Since there are so few Tributes left I thought I'd have some fun and let the jury get some cameos from Ponderosa.
Cactus' interview: Lana should have won. It was very stupid everyone voted her off. But since she couldn't, it's really fun having her here. They have tablets with books on them here and they have the new issue of Pretty Pretty Sparkle Sparkle. I'm waiting for her to finish so we can talk about it.
Yarrow's interview: Oh gosh I'm so glad you asked me for an interview so I can finally say it. It's very nice here and everyone else with me is very nice, but I'm excited to go home. There are too many people in this building.
Octavia Jacobs- District Two female (18)
Looked like the day of reckoning was finally upon us. Shep and Leo finally couldn't put it off any longer that Val and I had made it to a point where we were almost undefeatable. Shep, mostly. I was pretty sure Leo was here for a good time, not a long time, and wouldn't have been mad to go home at any point. Except his competitive streak, I suppose. I thought it was kind of endearing how focused he got and then how flustered he got that he'd been a ludicrously tiny bit rude, but that was an inside thought. "You're cute when you're mad" isn't the flirt that some men think it is. Anyway, Shep had been whispering in Leo's ear how it wasn't fair that Val and I had gotten this far, how we were from the rich Districts, how I came from a rich family. If you asked me, there was a comparison to be made about a certain whispering serpent.
All of that could be ignored for breakfast, though. Seeing as we were almost at the end, Shep was using some of the last of our merge feast leftovers to make frybread. Kallik had taught us about it and I couldn't believe I'd never heard of it. It was like a fresh donut you could make in five minutes. All you needed was flour, water, oil, and baking soda. It was better with milk than water, but we made do. It turned out differently every time, since Kallik said it was more authentic to eyeball the ingredients than to use measuring cups, which we didn't have anyway. When we ran out of oil we were going to see what happened if we tried boiling the dough in water. Probably it would be gross, but fingers crossed.
Shep speared a finished frybread with a fork and laid it out on Robbie's frisbee, which he'd been nice enough to leave with us. Val was the most impatient and ended up taking it and eating the still-hot bread with those little huffing noises one makes to cool off a too-hot mouth.
"Dibs," I said about the next piece, as if there was any possibility Leo would take one before I'd taken one.
"Windy today," Leo said, looking out at the coastline, where the trees around camp were starting to sway. The wind picked up even more, to the point where I was afraid a storm was coming, and then we saw the edge of a hovercraft.
"Uh-oh. They found the body," Val joked.
"None of us are sick, right?" Leo asked in a small voice.
As for me, my first thought was that something big had happened on the mainland. President Snow died, maybe? Rebellion in one of our Districts and one of us was going to get detained? The blood went cold in my veins. I'd thought of something worse. Titian was here for a cameo.
We all snapped our heads sideways at the sound of a golf cart. If it was just Isabella, everything was all right. If one of us was about to get dragged off to a black ops site, they wouldn't let her warn us. If it was Isabella and Titian, I'd put on my innocent face and hope Leo was right about praying.
Isabella sat behind the wheel of the cart, a camera operator in the back seat. I felt Leo relax beside me and felt guilty that I hadn't even thought about that. If anyone was about to get purged, it would have been him. But they wouldn't have sent Isabella for that. She did look ominously serious, though. As the hovercraft landed at the edge of camp, she drove right up to us. The presence of the camera operator set my mind at ease. Whatever this was, it was something they didn't mind filming.
"Good morning, Ellekoner," she said as she got out. "I'm sure you're all a bit worried that I'm here. I do have some bad news, unfortunately, but it's not a disaster or anything any of you caused." she turned to me. Before she spoke, I had time to guess. It had to be Drusus. As her mouth opened, I wondered whether I should bolt for the woods or run at her and force her not to say it. My head went light as the world disappeared aside from Isabella. "Would you like some privacy?"
"Just tell me," I almost shouted. Even ten seconds for the others to walk away was too long.
"It's your husband," she said.
The words didn't take for a moment. I was so preoccupied with checking them over and over for 'Drusus' that I didn't notice that Val had his arm around me, or that Leo had looked like he'd been shot and then had sagged in relief. That was what did it. He hadn't heard 'Drusus' either. She must really not have said it.
"There's been an accident." It was unbelievable that she'd said the second sentence right after the first. It felt like minutes had passed.
"Is he okay?" I asked, just because it was the thing I was supposed to do. I was still getting over the fear for Drusus and could barely even remember what Cassius looked like.
Isabella's face slipped into a pattern I'd seen a hundred times before. There were a thousand practiced expressions in the world of politics- everything from genial friendliness toward people you'd never met, to determined patriotism in the face of some problem, to the earnest and gently mournful expression she wore now.
"I'm very sorry. He's dead."
"Bruh?" I heard Val say beside me. Leo and Shep were both too surprised and confused to respond. As for me, I felt a cold stillness come over me. I had the presence of mind to think that it would appear I was shocked and overcome and that I should lean into it.
"What?" I said dumbly. "What happened?" Oh my God. It came together in that moment. He's dead. Cassius is dead. Cassius is dead. I put my hands over my mouth to hide the little smile I couldn't suppress.
