"Run it Back"

A/N: Strap in lads, it's time for things to speed up.

~It starts right here (push up and step on enemies)

And it's a long road up ahead

Better get your steps in now

It starts right here (ain't no regrets, it's him or me)~

Coira Thompson, 36

Nobody ever gets to tell me that being an interviewer is easy. I get where the impression comes from. For most of Panem all they see of me is those handful of weeks where I provide mindless chatter and gossip on late-night television spots in between interviews where I squeeze every last interesting detail out of twenty-four tributes. But when you spend your childhood dreaming of being on the stage with a microphone in hand, nobody tells you that's only a tiny fraction of the real job.

The document is compiled in its entirety, every piece of government intel on each of the twenty-four tributes for the one-hundred and fifth Hunger Games all jammed into one document and then condensed into only the information that the two people in front of me might find "intriguing."

Delilah sits across from me in all her presidential glory, not seeming to even notice my existence as she flips through the paper files strewn about on her desk. Her sister Tali is beside her, an intense look in the Head Gamemaker's features as she scrolls through a tablet. I stop myself from glancing down at my watch and coughing, though only barely.

"So then Coira," Delilah says, glancing up at me as she dramatically flips a folder shut. "What do you have for us?"

"Nothing too terrible, thankfully," I say with a relieved sigh that's more from the minute-long awkward silence ending than anything else. "No disasters like River and Lana last year, and we don't have too many terribly complicated stories to tell like the hundred and first."

"Lovely, the less press censorship necessary, the better," Delilah says delightfully.

"I wouldn't call it a boring cast though," Tali hums, still not looking up from her tablet.

"Neither would I." I plug the docu-file into the projector in the center of the desk, and an array of files are projected into the air between us. I select the first one, and two headshots appear. "District One was as entertaining as always. We can start with the unsurprising of the two. Pierre Bijou, top of his class ever since he entered the academy and by some accounts the most talented fighter since Galavant Redding. Apparently his classmates have a nickname for him: Achilles. They say he never takes so much as a scratch when he fights."

"Well, he best hope that nobody sees it fit to shoot him in the heel, then," Delilah mutters.

"I suppose so." I smile. "Normally he'd be getting most of the chatter, but his district partner has stolen all that attention. May Redding, the youngest District One volunteer in history, and adopted daughter of Galavant Redding. I'm sure you're well acquainted with her already, but it's worth noting she's received personal training from her father for years now, and while she may be young, she's likely to be an incredibly formidable fighter."

"Any hints to why she would volunteer?" Tali glances up from her tablet, a confused look radiating from her.

I shrug. "Your guess is as good as anybody's, though there's been plenty of speculation. Our best guess? Probably a healthy dash of naivety and ego mixed together with wanting to be like her dad."

Delilah shakes her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Our happy little District One victors have become the faces of the Hunger Games. If possible, let's try to preserve that."

"Of course," Tali says, tapping away at her tablet again. "A victor's relative winning would do wonders for our ratings."

"Right," I say, holding my tongue as I hurriedly swipe the District Two faces in front of them. Nothing like Reaping Recap day to annually remind me that I'm working for a heartless ratings machine. Oh well, just twenty more of these and I can join Apollo in retirement. Maybe we'll both do that talk show that he's always talking about. "District Two is a bit quieter on the radar. Ethan Faber and Everly Amata. You know the drill with District Two by now. Their volunteers are district-loyal, training-obsessed, and will probably pull a thirty-page psych eval when they arrive in the Capitol."

"Anything out of the ordinary for either of them?" Delilah asks.

"Not that I can tell." I sigh, flipping through the pages of their files. "A few attempted murders from fellow cadets, glowing trainer evaluation reports, little to no close relations, and a dozen red flags of abuse."

"After last year, I'll be quite happy with a dull District Two," Delilah says, and I'm inclined to nod my head in agreement. "District Three seems to have had some flair, though, didn't they?"

"You'd be right to say that. Ariya Arden, first District Three volunteer in a long, long time, though to call her District Three would be misleading. She's originally from District One, and trained there for most of her life. A few months back she got caught up in some sort of trouble, most of the paperwork around it seems to have mysteriously vanished, but signs lead to her seemingly assaulting and potentially even attempting to murder a fellow cadet. No big deal in District Two, but frowned on heavily in One. She got shipped off to a District Three academy despite abysmal grades."

"And so now she volunteers to get back to District One?" Delilah proposes, looking intrigued.

"It's a possibility. It shouldn't be hard to get the full story out of her, though, so we can reserve guesses." I play the clip of her reaping, and we watch as Ariya loudly and boldly volunteers, climbing up the stage with a look that's somehow halfway between murderous and amiable. "She seems to be the talkative, all-cards-on-the-table type."

