A/N: Here we have it! A POV from Miriam after her session, and then the scores broadcast! The score will be declared for every tribute, and then a few thoughts from the host, Fabula, along with the tribute's Mentor and the tribute themselves will follow. At the bottom, I'll compile a list of the scores for those of us too lazy to read XD Credit to MRKenn (my bestie Maia!) for the format.
Trigger warnings: profanity (should I even say this still? XD)
Miriam's song is The Prologue by Halsey.
I am a child of a
Money hungry, prideful country
Grass is green and it's always sunny
Hands so bloody, tastes like honey
I'm finding it hard to leave
Miriam Park, 13
District Ten Female
I walk down the sleek hallway after pushing open the exit doors. They click closed behind me, and I breathe a long, languid sigh of relief. I slouch to the ground, staring at the ceiling. A dozen strides down the hallway is the elevator that will carry me back to my floor, where I'll wait for a couple of hours until the scores are broadcast to the nation. Rufus is heading in there right now; in fact, I can hear the muffled proclamation ordering him to come into the Center. I have around fifteen minutes until Rufus comes in here and is back up on the floor, fifteen minutes without having to deal with the boy that's steadily become more and more of an ulcer on my experiences here. Just this morning he was sulking and barely ate anything because Oxen was forcing him to go to training. When a thirteen year old calls immature, you know you've got some work to do to improve yourself.
I just sit there for a minute, head tilted towards the ceiling, to collect myself. I showed them my skills with daggers, then I ran all over the obstacle course, and then I went for the pity angle a little and shared my home life to see if that'd shake them up any. Hopefully it was enough so I'm not a total embarrassment, eh?
After the adrenaline from the Session has faded, I wobble to my feet and walk down the hallway to the elevator. It pings open the moment I hit the button, as if it's been waiting for me impatiently. I step inside and I don't even need to press the 10 button. It zooms up on its own, and before I know it the doors are opening up and I'm stepping out onto the District Ten floor of the building, face to face with my eager Mentor, Escort, and then the stylist and prep teams for both myself and Rufus.
"How did it go?!" my peppy prep team leader, a slender woman with a poofy pink wig named Eurydice, inquires hurriedly.
"Did you show them your amazing awesome girl power skills?!" Tantalus, another one of my prep teamers, asks excitedly.
"I bet you did great," Oxen murmurs quietly, retreating back to the living room.
"What things did you do?" Fixtata questions calmly.
"You better have done well, my interview outfits always reflect a tribute's score in some fashion!" Powder announces airily.
"You just recycle ideas most of the time," Aveda, my third and final prep teamer, whispers under her breath, and Powder smacks her on the shoulder indignantly.
"I did fine," is my only response to all of their questions. I push past them, and one of Rufus's prep teamers huffs about rudeness, and Eurydice reprimands him. The two prep teams start to squabble, with Powder officiating the debate with a smug smile on her face. I groan inwardly and shuffle over to the dining room table, filling my plate with desserts galore. I plop down on the couch a couple of cushions down from Oxen, who's watching the blank screen passively. I bite into a cream puff, trying to ignore the arguments stemming from the other side of the room, where the prep teams are still going at it.
Everything falls silent when a couple of minutes later, the elevator doors slide open and Rufus steps out. There's flurries of questions again, but Rufus doesn't even answer any of them, fighting his way through the knot of excited Games personnel to his room, where he slams the door.
"Someone's Session must've went poorly," Tantalus pouts.
"Not as poorly as your nose job," Rufus's head prep teamer snarks. I think his name is either Endymion or Endilles. Either way, the fires are reignited, and the group takes it out to the balcony to sort out their petty issues while I devour dessert after dessert.
"Ah, they remind me of my youth," Fixtata sighs as she collapses on the couch.
"You look pretty young," I insert in between bites of my cannoli.
