Rufus finds an exit from inside the mountain, and to his luck, he found water!
"Oh thank Snow," he whispers under his breath as he runs with whatever energy is left within him. Rufus drinks from the lake like a happy but thirsty dog. He can feel it meeting his system. Never has water been this refreshing. He must have been a fool to believe the Hunger Games would not involve thirst and hunger. He's too tired to dig his bag for a container, so he continues to drink from the cool freshwater lake.
That is, until he goes a bit too far and loses balance. His skin screams cold.
"HELP! HELP!" Rufus has a fear of water, like this one. Then he realizes where the fuck he is. Shit. What makes matters worse is that the water is so cold, and he's trying his best not to scream for help again when he could've been found and would murdered himself indirectly.
He splashes panickily and can't help but think, Why do I have to be subjected to this situation?
"HELP! HELP!"
Who the hell?
It bothers Brenna that someone is asking for help in the Hunger Games, but she recognizes the voice, and it bothers her even more.
She turns around to see splashing in the distance under the moonlight. Indeed, it's gotta be Rufus. Brenna has no idea how her district partner made a fool of himself by falling into the lake. Had they still been allies, she would've helped him up. Now they're no longer allies. She should be killing him. Except, they're district partners, and that complicates matters. If she returns home, she would not be seen as an honorable victor.
That's when Brenna decided to just leave him be. He'll live.
Her thoughts shift to exploring the forest when the sun rises, more particularly when it's not dark. A pair of night vision goggles would've been useful right now, so she can hunt in the dark and defend herself from potential mutts. It would also be useful to have them inside the mountain too, because light is dim inside the mountain.
"WAAAAAHHH!"
Brenna turns around to look at her pathetic district partner one last time, as he sinks into the lake, as if it swallowed him whole.
Brenna squints her eyes. Was it the same creature from earlier? Maybe...
The only difference is the lack of a cannon right after.
Argentum makes it back to the summit thinking that his former allies would be camping out here. He's a fool to believe that, but maybe they're just hiding.
"HELLOOOOO?"
Immediately after like a response, the anthem plays and shows the face of his district partner.
"WHAT!? Holy shit!"
Argentum is so confused what's been happening these days. First it was babe. Now it's Annaleigh. He may not be attached to Annaleigh, but she's from home. Two people who were once fighting for power are now equally powerless, and neither of them have the chance to fight back for it.
It takes time for him to sink in everything he just witnessed, from the old camp that's actually empty, to both trained ex-allies being dead. He doesn't understand what's happening. Everything is so confusing at this time.
Argentum made it this far though. He lost count how many there are, but he reached and returned to the summit. What a hike! He got lost so much, and at the end of it all, he's tired. He'll camp out here even though he has no allies nor security. It's too far for anyone to reach him here.
Horden wakes up as the sun rises. The lake is in front of him, but there weren't whirlpools around the lake yesterday. It's weird to see him wake up to whirlpools on the lake.
He still can't believe what happened yesterday. Annaleigh got munched by a giant eel mutt. She screams as the eel sucked the life out of her, and he screamed in fear and panic. Worst of all, he saw Annaleigh's body getting bitten in half. The cannon sounded, and then the eel went for him next. Horden thought he was dead, but this is his second chance in the Hunger Games. He won't let something foolish like an eel attack take his life away from him.
Horden is still distraught from the fact that he lost his one and only ally. He'll mourn her for today, then when he thinks it's over, he'll move on from it and win this for her. He wipes off a tear trying to creep out of his tear duct. He is expecting not to mourn over dead allies, but maybe that's only a thing left in the past.
Back then, when the tributes from One, Two, and Four are done killing the seventh-place tribute, the six of them would betray each other, and the last one standing among the tributes in the alliance would emerge victorious. It hasn't happened in a long time. The alliance would be fractured somewhere along the way because of a twist none of the tributes in the alliance were expecting. History won't change here in the 140th Games. They got fractured a couple of days ago.
