Rayne Hale (25)- Head of Traps and Mutts, Assistant Gamemaker:
I felt no shred of fear as I ascended in the elevator. Not one drop. No, the emotion that had me overtaken is worry. Not for my life, as many would be in this situation, but worried for my position.
Being summoned by the new President was not something that sent a warm feeling through oneself. However, I knew Coriolanus Snow wouldn't harm me. I mean, he needed to have a solid reason to harm someone, and I had done nothing to earn that. In fact, having someone as intelligent and clever as myself meant having a stark advantage on Snow's side.
No, the fact that had me worried is that he'd summoned me. Not Bruce Heathers, the Head Gamemaker. Me. The Head of Traps and Mutts and the assistant Gamemaker to Heathers.
I mean, it wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge that I was far better than Heathers, especially in the intelligence department. But it was also true that he held a higher position, as much as I hated to admit it. He held more authority. Summoning me instead of him meant a direct blow to his ego. And at this moment, with uprisings here and there, a conflict between the President and Gamemaker wasn't something we could afford.
We'd succeeded in putting off the threat of last time. I felt a smirk cross my face as I remembered Thaddeus' expression when I shot him. Goodness, the poor boy didn't realize that in this world, the only thing that got anyone anywhere was power.
District Thirteen was alive and well. The Capitol had signed a Peace Treaty with them, promising non-aggression. However, last year, our previous President Campus Leor and Bruce had decided they wanted to destroy Thirteen's threat once and for all.
Last year, I had been the assistant Gamemaker to the Head of Traps and Mutts, and the Victor of the forty-eighth Hunger Games, Thaddeus Sheen. Thaddeus was known for his creative ideas and stealth attacks. Everyone knew I was just as good as him, if not better. But he occupied that position and held the trust of Heathers and Leor, just because he was a victor. So Heathers and Leor had asked Thaddeus to come up with a stealth attack on Thirteen. They'd planned on bio-chemical warfare, using a deadly virus called the Parasite, which basically destroyed your very being, until you were a pile of bones.
But Thaddeus had never truly been one of us. He couldn't bear with killing so many people. I personally never had any problem killing people to ensure my position was secure. But Thaddeus wasn't like that. He decided to go against the Capitol and formulate a plan with the President of Thirteen. It took some effort, but he succeeded in his plan.
Well, not before getting shot by yours truly. Thaddeus and I had been 'friends' since we were four, which meant twenty one years of friendship. Or so Thaddeus thought. I'd stopped giving a crap about what happened to him a long time ago. To me, ever since he'd won the Games, he was only a necessity to ensure I didn't lose my position in the Capitol. I turned on Thaddeus and managed to put two bullets into him before he escaped. The twit was still alive, unfortunately, and had taken refuge in Thirteen, along with a survivor of the Fifty-seventh Hunger Games.
They'd managed to evade the threat of the Parasite virus and draw up the peace treaty with us again. Not like I could care less. I didn't give anything to Thirteen as long as they didn't harm my position. To me, Power was everything. Hell, I didn't even care about the Capitol. The only thing that made me stick to their side was that they gave me power. And power was the only thing I cared about.
The door to the elevator opened and I stepped out, putting a confident stride in my step. My hells clicked as I walked down the hallway. As I stopped outside the door to the President's office, the Peacekeeper outside gave me a salute. I simply smirked and nodded. He didn't deserve my salute.
Before I could open the door, it opened from the inside, and someone almost bumped into me. The avox boy had been heading out, probably after serving Snow a cup of tea or something. I didn't really care. These low-lives shouldn't have been in my vicinity, forget almost bumping into me. I grabbed his collar and dug my nails into his flesh. I snarled straight at his face. "Next time this happens, you're being sent to the Torture Chamber. Or maybe I'll just kill you off, if I feel merciful. Got it?" I pushed him away as he nodded anxiously and sped away. I took a deep breath and straightened my skirt, aware that the President was watching me.
"Good afternoon, President Snow." I said in my most polite and formal voice. The only people to whom I acted nice were Heathers and Snow. And that too only so that they wouldn't demote me or something.
Snow smiled back from behind his mahogany desk. He looked young for his forty-five years, with a neat trimmed beard and striking gray eyes. He wore a formal teal suit, and sipped a cup of beverage. I walked over to him as I heard the Peacekeeper close the door behind me.
"Ah, Rayne, please sit." He motioned towards the chair in front of him. I gave him a sweet smile and followed his words.
"May I ask the reason for being summoned?" I asked. Snow laughed. "You say summoned as though it's a bad thing. I've merely called you over for discussion." He corrected me.
He got up from his seat. "Rayne, as you know very well, this is my first year as President. Under my predecessor Leor, the Capitol got some of the best Games ever. Last year's Games broke all records." I nodded, conveying my agreement and telling him to go on.
"Rayne, as a new President, I not only have to keep a firm control over the country, but I also have to prove myself to the people. The people loved Leor, and accepting me after his sudden demise is hard." He said. I understood what he was saying. Leor had been killed by Thaddeus right before the latter had escaped. I grit my teeth, showing my mock anger at Leor's death. Now, why would I care about him? Jeez.
