Drace Vandel
Drace Vandel was a tribute of the 64th Hunger Games. He is most known for going crazy after he lost his arm, and his fling with fellow tribute and ally Xanthus Grimm.
 | |
| D3M of the 64th Hunger Games | |
|---|---|
| District | 3 |
| Age | 18 |
| Weapon(s) | Sword, Spear |
| Training Score | 7 |
| Token | Ace of Spades |
| Alliance | The Last Dynasty |
| Victims | Entaelia Lanine |
| Place | 7th |
|
played by Dars | |
Contents |
Life Before the Arena
Prior to being reaped, Drace lived in District Three and raised his little sister, Damea all alone. His parents were killed in a fire that may or may not have been orchestrated by a wealthy business man named Magnus Nox, in a final attempt to persuade Drace to sign a contract known as "Rags to Riches." Essentially, this contract stated that the participant would move in to Nox Manor, get free food, and a roof over their head, and in return, everyone was expected to pay a certain percentage of money back to Mr. Nox. Once a person reached a certain amount, they would be rewarded with a million dollars and their freedom, but should they fail, Mr. Nox would see to it personally that they weren't heard from again.
Regretfully, Drace signed the contract, and was forced to move into Nox Manor with his toddler sister, where he would begin making his money by gambling in casinos and dive bars. He quickly became known as Poker Face Drace, due to his near prodigal ability to talk men out of their watches and other prized possessions.
He also began to have a sort of forbidden romance with Mr. Nox's daughter, Valencia, and had he not been reaped, Drace had planned on running away with her after he got his payout. However, as he reached the cap of his owed balance, his name was called in the reaping, and he was sent into the Hunger Games.
64th Hunger Games
Early Games
From the beginning, Drace's Games experience was a struggle. He narrowly escaped the bloodbath with his life, his district partner died, and he was also weaponless and separated from his alliance with District One's Opal Shore and District Four's Locust Lovelace. At some point, as he ran away from the bloodbath, he sensed that he was being followed, and hid behind a tree to see if anyone popped out. Sure enough, the girl from District Two, Entaelia Lanine, was trailing him.
Protective instincts took over, and he ran from behind the tree and shoved her down a very steep hill. He watched as she tumbled down, and by the time she reached the end of the incline, a cannon was firing to signal her death. He was disgusted with himself, and climbed into a pile of brush to hide from the cameras as tears filled in his eyes. However, to his pleasure, his allies had also been tracking him, and found him only a half hour later.
He noticed that, among his alliance, was Xanthus Grimm, whom he'd had a brief affair with while in the Capitol. Locust gave Drace an extra sword she had gotten from the bloodbath, and Xanthus bandaged Drace's excessive wounds.
The next day, Drace's alliance was forced into a fight against two combustiphants. Thought they beat the animals with relative ease, the most talked about moment of the fight came from Drace standing his ground as the biggest of the two charged toward him. He claimed later on that he was doing it to showcase his bravery to sponsors, but in truth, he'd saw it as a way of dying where none of the tributes, including himself, would get credit.
Clearly, Xanthus did not believe him though, as he confronted him about it later on in the day, when the alliance split up to search for resources. As a gesture of good faith, Drace offered Xanthus his sword, which he had noticed Xanthus eyeing quite a few times, and in return, Xanthus traded Drace his pitchfork, and accepted Drace's apology.
Day Three, Drace and his allies ran into another alliance, Halcyon Hearts, and Opal caught Akasha Labbinac on fire before any of them really had the opportunity to realize things were turning violent. The other alliance tried running away, but Opal chased after them, causing Drace, Locust, and Xanthus to follow. Drace and Xanthus nearly killed Luciana Trevers before Sierra Birdbook managed to escape with her.
Feast/Late Games
By day four, Drace has become so overwhelmed with guilt for his murder of Entaelia, as well as how quickly he had bought into a pack mentality that had almost caused Luciana to die as well, that he worried he would not want to leave the arena, should he be given the chance. He was separated from his allies due to an extremely thick fog that rolled across the arena, and because he was not sure if he wanted to live or not, he did not fight Florence Hartmyre and Mikhail Ivashkov when he ran into them. The three of them built a fire, as the fog would obscure the smoke, and he had a thumb war with Mikhail, while Florence watched on, and when he realized how vulnerable the others were, he was almost overcome by the want to grab his pitchfork and finish them. Because this thought terrified him so much, and because it reminded him of the monster he was becoming, he ran away when the duo weren't looking and he did not return.
The next day was a feast, in which Drace was obligated to attend. It took place in the tar pits, which was also where his alliance had fought against the combustiphants earlier in the games, and after remembering the tar could be used to catch his weapon on fire, Drace attempted to make his pitchfork a little more lethal. To his chagrin, however, a bit of the burning tar dripped into the pit, and the entire area exploded in fire. Drace lost his arm in the explosion, and his weapon was also lost, and several of the remaining tributes received severe burns as well.
It was this explosion and the loss of his arm that truly made Drace snap. Despite seemingly being an underdog throughout his time in the arena, Drace was instantly sponsored a knife to defend himself with. In a screaming fit, he started attacking his former ally, Opal, citing her disregard and lack of respect for him as reasons. While he did not kill her, he did manage to land a few hits on her before she ran away, as did everyone, pardon Xanthus, who managed to calm Drace down for a bit. The two sat in silence, watching everyone retreat into the forests, and yet again, Drace was forced to leave when he began thinking of how easy it would be to kill Xanthus.
On the last night of Drace's life, he hunted for Opal, hellbent on making her pay for what he felt was mistreatment of him in the earlier days of the arena. He ended up finding her in the early hours of the morning, before the sun had yet broken the horizon, and after a very lengthy fight, Opal bested Drace by plunging her sword into his heart.
Kills
Entaelia Lanine, Day One, Post-Bloodbath
Afterlife
Shortly after Drace closed his eyes to earth for good, he opened them to some place better. A girl named Aria greeted him on a sunless beach, and thanked him for bringing fire to her little piece of heaven after she explained what she knew about where they were, which was not much. Drace would go on to coach Magenta Ryker, Gavin Barker, Alexis Rondhal, Dustyn Chase, Dane Allore, Reese LaChance, and Raven Barker through their transitions to the afterlife.
Trivia
- Drace was a part of Python's "rags to riches" plot, prior to being reaped
- His sister was originally only a few years younger than him, however, her biography was resumbitted to state that she was only a toddler when Drace was reaped.
- His favorite color was gray.
- He smoked cigarettes.
- People called him "Poker Face Drace" due to his incredible gambling skills.