A couple of days ago? Horden counts with his fingers and comes to a conclusion that it's already day eight. He's been here for over a week. The eel attack separated his mind from reality for a bit. During that attack, he lost some stuff, including the cuff Annaleigh stole from Eltha. He thinks maybe that's what caused the eel to attack them.
When he's ready, he'll explore the forest. For now, he needs time alone to think of what will come after.
Filly wakes up to see a wooden ceiling.
Where am I?
He touches something soft where his body is lying down on. He's on a bed. He looks around and finds out he's in a room.
What!?
He's in a room and he has a bed. He can see a window in the room. He gets up and looks through the window. There's a farm below him. That means he's inside the mansion!
How did I get here!?
Filly can't find his stuff anywhere in the room. He stays alert as he goes down the stairs of the mansion. He meets woman in green at the kitchen, and he sees his bag at the carpeted area, which looks like a library, near the mansion entrance.
"How can I help you?" Halizeia asks calmly with a welcoming smile.
"How did I get here?"
"I told my trusty avox to rescue you while you were asleep. This is a second wave disaster. Trees and grasses outside are out to get whoever is in their way.
"Oh," Filly says in a fading tone. That's when he thinks that this lady must be nice. Maybe he can trust her. He shouldn't be foolish enough to trust her immediately, but Filly can see more genuine aura emitting from this woman now than whatever Dorian had the whole time they were together.
Halizeia introduces herself formally and tells him about what he needs to know about her and what she can do while they're staying indoors as they distance themselves from the outside world.
After introducing herself, Filly gives her a hug. When he turns around after the hug, he sees the boy from Eight watching him from behind.
Kobe can see that the environment around him is getting smokier or smoggier. He can't tell which. He doesn't need to know specifically though. All he has to do is stay alert at all times possible.
He remains alert as a woman with colored hair approaches him. He doesn't recognize this woman. Maybe it's a mutt. He's sure it's not a tribute. She looks too old to be one.
Nonetheless, Kobe gets up and prepares for a battle stance. The woman, however, signals to him about not wanting to fight. For Kobe, that's good news, because he doesn't have enough energy left in him to win a fight.
The mysterious woman is trying to tell him something, and it takes him a while to realize that it's an avox all along. From there, he asks yes or no questions to understand some things about this avox and why she's here.
When he's done, the avox points at the pagoda, then moves her pointer finger to the barbecue grill right between them.
"I don't trust what's in there," Kobe says. "Can you bring the food to me?"
The avox turns away without a response, making Kobe look like a fool. He screams, "Hey!" The avox doesn't turn around to respond, however.
Ciara lost strip poker last night, and she feels embarrassed. She was the daring one, and losing made her feel like making a fool out of herself. She said yes when Lucius offered to play. It was her fault for accepting the challenge because she could've opted out. Lucius was too good at it, but Arlenna was very lucky despite both Ciara and Lucius pressuring Arlenna to play.
For Ciara to be showering with warm water in the Hunger Games feels weird. There are millions of people out there watching her shower. Then again, millions probably saw her naked too from strip poker last night, unless the editors are cutting out both scenes.
When she's done cleaning herself, she reunites with Lucius and Arlenna at the dining table for lunch. While waiting for lunch, Lucius can't help but talk to the two young ladies. The small talk evolves into beans he shouldn't be spilling.
"See that right over there?" Lucius points at something hanging on the living room wall.
"Uh-huh," replies Ciara while Arlenna nods in response.
"That's my crest! It was made specifically for my participation here."
"Oh," says Ciara. "What is its purpose?"
"Well, if you keep it until you die and nobody steals it from you, your family will be given money depending on how much this is worth."
"Ooh!" Ciara's eyes widen at that information.
"Every guardian has one, and you're free to steal them because we can also defend them. Did you know somebody died in another sector for stealing an elemental weapon?"
"No," says Ciara. Arlenna is just listening now rather than participating in the conversation.
"Well, the crest is a treasured weapon. Halizeia has a music box, Eltha has a figurine, and Titan has a bust."
