"N O W— lets stay on topic, please." Was the first thing Gelly heard when she walked into the classroom, later than usual, due to her and Gaius sleeping in. Gaius had tryed to cover his noise the best he could, but it was all bruised and blotchy, which made it almost impossible, and everynow and then it would start bleeding again, undoing any work he had put into it. It was probally broken.
"Woah, Gaius. What hit you in the face this morning?" Festus called out, making the room chuckle.
Gaius sunk into his seat, crossing his arms over his chest, "Shut up."
"Just wondering." He seemed suprised at his sharp tone, "You get into a fight?"
"I fell down the stairs." The whole room howled with laughter, and Gaius knew he could've thought of a better answer, but not anything that wouldnt have gotten his father madder than he already was, so a simple clumsy accident had to be believable.
"Nice going." Coriolanus patted him on the back, at his stupid accident, but it only made Gaius shift in his seat uncomfortable.
"Oh shove it." Gaius told them, getting annoyed with they're snarky remarks.
"Enough!" Proffesor Demigloss called out, "Back to our Question, how do we get people to watch the games?"
Festus creed raised his hand.
"Elighten us, festus."
"Simple. We go straight to the punitive." Festus asnwered, "instead of suggestesting people to watch, we make it the law."
"What happens if you dont watch?" Asked Clemensia, not bothering to raise her hand, or even look up from her notes.
"In the districts we exexute you. In the capital, we make you move to the districts, and if you mess up again the next year, then we execute you." Festus said cheerfully.
The class laughed, then began to give it a seriouse thought. Gelly remained silent, fidgeting with the bottom of her red coat, unable to fully focus on the conversation at hand.
"The real problem is, its sickening to watch," said clemensia, "so people avoid it."
Sejanus jumped in, "ofcourse they do! Who wants to watch a group of children kill eachother? Only a vicious, twisted person. Humans may not be perfect, but were better than that."
"How do you know?" Said Livia snipishly, "and how does someone from the districts have any idea of what we want to watch in the capital? You weren't even here during the war."
Sejanus fell silent, unable to deny it.
"Becuase most of us are bassicly decent people," said Lysistrata Vickers, folding her hands neatly on her notebook. Everything about her was neat. From her carefully braided hair to her evenly
Filed nails to the crisp, white cuffs of her uniform blouse setting off her smooth, brown skin. "Most of us dont want to watch other people suffer."
"We watched worse during the war, and after." Coriolanus reminded her.
"But we had a real stake in that, Coryo!" Said Arachne Crane, giving him a sock on the arm from the seat to his right. "We were watching our enemies die! I mean rebel scum and whatnot. Who cares about these kids one way or another?"
"Possibly their families." Said sejanus
"You mean a handfull of nobodies in the districts. So what?" Arachne boomed. "Why should the rest of us care which one of them wins?"
Livia looked pointedly at sejanus. "I know I dont."
"I get more exited over a dogfight." Admitted Festus. "Espeically if im betting on it."
