Collin Etheren's POV (8):
If I knew how much the games would change me I would never have volunteered, but then if Josh wasn't reaped I wouldn't have had to volunteer in the first place. After I first volunteered I thought that the boy would never forgive me and I just had to bring him here as my mentor so I convince him that I can win. That's where I have changed. I have become determined and only tried to see the other tributes as competitors, this has faltered slightly though as my relationship with Lynette has expanded to good friends. I have had to drop my care-free attitude in order to succeed in training and I have done my best not to stand out from the rest while still trying to make an impression. I guess it's my personality that's changed the most though, I used to be the cheery type who was always up for a laugh and a joke but now the only people I am talking to is people I'm deeming necessary to talk to and most of the talk is quite formal as well.
"Let's just say the odds are certainly in my favour," I hear an arrogant voice say and without even looking up know the owner will be Kai. The boy is looking quite pleased with himself on the stage and is an obvious crowd favourite. For the rest of the interview he just plays the act of showing off how amazing he is and he doesn't even try to hide which weapons he plans to use. To be honest he basically tells us what he plans to do at the bloodbath but that was quite obvious anyway seeing as probably plans to kill as many people as possible.
Kai soon exits the stage and is replaced with one of his district partners, Chris. Well this should certainly be interesting. Since I saw this boy at the reaping I was honestly quite intrigued as I noticed his superstition but of recent something has went seriously wrong with his mind and he now has been tricked into thinking that the little girl from district 9 is his sister, Harley, even though it is quite clear that her name is Ange. I notice everyone else has averted their attention to the screen and from the start everything goes a bit weirdly as Chris is faced with the question of what he thought of the twist (referring to Temur and Ruby). Chris thinks she means Harley (also known as Ange) being taking into the games though and he begins to say it was the district 9 girl's fault for disappearing. Unlike the rest of us back stage the audience are clueless to what on Earth the boy is going on about. So the remainder of the interview is spent with Quio and probably all of the Capitol trying to figure out why he is being so weird. Quio eventually decides to prove that it is all a massive joke but I think that I can well and truly say that Chris has cocked up his interview big style.
The whispers are sent around the room quite quickly and Chris walks past us all looking quite confused. "Good luck with your interview Harley," he says to Ange who simply gives him a quick hug and rolls her eyes. I wonder what the real Harley is thinking about this whole situation, I was told that she was his mentor but is just as confused to what has happened to him as the rest of us.
As soon as the commotion about Chris has calmed down our attention has turned to district 5. The girl, Isabelle, walks on in a long white dress which flows behind her. The audience seem to warm to her lovely nature and the interview is actually quite sweet. Next up is her district partner, Steen, who is dressed as your average gentleman. He wears a top hat and instead of carrying around that bo staff he is normally seen with he is carrying a cane with a white tipped edge. Steen's interview reflects how he is dressed and he tries to be polite throughout, he says "thank you" quite a bit and talks about how he wishes that all of the tributes would just get on with one another until the games start. As if that would ever happen.
The two of them walk past us all chatting happily about something and are replaced by the girl from district 6, Christina. As of late the girl hasn't really stuck out to me and until she got a good score in training I had already predicted that she would be a bloodbath. It seems that is not the case though and her alliance with the boy from district 7 and the girl from district 12 is certainly one to look out for. The start of her interview is Quio and Christina talking about her dress. The district 6 girl is wearing a very pretty long purple gown. Her hair is up in a fancy bun type do with the purple ends of her hair spread out fan style sticking up at the top of the bun. The gown starts out tight at the top but fans out around the waist line and comes down to the ground in a wavy foldish style. She is also wearing shiny silver heels and quite a bit of make-up. Other than that she talks about her token and what life is like back in district 6. Her district partner fails to impress as the audience were less than impressed with his terrible training score. The boy is quite hesitant about what he says throughout and the interview ends with him pondering on a question.
"Who do you think is probably going to get sponsors then?" I hear Lynette say and I turn around to her. I'm about to answer her question when I see that glint in her eyes again, that glint that she had when we ruined the chariot rides. It's strange, almost rebellious if I had to put a word on it.
"I think the careers mostly, but district 3 were also quite good," I say quite quickly before turning back round where I can see the district 7 female talking about how she is a daredevil back home.
