A/N: Wellwellwell, here's another update! I'm mostly straining my brain right now trying to come up with stuff to post while waiting for enough tributes to be submitted to move on to the Reapings, so here's some behind-the-scenes decision-making from Mr. President and his lovely Council of Evil Totalitarianism!

Plutarch Heavensbee

I wait anxiously for the rest of the Council to arrive, though I hide the anxiety by munching distractedly on the lush spread in front of me and sipping some red wine. I'm careful not to drink too much, though, since I need to have all of my mental facilities intact today. Suppressing a sigh, I drum my fingers on the table and allow my thoughts to wander.

My plan did not work out as well as I had expected. Actually, it did not work out at all. I was so sure that the president would all but pounce on it immediately, and I hadn't even bothered to work out a back-up plan! It would have been the perfect spark, and I had already had a lot of the endgame planned out with other allies. Now we'll have to start from scratch again.

I break myself from my ponderings as the last few council members meander in, chatting amiably as they take their seats and dish themselves a few "munchies", as my little girl calls snack foods. As always, when I think of my daughter a smile spreads on my face. She's the reason I'm doing all of this. I want to bring about a better world for her to live in, and my grandchildren after her, and my great-grandchildren after them. I had been having doubts and misgivings for years, but I was able to push it aside and ignore it until Clarisse was born.

I'll never forget the first time Clarisse saw the Hunger Games. She was very little, around two, and my wife and I were watching some recaps before settling in for bed one night. Clarisse came into our room asking for something (I never found out what she had wanted, but I figure it was some pre-bed munchie or other). When she glanced at the screen, however, it has just started in on the brutal death of that year's boy from six at the hands of the merciless girl from two. Clarisse stopped mid-word, staring wide-eyed and open mouthed as the boy's face was caved in by an increasingly-bloody mallet. Then, she started screaming and sobbing as it sunk in that she had just seen someone die. My wife and I promptly shut off the television and tried to comfort her, distract her, anything to make her stop crying. Nothing had worked, and she finally cried herself out a couple hours later and went into a fitful sleep.

The Games have never been the same after that night, though I never showed it until I found my fellow Capitol rebels years later. I could never again watch a Tribute being hurt or starving or dying without seeing my little girl's horrified face, then seeing her in their place. How could we put these children's families through this? How could we put these children through this? I have vowed to overthrow the Capitol and the Games every morning since.

Finally, President Snow himself joins us and we all turn our attention to the business at hand, and I force the thoughts of Clarisse from my mind for the time being.

"We've been receiving questions, Mr. President. From Capitol citizens and Districts alike." Orsola Bogart starts the forum, meticulously written and organized notes at her hands. She doesn't need them, of course. She will have everything memorized as always, but she makes them anyways. "They want to know if we will be having two victors from now on."

Last year's finale was a possible turning point for the rebellion that has been simmering for years. Our current plans for continuing that may be foiled for now, but we can still at least try to improve the Districts' lot, even if only by a fraction, while we put another into motion. Allowing both children to come home could be just the thing, and I've been thinking about it ever since Claudius Templesmith announced the Victors.

All that remains is to convince the president, and for that it will be all about how I spin it to him. I just need to make it seem to be too good an opportunity for the Capitol to pass up on, as well as too dangerous to let go of.

"I think we should give this some serious thought." I say, before Orsola can continue on with what I'm sure is an even worse way to handle the issue than the Hunger Games were to handle the Rebellion. She offers me a small glare, but I plow on as it I didn't notice. "If we continue this new... variance... then the Districts may begin to believe that they made the change themselves and that they have power. But that damage may have already been done, hasn't it? I mean, two have been allowed to win already, so the Districts already have that option to believe. If we just let every pair of tributes win from now on, they may start testing other rules, too. Maybe next they'll be refusing to send Tributes at all!" I shake my head, putting on a grave face.

"But then does that mean we must never allow two Victors again?" I continue. "If we do that, they will start to resent us for letting it slide for this pair, but not for others. They'll start asking why they should put up with essentially being told that District Twelve is more important than they are! Even our most supportive Districts, like Two, would start to turn from us. Then they could very well become angry enough to bring about the very rebellion that we are seeking to prevent!" The others mutter and shift nervously; no one likes the idea of a rebellion (at least, none of them likes the idea of a rebellion). I lean forward, placing my forearms n the table and sweeping my stern gaze over everyone.

