Doctor Flore takes a look at the forms. "Two applicants only? You got to be kidding me."

She reads through the filled application forms. She finds both applicants interesting, but she is definitely unsatisfied with what she has. She reaches out her phone to call someone.

"Hello, Halizeia speaking."

"May I speak to the vice president?"

"Ah Doctor President! One moment please. Dad!" Other sounds are heard. "Hello, Makker speaking."

"Makker, we only have two people applying for stunts. I was honestly expecting more. The reapings will be in two days."

"Doctor President, we don't have too many people known for stunts, especially just around the Capitol."

"Then what would you suggest?"

"We can only try to pass this message around, somehow."

"I'll send you the link, and I'll leave this up to you."

"Yes doc."

Doctor Flore hangs up. "I'm quite disappointed."

Meanwhile back at the De Kabaitan residences, Halizeia eavesdrops to the whole conversation from another phone connected to the one Makker is using. Makker hangs up the phone, not knowing how to spread the application form.

He goes to the computer to check his email. He stares at the form, still thinking how to spread this. He doesn't know what to do, so he looks for an avox in his big mansion. During that time, Halizeia sneaks into his room and uses his laptop. She sends the link to herself, using her dad's email. She does not leave an evidence before leaving his room.

"Auguste, get me some decaf." Makker hands the avox some money. He then goes to his room to stare at his laptop screen once more.

On another room, Halizeia's specifically, she inspects what the form is about. There are guidelines, so she reads them carefully.

"The Hunger Games, eh? This better be interesting." She fills up the form in curiosity.

Halizeia has brown skin since she has Pacific Islander ancestry. Her eyes are yellow orange with contact lenses on. Her hair is a mix of light blue, dark blue, purple, and black. Black is the natural color, but she has galaxy-colored hair. She was adopted by Makker solely when she was still a baby. She was only told about this on her eighth birthday.

"Hmmm…" She thinks what this will bring her. There's money to it, but she doesn't need it. What is life like joining the hunger games?

She fills up the form thinking of other things. She does not need the money, but she wants this games to be successful.

"I can help fill the slots to make this the most special hunger games yet," she says softly to herself.

She thinks of her life for the past 22 years. Living in a rich mansion isn't much. She's satisfied with it, but if life is going to be this dull, it won't be worth living. She wants to travel, to go out to vast lands. Is it even possible? She knows there are vast lands out there, but Panem barely accepts immigrants. She knows she might not see these vast lands, ever. The hunger games can still be an adventure though.

She clicks the submit button after filling up the whole form. She has mixed feelings about this, because she does not have a goal in life. She wants to do something more than being a daddy's little girl that stays at home most of the time. She can go out with her friends, but her friends aren't as free as she is.

If I win the grand prize, maybe I can start a non-government organization.

She goes to call one of her celebrity friends. "Isis, I'm joining the hunger games!" She says it with a tone of excitement.

"Once upon a time, a girl meets the most handsome guy in town," reads Eltha Duthaulge.

"Mom, can you tell another story?" reacts Seven, an eleven-year-old boy. "I'm sick of hearing your life."

Eltha bites her teeth and hesitantly closes her diary. She tucks Seven into his comforter. "Goodnight dear."

Seven ignores Eltha as she turns the lamp on and turns off the light, before leaving the room. As she exits, she sighs pessimistically from not being appreciated by her only son.

She goes to the living room to watch TV. She turns it on, but she hears a voice she feels annoyed the most.

"Eltha, get me some water," shouts Donnalyn from the room. "I'm thirsty."

She sighs once more as she hears the commanding voice of her mom. Only she has the heart to take care of her mother among she and her six siblings, but she receives not an ounce of appreciation from her mom.

She goes to the kitchen to get her mom some water. She delivers it to her mom's room, and places it on the desk. She sees her mom playing a puzzle game on her tablet.

"Oy, turn on the aircon. It's getting hot in here."

Eltha listens to her mom and turns on the AC. She sighs once again.

"Don't forget to turn off the lights when I'm about to sleep."

"Yes, Mom." She exits her mom's room with another sigh. She is sick of not being appreciated by anyone.

"This is what life is like if you don't have money." She says it to herself as she walks back to her room. "Mom should not underestimate me like this just because I'm the poorest of us siblings. I'm just kind enough to be the only one repaying her." She tries to chuckle to let go, but she is void of any positivity inside.

She was lucky to be born rich, but her mom does not like sharing the wealth. Eltha's siblings left their mother already, because of her attitude and perspective about money.

"I'm the only one who stayed, and I don't know if it's good or not." She thinks of her siblings, each of them leaving the household one by one to start a new life, and leave their annoying mom. "I am selfless, but I want appreciation in return at the very least."

She takes a bag of potato chips from one of her closets and starts to crunch them to enjoy her alone time. "My mom is so spoiled, and my son doesn't appreciate anything I do for him. I know these are responsibilities, but…" She sighs once again. "I guess I can't change them."

