On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt

President Snow

District11-Olive

"The panel is waiting for you, sir."

"Thank you, Vivian," I say, once again dismissing my distressed-looking assistant. This must be the third time now that she has knocked on my study door in the past twenty minutes. Surely she must understand that I am all too aware of the anxious panel of Gamemakers waiting for me in the great room. I understand to every degree that I asked them here at precisely noon hours. I also understand that I am the President and I am allowed to disregard their waiting entirely should it benefit my own means.

With another one of her solemn nods, the door closes slowly behind her and I am left once again to my own indecisiveness. It is only a few months before the start of the Fourth Quarter Quell that marks a century of Hunger Games, and I have realized that it is indeed past time for me to have chosen my next Head Gamemaker. I have known that the choice would be necessary since just a few days after the end of the last Hunger Games, but the choice seemed insignificant and far away in comparison to the mourning I had to face.

It is true that due to the nature of the job, Head Gamemakers never simply retire. It is a job that is sealed in death, and it just so happened that my last Head Gamemaker, Damus Lavine, chose to seal it himself just four days after the end of the 99th Hunger Games. He was found in the control room having had injected himself with a lethal dose of tracker jacker toxin.

While it is true that Head Gamemakers are almost always very short lived in their careers, I had held onto Damus since the 87th Hunger Games when I made the not so difficult choice to end Hetta Mavic's two year run. He gave Panem some of the best years of the Hunger Games that it has ever seen, with brilliance stemming from his beautiful arena designs to his amazing incorporation of mental stimulation into the very physical demands the arena places on the tributes.

He was a true master of the art, destined to be the longest running Head Gamemaker in just four short years. Not only that, though, but we became like long lost brothers of sorts. We had a twisted sort of understanding, like a family that discussed the benefits of targeted bombings over dinner instead of the day's events. But we were an odd sort of close nonetheless.

I have done my best not to dwell on the fact that I did not see his suicide coming, because the truth is that no matter our closeness I am still the President and I must do what is needed to keep the nation running no matter what I am feeling. Sometimes late at night I allow myself to consider what Damus and I would be cooking up for the Quarter Quell had he graced Panem with his presence for another year, but not right now. Right now I have to choose his successor, I have taken far too long to make this decision. If I take too much longer they will not have the proper amount of time to prepare an exciting Quarter Quell.

There are three candidates I have handpicked out of last year's panel of Gamemakers, none of which I consider truly worthy of the position. Oh how much easier it would have been to simply leave the grunt work up to Damus, but now the success of the Quarter Quell is riding on this decision. Who can do the job and give Panem the wonderful anniversary of the Hunger Games that it deserves?

I stand from my desk as a thought crosses my mind. I don't believe it has even been done before, and certainly not within my reign as president, but it may just be the crazy idea that I need to light a fire beneath these three candidates. This year none of them are ready for the responsibilities of being the Head Gamemaker, but next year one of them will be... with a test run.

Three Head Gamemakers. That means three times the ideas, three times the competition to produce the greatest arena elements, and another year for me to choose Damus' true successor.

Roan Marisco, Male, Gamemaker

District11-Olive

I look at the fax in my hand again and the shaking excitement returns. Last night seemed like nothing but a distant fantasy, a dream even. Waiting for over an hour for President Snow to begin the second meeting about the Fourth Quarter Quell. His assistant, whose name I always forget, running in and out of the room to follow orders from both her boss and the senior Gamemakers. The sound of the coffeemaker and the strong smell of burnt coffee grounds the only company we all have even amongst each other.

Last night was a waking nightmare in itself. Every night I am required to spend in the company of the other Gamemakers is always far more exhausting than it is exciting, even whilst working on the biggest Quarter Quell that Panem has ever had.

The best nights I remember having in my career as a Gamemaker were the late nights spent in muttation labs, working away to tweak the genetic makeup of a muttation that I knew would surely catch the eye of President Snow, not to mention the whole of Panem, in its debut. That is how I began as a Gamemaker, as most of us do, as nothing but another lab technician working every inch of my brain to its maximum exertion so that maybe next time it would be I who has created the muttations to feature in the arena.

