Phaedra Fox, 27
Head Gamemaker
This was my fourth year as Head Gamemaker and I had learned a lot. One of the key things was that the Gamemakers behaved terribly during the Private Sessions. They got bored, so then they started to drink, and by the time the outer district tributes were called in, none of them were sober enough to even recognize the tribute. I'd imposed a two-drink rule after Septimus vomited during the District 8 girl's session last year.
Drunkenness aside, evaluating tributes took a keen mind. Our job was to analyze their demonstrated abilities to predict their arena performance, while taking into account their age, personality, background, popularity, and more. Beyond that, we had to define our nuanced evaluations with a single number. It took a lot of delicacy and thought, and could dictate the course of the Games.
I wasn't very hopeful this year. Out of the six expected Career volunteers, there were two. District 1 had completely failed to replace their female volunteer after she was forced to step down and a girl from an ancient exchange program was Reaped instead. District 2's Reapings were rigged, though the Gamemaker team had no real reason to object to the situation. And the Reaped girl from 4 was the daughter of the mayor. My team was predicting a trainwreck.
I tapped my electronic pencil against the back of my ePad as my team found their seats in the balcony overlooking the room. As soon as the last person was present, I pressed the intercom button to summon Kendall Delancy of District 1.
Kendall had captured my attention the moment he volunteered. He had a rich family, good looks, a charming personality, and a sympathetic backstory. He was a classic Capitol favorite and I predicted that he would do well.
The blonde boy picked up a crossbow and loaded it quickly. He fell into the proper stance and shot bolt after bolt at the row of dummies against the far wall. He was able to reload his weapon quickly and hit every dummy in a vital place. Then he ran on the track until his time was up. I jotted down a few notes before calling Kallik into the room.
We'd had to do some background research on Kallik. She was a part of a program known as NPIP; the Non-Panemian Integration Program. It was founded by President Snow's predecessor to absorb outlying cultures into Panemian society. Under the guise of Panemian union and equality, minority groups were pulled apart and scattered throughout the districts. It was a dying program, but cases still popped up here and there.
When Kallik entered, she turned to face us and nodded politely.
"Thank you for this opportunity," she said. Her voice was soft and almost inaudible, but the microphones around the room were able to pick it up.
"I can't show you what I would like to today," she continued. "The Training Center doesn't have any, so I would like to request a harpoon be put in the Cornucopia. I would really appreciate it."
She then demonstrated how to properly clean and cook several types of animals, sorted through the most common edible plants for several biomes, and finished her session by throwing spears. Her aim wasn't perfect, but she hit the target every time and had decent strength. I was seriously considering granting her request as she left the room.
The District 2 twins were a pair to keep an eye on. The Vella family had rebel ties, though the matriarch and patriarch had been executed. Valerius was the one who inherited the family fortune and his reputation was all over the place.
When he walked in, he looked up at us with a smug expression, but his shoulders were hunched and I could see dark circles under his eyes. He picked up a large dagger and called for a trainer to spar with. But as Valerius approached him, he staggered, stumbled, and then collapsed.
The trainer jumped back in shock as Valerius's body began to seize up and shake. I leapt to my feet and shouted.
"Call a doctor!"
The hand-to-hand trainer sprinted over and dropped to her knees next to Valerius. She rolled him onto his side, slipped a hand under his head, and began gently speaking to him. The wide-eyed sparring trainer called up to us to let us know he was having a seizure.
About a minute later the medical staff arrived. They all gathered around the fallen boy while I waited with my jaw clenched. If something bad happened to him, it would be a disaster.
But eventually they helped Valerius sit up and gave him some water. When he was deemed stable enough to stand, the medical team escorted him to the elevator. I whipped around to face my team.
"He was given seizure medication, wasn't he?" I asked coldly.
"Yes," an older Gamemaker named Lorna said. "As soon as he arrived we gave it to Vivi, along with very clear instructions."
"Set up a meeting with Vivi Garcia for as soon as the sessions are over," I snapped to Dexter, my assistant. He nodded and began typing furiously.
"Also, look into the hand-to-hand trainer's contract," I added. "I want to know what her pay is."
