#beaujester sequel post coming soon

[critical-ramblings]

Hunger Games AU

It has to be a Quarter Quell, because there's too much trauma in these assholes to be fresh to the Games. Instead, each of them are victors of their different years.

None of them expected it to be Bren. He was maybe the smartest of them, but the softest too. In the 64th Hunger Games, Bren Ermendrud won with a fire-trap that worked too well. He netted the highest kill-count in that game, with six tributes caught in the blaze. Including his teammates, which everyone in the Capitol assumes was on purpose.

Fjord is from the same district as Finnick (4), and honestly won his Games the same way. He was always popular in the Capitol, with a talented stylist that made his unusual skin condition a feature rather than a flaw. They would always say his patron was Uk'otoa, though, a reclusive millionaire who appears only at events with Fjord on his arm.

Yasha is a Victor from District 9, which we don't know much about except that it produces most of Panem's grain. (Wide open spaces and green-tinted storms are her life blood). She was always big and, in her Games, brutal, but often claims not to remember much of it. She is one of the most reclusive of the Victors, rarely making appearances and even more rarely escaping them without bloodshed. Capitol parties learned not to make invitations that couldn't be refused--not if they wanted the building to be standing afterwards.

The one exception to this was always Obann, who bought her the greatsword she used to dismember a great many tributes in the arena. He delights in using that debt to make her behave, but even he knows not to do it very often.

I'm not quite sure what to do with Molly. I mean, it was Lucien who won the Games. And Lucien was a trickster, who won by poisoning the last two other tributes who thought they had him outnumbered. Molly has only existed for two years, and the whispers in the Capitol are that he's even more reckless than his last self. Originally from District 8 (the textile district), he is not open about what led to his adopting the Mollymauk persona. The only clue is in his total absence from Capitol gossip for several months... 

Nott won her Games by dying. Or, almost. She was caught by a Pack of Careers, all of them laughing as they each took a wrist or ankle and held her down in the water. She claims it wasn't her who set off the Gamemaker trap that turned the water to acid--but the truth is somehow she didn't die of it, and the Pack did. Requiring one of the most extensive reconstructions the Capitol is capable of, they did not consult her on....any of the choices they made. Trapped in what the Capitol thought of as a body worthy of a Victor, she shuns public appearances and even mentoring later tributes from her district (11). 

Caduceus won his Games like all the rest of them. He's got just as much blood on his hands--and it's not that he won't admit it. He just took a different relationship to death than most. Originally from District 12, he lost his family in a mine collapse and only swore he'd follow them. He was 18 when he was chosen for the Games, almost clear. Almost in the clear.

He was never angry at the other tributes. It was what set him apart, in all the videos. A cold calm when he beat someone over the head with a long stick, a hum almost like a lullaby when he came across a tribute already dying.

He doesn't make many appearances, and frankly makes for bad viewing by Capitol standards. Mostly they leave him alone now, him and his garden alone in Victor's Village. That is, until Beau comes along.

Beau is the closest to the Mockingjay as you can get. She's scraping herself out of a bad homelife in the townie part of District 12, her family well off but just as shitty as canon. She's more than ready to die in the Games, if only it wouldn't make TJ sad. He's a little older here, she knows him a little more. Even knowing what he is--her replacement, an actual son--she sneaks him cookies when no one's looking and is in general a terrible influence.

She and Jester are in the same Games. They're not from the same district, but they're just as star-crossed as any canon couple.

The boy tribute from her district is Bryce. They shrug when Beau might have asked if a mistake was made, because Bryce had always been stuck on kid-watching duty like her.

They both know better than to get attached.

Jester is a pampered daughter from District 1, her only public appearance being the Reaping once a year. And even then she's usually lost in the crowd. Until the year she plays that prank on Mr. Sharpe, who might not be a Gamemaker himself, but he knows people. And when her name gets drawn, she's still not afraid, because District 1 is full of people who want to go to the Hunger Games. Who want all that blood and glory.

but the stands are silent. She doesn't even stand up at first, just looks around waiting to see who'll volunteer.

A Peacekeeper in sparkling white has to come down to her row and hold out a hand, beckoning her forward, before it starts to sink in. Jester spins around to look for her mother, up in a box with a good view like always. Marion is holding a handkerchief over her mouth, one hand clutching the railing like she's about to leap over. but she doesn't.

Slowly, amidst the growing whispers and snickers, Jester gets to her feet. She looks around at the other girls, separated into age-groups by tiers. All of them are staring at her. Some of them are hungry, some are pitying. Some are sneering, scoffing at her hesitation.

Jester swallows. Twice. Then she straightens her shoulders, smiles up at her Mama, and takes the Peacekeeper's hand with all the grace of a princess.

Lorenzo is the male tribute  from her district.