Chapter 13:

Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker

"I'm nervous."

Seraphim turns to look over at Laelia, the young Gamemaker fidgeting with her hands as Theodosius leads them through the President's Mansion. "About him?" Seraphim whispers, nodding his head over at the hulking Council member. And he'll admit, if he hadn't spent a bunch of time around a victor from District Two, he would be terrified of the former head of the Peacekeepers.

"No," Laelia answers softly as they slow down in front of a door, the guards on either side saluting Theodosius. "About facing the President and telling him all the problems."

"It will be fine, you're just here to observe and I'll handle the talking," Seraphim tries to reassure her, but he doesn't feel like it will be fine. Not with everything that went wrong today. "This is fine, right?"

Laelia looks up at him with wide, panic filled eyes at this. "You're the one supposed to be telling me it's all fine."

"It will be," Seraphim says, unsure if he's convincing himself or Laelia as the doors open to the President's office and he can see right away that it will not be fine.

Seraphim tries to smile at the President as they walk in, but he can't stop glancing at the two people standing behind him, soon joined by Theodosius. If the Council is all here…oh this is not good at all.

"Hello Seraphim, hello Laelia, lovely to see you again," President Xavier says as he stands up and motions to the two seats in front of him. Seraphim leads the way in, hoping Laelia doesn't get nervous and stay back. "Please, take a seat and we'll get this moving."

Seraphim sits down, nervously running a finger over the edge of his tablet as he looks over at the President as someone comes by to offer them tea. "No thank you," Seraphim tells them, but Laelia gratefully accepts some. "So…" Seraphim starts, glancing between the President and the Council members.

"I am aware we have some problems," President Xavier says when Seraphim keeps hesitating to speak, not wanting to be the person to tell him the major issues. "I've been watching the Reapings for the first time in years because I've been concerned about the rebels… So I know what happened during the Reapings."

"Those damn rebel scum," Theodosius mutters under his breath and President Xavier holds up a hand to stop him from continuing.

President Xavier looks over at Seraphim hesitating and motions at him. "Let's just go through the Districts in order and we'll discuss the issues when we get to them."

"Very well," Seraphim clears his throat as he unlocks his tablet and brings up pictures of the District One tributes on the small desk projector. "Starting off with District One. We knew these two would be the volunteers for months and there were no surprises there."

"Yes, yes," President Xavier says and Seraphim looks up with an eyebrow raised. "Tell me the stuff I don't know already."

Seraphim nods his head at this and gets started right away, "Okay starting with Major Emerson-Ness-"

"Does District One really think that boy can beat District Two's tributes?"

Everyone looks over at Theodosius at his comment and he crosses his arms at all of them. "I mean, look at him! He's a pretty boy who's probably afraid to get his hands dirty."

"Theodosius," Xavier says and the Council member nods his head at him, getting the hint to tone it down with his comments. When Xavier turns back to Seraphim there's a faint hint of amusement in his eyes, but it doesn't last long. "Please continue."

"So Major," Seraphim says, almost expecting someone to interrupt him again. "He has a bit of a legacy to live up to. Both of his parents were second place to volunteer for the 121st Hunger Games."

"Emilio's year?" Xavier asks for confirmation.

"Correct, and take one guess who is supposedly mentoring him," Seraphim chuckles at the irony there, but quickly stops as he turns back to his notes. "Anyways, seems like he was in second place for years until the age of 17. And at that time, he started dating the first place trainee."

Seraphim waits to see what conclusions the others make about this, wondering if they'll go to the same thought he had. "Sabotage?" Luciano finally speaks up. Seraphim shrugs at them, knowing that's where his mind went when he heard about this.

"So he's a dishonorable pretty boy," Theodosius speaks up, not hiding the fact that he doesn't like Major. "Just the type I hate."

"But at least he's not a rebel," Rosabella says to him, making the man purse his lips but stay silent.

"Correct," Luciano reaffirms this statement and Seraphim really looks at them as he hears the exhaustion in their voice. There's bags under their eyes and they look ready to fall asleep, but yet they stay alert. "I'll be able to tell you if there are rebels involved this year."

"That's good because I've had my share of rebels," Seraphim answers and gets a bit of a chuckle from Luciano. He turns back to the President, "Major should be fine and not one to be concerned about. He'll fight and probably make an interesting dynamic in the career pack. Now we also have Anastacia Astoria," Seraphim brings the girl's picture up larger as he skims over the notes. "Interesting medical report shows that she has moderate hearing loss in one ear from a training accident – well, 'accident' – that burst her eardrum."

