Everything's a Mess // [76th D10 Train]

♕ m a c e ♕

❝ one more word,
and you won't survive ❞

Mayor Mace Emberstatt sat in the scenic caboose, holding his sleeping daughter and staring at the flashing scenery. They weren't long past the Disrict; golden hills still gently rolled ahead. He'd have given a lot to bury his head in the wheat stalks. Their rustle and thrum would surely be enough to drown the cacophony in his brain. My fellow citizens... The speech he'd had to memorize, the words he'd had to speak, alone at the microphone - it was all a huge mistake. As victor, he always stood with Saffron, gripping her good hand, finding warmth in her fingertips. As Mayor, he would always stand alone.

And instead of staying behind to reassure his populace, he was once again hurtling towards the Capitol, the mentor of two young lives who had volunteered themselves into his caretaking.

Well, three young lives, really.

His daughter hiccuped in her sleep. Mace shifted, drawing her head closer to his thundering chest. Soon, she would wake, and when that happened, he would have to turn her over to Saffron. No matter how much he wanted to care for her, every moment, he couldn't feed her. It filled him with a powerful, bizarre disappointment. He didn't know what to do with that feeling, any more than he knew what to do when he looked at Rory and Emberly.

"Suppose both of you have some idea what you're about to face," he said quietly. He'd already greeted them both, as Mayor, as Victor. But this was the first moment he had a chance to be himself. "And you should know there's not a whole lot Saffron or I can do for you. Whatever happens in that arena, it'll be you in there, not us. Think you're ready for that?"

Because I sure as hell wasn't.