Private Sessions
The group of Gamemakers sit in their balcony, with drinks in their hands. They have snacks on all sides of them, waiting for the avoxes to finish setting up the center. It's time to score the tributes now, based on whatever they present to them in this room.
The Head Gamemaker, Cassius Banis, is excited to see these tributes in action. This is his second year as Gamemaker, and after last years success, he has a lot to live up to.
"Let's bring them in" Cassius says once the avoxes finish the setup. A range of weapons lies below them, endless choices for the tributes.
"Jagger Blackwood, District One." Cassius announces in the pager. He walks in seconds later, calm and determined. He bows in front of the Gamemakers before picking up a decent sized sword. He slashes the dummies, rolling and stabbing, destroying the dummies. He steps back to the beginning, waiting for a new set of mechanical dolls. They come at him, faster, yet he dodges the blows, cutting off limbs, kicking, and stabbing. The Gamemakers give him a round of applause and he smiles at them.
"Thank you for your time." He says, before exiting.
"He was good." Head Gamemaker Cassius states. The others nod in agreement. "Let's bring in the next tribute."
They announce Crystal Clearwater, just as fierce as she appeared in training. The Gamemakers are pleased, they need good personalities to make a compelling Hunger Games.
She goes straight for the throwing knives, picking up three in each hand and standing in front of a range of targets. She throws each knife, hitting every single one in the center of the target. You can tell she's extremely proud.
She moves onto archery, performing just as well with a bow as she did with knives, incredibly accurate. She puts the bow down and turns to the Gamemakers.
"Thank you." Her smile hides a cunning mind, but the Gamemakers eat it up.
"Phoenix Midnight, District Two." He struts in, clearly lacking no confidence. It's hard to mistake the smirk on his face, and he makes sure the Head Gamemaker is looking him in the eyes as he winks. He picks up a machete, grips it tight, and turns the practice dummies into a distant memory. Despite them being on the most advanced setting, it seems to be no problem for Phoenix.
He tries the long-ranged course, running through obstacles and obliterating the dummies before him. It's quite impressive.
"Thank you Phoenix, you are dismissed." Cassius states. Phoenix nods, tosses his machete aside, and struts out.
"Cleo Camillo, District Two." Cleo walks in, her head held high, a determined look on her face. Unlike her allies, she is not overly cocky, just focused on the task in front of her. She goes for the bow, and gets on the long-ranged course. She runs, ducks, and shoots her targets, missing nothing. She spends all her private session like this, yet the Gamemakers are very invested. By the end, she doesn't appear tired or worn out, simply proud.
"Thank you, Cleo." Cleo nods and walks out.
"Lumen Maahes, District Three." The boy walks in, fists clenched. He goes straight to the weights, knowing his strength will prevail. He finds the heaviest weight he knows he can handle, and throws it at a static dummy. The dummy flies across the room and the weight shakes the floor. He does this a couple more times, until he moves onto basic survival skills, identifying the safe plants with 100% accuracy without a second to spare.
"Thank you, Lumen, you are dismissed." Despite his district, he impressed the Gamemakers with his skills.
"Telle Zaavan, District Three." The Gamemakers are excited for her, they always enjoy seeing what the younger tributes demonstrate. She walks in, like a deer in the headlights. She makes her way to the throwing knives and finds small knives that compliment her small stature. She throws a couple knives, sticking the target each time, and getting close to the center once. Not bad for a girl with bad eyesight.
She spends the rest of her session with survival skills, like her district partner. She demonstrates extremely high intelligence with plants, snares, and water.
"Thank you, you're dismissed." She nods and exists the room rather quickly.
"Dylan Nero, District Four." Dylan enters, and gets his hands on a spear. He nails a dummy straight in the chest from extremely far away. It's impressive.
He then moves onto setting a snare by a tree and pushes a dummy into it. The dummy hangs from the tree, and Dylan spears it through the stomach. If he uses this technique in the Games, he will be lethal.
