Prologue 2:

Two and a half months before the Quell

Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker

Seraphim doesn't have a single clue how today is going to go, but he has a feeling he's going to need a drink after, no matter what happens. Because what's going to happen when he brings together eleven stressed victors?

Hopefully no fists will be thrown…or hopefully he won't be thrown through a table.

Well…hopefully District Eight isn't sending Barathea. Seraphim shudders at the thought of being sent through a table again, even if it is unlikely that she would show up here drunk. But now's not the time to think about that party story.

No, now is the time to focus on the eleven people he has to entertain and keep civil.

Laelia clears her throat from next to him as there's a knock on the door. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Oh it's definitely not a good idea," Seraphim chuckles and gives her a cheeky grin before turning towards the door and motioning for the victors to be let in. "Remember this moment because you won't ever see anything like this again."

The first to enter the room don't surprise Seraphim, as he expected the career Districts to be the most accepting of the Quarter Quell. Even after fourteen years of being a Gamemaker, he still finds himself a little awed at having both Thetis Oneiroi and Kat Liero in front of him. He just can't help it, they're legends. They're the victors that children in the Capitol grow up hearing about.

The two older women are talking quietly to themselves, although the stop when they notice him watching them. But he gives them a smile, motioning to the seats to his left with little place cards reading 'District One' and 'District Two'. "Hello you two. It's been a while since I've seen you in the Capitol."

"Is he calling us old?" Thetis says to Kat as they take their seats, and Seraphim can feel his face starting to flush as Kat raises an eyebrow at him. Her gaze is so sharp, he suddenly wonders how any volunteer from Two can handle working with her.

"I think he is," Kat responds, leaning back in her chair to stare at Seraphim as she crosses her arms.

"Th-th-that isn't what I meant!" Seraphim finally stutters out, terrified that these two legends are going to punch him.

Thetis and Kat share a look with each other before they both start laughing, leaving Seraphim to just stare at them in surprise for a moment. Kat is the first to speak up as more victors start to enter the room. "Seraphim, learn to take a joke, would you?"

"What did you two do? He looks like he's seen a ghost!"

Seraphim looks over as Iona walks towards the other two career victors, smile on her face as she shakes her head at the pair. "Nothing dear," Thetis answers as Iona reaches them and gives them both a quick kiss on the cheek. "Just made him think he offended us."

"That wasn't very nice," someone speaks up from the other side of Seraphim and he barely has time to glance over before Fonio grabs Seraphim's face, holding his chin and pointing at it with his other hand. Seraphim can only stare wide-eyed at the victors, completely baffled by what is happening to him. "He's too pretty to look all worried."

"I-I-um-a-" Seraphim sputters out before finally pointing over to the spot marked for District Nine. "Um…please have a seat, Fonio."

"Sure dear," Fonio releases his face and Seraphim rubs his jaw as he watches the older victor make his way over, being sure to pass Thetis and pretending to give her a kiss, only for her to shove him away while Iona stifles laughs at them.

"What have I gotten myself into…" Seraphim mutters to himself as Fonio takes his seat – without any other kissing attempts. But when the District Nine victor realizes Seraphim is watching him, he winks at the Head Gamemaker and makes him flush in embarrassment. Yeah, Seraphim likes his older men, but it's not like Fonio just won his games. Fonio is just…so old.

The next two victors to enter have Seraphim letting out a sigh of relief as he doesn't think they'll cause him any stress. Johan gives him a brief nod of his head in greeting while Letha tries to give him a wave, but he can tell she's upset about this meeting. So Seraphim tries to give them both a comforting smile as they stop talking and just stand in the doorway. "Letha, Johan, welcome. Johan, I apologize but I'm afraid you're going to have to sit next to Fonio."

Fonio roars in laughter at this while Johan simply sighs as he makes his way to his seat. But Seraphim can see the amusement in his eyes. "Well, it certainly won't be the first time I've been this unlucky."

