Sector 6
-Victoria Vostrum-
There was a surreal cool quality to the floor as Victoria Vostrum placed her feet on the tile of her room, greeting the Choosing Day with a special brand of apathy--a forced one. It was a detachment that she had to urge, as anxiety ebbed through her entire being. Feet planted firmly, Vicki looked at the tasteful white sundress that hung from her closet door. Something special from her mother to mark the gravity of the day. The seamless dress hugged her toned frame as she donned it over a pair of white sports-bra and shorts: typical attire from her nights in the Fight Arena.She remembered the fiasco of the contestants from years prior who had been thrown immediately into the Battle, unable to even change their clothes.
Victoria made her way to the bathroom, quickly going over the daily routine of activities. Whereas some girls looked to appear radiant on days such as these, Vicki only wanted to be a little bit above presentable. Best and worst case scenarios ranged from the cameras panning over her for a brief second to her being brought on stage--a candidate for the upcoming Battle of Leviathans. For both, she at least wanted to be shown in a good light. But as she began to brush her hair, her eyes caught her face in the mirror and her busied posture relaxed, eyes catching their counterpart in the reflection and seeing the truth.
She was terrified.
But she couldn't decide whether it was of getting chosen or
not. For the briefest of moments, the impenetrably solid face that had come to characterize Victoria Vostrum flickered a crack, from which she could see eyes of worry in her own sockets. Victoria simply stood, her breath caught in the limbo of time that still creeped by.
"Vicki? Are you ready?"
Victoria dropped her brush, turning to the sound of her mother's voice and the quick rap on the door. Snapped from her entranced state, she tried to answer. "Umm..n--I mean, just a minute." Vicki hurried to finish the rest of her prep work, her mind busied once more.
"You're nothing if not punctual, young lady," her mother told her as she began to walk downstairs, no doubt to wait by the door.
---
Vicki recognized the subdued atmosphere--from suppressed excitement or dread she couldn't tell-- that hung over the Ceremony. However, she quickly became bored of the entire grandeur. She simply wanted the result and the chance to go home. Or not.
It wasn't long before the Ceremony commenced and the Councilman walked up, exuding more apathy than Vicky deemed necessary. She already knew the Capitol didn't think of them as people. Simply as necessary evils to be paraded and marveled at. Pitied for their twisted fate. This pompous ass of a man didn't need to drive the point further. She hated him already.
That made the hearing of her name all the more sharp. It resonated
that much harder. Hung in the air that much longer. A small air of disbelief hit Victoria as her name landed on her ears. But it passed quickly and she was on the move toward the stage, before she felt a hand clasp around hers. Vicki turned back to see her uncle, who had joined them today.
"Vicki..." he began to plead but held himself back.
"It'll be all right, Kaz," she told him, her smile genuine.
A measured pace glided her down to the stage, the results of years of pageantry. The applause was forced from the crowd, and Vicki couldn't blame them. There were looks of encouragement, awe, pity and resolve. Vicki pictured the walk vaguely like her many into the Fight Arena. It was really no different, according to the people. Vicki focused only on the stage ahead, her gaze firm. The second girl held a much different approach, taking it upon herself to give a grand speech but Vicki declined doing the same, instead standing tall and giving the two handed city salute to the crowd, their local homage to "Do all things in light, and in light find strength".
As they were whisked from the stage, Victoria took the time to touch the pin her Uncle Kaz had given her. She was vaguely aware of a camera flashing on her and a video camera now seemingly locked on her.
As the doors closed on the pair, Vicki could only think the worst of what the people might say of her:
"There goes the Devil herself. Clad all in white./ Bringing nothing but sin, in that accursed light."
It was time to see if she truly wanted--and deserved--to live.
Izurich,
Lord Wraith,
Crimson Flame,
Mixtape Ghost N
