𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 || 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒏𝒐𝒘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

         "𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖."

                                             -𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂

_______________________________________

When the car pulled up in the driveway, they entered the house and a servant instantly took their coats.

"I still have some work to do, so choose yourself a book to read." Coriolanus said, showing her the library.

The room was large and it smelled like books. The walls were lined with oak bookshelfs with thousands of books. There were velvet armchairs with small tables in the middle and a fireplace which was being lit by a maid. Ismene had always liked reading so she went to one of the shelves to choose something to read why Coriolanus was working.

She found one of her favorite books, The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Some people thought that reading books that were written so long ago were unnecesary to read, but Ismene liked reading old books. Her parents had a huge collection of Early Modern Era literature, so Isme had the chance to read whatever she wanted. She used to lend books to Coryo back when he couldn't buy himself books.

She sat dowm in one of the armchairs by the fireplace and started reading. Coriolanus came in too, carrying his fountain pen and a notebook and sat down opposite to the girl.
"Ah, I see you found your favourite." He commented, smiling when he saw the book she picked.

Soon, a maid entered the room and asked them if they wanted anything. They both asked for coffee so the maid came back a few minutes later with a tray.

Ismene grabbed one of the white porcelain cups and put some milk in it then stirred it with a golden spoon. It was her ideal afternoon, just reading beside a fireplace and drinking coffee.

After a little while curiousity got the better of her and she questions Coriolanus. "So, what is the arena going to be like?"

The blonde glanced up and put down his pen. "It's going to be designed as a desert. The arena will be bigger this year but still not much places to hide because it's mostly going to be sand so fighting is inevitable."

"I don't see why more people would watch it if it's just fighting. Plus if there aren't any hiding spots it's going to end really fast." Ismene argued.

"You have a point there." He said thoughtfully, looking down at his notes. "Maybe there could be some places to hide, like secret passages." He said and wrote down his idea.

"Yes, that could work." She nodded. "And what about water and food?" She asked then.

"What about it?" He asked, confused. "There has never been food or water in the arena."

"I know but think about it. If there was a way for the tributes to get food or water in the arena without their mentors sending it to them, the games would last longer and would be more exciting to watch because the tributes wouldn't die of being malnourished. Isn't that what Dr. Gaul wants?"
In reality, she only said that beacuse she has always felt sorry for the tributes and thought that being killed by another tribute was still better than starving and being dehydrated.

"Excellent idea, Isme! I thought you didn't care much for the games." Coriolanus said, impressed by her cleverness and proud that such a gifted girl loved him and only him.

"I simply find it cruel. And I think starvation and dehydration are the worst death and I wouldn't want that for innocent children."

"You should think about working for Dr. Gaul. I could tell her about your ideas and being a gamemaker is a well-paid job. I know you don't want to live like a housewife and want to work." He offered and took a sip of his coffee and studying her expression. He respected her desire of working and supposed that if she'd be his First Lady, she could might as well be the Head Gamemaker.

"I really don't want to spend my time thinking about such a cruel thing. Murdering all those children is just wrong." Ismene said and shook her head with a sad expression. She never liked the games and didn't understand why it was necessary and why did Gaul wanted the district people to watch it.

"You’re too soft, Isme. You know that you can't stop the games so you might as well make money off your ideas, they really are great." Coriolanus said, looking up from his notebook and making eye contact.

"Actually, if you'll be president, you could cancel the games altogether." Ismene said, suprised that she only thought of this now.

"You know I can't do that.".Coriolanus said seriously. He couldn't imagine how could she think about such a thing. He sometimes wondered what was going on in that pretty head of hers.

"But you could! You literally could do whatever you wanted." She pressed, trying to convince him. She never voiced her real thoughts about the Hunger Games in public, but she trusted him.

"No, that's almost like being a rebel. Besides, it's good that we keep the districts under control, we don't want another war."

"But Coryo, it's so cruel! If you allow the games as a president all that blood will stick to your hands." She really wanted to convince him. She'd known him as a good person and she wanted to believe that he still was but after what he said it wasn't easy to do so.

"Isme, look. As a president, I'm going to have to be someone who people look up to. How would it look like if I'd canceled the games? It would look like I'm soft which would mean that others might try to take my place because they think they can. Also, I've been to the districts and the citizens aren't innocent saints there, either. There were fights in public places, can you imagine walking on the street to see people fighting?
If we'd let them, they would rebel aganist our rule and the Capitol would fall apart. We need to show them their place and demonstrate our power. I'm sure you wouldn't want them to flood the Capitol and upset the order we've built."
He didn't wanted to loose her, of course and he knew that his views might upset her but she needed to understand. She thought that the people in the districts were victims of the Capitol's rule but thta wasn't true.

"I...I never heard you talk like that." She was shocked. The Coryo who gave food to his hungry tribute wouldn't have said that. "Did you go so far to ensure that Lucy Gray wins so you could get the prize?"

"Of course, why else? She wasn't importaint to me, I have said that already."

"But they are people too."

"Oh, please don't start with that speech. Yeah, sure they are people but they act like barbarians. You haven't seen the districts. Hell, when I went to the Zoo I travelled with the tribute and you know what, Isme? They wanted to kill me. Did I do anything to hurt them? No, I didn't but they didn't care. They only didn't attack me because their family would have been punished." Coriolanus looked at her and saw that her eyes had widened. He though that she finally grasped what he was trying to say.

"Oh, Coryo that's horrible. I'm so sorry, why didn't you tell me?" She stood up and walked over to him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It just wasn't that importaint and I had a lot on my mind." He said as if it was nothing, but secretly he very much liked that she was showing concern for him.

"But you could've died and I didn't know!" A tear escaped her eye at the thought of losing him without even a goodbye. It was the same feeling she felt when she found out that he was sent into the arena.

"That's right, Isme. See? The district people aren't little lambs. They are like rabid dogs." Coriolanus wiped her cheek and then stood up and planted a kiss on the top of her head. He was glad that she understood what he was trying to say but at the same time hated to see her cry. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear while running his fingers through her soft curls. "I'm here, Isme and I'm not leaving, okay?"

She looked up at him and nodded. She started questioning her previous views. Maybe the district people were really so different from the Capitol citizens?
Were they really like...animlas?
Did they really deserve to be slaughtered every year?
If a tribute would have killed Coryo in that wagon or in the arena she didn't know what she'd do. She started to loose her sympathy for the districts.