Mack Valley, 14
District Two

Mack had been playing Dungeons and Dragons for years, but he'd never had the opportunity to play like this, with nearly this much technology. It was the coolest thing ever.

Mack had the most advanced dungeon master shield he'd ever seen or heard of in front of him, with screens that allowed him to monitor which monsters his opponents were fighting and track their hit points in real-time and check anything in any Dungeons and Dragons manual he needed. Spread out on the table was a giant map with some sort of technology that allowed Mack to change the map whenever he wanted to using a small tablet in front of him. On top of that, Mack's shield allowed him to view the character sheets that the players were using, which were also on tablets so they could be automatically updated. And, of course, the dice. Each person had been able to select their own set of dice and customize each die however they wanted to. Mack, meanwhile, had access to as many dice as he needed for the game. He'd decided to customize four sets of dice because if he needed any more he could just pull them up on his shield. And the best part was, he'd convinced four other people, Herman, Ella, Sigmund, and Jack, to play with him.

This was the best day of Mack's life.

Once they finished setting up characters, and Mack finished explaining all of the basics and rules of Dungeons and Dragons, it was time to begin the game. "Well, let's get started on our campaign! Now, my friends at home and I like to do campaigns based on past Hunger Games arenas, but considering the circumstances and that this is your first time playing we'll go with something a bit simpler." Mack pressed some buttons on the tablet, transforming the map into a plain, grassy meadow with four small animated people standing in the center. "Now, your goal for this game is to find the treasure, which is somewhere in this meadow. Why don't we get started?"

"How do we start?" asked Jack.

"You just kind of… explore. Make whatever checks you want, move around however you want, just have at it."

The other four looked at each other. "I guess I'll go first," Ella asserted. "I want to roll a check to tell us more about the meadow. What would be the best check to roll?"

Mack thought for a moment. "I think a nature check."

"All right." Ella looked at her character sheet. "So my nature is a plus one so that means that I add one to whatever I roll on the twenty-sided die, right?"

"Correct."

Ella took out her d-20 and rolled it around in her palm before throwing it onto the table. "It's a 20," she said, looking up at Mack.

"Really? You rolled a 20?"

"Yes."

Mack shrugged. "Well, I guess I'm telling you everything about the meadow. So, this meadow is conveniently a five by five grid of squares this size, so it extends two squares to the north, south, east, and west. However, within the meadow are a number of guardians of the treasure you're trying to find, some stronger than others. But there is some hope; as you defeat the guardians, they will drop various items that will increase your skills. The stronger the guardian you beat, the better items you'll win. Make sense?"

"Do we have to fight a guardian if we find it?" asked Sigmund.

"Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't. Know, though, that you won't know how strong a guardian is until you fight them, and that appearance can be deceiving. I think I've given you everything I can give you for now. What do you want to do next?"

Jack raised his hand. "I want to roll a check to see if there are any monsters in this square of the meadow."

"That would be a perception check," Mack suggested.

"Cool! I roll perception." Jack rolled his d-20. "It's an eleven, plus my perception is a plus one, so that's a total of 12."

"There is a monster somewhere in this square."

"Can you tell me anything about it?"

Mack hemmed and hawed for a moment before replying, "Not really."

"All right. Well, I guess we should find it," Jack suggested. "Yeah?" The other three players shrugged. "Great. Let's all pick a direction and start walking around."

Mack watched as Jack, Ella, Herman, and Sigmund used little joystick icons on their tablets to maneuver their characters around the map, waiting for one of them to reach a particular point on the map; Mack wasn't going to let them move to a new section yet. Sure enough, Herman reached the trigger point, causing Mack to unleash the first monster for the group to face.

"A scout appears!" Mack announced. "This is the first guardian you'll have to face. Everybody, roll initiative." Everyone rolled their d-20s, added their Dexterity modifiers, and told Mack their scores; Mack plugged all of their scores into his dungeon master shield which automatically deactivated everyone's tablets except for Sigmund's, who was taking his turn first. "It's time for your first combat! Combat is the only part of Dungeons and Dragons that goes by turns. On your turn in combat, you can take one move and one action. If you scroll through your tablet you can see some of the actions you can take; there are a lot of them. Moves are pretty simple; you can move as many squares as your speed. You can make some moves before your action, and some moves after your action. We're going to take turns in this order based on the initiatives you rolled: Sigmund, Jack, the scout, Ella, then Herman. I'll do my best to walk you through combat, but really, it's up to you guys what you want to do, in what order, on your turn. Ready?"