She wants to cry, but she's done it too many times back then to the point that she doesn't wanna do it again. It amounts to nothing after all, not even releasing stress.

"My friends are always busy. I hope they make time for me, or did they forget me?" She thinks deeper as she crunches into more potato chips. "I guess I'll never know."

She prepares to go to bed after finishing her potato chips. She brushes her teeth and stares at her depressing look in the mirror. She has turquoise eyes, as well as turquoise and blonde hair. She thinks she's getting old. She is forty-six after all. After brushing her teeth, she lies down on her bed.

"Eltha! My night light." She gets up to go to her mom's room. She turns on her night light and turns off her lights.

"Okay, leave. I'm sleeping." She says it grumpily as she plays another puzzle game from her tablet.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Night!" It's too grumpy with no hint of appreciation or love. Eltha leaves the room and goes back to hers, of course with another sigh.

"Is this what my life is about?" She makes her way back to her bed. She lies down and picks up her phone to check on social media. She scrolls through different social media accounts, and she checks her email last.

"My emails are always lame. I wonder if my spam says the same."

She goes to her spam box to see five spam mails. "Kidneys, meh. Ads, ads, no. Liver, nah. Hunger Games, what with?"

She checks the last spam mail. It's a random invitation to the Hunger Games, and she reads it aloud.

"Hey, wanna experience the thrill of a lifetime? Come and join the Hunger Games in its 140th year in a chance to win one million dollars! Link to the application form is below." She scrolls a little bit down, and she finds the link to the application form.

"With this money, maybe my mom won't have to underestimate me like this. I have a job, it just doesn't pay me much, but I love it. Money should not be everything, Mom. I'll show you when I get back." At the same time, she thinks of what their lives will be like if she was gone. "They don't appreciate me after all, so they better learn what life will be like without me."

She fills up the form from her mobile phone. She thinks of what happiness was. It was getting married to her best friend, the most handsome guy in the neighborhood. It was having a child with him. It was spending time with him. It was about her dad, when he treated her like she is the favorite child due to her good virtues. It was when she and her siblings were children, when they had all the fun together. It was when she gave birth to Seven, the miraculous child of hers. It was when she met people with the help of her late husband. It was in the past.

"Submit," she says as she presses the button. "Life is never the same with Daddy gone, with Winsworth gone. Happiness will never be back, and it's too late to change the directions of life. After all, their deaths were never my fault."

She lets a tear out. She truly misses being happy, being appreciated. She closes her eyes and relaxes herself to sleep.

"The Hunger Games is gonna be a whole new chapter of my life."

Being the master of ceremonies isn't really hard. However, there's still more for Isis Ambergayle to learn as a it is only her second year to be the host of this annual event.

"Arf arf!"

Truffles has always been Isis's alarm clock. She gets up groggily and finger-combs her curly pink and blonde hair. She has brown skin and brown eyes. Truffles goes to her lap.

"Good morning, good boy!"

"Arf arf!"

She prepares for the rest of her day ahead of her. She has a new talk show that started only some months ago. She's really careered herself into the media industry. At the age of twenty, she has a talk show by herself and is the master of ceremonies. The previous one gave up her position after trying out the escort life. She juggled being escort and master of ceremonies for a year, but Isis made herself well-known to be the next master of ceremonies after that year.

She prepares for the day. She has a scheduled talk with the vice president's daughter. She picks out a red and black dress from her wardrobe. She wears her shades and her sparkling boots to work today.

"Let's go, Truffles!"

"Arf arf!"

She walks to work with her dog. She goes to the supermarket to buy Truffles some food, then they continue walking to work. As she reaches the studio, she goes to her room. She gives Truffles the food recently bought from the supermarket.

"Stay here." She touches Truffles's nose as she says it. "I will be back when the show us over. Okay?"

"Arf!"

"Good boy!"

Isis makes her way to the backstage. For the show's formality, she waits for some introductory remarks before making her way to her seat on the front stage.

"If you haven't heard of the recent twist in this year's hunger games, it's about Capitolites being granted the chance to apply as a stunt person or role player in this year's arena. Today, one of these so called stunt people is our guest."

Murmurs are heard from the crowd.

"Let us all welcome the daughter of the vice president, Halizeia de Kabaitan!"

Halizeia was given a round of applause as she enters the stage.

"Take a seat, please." Isis stood up for a while, but now she sits with her guest.

"I never thought I'd be in your show one day."

"I thought you're always here!" Isis widens her eyes.

The crowd laughs, because Halizeia always gets a VIP ticket to Isis's show.

Isis says, "Oh please! You are very lucky already."

"I know!"

"I brought you here today as an informal pre-interview session about the games."

"I'm so excited for this!"

"Your phone call says it all. I don't think you have to introduce yourself to everyone, do you?"

"People know me as the vice president's daughter, Halizeia de Kabaitan, but you may call me Hal or Liz for short."

"Your name has many pronunciations."

"I know! I don't even know which one is the correct one anymore."

They both look at the camera. The crowd laughs.

