prodigal son /avriel 94th interview

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

>> ROLL OPENING CREDITS <<

Set lights come up to reveal an expansive sound stage, the back wall is painted with blackest black and set with LED lights embedded into painted plywood to give the illusion of an endless void of stars.

The stage itself is set with two well-worn, but equally well kept vintage winged-back chairs. These chairs are almost as renowned as the interviewer and interviewee themselves. They have seen decades of investigative interviews performed on this very stage and have hosted an endless stream of Panem’s greatest names to Panem’s most wanted.

Today, the person sitting across from Hendrix Fernwood is Avriel Baptiste, Victor of the 88th games.

>> BEGIN CLOSED CAPTIONS <<

Avriel, it's been some time since we’ve had the pleasure of hosting you on the show.

Two years.

Yes, the last time would have been just after the 92nd.

Yes.

To bring our audience up to speed, we were discussing your time in the games and the kills that brought you the crown.

For those who may have missed it, you can find the interview on your mobile devices by following the link displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Now, Avriel, I just wanted to begin by thanking you for your time today.

Our last discussion ended prematurely but we are not here today to continue that particular conversation.

...

The reason I invited you back today-

Invited is an interesting term.

My dear boy, you always have a choice.

Right.

Regardless, we are here today to discuss the events that led up to your time in the 88th.

To peel back the layers and understand the child beneath the proverbial pig mask.

why?

Your audience wants to know you, Avriel.

I don’t even want to know me.

-chuckles- Precisely. Today we are going to uncover exactly why that is.

Good luck.

Darling boy, if there is one thing that puts me above my competition it is exactly this.

Luck has nothing to do with it.

Don’t you get tired of it?

Oh?

Dissecting people. I’m not just some kid anymore. There are things I’ve done that people like you shouldn’t know about.

But the things that we don’t want people to know about us, the things that wound us, those are the things that make us seem fragile, that turn titans into human beings.

Just say you’re trying to make me more relatable.

Exactly that.

...

Shall we?

Don't ask me for my permission if you don't actually want it.

You were born in Nine where you were followed by a younger sister, Billie, and brother, Duke.

...

To protect your childhood home, I won't list the address but it stands in one of the poorest parts of the District, does it not?

My parents did what they could.

...

I don't know what you want me to **** say.

It must have been hard growing up, being the eldest, having to take on your parent's burdens.

...

Is this familiar to you?

This is a missing person poster.

For?

...

For your parents, Avriel.

Yes.

So when they disappeared, the role of caretaker fell onto you. Do you deny this?

No.

That must have been difficult.

No.

No?

Mes trésors sont tes trésors.

I'm sorry?

Something my mom used to say. Not for you.

...

Your parents disappeared when you were fifteen, about a year before the 88th, correct?

...

How did they disappear?

...

How did they disappear, Avriel?

...

...

...

Tell us.

they didn't disappear.

Tell us.

...

I killed them.

>> CUT TO COMMERCIAL <<

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

The screen cuts to Jill standing on the front walk of her house. She is drenched from head to toe in water. Her foot is tapping in annoyance and her make-up is running.

Those stupid storm drains! Eric I thought I told you to get the gutters cleaned!

Jill's Avox comes around the corner of the house and then shrugs at the camera in an 'oopsie!' motion.

Ugh! Now I'm going to be late for my important board meeting!

The frame freezes. Storm Adroxis, victor of the 92nd Hunger Games enters from the side of the screen.

Poor Jill. If only she'd had Eric clean the gutters with this NERVAlink patented Stormo!

Storm holds up a bottle of NERVAlink patented Stormo! Frame jumps to footage of Jill's Avox pouring Stormo! into the gutters. Then we jump to a rendering of Stormo! moving through the gutters, scrubbing everything clean.

Stormo! is an industry leading smart cleaner filled with nanotech that do all the hard scrubbing for you, so your Avox will have more time for what really matters and you'll always get to your important meetings on time.

The frame jumps to footage of Jill once again leaving her house, this time under sunny skies. She's looking nice and dry. She stops and waves to the left. The camera pans to reveal that Storm is her neighbour.

Thanks Storm!

No problem Jill!

Storm Adroxis holds a bottle of NERVAlink patented Stormo up for the camera.

Stormo, for all your storm season needs.

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

H E N D R I X

"Avriel?" Hendrix whispers, leaning close enough in her chair for her words to not be picked up by the mic hanging low above their heads. The victor stares blankly back at her, gaze aimed at her left shoulder, unseeing.

They have scant time together before the commercial break ends and the cameras are on them once again. "Avriel, sweetheart, I need you to trust me on this." Hen whispers urgently. The boy is far away though, body stuck back in the past, in a time it's never quite healed from.