"Let's just say I'm in between the stage of being current and being retro," Fixtata huffs. She has a plate herself, but she's filled with with grapes and an apricot. How delicately these people eat, when they can just get all the fat sucked out of them like the pigs at the slaughterhouses. A machine literally husks the skin off of them. We saw it on a field trip to the slaughterhouses once, and I was one of the few girls who didn't barf or scream blood murder or cry pitifully on the bus ride back. It's purpose is to motivate us to learn so we don't have to get stuck in the worst job in the District, the manual slaughterhouses. While those machines are terrorizing to most, many factories force the less educated workers of the District to do that all by hand. It worked for about two weeks until the incidents faded from everyone's mind, excepting my own.
An hour, and then another tick by. I drift off for a short nap at some point or another, and when I wake up, the prep teams and Powder have all settled on the huge couch along with myself and Oxen. Fixtata is knocking on Rufus's door to get him to come out, and he hesitantly slinks into the living room area after Fixtata annoys him for a decent period of time. He collapses between myself and an anxious looking Eurydice.
Soon after our crew is completed and all collected on the couch, the TV turns on by its own accord, showing the seal of Panem. The Horn of Plenty anthem plays, and we all grasp our hands together and hold them against our sternum, with our fingers brushing our chins. The salute, if you will, associated with the anthem. We have to do it everyday in school.
Then the stage where the interviews occur is shown. The giant auditorium is empty except for interviewer Fabula Obcubo and announcer Nuntius Calpor. Nuntius will be announcing the scores, while Fabula will be going through the quick explanation process that happens every year before the Scores.
"Hello, and good evening Panem," Fabula recites with a perfect smile on her pretty face. "Tonight is the Scores broadcast. For the past three days, the tributes of the Twenty Second Annual Hunger Games have been given time to learn and practice a variety of skills that may be helpful to them in the arena. For the latter half of today, they displayed skills at their Private Sessions. They each received fifteen minutes to show off the things they had learned, and those actions were assessed by the Gamemakers. After the assessment, each tribute was assigned a score, from 1 to 12, rating their abilities, 1 being the worst, and 12 being the best. If a tribute was unable to attend the Session due to medical or other pressing reasons, they received a 0. Now, during this broadcast, the Scores that the tributes of the Twenty Second Annual Hunger Games have earned will be displayed to the entire nation, as a way to gauge the skills of each tribute. Without further ado, the Scores!"
THE SCORES
From District One...
Zircon O'Dile with a score of 9!
FABULA OBCUBO: This doesn't surprise me. He seems like a general run of the mill One boy to the naked eye, and his score fits that description. But his eyes...there's something more to this one. And he's hot, as always, which helps. I'm looking forward to our interview. I hate myself for it, but it is entertaining to have the Ones flirting with you for a solid three minutes. It brings the youth back to your veins.
KENYAN RUDD: I didn't expect any more nor any less. A 9 is an admirable score, even if it isn't my 10.
ZIRCON O'DILE: I can work with a 9. Of course, I was hoping to be a boss and get like a 12, but I didn't expect to. Waverley, Oxen, and Soren all won with 9s. I can too.
Trinity Vegas, with a score of 9!
FABULA OBCUBO: I like this looks of this one. She looks like your usual airhead, but they're an icy way about her smile and the way she looks into the camera. If I wasn't stupid, I'd almost think she was a taller, naturally blonde Esquiria.
ESQUIRIA PASQUALE: She did better than most of my girls. I'll have to commend her for that, I guess.
TRINITY VEGAS: A 9. I can't be angry, but I'm certainly not greatly pleased if I'm being honest. I know more was expected of me by the IDE.
From District Two...
Tyberios Palatium with a score of 8!
FABULA OBCUBO: Why so low? He looks like the type who could destroy everyone with a glare. Oh, and now I'm looking at his report...ah. Poor gargantuan has some headaches. That's almost comical.
SCYLAS ONDINO: Damn. Only an 8? He's going to be one of the weakest members of the pack. I know it's only because of his migraines that he didn't get the 9 he deserves.
TYBERIOS PALATIUM: Well, fuck. I know who's going to be at the bottom of the alliance this year. Is there a way to smuggle that headache medicine into the arena?