"Johan, there are hundreds of people who would pay thousands to be in your seat next to me!" Fonio answers as he puts a hand on Johan's shoulder, leaning closer to him. "Not as many as there used to be – oh man, those were the days when I could get any man or woman I wanted-"

Fonio is cut off by Letha clearing her throat and Seraphim finds himself thankful for her stopping him from having to hear stories of Fonio as a young victor. They all know what he was like. "Maybe you shouldn't talk about this in front of Pinova?"

"Hmm?" Fonio raises an eyebrow as they all look over at the door to see Pinova standing there, awkwardly staring at the mentors gathered there so far. And surprisingly, Astrid stands next to her, appearing as if they had been talking before attention was drawn to them. "Ah, our second youngest victor!" Fonio continues as the surprising pair enter the room, Pinova trying to put on a confident face. "My, aren't you a little cutie-ah!"

In a flash, Astrid has reached out to him and grabbed him by the ear, pulling him up out of his seat and closer to her face. "Fonio, I am not putting up with your bullshit. Leave the girl alone."

"Okay, okay!" Fonio says quickly, getting Astrid to let go of his ear to take her spot next to him. Fonio rubs that ear as he looks over at Seraphim bitterly. "Aren't you going to yell at her for being rude to an old man like me?"

"Because it's you is exactly why he shouldn't say anything," Thetis mutters under her breath next to Seraphim, making him snort at her comment. He gets a small smirk and a wink from her before their attention is drawn again to victors entering.

This one though tries to enter relatively unnoticed, holding a book tightly to his chest as he keeps his head down. "Hello Glenwood," Seraphim calls out, trying to get the District Seven victor to feel a bit more comfortable as he takes his seat. "Did you have a good train ride?"

"Just fine," Glenwood responds quietly, briefly nodding his head in greeting to Astrid next to him.

"Dampero, I'm telling you, it's not just a simple matter," Seraphim can hear from the doorway as the last two victors approach, making him smile at their conversation. "You simply cannot use standard materials for a circuit trying to handle that kind of voltage."

"Then why don't you make the material," the District Six victor offers as he reaches the room with the District Three victor, both of them looking down at a set of papers.

When Matla glances up and realizes they're the last ones to arrive, she takes off her glances and quickly gathers her papers. "Sorry, we were talking about my latest project."

"You're right on time," Seraphim responds as the two take their seats, filling up the remaining spots at the circular table. He had been insistent on that, wanting to make sure none of the outer Districts felt like they were less than the career Districts. He takes a deep breath as he looks at all of them, hoping for just a moment that they'll get through this without any fights. He briefly makes eye contact with Laelia and can tell she's amazed by what an odd situation this is. "Well, we might as well get started. And I'm going to start by making sure it is clear that I invited you here to hear every comment, concern, complaint, whatever you may have, be it good or bad. This is also so I can answer any questions you may have about the Quell. But I promise you, whatever you say here will not cause you any risk or harm to your families. Am I clear?" He waits until he has agreements from everyone, some looking more willing than the others, but they do all agree eventually, sending a feeling of relief through him. "Good. Let's start by just seeing what you all think about the Quell. We'll start with Thetis and just go around the table. Oh and if you could tell me who is mentoring this year, that would be great."

Thetis clears her throat as she sits up a bit, giving a smile and a shrug at Seraphim. "Well it certainly isn't anything I've seen before. I'll just wait and see how the actual games go. As for mentoring, I will be joining Emilio this year, and I have to admit, I'm a little happy to mentor again this year. It's been a while and I do enjoy it." She pauses to let out a laugh and glances over at the District Five victor. "I can understand how Letha keeps mentoring each year for almost forty years."

Letha flushes at this comment and shakes her head at Thetis, "Don't tell everyone how old I am!"

But this only makes Thetis laugh loudly and wave her hand dismissively at Letha. "Honey, you weren't even of Reaping age when I won. And don't worry, Fonio is older than all of us."

This makes Seraphim snort and quickly try to cover it up with a cough. He clears his throat as Fonio gives Thetis an offended look, trying to keep things calm. "Kat?"

