Squinting against the harsh lights of the stage as the curtain rose, Andrea Sabadosh began to block the attacking light before recomposing herself. She turned to Caeser Flickerman, mentally rehearsing her responses. With the entire Capitol on the brink, and the eyes of President Snow watching, she walked the fine line between reality and reality television.
The wailing of the crowd reached a crescendo as Flickerman took a bow, and motioned towards Sabadosh. This reignited the fever of the crowd, and it took another few minutes until the raging mass of people where calm enough for Flickerman to sit back down. Adjusting his leg, Flickerman made eye contact with Sabadosh and flashed her a smile, more for her sake than his.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm here today to reintroduce to you our new head Gamemaker: Andrea Sabadosh!" The crowd went wild, again.
Flickerman waited for a few moments for the crowd to excise their excitement before continuing. "Yes, yes, we are so very excited for your first year as Head Gamemaker."
"Thank you very much, Caesar. I'll do my best."
"I'm sure you will. So as we know, this is your first year heading this program. Your predecessor had a difficult time, and left unexpectedly. Do you think that you'll be ready for the challenge of good television? I know I can barely make good television myself." Following the suit of the crowd, they both shared a laugh at his self deprecation.
Sabadosh relaxed a little, happy that he brought up a topic for which she had an answer. "Well, I both admire and respect my predecessor, but I have some great plans for this Hunger Games; I'm ready to make this Quarter Quell one of the most interesting Games yet."
"Ooooo," Flickerman cooed, "Do you have some grand plan for this year that you would like to share with us?"
Having the ball in her court, Sabadosh played with it a bit. "Well, I can't say directly, but I can tell you this: I think the Games are evolving. Smart thinking, in addition to brute strength is really the future."
Flickerman made a curious face to the audience, "Very interesting, but there can be troubles with that, you know? Last year one of the 'smart'", he punctuated this words with heavy air quotes, "ended up digging out the mines planted in the area, something completely unexpected by the previous Gamemaker."
Sabadosh smiled, "Well I shouldn't divulge any information..." She trailed off teasingly.
"Oh, come on," he turned toward the audience. "Would you guys like to be in on the secret?" They Capitol agreed with another loud cheer.
"Well, just between you and me," she smiled, "I've set got the mines on a higher caliber this year. A higher power than anything you've seen before. Much more sensitive as well. If anyone tries to dig one up, they'll be really blown away by the new technology." She was getting in to this television thing.
Caeser laughed and went to shake her hand. "Well, that's all the time we have now folks. The reaping is coming up in a few days, be ready for something exciting!"