Prologue 3:
Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker
"So what did you think about that?" Seraphim turns to look back at Laelia as they enter is surprisingly organized office, only thanks to the person he owes his life to. If not for Ophelia, well…he wouldn't get anything done.
"That was something else," Laelia lets out a laugh at his question as she shuts the door quietly behind them. She watches him move to his seat behind his desk and plops down. He throws his glasses on his desk and pinches his nose, feeling the exhaustion of planning a Quell catching up with him. "Are you alright, sir?"
"Yeah," Seraphim answers quietly and picks up his glasses so he can better see Laelia as she sits down across from him. She nervously starts glancing at her hands, still somewhat the shy girl that started four years ago as a Gamemaker. She's already come a long way since then and Seraphim is hoping to get her to go even farther in her career. She's already stepped up to take over as the leader in designing the arena after the Gregorio fiasco at the end of last year's games. "Just a bit exhausted by this. We're only a little over two months away."
"You're doing really well though with handling everything," Laelia answers softly, giving him a small encouraging smile.
Seraphim returns the smile to her, hoping to help bring up her confidence some more. He needs her to be more confident. He needs someone he can absolutely trust. "I wouldn't be able to do it without you guys. You, Magnus, Althea, especially Ophelia."
Laelia's smile grows at that, along with a small blush at his praise. "It's been nothing… After what you went through, I'm happy to help you out as much as I can."
Seraphim lets out a small laugh at her comment, knowing he's about to ask her to do a lot more than necessary. "Speaking of…" Her face starts to pale at his comment and he quickly tries to reassure her that she's not in trouble. "I have something I need to ask you to do."
"Anything," Laelia responds right away, not even the slightest hint in her voice that she's not being genuine.
Seraphim doesn't know what he did to get a Gamemaker who believes in him so much, but after everything he went through last year… He's so glad to have her. "I need you to go to each tribute before the chariot rides begin and ensure they have been given the nanobots to take out their senses in the games."
Laelia's eyes widen in shock at this and points at her chest in disbelief. "Me?" She asks and Seraphim nods his head, trying to fight off the smile at her confusion. One of these days he'll get her to have some faith in her capabilities. "Why me?"
"Because I trust you," Seraphim responds simply and honestly. But when Laelia is still looking at him in disbelief, he continues, "I really do trust you. There were only three people I thought about asking, but you were my top choice."
"Yes, but why me?"
Seraphim studies her for a few seconds, trying to figure out if maybe he picked the wrong person for this with how nervous she is. But there's a spark of determination in her eyes that has him certain that Laelia is the right choice. "Because, Laelia, at some point I'm going to retire – don't worry, that's not for at least another ten years, assuming no one tries to shoot me again," he pauses to chuckle a little at how her face paled at the mention of Seraphim getting shot once more. He has to laugh about it. It's that or live in constant fear over it, and he's done worrying about what might happen and focused on now. "My point is…someone is going to need to take over as the Head Gamemaker someday. I want to start training that person now… I want that person to be you."
Laelia sits up straight at this, her face showing just how honored she is by what he said. "I'm not going to let you down."
"I never thought you would," Seraphim answers with a smile, before relaxing in his chair once more. He glances at his watch and shakes his head in disbelief at the time. "11:39 already? Where has the morning gone?"
"It's gone by talking to victors," Laelia answers him with a small shrug. "I thought you were used to that from talking to Zephyr all the time."
Seraphim can feel his face heating up immediately at the comment, only making Laelia start grinning and wiggling her eyebrows at him. "I do not talk to him all the time!"
Laelia just gives him a look that says she knows this isn't true. "Yeah? Pull up your list of recent calls and I bet they're all Zephyr."
"They're not all him…" Seraphim answers quietly, knowing his face must be very red in embarrassment right now. Not that he has any reason to think Laelia will judge him for it. He's just a little embarrassed about how obvious it is to everyone else that he's so crazy about the guy. "I haven't been able to talk to him as much lately with the Quell getting so close…"
His phone takes the opportunity to ring then at the worst possible time and Laelia just raises her eyebrows at him as he grabs it. "Hi Ophelia," he emphasizes, making sure Laelia knows it isn't Zephyr calling him. Although he wishes it was the victor calling him…
"Seraphim, you have a visitor," Ophelia says pointedly, never one to put up with him delaying things.
But he lets out a heavy sigh at this, not wanting to talk to anyone. He just wanted to have some lunch with Laelia and not actually work during it. "Who is it this time? I don't want to talk to anyone. Can you come up with an excuse?"
"Not even for an old friend?" A second voice speaks up and Seraphim nearly drops his phone in surprise.
"Ophelia, you really need to tell me next time that you're on speaker before I say something really bad," Seraphim shakes his head as Laelia watches him curiously. "Of course I'll see Lisia, you should have told me it was her right away."
"Good, we're right outside your office," Ophelia responds and before Seraphim can say anything, the door opens and his assistant steps in with his old friend and mentor.
"Lisia," Seraphim jumps up from his chair and immediately goes over to the old Head Gamemaker to give her a hug. "It's good to see you again. You haven't changed at all."
