Another present chapter, this time concerning the Capitol.

Valora Brightfall: Head Gamemaker

"Ms. Brightfall," A voice spoke from her left. "The President will see you now."

Valora Brightfall turned her attention to the voice. It belonged to a young woman, probably around twenty-five years old. She was slightly built with an upturned nose and round face. Valora recognized her as the President's secretary, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember the secretary's name.

Valora stood, gathering her bag which lay on the seat next to her. It had all the necessary materials for this meeting.

Without a word to the secretary whose name she couldn't remember, Valora entered the President's office.

There was a thick wooden desk at the center of the room with a few bookshelves set off to the right side. In the back corner next to a corner with two large windows sat two leather armchairs. They were quite comfortable Valora recalled from her one previous meeting with the President.

The President himself stood by one of the tall windows, overlooking the buildings of the Capitol. Cornell Viktor had remained President of Panem for the last twenty-one years. President Viktor stood at six foot three and weighed somewhere around two hundred ten pounds. At sixty-four years old, he was shockingly fit.

President Viktor could certainly be called a traditionalist. He was dark-skinned and wore a gray flattop fade just like Valora imagined he would've back in his Peacekeeper days. Viktor was tough, smart, and ruthless, unwilling to compromise on his beliefs.

"Valora," President Viktor greeted without looking away from the window. "Please take a seat."

Viktor's voice was deep and rich. He was a powerful speaker with an uncanny ability to captivate the audience. Valora herself had to work quite hard to avoid being drawn in by the honeyed tone of the voice.

Valora did so, smoothing her dress and crossing her dark-skinned legs. She placed her bag next to the seat, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming discussion of her plans for the one-hundred and seventh Games.

Viktor remained by the window with his hands in his pockets. His bespoke navy-blue suit made his already broad shoulders appear even broader. Silver cufflinks glinted in the sunlight. They were the only pair of cufflinks the President owned. He was a traditional man, and he used the same pair of cufflinks every day. And of course, his suit was perfectly ironed and washed. It was practically a uniform. Valora wouldn't be surprised if the President still made his own bed with military precision.

Despite herself, Valora found him irresistibly attractive. She liked older men, especially powerful ones, and President Viktor was certainly that. His competence and relative introversion made him an enigma amongst the higher levels of Capitol government.

"It's good to see you again," Viktor turned to her and took his own seat with perfect posture.

"You as well sir," Valora replied politely.

"Please, call me Cornell," He said with a small smile. "I suspect we will be working with each other quite a lot in the near future. I was quite pleased to find that you were approved by the Games council."

Cornell neglected to mention that they likely would've confirmed whoever he had nominated. Most members of the government feared him greatly. Even Valora herself felt nervous in the President's presence. That was what made him so interesting though, he was beloved by the people yet hated by the government.

Privately, it was even rumored that Cornell was thinking of abolishing the Games altogether. Urban legend amongst the Districts claimed that he loathed the Games. After all, Cornell's own daughter was killed in the Games.

It was another thing that made him unusual, Cornell wasn't Capitol born. He was from District 5, but thanks to his extreme ambition and intelligence, Cornell had climbed straight to the top of the Panemanian dominance hierarchy. His daughter died in the seventy-ninth Games when Valora was only three years old.

Valora wasn't sure what to make of those rumors, as Cornell had remained President for over two decades without abolishing the Games. Were he to attempt to abolish the Games, he would face tremendous backlash from the Capitol and from the politicians. Cornell would undoubtedly be removed from power, and it wouldn't be a peaceful transition. What made Valora most unsure of Cornell's plans though, was his private nature.

"I'm quite interested to see what you've come up with," Cornell said. "Would you like a drink?"

"Yes thank you s-"

A glance from Valora reminded her of his request.

"Cornell," Valora quickly corrected herself with a smile.

Cornell nodded with a polite smile of his own. He certainly wasn't like many of the other politicians Valora had encountered. It seemed that he was actually a decent human being, if stubborn and uncompromising.

He poured two glasses of whiskey and passed one to Valora.

"To a successful first year as head gamemaker," Cornell raised his glass.

"I'll drink to that," Valora smiled.

She noticed though that Cornell didn't mention anything about the Games themselves. He had deliberately toasted her success. Valora shook her head. She was probably thinking to deeply into what were just rumors.

As the brown liquor burned down her throat, Valora reached for her bag and removed a small tablet. It would be sufficient to demonstrate her plans for the arena and dangerous encounters for the tributes this year.

She was excited, as it was her first year as head gamemaker. Valora was confident that her plan would be well-received by the President.

The previous head gamemaker was fired immediately following the one-hundred and sixth Games. Cornell had personally kicked him out, in the most literal way possible, when he refused to leave. He had knocked him down the stairs to the Capitol building with a flat expression on his face. The photo had circulated everywhere since then.

That gamemaker, Farrow Silver, had instituted the incredibly successful hundredth anniversary Games. Then, it had been only his third year as head gamemaker. His Games had been successful and received wide approval.

The official story was that Silver was caught making illegal bets with insider knowledge and, when discovered had been promptly fired.

Once again though, rumors circulated throughout the gamemaking community and amongst the Districts that Cornell had fired him because the one-hundred-sixth Games were particularly cruel and vile. Mutt attacks were up fifty percent from the usual rate, and those mutts were vicious. There were giant snakes with powerful neurotoxins designed to inflict the greatest possible amount of pain, moving trees that sucked all the drinkable water from the arena, and that wasn't even the worst of them. There were clones, human clones designed to create as much chaos as possible in the last five days of the Games. The winner had barely survived, and by all rights he shouldn't have.

