Cassius Mikos, Head Gamemaker, 29

Six months before the Reaping

Cassius would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't feeling anxious right now. He was nervous enough that he was absentmindedly rubbing around his eyes, running his fingers over the swirling tattoos surrounding them. The coffee in his hand certainly didn't help calm him down, yet he continued to sip from it. However, it did help him stay awake and alert, which was exactly what he needed right now. Especially after a near sleepless night thinking about this meeting with the president. This wasn't even the first time Cassius was meeting him, they had briefly spoken whenever he was allowed into meetings between him and Pax Foldsworth, the previous Head Gamemaker. It had been four long years of being an intern, training for this very position. He had always been interested in the Hunger Games but there had always been something intriguing about being at the head of it all, the one calling all the shots. The fame, the praise, the money from it all… it just all called to him. When he discovered there was a chance to intern for the position, he leapt at the opportunity to compete for that very internship and worked his ass off to get it. And in the end, he was triumphant and from then on, he trained to become the next Head Gamemaker.

He was currently sat in his office, wanting to have some time to himself to stew over how this meeting would go. President Evander was not the soft type so acting awkward and nervously shy wasn't an option. He wasn't a horrible person to begin with, he had done quite well keeping peace over Panem for the past twenty years, but he was known as a no-nonsense man, straight to the point. So he would just be straight with him, tell him about all the progress they were making for this year's Games, discuss about what arena to choose and so forth. It shouldn't have seemed as daunting as he thought it to be but when it came to talking to someone so important and powerful, he couldn't help but be a little anxious. Cassius scrolled up on his holo-pad, reading through updates on how certain mutt designs were coming along, trial ones for each concept he had come up with and quietly sipped away at his black coffee until he heard a gentle knock at his door, tearing his attention away from the holo-pad and bringing it to whoever was coming in, seemingly not willing to wait for an answer before entering. His heart pounded for a few moments, assuming something concerning the Games had gone wrong, despite it just being at the beginning, what other reason would there be if they hadn't waited for him to allow them in? He was about to stand up when he saw who stood at the door, relaxing and relieving him from his momentary state of panic. Sagona and Galeo, the two women he considered his closest friends throughout his internship.

Galeo was the first person that Cassius had spoken to on his first day, also starting her own internship to be a Gamemaker, though hers only lasted half as long as his. She was only a year younger than him, but she acted as if she was still in her early twenties, full of joy and excitement, willing to try anything. Cassius honestly thought she had enough positive energy to power the Capitol for at least a year. Her appearance had changed many times over the five years he had known her, trying many different styles and she didn't show any sign of stopping her ever changing style but for the past few months, including this moment, she stood at the door, wearing her Gamemakers uniform and her silver hair in a long plait reaching her waist, with streaks of navy throughout it. She was beaming brightly, looking towards the older woman beside her, who had a gentle pastel lavender hair, cut short in a comb-over. Sagona had met him through Pax, when he introduced him to the head of each team involved in the Games, Sagona being the Head of Muttations. She was older than both of her two friends by a good few years, but she had very quickly become a close friend and a motherly figure to the two of them as they all worked together, despite her tough exterior. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Cassius, half smiling as she spoke.

"Got time for a little visit?"

"Of course." He replied, allowing himself to relax and ignore his worries for a few moments. He would take any distraction to keep his mind from focusing on the meeting.

"So? How's the prep going for the big meeting today?" Galeo asked, stepping into the office and towards the desk to get a peak at the notes, hoping to see something super secretive and classified.

"Well, to put it bluntly, I'm shitting it. I barely slept last night thinking about it. This is the first meeting where I will be alone with him, just the two of us talking about the Games."

Sagona let out a quiet laugh as she followed in behind Galeo, stopping in front of the desk and crossing her arms.

"You have nothing to worry about Cassius, it's just a meeting, you'll have to go through plenty. You're-"

"Overthinking it." Cassius interrupted. "Yes, I know that. I just feel like I will say something stupid and he will start second guessing me becoming Head Gamemaker and that it will just go all downhill from there."

"You are looking at things negatively. What you need to do is breathe, stay grounded and remind yourself that you deserve this position. I'm sure President Evander will think the same thing when you explain all the plans for this year's Games. The meetings will get easier from here on out." Sagona said calmly, the voice of reason in his whirlpool of a mind.

He let out a deep sigh and nodded, knowing those were the words he needed to hear. He was anxious, sure, but he had to do this. Otherwise, he would look like a coward and all his hard work would have been for nothing. He wasn't about to throw away what he had worked for four years because of one meeting. This first one would be nerve-wrecking yes, but that would be the most difficult barrier he would have to climb, it would only get easier from there.

"You got this! Like Sagona said, you just need to remind yourself about all the good things. You're the one calling all the shots and hopefully you will be for many years to come. I remember my first time dealing with the Games as a Gamemaker and I was nervous, but I didn't let it ruin the fun and experience for me! I know it isn't easy but try focus on the good things this will bring!" Galeo encouraged, helping prove her friend's point the more she spoke.

