HistoryCast 3: 56th Hunger Games

Since six years and 17 Games worth of history are both quite daunting — the staff and I have started putting together a podcast project, in an effort to help give members a rundown of the old Games on the site. In an informal discussion setting, a handful of the staff are discussing aspects of the old Games that were important or that stand out to them, whether it's mechanics, development, or other background.

We're taking this from the top and going in order.

Past Historycasts:
54th Hunger Games [Aya, GreenBeads, 10Stare]
55th Hunger Games [Aya, GreenBeads, 10Stare]

This time, shrimp , Lulu , and I sat down to outline the 56th Hunger Games.

The cast is, in all, about an hour long and can be found here: ripred.net/historycasts/56th.mp3 - note that it contains occasional profanity.

You can listen online or download it if you want (right click, save as..., etc)

My best effort at a transcript is below, with a few footnotes I added in after the fact:

A: Alright, go on 3! 1, 2, 3 — 4 5.... 6...
L: [trumpet noises]
S: [trumpet noises]

S: People are gonna look at me weird, oh my god, this is a public place
A: good!
A: Guess we'll start off, introduce ourselves... yes? good?
S: Okay, sounds cool


A: Hellllo everybody, it's your favorite overlord speaking again, Aya. Gonna be talking about the 56th Hunger Games from the fall of 2012 ^[1] and in these Games, I played Nash Harvey, the female from District Two. And... yeah, that was what I did.

S: I think you said 2012, it was 2010
A: Did I say 2012?
L: yeah it was 2010 - and I think it cut into 2011 a little bit
A: Yeah, just January, but January doesn't count. Well. 2010.
L: 2010. Basically. Well, it goes into the 2010 Games board, therefore it was 2010.
A: Well, yeah. 2012 is just blatantly wrong, so. My bad. Saying numbers is really hard. Notice that I almost said the 65th, just cause. There's been so many in the 60s. Whatever. It's been a lot of time.

L: Hi guys, I'm Lulu, I played Topaz Ross in the 56th Games, she was the female tribute from District 1, and ultimately victor, so I am very familiar with these Games.
A: Hooray!

S: Hello. I'm Shrimp. I played Will Atlas, the District 8 Male, in the 56th Hunger Games. And he placed 8th, and this was also my first Games, so it was pretty special.
A: First Games! Will Atlas! Harry Potter!
S: Yes, harry potter
L: Wasn't Will the one that died twice?
A: Yep
S: Yes! Will had a lot of firsts, okay. Like he, he was the first to die twice - unless someone else did, I dunno, didn't read the 55th cause my browser crashed every time I opened it. He also did the first beheading, I think
A: Yep!
L: Yeah, Alkin
S: So that was a thing. And yeah, firsts of things.

A: Yeah that was the first death in that bloodbath - that bloodbath - Alkin Fletcher, played by Chase. Yep, he kinda... yep
L: Will did the honors.
S: I felt so bad, I was like "I'm sorry!" he was like "If you were sorry you wouldn't've..."
L: One of my favorite things in these Games were all of our OOC Notes saying like, whenever you like, when you kill someone or injure them badly, like "omg, so sorry" - we felt like we had to... account for what we did

A: We still kinda do, a bit. It goes in cycles I think - you get the super bloodthirsty, then everyone's really nice for awhile, then back and forth and back and forth - a pendulum swing! It's pretty good.

A: That bloodbath, um
L: Are we gonna start with training, or are we just gonna move right into the bloodbath?
A: uhhh yeah we can talk about training

L: I feel like we had some key alliances in these Games
S: Yeah, definitely... yknow, we should open that thread
L: The alliance thread. I mean, I know Strikoutthrough, team Strikeoutthrough was mostly a career pack
A: Yeah, with a — 
L: So Topaz was in that from 1, Nash from 2, Takeba from 4, and then we took on Anani as a charity case
A: Gotta have that Token D12, it was tradition at that point
L: I think Anani was - was Anani the first sib-trib?
A: Yep, yep. And a victor sib-trib, too
L: Anani Petros, District 12
A: Aranica's older brother - not younger, cause she was 13, he was 16 or 17 at that point
S: Yeah, I think so
A: Sad, very sad. Many feels were had.
L: Yeah so I think the reason SoT took him was because they were hoping he would attract sponsors, but then he didn't so eventually it was just like "bye, Anani."
A: Yes, we can pretend that's why the alliance [missile noises]

S: Yeah... what other ones were there?
A: Hiccups!
S: Hiccups, yeah
L: Oh, was that Luyu?
A: Yeah that was Luyu Nimmons from 3, Ember Milan from 9, Mercury Duval from 5 —
L: Ohhh Mercury
A: — And Joshua Rowan, also District 9
S: Yeah, and I think Mercury was Thundy's
A: Yep
S: And Luyu was Cameron's - and they're still here. So, yeah.

A: And then there was your alliance, Shrimp, which died entirely in the bloodbath
S: Yeah, my alliance... was a thing...
A: For about a day
S: We were soooo original with the name
L: oh Clarisse, Will and Clarisse were like attached at the hip
A: yeah, but that was after
S: yes, at the beginning I was in that 4-person, but we died really quickly
A: 1378, Takeba killed all of them
S: yep, 1378! Yes, all of them
A: in the bloodbath!
S: so, that was fun... I think like Hermione broke her leg, but we didn't realize it at the time, so I left thinking he was following Hermione, and I had to like make up an excuse as to why he thought he was following Hermione when she was really having a broken leg in the bloodbath
A: Whoops
S: So I was just like "oh it was a ghost... yay!"


L: I feel like this particular Bloodbath was very significant, because it was the first one where we had like the careers doing intense strategy to take people out
S: Specifically one alliance out
A: I wouldn't call it intense... I feel like our strategy was just "let's attack people who are in the bloodbath" -
L: Well, no, it was like "we're not gonna come in until like page 7, and by then there are like three people left in here, and we're just gonna take them out one by one." And then every time someone comes in, we decimate them.
A: Was it really until page 7? I know it was like halfway through
L: Yeah I was reading it, and we didn't come in until page 7
A: oh, whoops. Oh, you know what actually was interesting - Hermione... who was played by Clovegoodshot, who was a very... interesting member...
L: I was reading the alliance thread, and I guess Clove deleted... was Clove female or male?
A: I think female
L: okay, so Clove deleted her post in it, so all I see is myself using the Scary Admin Red Text and it says like "Clove, please do not use this thread as a place to complain that you don't have an alliance. This thread is for reporting your alliance."
S: Yeah, and then like... three posts later, I post that she's in my alliance. That was interesting. We kinda fell into like, insta-romance for a bit between those two, which I was like "i guess this is happening, uh, alright, whatever, i'll go with it"
L: Yeah, Clove's tribute Hermione had an interesting life in the bloodbath
A: She attacked me before I entered the bloodbath, and... somehow, if I had $1 for every time someone tried to attack me before I even posted an intro to the bloodbath, I would have $2... like, why is this... why is this a thing?
S: They're just so excited.
A: Yeah, I guess so
L: Yeah, so Takeba killed Clove - killed Hermione. And then it was kind of like this thing were StrikeoutThrough, everybody just like... attacked, but Takeba just happened to be in the spot that got the kill, which happened for like, three of the bloodbath deaths
A: Yeah, three of the four of them
L: And then, what was it, Topaz took Hermione's trident and stabbed it into her body after Hermione kissed Takeba, who killed her, right before she died
A: Yeah... that was...
S: ...something. That was something.
A: I remember that that specific scene has made a few cameos over the years - specifically, what was it, some post... of yours, from the 61st Games - apparently that's one of the pictures from the 56th that's hanging in Topaz's suite in the uh... victor tower room
L: yeah! it was definitely a moment.