"Do you think I'll get sponsors?" she asks suddenly sounding quite worried.
"Sure," is all I can come up with. In all honesty I'm not sure if she will get sponsors. She's either been seen as the feisty bitch who ruined the chariot rides or a little girl who is just worried about all of this. I turn my attention back to the screen where Guire is now on. His interview is all based around his underdog image. How no-one will expect him to do as well as he will do and then Lynette's called up onto the stage. I forget to give her good luck but as soon as she gets onto the stage it seems that she doesn't need it. The Capitol seem to love her feisty attitude towards Quio and her reluctantly to answer the questions. She manages to give the crowd a little smile after each question and she leaves with quite a big round of applause.
"Good luck," she says coming off. I manage to give a quick smile before walking onto the stage where my destiny awaits.
"Could we please welcome, Collin Etheren of district 8," Quio surprisingly not sounding tired at all after so many interviews. I quickly flip over my golden medal (my token that Josh gave me) to reveal the snake emblem and begin to walk onto the stage where Quio grabs my hand and leads me to my seat.
"Hello Collin, that is a very nice medal you've got there. What is it off?"
"I'm not sure really," I say with a half giggle, "I just know that my friend Josh gave it to me as my token and I just thought it was quite nice."
"Yes, it is quite nice and how could we not forget your friend Josh that you valiantly volunteered for at the reaping, what made you volunteer?"
"It was just in the spur of the moment, I couldn't watch my best friend be taken away so I had to. I've known him since I was just a little boy."
"It was a kind gesture, so what is life like living in textiles district?"
"Well, obviously it's a bit more ideal for girls," I say but stop because the audience burst into laughter. It wasn't that funny. "But, at least we get to make all these beautiful clothes that you are all wearing today," with that the audience begin to clap madly and I begin to feel I have got them all on my side.
"Yes we have to thank your district for that," she says giggling, "have you managed to make an alliance?"
"No, I haven't actually. I did plan to but then I guess it might be better to try and get though this on my own."
"And, do you think you can win?"
I hesitate before answering, "I can only hope."
Theodore Mckee's POV (10):
"So, what's your angle for the interview?" Aurelie asks breaking the silence that has been hanging around this place for a little bit now. Basically, now that all of the interesting districts have been on all the other tributes have escaped up to their rooms and they were the ones who were making all of the noise really.
"I'll just be myself, I don't want to give anything away," I say pulling my crisp white shirt a little bit further back. My stylist decided so that I look more adorable I should wear adult's clothing and it has worked so far as quite a few of the other tributes have said I look cute. Aurelie acknowledges what I said with a nod and drags me into a small hug. Katri, who has decided to join our alliance as she is quite interested in starting a rebellion is also standing by so she can watch our interview.
As much as we all want a rebellion we have nothing planned, the only thing I have in mind is to try and band together as many people as I can at the end and somehow try to escape the arena. I know it is highly unrealistic but Nana Bets always said I had to hope. Hope can take you a long way in life, it did for Nana Bets anyway. As my mind wanders to Nana Bets I begin to think where she is again. From the first day when I came to the Capitol, I have continuously been looking for excuses to leave my room to look for her with Brianne but however much we have been looking there has been no finding. I'm guessing if she hasn't been made into one of those poor avoxes then she will be kept prisoner somewhere. The whole thing seems entirely wrong though, what Nana did was ages ago and what she did was right anyway. I can't help but think that at the age of ten, I know too much.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by the little giggle of the girl from district 9, Luna, who has just appeared on the stage. Throughout the interview I can't help but think that this girl is just like Brianne. She's care-free, she sounds adventurous but relaxed at the same time. Her interview is really quite nice and normal compared to some of the others that have been on so far and if mine was to go as fluently as hers I'd be quite happy. I dread what will happen when her dainty district partner, Ange, comes to get interviewed. Chris has already caused enough confusion and now this girl has to decide whether she play along with the little act to continue to fool Chris or she begins to tell the story of her plans and hopes that Chris won't hear.
First though Luna's other district partner, Cole, comes onto the stage with a large cheeky smile spread across his face. The boy has been quite quiet throughout training but I was the one lucky person who managed to see through him slightly when I say him pull the prank on the district 1 tributes. He has single handedly managed to turn the two groups on one another and has probably saved many of the outer district tributes from dieing in the bloodbath. It really does seem that district 9 are quite clever.
