CHAPTER 14 - INTERVIEW WITH THE DEVIL
Afflatus watched as Lustre drank in the attention from the hospital staff, then the style and prep teams, then Enoch Albano, himself, as they chatted before the Victor's Interview.
Lustre was on cloud nine.
The post-Hunger Games program worked as such: Enoch and Lustre would watch a recap of the Games, and simultaneously would stream Lustre's reactions and on-the-spot answers to Enoch's commentary and questioning. It would be broadcasted to all later, after time to edit it, of course.
Afflatus was afforded the only live seat in the house, other than cast and crew. She was supposed to be here to support him. It made Afflatus' stomach turn.
Since his victory, Lustre had only gotten worse. His hubris was at an all-time high, and he'd been increasingly rude to Afflatus. He was the new, shiny, D1 victor now, complete with metal parts. The four fingers on his left hand that had been severed during his final battle were surgically replaced with the same implant technology as Afflatus' limbs.
If she didn't know how much of a psychopath he was, she'd merely think he was jealous. She knew his real goal was control, though. He kept proclaiming himself D1's new 'gem.' His personality tired her.
But at least if she was with him, she wasn't forced on an assignment. It was ironic Lustre was the lesser of two evils in this situation.
If he ever tried to do to her, what he did to Basal, she'd kill him without a second thought. She didn't care if she died because of it.
Afflatus glared at the boy with copper hair, from across the room at the craft supply table. Lustre paid her no mind, bantering with Enoch. She rolled her eyes, and examined her metal nails.
If she were allowed, she'd fix razor acrylics to the ends.
The interview began.
"Hello, Panem!" Enoch roared to the cameras. He paused for their presumed applause. "We're joined with our Victor of the 50th Hunger Games, the second Quarter Quell, Lustre Elysian. What an incredible Hunger Games!" Enoch laughed, over-excited.
"Thank you for having me, Enoch, I'm excited for the opportunity." Lustre said, cocky.
"I bet you are! Fantastic! Roll the tapes!" Enoch commanded.
There were several reference screens in the room for the crew, Afflatus couldn't avoid them any direction she looked. It was time to see what the Capitol chose to include, how they were going to paint this deranged killer rapist- he was too odd for a classic career image.
The movie began.
The bloodbath in the heavenly arena played first. The footage panned over the luxurious, perfect gardens. Afflatus averted her eyes when the D6 boy was sawn in half. The cameras cut after Basal fled, and Lustre ditched the careers, hot on his heels.
The footage switched to the hellscape arena, significantly scarier. Magma flowed, the air looked thick, and unnatural, guttural sounds emanated from unknown sources. Demon mutts attacked tributes who tried to flee. The two careers only managed to slaughter three tributes amongst the chaos. Rhea's tribute was killed by the demon mutts.
After the chaos, the survivors fled, Tait's D3 tribute running straight into the tunnel leading to the circles of hell.
The footage paused.
"What incredible arenas! Did you love our Quarter Quell twist?" Enoch asked Lustre.
"Seeing them on camera doesn't do it justice, Enoch, they were absolutely beautiful." Lustre had a shit-eating grin on his face.
Enoch ate him up. "I'm so glad you agree. Now, Lustre, why did you decide to leave your alliance after the bloodbath? It's unusual for career tributes, am I correct?"
Afflatus straightened up, interested in the answer.
"To help Basal, of course." Lustre expressed mock-sympathy. "It was clear to everyone during prep week that he was unwell, and I wanted to protect him."
A lie, a lie, and another lie. Basal's hadn't broken until after the bloodbath. And the fact Lustre was framing his treatment of Basal as 'help' almost made Afflatus lose her breakfast. The angle they were going for as sickening.
"Protect him? Surely, he'd be an easy mark. Why not dispatch him during the bloodbath?" Enoch probed.
"I knew I would kill him eventually, of course, as is the spirit of the games, but I thought I could ease his suffering during our time in the arena." Lustre said in the same fake sympathetic tone.
"So, you sacrificed you advantage with a stronger alliance, to help someone in need?" Enoch asked.
"Yes, sir." Lustre confirmed.
"Altruistic and gorgeous, what a prize of a victor!" Enoch proclaimed.
Afflatus sighed and rolled her eyes into oblivion. Lustre side-eyed her briefly before turning his attention back to Enoch.
