I found some slightly sharp rocks from the ground which I sharpened against each other to make something that looked a little like a flintstone. We'd seen pictures of prehistoric weapons at school briefly in history class, though this was my first time making them and turned out I had a bit of an ease with them. It turned out engineering background knowledge from other areas transferred over. There were no swimming pools in District 5 but we had large bodies of water in tanks to cool machinery so I was able to recognise it at the mansion. I was briefly aware that richer places had pools for pure swimming in even though it was unheard of here. Though we did have a few pools when we were younger which everyone had to pass swimming tests towards to make sure we knew how to, in case we had to for whatever reason.

There were no animals I could see in the jungle, nor any streams or clear bodies of water. Something told me it may also get dark fast. I didn't want to be facing any animals out after dark. The gamemakers didn't usually send any on the first night because there was career activity for people to look forward to, but they didn't like tributes to be taking advantage of that either and if a tribute was wondering around too casually at nightfall, they may send something. I wanted night vision goggles, a real weapon of some sort. This slingshot was powerful against small animals but useless against another human.

I frowned. How was I to find any wild animals if I didn't see some around?

The birdsong from the jungle continued to echo around me. Of course, the birds.

I'd climbed on top of another tree a little further away, not away from the cornucopia, but to the side, I was moving in a circle around it I supposed, and spied some small exotic birds through the distance. I recognised a few from the hunting sessions we did at the training centre. The exotic coloured ones were surprisingly the ones that we were told it was okay to eat. There was a bird that was pure lime green, so perfect they appeared almost like the leaves themselves, that was highly dangerous to eat. But the exotic coloured one was one that was definitely alright, it looked almost like a spitting image from the training centre.

I shot at it with my slingshot and was surprised to see it topple out over the tree. Then I shot another. I then climbed back down and tried to find it, walking around the jungle ground. That took slightly longer but in the end I did. It wasn't much of a meal but it would be enough for a lunch.

I then gathered up some kindle from the jungle floor, some parts were dirt with debris and wood, but other parts were wet with vines and tropical ferns dripping down. A few snakes slithered by. The most beautiful kinds of emerald green and exquisite patterns. I didn't recognise them from the training centre. I had a feeling they were mutations from this year's arena. But they didn't come close to me and didn't seem to chase me. They were also not large and I was likely safe from them as long as they didn't strike me with venom. I made a note to avoid them in coming days. Sometimes the arena had mutations that switched into another gear as the days went on but were safer near the start.

I made a small fire upon the ground, facing the direction of the cornucopia. I'd walked in pretty much just a straight line and tried to eat while keeping an eye on it. I was by a tree that I could climb again in case anyone came but there was no sounds of footsteps or anything. If most people took to the mansions then perhaps I would be one of the few tributes out here so I was safe for some time.

I made a fire from rubbing sticks which took some time but by late afternoon I had made a small stand with some stick sand vines on which I balanced the birds and let them cook over the fire for a good twenty or so minutes. Once they were done I plucked all the feathers, which fell of a little easily, placed them in the fire again for about then minutes, then bit at the skin, nibbling at it to avoid biting into the innards which I hadn't taken out. It gave me a number of mouthfuls from both birds, nothing close to a meal, but it was meat, and I was something besides breakfast.

I let the fire die down, then covered it with some fallen trees and leaves. Then I shot some more four more birds, made another meal. It was now pitch black but there were still no sounds of anybody near. It felt creepy and eerie but I was just about to make it through. The idea that it was still the first day of the arena my only thought that it might be safe to do so. I ate super fast and after my 'dinner' I drank a little from a tree. Then went to the bathroom, and was finally so relied to be back up a tree again. I belted myself in and tried to sleep for the night. A canon boomed in the distance. Someone had died then.

If there were death traps lurking for people in the mansion than that was probably the first of one.

Then, the tribute's faces began to appear in the sky. I couldn't get a good view here through the jungle canopy so I had no idea who was alive or not. The sounds of the anthem rang out.