"Is she losing hearing?" Rosabella asks him, already going along the thoughts that Seraphim has already considered for months. "Puts her at an advantage there. So maybe it's best she doesn't lose hearing since she's surely trained."

"No, she's not," Seraphim answers her, going through the mental list in his head of which sense each tribute is going to lose. "She's not the only one already missing or partially missing a sense but we'll get to that later. So training reports about Anastacia have shown that she has only had one friend in training but they…well, they went missing years ago and were found dead days later. After that is when her ranking increased immensely."

"Murder?" Xavier asks, voice immediately sad as he waits for Seraphim's response.

"No," he answers quietly, shaking his head at the President. "Suicide. Happened after they placed last in a placement exam."

Xavier sighs heavily at this and starts shaking his head, "We need to work on the toxic training atmosphere to stop things like that from happening. I'm sorry for that happening to Anastacia…"

"Yeah…" Seraphim says, not sure what else to say about it right now. He clears his throat, getting them back to discussing the tributes. "But it seems the loss of her friend is driving her so I imagine they will keep motivating her."

Xavier taps his finger on his desk as he takes a sip of his tea. "Perhaps… Very well, anything else?" Seraphim shakes his head at this and Xavier nods his head. "Alright, District Two."

"The best District," Theodosius tells them, pride filling his voice. "Just wait, District Two is going to get another Quell victor."

"We'll see," Luciano mutters, crossing their arms at him and just making him amused.

"Well, they at least seem like they'll be in better shape than last year's pair," Seraphim chuckles as he brings up the pictures of the pair. "Kat has forced them to work together for the last few months to prevent them from self-destructing like Coeus and Decima. First, Odyssey Gunderson. Really not at all what I expected from District Two but I think the Capitol will like that."

"How is he different?" Xavier asks him, staring at the picture of the boy.

"Well," Seraphim pulls up a picture on his tablet and spins it around to show the President. "This is Venus Nahara, Odyssey's drag persona. Supposedly he is volunteering to get his name out there to the Capitol to start his career."

"Interesting," Xavier raises his eyebrows at this and nods his head. "I didn't expect that from Two. They haven't quite had a history of being the most accepting of those that are different."

"Oh there's training reports of him dealing with people criticizing and mocking him," Seraphim turns the tablet around to look back at Odyssey's report. "But no conflicts reported, just that Odyssey worked harder to make sure he beat them."

"See that's what I'm talking about," Theodosius speaks up, pointing at the picture of Odyssey. "That's District Two at its finest – when they try to knock you down, you get back up and honorably prove them wrong."

Luciano rolls their eyes at this but don't speak up, clearly not in the mood to argue with Theodosius right now. Rosabella shakes her head at him, but seems amused by him.

"So yeah, that's Odyssey," Seraphim says before bringing up Bellona's information. "Then there's Bellona Silvanus. Was second place for years until last year."

"Last year?" Xavier questions before realization passes his face. "Ah…second to Decima?"

"Correct," Seraphim answers, happy that Xavier made the connection right away. "Those two were always rivals. So when Decima volunteered a year early, she pretty much solidified Bellona's spot as the volunteer. Training reports suggest she's highly competitive and also has shown interest in attending District Two University after winning."

"Wait, did you say Silvanus?" Theodosius asks him and Seraphim nods his head at him. "Ah, I thought so."

"Do you recognize that name?" Xavier turns around to look at his Council member at this.

"Of course," Theodosius says with a scoff. "They're old wealth, very well-known family. All her siblings go through training. I believe one of her brothers is in training with the Peacekeepers?"

"Yes," Seraphim says, just slightly annoyed that Theodosius is taking away his job of telling the President about the tributes. "Would you like to keep talking about Bellona or should I continue?" Theodosius chuckles and motions for Seraphim to continue, reminding Seraphim just a little bit of some of the victors in Two. "Well, Theodosius said most of what I had for her family. Both seem like strong choices from Two and Kat's been doing everything to make sure they work together and based on how they interacted at the Reaping, I'd say she's done well."

