The Interviews

-Brynna Blythe-

"Try to mild your tone," Kell suggested. "You'll sound less like someone's who's drank sour milk."

"My name is Brynna Blythe, I'm fourteen, I'm from district four. I hate the Capitol and the Hunger games and you too. Do I need to slow so you can write that down?" I said rancorously. I was close to spitting into his eyes about now. Three hours of last-minute interivew training did not help.

"I'm not sure about you, but we're going to have to change your angle. Honest obviously does not work with you, nor does innocent, polite, and humble. How about shallow and gulible? I'm running out of ideas here."

"How am I supposed to act 'shallow and gullible'?" I complained. "You're not teaching me anything so far."

"It shouldn't be so hard for you," Mako added. "Since you're already shallow and too gullible to learn anything."

"I am not shallow! How could you say that?" I huffed. "What about you? You're...you're..."

Mako stood up and pointed to the door. "Get out. You're just a pain in the rear end for all of us. I'm tired of trying to help your hopeless cause."

I stood there, befuddled. Too shocked to say anything, I moved to the exit. "I hate you," I hissed to him.

When I was too far to reach him, he yelled, "Good for you!" and slammed the door shut.

I ran for the elevator. I had to get away from this madness. I punched the training center button, level 13, and watched the glass elevator slide up the floors. I passed by the other districts, and watched them through glass doors. When I reached the training center, I stepped out and found the doors open but the lights off.

I snatched a knife from the rack and ripped open a dummy. This was Mako, and I swore I'd cut him open. I was oblivious to any alliance between us. I'd be the first to kill him, the first to taste his blood. "You will die," I whispered. I kicked the dummy over and and punched the stuffing out, ripping open any seams holding it together.

"You know, you're not supposed to be here." I didn't need to turn to see that it was Mags. "The training center is going to be cleaned out and locked later today."

"I couldn't help it." The dummy laid helpless on the floor, stuffing pouring out of it's chest and neck.

"I know. Kell told me what happened. Are you alright?"

I kicked the dummy aside, then rubbed my hands on a dry cloth. "I'm not sure. If you don't count the bloodlust, then I'm fairly good."

"Bryn, don't be mad at Mako. He's been under pressure too. And besides, you're the one who acted like a bitch." She was proud-looking, and I knew she was telling the truth.

"Don't call me Bryn. Only my friends and family call me that." She seated herself next to me.

"Mako calls you Bryn." I moved away from her. "Brynna, why do you hate Mako so much? What did he do to you?"

I looked out the window, to the ocean of buildings outside. The silvery-sheen seemed to ripple in the blinding midday sun, like waves. "He and I go back a long way. And not in a good sense either. I wish it wasn't like this. Maybe then I wouldn't have to keep his secrets."

"Secrets? What secrets?"

"I owe Mako my life. And there's nothing more I hate in this world than owing someone. We haven't talked or seen each other in years but now…" The world was tiny in this little sphere of reality. But surely there were other places than Panem?

"Tell me. That's the only way I'll ever understand what the heck you're talking about." So I did. I told her about how Mako and I met, how I came to owing him, and why I hate him. She gave me the occasional nod to move me along.

"Even if you hate him so much, you're going to have stick with him. I want you to stay with him." She didn't get the point of the story at all.

"How am I supposed to stay with him if I can't even stand being in the same room with him?"

"I have an idea. But you can' t tell anyone. Not even Mako himself. I trust that you can do that?" Naturally, I'd do whatever she suggested at this point.

"What is it?" She leaned over and whispered in my ear. It was the most dangerous idea she'd ever thought of. But heck, if it worked, it worked.

-Diego Orozco-

My stylist was adding her finishing touches to my interview outfit. A gray suit and white collar. She had even thought of using the lily Anna gave me as a boutonnière. It made a nice finish, and she even figured out how to make the scraggly hairs on my head lie straight and look fuller.

I wasn't too nervous about the interview because I already had it planned out, but then again, anything could happen.

The door to the backstage opened lightly. "Diego!" It was Anna, obviously. "You look great. Are you ready to go?"

