Bet you couldn't guess this at all based on the title, but the song for this chapter is "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," by Rex Allen. It gives off creepy-vibes when you listen to it during Octavia's POV (and also Victor mindset insanity-realness).
At the end of the chapter is a question I really want to hear from you guys on, I think it's also a really cool thought experiment!
Haymitch POV
After the transports set off, I have to go and try to figure out how the hell I'm going to start stringing together enough money for Katniss and Peeta. That is assuming that they're not stupid enough to get themselves killed at the bloodbath but with Katniss' irrational thinking and behaviour, things are still up in the air.
I go to grab a drink at the bar in the outdoor courtyard where the bartender already has a glass of whiskey ready for me. Nothing like a few early morning drinks to get the day started. I'll need it if I have to keep talking to these pompous marshmellow-haired assholes all day. Chaff will probably join me in my misery at some point before noon.
Even this early, the Caesar Flickerman show is live and on the air, how his face doesn't hurt from smiling so much, I'll never know. But what I do know is I can never trust someone who smiles too much. It's creepy. I raise my eyebrows and return to my drink, trying to block out all of the chatter coming from the big screen overlooking the courtyard.
Something tugs on my ears, and eventually I decide to clue back into the television, and when I do, I can't believe my ears. This must be some strong whiskey, either that or I am royally screwed. "We've just received word that reporters are waiting for a special announcement from District 2 Mentor and one of my personal favourite Victors of all time, Octavia Jones to make a special statement from the lobby of the Tribute Tower."
That little shit. I leave my whisky glass behind and begin to speedwalk towards the lobby. Whatever Octavia has planned, it's not going to be good for my guys. She's had some sort of grudge rivalry with me this year that I hate. Sure I like pissing people off, but usually, she would partake in the pissing off of the people. It's like suddenly, two of the Victors who probably couldn't care less about things suddenly started to care at the same time. What are the odds?
I make it to the lobby just in time for the start of whatever, press conference has been called. I didn't even know that was a thing you could do. There's a long table set up with a white draping over it. Octavia sits in a lone chair and Seneca Crane is standing behind her. All of the cameras and reporters are parked right in front of the table, ready to record and write down every single little annoying twitch her face makes. Octavia clears her throat and begins to speak, I can see her pressing down on an earpiece feeding her a cue. "Thank you, Caesar. Before I begin I'd like to thank everyone for tuning in and wish everyone a Happy Hunger Games." Caesar must be speaking to her through the earpiece because so goes silent for a second and then nods. "Yes, it just so happens that I do have a surprise for you all. In case the Games aren't interesting enough for all of you at home, there's something that's been hiding just under all of your noses. You see, Cato Smith isn't who you think he is. He's my half brother."
Oh, shit. This is bad. This is really bad. And I've messed up royally. I've been actively campaigning against and messing with Octavia's brother. No wonder she's been so pissy lately. But it's too late, I've already become attached to Peeta and Katniss no matter how hard I try to deny it. Seneca must have an earpiece in too because he presses on his ear to try and hear over the crowd. "That's right Caesar. We wanted to make sure the playing field was as equal as possible this year and keep the integrity of the Games intact. Look to Cashmere for example who was targeted because people knew who her brother was. We wanted to try and keep it a level playing field and make sure that comes down to who is the best player."
Seneca continues to speak with Caesar but he dismisses Octavia who disappears behind the small curtain they'd set up and into one of the areas of the Tribute Tower where the press can't go. I move through the crowd that I'd previously been standing at the back of to try and go after her. Once I'm behind the curtain there are significantly fewer people walking around, although still a fair amount. I call Octavia's name and she stops in her tracks. She takes a few moments to turn around, probably debating if she wants to talk to me or not. Eventually, she does with her arms crossed over her chest. "How convenient that you just so happen to make this announcement right after the transports take off."
A smirk forms out of the corner of her lip. "What can I say? It's called strategy look it up."
"You're playing dirty this year," I inform her.
Octavia rolls her eyes at me, a common occurrence these days. "Well sorry if I happen to have a lot on the line Haymitch." When she says my name she practically spits it out.
"I didn't know," I say honestly. If I had...I don't know what I would've done, but I would've done something different. Maybe.
"I know you didn't," she says stiffly.
So I decide to tell her something she probably hasn't heard all morning, but something she needs to hear. "I'm sorry."