If I had known where catching the attention of senior Gamemakers would lead me, I am unsure if I would have worked quite so hard to get to where I am now. The prestige of being a senior Gamemaker is countered only by the Head Gamemaker, but sitting in a room for hours on end to discuss nothing more than a trivial detail of something that has nothing to do with my area of specialty? That is something I never wished for, but we all make mistakes and I have learned to make the most of what mine have graced me with.

Beginning my work under Head Gamemaker Lavine at the tender age of twenty-three seemed like it would be the end of my promotion, but now just a year and a half later here I am- holding a fax from President Snow himself detailing the Fourth Quarter Quell. Head Gamemaker Marisco, I never thought there would be a day where I would see that printed at the top of a letter.

I smooth the paper out across my desk and let my eyes take it all in hungrily. Just when I am starting to believe that it was a mistake to move up this quickly in this career path. Just when I think that I might have enjoyed staying in the muttation lab for a few more years. This note tells me that everything I have worked to prove is worth it. I am going to be the Head Gamemaker.

This year there might be three of us, but the one that gives the best performance for the Quarter Quell is most certainly going to be myself. I have never been outdone in anything in my entire life, not in school, not in clubs, not in anything. And I am not about to start down that dark path now. No, I am going to be better than both of them. So what if I am the least experienced in gamemaking out of the three of us? That means absolutely nothing. Genius is born, not raised, and I have proved time and time again that in this field I am nothing short of a genius.

I scan down the rest of the page, all of it seeming rather formal to me. There is very basic guidelines for the arena that I remember discussing earlier this month at our first meeting. A small piece about the teams that have been put together, including two new additions to the head muttations team and one to the head of weaponry. All of it seems of little importance and I begin to lose interest after the first couple of headings. Then it catches my eye, the section simply titled "Quarter Quell."

"On the Fourth Quarter Quell, as a reminder to the rebels that it was through their own choices that the rebellion took place and many lives were lost, the choice will be given back to the Capitol. Citizens of the Capitol will vote on the districts that will send the most and least amount of tributes, as outlined below.

The three districts receiving the highest amount of votes will each offer up four tributes for the Quarter Quell.

The three districts receiving the second highest amount of votes will each offer up three tributes for the Quarter Quell.

The three districts receiving the third highest amount of votes will each offer up the usual two tributes for the Quarter Quell.

The three districts receiving the lowest amount of votes will each offer up only one tribute for the Quarter Quell."

I smile, it's brilliance that only a true genius could come up with. It is the perfect representation of the pain and suffering that the rebels chose to impose upon our great nation. For a moment I cannot help but feel proud that the Capitol was able to quell the rebellion and be still standing great and tall today. This year the Hunger Games is all about choices, in so many more ways beyond this twist.

A/N (Olive) : Hey guys, miss me? It's only been about three months or less since I left FF, but I'm back... and I'm doing another SYOT.

You guys can thank Fin (Call Me Fin) and Ace (Acereader55) for the convincing.

Anyways, this is the first chapter of our new SYOT which will be written by the three of us. A bit of the structure was given in Roan (My Gamemaker)'s POV, but I'll lay it out for you again here to keep things simple.

The number of tributes each district will send into the Hunger Games was determined by Capitol vote. The most popular districts send in more, the less popular send in less. Also means there will be thirty tributes total.

Districts One, Three, and Seven will each send in four tributes.

Districts Two, Four, and Eight will each send in three tributes.

Districts Five, Six, and Ten will each send in two tributes.

Districts Nine, Eleven, and Twelve will each send in one tribute.

For the districts sending in odd numbers of tributes, the last one will be of random gender (ie- District Two will send one girl, one boy, and one random; District Twelve will send in one tribute of random gender).

All industries and such are the same as canon.

No reservations will be accepted and all spots will remain open until the deadline. On the deadline we will choose the best tributes out of those received and post the second half of the prologue as well as the official tribute list and the link to the blog.

Deadline for Tributes- November 29th, 2014.

The tribute form is on my profile, and tributes should be sent to this account. We will be accepting a total of thirty tributes. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour! (I had to add that...).

Song- On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

It'd be really awesome to hear some reviews so I guess we'll put in some questions for you guys to answer along with a general review (which would be so awesome).

What do you think of the Quarter Quell?

Any comments on our first of three Head Gamemakers, Roan?

Thanks for reading and welcome to Iridescence!