I turned around to leave, but gasped when I saw Anna. She was loosely fitted into a silk grecian pastel blue dress, as pale as ice. Her light brown hair was plaited into a fishtail, brought behind her ear and over her shoulder. A light blush brought out the amber in her eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Nothing, except you're a total knockout. Anna...you're beautiful," I said as if it the first time I'd realized it. She looked at the floor tiles to hide her true blush. I was too embarrassed to show my face either. Stupid, stupid! Why had I said anything at all?

"What are you two doing here? You're supposed to be out there, backstage." Myrric interrupted to find us looking away from each other, flushed. "Get out there and make me proud! The interviews don't do themselves."

-Annabelle Winters-

I'm put into a gown similar to my chariot outfit, white cotton in a pure white dye. I know I'm first for my interview. I can see thousands of people out there, waiting to feast on me. It's a truly terrifying sensation.

Rilanna was talking to the Capitol audience about clothes. About the latest fashions; all she seemed to be able to talk about is fashion. She herself was wearing a sparkly, silver dress, a slit in the side to let out her thighs, and her signature red lipstick. High heels made her a foot taller, at almost over two meters. She was gorgeous, in a Capitol sense.

"Why don't we have a round of applause for our first tribute, Annabelle Winters!" That was my sign. I stood up, Dustin gave me a good-luck shake, and I walked out from behind the curtains of the stage.

Two futuristic silver swivel chairs had been set on the stage, one for me and one for Rilanna. "Hello, Annabelle. I'm glad to see you're looking especially bright today. Speaking of weather, how is the weather in district one?"

"It's usually good during the summer, but can get rather windy at times." I wasn't faltering as I spoke, a good sign.

"As we can all see from your reaping shot, you volunteered for a young girl, not to win glory and fame, but for the girl herself, as your father pleaded better judgement. Is there a particular reason for this?"

I hesitated to speak, as this was highly confidential information. "The girl's name is Rosalind Waters. She's twelve years old, and my best friend. I love her enough to give my life for her. All I want is for her to be safe, back in district one. I want everyone to know that I did this on my own, beyond better judgement. I don't there was anything better I could've done for her."

"Do you feel as if you did the right thing?" She was speaking in a hushed tone, on a dangerous topic.

"I don't think I did the right thing, Rilanna. I know I did the right thing."

"And what would be the right thing, in this case?"

"I believe the right thing to do what your heart tells you to do." There were some murmurs of approval from the audience.

The buzzer went off, cutting my session off. "Well, my heart tells me that time is up. Sorry to cut it short, but those are the rules!" The audience clapped enthiastically as I walked out, holding my head high and carrying a sense of pride.

-Rowan Fightheart-

"Now, Rowan, about that training score." Rilanna was hinting to my superior eleven, naturally. "How did you react when you got an eleven, the very first eleven in the Hunger games?"

"I wasn't too suprised, to be honest, Rilanna." This aroused some suprise by the audience. "As a person seeking the money and fame of winning, I expected nothing less than the best."

"Of course, of a strong and well-built young man like you. Now, why don't we talk about your 'rivalry' with district one tribute, Dustin Shackles. I see you're in an alliance with him, from the training clips, but what is your true relationship with him?"

"He and I are definite competition for each other, but I'm not personally seeking out to kill him or anything. We're just seeing who'll last longer. But that the answer is quite obvious, you see. He has nothing on my sword skills or strength. I fully expect to win."

"If I could bet, I'd put my odds on you, Rowan. A great training score, strong, talented, likeable, you're an ideal victor, you know that, Rowan." It was great being complimented by the hostess. The interview was going great, I just needed to scare them into sponsoring me. "Are you aware of Rhymer's relationship with her mentor?"

"Relationship..." I definently did not know about that. Why did she never tell me? "No, truthfully, I just thought she liked him he was flirting with her, but a real relationship...no."

This was going downwards. I needed something to excite them. But just like that, the buzzer went off, and I was finished for.

-Lacette Phogan-

"Why don't we talk about your family, Lacette?" Oh no. The very question I'd been avoiding the whole time. There was no way out of this one.

The problem was, I couldn't tell them about my family without either lying or giving away the word of the prostitution business. "My father died when I was a baby," I fibbed. "I live with my mom and brother, my mom works as a fabric seller in the Capitol."

