Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
A/n: This is a series of oneshots. Each oneshot features, in order, a person from the character list on this site as well as a few i felt should be there (Boggs, Coin, Caesar, Cashmere, Gloss, and Marvel) each with a randomly picked prompt (or as random as i could manage without throwing actual darts at my poor old dictionary!). Updates will be one a day (hopefully) though when i go back to uni, this might change. Anyway, i hope you enjoy! As always, any criticism, just shout it out. Any advice on law, shout it out louder!
11) Clove – Skate
Interview practice. What a waste of time. We all know what my angle is going to be – a stone-cold killer. After all, that is what I'll be in the arena so why pretend otherwise? The interviews are a waste of time anyway. Even though District 12 pulled off that stunt with the fire, all the sponsors will be looking for the strongest tributes, regardless of interview. Which means me.
My mentor, however, is telling me that Cato is going to have that interview angle so I need something more refreshing. Different. But that's stupid too because Cato and I are similar (sadly) so of course we'll have the same angle. And why does he get to have it anyway? Apart from him being huge and me being short and so physically less intimidating? As if he wasn't annoying enough already. This will just push his ego over the edge.
She's going on about me being 'deep' now – show that I have 'depth'. What the hell am I meant to say to that? My entire life has been geared towards the massacre of teenagers and I spend my spare time plotting to kill my mother for gearing my entire life towards the massacre of teenagers; I don't have depth. Cato does though: he told me he looks after his aunt and sister. Which is exactly why he should have this interview angle instead!
God, I want to kill that boy. He's even deeper than I am! If he wasn't so fricking scary, I'd just get by with being a vicious killer. But, no, I have to be the deep one.
"Tell me what you miss most about District 2," my mentor asks, completely oblivious to my inner rant.
"Nothing," I mutter. Which is true with regard to things the Capitol would like to hear anyway.
"Clove!"
I roll my eyes and try to think. For some reason, my mind goes back to Cato and the conversation we had last night about our lives back home. He told me that when he was younger, he used to skate. So did I. And I still do, whenever my mother's gone off somewhere and it's cold and the pond has frozen. My knives have more than one use.
"In winter, the village pond freezes," I mutter, still imagining odd days gone by and nights when I've snuck out. "I would get my knife blades and get them on my shoes and skate, if I couldn't find proper skates. For hours if I could."
"And?"
"I dunno," I say, suddenly unwilling to elaborate. She frowns so I force myself to continue rather than endure another lecture. "I went round in circles. But even then, it was like ... like flying. There's nothing there except you and the wind and there's no one to stop you..."
My mentor sighs, getting me out of my daydream. "OK, Clove," she says wearily. "Depth is not your thing. Let's try arrogance."
I nod and try to focus. But though I answer questions as arrogantly as I can, my mind is still in a frozen pond in District 2, flying with the whirling snow. It calms me down for some reason. Cato was right when he said there is no experience quite like skating.
God, he's annoying.