TheTinyAngel I didn't know who I felt worse for, the Gamemakers or the tributes.

I couldn't not feel bad for the tributes. I knew the fear of being sent to the Games, I knew the trauma of having to slaughter your way through a group of teenagers just like you. I knew them, I was them. It's not like I was some ignorant moron who worshiped the idea. Only I did. But the Gamemakers... They were going to have it bad this year, with this crop of tributes. The quality of the Careers have gone down since I competed. The uselessness of the lower Districts has only increased. Looking at this sorry bunch makes me want to hug every Gamemaker and offer them my condolences on the difficulty of what they're about to do. How do you make a good Games with a bunch of weaklings? I tuned out the festivities around me and focused on my notes instead. I'd have loved to join in the partying, every part of me would've rather danced and drank than sat here and pour over papers, but I knew I had to do this. If I didn't figure out the odds for these tributes, my job would be at stake and then I might've been sent back to One. No, they wouldn't have sent me back. I'm too important. Too valuable. All of us Victors are worth more in the hands of the Capitol. "Isis! Come on, you're being boring!" Venia whined and tugged on my hair in the most irritating way possible. I knew she was drunk but that's never an excuse for being so obnoxious. I was tempted to push her away but I just scowled at her and swatted her hand away. I had stuff to do and I couldn't get distracted. She got bored of trying to get me involved after a while of whining and promising to buy me drinks if I went to dance with her. She didn't understand why this is so important. After all, she was just a makeup artist. She didn't have to worry about numbers and odds and percentages like I did. She had to make the scowling girl from Twelve look pretty. I had to run the Capitol's biggest Games-season gambling service. My work trumped hers entirely. I was left alone after that. People saw Isis Price working on something and they'd walk away, remembering a young girl from One who choked her own brother to death in the Arena. People never messed with me when they remembered who I was. I kind of wished somebody would pull me to my feet and whisk me off to dance. But I knew I had to get things done, no matter how much I wanted to party until the President's speech. I looked back down at my papers. The kids from One were nothing like my heroes and the tributes I grew up watching were. A arrogant blonde girl had haughtily volunteered but she wasn't anything like I had been. And her name; Glimmer. Was she meant to be a stripper? Her counterpart was just as arrogant and just as disappointing as she was. Marvel. Why did people name their kids such stupid things? But they're trained, they have that going for they. I scrawl down their names next to the six and five on my ranking list. Promising but not perfect. The Careers from Two are more like the tributes I worshiped when I was an aspiring tribute. A small, wiry brunette with a wicked smile looked tougher than most of the other girls. But arrogance can be a flaw. The boy who volunteered with her had looked like a tank; tall and muscled and ready to slaughter anything in his path. I didn't even hesitate to put them in the top two spots. They were born to win. I'd never really liked District 3. Their tributes were always small and too smart and too shy. And this year's were no exception. An ashen boy with a nervous frown and a little girl who seemed like she'd been electrocuted with how she twitched every few minutes. They could be smart but they weren't fighters. They were in the twenty-third and twentieth spots without a moment of hesitation.

And Four... I'd always loved Four. Maybe it was the ocean or how their tributes were always gorgeous but something about them was perfect. Except this year. The boy was twelve, too young for me to swoon over and too small to be a huge threat. The girl was older but she looked just as useless. Her bouncy red curls and cliche name just made her forgettable. Too bad... I regretfully put them in ninth and seventh. Too bad... The girl from Five was extremely unattractive, it's the first thing I noticed about her. And there was some debate as to her name. But she had this cleverness in her eyes that made me wonder if there was more to her. Unlike her counterpart, who looked like he'd enjoyed sniffing glue when he was little. Five had something to offer this year, however, as I put the girl in fourth and the boy in eleventh. I didn't even truly bother with the tributes from Sixth to Ten; they littered the lower spots as none of them caught my eye. They were all too small, too scared, and too forgettable to be any threat in the vying for the crown. These Districts were always unimportant, they were never stars in this fight to the end. When I competed, most of these types of tributes didn't even make it past the Bloodbath. And then we had Eleven. They're not always as predictable as they seem, proven by the monster they'd Reaped this year. Tall and broad, Thresh was someone to watch. And an attractive someone at that. I smiled and wrote his name next to the third spot. He could win. And then there's Rue... Rue... The little girl from Eleven reminds me of Venia in a way. But there was nothing that would set her apart from the others. Eighth. She was in eighth, not bad odds for someone so little. Twelve is the District Venia works with but it can't see why she chose it. Their tributes are useless and scrawny. The lowest of the low, they always will be scum. But there's something intriguing about the girl who volunteered for her little sister and the boy who looked like he could snap someone's neck. I sighed as I struggled to place them, to move another person so they could have good odds. Good odds means survival. I was only doing it so Venia would be proud that her tributes were ranked so high... With a loud sigh, I leaned forward on the table and knocked all my papers on the ground by my table. I'd pick them up after, it wasn't a big deal. What WAS big deal was the glass of wine I spilled all over my dress when I flopped on the table. Oops. Oh well, it was one I wore on my Victory Tour a few years ago anyways. To Six I think. It wasn't one I cared about. Maybe the wine stain would make it look less ugly anyways. Maybe I'd scrap my odds and write who I wanted to win instead, that always worked in a pinch. The pair from Two, the girls from Four and Five, the pair from Eleven, and the boy from Twelve would be on the top of the list if I did it that way. So maybe not. It was a frustrating business but somebody had to do it. The best part of the Games is the odds anyways. "Welcome citizens, to the opening of the 74th Hunger Games!" I picked my head up when the President's voice boomed over the crowd. The speech, the speech was always my least favorite part. The reading of the Treaty, the introduction of the tributes, all of it was just boring. Speeches just suck. But it was better than writing up my sheets so I listened. "I'll keep this short so we can continue the festivities! These Games are our 74th, more than seventy victors have been crowned since the Games began! And these Games are bound to be a special one, thanks to my new Gamemakers. If you see them around, praise them. They have made this year... they've made this year one you'll never forget, I can promise you that. Happy Hunger Games!" I raised an eyebrow and stared in surprise as the President bowed and stepped back inside, cutting his normal speech time down more than I thought possible. His new Gamemakers stood there smiling

for only a moment more before following him. And the festivities continued like nothing ever happened. The crowd felt even more joyful now but I was just suspicious. The President never gave such short speeches. He was somebody who liked the sound of his own deep voice. Odd... But I shrugged it off, sipped what was left of my glass of wine, and got up to go dance with Venia. We'd provably spend more time joking about the horrid outfits everyone was wearing than dancing but that was okay. We were always that hypocritical. Still something didn't feel right as I wove through the crowd to find my best friend. Those girls gave me the creeps, even more than my usual paranoid, hysterical, everybody's-out-to-get-us sort of way. There was something not right. But I'd just enjoy the night and the Games and not worry about it anymore. After all, I'd already won the Games. They couldn't hurt me.