Clouds of Compassion: Prologue
You're just a ghost of blissful feelings,
A cloud of smoke that I keep breathing,
An illusion, I'm losing you to the games in my mind.
Elianna Gitanjali, 34;
Journalist.
Ninety-three.
That's the number of how many lives that were lost in a recent riot that started in District Two after several rather important factories had been shut down due to hazardous conditions. It was almost becoming an everyday thing, which did almost make the thirty four year old curious if this was going to continue long enough that they could see protests from the rest of the Districts. As wild and brutal as their traditions and certain careers went, it was almost surprising to see them bite back against the Capitol for reasons such as this.
They were a loyal bunch, she'd give them that. Stupidly loyal at that. Their actions would prove them to be nothing but that of spoiled children needing to learn not to bite the hands that fed them. If they decided to foolishly rebel against them further, they would easily be demolished and disbanded in mere seconds, as seen just hours ago. The notion that they even have a chance against armed, trained guards… it almost made her laugh. Even their traditional training backgrounds wouldn't compare to the intensity that came with actual training that Peacekeepers stationed there have endured for the six years that is mandatory to go through.
Still, as humorous as this really was, Elianna couldn't focus on the rather petty matters of the Districts right now. The Capitol had much more exciting and entertaining pressing prescience that needed her to focus all of her attention on right now. Afterwards, she could type up some report detailing the events that transpired in District Two lately without worry. If she even had time. Around this time of the year, there was always so many things that needed her full attention. She'd need a miracle to write out all of the things.
Sighing, she looked up from the old typewriter that she was slowly typing away at. It'd be almost time for departure, if not already time. Letting her shoulders drop with a deep breath, the pink haired woman around the room, searching for the dress that she had wanted desperately to wear tonight for the banquet. Finding it, she smiled. Her carefully stitched and bedazzled dress hung nicely over her bed, the avox obediently standing against the corner of the wall with her head down, waiting for the woman's command.
Tonight would be a magical event. The amount of glitz and glamour that would be highlighting the the three main events happening in the City Circle was going to be phenomenal. It was almost impossible to get passed security anymore for events going on nowadays, it thrilled Elianna so much that she was finally getting the chance to do this for the first time.
It was something the woman had always wanted to write. Even when she was a young child, it was all she ever dreamed about. Now, as an adult with actual access, it seemed like it was finally going to become a reality for her.
She could barely see the faintest lights glimmering from the City Circle, reminding her just how busy and beautiful everything was going to be tonight. Just from her tiny little apartment, she could see them dressing up the City Circle in beautiful lights and banners. Holograms of their beloved President Bennett smiling proudly as it flicks to their newest victor, and back again. It looked simply gorgeous. Elianna wondered if they'd ever be able to top it.
There were currently three main events happening in the City Circle- the banquet celebrating the recent win of the latest victor, Cara Albright of District Five, the fashion show for a new designer that has recently been thrown all over the place, and the new class of graduating Peacekeepers and the likes.
They should be revealing the Quarter Quell for tonight, if she remembered correctly. She needed to be at the President's Mansion if she wanted to be one of the first to put up a story detailing what was said, what the twist for the year was, and the current gossip that was always prevalent at these types of things. As important as the other two fields were, she didn't want to give up one of the biggest events of the year. She refused to ever give up on her dream.
Elianna had heard of all the talk- all the bets that transpired there, the sex, the fights… it was every journalist's wet dream.
Standing up, Elianna snapped her fingers, glancing back towards the avox who immediately shot their head up. Even from as far as she was from here, she could see how dark and vacuous her stare really was. It was almost as if she was completely dissociated now.
It would prove to be a bountiful night if all goes to plan… the amount of politicians and high ranked socialites that would be loitering around in suspense, their tongues loose and greedy to spread some rumours from the alcohol that would surely be supplied tonight. Not to mention how close she'd be to the Gamemakers- they'd be drunk and maybe a bit willing to flirt. It wouldn't be too hard to get them to give her some slight hints about the arena, not if she was willing to drop subtle hand rests.
Just as she suspected, the party was already going as soon as she managed to arrive.
The stumbling frames of young, naive socialites and the likes immediately captured her eye. This would definitely prove to be an interesting night- she could hardly wait to grab one of them for a quick interview, infact Elianna was rather close to grabbing one of them right now. It was too perfect for her to pass up. Maybe in the morning, once she submitted her Quarter Quell reveal, she'd start seeing her names on the guests lists more often.
Before she could, a sudden voice forced her attention to the stage.