"Oh cool."
"But, every guardian also has an elemental weapon! Eltha's aqua cuff was stolen yesterday, but she got it back somehow." Lucius goes to find something. "Titan has a tornado scepter."
Ciara butts in asking, "Is the staff Halizeia brings around with her all the time an elemental weapon?"
"Yup! That's the floral staff." Lucius finds the object he is looking for. It's a metal glove and he puts it on his left hand. "This... is the flame gauntlet. I can pack a fiery punch to kill anyone, but it can also be stolen from me. Watch." Lucius presses a button on the gauntlet, and fire is blazing out of the knuckles part of the gauntlet.
"Cool!" Ciara reacts in awe. Arlenna can feel her jaw drop in awe. Nobody usually finds a weapon that powerful inside the arena.
"Oh yeah, Wave Two tonight," Lucius blurts out. "But, we're gonna have barbecue night first before I activate it."
"Activate it?" Ciara wonders aloud.
"Yeah, I get to control in my control room when I want to make the fireballs rain."
"Interesting..." Ciara says as she makes eye contact with Arlenna.
The avox serves the food on the dining table. Once again, it's barbecue, served with hot tea as their beverage.
Lucius says, "I'm gonna show you the giant grill we have tonight. We can cook meat no matter how big. This is gonna be exciting!"
"I'm excited for tonight!" says Ciara almost genuinely. She's thinking about the flame gauntlet now. Stealing it is not an easy job, but there's also gonna be another wave in this part of the arena. She should think ahead with Arlenna on their next move.
The avox used Lucius's lunch time to deliver cooked food and a thermos containing tea to Kobe, as he is not checking on the monitors in his control room. Kobe's food is placed in a metal container.
Kobe thanks the avox. When she leaves, he finishes the food he was given, leaving him with an empty metal container he can use to gather water if it rains, but from the looks of this environment, it's probably not gonna rain here.
Kobe is thinking what he should do next.
Eltha finishes introducing herself to Rufus. "Oh, one last thing. Please don't think about stealing my cuff." She points at the cuff she's wearing, then she picks up the remote control from the table. She turns on the television showing how Annaleigh died with the cuff on her wrist. Eltha prepared this to be on television while Rufus was asleep.
For Rufus, he realizes, So that's what the cannon was about yesterday. Not only does he have one less competitor to beat from hereon out, but someone who could've outsmarted him to the end of his life was also eliminated. She's a threat and she's gone. Good riddance.
The good news for Rufus is that he has food in this castle. The bad news is that he can't escape. He's stuck in a castle in the middle of the lake, and the lake is surrounded by whirlpools. The castle is also floating on the lake. Talk about a what the fuck moment.
Dorian exits the mountain and sees a lake. When there's lake, there's water. He's been running on junk food since day two, and he's glad to finally get to drink freshwater from the lake.
He drinks some water from the edge of the lake. He can see the whirlpools, but they don't bother him because he's at the lake's edge. It would've been different had he been drinking from the castle at the center of the lake. Doing that from there would make him look like a fool who is willing to die. He did so by volunteering for the Hunger Games, but he pushes that thought away. He doesn't need to remember that kind of rash decision-making right now.
Beside him, he can see a forest. On another side, there's another mountain exit. He thinks he should stay by the lake now, because of the presence of water. He'll be able to fight off anyone around him anyway.
Lainey is enjoying a luxurious advantage. It's like heaven in hell. Outside the prison is an ugly facade. Inside, it's safe and cozy. When she first got here, there was a note explaining this prison to her. She can stay here for a maximum of seventy-two hours before the gamemakers will be forced to throw her out, unless it's the finale already. There's one avox serving her too. Talk about Capitolite luxury.
From the television screen, she gets to see what's happening outside her. She gets to be like a regular viewer of the Hunger Games despite being in it. There was little to no broadcast of her. She saw herself once watching the television, and it's pointed at the television so it's like it doesn't end. That moment made Lainey chuckle.