Then, there was the sound of an announcement over the whole arena. Probably from a hovercraft that entered through one of the side panels.

"The first room of the arena has been completed. All tributes are expected to make their way to the second room of the arena by 10am tomorrow morning otherwise vast consequences shall befall them."

My eyes shot open.

So the mansion was real? There must've been rooms in them? Rooms with activities or challenges? Someone had died and there was a second challenge and...I had an idea what whatever the consequence was was likely a mutation from the gamemakers, or some arena trick in the jungle. If you could truly brave it they'd likely let you live but I didn't want to risk it so the mansion was probably the better choice. I wondered if I could escape from it truly...

Perhaps I'd got there, scope it out, then escape later on.

I don't know. Whichever brought me the greatest chances of survival.

All I knew was that I would likely need to make my way back to the mansion before 10am tomorrow morning.

I tried to sleep early and woke up next morning with slightly aching joints but the faint pale light of dawn. There were no spiders on me or snakes - see how artificial the arena was?

I climbed down, went to the bathroom, feeling more paranoid that there would be mutations or things after me, but also thinking that they probably did want all tributes to be by the mansion so that was unlikely.

I didn't make any breakfast yet, but took a long drink, knowing that it was a long walk to the mansion. And then hiked over. I could last for a number of days on low or no food. I'd gone that far before, though it was an unpleasant feeling.

Within a few hours I was back at the mansion. It was beautiful as always. With the beautiful swimming pool sparkling clean before it. I took a deep breath before passing through, feeling the same fog like state for a number of steps before I emerged. It was thicker than I first noticed when I crashed through it after the bloodbath yesterday.

The moment I finished though, I almost threw up at the sight of the swimming pool. The water was light red, the blood had time to seep all the way through. There were dried blood stains and trails by the side. Chunks of human flesh, hair, teeth, bits of skin and blood were littered all around, some at the bottom of the pool. Deflated rafts hung either in the middle, their wrinkly multicoloured skin floating around near the surface of the water, or underneath where they sank. A few items littered the bottom of the boot, a boot that had someone come of, two stray spiles, some leaves and sticks, a jacket.

The bodies were removed by hovercraft. They had to be to be taken back to the District. But the swimming pool had no changes to it to reflect the otherwise awful state of yesterday.

I had a strong feeling it was never going to be changed throughout the entire course of the days if it wasn't changed that day.

Unnerved, I crept towards the mansion. Around me was all desert.

Suddenly I stopped. I was caked in mud, so were my clothes. I might be one of the tributes with the advantage here for I knew what lay outside the mirage. Unless I wanted them to also get an idea I should clean myself of.

It felt disgusting but...I crept towards the pool and stepped in the middle. The water instantly clouded with the brown muck streaming out of my clothes. I crept towards it a little deeper, watching the lines of brown mellow out. This was disgusting...but so necessary. Soon, I was up to my waist in water. I bent down and watched as the brown echoed out. Perhaps the tributes within might think it turned brown in the sunlight. That was what blood did. Either way the pool was vast. There were at least 8 bodies that died here yesterday, perhaps more had been injured. And one of me right now making it muddy. The water was still more red than it was brown. And finally...I closed my eyes, held my nose and dived down, scrubbing my face, hands and neck the fastest I'd ever scrubbed before emerging back up, spluttering and gasping in fresh air. There were still little bits of mud on my face which I scraped of with fingernails as I hurried towards the mansion, putting my slingshot in my pocket. Before I entered I shook myself out. Trying to ignore the scent of the swimming pool water on me. It smelled of chlorine and blood. A sweaty metallic smell.

I felt gross but this was the Hunger Games. One had to put up with some gross things...

I tried to put it out of my mind as I entered through the door and...