It's as if my words disarm her, which is quite a significant feat because of how often shes' armed. I can see the tears building up ever so slightly as she blinks rapidly to try and get them to disappear. Her head scans the moving people around us, and I'm not sure if she's looking to make sure no one can see her emotion or if she's making sure no one heard what I said. "I don't know what you're talking about Haymitch. It's an honour for my brother to represent our district." I don't need a truth serum to see that she's lying. Her voice shaking is more than enough to figure things out. But I understand her wanting to protect herself from prying ears, the Capitol isn't afraid to punish Victors when we say the wrong things.
I smile politely at her. "Of course." I sigh. "Good thing we're working together. Peeta told me he's going to wait around the Coronopia for the Careers, he wants the alliance." I purposefully leave out Katniss in hopes that we can find some common ground in this conversation.
Of course, she's way too smart to not notice that, but she doesn't seem to care. "Good. They'll be looking out for him."
"Octavia, just remember who the real enemy is," I say in a thinly veiled statement. Hopefully, she understands what I'm saying. As I said, she's a smart girl, but people only hear what they want to hear. And if Snow's been talking in her ear the past few years, her ears might be closed to what I have to say.
Octavia's POV
Haymitch's words catch me off guard. At first when he told me to 'remember who the real enemy is' my mind instantly flicked to Katniss. Katniss is my enemy. She's the biggest threat to my brother. But after my knee-jerk reaction, I slowly start to think about things more rationally. Haymitch of course doesn't mean his own Tribute, he means the Capitol. The ones who put us here and force us to fight in the first place. The ones who prostitute us, kill our families, and turn us into walking dolls.
While it's a sentiment I appreciate and desperately wish could be true, that the Games would someday end, I know it's not realistic. The Capitol is too powerful. And either way, unless this radical change were to take place overnight, it wouldn't be enough to save my brother. He's probably in the tunnels under the arena now. Right now the danger is out of the hands of the Capitol, and in the hands of twenty-three other Tributes. "I can't afford to think like that," I inform Haymitch.
I don't even want to hear his answer, so I begin to walk away. It's twice now within the last few minutes that he's said something that could potentially get both of us in trouble if overheard, and I cannot afford to get on the Capitol's bad side; I have to play the game.
~~~
The Mentor Control Centre starts to fill up about ten minutes before the launch of the Games. Quite a few of them come up to me and talk about the announcement that I made earlier. It's clear to see on everyone's faces, that there's an element of pity. For some that pity mixes with what I can only assume is anger that Cato clearly now has an edge over the rest of the competition when it comes to sponsors. Brutus delights in the attention he gets because of the announcement when he reveals that he too knew all along.
Making the compromise with Seneca to pretend that he too knew about Cato all along was, unfortunately, a price I had to pay in order to get the word out before the Games started. Both Plutarch and Snow were right about Seneca being a man who wants things done his way and doesn't like to be outshone. Making the announcement a surprise to him as well would have made him look incompotent, something both Snow and Plutarch would have wanted. But, Seneca is the one in charge so I had to play into his games and run things by him. Doesn't mean I have to like it though.
I try and make my workspace look neat and pretty because this is the nicest it's going to get throughout the whole Games. I'm going to be spending nearly all my time here over the course of the next however long these Games take. The Modern Games tend to last around two weeks, but in the earlier days when they were still figuring things out, there was one that took two whole months. And more recently, Annie's Games were less than a week because of the dam incident.
We're about five minutes away from launch and on the television screen, we get the first glimpse of the arena this year. It's a foresty arena with a decently sized glade in the centre and the Cornocopia in the middle of that. It seems that there's a decent amount of freshwater around, so water shouldn't be an issue. This is good, because now I know my brother won't dehydrate to death. The Cornocopia itself is also stacked with a good mix of supplies, food, and weapons. Another good thing, because hunting for food can be difficult. I luckily escaped that in my Games because the arena was modelled after an abandoned city and there weren't many animals roaming the area, instead there were large stockpiles of food which forced us to fight over the supplies.
The launch is about one minute away now and the Tributes all begin to rise from the underground tunnels and get a first glance at their arena. Cato seems to be strategically put next to the boy from 6 who he got in a fight with in training, and conveniently he is quite a few Tributes down from Katniss. Clove is a little bit closer, but she still has Thresh in between. As they get their bearings the countdown begins 59...58...
Several of the Tributes still seem stunned and are looking around at the forest around them. 46..45...
If all goes to plan, Cato should be able to reach one of the swords fairly easily, but he'll likely have to settle for a different weapon that's closer to his pedestal until the Careers are in sufficient control of the Cornocopia area. 39...38...
The Tributes start to ready themselves into running stances. You can start to tell who is going to make a run for the Cornocopia and who is going to be headed for the safety of the forest. 25...24...
