come a little closer, my dear.
i don't think you heard us the first time,
and you'll be dying to know
what we have to say.

Eirene Luna

Head Gamemaker

THE CAPITOL

It wasn't reaping day if Eirene wasn't lounging in a comfortable chair, cocktail in hand, with Isidora at her side fretting more than she was about how this would play out for the Games. Every single tribute was an issue for her wife, every year, even those who Eirene was immediately excited about. But it was kind of endearing, the way she worried for Eirene's job as if the Hunger Games were worth bothering herself over. She had a brilliant Head Gamemaker, after all, and an entire country to concern herself with otherwise.

They usually watched the reapings in their mansion until around District Four, at which time Isidora would go off to do her presidential duties and rely on recaps and Eirene's descriptions later on to get caught up. She could just watch the reruns of the reapings later on, like most of the Capitol citizens who couldn't get out of working on reaping day did, but she always waved it off.

The District One reaping began with their Mayor Danilee and the escort, Miss Angeline. Eirene was very fond of her. She wasn't too overbearing like some of them, nor was she too drab like others. When Eirene thought of an escort, she thought of Miss Angeline, one of their finest in years. And she held great conversation at their parties, too.

Their first tribute was reaped and volunteered for quickly, and Eirene leaned forward in her seat to see who would be their District One girl. She was beautiful, as nearly all those who came from District One were. Blonde, wavy hair, but rather small. She didn't look like a lifetime of training had done much for her. Eirene wondered if she was supposed to be volunteering at all.

But she looked confident, announcing her name as Dazzle Carlton to the crowd. Something about the way she moved, the way she spoke—she knew who she was and what she was after. She would be fun to play with in the arena.

"Oh, does she look a little thin?" Isidora asked. "Not very Career-like—"

"She's perfect, Isi," Eirene told her, waving her off. She took another sip of her cocktail and sat back again. Things were off to a good start, if maybe a little unconventional. But unconventional was good. Unconventional could be played off of.

Oh, well, this is really a treat, Miss Angeline said in District One as she saw who was reaped. Eirene grinned in amusement. District One always managed to put their very best onstage before their even better volunteered. Very coincidental, that was. Hall Silversmith!

Oh. That really was a treat. Eirene had never met Hermes Silversmith, not caring much for fashion, but he was a big enough name that the Capitol knew him well, that many Capitolites preferred him to the fashion that was produced in their very home. She knew that Hermes and his boy had traveled to the Capitol before. Actually, she remembered the first time it was cleared by Isidora, when she came home from work saying that the nice fashion designer from One wanted to make a business visit. Now, it was something of a regular occurrence, to hear that Hermes was back in the Capitol doing another photo shoot and promotional trip with his son.

"I know he'll never volunteer, but wouldn't that be interesting?" Isidora said, looking over at Eirene. "Hermes Silversmith's son. The city would fawn over him."

Their attention was jerked back to the television when the sound of a bomb going off was sent through District One. Isidora was on her feet before Eirene could process what was going on, already leaving their lounging room. Eirene leaned forward in confusion, trying to see through the moving cameras what was happening. She could see fire behind the Justice Building, and the scrambling of the citizens to get out of the way. The camera was shut off and the screen automatically adjusted to the next angle, which was right in the thick of it. Peacekeepers were herding those on the stage into the Justice Building, but it seemed that part of the stage had been caught.

Then everything cut out, and she was on her feet to figure out what was happening.

Isidora's office was already crowded with people, and she heard Isidora and Joal Andaius above everyone else, the two of them arguing over what just happened. As Isidora insisted that it must have been some kind of accident, Andaius interrupted her with something about "rebels," and the room fell silent.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Luna, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," a guard at the door said. His partner was already shuffling the handful of other officials who weren't authorized for this kind of conversation out of the room.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she snapped. "That's my wife, and these are my Games."

She started to push past him, but he grabbed her arm and escorted her out personally. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp, but his grip was strong enough to leave bruises.

"Yeah, you're fired as fuck," she said, pointing at him. "Soon as Isidora is free. Pack your shit, buddy."

She stormed off and found a place to sit. This was her fucking house, and they were keeping her out of her wife's office. Fine, her position didn't give her clearance for government information, but surely her marriage to her wife did something! It wasn't like she didn't already know a good number of Panem secrets already, the same as her wife already knew plenty of secrets about these Games. They were not secretive partners.

It was an hour later that Isidora finally left the office. She stood up when she saw her walking by and fell in step. "What's going on?"

Isidora gave her a reassuring smile. "I've got it under control," she said, but her voice was tight. "I hear you took the liberty to fire the guard who kicked you out."

Eirene shrugged. "Well."

"How your temper never got in the way of your career will always be a mystery to me," Isidora said. She slipped her hand into Eirene's, fingers intertwining.

"My temper is what makes the Games interesting, dear," she reminded Isidora.

If the situation was right, she would bring up the year that annoying tribute from Six started pissing on the body of the boy from One that he had just killed, saying, "This one's for you, Mrs. President!" He had met a very grisly fate by mutt that night.

"Now tell me," she said, moving closer to her, her voice lower. "What's going on?"

Isidora looked over at her and shook her head. "I have to go, love. Let me know how the reapings go tonight."

Her wife dropped her hand and sped up, walking ahead of Eirene with her lips sealed.

Tan Nolan

Victor of the 81st Hunger Games

DISTRICT ONE

The victors were brought downstairs, to the bunker in the basement below the Justice Building. He had never known that this was here.

The Peacekeepers behind them were treating them like they weren't victors, but some common fuckers who needed protecting. The common fuckers were actually running around outside, causing more chaos if the gunshots he had heard when they were above ground were anything to go by. They shoved at Tan, urging him down the stairs quicker, and once they were down there, they left the three victors alone, the door above them shut.

