Chapter 23:

Lisia Arune, Gamemaker Intern

The Gamemaker Headquarters is a disaster as the tributes are brought into the arena, but it doesn't surprise her one bit. Not with the mess that Akakios keeps everything. And yet, despite all the chaos surrounding the Headquarters, an excitement is building in her that she's about to watch her first arena launch from an insider's perspective. This is what she's been working towards and the moment is finally here.

"Okay everyone, let's get the cameras to pan over the arena," Akakios calls out to the Gamemakers, watching the wall of screens displaying the various camera views. He's smug as he watches the cameras take aerial views of the arena, knowing that the arena is one of his best ones, even if Lisia hates admitting it to herself. Made entirely of glass and mirrors, the arena is a scaled down version of the Capitol, containing some of the key components located in the very center of the city. The cameras start trained in on the cornucopia with the tributes surrounding it, placed in the City Circle in front of the Capitol Justice building. Heading into the west, the Avenue of the Tributes leads over to the skyscraper replicating the building Lisia stands in now. At the westernmost point stands one of the larger buildings there, something that could be a safe haven for tributes desperate to save themselves.

The cameras pan north, showing off the residential area. A dozen apartment buildings of various sizes wait for someone to enter them, some offering refuge and some offering destruction. Nestled among the buildings stands the President's mansion, but the tributes will have a difficult time trying to reach it. And in the northeast sits a fenced off area full of mansions for the wealthiest of the Capitol.

The southern half of the arena contains the best entertainment the Capitol has to offer. Buildings of various shapes and sizes take up the space. There's the vast sports center, full of numerous floors of different sports arenas. Then there's Lisia's personal favorite of the buildings, the opera house, even containing the angel statues lining the top of the building, made from glass, just like everything else with the buildings. And between these two rest the university in a small park and a shopping complex, both providing plenty of locations to hide. The last building shown is the Panem Museum of History, standing close to the Games Headquarters.

"Alright, bring the cameras to the tributes," Akakios calls down and the cameras shift to the tributes standing in the City Circle, all looking around in confusion at the buildings and Lisia can see as slowly they start realizing where they stand. The cameras start at the eastern point and the tributes standing closest to the Justice Building, before panning clockwise around the circle. Pyrite, Iannis, Ampora, Ander, Addae, and Beau stand in the southeast quadrant. Muir, Carrie-Ann, Garth, Tanelai, Maddie, and Virote stand in the southwest quadrant. Kilroy, Ryo, Stark, Keelin, and Pride stand in the northwest quadrant. And Jinx, Lincoln, Digit, Gwenith, and Beta stand in the northeast quadrant.

From working with Akakios, Lisia knows a lot of the placements were intentional based on the observations made in training. Keelin and Stark were placed together, along with Jinx between Lincoln and Pride, all to create drama as they watch their plan unfold. And of course, the trained careers were placed farther away from them in the hopes they wouldn't get there in time to stop Stark. Garth and Tanelai were placed together after the Capitol crowd started rooting for those two, so Akakios placed them next to each other in hopes that keeping the Capitol happy will keep him his job. And the rest were placed at random to not let everyone catch on to the ones placed intentionally.

"And…start the countdown," Akakios tells them and the signal is given to Elliot to announce the start of the Games and the beginning of the sixty second countdown.

Lisia sits back as the countdown starts, watching the tributes get prepared for the start of the Games. Most are getting ready to run, but some are nervously watching, like Lincoln as he takes out his eye to clean it on his shirt. But when Lincoln screams out, the cameras immediately cut to him as he scrambles to catch his wooden eye before it hits the ground. Lisia tenses up as she watches it hit his platform and for a second thinks he'll be able to catch it. But as he scrambles for it, his hands smack it towards the ground and Lisia cringes as the mines explode around him, instantly causing his death.