The District Two victor cracks her knuckles absentmindedly before answering, but Seraphim can see that the action is unnerving to some of the others, especially Pinova. "Well, Thetis, I'm surprised that Emilio is going with you. He's spent so much time in District Two with Jory that I've started to think he forgot where he's from," Kat gives a small shrug at this, trying to look casual but Seraphim can see in her eyes that there's more to this that she isn't mentioning. More that he knows about from someone… "We're ready for District Two to claim another Quarter Quell victory. We have plenty that are ready to earn that honor."

"We also have plenty ready to volunteer," Thetis interrupts and the two career women share a look, making Seraphim nervous that they'll start arguing.

But Kat nods her head at this and continues, "I'm not surprised at that. But I'm making sure District Two gets the victory this year. Right now, the other mentor is Lysander. The younger ones aren't ready to mentor for this Quell, even if some of them want to. Maylene refuses to be involved in training after the last Quell… I also would have liked Zephyr because he's good at mentoring but after what happened at the end of last year's games, he's refused to step foot in the training center if Jory is there."

A couple of the victors start murmuring about this, clearly not knowing fully what went down with Jory, Zephyr, and Emilio, or if at all. Seraphim only knows from…his face starts heating up and he tries to push aside the thought, knowing this isn't the place for feelings to get in the way. Just look at what happened with Zephyr and Jory. He doesn't want to dwell on one District for too long, especially not this one, so he turns his attention to Matla. "What about you?"

Matla puts her glasses back on to look down at her papers for a moment before turning her attention back to Seraphim. "As a scientist, I'm very curious to find out how you're going to accomplish making the tributes lose one sense. I have a couple theories, but if you could show me…"

Seraphim shakes his head at this, noticing several other victors starting to become a lot more interested in the conversation. "I can't reveal that yet. But once the games have started, I would be happy to show you the Science Complex and introduce you to the scientists."

Matla nods her head as she takes off her glasses. She pinches the bridge of her nose before turning back to Seraphim, a look of contempt in her eyes. "As a decent human being, I think that's totally bullshit that you're going to take away one of their major senses and throw them into an arena to struggle to survive."

Ahh, there's the bad comments he's been waiting for.

Seraphim pushes up his own glasses as Laelia starts to write down notes next to him, but he stays focused on Matla, even as there are some grumbles of agreement among the other victors. "Matla, we cannot change what the Quarter Quell is." Matla purses her lips at this, but stays quiet, so Seraphim continues, this time looking around at the others as well. "But I can assure you all that we're not just throwing them in there with no help. There will be plenty of survival items available and not just at the Cornucopia."

"Any chance you'll tell us the arena?" Astrid speaks up from the opposite side of the table from Matla, propping her feet up on the table. She shrugs when she sees Seraphim look over, amusement on his face at her question. "That's what I figured, but I also figured why not ask?"

Seraphim lets out a quiet chuckle at Astrid being so bold, further establishing her as one of his favorite victors. "Well Matla, anything else?" She shakes her head, still not looking happy but Seraphim thinks he at least kept her somewhat calm by offering to show her their research lab. "Oh, who are you mentoring with? And I'm assuming everyone here is going to be a mentor and that's why you were sent as the victor representative for your District?"

Slowly, everyone nods their head in agreement, bringing Seraphim's attention back to Matla. "Isidore, who is going to be disappointed that Bronn isn't going to be there."

Kat simply shrugs at this and gives the victor next to her a small smirk. "Yeah, well, he got to train the last Quarter Quell victor, even if he didn't mentor for her in the Capitol. He doesn't get to do that twice."

Matla stays quiet at this comment, but her eyes show how much she doesn't want to see District Two claim another Quarter Quell victor. So Seraphim turns his attention to the District Four victor who has been relatively quiet and looks anxious about being here, hoping if he keeps things moving there won't be a fight. "Iona?

She smiles over at him, yet the smile never quite reaches her eyes. "I'm not exactly looking forward to a Quarter Quell, having seen in person what happened during the last one." She presses her lips together, staring down at the table for a moment before turning her gaze back to Seraphim and he can see all the doubt and concern there, surely for the fate of her training center. "We were so close last year…we can't have that happen again. Okeanas seems certain that the two of us can bring home a victor."