Seraphim waits for Theodosius to make some comment about them, but he stays silent, just a smug look on his face. So he turns back to the President and lets out a big sigh, knowing what District is next. "So District Three…"

President Xavier's eyes turn angry at this and Seraphim is taken aback by it, very rarely seeing this kind of anger from him. "I am beyond angry that the rebels are ruining something I've spent years working on by sending in two tributes from the summer university program." He turns back to Luciano and motions for them to step forward. "Luciano was just out in Seven collecting information…unfortunately they found out a little too late about the rebels rigging the Reaping in Three."

"They didn't let the information get out to anyone aside from the top families," Luciano says, clearly disappointed in themself that they didn't find out sooner. "I found out while on the train back."

"It's terrible," Rosabella speaks up at this, her voice wavering as she shakes her head. "They were supposed to be safe from the Reaping. They're the faces of us moving forward as a country…"

"We need to figure out exactly who was responsible for this," Xavier tells them all and Luciano nods their head, clearly the one best for this task. "But what can we do now? We can't show them any favoritism or the other Districts will be outraged…" Xavier sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "If they're not already outraged that they trusted us to send their children to a different District and then this happens… Make sure the victors in Three treat them exactly as they would any other year. I guess they're representing Three, even though they're from Six and Eight. And if they don't want to mentor, see if the other Districts will send a victor to mentor instead."

"I don't think it's going to be a problem…" Seraphim speaks up, growing uneasy about not knowing what to do. "Matla is their professor and she's with Isidore, who will not abandon tributes."

"Good," Xavier nods his head before sighing once more as he picks up his teacup, his hand shaking a little. "Just keep an eye on them to make sure the rebels don't do anything else with them. And is there any information about them that I don't already know?"

Seraphim skims over his notes, shaking his head at Xavier. "I don't think so… Of course they picked the two students in the programs who have lost brothers in the Games in recent years."

"Of course," Xavier echoes, taking a sip of his tea. "When they get here, I want to talk to them about this." He sighs and sets down his cup. "There's nothing else we can do right now so let's move on to District Four."

Seraphim brings up the pictures of Delta and Demarcus, and Luciano starts grinning at the sight of the girl. "Ah our firecracker made it. What a girl."

"Yes, she did and I'm glad she did," Xavier tells them, pointing over at Delta. "If we have any rebels involved in these Games, make sure she knows."

"Yes sir," Seraphim answers, seeing Laelia write this down next to him. "We all know her past, thanks to her recent position as a Capitol informant. She's clearly shed her rebel ties and is ready to fight for the Capitol in the arena."

"She made the Ottlinger family move to Seven out of fear of being caught after what happened with Velmour's family," Luciano tells them, still looking amused at all Delta has done.

"Which is a bit concerning how they moved undetected, but that's something to discuss later," Xavier says before pointing to the other picture. "What about Demarcus?"

"He's just trying to do his best for his family," Seraphim says as he brings up the background check on Demarcus that was done months ago. "A lot of the members in his family have been diagnosed with mental illnesses, including both of his parents, which has made them struggle to keep jobs. He's only in training on a scholarship but he's trained hard to be picked so he can support everyone."

"Very noble reason for volunteering," Theodosius says, nodding his head in approval at Demarcus' image. "I can respect a man trying to help out his family."

"Does he have any illness himself?" Xavier asks, staring at Demarcus' picture with a bit of respect.

Seraphim scrolls through the medical history and nods his head. "Social Anxiety Disorder."

"Hmm," Xavier mutters to himself, taking a sip of his tea before continuing, "Tell Kora so she knows to do her best to make him comfortable. We're not exploiting his illness for entertainment like Akakios tried to do years ago."

Seraphim nods his head, not questioning this even though he's curious. He knows better than to question anything about Akakios as Lisia told him all about his fall from grace. "Anything else you want to know about these two?" Xavier shakes his head and Seraphim changes the pictures to District Five's tributes. "Alright, starting out with Davy Emmerich."

"It was so sweet that Letha helped him at the Reaping," Rosabella speaks up, a hand over her heart on her chest. "He seems like such a sweet boy."

Seraphim glances over at Laelia, knowing she's had a pretty similar reaction to Davy. "Well there's no bad school reports about him at all and he has a great academic record. In fact, he's even started up a club lately promoting green energy with Letha's youngest son, Leandro."

"Explains how she seemed to know him," Xavier says before smiling a little. "But I think Letha would have done that for anyone."

