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Created by ShunKazamis-Girls
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Fabian Redsun
Creator of the Saturn Games
A shiver shoots down my spine, momentarily distracting me from my existential dread and panic, though the feelings re-emerge as quickly as they go. This blustery wind really isn't help my rising nerves...but it's not as if I can stop it. So I'll just try to regulate my breathing as I hope it eases down, for now.
Where is she? I know Decima's sense of timing isn't the greatest...she's always either an hour early or half an hour late. There seems to be no inbetween. But this meeting is important, so surely she'd try to get here as soon as possible? What if something happened to her on the way here? My mind instantly races to the worst possible scenarios before I can even try to fight back. Fabian...the chances of her being kidnapped, or dying in a car crash are astronomically low. Don't let yourself become a mess over something you shouldn't even be worrying about. Squeezing your key chain will help.
So, I squeeze it, as I stare at the moonlight reflecting in the puddles of the water. It'd almost be pretty, if it weren't for the fact there were cigarette buts and litter floating about. This isn't the clean and proper area of the Capitol I know. Why would Decima ever choose to come here?
The stars sure are pretty...the part of the city where I'm from, you'd be lucky to see the moon due to all the blinding lights that line the streets. I guess the slums of the Capitol just don't have that sort of love and care put into it. It's eerily dark, but nobody will come to illuminate it.
All of the sudden, I jump out my skin, as I feel a hand clasp onto my shoulder. I'm ready to scream, or punch, or kick or run or do whatever I have to do to get this stranger away, before I realise it's just Decima, who's laughing loudly. Eh, I guess I am that much of a coward...so easily scared. Aren't I pathetic?
"You should have seen your face!" Decima chortles. She's struggling to breathe at this point...I hadn't realised it was that entertaining.
"Ah, ha ha, you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that." I let out a few awkward laughs, feeling overwhelmed by her positivity.
Decima laughs even more. "How didn't you hear my stilettos?" I look down...wow, they are rather high. It must be a struggle to walk in them, but she's persevering...oh, she must be freezing too! She's so scantily clad, in that short skirt. And it's weird seeing her with a full face of makeup and fluffy pink wig. I normally only see her in the office, where she goes for a more natural look...but I think she looks pretty with it on.
"I was in the zone, I guess." I say, giggling still. Decima lightly knocks me, before pulling my hand.
"When are you not in the zone?" She says, leading me on. "Come on, let's go in, before my fingers fall off."
The bar itself...is interesting, to say the least. I'm trying to think of some good things to say about it, but there's not much. The soul of the place is missing...the speakers are crackly, it's rather empty, the furniture is old. I keep thinking my chair is going to break, as the creaky noise it makes when I shuffle isn't promising. It also smells like urine. This place could really do with a renovation. "Why did we come to this bar, of all places?" I ask, as I try to get comfortable in the hard chair. The dimly lit purple lights almost make for an atmosphere, though it's still disappointing. The cramped room, empty bar for the tables, feels like it's closing in on me. Devoid of life...with a few robots to serve us...it's empty.
"It's my uncle's. It's going to shut down soon, so I might as well give him some extra cash before he goes." Decima says, as she peers into a mirror, to avoid focusing on the bar. "And you can call it a shithole. Don't pretend it's good."
"No, no. It's cosy." I lie, drumming my fingers on the table.
Decima suddenly looks up, frowning at me. "You are the worst liar ever."
I begin to blush. "Ah...well...yeah, I guess so. But this place is quiet and private, which is good enough."
Decima nods, now reading over the disappointingly short drinks menu. I'll look over it in a bit, once the main discussions are over. I'd rather stay sober for all of the night, but if I have to get drunk, I'd rather do it later. "How are you feeling about tomorrow?"
"I should be the one asking you that, Decima. You're the person announcing it…"
"Yeah? And? You're the CEO who came up with the idea and approved it. The audience isn't stupid." Decima says, not looking up once from the menu.
That is true...but I think she's underestimating the true intent of the audience. "But the crowd likes to attack and slander anybody they can, including the messenger. You won't be spared from the hate train, if it does turn out to be controversial."
She sets the menu down, with a very serious expression. "Fab, please stop talking down to me. I've been in the entertainment industry for half of my life, I know what it's like."
