Welcome to the 12th Hunger Games!

The theatrical release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has fully brought me back into my Hunger Games obsession, so what better way to celebrate that then by starting up an SYOT? I was a very active member of the Hunger Games community back in the day, so this is not my first time writing one of these, but it's definitely been awhile, so stay with me as I get back into the swing of things!

I'm super excited and motivated to get this started. As you may have guessed, although this is a Submit Your Own Tribute story, meaning the focus will mostly be on the tributes you all submit, I will still be continuing the story of many characters from canon, such as Snow, Gaul, and Tigris, and my personal interpretation of where their stories might have gone. This opening will essentially set up those plot lines.

Information on submitting tributes will be at the end of this Chapter. Enjoy!

Coriolanus restlessly tapped his foot on the classroom floor, holding intense eye contact with the clock above the doorway, silently willing it to move faster.

The class he was in was the only class on his schedule not taught by Dr. Gaul, and as a result, bored him to no end. The aging man who taught the class, Dr. Cicero, seemed to no longer hold interest in the subject matter, so Coriolanus didn't see any reason as to why he should care either.

Besides, everything he needed to know was being taught to him by Dr. Gaul. Persuasion, Fear Tactics, Manipulation… there was no better person to teach him all of those things. And after all, that's what he would really need to know if he wanted to be President one day.

As his mind drifted to the now-elusive President Ravinstill, who was now nothing but a shell of his former self, the school bell finally rang, releasing Coriolanus from the dull shackles of the classroom.

While collecting his things, Coriolanus was approached by Remus Dolittle, his fellow gamemaker, who had popped into the room the moment the bell had rang. Remus had been useful enough to the Snow family in the past, but Coriolanus had felt lacked ambition. It was a shock to Coriolanus that Remus even put in the effort to seek him out.

Regardless, he did his best to put a friendly look on his face.

"I remember taking Dr. Cicero." Remus stated, keeping his voice down. "Could he make his lectures any more boring?

"I have no doubt he could find a way." Coriolanus said, feeling a tinge of annoyance. Although he didn't disagree on the matter, Remus's ability to draw issue with everything had always grated on Coriolanus. He already had enough of that from Livia Cardew, who was now his girlfriend. Kind of.

Hopefully he won't be very involved with the Games this year. Coriolanus thought to himself as he lead them out of the room. The wide hallways of university were mostly empty, as it was already pretty late in the day and most classes had finished.

"So may I ask why you wanted to talk?" asked Coriolanus as the two of them stepped outside into the warm, summer evening air. Coriolanus instinctively began to head toward the Citadel.

"Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to walk home together," Remus started. "My family still lives pretty close to you. But I'm gonna guess that you're headed to see Gaul first?"

Snow nodded. "Yeah, just wanted to check in with her and make sure everything is ready. The Reaping is two days away."

"Trust me, I know." Remus said as he stared at the ground sadly, lost in his thoughts. He seemed to forget Coriolanus was standing there for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Remus walked off without another word. Odd. Coriolanus thought. In the past year, Remus had never extended an invitation to do anything together, nor had he shown any signs of negative feelings toward the Games, aside from the fact that they required hard work and effort.

However, Remus was a puzzle Coriolanus didn't feel like solving right now, so he decided to not waste another second pondering what he was on about.

The walk to The Citadel felt surprisingly short as Coriolanus buzzed with nervousness and excitement. No matter how much time he spent with Dr. Gaul, the slight level of anxiety he constantly felt around her never seemed to go away. He'd seen what she was capable of doing to people, and even though Coriolanus knew he was of value to her, you could never know exactly what she was plotting.

As he climbed the steps of the impressive building, the excitement had mostly taken over. The Games were always an exciting time of the year, as it presented a whole new slew of opportunities for him. The Hunger Games gave him ways to shape the future of Panem, and with each element of the Games that he impacted, he could feel his position rising, slowly, but surely.

While there'd been many changes implemented during the events of the 10th Games, the 11th Games featured even more updates, most of which were Coriolanus's own ideas. No surprise there.

The 11th Games were the first to feature a brand new arena, with its only purpose to serve as the site of the Hunger Games. It had been a mostly aquatic arena, with rocky cliffs and beaches being the only source of land. Unsurprisingly, a girl from District Four, Mags Flanagan, had managed to win rather easily. Her impressive survival skills in the arena's oceans had made her relatively popular with the Capitol, fame that only doubled as she was the first victor to ever embark on a 'Victory Tour'. On the Tour, she visited all 12 Districts and honored their dead, and answered questions about her Games.

While most of the Districts didn't really care about her visit, her home District certainly did, as every citizen was gifted food in her honor, and she was also the first person to occupy the Victor's Village, a group of lavish mansions that had been erected in each of the Districts to house the Victors. The 10 winners before her also got the chance to move into these homes. Well, the ones they could find, that is.

The Capitol was also a huge fan of the Victory Tour, and whichever child managed to win this years Games would undoubtedly embark on their own. The tour had helped make the Games an even bigger spectacle; an event to look forward to.

Many in the Capitol had already begun speculating what the next arena would have to offer; information that heavily interested Coriolanus as well, but Dr. Gaul was keeping frustratingly secret. Him and Dr. Gaul rarely kept information from one another, a fact that only increased his annoyance.

Other changes that had impacted the Games was the construction of a Tribute Center; in it's current state, it was nothing special, little more than a building with an empty gymnasium and a room full of bunks for the tributes to sleep in. It was undoubtedly better than being dumped in the Capitol Zoo, at least.

