Clover Nguyen- District Eleven male (17)

I didn't even care about the Cornucopia. I needed to see our environment and how we could use it. Before I could even see the surface I noticed the slender leaves bending upwards and falling away as the platform pushed them up from below. It had to be an extremely thick sort of forest or jungle for the foliage to be that packed. Then, as the platform raised, I saw it was just grass.

Lana Mason- District Six female (17)

I swayed on the pedestal and crouched down to keep from falling off. A wave of nausea and dizziness had come over me as I tried to figure out how the Gamemakers had shrunk us. They must have- the grass around me went up to my thighs. Past the circle of platforms there was a tree that seemed to me like it was as tall as a skyscraper. In the middle of the platforms there was a tin can on its side. From my angle I could just make out the label- FRUIT COCKTAIL IN LIGHT SYRUP. Even with my nausea and panic I had to admit that was a little funny.

59, 58, 57…

Amberlynn Hyde- District Nine female (15)

Why do I have to be next to Kallik? Wait, she's like not very violent, right? She didn't even volunteer. She could definitely kill me, though. She's not really big, it's just I can tell she's strong. She got those wiry muscles.

Kallik looked over and I realized I'd been staring.

"I don't know what to do either," she said, shaking her head.

Oh good, we're all confused. Oh great, she's from some weird crazy outdoor land and she still doesn't know what to do.

47, 46, 45…

Tommy Jute- District Eight male (14)

I couldn't catch my breath. I kept panting harder and harder but I couldn't breathe. I was going to to faint and I'd fall off the platform and blow up-

I knelt down, the cool surface of the platform hard and reassuring against my palms. It doesn't feel like it, but I am breathing. I'm just panicking. Keep breathing and it will go away. Keep breathing and focus on the Arena. It's pretty cool, isn't it? When I was little I used to imagine being just an inch tall. I can climb on the grass and make boats out of acorns and have all sorts of adventures. Somewhere in there I found my breath.

43, 42, 41…

Persi Caraway- District Eleven female (15)

Clover circled a flat hand in the air and made the sign language symbols for l-i.

I shook my head. The lilac stand on the edge of the garden was tempting. Its thick foliage would let us make a base high in the air and we might be able to steal food from the garden. The Careers would be expecting it, though.

There was a tree to the north of the Cornucopia. It had a vine wrapped around it that looked like it might be grapes. I wasn't certain a person could hydrate off only juice but I thought it would be possible for a while. I made the same circling hand gesture, a letter t in sign language, and then made an okay sign with my middle finger included. Rally south tree. We'd thought about shifting all the ASL letters one over in case the Careers somehow knew it as well, but Enzo, who was currently staring at a lighter on a Cornucopia table and drumming his fingers on his pants, had come up with something far simpler.

"Just reverse all the direction signs."

38, 37, 36…

Shep Howard- District Ten male (17)

Anywhere I went I could easily keep myself alive. There was a patch of dandelions a few hundred feet to my left. Greens and dew would be all I needed. There was clover scattered through the entire Arena from what I could see. I wouldn't even have to look for the less well-known edible plants, though I could already see a stand of yucca at the base of the giant oak tree to the Cornucopia's west. There was no reason to go into the Bloodbath at all.

30, 29, 28…

Robbie Emmers- District Nine male (18)

Rowena was right next to me. We shared a worried look and then searched for the others. There was Josie, four platforms past Rowena. Ai was another two platforms past Josie, looking eerily serene. Yarrow was off by herself, which seemed somehow fitting. She was eight platforms to my left, glaring at the timer above the tin can Cornucopia. All five of us were safe. We were going to stay that way.

20, 19, 18…

Val Vella- District Two male (18)

It wasn't like I looked like an absolute weirdo standing with my back to the Cornucopia. Funny story, I'd actually never had a seizure triggered by flashing lights. We weren't sure if it was because I wasn't photosensitive or because I'd been diagnosed and medicated so early. Even with modern medicine it still wasn't smart to test possible seizure triggers. I liked to describe a seizure as your brain being a circuit board and someone grabbed all the little switches and threw them at once. Maybe the board wouldn't be totally fried, maybe not. So I didn't know if I would have been safe looking at the countdown clock. I just knew I looked really stupid.

11, 10, 9…

Birdie Saguaro- District Five female

A lot of people were about to die. People thought I cared about animals more than I cared about humans. No, I was more protective of animals than I was of humans, since humans could protect themselves better than animals could. I didn't want anything to die at all.

The sky was deep blue overhead. The grass around me was soft and swaying a little, sparkling like waves where the sun hit each blade. It was a beautiful world, and a lot of people were going to leave it.

90s gang rise up- who played Sim Ant? After an inordinate amount of very annoying math I finally landed on the Tributes being 4 inches tall for a scale of very roughly 1:15 of normal. The only exception is the grass, which I wanted to provide some cover but not be an endless green forest. All ye who would accuse me of an error in my math: yes, you are correct. I'm doing the math but I will tell you right now there WILL be errors. The scale will be as consistent as I can make it but it's not gonna be perfect