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The air was musty and cool. Hypno knew he should be grateful, since he’d heard that the heatwaves hitting all of Panem had been just brutal, but he would trade all the cool air in the world for a few hours of stress-free sunbathing.
Unfortunately his lifestyle really didn’t allow anything to be stress free, especially in the weeks surrounding the Games.
He was quite literally drowning in plans and notes, messages from his contacts all over the country, one more worrying than the other.
Apparently, during this year’s reaping there had been a record-high of rigged pickings. Ten out of the twelve Tributes had been rigged to be picked, and two more had volunteered, something he could barely believe.
He got why the brother of last year’s Victor had been reaped. After the stunts the girl from 12 had pulled, there was absolutely no way she wasn’t gonna be punished.
He felt sorry for her, but it was the way it was for now.
For now being the keyword, because if he could help it, it would be all over soon. Unrest had been growing steadily, both in the districts, and within the Capitol citizens themselves. An empire such as Panem could never be sustainable for long either way, they were bound to collapse. And Hypno was there to streamline the process as best as he could.
For now, that meant cross referencing any possible fallacies of the arena with the strengths of each tribute, since most of them had files of their own in the Capitol Intelligence, expected for the older, or more rebellious kids, but why the 12 or 13 year old kids had such extensive files though he could not understand. Still it was very useful to have access to the documents. A reliable source in just about every government agency and department, that had been the beginning of Hypno’s success in leading the rebellion.
The screen that sat precariously on his desk came to life with the emblem of Panem, and the anthem played over the crackling speakers.
The Tribute’s Parade was about to begin, so he sat up from where he’d been lying on the table, and tried his best to make out the Tributes on the old screen.
“If there is one thing I miss from the Capitol, it has to be the Parade. It’s the only time the kids get the chance to stand tall without fear of too much ridicule, if the stylist is half competent.”
The old man’s voice came from behind him, but Hypno didn’t even turn to look, after all there was only one person living with him in the Hog’s bunker.
“You know what, you sentimental old man, I have to agree with you on this one, the experience is truly something, especially if you’ve never seen that many people in the same place before. Which most Tributes haven’t.”
As an answer, he only got a half-scoff, and the sound of a chair dragging so that they could sit next to each other, as they kept watching, wondering if this time it could be the last.