The tributes also got fed twice a day. Nothing fancy, just bread and water, and occasionally something more, but they certainty did not get to indulge in the Capitol's finest. There was still too many Capitolites suffering from the war's impact to be throwing free food at District children, especially those that would mostly be dead within a few days.

The improvement in conditions certainly made for a bit more of an exciting Games. Having more tributes at their strongest meant more contenders to win, and at extension, made the betting a lot more interesting. Dr. Gaul was even toying with the idea of putting the gym to use by letting the tributes practice with weapons and basic survival skills during their brief stay in the Capitol.

The tributes were also all provided with identical outfits for the arena that would match the given environment. This was to promote fairness, as well as make them all look more suitable for the camera.

There was even a team assembled to make the outfits, as well as to make the tributes look more presentable in general. Coriolanus had managed to get Tigris a spot as one of these designers, which she was surprisingly hesitant about. Coriolanus could tell his cousin was happy to be properly employed, but her sympathy for the tributes hadn't gone unnoticed by him, despite Tigris not daring to vocalize it to anyone else.

An opinion she was right to keep to herself, as far as he was concerned.

Coriolanus's internal debate about Tigris's loyalties faded as he checked in at the front desk and made his way to Gaul. He navigated the series of hallways until he eventually heard the Head Gamemaker's unmistakable laughter and followed it's direction, to what was actually the control room, not the lab.

To no one's surprise, she was laughing mischievously to just herself, all of the other Gamemakers long gone for the day. Her laughter was cut off as Coriolanus's footfalls filled the room, signifying his presence. She didn't even spare him a look, her eyes focused on a dim hologram of what had to be the arena.

"There's my star pupil." Gaul remarked. "Come to get a sneak peak of this year's arena?"

Coriolanus wanted more than anything to see it, but he would be dead before he would dare come off as desperate. "I can assure you that's not my sole reason for coming. But I would love to admire your work, as always, Dr. Gaul."

Gaul chuckled lightly. "Oh Mr. Snow. You always know what to say." Even after years of dealing with her, Coriolanus still struggled to read her at times. Was she being sincere?

"You certainly know the way to a Head Gamemaker's heart." mused Dr. Gaul. She tapped a few buttons, showing a wider view of the domed arena. "Have yourself a look."

Coriolanus calmly joined her at the control panel, his eyes growing wide as he took in each intricate detail of the arena. Although it was just a model, he could already picture what it would look like on camera. He was amazed. "It's beautiful."

Dr. Gaul allowed herself a small smile. "I know it is, dear." The smile quickly fell off of her face. "But the only people who know what it looks like are the two of us, and those who had a hand in building the arena from the ground up." She said her words very slowly, making sure they sunk in. "I trust those individuals know better than to spoil any of my secrets, so I assume that I can count on you to keep this to yourself as well..." She trailed off for a moment before smiling once again, as if an idea just came to her. "or I will have no choice but to make Coriolanus Snow disappear as fast as he had vanished."

Coriolanus snapped out of the daze that the stunning arena had put it in, registering her words as a threat. It had been quite awhile since he had received one of them, but the thrill of fear he felt when the words exited her mouth took him back to his days at the Academy.

The fear quickly subsided, however. He was not the same, stupid schoolboy he was back then, and gone were the days of bailing that idiot Sejanus Plinth out of trouble. He knew he would never make a mistake again. He was supposed to be the Future President of Panem, after all. There was no time for that anymore.

So, he simply nodded and offered her a smile. "Of course, Dr. Gaul. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Gaul nodded and turned back to the arena model, and Coriolanus took this as his sign to leave.

As he walked out of the control room, Coriolanus couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He had a good feeling about this year's Games. Each one that passed took him one step closer to Presidency, and he couldn't wait to gain the power that he deserved.

No one would get in his way.

Snow lands on top.

I hope you liked this opening! I intentionally kept the arena's design ambiguous, as I want to save that for when the Games actually start. With this chapter, I simply wanted to make it clear what had changed in Snow's life, as well as in Panem as a whole, between The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the 12th Hunger Games. I'm going to do my absolute best to keep things as close to canon as possible, but obviously I will have to take some creative liberties at times.

With all that being said, it's time to get onto the SYOT part of all of this. I am super excited to be back in the SYOT community after a long time!

It's important to keep in mind that this is 12 years after the end of the Rebellion and only 2 years after the end of TBOSAS. So, keep that in mind when creating your tributes...aka no careers, tributes should have some clear memories of the war (depending on their age) etc... this is not the modern Panem from the original trilogy! If you have any questions regarding this, feel free to ask.

Here is the tribute form. I will also have it on my profile, as well as updates as to which spots are still open. I have no idea how many submissions I will recieve, but for now I'm putting everyone at a 2 tribute limit. If I struggle to fill some spots, then I'll allow more.

TRIBUTE SUBMISSION FORM:

REQUIRED:

Name:

Gender:

Age:

District (Provide a backup District, if applicable):

Appearance:

Backstory (Remember; this is 2 years post-TBOSAS):

Personality:

Notable Family/Friends:

Reaped or Volunteered?:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Open to Allies? (and if so, what kinds of people?):

Reaction to being in the Capitol:

OPTIONAL

Interview Angle:

Token from home?:

Any preference to their fate (Bloodbath victim, etc.):

Other:

That's all for the form. Let me know if you have any questions! Please only submit a tribute if you are going to do your best to keep up with the story! You don't need to review every chapter, but it would be nice to know periodically that people are still reading!

Anyways, that's all. See you soon with another prologue.