After things had settled down and Dexter had received word from the medical team that Valerius was stable, his twin sister Octavia was called into the room.
Octavia's husband was the reason she and her brother were on our tribute roster this year. Our team in District 2 quickly found out that he'd paid off the volunteers and got his wife and brother-in-law's names into the Reaping bowl. But as Head Gamemaker, it was my job to make sure the 69th Hunger Games ran smoothly. Any political or legal issues would be left to the Peacekeepers. Cassius Jacobs's quarrel with his wife was not my concern.
But Octavia was.
She was a clever and ruthless young woman who I truly believed stood a chance at victory. She carried herself with confidence and seemed undeterred by any challenge she faced.
Like her twin, she selected a dagger as a weapon. But her blade was much more discreet. She carried it over to the tables covered in various plants and quickly began picking out the ones that were the most poisonous. Afterwards, she mimed coating the dagger in poison. Then she finished off her session by identifying several poisonous and venomous animals, and demonstrating how to extract their toxins. She was going to be an intriguing tribute for both the Gamemakers and the Capitol audience to watch.
The next tribute to be called in was Ai Latier, the adopted son of Beetee Latier; District 3's most well-known Victor. Ai would be another exciting tribute for this years' Games and audience.
His eyes were dark with focus as he picked up a belt of throwing knives and turned to the targets. He made his way down the line, throwing a knife into each one with impressive strength for someone his age. His aim wasn't as good as Kendall's, but he would have significantly wounded all of his targets, had they been tributes. Then he ran on the track for the rest of his session and ended up with a very good time.
When Yarrow was called, she entered the room quickly and quietly. She immediately went over to the table of less common weapons and picked up a blowgun and a package of darts. Then she ducked behind the table and blew several darts into the side of a dummy's neck.
She continued moving around the room, hiding behind tables or racks and peppering the dummies with needle-like darts. When she ran out, she set everything down and began to explain how she would poison the darts first. She named several uncommon but lethal poisons before her time ran out.
Dorian was the other proper volunteer and I knew many of my female coworkers were rooting for him. He was a handsome specimen, but from what I'd seen and heard, he wasn't very interesting intellectually.
Still, he was a skilled fighter. He wielded a longsword with grace and confidence and easily beat our most advanced trainer. Then he spent the rest of his time using the training gauntlet to perform impressive gymnastics tricks.
Alara Banks was summoned next. She was the daughter of Mayor Marina Banks, who was appointed to her position less than a year ago. Like her mother, Alara carried herself with confidence.
"Hello," she said, nodding politely to each of us. "I can see how my presence might be surprising, but I ask that you don't count me out. I am going to go above and beyond to win." Then she flashed us a grin and unzipped her training jacket to reveal a bathing suit.
There was a small pool at the back of the training gym, but it was sectioned off by sliding doors. Dexter gave a trainer permission to open them and Alara dove elegantly into the water. She swam like only a person raised in District 4 could, and was beaming when her timer went off and she was handed a towel. I had a feeling her charisma would help her just as much as her connections would.
After making sure the water was mopped up and no one had snuck in any drinks I had Dexter call for Trydan Briod. He came in with a furrowed brow and didn't even bother looking our way before beginning to pull together a shelter.
He struggled a bit with securing the logs he used. It seemed like his missing fingers were getting in the way of him lashing the wooden posts of his shelter together. But he worked calmly and patiently, showing no signs of frustration. He finished his first shelter with about a minute to spare and began to work on another that would suit a completely different terrain. His timer buzzed long before he finished, but his vision was clear.
When Birdie, the vegan girl from 5, came in I immediately sensed a dip in focus from my team. No one thought she'd get very far, but this year's arena could be in her favor.
Birdie went straight to the station dedicated to plants of all kinds and began to speed through the quiz. She did a desert terrain first before acing forest and jungle. Then she talked about medicinal plants until her time was up.
Trayne was the Capitol favorite out of the outliers and the mood in the Gamemaker's balcony lifted when he was called inside. He was grinning, and gave us a friendly two-fingered salute before choosing a quarterstaff off of the rack and calling for a trainer to spar with.
