Spring eases into Panem, bringing rainfall and the beginnings of life growing once again. As the Reaping grows closer, the country becomes uneasy, as they always do. Career tributes are working on their final weeks of preparation, and many outliers prepare to sign up for tesserae in advance of the Reaping.
In early May, your characters in the Districts receive a white rose attached to a small card at their door.
You have been cordially invited to a garden party, hosted in the gardens of Snow’s Manor, to usher in the springtime, the new season, and the flourish of hope that comes with the rebirth of nature. We request you arrive dressed in your springtime best.
Family members are welcome to attend. Your attendance is mandatory.
Whether it’s begrudging or eager, your characters (and their spouses, children, or families, if you choose) board trains to the Capitol to prepare for the day-long garden party. All Capitol characters are also in attendance, along with Capitol elite, and of course, the press: the event will be televised to every home in Panem. Even Caesar Flickerman appears in a spring green suit to interview Victors about their excitement for the coming Games.
Snow’s garden is laid out beautifully. There are little tables with rustic decor and bite-sized finger foods, petits fours and tea sandwiches. Tea, charming mixed drinks, and sparkling beverages are on the menu as well. Small clusters of puffy couches and little round poufs dot the yard, allowing for pleasant conversation with a beautiful view of manicured flowers in Snow’s garden. Of course, white roses are among them.
It’s idyllic, serene, and wonderful.
But back in the Districts, it is anything but.
Peacekeeper security increases while the attention is on the Victors, and residents are questioned in their travels about any knowledge of rebel activity. All houses apart from the Victor’s Village in Districts THREE, SEVEN, EIGHT, ELEVEN, AND TWELVE are fully raided. Peacekeepers invade the homes and tear them apart from bottom to top, searching for any rumoured rebel propaganda. Residents are questioned and then left to put the pieces of their lives back together.
Most don’t find what they’re looking for. The rebel propaganda is either not present, or concealed. But one peacekeeper in Eight finds a scrap of paper in the back of the desk drawer. It’s exactly what he was looking for, exactly what the suspicions were that brought on the raids in the first place. It’s enough to make his heart drop, his radio signal, and to instantly execute the owner of the home. On the scrap of paper is typed, in even letters:
THE MOCKINGJAY STILL SINGS.
The Garden Party event begins now and will run until May 15, 2019 at 11:59 AM EST. Anyone in the affected Districts is welcome to play out returning home after the event and discovering what had happened in their absence. During this time, if you wish to play out any threads that take place during the time period between the end of the 77th Games and the beginning of the 78th Games, you are more than welcome to also do so.
At the conclusion of this event, the 78th Annual Hunger Games will begin. Reservations for the 78th Games will open May 11 at noon EST, and the slots will be revealed the afternoon of May 12. Thanks for another amazing season, and we hope you enjoy the party- and the start of our first major plot!
