An info dump, but a needed one
Medea sighed and rolled her eyes, pushing open the door of the classroom. She prepared herself for the usual sight: rowdy Capitol children flicking rubbers and notes at each other. While District teenagers had the prospect of the Reaping to force them to grow up, those raised in the Capitol seemed welded into immaturity.
"Settle down, everyone" her comment was more to herself than to any of her students, for the class continued on as if she had said nothing at all.
Sighing again, she blew the whistle that hung around her neck and reluctantly all heads turned to face her.
"Right. Let's get on with the lesson. I have marked your Finnick Odair essays and though on the whole they were abysmal, a few did stand out due to sheer disbelief. Hermia- you spent the entire four pages talking about how your father doesn't approve of your boyfriend. Might have misread the question, methinks. Hamlet, put the skull down. Rule no. 371: there will be no soliloquies during History class. If you have issues, talk to the school counsellor. No, Iago, you didn't write your essay in invisible ink, you didn't do it at all. Hand it in tomorrow, please. Demetrius, your essay was far too short: "he was well fit" is not adequate analysis of Odair's character! No, it isn't! Ophelia, write bigger please. Not everybody likes to mark homework using an electron microscope. Oh don't cry Ophelia, look if you and Hamlet are having issues you can both see the counsellor.
"Now that that's all cleared up-" she was about to write the date on the board when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She extended her hand out to a girl with green hair in the third row.
"There will be no using holographic communicators during class, Titania!"
"But Miss, my boyfriend's being a real b-"
"Moving swiftly on!"
"MISS!"
"What now?!"
"Tybalt snapped the head off my Cato action figure!"
"Get your Avox to superglue it back on. Stop being a drama queen, Mercutio. Now everybody, please turn to page 394. Demetrius, from the top of paragraph two please, "After the Mockingjay Rebellion.""
Demetrius made a huffing sound before proceeding to recite monotonously from the book. "After the Mockingjay Rebellion, President Paylor ruled for twenty-four years. In her later years of power, there were calls in the Capitol to reinstate the Hunger Games as due to the death of Caesar Flickerman six years previously reality television had become insipid. Pressured by her powerful supporters in the Capitol and realising that the lust for violence could never be quenched, Paylor reinstated the Hunger Games but with the help of elderly former Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee double-crossed the Capitol by faking the deaths of the tributes during what is now known as the "Dummy Games" era.
"Tributes would be Reaped, believing that they would die and then transported to the Capitol where in the reinforced Training Center they would be told the truth about the President's deception. A preliminary competition would be held wherein the victor of that year's Games would be decided. The Gamemakers would then design an elaborate plot that would lead that tribute into becoming victor. The tributes would be sent into an arena where using techniques used in old "American" action movies would trick the country into believing them dead. In reality, tributes would be smuggled out of the arena and back to their homes in the Districts with a large sum of money to buy their silence and where they could live the rest of their lives in oblivion.
"Word got out after less than ten Games and the scandal destroyed Paylor. She was persuaded into resignation- what do they mean by that?"
"Beaten, raped and starved into submission, Demetrius."
"Oh right."
"Titania, please continue."
"Paylor retired and moved back to District Eight and was cared for by her children. Her successor officially brought back the Hunger Games permanently. The action met very little resistance from the Mockingjay, who, being middle-aged, married and with children, was no longer viewed as the symbol of rebellion she had once been. The Capitol no longer viewed her as a threat and she lived with her husband in District Twelve until the end of her life."