"I know the truth," she says, "I already know."

Avriel looks up slowly, hands opening and closing. A stylist runs out quickly onto the soundstage and blots at a tear tracking through the makeup on his face.

"You do?" he asks.

"I do."

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

>> ROLL RECAP <<

Hendrix Fernwood is joined once again by Avriel Baptiste, beloved Victor of the 88th Hunger Games. Today, Hendrix uncovers Avriel's past and brings us some shocking revelations about everyone's favourite underdog. Before we cut to commercial, Avriel told us something deeply troubling.

>> BEGIN CLOSED CAPTIONS <<

How did they disappear, Avriel?

...

...

...

Tell us.

...

I killed them.

...

Is that true?

Yes.

Why did you do it?

...

...

Please Avriel, help us understand.

I didn't want to.

So it was an accident?

Mom told me not to get involved in gangs.

I've always liked building things.

Some people found out, told me to come work for them. They promised me money but I said no.

But your family could have really used that money.

No.

We had everything we needed.

So they threatened you?

Yeah.

What did you do then?

...

Nothing.

So then?

[✌ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

A V R I E L

"I didn't like school," he says quietly, gaze fixed on a spot on the floor near her left foot. The studio is silent, skeleton crew standing in the dark, far away by Hen's command so that Avriel could feel like they were alone.

"Why?" she asks gently.

Avriel shakes his head. "Just didn't. Skipped often. That morning I dropped Billie and Duke off and then I just turned around and went home. Don't know why, just felt like I should."

His hands have begun to shake, he traps them on his knees, knuckles slowly going pink from gripping so tightly. Hendrix raises slightly off of her seat, she's seen this reaction before, but Avriel just shakes his head again.

"The door was open. Duke put a pie in the oven before we left."

The carpet beneath his feet becomes worn hardwood. Avriel stands, as if that can somehow put him further away from it. "Mom was going to take the pie out, she didn't. It was black in the oven," he says. He tries to slip his hands into his pockets, to hide the way that he shakes but he misses. His fingertips skim against the fabric and Avriel steps backwards, as if he can step out of the light, but it follows him. He's pinned there.

Eden's probably watching this.

Av raises his gaze shakily, eyes searching for a camera in the darkness, and for a moment he's lakeside again, alone again, desperate. "I wanted to tell you about this, E" he whispers, "I didn't know how."

"What did it smell like, Avriel?" Hendrix asks softly, trying to direct him back to his confession.

"Ash and Iron," he says, turning to look at Hendrix again, "Thought it was the cherries."

"Why didn't your mother take the pie out? Where was she?" she asks.

"Upstairs," he says.

Hendrix opens her mouth but Avriel raises a hand to stop her, "I'll tell you, okay?"

She nods.

He stands there for awhile, gathering.

"On their bed," he says quietly. "Throats slit from here-" he pauses, finger tracing the line slowly under his chin, along his throat, "-to here."

Hendrix says nothing for a long while and neither does Avriel. He just stands there, fifteen years old again, eyes wide, seeing it. The minutes pass, and his hand raises slowly, touching an invisible cheek reverently. "And they... they were still warm?" he asks. A tear slips slowly down his cheek and Avriel blinks, then wipes the tear away quickly with the pad of his thumb.

"You didn't kill them, then," Hendrix says, standing slowly, reaching out, as if trying to calm a wild animal. "Why take responsibility?"

Avriel moves behind the chair, out of her touch. He shakes his head almost angrily, "There was a note." They'd pinned it to his mom's shirt.

Avriel covers his eyes for a moment. The smell, the memory of it, it permeated everything. Even after he opened all the windows in the house it wasn't enough. He'd had to burn his parent's bedding, he'd had to dig their blood out from beneath his fingernails.

He can't look at his hands now because it'll be there again. He knows that it's not normal, that blood washes off, if motor oil can come off, then so can blood. But he's been off since the 92nd, since that party, where they made him-

"What did it say?"

He drops his hands, closing them tight into fists at his sides.

"Your brother and sister are next," he says. His mouth runs quick now, too loose. The lights are blinding, pressing into him, the quiet in the studio is too loud.

"That's what it said. Duke and Billie, they were gonna do that to Duke and Billie if I didn't-"

Avriel stops, staring down at his hands, now open in front of him, shaking. He's breathing hard. There's blood on his palms from his nails digging in so deep.

"But the bodies- I had to, before they got home-"

He stops again, this time completely still, gaze fixed on the carpet between them, eyes unseeing.

"Avriel?" asks Hendrix.

He doesn't respond. He's in the woods.

Her voice sharpens, "Avriel."

Hendrix turns quickly to look at the cameras. She makes a quick cutting motion with her hand.

The screen goes black.

>> ROLL END CREDITS <<