"Oh, you poor girl. You must miss your father very much." Actually, none of that was true. My parents were divorced, and I didn't miss my father. I heard he got a job in the Capitol, but I wasn't sure where, and didn't care either.

"Yes, I miss him very much." I shed fake tears for the sake of the audience. They wiped away tears as well as I told a fake sob story. "He was the best father anyone could ever have. Gentle, kind, strong. He died battling a fever three years ago."

I looked out into the crowds, but my eyes met someone I faintly recognized. Wasn't he the head gamemaker, or something like that? Alexander, I think his name was. He had seats in the front, just barely off a meter from me. I felt like I knew him from somewhere, but couldn't pin where. The scariest part about him was that he was staring right at me.

Rilanna began to sniffle sadly and put her arms around me. "You poor child! You're a hero, so brave to live all these years without him."

The buzzer went off, cutting off my only chance at winning, and giving me the final chance to win.

I walked through the curtains and sat back on my seat. "Excuse me, Lacette, but may I have a word with you?" I knew by instinct, that it was him.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Who are you?"

"Don't you know me? I'm a gamemaker. I have to talk to you about something you'd find interesting."

"What?" What did he want with me? I barely even knew him.

"It's about your interview. What you said about your father?"

"What about him?" I wasn't the slightest bit interested. My father left my life years ago, without a word. I didn't care if he was dead or alive.

"I know where he is."

-Lissa Dragomir-

What would you do if you were in my situation, lie, cheat, steal, or tell the the truth? I chose the last option, my trump card to make an impression.

"Lissa, can you tell the audience about your life in district eleven?" Rilanna and I had agreed to this, because I wasn't getting too much attention or sponsors. She would help me for free. I just needed to not mess this up.

"I don't think district eleven can be described in so many words, Rilanna." The exact phrase I practiced out. Now, everything else was improvision. There were dangerous things I'd be revealing to Panem very soon, enough to get a couple people killed for it.

"Every morning, I wake up at the crack of dawn, dress as soon as my eyes clear up, and sneak out from the clearing where the electric fence is covered in foliage. There actually is no fence there, jus the broken outline of one. I jump the trees over the fence. The trees are so closely clumped together that I can just jump from tree to tree with no worry of falling, because of the heavy vines underneath."

"I grab my bow and quiver of arrows from hidden under a muddy crag on the cliffs. I string a single arrow onto the bow, check my snares for caught animals, then listen." The audience was totally mesmerized by my voice. "I listen for at least an hour a day, sometimes, I even spend the whole day just listening, not even hunting at all."

"Then, if I hear the sound of suitable prey, I climb up into the trees and listen some more. I jump from tree to tree to the sound of movement, until I'm barely above it. If it's a good size, I throw a knife into it's head. If it's too large for me to kill, I use my bow."

"After that, I collect my kills into the game bag and run home at exactly noon." This was the tough part, the kind we lived with daily. "I live in a two-room shack with six other people. Two of the children living in the house can't go to school or play with other children because they have to constantly work. My brother can't marry the girl he loves because he has to work to support us. My mother abandoned us many years ago, and my father was executed by trying to steal some food for us." There was total silence over the Capitol, and I suspected over the districts too.

"Everyday in our district, someone is dragged off and executed or severely punished. Just months ago, I witnessed a young child, just ten, be shot to death because he lagged in fruit-picking. His family had seven children, and he was the youngest and most adored my his parents. Imagine how they felt when they found out the light of their life was shot to death."

"We're the only district that is taxed. No one in the other districts knows it, but we are. We are barely fed enough to survive, and taxed and made to pay rent fees as well. That is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." I stood up without Rilanna's permission, and walked away, suddenly ending the interview.

It had gone better than I thought.

-Morning-Glory Stark-

I wasn't sure how to top the district eleven girl's interview. She left the audience totally stunned (Literally) without another word. There wasn't much content in mine. "Pleasant day, isn't it, Morning-Glory?" she asked me first.

"Yes it is, but you should really call me Mo." See? It was going pleasantly, until she asked me "the question".

"As we all know, volunteers for your district are rather...uncommon, and you didn't volunteer for any particular reason. So tell our audience, why did you volunteer."

I stared into the assemblage of people looking me on. My mouth was parched. I wish I had something to drink before I went onstage. What as I supposed to say? It wasn't a yes or no question, there wasn't a definite answer.