She doesn't understand why this place exists in the arena, but she's not complaining. She's currently using it to her advantage. Perhaps she can use it further by being in the Victor's Village.
Oh no. That's keeping her hopes high. It'd be foolish of her to think of that without winning the Hunger Games just yet. She'll get there, and maybe having high hopes is fine. She thinks she shouldn't get them too high is all.
Because of the outside conditions, Ingeo can't be Halizeia's farming intern today. She's just reading a book at her library on her day off in farming. He would be reading books too, but then Ingeo has a new housemate visiting him in his room.
Filly sniffles as he wipes away more tears. "I miss Dad, Papa, Ansel, Bay, Azalea, and Zetta, and also my friends."
"I miss my family too," Ingeo shares. "I try to help them out because life in Eight is hard."
"What is it like?" asks Filly as he wipes more tears.
"It's... going to the factory or warehouse while studying."
"Oh."
"My parents wanted to send me to a proper school someday, and I did the best I could to help them."
"I'm pretty sure they're very proud of you." Filly pats Ingeo's back twice in sympathy. "What have you been doing in the past few days here?"
"I..." Ingeo pauses to think before continuing to answer. "I was helping Halizeia with her crops. I already became her intern when it comes to farming."
Filly now understands why Ingeo has a straw hat in his room. He glances at it shortly. "Oh."
"There's a sense of achievement when you're harvesting fruits even though it's not easy."
"Mmhm..." Filly nods slowly at that. "What did you like most about the Capitol?"
Ingeo thinks, then answers, "The books. Their libraries are big here, way bigger than the libraries in Eight."
"There's a lot of things in the Capitol. I like the ice cream parlor with so many flavors." Filly remembers that he was eating ice cream with Thomas, and then they bumped into Macy and Corinna along the way, and now they're all dead, and he starts to cry again. "I was with Thomas that day."
Ingeo pats Filly's back this time.
"I love Thomas. He's so outgoing and he lived not regretting his life." Tears stream down Filly's face. "I miss him so much. Macy... I don't know what happened to her and Tira, and I'm so sad for them. Co-Corinna... Corinna... she did not deserve it." Filly buries his wet face with his dry hands. "I don't know why she had to go or what she did to deserve it. Staying with Dorian made me feel like an idiot."
"I also had allies," Ingeo says as he's trying to comfort Filly. "Susie was really creepy, but she died with Owen and Poppy. I don't know what exactly happened to them, but we weren't really close." Talking about his ex-allies makes him sniffle too and blink back tears. "All my allies are dead, and maybe it's because... I left them. I went ahead of them, and they didn't follow me." Ingeo uses an arm to wipe away tears. "Now, I'm all alone until I stumbled into Halizeia's mansion."
Filly tearily pats Ingeo's back. "I had allies, but one betrayed me and I'm all alone until I met... you. We just met, I don't know why, but I think I can trust you." Filly lends Ingeo the towel he was using to wipe away tears. "Wanna be allies?"
Ingeo can't seem to take everything in right away, but after all this loneliness he's been through, it may be the right call for him. He thinks of farming with Halizeia on the past days. He's in the Hunger Games! He probably looks like a fool to the whole Panem staying in a farm and living in a mansion when he should be killing others to be back home, but here he is with Filly. They hug as Ingeo accepts Filly's offer.
It's barbecue night! Arlenna and Ciara follow Lucius to the big barbecue grill. On the way, they talk for a bit. Well, Ciara is actually doing a bit of small talk and Arlenna just nods or listens to what Ciara's saying.
When they arrive, Lucius is ready to cook the meat. He presses a button on a remote he brought out with him. "Oh?" He tries again, but nothing. He looks through the grill, and that's when he realizes that he needs to change the charcoal for the grill. "Alright girls, I'll just replace the charcoal and I'll be right back."
Lucius leaves, and Ciara continues to talk about the time she got a small scar on her thigh while rock climbing. As Arlenna listens, she can see a suspicious rock. She doesn't know what to make of it. It's a bit bigger than the other rocks in their surroundings.
