𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 || 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒏𝒐𝒘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

"𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅
𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒃𝒆
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖,
𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆."

                  -𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓
_______________________________________

Ismene couldn't sleep. She was thinking about what Coriolanus said about district people. Were they really like animals? She had only seen tributes and didn't know if they acted like that because they were sent to fight until death and were angry at the Capitol or it was in their nature. Coriolanus told her that in District 12 there were fights in public places. That was something she had never experienced. The Capitol was a civilized place and people didn't get physichal. Destroying your enemy was handled differently here.

When she heard that Coriolanus was almost killed by tributes she felt no sympathy for them anymore but a part of her still thought about them as victims.

She decided that even if she feels sorry for the tributes she can't do anything about it, therefore she wasn't going to share her dislike of the Hunger Games. Even if she became a rebel, which she never wanted to be, she couldn't change anything and would be executed or put into prison.

Working for Dr. Gaul seemed like a good way of getting into a high position. She never intended to just be a housewife of a rich man, no. She was going to achieve something. Altough, she found Dr. Gaul creepy and her ideas cruel, she had always admired her work and knew she was a genius. Maybe she could even make the arenas a bit more humane if she worked in the lab.

She got up and went to her desk and sat down. She grabbed a piece of paper and a fountain pen and started thinking. Coriolanus said, that the arena was going to be designed like a desert. That meant, it had to be hot, a lot of sand and a way of getting water. She wrote down her ideas:

-heating: through the walls so tributes can't get to the the system and ruin it
-water: bottles hanging from beams so they have to climb up to get it
-glass ceiling for the heat with grids so they can't break out
-interwievs: people could get to know the tributes so they'd symphatize with them and watch the games to cheer for their favourite and send them donations

She was satisfied with her notes and thought that maybe one of them would even be used by the Head Gamemaker. She yawned and went back to bed, with her mind more settled, she could fall asleep this time.

                            -✦✦✦-

Coriolanus was walking in one of the corridors of the University, carrying his book bag when he heard someone call his name. He could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Coriolanus!" Ismene catched up to him. "Hi. I wrote down some ideas, will you take a look at them?" She asked, handing him a paper.

"Of course." He smiled at her and started reading it. He had always known that she was one of the smartest in their class, but now he felt like he had underestimated her. The ideas were great. He felt proud that a girl, so outstandingly great ideas loved him. It has crossed his mind that she was going to make an amazing first lady and now he had no doubt about it.

"Isme, these are great." He said to her, smiling.

"Really?" She asked, her eyes glistening.

"Really. I'll show them to Dr. Gaul, in fact I was heading to her lab. You can come too, actually." Coriolanus offered, and held out an arm for her to take it. But she didn't.

"I'd rather not, I should go home and study." She said and yawned.

"You look tired. Is everything alright?" He asked, a hint of worry in his tone. Now that he observed her face, it was clear that she hasn't slept much. He also noticed that there was more makeup under her eyes than usual, which meant that she probably covered her eyebags.

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep, so I wrote these at night." Isme shrugged.

"You really shouldn't study, Isme. It would be best if you went straight to bed after you got home."

"You’re probably right. I'll take a nap and study after that." She smiled and after saying their goodbyes, she exited the building.

Coriolanus wasn't worried about her, sleeping less wasn't that serious and he knew that she will rest before studying because she was smart enough to know that overworking herself wasn't going to get her good grades. He went to the lab where
Dr. Gaul was feeding lizard-mutts which were for the next games and looked up when she heard him enter.

"Good evening, Mr. Snow. What have you got there?" She asked as she glanced at the paper he was holding.

"Some ideas for the next games." He said and handed her the paper. He wanted to say that Isme had written them, but knew better than to interrupt the woman while she was reading.

"Amazing ideas, your best ones so far. Well done, I'm truly impressed." The woman said as she dropped a piece of meat into the terrarium.

Coriolanus felt torn between telling her that they weren't his and acting like he was the one who wrote it. His pride couldn't take it that these were 'his best ones so far'. Did that mean that Ismene had better ideas than him? He was working for Dr. Gaul since the start of the semester and Isme's first paper was better than all of his? Then again he remebered the way she tested Clemensia when she said that she was the one who wrote the paper. She surely recognized that it wasn't his handwriting and probably only said that it was his best work to test him.

"Actually, it was written by Ismene."

"Oh, indeed? I knew it! Her ideas are outstanding. That young girl has so much potential, she would lead the country better than the President." Said Dr. Gaul, looking truly impressed by Ismene's work. "You certainly chose well, Mr. Snow."

"What do you mean, Miss?" He asked, confused.

"No need for acting. I know about that little romance of yours. I figured that you didn't want her to know about your deeds because you were afraid of what she'd think of you." The woman smirked when she saw his expression. She guessed right.
"And perhaps you have greater plans with her, isn't that right?"

Coriolanus froze. How did she know? It wasn't exactly a problem but he really didn't want people to gossip about them. But there was no way denying anything because she saw through his lies, she always did.

"You are certainly observant." He said curtly.

The woman kept smirking than spoke again. "If she has any more ideas they are welcome and I'd like her to work here, too. She would definetly be helpful."

Coriolanus just nodded and exited the room. Now that even Dr. Gaul found her ideas good he knew that she had way more potential than he originally thought. The Head Gamemaker's words suddenly flashed in his mind:
'she would lead the country better than the President'. He had never considered her a threath. It hasn't even crossed his mind that she might want to lead Panem, but now, as he thought about it, she certainly had the skills for it and besides that everyone liked her. More precisely, not her, but the act she did when she was in public. He hoped that the thought of running as President wouldn't occur to her.