On it, she noticed several young children on stage, each dressed in traditional Capitol dresses. She could name several of them just from the tip of her tongue- Valeria Vitalion, the daughter of a prominent stylist, Appius Vipstanus, one of the newest popular dancers… why were they there though?
As far as she knew, it wasn't very common for children to be attending one of these events. Even the victors rarely showed up here.
Looking around the area, she was surprised to find that she could see a few young children sitting at the tables. Along with them sitting patiently with food being shoved in their mouths, she located woman standing to the side of them. Most of them seemed to be closely related to them, but she couldn't be sure. It wasn't too uncommon for nannies to look incredibly close to what their children.
This was definitely not normal… very rarely did family be brought with them to any parties. Most of the time, families were pretended that they didn't exist. It was an odd tradition, she admitted, but it made sense. Or it did to her. The Capitol had a lot of strange traditions that would make very little sense to outsiders like the victors, but it was still home to her.
The oldest girl, Valeria, broke from their straight chain of children, bowing. She opened her mouth, a gentle hum escaping her lips as she motions for the other children to slowly join her. The youngest, a young redhead fails to join in, but begins to clap his hands together, which triggers two other younger children to begin snapping their fingers.
Soon enough, they all begin to sing.
It sounded shrill to her ears, but she couldn't help admit that Appius had a rather nice voice. Still, she tended to dislike the sound of singing in general. It just sounded like useless noise in her opinion, like someone trying to break the already awkward silence with fruitless words that just… it made her want to dig her fake nails into her ears and tear out any ability to hear.
Appius very quickly finished the song, his voice low and steady enough to sing, "Her dead eyes missing, her nails ripped out, her lips forever in a glasgow smile; oh, the victor is covered in scars that will forever tell her story…"
The anthem had finished playing by the time Elianna managed to sit down, carefully adjusting all of her equipment. The excitement that had been brewing in her stomach long gone as it was very quickly replaced with the familiar feeling of desire for the Quarter Quell taste. She could see all the hints around her- the children that earlier performed for them, the amount of high ranking officials traipsing all around them with their families, the way that the President's children were on the stage…
All of them were clues, she knew this. She was always told that there was something special involving parties relating to the Hunger Games, how they gave hints about the Games twists and their arenas during parties and everything leading up to it… always.
Children, she assumed. Perhaps it'd be one where only children were allowed to be reaped or volunteer. No. She shook her head, looking back up to the balcony that the the President was to come out of. We've already done something close to that. It has to be something similar to it though- family? There's always been talk about sending entire families into the Hunger Games. Perhaps this will be it, finally.
The President came out as soon as the curtains open, decked out in a rather flattering pink suit with his youngest daughter trailing after him with a dark brown box held in her hands. In her hair, Elianna spotted a flower grown of statices and anemones twisted around to give her an almost elegant feeling. She couldn't remember the meaning of either flower, but it didn't matter anymore. This is what she'd been waiting for so long to do.
Jotting down the two Bennett's appearances in her notebook, she took in a deep breath. Her heart was racing.
Bennett approached the microphone, a smile painted on his face. As usual, he started up on his famous speech, causing Elianna to look over the stage once more. She'd heard the speech so many times in the last thirty years she'd been alive, and didn't care to listen to it once more today.
President Bennett seemed colder than usual, she noted, his voice was almost robotic to an unnatural degree. She wondered if he didn't like the large extravagant parties the Capitol threw every year- he was getting to be rather old for a President- sixty three. His old son, Creed, should be taking over for him in the next upcoming years, she remembered.
Once it drew to a halt, he cleared his throat, he looked down at his podium, reading from the script.
"On the 25th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes that who would represent it." He paused, letting the crowd take in his words. President Bennett looked over the room, locking his sight on someone on the ground near her.
Elianna finally found who he was staring at after a few moments- the Head Gamemaker.
President Bennett continued.
"For the second Quarter Quell," he paused, briefly, eyes scanning through the paper. "Twice as many tributes will be sent in as reminder that for each Capitol citizen death, two rebels died. Every District had sent in four tributes."
Elianna could remember how terrified she was the first time she watched the game. It was one of the few times that District Twelve managed to bring home a victor.
"On the 75th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes was to be reaped from their existing pool of victors."
She looked throughout the crowd, attempting to find the few victors from earlier, but was unsuccessful. Pity, really. Having their reactions wouldn't looked great for this.
President Bennett continued. "For the fourth Quarter Quell, as a reminder that each District was equally to be blamed, there would be no volunteers."
It was a short game, she remembered. The arena was a cold tundra that had a very low source of food and a large supply of mutts that had very little trouble attacking anyone they saw. It was one of the many Games that the Capitol had messed up by getting too involved. The pink haired woman tried to remember who the victor of that year was, but came up short. It was a short ginger, she recalled, but his name was lost.
