Again, sorry for the slight pause. I've been working on a reeeeaally long chapter of my other story. Once I finish that and the epilogue, though, I think you'll notice the update rate of this fic improving greatly. :D Oh, and I stole the interviewer's name from my own story, on the valid basis of "screw it."

Verres Pulcher, District 4

The Capitol crowd roars as we walk out of the passageway and into the light. We file forward into the front row of seats, and I sidestep and barely manage to avoid tripping as Tied stops suddenly yet again. She mumbles an apology, although it's not really her fault. She's struggling to avoid tripping over the District 3 boy, who is in turn struggling not to trip over his District partner, who is doing her level best to stay as far away from Jasper Johar as is physically possible. I don't blame her, really, but it's sort of funny. Poor girl; she's going to have to sit next to him during the interviews whether she likes it or not.

I crane my neck, peering over Tied's shoulder. The funny thing is, I'm not short; she's just that tall. I think that I see a flash of white-blonde hair descending into another passageway on the other side of the stage. I wonder if that was one of the other tributes, just finishing their interviews?

We sit down one by one. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the District 3 girl, Kendal, I think, scooting as far to the left as she can in her chair. I notice that her District partner's eyes are closed. Is he trying to relax or something? Then he falls to the side, toward her, snoring.

Huh. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Kendal is knocked to the right, bumping against Jasper's shoulder. He turns slowly.

I'm pretty sure he's enjoying this.

Jasper sneers. "What?" he asks, his voice quiet and menacing. Kendal stares at him silently, her eyes wide. I roll my eyes at Jasper's theatrics. Ever since she stood up to him at the chariots- and she didn't even say anything, just looked like she might, really- Jasper has decided that he wants her dead. Well, fine; we're Careers, that's what we do. I'm just a little worried about how he's going to go about doing it. It's always sort of bothered me when there are Careers like that. We're all here to win, yes, but what's the point of being cruel? A spear through the heart does the job perfectly well, and besides, that's not what we've trained for.

I decide it's not worth it to interfere, though. Not yet. If he does something I really can't stand for, fine, but there's no point in making an enemy before we even get into the Games. I'm not scared of him, exactly, but why should I turn one of the three people who will actually have an opportunity to stab me in the back against me? There's no point. Except for maybe saving Whatserface there a lot of stress, but that's not quite good enough of a point for me to risk my own neck.

Fulvia DeKernski, the purple-haired interviewer, has been talking this entire time. It may have been a good idea for me to pay attention, but it doesn't really matter. I'm using the same angle the District Four boys always have; I insisted on it, actually. Competent, a valid chance at being Victor, but slightly less evil than the District Ones and Twos. Really, I'm going to have to depend on Jasper to provide the contrast, since the Ones aren't here and I can't really see Eliza coming off as ruthless and cruel. Hopefully the Ones did earlier, although I have no way of knowing.

Finally, Eliza is called onstage, and the interviews begin. To my delight, "ruthless and cruel" seems to be exactly the angle that she's going for. She's not entirely convincing, although I'm sure the Capitol audience was completely fooled. At one point, the interviewer asks her about her mother, and her face goes completely blank. She glares at Fulvia until the woman stutters out another question, and I'm quite sure the glare was genuine.

Jasper is next. He's remarkably predictable. His interview would have been terrifying, if not for the fact that I was tempted to roll my eyes and tap my feet through each answer.

Kendal seems to have gotten a hold of herself. She smiles and laughs, and it's difficult to tell which side is the real one; is she trying to make the Careers underestimate her, or is she genuinely scared of Jasper and she's putting on a show now? Her District partner is fairly dull, except for one memorable moment when he falls asleep, again, and drools on the interviewer.

Next, it's Tied's turn. I wince as she clambers up the steps, looking decidedly uncomfortable in her blue dress. I have no idea why her stylists insist on making her wear dresses. Femininity, I suppose, is probably the goal. Tied's a nice person, but they'd have it easier trying to make a dead shark look feminine. To my surprise, her interview goes remarkably well. She goes for a completely different angle, acting friendly and gentle, and talking about her little brothers back home. She mentions that her older sister is caring for them, because her parents were injured in a boating accident, and she volunteered so that they could go to school. I realize with a start that I never knew that. I knew she wasn't a Career, but I also knew she volunteered, and I never bothered to wonder why. It makes me think of what I've left behind. My little sisters, Pictrix and Catilina. I know they're watching, and I hope they're not scared.

Tied's interview ends, and I ascend the steps, taking a seat in the chair. It's a little too big even for me, and I swear they do that on purpose.

"So, Verres," the interviewer jumps right in, "That was an impressive training score. Ten! One of only two given among the tributes of this arena!" The other, of course, was Jasper. Her phrasing gives me pause for thought, though; she makes it sound like at least one tribute from the other arena got a ten, too. It would make sense, I suppose; District One is in there after all.

"I… yes?" I reply. What was I supposed to say to that? It wasn't even a question! She looks a little annoyed, which is hardly fair, because that was entirely her fault.

"So tell us about District Four," she attempts again.

"It's, um, nice," I say, then blank out completely. What's going on? Careers' interviews are supposed to go well! Heck, Tied's interview went better than mine is! "Living on the ocean, I mean. Very… pretty. And you can go swimming, and, uh…" I sigh mentally. All that training for the Games, and I turn out to have stage fright. Go figure.

Now Fulvia looks thoroughly miffed. I think she was counting on Two and Four giving her an easy job. "What's your family like, then?" she asks, a little impatiently.

"Well, there are my sisters, Pictrix and Catilina, and my parents, Galeo and Ocella." This, at least, I should be able to talk about. Right? "And they're why I have to get home. Them and Merenda, of course."

Fulvia smiles, smelling gossip. "Merenda? And who might that be?"

I smile. I might be exaggerating it a bit, but at least I'm talking now. "She's my girlfriend."

"And what's she like?"

I hesitate. This is going to be a difficult question to answer without coming off as a total lovesick puppy. "Fantastic," I say. "She's a wonderful woman." I leave out the fact that I'm going to propose to her as soon as I get home. It would probably get me sponsors, but Merenda isn't the type who would like having it announced all over Panem before she actually got to answer me. Although I'm pretty sure she'll say yes. At least I hope so.

Abrupt ending, sorry, but interviews are freaking hard!