Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games plot, but the President, Arianna and Tobias belong to me and any tributes belong to the representative writer. *I have a list of the characters and who created them on my profile page

A/N: Thank you for reading and supporting this story Apologies for a chapter that is lacking in dialogue

*Should you be unhappy about any way in which your character has been portrayed, or something that they do, then PM me in our chat thread and hopefully I'll be able to sort it out

Chapter 18

Fox looked at the list of tributes that he was yet to see. He had avoided receiving information on the tributes so that he could examine their training with a clear mind. No pre-conceptions of the tributes and all that. Glancing at the names, he did wonder which ones would be stronger and far more superior to the weaker tributes.

Rowena Herran, Salvador Cortez, Cotton Spool, Stitch Arbor, Rae Maichelen, Richard Anderson, Tierza Mae, Ness Liltie, Marigold Alderman, Donovan Freeman, Amaya Ito and Liam Night were all tributes he was yet to see and the previous night's lack of sleep was certainly now taking its toll on the chief gamesmaker.

"My name is Rowena Herran and I am here to show my archery skills." A girl of average height stood firmly below the viewing platform, looking back and forth among the other gamemakers.

Her mind began to race and she accepted the adrenaline as she aimed the arrow. Pulling back, she kept her elbow point more upwards than downwards. This helped to keep steady and ready for the shot. The rush of releasing an arrow was a feeling that Rowena had always loved ever since she had picked up a bow and arrow. Then you could watch the arrow whistle through the air to hit the target with a thump if it was strong enough.

Rowena Herran – archer – relatively accurate, average.

After Rowena left, it was up to Salvador to make a good impression for district seven. He was a quiet soul who keep to himself – barely even talking to the other tributes, including Rowena. The guy was built up a little bit and had some muscle to him which would certainly be an advantage in the arena.

In the middle of the room, was the rack of axes which made Fox lean forwards because it was the knives or a bow and arrow.

Salvador channelled his work life. His job back home, keeping that arm relaxed when he lifted the axe up and off the rack. He was transported back home to his hard labour and closed his eyes to imagine him standing back in district seven.

Then he let loose and swung the axe around, chopping at the group of mannequins. He grunted and screamed as he let the anger out.

Fox smiled, feeling as though this might have been a strong contender and was surprised that he thought this about a boy from district seven.

Salvador Cortex – axe – strong and calibrated attacks.

When Salvador was gone, the gamemakers exchanged some positive reactions about Salvador whose name meant saviour. Was he the saviour of district seven that was going to win this year's game? It was certainly unusual for the seventh district to have a victor.

Now for district eight, it was one of the younger tributes' turn. Her name was Cotton Spool and she was the talk of the Capitol, but they were laughing at the expense of her name. Who in their right mind would call their daughter Cotton Spool? She was a girl who lacked motivation to live, apart from the fear of death itself. As she walked across the room, she felt even smaller than the smallest child in the class. At just thirteen and well under five foot tall, she was not exactly an obvious victor, but she had always had to fight for what she needed. Instead of picking a single station, Cotton had chosen the survival station so that she could be left with a bunch of various resources of which she hoped to fashion a slingshot out of. There was the perfect bit of wood and vines that helped her to fashion a working slingshot, much to Fox's surprise.

Cotton Spool – resources and survival skills – fashioned a slingshot out of twigs and vines.

Cotton left the room with a slight smile on her face, feeling as though she had done her mentor proud.

The same could not be said for Stitch as he let the pressure get to him and he fumbled with his spear throws so much so to the point that Fox didn't even want to jot down his comment like he had done for the other tributes.

After a let down from Stitch Abor, it was down to fourteen year old Rae Maichelen to pick up the pieces and impress the gamemakers.

She tightened her ponytail on the way, hoping that it would make her look that little bit more presentable.

Without even acknowledging the panel that were watching her, Rae quickly rushed her way through creating a snare. The mentor of district nine had encouraged the two young tributes of district nine to show that you don't care that you are being watched or that it will affect you.

Rae was prepared to set off the trap and took a large roll of bark which she wrapped one of her socks around. She prepared herself to release the catch. It snapped quicker than she thought, but the trap was sloppy and had it been an animal that was caught then it would have escaped.

She just hoped that Fox and his team would not be able to inspect the trap in detail as she bowed before leaving the room.

Rae Maichelen – snares and traps – fast moving but average execution

Switching places with Rae was Richard Anderson, who was the youngest of all the tributes. He was strong willed because he didn't like being underestimated. Fortunately, people believed that Richard was older because he was much taller than the average twelve year old boy. It was his first time in the reaping bowl and he had no idea what to expect because his parents had prohibited him and his older siblings from watching the games.

He strode up to the traps station and started to create a snare. It would normally be unusual for tributes from the same district to use the same station to show off their skills, but they were both keen and gifted.

As the youngster looked at what he had laid out for him at the station and knew he could make one that you would make to catch a rabbit in. Richard's father had taught him how to create this and it would be the perfect tribute to his father. Once the snare was made, he realised that he had nothing to set off the trap. He looked about helplessly, hoping to find something incredibly quick in order to keep the attention of the gamemakers.

Thinking off the cuff, Richard ripped his shoe off and ignored the pain as it scraped past his heel and his ankle. He gently dropped it onto the catch on the trap.

