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31_days2013-03-09 02:20 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2013-03-09 02:20 pm
[Mar. 9] [The Hunger Games] Lives are Made of Stories
Title: Lives are Made of Stories
Day/Theme: March 9, 2013 "Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life"
Series: The Hunger Games
Character/Pairing: OCs, Mags
Rating: PG
The thing about telling stories about these tributes is this: I know Tyde Barrow. I have known him pretty well for the past almost five years. There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to the Games, but Tyde does definitively have an edge. He's about as close to nineteen as a tribute can come. On top of this, he's big. He towers so far over me it's hard to make an exact measurement without getting out the measuring tape, but he must hover somewhere around six feet, which is a rarity these days in our district. It's not that we don't have the genes to be tall, but the conditions of our health and diets rarely back them up. Am I short because I was never meant to be anything but short (my father is small too) or because I was a small child during the 'Dark Days?'
…In any case, Tyde is one of the kids (a man, really) that I know. Naha I know only in passing.
But as I see it, it's my duty to try just as hard for both of them. Maybe even more so for Naha, because she is younger and smaller and weaker than Tyde, and not a volunteer. …We've never come down to it (fortunately), but I can't help but think the etiquette between a volunteer and a non-volunteer from our district would be that the volunteer lets the non-volunteer win. Likewise, I have to privilege Naha a bit over Tyde in the lead-up to the Games. Tyde has had ages to learn from me, not that the things I know will necessarily be of much use. Naha is going to get a crash course right now.
"Naha," I sit her down on the couch, "I don't know if you agree with me about the most important thing you can accomplish outside the arena toward winning the Games, but unless you can come up with something better, it's going to be in your best interests to go along with my theory."
She twists the end of her braid around her finger. "It's stories, isn't it? Your theory."
"So you've heard about me," I try to be light-hearted about it. She seems like a nervous type and though I can't ultimately be the one to decide it, if she freezes up immediately, she's lost. There can only be so many characters in the Games' story. Only a particularly striking story can inspire much devotion prior to the culling at the initial bloodbath. And the story won't save you, so-
"You're the one who told Calanthe to tell about Mina," she says.
I smile a little, painful as it is to recall my failures of the year before. "Yes," I'm curious, "How could you tell?"
"Well, we were friends," she shrugs and lets her braid fall to hang naturally. "Callie's family didn't even know about her and Mina. Maybe I was the only one they told. …It didn't go over quite perfectly at home, you know."
"I know." But I figured it wouldn't matter. She had a good family. They would have to forgive her- if she lived or if she died. And while there might be some awkwardness about that kind of thing back home (the Capitol's subtle pressure on us to keep the population up might be part of it), I knew people in the Capitol, with their different view of these things (different demands on them), would eat it up. A female tribute with a girlfriend back home hasn't been overplayed (or the flip version with a boy either, but if I've had a candidate for that tale, he hasn't volunteered it to me).
"Did it help her any? I know they talked about it."
"I think so. She got more sponsors than Luis."
"Hmm." Naha nods. "I mean, I'm not happy that things weren't as good for Luis, but it's good that something that made things hard for her back home could turn around and help her out there." She seems thoughtful. "Hey, if I don't make it back either, will you look out extra for Mina?"
Her girlfriend. Her friend. I feel bad for this girl. I should know her better than I do, I suppose. And again, I am making a promise to one of my tributes. I cannot promise them they'll live, but outside of the arena, it seems that I'm ready to give them anything. "If I have to, I will. But I hope that you get to do the looking out for her instead."
"Do you mean that honestly?" she wonders. "I- I mean, not me looking out for Mina, but does that mean you pick me? That you want me to be the one who wins?"
It doesn't mean that, not exactly. "You asked for honesty, so to be completely straight with you, it doesn't mean that. I'm talking to you like this right now because I haven't picked either or you over the other."
She wears a very tiny, toothless smile. "I'm glad that you're honest."
"I don't think lying is going to help you any."
"…I'm glad you didn't pick Tyde right away either. …Because I know. I mean, he's a big, tough volunteer. And you know him. That," she takes a deep breath, "That would've been the easy choice. To go with him right away and forget about me."
"Little tributes win too sometimes," I say, but I don't mention anyone in particular, because I think of Silk Sachet and I don't want to bring up a victor who died. Altruism and selfishness run together here. I want a fellow victor in 4 so badly. Naha and Tyde- I don't want them to consider for the smallest moment how it could be bad to win.
"…I don't think there's a story to be had about me," Naha comments. She is quiet and pensive.