"What we must do is find balance, as if holding a handful of sand. If we loosen our grip, they will blow away, but if we tighten our grip, they will leak out the cracks between our fingers. I have been thinking about this predicament for some time now, and I believe I have a solution. We can't allow two Victors every time, but neither can we only have one. Therefore, I believe the best course of action is to allow it only part of the time. We will have a new event added, a ceremonial coin toss performed midway through the games. I'm thinking once it's down to the final six, for continuity's sake. If it comes up heads, we allow two Victors. Tails, and only one may be crowned." I offer a small smile, relaxing my position and leaning away a little. "Of course, while we would tell everyone that it is a random event, we would have it rigged to our advantage."

The others begin to chatter amongst themselves, discussing my idea, though President Snow's face remains impassive. I really wish that I could tell what that man is thinking, but I will just have to wait until he voices his opinion after the rest of us have thoroughly explored every facet, as he always does.

"But even that is showing the Districts that they can change things!" Orsola looks somewhat outraged, probably because I have stolen her thunder, but I find that I don't actually care in the slightest. She is a heartless monster who enjoys torturing district children, so if I have upset her, I count that as a happy bonus. "And if we let them do this, then they will just push for more! When does it stop? When they force us to allow both Tributes to win every year? When they force us to allow two to win whether they're from the same District or not? When they force us to end the Games entirely?!" She slams her fist down on the table and I have to fight a scowl. "No! We cannot let them have any favour! If we do that, they will eat us alive!" Now everyone else is getting quite agitated, and I will have to be even more convincing to get them on my side. This woman is not making undermining the foundation of this country very easy for me!

"Not if we handle it correctly!" I say, drawing them back in. I cannot fail again! "If we tell them that they did this, then yes, they will go for more. Therefore, the simple solution is to make sure they know that this is not any of their responsibility. When we make the announcement, say it is because the Capitol citizens have been clamouring for it, that we are the ones that want this change. Make sure the Districts know that they do not have any say in this decision at all. And most importantly, make sure we stick to our ruling. If we tell them that only one Victor may be crowned, we cannot let them finagle out another dual-victory like last year. We will make sure to have a contingency plan ready in the event that they try something like this again, and simply kill the instigator. And if we tell them that both may win, we have to go through with it and crown them both if they both survive to the end, without any tests or sudden redactions."

"But-"

"Yes." President Snow interrupts Orsola's objection, and I make sure to keep the smile off my face. I can't afford to give away my game yet, after all. "Yes, I see your point." He places the tips of his fingers together, forming a tent in front of his face with them. "This just might work to our advantage. We will, of course, make it almost impossible for any pair of tributes to survive to the final two. If they do have the option of winning together, we will throw even more against them than usual." I suppress a shiver as his lips twitch into a small smile, which I can't help but feel has a sadistic quality to it. "And then we can ensure that they will watch their friends die, right in front of their eyes." He nods to me. "This is a wonderful idea, Mr. Heavensbee. I will leave the remaining details up to you. Get to work immediately. We will make the announcement during the interviews."

He then stands, dismissing himself and leaving the rest of us to fine-tune the new policy. As he heads out the door, he looks at me and gives one final nod of approval before leaving. I fight the urge to shiver at the glint of admiration in his eyes. If only he knew.

A/N: So, there you go. Once we're down to the last six Tributes, I'm gonna flip a coin (or just decide myself and say it's random, in true Capitol fashion, lol) and determine whether the Dual Victor Variance is in effect! Also, I always wondered why Plutarch and the others from the Capitol would rebel, so I decided to explore that a little.

Anyway! As always, thank you for reading, and please review! And PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE submit some Tributes! You can submit more than one, I'm totally cool with that! And tell your friends to submit, lol!

(also, word of warning. I don't quite see the point of District 9 being the "grain" district, because we've already got the agriculture district over in 11. Why have two do the same thing? So, I'm gonna take a page from some other stories I've seen and have it be the "muttation" district. It even makes sense, if you think about it. The only real clue we have is a mention that a couple Tributes were dressed as bread in the parade, and muttations don't all have to be animals, do that? My theory is they designed a muttation grain that is resistant to disease and is tastier or something.

So, yeah. Long story short: District 9 = Mutts. No grain. Mutts!)

Tributes available: D7 and D10 Males. I NEED YOUNGER TRIBUTES, PLEASE! I will not accept anyone over the age of 13 now.