"There was a car accident. Drusus wasn't in the car." I silently thanked Isabella for saying the important part right away. "He lost control going around a curve. He was going very fast. I'm told it was immediate."
"Oh, my god," I said. I let the tears of relief at Drusus' safety masquerade as a widow's mourning while inside I mentally picked out a grave to go piss on.
"We all want you to know we're here for you at this tragic time." It was the sterility of Isabella's delivery that reminded me. I should have known from the start that it wasn't Drusus. Isabella had heard all of the unused footage and knew I hated my ex-husband. Her expression had been so political because just like me, she was faking. If it had been Drusus her sadness would have been real.
"And I'm so sorry to put so much on you now, but you've no doubt noticed the hovercraft," Isabella continued. "While Drusus is safe and healthy, he's lost his guardian. We have a nurse at your house taking care of him, but he needs his mother. And of course you'll want to be present for all the necessary arrangements.
She's saying I'm going home, I put together. Hell yeah I'm going home! I'd won the Games. Cassius was gone. I had a pile of money. There was nothing I needed here anymore. Time for these arms to feel Drusus' weight in them again.
"Yes, of course," I said, putting a widow's fragility and preoccupation into my tone. "I'm ready."
"You don't want to get your things? Your souvenir, maybe?" Isabella indulged in a little smirk that would no doubt be scrubbed from the broadcast.
It was Shep who figured it out and made the first remark from any of them. "You had an idol this whole time?"
I instinctively went to deny it and then remembered it didn't matter at all now. I was going home. Val didn't need it, either. With me gone, we were at the final three just like that. This would have been the last week I could have used it.
I went to our shelter and grabbed the bag with the little Valkyrie statuette and the other odds and ends I had, smiling sheepishly as I pulled it out for everyone to see.
"Wow, you really would've won," Leo remarked.
"We're really sorry," Shep said, probably just so the finished broadcast didn't seem really weirdly casual about all this.
"I can come with," Val offered fakely.
"No, no, it's okay," I faked back, then couldn't resist adding a little plucky vulnerable cheering. "You're gonna have to be here for both of us now."
I faced all three of my fellow contestants. "See you around, I guess."
"Take care," Shep said with a wave.
I extended my arms toward Leo. Surely it was okay to hug a grieving widow. The hug was fraught with a mix of awkward hesitation and secret enthusiasm. I pulled away first so he wouldn't have to.
"See you soon," I said again, letting my expression, since the camera was behind me, send a message.
"Hope I do," he politely returned.
Val's hug could be carefree, since it was neither untoward nor awkward.
"Are you sure you don't need me?" Val said for the cameras.
"I'll be okay," I said.
"Take care of yourself," Val said. This time the camera was behind him, showing my expression, so he let a catlike smile appear. The three of them waved as I walked up the hovercraft ramp.
As soon as the door shut, I was alone with my thoughts. Things like this didn't happen to people like me. Lightning didn't just come from the sky and solve all my problems. Cassius was gone. He would never hurt me again. He died cleanly, without me even having anything to do with it. He died before Drusus would even remember him and before he could corrupt our son. All my worries, just wiped clean like a slate. I was eighteen, all my assets were entirely mine again, my baby was home waiting for me, and- I was calculating enough to acknowledge the thought- I had a devastating backstory that would give me leverage in my future political dealings. I really did win the game, and my prize was waiting for me back home.
Holy plot twist, Batman! As you've probably guessed, this was in response to meta events. The submitters in Octavia's alliance had a discussion and Octavia's submitter decided to pull Octavia and let the others have some spotlight. I was then left with the challenge of figuring out a way to get Octavia out when there was no way Val would vote for her and she had an immunity idol. Seeing as this has become the happiest Hunger Games story possible, I went for the happiest ending: Cassius' corpse. There was pretty much no way Octavia wouldn't win, since I suspected for some time that Gaia would scuttle Val at the final elimination and thus gain another vote for her, since he couldn't vote for her if he was in the final three and submitters are always allowed to scuttle their Tributes. So she DID win! she has more than a million dollars back home and now the divorce problem is solved. Congrats to Octavia and long may she and Drusus live in freedom.
21st eliminated: Octavia
Just putting this here so I can look up the placements later if I need. She's not exactly eliminated but it did happen after the 20th elimination.
Game mechanics note: Survivor fans, help me out: has there ever been a non-gameplay elimination post-merge through no fault of the eliminated contestant? Due to the circumstances, it seems like Octavia should still be on the jury and should be able to vote at the final tribal council. Has there ever been a case like this and if so, how was the voting handled? At the moment I'm assuming that Octavia will be an absentee council member, but if this has ever happened and if the eliminated contestant didn't vote, then I'll keep the jury number the same by adding Trydan to the jury.
Speaking of voting, we are now unexpectedly at the final three! Start considering your votes and also prepare some questions for the final three at the final tribal council. We'll have a final three tribal council chapter and then a separate reunion/voting chapter so everyone has time to consider.