"Oh definitely," Seraphim agrees, not doubting that at all. There's a reason why Letha is called the Victor Mom. "But anyways, the club goes against his family working in nuclear energy. But he seems really dedicated about it."

"So he could be good for the future of Panem," Xavier says quietly to himself, staring at Davy's picture in deep thought. "He's young and certainly at a disadvantage compared to the other much older tributes. But we did see last year that young tributes can win…" Xavier clears his throat, bringing his attention back to Seraphim. "I'm just speculating but please continue."

"That's all I have for Davy. He's a pretty normal kid," Seraphim chuckles as he thinks about the other tributes this year. "Normal is good compared to some of the others. Now, you'll also like Eva."

"And why is that?" Xavier asks, a bit of amusement in his voice at Seraphim's assumption.

"She's taking advantage of the expanded university in Five," Seraphim answers, getting a look from Xavier that confirms he's pleased with this information. "Just recently got accepted into the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering program. Supposedly she brought a whole box full of things she created and was very determined to get accepted."

"Determination is good," Xavier nods his head and points a finger at Eva's picture. "Don't underestimate her in the arena."

"Sir, I'm not underestimating anyone this year," Seraphim laughs at this and shakes his head a little bit. "Not after how I completely underestimated Clark winning."

"Correct," Xavier responds, amused by Seraphim right now. "You didn't like him at all at first. And now look at him."

"Right," Seraphim says, knowing he's grown attached to the young victor just like the rest of the country. "So I'm not underestimating anyone this year."

"Good," Xavier gestures at the screen, getting them back on track. "Now District Six? I really want to know what has happened to Elias."

"Yeah, we made sure to do a full review of his medical history," Seraphim says as he brings up the pictures of the next pair. "But there hasn't been a lot to find. In fact, there's very little available about him."

"That's not suspicious at all," Theodosius sarcastically mutters, but he has a point.

"Hmm," Seraphim says as he reads over the report on Elias. "The medical report says that he fell often and had a lot of fractures to the point his legs needed to be amputated below the knee."

"What is his family like?" Xavier asks, tone neutral by his eyes show how concerned he is about Elias.

"Let's see…" Seraphim starts scrolling through the information, shaking his head a bit. "No reports with Peacekeepers, parents both work, upper middle class. They have four children total, eldest son is in the Peaceke-"

"Investigate them," Theodosius interrupts Seraphim and his tone makes them all look over at him immediately. "No one has to get amputations like that from 'falling' a few times. Let me send someone to go look into them. If it's nothing, it's nothing. But if it's not…"

"If not, it's a concern for the other siblings," Xavier finishes and nods his head. "Do it. And I want to give Elias better prostheses to wear for the arena."

"Yes sir," Seraphim answers as Theodosius takes out his phone and starts typing up a message. Xavier motions for him to continue on so he turns his attention to Elias' District partner. "Courtney doesn't seem to have any family problems like Elias, but her parents are divorced, citing irrevocable differences. Mainly how they are raising Courtney. So she's with her father and school reports indicate early interest in applying to university for Aerospace Engineering."

"A lot of interesting in engineering, huh?" Xavier muses, shrugging at Seraphim as he takes a sip of tea. "But I'm glad to see interest in the universities."

"Me too," Rosabella agrees, proud grin on her face at the mention of them. "Although hopefully there will be enough people left to still attend them…"

"I think there will be," Xavier tells her before returning his attention to Seraphim. "Anything else noteworthy about Courtney?"

"Not really," Seraphim says but starts chuckling a little, "Well, she's going to be very excited about Beyond The Realm performing at the party."

"She might not be the only one," Xavier says with a shrug, still seemingly not that excited yet about the big party, but Seraphim knows he'll get there. "Alright…" he lets out a big sigh and shakes his head. "District Seven…"

"Do you want to talk about Adam first or after Carameuse?" Seraphim asks him, feeling uncomfortable thinking about how very pregnant Adam is right now.

"First," Xavier says as he motions Luciano over to stand next to him. "We…have a slight problem with that."

"Aside from the obvious one?"

"Yes, aside from the fact that he's nearly full term pregnant," Xavier says and motions for Luciano to take over.

"While I didn't get a whole lot of information in Seven since they're keeping me limited…I did learn something about Adam's child." Luciano takes a deep breath at this and Seraphim just waits to hear whatever it could be. "The other father was one of the children of the leaders and was the nephew of Vera Snow."

