Location: [censored], Panem
Date: [censored]
It was a fantastic day, thought Gamemaker Otho Lydeard, for playing golf (the old-time favorite) or sailing (his newfound passion) - especially after Glass & Locks had released that superb glass-and-steel yacht with a the new backseat designs. Alas, this unusually heavenly weather was wasted for inspecting the construction of the Thirty-second Hunger Games arena.
The fairly young Gamemaker was famous for his creativity - and, he supposed, for his cruelty - in his arenas, not for his diligence. It was pure luck he'd risen to such a position in the Hunger Games society. Or pure genius, as he liked to think of it. And he was bored.
He yawned once again and gestured an Avox over. Otho inspected the silver tray, taking a Mont Blanc for himself and offering come of the snacks to his friend and fellow Gamemaker Camilla Lubiance.
"Cake - want some? You know, Camilla, I was thinking about making the third layer choco - " he made it that far before Lubiance quickly muffled his last words with one heart-tattooed hand.
"Shh!" the young woman glanced at their Head Gamemaker, apprehensive. "You know how Tarq - uh, Gamemaker Ransom gets around chocolate!"
Lydeard's eyes widened as he too stared at the youngest Head Gamemaker in history (or so was claimed), remembering the last time she'd come near the stuff. It had been the party for their last Victor, and the rest of the world had thought she'd had an overdose of the wine pudding - President Thames had forbidden proper alcohol at those parties, a shame, the Gamemaker thought. He had to suppress a snort at the memory of the usually perfectly groomed Gamemaker staggering around like a madwoman.
The Mont Blanc slid out of his loose fingers, and Otho made a leap for it, intending for a movie-style grab-and-slide. Unfortunately, his plans were laid to waste when Camilla also ducked down for the tart, stumbling over Lydeard and smashing to the ground. The Mont Blanc - that damned trickster - rolled just out of reach of Lydeard and executed a superb landing for only a tart, hitting the ground in pristine condition.
"What's happening here?" asked the (in)famous Head Gamemaker Tarquinius Ransom. Despite her name, she was female - her mother had named her when she was high, using the most popular and horrifying name generator in all Panem's history. Or so she claimed. Seeing the two Gamemakers in a messy pile behind her, the young woman's brow furrowed.
"Since you two seem to be quite bored," she said in a clipped voice, oblivious to Lydeard's exaggerated motions of assent, "may I request to know what that dark layer in the middle is? I'm quite sure it wasn't in the plans."
Gamemaker Lydeard dusted himself off extravagantly, coming next to Ransom to lean against the rail. His hood had slid back, revealing his bunny ears, an embarrassing result of a nighttime dare.
"That," the young man said, "is the blackcurrant jam."
The Head Gamemaker blinked.
"Since our original theme was to place the Hunger Games in a cake," continued Lydeard, "I though of ways I could make the arena move while still keeping the theme. I took motivation from an old science documentary. Shocking what those 'Americans' believed long ago, but moving on - the area above the jam is flaming pudding. At three o' clock in the afternoon, every day in the arena, the pudding is lit on fire via streams of brandy which are set alight. This means that the jam underneath, specially concocted to be runny when melted, turning the jam layer from simply a layer to an underground river. The builders will balance the pudding layer just so that the layers above are set just so that they too move when the blackcurrant jam flows. I have inserted multiple traps that are triggered when the layers move. For instance, an avalanche of candied cherries. And in another place, those little cream mushroom thingies exploding. You get the idea?"
Gamemaker Ransom was silent for a moment. Despite his attitude, there was a reason why Otho Lydeard was head of his department.
"Very good." She managed. "But why did you not present this to the others yet? We had a progress meeting just yesterday."
"I watched that science program after the meeting."
With that, the young man turned and wandered away, engaging in conversation with Camilla again.
Watching Otho Lydeard walk away, Gamemaker Ransom sighed and turned back to the construction. When she was gone - which could be quite soon, if these Games were a disaster - he would take her place, lazy, brilliant Otho Lydeard.
I wonder what the Hunger Games will be like with Lydeard as Head Gamemaker...?
A/N
Mont Blanc = Coward Mont Blanc. xD Also inspired by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, mostly. And a quote from page 96 of 'The Hunger Games'.
For more info, please check out www . fanfiction topic / 94671 / 65481993 / 1 / #66004289
These Gamemakers will probably be only a small factor in this SYOT. Would love it if you participated! :D