"You're an absolute nutjob,"

Two men stared up at the simulation which ran on the screen. Intricate series of tunnels were being woven together. Various pockets of food, weapons, and shelter were spawned instantaneously as the virtual tributes ran amok. The office was in no better shape. Energy drinks and bags of potato chips were proof of the sleepless nights spent in this office. Bleary eyed and bleak looking, the two men sat squinting at the projection in front of them.

The man sitting to the left, a handsome fellow with a tall stature, shook his head in disbelief,

"Lincoln, this is insanity! How are you going to build an arena that shifts nightly, AND at your will? How are you sure you won't kill too many tribute by just trapping them? How do you know you won't just bore everyone to death, in the arena and out?" The man looked over only to find Lincoln grinning with glee. Blue eyes bloodshot and sparkling, he turned to the man next to him.

"Xander, you don't get it. That's half the fun! Pick the right cave, you find enough food for weeks! Pick the wrong cave, well, suffocation is a nasty way to go," Lincoln mused. Xander looked back at the simulation,

"By the way, I think the whole mine shaft look to it is just tacky," he teased. A stale cheese puff flew in front of his face.

"You're tacky, and you still don't get it! It's an easy way to get tributes together, just announce there's going to be shift and squish them into a room with no exits until someone dies!" Lincoln waved his arms wildly, looking to Xander to finally understand his genius. Instead, Xander had started to tinker with the design.

"Seriously, what if instead of a mine shaft, we did a series of mountains or something? You could still get in the dreary cave death battles you desperately want, but it'd actually have some color to it as opposed to the doom and gloom of the underground," Xander typed in some coding before it zapped him. "LINK! What the hell?"

Lincoln stared intently at the screen.

"Xander calm down, beside you're not even supposed to be here right now. You're not supposed to see these designs," Xander rolled his eyes at the comment,

"Alright, but please take a shower at some point, it's starting to stink," the only response was a whole bag of stale cheese puffs hitting his face.

"Goodbye! And please tell mom I'm doing fine. I promise I'll make it home for dinner this Saturday,"

"You said that last week," Lincoln rolled his eyes.

"Well I actually mean it this time, goodbye!" With the slam of the door, Xander was gone. Lincoln stared at the screen for a moment.

"Maybe a mining town? No, that doesn't leave enough room for mutts to come into play. It's not that ridiculous thought, I mean, Leopold set one of his games up in a supermarket for crying out loud. Who think sentient cereal is scary? Also maybe I should nix the whole shifting arena idea… That's a lot of money," Lincoln fiddled with the coding some more. With the full knowledge that he was in for a long night, he sat down and sighed. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a 6-pack of energy drinks. With one last stretch, he got back to work. Maybe he could make the aboveground town and underground cave system work.

Thanks for coming back! Also, thank you to those who've submitted so far, I've been really impressed with the type of characters that have come in.

Here's a little glimpse at what I've been thinking of for an arena. I may choose to stick with it, I may not. Who knows? I'm just throwing ideas into the wind. The next chapter is just a tribute list, which will be updated everytime I get a submission. In a week or two, I'll put solid deadlines on submissions in order to really start getting into the reapings and the games.

Until then, how do you like these little prologues? I'm thinking of giving Lincoln and his exploits an interlude every once in awhile over the course of the story. What do you guys think?

Keep Submitting! I'll try to respond in a timely fashion. I appreciate every tribute that I get to see and possibly bring to life.

Thanks!

Dia