"Whatever, I just want ice cream," Neon said, and when they caught sight of the store, he hurried forward. Angelite stopped at one of the bigger department stores and looked in it for a moment, biting her lip.
"You guys go on," she said finally as Cab had slowed with her. "I… Think I know what I want to buy."
"You sure?" asked Cab.
"Let's go, I'm hungry!" said Neon.
"Yeah," said Angelite. "I'll… Meet you there."
Cab frowned, but he just nodded. "Alright," he said finally. "See you there."
The other two left and Angie looked at the store, before slipping inside, pulling her money out of her pocket and counting it. Not enough to get a whole outfit, but she had her hat and T-shirt already. She put her head down and went to the men's section.
What was this feeling? She didn't know. But it felt so… Forbidden. And yet something was making her heart pound as she went for a pair of cargo shorts. What are these sizes?! She didn't understand them. She unfolded one and held it up, taking a few that looked similar and close to her size before she hurried to the dressing room. The first she could step into without even undoing the button. Even the smallest she'd picked out was too big. She took the belt off her own jeans – she wouldn't be able to buy one here, but once it was secured she tucked her shirt in and then turned around to look in the mirror.
A gasp.
She stared at her reflection and didn't recognize herself for a moment. But there was something about seeing who was in the mirror that she liked. She turned to the side and could see just the slightest curve from the side profile and she quickly turned back around to the front. Was this what people meant when they said they loved themselves!? She felt a wave of happiness. The shorts were way too big and didn't fit, but she quickly balled up her jean shorts and couldn't have moved faster to check-out.
"Can I please just buy these without taking them off?" she asked quickly, turning around to show the clerk the tag.
"Of course, honey," said the clerk, taking the security tag off quickly and scanning them in. She paid for them and held her jean shorts in her hand, quickly handing them over to the clerk before tweaking her glasses nervously.
"These were a reject," she said.
"Alright, I'll take care of them," the girl said with a smile. "You're all set," she added as she handed Angelite the receipt.
"Thank you," breathed Angelite as she balled it up and put it in one of the pockets – wow, they were so big she would probably forget there was anything in there.
"Hey," the clerk said, looking at her for a moment. She had red hair and a sweet face, she looked so… Nice. "We have binders with the athleticwear."
"Why would binders be in athletic wear?" asked Angie with a chuckle. "I have lots of binders."
"I mean… Chest binders," the clerk said – Fortune, as per her nametag. "Let me walk you over there.'
"Oh," said Angie, looking down at her chest. She didn't mind it, but… She might as well go look… Fortune took her to the swimwear and pulled out the binders – they looked really nice, almost like sports bras. "Oh," she said, because she wanted to try it on so badly.
"Try this one," said Fortune, handing it over to her with a gentle smile, gesturing her over to the dressing room.
"Oh," said Angie, turning it over to check the price tag and wincing. "Oh. Sorry, I'll have to… Ask my…" She frowned. "Parents." She didn't know what they were going to say…
Fortune smiled and gently pushed her lower back. "Go try it. Don't worry about that."
Angelite looked at her for a moment, before scurrying off to the dressing room. She slowly took off her shirt, and the body she was looking at suddenly looked like a stranger to her. What was happening to her?
She shook her head a little bit, replacing her sports bra with the binder. She pulled on the binder and then put her glasses back on, squinting at herself in the mirror and trying to figure out what she felt about it, before she put her shirt back on. She looked… The same…
Until she turned to the side.
Wow.
It was like she recognized this body, despite never being flat like this before.
It wasn't perfect, but boy, it was better.
No, she never really liked the boyish stuff… She never got that sad feeling with her body like Peri always talked about. That wasn't her…
But something about this felt like it was more her than she'd ever been. She quickly collected the money she had in her pocket and counted it out. Not quite enough, ugh, maybe Cab would come get it, but she couldn't ask him to do that and not have enough for his shoes…
A gentle knock startled her. "Just a moment."
"Are you doing okay in there? Need another size?" It was just Fortune.
"Oh…" she said, clearing her throat. "No, it's perfect," she said, staring at her reflection and turning to the side again. She couldn't stop looking.
"Then don't worry about it. Let me cut the tag off for you."
Angelite's eyes filled with… Tears. "Oh." She always loved the boy Victors and she was quickly realizing why she connected so much with them. But… No, this was still crazy. She opened the door, pulling the shirt off her shoulder to show the tag to Fortune, who cut it off, slipping the tag into her pocket.
"I got it," she said, gently adjusting her shirt back to the normal spot. "Have a great day." She turned to start walking away.
"Fortune," she said, causing the girl to turn around and put a hand on her nametag. Angelite went over and gave her a quick hug. "Thank you."