Before Sigmund could begin his turn, the door burst open and Noel stormed in. "Mack! Where have you been?" they exploded.

"I've been playing with my new friends."

Noel scoffed. "Outer districts. You can do better. Come on. We have some stuff to do."

"I thought we had nothing to do today?"

"Something came up. I need to talk to you. It's important." Noel tapped his foot. "Now!"

"All right," conceded Mack sadly, beginning to put away his shield and dice. "Let me clean this up and I'll be there in a bit."

"Fine." Noel stormed out of the room and slammed the door.

"Wow," remarked Herman. "He seems agitated."

"Noel is always agitated. I'm just sad that we can't play more."

"Well, maybe we can play during the Events," Ella suggested. "That could be a fun distraction!"

"Yeah, that would be really nice." The five kids finished putting away the game and returned it to the suitcase in which the materials were provided. "Well, thank you for playing with me. I appreciate it a lot!"

"You're welcome! It's fun to learn a new game," Herman said. The other three nodded.

"I hope this meeting that Noel is calling is worth it."

Sage Davidson, 18
District Eight Mentor and Escort
Competitor in the First Events

As soon as the elevator doors closed to take his competitors down for the Capitol tour, Sage made his way to the back of the District Eight floor, where the escort's suite was located. While he considered himself to be mentoring for Eight, because he was also technically Eight's escort, President Emerald had insisted that he live in the escort suite. When Sage initially heard the news, he'd protested; knowing how much bigger the escort suite was than the mentors' rooms, he felt bad having a much nicer room than Riley and Neelee, particularly considering how long Neelee had been mentoring for. When he actually saw the suite, however, Sage finally understood why Ruby had insisted that he live there.

Tucked in the back of the suite was an elevator that led to a private escort lounge.

Under normal circumstances, Sage assumed that this was a place for the escorts to get away from their district cargo; he could only imagine how difficult it was for some of them to be around lowly outer district citizens. But for the escorts for these Events, and presumably, for the rest of the Events that existed, the escort lounge was a place of solace, the only place in which the former tributes could openly talk about their experiences and get the support they desperately needed from their peers. And for those former tributes who were the only "Capitol emissaries" living in their assigned district, here in the Capitol was the only place where they could talk about anything that they'd been through.

Sage wondered if the president who built the escort lounge knew what services it would provide. If it was Snow, Sage was sure he was rolling over in his grave.

When he got to the escort lounge, Sage looked around for Liana, whom he was meeting there to teach her about the other rescued tributes who were serving as escorts. In characteristic Ruby Emerald fashion, she had not given Liana nearly enough information to do her job as well as she could; in other words, Liana knew nothing about any of the other tributes and their experiences in the Games. Sage certainly didn't know everything about his fellow rescuees, but he knew enough to support Liana so that she could do what Sami Rolo was best at: supporting the rescuees once they left the Arena.

After scanning the room, Sage found Liana, sitting at a table on the side of the room, not interacting with the other former tributes who were reconnecting after the time they'd spent together in that bunker hidden below the Capitol. "Liana!" Sage called, giving her a wave as he approached her table.

"Hi, Sage. How's it going?"

"Well. How are you?"

"Good."

"Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Sage took a deep breath. "OK. Is there anyone that you particularly want to talk about first?"

"Probably… probably Kylis. Er, Dania?"

"Most of us like holding on to our old names," Sage explained, "but not everyone. I'm not sure where Kylis falls. Anyway. I'm sure you know a lot about Kylis anyway, right? From your mom?"

"No, not really. I once found a box in Mom's stuff filled with what I guess must have been photos of Kylis but she refused to tell me anything. President Emerald told me more when she gave me this job than Mom did."

"Well, here's what I can tell you. Kylis was reaped for the Games for the Fifth Quell, and your mother volunteered because she couldn't bear the thought of not being with Kylis hurt. Obviously, being in a relationship hindered either of their chances at Garnet picking them; not only that, but Kylis is gay, so she could never love Garnet, but Dania is bi, so she could. Recognizing the predicament they were in, Kylis broke up with Dania so that Dania would be able to live, because if they were both to enter the Games, there was no way they could both get out. Dania lived and was forced to watch Kylis 'die' on television, but eventually moved on, which is really why you are in the position that you're in and not still in the orphanage. And, of course, Kylis lived."