Silence...have I been talking down to her? Do I sound patronising? I hope I don't...because I don't think that way. I know she knows I'm just trying to look out for her, but maybe she's able to brush the hatred off unlike me. Have I upset her? I really don't want her to be upset with me, seeing as she's one of my only friends left…
"I don't see why switching the games to virtual reality would be controversial anyway. Sounds like more fun to me. You can avoid the effort and violence of it all." Decima says, still frowning. She flicks the hair out of her face, as we lock into eye contact. God, I hate eye contact, but I can't snap out of it.
She's the one who looks down, as she orders her drink from the virtual menu. Maybe my staring was off putting. "I'm not sure. Would people think the charm of the Saturn Games will be lost?"
Decima rolls her eyes. "Well, this is the closest a bunch of these bratty Capitol kids will ever get to participating in the Hunger Games, so they better like it."
Mmh...that is true. Even if there are other Hunger fangames out there, none of them are as high quality and famous as the Saturn Games. After President Scuttle endorsed it in one of his many nationally wide watched speeches, viewership levels went through the roof. The amount of fans we have now is monumental, and anticipation has skyrocketed, especially after the years hiatus.
We'll still be able to find a cast of 24 good teenagers here in the city, no matter what happens though, right? If we had an infinite amount of time, we could have made 1000 good casts out of the last application pool.
"I guess so. We've already received enough applications to form a cast. Let's just hope they don't pull out then."
"There's no reason to drop out though. They can get their five minutes of fame and money and be done with it." Decima said, clearly getting tired of my worries. "And if they haven't dropped out after Aurora's death, they'll never drop out."
I...I don't like how she brought that up, so bluntly. You...you shouldn't bring it up like that. P-please just let her rest. "But...the audience aren't aware that...that she died."
"Rumours spread, y'know." Decima bluntly responds, still not smiling.
"But there's no evidence, other than the hiatus."
"Which was caused by her death...we might have covered it up well, but it could break out any time." Decima says with a slight smile, though I can tell she's just as scared as I am. I...it'd be a career ruiner if they found out what happened to Aurora...I'd be arrested, imprisoned, executed...because I let her die in my games. I didn't stop her, I didn't protect her...and it's all my fault she's dead.
"How do we justify the year hiatus? I don't think they fall for any of our cover stories." Decima bluntly says, with no emotion in her voice.
I shake my head, drumming my fingers even faster now. "W-we can tell them about how we've been developing the virtual reality machines over the past year. They'll forget about it in no time." I can't stop thinking about Aurora.
"Her family and friends haven't forgotten about it." Decima solemnly says, with no joy. Was it meant to be insulting? Is she saying that to guilt me? Each one of her words hurt me more and more, stabbing into my skin and mind, making me want to scream louder and louder.
"But...But...it was a mistake! An accident! How was I meant to know? How was I meant to stop it? It wasn't my fault! So why are you trying to guilt me for it?" I begin to panic, as I feel my breathing get more and more rapid. The stabbing pain gets stronger, my finger drumming gets quicker, my vision gets more blurry and my head gets dizzier.
"It was an accident that resulted in a girl's death. We should feel guilty for it." She says, downing the rest of her drink. I can see the tears well up in her eyes.
"Do you feel guilty for all the tributes you had to interview who died then?" I try to retort, hoping to shame her even more, to stop her. She just needs to...shut up. She isn't any better than me, so why is she trying to act like she has the moral high grounds?
Decima doesn't respond for a second. The only thing I can hear is my breathing, as I realise how awkward it is. My outbursts really aren't helping the situation. I turn around, looking around the dingy and grim pub. Thankfully no one else is here, at the moment.
"Of course I do. But it was a job that I had to do. With or without me, they would have died. That's not the same for you." Decima finally settles for the answer, though she still doesn't look happy. She's just trying to deflect her anger and guilt and shame onto me...trying to deflect all her emotions.
"Well...it's going to be a one off. I'll make sure a tribute never dies in the Saturn Games again." I promise...it's the very least I could do. I can stick to it...we've made all thesw changes to make sure that's true. It's so much safer and less traumatic now. There's nothing that can be done to upset anybody and I'll never have such a strong sense of guilt replicated again.
