Author Games: Return To Seasons

Task Five: The Embers That Lost Their Spark - ❄ Winter Entries ❄

District 10 Female - HOLLY-NOELLE GARNET [4] 

"Remember, Miss Garnet... June Sumner is one of our most precious assets. But even she does not know she is being filmed - we find it best when things are unscripted."

Madam Sezony plops her hand onto my shoulder, flicking on the device which is sown into the tissue. This, she tells me, is to make sure they know to pay attention if I say something particularly good that they need to use for a propo. It pleases me to know that I'm going to be a key part of the Oppidium's on-screen efforts to reclaim control over the districts; back home I always liked attention, and being broadcast for everyone to see thrills me. Besides, with the trust it takes to do this comes power. Madam Sezony says that once this is all over, she'll make me an assistant Gamemaker if I prove my worth.

I feel a little awkward about that - organizing a festivity to kill children - but why shouldn't I work for those who bothered to rescue me?

"Now, as we said before, June has no idea what you are actually doing; she thinks you have been sent for tea and so she can explain your duties as victor." I smile. "You like the title, then?"

I nod. "If anything... interesting... happens, it is your duty to bring our attention to it. All you need to do is press the microphone on your shoulder - pretend to scratch. That'll activate the emergency button. Understood?"

"Yes, Madam Sezony."

"Very well."

~|~

June Sumner's temporary suite in the Oppidium's best hotel, bought first and foremost so that she'd be available at all times for questioning and filming, is nothing if not luxurious. Despite being designed to suit one person, it's almost the size of my house - and I've got one of the biggest homes in one of the wealthiest districts. A brief wave of jealousy courses through me as the crystal candelabra catches my eye. Then I remind myself that, after this war, I'll be given the same treatment, and I smile.

"Welcome!" she says, surprisingly enthusiastic. Her Games were the year of my birth, so I'm not very well versed on them. I know she won at my age, which makes her thirty-six. I remember that she won by hiding out and waiting for the tribute who came second - from Eleven - to break and kill himself. She didn't kill a single person, but even to watch it all should leave an effect on her. "You must be Holly-Noelle. Do sit and have tea. I'll have to ask Madam Sezony for more after this; I can never leave this room myself for my own safety." She sighs. "I'm telling you, sometimes this feels more like a prison than a home."

Just as I'm about to press the button, she laughs, letting me know that this is but a joke. Instantly, I know her type; Eros, the victor with whom Cutepid is so enamoured, is the same. They carry on with their daily lives, making too many bad jokes as an attempt to derail everybody from the fact that, when they're alone at night and the nightmare comes, they just want to hang themselves and get it over with. I do as she says.

"Thank you, Mrs. Sumner."

"Please, call me June," she says, handing me a cup filled with a pink liquid. Her voice sounds dulled and cracked, as if she were doing a routine she's tired of doing, but her smile is ever-present regardless. "Hibiscus tea. It tastes as good as it looks - both are quite important, don't you think?"

After a taste, I can confirm that it does indeed taste delicious, and somehow isn't too warm nor too cold. Back home, I used to drink my tea scalding hot because I didn't have the patience to wait for it to cool down. My mother, on the hand, would leave it there as she went to do something else, and then forget it for hours and drink it freezing cold. We both used to mock the other for that. Maybe we still will, after all this.