Chapter Two.
Prologue, Part Two.
Sterling Milano, Victor of The 13 Games: Luxury.
District One, 18 years old.
Sterling looked at Jasper and between them they shared a silent, yet knowing and surmounting level of mistrust and disdain. And exhaustion. They were both so very, very tired.
"—it is a pleasure to have you both here," their escort said fervently, a little man hopping around on his two feet as his head shook side to side, looking at the two Victors from One. "I was such a huge fan of your Games. Can you believe it was only three short weeks ago?"
Jasper rolled her eyes with no response. Sterling had barely said much to these Capitol attendants. He had never been one for many words – they weren't his forte and he wasn't exactly the type to kid himself into believing otherwise. Yet, with the man staring at him with wide-open, adoring eyes, Sterling submerged his level of discomfort for something close enough to friendliness.
"It's been a long three weeks – but yes – yeah it doesn't seem like all that long ago either."
The man opened his ever-talkative mouth but was hushed by a sterner, pointier looking official at the front of the table. Neither Sterling nor Jasper understood why they had been taken here on this freezing wintry morning. The moon was still glittering in the sky and gentle snowflakes had caked the sidewalk in a crisp blanket. Sterling wasn't one for admiring the beauty of anything, let alone this strange and alien city, yet even he had found it peaceful.
He was tired, though. He did not want to be here this early.
"Jasper Apatite and Sterling Milano," the man said, gesturing to the two to sit down, shooing away their escort. Sterling watched him bow his head and meet his eyes. He still held that fanatical glint as they shifted away in his departure. "I must thank you for arriving so promptly. Alemagna didn't keep you too long, I hope. He's a delight but rarely closes his mouth."
"He was fine," Jasper said.
When Jasper rarely got sleep because of her nightmares, waking her from her slumber was a one-way ticket to creating a very real, very frightening nightmare of their own. It was because they were Capitol that Jasper hadn't torn their heads off. She had no patience for Sterling when she was in one of these moods. He hadn't said two words to her since waking.
"I suppose you want me to get straight to it?"
Sterling nodded. Jasper nodded. The man grinned.
He tapped a button and the table before him lit up in a blue, ethereal glow. A flicker of static and then a hologram of sorts – something Sterling was still adjusting to in this new, technologically-advanced world he'd been forced into – appeared in front of the three of them. In the backdrop of this dark, cavernous looking room, it stood out even more. Intricately detailed, labelling scrawled in cursive writing pointing to certain parts of what looked like a one-storey building with a larger one attached to a set of iron-cast doors. Or what might have been iron. Sterling couldn't quite tell.
Jasper was confused. Sterling was taken aback by the writing atop the hologram, white scrawl that flickered and circled around. Tribute Centre 2.0.
He wondered what it meant but knew, in a matter of seconds, the answers would be in front of him.
"What are we looking at?" Jasper asked, her voice betraying Sterling's own puzzled and silent mind. "It looks fancy."
"We do like our fancy things in the Capitol," the man said, clapping his hands brightly. He looked ever so pleased with himself. Something told Sterling that whatever this holographic representation of a building meant, it had been his idea. His baby.
"So – you two have lived through the first of this year's Hunger Games. You're a living testament to its power. But I want to ask you something. When you take away the horror, take away the metaphors and imagery and everything underneath that's meant to mean something to do with a war from a hundred years ago that none of us can even remember. What are the Hunger Games? Think of it in its most simple form. What are they?"
Sterling shook his head, unsure. Jasper, as ever, knew immediately.
"A television show."
"Precisely," he nodded, clapping his hands. "This month, whilst we revamp the Training Centre in all it's thirteen-storey, glitz and glam-orific glory, we are trialling something else. A more intimate view into the world of the tributes. Because the Hunger Games, as Jasper so rightfully said, are a television show. A reality show. It is designed to be entertaining."
Sterling's eyes picked up little bits and pieces on the hologram and things started to make sense. Behind the large doors, Training Hall was emblazoned in light writing. There was a garden area. A swimming pool. A kitchen and dining area. Four large bedrooms with six beds to each. It looked expensive. Cozy. Cramped.
Sterling knew exactly what this was and did not like it one bit. Jasper's eyes were trained on the man instead of taking in the details. She wanted verbal confirmation.
"Think of it like this – for the time that the tributes spend in the Capitol, they are going to be under 24-hour surveillance, the footage broadcast around the whole Capitol. We get to see them interact, live their lives, eat and sleep and chat and swim and argue and everything else that teenagers do. They get to share the same accommodation and we get to watch in all its hormonal, teenager-ific glory, what they get up to. It's a television show – let's keep the country entertained."
Sterling finally found his voice and furrowed his brow. It was bad enough they had been kept apart last month, each pair from a Sector on one floor, separate from their competitors but still knowing that eventually they would be killing each other. Now – they had to live together? Maybe it would be entertaining, but it was just cruel, heartless… everything the Capitol embodied.