L: No, but, like, I think we also need to explain Takeba. So Takeba was played by a great member we had -
A: mod
L: yeah, mod. And her FC was Jessica Serfaty, which, if for any of you have seen Cycle, I wanna say...
A: Literally just google Serfaty. Do yourself a favor.
L: 16? No, 14? It was 14 or 16, which Cycle?
A: Fourteen.
S: I dunno...
A: 14. 14. 14.
L: well anyhow, cycle 14 of America's Next Top Model, Jessica Serfaty was one of the models and... you'll see. So there was just a collective obsession with Takeba and Serfaty, but Takeba herself is like... a walking dictionary. So when you try to read her posts you have to really sit there and process everything, because of the dialogue.

A: She was verbose. She was awesome - i loved that.
S: I really liked her character development too, it was like... cause she kinda acted very stoic, kind of like a doll in a way, and then she kept developing more emotions throughout the games, like a lot of anger, lot of sadness. And then she had like the whole doll stuff that I guess we should talk about later. And I liked it a lot. The coding was fun, she had colorful coding.

A: Oh, yeah, all the -
L: the butterfly
A: She had the gradient text that she would add to the bottom of every post - she would add a new line every day, and it was like this poem unfolding as she got to the end, and that was really cool... yeah, then the moth. Yeah she was a total badass in the Bloodbath, killed 3 out of 4 people that died in the bloodbath - Alkin being the other one, the head-sever by Will. We had a couple of inactive tributes as well, because this was back before everyone was like "Yes! Let's do a thing!"

S: Was that Kaia? Kaia Johannesen?
A: No, that's the 75th - ah, fuck, the 57th
S: ahh, that one
A: We had Bolcco Renred, the District 4 male, and Johnathan Wrusche... Wrusche... something, I have no idea how you pronounce that. Who - he posted —
L: got decimated by Serfaty - uh, Cerba
A: Cerba, yeah — so Johnathan posted in the Bloodbath but never fled, so at the end of this thing, when the inactivity's being cleared up or whatever, this giant Hellhound, Cerba, comes bounding in - this is what Wolf Tears, who's GMing, decided that the inactives would get - just like completely tears Bolcco to shreds, then drags Johnathan away and rips off his arm, and maybe a leg, and just drags him to the complete opposite end of the Arena - well, it's a circle, but.
S: It was hardcore, man
L: Thus the legend of Cerba was born
A: Yeah
S: Cerbaaaaa
L: I think that, I don't think Cerba actually died in those Games
A: No, Cerba did not die. Cerba is immortal.
S: I think that's the rule, the unspoken rule. That's now spoken. There should be a Cerba 2.0, like a robotic Cerba
A: ahhh, man, that shoulda fought with robotic Flash
S: wink wink, wink wink
A: You know what? That would be cool... should probably save the robots for another little while
S: eh, yeah, we just had them. Just had one. or two. Or 24.
A: Or an army of Doppelgangers

L: And then there was also hunting
A: So much fucking hunting!
S: oh god stop that, so the Ocean one, I was in that one first
L: I was reading that today, and I loved your "Will Flees. Bye Ocean." the entire post
S: It was so, okay, was it Skylar?
A: Skylar, yes
L: So basically the story of Ocean Jones was Ocean Jones was a District Twelve tribute —
A: Volunteered
L: And she was deaf
A: Well, being that she was a District 12 tribute and she was deaf, she was like pretty much a shoe-in for victory at that point, based on the other two Games that we'd had
S: Yeah, and so like - after the bloodbath, she just like made a thread, just like "Come fight me" yknow, like, very much - I agreed
L: So Will was like "yeah, I'll do it"
S: I'm like "alright, whatever" - so I jumped in for like three attacks, she gets like three deep gashes and I'm like "Nope. Bye!"
A: Smart
L: But then everybody else came in, right?
A: No, there were like a dozen threads! Or, half a dozen. Then I think the District 10 male - Anthony Peterson — jumped in, he was played by Wingsonmyheels, was the writer... then he died before his ally, the D10F showed up, and she's like "Oh, shit, he's dead" so she high-tails it out of there and goes to a different thread, where Ocean shows up and kills her! cause that's how these things go! apparently!
S: And then Ocean killed Trace - or did Trace kill Ocean?
A: No, Ocean killed Trace. And then - and Luyu -

S: Fun fact about Trace - he was Sundra's first boyfriend.
L: Ooooh
S: They had one date. And I believe he wound up in jail right after that —
A: She picks winners ^[2]
S: — And then like was reaped right after that

L: Rough life.

A: And then Luyu eventually ended up putting an end to Ocean's giant murder spree. She showed up and killed her in like basically one or two attacks to take all her stuff — cause she'd killed a shitload of tributes at this point, and we didn't have any sort of hard limits on inventory, it was just like "yeah pretty much whatever you want - go for it, it's all you." So she had all these items.
S: It was scary. I was scared.
A: Ocean was pretty terrifying. But she...
L: But then she was gone.
A: Burned out a little fast.

L: But then wait - we need to like, briefly mention Mercury in the bloodbath. Umm...
A: Shirtless?
S: Didn't she take off her shirt?
L: Yeah, she took off her shirt and ran screaming "Death! Death! Death! Death!" — and that was her entrance.
A: It was a grand entrance.
S: Oh god.
A: Wonderful.

S: What else happened? Looking at the thread tracker, there is a... Ocean thread. An Ocean thread. An Ocean thread. An Ocean thread. Umm. An Ember/Mercury Thread, so I think that's just them meeting up. A camping thread, with Estelle and Cole and Theodore. Estelle Cole and Theodore were a different alliance
L: And they didn't die that day.
A: No they did not die that day
S: They didn't die, they lasted pretty long
A: No, they died on Day 2.
S: Nevermind, they didn't last long at all.
L: No, Theodore lasted a little longer
A: I mean, relative to everyone else, um, I guess they kinda did. Theodore lasted til Day 3. Cause nine - nine died on Day 1: four in the bloodbath, four hunting, and the one from inactivity. But yeah, it was pretty... pretty solidly bloody Day 1.
L: Yeah the late 50s had some pretty bloody Day 1s.
A: I think from, ah, from the 56th onward, it was pretty bloody for... a good 5-10 Games.
L: Mhm.
S: Yeah. The 59th was bad.
L: I can vouch for that.
S: End of Day 1, I got an ally, that was cool
A: Oh yeah, Will and Clarisse!
S: It was Will and Clarisse, Clarisse was played by Tori, who was one of the Librarians here
L: It's because we killed three, that's right
A: Yeah, it's cause all of Will's allies died, and all of Tori — tori — Clarisse was allied with the two District 10s that Ocean killed. So they're just like, all alone, and then they're alone together!
S: Yeah! That's, that's exactly it.

