jubilant aubergine [d2] [fin]

The day has arrived-the day you will become victorious.

The Labyrinth Game has arrived. Sure, you've competed in your fair share of games before, but this year is more serious than any of the preceding ones. Your time to be reaped is almost up, and while you are quite skilled, you need all the training and preparation you can squeeze in. You just know you are going to be reaped; you've bought as much tessera as possible with the money your father lends you. If some freak accident occurred, though, and you did not get reaped, then you must volunteer. You will volunteer.

Today is not the day to worry about that. Today you have to worry about if your less able cousins will unfortunately lower your score or not. It's happened in the past. You could have gotten a very high score, but you were stuck on teams where your allies either didn't care about the games or plainly didn't try. Those moments are still touchy to you. You love everything that your family has provided for you-training, tessera, the Labyrinth Game. It's hard for you to face defeat. You used to be a lesser Aubergine, one who liked the games for the thrill and not the win. Over time though, you filled the right mold; you began to crave victory much like the food that sits in front of you on your porcelain plate.

On the surface, however, it appears that you have never changed. You don't allow your cousins to glimpse at your ulterior attitude. You love most of your cousins, but you love victory and glory even more. You've been a member of the winning team once or twice, but the prize wasn't enough. You want the big trophy and the big money. You want the real glory, not just the extra bit dripping off the victor.

You won't be able to bathe in the glory today, but in three days time, you will return to your district overwhelmed with glory and pride. You are not sure if it will be as much of a deal as it would be if your cousin Victory won. You have cousins that everyone absolutely adores and goes all out for when they win. Charm, the youngest, has always been the favorite amongst the younger children. Of course, all of Adalricus's children, especially Victory, have always had big parties thrown for them when they win. You go to these parties, forcibly, and congratulate the winner and shower them with hugs. You have to, or else your cousins might view you as a threat.

You really are a nice girl; there's no doubt about it. Sometimes, though, you allow your jealousy and competitiveness to overshadow your shiny personality. Your father, Viggo, has produced one of the smallest families, so no one can really blame you. Being his first born, the pressure was placed on you. "I have fewer children out there than the rest of them," your father told you the day of your first game. "You wouldn't want to make me look like a failure, would you, Jube?" You had came in fourteenth place, but what could you expect from a ten-year-old? You had no idea of how the point system worked, and you could barely hold any of the weapons. Nearly ten years of training now has improved your skill greatly.

Your weapon of choice for today is the bow. Your skill with the bow isn't really that great, but your father told you that you needed to try to master them all. "It isn't guaranteed that you'll get a sword when you go in the arena, you know?"

Despite your questionable ability with a bow, you could not be more prepared for today. Before you left your house, you took your time getting ready. You slicked back your thin blonde hair into the tightest ponytail possible. You wrapped it round and round itself and tucked in all the hairs with all the pins you own. You wanted to minimize all distractions. You put on the least amount of clothing possible and walked in circles in front of your mirror, eyeing the figure you so love. You stared into your iced gray eyes and hugged your arms, repeating your mantra, "Today is my day. Today is my day."

An hour later, you began the trek to the town square where you would meet the rest of your family. Many the Aubergine children looked nervous or apprehensive, but you were confident and brave. You scanned the faces of the small crowd, and you knew without a doubt you would win. Half of them didn't even want to be here, and you were disappointed you found out you had some sour attitudes on your team. You tried to avoid contact with every Aubergine but your younger sister, Zeal.

You aren't sure if Zeal got her cheery attitude from you, or if it's the other way around. You're both super happy people, but she beats you by a mile. She is extremely energetic, talkative, and outgoing, qualities you wish were more present in you. You couldn't be jealous of her, though. She is and will always be not only your favorite family member, but your overall favorite person. She's always able to cram hope inside you, even when you're chalk-full of it.

Even on a day like today, she was overly cheery. She came up to you and took your hand, and she even wished you luck. Your sister has never been into the games, but she knew how much it would mean for you to win. That's what you've always loved about your sister. Even though she was younger than you, her wisdom seemed to surpass yours. She always knew when and where to test the waters, and she never overstepped boundaries.

You wished her luck as well, and gave her a close-mouthed smile, wishing that your front teeth would untangle themselves from their eternal tango. You then led the way to the forest, your younger sisters trailing behind you in a line. For a moment, you thought about how glad you were to only have sisters. You don't know what you'd do if you had a brother and you both were reaped for the same games. You had male cousins, and you did love them, but siblings have a deeper connection that runs thicker than the blood in your veins.

For the rest of the way, you keep your thoughts confined in a block of strategy. You've put in too much effort for today to let your thoughts be preoccupied by something silly like what kind of feast your mother will cook when you arrive home. Unfortunately, you let your thoughts slip the moment the labyrinth appeared in the corner of your eye. You thought of how hard you had worked to please your father. You thought of how you trained day in and day out until the fat of your arms and legs became muscle that others in your family would die for. You couldn't help but think of the arguments you used to get in with your father. You thought of the night where the verbal assault turned into physical contact. You thought of how funny it was that people think bruises disappear, of how once their physical life runs out, they latch onto your heart.

You had to forgive your father. You couldn't have survived if you didn't. You knew that there were cases similar to yours in the family. The eldest children were beaten and bruised time and time again for the fathers' enjoyment, but you were different. You forgave your father because you knew he had always fallen victim to your uncles' beatings. You knew all he needed was one win. He had to prove that he had finally done something right in his life. He had to prove his worth.

And just like that, you unraveled. Because this is what the game did. It drove innocent children into the arms of insanity. And for what? So that you could travel to an even bigger hell and face your likely death? A tear caught in the corner of your eye, and you mentally smacked yourself. Too much thinking.

You composed yourself, though, and collected your stamp and wristband with your team name without any emotion. You stood to the side and waited for your three cousins to join you before you made your way over to your father. Today, your father would be guiding your team to your designated entryway. Your father greeted your cousins and wished them all luck. Once your trek around the side of the labyrinth began, conversation was replaced with the sound of feet gliding over leaves.

Your entry point for today was around the back of the labyrinth, the same one you used for your first game seven years ago. Once you reached the gap in the hedges, your cousins waved goodbye to your father and stepped just inside the maze, knowing you'd want to give your father a proper goodbye.

Your father smiled down at you and took you in his arms. "You'll make me proud, Jube. I know you will." You nodded and tightened your grip around him. He released you, giving you a two-fingered wave before wandering back up the path. You joined your cousins and went back to your mindset from earlier this morning. You talked up a storm about strategy before Adalricus's voice rang above your head. "60 seconds, seekers!"

Instead of repeating your mantra or thinking about tips your father gave you like most of your competitors were likely doing, you thought of an action you did long, long ago. You thought of the first word you looked up.

ju·bi·lant [joo-buh-luhnt]
adjective
feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph.

In three days, you thought, I'll be jubilant.

The booming voice rang out for the final time that day.

Let the Labyrinth Game begin!