The two men faced each other on the training mat, sizing each other up. Trayne was the one to strike first, but his opponent blocked the blow with his own staff. The fight continued, with both Trayne and the trainer landing several hits. The man finally struck Trayne in the side of his knee, taking him down, but as he fell, Trayne jabbed his staff up and slammed it into the trainer's nose. Blood began to trickle down his face as he dropped his weapon and touched his crooked nose gingerly.
"Sorry man," Trayne said, getting up and smiling sheepishly. "Unlucky hit, I guess. Or lucky, depending on how you look at it." He hovered awkwardly as another trainer helped the man stem the flow of blood, and looked relieved when his timer buzzed.
Tributes with criminal records weren't unheard of, but none had won. A thorough background check was run, and most of them had charges that weren't befitting of a Victor. But Alley was a potential exception. Her crime was not rebellious and her story could be spun into something sympathetic to please the Capitol audience.
When Alley came in, she immediately requested the highest level trainer we had. They faced off on the black mats, and Alley threw the first punch. The trainer deflected it easily but Alley was undeterred. The two women held nothing back, and Alley ended up getting the snot thoroughly beaten out of her. But she held her own, which I had to respect.
Cactus was called in next and he went straight to the edible plants table and started the quiz. His fingers flew across the screen as he easily identified plants I'd never even heard of. He was still going when his timer buzzed and he left with a heavy frown on his face. His performance wasn't surprising, given that his father was a botanist, but I had been hoping to see more from him.
We summoned Rowena next and she looked just as grumpy as her district partner. She marched over to the table covered in leaves and berries and sorted out a few common edible plants. In an arena similar to District 7, she would have been able to feed herself.
Next, she went over to the rack of axes and hatchets. She threw six smaller hatchets with surprising force and then spent the rest of her allotted time cutting into dummies with an axe. She was young, but she had spirit, and I was expecting a good show from her.
The pair from District 8 were the only unallied tributes this year. Tommy was one of the younger tributes and probably would have benefited from an alliance, but he was completely uninterested. He barely even spoke to anyone during training. But when he spent the entire ten minutes bashing dummies with a mace while sobbing, I understood why no one wanted him.
Taylor seemed grumpy when she was called into the room. She ignored us entirely, but the skill she chose to demonstrate made up for her rude behavior. She chose to demonstrate water filtration, which was something many tributes overlooked. Taylor made a filter with charcoal and then poured water between two plastic bottles, using a scrap of cloth, pebbles, and sand to clean it. For the last few minutes of her session, she threw javelins.
The energy in the balcony was waning, but most of the women and several men perked up when Robbie was summoned. He flashed us a friendly grin before stripping off his shirt and asking for a trainer to wrestle with. The men both fought well, but Robbie had no trouble gaining the upper hand and pinning his opponent.
As soon as the District 9 train arrived in the Capitol, I sent Dexter to speak with Destiny Aurald, their escort, about her involvement with Amberlynn. I prided myself on my ability to read people and I could tell that she knew the girl. Destiny admitted to attending a party alongside another escort that was hosted by the Mayor of District 9, but planned by Amberlynn. It seemed that young Ms. Hyde had a passion for party planning. She would be popular with the Capitol.
However, her performance was a bit lackluster. She made several snares and explained where she would set them as she worked. One of them turned out alright, but the one she made to trap a fellow tribute wasn't strong enough.
Shepard was called in next and he wasted no time in picking up a crossbow and taking aim at the targets. He wasn't bad, but he couldn't hold a candle to Kendall's performance. He emptied an entire quiver and then selected a sturdy club, which he used to smash up a dummy. He had no form, but his strength was impressive. Then, for the last few minutes, he explained several different methods for tracking animals.
Virgo was a veterinarian, so I wasn't surprised when she demonstrated her first-aid knowledge. She confidently stitched up a wound and set a bone, but then she used smears of red paint from the camouflage station to mark the deadliest places to injure someone.
Throughout the sessions Avoxes were serving us food and a tray of ice cream bowls was delivered just as Dexter called Clover inside. The dark-haired boy looked at us with disgust before stalking over to the mats and demanding a trainer to spar with. I watched him with interest, even waving away the Avox when he offered me dessert. Clover's fighting style was practiced and used techniques most commonly seen in muay thai. He beat his opponent, and spent the last few minutes of his session demonstrating his arnis skills.