"Oh shush," Lisia rolls her eyes at him as they walk back over to his desk, one that formally belonged to Lisia up until only four years ago. Laelia jumps up at Lisia approaching her and holds out her hand, staring in awestruck. "Laelia, right? Seraphim's talked about you."
"He has?" Laelia glances over at Seraphim, clearly nervous about whatever he might have said to Lisia.
"Only good things," Seraphim answers as he offers his chair to Lisia, who shakes her head at him and instead sits on the corner of his desk. He sits back down, smiling up at his old mentor. "It's good to see you again."
"You as well," Lisia smiles down at him before looking around at the office, raising an eyebrow in surprise at it. "You don't seem to be freaking out as much about the Quell starting as I was at this point."
"Don't worry, he is," Ophelia scoffs at this and shakes her head, barely glancing up from her tablet as she does whatever it is she does to keep him on track. "It's only thanks to me he doesn't lose track of everything."
Lisia laughs at this and Seraphim just gives a small shrug, knowing it's all true. "You have a good friend. Now, while I'm happy to see you, we both know that you have a limited amount of time these days for pleasantries."
"I…yes, you're right," Seraphim decides to answer honestly, knowing he can't lie to Lisia. Not when she went through the same thing 25 years ago. "Things are very busy. I've barely even had time to talk to anyone outside of here. I wouldn't be surprised if my mom shows up one day just to make sure I'm still alive."
The former Head Gamemaker nods her head at this, a look of understanding in her eyes. "Yes, I know. That's why I won't bore you with that. I came here to give you some advice. I trust you to do a great job with these games, but I realized that I should tell you what to do and what not to do. Things I learned from doing this myself and wish I would have learned before the Quell. Except I didn't really have the greatest mentor to share that information with me…"
"Please share," Seraphim answers quickly as he starts pulling open drawers to find some pen and paper to write this down. Laelia offers him her notebook and he gratefully takes it, having to pause for a moment at some of her comments from the meeting with the victors before flipping to a blank page.
'Astrid could slay me any day.'
Seraphim chooses not to mention it now to save Laelia from the embarrassment, but covers up a small laugh with a cough before turning his attention back to Lisia. "Please tell me anything and everything."
"My one regret is not making it a bigger event," Lisia says with a sigh and Seraphim finds himself disagreeing at this. He may have been just a kid at the time, but he remembers the last Quell. It was the biggest event he's ever seen in the Capitol. He hopes he can even come close to that. Lisia starts counting off things on her fingers, "Don't let it be too short just because you're afraid of leaving the crowd without any action. Make there be a theme across the arena and pre-games events."
"Already doing that," Seraphim answers proudly, getting a smile of approval from Lisia. That was one of the first things he insisted on when he started the design of the arena, all because of what Lisia did in the Fifth Quarter Quell. "I learned that one already from you."
"Good," Lisia nods her head and puts up another finger, "Make this be the biggest event the Capitol has ever seen. Even bigger than my Quell."
"How do I do that?" Seraphim asks, a little in disbelief that he might be able to top the excitement from the Fifth Quarter Quell. Lisia's arena still tops the lists each year in the Capitol as most exciting arenas. Hell, even Magnus won't stop talking about the mutts that she created that year. And the victor, well…Glacia is also topping the lists of best victors.
Lisia gets that devious smirk on her face, the one she always has when she's come up with a clever idea. Before, that look used to terrifying Seraphim. But now? Now he can't wait to see what her idea is. "Really give the Capitol the chance to get to know the tributes. Let them talk to tributes and really start rooting for every single one of them. If you get them all supporting the tributes, not just the rich ones that can afford to sponsor them, they won't be able to stop talking about this Quell for years. The twist alone is enough to keep them interested. Don't lose that focus."
"And how do you suggest doing that?" Seraphim asks her, knowing from the look in her eyes that she has an answer already.
Sure enough, she starts smirking at him, taking her time in answering to build up tension. "You're going to give them the opportunity to talk to the Capitol crowds the night before the games start. You're going to host a party and luckily for you, I already talked to our dear second father Mendalius about it and gotten approval."
Alrighty just another short prologue to set up some more stuff for the story! So yes, we're going to have a big party right before the games start! This idea comes from the awesome Celtic who first did it in Danzon and I getting to see the tributes all having fun. So I knew it would have to be a part of this story :)
And we also got to see a blast from the past! Those reading Wayward or the Fifth Quarter Quell stories will definitely recognize Lisia. What do you think about the other suggestions to Seraphim? Any early guesses on what the theme might be that stretches across the arena and pre-games stuff? There's no hints yet lol, I just want to see if anyone might come close with guesses.
IMPORTANT! There is only one more week until submissions close! I'll be closing the form on July 15th at 9 pm EST so make sure you have your tributes in by then! The boys and a couple other spots can use some love! I have been keeping submission statistics updated on my profile! I am completely blown away by the love this story has received so far and then number of submissions already!
Okay there will be one last prologue going up on July 22nd with the full tribute list! We're going to have some spicy subplot stuff so I'll see you then!