The girl just smiled and hugged back – she gave great hugs – and then patted her shoulder. "You're welcome," she said.
She didn't realize it – or maybe she did – but she changed her life.
She started up on a text as she hurried out the door, before going to the ice cream shop. She noticed that she stood up taller. She took bigger steps. She had a bigger smile on her face. She felt… Confident, just like all the Victors on TV that stood tall when they received their crowns. It was a happiness she couldn't explain because she'd never felt anything like it before.
When she went in the store and the bell rang, Cab shook his head in disbelief and Neon made a bit of a weird face.
"Uh…" said Cab. "Hey."
Angelite looked at them as she started to feel nervous all of a sudden.
Her heart started to beat faster.
She avoided looking at them for a moment.
"I asked Peri to come get me."
He knew that he needed to talk to his Mama.
~.~.
Cuprian.
It was the perfect new name. He knew that Mama Peri named them all for gems and wanted to continue the trend.
And it started with the letter C.
C was the most common letter for Victor names.
To date there were six Victors whose names began with the letter C.
Cyprian.
Chaz.
Cayman.
Chrome.
Cash.
Chaff.
All of them were males as well. In fact, male was the most common gender to win the Games. The most common tribute spot to win was District Two Male. All seven of District Two's Victors were male. District One male was the second most common. Of District One's Victors, three were male, and two were female. So it was slightly more statistically likely that the male spot would come out as a Victor.
The average number of letters in the first names that started with C was five. Obviously Cuprian was longer than five, which was why he had adopted a nickname. Cupey. Five letters. Falls perfectly in the middle of the bunch.
Therefore, Cupey was the perfect addition to the legacy. He was going to do everything he could possibly do in order to make himself more likely to be the Victor.
When Gift proposed to Mama Peri a few weeks later, the topic of last names came up. All four parents breached the topic together. They said that Mama Peri was changing her last name to match Gift's, and if the twins wanted to change their last names as well to reflect their families, there would be no hurt feelings.
Cab chose to keep his name.
But Cupey was ready to change.
Pearson.
It was a tight race, but the most common last name for the Victors started with the letter P.
Pascal.
Pyle.
Piccozzi.
Pultzer.
Pritchard.
Besides the one outlier, the last names were all two syllables.
The average number of letters in those last names was 6.8, rounded up to seven, which allows Pearson to fall right in the middle. It was a perfect average.
Cupey Pearson was, based on the data of Victor names, the most likely tribute to win the 51st Hunger Games, when he volunteered for them.
It was a controversial and tight race once Cupey switched sides. Questions about fairness were raised when he started using T. He was smaller than the other guys, he was weaker than them.
But he didn't stop.
Tenacity.
It was the only trait found in all fifty Victors to date. Some were brutal, some were soft. Some were agile, some were clumsy. Some were outgoing, some were quiet. Some were volunteers, some were reaped. But one thing remained consistent – they all had tenacity. This desire to win. Obviously they did or else they wouldn't be here. And that was a trait that Cupey had focused on learning, doing everything to master. Without it, he was as good as dead.
And his tenacity did good things for him.
School wasn't necessary anymore. Cupey trained in the days, and watched the Games at night, working on his spreadsheet. Wondering what else there was to learn from. The fiftieth Quell had him adjusting spreadsheets left and right, as the prospect of forty-eight tributes instead of twenty-four made skewed his data so severely. But it was part of his data set and could be learned from. So he studied the footage again and again and again. He made little changes on his data where necessary. He calculated new averages, updated his graphs. He worked on his masterpiece.
And here he was.
Last year had sent off four tributes that were at the top of the ranks, two at eighteen and two at seventeen. This year was his moment.
"Cupey!"
He heard someone calling him as he had just finished a fatal blow on a training dummy. He pulled his sword out of the heart with a foot on the stomach and turned to face Cab, putting the weapon over his shoulder as some fluff fell off of it.
A staggering twenty out of fifty Victors used a sword to earn their Victory. Whether that was a bloodbath grab, a feast success, or a sponsor gift. That was just too high to ignore. So the bow was racked and instead Cupey put everything into mastering the weapon.
"What's up?" Cupey squinted to see who was approaching him and reached up to push back dark brown hair that was plastered to his forehead with sweat.
"Whassup, dude," Bold said – at the bottom of the ten and mostly having given up. He didn't have that tenacity. That Victor tenacity. "Wanna spar?"
"I'm going after you, I'm the one that actually stands a chance to get 'em down anyways," said Vibrant, boasting the number 4 spot. But number fours weren't winners. They weren't Victors. They were just trainers-to-be, if they were any good. And not all of them were.
