hope's inoculation // mayor jo + teddy + flynn
Jul 9, 2021 0:11:31 GMT -5
Post by lance on Jul 9, 2021 0:11:31 GMT -5
Josephine Davenport, affectionately called Mayor Jo by her more beloved supporters, had never entered the mayorship expecting anything to be easy, nor expected. Tearing away at the rot that Calliope had left behind was finally a thing of the past three years later, and though the remaining two were hardly enough to achieve every single ambitious goal she had set her heart to, a job half-done was still far better than the decade that had preceded it.
But never in her wildest dreams had she imagined this. For the first time in eleven years, Six had reason to celebrate again. One of their own had come home, bringing a festive spirit, a year's worth of rations, and something so much more to her home.
She knew all too well that the line between help and hindrance was a fine line walked when it came to hope. Too much made you a threat, as the great families in Eleven were still feeling to this day a generation later, while too little let despair win out, as what was still seen in Eight and Nine.
But this...
A win in the Hunger Games, mere months after the last of her predecessor's structure had been rooted, felt almost too good to be true. The shift from ruin to rejuvenation was not one that could be completed overnight; but with a year's worth of plenty to ease the burden on the poor while she made the overhauls necessary to sustain them?
But no matter how many times she went to bed and woke up, how many times she pinched herself to confirm that it was not, in fact, a dream, reality still trudged onwards.
And now here she was, sitting at her desk in her modest office in the heart of the town square, a kettle of tea simmering off to her right and Six's victor pair seated in front of her. It had always been somewhat of an interesting affair, meeting with Teddy in the past - as the two most important people in the district operating in wholly opposite worlds, any reason that saw a convergence of the two was numbered in the double digits, yet each and every one had been significant.
But this one was perhaps the most important of them all. After all, Teddy Ursa had been a single pillar, a monolith of influence in the district for so long, that adding another to his number was sure to shake things up.
But that changed nothing. And even as she glanced from Teddy to the kid - Flynn - and back again, noting their similarities (the same hunched posture) and differences (Teddy's calm and Flynn's almost nervous restlessness), her stance remained the same; the victors had sacrificed much for the greater good. The least she could do was ease their lives in turn.
"Well, Theodore, I suppose congratulations are in order," she said, taking a sip of her tea. Mint today - fitting. "It seems that once again, you have achieved the impossible." A list that was only growing longer, from his three kills to victory on one leg to his endorsement swinging the tide in the election to now, his own protégé.
She turned towards said protégé in question, saw the haunted gaze that was far too serious for a boy of his age, and smiled as warmly as she could. "And congratulations to you as well, Mr. Garner." Best start with formalities - there was a reason she called the elder victor 'Theodore' after all. "And let me offer my condolences for the sacrifices you made to get here, as well."
There'd be time for true celebration later. But even with all the positives, the fact remained that there was still Syren Steele's coffin to bury in the same ceremony she'd attended three years running now. And the fact remained that this kid had killed several times over to get here today.
And even if her world and Teddy's rarely intersected, she'd known him long enough to understand that the life of a Victor was hardly as cracked up as the Capitol made it seem. There was no reason to believe that Flynn would be any different.