"You're dismissed." Cassius tells him. One Career left.
"Gemma Reed, District Four." Gemma enters bravely, she definitely needs to prove herself. She goes over to the knife section and impresses the Gamemakers with her skills. She misses every dodge from her opponents, and destroys them all within a decent time. She puts the knives back and shows off some survival knowledge, plant identification, water purification, and the Gamemakers enjoy it. She'll be alright out there, Cassius thinks.
"Thank you, Gemma, you may go." Gemma nods and leaves, relieved at what she accomplished.
"Thaddeus Greene, District Five." Thaddeus comes in, confidence unmistakable. He thanks the Gamemakers, like they had any choice in who the tributes were, and goes to pick up a sword. After the impressive shows the Careers put on, his act is hard to swallow. He gets more embarrassed with every miss, and only manages to take down half of the dummies. He throws the sword at a distant mannequin, grabbing a knife, and stabs the closest dummy in the heart.
The Gamemakers have seen enough. "Thank you Thaddeus, you may go." He stabs one more dummy before obliging, leaving the room. They call in his district partner.
Marjorie enters the room, she looks small next to all the large weapons around her. She chooses a small bow and loads it with an arrow. She takes a stance in front of targets, and shoots. Surprisingly enough, she hits at least three quarters of the targets, and most of them would be deadly shots. She's no expert, but she's decent. How far will decent get her, though?
She sticks with the bow her entire session before the Gamemakers dismiss her.
"Mallory Weston, District Six." He walks in, looking around the room. He looks at the Gamemakers, almost as if he wants them to tell him what to do. He looks around the room, confused and lost, before picking up a knife. He runs around, stabbing some dummies. It's lackluster and the Gamemakers are bored of it before long.
"Thank you Mallory, you can go." Mal puts the knife down and looks up at them.
"How did I do?" He asks. This takes Cassius back.
"You'll see your score tonight, you're dismissed." He looks at a nearby avox, eyeing them to chauffeur Mallory out.
"How will you grade me, will it be on form, or how many dummies I took out?" Mal sees the avox coming, "I'm going, I'm going." He walks out and Cassius sighs, finishing his drink.
"Rhea Gault, District Six." Hopefully his district partner is less questioning.
Rhea enters and goes straight to the knives. She finds two small ones and fastens them into her belt. She starts at the track, running and dodging attacks. She gets one or two kills while she's at it, but mostly focuses on running and dodging. Nothing impressive.
"Thank you Rhea, you are dismissed." Rhea looks shocked that they're dismissing her already, but she stays silent. She puts the knives back and exits the room.
The Gamemakers refill their drinks and plates as the avoxes clean the room, getting it ready for the second half of tributes.
"Cedar Jacobs, District Seven." Cassius announces once the room is clean again. Cedar enters the room, and appears to be searching for something. He finds it, an axe, and goes to pick it up. He climbs the big tree, climbing and climbing and cutting branches down. He climbs back down, safely jumps out of the tree, and spends the rest of the session killing dummies with the axe.
"Alright, thank you Cedar." Cassius says, taking a bite of food. Cedar leaves, and they call in the next tribute.
Chalice enters the room. The Gamemakers are excited to see what she can show them, as they haven't seen much from her in training. She gets a knife and gets on the track, running, stabbing, and climbs a tree to avoid an attack. Not bad.
She even shows off her plant skills and passes with ease.
"Thank you Chalice, you may go." Cassius is impressed.
"Treuse Custer, District Eight." The boy enters, the most nervous tribute so far. He picks up a knife and slashes it around, nothing impressive. The Gamemakers get refills on their drinks.
"Thank you, sir, you are dismissed." Treuse appears confused, but does not argue as he leaves the room.
"Lilac Suede, District Eight." Lilac almost runs into the room, determination in her blood. She spends most of her session running, dodging, and climbing over obstacles, definitely the fastest tribute the Gamemakers have seen all day. She spends the last of her session identifying basic anatomy on a dummy.
