"President Scarlet?" A small voice came from the doorway of the President's office. "They're waiting for you."

The young gamemaker couldn't see the President, who was facing the window. "Good. At least they know their place," came the cold, cruel voice of President Scarlet.

"Ma'am, the victor has awoken," the gamemaker continued. President Scarlet didn't know her name. She also didn't care.

Sharp nails clicked against the arm of her chair. "Is he going to cooperate?"

The gamemaker swallowed thickly. "Everyone cooperates with you, President. He will listen."

President Scarlet rose from her chair, her dark black hair shining in the light from the window behind her desk. Blood red lips curved into a gentle smile. "Then let's go visit him, shall we?"

o~O~o

Soft pink lips, warm brown eyes, long brown hair...

He made a noise in the back of his throat, drawing the nurse's attention to him. She watched him reach a hand across the bed, longing for something he couldn't reach anymore. Everyone lost something in the Hunger Games.

Red, hot blood. Thick and choking and spilling out of her, out of him, out of his enemy's side when he stabbed him...

His hand curled into a fist, his eyebrows creasing as he whined, long and low. The nurse watched as his heartbeat began to speed up.

Ophelia pressed her cold hands on his forehead, feeling for a temperature. He'd been falling in and out of sleep since the Games ended almost two weeks ago. Usually he was incoherent when he woke, babbling about a girl and revenge. There was always a girl.

Pain... so much pain...

He cried out, his hand lashing out blindly, hitting Ophelia in the shoulder and knocking her down. When she got back up, she looked sadly at the spots of blood reappearing on his side. He'd torn his stitches again.

A pair of green eyes opened blearily, blinking away the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital in the Capital. The victor of the 123rd Hunger Games was awake.

"Where am I?" His voice was scratchy from disuse.

Ophelia had his shirt lifted up and was checking the stitches he had pulled. She looked up, and the first thing he noticed was her hair. It was bright red and pulled up into a sleek bun on the top of her head.

Red. Red like blood, his mind whispered, and he fought to suppress the memories. He fought the madness that threatened to take over.

The nurse stood up and smoothed our her skirt, nodding to a nurse across the room that he hadn't even noticed. "This is the Capital Hospital."

His brain couldn't put the pieces together. He was just a boy from District 9. How had he ended up here?

"What... what happened?" He sat up slowly, wincing as he stretched the skin that had opened back up.

Ophelia gulped. This was her least favorite part of being a nurse - dealing with the survivors was always worse than dealing with the dead. "You, uh..." she looked for the words to tell him the truth, "you are the Victor. You won. President Scarlet is headed up at this very moment to congratulate you."

She could tell what his reaction would be when he opened his mouth, so she lunged forward, pretending to check his temperature. Her mouth hovered by his ear.

"The President wants to see that you'll cooperate. You've already proven yourself to be a troublemaker, and if she has any more issues with you, she'll take it out on everyone you love," Ophelia whispered, too low for the scattered microphones to pick up her voice.

Heels clicked down the hallway, signaling the arrival of the President. Ophelia stepped back.

President Scarlet smiled, darkness hiding behind her outward mask of coldness. "Congratulations, Milo Tanner. You're the Victor of the 123rd Hunger Games."

Slow beginning, but I'll hopefully update a couple of times with similarly short chapters before I begin work on the dealings.

This is a SYOT! I'm excited to get characters from you guys to play with, and here's the Victor from the past year, along with an introduction to our President and a couple minor characters. On to the SYOT rules:

This is NOT a first come, first serve. You can't reserve a spot, I'll pick the characters I think are right.

I can minorly tweak any characters if I feel it necessary. I'll check with you before I change their age or anything, but once you've handed them over to me, they're mine.

Submit as many characters as you want! We have districts 1-12 available since this is just being posted, and please PM ME with submissions! Review submissions are NOT acceptable!

Tribute Form

Name (First and Last)-

Age-

District-

Backup District-

Gender-

Volunteer/Reaped?-

If volunteered, why? If reaped, what was their reaction?-

Personality-

History-

Appearance-

Family/Friends-

Romance?-

Token-

Reaping outfit-

Interview outfit-

Weapon(s) of choice-

Strengths-

Weaknesses-

Training score-

Interview angle-

Strategy in the arena-

Allies?-

What does he/she do in the bloodbath?-

Does he/she survive the bloodbath?-

Preferred death?-

Other-

I hope to have all the tributes by around April 25th, so submit away! Once I start getting submissions, I'll post updates on my profile, so make sure to check that out. I'll post a couple more opening chapters until i get all the characters. PM me to submit!