Finnick shoots me a wink from his station only a few rows down from mine. 19...18...
I spot a bow in-between Katniss and Glimmer. I can only hope Glimmer gets to it first. 10...9...
All that's left to do is watch. 5...4...3...2...1...
The gong sounds and the Tributes are off. Through the erratic movements of the camera, switching from Tribute to Tribute, I see Cato and Clove making good pace towards the Cornocopia. Peeta darts off into the woods along with a few other Tributes who decide the bloodbath isn't for them.
Marvel gets the first kill of the Games. He stabs the boy from 8 and cuts his throat for good measure. Cato ends up reaching a longknife and sure enough, just like he promised, he goes after the boy from 6 who stole his knife in training. Cato ends up leaving him for dead in search of bigger targets and better weapons.
By the time I get to searching for Clove in the madness, four Tributes are already dead. Clove is smart. Even in the heat of the arena, she finds her vest of knives and makes sure to be hyperaware of her surroundings. She doesn't bother to put it on though, because she spots Katniss.
Yes! Katniss is grappling with the boy from 6 over a backpack which Clove takes clear notice of. She grabs one out of her vest and it digs itself into his back. The boy falls, revealing to Katniss that Clove has spotted her. Clove throws again and much to my dismay, Katniss is able to block Clove's knife with her backpack and runs for the forest. Clove takes chase after her.
The poor little boy from 4 who was hiding in the Cornocopia was killed when I wasn't looking. I'm not sure by who, but I'm sure someone will tell me later.
I return my eyes back to my brother who is slowly fighting his way towards the better weapons. The boy from 6 is somehow back on his feet and advancing towards Glimmer with a sword, and I secretly hope that he kills her; that way there's no reason for the Careers to keep the bow around. Cato sees this, however, and finally gets to fulfil his threats when he picks up a serrated sword and finishes the boy from 6 off. Not far from where he stands, at the back of the Cornocopia is a sword that I know he'll be happy with.
Clove seems to have turned back from pursuing Katniss, not wanting to go off too far and be separated from the pack. Just like that, ten are dead and only 14 remain. The only ones left at the Cornocopia are the surviving Careers, Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, Clove, and the girl from 4, Marina.
Things start to settle down as they begin to divide out all of the supplies and take a break. Most of them have worked up quite a sweat.
In the control room, several Mentors begin to file out, having lost both their Tributes already; Districts 6, 7, and 9 are already been completely wiped out, meaning they have no real reason to hang around. Jo however, does. "Ha! Did you see that? I said they wouldn't last five minutes, and whaddya know, they last two minutes and thirty-one seconds," she says bitterly. "What a joke. Anyway, I'm off to get some food. Come find me if anything interesting happens." I know she's trying to sound nonchalant, but I can see the hurt in her eyes. The Tributes aren't always much, or nice for that matter, but they are from home. You might pass their families on the streets only to have them stare into your soul, wondering why you couldn't bring their loved one home.
Things seem to be remaining pretty stable for the foreseeable future, so all of the Mentors begin to intermingle with one another. There are only four districts that still have both Tributes: 1, 2, 11, and 12. Some of the Mentors from the districts with only one Tribute left leave only one of them in the control room, not feeling the need for both of them to be there. All of the Career mentors crowd around the District 1 stations. Everyone gives their condolences to Finnick and Brook, who have lost a Tribute already. We find out from Finnick that it was apparently the boy from 10 who killed him before running out into the forest. I'm not sure that our Tributes know who did it, but if they do, he'll certainly be a top priority. No one messes with the pack. Unless you are the pack of course, then you're allowed to kill one another as it suits you, at least that's what I did.
After about three hours, the cannons start to sound for the fallen Tributes. "And, of course, there's the familiar 'boom' of the cannon which marks all of the Tribute who fell during the bloodbath." The cannon sounds off ten times, to let the Tributes know that ten of them are gone.
The room starts to clear out, everyone knowing that the action likely won't pick up until nighttime. Even if it did, there are televisions on everywhere, so it would be hard to miss. Finnick excuses himself from the group and heads off in a different direction than the rest of us Career Mentors. We all head for the courtyard to try and start to work out magic on the sponsors.
The ground of the courtyard is littered with ripped up betting tickets from all of those who have already lost out. A few Capitolians swarm around us, chatting us all up which we happily oblige. Right now we don't need to worry about campaigning for specific gifts since our Tributes currently have more supplies than they could need, but we need to start stockpiling money into our accounts to save up for items later on and emergencies. Most of the big sponsors, however, like to wait until the end of the Games to sponsor the Tributes because the items are more costly and tend to have a greater effect. Unfortunately, some of them also expect a...reward from the Tributes that they help save.