"How do you not know how to pronounce your name properly."

"Come on! I didn't name myself."

The crowd laughs again.

"Alright alright. We're not here to talk about your nam. I'm here to ask you why you applied as a stunt person for the hunger games this year?"

"I found the opportunity exciting. You know, I don't get to go out so often. You yourself can see that because I'm always sitting on that first seat."

The camera slowly rotates to that first seat Halizeia is talking about, and it's currently empty. The crowd laughs.

"If you were that bored, maybe you should've been my co-host all this time!"

"Nah, I don't like staying here too long."

"Okay, okay. Well, do you know what opportunities there will be once you get into the arena."

"I know I'll win some money, and then I can start a non-government organization eventually."

The crowd reacts and gives her a round of applause.

"I see! That is very interesting. Aside from the prize money and being able to explore a whole new world..."

"A whole new world!" sings Halizeia with a nice melody. The crowd cheers and gives her another round of applause. Isis thinks, then continues, "A new fantastic point of view!"

The two look at each other, and continue together, "No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming."

"A whole new world!" Isis sings, trying to top Halizeia with hers.

"A dazzling place I never knew!" Halizeia sings. "But when I'm way up here..."

"It's crystal clear," continues Isis melodically.

Together, they sing, "And now I'm in a whole new world..."

The crowd claps and cheers at their sudden duet.

"I will be in a new world with the tributes," Halizeia says.

"What a good point! Come to think of it, do you know what the arena is for this year?"

"No."

"I heard they have four parts split with a mountain in between. I also heard them saying that they hope to have a number of stunt people divisible by four."

"Interesting, but another reason i joined is the lack of volunteers, and i don't want the viewers to criticize this year's games due to the lack of it."

"Oh!"

"But again, I also wanna have some more fun."

"I see. What are your expectations for this year's games?"

"I think it's going to be the same for the most part, but our interactions will surely change some outcomes."

"What do you expect your interaction to be?"

"I guess we'll be acting as mutts in the arena. I mean, there's no clue of our roles on the application form."

"Ah, okay. If you won't be a mutt, what do you think would you be?"

"I think they'd turn me into a goddess of sorts, because four parts right?"

"Yeah."

"Then maybe each of us holds a part of the arena."

"You have a point."

"I just don't know how that mountain would act."

"Where do you think would the cornucopia be?"

"I think it would be on one of the parts, then the tributes would be forced to go in a loop, visiting each and every land we manage."

"Oh okay. How about the mountain, what role could it play."

"I think it will simply be a hideaway place for the smarter ones, but maybe the gamemakers will play their mutts and disasters there."

"Ooh, okay. Can you think of any possible co-stunters who applied for this?"

"I looked it up on the Internet this morning, and I think Titan is joining us too."

"Titan Smith?"

"Yeah, and her mother was shocked with his life on other news."

"Oh, who else do you think is joining?"

"There was a post this morning from Thromanoid himself on his social media site."

"Lucius, Lucius Thromanoid?"

"Yes. I find it odd how I am the only female as of now, and it's also interesting that I'm not an official stunt person myself. I just want to try out this opportunity, and I hope I can make it back home."

"Well, we'll find out who the last stunter is. That is all for tonight, and thank you for coming to..."

"I am always coming, and you thank me just now!?" Halizeia makes a face, and Isis looks at the camera.

The crowd laughs, and so does Isis.

"Yes, haha! It's a really nice way for us to get to know more about you. Up next, we have invited two little kids who have become viral recently in a short video I will show you after the break!"

Once the signal is given, Isis goes to the backstage with Halizeia, and they talk a little bit more.

Isis starts, "It makes me wonder how none of you were told of the arena and what you are supposed to do."

"Do you know something I don't know?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Isis takes out her small tickler and flips through the pages. "I was told that each of you will be meeting with Head Gamemaker Alistair on the night of the parades. You will be assigned your roles, and each of you will manage a section of the arena. They will also need to fit you into costumes, because all of you will be playing a role in the arena. You'll all be like gamemakers working inside the arena."

"Oh that is so cool!"

"Yes, but you will still be instructed on what you must and what you mustn't do."

"Okay. Now I'm excited!"

"Good luck, girl! May the odds be ever in your favor!"

AN:

Yay for a fast update! I wrote the first 2 parts even before writing the previous chapter, which explains the quickness of this update. I might update again this week, or I'll update on Christmas Day as a Christmas gift. I'm really close to finishing the reapings, and I hope to get them all done by the end of the year. I have an idea on what stuff I'll include after the reapings, and I'm really excited to write those chapters as I have not seen the style in any SYOT yet.

I'll work on District 3 next. I got two submissions per biological sex, and I have higher standards for this district since I don't want to write for someone boring and bloodbath-esque. I might be biased with District 3 due to my computer-related background, but I am looking forward to this opportunity to write for smart tributes, and not for obvious bloodbath tributes. I'd like my bloodbath to be unpredictable in a way. ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I think I'll have an announcement for something regarding the next chunk of the story. :)