"What about the Training Hall?" he asked, looking at the man. "And everything else we went through?"
"The Chariot Rides will still be a thing, their first impression to our country. Training itself is voluntary and coming from Two we aren't deluded to the fact that most will already be trained and most probably would enjoy having a go at it during their time. It's a 24/7 facility attached to where they'll be staying – they can train as and when they like – and there aren't cameras in there. It's their only escape from the live footage. That and the toilet."
"Aren't you kind," Jasper snapped back sarcastically.
If the man recognised her tone, he did not seem to care. He just smirked back.
"There will be Peacekeepers living in the building too, stationed throughout just in case of something happening, but what we want to see is all twenty-four of the tributes in the same building, spending the few days they have in the Capitol just living their lives. And the best part is—" he smiled between Jasper and Sterling and Sterling watched him zoom in on a smaller part of the building, not far from the kitchen, two rooms sharing a wall tucked just behind what looked like the Peacekeeper's station.
When Sterling and Jasper realised what they were staring at, Jasper's mood soured even more, and Sterling wanted to punch the table and get rid of this horrible, horrible blue hologram.
"Twelve tributes each my lovely Victors," the man said, gesturing to the two of them, hands splayed out dramatically. "You'll be in there, living it up with the tributes from Two. In-house mentors!"
"Twelve tributes each?!" Sterling shouted.
"You do realise whoever wins, we'll have to end up killing when it's our turn again?!" Jasper argued.
I hadn't realised that.
Whatever their thoughts and opinions, it was a done deal. No turning back.
Project 'twist these Games into something they weren't' was already set in stone. And Jasper and Sterling would be right in the thick of things – living with their future competitors.
Sterling wanted to be sick.
What a fucking train-wreck this is going to be.
Below you will find the tribute list. I apologise to those that did not get in. I just couldn't accept everyone and as much as I wanted to, because seriously there wasn't a single bad form, there just ain't enough room! A lot of tributes as well did not get the Sector they wanted – again, nothing I could do about that and at the end of the day the sectors don't really matter for the story. So please don't worry about that! Blog link is on my profile but also (removing spaces) it's: www . the13gamesstoneheart . blogspot . com
Tribute List
Sector One:
Male – Reyan Nalara, 18.
Female – Svanna Hyland, 18.
Sector Two:
Male – Tayte Vasburg, 18.
Female – Syrella Tyriage, 18.
Sector Three:
Male – Phobos Arroyo, 18.
Female – Bex Redgrave, 18.
Sector Four:
Male – Manfred Vargas, 18.
Female – Ryland Mercer, 18.
Sector Five:
Male – Ozias Evermoor, 18.
Female – Kasiani Tavarro, 18.
Sector Six:
Male – Palatine Linott, 16.
Female – Kaia Wilder, 18.
Sector Seven:
Male – Valdis Solgren, 18.
Female – Viorica Dain, 17.
Sector Eight:
Male – Aurelian Eldridge, 18.
Female – Callisto Rius, 17.
Sector Nine:
Male – Juliet Romero, 18.
Female – Briel Novack, 18.
Sector Ten:
Male – Vinicius Grecco, 17.
Female – Damali Zahrat, 18.
Sector Eleven:
Male – Tavius Otho, 18.
Female – Gormalith Rivière, 18.
Sector Twelve:
Male – Brodus Marcano, 17.
Female – Sivan Arcuri, 17.
So. I sat thinking about how I could mix things up for the Capitol and make it somewhat different to anything I've seen before. This is almost like a proper reality show at this point – think the Big Brother house really.
For the duration of the Capitol, these tributes are going to be living in the same building, sharing a dining area, kitchen, lounge, garden etc. Four bedrooms, six tributes to each, with a voluntary Training Hall attached where it's the only place they won't be filmed. It's going to be so much fin and interactions will be everywhere so I'm hella motivated.
Lil intro to my format for this story pre-Games as well. Regardless of public opinion (the minority ik) the Games will be written the same way they were for Forever Neverland. The Capitol will be third-person POVs. I cannot do 72 POVs this time round, not with work starting again next week (hooray England – opening schools and risking my health :))
And I don't like Reapings or Goodbyes anyway. So every tribute is going to get one pre-reaping POV so we get to see them all naturally. And then one Capitol POV. So that's six pre-reaping chapters with 4 povs each, and then 8 Capitol chapters with 3 each. Chariot Rides and Interviews are going to be standard – the bits in-between will be a little different!
Anyway. Leave a review, let me know what you thought of the chapter and the Capitol twist as well as the blog. Do a lil chart if you want to and I'll see you with the next chapter!
Oh, and as a final note. District11-Olive has a new SYOT called To The Wolves. Please go and submit!