Liana nodded. "That's rough for both of them."

"Yeah." The two fell silent for a moment. "Who else?" asked Sage.

Liana scanned the room. "What about that guy?" She pointed to a man wearing a light blue dress shirt with a sweater tied around his neck, tan slacks, and brown boat shoes.

Sage rolled his eyes. "Clint Huntington the IV, once Alistair Holt, the son of Three's corrupt mayor. Ruby will sometimes rescue tributes whom she thinks will give her useful information, like Madaline Ohm, who does the background checks for the tributes in the Games and competitors in the Events. That was probably what she was thinking when she rescued Alistair, it just… didn't pan out. He's a pompous, stuck-up brat. Avoid him as best you can."

"What about that one?" Liana indicated a woman wearing a black blazer, cargo shorts, a white shirt, and a Panama hat.

"That's Panama Stewart," explained Sage. "They were once Dakota Ranger. Panama is very mature and is far from the least capable escort despite being one of the more recently rescued tributes. But I will say this: Panama is the only person both smart enough and dumb enough to be asked to pick a transportation-related name to fit in in Six and go with Panama." Liana gave Sage a blank stare. "It was an ancient canal."

Liana shrugged. "How about the one who looks much plainer than all the other escorts?"

"Oh, that's Janie Dole. She's the one out of all of us who has to keep the lowest profile. Janie, once Maia Jones, was rigged into the 132nd Games from Thirteen because she's a Special Ops agent. Her job was to take out a particularly dangerous rebel from 8. Once she succeeded, Maia was rescued. She's the youngest escort, but being a SpOps agent, Ruby fully trusts her to handle escorting, even for Eleven."

Sage continued to tell Liana about all of the escorts who were once tributes. As he talked, Sage was suddenly overcome with a strong feeling that he was working to preserve the escorts' stories. The former tributes would never be able to tell their own stories of their Games. But with someone like Liana, who was not tied to the Games in the same way that Sami was, it felt like their stories had a real chance to survive.

"And that's everyone," Sage concluded as he finished telling Avery Devlin's story. "At least, all of the escorts. There are also all of the non-escorts, but we can talk about them later. How do you feel?"

"Alright. I know a lot more now than I did, which is good. I just feel like I've been put in a situation that I didn't ask for and am radically unprepared to handle."

Sage sighed, giving Liana a pained smile. "Trust me, Liana, we're all in the same boat."

Augustus Nero, 16
District Four

After the tour ended, Augustus and Marilyn had returned to their floor to get to know each other a bit better. They both agreed that it was crucial to become as close as possible as quickly as possible, especially considering that they wouldn't need to go head to head at any point as most Careers eventually have to in the Games. While Augustus was still a bit afraid to tell Marilyn his deepest secrets (and he had a feeling she was in the same boat), he definitely felt like he could trust her as a partner, and he got the sense that she felt the same way.

Just before the two got to the point where they were finally ready to share their deep, dark secrets, they heard the elevator doors open. Marilyn and Augustus looked towards the elevator, expecting to see one of their mentors or maybe their escort step out. Instead, however, it was the girl from One. "Hello," Marilyn said, attempting to not be completely curt with the girl.

"Hi," Pax replied calmly. "Can I borrow you two for a minute?"

Marilyn and Augustus looked at each other, exchanging a subtle nod. "I guess so." The two got up and followed Pax to the elevator which, to Augustus's surprise, took them up to the Capitolites' top floor. When they got out of the elevator, they found the two Capitol competitors sitting on one couch, as well as the boy from One, who was sitting in a recliner eating green grapes one by one from a massive bowl. Marilyn and Augustus sat next to each other on the other couch. After some waiting, the pair from Two came barging in, the older one almost dragging the younger one behind them.

"All right," the older one announced as the younger one took a seat on the other big chair. "Hi, guys. I'm Noel. Pax and I wanted to call this meeting to talk about something important. It shouldn't take all that long but we think it's important.

