The Fifth Annual Writer Games: The Fall

Task Three: The Fall of the Aztecs

"All the earth is a grave, and nought escapes it; nothing is so perfect that it does not fall and disappear. The rivers, brooks, fountains and waters flow on, and never return to their joyous beginnings; they hasten on to the vast realms of Tlaloc, and the wider they spread between their marges the more rapidly do they mould their own sepulchral urns. That which was yesterday is not to-day; and let not that which is to-day trust to live to-morrow."

― Daniel G. Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, Containing the Nahuatl Text of XXVII Ancient Mexican Poems : Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature Number VII.

"Another of the great civilizations, the Aztecs, raised a breed of hairless chihuahuas especially for eating. When the Conquistadors arrived and found dog on the menu, they were of the same opinion as Mademoiselle, that this was evidence of the worst form of barbarism. They, the Spaniards, used dogs as befits civilized and Christian men - to hunt down fugitive Indians and tear them to pieces."

― Medlar Lucan, The Decadent Cookbook

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The amount of tributes that blew themselves up was...astonishing. Ever since seven years ago when tributes thought it wise to try and jump start the Game and getting a head-start—an utter mess for the Gamemakers to fix—the pedastals had been rigged with explosives. But this year...the Gamemakers were surprised that so many had stepped off, at least from the reports. Two had jumped—though the second was questionable as to whether they jumped or were propelled by force from the other blast. Besides that, the Bloodbath had gone off without a hitch. In total, six were dead, the rest scattered in the biting wind.

District 5 Male, Elijah Hubert [TheFactionless],

District 6 Male, Solomon Shoals [yellowbillycat],

District 7 Male, Rewt Garrison [HeadOnJackwards],

District 8 Female, Calico Charvet [Jordietheshortie],

District 9 Male, Kagura Takanishi [KatherineOzawa], and

District 10 Male, Shang Lee [Geekster29].

The advent of a large alliance pack, however, had taken any negative press away from the exploded children and focused the spotlight on what the Gamemakers felt might be the dawn of something new. It seemed this year was finally the year the tributes had accepted the Games, the year they finally accepted it for what it was: a show, a Game, a fight. This would be the start of finality, of acceptance. There was no escaping the Games.

Now, it's nearly night. The brisk air has turned cold, a light wind whips through branches, biting through rips of tributes' clothing. Whether they've trekked deep into the forest or stayed put close to the center, there's one thing for certain: they're going to need shelter, and they're going to need food.

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Welcome to the third task and congratulations on surviving the first round of eliminations, tributes!

THE TASK

Simple, straightforward, and open-ended. To survive, you cannot get sick. You cannot injure yourself more than you can help yourself. You cannot thirst or starve or you risk wiping yourself out even without another's helping hand. Timeline of this task is any time between dusk of the first day (reminder cannons of the fallen come at nightfall) to the next noon, and your main goal of the task is to show how the tributes settle in. How do they feel? What do they do? The only requirement besides keeping in the time constraint is that you must exhibit the act of finding/creating shelter, and finding/eating/killing/hunting for food. The variety of plants and animals is up to you, but be assured that: there are no mutts lurking in the shadows (yet...), water is pretty inaccessible unless you miraculously find the single river snaking its way aboveground before descending again into caves, and I don't care if you interact with other tributes or not. Just show me that first night/morning after the Bloodbath. And show me how they plan to survive.

WORD LIMIT

None. This is a task free for you to relax and enjoy and explore your tribute and surroundings.

BALLOTS/KILLS

Again, don't care if you see/hear/kill yourself any tributes in entry, but you MUST send me the names of THREE tributes as ballots.

SEVEN of you have the chance of going up, two will be saved (reminder that those saved last task cannot be saved this task), five will be up for votes, and three will Perish.

SPONSORS

The Capitol and Districts and betting rings are taking particular interest this year. With the alliance and with several prominent tributes already standing out, bets are at the highest they've ever been, raking in more money. There's not yet a dedicated Odds table in the Capitol square yet, but certainly after this year...

And are the sponsors ever generous in the first days of the games...while there were five top contenders, the Gamemakers agreed they wished to cap this day at only three, to build anticipation for the future days to come.

So, the tribute who first gained a sponsorship is...Benthic Derval, District Four. For his excellent Bloodbath appearance, the sponsors have gifted him and his allies a small feast of dried fish and bread from Four, as well as a fishing net just large enough for a bear...or a human.

The rest, though, at a tie, was broken by the scores from last task.

The remaining two tributes sponsored are: Chet Jackson, District One, and Jodi Roanoke, District Twelve.

For Chet, an assortment of Pow-Powder energy supplements, energy drinks, and another headband, arm band, and a bottle of water with a filter in it that can be used for purifying any water or liquid in the arena...including urine?

For Jodi, a gift not from those at home, but from those she cannot know and may never know: a jar of stew, some topical ointment, a bottle of pills (no label, just says 'take when feeling like you could drift away'), and a single sleeve of dried apricots.

DUE DATE

Wednesday, July 31 (cri), 10pm Atlantic time (note the time change, mainly 'cause if I'm downtown still I can't guarantee I'll be home by 9).

May the odds be ever in your favour.