Fonio starts to laugh loudly at this, making Pinova jump in surprise and everyone turn their attention to the old man. He points over at Iona and then the other two career victors, still laughing. "Oh man, you're going to have Thetis, Kat, and Okeanas in the same room?" He pauses to keep laughing at this thought, earning bizarre looks from a few others, including Seraphim. "That's going to be one hell of a good time. Oh how I love my fierce career queens."

"Too bad the feeling isn't mutual," Thetis retorts, completely serious yet her response sends Fonio into another fit of laughter, only making Seraphim even more curious to know what exactly went down between these two.

"Okay Iona," Seraphim raises his voice to be heard over Fonio's dying laughter. "Any other concerns?" The District Four victor looks for a moment like she wants to keep talking to him, but she glances at the others before shaking her head. But from the look in her eyes, Seraphim can tell she has more to say. "Alright. Well, Letha, you're up."

Poor Letha appears on the verge of tears as she looks around at all of the victors with her, almost refusing to look over at Seraphim. "I'm just so worried like always for my children. They're all of Reaping age…and to be put in a Quarter Quell where they might be blinded?" She shakes her head at this, trying to discretely wipe a tear away on her cheek before finally turning her attention to Seraphim. "You can't understand the fear a parent faces, not knowing if their child is going to be picked and sent off to possibly die."

Seraphim carefully considers how to respond to her, not wanting to upset her further, especially when he sees some of the concerned looks on the faces of the other victors. Surely if he upsets her more, he'll start a damn riot. "You're right, there's no way for me to understand that fear. I won't try to tell you that won't happen, because we all know that it's up to luck – Astrid, I see that look. I don't rig the Reapings, unlike my predecessors." Seraphim pauses to stare at her, making sure she knows that he's being truthful about this. That's one thing he refuses to do just for a bit more entertainment. Once she seems to believe him, he turns his attention back to Letha and tries to give her a comforting smile. "But please try to believe me when I genuinely say I hope that doesn't happen. I don't want any of you to have a loved one in the games. But if the unlikely happens, know that it was not intentional."

Letha gives him a small nod at this, yet still looks on the verge of tears. "But can you reassure me that the victor will have their sense fully restored?"

Seraphim is a little puzzled by the question, but at least it's something he can actually answer. "Yes, they will. That was one of President Xavier's requests when we developed our method."

Letha cracks a tiny smile at this, glancing down at her hands as she responds. "He's a good man. That's all I have to say. Oh and Galen is mentoring with me like usual. I need him there to help support me."

Seraphim nods at this as the room falls quiet except for the scratching of Laelia's pen as she takes notes. He doesn't know what else to say so he turns to the District Six victor. "Dampero?"

From the look on Dampero's face and the shrug he gives, Seraphim can just tell that he's going to have a problem. "Well…this isn't a personal attack on Skye – and don't get me wrong, I still wish she would have ended up as victor since she was Bristol's ally," he pauses at this to collect his thoughts, his face showing internal turmoil before he takes a deep breath to continue, "But I would say this about any District. Nine has an unfair advantage this year, having mentored a blind tribute last year."

Seraphim had a feeling this would be brought up eventually. He had tried to think through every complaint someone might make today. "The Quell twist was decided long before last year's games occurred."

"I understand that," Dampero retorts, shaking his head at the Gamemaker. "But that doesn't change the fact that District Nine has an unfair advantage over the rest of us."

"We don't even know if their tributes will be blind," Johan speaks up, drawing the attention of the victors to him as he has stayed out of the conversation until now. At their attention, he gives Seraphim a questioning look. "Do we?"

Seraphim shakes his head, feeling that this information is alright to share with them. "Not yet. It will be randomly picked once the tributes have been Reaped and we will make sure that there is an even distribution of the senses…" He trails off as he notices that Dampero still looks upset at this, along with Johan and Pinova. "However…if enough people are opposed to it, I suppose I could ensure that both District Nine tributes do not lose their sight. But that's not really fair to the rest if we're choosing that."