"Lovely." Delilah smiles. "And her district partner?"

"Eliya Atkins. Nothing overly interesting in comparison to Ariya. Some time spent at a rehab center and a few arrests for drug use and graffiti is all that's out of the ordinary."

"Right, well then, let's finish off the Careers then, shall we?"

"Of course." Two new faces appear. "Ainsley Maris Sims and Arno Dupont. Like District Two's pair, these two are fairly typical of what we expect out of Four. Both started training at the academy fairly late, but have glowing trainer evaluations and scores which point towards them being every bit as devoted to training as our District Two duo. These two, however, seem to have a bit more information on them outside of and before their training days."

"Do tell," Delilah says, gesturing to me.

"Ainsley Maris Sims is the more standard of the two, but it's worth noting she's originally from the small fishing villages in the outskirts of the district. It's not unheard of, but it's still pretty rare to see a scholarship student from Four. Arno's story is, well, a bit more complex. The short version of it is that he was falsely imprisoned for the murder of his girlfriend, but as you can see. . ." I tap a few buttons on my tablet, sharing a few documents with the two sisters. ". . . Arno Dupont and his father have quite the story."

"And is this false imprisonment related to his volunteering by any chance?" Delilah questions.

"Considering he didn't start training until after he was released? Almost certainly."

"So we have two Careers fighting for the glory of their district, two fighting for their ego, one fighting to return home, one to clear his name, and one for, what, wealth? To prove herself?"

"Ainsley is the hardest to pin down, but that's what interviews are for."

"Either way, seems like a fascinating cast of Careers to focus on. It's almost a shame the arena is going to equal the playing field, it would be lovely to get to see one of them win."

Tali smiles, still continuing to type away at her tablet. "The arena could always undergo some last minute edits."

Delilah waves her off. "I trust your competence to ensure one of our selected favorites makes it out, don't worry about it. So then, let's move on to the outliers then, are there any highlights worth noting?"

"Right away in District Five, actually," I say, sliding across the two faces and nearly feeling a pang of sadness as I do so. Amara was one of the good ones. None- or well, at least almost none- of the kids deserve to die, but it's rare you find a kid so deserving of life as Amara.

"Of course, how could I forget the last name Valde. Such a shame, her singing would have been the most popular victor talent since Prestige and her soccer. Instead we got two near-mutes." It's hard to miss the side-eye that Delilah delivers to Tali.

Tali shrugs. "They have their respective talents. Besides, it wasn't exactly an easy to control arena."

Delilah sighs. "Yes, well, luckily we've rectified that oversight and hopefully improved on the general blueprint."

"Blueprint, huh?" I ask, not too proud to stomp out my curiosity over what the next arena Tali Choice has invented is. Whatever my thoughts on the applicable morality of her arenas, I can't deny their entertainment factor.

Delilah smiles knowingly. "Call it a shared theme. Anyways, back to the topic at hand, Kyler Valde?"

"Yes, of course. As you most likely remember, he and his sister are runaways who pay the bills with their music. He lacks the same skill and temperament that his sister possessed though, and might not be as quick to win over the crowds. If he is popular, it'll be Amara's fanbase carrying over to him, not anything that we can expect him to naturally gather himself. As for his district partner, Cambria Orwell seems like a very lovely and kind but ultimately unspecial girl. She volunteers at a pet rescue shelter on the weekends, so don't get too attached to her is my advice."

"I'll try my best," Delilah says dully.

"District Six is the first with nothing out of the ordinary. Kiera Polski is completely normal, and Azai Zoltankild's only notable trait is that he's one of the better gymnasts in the district."

"I somehow doubt that will apply to fighting all that much."

"Doubtful, but worth keeping in mind." I shrug. "Epzo Starr of District Seven is married to Morah Beau's older sister, who is pregnant with his child. Neither are particularly out of the ordinary on their own, but their relationship to each other, and the moral decision that Epzo will have to face of who to prioritize: himself or his wife's sister, will be worth keeping an eye on."

"I do love a healthy dose of family drama. I do hope that the next quell we draw out of that endless deck of notecards is something that plays into that. Siblings being reaped together, perhaps. Or parents! Ah, I'm getting myself excited just thinking of it. Soon enough we might need to change quells to being every five years in order to quell my appetite." She laughs, and I awkwardly laugh along, not sure if she's serious about that idea or not.

