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31_days2012-12-13 02:23 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2012-12-13 02:23 pm
[Dec. 13] [The Hunger Games] Thirteen and Fourteen
Title: Thirteen and Fourteen
Day/Theme: Dec. 13, 2012 "trusting things beyond mistake"
Series: The Hunger Games
Character/Pairing: OCs (District 7 victor & tributes, mainly)
Rating: PG
Author's Comment: The second in a collection of stories about the 13th Hunger Games from the point of view of the mentors a la 'Save Yourself' and my other fics on this topic. This one focuses on District 7.
When they met up in the Capitol, well, what Kayta liked to do if there was that particular set of circumstances where they were all still stuck in the Capitol because their tributes were already dead but the Games kept rolling on, was take the victors he considered his friends out for little meal. He approached it every time as if it might be their last chance. Every gathering a party, every meal their last.
He just didn't trust being a victor completely. You were safe from the Games, but you were often in the public eye. The government could do whatever it wanted to you, so what would it choose next?
His little group of victor friends were these: Jack Umber, Sunny Lightfoot, Shy Evert, Pal Fields.
He knew where he would want to take them, he knew what they would want to order. Grape soda and lamp chops for Shy, root beer and an egg salad sandwich for Pal, black tea and curry rice (mild) for Sunny. Well, maybe he didn't know what Jack would order. He was more changeable. It depended on his mood.
The Twelfth Hunger Games, however, threw a wrench into his lunch plans (as Beto might say). It was a good sort of wrench though, if there could be such a thing. Both of his tributes, Haakon Erikson and Meridew Alder, fought hard and survived to make up half the final four. There was nothing Kayta could do for them from the victors' viewing room, but how he could ever look away?
Raisin watched from 7 and Kayta from the Capitol, switching off in turns when one of them needed some sleep (though Kayta kept telling the girl he loved that he was fine when he was not because he hated to deny her sleep).
It was riveting.
It was amazing.
It was no wonder he made the mistake of getting his hopes up.
And that girl from 4 was so foolhardy, she shouldn't have made it. It ate him up for several weeks following the Games. Haakon was strong, he was careful, he was brave. Haakon should have won.
When he finally met the girl from 4, he was as over the loss as could be expected. It turned out that, personally, he even liked her. And there wasn't anything bad about that, was there? A new face to join his victor friends lunch. He even indulged in wondering what sort of meal she might want to order and how he might preemptively tease her about it. Water and Crispco crackers, maybe? With a side of shark?
Tributes one year were rarely repeats of the tributes from the year before. His hopes for the Twelfth Games weren't replicated for the Thirteenth. Cherry and Tam were thirteen and fourteen and scared and that wasn't the worst of it. As much as a thirteen and fourteen year old could be, they were…in love.
There was only one thing they had in common with Meridew and Haakon beyond their place of origin- they were going to work together. Well, as hard as this was going to be, Kayta could work with that. Love was a way to work the sponsors and there was no need to split the earnings between them.
But the only love the Capitol liked was love that led to heartbreak.
They were thirteen and fourteen. Weren't they bound to die either way? Kayta figured that they might as well die together.
They did.
And when the ends of the Thirteenth Hunger Games neared, the guest list at his friendly lunch ended up an all-girls affair: Sunny, Shy, and Mags. Jack's boy was still in it and so was Pal's girl.
Mags ordered lemonade and fishsticks, reason enough for the other three dining with her to find a bit of cheer in their amusement.
Three days later, Pal's girl won, saved by the sponsors.
Fourteen years old.
Kayta Hiro went home wondering if he had given up on his too easily.
Day/Theme: Dec. 13, 2012 "trusting things beyond mistake"
Series: The Hunger Games
Character/Pairing: OCs (District 7 victor & tributes, mainly)
Rating: PG
Author's Comment: The second in a collection of stories about the 13th Hunger Games from the point of view of the mentors a la 'Save Yourself' and my other fics on this topic. This one focuses on District 7.
When they met up in the Capitol, well, what Kayta liked to do if there was that particular set of circumstances where they were all still stuck in the Capitol because their tributes were already dead but the Games kept rolling on, was take the victors he considered his friends out for little meal. He approached it every time as if it might be their last chance. Every gathering a party, every meal their last.
He just didn't trust being a victor completely. You were safe from the Games, but you were often in the public eye. The government could do whatever it wanted to you, so what would it choose next?
His little group of victor friends were these: Jack Umber, Sunny Lightfoot, Shy Evert, Pal Fields.
He knew where he would want to take them, he knew what they would want to order. Grape soda and lamp chops for Shy, root beer and an egg salad sandwich for Pal, black tea and curry rice (mild) for Sunny. Well, maybe he didn't know what Jack would order. He was more changeable. It depended on his mood.
The Twelfth Hunger Games, however, threw a wrench into his lunch plans (as Beto might say). It was a good sort of wrench though, if there could be such a thing. Both of his tributes, Haakon Erikson and Meridew Alder, fought hard and survived to make up half the final four. There was nothing Kayta could do for them from the victors' viewing room, but how he could ever look away?
Raisin watched from 7 and Kayta from the Capitol, switching off in turns when one of them needed some sleep (though Kayta kept telling the girl he loved that he was fine when he was not because he hated to deny her sleep).
It was riveting.
It was amazing.
It was no wonder he made the mistake of getting his hopes up.
And that girl from 4 was so foolhardy, she shouldn't have made it. It ate him up for several weeks following the Games. Haakon was strong, he was careful, he was brave. Haakon should have won.
When he finally met the girl from 4, he was as over the loss as could be expected. It turned out that, personally, he even liked her. And there wasn't anything bad about that, was there? A new face to join his victor friends lunch. He even indulged in wondering what sort of meal she might want to order and how he might preemptively tease her about it. Water and Crispco crackers, maybe? With a side of shark?
Tributes one year were rarely repeats of the tributes from the year before. His hopes for the Twelfth Games weren't replicated for the Thirteenth. Cherry and Tam were thirteen and fourteen and scared and that wasn't the worst of it. As much as a thirteen and fourteen year old could be, they were…in love.
There was only one thing they had in common with Meridew and Haakon beyond their place of origin- they were going to work together. Well, as hard as this was going to be, Kayta could work with that. Love was a way to work the sponsors and there was no need to split the earnings between them.
But the only love the Capitol liked was love that led to heartbreak.
They were thirteen and fourteen. Weren't they bound to die either way? Kayta figured that they might as well die together.
They did.
And when the ends of the Thirteenth Hunger Games neared, the guest list at his friendly lunch ended up an all-girls affair: Sunny, Shy, and Mags. Jack's boy was still in it and so was Pal's girl.
Mags ordered lemonade and fishsticks, reason enough for the other three dining with her to find a bit of cheer in their amusement.
Three days later, Pal's girl won, saved by the sponsors.
Fourteen years old.
Kayta Hiro went home wondering if he had given up on his too easily.