The silence that falls is uncomfortable, or at least it is to Seraphim. He doesn't really want to give that preferential treatment to District Nine, but he's also worried about starting a fight in here if he flat out refuses. After a minute of silence, the first one to speak up is a gentle voice, and Seraphim finds him happy that Letha is the one to address the issue. "If they end up with a blind tribute…" she starts quietly, looking around at each victor before continuing. "Then so be it. All of us would take that advantage if it was given to us."

Seraphim nods his head at this and looks around at the others, waiting for someone else to argue about it. But when everyone stays quiet, he turns his attention back to the District Six victor. "Anything else about that Dampero?"

"No…" Dampero sighs loudly and shakes his head at Seraphim. "Give them the advantage. I just wish that it was District Six instead with the advantage. It's just been so long since we had a victor. But…I guess this just means Jarle and I have to work even harder this year."

Dampero looks away from Seraphim, who takes this as a hint that he's done talking. So the Head Gamemaker turns his attention over to the District Seven victor who is picking at his nails and seemingly trying to pretend that everyone isn't looking at him. "Alright Glenwood, you're up."

Glenwood gives a small shrug at this before briefly looking at Seraphim before turning his gaze back to his hands. "I'm stressed about mentoring for a Quell. I just feel like there's so much pressure on me. That's all. And Stefan is mentoring with me."

The man next to Glenwood lets out a loud sigh at this and Glenwood looks up to see Dampero shaking his head at him. "Why Stefan? Couldn't you bring Laurel instead?"

"Oh stop," Letha speaks up on the other side of Dampero, a brief hint of amusement in her eyes. "Stefan is a nice man. You just don't like him because he was a bitter kid when you first met him."

Glenwood actually cracks a smile at Letha's comment before shrugging over at Dampero, leaving Seraphim curious to know more about the dynamics of these victors when they first won. "I agree, with both of you. But Laurel doesn't want to mentor another Quell, can't really blame her. And I would much rather bring Cal, but everyone agreed we should have someone more experienced and Stefan has the best record out of all of us in Seven." He pauses to give a shrug over at Seraphim. "That's all."

Seraphim turns his gaze to the District Eight victor, already amused by whatever she is going to say based on the fiery look in her eyes. And she doesn't wait for Seraphim to tell her to speak before pointing at all of the victors gathered. "You are so worried about this twist and not even realizing how much worse it could have been." Astrid starts counting off suggestions on her fingers, all the while staring intently at the victors. "There could be twice the children. There could be children younger than the normal age. There could have been adults picked with children. Hell, we could have to go in!" An uncomfortable silence falls on the group and all Seraphim can think about is what happened last time victors were forced into the arena. And he'll be damned if he lets something happen like that when he's Head Gamemaker.

Astrid shakes her head as she turns her sharp gaze to Seraphim and he understands how her tributes must feel. "Well I'm quite fine with this twist and I call bullshit on the Capitol actually being able to make people lose their senses."

"Astrid, I assure you, we have succeeded in that," Seraphim speaks up, feeling an intense need to defend his work. She just raises a single eyebrow at him, showing how much she believes him. "I've tried each one on myself and successfully lost the sense and gained it back."

Laelia clears her throat from next to Seraphim, the first time she has made any noise since the victors entered. Her face betrays her nervousness as the victors all turn their gaze towards her. "I can attest to that."

Astrid stares at the young Gamemaker for a few long seconds, making Seraphim want to defend her from the victor, before she finally gives a shrug and crosses her arms. "Whatever. I'm not worried about any crazy twists you might throw at us."

"Of course you aren't worried," Dampero shakes his head at Astrid, but the woman just keeps giving him a casual smile. "Why would you be worried when you just got home a victor?"

Astrid gives Dampero a shrug at this, still looking as relaxed as possible. "I would be this way with or without Clark. But yes, I am very happy that I have a new victor coming along with me this year."

"You're making Clark mentor this year?" Letha asks, her face in disbelief and concern for the youngest victor. "For a Quarter Quell? Can you imagine your first year as a mentor and you have to mentor a Quell?"

Once again, Seraphim is surrounded by uncomfortable silence as Astrid glares over at Letha – Letha, of all people? – at her accusation. Finally, someone does speak up, clearing his throat and staring down at his lap uncomfortably as everyone looks over at him. "Laurel hated it so much, mentoring for a Quell her first year," Glenwood says quietly, finally looking up at Seraphim and giving a small shrug. "Then again, that Quell was…interesting for Seven. But still, she hated mentoring for a Quell and having our tributes place third and fourth."