L: Okay, so, Day 2?
S: Day 2
A: Day 2! Day 2 was very bloody for a day that was literally just mutt fights except for one.
S: Mine!
A: Yup! You wanna talk about that a little bit?
S: I don't know what there is to say, um. It was Agatha Mirell, who was my district partner
A: whoops
S: And just to clarify, I was like a really, really bad writer then
A: naaaah
S: So what happened was that Will killed her, then went insane for exactly one post, then didn't go insane
A: Smart. Just like, dip your toe in the water of crazy, and come right back out.
S: I dipped my toe. I dipped my toe and I was like "eh, not feeling it." So that happened. And then I think they had like a whole talk about something.

L: wait, didn't everyone - everyone loved Agatha, and I can't really remember why
A: yeah -
S: I loved Agatha, I felt really bad
A: Her posts were good. I don't really remember much about Kairay - the writer —
S: Thought it was just Ray
A: Ray, yeah. She was kinda quiet in the cbox, or in general, i think. This was back before the massive site integrations - before people migrated to like, Skype, and then Slack eventually, and it was just... harder to get to know more people I guess? So I don't think I ever talked to her

L: Yeah, uh, so who died? Mercury Died
A: Mercury got killed by the Hyords
L: Oh, right. Was that Echo/Bunny/Men?
A: Echo and the Bunnymen! They were really cute mutts, sort of - in the murdery sort of way. Actually, I remember distinctly, one of Mercury's posts, she was like "Oh, they're kinda pretty, I'm gonna go pet them — Ahh! It bit off my finger!" but in her scary, swearing, Mercury sort of way.
L: That sounds about right
A: And then after they died, Luyu lit them on fire. Because Luyu.
L: She was a pyromaniac. She was like, the original Games pyromaniac, I think
A: yeah, first um... first immolations, before we even had the dice for that. Hyords. And then - really interesting too —
S: Wolf Tears gradiated ^[3] their posts
A: Huh?
S: Like, she put a gradient on all the posts. It took so much time, oh my god
A: oh, yeah yeah. Gradients were, ah —
L: I was looking at that thread, and I'm pretty sure WT updated one of the fillers
A: yeah, a couple years later, I think - you kind of cut out there, lil bit, so I may have missed operative words there
L: Yeah, no, I said it looks like she updated filler posts, said "oh, sorry it's been 14 months"
A: That... that sounds about right
L: I'm pretty sure there are like two deathposts I still haven't written
A: Yeah I um... yeah we're not gonna talk about unwritten death posts...
S: oh boy
A: yeah. Oh, yknow, on Day 2 also, interesting, in terms of vicious mutts — so uh... Estelle, Cole, and Theodore - their fight for the day was just against two Ouroboros, like, snakes. Little tiny mutts, they were only 15HP each, and there were only two of them. And that fight ended up with Estelle and Cole both getting killed by these mutts - it was mostly just terrible luck. Like, Estelle got insta'd in the first attack, and the snakes were apparently really terrifyingly good with the dice, and kinda slightly killed Cole also. But 15HP each, two mutts, that's... even by today's standards, is a pretty light mutt load. But yknow what, everyone — hmm? - But yknow what, props to everyone, cause I'm pretty sure everyone killed all of the mutts on that day, so round of applause for 56th Tributes for doing that.

[pathetic clapping and weird looping noises]

L: Now we need an explanation of the name - that was the peak of - actually the very beginning of the strikethrough cbox option
A: yeah, that was...
L: and for some reason, we named our alliance after that
A: yeah, we were arguing whether it was strikeout or strikethrough - so it was "Strike" and then we struck out the "out" and then it was "Through." So it was very meta.
L: Yep.
A: Exciting.

L: Yeah, so we had - we fought Sheepish that day. The four of us. I think we killed them pretty easily, but they were notable because their names were Sir, Fay, and Tee
A: hah, i forgot about that!
L: And they were played by Phunke ^[4]
A: Phunke!
S: Phuuuuuunke! I hung out with her last semester for like fifteen minutes
L: Really?
S: Yeah, it was cool. She's cool.
L: Yeah, haven't seen Phunke in awhile
A: You haven't seen anyone in awhile!
L: ehh. But I sort of absorb who has made a comeback, through you
A: Yeah, okay, fair. Not inaccurate. I keep you up-to-date, you're welcome
L: I think that's why I feel like I'm around more than I am

A: Yeah... So, Day 3, I guess, moving forward - unless, did we miss anything? — Day 3 there was only the one fight
S: Do you want to talk about Topash?
L: We should, we should stop skirting the subject. Yeah, so Day 3 was really the start of that -
A: [noise of disagreement]
L: We called it a lot of different things, we call it T/N - or like a heart with a 2 instead of a 3 in the less-than-three [<2] or we call it Topash ^[5] and basically it was mine and Aya's tributes, Topaz and Nash, sort of... pioneered the intense arena romance
A: Yeah - well... maybe not pioneered, but I think we kind of - not to pat ourselves on the back, but I think we kind of... were good about the not-immediately-instalove...
S: It was well written, and it was drawn out - it wasn't instant
A: yeah, we were pretty much building up to it from the start of the Training Center, and kinda just...
L: it was something we agreed would happen, and we sort of paved the way for it through our posts, and I think that made it very successful and very... emotionally draining
A: [snorts] jesus christ, yeah
S: mhm
L: So Day 3 sort of kicked that off, cause Team SoT was fighting Cerba - so this is when Cerba made a comeback. We did not kill Cerba, we killed the cronie -
A: Yeah, we killed the other hellhound... uhh started with an O - Orthu.
L: And then basically, basically Topaz was thinking about the alliance and how they'd accomplished literally nothing so far, so she was just like "Takeba and Anani... we'll see you guys later" and then started running off and said "Nash, come with me" and Nash came and —
A: phrasing
L: — and SoT was... ah
S: selfdestruct
A: I'm sorry, can't help it, I'm sorry. Yeah, so we kind of peaced out - topaz and nash kind of peaced out away from the alliance
S: Takeba and Anani
A: That was the um... we'd told Luna in advance that we were going to be ditching
S: And then Takeba ditched Anani
A: Yeah. Well, we didn't tell Kevin — who wrote Anani — that we were going to leave, so he just got a little surprise when we peaced out of there... ah, whoops
S: It's not the worst thing you could do
A: yeah, not the worst thing I've done to my allies, for sure... heeeeh, hi guys. Oh — this was also the day where Johnathan finally got the axe for inactivity. He posted once on Day 2, then did not post on Day 3 so it was lights out for him, I guess.