"Of course there is," I counter, "That's how people make sense of things. They make the semi-random circumstances of life into stories."
Day/Theme: March 9, 2013 "Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life"
Series: The Hunger Games
Character/Pairing: OCs, Mags
Rating: PG
The thing about telling stories about these tributes is this: I know Tyde Barrow. I have known him pretty well for the past almost five years. There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to the Games, but Tyde does definitively have an edge. He's about as close to nineteen as a tribute can come. On top of this, he's big. He towers so far over me it's hard to make an exact measurement without getting out the measuring tape, but he must hover somewhere around six feet, which is a rarity these days in our district. It's not that we don't have the genes to be tall, but the conditions of our health and diets rarely back them up. Am I short because I was never meant to be anything but short (my father is small too) or because I was a small child during the 'Dark Days?'
…In any case, Tyde is one of the kids (a man, really) that I know. Naha I know only in passing.
But as I see it, it's my duty to try just as hard for both of them. Maybe even more so for Naha, because she is younger and smaller and weaker than Tyde, and not a volunteer. …We've never come down to it (fortunately), but I can't help but think the etiquette between a volunteer and a non-volunteer from our district would be that the volunteer lets the non-volunteer win. Likewise, I have to privilege Naha a bit over Tyde in the lead-up to the Games. Tyde has had ages to learn from me, not that the things I know will necessarily be of much use. Naha is going to get a crash course right now.
"Naha," I sit her down on the couch, "I don't know if you agree with me about the most important thing you can accomplish outside the arena toward winning the Games, but unless you can come up with something better, it's going to be in your best interests to go along with my theory."
She twists the end of her braid around her finger. "It's stories, isn't it? Your theory."
"So you've heard about me," I try to be light-hearted about it. She seems like a nervous type and though I can't ultimately be the one to decide it, if she freezes up immediately, she's lost. There can only be so many characters in the Games' story. Only a particularly striking story can inspire much devotion prior to the culling at the initial bloodbath. And the story won't save you, so-
"You're the one who told Calanthe to tell about Mina," she says.
I smile a little, painful as it is to recall my failures of the year before. "Yes," I'm curious, "How could you tell?"
"Well, we were friends," she shrugs and lets her braid fall to hang naturally. "Callie's family didn't even know about her and Mina. Maybe I was the only one they told. …It didn't go over quite perfectly at home, you know."
"I know." But I figured it wouldn't matter. She had a good family. They would have to forgive her- if she lived or if she died. And while there might be some awkwardness about that kind of thing back home (the Capitol's subtle pressure on us to keep the population up might be part of it), I knew people in the Capitol, with their different view of these things (different demands on them), would eat it up. A female tribute with a girlfriend back home hasn't been overplayed (or the flip version with a boy either, but if I've had a candidate for that tale, he hasn't volunteered it to me).
"Did it help her any? I know they talked about it."
"I think so. She got more sponsors than Luis."
"Hmm." Naha nods. "I mean, I'm not happy that things weren't as good for Luis, but it's good that something that made things hard for her back home could turn around and help her out there." She seems thoughtful. "Hey, if I don't make it back either, will you look out extra for Mina?"
Her girlfriend. Her friend. I feel bad for this girl. I should know her better than I do, I suppose. And again, I am making a promise to one of my tributes. I cannot promise them they'll live, but outside of the arena, it seems that I'm ready to give them anything. "If I have to, I will. But I hope that you get to do the looking out for her instead."
"Do you mean that honestly?" she wonders. "I- I mean, not me looking out for Mina, but does that mean you pick me? That you want me to be the one who wins?"
It doesn't mean that, not exactly. "You asked for honesty, so to be completely straight with you, it doesn't mean that. I'm talking to you like this right now because I haven't picked either or you over the other."
She wears a very tiny, toothless smile. "I'm glad that you're honest."
"I don't think lying is going to help you any."
"…I'm glad you didn't pick Tyde right away either. …Because I know. I mean, he's a big, tough volunteer. And you know him. That," she takes a deep breath, "That would've been the easy choice. To go with him right away and forget about me."
"Little tributes win too sometimes," I say, but I don't mention anyone in particular, because I think of Silk Sachet and I don't want to bring up a victor who died. Altruism and selfishness run together here. I want a fellow victor in 4 so badly. Naha and Tyde- I don't want them to consider for the smallest moment how it could be bad to win.
"…I don't think there's a story to be had about me," Naha comments. She is quiet and pensive.
"Of course there is," I counter, "That's how people make sense of things. They make the semi-random circumstances of life into stories."