Grandfather said that they were fighting for days after, they there was no real solution to their problems. The Capitol won the rebellion, but what's the point in winning anything if you can't gloat about it. It was Grandfather's idea to start to Hunger Games. He said it would put the districts into shape, that it would make them realize that they are inferior to the Capitol.
Most didn't believe him. "It had been a hard war," they said, "with a lot of lives lost. Why wish for more blood shed?"
"They knew what they were getting into when they started the rebellion!" Grandfather exclaimed. "They knew that we would win, but they tried any way. It's about time that they learned their place."
(I don't know why Grandfather fought so hard for this. After all he is from District 2. Shouldn't he be on the districts' side. "I like winners," he would have responded to the question. "I take the side of winners, not losers.")
The first vote was unanimous. No.
So Grandfather changed it. At first he called for one veteran from each district to go into a fight to the death in a large arena. And they would keep at this, using their children as well. It is no surprise that Grandfather's plan was not wanted. His new one was better. He said that he should get two children from each district then turn them against each other. The five survivors win and get to go home.
Still they didn't like it, but they were warming up to the idea. Grandfather said that the districts were still on edge and full of poisonous rebels. He said that if they didn't get victory now then they would do it again and again until they do. He was overexaggerating of course, because the districts didn't have that many people to spare. But they were still fighting, even after the war.
So they asked Grandfather to change it again, this time to a little more specific.
And he was. This was his actual layout:
I propose that there be an annual Gladiator games with the children of all the generals and leaders of this rebellion. Brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and the youngsters that is closest to them. We draw one boy and one girl from each of the leaders then send them off on a fight to the finish. The last one standing may return home with the greatest honor of a survivor and will get money and a beautiful home. The losers get nothing.
Of course, this will not last forever, for we will soon run out of children, so I say that after a second game of using the veterans' children, we widen the pot. We simply pick one boy and girl from each district and put them into the arena. And as even more of a humiliation, we shall show them off, give them fancy clothes, show them what it is like every day for the Capitol people and what it would have been like for them if they did not rebel. The one winner gets the same prize as the previous ones.
And we shall continue this tradition for many years to come and for as long as it may take for the districts to full realize their place in life.
The newly elected president said that it would make the Capitol hungry for more. And that is how they came about the term Hunger Games.
When they voted for this, it was almost a no. One man was not there that day and it was a split tie. Grandfather said that they sent out Peacekeepers to find him and bring him into the room by whatever means necessary. After reading the proposition Grandfather wrote, the ex-General agreed to the plan.
And so the Hunger Games began.
But it was still too early for anything to come about. Grandfather was given the job of finding people to make and watch over the arena, the Gamemakers. He ran in every direction finding only the smartest of people to be apart of the group. In the beginning there were only ten.
Meanwhile, they set up a list of the top fifteen leaders and picked two children from each leader. They called for all of the stylists in the Capitol and told them of a chance in a lifetime. They would show these children what it is like to be in the Capitol, how the other half lives. They took this responsibility without saying.
And eventually they did it.
The first two years had only the veterans' loved ones, and they broadcasted the event live to every screen in Panem. Many people cried those years.
When it came time for the districts to send in their children, the Capitol thought it would be the same as before. With war trained children fighting each other, but many district kids didn't understand. The District 2 tributes were the only ones who were remotely sure of what to do and that was because their parents were Peacekeepers. The tributes were dying too quickly for the Capitol to enjoy. So the president commanded Grandfather to come with a solution.
He said that before they go in, they should train for three days and then the Gamemakers could give them a score of how they thought they did. That way they could learn how to survive and it can tell the Capitol people which ones suck and which ones are good.
Of course, the President loved it and added it almost immediately to the Games.
Grandfather told me everything was perfect, that is until he came up with one final idea, one that would make everything even better. He took a handful of paper and began to write down phrases such as, "They get to choose..." and "Double the tributes..." and "From the existing pool of victors..."
On the 25th Hunger Games, the president announced the Quarter Quell and Grandfather said he had cried so hard that there was a pool under him.
"It was my idea," he bragged. "Everything about the Hunger Games was my idea."
So it was his idea for me to be reaped when I turned eighteen. It was his idea to make me go to the Capitol and show off his similar big green eyes. It was his idea that I was killed in the name of keeping order in the districts.
Thank you Grandfather, for sending your grandchild into this brilliant idea of yours.
*Finz*