A lot can change in 20 years. In fact one could argue that everything would change in 20 years. People, places, and the culture around you are all drastically changed by the simple passage of time. Be it because the ignorant get educated, an event so horrific it shakes a nation, or because a control hungry dictator dies in his sleep, time will always change things.
These were the thoughts running through young Gamemaker, young 23 year old Trobin Volca, thought as he watched his fellow Gamemakers discuss what possible twists to incorporate into this next year's games. From silly ones like randomly marrying off tributes to each other before the bloodbath and having the last couple standing both be named victors, to more clever yet impractical ones like having the arena shrink every time a tribute dies, each Gamemaker had their own idea and vision they wanted to bring to life. At least, the Senior Gamemakers did anyway. The newer and less experienced ones, such as Torbin, were stuck with the grunt work. A few tried to bring their ideas to the forefront, only for them to be waved off fairly easily. Even with this issue in front of him though, he couldn't help but to laugh. Just 20 years ago even throwing a minor twist into a Non-Quell game was seen as madness, especially under Snow's watch. However that all changed once Seneca Crane made one tiny rule change in order to spice up.
Allowing two tributes from the same District to win together was a risky move. Even riskier with Snow in charge. By all rights the man was putting not only his own life on the line, but that of his family as well. But in a stroke of either genius or madness, Seneca Crane did it regardless. Almost as if an act of defiance against Snow's strict and ridged rule. That said he wasn't completely foolish, he was planning on pulling the rug out from under the winners if two managed to claim victory together. However once the final battle was over and both of the star crossed lovers from 12 were bleeding out and unable to fight Crane made the risky move to keep his end of the bargain. Thankfully for both him and Panem however, Snow wouldn't live long enough to punish the man. Many claim he was poisoned the night before, or assassinated by some other means, but the fact remains that he would not live to crown either Katness or Peeta as Victor. Instead the honor would go to his Vice President, Gregor Valmont, whom has been in charge for the past 20 years.
Gregor, originally starting off as the eternal yes man to almost every politician in the Capitol, soon finally found himself within a position of authority. At first everyone assumed it would be easy to take advantage of the man, however he soon proved to be a stronger force than originally anticipated. Especially when instead of punishing Crane for his foolishness, he praised the man for his brilliant twist and simply stated he looked forward to his work next year. He would go even further by helping to improve the conditions of all 12 Districts and making them far more livable than they were before hand. Not great mind you, but passable at least.
But his greatest contribution, at least in Torbin's eyes, was how much freedom he granted the Gamemakers. Citing the 74th Games as his favorite of the bunch due to the twist alone, he quickly gave Crane free reign to do whatever the hell he pleased. With his imagination unleashed Crane soon went to work at unleashing twist after exciting twist into every game, each more vibrant and fun than the last. As time went on, Crane also started to take ideas from his team as well, giving his Senior staff the chance to put their own twists into the games. This would end up having an even better, and more personal touch to each game. Some twists naturally stuck more than others, but in the end most of the Capitol managed to find something they liked about each year's Games. From one of the Tributes who's story flourished under the Gamemaker's watchful eye, to an exciting event that shook up the playing field, there was always something to look forward to every year.
So even if he wouldn't be able to push his ideas just yet, Torbin was simply excited to be working under Crane's genius. While the work wasn't exactly easy he knew once the Games started that it would all be worth it to see his hard work pay off. After all, he was doing both himself and his Country proud here. There was no way he was letting this end in anything but a rousing success.
WOW it has been a long time since I have written anything. Fan fiction or otherwise haha. Truth be told I've been meaning to get back into writing, but my motivation for doing so has been... Shoddy at best. But you know what! No more of that, I've diving into the deep end here and I'm liking gonna regret it soon but whatever this is kind of something I need to do for myself here.
So here's the deal. This is naturally going to be an SYOT, and I will be putting the form and the rules on my profile and obviously send me your tributes Via PM. However unlike most SYOT stories I will be doing my best to update daily. Yes, daily. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a madman here. Updates will likely be short and only have like 1 POV or event each and typically clock in around 300 to 500 words unless I go insane and do like a million words in one chapter. As such don't expect each chapter to be the length of a day or half a day, but instead like maybe a 12th at best since I'll wanna make sure every tribute gets shown at least once a day. I know this whole format isn't exactly typical of most stories, who like to put a ton of content into each and every chapter. However like I said this is something I need to do for myself here, and I feel like if I force myself to write a chapter every day than I should be able to get over this writing slump I'm in.
Anyway with that out of the way, I'm gonna go ahead and end things off here. I can't wait see what you guys send in, and I hope you guys are as excited for this story as I am! See you all soon, and have a nice day.