Ciara says, "I was part of the track team for a few years, and I can say that I'm confident enough to beat you in a race if I could."
"You're forgetting something, Gracie," Arlenna replies.
Ciara thinks then says, "Right." She laughs it off.
Arlenna responds, "Don't forget that I run too for my middle school team. Not a lot of people in Ten do." Arlenna can't put a finger on it, but something is really off with the rock she can see nearby.
"But I can climb! How about you, Winnie?"
"I don't live near the mountains, Gracie, but I can sew."
"Uh-huh." Ciara continues by talking about her musical family and how she learned the saxophone.
Lucius returns around that time. He presses a remote to life the grill open. "That charcoal is as dead as the other twelve tributes."
"Oh wow, there's twelve of us left." Ciara didn't realize this until Lucius's dark humor.
Arlenna and Ciara watch as Lucius takes out the dead charcoal with his remote control. He then looks down at the bottomless pit.
"That is DEEP!" Lucius reacts. "Come and look down, girls. This is my first time seeing it."
Ciara and Arlenna join Lucius.
"Whoa! I can barely see the lava," Ciara comments. She feels a strong force push her before falling into the bottomless pit. Ciara's high-pitched scream echoes on the chamber of the bottomless pit.
"What just happened!?" Lucius reacts in panic.
Arlenna turns around wide-eyed and sees her district partner about to push her off as well.
BOOM!
"I knew not to trust the building in the distance!" Kobe says. "Your family won't miss her, but they'll definitely miss you." Kobe tries to push Arlenna again, but she dodges his attack.
Arlenna is trying to register what's happening. Her ally was here a moment ago. Did she really fall all the way down? Her district partner pushed Ciara in the hole. She's mad! Arlenna takes a glimpse at the hole to see no traces of Ciara. She's gone. She's dead. It happened so fast, too fast to even save her from it. The situation was out of Arlenna's control.
Lucius looks back, trying not to care. He's not a tribute. He's here to cook barbecue. Although, the action keeps his eyes glued at the two teens, both fighting weaponless.
Arlenna angrily aims her hand at Kobe's throat, but Kobe blocks her hand. Kobe goes after her shirt instead, but Arlenna pushes him hard on the face. Kobe is knocked down, and Arlenna uses this chance to get the suspicious rock, which moved from its original position. Aha! She saw the signs, and she didn't even stop it from happening. She should've done something else while waiting for Lucius to return, but she didn't, and it's too late to change it. She's still digesting the fact that Ciara is dead, and angry tears stream her cheeks as she screams in agony.
Kobe goes over his bag, getting the rope he had since day one. He screams as he runs into Arlenna's direction. He uses the rope and tries to strangle her with it, but Arlenna avoids the rope from being on her neck.
Arlenna tries to throw the rock to Kobe, but it's too big and she misses pathetically.
Kobe flings his bag straight to Arlenna's face. There's an empty metal container inside, and Arlenna can feel it smacking her right on the nose. While she's distraught, Kobe uses the bag straps to strangle her.
Ow! Arlenna can't rub her pained nose and is flailing around trying to escape from being suffocated by her district partner. She's mad at him for killing her only ally whom she bonded with over the past several days. She's also mad at herself for failing to save Ciara when she saw the signs. She's using all this anger to just flail all she can. She can't die like this. She needs oxygen, and it's slowly fading away from her.
Kobe can't believe he's about to hit two birds in one stone. Victory is his! He won't have to see his more privileged district partner again. She'll be dead, and both kills will be credited to him. His district partner is still flailing with the bag straps around her neck. He's doing his best, and he needs one more cannon before he can stop this.
Arlenna loses her ally, and now she wishes to have reached out to more people than just Ciara. She didn't isolate herself in training, but she didn't get as many allies as she could've. Her parents will miss her, but she's not giving up just yet!
