Gemma Copper, age 36

Head Gamemaker

I had been watching the Hunger Games my whole life. Now I had my dream job—Head Gamemaker. And for the Quarter Quell. I knew I had to make this year as memorable as possible. I didn't want this to be just the year 144 tributes were sent to die, I wanted people to remember the arena, the mutts, the deaths. I wanted to go down in history.

Somebody knocked on the door to my office. "Come in," I called, my eyes still on the computer screen. The door opens with a slight creak, and I glance up to see who it is. The short lavender hair and extremely pregnant stomach gave it away as Laurella Littleman, the Master of Ceremonies.

I kept my eyes on the white glare of the computer. Laurella and I were friends—despite the fact she was twelve years younger than I was—but I always put my work first. Especially since the reapings were in a week. The Games were coming quickly, and I still had so much to do.

"Gemma? The meeting is in five minutes," Laurella said, and I groaned. The entire Games committee has meetings before the reapings just to see how far along preparations are. I think the meetings are stupid, but I know better than to voice that opinion. The last Head Gamemaker got executed for saying that the Games were wrong.

"Alright," I said, shutting down my computer. Work would have to wait.

I stood from my chair and joined Laurella in the doorway. She was nervously rubbing her stomach. She was due any day now. As I flicked off the lights and closed my office door, I remembered when I had my first child, Orpheus. I was probably just as nervous as Laurella is now.

"So, how are you, Laurella?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I'm okay, I guess," she answered, running her fingers through her short hair. "I mean, I'm excited, but I'm kinda scared, too. I'm not ready to be a mother."

"You'll be fine," I told her. "Any ideas on names?"

"If it's a girl, Julius was thinking Angelica," Laurella said. I brushed away some Gamemakers who wanted me to see what they were working on. "If it's a boy, I was thinking Moren."

"Julius," I said with a grin, referring to the father of Laurella's unborn baby. They weren't married yet, and still didn't know when they would be. "How is he handling all this?"

Laurella laughed. "He's scared out of his mind," she said. "But he's been great. He really has."

Before I knew it, we were at the meeting room, which was on the other side of the Games Headquarters. Everybody was there already. President Prime looked up from the head of the table.

"Nice of you two to come," he said quietly.

"I was starting to feel nauseous, sir," Laurella said. "Gemma sat with me until it passed." Prime's face softened. He may have been a cruel and demanding man, but he had a soft spot for Laurella. He was also good friends with her father—the famous Jupiter Littleman—so he had known her since she was a baby.

"Alright," Prime said, gesturing to the empty chairs at the table. We both took our seats, Laurella across from me. "Let's begin."

Nathaniel Glass, age 19

Gamemaker Intern

Head Gamemaker Gemma sat next to me. She was the only one I knew here, apart from the other intern, Aurelia, who was sitting in my other side. We had gone to the same school and graduated together.

Gemma leaned over and whispered to me, pointing, "That woman with the scar on her face? She's Kallisto Alan, the head of the mutts department. During her first year, one of her creations went haywire and cut her. She almost died."

I nod politely, scribbling all this down in my notebook. Gemma points to a tall man with long gray hair. "He's Bacchus Vera. He runs the weather department."

It went on like this until I knew everybody in the room. There was Carson Wayland, who was in charge of keeping tabs on the tributes. Germany Shine, a rather pretty girl with pale orange hair who was the head of the hologram department. Hyperion Marshall, the man who controlled the cameras. Laurella Littleman, daughter of Jupiter Littleman, the master of ceremonies. Ezequiel Macen, the Games announcer.

"I hope you know who the president is," Gemma whispered, then nodded towards a cluster of people who didn't look like they were from the Capitol. "They're past victors."

I recognized Elliot Hanson, last year's winner, and the boy who won two years ago, Harris Miller, from District Two. The others are all older.

"I would like to welcome our group of victors," the president said. The victors smiled. A few waved.