It was interesting that an orphaned boy from District 11 knew such advanced fighting techniques. I scribbled down a quick note to boost his score. Clover was leading an alliance that was strong enough to rival the Careers and painting a target on his back would add fuel to that fire and inspire more drama for my Games.
Dexter summoned Persimmon next and she entered with a look of intense determination on her face. She worked through the plants quiz confidently, though not as quickly as Birdie or Cactus. But whenever she marked a plant as poisonous, she would turn to us and explain what the effects were. Despite her quiet voice and shy demeanor, I could tell she was going to be ruthless in the arena.
When Enzo was called in, I leaned forward in my seat. He intrigued me, so I watched him closely as he gathered several materials and dumped them in a pile in the center of the room. He started frantically combining things and then opened a box of matches and pulled one out. He told the trainers to move to the back corner of the room, lit his creation with the match, and then sprinted to join them. Seconds after he reached them, everything exploded.
We all flinched away, but only the sound and the heat reached us. There was fiery debris everywhere and the floor was scorched. Several dummies were on fire, as one was one of the wrestling mats. The trainers scrambled to grab fire extinguishers while I signaled to Dexter to end the session early.
It took a while to get the room cleaned up, but we were finally able to call Josie in. Everything still smelled smoky and the floor was blackened, but Josie didn't react to any of it. She started working on a bow drill, but wasn't able to produce a spark. She threw down the materials in frustration and stormed over to the rack of knives instead. She spent the remainder of her session throwing knives at the targets with little success and was fuming when the timer buzzed.
Various exclamations of relief escaped everyone and I turned to glare at them all.
"This is our job," I snapped. "If you can't behave like professionals for two hours then I suggest you start on your resignation papers. I expect to receive everyone's notes within the hour."
A chorus of sheepish apologies and acknowledgments followed, but I stalked past everyone and went straight to my office. After coordinating with Caesar's team about the broadcast tonight, I sorted through my and my colleagues' notes and finalized the list of training scores.
FINAL SCORES
KENDALL DELANCY: NINE [9]
KALLIK: SEVEN [7]
VALERIUS VELLA: ONE [1]
OCTAVIA JACOBS: SIX [6]
AI LATIER: EIGHT [8]
YARROW VENUS: SIX [6]
DORIAN SARGASSO: TEN [10]
ALARA BANKS: FIVE [5]
TRYDAN BRIOD: FIVE [5]
BIRDIE SEGUARO: FIVE [5]
TRAYNE TREADWELL-LANG: SEVEN [7]
ALLEY PARKER: FIVE [5]
CACTUS CLEO: FIVE [5]
ROWENA ASPEN: SIX [6]
TOMMY JUTE: FOUR [4]
TAYLOR TREADLE: FIVE [5]
ROBBIE EMMER: SEVEN [7]
AMBERLYNN HYDE: FOUR [4]
SHEPARD HOWARD: SEVEN [7]
VIRGO CHARLESTON: SIX [6]
CLOVER NGUYEN: EIGHT [8]
PERSIMMON CARAWAY: FIVE [5]
ENZO CHARMONT: EIGHT [8]
JOSIE STONE: TWO [2]
These Games were going to be a show unlike any other.
Wow! This chapter was LONG! I'm so sorry for the slog of a read this probably was. I got a bit carried away... and I am now concerned about the interviews. But regardless, I hope you somewhat enjoyed this chapter and that you agree with the scores. I feel bad for screwing Val like that, but I realized I hadn't included anything about his epilepsy yet. He's going to have the next POV though, so he'll get some more attention. And we only have three chapters left until the bloodbath! Interview Prep will be up next, and that one actually WILL be shorter. Also, please go vote in the poll on my profile and check out DreamsofClatniss's Chaos Reigns story because it's a Survivor Games and she needs voters!
As always, please leave a review if you can, and thanks for reading!
QUESTIONS
1) Which score surprised you the most?
2) Who do you think the Capitol's favorite tribute is?
3) Do you have any bloodbath predictions?
4) What skill(s) would you show the Gamemakers?
Have a nice day, be kind to each other, and never stop reading!
- Fiona