"As you know, this year's Events have an elimination component, and each day, the team that wins that day's competition gets to choose one team to compete in the elimination challenge. Because it is an elimination challenge, the team sent in for the challenge is not guaranteed to go home, but having control of that elimination is key to ensuring one's own safety. During color selection, I was thinking about how I- how we can maximize the odds that we do not end up in the elimination challenge. And the way we can do that is by maximizing the odds that we win the right to send a team into the elimination challenge.

"In this room are the four strongest teams in the Events, no question. We all have extensive training in the areas of most of the competitions we'll face. I think there is a very low chance that anyone other than the four of us will win a challenge. If we form a secret alliance, promising not to nominate each other for elimination until we absolutely have to, we increase our odds exponentially of coming out on top."

"On top of that," Pax I. chimed in, "we have a feeling that we're going to be the targets of some of the outer district teams by virtue of the fact that we come from districts who have traditionally had success in the Games. If we target each other, we decrease the likelihood that any one of us will win, and I'm sure we can all agree that it's better for another Career district to win if we don't. For each of us, the other three Career districts act as meat shields; by allying, we are all keeping our biggest competition close to us and preventing ourselves from being our biggest downfall. And, if we keep this a secret, nobody would need to know that we were allying in the first place. It would be almost foolproof protection.

"Thoughts?"

Augustus began running through all the possibilities in his head. Whether he said yes or no could significantly impact his future in the Events, and making the wrong decision could be incredibly detrimental to his chances of victory. And while his gut was normally trustworthy, today it wasn't even helpful.

On the one hand, Augustus knew for sure that forming a Career alliance was going against pretty much everything Ruby was going for. Augustus wasn't an idiot; he knew the direction in which Ruby was trying to move the country, and he generally supported it. Part of the difficulty of living in Panem at this time in its history was the cognitive dissonance of hating the idea of senseless child murder and recognizing that the culture change needed to get rid of said senseless child murder would take a long time to set in. Forming the Career alliance in the Events would only reinforce the culture that Ruby was trying to change, which would likely not bode well for any of them or, really, for the country.

On the other hand, going against Noel was definitely a bad move. From everything that Augustus had seen and heard, they were a ticking time bomb that could go off on anyone at any moment. From the way that Pax and Noel were talking, it seemed as though they'd already decided to ally. There was a very high chance that, if District Four were to decline, they would become target number one of the One-Two alliance, which was probably not a very good place to be if Augustus wanted to win.

Which he did.

"Augustus and I need to talk first," Marilyn declared, beckoning Augustus into the hallway going towards the bedrooms. Once the two were out of earshot from everyone else, Marilyn's face grew concerned. "What do you think?"

"It strikes me as the wrong move in the grand scheme of things," Augustus admitted. "I don't think I approve of the idea of forming a Career alliance in the Events."

"I agree with that. It goes against the changes that Ruby's aiming for, which feels wrong."

"Yeah. Not to mention that we all know that Career alliances inevitably fail disastrously at some point."

"They're a necessary evil in the Games for the protection of all of the Careers, but not something we need in the Events."

"Yeah." Marilyn paused for a second. "And yet I can't shake the feeling that it's a bad idea to be on Noel's bad side. It feels too dangerous."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," marveled Augustus. "Do you think we have time to talk to Sol and ask his opinion?"

"My guess is not."

"I had a feeling you would say that. So what do we do?"

Marilyn sighed. "I hate this, but I think the safest thing to do is to join the alliance. It protects us from them for being targeted in the short term and, if we win, we can advocate for better things in the long term."

Augustus nodded solemnly. "That is the best bet. We just have to hope that Titania and Mettius join too so that we're…"

"…so that we're not outright last on the totem pole. And that everyone actually keeps this a secret."

"Precisely." Augustus took a deep breath. "So we should tell them?"

"Yep."

The two returned to the other competitors in the living room. Augustus and Marilyn exchanged a nervous look before answering, cautiously, "We're in."

Well, we're really starting to move now! This has been a very slow burn plot but I think you may be able to see where this is going now. What do you think about these developments? How will Noel's Career alliance fare? How will the outer district tributes react? Any thoughts on the escorts we've met so far?

I spaced out the Events on my calendar and it looks like, with uploads every other week, we'll be regular certainly through March, if not moving into April. I also have the first chapter of a side project that will become relevant in the main verse that should be going up next week, so keep an eye out for that.

I'm super excited for you to see where we go next! I'll see you here in two weeks with Kubi, Xayah, March, and Pax A. for the interviews!

-goldie031