A Love Letter to the 71st Games in Three Parts

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

a note from the desk of

Kay [earthling]

For Aya,

Because you gave me everything from hell_kay to a finale on the columns without tap-dancing tributes. You did so much to make these games epic, from the mechanical to the feels-inducing.

This has been said before but never enough: Thank you for designing our combat system and the engine. Our site is so much more technically proficient, fair and dynamic because of these incredible tools. Thank you for finding it amusing when I massively fucked up the engine and REs - and then finding creative and fair ways to fix these boo boos. Thank you, thank you, thank you for manning the engine during the most stressful days. Thank you for crafting new and fun REs and muttations. The Balors were something fearsome :muscle: and I loved the dowsing rod mechanic.

Thank you for playing feels chicken although it is massively unfair when you recruit other people to feels chicken at me oh my god. Thank you for taking away the panic buttons when I abused them. Thank you for letting me do the fun thing with Glamour and Capricious. Thank you for all of your insights about these Games, both OOC and via Dom Copperview’s lens.

Thank you for letting me bug the absolute shit out of you during the planning process. It’s crazy that the mile-long doc we had over the summer is now just a page of stickers. Thank you for being the best boss and Gamemaker a girl could ask for.

I am still flushed with pride that you asked me to be your Co-Gamemaker. It has meant so much to me to be able to see the way your brain works, how you devise traps and random events, and how you care so much about the tributes and the Games themselves. It’s also been eye-opening to realize how much your perspective on Gamemaking has changed over the years, and how - even after all this time - you are still striving to make the Games a more fun and memorable experience.

Most of all, thank you for being my friend. I know that sounds like a simple thing, but it isn’t. You are always there if I am panicking, or need to vent, or cry, or rage, or hardest of all: when I just need to leave. You are incredibly good at holding space, considering things deeply, and allowing others to be themselves. More than anyone else, you have made me laugh and cry and feel all of the things these Games.

And I am so ready to see what comes next. Here is my favorite quote from Gamemaker Dom Copperview these Games:

“Loud and clear.” // Raise Forth Lost Cause


gtpz & love,
Kay

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

a note from the desk of

Kay [earthling]

For our tributes,

I don’t even know where to begin to thank you all of you for these beautiful, joyful, intense and memorable Games. Some of my favorite writing in any Games _ever_ has been in the Seventy-First. Y’all really broke me between the revenge plots and heart rending death posts. Here I have collected one of my favorite lines from each of you. Please know that there were many, and I just picked these because they resonated with me. I am so grateful that the site now has all of these posts in its cannon.


Draco Wellings [[nyte] ] District Seven Male // 71st Reaping

“I used to read about people's hearts dropping into their stomachs. In fairy tales and thick leather books that I stole from the library because I could never be bothered to get a stupid purple card.

I always assumed it was some kind of exaggeration, because no one could really survive their heart falling so far out of place. Such sayings are often lost on me, but I was certain it was impossible.

Now, with every step closer to the stage, I feel it. My heart thumping and pounding, sliding up and down to match my gait.

It's as painful as I imagined.”

Paige Hope [pup ] District Eight Female // Paige's Death Post

“I am not unique. I am not special. I am another girl in the crowd. Another piece on a chessboard that life plays against itself, and just as Lily was toppled, so was I. “

Hannah O’Leary [я𝑜𝓈𝑒 ] District Nine Female // perihelion

“The sun falls to rise again; phoenixes do not die.”

Odile Quintanilla [goat ] District Three Female // Odile's DP

“Oh. I know exactly who this is.

She holds out her arms for an embrace. I grin at her, walking slowly at first, then quickening my pace. As I'm getting close, her smile falls as she sees the rage in my eyes.

I punch that bitch square in the face.”

Leo Everitt [∂αмєη ] District Three Male // 71st Reaping

“For Leo, dark matter became observable.”

Leticia Tibideaux [D6f Carmen Cantelou [aza] ] District Ten Female // 71st Reaping

“All those words written about different days and times and moments and lies and heartbreak were unscrambled by this enlightening, and I must've been blind because they were all documented beneath my name.”

Saxton Hale [grim. ] District Five Female // one last day of serenity

"It’s important to pause for the little things, how often do we get to watch the ocean play tag with the sand?" I say sitting back onto my elbows, feeling the dull sun reflect from my face, today we would find serenity.

Rodrick Benstaloe [mat ] District Ten Male // achromatic

”Sorry, buddy, but I don’t like people who try to murder my friends,” I hold his arm in both hands and press the limb against his neck.

Taurus Hawk [* ] District Nine Male // between the lines

"Thunder. I'm here. Are you watching?" I ask in a whispered voice into the pre-lit sky. The oranges and reds of the morning sun rising welcome my concerns of this being only a dream.

Cody Bowers-Fox [heather - d2 [mylee] ] District Eight Male // Feast

“Existence is an entitlement to which I do not wish to lay claim.”

Neptune Liefde [flyss ] District Twelve Male // Neptune's Death Post

“But his is not the time to decide who's at fault, nor is it the time to wallow in the fact that I could have been so much more than just Neptune. I could have been a whole damn galaxy.”

Annora Taylor [Sunrise Rainier D2 // [Thundy] ] District Eleven Female // Feast

“Someith, I’m a fucking werewolf.”

Jequirity Eckhart [arx!! ] District Six Female // YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING DEATH POST :angry:

"Just one last song. That's all I ask."