Ardin Varnell with a score of 9!
FABULA OBCUBO: Hmm. She seems like a schemer. I don't like the looks of her. She's either going to go too hard or play this perfectly, but I know one thing for sure: she's more capable than a 9.
SEREPHINA MANCHAS: The plan is still in perfect motion. Her angle is being executed well. Well, not as well as when I did it...but still well.
ARDIN VARNELL: So they gave me what I wanted. Perfect! It'll be painful if Chavez scores higher than me, but I can deal with a sore ego.
From District Three...
Millard Vaith with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: I didn't expect more, but I did expect a little less. From the looks of him, he's in the upper crust. Nice to see that he seems to have taken a step down from his pedestal.
TAKAMI WIRED: It's just what I expected, and I'm good with it. 5's an even score, and many with 5s make it far every year. It's better than what many of my tributes usually get.
MILLARD VAITH: I can't imagine myself getting anything higher, but one does have aspirations. Oh well. At least I probably scored better than my Party Gals would have.
Fujitsa LaMac with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: I expected a little more from her. She looks rugged and rough, like a real bitch ready to tear up your face and claw out your eyeballs. Or maybe I'm looking too deeply into appearance. It's so hard to tell before I truly meet them at the interviews; all my interjections, while oftentimes correct, are just estimates, possibilities.
TAKAMI WIRED: Now for her, this is not what I wanted. Fuji is the better half of their duo, and I expected her to get at least a 6. She said she did well with her catapult in the Session. That score must mean something, then, with the arena...oh heck. Arenas without trees equal arenas without Outlying Victors.
FUJI LAMAC: O-only a 5?! My catapult worked very well, even better than it did in training. I performed everything to the best of my ability. I won't complain, but a 6 would've been nice, really nice. Now I'll just fade into the background as one of the average ones. And while that's an okay thing, it's not going to work with the angle I was shooting for. Badasses don't earn 5s.
From District Four...
Chavez Belasco with a score of 10!
FABULA OBCUBO: And what a doozy! Unless we have a giant surprise, which I highly doubt, we've found our highest scorer of the night! A 10 isn't insanely, record making high, but it's about as good as you can get after the scoring shift the second year of Ludum's reign as Head Gamemaker, making it harder to earn higher scores. A 10's for the top dogs. And boy, does Chavez look like a dog. I can't wait to see him in the arena, especially if the rumors of a prairie or a tundra are true.
OISIN O'COBB: That's my boy. I knew we picked a good one this year. Four hasn't had such a good chance in a long while.
CHAVEZ BELASCO: Fucking beat Ardin! Fucking beat Trinity! Fucking beat Zircon! Fucking beat Tyberios! And definitely fucking beat Cordelia, I know it! I'd like to see you try to do that, Almieda!
Cordelia Nile with a score of 7!
FABULA OBCUBO: I had no clue what to expect from her; I would have been equally unsurprised to see her score around what she did, or in the 3s and 4s. She's a tricky one, and I like the tricky ones. They're more fun to dissect, and they usually have a mystique to them. I can flex my creative devices with those types.
MAGS FLANAGAN: And the Reaped girl did better than I did during my Session. If only Ondino saw how tight I'm hugging her in happiness; the jokes wouldn't end for years.
CORDELIA NILE: A 7? That's a Career's score. I qualified for the pack, even if I'll be on the bottom. I was worried I'd be heaped in with the 5s and 6s, but I took the top of the 7s. I feel a whole lot better about my position at the moment.
From District Five...
Jayce Newman with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: His score looks better than he does. I wonder what's wrong with him? Hopefully some food in him fixed that-oh. Terminal illness is noted in his report. The poor guy. He almost looks like he could've had a real chance.
ANNELIESE PETROVA: I high five Jayce enthusiastically. Bernie's ignoring us and watching the whole thing in her bedroom, so he's my only listening tribute at the moment. I'm pouring all of my motivation into him, and a 5 is exactly what I got and our District number. It's my favorite number, for obvious reasons.
