Intro #2:
President Coin POV
Clarine wove the wand around my head, sending electronic waves that straightened my hair and shrunk my wrinkles. Even with my expert plastic surgeon working for me, my age occasionally shows. Today, it was especially important that it didn't. I was being broadcasted live all over Panem, and I had to look my best. Today was the day that could determine the lives of twenty-six children. Today was the day I read the card for the Quarter Quell. This hasn't happened in nearly 50 years, and it needed to be big and showy. I still haven't seen the card, the stage director thought it would look more authentic if even I didn't know what it said. So now only Celian knows what the card says. I had to trust her not to make a fool of me in front of the whole country.
I walked into the changing room, where my stylist had hung my outfit on the clothing rack. It was a lacy gray dress down to my ankles, curving to make my body look considerably younger. My maids came into the room to help me get dressed, tying it in the back and adjusting the straps. The material shimmered slightly while giving off a formal, important look. My hair was put up in a tight bun on the top of my head and I stepped into the the makeup room. Clarine, my stylist, dabbed the first layer of white powder onto my cheeks. It evened my skin tone, and hid the bumps and crevices in my old face. The second layer was thicker, and made my skin tone very pale, odd-looking in real life but good on TV. Clarine dusted a fine light brown powder onto my bony cheeks, making them look more lush and full. Then the basics of makeup were put on, eye shadow, lipstick, eyeliner, everything exaggerated for the cameras. We always had to think of the cameras, and almost nothing was live on television anymore as a precaution from what happened in the rebellion.
I had been a leader of the rebellion, but contradictory to what many people thought, I wasn't entirely against the Hunger Games. It was a way to keep the districts in line, and, quite frankly, it worked for a long time. If only the old Capitol had kept a little more control, not let people hope too much in a happy ending, it would've gone on much longer. After I was made new President of Panem, I gave time to let people get settled back in to their old lives, repairs to be made, and the rebel forces to separate until I re-started the Games. All the leaders of the past rebellion were killed, including Katniss Everdeen. To show everyone that I have the power, and there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop me. Small rebel organizations formed, but the Capitol's forces outnumbered them by far. Once again, there was a strict line of order that was followed, with no one even putting a toe out of line. Just the way I like it. And the career districts were much happier too, and they were all that mattered, seeing as how they held all the power.
After all my makeup and clothes had been put in order, and everything was set, I was escorted out of my mansion to the sleek white hover-car parked in front. They had just been invented a few years ago by scientists working for the Games while they were breeding some kind of mutt. It could hover up to 30ft above the ground, and the ride was always perfectly smooth.
When we got to the stadium where I would be announcing the Quarter Quell, a pack of armed Peacekeepers escorted me through a side door into the back room behind the stage. There were people rushing back and forth everywhere, yelling and shouting orders at each other. A man walked up to me and opened a crystalline box with a tiny earpiece in it.
"If I may, ma'am..." he inserted it into my ear and stepped away. "Excellent. You look charming, madam. Now, if you'll step this way, we're on air in thirty seconds." The gentleman led me up a flight of stairs and we walked onto the wide stage. I took a seat in the tall white stool, my back ramrod straight and my mouth smiling a smile I didn't feel. Huge numbers flashed at the back end of the theater, and a voice boomed the countdown for on-air.
"Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The national anthem played, and the cameras turned on, focusing on me.
"Welcome, citizens of Panem! Today is the reading of the card for the 4th Quarter Quell! Now live in the Capitol Stadium, President Coin!" An automated voice echoed around the stadium, and a marching band song played as two children came through the curtain with an old wooden box. They handed it to me, smiling sweetly and waiting by my side as I opened the box. I ran my finger over the empty envelops until I found the one that had 125 printed on it. I cleared my throat and slit the old-looking envelope. The paper unfolded, and I finally laid my eyes on the fifth Quarter Quell.
AN: Don't hate me for leaving you a cliff-hanger! It was a good ending. Admit it. Please give me suggestions on Quells, and keep submitting those tributes! Thank you all for being awesome! :) peace.
~GuitarArt