How the Odds Fell in My Favor
Favorable Odd #1: Believe it or not, I originally planned to apply for the HOL Hunger Games as a Game Maker. I knew I was going to be busy in August, so I did not think I could commit to being a Tribute. (But then, we didn't even make it to August! More on that later.) Mireya Harradine (Kyrie Adderholt) with her fantastic (and hypnotizing) hair convinced me otherwise. Before I could change my mind, I completed the first two parts of the reaping.
Favorable Odd #2: Lo and behold, I was selected as a Tribute for the chillingly awesome District 3 and paired up with the best District-mate anyone could ask for - Vere Thornlyre (Matilde Rayne)!
Favorable Odd #3: After the near-immediate death of June Kingsolver (Lisette Westerveldt), Vere and I, with the input of our magnificent mentor Star Stone (Opal Curare), decided to form an alliance with District 4 and devise a plan to attack Winnow Lockhearst (Edmund Smethwyck). Since Vere is so amazing, she got both members of District 4 to agree to help. Then, Tungsten Moone (Alexander Greb) said District 2 would also work with us. Six-on-one is hardly a fair fight, especially this early on, so we had to take out the other two members of Winnow's alliance. There's the story behind the group attack on Calleigh McDuncan (Alexander Bowne) and Celestia Royale (Laurie Lovegood).
Favorable Odd #4: Tungsten seemed to have a knack for staying at the top of the standings. I started to worry about how to deal with him down the line. Luckily for me, Merope Gaizka (Ivelisse Ada) took matters into her own hands with her kamikaze attack on Tungsten. This was good for two reasons. I no longer had to worry about Tungsten and Merope's popularity skyrocketed, allowing me to stay relatively unknown.
Favorable Odd #5: This one is a bit of after-the-fact luck. After the elimination of Sameth Ituralde Aybara (Prof. Pavel A Lagrange), Winnow clearly had to go. Vere and Magio Karpe (Amy Charz) agreed. We were able to get most of our attacks in before the attempt to slow down the attacks with the "every third attack is not as strong" rule change.
Favorable Odd #6: I swear that I just found out that Seeley Hawthorne (Sobe Magesblood) and Sunny Beam (Holly Everwood) failed to complete the dreaded anagrams task when Vere and Magio already finished them off. Extremely quick, those two.
Favorable Odd #7: Silly Magio agreed to help Vere and me eliminate Payson Steele (Prof. Missa Matz). In fact, while Magio was away, we placed a few attacks on her. Once Payson was out of the picture, Vere and I coordinated the remaining attacks on Magio.
Favorable Odd #8: A beautiful message appeared in the arena.
11 Down, 1 To Go
You and Vere Thornlyre are all that remains in the arena. Who will be left to win it all?!
Then a message from Vere: Haaaaazelle, we beat Magio. We're all alone now. xD Which kind of begs the question - what do we do first?
I replied: We could post a "We claim this arena for District 3" flag or something XD
Tada! Claiming the arena:
Made by Vere
Unfavorable Odd: Mireya and Briar Keene (Alaia Logan) returned with their own pictures, saying we had to kill each other.
Favorable Odd #9: For a fleeting second, I contemplated letting Vere win. Why? Her points count toward the House Cup and mine don't! (But after seeing all the Ravenclaw Tributes at the revelation, I don't feel as bad.) Then Briar made a comment about other evil and impossible tasks. I knew I had more points than Vere at that point and I could end the Games before August. With that, I posted my last attacks.
Favorable Odd #10: I didn't die of exhaustion. These Games were so much more intense than I could've imagined. But I'll admit that one of my most difficult decisions was whether to go to the midnight showing the of the new Batman movie or to stay up for the next task. The tasks were so challenging and so different. It was impossible to predict what was coming next - crossword to knots to archery to anagrams? I even triple- and quadruple-checked my logic puzzle answer, just to make sure I didn't mess it up. The Game Maker attacks were also evil and I didn't even choose a to take a bag in the beginning. In hindsight, I probably should've known to stay away from both As and Ks when choosing my Hunger Games alias. It amazes me how quickly HOLers can switch from vicious Tributes/conniving Game Makers to friendly people and vice versa.
Well, I can't be the winner of the first HOL Hunger Games if there is no second! Next time, you should volunteer as Tribute and may the odds be ever in your favor!