I readied my pencil over my notebook as the president began questioning. After all, I was still a student ready and anxious to learn. This was going to be my life.

Laurella Littleman, age 24

Master of Ceremonies

The president questioned the group of victors for a little while, until he turned to me. That alone made my heart begin to race. I only had this job for three years, and I didn't want to say anything that would get me fired. Or killed. I had my child to think about.

"How are you planning to do the interviews with so many more tributes, Laurella?" the president asked. I let out a silent breath of relief, since I knew the answer to that question.

"I was thinking we could do Districts One through Six the day the interviews would normally be," I answered. "Districts Seven through Twelve would be the next day. It would set the start of the Games back by a day, but the only other solution would be to move the reapings up one day."

Prime nodded. "Okay, that takes care of the interviews. Kallisto, have you designed any mutations?" Kallisto stood with a folder in her hand overflowing with papers. She pulled one out.

"I have this one design I think we could use," she said cautiously. "It's more of a scare factor than a killing mutt, however it could easily be modified to kill. It's a bat—the bird—that flutters around making noise to scare the tributes. However my intern, Iolaus, he designed a mosquito that after it bites a tribute, venom moves from the bloodstream to the closest vital organ." Kallisto smiled. "Ingenious, if you ask me."

I looked down the table towards where Kallisto was sitting. A green-haired young man looked a little embarrassed that his ideas were being shared with the president. Prime, however, nodded.

"Yes, I do like those," he said thoughtfully. "Just a few more things and we can wrap this up."

I think the whole room was relieved about that.

"How are we handling the tribute trains?" Prime asked, and Alejandro D'Leer, the head of Panem's Trains Department stood.

"We modified one of the older tribute trains so it has six rooms for the tributes and seven for their support staff. The tributes will have to share rooms, but only for the day. These trains are fully equipped with everything a normal train would hold, it just has more rooms." With that, Alejandro sat back down.

I rested my hands on my stomach. Baby Moren—or Angelica, we didn't want to know the gender until the baby was born—was becoming restless. It was making it rather difficult to focus on the meeting.

Ezequiel glanced at me. "You okay?" he asked, his face showing concern. I nodded, and the president began to ask another question.

"Gemma, how close to finished is the arena?" Prime asked. "And will it be big enough for all the tributes?"

Gemma stood. She tugged her scarlet dyed hair behind her ears, cleared her throat, and said, "The builders just need to a few more things for us to control from the Control Room. Like, places for the mutts to come out and devices to herd the tributes. But other than that, it's ready. And yes, the arena will fit all the tributes. It's gigantic."

The president wrote something down, then looked around the table.

"I think this covers everything," Prime said. "This meeting is over. Thank you all for coming. I think these Games will be great." He said it without emotion. It made me think that Prime didn't care whether or not 142 innocent children were going to die over the next month.

Just because I was part of the Games Committee doesn't mean that I necessarily liked the Games.

I know that when you guys saw this update, you were like, "Yay it's the District One reapings!" Yeah, sorry to disappoint. I want to get the 101st Games finished before I start this. But don't worry, I will get the 101st done as quickly as humanly possible so I can start this.

What did you think? Do you all like my "Capitol Crew"? We may see more of them as the Games progress.

Just because use I have gotten a few PMs asking about this, yes, I am continuing this story. It will be completed until the end. I wouldn't ask for so many tributes then just not write them. I personally know how frustrating that is, and I will not do that.

Also, another note regarding alliances. I will try my best to accommodate with what you wrote on your tribute's form. But I will also have all the district partners ally together (for example, all the people from Five or Eight will be together). There will be smaller alliances inside of the bigger ones, and if you wrote down specific allies on your form, I will have them together.

Thank you so much to everybody who has submitted tributes. I love all of them, and I can't wait for you all to meet them. Hopefully this chapter cleared some stuff up. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Again, thank you all so much!

-D9T