pieces of a district | Althea Mayor One-shots

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sbeeg
Retired Staff

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last seen Nov 1, 2023 5:54:37 GMT -5

pieces of a district | Althea Mayor One-shots Aug 30, 2020 8:52:25 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Aug 30, 2020 8:52:25 GMT -5

Althea Lassandra Dials Perch

Telephone

The phone in her office is older but nice. A shiny black rotary style phone that had been hidden under papers during Fabian's terms and was used with far more frequency since the 80th. There were constantly people coming in asking to use it and while Althea had been reluctant at first, seeing their smiles and hearing their hushed conversations tended to be the bright spot of her days.

She wondered what it was like to have a friend in a different district and then realized she did not have to wonder. Mr. Izar from Eleven had been kind enough to her and while one had to be exceptionally close to be considered a friend of Althea Perch she had him down as a pleasant acquaintance.

She thought about it a moment and realized that besides Fabian, her interns she saw day to day, her children and grandchildren, and the citizens she spoke to she really didn't interact with anyone. She didn't have friends she'd grab coffee with or talk about the latest gossip. Maybe because as Mayor she was the gossip. But she didn't have friends before she was mayor so maybe she simply wasn't inclined.

She looked at the phone, at the carefully painted numbers signifying each district and an ornate C for the capitol. Y couldn't ring up the Capitol but they could call you, a call Althea had only received once with either the best news she'd ever heard or the worst.

With Snow there were a million possibilities. Her eyes gazed over the "11" on her phone. Four had as many people as 11, probably more. And while everyone was spread out to grow crops and tend land in Vasco's district, hers were all clumped together on the shore line. They had strong communities, strong voices.

If they wanted to they could tear everything down.

Althea tapped a finger on the receiver.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

sbeeg
Retired Staff

3,503 POSTS
Pronouns: she/they
last seen Nov 1, 2023 5:54:37 GMT -5

pieces of a district | Althea Mayor One-shots Aug 30, 2020 9:06:16 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Aug 30, 2020 9:06:16 GMT -5

Althea Lassandra Dials Perch

Portraits

There is a long hall in the mayor's office. It leads off to her office, sitting rooms for when others visit (something that when thy made the building seemed like it would happen more often). The hall itself was boring. Plain floors, light blue walls. Everything was blue in fur after all. But it was the portraits hanging along the hall that she liked the most.

Every tribute District Four had sent to the Capitol was framed and mounted on the wall. There were large ornate frames for victors, Leon and Annie's faces smiling down at her surrounded by ridiculous twisted gold and laid with sapphires. Wander's had a special gem set at the top but other than that they were all the same. Straight silver with corners so sharp they could draw blood. They were photos taken from their training weeks, usually used alongside their private training session score.

If she was being honest Althea barely knew half of them. After so many years you can't hold onto names you don't say and faces you don't see. She once tried to count them up during a long stretch between meetings- how many had brown hair, how many had names starting with a vowel. But they were an endless parade of people. A never ending list of names.

There were names she recognized, of course, but it was the ones she didn't that made her think. Made her slip old Games videos into the player and watch it over again on chewed up static tape.

Althea used to think being a tribute would bring her glory. That even if she died young in the arena she'd be remembered.

She could laugh at how wrong it was. How through pure cowardice Fabian had pulled her into the spotlight she wanted.

sbeeg
Retired Staff

3,503 POSTS
Pronouns: she/they
last seen Nov 1, 2023 5:54:37 GMT -5

pieces of a district | Althea Mayor One-shots Aug 30, 2020 9:24:53 GMT -5

Post by sbeeg on Aug 30, 2020 9:24:53 GMT -5

Althea Lassandra Dials Perch

Waves

The water was the life blood of District Four. Everything they needed to survive, to meet Capitol quotas, to be happy came from the ocean. Fish to eat and sell, seaweed to dry, water to boil. Althea had never been much of a fisherman. Her family had been, but she was always focused on the Hunger Games. She knew how to fish, of course, but only because it would come in handy in the arena. District Four had an advantage in that way, or so she thought. Children here learned to swim as they were learning to walk. They could find food by watching the smallest twitch in the sand. They were strong, used to hard work and long hours.

And yet, victors were not plentiful.

Althea walked along the shoreline, her shoes dangling from her fingers as she sunk her toes into the sand. There were shells dotting her path and she stopped occasionally to pick up ones that stood out to her. One tinted blue, another pinker than a starfish. There was so much the ocean could offer, so much it gifted them. She couldn't imagine living in a district that was only trees or factories or coal. There was no soul in cutting things down all day or stabbing at rock with pickaxes. Fishing was leisurely sometimes. Sit back, let the sun sink its heat into your skin and wait for a bite.

It was also something the Capitol could not take from them. No man could ever shut down an ocean like could a mine. You can't string red tape up along miles of shoreline and expect to stay. Althea wondered if their high tech Capitol gadgets were waterproof.

Vasco's words crept in her mind again. If there were to be a revolution, District Four would have a fighting chance- better than any of them.

She looked out over the waves at the horizon.

They'd at least have an escape plan.