Seraphim's head starts spinning at this and his mouth drops open in shock. "That means…"

"That child is related to the leader of the rebels," Xavier finishes and they sit in heavy silence for a few seconds. "I don't doubt they'll try to save the child."

"Well we can't send an eight month pregnant person into the arena," Seraphim says and stares at Xavier in worry when he doesn't agree immediately. "Right?"

"Adam has to go into the Games…" Xavier says quietly, thinking through his response out loud. "But the child doesn't. That baby can survive at this point. We'll have Adam undergo a cesarean before the Games." He stops to look around at everyone carefully before continuing. "This information can absolutely not leave this room. If the rebels find out, it could be disastrous."

"More disastrous than how people are already reacting to him being Reaped?" Seraphim asks, really not sure how it could get worse.

"Absolutely," Xavier responds, making a nervous sweat start to form on the back of Seraphim's neck. He rubs the spot on his arm as a phantom pain shoots through it, reminded of last year's Games when he got shot… "Seraphim, I will figure out the details. You just keep the Games running smoothly and know you're not getting shot again. Your mother will kill me if that happens."

Seraphim cracks a small smile at this, knowing he's absolutely telling the truth. "You're not wrong… Anyways, that information is way more important than what I had for Adam. So how about Carameuse?"

They all turn their attention to the picture of the other tribute and Xavier nods his head for Seraphim to continue. "There wasn't much information about her…and I don't think it's from rebel involvement. I think she is just living a calm and normal life."

"That would be a relief to have someone from Seven that isn't related to the growing rebellion there," Xavier mutters and shakes his head at the girl's picture. "Keep searching, I want to be certain."

"Yes sir," Seraphim answers and is ready to switch to District Eight when Luciano holds up their hand.

"Wait!" Luciano cries out before leaning closer to the picture of her, staring intently at the girl. "Holy shit."

"What? What is it?" Xavier asks immediately, moving closer to stare at the girl's picture again. He turns to look up at Luciano, concern filling his eyes. "Who is she?"

"A girl I caught talking to a known rebel while working undercover…" Luciano leans back, shaking their head before smiling sadly down at Xavier. "I chased after her but she got away from me… So unfortunately it looks like the rebels have an agent in the Games."

Xavier leans back in his chair slowly, keeping his face neutral as he takes a sip of tea. The only sign of the emotions going on in him right now is the way his hand shakes as he turns his attention over to Seraphim. "Do not let that girl win. No matter what."

"Yes sir," Seraphim agrees quietly, growing more anxious with each passing second. He doesn't want anything bad happening during these Games, but it's seeming more and more likely that something will.

"Very well," Xavier says, still keeping his voice neutral as he looks at Seraphim. "District Eight?"

Seraphim clears his throat, still uneasy from discussing the tributes from District Seven, but he nods his head and switches to the next District. "So Eight might have a solid chance of making Two not the only District with back to back wins and two Quell victors – so sorry, Theodosius," he adds, trying not laugh at how offended the man looks by that.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Theodosius grumbles, crossing his arms as he stares at the pictures of the two tributes, analyzing everything about them.

Seraphim turns his attention back to the President, but finds him not looking amused by the exchange and still deep in thought from discussing Seven, so Seraphim continues quickly, "Obviously both older tributes, both wealthy, and both friends from before the Reaping. Fete runs his deceased mother's wedding business and has for a couple years now with good success."

"That's impressive to be doing that at his age," President Xavier tells him before nodding a head at Atropa's picture. "And his friend?"

"Atropa Seigal. Also very well off since her parents run a shop distributing expensive fabric, even to the Capitol," Seraphim reads from his notes. "Neither have reports of any rebellious activity so it seems like they're just two relatively normal kids. Well," Seraphim pauses to chuckle a little as he reads the school reports about Atropa. "I guess Atropa likes to ominously tell kids about their fate and 'make predictions' to them."

"Compared to some of the previous Districts, I'll take it," Xavier answers, cracking a tiny smile at Seraphim. But the smile quickly disappears with a heavy sigh as he takes a sip of tea. "If you have nothing else, I suppose it's time to discuss what happened at the District Nine Reaping."

"Poor Agapios," Rosabella speaks up, shaking her head as she frowns at them. "He doesn't deserve to have an angry girl like that his last year."

