you //win// or you //die// [Gamemakers]

~Azure

**will code later**

Day 1

Combing her hair back into its usual bun, Azure carefully clipped her hair pin into place, a flame coming down on either side of her head and smoothed her dress. The Games would be starting today and it had to be perfect. Azure had talked herself to sleep last night, reminding herself firmly, you've been given this chance, one chance, do it well, do it well.


I will. It was her mantra, following her from her apartment, into a Capitol-commissioned vehicle all the way to the Gamemaker's Headquarters where she made sure to walk in neither too quickly or too slowly. Cool, dominating, she had to look the part. So, she strode forward on her right foot, making sure her stiletto was firmly on the ground before taking another step (she shuddered to imagine having a repeat of her first day as a coffee courier—tripping down the stairs in her heels, spilling coffee everywhere). The Headquarters was a looming masterpiece and inside, the ground was sleek and she came into a room overrun with fellow (lesser) Gamemakers, logging in information rapidly into computers as the screens above regularly zeroed on specific tributes as they prepared in the catacombs below the Arena. Azure checked her watch; in a few minutes time, they’d be stepping onto their plates, their last real meals churning in their stomachs. In a few minutes, twenty four would be rising up into the bright sunlight, but, in reality, only one would truly see it. Just a few minutes.

She would’ve liked nothing more than to stride eagerly about the place, sliding her hands across the smooth keyboard, opening up files that contained so much information of deadly traps it would make her head spin, and grinning, but she forced herself to relax and keep her head up, gazing above the rest. That’s what she was, she decided, as she watched the screen beadily. The tributes were stepping on their plates now. She took a step back and spied the chair normally reserved for the Head Gamemakers and realized, with a jolt in her heart, that meant her. She zeroed in on it, trying to ignore Jareth who was nearby (finding out that he had been assigned to work alongside her, flamboyount, know-it-all, crazy Jareth had made her nearly tear the official Gamemaker assignment) and settled down quite comfortably in it. It was like sitting on a cloud.

Only now, did she allow a slight grin to flit briefly across her face. The rumble of an ever-decreasing clock sounded overhead. This was it! This was her big moment. Years of preparation flashed across the inside of her skull as a nine year-old girl poured over hours and hours of the Games, deciphering every event. Ten…nine…eight…she sat back, took a deep breath and…wait for it, Azure…right on the gong…you’ve practiced this since you were a little girl…and then, gong! She smirked coolly, “Let’s get started.”

Later

“WHY AREN’T THEY FIGHTING?” Another Gamemaker ducked, narrowly avoiding the coffee mug that Azure had just thrown across the room. She strode angrily towards the screen, slamming her hands down on a desk. Her heels were off, kicked away from her, when the Bloodbath began to dial down and twenty two tributes were fleeing unscathed. “THREE DEATHS?” she roared and this time, she slammed the file she was holding into Jareth’s lap, sending papers flying everywhere. “What are you doing?!” she growled at him, fists shaking, but then she turned away. “Never mind! You,” she pointed at another Gamemaker who froze, “that one!” She gestured wildly back at the screen, at a boy huddled in the leaves, Aidin his name was. “He curses too much! Do something!”

She marched along the floor again, plopping down in a seat with crossed arms before almost immediately leaping back up again. “What about him?” she cried, pointing wildly. “What’s he doing touching those plants! DO SOMETHING.” Her last cry sent her fellow Gamemakers scurrying all around her and now, she sat back down, arms still tightly crossed to watch their damage and sure enough, perhaps as a nod to Azure’s incessant throwing, sent boomerangs flying and she watched as the plants came to life to entangle the boy, Ares. Azure took a deep breath and tried to relax. Soon things will happen…

She drifted off back to her mother’s house, back to her father slipping toys under her door and her mother holding them in her arms, ribbons and blocks and jewelry, spilling to the floor and Azure felt the sting of her slap on her face as she burned her mother’s gifts in the fire, growling I her face because her mother could kiss her ass now, her mother was nothing to her—

“Ma’am!” Azure jolted awake and leapt to her bare feet, eyes wide as blood splattered the huge screen. Fighting! They were finally fighting! All the embarrassment she might’ve felt at falling asleep on the job instantly evaporated and soon, she was shouting arguments. “Close up now! Let them see the blood! Especially on her! The pretty one! Let them see her! The viewers will like it!”

By the time, they had the Anthem projected, Azure was reasonably more satisfied than she was earlier, and as she went home for only a few hours to freshen up, she made sure to lay out an outfit with flats for shoes.

Day 2
Azure concentrated solely on the screen as the arsenal of mutts they’d devised were cast down upon the tributes. Jareth had thought of some of them, she knew, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction at seeing her pleasure as they attacked. She must say, they were powerful. The moles flicked their tongue and their giant Appas groaned in fury as they attacked. Nonetheless, these tributes were powerful as well. She could almost taste the sweat on their cheeks, streaked with dirt, as she held her wrist tightly behind her back. They were fresh on Day 2, not yet dismembered, bloody, crying for their mothers. There was a sort of adrenaline in Day 2, a spurt of energy left over from the Cornucopia. Only two died.

Azure knew the boy was gone quickly. Accosted by two other tributes, he fought valiantly, but they took his fingers and burned his skin. Azure felt a shiver go up through his spine as he finally faltered and fell to the ground and the other two tributes hastily gathered his things and fled. The viewers would like this one—it was a good fight.

The girl’s death was different. By poison, left untreated, it had ravaged her body. Azure just hoped the girl, wallowing in death, had entertained the viewers. She, too, with her ally, had put up a good fight—but there was no way to stop poison without help. And, she, too, succumbed. Now, as Azure stumbled back home again, just for another few hours, she mused to herself…the blood was good, it was an elixir, rejuvenating her. She felt it in her shower, sliding hot down her back. Yes, the blood was good. These were good tributes, a wonderful set, fulfilling her needs, but, alas, they must die. She craved their blood. She wanted more of it.

Day 3
On the third day, coming back with her hair still wet, again in stiletto heels, Azure settled down in her chair and announced to the other Gamemakers. “Blood. Let’s get more of it.”

ooc: I by no means want anyone to think I, Rosetta, hate you or your character if I may have mentioned the death of your tribute in this post. This is Azure, the Gamemaker's point of view. She's looking at it from a GM's standpoint. Likewise, if I didn't mention your tribute, do not despair. A lot goes on in a Games, I may not talk about everything. You're all doing great, so please don't worry or be upset!