It was a beautiful hall. Two grand staircases on either end, dark rich wooden furniture, and white staircase and banisters with golden accents. Rugs and statues all around. Chandeliers ringing from the ceiling. But there was also one large puddle of bloodstains, scattered in all directions like sprinkles from a shower, and a smashed chandelier all over the top. Glass and jewels rang all the way around. I could practically hear the sound in my mind's eye.

This was likely how the person who died by the first canon did. With the chandelier of glass falling on them. Them being cut to death and bleeding out rapidly. The blood splatters were truly in all directions.

I tried to ignore a lot of mental images as I crept towards the main room where I suppose breakfast was. I didn't know why but I just felt like it was the right place. It was almost 10 anyway. My phobia with the degloving was actually simply on that, skin being pulled of, so this wasn't as damaging, but I was now more fearful that I might witness or see that. It seemed the sort of horror one might find in this mansion. When I entered the dining hall there were 14 people seated at the table. There were two chairs near the entrance and back that were empty. All 14 faces turned to look at me. The remaining tributes. The careers were all sitting near the front.

I walked around the table, away from the careers, with a wide berth, and made it til the end. District 9 male was still alive. He looked at me wearily as I passed. There was nothing useful to see on my face except for shock and blankness.

A lot of heads followed me as I sat down. Everyone was still dressed in their suits, the girls wearing an outfit that was consisted of long sleeved dresses that ended at their knees, with ruffled bottoms and many bows or lace on them. Each person's took on the colour of their District, and with different embellishments on them. They looked pretty. Everyone looked like a small prince or princess here. Except for the fact that the careers suits' had dried bloodstains on them, the type that they probably tried to wash out but couldn't. I could tell they had probably tried to scrub at them a bit, but sometimes there wasn't much that removed blood from clothing.

No one was injured surprisingly. I suppose the ones who didn't head for the bloodbath at the centre of the cornucopia weren't attached much. I imagine having a body of water between them and the careers probably put some hesitation there.

Suddenly one of the careers spoke, "instead of fighting each other to the death this arena takes place in a beautiful man-made mansion. We do high-class activities to the max, reveal more about ourselves in the process and then vote one person out by the end of it. It's a more political thing..." he said.

Surprise filtered over my eyes and I followed suit. We had a lavish breakfast with a lot of gossip and talk. There was just enough information given to pick the least favourite out of all of us. It was a unique Hunger Games idea. However when breakfast had finished all eyes suddenly turned to look at me.

A female career smiled, a curl to her lip, "sorry. We all want to survive and you're the last one to come. It's you this time..."

I watched as all the knives on the table picked themselves up, as if attracted by magnetic force, and launched themselves directly at my chest. There had to be some metallic parts here somewhere. Sheer agony erupted, burning hot pain stronger than anything I'd ever felt before hit as the knives impaled me in all the critical spots and I found myself sinking to the floor...

How ironic, was that in the one arena where talking and social events mattered, I happened to be reaped this year and died a miserable death. The one tribute who perhaps had some chances of making it out alive in a Hunger Games and...how much a twist of fate can completely shatter hopes.

AN: This was an idea that I had for an old SYOT that never got written. The idea of a talking arena set in a man-made place like a mansion where tributes did high-class activities then voted each other out. I even asked for talking style in the form lol. I don't think I'm bothered to try another SYOT with the idea again but I had enough interest in it to write the idea in this story. It wasn't as extensive as I'd liked mostly because I hugely ran out of inspiration and decided here was a good time to end it, but I actually wrote enough of the arena idea and set-up that I liked. I'll leave the unexplored parts of how this arena works up to interpretation. As for running out of inspiration...I wanted to write a story that closely followed a tribute's POV for some time, but after all these chapters I felt like I had written it enough (I feel like I filled out his background and character history A LOOOOOOOOOOT here, this is one of the most detailed and fleshed out OCs I have written) and I just felt complete so I didn't feel a need to write more of this story. Feel free to imagine an alternate ending or whatever you want to it.