"And someone who clearly knew Marek," Xavier adds to her statement, looking to Seraphim for confirmation.

The Head Gamemaker nods his head in agreement at this and pulls up the notes about the tragic life Sky has had in less than fourteen years. "She was at the Hall Orphanage for a few years after her parents died in a car accident. You know their policy, they only keep kids under thirteen before sending them to the Carroway Orphanage for ages thirteen through eighteen."

"Of course," Xavier nods his head. "We help fund the orphanages. It would be way too much for the Hall family to raise them for their whole childhood."

"Right…" Seraphim tells him, sighing a bit at Sky's history. It's tragic and no child should have experienced that. "Well, her birthday is in a little over a week…she had to move on just days after Marek's death and the Carroway's reported that she ran away after just two days in the orphanage."

"So she's been on the streets since then?" Xavier asks and when Seraphim nods his head, the frown that's been on the verge of appearing all meeting returns. "That's rather tragic… I wish there was more we could do for kids like that. Do we…" He hesitates for a moment, clearly unsure if he wants to know the answer to what he's asking. "Do we know why she volunteered?"

"Revenge," Seraphim says as he pulls up a video on his tablet from the goodbye rooms and shows the President. "Against the careers for killing Marek…"

They watch the video in silence for a minute before Xavier finally sighs and brings his gaze back to Seraphim. "I was worried the reason would be she was suicidal, like Jarvis last year… I don't know if there's much we can do for her aside from let her rage… Very well, what about Eliot?"

Seraphim shrugs at him, knowing he doesn't have much to report about Eliot. "A normal, good kid, albeit annoying, according to school reports. Has a tendency to pull pranks yet somehow doesn't get in trouble very often." Seraphim chuckles a little at the mention of pranks. "I wonder if we'll have another poison ivy incident in training this year."

"Of course he doesn't get in trouble, look at how cute he is," Rosabella tells them, pointing at the picture of Eliot. And she's not wrong, even if he looks like he's not even old enough to be reaped yet.

"But he at least has a good family life, unlike Sky," Seraphim continues, skimming over his notes. "Has two parents, only child, but did lose a grandparent a year ago. Teachers also report that he's hardworking, just like his grandfather was."

"Perhaps we'll have another victor that's thirteen," Luciano speculates as Xavier keeps staring over at the pictures of the two young tributes from Nine. "Both might have the fire to win."

"I suppose we'll only see in time," Xavier mutters and waves at Seraphim, "District Ten?"

"District Ten," Seraphim confirms as he moves the images on to the second to last District. "Now let me tell you, these two both have very large families and we had to put one person just on researching these two families to confirm no rebel problems."

"Define very large," Xavier asks him, an eyebrow slightly raised in curiosity as Laelia chuckles about the poor intern who got stuck researching the Ten pair.

"Well," Seraphim starts and begins scrolling through the lengthy list of family members for Genesis. "Genesis lives on a large farmstead near the outskirts of the District. Her father has four 'wives', with only one being legal, of course. Many siblings and the siblings have children. She's the oldest from her mother." Seraphim gives him a shrug, really not knowing what to tell him. "Supposedly they're almost entirely self-sustaining and rarely go into town. All the children are homeschooled. But before this, the father couldn't keep a job for longer than a few months because he was claiming they were going to get attacked by…Capitol mutts?"

"Well then," Xavier sips his tea at this, trying to keep his face neutral but Seraphim knows him well enough to know he's trying not to show he finds this odd. "To each their own. As long as she doesn't cause any trouble, her father can keep believing whatever he likes."

"I don't think she will, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on her," Seraphim tells him, getting a nod of approval at this. "Now Fox also has a large family but not because of multiple wives like Genesis. He's the second youngest of ten kids living on a cow farm. Lower class and all the kids have dropped out of school by time they're ten to work on the farm."

"We need to work harder at retaining children in school," Xavier contemplates this before glancing back to look over at Rosabella. "Can we work on that when the Games are over?"

She gives him a confused look but nods her head as she writes down a note at this. "Of course, I'm always up for improving education."

Xavier nods at her before turning back to Seraphim, giving him a hand gesture to continue. "So Fox," Seraphim continues as he pulls up a picture to show the President, "Is married and he has his own family already. Two year old Maddox Durham and his once again pregnant wife Paloma."