The Gamemaker stood up from his seat, whispering something to a woman sitting right next to him before leaving the room area entirely. She wondered where he was going- was he even allowed to leave the party before the President finished with his ever so important announcement? Didn't he want to know what the twist for this year was going to be?
"On the fifth Quarter Quell," President Bennett said very quickly, seemingly getting tired of the drawn out speech. She could hear the crowd slowly becoming restless, a few losing their attention and focusing on the food in front of them. "As a reminder for the innocent lives that were brutally stolen in the Dark Days, two under the ages of eleven would be reaped alongside the usual ages of twelve through eighteen."
That was another rather brutal game- there were a rather large amount of infants crawling around the arena, many of them dying from dehydration and neglect from the other tributes. The winner ended up being an eleven-year old that managed to hide in the cornucopia long enough before it was taken away from her and she was forced to deal with a sixteen year old with a limp leg from an earlier mutt attack. She couldn't remember how the child defeated them, but it was one of the first times in years that a tribute under thirteen had won.
Finally, the President continued. "On the sixth Quarter Quell, as a reminder of how benevolent and kind the Capitol truly was, a pool of incarcerated criminals, rebels, and spies would be that year's selectable tributes. The victor of this Hunger Games Quarter Quell will be released, parted of their crimes, and their families allowed to be brought back together."
It was one of the very few times where she actually disliked watching it. There was so many violent scenes that caused her to become nervous to see. Of course, she was a child then. She's grown a lot less sick from the graphics of the Games knowing the reason for it, but she couldn't help still avoid rewatching this Game.
As soon as he finished with his description of the final Quarter Quell, the entire crowd focused their eyes on him. President Bennett motioned for his young daughter to bring him the box, opening it to reveal a delicate, tiny white envelope with the word '175th' on the front in beautiful cursive handwriting.
The room was incredibly silent as the man read over the small letter.
"For the 175th anniversary of the Hunger Games, as a reminder to the District about how they tore apart innocent families, the tributes will have the option of selecting a member of his or her family to go in their place."
At first, there was nothing. No one spoke- everyone seemed to be doing what Elianna was doing and going over the scene in their head so many times; "No volunteers. A family member can be selected to go in…"
And then the anthem came on, President Bennett and his children suddenly disappearing behind the heavy curtains.
Loud chatter filled the room, the shrieks of excited young children almost drowning out everyone.
Elianna rose from her seat, stumbling almost as she wrote down exactly what he said. Her heart was still racing… the utter excitement of it all was just too good; she couldn't believe that she just sat in front of the balcony of President Bennett's mansion, and listened to him reveal this year's Quarter Quell.
It felt almost nerve wracking to be here again, but she forced herself to glance around the room again. The families all seem to be leaving, which still left quite Capitolites that would gladly talk to her.
This was definitely going to be an interesting night.
Smoke - Pvris
Okay, so hey… how are y'all doing? It's been so long since I've really been an active force in the fandom. And, honestly, I've missed this. I missed writing and knowing who everyone is. Knowing that I can take out all my petty hatred towards some of y'all on your tributes, giggle and tell everyone my plans because I have a big mouth. It's going to be a long ride ahead of all of us, and I can't wait to accompany you all through it. But enough of this. On with the story!
So, in-case anyone no one realizes what this means- for the 175th Hunger Games, there will be no volunteers. For every District, two people of either gender will be selected. The person will be allowed to either- select a member of their family (a male can decided to select his aunt and an aunt can pick her own male child- goes to third cousin and it doesn't matter the gender theme anymore. Age range is twelve to thirty, so send me some older guys or some tributes that feel super fucking offended that their younger cousin send them in even though they ain't got no legs.)
Anyway. Thank you all for reviewing, if you do. I've been on here for long enough to know that reviews aren't everything and I am always going to be ultimately writing for myself… but they're still good. (Oh wait. Nevermind. I just realized that I am still a desperate review whore that puts my self worth and confidence on how many reviews I get. Yeah, sorry to put all that on y'alls.)
Okay, good enough for now. Thanks to Haiden (Glitchkin), and Caleb (IVolunteerAsAuthor) for looking over this for me. So, yeah. I hope you guys like the story. :)
~Anna the failure
What's your opinion of Elianna?
Why am I trying to mention that there are riots in District Two, but never mention them again?
Am I looking professional enough?
If I beg enough, will you submit?
Why am I writing in first person? I hate first person. (Ignore this question. I changed thirty seconds later to third and am finally happy. Fuck first and everything that follows it.)
Okay thanks for reading, bye.