Cupey thought about every word. Every move. He thought deeply about every thing he did. What would a Victor say? The majority of Victors were not too friendly. They were not overly emotive. They were cool, but reserved. Not a brute, but not a softie. Likable, but not too friendly. It was a delicate balance that almost every Victor had mastered – almost of course, but majority ruled. "Alright." He looked at them with confident brown eyes. His contact moved a little bit in the left eye and he blinked it back into place.
Twenty-three of the Victors had brown eyes. That was almost half. That was a staggering statistic.
"Alright alright, here we go again," Cupey said, going to get one of the blunt sparring weapons and holding it up as he went on the mat.
"Cupey's up again!" called one of the fourteen-year-olds, and soon there was a small group of younger trainees that gathered around the mat to watch.
"Alright Cupey!" Cab's voice rang out amongst the crowd as he pumped his fist excitedly. "Woo!"
"That's my friend up there," said Neon as he put his arm around Cab and gave a dazzling smile to Pygmy and the other trainees that were gathering. "The one with the fringey brown hair."
"We know," said Pygmy, but a couple of her female companions laughed and cheered.
"Hey!" said Cupey from the mat as Bold's friends were giving him a pep talk that consisted of mostly teasing and laughing. He turned to squint at the group of friends. It was a little hard to see, but the Victors with glasses were the very minimum. "Save some for me."
Straight. But not dating anyone.
"Aaaaah!" cried Bold as he charged before anyone could agree the battle was going to start – just to try and have a leg up. But Cupey quickly raised his sword to counter.
Always be ready for surprises.
He had to, and he was. He had a sense for it when anyone was even close to him with a weapon, real or fake, spar or fight.
It was electrifying, fighting in front of a crowd this way. The way the crowd cheered and gasped as if they themselves were part of the battle. He could hear Cab and Neon. He could hear Pygmy and the girls. He caught his sword with Bold's, quickly practicing the disarming technique he had done so many times before, like clockwork. Bold's weapon clattered on the floor. The friends screamed in shock, as if this came as a great surprise. But to Cupey, it wasn't really. It was just a natural action and reaction. He'd watched so many Games at this point that it was like his left hand. He could imagine how the fight looked from the left camera angle, or the right, above, or below. He had seen it all before. And he knew how to win.
"You could have let me drag it out even a little bit," Bold complained as he got back on his feet. Cupey debated helping him – sometimes he did and sometimes not – but Bold was already up.
Cupey pushed back his hair before remembering it should look good and then carefully shook it out. The fringe fell just a little bit into his eye, causing him to blink a few more times, before he put his eyes back on the prize and Vibe who was stepping up to the mat, a few of them hooting to encourage him along.
Cheer for me.
Say my name.
He thought it in his mind, but didn't dare say that out loud. Victors were humble, most of the time. They could get a little arrogant, but most Victors knew when to keep the arrogance in check. So Cupey would follow them.
He had done all his homework. He knew more about the Games than every person in this Academy combined. And in every single way of life he had made himself to be the one that would take the crown, from his looks to his personality to his strategies.
It was another quick and easy battle for Cupey to win.
It was like clockwork. It was his life. It was who he was. If something about him didn't fall within the average, he changed it. He changed his hair, his eyes, his body, his personality. Every part of him was all towards this goal. For the applause, for the spoils, for the honor of being worthy, and to be like the people he loved and idolized.
That was the only thing he knew about himself for sure.
Who is Cuprian Pearson?
Cuprian Pearson is a Victor.
~.~.
It was the night before the reaping, and the Academy was taken over by a group of seven teenagers.
The weapons were all on their racks.
The mats? Mostly uninhabited, a few of them actually moved.
On the television screen, the thirty-sixth Hunger Games.
And right in front of it were two future tributes, eyes as wide as saucers, leaning in towards the screen.
Dazzle Hewitt had a notebook in her lap. Cuprian Pearson had his laptop on his legs. He squinted a little bit, blinking a few times to keep his contacts from drying out, and leaned towards the TV.
They were birds of a feather, the two of them, truly they were. Who else would sit there watching the Games so close to the screen at the Academy lock-in?
"Look at that," said Dazzle, the only one of the group to speak – and commanding the show of course with her chatty nature. "Did you see that? Look at Atticus Hollow." She trailed the scruffy boy from Ten with her finger on the screen. "See that? PAUSE! REWIND!" she said loudly as Cupey handed her the remote, hitting the down key a few times as he was reading over his chart. "Look," she said, pointing at him. "See that brief side-glance at Dawn? It's because he is actually a twenty-something year old assassin hired to take her life to get back at her parents. That's why he made sure that vine would break and she would fall into the goop. RIGHT THERE!"