JAYCE NEWMAN: That's a good enough score for a low life like me, I guess. I was expecting them to give me like a 1 or something based on my disease, but I guess they looked more into my skills and such and put that aside a little. I'm happy they did; I won't be as much of a joke.
Bernadette Areli with a score of 2!
FABULA OBCUBO: Aww. And we've found our symbol of pity this year, the tribute that the most hideously sinful of Capitolites sponsor to make up for their misgivings and crimes. It's always painful to interview them. At least this one doesn't seem too oblivious or naive.
ANNELIESE PETROVA: The screams and crashes coming from her room can't be good, but I can understand her fury. The poor darling.
BERNIE ARELI: Fuck that! Fuck them all! I...they can't do that! I'm going to be the weakest one besides Carmen, but she didn't even go to her Session! I'm a pathetic joke! I tried, I really did, but does it even matter? This score tells me absolutely, fuckingly no. It's easier to be angry than hopeless.
From District Six...
Fender Hopkins with a score of 6!
FABULA OBCUBO: He's a looker, and he seems to have the full package. Can he deliver it? Ugly puns aside, I don't have much to say about this one. He looks like he could be a total prick, or an awesome boy-next-door trope. I just know he's one or the other. They always are.
CALLA ESPENSON: And for once one of my tributes isn't totally hopeless! Ah, how nice if I could have a friend...but he'd be so boring, he probably would never even touch drugs. But then he could Mentor responsibly, and I wouldn't have to give a fuck about anything! I like this plan.
FENDER HOPKINS: That works. What's better than having the score of my lovely home District? I think I can make this work. I'm starting to truly understand how this all works.
Liberty Miles with a score of 4!
FABULA OBCUBO: She looks like this year's druggie, and a quick glance to her file confirms my suspicions. She is...interesting. Not in a necessarily conventional interesting way. She seems like she's mysterious, but only for a short time. Something intrigues me, however.
CALLA ESPENSON: Even I feel sympathy for this bitch. I never knew she had Torcido's. Now that's a raw deal. No wonder she kept blabbering about stuff I could never understand.
LIBBY MILES: Is...is that 4 even real? Did I even go to Private Sessions? How the fuck did I take morphling after I almost jumped off the balcony on the second night? Did I even almost jump off?! I...I need someone to help me sort through this, before it's too late. I'd rather die with a clear picture of my life than live forever with a foggy image.
From District Seven...
Baron Arbor with a score of 7!
FABULA OBCUBO: This one seemed like another mystery. I'd pegged him for a 5 myself, just out of his look of normalcy despite his unconventional upbringing and entrance into the Games. I should've known better; a person's being always is tightly connected to their beginnings.
OAKES LAINE: Now that's a score I can work with! I'm pleasantly surprised; I'd imagined something a little lower for Baron. Now he'll just have to deal with being a target.
BARON ARBOR: I don't know what to feel about that. It's good, but it's bad. I don't know what to think of many things anymore. I'll just look at it from the good side, and hope the negatives scatter to the wind.
Ivy Cross with a score of 6!
FABULA OBCUBO: She looks as tough as nails. Of course, even nails often bend and weaken under the blow of a hammer. According to her file, this one's survived more than enough hits.
PAULA EUFALU: I don't look at Ivy's score for more than a moment; it's exactly what I knew she'd get. I study her picture. She looks fierce, and I see a glimmer of myself in her narrowed eyes. That makes me bark with laughter. No one wins the Games twice.
IVY CROSS: I bet Harlow Teuscher couldn't do better. That's the first time I've thought of them in days, of the entire world outside of this building, and surprisingly, I'd rather just stay in this building, waiting to die, for the rest of my life, than ever go back there. Well, that's not really surprising, and we've already covered why.
From District Eight...
Calico D'Amboise with a score of 3!
FABULA OBCUBO: I don't even feel pity for this one. He seems like a real prick. His interview will probably become the highlight of my night.