It was nearly pitch dark down in this bunker, the only light coming from a flashlight that someone must have shoved in Cecil Kenneth's hands. And not a very good one at that. He waved it around, looking for a lightswitch, and eventually they found one over by the door. Tan walked up the stairs and flicked it on, and an ominous, yellowish glow filled the room.

"Well, this is almost worse than the flashlight," Magnus Whitechurch muttered.

The youngest of the four victors from District One, Magnus looked like he was about to faint from everything that was going on. He hadn't been alive at the time of the second rebellion. Granted, Tan had only been around eleven, but he still remembered Peacekeepers bursting into their homes the moment that District One turned over to the rebels' side. His family had always been loyalists, but no one was trusted when the Capitol's pets gave in.

"Who the hell is causing all this trouble?" Cecil said. He found something to sit on and let out a sigh, shaking his head. "What's the point in all this?"

"Chaos," Tan said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it should have been. That's all that these idiots wanted. They wished for chaos, pain, suffering. Those who knew shit about anything understood that the very first Hunger Games weren't the entertainment that they had come to be: they were punishment, and well-deserved from this kind of behavior.

"The Capitol institutes universities, travel requests, and they do this. What more do they want?" Cecil went on.

"Didn't they just announce they would help the drug situation in Six?" Magnus added.

"Exactly!" Cecil said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Oh, hell, no one is ever happy anymore. Where is Nicolette?"

The door above them opened, but Nicolette wasn't the one pushed down the stairs. This time it was Mayor Danilee, who looked back up at the Peacekeepers and shouted in his deep, all-encompassing voice, "What are you doing? I should be up there helping!"

The door slammed behind him.

He huffed and kicked the floor before he turned to see the others who were in the room. His eyes fell on all three of them before he spoke again. "Ah, so they rounded you up, too," he said. "Something isn't right."

"No offense, Mayor Danilee," Magnus said, leaning against the wall behind him, "but something other than the rebels bombing District One?"

"Aurum, where is Nicolette?" Tan asked. He and the mayor knew each other well enough—at least enough for them to be on a first-name basis. He, Cecil, and the mayor had had drinks together before. Nicolette had never been a fan of authority, which she strangely took out on people like the mayor, but not so much the big authority like in the Capitol. Tan supposed that was because Aurum was a forgiving guy who didn't much think about those who didn't like him in the district, whereas the Capitol could brand you a rebel for speaking ill of the president in such a public position as hers.

"They took her and the tributes out back," he said. "Put them in the car to go to the train."

"So they're really taking that boy?" Magnus burst out, stepping forward. "They're taking that scrawny twelve-year-old model into the Games?"

"I guess so," the mayor told them. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It makes sense. They need to get them out of One quickly. And we can't exactly turn the cameras back on for a volunteer."

"That's a fucking disgrace to District One," Magnus said, his voice full of outrage. He marched over to the stairs like he'd be able to burst down the door and replace the District One boy himself. "We can't just let him die out there like a regular tribute!"

"Do you think anyone wants that? Do you think anyone wants Hermes Silversmith's son in the Games? With all the shit he will cause over it?" Cecil snapped, stepping in. Magnus Whitechurch's attitude was not a favorite amongst the three older victors, and Nicolette complained to no end when she was mentoring him.

"I should be up there," the mayor said, his face contorted into a frown. He shook his head.

"They're just protecting us," Tan said, not thinking that it was significant that he was down there. Aurum Danilee was an important, beloved guy in District One. Of course he wouldn't be out there in the thick of everything that was going on.

"Us, and no one else?" he pointed out. "You think there's no one else influential or important in District One? Hell, Silversmith should be down here with us!"

"And if it really is so dangerous that Aurum has to be down here with us," Cecil said, seeming to come to the same conclusion as the mayor now, "why did they send the tributes and everyone else off to the train? When their car could be targeted?"

"Come to think of it, I didn't recognize any of those Peacekeepers," Mayor Danilee said. "They're wearing helmets, yeah, but I know the high-ranking Peacekeepers here."

Tan's face paled. There had been a man…

"They're targeting us," Magnus said, but before "us" was even out of his mouth, the door swung open again. No one was pushed down here this time. Instead, it was a Peacekeeper, walking slowly down the steps.

Violetta Bane

News Reporter

THE CAPITOL

Violetta had heard the news of District One—everyone had. Everyone had been watching the reapings as it occurred, and she had been waiting for permission to report on it all day long. Part of her felt that they would keep it a secret, that they would hide it. She was certain it was the rebels, after all, emerging after twenty-five years of hiding.

But when her script for that evening's news was given to her, she felt relieved to the core. It had been an accident from inside the Justice Building. The resulting chaos had occurred in response to the threat of rebels, with no casualties occurring from the gunfire. It had been confusion. She could understand that.

She read through the news to the Capitol, but as she got to the end, she couldn't keep a brief frown off her face. That was new, and— Oh, God.

"I'm getting word that there were some casualties from the explosion this morning in District One," she announced gravely. "Mayor Aurum Danilee and victors Cecil Kenneth, Tan Nolan, and Magnus Whitechurch were killed in the blast."

this one was so much fun! so here's a further look into what happened in district one at the end of hall & dazzle's reaping, and the subplot of the story.

a reminder: the chapter after this one is going to be natalia's reposted, which i'll probably do in a few hours, and chapter 2 is going to turn into a writing exercise when i do that.

so let me know what you thought! chapter question: did you see any of that coming? what do you think is uhhh Going On?