Pre-Games Event: Brunch Buffet Blitz

Three days after arriving at the Capitol, each tribute receives a hand-calligraphed card on thick stock. The margins are decorated with water colors of flowering vines. The card reads:

It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you as a tribute in the 95th Annual Hunger Games. As you settle into your accommodations, we are eager to provide an opportunity for you to meet your fellow tributes one-on-one.

To facilitate this, we are organizing a brunch event designated to give you a chance to acquaint yourself with your fellow tributes in a relaxed and friendly setting.

Your attendance is requested in the dining hall tomorrow at 10am sharp.

Warm Regards,
B

In the dining hall, twelve small tables with a seat on either end have been draped with pristine white tablecloths and laid with informal place settings: a porcelain plate with goldware on either side, glasses for water and champagne, and a fine cloth napkin. A placecard for each tribute rests on the plates.

A glass bowl filled with paper slips sits as a centerpiece on each table.

At 10:12am, Gamemaker Bourgeois Decadence enters the dining hall personally, wearing a floor-length fur coat, oversized sunglasses, and carrying a half-empty mimosa. She wastes no time before making the following announcement:

"Hey besties! Since we're going to be spending a lot of time together these next few weeks, it's time to stop being uncomfy around each other so we can start having some fun! While you enjoy the fabulous brunch spread I've prepared for you, we're going to play a little game. I've written a bunch of cute little get-to-know-you questions on the slips of paper in the bowls in front of you. Take turns picking questions and answering them with your tablemate. Then we'll switch partners when I feel like it, mkay? And remember: passing on questions is buzzkill behavior. Don't be boring!"

Brunch is served in the form of a buffet, detailed below.

Event Guidelines

TL;DR: Participating tributes will be paired up for blitz threads to ask each other ice breaker questions over brunch.

• Partners will be switched every 3 IRL days.
• Blitz length is enforced for the first round to keep things light and fast-paced. If you and your partner would like, you're welcome to write more after the first round.
• You are welcome to continue writing with your previous partner(s) after the switch if you'd like, but please make an effort to write with your new partner as well.
• You are welcome to do additional brunch blitzes with tributes that you aren't paired with.
• The first tribute listed in each pairing is responsible for starting the thread.
• Ping Aya on Slack if you have any questions or preferences for who you're paried with!

Ice breaker questions are provided below. You are welcome to:

• roll for a random question from the list
• choose a specific question you'd like from the list
• make up a new question that isn't on the list
• roll for a question, decide you don't like it, and pick something else
• have your tribute pick something they'd refuse to ask IC and make up something new on the spot
• answer your own questions before or after asking your partner
• do anything else that sounds fun

To participate:

• Reply to this thread with the following template to sign up
• First partner assignments will be posted on Tuesday, Oct. 3
• Subsequent partner assignments will be posted every 3 days. (Friday Oct. 4; Monday Oct. 7; etc.)
• If you miss the initial signups or will be unable to participate, you can sign up or withdraw at any time — this will take effect for the next round
• If there are an odd number of tributes for any rounds, Gamemaker Decadence will fill in.

[b]Tribute name:[/b]

[u]Optional preferences to help your writing partners:[/u]
[b]Which questions speak to you, or is there anything you'd like your tribute to be asked about?[/b]
(optional, list)

[b]Which questions don't speak to you, or is there anything that wouldn't be fun for your tribute to be asked about?[/b]
(optional, list)



Brunch spread

This spread is listed for inspiration. Feel free to order off-menu, as it were.

Amuse-bouche:

• tiny towers of smoked salmon and pickled honeydew topped with a dollop of creme fraiche and sevruga caviar
• spoons with poached quail eggs in a variety of sauces — hollandaise, basil coulis, elderberry shrub, truffle custard, pomegranite reduction, chili oil — topped with things like black walnut crumble, crispy duck skin, flakes of aged sheepish milk cheese, rabbit confit, lime caviar, and delicate cinnamon wafers
• a small bar of ruby chocolate topped with blackcurrant bubbles that resemble suds, served a small silver soap dish

Brunch buffet:

• glossy egg tarts with flaky pastry shells
• fluffy souffle pancakes drenched in hazelnut maple praline and brown butter, whipped cream and fruit compote, white chocolate mousse, pistachio crumble with burrata and tart pomegranate syrup
• slices of bread topped with molten cheese with a golden egg yolk perfectly centered on top
• prawn benedict with poached eggs and whipped hollandaise
• a five-tier tower of pastries
• lacy hash browns
• crocks of delicate, slightly savory broth
• intricate carved fruit sculptures
• butter-poached lobster with tarragon-lemongrass foam
• braised veal cheek with a white wine and leek reduction served over grits
• caramelized goat cheese with apple-balsamic reduction and chili flakes
• seared artichoke hearts, dried plums, mushroom gravy, and black sesame paste

Beverages

• mimosa station with several different sparkling wines and a wide range of juices, including (but not limited to) orange, pineapple, peach, guava, mango, passionfruit, pomegranite, watermelon, and cranberry
• full espresso and tea bar staffed by a tired-looking avox

Icebreaker Questions:

1. What's the biggest lie you ever told?
2. What's the worst thing that happened to you up until the reaping?
3. What's your biggest regret from back home?
4. What's your biggest phobia?
5. What do you do to relax at home?
6. What's your favorite hobby or activity to do for fun?
7. What do you usually do on your birthday?
8. Would you rather go out to a party or hang out somewhere quiet?
9. If you could bring anyone from home into the Games with you, who would it be and why?
10. What's your strategy for playing hide-and-seek?
11. What's your favorite game to play back home?
12. What was your most embarrassing moment at school?
13. Who's your closest friend? What are they like?
14. What's your favorite memory from past birthdays or holidays?
15. What's your favorite subject?
16. What's your favorite food?
17. What's your dream job?
18. What's the biggest disappointment you've ever dealt with?
19. Would you rather take a personality quiz in front of everyone or in private with a lie detector?
20. If you could have any superpower for the Games, what would it be and why?
21. Would you rather have the ability to become invisible or be able to predict your opponents' movements in the arena?
22. What do you hope the arena is going to be?
23. What luxury will you miss most in the arena?
24. Would you rather form an alliance with someone you trust, only to later betray them, or go it alone from the start?
25. Would you rather shelter in a potentially unsafe cave or stay out in an open field with no cover?
26. Would you rather face a physically strong opponent who you know well or a stranger who is highly intelligent and cunning?
27. Would you rather be unarmed and unnoticed or have a powerful weapon that makes you a target for other tributes?
28. Would you rather encounter a pack of dangerous mutts or be trapped in a natural disaster in the arena?
29. Which tribute from a past Hunger Games do you relate to most? Why?
30. If you could choose anyone as your mentor, who would it be and why?
31. Is there anyone here you'd put yourself in danger to protect?
32. Is there anyone here you hope you don't run into in the arena? How come?
33. Is there anyone here you'd be sad to kill?
34. Is there anyone here you want to get to know better?
35. Which tribute would you be saddest to kill?
36. Which tribute would you least like to run into in the arena?
37. Which tribute would you most like to get to know better?
38. Which Gamemaker do you like more and why?