Valora quickly opened the necessary documents on her tablet while internally berating herself for paying too much attention to rumors. In all likelihood, Cornell hadn't fired Silver without good reason.

"Here's a general overview of the arena," Valora said extending her tablet to Cornell.

He took it calmly. Valora's heart fluttered lightly as his fingers brushed over hers. She knew it was wrong to feel this way about Cornell. He was a widower who had promised never to marry again. He claimed that he had lost the only one woman who he could ever marry. Cancer had taken Mrs. Viktor's life fifteen years ago.

Cornell hummed thoughtfully, "Interesting."

"The location of the cornucopia makes it difficult to escape quickly," Valora explained. "Unless we have some particularly intrepid tributes this year, I'd expect to see a relatively large bloodbath."

Cornell nodded to himself. He leaned over in his chair and placed a single hand to his clean-shaven chin as he flipped through the plans on the tablet. Valora tried to get any read on the President's thoughts, but he was stoic as ever.

"Transportation will be readily available to them?" Cornell asked, his eyes flicking up to her. "Given the terrain travel will be difficult."

"Transport is provided," Valora nodded. "Assuming they escape quickly enough."

"What about mutts?" Cornell asked. "Any extra challenges for the kids?"

Valora noted his use of the word kids. Any other Capitolian would call them tributes, but Cornell referred to them as kids.

"There are quite a few new mutts this year," Valora answered. "They all fit the arena if you know what I mean."

Cornell nodded again as he flipped to the next slide on the tablet.

"As for challenges," Valora said. "Well, there will be quite a few hidden in the arena, assuming the tributes can find them."

"You aren't going to steer them towards the challenges?" Cornell asked, looking up curiously. If Valora wasn't mistaken, she thought she recognized a flicker of hope in his face.

"Not unless absolutely necessary," Valora replied. "It would be a shame if the audience didn't get to see at least one of them."

"Fascinating," Cornell said as he looked back to the tablet. "You're aware that there's never been an arena like this before?"

"That's why I created it," Valora said with a slight smirk. "I'd like to provide Games that will be remembered forever, even if this is my only year as head gamemaker."

"All signs point to the contrary," Cornell said with a smile. "If one thing's for sure, these Games will be remembered forever."

Valora felt the compliment warm her soul. Heat blossomed there like she had achieved the greatest accomplishment of her life, which, in a way, she had.

"Thank you," She said.

Cornell nodded with the same genuine smile on his face. It was so rare to see a genuine smile in this building. He returned her tablet and sat back in his chair with a sigh.

Valora replaced the tablet in her bag while Cornell took another drink of his whiskey and looked out the window.

"So many people out there relying on me," Cornell said softly to himself. "Is this what they want?"

"They'll love these Games Cornell," Valora assured him.

Cornell's mouth twitched as if he'd said something he hadn't meant to.

"I'm sure they will," Cornell said, taking another sip.

They remained in silence for a moment while Valora waited for Cornell to speak again. He was deep in thought over something or other.

"You were on the arena design team before I nominated you correct?" Cornell asked after a while.

"Yes," Valora answered, slightly confused with where this was going.

"What motivated you to take that position?" Cornell questioned. "Why did you go into the gamemaking business?"

"I suppose because when the Games are done right, they're like art," Valora answered, still curious. "You need the right amount of organic content combined with the perfect story. Why?"

"Just curious," Cornell replied quietly.

He sighed then turned back to face Valora.

"I already prefer working with you to working with Farrow," Cornell said with a small smile as he stood.

The same warm feeling blossomed in Valora's stomach. It felt good for that compliment to come from the President himself.

"That's very kind," Valora returned politely as she stood as well.

"That's hardly a compliment," Cornell joked lightly. "Farrow was a real piece of work."

Valora couldn't attest to the correctness of that comment. She had never met her predecessor, but supposedly he was quite the womanizer.

They shook hands. Valora was shocked by how gently he gripped her hand. She had no doubt that the man could've crushed her small hand in his iron-like grip, but he didn't.

"I hope to be seeing you soon," Cornell said as their grip broke.

"Agreed," Valora returned with a smile and a nod.

There we go, a Capitol POV.

I'm not actually sure if a District born citizen can become President, but that's the way it's going to work in this world.

So, what do you think of Valora and Cornell? Are the rumors about Cornell true? Does he really want to abolish the Games, or is it all smoke and mirrors?

Anyway, the tributes list is now on my profile. Please keep submitting guys. We still need many more.

As always, here's the form for your tributes. Feel free to add questions if you'd like.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Sexuality:
District:

Face Claim:
Appearance (Any edits to the face claim?):
Personality:
MBTI:
History:
Strengths (No more than 4):
Weaknesses (No less than 3):
Weapon of choice:
Other weapons:
Family (Include significant others):
Friends:
Special Skills (These are things that they do well that might make them stand out from the other tributes):
Alliances?:
Open to Romance in Games?:
Volunteer/Chosen?:
Reaction to reaping:
Token:
Chariot Outfit (I will probably use these since I'm shit at outfits):
Interview Outfit:
Interview Angle (i.e. aloof, flirty, dangerous, mysterious, etc.) :
Reaping Outfit:
Training room strategy:
What skill did they show to gamemakers?:
Score estimate(10-8 for careers. 7-8 for strong outer districts. 4-6 for average outer districts. 4 for rare cases.):
Interview Quote:
Victor material?:
Creative Liberties? (Is it okay if I change some things about your tribute to fit him or her into the story better? Things like district, age, weapons. Nothing major like personality.):
Other (Anything else you want to add?):

Submit as many times as you want. Thanks for reading.