Sextus Septimianus (District 12 Mentor)
I have been having such a good day. I got to sleep in late for the first time in six months. I got to wake up to the sweet sound of birds chirping softly instead of a foghorn blasting in my ear. The avox assigned to tend to mine and my twin sisters' needs while at the academy had gone out of her way to make me my favorite breakfast, and allowed me to enjoy it in bed.
Coupling all of that with the fact that today is the day all of the newly minted escorts and mentors are supposed to get their district assignments has me floating on cloud nine.
I'm so excited that I'm humming a silly little tune my mother taught me when I was a kid as I quickly throw on whatever clothes I can find on the floor of my room before throwing open the door and sprinting down the stairs in search of the information I'm all but certain has already arrived.
And it has. I find it waiting patiently in the dainty and perfectly manicured little hand of my twin sister Aquilina.
"Well, what does it say?"
She doesn't answer me. She just gives me the knowing little smirk I've come to know and loathe over the years before playfully tossing me the datapad and telling me to look for myself. And, after waiting impatiently for what feels like an eternity for the pad to register my thumbprint and unlock my portion of the message, I'm able to do just that.
And it's the worst news I could have possibly gotten.
In a matter of seconds, my once gloriously jovial and upbeat mood has turned so foul that it takes every ounce of restraint in my entire miserable body to stop myself from lashing out in anger and throwing this stupid pad through a freaking wall.
Instead, I let out a frustrated growl and hurl the stupid thing in the general direction of my sister's head. Missing her by inches and earning me one of her famous "what the hell did I do to you" glares before she calmly walks over and gingerly retrieves the object of my fury. Playfully grinning at me as she saunters back towards me with the pad held aloft in mock triumph.
"You need to calm down, little brother.
"Come sit down with me and let's try to talk this through. Preferably without throwing anything else at my head."
I can't believe her right now. How can she be making light of this?!
"How can they do this to me?! After all the hard work and time I put into my training, this is how they reward me?! Do they honestly expect me to take it lying down?!"
"Does who expect you to take what lying down, dear brother?"
"Don't get cute with me, Aquilina. You know damn good and well who and what I'm talking about; you saw the announcement. Hell, you handed it to me."
"Actually I didn't. I'm an escort, not a mentor. Remember? I only had access to the escort half of the announcement until your thumbprint unlocked the mentor half of the message.
"But you are right about one thing, I do know what you're talking about. Cleopatra told me. And I have to say, I think you're making this out to be a bigger deal than it needs to be."
"That's easy for you to say. You get to work with Cleopatra in sunny District Four while I get stuck with Valion and the rock-eating degenerates in Twelve.
"That's my reward for graduating at the top of my class from the mentor academy? A pat on the back and an atta-boy before being unceremoniously tossed to the wolves?
"Do you have any idea how long it's been since Twelve produced a tribute with the skills to make it past the first day of the games? Let alone one with an honest to god shot of winning?"
"Of course I do. I sat through the same boring history classes in school that you did.
"And for the record, It could have been much worse. Valion, the escort you get to work with, is incredibly bright and articulate. He can be a tremendous help to you if you'll let him."
"That is not the point."
"Then what is the point, baby brother?"
"I got screwed, royally. And I have every right to be upset about it."
"You really don't."
"And why is that?"
"Because it's your own damn fault this happened, Sextus."
I don't...I don't know how to respond to that. How could this possibly be my fault?
"What are you trying to pull, Aquilina?"
"I'm not trying to pull anything, baby brother. I'm simply stating a fact. It's your own damn fault that you got assigned to District Twelve instead of one of the more desirable districts.
"You're the one who graduated at the top of your class, and you're the one who was stupid enough to tell your instructors you didn't care which district they assigned you to."
"And that justifies them assigning me District Twelve?"
"Of course it does."
"HOW?!
"How can they possibly be justified in rewarding me for all my hard work by sticking me with the worst district in Panem?!"
"Oh, for the love of. Do I need to spell this out for you again, Sextus? Seriously?"
"Yes, you do."
"Fine, I'll even try to use small words this time. But you had better pay attention because I'm not doing it again.
"You got assigned to District Twelve because you were the best mentor in your class. You spent six long, hard months showing your instructors and the President that you were capable of doing things no one else in your class could do. And that is exactly what District Twelve needs in a mentor. Someone capable of doing the impossible.
"We both know that any idiot with half a brain can mentor a career tribute. That's why they assigned Dahlia, Alexander, and Cleopatra to those districts. They're good, but they're not capable of half the stuff you are.
"That's why you had to be assigned to District Twelve. It's not a punishment, and it's not a reward. It's simply a matter of fact.
"Complaining about how unfair it is, isn't going to change anything. You are going to be the mentor for District Twelve. It's up to you to make the best of that."
"It's still not fair?"
"Of course it's not fair. Life isn't supposed to be fair, little brother. If it was, you wouldn't have the mind of a savant and the body of a marginally attractive hobgoblin."
I can't help but smile at her lame attempt at a joke.
I don't want to; I want to be furious. I want to sit here and sulk about how unfair all of this is, about how I got shafted because I was willing to put in the effort none of my former classmates, now newly-minted mentor peers, were willing to put in. But I can't.
As much as I hate to admit it, even if it is just to myself, Aquilina is right. I don't have to like it, and I don't have to agree with her logic, but I do have to accept reality for what it is.
I am, for better or worse, the new mentor for the tributes from District Twelve. I don't have to like it, but I do have to be a professional. I have to do my job. And I have to do it well.
That is the only way I'm going to mentor a victor. And mentoring a victor is the only chance I have of getting reassigned to a decent District.
A/N: And here we have chapter 3, I hope everyone enjoyed this little introduction to two of the characters we'll see a little more of in future chapters. I probably won't be doing this for every mentor, most of them will be explored through the eyes of their tributes, but I will be giving a few of them their own POV's, be it during the early world building or during the games themselves. The same goes for the escorts, who will each get a POV during the Reapings. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Next, I'd like to take just a second or two to answer a question I've been asked a couple of times. There is not a deadline for submitting tributes. Submissions will be open until we have enough tributes to start the story, I'll be world building until we get to that point. If it takes 2 more chapters, that's great, if it takes 5, that's fine too. I'm in no hurry, so please, take your time developing your tributes and send them in when you're ready. I look forward to meeting them.
To this point I've received 5 amazing tributes and I have 5 or 6 more that I know for sure are on the way, so there are plenty of spots available if you're interested in submitting. The form is on my profile and if you have any questions at all, please drop me a PM and I'll do everything I can to answer it as quickly as I possibly can.
Ok, I think that's it. I hope everyone enjoyed this little behind the scenes look at one of the mentors and his escort sister. Please review and let me know what you think and I look forward to seeing all of your amazing tributes in the coming days, and I hope to see all of your smiling faces at the next update :D