The Fourth Annual Writer Games: Canon

Task Three - The Victor and the Spark

"And so once the Bloodbath concludes there shall be a waiting period of at least nine hours in which there shall be no interference by the Gamemakers. It is in this way that the Games may continue to develop naturally and to provide adequate time for coverage and replay ... No Games should be less than three days unless the money and coverage invested is of adequate and sufficiently recovered." Book of Panem. XXIII.VIII.I – XXIII.X.III

"The replays are up and active, correct?"

"Yes, we have Caesar working on the commentary now live at the Presidential Palace. He's interviewing President Snow and some of the stylists to bring the focus back to the celebration. Every television in Panem is showing Caesar interspersed with shots and recaps of the tributes who've gone."

"Orvan, one of the techs wanted to know when we're going to show faces in the sky? With eighteen hour days—"

"Tell them we'll show it when dusk rises in the arena. And remind them that we do not change things to make it easier work. We adapt."

In the aftermath of the bloodbath, communications work is quick business. Deft and careful planning must be made, shots cropped within seconds, a constant stream of live footage from the dozens of cameras around the arena feeding into the Gamemaking room and down where the third tiers are working. While the editing is cut by the third tiers, it's reviewed by Julius before being sent to the waves, who is currently engrossed by their screen, headphones over their ears and pen tapping against their tablet. Julius is out of touch, Clautilda and Orvan sitting together poring over the screen currently giving a livestream of what's being seen across Panem.

"Okay, now they're showing the deceased, nothing too out of the ordinary. Nothing bad enough to worry about responses."

On the holoscreen, seven faces appear one by one:

District 1, Faust Chapman [written by RGFaberson];

District 3, Pixel Mira [written by GabrielleSteyer];

District 3, Edison Aiken [written by RappyTheDinosaur];

District 5, Mistilyn Markarrien [written by _TheFaultInOurWifi_];

District 6, Royal Robinson [written by yellowbillycat];

District 7, Celeste Oriel [written by annlu03];

District 12, Juniper Lindsay [written by dancingstark].

"Right, well, let's give them until night to initiate the first challenge. They'll soon figure out that water and food are needed, but might as well give them a little exertion before they realize it."

"Noted."

--

Congratulations to those who survived the Bloodbath, and my sincere goodbyes to those who've left us. Now that the Bloodbath is over, the tributes have surely settled and adjusted to their new home and most likely death place. While they do not realize it, the days are shorter, throwing off body clocks as dusk descends far earlier than a normal day would. But those hours are gone, and it is in the purple twilight of the night that things begin to crackle. And whether or not one is with a partner or partners already, soon it will be everyone for themself.

THE TASK

What happens: In the early morning/purple dusk, the wind picks up. The food has not spoiled yet. The little water tributes have is rationed, probably, unless they've been hasty. Not many have sought out the sustenance provided by the arena...yet. For now, whether they rest in the hollows or burnt forest or near the brambles, or whether they traverse the burnt landscape like wearied travellers in a foreign world, things shift. Purple skies roll clouds of ash and ember, but they do not deposit their loads. Instead, the wind picks up the thought-dormant ash from the burnt forest and coaxes a spark into a flame. Before the tributes know it, flames are encroaching from all sides. Alliances split, if only for the hours to come. The flames are not normal, they are Capitol-engineered to divide and conquer. Thick acrid smoke mixes with the smell of sulfur, making it difficult to see and breathe. Each tribute is forced together by the flames unknowingly to another tribute.

The time parameter: You must write from between several hours after the faces in the sky/dusk to the dawn of the next day. Again, you do not need to write this entire time, but it must be within it. In a normal day this would be from around midnight until 6am, but in the arena it is more like from 6pm to midnight (ie 6pm normal time is midnight in the arena, and midnight would be 6am.) Confused? Ask.

What you must do: Each tribute has been paired with another tribute (or two). After the fire begins, it's clear (even if tributes cannot see it...or anything) it pushes your tribute (and everyone) to different spots. Unfortunately, once you reach the person also allocated to your fire-enclosed area, there's no real way to stop the flames until the skies open after a half hour to deposit cooling rain mixed with suffocating ash. While it is inadvisable to run through the flames (as no one knows how deep they go), it is possible though injurious. Should the other person die, the flame will attack them leaving the remaining tribute free to leave.

You must interact with this other tribute in some manner shape or form, whether you kill them, whether you injure them or vice versa, whether you stay apart, it doesn't matter. What I don't necessarily want to see is dramatic backstories. I would like to see characterisation. The fire would end about halfway through the time requirement, meaning you could also bypass it and give me a recap, so long as it satisfies that the tributes were together.

The half-hour forest fire time limit also includes the time the flames take to make you run, so you could possibly have half an hour with another person or only a minute before the rain comes. The rain will not stop before the time parameter ends, and unfortunately this rain is undrinkable and utterly unejoyable as wet ash is no one's friend. Questions? Ask.

THE PARTNERS

Dioria Rose and Andromeda Abdul

Pandora Underwood and Mellory Suede and Kyrien Moldesang

Maur Verrill and Moire Holiday

Ara Beaufort and Linwood Walsh

Dacre Aldric and Porat Hadar

Jove Tesla and Fintan Bailey

Lena Barkle and Sable Warren

Kardel Barwick and Basil Crombie

BALLOTS/DEATHS

Any death against your partner DOES NOT COUNT. Three ballots are allowed. Any deaths in-entry/cannons will not count.

Six people have the chance of going up for votes, with two who will be saved by scoring highest in task. That means four people will be up for votes, and two will die.

WORD LIMIT

None.

SPONSORS

Congratulations to Dacre Aldric and Linwood Walsh for gaining the favour of the public! For Dacre, the Capitol citizens simply cannot see your pretty face be marred by flame. As the fire commences you'll find along the way a face mask enabling you to breathe and see through the heavy smoke. For Linwood, after his performance last task members of the Capitol banded together money which has been spent on anti-nausea pills, nicely packaged in a small plastic container along with some decent plastic goggles to protect his pretty eyes from the smoke and ash.

DUE DATE

Saturday, July 14, 9pm ADT.

Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour.