With thanks to Glassgift, AbbyCoraby123 and MsAir for your reviews. :) They are always read through and appreciated.

The meeting room was in Seneca's personal offices, and consisted of a smoothly constructed metal table with streamlined strips of red LED lights glowing through and around its surface. It was an aesthetic Lexus liked, and he was glad to see Seneca still shared that like with him.

The walls facing outside were mostly blank, with a single slim rectangular window to let in natural light. The ceiling above them was a panel of sun lights to give more of a bright tone to the meeting room, and the floor-to ceiling glass windows to the rest of his offices were currently shuttered open to let in more light and an impression of openness. In the corner of the room, a television sat with its sound muted, fulfilling the mandate for all to watch the Reapings.

"First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming to this meeting." Seneca said, standing at the head of the table. Lexus nodded, and a murmur of similar assent went up. "Now, I'll try to finish this before the Reapings are over so you can all get back to watching-"

"-Or commentating." Caesar Flickerman commented dully from the back of the room. "I've said I'm letting the junior man have a try today, but quite frankly I'd rather join the Games myself than let him do that."

"Then by all means, join," Lexus said before he could stop himself. "Love to see you in a skintight outfit stabbing people in the eye."

"Keep dreaming, Valerian."

"When you're done with the terrifying innuendo, we have an actual meeting to conduct." Seneca said, sitting down to suggest a start. "We wouldn't typically ask you to come, Caesar, but there have been... complications."

"What sort of complications?" Heads turned to Head of Security, Anamaria Dimitri. A relative unknown, even in the Capitol, Lexus had never much cared for her style of leadership in the Peacekeeper Guild and the Capitol Defence.

Mostly because one time he had made some very mild advances, and her response had been to try and choke him with his tie.

He didn't wear ties anymore, but that was another story.

Or so he said.

Seneca sighed. "Josiah?"

The final member of the meeting, the new Head of Communications Josiah Lyman, came to the meeting's attention. "The polling panel for the arena- had mixed feelings."

Caesar looked up from the table. "The- you poll that?"

Josiah shrugged. "It's more useful than you think- if Hansen hadn't passed on our clock Quell idea, we would've gone with it."

"Yes, but at this point in time it's not like you can-"

"-Pull another arena out of our ass, sure, but this last poll's usually just a formality." Lexus raised an eyebrow at Josiah's informal language in a business meeting. He might actually like his Games coworkers after all.

"Usually." Anamaria prompted.

Josiah sighed, picking up a manila folder and flipping it open. "While the initial polls were a resounding success, and gave approval ratings we shouldn't expect to see so soon after a Quell arena, we've just keeped dropping numbers."

Lexus frowned. "Well, it'd be hard to follow the Quell, we knew that, that's why there was the staff overhaul."

"Yeah, but-" Josiah tapped the back of his hand irritably against the file. "It seems to figure the more people think about it, the less they like it."

Seneca sighed. "It's too late to change it now, Josiah, I don't know what you want me to do."

"I'm not saying we scrap an arena, just know that people are liking it less-"

"-The more they think about it?" Caesar interrupted. "Josiah, you're new here, but you watch the Games as much as anybody else, right?"

"-Yeah?"

"Josiah, how much thinking is really going on behind most viewer's brains? It's shock value television and it's glitzy; people aren't giving this analysis. You don't need to worry about them thinking about it." Caesar leant back and grabbed a glass of water from a waiting Avox, watching Josiah for his reaction to Caesar's prod.

Josiah's reaction was to brush back his hair irritably and pick up a new piece of paper.

"Caesar, do you know what the arena is yet?"

Caesar paused. The meeting room exchanged glances- while Caesar was their figurehead, he wasn't always privy to full information- living your life in front of a camera does that to your trustworthiness.

"What is it?" Caesar asked. Josiah went to answer but Seneca cut him off.

"I can't have anything being said on camera until the day, Caesar- accidentally or not." The implied distrust wasn't going to sit well with Caesar, even Lexus could tell that, but he didn't need to know what wouldn't kill him. Seneca continued as he picked up a glass of something stronger from an Avox. "Rest assured it's a surprising and fulfilling arena."