Kobe feels pain between his thighs. "AH! FUCK!" Kobe clutches at it awkwardly.
Arlenna now has a chance to roll away. She coughs on the ground and inhales as much as she can with the air around her.
"FUUUCK YOU!" Kobe screams in pain.
Arlenna is so mad she let all this happen. Her ally died, and she almost did too. Angry tears continue to stream through her face as the fact sinks in: Ciara is dead, and there is no way to get her back. This is not fair! If she has to look at the bright side, at least she's not dead yet.
Ciara was not just an ally. For Arlenna, she was a friend, a true friend that she can never replace. This shouldn't have happened. She's so angry that words aren't enough to describe it. Arlenna picks herself up and kicks Kobe hard on the stomach.
Kobe gets a hold of Arlenna's foot the second time, but her foot is strong enough to kick his crotch yet again. "OW FUCK! FUCK YOU!"
Arlenna gives Kobe another kick followed by an angry spit and whipping the bag with the matal container at him.
"AGH!"
She sees Lucius still replacing the charcoal for barbecue night. Barbecue night!? Barbecue night won't be the same without Ciara, and barbecue night would never have happened if I convinced Ciara not to go. Who would've known!? Arlenna looks at the new charcoal on its way to entering the pit. No, barbecue night would've been different had Lucius not told them to look down. Arlenna runs to Lucius. Indeed, he opened the grill and told them to look down. They're such fools to let their guards down, and she's only realizing it now while Ciara never ever will.
"YIPE!" Lucius does not expect a force to put him off-balance. Arlenna gives him another hard push, and he falls down into the dark pit, screaming in terror.
FFFWOOOOO!
The ground shakes at the fanfare confirming Lucius's death.
Now, Arlenna is going back to Kobe. Unfortunately for her, Kobe is nowhere to be seen. She finds this weird, because the land is barren and it would've been easy to spot anyone even from afar, but Kobe disappeared like thin air. She should've killed him when she got the chance. She underestimated the power of kicking him in the balls.
Arlenna also has nowhere to go. Should she return to the pagoda and get her stuff? Should she just enter the mountain and wing it? What about Wave Two? Lucius is dead.
Arlenna was so naive to think she and Ciara could watch each other's backs all the way to the end. Now, everything is gonna be different without Ciara.
"Now THAT'S what you call iconic!" Vint comments. "This is what we've been waiting for all year, and it finally happened."
Radon says, "I have no regrets adding a giant barbecue grill."
"All those shots were good," Zorro adds. "This will be epic when we broadcast it."
Alistair shows up in the main hall. "Someone woke me up for this."
"You just missed it," Genji says disappointingly.
"What!?" reacts Alistair half-groggily.
As Genji and Vint help Alistair catch up with the latest events, Zorro and Radon are checking the whereabouts of every tribute with the nanodrones Zorro controls.
Not every scene check needs a nanodrone, because Radon can easily see Chip chilling at Topland Tower with Titan. Rufus is on a bathtub of cold water in Cryo Castle. Lainey is chilling luxuriously at the prison in Sector Three. Filly and Ingeo have just finished dinner with Halizeia in Sector Four.
Radon remembers the prison. It was a last minute suggestion by him when they built one and Lucius says he has no plans of using it. Everyone considered leaving it as is, but then with Lara as a sponsor, they decided to add an interesting twist to it. Perhaps they can add something like this in future arenas to make gameplay interesting. It's something to consider.
Zorro looks at what the nanodrones have captured. Brenna and Horden are both in the forest of Sector Two, but they're on different parts. There was a chance they could have met, but it wasn't fated today. Dorian is also on Sector Two peeing on the grass after drinking so much water from the lake.
Through another nanodrone, Zorro can see Argentum just chilling on the summit. It's like he doesn't know where to go. He mentioned earlier in the day about hunting, but he didn't do any of that today. He's lost.
Vinton, Genji, and Alistair are watching a replay of the action in Sector Three. As Arlenna was on her way to push Lucius to his death, Kobe was crawling his way to the mountain exit nearby. He then got up and trudged his way into the exit just right before Arlenna turned around. They stop the replay afterwards.