Astrid stands up suddenly at this, her chair legs slamming on the ground from her leaning back in it and the sound makes a couple victors jump in surprise. "Let me make one thing clear," Astrid starts in a low, slow voice as she stares at each victor one by one, not flinching away from anyone's gaze. "I am not throwing Clark into mentoring on his own. He is mentoring the same tribute as me, and Hessian is mentoring the other tribute."

"Oh sure, give Nine shit for having a victor who unsuccessfully mentored a blind tribute last year," Fonio speaks up, ignoring the glare from Astrid. "But no one will call out Astrid for having a previous Quarter Quell victor? Or what about Kat? I'm sure she's asking Glacia all sorts of strategy questions."

"I am not," Kat defensively says right away as Astrid sits back down, glaring over at Fonio next to her. Seraphim lets out a small sigh, starting to get a gut feeling that everything is about to go downhill now that Fonio is speaking up. "Glacia hates mentoring for the actual games and she's too busy working on applying for university. Although she did say she would possibly mentor, that isn't happen because Darach flat out told me that he'll quit being a trainer if I ask Glacia one question about Quarter Quells."

"Wow, someone who isn't afraid to stand up to you Kat?" Fonio lets out a laugh at this, shaking his head as the District Two victor gives him a harsh glare. "Well since we're talking about 'unfair advantages'," Fonio uses his hands to make air quotes at this. "I'll be mentoring with Mazie. Please, don't hold back on your excitement at that," Fonio says sarcastically before looking at the others, smiling and waiting for someone to tell him that they can't wait. But when everyone stays quiet, he shakes his head and turns back to Seraphim. "Sativa couldn't take it this year. So I offered to help out and mentor again, out of the kindness of my heart."

Astrid lets out a snort at this and Seraphim tries to ignore the pretend hurt look on Fonio's face. "But what's your opinion on the Quell twist?"

"It makes things more interesting," Fonio shrugs at this and chuckles a little before continuing, "The others aren't as happy. Sativa said that 'You motherfuckers gave Skye a low score last year for being blind and now you're glorifying it for a Quarter Quell'."

Seraphim is shocked by the statement, even if he had been expecting at least a few to be angry about it. "Did she really say that?"

"No," Fonio bursts out into laughter at Seraphim's face and a few others roll their eyes at Fonio. "I may have changed it a bit. But she's not happy. No one in Nine is happy about this twist."

Seraphim sighs at this, having had a feeling that District Nine wouldn't be pleased by it. But there's not much he can do about it. The 149th Hunger Games are in the past and he can't change the Quell twist. "Sorry to hear that, Fonio…Johan?"

The old victor from Ten lets out a heavy sigh at this, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose as he forms his answer. When he finally looks at Seraphim, his eyes are heavy from all of this. "I've seen two Quarter Quells in my life. I'm hoping that will help me be a better mentor…but with this twist? I don't know how much help I can be. The Fifth Quarter Quell didn't really change up our mentoring style since they just couldn't volunteer – not that we have very many of those in Ten. The Fourth Quarter Quell," Johan shakes his head at this, a brief glimpse of fear passing over his face before he continues, "I'm just glad I wasn't a mentor then."

Johan looks around, taking the time to look at each victor. "This year it will be myself and Pigmy, as usual. And I think everyone should have someone mentor who has at least lived through the Fifth Quarter Quell. Those around then know what tricks Lisia Arune pulled…" His gaze finally makes its way to Seraphim and he gives a small shrug at the Head Gamemaker. "And maybe we can better anticipate whatever tricks you'll pull."

"I hope not," Seraphim answers without thinking, really hoping that no one is going to guess the arena twist he has in place. When a couple of them send glares his way, he grimaces and quickly tries to turn the attention back to the victors. "Pinova?"