"Well, that's the end of family drama for this batch, and for the most part it's the end of any sort of intriguing tributes. Alyssane Winter and Basila Romero are typical District Eight bloodbath fodder, too young and by all of our records too sweet to do any damage in the arena. Cyrus Till and Elias Briton of District Nine are much the same, and while Jedediah Stine and Thomas Easton fit the physical mold of a potential outlier victor much more, it's questionable if they have the story to back it up. Jedediah is the eldest sibling of five, and takes care of his younger siblings since his parents are both dead, so perhaps he can gain some sympathy through that story. Then there's District Eleven, where we have the fun coincidence of Ceeja Giles and Lakin Alcala being best friends and being reaped together, but there isn't much to their records, as is typical for District Eleven. They both compete in numerous sports at their high schools though, and if any outlier is going to have the athleticism to match the Careers, they'd be the best bet, particularly if they continue to stick together."

"Well, we can't have a star-studded cast of outliers every year I suppose. And the Careers seem to be making up for it plenty well enough. I assume as usual your CDA contacts have barely any information on our District Twelve tributes."

I scratch the back of my neck. "A fair bet. Tamika Nakahara is a typical Seam girl, and well, Vesta Brigarde has managed to have even less information than our typical District Twelve tribute. In fact, all we have is her name, actually. And the odd fact that there's about nine other boys a bit younger than her that all share the same last name, despite there being no parent registered to any of them. We're looking into it, but. . . ."

"But knowing District Twelve record keeping, there's probably nothing to find," Delilah finishes my thought.

"We'll keep an eye on her during the train rides to see if we can wean any information from her discussions with her mentor. We'll delay showing any content from District Twelve to the public until we have a good enough read on her to be confident that she's clean."

"I somehow doubt the Capitol will mind a lack of District Twelve," she says drolly.

"Most likely not." I smile, and wipe away the screens of data, turning off the projector as I stuff my tablet into my bag. As far as recaps go, this was about as painless of one as I can remember. After the nightmare that went into researching, covering up, and investigating the District Two situation with Birkhead industries - on top of censoring the mess that came out of District Five (both of whom decided to continue making my life a living hell by winning as joint-victors, mind you)- I think the relative ease is well earned.

"So then Tali, dear sister, what are your thoughts?" The president turns towards the Head Gamemaker inquisitively. Tali sets down her tablet, ruffling a hand through her hair.

"It's a less difficult batch than usual. The main storyline coming into this year's Games was already the Career victory streak, and the arena accentuates that storyline by adding tension. However, it's still a storyline we can milk out for far longer than just this one year, so continuing the streak by having another Career victor, though perhaps only narrowly, would be the best course of action. The fact that right now seven of the top eight tributes in post-reaping popularity rankings are careers makes it an even easier choice."

Delilah nods her head. "Give me a short list. Flexible to change based on pre-games activities and arena storylines, of course."

"As of right now, our eyes should be on May Redding first and foremost. She's the obvious choice in every manner. Underdog due to her age. District One is the most popular district in the Capitol. She has connections to just about every District One mentor. And to top it all off she's charismatic and plays to the camera. But Arno Dupont and Ariya Arden both have intriguing storylines to keep an eye on, and Ainsley Maris Sims, Pierre Bijou, and Everly Amata are already quite popular in the Capitol for more, well, physical reasons, mostly."

"Thank you for the thoughts, Tali. What do you think, Miss. Thompson, do you agree with the Head Gamemaker's assessment?"

I just about jump in my seat when I'm mentioned, already halfway through packing up and mentally out the door. It's the first time she's ever asked my opinion on such a thing. It shows how brash they are if nothing else, I guess, to be blatantly asking a premiere journalist in the Capitol her thoughts on who to rig the Games for. At least the Choice family doesn't hide their corruption, I suppose. Yay for Panemian Democracy.

"A good story is always the right choice for victor. I just happen to think that most times the best stories are natural ones."

"A good sentiment," Delilah hums. "But it's the Hunger Games, I'm afraid there is no natural, no randomness. At least if your Head Gamemaker is competent, I suppose."

"Well then, I look forward to the story that you two are going to tell," I say kindly, picking up my bag and heading towards the door without further formalities.

"Keep your eyes open announcing this one, Coira." It's Tali that calls out this time, and I can hear the smile in her voice as I push open the door. "Blink and you'll miss the twists."

A/N: And there's all 24 of our awesome tributes, in case you had forgotten a few of them with how long intros took. I'm feeling a groove when it comes to writing again, so fingers crossed that we can see that crazy update speed mania take over me again and we can rush through these pre-games. Next chapter is the train rides, featuring District One!

Trivia: Between the blog preview and the hints here, any early guesses about the arena?