She turns her attention towards his profile on one of the screens to the side, watching the instant flatline as silence fills the Games Headquarters, broken only by the tributes starting to react to the explosion. "Did that just…"

"Shut up," Akakios whispers harshly to her and Lisia clamps her mouth shut, not wanting to get in any trouble with him. But from his tone, it's clear he's unhappy at the explosion happening before the countdown ended. "Frame it as him just being unlucky. Bring up clips from his interview and-"

"What's she doing?" Lisia interrupts him, not caring what he might say to her. Not when her focus is brought to Jinx as she reaches up and unclasps her necklace, giggling as she stares down at the beads on it.

She briefly glances at Akakios' face, finding him paling as he stares at Jinx as she rips one end of the necklace open with her teeth and spits out a couple beads into her hand. "She's going to explode them…" Akakios mutters as he stares up at the girl from Ten.

And sure enough, Jinx stares at the beads for a short second before launching one at the tribute to her right, causing an explosion around Pride before he even knows what happened. Keelin flinches at the explosion and looks over at Jinx, shouting at her just as the young girl's arm moves through the air again, "No-"

Keelin is cut off by her mines exploding and her heart rate flatlines. Three tributes already dead and there's still under twenty seconds left before the Games officially start.

"You crazy bitch!" Stark screams over at Jinx and she flinches for a second. Jinx looks down at the beads in her hand before picking up another one, contemplating briefly before sending it towards Stark.

The career reaches out into the air, barely catching the bead as he gets off balance and Lisia wonders for a second if he's going to fall off his platform. But he catches himself as Jinx turns towards her left as the timer reaches ten seconds remaining, and she quickly starts throwing beads at the girls there. Digit is screaming at her to stop, but Jinx doesn't listen to her, sending a bead that sets of yet another explosion.

Stark angrily throws the bead he caught to the side and flinches when an explosion happens beside him. He glances over as Gwenith starts wailing for her ally, realizing he set off the mines surrounding Ryo by his wayward throwing. But Gwenith's screams are soon cut off by another bead thrown by Jinx.

The final seconds tick down as Jinx throws another bead and it starts rolling over towards Beta's platform and he stares down at it, hands clenched tightly to the point his nails are digging into his palms, unable to do anything to stop the bead from getting closer. There's nothing any of the tributes can do, forced to wait out the remaining seconds.

Jinx suddenly screams as a bead slips out of her hands and starts falling towards the platform, so similar to what happened with Lincoln that set off this whole chain of deaths. She drops to her knees on the platform, trying to catch it but it rolls towards the edge. As it falls off the edge, the countdown reaches zero and the gong goes off, just barely saving Jinx from dying by her own hand.

Some tributes are left standing still in shock as the Games start, still staring over at the mass amount of explosions that happened. But the careers are quick to start moving and the rest of the tributes follow shortly after them. Well…the tributes that remain.

The first to leave the cornucopia is Jinx as she scrambles to her feet and races north, glancing back over her shoulder as Stark shouts after her as he runs into the cornucopia for weapons and supplies.

In the northeast quadrant, Beta jumps away from his pedestal just as the bead reaches it, quickly running away from Pyrite next to him. His face is full of anger as he runs in the northern part of the City Circle, picking up a bag and avoiding the remaining tributes as he heads west. He passes the cornucopia just before Stark runs out, face livid as he heads after Jinx. Pyrite quickly reaches a nearby knife on the ground, still a little shaken up from the explosions that took out two of their allies. They reach the knife as Iannis is running towards it too and he realizes his mistake just as Pyrite turns around and stabs the knife into his chest, making the first official kill of the bloodbath.

Most of the action is taking place in the southern part of the City Circle, unsurprisingly since that's where most of the remaining tributes are. Maddie is the first one to leave from this area, grabbing the smallest bag and running north as the other tributes start to get into fights.

Garth and Tanelai both decide to take their chances going in for supplies since the careers are mostly away from them or already dead. Tanelai takes the bigger risk, heading in to get an axe and better supplies while Garth goes towards a smaller bag closer to him, a bag someone else tries to go for. Carrie-Ann tackles Garth to the ground, catching him by surprise. He cries out in shock and tries to roll over to push her off, but the way he landed has his arms pinned under him. She punches Garth in the head and his face slams into the ground as Tanelai turns back around, axe in hand and bag over her shoulder. She cries out for her ally and starts running towards him as another tribute finally gets over their shock and picks up a knife near them and throws it at the two tributes fighting on the ground.

