A/N- Hi everyone and welcome to my new SYOT! This is my second one, my first being Fear Lies Within (if you haven't read it then please do!), and I am really excited to get this one started. Unlike my first SYOT, I have decided to write a prologue that features the Head Gamemaker and President just before the 44th Games...

Walking down the corridor with the over-polished floor tiles and scarcely decorated walls, Aquila Vesta was feeling substantially anxious about her meeting with the President. She, of course, had met Panem's leader many times before, but today was a little different. Not only was it a private meeting between the two, but it was in fact a meeting of much importance, so to speak, and because of this, the over-confident Aquila felt tiny flutters of butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Nerves were for children, Aquila had always taught herself, but then again she never really had much of a childhood to really experience nervousness, so maybe she could be forgiven to experience them now.

The double doors with a crested gold 'P' for President stood at the end of the corridor. Echoes of shoe heels tapping the floor bounced from the walls, ringing in Aquila's ears like an alarm. She was aware that the heels of her shoes were much higher than most of her others and it was a risk to wear them today in case she stumbled in front of the President, but she had always liked taking risks. It was a risk that had gotten her the job of Head Gamemaker, the first ever female as well! Upon remembering that she was the first of her kind, Aquila couldn't help but crack a sly smile as she tapped her bony knuckles on the door of the President's main office.

A few seconds passed after the knock before a reply came drifting from under the door and through the keyhole. The deep and ever so superior voice told Aquila that she could enter, so she turned the gold handle and pushed open the door.

The first thing that Aquila noticed upon entering the room was the incredible heat that washed over her entire body. She knew that the President despised the cold, but maybe this was taking things to the extreme. It was summer for crying out loud! Yet Aquila refrained from passing a comment on the heat and instead approached the large mahogany desk that stood central in the room. The heels of her shoes were beginning to sink a little into the carpet as she stood before the President.

"Good afternoon, President Snow." Aquila addressed her superior with clarity.

"And to you, Aquila." The President always seemed to call Aquila by her first name and not 'Miss Vesta' as she would have expected him to. It didn't particularly bother Aquila much, as she was quite fond of her name, but it seemed almost improper and impolite, and if it was anyone else addressing her in this way then she would have corrected them. Alas, it was the President speaking to her in this way, so she could hardly correct someone who had more power than all of the Districts put together.

"Are you well?" Aquila asked, making sure she sounded as polite as she could. She needed to keep on good terms with the President if she was going to return for this job next year.

"Yes, I am well." President Snow answered calmly. "And yourself?"

"I'm very well, thank you." Aquila said. "May I…may I take a seat?"

"No, I'd rather you stand in those incredibly high shoes and develop a strain in the back of your legs."

Aquila said nothing, just looked blankly towards the President.

"I am only humouring you, Aquila." President Snow said. "You are welcome to take a seat."

Feeling a small ripple of relief, Aquila sat herself down on the large brown leather chair opposite the President. Sitting down made Aquila seem a little more comfortable as she felt less tall and lanky, but the heat still irritated her. From the corner of her eye she could see the source of this heat: a large marble fireplace with a ferocious fire roaring in its heart. The flames were practically leaping from the fireplace, threatening to lick the arms of Aquila, and the heat was so intense that she began to fear that her make-up was melting down her face. It wasn't, but Aquila still felt extremely conscious of the layers of powders that sat upon her skin.

"So, it is that time of year again." President Snow began. "Firstly, let me congratulate you on your promotion. It must be nice to be the one giving orders rather than obeying them."

"Yes, I will certainly enjoy it." Aquila said. "I had always aimed to be more than just a Gamemaker."

"And now you are Head Gamemaker. The first female we've ever had, as well." He said.

"Yes, that was quite a surprise."

President Snow linked his fingers together. "But you were the best candidate this year and to be honest with you, I think we needed a change. Some of the males were…let's just say predictable. And I do not like predictable."

"Nor do I." Aquila agreed.

"Yes, which brings our conversation to this year's Hunger Games." He said. "Take a look at this."

At that moment, a large screen lifted from the wall and swivelled to face the two people. It was blank for a few seconds, then a film began to play. Aquila watched with observant eyes as clips of past Games played on the screen. Each clip was short, some only a couple of seconds long. One clip was of last year's Victor using the river as a dam to release a tidal wave of water that drowned most of his remaining opponents. Another was from the year before that, of a girl using a force field to repel small rocks towards the Career pack.

