XVIII. That Funny Feeling

I never realized I was spread too thin
'Til it was too late, and I was empty within
Hungry, feeding on chaos and living in sin
Downward spiral, where do I begin?

"Turn it off; turn it off!" Lysistrata screams at a television monitor, her face tucked into her lap.

Clemensia rubs her shoulders. "We kind of rely on all of the monitors being on in order for us to do our jobs, dear."

"But the horrors!"

Just another day in the office. Coriolanus sighs. Another day being surrounded by one of the most ridiculous and spineless people he knows — besides Livia, of course — and the one person capable of keeping her stable. It's not often that he compliments another, but Lysistrata has quite the intelligent mind when she isn't on about some bullshit.

"I do agree yes, these Games are getting a smidge out of hand." The understatement of all time perhaps. Coriolanus was expecting the worst when he agreed to Lysistrata and Clemensia's idea for the Quell, but maybe not this bad. "But isn't that the thrill of the Games? Seeing the very limits to which a human being can be pushed."

"People don't want to watch this," Clemensia contests. "They want the Games to entertain, not to make them feel sick to their stomachs."

"Are you not entertained? Not even a little?"

"I don't see how this could be considered entertaining in any universe," Lysistrata says, still avoiding looking at the monitors. "The only kind of person who'd enjoy this is a sick fuck like—"

"Lysistrata!"

Coriolanus does see why watching a grown man brutalize and then cannibalize a young child would be unappealing in theory. But in practice, does it really matter? They're District-folk, hardly even human. Worse, Lucifer is from Twelve and his name sounds like—

(He wonders if anybody in Mr. Deathrage's family has any recollection of her who must not be named. Lucifer was likely conceived less than two years after her mysterious disappearance.

They'd better not. The whole world should've forgotten her from the moment she left.)

(If only Coriolanus could've forgotten her too.)

"What I don't understand is why Mr. Rossmani hasn't been seeing an increase in sponsors because of this?"

"I already told you!" Lysistrata bangs her fist into the table. "Nobody wants to root for a cannibal."

She does make a fair point. Gremory wasn't even neat with the whole thing, not that there's such a thing as a neat way to eat a child. In fact, the more Coriolanus thinks of it, the more he gets sick to his stomach.

Just as he finally switches the screen off of Gremory's display of brutality, one of the lesser Gamemakers — he thinks her name is Daetoria — barges into the room with a worried expression.

"Mr. Snow," she shouts.

Clemensia chuckles, "Dae, I already told you that you can just call him Coriolanus."

"No she may not!" He slams his fist on the table, then looks over at the young lady "Is there an issue?"

"I'll give it to you straight." Daetoria grabs a tablet from her shoulder bag, presses a few buttons, and sets it in front of Coriolanus. "People aren't too happy about Mr. Rossmani."

He looks at the tablet, which is open to a page of emails.

— — —

SENDER: Caelus Vulso
SUBJECT: Gremory
I'm going to puke. Please get him off my screen!

— — —

SENDER: Faleria Ripana
SUBJECT: Poor little Lucy…
I get that these are supposed to be the worst people in our country, but isn't this a bit much? I'm kind of grossed out to be honest…

— — —

SENDER: Dammen Falx
SUBJECT: Panebalism?
This is straight up barbaric! Can somebody please take out this guy, for fucks sake? Or at least cut the cameras away from them. These Games are kind of shit.

— — —

Daetoria continues to scroll down. "There's a lot more where these came from if you want to read—"

"I do not." Coriolanus sighs. "I think I understand the issue."

He hands the tablet to Clemensia, Lysistrata looking over her shoulder. "I told you people would think this is gross!"

"And I agreed with you."

"Okay, but you literally didn't," Lysistrata says. "You asked me if I was entertained and then I said that I'm not."

"I was testing you, obviously."

"Sure you were," Clemensia whispers.

Coriolanus chooses not to pay her any attention. "We need to do something about this."

"Yeah, no shit!" Lysistrata laughs.

Daetoria takes back the table. "Do you want me to respond to the emails or–"

"Release a statement to the press!" Coriolanus cuts her off. "Let them know that my team and I see the issue with Mr. Rossmani and we will be taking care of him at our earliest convenience."

"On it!" And then Daetoria leaves the room as quickly as she came.

"Aw, she's so cute." Clemensia says once the door is shut.

Lysistrata scowls. "Are you cheating on me?"

"I never even implied that!"

It's times like these where Coriolanus is forced to realize his least favorite thing, he's bitten off more than he can chew — like that's even possible. All he wanted was a spectacle, something grand for his last stint as Head Gamemaker before he ascended to the Presidency. These Games were supposed to be regarded as the best this nation has seen, not an utter catastrophe.

It seems his fellow Capitolites can actually have a heart at times. How sweet of them, but also how incredibly inconvenient. The purpose of this Quell was to turn the people of the Districts against one another, not to turn his people against him.

He can still fix things though. He knows he can.

•••

"Alright…" Coriolanus spins around once in his chair then starts pressing buttons on his various screens. "We can't dwell on the Gremory situation forever. Girls, what are people saying about the other Tributes?"

That's been Clemensia's biggest problem as of late. Even though Lorian, Olathe, Melchior, and Thana have been putting on quite the shows, they're not the fan favorites. Instead, the public has been utterly captivated by little Elio Basanti from District Ten.

Even if all he's done is befriend the cow Lysistrata made and has so expertly voiced, the word on the street is that he's "just too damn cute" and "it'd be a sin to root against him."

Clemensia doesn't get it. Everybody was so excited to see the worst people in the Districts go head to head, yet they're instead fixated on one of the only people who has hardly done anything wrong. All Elio did in Ten was let loose some people's cows. Obviously people were pissed, but it couldn't have been too many people since the lowest percentage of people voted him in compared to everybody else.

So now she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. She or Lysistrata could easily manipulate the cow to kill him, but the people wouldn't like that. They're obsessed with his relationship with the cow. At the same time, there's no way in hell this kid kills anybody. His District partner had a knife in his ankle and he still tried to make peace with her.

If anything, she's glad that both Lucy (what a brilliant and ironic nickname) and the cow were able to convince him to get away from Gremory. Clemensia doesn't even want to imagine what it'd be like if Gremory got to Elio instead.

Maybe the people are growing tired of the violence. Micah's Games last year were kind of boring. His District partner died and then he just went apeshit on everybody in that arena. It was gloriously violent, yes, but Clemensia can definitely see why it would make people uncomfortable.

"Everybody is obsessed with Elio," she says to Coriolanus. "I don't get it either, but they are."

"I think it makes perfect sense," Lysistrata chimes in. "The people want somebody to root for. I imagine it's hard for people to root for somebody who came into the Games pre-corrupted. Watching people get worse is what people love most."

"And these people are already bad," Coriolanus grunts. "At least most of them are. Even if Elio's genuine kindness is enticing, I don't think he'd get worse the way the Games will tempt him to."

"What are we supposed to do about that?" Clemensia asks. "Tempt him again?"

"I don't think that'll work. I think what needs to happen is that you give him some kind of an ultimatum."

Lysistrata's eyes light up. "I have an idea for that."

"Go on?"

"I'm still working out the details, but I'll let you know what to do when I figure it out."

Coriolanus nods. "Regardless of when the kid bites it, the people are going to need somebody else to root for eventually. I honestly thought that it'd be Mr. Whitethorn before he pulled that move on Mr. Darski."

"Some people did like that," Clemensia says. "Aleister was never very popular, and neither was Lucy—"

Lysistrata cuts her off. "Please call him Lucifer for everyone's sake."

"Right. He wasn't too popular but people still felt bad for him when Gremory got to him because at the end of the day, he's just a little kid."

Clemensia never thought people would have such empathy, but stranger things have happened.

"Mr. Whitethorn is still a bit popular for the same reasons people liked Treech back in our day — he's handsome and deadly. Plus he was the least involved during the Androcles incident, so as long as that doesn't get out, I reckon people will continue to like him," Lysistrata says. "Word on the street was that his alliance was holding him back and now that they're gone, I think we can make something salvageable out of him."

Coriolanus presses a few buttons on his screen then zooms in to see Olathe walking in circles and grunting. His knives are protruded and he looks notably angry, yet at the same time a bit confused. "How do you fix this?"

"Just give him somebody to kill!" Clemensia exclaims. "He was brutal with Aleister and I bet he can be brutal again. I don't think he'll be worse than Gremory."

"But you don't know that. Also, I'm hesitant to see what he'd be like if he comes out of the arena, considering what he did to get voted in. If he killed all those Peacekeepers, who's to say he won't kill us?"

"Fair point." Lysistrata sighs. "What about Lorian then?"

"People in Two don't like him because he killed his District partner and I don't think the other Capitolites will like him much when push comes to shove considering a boy from Two lost last year. I imagine they want something fresh."

Clemensia's at a loss for words — everybody is running out of options. Asherah is sweet but she still killed a newborn back in Seven and if that got out to the general public here, they'd hate her. Besides, she doesn't seem the sort to kill somebody. Her ally Edric is decent, but still a bit dull. People liked him during his interview as well as his stint in the zoo, but being paired with such a pacifist hasn't done him any favors. Charon's a freak and not in the good way and Melchior and Thana keep to themselves too much. Their friendship is admittedly beautiful, but everybody seems to know it's not going to end well. Moxie is fine too, but much like Edric, her ally is holding her back.

But, there's still one other person.

"What do you know about Sapphira Starlett?"

•••

Honestly, not a bad idea on Clemensia's part. To Coriolanus' knowledge, people liked her interview and what not, but she's kind of fallen off. She said all these things about being a star and what not, but she's so far been a bit lackluster.

He pulls up her tab. "She was voted in both because she campaigned to be elected and because people thought she was a nuisance. Parents are wealthy and she apparently trained for the Games. She's had a few small roles in movies and TV shows but is yet to have her big break."

"Has she done anything particularly bad though?"

"Aside from not living up to her promises and acting like a scared puppy while also allying with a serial killer, not really." Coriolanus pushes a few more buttons. "Oh, she's also a bit of a druggie but isn't everybody here?"

What's most important is that Sapphira is an actress. If she plays her cards right, and Coriolanus and the team helps her along the way, she might just take the starring role. She has the training so she may be able to kill somebody when prompted and she seems to know Gremory from home and isn't a big fan.

"I think we can work with that," Lysistrata says. "I did notice Gremory mumbling her name after he was done with Lucifer, so she may be his next target."

"If that's the case, we need to make it an unfair match between the two of them and ensure she wins. Taking out Gremory might give her the edge she needs."

In fact, she'd be a bit too perfect of a victor. She loves the crowds and talks like a Capitolite at times, and if she wants a film career, a victory would give her one which would make the public like her even more. There has to be a catch. Still, Sapphira might be the best risk worth taking.

"I can help with that." Clemensia starts frantically pressing buttons on her screen. "Only issue is, if she takes out Gremory, there's still the problem of Charon."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." At this point that's all they can do. "For now, we've got a lot to take care of. Lysistrata, I want you to enact whatever plan you have for Elio as soon as possible. I'll give both Olathe and Asherah's money to Pliny and see what he can do with it — hopefully Diana doesn't mind. If the thing with Sapphira doesn't work, he could be a great second choice. Both of you, work on separating Edric from Asherah and Moxie from Ripley. Tempt them if you need to." He takes a deep breath. "Oh, and in regards to Thana and Melchior, please try and get them in on the action with everybody else. They're both too unstable to win but the people don't want to see them part."

Truth be told, Coriolanus is a bit jealous of the two of them. The closest thing he's had to a significant platonic was with Sejanus and he sort of hated that guy. If the two of them couldn't be friends, nobody else deserves friendship, especially in the Games.

"On it," Clemensia and Lysistrata say at the same time, then laugh.

Maybe the Games would be in good hands with them after Coriolanus becomes President after all. That is, provided these Games make him worthy for the job.

Who is he kidding? Of course they will.

Last Resort - Papa Roach

Cute! Short chapter where I basically just spill a lot of tea and that's it.

Hopefully this provided context for all your burning questions. Even if it didn't, I had fun and that's what matters. I dunno, I feel like I haven't seen ever the general public's reaction to the First Quell so that's something I wanted to explore a bit and likely will continue to explore. Would love to know what y'all think of all of this because we're almost at the endgame. I don't know how many chapters the Games are going to last, to be fair, but last week was the seventh Games chapter and we're definitely in the latter half now. I'll tentatively say 5-6 more before the finale, but don't quote me on that.

I'll be updating bi-weekly for now just so I can start to stockpile again. The plan is to still write around one chapter a week which should give me a nice leg forward. I finished this chapter on February 4th or 5th I believe? And as of February 8th, I'm already a POV into the next chapter. I think Sunday is going to be my posting day so you should see this on February 11th.

Blah blah blah I yap so much LOL um here's your question: at what point did you think Coriolanus was going to call the girls a slur and which slur did you think he'd say?

Linds. Laugh. Love.