Prologue 2: Expected Unexpected Expectations

Evangeline Silver
President of Panem, 43

President Evangeline Silver has been waiting for a while. The Head Gamemaker is very much late and she has no time for these. The Games this Quell have to be perfect - there's no room for error with a dramatic Twist like this. And to achieve that, Evangeline does need a breathtaking Arena - the building has already been finished, with just the finishing touches left - and more twists in it - which is what she needs to run over with that incompetent tangle of string!

There's a knock on the door.

"Come in," Evangeline says, voice laced thoroughly with boredom and frustration, and finally, Head Gamemaker Alopius Stringer strides into the room, face flushed and over thirty minutes late.

"Apologies, President Silver," Stringer says.

"Just take a seat. We have much to discuss, and very little time." Her exasperation is quite clearly conveyed as she takes off her glasses and rubs the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

When the glasses come back on, she gets straight down to business. The final little details are finally hashed out, albeit through a lot of frankly annoying hesitations on Stringer's end and too many slow moments, but the finishing touches are finally done. She leans back in her chair, and observes Stringer's form carefully.

He's tense. Perhaps it's her natural dislike for him acting up, or her natural suspicion of people, or both, but she finds her eyes narrowing.

"What do you think about the Twist?"

"Pardon me?"

Evangeline has to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "What do you think about the Twist?" She repeats herself, slowly, firmly, and feeling a lot like she's trying to talk to a two-year-old.

"I think the pre-planned arena compliments it quite nicely," he says, looking very much uncomfortable and clearly sticking with the safe answers. "A twist arena for a Quell Twist."

"I didn't ask about the arena, we've just finalised it," Evangeline finds herself saying, eyes narrowed in a glare. "I'm not going to ask about the mutts or the effects or the outfits of the tributes either. I'm asking about your opinions on the twist." She places emphasis on the word "your" and leans forwards.

He visibly gulps.

"I… believe that," Stringer says slowly. "It will make for a very interesting Games. The people will have favourites from past Games that will likely be reflected in these siblings. They will have a standard to live up to, and it will be quite interesting to see how they align or don't align with those expectations."

It's still quite clearly a scripted answer, and it's nowhere near satisfactory, but Evangeline finds herself chasing Stringer out. His slowness and tardiness always gets on her nerves. She can't stand him.

…Maybe it's time for a change of Head Gamemaker. Besides, in something as dramatic as the Hunger Games, if something is normal and expected, it's no longer good. Having Stringer as the role he's in right now would certainly be expected.

Perhaps the bigger issue at hand would be who to replace him. So far, none of the Gamemakers has appeared to be particularly outstanding - none of them appears to be able to even pull off a halfway decent Games.

Evangeline muses over the issue for a while, settling deeper into her chair. She supposes Stringer, as much as she dislikes him, is still the best fit for the job at the time. Though, she does wonder how much longer that will last.

Then, naturally, she starts planning Stringer's future unexplained disappearance. Maybe it won't happen anytime soon, but it never hurt to plan ahead.

Tributes:

District 1 Male: Eureka Vesuvio, 15
District 1 Female: Miracle Weston, 16

District 2 Male: Rustin Cobb, 18
District 2 Female: Kleio Wulfstan, 18

District 3 Male: Button Leazer, 18
District 3 Female: Artemis "Arty" Byrd, 17

District 4 Male: Narkis Xylouris, 17
District 4 Female: Violetta Whitesand, 18

District 5 Male: Kano Xanders, 17
District 5 Female: Paget Feld, 18

District 6 Male: Maximilliam "Max" Cardisy, 15
District 6 Female: Kennedy West, 17

District 7 Male: Leif Timmer, 14
District 7 Female: Cedara Hadley, 17

District 8 Male: Taylor Sylver, 14
District 8 Female: Micaela Nicole Grybeth, 16

District 9 Male: Magnar Larkin, 12
District 9 Female: Sita Kulkarni, 14

District 10 Male: Colt Canigula, 17
District 10 Female: Jessamy "Jess" Gray, 15

District 11 Male: Corriander "Corey" Heenan, 13
District 11 Female: Roshni Faroukhi, 15

District 12 Male: Rowan Coalson, 12
District 12 Female: Hestia Byrd, 17

(A/N: Well, there we go! That, thankfully, didn't take too long. It's still a little shorter than I would've liked. Feel free to submit! The form is, once again, on my profile and your local idiot may have forgotten to ask if the tribute is reaped/volunteered. That's been fixed.

And I almost forgot! I take reservations, if necessary. I would appreciate if you get back to me within a week, though!)