Caspian Ashwood (President of Panem)
"Excuse me, Mr. President? Do you… do you have a second?"
"That depends."
"On?"
"On what it is you want to talk about and how quickly you can do it.
"I've got somewhere to be in ten minutes, Lumiya. So you have, at most, seven, to say whatever it is you came here to say."
"OK.
"I was hoping to talk to you about the way you've been handling my escorts. Specifically how you fired all but two of them without consulting me first."
"First off, they are MY escorts, Lumiya, not yours. I do not need YOUR permission to fire them.
"You are the head escort, and while your experience in that role makes you a very valuable asset, it does not entitle you to a voice in the decision-making process.
"And second, the people you're talking about are not Hunger Games escorts anymore. They are private citizens and FORMER Hunger Games escorts. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good.
"Now, is that all you came here to say? Or did you have something else to add?"
"I do have a few other things, sir."
"Then I'm all ears."
I'm really not. I genuinely do not want to have this conversation, and not just because it will be the fourth or fifth time we've had it this week and I think the tenth or eleventh time we've had it in the last month. That is a big part of it, don't get me wrong. It's just not the biggest part.
No, that belongs to the fact that the conversation we are about to have is pointless. I have already made my decision, and I'm not going to change my mind about it. A fact I thought I had made clear to Lumiya on nearly a dozen different occasions in the last month.
At this point, I'm getting tired of having to defend my decision to someone who honestly has no business questioning it in the first place. But, in the interest of keeping the peace, which is something Tranquila insists I need to do more often in situations like this, I guess I can hear her out.
She isn't going to change my mind, but it might give me an excuse to be a few minutes late to my next meeting. Which I consider to be nothing less than a massive win. And well worth the pain of having this discussion, AGAIN.
"...you placed the proper value on the experience some of the more experienced former escorts had when making your decision."
Oh man, it sounds like I missed the stupid stuff at the beginning of her spiel. How will I ever recover from this tragedy? What if I missed something important?
"...job is a lot harder than you might think, and their years of experience and know-how would be invaluable to the next generation of escorts."
Oh good, at least I didn't miss the best part.
"I'm going to stop you right there, Lumiya. Being an escort is not a hard job. They are, at their core, glorified babysitters. The only truly difficult part of their job is going out to their assigned District for the Reaping, and the hardest part of that is the travel time."
"I don't think you're being fair here, sir. The escorts are far more than just glorified babysitters. They're deeply patriotic and highly trained men and women who have accepted the responsibility of acting as the voice and face of the Capitol in the districts during the Hunger Games."
"Oh please, was Leto serving as the face of the Capitol when he fell asleep while reading one of the names during the District Two reaping last year?
"Or how about Juliana? Was she doing her patriotic duty last year when she was late getting her tributes to the hovercraft because the three of them were in bed together?"
"Of course not. But those were isolated incidents and shouldn't be used as justification to fire everyone. Punish Leto for his age and Juliana for her indiscretion if you must."
I can't help but roll my eyes at that comment. I try not to if only because it's one of those things Tranquila keeps telling me is rude to do when you're having an important conversation with a subordinate.
But I fail, and after giving her a second to compose herself, and me a second to calm down, I respond to her stupidity in as polite and contrite a tone as I can muster.
"First off, you and I both know those were far from isolated incidents. Every escort I fired was a habitual offender of some kind who had been given chance after chance to fix themselves and chose not to.
"Second, I didn't fire everyone, just the ten who deserved to be fired. Which is why Valion and Raphael still have their jobs and their former associates do not."
"And I appreciate that. But Valion and Raphael are two of my...sorry, your. They are two of your least experienced escorts."
"Were."
"Excuse me?"
"They WERE my least experienced escorts. Now, they are my most experienced escorts. And I expect you to fill in any lingering gaps in their training and then work with them to make sure that the ten rookies are as ready as they can be for their new duties and responsibilities.
"That is what I am paying you to do, Lumiya."
"I understand that. But I can't do my job if I don't have competent people around me."
"And you do. Valion and Raphael may be young and relatively inexperienced, but they are incredibly bright and talented."
"It's not enough, sir."
"It is going to have to be enough, Lumiya. Because I am not, let me repeat that, not, changing my mind.
"The job of an Escort, while not difficult, is far too important to the overall stability and viability of the games to be left in the hands of people who do not take their responsibilities seriously. They are one of the pillars, along with the mentors, on which the games are built. And I will not allow complacency and laziness to fester in their ranks any more than I will allow it to fester among the mentors.
"Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, sir."
"Good.
"Now, if you do not believe yourself to be up to the task of training Azzura, Adrianna, Numerius, Aquilina, Sabastian, Antonia, Dayana, Marcus, Luna, and Ariassa, each of whom was handpicked by you to be an escort, I understand. Please, feel free to tender me your resignation, after this year's games. Otherwise, this matter is closed.
"Now I have a meeting to get to, and you have a job to do. So if there is nothing else..?"
A/N: I don't have a whole lot to announce here. We continue to inch ever closer to a full roster of tributes and are currently at 18 between submissions and reservation requests. We only need 6 more tributes to begin! There is one spot available in districts 3, 4, 5, and 12, and both slots in District 11. The submissions I've gotten so far have been amazing, and I look forward to seeing the rest, so if you're still on the fence about submitting, just take the plunge and dive on it. This is going to be an amazing adventure, and I would love for you to take it with me the those who have already submitted :D
Other than that, please leave a review if you enjoyed this second trip inside the mind of President Caspian Ashwood, feel free to message me if you have any questions about the story or submitting to it, and I'll be looking forward to seeing your tributes in my inbox and your smiling faces at the next update :D