A: And this was one of the first - not the first - more esoteric sort of random event, kind of arena wide, global...
L: oh, this is the shoes?
A: This is the falling shoes - the shoestorm
L: Okay wait, I've been thinking about this all day and I can't remember what started the shoes
A: Um, so this harkens back to 600 Feet Below, which was -
L: Was it Dem?
A: Yep - so, a very brief detour into ancient history: Lulu and I, as well as Saph ^[6] —
L: I'll let you know how ancient it was: I was 12, I'm now 20
A: yeah, so — Lulu and I and Saph had all been on an RPG for Suzanne Collins's first series, the Hunger — nope, Hunger Games is this one —
S: Underland Chronicles?
A: Underland Chronicles! ^[7] I remember things.
S: That's where Ripred comes from, y'all
A: Oh yeah
L: So if you've been praying to a deity whose name you do not understand, this would be the source
A: Yes, you are not actually praying to the website where I keep my hodge-podge of scripts — which... maybe you should be? But also, Ripred is...
S: you can do both, it's inclusive
L: At this point we should probably pray to the Games Engine, cause remember when it didn't exist?
A: Hosted on Ripred... and yes. "Pray that it works!" is me, which is my state of being, usually. Till I can rewrite it, which I'm working on, but it's slow-going. Anyway, back on the other site, we had a - one of the members decided that she didn't want her character anymore, and was kind of like "hey, staff, can you kill her off or whatever?" and I was like "sure! she's walking in the lobby of the great hall and a shoe falls from very high up. And it hits her on the head, and she dies." And the member got so mad, she's like "that's not what I meant!" or whatever — and it became this whole big thing. So obviously we're not letting that go, ever, cause who let's things go? People carrying shoes, but that's besides the point. ...Oh! Shit! Fuck! Wolf Tears was on this thing, too, uh
L: Yeah that's sort of why this thing became... cause she was GMing the 56th, so she made up a random event, and basically it was - flying shoes. It was sort of... shoes. So every tribute that was alive in the arena got a shoe falling on them —
A: Two shoes.
L: And some of them were more benign than others — so you may have gotten hit by like a sneaker, and then you probably would've got a blunt object. But I'm pretty sure Topaz got a stilleto, so there was something slicing at her from the sky.
A: Yeah, Nash got a deep gash from a swim fin.
S: I had a... Will got a broken right collarbone from the wooden toe of a pointe slipper, the same way as a finely crafted mace is. (?)
A: And, ah, poor Theodore, just lost his allies the previous day — Takeba shows up because she has been ditched by Topaz and Nash and doesn't want to hang out with Anani any more. So she goes and finds Theodore, and literally they have like one post together and then shoes fall and he gets his skull crushed by a red sandal. So this is like the beginning of —
L: Was it Semper that played Theodore?
S: yep
A: Yes, Semper played Theodore. The District 2 Male, Theodore Croggstad. Ah man, I really liked Theodore too, I wanted him to go far and do well. But. He got killed by a shoe.
S: What a way to go.
L: Death by sandal.
A: Yep.

L: Yeah, also on this day, Topaz and Nash shared a sleeping bag, which became sort of
S: Iconic
L: yeah
A: Iconic.
L: A representation of their relationship. So after they ran off, they only had one sleeping bag. So what are they gonna do, they're gonna cuddle up in side of it!
A: Which is actually really uncomfortable, if you've ever done that. But, suspension of disbelief is very important in the Games, so. It's fine.
S: very true, very true
L: You need to suspend disbelief to imagine people sharing a sleeping bag
S: Ummm... I think also happening this day was Ember, Luyu, and Joshua faced a thing — which, if this computer will let me scroll down, will — oh, it looks like they just had a break day, then shoes.
A: Is this when Ember picked up Hatches? The scarecrow?
L: Oh, the scarecrow!
S: Let me look, Hatches... no. She does not have Hatches at this time.
A: Oh, the next day then
L: It must've been later.
S: Must've been the next day, yeah. Foreshadowing, y'all! Foreshadowing! And then Will and Clarisse also had a break day, which was nice.
A: yeah, I think SoT and the Hellhounds was the only mandate, and then everyone got some shoe damage
L: I think Wolfea wanted to break up that alliance, which... happened.

S: There was that trend in posts, where they'd link their bio at the top
A: That was convenient
S: Which was cute, and it made sense — in Will's it's just a quotation mark and it says "my bio? it's right here, if you want it..." ...god. why. Alright. So that's great.

L: Day 4?
A: Day 4!
S: Day 4...
A: Should we talk about the scarecrow first, or, like, the fallout of things? Actually, you know what, no, cause this is... important for later things. So Day 4 was when we all fought.
S: Yeah, we were all in the same fight!
L: And we all survived
A: yep!
S: well...
A: the three of us did
S: yeah, I almost got you though, Aya
A: Aw, yeah! It was close
S: that was a mess
A: What was it, Self-Defense pretty much saved me. But then after the fact I realized I had a helmet, so, I had like a three or four point buffer, but it was... it was pretty close
L: But then you took Clarisse's sword and gave it to Topaz, right?
A: yup
L: So Topaz traded in the trident for a sword. She started with a bow in the bloodbath, but then tried to shoot the bow and missed every single time
A: So bad
L: So then she got the trident, and then the sword. So Topaz won on stolen weapons
A: Should've, ah... yeah. It was a falchion, specifically, which I remember because I remember all of them. Dru had one in the 55th, Topaz took Clarisse's, Alexander in the 59th had one... yknow what, they're a good weapon. I like them. As far as swords go. As far as like, flavor on top of the die that you're rolling. Favorite. Or second favorite. ^[8]
L: Thank you for this military analysis.
A: Oh, you haven't heard anything yet. Get me on a tangent, I dare you. You know how that ends up.
L: Yeah, oh, so, we haven't really talked about what the arena looked like at all — so this fight happened in a pumpkin patch, because it was fall-themed, because we were in this sort of position where we liked to coordinate our arenas to the themes ^[9] — so the 54th started in the winter and it was a winter arena, 55th started in the summer and it was tropical islands. Then we were like "hehehe what if we made this like an autumn forest" — so we did.
S: that's alright, pumpkin spice!
L: Yep, PSL before PSL was cool
A: no wonder why you won these!
L: Excuse me, are you insinuating that I'm basic?
A: I was actually just about to say the words — because you're basic. It's not an insinuation, it's an accusation. Deny it.
L: Yknow, yknow what...
A: I do know what, I know that you're basic.
L: Well, regardless, the red-headed tribute won the games that took place in the autumn forest
A: It's because her hair was coordinated with the leaves
L: yeah. It was all style.
A: And the uniforms. They had those green headbands, and I remember complaints, just like "I'm gonna look like a pumpkin!" And the orange shirt, too
S: Was it an orange shirt?
L: Yep
S: Oh, god. I don't remember the clothes at all for those games. I don't remember the clothes for any of the games, except for like the 59th and the 65th.
A: The 70th were really cool
S: 70th, right, I did those, I should know what those are
A: I remember wanting them, and then nobody could find that jacket anywhere, and google images could not find it, but I want it. But.
S: Sorry! Yknow, I want it too
A: So good! Uhh... yeah. Oh, and then there were obviously togas in the 62nd, then neon things... ^[10] I remember most of them.
L: I think we should do like, an arena fashion podcast
S: Mhm
A: [weakly] ...yeah, we could do that. That's... please do not heap more things onto my plate right now unless you wanna come back and run them
L: okay, it's just a suggestion
A: I appreciate it
S: We can do like, a... live webstream of just people modeling them
A: Oh, pity the... ^[11]
L: It was like those times when we used to do Tinychat America's Next Top Model competitions
A: We're bringing that back, actually... we. we are definitely bring that back within the next... some point. Cameron's back, he agreed to it
L: I think we need Cameron to orchestrate it
A: No, Cameron's back! He agreed to it!
L: Okay
A: Did you forget that Cameron was back? Cause I've told you like 7 times. Cause it's exciting.
L: No, I know he's back
A: Okay. Thank you.

