Caesar Flickerman

I was beginning to get this. Really, the children did most of the work. They came in with an angle, and I just magnified it. It was like some guy said about dancing with a woman. Your only job was to show her off to the room.

There was some weird voodoo stuff going down in the Goodwin house, since Charming was the perfect name for... Charming. It was nice to have him first. I got a break before I even started working.

"I already know what it's like to lose someone," Ruby said, and she proceeded to lay down a story none of us saw coming and left us all in tears. "But that just made me stronger." Okay then, that balanced out Charming.

"Are you worried about being the only Career on your tribe?" I asked Abrexa.

"No, this gives me a chance to show we're not so bad. Especially on our own," she said.

Manny always hesitated an instant before answering my questions. When he talked, it was always oddly smooth, like he'd rehearsed it. I'd seen enough kids to know he had a speech impediment and tailored my questions appropriately.

"I hope there are a lot of physical challenges. I like to move around, and I've been working to make sure I won't let my team down," Ash said.

"Ah yes, I too like to pump the iron," I said, flashing my woefully unpumped irons.

Sparkil looked both sleek and intimidating in her cyborg outfit. It made me wonder why we didn't have more robots running around. We certainly had the technology.

"As you can see, I'm already used to adapting," she said.

"Here's the biggest music lover in Panem," I said to Reefe, who blushed.

"Maybe I did get a little carried away. Too late to worry about that now. I'll do my best, and maybe it will turn out I wasn't rash after all," he said.

"Tell us a little about your history," I asked Jackie.

"I was hoping you'd ask," she said, whipping out a book. "It just so happens I brought my baby book for a luxury item. I wanted to have something adorable to look at."

"My friends drew this for me," Cain said, revealing a picture of him messily killing heaps of Tributes. "They wanted me to show everyone. I'm not really that mean. I promise."

Sammy looked refreshingly un-ornate in a simple red dress. "I've been watching the old shows, and they all had normal people. That's nice, since I am pretty normal," she said.

Lancia was somewhat more formal in a lacy blue dress and silver heels. "I was going to wear my gym suit, but it needed to be washed," she joked.

"Want to see if I can jump over this chair without a running start?" Trent asked. Honestly, I did. He could.

"How are you handling the teams aspect this year?" I asked Sherman.

"I think it could be really good for some of us. I hope I can be a help to my team and then we won't have to worry about voting for people," he said.

"I just flew in here from Seven, and wow my arms are tired!" Camellia said. "Actually I rode a train though," she confessed.

Angora's stylists really went all-out. Her aquamarine, low-backed dress was sprinkled with small jewels that faded nearly imperceptibly into an unadorned flowing skirt.

"I'm going to focus on my team and on being a good player," she said neutrally.

I could hear the ladies (and some men) in the audience oohing over Cross' fine figure in his brown suit. He wasn't my type, personally, but I could see what they were looking at.

"I learned survival skills," he said, trying to make a pun on our inspiration show and falling a little flat. He got a laugh anyway. I can't imagine why.

"It's unfortunate I got chosen, but it's no reason to panic or get mad. I have to keep my head and make the best of it," Deme said. He seemed like a level-headed young man.

I was dreading the moment Hannah came onstage. She looked so much like another girl I remembered. She started crying pretty early in, and I started crying pretty early after that.

"Rumor has it there's someone here you're very fond of," I said to Gael.

"I'm very fond of me," he said.

Bailey wore a red cocktail dress and matching gladiator sandals. "A lot of people think I'm not very strong, but I'm going to see things through until the end," she declared.

Parker wandered the stage, poking at the lights and looking under the chairs. "No dirt," he declared. "Not good for potato. Potato very important."

"I don't want to be here and neither do you," Rahina said. "So why don't you just get this over with?"

"Maybe I like talking with you," I said.

"Then you're dumber than I thought," she said. Some people.

"I feel like a penguin," Nash said as he squirmed in his suit. "You must get really itchy."

"There's someone at home I really need to get back to. Zelena is my best friend," Aliara said as she showed us a picture.

It was hardly clear what the interviews were for, since we weren't doing sponsors this year. My best guess was that the powers that be wanted everyone to get to know the Tributes a little, since one would be leaving us pretty quick. I wasn't sure what to make of them, since the format made any predictions impossible. For once, I had no idea what to expect.

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