The youngest victor here – but no longer the youngest out of all of them, thanks to Clark's victory last year – stares down at the table with tears filling her eyes. "This has just made me realize how unprepared Eleven is." She picks up her head to look over at Johan next to her, and the man puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're right that everyone should have a mentor who won before the last Quell. But that's hard for Eleven to do. Kanzi refuses to let Garia mentor again and…I'm with her. Garia had to be alone for too many years. She deserves it, even if Kanzi and I might be at a disadvantage compared to the rest of you."

Pinova falls quiet and Seraphim looks around at the others to see how they feel about this. Some don't really see to upset, particularly the career women. A few look saddened, but still, they don't speak up to help. Not when helping Pinova means taking away from their District's chance of victory. So Seraphim turns his attention back to Pinova and smiles at her, "Do you have any question about the Quell twist that I can answer now?"

"I…" Pinova hesitates, trying to figure out her question to Seraphim. "I guess…how are you picking who loses which sense?"

"As I mentioned before, it's going to be a random process," Seraphim says and pauses when he notices a majority of the victors all start paying closer attention at that. "To make sure it's fair and there aren't any imbalance in the senses – like say, all the careers being blinded or all outer District tributes losing their hearing – we will check afterwards and make small changes. And each sense will have as close to an even distribution as you can get splitting up 22 tributes into five groups."

Seraphim looks around at the victors after this, waiting to see if there will be any other comments or complaints from them. To his surprise, they're staying quiet, seemingly having all the answers they want from him right now. "If there aren't any additional questions…well, thank you all for taking the time to come out to the Capitol for this. I want to reassure you again that we're being as fair as possible with selecting the senses lost and the victor will regain full control. And…I've been working on this for a long time now. I'm really looking forward to see what happens in this Quarter Quell." Quite a few faces show that they're not in agreement about this, but what can he do? "Well, this meeting is adjourned then."

Serephim watches the victors carefully as they start standing up, almost waiting to see if some of them are going to start throwing punches. But slowly they start to leave, in similar groups as they arrived, the first one to slip out being Glen, and the last one as stubborn Fonio who turns back to wink at Seraphim. "Any chance I can get some arena information out of you later tonight?"

"Go!" Seraphim lets out an exasperated sigh as Fonio just laughs at him, throwing a flirty smile in his direction before finally leaving. When the room is cleared of victors, Seraphim lets out a heavy sigh of exhaustion. The last few months of planning have started to take its toll on him, regardless of if this is his greatest accomplishment. "Well that went better than I expected."

"Yeah," Laelia says quietly in agreement and Seraphim glances over to see her nodding her head. "No real arguments."

"And I didn't get thrown onto a table," Seraphim chuckles when he sees Laelia's reaction to this. He stands up, giving a small wave to brush off the topic. "That's a story for when this craziness is over. For now, can you come with me? I have something to ask you."

Alright, so maybe this ended up way longer than I intended. But what can I say, I love my victors and Seraphim. Plus, this was like the greatest hits of my mentors across my other stories. So there's our first sneak peek at who will be mentoring this year! And we also have some (but not all) questions answered about the Quell. Next chapter we're going to see some more information regarding how the senses are going to be lost!

So who was your favorite mentor in this section? And any guesses on what Seraphim is going to ask Laelia to do?

Submissions are still open for another two weeks! I'll be closing the submission form on July 15th so then I have a week to figure out which tributes are accepted! I just want to say a big thank you for how much love you've been showing this story so far. I have received so many submissions in just a week since this story went up and I feel very honored by how many people have submitted. I'm going to do my very best to get as many people involved in the story as possible! Right now, the male tributes could definitely use some love. And I'll be accepting two submissions per person for now, this may change as we get closer, depending on how many submissions there are around this time next week!

Once again, thank you so much for the love you're showing this story! Oh not sure if I mentioned it last time, but I'm doing the sponsor point system again like I did with Overlooked! You can receive points for reviewing, favoriting, and/or following any of the following stories: Senseless, Overlooked, Wayward, Hysteria, and the two Fifth Quarter Quell stories. Trust me, you're going to want the points ;)

Alrighty, I'll see you July 8th for the next prologue and then on July 22nd the final prologue and tribute list will go up!