A: So yeah. We fought. On Day 4.
L: In the pumpkin patch.
A: In the pumpkin patch. Clarisse died.
S: Yep.
A: Sorry
S: I didn't want to go to the pumpkin patch ever, cause there was always the chance of spiders, and I was just like "no, get me away from those"
A: No, oh, yeah that was one of the — you could smash the pumpkins, and it would give you a...
L: Wait, no, we should talk about that on Day 5, cause that's when they actually did it
A: yeah that's when we did it, that's true
S: Foreshadowing again!

A: Alright, so, yeah. We fought, Clarisse died. Nash killed Clarisse, Will almost killed Nash. Nash did not die, Nash stole sword, Nash gave sword to Topaz becuase... that's kind of her thing. Um.

A: The — honestly, in my mind, more interesting fight, mechanically speaking if nothing else: So Anani was kind of left adrift by Takeba and Topaz and Nash, who all abandoned him. So he joins up with Luyu, Ember, and Joshua for the day. Ember has discovered a scarecrow, which she's named Hatches and has fallen madly in love with it. Cause obviously, scarecrows are really handsome.
S: Mhm, gorgeous.
A: So they start threading — in the Anthem for this, it's actually kind of interesting, their fight is listed as "Hiccups vs. ?" and that's because their like... actual fight didn't happen until a couple days into the thing ^[12] so before this, they were threading and Luyu just like... attacks Anani after he shows up, because YOLO, why not. And then everyone starts attacking Luyu out of that thread — Ember does, and Joshua, and of course, Anani. And then, this was the fight with the Snatchers From Heaven. I don't know if you guys remember that fight, those mutts?
S: Nope
L: Sort of?
A: They had a — they were cool, they were tiny little rat-bat mutts
S: Oh, like real tiny
A: Yeah, 5HP. And basically you got to attack them once to see if you could kill them, and then they would roll to either steal one of your items, start asphyxiating you, or they would miss — or there was actually one roll out of the dice=10 or dice=12 which would've killed you. So, probably steal an item or strangle you a little bit, or miss. Ember and Joshua kill theirs right off the bat, but Luyu and Anani get attacked by these things. Luyu rolls and loses an item — I don't remember what, probably wasn't important because it wasn't her flint or other firemaking tools so I don't think she cared about it.
S: Maybe it was a knife.
A: It's probably a knife. More foreshadowing. And Anani gets the asph — asp — ah, fuck — asphyxiation roll, which turns out — I'd forgotten about this — Asphyxiation was sort of like the proto-Grim Reaper sort of deal, mechanic that I guess I kind of slightly designed a little bit, based on me being the one posting it in the thread. Apparently I've always been fond of this sort of... things get more... or... you have to escape from things and everything is terrible... uh... as Kay can attest to, with the Grim Reapers from the 70th —
S: [nervous and/or evil laughter]
A: — which I think is the only time they've ever been deployed. I think that slightly broke her a lot.
S: Oh my god. Yeeeeah.
A: Anyhow, this aspix — asphyxiation roll — Anani had to roll a number of consecutive posts, with one ten-sided die in each of them. And he needed to roll three die total that were greater than 5, so 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. But every time that he rolled 1-5, he would take 10 damage, so he actually did manage to — oh and once he rolled three that were >5, he was able to flee. And he actually did manage to do this. It was, I remember, very kind of tense. So he rolled a 6, which is good, then a 2 — so he took ten damage. Then a 7, which is good, then a three and he took 10 damage, and I think he was kind of pushing like... in/around the "one more will kill me" radius. And fortunately, he rolled an 8 at that point. So he took 20 damage, which, holy crap you got strangled by flying rat-things... but he managed to flee, so that is good. So, hurray! And at that point, after that fight, Anani and Joshua decide to get the fuck away from Luyu and Ember, which is probably smart.
L: Yeah
S: Yeah, they're crazy
A: Yes, they were terrifying.
S: More foreshadowing!
A: Oh yeah

S: So that's it for Day 4?
A: yeah
S: So Day 4 ended November 14th, just so you know!

L: Day 5, so... um... I can kick it off with Topaz and Nash. So they had a rest day, so they decided to spend it smashing pumpkins
A: Not the band
L: And I think they... what did they find in their pumpkin?
A: They found edible pumpkin fruit and a misshapen hat. A misshapen woolen hat.
L: Yeah.
A: And, um... I think one of the pumpkins screamed too.
L: Yeah, so that was a cool addition to that particular area, you could roll a die, smash a pumpkin, and then see what happened inside of it. So sometimes there was an object, sometimes there was food, sometimes it would scream
A: Sometimes there were spiders ^[13]
L: Spiders, yeah, which would've been bad
A: Wouldn't've been that bad
S: I would've cried.
L: Well wouldn't they fight?
A: Yeah, but spiders.
L: Well, I dunno, I dunno if they were like mutant spiders or something
S: No, they were, cause they were like... the color of their back was like, they're gonna kill you if they hit you or not
A: Black curtains ^[14]
L: See, so, I'm not wrong
A: But... fine.