"That should be an easy promise to achieve." Decima mumbles. She pulls out a box out of her pocket. "I'm going to go for a cig, I'll be back soon."
So she gets up, leaving me to fester in these negative emotions, all by myself. I...I can't take this any longer. I don't even know if I want to continue these games, but I don't have a choice. I would have just quit my job and let my coworkers take over, but now that the President has shown his support, I can't. He's publicly announced his faith in me and has given me such a large platform, that if I quit now, it'd seem like I'm going against him or betraying him...I just hate this so much.
Why did I ever think of creating the Saturn games in the first place?
8th Saturn Games
Takes place shortly in the December of 40th Games Years.
Games Overviews
Fangames: In the Capitol, the games are more popular than ever. Many teens have become obsessed with the games, resulting in fan competitions springing up. These do not result in death however. There are quite a few companies which host these, but the quality, length and fame vary between each one. Some of the cheaper ones would just have the tributes being sent to a forest where they fist fight, while some are pretty much the same as the Hunger Games.
Out of all the fangames, the Saturn Games are the most famous and high quality.
Reapings: To be reaped, the Capitol tributes must fill in an application form, film an audition tape and pass a background/mental health check to be considered. Every year, the 12 to 24 best applicants are chosen, though it isn't random unlike the actual games. Tributes must be aged between 16 and 18.
Train Rides: Once each tribute gets the pass, they'll be escorted from their homes to the train station where they'll be separated and taken to the site. All forms of contact to the outside world will be taken from the tributes during their stay.
Promos: Upon arrivals, each tribute will film a short video about themselves, which'll be used to introduce the tributes to a majority of the audience for the first time. (After the games occur.)
Fashion Show: This replaces the chariot rides to make it less insulting. Each tribute will either get to design or purchase their own outfit, which they'll strut on a catwalk in front of a live audience.
Afterparty: Once the show is over, the tributes will be allowed to mix for the first time, where they'll get to befriend their fellow competitors at the party. It lasts until midnight, where the tributes must leave shortly after. Drinks and beverages will be supplied. No items are allowed to be brought in. This'll also be recorded.
Hotel: They'll stay in a hotel similar to the one in the official games, though they'll be allowed freedom of travel around the site. It's a lot less oppressing, as the tributes every movement won't be recorded. The atmosphere is a lot more friendly and calm.
Training: This lasts for three days. For the first day, the tributes will be introduced to the virtual reality technology, where they'll be able to test it out. They'll be shown their pod. The second and third day will teach typical Hunger Games things and will go into more detail with the technology used. Private sessions will occur too.
Interviews: They work exactly the same way as the games, though of course are a lot less mocking. The tributes are expected to show a talent or skill at the end, though they can drop out of this if desired. Decima Bloxham is the interviewer this year.
Games: The games take place in a futuristic virtual reality world. The tributes will enter a pod, where their consciousness will be transferred to an in-world avatar designed directly after them. Here, they cannot feel pain, so tributes must be updated off their conditions via status bars or in game pop ups. Once a tribute dies, they'll be taken out of the simulation. They'll be free to leave their pod and stay in the hotel for the remainder of their time. The games are near identical to the actual ones.
However, the SYOT games will be very different to the previous Saturn Games. Just as the tributes enter the virtual reality pod and taken out of consciousness, the site where the games are taking place is stormed and overtaken by a Capitol rebel group. They edit the virtual reality world, taking away the patches that remove the pain, so the tributes will feel the suffering still, though to a lesser extent. Once they die in the world, their pods will shut down, trapping the tributes in. The tributes will then be poisoned and killed in the pods. They only find out about this once they enter the world, as the site is taken over when they're unconscious.
The only way to leave the simulation is to die, or be unplugged by the people monitoring. More on this rebel organisation will be revealed later.
Details to be noted
The games are pre-recorded, being edited into hourly long episodes after the games take place.
There have been 7 Saturn Games so far, with a secret game (would be the 8th), that were stopped after a tribute died in a horrific accident. After that, the switch to virtual reality was made and a year long hiatus from the games occurred.
The games are televised, to a smaller audience.
There's a cash prize at the end. Also it launches each tribute into a smaller famous lifestyle.
The 40th Games were won by Beetee.