"Thank you Lilac." Cassius dismisses her.
"Grant Remington, District Nine." The little boy enters, the size of the room makes him look even smaller than he really is. He picks up a club and whacks the static mannequin with it. The club takes it down in a couple hits. He does this for a bit, before showing off his skillful memory. Decent skills from a young child.
Cassius dismisses him, and he leaves with a smile.
"Lucia Starlet, District Nine." Her face speaks volume, intelligent and determined to prove herself. Cassius takes another sip as she begins at the berries section. She turns berries into a liquid, Cassius presumes poison, and injects it into a blowtorch. She then spends her session sneaking up on unsuspected dummies and shooting them with the blowdart.
"Thank you sweetheart, you may go." Her face shows disgust with his comment, but she leaves without a word.
"Freddie Cloud, District Ten." Freddie enters, a friendly smile on his face. He picks up a bow and loads an arrow. He aims at the hanging birds on the ceiling, hitting a little less than half on his first try, and the rest on his second or third. He moves onto the target range, doing decent shooting for an outlier.
"You're dismissed, Freddie." Freddie nods.
"Thank you." He says, before exiting.
"Carmen Lokien, District Ten." She walks in, completely opposite demeanor from Freddie. She is keeping to herself, no smiles on her face. She finds a whip in the jumble of weapons available and turns on the advanced mechanical dummies, attacking them with a whip. The Gamemakers are slowly losing interest in Carmen's activities, drinking more and more.
Carmen notices this and rolls her eyes, exiting without being dismissed. Cassius notices this but doesn't stop her.
"Titus Greene, District Eleven." Titus enters, fuming with anger. He looks around the room, finds an axe, and uses it to dismantle dummies. His anger fuels him and he manages to kill them all. He notices he's being ignored, and throws his axe on the ground. Cassius turns to look at him.
"Thank you Titus, you may go." Titus clenches his fists.
"Assholes." He mumbles under his breath as he walks out. Three more tributes to go, Cassius thinks to himself.
"Peach Cheyenne, District Eleven." Cassius hopes she isn't as angry as her district partner. She gets her hands on a sickle, turns on the mechanical dummies, sickling them to death. She climbs the obstacle course with the sickle in one hand, cutting off the heads of the dummies below her. How impressive.
Once she finishes the course, Cassius dismisses her.
"Jaiden Dust, District Twelve." Jaiden enters with a confused look on his face. He goes straight to the survival stations, makes a fire, builds shelter, and makes a decent snare. He manages to camouflage both the shelter and the snare before Cassius dismisses him.
"Sera Grey, District Twelve." Sera enters the room with the same confused look as Jaiden had. Unlike her district partner, she grabs a knife and tries to kill some dummies with it. Once she realizes its not working all that great, she shows off her survival skills, similar to Jaiden. Cassius is tired of it.
"Thank you Sera, you may leave." Sera nods, and walks out with her head held low. As the avoxes clean up the room, the Gamemakers compare notes and score each tribute accordinly.
SCORES:
Jagger Blackwood: 9
Crystal Clearwater: 10
Phoenix Midnight: 10
Cleo Camillo: 9
Lumen Maahes: 7
Telle Zaavan: 5
Dylan Nero: 9
Gemma Reed: 9
Thaddeus Greene: 6
Marjorie Highbranch: 5
Mallory Weston: 3
Rhea Gault: 6
Cedar Jacobs: 7
Chalice Durham: 7
Treuse Custer: 6
Lilac Suede: 7
Grant Remington: 6
Lucia Starlet: 7
Freddie Cloud: 8
Carmen Lokien: 7
Titus Greene: 7
Peach Cheyenne: 7
Jaiden Dust: 4
Sera Grey: 5
Another day, another chapter. Let me know what you guys think, I enjoy writing in third person like this. One chapter left before the bloodbath!