There was a moment of a delay before it went off, trapping the shoe in its loop.

He tried to hold back the celebration, but couldn't resist. Fox picked up on the celebration and made an interesting interpretation of it.

Richard Anderson – survival skills, trap setting – resourceful but lacks confidence in his abilities

The next tribute was Tierza Mae, the blind girl who had asked for Arianna Phoenix to take her life so that she didn't have to compete. Fox wondered if he should properly watch the blind girl – after all, she was blind and wasn't going to stand much chance in the Arena. Maybe it would be fun to play with her, he thought to himself, wandering over to the food table that had been laid out for him and his team.

Tierza walked towards the centre of the room where the knives had been displayed on the rack. It was a different rack that was more like a knife holder that you would find in a kitchen and had been made purely for Tierza's benefit so that she didn't cut herself in the training process. The panel decided that in the arena, there would be no special handicaps for Tierza, only at the training phase.

She reached out for the knife holder, running her fingers along the handles of each one. Tierza just randomly stopped at one of them, tightening her grip as she pulled it out.

Fox watched the girl turn towards where there was a mannequin and wondered if she would be able to do any damage.

"Here goes," Tierza whispered slowly, preparing herself to do something. "Make them feel bad about underestimating you."

She took up a fencing stance – her mentor had put the idea in her head to study fencing. Apparently it would help with her speed, agility and reaction time. With a few jabs, slashes and turns, Tierza landed a couple of weak strikes. There were times where she missed an either fell into the mannequin or nearly fell to the floor.

At the end of her display, she slammed the knife down onto the shoulder of the mannequin and then froze to listen, breathing uneasily.

Fox clapped slowly, knowing that the tribute was unaware of what way to walk. He wondered if she had kept a mental image of what the room might be like and be able to judge where the door was.

Tierza Mae – knife… - blind but promising… bloodbath?

An Avox girl came in slowly and took Tierza's elbow to lead her out. The girl with hair the colour of a blazing fire kept her head down as they walked out.

Before the door had even shut, Ness walked in boldly. He had pale skin and short brown hair that he had slicked back purely for the training session.

Ness' training session was showing off his ability to prepare animals ready to be eaten after being cooked over a fire. He had the most fun gutting the fire and throwing its insides down in front of the metal table he was preparing the fish and animals on. From a young age, Ness' family had thrown him in at the deep end and forced him to do things he didn't want to do, like kill a rabbit, so that he was prepared for the worst scenario of the Hunger Games.

Ness Liltie – survival skills, animals – ruthless and skilled.

Next to walk through the door was Marigold Alderman who was one of the older tributes at eighteen years old. Part of her wished that she could have been born a little bit earlier so that she would have been nineteen on the day of the reaping.

She was a tall, slender girl who looked like she would fit in perfectly with the population of the Capitol. Marigold had wavy black hair that was tied up in a thick ponytail that was secured high up on her head. It flicked from side to side as she walked towards the centre of the room under the watchful eye of the gamemaker team.

Whilst Fox was intrigued by Marigold, he wasn't happy to find that she was turning to the knife throwing station.

Her throws were concise, and mainly hit areas of the body that might cause some significant damage – admittedly not killing throws, but ones that would cause severe issues for the prey of Marigold.

Marigold Alderman – knives – sadistic like throws, likely to secure good sponsorships.

Wondering what time it was, Fox couldn't help but check his watch in the hope that it might make time go quicker. His relationship with Thalia Siren was reaching a breaking point and now that their son Paris was becoming more aware of what was going on around him and how some members of Panem would target him if they got the chance to.

In his distraction, Fox had zoned out and missed sixteen year old Donovan Freeman's training section, but the others who were watching seemed to be impressed by the young boy's performance.

Donovan Freeman – archery? – impressive

"Only two more tributes to go…" Fox mumbled to himself.

The first was Amaya Ito and the second was Liam Night. As tributes from district twelve, there was very little they could do that would impress the panel, but Fox still gave them a moment's notice.

Amaya Ito was resourceful and confused her watchers as they couldn't work out what the youngster was doing. She tossed her dark curled hair over her shoulder as she leant over the work surface that had been supplied.

She lifted her newly crafted toy up to her mouth and blew sharply into it. A pine like needle shot out through the air and struck the spare mannequin's neck. Fox squinted to see a dark purple, berry coloured liquid dripped down the mannequin.

"Interesting…" Fox whispered, listening to the curious murmurs from the group with one or two of them clapping slowly, edging on sarcastic.

Amaya Ito – resources – create her own blow dart gun, knowledge of poisons. One to watch?

Liam Night also showed off with some trick shots with a bow and arrow that surprised the panel slightly as his scruffy appearance and shaking seemed out of place.

Liam Night – archery – show off, sponsors?

Leo Fox smiled slyly as he made his way back to the penthouse he shared with his wife and son. Disappearing into his private office, he looked at the list of tributes and the notes beside them, wondering how he and the other gamemakers would rank the children. There were clear winners and clearly losers, but a lot of average tributes.

Who would place where and what would they be scored?

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = I am so sorry that it has been so long since I uploaded a chapter, but I hope you manage to catch up and don't mind that the pace is slightly slower that normal!