URIAH MATHERTON: Same score as I got, matching in so many ways. I don't admit it, but I felt the same as him. But he has no fucking chance. I took the single miracle that will happen every century. All the other scrawny kids who've never run a mile in their lives are fucked over because of me, and it nags me more than my sour ass minds admitting.
CALICO D'AMBOISE: Fucking bastards. Maybe I should tear up their faces, too, and see what they think of me then.
Gaia Imani with a score of 4!
FABULA OBCUBO: This one looks so serene, so complacent, so quintessentially good. And I pity her. I hope she dies in the Bloodbath. It's always so terrorizing to see the good ones' morals rot and decay under the heavy hold of instinctual survival. It shows the very meaning of the Games, dehumanization, and it's frightening. It's easier to live with ourselves when we believe it's truly all just a simple, idiotic Game.
WOOF PARSONS: All the more reason to run, to hide, to leave her alliance. I'm happy she got a 4. It'll instill a better sense of what's she's truly dealing with in her, a better sense of the need for survival at any costs.
GAIA IMANI: Things are never perfect. But could they be a little better than a 4?
From District Nine...
Luke Saturn with a score of 7!
FABULA OBCUBO: Wowza. He looks scary. I can't wait to see the damage he inflicts in the arena. I think we may have found our Outlying villain, or our "Best Pretender" award winner.
UNITY CARDEN: My heart thumps wildly in my chest. None of my tributes have scored higher than a 5 in many years. Luke is my chance. Luke is my coveted chance. I need to bring him home. If I fail at this one...I don't know if I can continue. If I lose Luke, if I destroy yet another glowing hopeful, I will fall apart. And I don't have anyone to pick up the pieces.
LUKE SATURN: Now that's what I like to see.
Saffronelle Alumius with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: If it weren't for her crazy name, I'd forget her the moment her face fades from the screen, and I probably won't remember her at the end of the broadcast. She has been given a blessing and a curse. We'll see which side of it she utilizes, or if she gets to utilize it at all.
UNITY CARDEN: Now that's more like what I'm used to seeing, but even then, 5s are high for Nine tributes. I commend her, and maybe she might have a shot too, although my efforts will be invested in Luke this time around. You cannot truly be devoutly focused on two tributes to bring one home, I've realized. It's impossible. One must be left in the dust, and that one is Sage.
SAGE ALUMIUS: I didn't expect much better, and for a inner city Nine girl, that's quite an accomplishment. And I've scored the highest in my alliance. I'll be the breadwinner for us, something strange and unexpected. I wonder if I'll be able to handle it well enough...
From District Ten...
Rufus Braunvieh with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: Even more unmemorable than...Sargonelle? He seems so boring, I hope he faints or something during his interview. The quiet, forgettable ones are always taxing, especially when you have two in a row.
OXEN BAMBY: Commendable. I dunno. Scores don't really matter, right? I just wish they did them in the morning. It's more pleasant to have events occurring when the sunlight is streaming through the windows.
RUFUS BRAUNVIEH: I guess that's what one gets when they skip half of training. Oh well. It was worth it.
Miriam Park with a score of 5!
FABULA OBCUBO: And we have our firecracker! I like her already, from the snarky grin on her face to the dangerous look in her eyes. She reminds myself of a young me. She'll remind everyone of a young them; everyone likes to remember the few and far between instances where they were rebellious, and mold their childhood after that image in their minds. She just might be the one.
OXEN BAMBY: That's nice for her, I guess. Most girls her age don't get anywhere near that. I think I'm going to go sleep now, the Avoxes fixed the lighting in my room. When it went out last night...let's say there were some black eyes and long showers.
MIRIAM PARK: Now that's pretty badass for a thirteen year old. I was hoping to beat Jayce, not just tie him though. Getting a higher score than him would've formed a wellspring of jokes to boost morale in the arena. If only...
From District Eleven...
Omri Plower with a score of 7!
