I.
- Thrill of the Chase: The 150th Hunger Games -
Faster, faster, 'til the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.
"Ready…"
The morning light strikes the walls of President Snow's Centre for Child Education, lighting up the tall brick walls that mark the boundaries of the schoolyard. Worn, crumbling bricks that resemble the colour of rust suddenly are bright, tawny red once more in the light of the sun, and the gleaming facility that allows over two-hundred young Capitolites to learn and thrive is just out of view from the sidewalk. If a passerby looks through the gates of the school during the day, curious to see if there are children out and about, they'll be delighted to see a class of children running amok in the playground - usually tying some sort of learning skill to their play. Snow's prefers to make everything a learning experience.
"Set…"
If said passerby deigns to enter through the gate, - if they don't have a valid reason to enter the property, they'll have to squeeze through a very narrow set of iron bars before being greeted by a blaring alarm and armed security guards - they'll see that the glass windows of the school showcase even more children at work, fidgeting at tables while writing a few more sentences with pens. Snow's works to produce future leaders of Panem - there are device literacy classes, of course, - but it prefers to teach its pupils proper handwriting skills. Many a graduate has sworn by the styles that they've been taught by Snow's.
"Go!"
Twenty third-graders race through their schoolyard, running towards the play structure that's affixed in the centre of the yard. A taller boy, with auburn hair and scraped knees that peek under his light blue shorts, is the first to reach the structure. He stays ahead of his classmates, scrambling up the stairs and running through the brightly-coloured structure until he finds what he's looking for - a yellow piece of paper that's taped to a rung of a ladder that leads back down to the sand below, neat handwriting detailing his next task. "Amphora - I've found it!"
"Hurry - go, go, go!" his partner, a little girl with brunette curls and a cunning green dress, runs to him. A few other classmates push past her in their hunt for the pieces of paper, but she pushes them back. She's not going to take it unless she can give it back. "What does it say, Cal?"
"It says… go to the basketball cart and fill in your multiplication table - Amphora, what's a basketball cart? Is it the thing that we put all of the basketballs in after class at the gymnasium?"
Amphora giggles, snatching the paper out of her partner's hands. "Don't be silly - you read it wrong, it's a basketball court. Hurry, let's go!"
They hurry to the basketball court, grabbing pink and blue pieces of chalk to write their answers in all of the empty spaces. A few more pairs catch up to them, but others still dawdle while peering under neon-pink slides and at the seats of swings - they're still looking for their clue. Their teacher waits patiently by the school doors - if they follow their clues correctly and finish all of the puzzles, the first team back will get to choose what educational documentary on the building of Panem they watch during their free time today.
"They're clever, aren't they?" The teacher stifles a cry of surprise when she hears the voice behind her, taking time to calm down before she turns to face the man. "Your children - they're having fun, it seems. Have you made a hunt to amuse them today?"
"Oh, President Bishop! How lovely it is to see you today! I didn't expect you… so soon… we thought we had a bit more time before you talked with the class. Yes, the children are delightful. We're working on math skills today: I set up a little game for them to play so they can put some of those skills into practice. Young minds are so intelligent, so flexible - the more we let them practice, the more they can learn."
The President glances at the children, most crouching over their problems in the basketball court. A few have finished and now are taking shots at a tall basketball hoop - most miss, but the balls miss hitting the rest of the children. Thankfully. "Lovely things - my niece is in the class below yours. She'd love to try something like this: she'd excel at it, if I do say so myself."
"I'm sure she would, sir. This is just a little game I like to play with the class - at this point, they've mastered the art of racing. It's an amazing exercise, and it gets them all excited about topics that they'd otherwise hesitate to work on."
"A fine game, indeed!" The president pauses, his dark eyes landing on the teacher's face. She blushes - the President is a fine-looking man, with dark brown hair, a tan, muscular frame, and piercing brown eyes. But there's something about him… something about him just feels off-putting. "Ms. Jessica Blackstone, correct? One of the gamemakers in this year's games has the same name."
"My sister," Jessica replies. She blushes, wondering what about her reminded President Bishop of her younger sister. "She's quite ambitious - very intelligent. I love her to pieces."
"Ah, yes - she's spirited, that one. But she and the team are starting to struggle on this year's arena. They're not quite sure what to do with it in light of the quell twist." The president glances over at Jessica, his eyes flashing with an emotion that she can't identify. "Do you think that they'll be able to finish in time?"
"I'm sure that they will, President Bishop. She's a smart woman, and with the quell twist this year, it should be simple to create an arena for the twenty-eight tributes." Jessica claps for a few more teams that rush to the basketball nets, intent on catching up to the front-runners. "Good job, everyone! Remember, you go to only one crate to stack your cups, not all of them. Keep going!"