L: More importantly, the pumpkin thing ended in Nash — so Nash was schizophrenic
A: yup [discretely begins eating chocolate]
L: Which — did we cover that already?
A: nope
L: So you should talk about that
A: Do I have to?
L: Yes.
A: Okay. [not discretely eating chocolate to cover up how awkward i am at talking about my writing.] I think we kind of... covered that. Nash was um. Schizophrenic. She had um. Voices, two voices — um. One of 'em was... it was like the, I was kind of going for like the "angel on one shoulder, devil on the other" type deal when i was conceiving and writing um... Nash... some of it kind of worked, some of it didn't.
S: It's a great color palette for it
A: That's true
L: Yeah the color palette was on point
A: Thank you. Uh. Yeah. Um. So she kinda like... was in and out of "yes everything is fine" and then also "everything is terrible" a little bit. or whatever. Um - i think one of the pumpkins got smashed and it screamed loudly or something and that kinda.. like... set her/them off a bit and she like went to — she attempted to stab Topaz, uh, dyou wanna pick it up from there?
L: Yeah, so she tried to stab Topaz, and Topaz was like — she [Nash] says something like "they want me to kill you so you need to take this knife" or something like that. And Topaz's like who the hell's they so — did she kiss her before or after Nash explained?
A: no, it was before
L: So that's when they had their first kiss
A: So: tries to stab you => start making out
L: ...yeah. So Topaz is in this [oh my god lulu talks way too fast i have no idea] so she's like "why are you trying to kill me oh my god" so naturally the only thing to do is kiss her, and she did. Then Nash explained to her that she had the two voices and Topaz was like "...okay, well... I guess I'll take that"
A: yup
L: And thus was Day 5 for T/N
A: And it took — Tributes, take note — it took them that long to start making out. Y'all thirsty.

S: [audible shrug] Eh, hormones.

A: Yeah, nah, I'm totally down with that
S: Yeah. I guess also that day, Anani and Joshua...
A: chill
S: they had a rest day
L: That thread title is stuck in my mind, I don't know why
S: [announcer voice] "Serendipity Among the Darkness of Humanity"
A: I just get to "Serendipity Among the —" and then it cuts out. But the first bit is always stuck in... like, when I think of thread titles from the 56th, improbably that's the one that comes to mind first. "Serendipity Among the —" and then I always forget what comes after it. It's just "Serendipity Among the —" whatever
S: "— Darkness of Humanity"
A: Thank you.
L: Well now you're gonna hear it with Shrimp's voice in your head every time you hear it
A: That's perfect
S: My radio announcer voice. Yeah. This also sounds like it was their introduction-to-each-other posts, so I think Joshua saved Anani when Anani was unconscious, and then Anani wakes up.
A: Aww.
S: And that's cute. And then it goes to the last fight, which is between Luyu, Will, Takeba, and Ember
L: Oooh, this is the one, right?
S: yeah, uh. Will allied with Takeba for the day —
A: mistake!
S: After this day, we started calling Takeba cursed because all of her allies died the day she allied with them. So this is the day that Will died, so that was fun.
L: Twice
S: Twice. That's quite the catch. So I guess what happened with that is — the best way I can explain it is Luyu was attacking Will with a sword at first, and then was attacking Will with a knife. However, Luyu didn't actually have a knife, so she killed Will and then two days later, WT found out that the knife didn't exist...
A: Oh, Luyu was —
S: I already wrote my death post and everything. It was finished, it was done, I had closure.
A: Luyu was at 39.5 at this point, too — like she was literally 0.5 away from dead at that point
S: She was close. And I was at 32 points. And then Cam attacks again and like instantly kills Will ^[15] and I'm like "Well... that was just unnecessary stress to my life." But that's how Will died twice. He was the first one to die twice!
A: well...
S: There's been multiple after that, in the elusive club of "Died Twice"
A: Actually... sorry to take this title away from you, but...
S: Okay, that's okay
A: There were a couple of tributes in the 54th that died twice due to Flash the Wolf
S: Oh, right
A: So Archer died twice and Jeremy died twice — Arbor only died once. Arbor only died once, unfortunately
S: So he's the third, he's number 3. That's okay
A: Yeah but the 54th barely counts, so. This was different. I'll still give you the title.
L: The 54th was an experiment.

S: Yeah the 56th I kind of feel like was one of the first... it got the formula down I guess
A: We mostly knew what we were doing. By the 57th we had Random Events
L: Yeah random events first got introduced then, and that's when things sort of got cemented
A: yeah. So I would say the... the 56th were almost there, but the 57th were when things were like as you see them today, more or less
S: and no one remembers those games, oh no
L: Except... uh...
A: I remember those games
S: So yeah, that happened, and at the end of that, Takeba runs away, and she's getting like... emotional at this point, like very... angry. Ember does stuff with Hatches
A: heh, phrasing
S: Luyu steals Will's items, sets his clothes on fire, and then leaves
L: Which is pretty typical
A: Cameron objects to the notion of clothes in the arena as a concept. Across the board. I don't know - for those of you not actively following the 71st right now, his tribute Heather is currently completely naked, except for boots and a vambrace, and several days ago she was blinded by an explosion in the peat bog and got one of her boobs singed by a fire attack. Yesterday I think.
L: Some things never change
A: It's hard to change when you're not wearing clothes to begin with.
S: And yknow, this was five years ago. It's been five years.

S: Yeah that was Day 5, super fun.
L: Day 6, shit starts going down
A: no, no shit goes down - Day 6 was a chill day. No mandated fights
L: Well, no, like -
S: Anani might've
L: Six was the chill day, but Topaz and Nash had their pillars thread
A: aw, pillars thread
L: When you think about it, nothing really happened at the pillars
A: no - well - the Finale
L: well no, I mean in that thread - we like rave about that thread all the time, but nothing particularly happened, they just sort of sat at the pillars next to each other
A: and talked
L: and Nash said like "you're gonna win, you know" and Topaz was like "yeah but if you do you die" and that angsty conversation
A: and she was like "yeah" - it was a good thread though, feels are still there for me. And the second time ^[16] I've been like "Hey, so, ally - guess what, you're gonna win!" and then they have, so - i have a habit of it
L: So basically, you can predict the future
A: uhhh... no.... my characters occasionally can? maybe? I get lucky? I know everything?
L: when was the other time, Mace?
A: Mace, yeah. But... yeah. That was already down to the final... I guess this was the final six-ish, too. Six? yeah, six. Anyway. Nothing really happened.
S: Actual this thread is where Nash is telling Topaz about schizophrenia
L: Oh like, more about it? cause she briefly brushed by it yesterday, but
S: she's talking about it for like three posts
A: huh. I'd forgotten about that

L: Okay, yeah - oh, no Anani died
A: Nope, Day 7
L: Wait then why doesn't he have... why is it the last time I see Anani's name?
A: Cause he died of inactivity - Cerba's last kill
S: Does he die in 360? 360, by the way, is the Day 7 thread with Joshua and Anani.

A: So... yeah, Day 7, nothing really exciting for Topaz and Nash, they fight horses, they kill the horses - ah, Deadly Stallions. Anani dies of inactivity, finally, and he's Cerba's last kill of the Games... Cerba just [gestures] drags him away. Gamemakers weren't gonna go for a third District Twelve victor in a row. Shit's bad. But yeah, Kevin didn't post that day. Oh I guess one thing we didn't really talk about was - there was a long time between each day, like two, even three weeks sometimes, which was um... slow, definitely things were kind of slow by today's standards, so the Games lasted through January
S: Those were the four-month games
L: But these were also like a huge bonding point for the site at this point, these games - this is where we started doing our tinychat video chats, where we would always just like sit there and stare at each other, but we would type - so we would just type with our faces on the screen ^[17]
A: yeah, pretty much. I fell asleep a lot
S: I mean, I don't really know cause this was like... I joined like a month before the 56th
L: Oh really?
S: Yeah this is my starting point
L: Woooow. Shrimp, I feel like you've been around forever
A: well this was 2012 ^[18]
S: technically i've been around for like...
L: five years
S: four, I'm gonna say four, cause that one year I took off. I've been around, I guess, cause I've been around since the 56th but I'm one of the only people still around from the 56th I guess is why
A: Yeah, true

S: it's cool. Yeah, so...
L: Oh then lots of shit went down
A: So much shit went down!
L: I don't really remember what it was, so someone else has to talk about that
A: So basically, Takeba and Ember and Luyu were going to fight - so Takeba shows up, and Luyu's just like "lol" and attacks Ember, cause Luyu does that, so Takeba does too - and Ember's just kind of dazed and confused, so she stabs Luyu in the throat - instakill. And Luyu dies. And then Takeba keeps attacking Ember, but them Ember some how also decides that - her writer's just like "nah, that's enough" and Ember killed herself, but it was the scarecrow or something? Like I think it was a metaphor but it was also... not? Like, the post is about the scarecrow killing her, which was kind of confusing. ^[19] And then Takeba's just standing there like "why do all of my human interactions end up with everyone dead." And I think that kind of covers it.

L: Then there's Day 8, and Day 8 is rough to talk about, it really is
S: Do you want to start with Takeba and Joshua?
L: Yeah
A: My summary for Day 8 is "hell kim"
S: So we're going to talk about Takeba and Joshua first, which requires me to remember what Takeba and Joshua were doing -
A: They were fillering, cause Joshua posted once and then like didn't show up for two or three weeks, and everyone's like "hey, so... get on with it!" And then, Joshua's writer
S: Kitsune
A: yeah. Joshua was very under the radar the whole time
S: great writing though
A: fantastic writing, just not really... here...
S: not super in the community
L: wow there was almost a month between the previous day and the end of that day.
A: Yep, so that... yeah. It was basically - they had a couple of good posts and then fillered to the death, which was slow - and then Takeba won. Lost a couple fingers, if I recall correctly. But Takeba won. And, was this when Takeba was carving that wooden... voodoo doll thing?
L: It may have, I think the finale —
S: I think it was the beginning of the finale, yeah, that was the finale
A: ah, I knew she had it then, didn't remember if it had started before
S: spoiler alert, Takeba in the finale

L: Okay, um, now
A: go ahead, all you
L: so this was like... so we knew it was going to happen before it happened, but Topaz and Nash got paired together in a fight. So we had that situation where Aya had won a Games already ^[20] - so like we knew how this fight was going to end. So we together decided how we would handle this. And basically, what happened was Nash just kind of decided that she was done and said to Topaz, "kill me." And Topaz was kind of like "what the hell, what do I do" - on one hand she wants to win, but on the other hand it's Nash, so finally she says "if this is what you want" and she starts like... stabbing Nash with the sword

A: [snorts] Well, no, she starts shallow-cutting - she gets one good hit in, a deep gash on the back of the head, and the the rest of that thread is just like... it's like a botched execution swing, almost
L: Nash is like, feebly punching back... oh it was rough
A: That was I think the first thread I was in that actually destroyed me. There've been many since, but this is the first time when I was just sitting there writing a thing, hell_kim-ing to myself - before hell_kim-ing was a thing, obviously, cause that's pretty new
S: It was so upsetting
A: That day was rough. And I pretty much can't listen to...
S: The Antlers?
A: Yeah, it took awhile before I could listen to the Antlers again

L: So basically how it ended was at last, Topaz I think got a deep gash - where did she gash Nash?
A: back of the head, at the very beginning
L: which I feel like I had gotten on tributes to follow before, as their deathblows
A: Yeah that was, back in the 54th, that was how - that was, fuck, Jared and Arbor had that shit going on. So this was the second time that we fought, you killed me this time instead of the other way around. Three games in, two tributes. Anyway.

L: Yeah so Nash dies, Topaz - obviously Topaz killed her - Topaz is coming to terms with this, and basically what she does, that sort of stands iconic now, is she dipped her finger in Nash's blood and wrote "mine" on her forehead - in blood - in Nash's forehead, not Topaz's forehead — and sort of claimed her
A: ahhhh, forgot about that
L: yeah
A: phew
L: yeah so that was rough
A: yeah... shit, that's becoming a trend of tributes of mine
L: Yeah so that happened at the creek on the day before the finale,
A: Day 8
L: So now we're down to Topaz and Takeba, who had been allies earlier in the Games. And the finale happens in the pillars. And I think somehow a giant forest fire starts? I don't think it was Luyu's doing
A: It's hard to say for sure! ...but it was the Gamemakers, that's actually a fact
L: So, giant forest fire destroys most of the arena, the usual "you are driven to one last place" - so they're driven to the pillars, which are just these ominous stone henge type things in the north of the arena, so there's a ring of fire that they get driven to and the two of them have to duke it out inside the ring of fire, and it's like super dramatic. And basically what happens is there's a lot of talking at each other - like a lot. So they are talking about whether - i think that's where the quote that is in Topaz's banner comes from, like "i pity you" or something
A: yeah, "for that, I pity you"
L: yeah that comes from the finale
A: Yep, that comes from - I think right at the beginning, Takeba's like "oh, so, yesterday there were four people, and now there's two. And Nash died and I did not kill Nash and therefore you probably did, so. You guys were... a thing, so, sucks to suck" - but in her very eloquent, verbose Takeba sort of way.
S: Very scientific
L: which is, which is like - she was from District 4, she wasn't from District 3
A: yeah, but you can have nerds everywhere - we're not limited to specific...
S: Silicon valley
A: we exist outside - oh, that was, Takeba -
L: so generally there were just going back and forth for awhile, and Topaz... started with an early lead I'm pretty sure, so
S: Takeba did a lot of mindgame dialog, and Topaz had pretty good hits
L: And then, Takeba carved a doll - it was a wooden voodoo doll - and said like "this is you" basically, I forget the specifics of that
S: Didn't she behead it?
A: She beheaded it also - and her hits kept hitting Topaz, like, deep gash on forehead, shallow cut on back of head — I remember there was a remark about that like, "oh, you just decapitated it, no wonder you're aiming for my head" or something of the sort
L: yup. And then when it becomes clear that Takeba is going to die, she gives Topaz her token which I believe was a locket
A: Yep, it had the initials "ZF" on it, which was - Takeba had this sort of mystery-figure in her life before the Games, was a character called Zentaal Faulkier I think - ZF - I don't really remember too much of the specifics, but locket from him.

