Author's Note: Hello! This isn't necessarily a chapter, but more of an introduction to this SYOT. As you know there are 12 slots available, and I will be taking submissions through my PM until sometime around June. This is actually my first written SYOT, so please bear with me. I will try to give each character a rightful amount of time within this story to express what the creator has given them as well as develop them as a tribute within these games. Thank you and hope you enjoy!
Introduction
Footsteps carry down the white and polished floors of the underground testing hall as a man with flowing turquoise hair travels to the main circular meeting room on the fourth floor. His eyes scan his slim projector board and neat blue papers tucked in his arm. It's the plans for the next Hunger Games. The first Quarter Quell.
Double doors open to reveal the slim circular table mirroring the shape of the room. Twenty men and women sit in white uniforms with folded hands, contained yet almost excited expressions on their faces. Gamemakers always enjoy a new twist in the their jobs. It keeps the people entertained and promotes their skills to the Head Gamemaker. It also is incredibly interesting to analyze the tributes reactions to the specially designed arena for these special games. This is surely to be a new and interesting year.
"Good evening everyone," Lucian Beryl says to the group in his usual smooth and soft voice, unlike the usual accent in the Capital. He adjusts his gold rimmed glasses and smooths back the strands of his sea colored hair, taking a seat in the single chair provided in the middle of the table. The other gamemakers are split equally on either side of him, their ears waiting to hear his words. Lucian clears his throat, using the time to take in his followers around him.
"Let us begin first with viewing the completed plans," he finally speaks, eyes flickering over at the lady beside him. She nods and presses a slim remote between her tattooed fingers, etched with tiny flowers of blue and gold. The screen to the right flickers on, revealing a skeletal view of the newly designed arena. With calculated movements, each gamemaker around the table takes out matching white folders with the Capital's crest pressed in the center. Papers slightly russle as the folders open to reveal the same blue plans as the ones in front of the Head Gamemaker.
"Let us see the testing subjects."
The lady with the inked fingers zooms in to a blank patch of land, the color of sandpaper and slightly cracked. Two figures lay curled in the fetal position, wearing the gray uniforms of an Avox.
"Wake them." Lucian commands.
With a single tap of her device, the two figures are forced to stretch themselves out and sit upright, a dazed expression playing across their paling faces. Lucian's eyes flicker and he points at the lady beside him again, signaling her to program the arena's first traps upon the two victims. After a moment, the two Avoxes shoot to their feet and begin to take off across the cracked ground, their gargled cries blaring over the monitors. Lucian speaks over their inhuman sounds.
"With this test we can determine the success our skeletal arena will have in the first Quarter Quell with our tributes. After the pods are tested and proven to work in full motion, we will build the environment of the arena around them."
The gamemakers study the two Avoxes scrabbling to survive in their stimulated sphere of technology, some occasionally scratching notes down in their folders. Everything must be exact and at the height of entertainment for this year's games.
"Now, our President Radian opened the first envelope this morning to reveal the Districts' choosing in their own tributes for this year's games. I'd say that this will result in an interesting reaping mix. Our technology must be able to balance with the tributes affected in order to please the people, is that understood?" He slightly smirks, his eyes daring anyone to speak. A silent nod ripples across the room as the note-taking briefly stops.
Nobody has held as much power as Head Gamemaker than Lucian Beryl. Promoted after only the sixth hunger games, Lucian has overseen the outcome of over twenty victors within over twenty different games. All of which have adapted to his evolving technology and experiments. The structure of the arena has not only transformed since he arrived, but has brought the Capital to accept and love the idea of the Hunger Games and cause the Districts to crumble at the feet of the President. Any hint of the rebellion before within Panem has been crushed by the broadcasted killings of their innocent children.
"Good. Now, if we are finished here we can dispose of the stimulation and it's test subjects and then begin on the final structure of the arena." Lucian watches as the two Avoxes lay nearly dead on the screen, their weakened and malnourished bodies heaving on the ground. It is no question in the gamemakers' eyes to what crime they could have committed to deserve the fate of being their experiments.