"Huh," Cupey said as Dazzle was tapping her pen on her chin, putting it just a little bit in her mouth.
"I'm telling you there's something weird about him," she said. "Weird weird."
"I mean, he's really weird," Cupey said as he nodded slowly. "Not sure that he was trying to assassinate a twelve-year-old girl, but… Weird."
"Well that's the only theory that makes sense!" said Dazzle, turning toward him as she was chewing on her pen.
"…Does she always do this?" Cab asked the girl with the long dark blonde hair put up in a bun.
"Yep," said Dazzle's sister Destiny, but the fourteen-year-old had a proud smile on her face.
"So what happened to that Regina girl anyways?" asked Neon. "And pass me the popcorn!"
"He thought she was hot," said Cab right away, elbowing his friend a few times who made a noise of protest as Cupey turned around to pass the bowl back but only once the Games were paused on the screen.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it," said the girl with the dark brown bob who was not related to Dazzle. "She was at a party and got blackout wasted, and someone dared her to try to parkour from the top of a flight of stairs!"
"…Someone…." Said Cab, looking at them with a funny look.
"Who would even do that?" Dazzle asked, tilting her head to the left side in an adorable fashion as Cupey's head instinctively tilted to the right.
"Oh, no idea," said Neon, but he said it funny.
"Anyways!" said the boy with shoulder-length hair that matched Fantasy's. "The Games. Daz, if you get scared, let me know and I'll hold you."
"I could never get scared of the Games, I'm about to be in them," Dazzle said with a nervous chuckle as she turned back to the screen, perking up with interest again. "Alright, I'm gonna watch this one more time and tell me he doesn't give her a side glance!"
Cupey leaned even more towards the screen – even moreso than he was, blocking the view of the friends behind the two tributes. Dazzle pressed play and Cupey watched the boy from Ten closely, his eyes wide as he was trying to see things not-so-blurrily.
"Oh wow, I see it!" Cupey said as he turned to Dazzle. "Huh, I didn't notice that."
"There are a lot of things Dazzle notices," said Myth with a grin at her.
"They're not the same things I notice," said Cupey as he looked at his spreadsheet. "Did you know that this Games is just one of eleven thusfar with at least one openly nonbinary tribute in them?"
"That seems really low," said Dazzle.
"I can name them if you like."
"Please don't," said Cab with a small sigh, looking at Dazzle who actually looked disappointed that he shut this down. Of course she was. "Cupey, don't you wanna… Train or something?"
"I've already trained nothing I do now is going to help me at all. Physical skills take way longer to master than rote memorization of facts."
"And I gotta show you what he does day eight!" Dazzle said right away.
"Oh, what does he do?!" Cupey asked right away. "Now I gotta see. You notice things I don't."
"And your spreadsheet is fantastic!" said Dazzle, going over to lean against him to see it better, tweaking her own glasses. "Wow, you even totaled how many mutts! How do you count them all?"
"A lot of pausing," said Cupey with a laugh.
"Well I'll say!" Dazzle said right away, leaning her head on her hand. "You taking this with you?"
"If I can," Cupey said right away. "I'm gonna print it out and put it in my pocket. Speaking of, I gotta do that before everyone comes in for the banquet."
"Print two copies!" said Dazzle as they watched the group use water to clean up the goop and go to the ocean.
"Okay!" said Cupey, getting up but she grabbed him by the shirt to pull him back down.
"Hold on. Look at that. Did you see that?!" she asked earnestly.
"…No," said Cupey.
"Ugh! Then I have to rewind!" she begrudgingly hit the rewind button and Cupey obediently sat and watched once more, absorbed in every second of it.
"Well, this is going to be an interesting showing," Neon said as he watched them.
"Yeah," said Fantasy with a small laugh, looking at the two of them huddled together with the light of the screen reflecting off of their faces.
"Welp. Pretty soon it won't be our problem," said Fantasy, cueing Myth and Destiny to complain that she said it.
"You're right," said Cab with a small sigh as he watched his twin brother and shook his head as he started to smile.
"Good luck to their mentors."
~.~.
A/N: If you're reading this it means I've finally decided to come out of the stockpile and started posting the intros. It also means that I have half or over half of the intros finished and ready to post in a reasonable timeframe! Woo hoo!
I'm planning to keep intro hell as short as possible of a time period for everyone by posting these updates in a timely manner. Why do I even do A/Ns anymore when it's just Lauren and Dreamer reading anyways? Hi Lauren and Dreamer.
Anyways, see you next time for a Honker of an update for our D2 Male, Consus Ornstein.