His interview is actually quite funny as he cracks jokes with Quio while trying to act respectful the whole time. He comments on how lovely everyone is the whole time and seems to be trying to get everyone on his side. His interview ends with a joke which puts the audience in a good mood as Ange walks onto the stage. Gossiping erupts throughout the crowd and the interview starts swiftly.
"Ange, would you like to clear everything up about Chris?" is the first question Quio asks probably for the audiences sake.
"Of course," she says sweetly and the audience begin to "awwww", "I'm actually Chris' sister Harley and I think that's enough explanation," she says giggling. Does she seriously think that will convince them? I wonder what the everyone back home in district 9 will be thinking? How about her family? Unless it was her mentor that told her to take advantage of the situation.
"So, how were you in district 9?" Quio says clearly not believing her but Ange simply shrugs her shoulders and to avoid any more confusion Quio quickly changes the subject to something about the Capitol. I turn my face to Chris who looks slightly confused but still has a smile on his face.
"How can a little girl do that?" I say as she leaves the stage.
"I'm not sure, but you have to applaud her," Aurelie says gripping onto my hand slightly as she is taken away for her interview. I cross my fingers, strangely enough, hoping that she will do well and as she walks on to the stage the crowd begin to clap quite wildly. Her interview goes well from the start and she finishes the interview with a line that I'm sure will be well remembered "The Games, are games and I always win games." I begin to clap by myself but I think Harence joins in just to along with that father figure thing which I personally think is quite unbelievable as he never really talks to me.
Aurelie soon comes off and is replaced by Harence. "Well done," I say quickly and she gives me a big hug.
"Just be your adorable self," she says before running off to Katri who is standing by the large screen back stage. My adorable self? I guess I can do that. I walk forward to the front of the queue and wait while Harence just stands sits there and tries to act nice and happy but really he just sounds like some depressed kid, fair enough he is being thrown into a death match but he could at least try a bit harder.
As his interview concludes I mount the stage and wait for Quio's words. "Please welcome, little Theodore Mckee from district 10," she says brightly. I walk onto the stage in my too big satin blue suit and try to look as adorable as I can. Quio sits me down quite quickly and pinches my cheek.
"Isn't he just adorable," she says and all the crowd begin to agree with their cheers. "So Theo, your only ten years old. How does it feel to be the first ten year old ever in the Hunger Games?" Seriously? Does she expect me to burst into a fit of joy because I'm going to my prominent death at the age of ten. I'm so privileged. I feel like completely making her look like a fool but she actually seems quite nice.
"Well, I would have preferred to have been an older age but I guess it's nice to make history," I say trying to get across the point I don't want to be here still.
"Yes, are you enjoying it here though?"
"Certainly, it's great. The food's great, the people are great. I just miss my Nana."
"Well, I'm sure she'll miss you back in district 10, what is it like in your district?" she asks clearly clueless to the fact that my Nana is being held captive here in the Capitol.
"It's lovely. I'm fond of animals so it's fantastic and I'm always having good times with my best friend, Brianne."
"Oh it sounds lovely, are you sure you and Brianne aren't more than friends?"
"For sure, me and Brianne are just great friends," I say trying to sound as confident as possible but for the first time something feels weird in my stomach. I'm sure I don't fancy Brianne. Do I?
"Much time for that when your older," yeah if I survived the games, "so have you made any alliances?"
"Yeah, I'm with the girl from my district and someone else."
"Interesting, I look forward to finding out. How do you feel about the act there will be a lot of twists in the arena?"
"It will make it more interesting, I guess. I just hope I'm not affected by any of them."
"Yep, what would be the ideal twist for you?" Oh, so they might actually take what I say into consideration.
I think before answering, "If they said everyone in an alliance could win."
"Yes, that would be great, personally do you think you can win?"
"I can only hope."
A/N: So, I said last chapter was the last update but as I go away tomorrow I decided to write this chapter so it's set up for the Ruby/Temur battle chapter when I get back. So this is the last chapter for over a week and after that updates will be slower because I will be going back to school a bit after.
Thanks to everyone who is reviewing and vote on the poll on my profile. Review please.