"You're right. Both of you are. Thanks for not freaking me out even further." Cassius said, glancing at his watch to check the time. He wasn't needed at the president's mansion for another forty-five minutes, but it never hurt to be early for meetings. He quickly scanned over the notes about the arena, among other things, before shutting it all down, gathering the notes and standing up, smiling at the two women in front of him.

"Wish me luck. I'm going to need it."


It was a good idea that he left early because the traffic from the Centre was crazy and delayed him from getting to the mansion by a good twenty minutes. If he had left later than that, he would have been late. And the embarrassment of arriving late to such a meeting would have certainly killed him. He had a chauffeur to bring him to the presidential mansion and sat in the back of the car, constantly fidgeting, or doing something with his hands to keep his mind occupied. He even untied and redid his navy hair a couple time, tying it into a small ponytail, his usual look. But it didn't feel right, it wasn't sitting the way he wanted it to, something felt off. Cassius was about to take it down for the fourth time when the car arrived at the mansion, distracting him enough to leave his hair alone and focus on what was happening around him. He provided the proof of identity to the guards on post outside the mansion and once they had that proof, the car was ushered in and stopped right outside the doors, leaving him with no other choice but to step out. His anxiety was almost overwhelming, he felt like he was going to get sick but he as he entered the foyer of the mansion, he thought back to Sagona's words of wisdom and took a moment to just breathe and collect himself a little. The first meeting would be the hardest, but it wouldn't always be nerve-wrecking. He was guided, by one of the servants working here, through the extravagant mansion to the office where the president currently sat in, attending to his work. He closed eyes for a moment and took a deep and slow breath before he raised a hand and knocked on the door, waiting in silence for a few seconds before he heard a muffled "Come in." With that, he opened the door and entered the luxurious office he had seen a handful of times, still in silent awe of it all.

There, sitting behind a well-kept dark oak desk, was President Regulus Evander. He wasn't the broadest or particularly athletic but what stood out about him the most (and what intimidated Cassius the most) was his eyes. They were a deep crimson, and his gaze was stern but still a little welcoming, after many years of these meetings with Pax. He knew exactly how these meetings were meant to go, had likely perfected what to say and how to say it. But he could see spark in the president's eyes, one of curiosity and intrigue. Cassius walked towards him, keeping his nerves in check and remaining calm, echoing his friends words.

"Nice to meet you again, sir."

He reached the desk and extended his hand, to which President Evander took and shook, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Please, there is no need for formalities Cassius, call me Regulus." He said, waving a hand dismissively at the young Head Gamemaker. "Pax has told me many things about you, he holds you in high regards. I hope you can live up to the high expectations he has set."

Cassius laughed softly at the comment and nodded, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was now on a first-name basis with the president.

"I will try my hardest to not disappoint you or him. I have worked for this position for a long while now. It will be an honour to work with you si-.. Regulus."

"You are too kind. But let us not beat around the bush. Let's get to what you are here for. This year's Hunger Games."

And there it was, the forwardness and attitude the president was known for. It didn't come as much of a surprise to Cassius though, he had been the exact same way when he was an intern. He began with what the stylists had plans for the tributes for the parade, explaining and showing a few concepts designs he had received from some of the stylists. Then he moved onto the arena concepts, where there was multiple designs, though he had narrowed it down to three different kinds of arenas. He explained how each of them might work and which he thought the Capitol would like the best as President Evander listened intently to each word that left his mouth, before scanning over the three main designs and picking up the middle one, inspecting it with detail.

"In the end, you will be the one working with and using the arena, so the choice is ultimately up to you, but I know this has always been something Pax has done with me and he has clearly passed that on to you."

He placed the middle design down and then picked up the one of the left, which he raised an eyebrow at as he took in and read through the notes for the possible arena. It was something he had never seen before, an arena that he thought could be quite entertaining and an interesting start to a Head Gamemaker's career.

"This one," He started as he placed it back in front of Cassius. "I think this one would do particularly well for the Capitol to watch and to watch the tributes to interact with."

Cassius couldn't hide his grin as he heard President Evander's thoughts on the design. It was his favourite out of the three he had put forward and he had been hoping it wasn't something too crazy to begin with. Clearly not, if that was what the president chose.

"It's decided then. That's the arena we will create. I already have some trial mutts for this arena being created so I will have plenty of updates for you as the Games come closer."

"Perfect. I look forward to seeing and hearing about all these developments." President Evander said, with a satisfied smile on his face as he leaned back in his chair.

"A wonderful start to this year's Hunger Games. Your first Games as Head Gamemaker will likely define your career so let us hope you don't disappoint us all."


A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to the start to my partial SYOT, Heart of a Champion! I've been planning this for a while now and finally have been able to post it feels amazing! I have been debating doing this for the longest time and after much thought I decided it would be great to at least give it a go! So here we are! I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of Cassius and got a bit of a feel for my writing!

I'll say this now, this partial won't be first come, first serve but I plan on having the submissions open for the majority of March, if not until May! The form for HoaC will be up on my profile so you can copy/paste from there! Along with the few rules I'll have, nothing much! With that, I'll finish up and I look forward to the road ahead of us!