"But here's the thing, Ms. Blackstone - the twist specified only twenty-four in the Games. With District Thirteen, Fourteen, and the Capitol all sending in tributes, that's six too many. And we can't bend the rules, can we? We might, but there are always those forces in power who wish to see every ancient letter from our forefathers followed to the utmost degree. What do you think, now?"
"Well..." Jessica thinks back to the war between Thirteen and Twelve, ancient history at this point. Her parents lived through it: her mother still has scars from a bomb, her father lost his brother. And in the end, neither the Capitol or the districts could win. Instead, they compromised.
Games Seventy-Six was a change of state: District Thirteen and the Capitol decided to allow districts have more freedom, in exchange for a brand-new district - the prison district, Fourteen - and the entry of all districts, as well as the Capitol, in the Hunger Games. She still remembers the bland sentence from her fourth-grade textbook, one that told so little of the true drama of the event - how the Capitol rioted, how Thirteen nearly blew Panem to kingdom-come, how the prisons all disintegrated before being reassembled as a new district entirely in the shape of Fourteen, with special laws for its inmates that meant even their children and grandchildren would live in the shadow of their crimes, how eventually, somehow, it became the new normal.
"Well… it's not my place to say what you can or cannot do. I'm merely a teacher, I'm nowhere close to the qualifications to discuss that, I'm sure you know that." She looks back at the president, but he's watching the children run through the playground with a curious, hollow gaze. It's as if a part of his mind has retreated from view, free to think as it pleases without being seen.
She continues after a moment, thinking that it's best to continue speaking. This may be his way of listening, after all. "Of course, I don't have the right to say anything. But Anastasia is intelligent, she'll - oh, Cal and Amphora! Congratulations, you two!" Jessica breaks off the conversation with President Bishop to turn to two of the children, their faces red from the heat of the morning and the euphoria of being the first team to finish. "You did all of the puzzles correctly? Can I see your answer key… yes… yes… yes… you've done it! You two will be picking the documentary this afternoon after our special talk with President Bishop - he's right here! Would you like to meet him?"
"Of course - I'd love to meet you! You've given me a great idea, after all," President Bishop says with a chuckle. As more children finish their race and excitedly greet their president, Jessica smiles and waves to them all. There are no upset students for having lost, a good sign indeed - she knows that she's done quite well when no one's finishing the race in a bad mood..
But as they all form a line to head back to their classroom, Cal and Amphora proudly taking the lead, she's not thinking of her class. Instead, she remembers the last thing that the president whispered to her before Cal and Amphora rescued her from the conversation.
I hope she will, my dear - she thinks a great deal of you as well. In fact, she's said that you're her closest friend. You're the one who knows Anastasia best, Jessica.
A cold, bitter dread creeps up the back of her neck. She knows that she's supposed to admire the President, praise this man who rules Panem gently yet firmly, yet being in his presence makes her only want to do one thing.
She wants to run as fast as she can, and not look back.
A/N: Well, well, well, how the turns table! Another JAJ SYOT - this will be my fourth full SYOT, which is quite exciting - for everyone to cry at! Needless to say, I'm excited to get this underway! Welcome, all, to Thrill of the Chase!
As you may have guessed, this isn't quite an ordinary SYOT - no, I've wanted to try this idea for quite some time and I think that now is the perfect chance. I'll be heading back to the world of Distorted and Hiraeth in future SYOTs, but this time we jump all the way to year 150 of the Hunger Games! This year, we have thirty tributes - all from Districts One to Fourteen, with the Capitol in the mix - but only twenty-four will participate in the Games - the others will begin a race around Panem to see which six will be spared, and who will be thrown into the Games.
Yes, it's based off of The Amazing Race. It's been a passion of mine for a while, and I've waited a while to share it with you all. And now is the time! If you're confused about how the Games will work, have no fear: it'll all be explained as it goes along. Being familiar with the format of The Amazing Race may help as well.
Some shoutouts for ideas I leached - District11-Olive's past verses influenced some of my own, and jakey121's and JabberJayHeart's formats are very stealable. I doubt you'll read it, but you guys are great.
No reservations, no first-come-first-served: you'll fight each other for the spots until the death - I mean, you'll battle it out for the thirty slots. Submissions will be open until around the 20th of June, but I reserve the right to choose a sooner or later date at my discretion. If you're worried, just check my profile or pm me for more information.
For all of my returning readers, yes ofc I'm going to be ruthless what did you suspect. For my newcomers, welcome! Enjoy the ride, have fun, and I hope to see some lovely tributes from you all.
More guidelines and such will be on my profile, including the google form which you can use to submit. Have fun, and happy Hunger Games!
Enjoy. Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