A/N: Returning to one of my old fandoms for a spot of nostalgia writing :P This is mostly a worldbuilding exercise, I wanted to explore the POVs of the many people who worked in the Games, watched it, mentored in it, et cetera. The tribute's experience is extremely well-documented already, and more importantly, I've learnt that I just don't have the time and attention for a full SYOT as much as I'd like to do one :(

Also- I've been reading Oisin55's works (they're really good, you should check them out) so some elements in here are heavily inspired by them. Using sesterces as Panem's currency (in the next chapter) is the biggest example I can think of right now, I can't find another currency term that sounds as good and makes sense too.

I.

My name is Nora Tinseltree. I work for the Capitol Media Network; normally I'm editing advertisements for CMN-produced shows, but it's Hunger Games season, and at this time of the year I do nothing but Top Ten Hunger Games bullshit. Ugh, the Reaping's in under a month, can you imagine? I mean- as a fan, I'm excited, but as a videoeditor? I just got out of a meeting with the Game reps and my boss Argula wants another proposal for Top Ten Moments by today. He's been rejecting my proposed lists for weeks, it's honestly getting annoying.

I take a sip of my latte before looking at my drafts again. The list is mostly done, there's really only a few dozen noteworthy moments to choose from, but getting it from mostly to fully done and ready-to-air is kind of a slog. You can't just repeat the same Top Ten list every year, or people will get bored. There's a whole system.

The Games representative had said that nothing big was planned this year. So this year's pre-Games specials- this and the Top Ten Arenas and the interviews with Caesar Flickerman- can be a bit plainer. You can't expect every Games to produce an Enobaria victory, or be like the Second Quarter Quell, so you don't really want to remind people about that every time. I've taken the volcano eruption from the Second Quell- a personal favorite of mine, it's awesome- off the list this year, replacing it with a good old-fashioned Inner-district alliance breakup.

My datapad pings with a message. It's from Argula-

[3:35PM] Got word from Games team, they advised we lower the no of mainstays. Maybe to 3? Save them 4 the Quell next yr

[3:37PM] Okay, will remove Beetee's eletrocution?

[3:41PM] Ok. Cheerio

Argula always uses such outdated slang. I've never heard anyone else say "cheerio", other than old ladies with criminally outdated clothes and little teacup dogs. But more importantly, I need to make one more replacement, and there are already four Inner-district fights in the list, so my next addition needs to be different.

It's just always so epic when the full One-Two-Four alliance breaks up! But variety is key in the complicated system of Top Ten Hunger Games listings. An overexciting Bloodbath may mean less to see in the rest of the Games.

My computer lags a bit as I start opening up clips from past Hunger Games. The computers at CMN are pretty old, they don't even have touchscreen, but this clunky old dog has more Hunger Games material on it than most of Panem. Even an avid fan would be impressed.

I check out an entry from the 67th Games. It's marked 67Games_D5_ 1G6G_fall. I wish I could say that I remember every part of every Games, especially considering my job, but there's just so many by now- it's not treasonous to forget, right? I don't even remember who the tributes in this video are. It's District One's female tribute and District Six's female tribute.

The Arena is arid, filled with tall crooked spires and canyons carved out of orange rock. It's really pretty. The clip starts with the girl from Six, climbing one of the rock spires to escape from the inner district tributes. She clings to the rocks thirty feet in the air, shivering as the inner district pack crowds underneath her; the rock spire is too unstable for the inner district tributes to climb. The boy from Four tries and doesn't make it very far.

The girl from One steps forward and aims her bow. An arrow flies, a streak of silver that lodges in the girl from Six's wrist, breaking her precarious grasp. The tribute plummets like an eagle diving, except the real birds of prey are the ones on the ground- and the girl from Six, the prey animal, cuts off her scream when she hits the dusty ground and breaks both legs.

It's cool. But I watch on and the inner district alliance have to go over and finish the girl, and I wonder. Is it cool enough?