FABULA OBCUBO: He seems nice. High score, cute face, small town upbringing and manners, and a worthy alliance. He has everything going for him, so that's why he's going to lose.
PUMPKIN LITTLE: Yes! Yes! Omri! I can't even form coherent thoughts that well! Just yes! Yes!
OMRI PLOWER: Everyone knows me now. They can never forget me. And it makes me feel sick to my stomach because did I really have to put myself in a killing competition to be known and unforgettable? No. I made a bad choice. Now I'll have to amend for it.
Soya Chaffer with a score of 4!
FABULA OBCUBO: She looks cheery. Like a half full glass of frizzy strawberry wine. I hate strawberry wine.
PUMPKIN LITTLE: Why is she grinning so much at that score? Sometimes I think there's something truly wrong with her.
SOYA CHAFFER: A little low, but underdogs always have the sweetest Victories! They'll never see me coming. No one believes, except Lord and myself. I shall win, and no number will hold me down!
And last but possibly not least, from District Twelve...
Gaylord Parthenia with a score of 6!
FABULA OBCUBO: A Twelve boy that looks like that and scores that high? Boy oh boy, does Twelve have an actual shot this year! It's an unconventional thing to think of!
ERIS GLASSHINE: Oh...ah...um...wait...I have a...a...a good tribute...oh lord. OH LORD! I ACTUALLY HAVE A GOOD TRIBUTE!
LORD PARTHENIA: That's how we do it, boys and girls. Watch and learn.
Carmen Ionique-Astron with a score of 0!
FABULA OBCUBO: That's a first.
ERIS GLASSHINE: Poor girl. She's so out of it, she's not even watching the broadcast with us. Wait. What are those sounds?
CARMEN IONIQUE-ASTRON: My face is shimmering on the screen with a score of 0, but I'm barely paying attention because my sweatpants and the bed linens are soaked. I start to breathe heavily as I wriggle out of my sweatpants and pull off the covers. Holy mother of Snow. My water's broke. My water's broke! I find myself laughing in joy a little, and then I start to groan as it begins. You can do this, Carm. You've done it four times before. Pretend Cape is there, that Aris is there, that everyone that loves you and cares about you is there...push, push, push!
"Is everything alright?!" Eris asks as she bounds into the room.
"The...the baby's coming!" I holler, smiling as I pant.
"THE BABY'S COMING!" Eris shrieks, running out into the living room to alert the others, as if they haven't heard. "THE BABY IS COMING, I REPEAT, THE BABY IS COMING!"
Eris, Edna, and the Avoxes crowd around the bed to watch and comfort me. Lord watches from the doorway, trying not to be too rude, but not wanting to watch a live birth at the age of 16. I understand that. I'm nowhere near done, but I feel so light with all this support, even if it's minimal, around me. Push, push, push. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Your family loves you Carmen. Do this for them.
THE SCORES COMPILED
0: Carmen
1:
2: Bernie
3: Calico
4: Libby, Gaia, Soya
5: Millard, Fuji, Jayce, Sage, Rufus, Miriam
6: Fender, Ivy, Lord
7: Cordelia, Baron, Luke, Omri
8: Tyberios
9: Zircon, Trinity, Ardin
10: Chavez
11:
12:
A/N: Wow! We're really getting far into this! This was a fun little section to write, and I hope you enjoyed it. Miriam is always a pleasure, and it was nice to get inside all of the Mentors and Tributes' heads for a small blurb, along with exploring Fabula more too. I hope you enjoyed this format, and thanks again to MRKenn for coming up with the idea in her own SYOT and letting me utilize it here.
I have a ton of questions XD Were the scores fitting? Any you would change? Why? Do scores even really matter? WHAT ABOUT CARMEN'S BIRTH TELL EVERYTHING YOU FEEL! Will the baby be born alright? Will she survive? What will happen if she does survive? If she doesn't?! DRAMA
(Don't feel obligated to answer all of those XD)
Trivia:
Miriam (1 pt.) - What were the name of her three prep teamers?
Until Next Time,
Tracee