The film ended and the screen went black, before sliding back into the wall. Aquila turned to the President, whose face had a questioning look upon it.

"What did you notice about those clips?" He asked her.

"They were all from the past few years of Hunger Games." Aquila replied hopefully.

"Yes, but what else did you notice?" Snow pushed.

Aquila bit her bottom lip as she tried to remember exactly what she just saw. Sorting through the various clips in her head, she finally came up with an answer.

"All the tributes were using the arena against other tributes."

"Precisely." President Snow said. "All of those tributes had manipulated what we had put as obstacles into useful weapons. And do we like that?"

Aquila shook her head.

"Good girl." He said. "Why do you think they did that? Why did we not see much of this manipulation in earlier Games? Why only has it happened in more recent Games?"

"Um… The Gamemakers have been losing ideas recently?" Aquila guessed.

"Not quite, the arenas haven't been short of creativity." He said. "Any other guesses?"

Aquila frowned. "I'm afraid not…"

"Then let me enlighten you." President Snow said, placing his pale hands on the desk in front. "Intelligence. The tributes have become more and more intelligent over the past years. Now, I do not mind intelligent people, in fact all the people whom I hire are usually intelligent people, but what I don't like are tributes who outsmart us, or rather, the Gamemakers. We have seen a rising number in the amount of tributes who have figured out the way arenas work and how to manipulate it to their advantages. And that is not good. Do you know why?"

Aquila nodded. "Because it makes the tributes look cleverer than us."

"Perfect." President Snow said. "The Hunger Games are beginning to look like a code the tributes can crack and that is starting to remove the element of danger and control that we are trying to get across to the Districts. We need to stop that image before it builds further and develops into some kind of rebellion. That is where you come in."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." He said. "As Head Gamemaker, it is your job to ensure that the Games return to their original complexity and difficulty. You will do this by preventing any tributes from discovering the way the arena works and hence preventing any manipulation."

"And how would I do that?" Aquila asked bravely.

The President leant forward in his chair and Aquila swore that she saw a small flicker of mischief flash in his eyes. "You will do it by deceiving the tributes into thinking that there is a way to work the arena and then revealing that their guesses are wrong. You will twist it so that there is no way of predicting what will happen next, nor any way to avoid what we throw at them. You will confuse even the most intelligent of brains and see them struggle to figure things out. In short, you will create an arena that cannot be solved."

A/N- Okay, so that sets the rest of the story up. I hope it makes the story sound intriguing enough.

Now, as this is an SYOT, I will be needing people to send in some tributes to participate in these games. I am currently open for submissions and will accept them via pm, so please don't submit via review because I don't want readers to know everything about a tribute before I have written the story, so please please please only send via private messaging. To submit, please fill in the form below and send it to me. I am most likely to accept detailed forms, so don't be shy when it comes to filling it in! However, I am requesting that we don't have too many 'weird' tributes; a couple will be acceptable, but I would like some normal tributes too otherwise it won't be very realistic. Oh and try not to copy off characters from the Hunger Games books because I really would like unique tributes and don't want the same old characters that have been seen before. Apart from that, you can pretty much do whatever you want and be as creative as you like with your tributes! Each author can submit a maximum of three tributes, but I probably won't accept all three, so please highlight which tribute you want to be accepted the most. That's it, I think, so get submitting and I look forward to receiving your tributes! Keep an eye on my profile for updates on how many spaces are left and when the accepted tributes list will be posted!

Tribute form:

Name:

Gender:

Age:

District (please put 2 other choices besides your preferred district!):

Appearance:

Personality:

Sexual Orientation (eg. Straight, gay, bisexual etc. And would they be likely to have a relationship in the Games?):

Strengths (at least three please, and no more than six!):

Weaknesses (again, at least three and maximum of six):

Fear/s:

Weapon of Choice:

Background/history:

Family:

Friends:

Reaped or volunteered?:

Reaction to being reaped/volunteering:

Reaping Outfit:

Opinions on Capitol/Games:

Interview Angle:

Interview Outfit:

How will they act in the Bloodbath?:

Allies?:

Arena Strategy:

Anything else:

Thanks, FireflyLlama xxx