Muir watches for a second as her knife lands in Carrie-Ann's back. The girl coughs blood onto Garth as she struggles to hold herself up. With one big shove, he pushes her off of him and glances down at the dying girl as Tanelai reaches him, his face distraught. But his ally quickly pulls him away as the girl who caused the death keeps running towards the cornucopia and better supplies, allowing the two to slip away and head south, with Tanelai leading the way.

Meanwhile, another one of the remaining careers goes in for a kill, proving just why they were chosen to volunteer this year. Ampora races in towards the supplies, finding a dull axe on the ground near her that she quickly picks up. A brief glance around gets her eyes set on Ander and she races towards him as he tries to get a bag. He scrambles to get away from her but the tall girl is too fast and she brings down the axe on the back of his neck. A loud popping noise sounds and Ander collapses to the ground, no visible wound but the sound was unmistakably the sound of his neck snapping. She turns around, ready to keep going, but there just aren't many tributes remaining.

The two closest to Ampora that briefly fight are Addae and Beau when they both go for the same bag. But Addae yells out at the boy in a deep booming voice, "Drop the bag or you will be cursed!" Beau quickly drops the bag and runs away from the cornucopia and supplies, leaving Addae to take the bag and look around at the tributes there. He soon takes off running in a similar direction to Beau.

The last conflict of the bloodbath happens close to the western side with the tributes just after the explosions. Kilroy's face betrayed her normally cool persona and she stares in shock still for a few seconds after the gong sounds, face turning a slight hue of green at all the death that as occurred. But she soon pulls herself together, running to get some supplies to try and stay alive until the Gamemakers take her out. As she starts running west, Virote gets in her way and Kilroy quickly punches him in the side of the head, making him fall to the ground and clutch his head. She stumbles over her feet as she glances back at him, but when she sees the careers regrouping and looking over at her, she turns around and starts sprinting down the Avenue of the Tributes.

The three remaining careers approach Virote and he tries to get to his feet, only to stumble and fall back down from the harsh punch that Kilroy gave him. Pyrite reaches him first and they hesitate for a second before sliding a knife across his throat, ending things quickly for him. When they stand back up, the three careers stare around at the City Circle, confusion on all of their faces as they assess what just happened as the bloodbath comes to an end.

Silence sits in the Games Headquarters as everyone slowly starts looking over at Akakios, waiting for him to guide them on the next steps. Yet Lisia can see he's frozen in shock, face pale as he stares at the screens, and his fists clenched tightly on the arms of his chair. Lisia holds back a smirk as she watches him, knowing that by letting Jinx take out that many tributes before the Games started, he might have just solidified the end of his career.

When he still doesn't seem like he will move, Lisia stands up and calls down to the team, not going to let them fail now. And who knows, maybe someone will notice her taking charge now. "Fire the cannons. After get shots showing where all the living tributes are heading. And then bring in the hovercrafts to take away the bodies."

Well…what remains of some of the bodies.

Lisia watches as ten cannons are fired, each one sounding while showing the picture of the deceased tribute. Lincoln…Pride…Keelin…Digit…Ryo…Gwenith…Iannis…Carrie-Ann…Ander…and Virote. Almost half the tributes already dead by the end of the bloodbath. Lisia hasn't seen such a large bloodbath like this in years…and never one where something like this happened.

She calls down to the Gamemakers again, a thought crossing her mind. "Also someone make a note to consider banning tokens that could cause a repeat of this."

A phone starts ringing behind her and it snaps Akakios out of his shock. Lisia glances back at him as his shaking hands pull out the phone, struggling to pick it up. He swallows hard and tries to clear his throat as he answers, giving Lisia a glare that causes her to turn back around. "He-hello, Mr. President."