"Oh Enoch, you flatter me." Lustre tried to look humble, but failed.
The movie started playing. It showed hell, Tait's tribute winding her way through the first few circles and careers dodging demon mutts. Then, the footage cut to Basal. The boy sat on the top of a white-washed turret, conversing with the air in front of him.
It disheartened Afflatus, they didn't need to show Basal losing his mind. It served Lustre's story, though, so they would. It was disgusting, she wished the audience could see who Lustre and Basal truly were.
The footage showed Lustre following Basal, but not interacting with him.
"Lustre," Enoch started as the footage progressed, "Why did you not make yourself known to Basal right away, since you intended to protect him?"
"Well, Enoch, I don't want to speak ill of the boy, but he could be unpredictably violent. He was volatile before the Games, picking fights with everyone. I wanted to keep my distance, but keep an eye on him. I stepped in when necessary." Lustre said, smiling.
"Of course, a strategic play!" Enoch responded.
The slander was ludicrous, Afflatus thought. Lustre just described himself, not Basal. Basal was the opposite. Bliss would be furious watching this later.
The careers killed a tribute in hell.
The footage progressed.
The numbers dwindled. Lustre killed the last girl in the heavenly arena; the kill that triggered the arena swap. The footage showed him introduce himself to Basal and sweep into a strange, theatrical bow before the tribute lost consciousness.
Lustre and Basal woke up in hell. The footage didn't show Basal waking first, pawing around, scaring the shit out of Lustre when he shook the boy awake. It showed Basal asking Lustre what they were going to do. Damn the final cut, it was making Basal seem like he couldn't tie his shoes without Lustre, when in reality, Basal probably helped Lustre more in hell than the other way around. He'd guided them, he'd found water.
"Lustre, which arena did you enjoy more?" Enoch asked.
"Honestly Enoch, you might not believe me, but I enjoyed hell more." Lustre announced.
"Why's that?" Enoch looked entranced.
"The trials I faced were unmatched. I've never seen an arena like this before, with the complexity and different circles. I was proud to make it through the challenges." Lustre said.
"And that, you did. The gamemakers did an amazing job, this year." Enoch said, letting the footage roll.
Afflatus zoned out, staring at the screens. She didn't care for the play-by-play.
Time progressed.
Every so often, they switched to show the heavenly arena, but mainly focused on Basal and Lustre's journey.
Basal killed the D2 boy- Jet, who'd sawed the D6 boy in half. Enoch actually praised his efforts, instead of berating him for once.
They took their time showing different angles of the different circles of hell, cinematically capturing the horrors. The boys progressed, strategically not engaging any of the mutts.
They did not show what scared Lustre in the sixth circle, but they captured the terror on his face.
"Lustre, everyone wants to know, what did you see down there?" Enoch asked.
"Something that looked like the devil, himself." Lustre answered.
"Wow! Can you describe it for us?" Enoch asked.
"I don't think I could, even if I wanted to." Lustre answered, cheeky. Enoch shot him a glance, but accepted the answer.
Unsurprisingly, they did not show Lustre sexually assault Basal, nor did they show Basal's distress afterwards. It was scrubbed from the record, Basal's suffering erased. Just like Afflatus' torture had been erased.
Not that it would have been better to stream it, it would be better if the gamemakers had crushed Lustre to death in a tunnel collapse so he couldn't carry out the heinous acts. But alas, that hadn't happened.
Basal looked shaken the following morning, but Lustre chalked it up to his mental state.
"I think, this is where we see Basal start to decline. Would you agree?" Enoch asked.
"Yes, unfortunately. He was crying all night, scared of the arena. I did my best to comfort him. He said he kept hearing voices, and they were freaking him out too much." Lustre said, shrugging.
That fucking bastard liar, Afflatus thought, heart pounding. His pants must be burning. Bliss was going to lose it.
"Well, you were noble to try and comfort him, even if he wasn't receptive." Enoch said, flatter than usual.
It would surprise Afflatus if Enoch was in the dark about Lustre's truth. She wondered if it was hard for the man to play along. Rape was something most people were uncomfortable with.
The footage progressed, heaven, hell, death, heaven, hell, Afflatus' didn't care. The cameras took their time following the boys through the tunnels and circles.
Aramid's tribute screamed herself to death in the ninth circle. The footage was haunting; her mouth bled at the edges, torn from her cries. Her eyes were wild, darting, sunken. She attacked and blocked things that weren't there. It got progressively worse until she died.