Dustyn Chase [umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars] ] District Two Male // The Bishop & The King

“His eyes flicked to the last petal that remained on the dead grass around his wrist. It was brown with age and brittle like his bones. Like him, it was doomed since the day of the reaping, but he looked at it as setting the damn thing free when a gust of wind sent it on it's way and he was left behind. "I'll be there soon," he thought as it drifted into the sky.”

Ruth Foster [Cameo {RIP Charlie} ] District One Female // Truly Ruthless

“Overwhelming warmth surrounds me in Septys’s embrace, as I suddenly realize there’s somehow still a single ounce of relief remaining. “I can’t die yet.” I speak as strong as I can through my torn throat. “I have to see you make it to the end.” ”

Chloe Angor [ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ ] Distric Twelve Female // wind and water

“But that blood is not thin air. Those words are not thin air.

My pain is not thin air.”

Kitty Keeni [анзие (Anz) ] District Six Male // Shotgun

“His queen disappears from his side; Kitty wants to look for her, but his eyes are drawn to the place where Death's head should be, where blank space pins him in place and silver mist crowns Death king. ”

Tyler Westbrook [lance ] District Five Male // Revenge is Colder than the Sea

“Here, the world can watch him stop a Career right in his tracks, without any fire or blind superhero girlfriend to assist him.

Or, they will watch him die trying.”

Daria Staite [ali ] District Four Female // Daria's Death post

“Pl…” her lips stumble, her voice sounds broken, like she wasn’t quite put together properly. The tone of her voice is deep and long, dragging out the words because she cannot hear them; despite being deaf, she had been watching people’s lips all her life, now it was about time someone watched hers. After a fraction of a second pause, Daria speaks her first and last words “Please”

Beretta Corleon [L△LIA ] District Two Female // The Edge of Glory

“You've never known what you saw in any of those ridiculous girls, only that they didn't flinch while looking at you — and, oh yes, by then they'd already good and truly seen you.”

Someith Krearns [Kire ] District Four Male // Finale

“I am the last person you want to enrage, I am the last person you want to make an enemy of. Sadly for you, I am the first person to anger and the first person to retaliate. I am the one who gets the first say, but I will never let you have the last laugh. I am the one who will tear you apart. I am the Blood King.”

Septys Lexig [Muffinface ] District One Male // Finale

"What's a King to a God?"

Heather Tenley [cameron ] District Seven Female // Finale

“My fight had grown exponentially, my spirit was strong and hoisted up the S. S. Despair to be waved proudly. There was no white flag of surrender like had been shown for my whole life before; I had torn it down, stomped on it, set it ablaze. It would never return to me. The wind stirred the new flag, and I looked out from the crow's nest, seeing nothing but hope on the horizon. “

Harbinger Rhodes [Cato ] District Eleven Male // Finale

“I want to talk to them. To tell them I'm sorry, but in all reality sorry will never pay for a death. Only keeping the memory alive will. And that's exactly what I plan on doing because I am going to escape this place no matter what the cost. "Crusader, don't leave me." My voice is just a whisper in the wind. Alone, I am vulnerable, but together I believe we can accomplish it all.”


And lastly, to Avalon : I don’t think anyone else realizes what a tremendous help you were these Games. From trib sitting to updating threads to volunteering to help out with whatever project needed to be done, you were there through and through. Thank you, for everything.

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

a note from the desk of

Kay [earthling]

For Wonder , анзие (Anz) , Cato

It’s been a helluva time these last ten nine Games, eh? And you three have worked with me longer than anyone else (Sam and Anzie twice, even!). I can’t quite decide if I want this letter to be an apology or a thank you. Maybe it’s both - an apolothanks. For sticking with me. For reminding me why we have this site and why I always strive to do better: to be a better Gamemaker for all of you.

If you’ll allow me to be really honest for a moment, I think that would be best.

Sam. Ah, Sam. In the single most ironic thing I’ve ever said or felt in my life, I was determined to be a fair GM in the 62nd… and to be fair, I was so incredibly hard on you. I am sorry for that. I am sorry for my bias and for making you go through absolute hell. You won and I still think you are the best strategist on the site, bar none. Thank you for calling me out years ago, and for pushing me to be better. I’m so grateful for our threads now and I look forward to whatever you have in store for Glamour. God knows, he’s earned it.

Anzie. The 67th was the Games I learned the most in, despite being my second time GMing. Cameron and I spent so much time in the 62nd flailing (and laughing - there were many good times, too) but Rade was so instantly good at being at Gamemaker, I had to step up to the plate. I don’t remember much of our early reactions, between your PTS and the late Games. But thank you, Anzie, for always being polite and easygoing with me and gracious when we made mistakes. Thank you for reminding me that there is a lot of joy and love to be found in the Games.

Cato. I don’t even know where to start apologizing. I’m sorry for asking you to swap out characters these Games. I was afraid. I was afraid for you - as I always am - but I was also afraid for myself. That I wouldn’t be able to be fair and after all these Games, being fair is the most important thing to me. Because it wasn’t just me who likes you, but Navya who loves Harbinger. It is hard to be unbiased as a GM in the first place, and so much more difficult to have a ship with a tribute. So, I asked, and you said no. I told you that these Games would be difficult, that I wouldn’t pull any punches. I wouldn’t sponsor you and I would set up fights to be equally difficult - if not more so - than others. Like Sam, you rose. I’m still dreaming. These Games have been tough, I know, but here you are. Our victor. Thank you for reminding me that there is always hope and to believe in yourself.


With love and congratulations,
Kay