As the ornate wooden door shut, it silenced the sound of the party behind Valere. A simple circle of silver adorned the crown of Valere's black hair, hiding the golden roots coming from his scalp. He came to a stop behind the young woman in front of the window. "You didn't do a very good job killing me, Caelia."

"Who knew you would be so frustratingly resilient," she said, refusing to look at the young man who stood close enough to brush by her silk purple sleeve. "Panem will say that your father raised you well. Raised a warrior. Someone brave. Braver than me."

Valere said nothing to that, simply shrugging in response.

"My cousin, showing up and calling himself some sort of Career!" Caelia rounded on him and gave the Victor a shove. Valere stumbled back. "My mother is the President! She exiled your family to District One for a reason. You were supposed to stay quiet. You were supposed to lay low. Panem wasn't supposed to find out that any rebel was granted mercy."

"Hey, if you're jealous, you can volunteer too," he said with a grin. "You're seventeen, you still have another year. And look! Even your fool of a cousin got out in one piece."

"That's not fair," she said. "There are rules about that. We trained together, and we did it for fun. You knew how to use a sword. How could anyone else stand a chance? You going into the Arena was cheating."

The Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a bent and folded photograph. It was of a preteen boy, his white hair spiked up and reddened eyes facing away from the camera. Tears ran down the boy's cheeks. On the white back of the card, old splattered blood blotched out the wording. "Do you know who this is?"

"Yes, I'm sure you're so proud of yourself for volunteering to save the brat."

"My 'cheating' kept a thirteen year old safe at home."

"Having that token is the only reason you were sponsored," she said, rolling your eyes. "Everyone said you were so noble. But we know. You only went in to spite us."

Valere crossed an arm around his waist and bowed. "I'm honored. And rich."

"Tell me, what's his name?"

"His name?"

"The name of that boy in the picture you're so proud of," Caelia said. She used her palm to push him back upright and pulled the photo from his grasp. She tore in in two. "You don't care about that child. You're no hero."

"Of course not!" Valere's arm swooped to gesture at the door he entered. "Outside, thousands of people are celebrating my victory. Feel free to tell them the truth. But right now, I'm the ninth Victor, and I'm the most loved person in Panem."

Hello, everyone! Now that I've finished with college, it's time for me to try writing an SYOT. I would love to accept your tribute for this story. I want to do my best to present the tributes in this story in their intended fashion, so please leave me some feedback so I can know how I'm doing. I prefer to accept tributes through PM. The problem with leaving the description of the character in the comments is that the whole community can read it. Not everyone likes spoilers! :) Since this is my first SYOT, I don't intend to have a sponsorship system because those can get complicated. If there's something you'd like your character to receive, just PM me. It probably won't change their chances. I will have some restrictions; your tribute can't receive a grenade launcher. I'll decide more about this as the story goes along.

Name:

District:

Age:

Appearance:

Personality:

Backstory:

Family:

Token:

Reaped/Volunteered:

Reaction/Reasoning:

Reaping Scene:

Reaping Outfit:

Parade Outfit:

Interview Angle:

Games Plan:

Training Center focus and skills:

Training Score:

Preferred Death:

Bloodbath Plan:

Allying:

Other: