Corruption of Ambition | Sejanus Plinth

Seven

The students filled into the lab, many openly complaining about their five minutes with their tributes. Sabyn had been cooperative enough, so she was one of the few to have any questions filled out. Arachne Crane had spent the entire walk back groaning about how her tribute's life was not glamorous enough back in district ten. Their chatter only calmed when they spotted Dr Gaul talking to Dean Highbottom.

"Hippity, Hoppity, how did you fare? Did they treat you like friends or just sit there and stare?" Dr Gaul made herself known as she grabbed the questionnaires.

She flipped through the papers and frowned, pulling out an individual one. She sent Coriolanus a smile that would've made Riyana squirm in her seat, but Coriolanus only smiled and sat up straighter. She held up a paper and showed it around the students.

"This is what you were asked to do. Thank you, Mr Snow. Now what happened to the rest of you?"

There was a pause of silence until Coriolanus spoke up. "I had good luck with mine, she's a talker. Even she can't see the point of making an effort in the interview though."

"What's the point? No matter the effort they're going to be thrown in the arena and forced to fend for themselves." Sejanus responded.

Dr Gaul peered at Sejanus. "You're the boy with the sandwiches. Why'd you do it?"

Sejanus stiffened and dropped his gaze down to his notebook before responding. "They're starving. I know we're gonna kill them, do we really got to torture them beforehand."

Dr Gual took him in for a moment. "Huh," She tilted her head, "A rebel sympathizer."

"Hardly rebels. They were kids, most younger than us. Aren't we supposed to be their government too, protect them as well." Sejanus persisted.

Dr Gaul shot him down and everyone in the class moved on, completely desensitized to Sejanus' complaints by this point. The conversation steered back to suggestions of how to make the games more popular. Festus was the one to tell Dr Gaul about Corionalus' betting idea. She liked it, this did not come as a shock to Riyana. She assigned Coriolanus, Clemensia, and Arachne to write down a plan of how it may play out, for "theoretical purposes" of course.

"You alright?" Sejanus' asked, coming down to sit next to Riyana on the steps after the students had been dismissed.

Riyana nodded, "Yeah, I'm just waiting for my dads driver."

"I can give you a ride, if you don't want to wait." Sejanus offered.

Riyana shook her head, "No, I gotta go run some errands. Get some stuff for Sabyn before the zoo tonight."

Sejanus seemed to brighten up. "Oh really? Great, um maybe I could try to get Marcus some stuff too. Doubt he'll take it, but I don't know, worth a try."

Riyana hesitated before responding. She had been hoping for a few hours of alone time to gather her thoughts for seeing Sabyn again. Sabyn deserved someone who could reassure her, not the other way around. Sejanus looked so hopeful though, and despite never caring for the past ten years, she didn't want to see him let down.

"Ok, did you want to use your driver then or wait for mine?" Riyana asked.

Sejanus got to his feet and held out a hand. "Mine, if that's okay with you. It's just already here."

"Will I see you at the zoo tonight?" Clemensia asked Riyana as she passed by them on the steps. She ignored Sejanus all together.

It struck Riyana as strange that Clemensia sounded excited with her words. It felt almost as though it was a fun hang out instead of what it really was, trying to keep children fated with death alive for just a few more days. Riyana only nodded.