Basal and Lustre reached the ninth circle, and almost immediately turned on each other.
"Lustre, what happened here? You appeared to be friendly moments before entering the circle, then everything changed." Enoch prompted.
"The circle had some sort of mind-altering effect. I honestly thought Basal was about to try and kill me. Luckily, we lost consciousness before we attacked each other." Lustre said, trying to save face about losing to Basal.
It was an incredibly risky and naive thing to say. That wasn't what happened, and Lustre didn't control the edit. The Capitol would not be pleased with his comment.
The footage rolled, and showed Basal knock Lustre to the ground and pin him, an obvious contradiction to his previous comment.
"It looks like to me like you had a brawl before everything went dark! Ha! The anesthetic probably altered your memory." Enoch chuckled.
Lustre's face hardened.
"And the size of that boy! It's impressive! Basal could have had a shot, if not for his condition…" Enoch trailed off. "Lustre, are you aware that Basal had been diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia?"
"No, I was not, but it makes sense." Lustre said jovially, recovered from embarrassing himself.
Heat rose to Afflatus' face as the Capitol aired out Basal's 'dirty laundry.' But they had to make it clear: Basal came to the arena already 'defective,' the glorious Hunger Games were not responsible.
"Yes, the Reapings are fair of course, no one is excluded from the tribute pool, no matter what!" Enoch proclaimed.
That was an interesting way of defining 'fair,' Afflatus thought.
The movie progressed. All tributes returned to the lush, heavenly, gardens, coming out of the effects of the anesthetic.
Basal woke up. He looked so happy to be back, staring at the strawberry bushes. Lustre stretched and proclaimed it was a beautiful day. Afflatus knew what was about to happen, and her stomach dropped.
The cameras cut to the other tributes waking up, and didn't return to the boys until Serena and Aran found them. The final cut did not play their derogatory comments about Basal, only their greetings. The cameras only showed the career tributes, until Basal recovered from the assault.
The cameras didn't shy away from showing the careers boss him around, though. They showed them beat Basal for not killing his district-partner.
"It's interesting, Lustre, that you mentioned the spirit of the Games, earlier." Enoch began, dangerously. "Do you think it was in the spirit of the Games to have Basal kill his district-mate, or to beat him because he refused?" This was the most challenge Lustre had received from anyone.
"I think, Enoch, it's possible to get caught up in the heat of the moment. The Games were coming to an end, and I was getting too excited. I see, now, that was an error in judgement." Lustre answered more diplomatically than Afflatus thought possible. Maybe he wasn't completely stupid.
"Reflection is healthy for the soul!" Enoch proclaimed.
The footage progressed. Tait's tribute was slain.
The final evening began to air. Nausea roiled through Afflatus' guts.
The careers called it a night, allowing time for rest before their final battle the following morning.
Lustre and Basal went for a walk. Only Lustre returned.
"What happened to Basal, Lustre?" Enoch asked, cautiously.
"I'm sad to say it, Enoch, but the boy couldn't handle it, anymore. He killed himself." Lustre said.
To anyone with a brain, it would seem suspicious they didn't show his death, Afflatus thought. But the Hunger Games were meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed. Some things were too horrific to show even Capitol audiences, including a half-naked boy smashing his skull to pieces.
"What a shame! You did what you could for him, though." Enoch said with energy, but seemed to force out.
"I certainly did." Lustre said, arrogantly. Afflatus wanted to throttle him. Enoch didn't look pleased with his tone.
The movie progressed.
Lustre meticulously and gracefully won the final battle, even pitched against the two careers who'd ganged up on him. The cameras didn't show their conversation before the battle, about honour.
Afflatus would be impressed with this fighting, if she didn't hate him so much. His skill was undeniable.
Thankfully, it ended.
"Thank you for being here, Lustre! You handled yourself well throughout the games, and the Capitol is happy to have you." Enoch proclaimed. "Congratulations on your win."
Enoch rose and shook Lustre's hand, then smiled for the cameras.
The feed cut.
"Why didn't you ask any wrap-up questions?" Lustre said, insolently. He may be the only victor in history begging to continue their post-Games interview.
"Watch it, kid." Enoch's stage persona was gone, condemning Lustre's pharisaic attitude. Enoch left.
Lustre stood on stage, perplexed.