Lisia tries to listen in to what the President is saying on the other side as she watches the cameras follow the remaining tributes. Pyrite, Muir, and Ampora still stand around the cornucopia, Pyrite talking as they point over to the pedestals, explaining to Muir what happened since she couldn't see from her spot opposite of Jinx. Next the cameras cut to Jinx as the girl slams the door shut behind her in one of the mansions and she looks around in shock, finding out the big part of the arena that the tributes wouldn't be able to see from just looking around. Stark isn't too far behind her, hesitating in the crossroads inside the gated community, trying to decide if he should search the mansions or go out into the apartments to find Jinx. Close by to them, Maddie is sobbing as she makes her way into one of the apartment buildings. Beta is also racing among them, still heading west with a dark fire in his eyes.

Kilroy has reached the Games Headquarters, pausing to catch her breath and glance back down the Avenue of the Tributes, making sure the careers haven't followed her. Once the coast is clear, she heads into the building and Lisia wonders if she'll find the supplies they've placed.

Beau has run into the opera house, it being the closest building aside from the Justice Building. He starts searching around, face full of dismay as he tries to find some supplies to make up for the lack of things he picked up at the cornucopia. Addae is close to him, in the Museum of History, taking stock of the items he has picked up and occasionally glancing over at the door.

And the only other alliance left other than the careers has reached the shopping complex, Tanelai slowly down to help Garth out as he holds his arm up to his nose gently, trying to stop the bleeding. Tanelai keeps looking around in the stores, trying to find a place for them to stop.

"Yes sir, I understand," Akakios says and Lisia glances back to see him hang up the phone. He stares at it for a few seconds, his fist tightly clenched around it and face still pale. He finally looks up at Lisia and gives her a sneer, making her turn away. "Don't you dare question that at all," he whispers to her before clearing his throat and standing up. He walks over to the edge of the balcony looking down at the rest of the Gamemakers and puts a grin on his face, but Lisia can still see the fear in his eyes. Oh if only she could have heard what happened on that phone call. "Great work everyone! We're off to an excellent start so keep it up. Let's keep these Games as exciting as the start has been."

Yes, exciting… Not quite the word Lisia would have gone for, but then again, she's not the Head Gamemaker trying to cover their ass from what might be the inevitable loss of their job.

Lisia watches as Akakios starts making commands down at the Gamemakers, filing the information away for when she will someday be making these calls. But there's one thing for sure she won't be doing and that's letting six tributes die before the Games even begin.

But now…let the Games begin.

Yes, let the Games begin indeed. Well, here we are. Bet you didn't expect that lol.

Eulogies:

Lincoln 'Link' Bashara [4], Ranked 22nd, Killed by his own mines:

Link! What a boy. I loved Link and for a while it was in the plans for him to go farther in the Games. But as I started developing the idea for Jinx's shenanigans, I wanted her to be inspired by an explosion. And who would be unlucky enough to set off his own mines? Lincoln Bashara. He was so much fun to write and I loved developing his relationship with Muir! And of course, I had lots of fun figuring out what unlucky thing would happen next to him. Thanks for sending him in, Mik! RIP Link.

Pride Flourish [1], Ranked 21st, Killed by Jinx [10]:

I don't have much to say about Pride for reasons. RIP Pride.

Keelin Varela [5], Ranked 20th, Killed by Jinx [10]:

Keelin was always an interesting one for me to write as I don't like a lot of the choices she makes as a person, but enjoyed the fact that she's a layered tribute who isn't always good. She was trying to do whatever she could do to win and unfortunately, because of the placement choice, she didn't get a chance to really fight and try in the arena. Thank you for sending her in, Cloe, and I hope you enjoyed her portrayal! RIP Keelin.

Digit Estrada [3], Ranked 19th, Killed by Jinx [10]:

Digit was one who could have had a really interesting arc if she was a featured tribute, given her backstory of being forced to volunteer by her parents. But alas, she was not, and the Gamemakers decided to put her near the careers, thanks to her volunteering. Thank you for sending her in, District 9 Tribute! RIP Digit.