"Oh," Alistair says. "Oh my. Doctor Flore is gonna love it."
"She surely will," agrees Vint.
Genji says, "I'm curious as to where Arlenna went afterwards."
They check real-time footage of Arlenna returning to the pagoda.
"What do we do with Lucius's wave two that he was supposed to activate today?" asks Genji.
"We have to do them at twelve midnight," Alistair decides. "That, and his guardian mutt he never used." Alistair shakes his head in disappointment at that. "We need to activate the final wave immediately after the feast. Otherwise, it's gonna be a treasure trove for the tributes in the finale."
They find Arlenna's real-time footage. She's back at the pagoda packing her stuff. She also packs Lucius's crest and flame gauntlet, although she struggles on the latter because of its weight.
"She earned it," Vint says. "She killed the king. That gauntlet is hers, and so is Lucius's crest."
"Big money!" reacts Genji.
"We need to set up the feast for day ten," says Alistair. "We have to make sure Sector Three is gone immediately after the feast."
"Yes sir!" Genji responds.
13th Place: Annaleigh St. Cloud, D1, submitted by IVolunteerAsAuthor. Chomped in half by Guardian Mutt Eel-C. She's strategic, and I like her for that. I didn't really have a death planned for her up until recently. She's not my top victor pick, although she'd be a good addition for District One in this verse. Maybe she would've had a better chance if the submitter at least sent me check-ins because I know he was around when I was sending messages asking for them. There's a difference between not reading for being inactive and not reading or ignoring check-ins despite being active. :/ Honestly, I'm disappointed. I still enjoyed writing her rivalry with Jeanne that led to the early fracturing of the career alliance. Thanks for Annaleigh nonetheless, Caleb! :)
12th Place: Ciara Graceanne Westley, D5, submitted by tracelynn. Pushed into grill pit by Kobe Bridger of D10. Like Pi, Tracee admitted to not reading the story, and that was fine by me. Telling me the truth and still sending check-ins when possible help me know you still care for your character even just a bit. Ciara's death was something I planned for a long time already. I even spoiled it 2 years ago and nobody probably remembered it. XD The thing with Ciara was that the reviews in her reaping chapter showed that she wasn't well-liked, so Tracee felt bad and told me I can change Ciara in whatever way I want after that. I made her spunkier and more daring than she was supposed to be. It worked to Arlenna's character development. I don't think what most people said in those reviews still mean what it is today, because the Ciara-Arlenna pair was well-liked enough to win an award in the SYOT Awards, which honestly surprised me because I wasn't expecting it. :o Ciara is amazing and I gave her the epic death I planned for a long time based on this arena. Tracee, I know you're not as active anymore, but here's your final placement with an epic death to go with it. Thanks for Ciara! :)
Trust me, none of us will miss Lucius. I made his character to be unlikable enough that we won't be sorry to see him go. I can submit characters like that and I don't mind as long as they made their impact, which Lucius did, albeit negatively.
I also keep forgetting about Birdy's eulogy! SilverflowerXRavenpaw submitted it as a sponsor gift to the careers. It added an element of chaos to the story, so it left its mark to the story even for a few chapters. Thanks for Birdy, Silver! :)
Last chance to vote on the poll! Next chapter, I'm gonna replace it with another poll.
We're past the halfway point! I'm gonna try and see if I can update again later this week. We're getting to the end and I'm excited to get this story finally over with. Also, if you haven't seen it, I published a new story last week. While the SYOC is not yet open as an April Fool's joke, the chapter's content is legit and it already tells us about some exciting things happening in the future. It's gonna be different from any SYOT you've ever seen!
Also, we have an ongoing event in the SYOT Alliance! Forum. You can answer a question of the day or guess which fact belongs to whom. It's a fun community engagement activity, so please check it out and feel free to participate. :D
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's only gonna get wilder from here. :)