55Games_D11_ 7M4G_fight

A Top Ten Hunger Games selection needs to be really incredible. In 73 years there're loads of interesting moments, after all. Things like Feasts, alliance-versus-alliance fights, or mutt masacres.

71Games_D3_ 1G2MG4MG_muttattack

(But mutt attacks are kind of a so-so case; it's better if it's a tribute confrontation.)

62Games_D15_1M2M2G4G_fight

That's the sober truth- though every Games has its exciting points, time and public opinion are unforgiving beasts and most of those moments will be forgotten.

It must suck to be a tribute who doesn't win, everyone forgets about you after a while. Ah- that clip's already in my current list. Let's try something else.

43Games_D13_2G3M_trapchandelier

The 43rd Hunger Games happened before I was even born. Its Victor is a middle-aged man by now, he hasn't been popular in ages, but the clip shows this gorgeous Arena and I'm immediately curious about what happened in it. The boy from District Three is running through some kind of hedge maze in warm buttery sunlight, and he runs into a little building the commentators call a "church". The tributes from One, Two and Four follow him in, and the building is filled with lit candles, and it's not very well-lit but they spot the boy hiding in a corner. It's pretty stupid of the boy to run into a dead end like that, but that's District Three for you. Anyway, this kind of atmosphere-setting around fights really needs to be brought back, nowadays it's like every Arena is just the most dangerous outdoor place they can find. It's not always good television-

Suddenly the boy from District Three grasps something hidden behind the curtains and a glittering something hurtles from the ceiling, it's the crystal chandelier, and there's a resounding CRASH. The commentators, whom I don't recognise, are shouting wildly as the dust clears. That was right on top of Andesia Torres! Did it hit her- oh, Julian is going in for the kill!

And they're right, the camera cuts to a male tribute advancing on District Three with a spear. The skinny-looking boy has nowhere to run, but he still tries and his attacker easily spears him through the chest. I wonder why District Three never tries to fight even when it's obvious they should. But I don't dwell on it much- the camera has cut back to the chandelier, revealing that the inner district girl who was underneath it had indeed been hit. The commentators say she's not dead yet, but her body is mangled by the heavy metal structure of the chandelier and it's clear she's out of the running.

After another minute of discussing her condition, the clip goes into a replay of the moment the chandelier swung into the girl tribute.

Overall, it's not exactly perfect. The fact that the mastermind died so quickly after springing his trap is kind of a downer, it's better if the event was a Victor's feat. But I've never seen this kind of event from the Games I've watched, a whole chandelier falling on a tribute. It's kind of novel when we've had natural outdoorsy Arenas for the past decade or so. And-

I rewind the clip, looking at the face of a girl thirty years dead. Blood is spreading out from where she lays underneath the broken glass and metal. It's very morbid.

She lived and died before I was even born. It's crazy to think about- but more importantly, it's also exactly what my Top Ten Hunger Games Moments needs.

The 43rd Games is way over twenty Games back, it means that editing the clips juuust a bit is acceptable. Most people won't remember that the boy from Three sprung a trap which didn't save his life, so I can shift the clips around and make it seem like the Victor did. Julian won that year, so we can also pretend this happened at the finale and not just at Top Eight.

I'll ask Argula about it. But before I close the clip I can't help but wonder- what was it like, watching this live thirty years ago? Being in District Two and losing a contender just like that?

It's crazy to remember all the Hunger Games you've never watched. It's not even like the 67th where I just didn't watch all of it- I think I was still in college that year- but the ones before you were even born. Twenty-four people competed and fought in the event of their lifetime, they fought mutts and killed people, and man, now most of us have no idea the things they went through in their Games. It really makes you think. Tributes really are people to look up to.

But that's enough zoning out. I have to get this sorted and then finish the Top Ten Arenas list, I'm supposed to eat out with Florian and Contessa tonight so I just have to finish on time.