"Pregnant wife?" Xavier asks for confirmation, waiting for Seraphim to nod. "Very good motivation for him to win then. We'll have to wait and see just how badly he wants to win for his children." Xavier lets out a sigh as he leans back in his chair and stares at Seraphim for a few seconds. "Last District."

"District Eleven," Seraphim nods as he brings up the images of the last two tributes to discuss. "I'm guessing you'd like to start with Jessamine?"

"Of course," Xavier responds, a little amused that Seraphim knew him well enough. "Please give me confirmation that she is deaf."

"She is," Seraphim agrees with him. It was evident just from the Reaping that that's the case before Seraphim even saw a single medical note. "Her parents struggled for years to have kids so Jessamine and her twin brother were a late pregnancy. Jessamine was born deaf and her twin brother is autistic. Overall seems like a good family and there's no bad reports about any of them. But then again, she's homeschooled so we can't exactly pull up school reports."

It's silent in the office for a few seconds until Rosabella finally clears her throat and they all look over at her. "So…is now an appropriate time to ask if we're going to make her deaf and blind?"

All eyes turn to Seraphim but he just meets the President's gaze, knowing it will be his call on that. Seraphim always knows the answer, but still, he will do whatever Xavier asks of him. "Seraphim…I trust you to make the correct call here."

Seraphim slowly nods his head, having a feeling he knows what Xavier's definition of the correct call is, but still worried that he might mess up. "Yes sir," he answers quietly, hoping he is making the correct choice. "I'll do my best."

"Good," Xavier answers with a small, emotionless smile. "And lastly, Arthur?"

"Someone who might do very well at surviving in the arena," Seraphim pauses to chuckle a little at his arena plans. "Well, maybe more so in other years. But he leads a search and rescue team in Eleven and when he's not out on missions, he runs a survival gear shop that used to be his father's."

"Used to be?" Xavier questions with an eyebrow raised.

"Died rescuing a family from a fire," Seraphim reads from the notes before setting the tablet down on his lap, having all the information he needs. "Arthur is going to be more than capable at the survival aspects so I'm curious to see how he will handle both the twist and killing."

"I'm curious about all of them," Xavier answers calmly as he meets Seraphim's gaze. The Head Gamemaker does his best to return it and hide how nervous he is about making sure he impresses the President. "There's obviously ones that we need to watch for. We will need to handle the situation with Adam carefully. Keep watching to make sure we don't miss any other rebels. And then there's the matter of handling Carameuse…"

"Well…" Seraphim starts, starting to have a bit of an idea for the arena events. "I was going to wait until I saw what interactions happen in training to plan out the events in the arena. But…"

"But perhaps we can pick Carameuse for one," Xavier finishes and Seraphim nods his head at this. "Do it. Pick whoever else you see fit just-"

The door bursts open, revealing a very frazzled Ophelia as she holds up her phone to her ear. "Sir!"

Seraphim jumps up right away, immediately concerned for the wellbeing of his closest friend. "Ophelia! What's wrong?" His assistant ignores him and walks straight over to the desk. She stares down at the President, a look on her face that Seraphim has never seen before from her and it's scaring him. "Ophelia, talk, you're scaring me."

"Sir," Ophelia says as she stares down the President, her chest heaving with deep breaths. "I just got reports from the check in for District Seven."

"And?" Xavier asks, concern immediately filling his face as he stands up to look Ophelia in the eye. "What's happened in Seven?"

Ophelia hesitates as she looks around at the others, only making Seraphim grow more concerned for her. "No one named Carameuse Juniper checked in today."

Everyone in the room tenses up and a thick silence fills the room as they all look over at Xavier with various looks of confusion on their faces. Xavier takes his time forming his response and slowly looks over at Seraphim, finally letting the emotions fill his face. "Then who the hell did we reap?"

Who did they pick if not Carameuse? Guess you'll just have to wait to find out hehe.

So there we go, our reaping recap to remind you of all the tributes, give a bit more background on some of them, and also throw in a little bit of subplot! What did you find the most interesting thing to learn? What subplot thing surprised you? What could be these "arena events" that Seraphim is thinking about? And what was your favorite line from Theodosius? He's my new favorite character for giving commentary lol.

Alrighty, I will see you within four weeks for the train rides with Bell and Cal! That chapter is already written and I just got Day One done for Wayward so we're on track to keep having frequent updates!