Snow smiled. "Rayne, I need to prove to the people I'm better than Leor." He said, looking straight at me. I nodded again, not quite sure where he was getting at. He walked two steps closer. "And do you know the best way to prove you're better than someone else?" I waited for him to continue.
"It's to take their most accomplished task, and prove you can do it better."
It dawned on me. "You mean giving them a Games that'll be even better than the fifty-seventh?" I asked, pretty much rhetorically. He nodded. I paused for a moment.
"Sir, with all due respect, why aren't you talking to Heathers?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. I just wanted to confirm. He sighed. "Heathers was very close to Leor. Not emotionally of course, but they did trust each other. Heathers doesn't trust me, nor do our mindsets match. Heathers is more about the blood and gore than he is about the beauty of the plan that caused it." He walked towards the table and clicked a button, sending a holographic image of a crude blueprint. I gasped as I realized what it was a blueprint of.
"Is that an arena plan?" I asked. Snlw smiled, obviously pleased, and nodded. "Absolutely. It is. Now you see, you, Rayne, are very similar to me. You have the intelligence and the mind set to be like me. So I wanted your help in perfecting this plan before I send it to the other Gamemakers." He stated.
I thought for a moment. Helping Snow meant gaining his favoritism. That meant I might be promoted to Head Gamemaker. Now, why would I turn away an opportunity like that? I smiled at Snow.
"Of course Sir. You have my full support." I assured. I pointed towards the beautiful arena plan. I had to admit, it really was incredible as I examined it. It would give us mlre scope for traps and mutts.
"And with that idea? Your plan of proving yourself better than Leor has a very high chance of being successful."
~.~.~.~
A/N: IT IS HERE. My SEQUEL.
For anyone who's new, this is the sequel to my first story, the Ruins of Time. For the ones who already know of this, WELCOME BACK!
Alrighty so, if you're new and slightly confused, do hit me up with a PM! I would love answering your questions! As you can see, this is a SYOT, and I'm very excited to get this thing underway. Please do submit tributes, and I will try to write for them as best as I can. I cannot promise to be the best author, but I can promise to try my utmost and hardest, and also to never give up on this. Please submit! I would love to see the amazing tributes y'all come up with!
I don't have too many rules, but there are a few.
1) Please, no Katniss copies, aka Mary-Sues. I know you amazing people will not do this, but this rule is pretty much a default in all SYOTs.
2) Please be original with the personalities of the tributes. I have no doubt that you all will, but I needed to put this out there. :)
3) I stink at romance, so though there will be a criteria, expect very less of it in this fic.
4) I'll try to keep a balance of tribute's POVs, but I do need a few bloodbath tributes as well.
5) You can definitely submit more than one tribute, but I will accept a maximum of three tributes from one person.
6) Do review, if you submit a tribute. I won't kill off your tribute immediately if you don't review, but reviewing not only makes me EXTREMELY happy, but also gives me an idea of what the readers want, so I can incorporate it, or try to, into my story.
7) This is not first-come first serve. However, if you do take the time to make and submit a tribute to my story, I will do my utmost to include you in it.
I WILL ONLY ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS VIA PM. Unless you're a guest, in which case, you're most welcome to review. Also, YES I WILL ACCEPT GUEST SUBMISSIONS. One of my most amazing tributes last time was from a guest (RIP Dwayne...) so yes, I will.
The deadline is the end of next week! I may extend it, but that's what it is as of now! :D
Here's the form! It's on my profile as well! :D
Name:
Age:
Gender:
District: (Please give at least two back-ups)
Appearance: (Please be descriptive)
Faceclaim: (links or names, both will do. This is necessary because I will make a blog)
Personality: (This is literally the most descriptive and important part. Please tell me as much as possible about your tribute)
History: (Like personality, tell me as much as you can)
Reaped/Volunteered:
Reaction/Reason:
Reaping outfit:
Token:
Family:
Friends:
Hobbies/skills:
Preferred weapon:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Strategy for training:
Strategy for the Games:
Interview angle:
Strengths: (Another very important part. Please be reasonable, even though I know you awesome people will be :))
Weaknessess: (Same as strengths)
Preferred Score: (Changes might have to be made, but I will keep your thoughts in mind)
Open to allies:
*Open to romance: (Yes, I did actually add this. However, I stink royally at this, so there'll probably be relatively less of it)
*Willing to kill?:
How far do you think they'll go?: (this may be changed, and probably will be. My apologies in advance, but do understand...)
Opinion of the Games and the Capitol:
Preferred Death: (Again, this is very VERY prone to change. But I will try to keep your thoughts in mind)
Quote: (Necessary for the blog):
Worst Fear(s):
Other:
I know its long, but I really wanna know as much about these amazing tributes as possible! Thank you so much to everyone who's already submitted, and I hope to see more submissions! Happy submitting! Looking forward to seeing the amazing tributes y'all come up with!
So, what did y'all think of Rayne? And what of Snow? What do you think is gonna happen? Was this chapter good? WILL YOU SUBMIT? :D
There'll be probably one more prologue, from the last year's victor's POV or something, and then I'll start the Reapings! I'll wait until I have all the tributes, or at least most of them! This time I'll go in order!
Though the updates might be slightly slower than last time, I'm never going to abandon this. I really hope y'all liked it! Do tell me your thoughts! :)))
Until next time then,
Wizard.