"Is the arena in order, Hector?"
"Yes, Ms. Fanta. Should we review now the sponsor lists? Party members are eager to get the official list, and the deadline is tomorrow."
"Absolutely." Florence Fanta smiled across the table to Hector, her orange hair scraped back in an intricate pattern of braids and bun for her public appearance slated for later that evening. Hector and Ara—who had essentially invited herself—sat in plush chairs in the small room. Ara was looking positively radiant, her hair glimmering a brilliant gold, reflecting her excitement. Papers scattered across the oak table, each Gamemaker having made notes for such an occasion.
"I shall be sponsoring one tribute," said Fanta, "a revelation I made after watching our tributes. The most promising, per se. I have allocated the other two tributes to Ms. Ursa here. A reminder you should be focussed on your own preferences, and should I hear of any outside people trying to smuggle their tribute preferences into your groupings, I will personally have you fired and sent to the worst Capitol prison I can."
There was a quiet chatter as pens shuffled across paper, biting and scratching lines and rewrites over and over again. It took until near evening for the four to set their things down and lie back. Victinius rubbed his eyes. "There is perhaps one person in this entire batch who I foresee as dangerous. Ms. Fanta, could we not have chosen a more exciting bunch? I've had to choose based on tribute score, is how headache-inducing this has been."
Florence sighed, but the murmur of agreement across the table clearly meant the others had been having a far more difficult time than herself. "Well, I've known who I wanted since we came in here. I've been reworking some of the arena as you have been moaning and groaning. Perhaps if you do not wish to be a part of the Gamemakers..."
"Oh no, Ms. Fanta! It's just, we've such an interesting bunch, but none appeal to our senses in the way we wanted. Anyways, my tributes," said Hector, "are indeed quite a clever bunch. I mean, Ms. Ecclestone certainly has her eyes set on something great, and Mr. Tolstoy seems very fascinating indeed. It's a shame those two tributes died already, though, as I'm sure I could've snatched one of them up. Nonetheless, though, no complaints; and for my final tribute I have chosen Ms. Valentine Oceanfall. Should that suffice?"
Florence thought a moment, placing her orange pen so it rested on her chin. "Yes, that should be quite acceptable. And you, Victinius? Surely you've found some tributes with some strength and brashness."
"Scarcely so, Ms. Fanta, but all seem to be capable enough. Indeed, Ms. Palentinius is the closest to a Career yet, and she seems quite suited to the job of the Games. I would've liked to snatch up Mr. Lapine, though, which I am not too happy about. Regardless Ms. Cavalry and Mr. Acres seem to suit just fine, even though Mr. Acres nearly gave me a disappointment by nearly missing (by a mere minute!) his entrance for training. And Ms. Cavalry seems to have promise, even though her beginning wasn't the strongest. I know, I know, the other One tribute is sure to have my head, but surely, Ms. Fanta, he and all those in his grouping can prove me and my predictions wrong. It is a very difficult choice, Ms. Fanta, I must say I changed the names several times."
"Sounds good, Victinius. And Ara, I'm nearly afraid to ask for yours." Florence looked over to the woman who was fiddling with her hair so that it turned to a bright yellow. She sighed, but Ara was quickly finished, and she perked up as she scrambled for her page, with two perfect names on them, without a blemish or a scratch made otherwise with her pen.
"Oh, it was very, very easy, Florence, I mean, Ms. Fanta! Hee hee. Anyways, so I'm going to choose Paige and Aspen. Aspen is such a pretty name, right, and she seems super unique and fun, and Paige seems super cool, I should give her a nickname! Delly...A page-a-dell...A page-a-dell sounds like it could be some sort of cool thing where you could call up someone who works as a dell, even though I don't know what a dell would be...Anyways okay, yep, those are mine!"
"Very good," replied Florence, smiling thinly across the table, gears working in her mind as she worked out how this would affect the future of the Games. "My sponsor choice is Mr. Follin Ryme. There's no question about that, though, you all saw his training score. I'm quite enamored, really. But now that this is settled, let's get down to business."
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A RECAP
FLORENCE FANTA sponsors District Nine's FOLLIN RYME
HECTOR DOSQUE sponsors District Four's JACQUELINE ECCLESTONE
District Five's LEO TOLSTOY
and District Six's VALENTINE OCEANFALL
VICTINIUS MORITZ sponsors District One's CRYSTAL CAVALRY
District Two's HERMIA PALENTINIUS
District Seven's REDWOOD ACRES
ARA URSA sponsors District Three's PAIGE CHROMADELL
and District Seven's ASPEN SUMMERS
THE PERKS
· Disregarding ballots the first time they would be eligible to receive a penalty
· Feedback on any one task of their choice
· A choice between an automatic score of 13 or the chance to ignore task requirements and have a free-reign task (in-entry deaths are transferred to ballots) for EITHER task 2, 3, or 4. The latter will only be applied to the three tasks, afterwards if not claimed will be assumed the score of 13 UP UNTIL task 6. (This means the perk of writing your own entry will only occur during Task 2, 3, or 4; but if you choose to take the 13, you may have the 13 until Task 6. Once Task 4 has passed and you have not used the free-task, it will be assumed you are using the 13 up until Task 6. Sorry if this is confusing. Ask for clarification.)
To all those who did not gain a sponsor, don't fret. Should I see fit, awards may be given out during scoring of a task, which can help you if you win one. Everyone still has a great chance of winning, as long as you try your best with your entries!
A new installation also courtesy of TheCatKing (hope this is okay) is that every voting task I will have the option to choose ONE TRIBUTE to save using a Gamemaker's Save. This will be a tribute whose entry I think was very well-written and the tribute will be saved from the voting round. I will only have the chance to save a tribute TWICE, and may not use it if I do not see it fit. This should help any who feel they are left out due to the fact ballots do not dock marks from cumulative scores.
First task will be posted tomorrow at 5pm GMT (in twelve hours). This is so I can make it the best possible. See you then! (Or earlier if I write it up) (Basically before 5GMT tomorrow)
YOU ARE READING
The Third Annual Writer's Game: Roots
ActionIn Panem, there was the unspoken rule: do not forget where you came from. Do not forget the ashes and blood that spilled for you to live here. The little penance of yearly tributes let no one forget, but as the years passed by, people became distanc...