Lexus nodded. "Not gonna lie, I went to supervise the computer system setup a few weeks back, and it's incredible. It's been entirely done from scratch to accomodate the size."

"And it'll probably bankrupt us, but that's a problem for finances." Josiah commented wryly, tucking away papers into his folder.

Lexus, however, hadn't quite shaken the image of the arena yet. "It's... a bit... creepy."

Anamaria looked up sharply, eyes boring into Lexus. "-It is?"

Lexus was just slightly put off by Anamaria's sudden attention. "-Well, yeah. Seeing it like that is- it's- it's empty, it's weird. And the additions we've made to it- it is impressive, but-"

"Hm." Anamaria nodded, leaning back in her chair fluidly. The movement let Lexus realise how motionless she was most of the time.

"-Look, this has been a fascinating insight into how pointless half these meetings are, and I'm duly warned about the arena I'm not allowed to see, but can I go save at least part of my Reaping commentary?" Caesar asked, already standing.

Seneca sighed, standing in turn. "I think we're done here, Caesar. My apologies, I thought there was more to speak of than that."

The meeting disbanded. Caesar was out of the room almost on a par with Anamaria's efficient speed, and Josiah Lyman sighed and exited a few moments later.

Lexus and Seneca were left alone.

For a long moment, nothing was said or done. Then Seneca let out a long breath, and sat heavily back on the meeting table. Lexus came over to join him.

"Love the work, hate the coworkers," Lexus quipped, pulling off his jacket- the day was warm, and formal wear was dumb.

Seneca hid his smile by dragging a hand over his face. "I don't recall loving the work."

"Then give it up and come back to something you like." Lexus elbowed Seneca gently in the side. "Seriously, just respectfully talk to the President and say you're not the guy for the job."

"I've been doing this five years, Lex; I got through a Quarter Quell successfully. Even if I asked the President to step down, he'd probably say no and be frustrated I took up his time." Seneca stood, pacing the room absently as he fiddled with the cuffs of his black and crimson jacket. "It's just the seventy-sixth. I'll be fine."

"And the fact you're starting to unravel your most expensive jacket is no indication of anything." Lexus stood as Seneca paced by him and grabbed his arm. "Seneca. You're a tech guy, you headed the tech guys; how you've made a good Gamemaker is beyond me but you're not enjoying it and it's not for you. Come back to the tech team- hell, if you want, I'll step down and you can have your old job. I'm not a big fan of leadership either."

Seneca looked up at Lexus. His eyes made him seem older than he was; he looked weary, resigned.

"Lex. What's your clearance level?"

Lexus raised a silver eyebrow and dropped his hand from Seneca's arm. "Six. Why?"

Seneca shook his head softly. "Lex, mine is seven."

Lexus' eyebrows shot upwards. "But we're- it's- all Gamemakers are at level six, Sen, it's regulated. What, are you special?"

"No, it's just a lie." Seneca said, his voice dropping lower. "Caesar's on level seven, too."

"Why the hell is that the thing anyone would lie about?"

Seneca bit his lip anxiously. "Lex, you're my friend, I've known you all these years, you know that. But that's as much as I'm willing to tell you. The President-" Seneca looked away to the shuttered windows and quietened. "Look, Lex, I can't tell you anything but a tip-off. Things are- wrong, in the Capitol and elsewhere. Clearance levels are being raised, information is being given higher classifications- everything's locking down. And I need to know that if something goes wrong this year, you have my back."

Lexus felt cold. "I- course, Sen, I don't-"

Seneca stepped back, eyes burning with something Lexus couldn't place, something dangerous. "I can't tell you anymore, Lex. I'm sorry."

Lexus nodded placatingly at his friend. "Okay, Sen. That's fine." Seneca reminded him of something, with wild eyes and pacing body. What did he remind him of?

"I-" Seneca gathered up some files and made for the door. "Bye, Lexus."

And with that, Seneca was gone.

And in that moment, Lexus realised what Seneca had looked like- an animal in a cage.

The Reaping still played on the screen beside him, casting dancing shadows on his face.

Hopefully the interim chapter was not too jarring; if it was, please do let me know. I enjoy adding depth to the Capitol, but if it isn't playing well I'm happy to change them.

As ever, thank you for reading this far.