I go and grab something to eat quickly and run back up to the apartment to change into something more suitable as the sky grows dark. The Careers seemed to have found Peeta, and resolve to start hunting before dawn tomorrow morning, hoping to catch the other Tributes off guard since the Careers usually hunt at night. To my dismay, Cato clearly hadn't been able to convince everyone to get rid of the bow, but as long as it's still in Glimmer's hands and not Katniss', it's safe.
I hop into the elevator and venture out into the courtyard, which is quickly becoming my favourite spot for these Games. I quickly spot Enobaria waving me over to where she's chatting with some other Victors and move to meet her. As soon as I approach the group, she hands me a flute of champagne. "I noticed that Clove's hairstyle looks a little familiar..." teases Enobaria.
I quirk an eyebrow, pretending to have no idea what she's talking about. I don't want her to think that I've gone completely soft. "Really? I can't place it. Not really sure where it's from."
She points to the screen on the wall of the courtyard, where I see on the Caesar Flickerman show my own headshot next to Clove's, our hair is clearly done in an identical bubbled ponytail. Busted. "...And as you can see, Clove seems to be giving us a little nod here to her Mentor, Octavia, who wore the same style during her Games."
"I think it's a great touch," adds Claudius Templesmith, his co-host. "Especially since Clove seems to have picked up the same skill set as Octavia at knife throwing."
Caesar nods. "Let's do a quick deep dive here on District 2," he says as another animation pops up on the screen. It shows quite a few of the pictures of District 2 girls who have competed. "In the last 15 years, from the girls alone, District 2 has three wins under their belts. Three."
"Now let's go back a minute and look at which of those 15, were knife throwers." Seven of the faces, including mine, Enobaria's, and, Feria's who won the 59th Games light up. Claudius whistles. "Wow, look at that. All of the winners were knife throwers."
"Amazing," remarks Caesar. "That means girls were from District 2, and knife throwers, have about a fourty-two percent victory rate. Wow. Just wow. Talk about the odds being in Clove's favour."
The attention to Enobaria and I in the news story bring quite a bit of attention to us. Including that of Finnick who has a Capitolian woman on his arm. She's dressed in all blue, rather on the nose for being a Finnick fan I would say, and has a high-pitched squeaky voice. "Finny, I want to meet them!" she shrieks.
I give her a fake polite, yet toothless smile. Enobaria doesn't even bother, since her teeth are so pointy that even a smile looks scary. "What's this one's name?" And so starts the plethora of women that Finnick will be forced to 'date' over the course of the Games. It hardly bothers me now though. Rather, I just enjoy giving them a hard time while playing along.
The Capitolian is apparently too dumb to understand the insult and it flies right over her head. "It's Odessia," she squeaks. 'My name kind of sounds like yours."
My fake smile extends even further as my mouth tries to compensate for my narrowing eyes. "How fun."
"I just started dating Finnick this afternoon, isn't that right Finny?" She turns to Finnick who is still attached by the arm and he gives her a nod and a wink.
Odessia is likely one of the girls who pays for Finnick's time only for the public appearance of it all. People who date Victors around here tend to get their own fifteen minutes of fame, before fizzing off back into obscurity.
Before I can say something else to the woman, we hear a countdown starting, signalling the end of the first day of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Odessia drags Finnick off to get a better look at the screen and I turn back to Enobaria with my champagne. 5...4...3...2...1... "Happy Hunger Games!" shouts the entire pavilion. Enobaria and I clink our glasses together before sipping.
After all of my pre-Games stressing, things are finally starting to look up. The cool, clean air of the courtyard does wonders to help me de-stress. I can feel the hope swelling in me. Things feel more peaceful, brighter even. Tomorrow would bring my brother one step closer to victory, in what looks like a promising path to a great big beautiful tomorrow.
That's all for this chapter folks!
Not sure how far the next chapter will take us, but stay tuned for some action with the Career pack beginning to hunt down the rest of the Tributes in their search for Katniss. And in the outside world, Octavia starts to come face to face with the reality of her situation, as well as face consequences for her past actions...but how will it all unfold?
Question for you guys: In the Quarter Quell, which section of the clock arena do you think Octavia would find the worst out of the ones we know about (the Beast, insects, fog, jabberjays, tidal wave, blood rain, monkeys) and why? What is a section of your own creation that you think Octavia would be afraid of? What sections do you wish were in the arena that would have made sense for members of the original cast (Katniss, Jo, Finnick, Enobaria, Cashmere, etc.)?
Onto the Chapterly memes: