[pre-video feed]

[yourhosts]

Quentin "Q" Continuum settles into his seat next to Flickerman, ready to commentate over another oh-so-exciting Hunger Games. Hopefully something interesting will actually happen this year. Hopefully the bartender this year remembers how to actually mix drinks. It's hard being Q.

"Think any of them will step off the pedestals early this year?" he drawls to Flickerman as some extremely forgettable gofer brings him his drink. Q takes a sip. Acceptable. He nods and waves the gofer away.

Comments

[yourhosts]

Caesar is already in his seat, mulling over pulled facts and other tidbits that he might feel the need to pepper his commentary with while a stylist fusses over his hair. Last minute checks, retouches... Television is not as effortless as he makes it look.

"Our viewers can only hope." Caesar adjusts the collar of his dress shirt and shoves his notes at the stylist, shooing her away. "Maybe the boy from 12. I don't think he's quite..." Vague hand gestures, here. "Sharp enough to figure out the count down."

[video feed]

[caroflower]

Caro doesn't have the time to get nervous between when she bids Garak goodbye and when the tube spits her out on the pedestal in the Arena. Luckily for her, she's already facing the right way, so she doesn't have to turn around awkwardly like the boy next to her.

The timer starts counting down from sixty. She has one minute to survey her surroundings and plot an escape route. For Caro, that's plenty of time.

The Cornucopia is in the middle of a field. Out of the corner of her eye she can see... mountains in the distance. Snow. Trees. On the other side of the Cornucopia are more trees, and whatever is past that she can't say. It's chilly, but not cold yet.

She turns her attention to the items scattered around the Cornucopia. Caro ignores the artfully arranged weapons for now (nearest the Careers, but close enough to some of the other Tributes to potentially con them into trying for them) and focuses on the backpacks. There. A decently sized one close to her. She plots a course from her pedestal to it and then... yes, into the woods for now.

There's a little bit of time left, so she looks around at the nearest Tributes. No Careers right next to her, fortunately. She sees Servo a few pedestals away and smiles at him. He looks terrified, but he kind of grimaces back in what's probably meant to be a smile. She sees movement to her left and there's Willow teetering a little. Caro smiles at her, too. Willow actually waves a little.

Okay, time to focus. Five... four... Caro cracks her neck and gets ready to jump. Three... Two...

One.

Caro jumps down and runs for the backpack.

[UNRECORDED]

[illdrinktothat]

The mentor room is dead silent as soon as the Tributes pop up on their pedestals but truth be told, Walter isn't going to notice much in the way of sound at the moment anyway. He adjusts the screen to his left, yanking it about a bit so that it's aligned so he can see both Caro and Zopf without turning his head. He's not even aware he's clenching his fists hard enough to white-knuckle as that clock ticks down.

He clamps his jaw shut and holds his breath when they all move. He hears distant noises from other mentors, sadness and frustration as their Tributes fall, but he doesn't really register them. He couldn't tell you who made them. All he can see is his two Tributes bolting off their pedestals, both for the Cornucopia.

Zopf makes after the girl from 2 with very little resistance, and doesn't kill anyone so much as play spectator to the death. Caro, though, she follows the plan exactly, dashing for the closest backpack she could possibly reach. His heart goes dead in his chest for a moment when he sees the blur of movement from the splitscreen view; that boy from 2 with a bow, aiming.

...But the arrow plants itself firmly in Caro's backpack as she flees.

He exhales audibly, not sure when he'd actually started holding his breath. He doesn't even blink until Caro's safely in the treeline. Then, he slowly draws his hands down his face and makes a strangled sort of relieved noise. She did it. She's out of the bloodbath.