Ryo Hideki [6], Ranked 18th, Killed by Stark [2]:

Where do I start with Ryo? He was such a good boy who was just struggling from never having an answer about what was effecting him. And sadly, he never got the chance to learn to live with this information. But at least he got an answer before his death. I got to learn a lot about Bipolar Disorder through researching for him and I very much enjoyed becoming further educated about that! But I felt I needed to have one of my own go in the bloodbath and he was one that I feel with have more of an impact on the others after his death, rather than staying alive. RIP Ryo.

Gwenith Fornhalt [9], Ranked 17th, Killed by Jinx [10]:

Gwenith was a great non-featured tribute to work with and I really enjoyed writing her interactions with Garth, Beta, and Ryo. It always sticks out in my mind her asking Garth what he did to be a bad person. She was a real innocent caught in the Games and unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) she didn't even make it to the start of the Games. Thank you for submitting her, SherlockedAtHeart! RIP Gwenith.

Iannis Lyam [8], Ranked 16th, Killed by Pyrite [1]:

Iannis has always been that one that's weird that got overlooked (yes, I intended my Overlooked pun lol) compared to the others. I guess there is something as too much crazy in one story? Idk I couldn't find a spot for him with Beta and Addae, so here he goes... Thanks for sending him in, Winter's Writing! RIP Iannis.

Carrie-Ann West [6], Ranked 15th, Killed by Muir [4]:

Carrie-Ann was one that got further pushed to the background as a non-featured tribute...mostly because she didn't want to ally with Ryo. But sorry, Carrie-Ann, we can't have you killing one of the featured tributes in the bloodbath! That's pretty much why she died now - I needed someone who would attack Garth but could be killed now. Thanks for sending her in, Seahorse8! RIP Carrie-Ann.

Oleander 'Ander' Spruce [7], Ranked 14th, Killed by Ampora [2]:

Ander was a justifiable angry boy and probably could have caused trouble for people in the arena if I didn't want to have some deaths after the gong sounded and had limited choices. Again, he was another one that kind of faded to the background because he refused to have any allies but I would have liked to done more with him. Thanks for sending him in, jul312! RIP Ander.

Virote Daivan [5], Ranked 13th, Killed by Pyrite [1]:

And finally we have Virote. Another one that faded into the background for not allying with any of the featured tributes. He had a lot of personal conflicts that would have been great to touch on more if he was a featured tribute, but alas, he was not. But he was still fun to write! Thanks for sending him in, Golden Moon Huntress! RIP Virote.

Again, I do want to say a big thank you to people who have submitted non-featured tributes. While they obviously didn't get as much time in the spotlight as the featured tributes, we couldn't have the story without them!

Here we go! Yes I really did just have a ten person bloodbath and I doubt you were expecting that lol. Okay lots of things to cover:

- SPONSOR GIFTS! Sponsoring is officially open! It will be through a google form which is located on my profile. There's also a link on my profile to a google sheet that will tell you how many sponsor points you have! Sponsoring is going to be a little different this time around. To get a gift in for the next chapter, you must submit the form within one week from today (so due end of the day March 17th). This is to give me time to write the chapter and not have to change things after I've written it if there's another sponsor gift. If you submit after that one week, it will get to them the following chapter (assuming they're still alive hehe).

- BLOG! I have updated lots of stuff onto the blog including kills, deaths, arena map, and bloodbath arrangement. This is also where you will find the list of what tributes have and need, as well as their locations at the end of each day! So be sure to check out that list first before sponsoring anything! Also I'd love to hear your thoughts on the arena idea/map because I spent a lot of time making it in microsoft paint lol.

I think that's all the important stuff I need to cover. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. Did you expect Jinx to blow up that many people or did you think she was only going to kill one person? Oh remembered another thing! From now on, I'm going to be doing eulogies in the night time chapters because I'm splitting up the Games into day and night chapters. Give some suspense lol.

Okay RQ time! This one will be worth ten points to make up for me not having one last chapter for the ~dramatic effect~ lol.

RQ #20: Which death surprised you the most?

I will see you all (hopefully) soon with Day One! In the meantime, be sure to check out Senseless! I can't wait to finally start getting into the Games because I have lots of plans. So carry on, things are about to get wayward... Okay I'll stop with the Carry On Wayward Son jokes (for now lol).