L: Yeah, so - and she was like "you should take it out of the arena, you could sell it" and Topaz was like "no, I'm not gonna sell it" ummmm and I think that was the end, right?
A: Yeah, pretty much
S: The ending dialogue is killing me
L: Oh, it was a back of the head gash that killed her... that was, that was intense. This is probably some of the most intense moments I have ever written - um, especially the victor post that followed. And before that, Takeba had this really fantastic death post
A: beautiful!
L: which culminated in the butterfly which has survived the v5 switch
A: well it was, it was an ASCII moth - the way that she did it was, it was just dashes and she colored in...
S: individually, each dash
A: yeah, it was intense, that must've taken ages
L: yeah you're gonna need to go look at it if you want to understand what we're talking about
S: it's pretty gorgeous
A: and then there's a... a poem after it that's also beautiful - then you can see also, like I said at the beginning she had all these lines - one line per day
L: it was the things she had learned every day, sort of, with some kind of like... parameter
A: and then her death is "clipped moths, let loose" which is just like [noise of admiration]
L: yeah, Takeba was awesome
A: yeah, Takeba was great
S: really good writing

L: yeah, this games had a lot of good writing. I think it was sort of the Games that everybody started trying to rise to a standard
A: Yeah, we talked about last episode how the 55th was kind of like the Site Renaissance - everything was starting to come up. Like, aesthetic was getting there, and writing was getting there, and like... Cinder and Wolf Tears were like hauling us up by our size=2 font - and we were getting there, and by the 56th, the posts were substantial and the development was fantastic, and just... everything was getting great. There were lyrics! Things were size=1 and blockquoted and justified by the end!
S: which is fine, which is good - now we mostly do tables, but there's nothing wrong with a justify/blockquote
A: oh yeah, color, justify.

L: yeah, uh. So Topaz wins and... I think this might be my favorite post that I've ever written, this victory post... which is saying something cause I was 15. I think I was fifteen
A: yeah, I was sixteen
S: you were fifteen, cause I was also fifteen
L: yeah um... so... it was a monster, wow, I am scrolling past it now, this is so long... I don't know if i could read this without crying so i'm not going to. But basically it was about Nash, pretty much - so she had kept the sleeping bag that they had shared throughout the entire games, and as the hovercraft was pulling her up after she won, like out of the fire, there's just blazing fire - she's just holding onto the sleeping bag and they like throw her onto the floor of the craft and try to give her medical attention but she won't let go of the sleeping bag until someone like drugs her and pulls it out of her hands

A: Stark stole it in the 61st - she got it back, but
L: that was terrible, oh my god
S: wait, what happened?
A: So, kind of side tangent - my District 1 female tribute Stark Harper in the 61st uhhh... they kinda had a sort of...
S: thing
A: sleeping-together thing
L: they had a one night stand
A: yeah. Hateful
L: oh that was great, I can't wait to talk about the 61st
A: yeah, and at the end of it - Stark like... Topaz kicks her out or whatever, and Stark finds the sleeping bag under her bed and is just like "oh... well I'm taking this" and she hides it in her room
S: oh god
A: delightfully evil before she even set foot in the arena... and I don't know why it brings me joy - oh, cause destroying people's emotions brings me joy, including my own
L: I think Stark Harper in general brings everyone joy
A: Well, debatable
L: yeah, um. Well, so that in a nutshell - in a very long nutshell - is the 56th Games. I think these Games will just always have a special place - I'm probably biased, cause I won them - but as we said I think they definitely marked the shift in writing on the site... so like a collective desire to write long, well-formatted, well-executed posts
S: definitely
A: yeah, put a little more thought into things
S: these games were actually really important for me too, cause like... it really helped my writing actually be writing. Like before that, the month before I was reaped it was just like, one paragraph, pretty vague, bad grammar... it was bad. And then it got so much better by the end of this, and I think it was like a month later I became an RP tutor - it was pretty quickly. So this was pretty important and it like... took a lot, and I'll remember it fondly
L: yeah I think everyone realized during these Games how much playing a tribute really could develop your writing
A: yeah... yeah, 56th's always got a special place in my heart - or whatever passes for one - I... yeah, uh, I don't really have anything to add about that, I think there was a lot of improvement made...
L: and it was also the first games a District Twelve tribute did not win!
A: that is true - it took us awhile, we got there, hooray!
L: So now we've got the bookends, we've got two 12s and a 1 - what will happen next?
A: I wonder!
S: Tune in next time to find out

A: alright, you guys got any other lingering thoughts, anything else to add?
L: i think that's pretty much it
S: no, I'm great - i'm good
A: yep, yes you are! Alright, well, thanks guys, for hanging out, chatting, discussing... um. Til next time I guess
S: yeah, thank you for hosting!
A: yeah, sure!

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] - wrong
[2] - THIS SOUNDS HORRIBLE BUT I DID NOT MEAN IT HORRIBLY I SWEAR I JUST MEANT TO ALLUDE TO AESOP'S CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES. AESOP IS <333 AND SUNDROP IS <333 AND I WOULD NOT THROW SHADE AT EITHER OF THESE THINGS.
[3] - is this even a word, shrimp
[4] - Phunke was a tutor who was around from 2010-2012. She's lovely. We miss her.
[5] - T/N probably being the most popular, as I dragged my feet on the portmanteau a lot when the ship was active
[6] - and WT!
[7] - They're amazing, read them.
[8] - mmmmm dat claymore in the 71st
[9] - seasons, I assume
[10] - in the 63rd: everything was neon, tribute's choice, but nothing was allowed to match.
[11] - Who!? who was I going to pity!?
[12] - a couple RL days into the Games Day
[13] - Other optionS: big white rat for the tributes to fight (15 HP), cloud of black spores released, blinding the tribute until the end of the next Games Day.
[14] - I'm actually not sure if they were black curtains, but if they were, their venom's effects were: brown-backed => blindness, green-backed => death. Fun stuff.
[15] - to be clear: with a second DG attack, not an insta
[16] - well, first, chronologically, but it's happened more than once
[17] - Mostly because `late at night + houses filled with other people + talking` is not a winning combination
[18] - No! This was 2010! Saying numbers is hard!
[19] - Ree, who wrote Ember, kept insisting that the scarecrow killed her. I could never tell if she was joking or serious about that. So I'm still confused.
[20] - This was before there was any sort of official, written rule in place. There wasn't any "situation" at the time because there was nothing distinctly against winning twice then. This fight and my actions with Nash (as the first tribute-of-past-victor) did set a lot of behavior precedents that everyone mostly adhered to for the next ten-ish games, until in the 65th the unwritten rule became written (i.e. that you can't win twice) and the 71st where it was amended (so you could win again after 15 games.)