But just like that, I realized. I realized that I didn't know why. Why had I volunteered? I didn't volunteer for a legacy or for another person, the typical reasons. I volunteered for myself, if that makes any sense. "I...I..."

"Is it something you'd rather not talk about?" I nodded like an idiot but the buzzer went off. Just one question, and it had taken up the entire interivew! Rilanna appeared disappointed, but said nothing and went back to closing up the ceremony.

I was a failure. An utter and complete failure. I left the stage with tears on my face, too shamed to show them. I hid in the closet, until Clivia came and told me it was time to go. "Come on, Mo," she said. It was awful to be helped by someone years younger than me, yet stronger and more stable.

She walked with me to my level, tucked me into bed, and stayed until I fell asleep. She was like a little guardian, but so fragile as well. Like a glass angel.

That night, I dreamed about home.

-Alouette Mend-

At about 3:00am, I gave up on trying to fall asleep and decided to sneak out and wait the night through. There were no locks on our doors and the elevator was still functional at night, so I snuck out through the district nine floor, and to the elevator.

Riding the elevator at night was a truly horrible experience. At dark, the glass became invisible, and it appeared I was plummeting to the ground. I was struck by vertigo and had to cling to the walls to avoid feeling nauseous. Finally, the ride was over, and I stepped onto solid ground. I decided that it would be nice to visit the garden before I left. The gardens were outside, but heavy shielded by forcefields. A blast of cold air met my skin when I opened the door.

There was a dark shape moving in the shadow of night. It sat itself on a concrete bench just beyond the lamp's light. "Wade? Is that you?"

His crutch was leaned on the side of the bench. "Sit next to me. I get lonely out here, late at night." He patted the empty space next to him.

I moved to sit with him. "The flowers are pretty at night," he said. "Especially the daisies. We had a lot of daisies back at home in district twelve, but none as pretty as the Capitol mutations. These smell better and have a silvery sheen to them. What flowers do you like?"

"I like Alpine asters, but they only grow in the mountains. I've seen one only once." He wasn't making any eye contact with me, so I asked the real question on my mind. "Wade, are you angry at me?"

"What could I possibly be angry at you for?" His tone was sardonic and cruel, so unlike the person I'd known.

"Wade..." I put my hand on his shoulder, only to have it shoved off. "Please don't be mad at me."

"I've thought about jumping before." He clenched his fists and stared as dark as the night itself.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, jumping from the roof, suicide. I've thought about it before. It would be another pain for the Capitol to handle, and I could be happy with that. But I realized it didn't matter how I did it, was going to die. Whether I die or not, I won't be whole. And no one can fix my leg to the way it was before." I saw then, that he was really crying.

"I just want to be a normal person again. I want people to stop staring at my stub. I want to go to school and stop worrying about being reaped, or running out of food, or being injured again in a mining accident." I knew then, what happened to him. He must've been injured somehow in a mining accident, and had to have his leg amputated, or he had it blasted off in the explosion.

"I know how you feel," I said, although it wasn't completely true.

"What do you know, Alouette? That you left me for your own good. I wanted to help you, but you..." He faltered to find the right words, but gave up on it. Instead, he rose on his crutch to leave.

"Why do you always seem to abandon me when I want you and come back when it's too late? Why?" He stood before me, taking out his anger this way. "I give up. Just leave me alone and let me be!"

"Wait, Wade!" I reached out to him, but he was beyond my consoling now. Once again, I was alone.

I did it because of your negative response to Alouette leaving the boy behind. The next chapter is the flippin' bloodbath. Here are the alliances. They will change, and I will constantly update them.

Alliance 1 (7 people!)
Rowan Fightheart
Dustin Shackles
Mako Dorrel
Brynna Blythe
Holden Wise
Nilo Laurence
Lissa Dragomir

Alliance 2
Diego Orozco
Anna Bloom
Rhymer Wellwood
Alouette Mend

Alliance 3
Juniper Oihane
Dayni Graze

Alliance 4
Morning-Glory Stark
Clivia Muse

Loners
Annabelle Winters
Clivia Muse
Luka Messire
Josef Haiden
Lacette Phogan
Sorren Torriali
Lawson Moren
Wade Halloway