Tangent Grace
18 years old
District 1 Female
Tangent was annoyed. It didn't help that she was surrounded by the people who were the root of her annoyance.
In front of her, about to be called on stage, stood Extravagance in a stunning pastel purple dress laced with white flower patterns at the hem of the dress. He looked amazing and he evidently knew it, confidently waiting for his interview.
Behind her was Tarquin who wore a deep red, velvet suit. It suited him and accentuated his best features. He stood up straight but as far away from his district partner as possible. Tangent still couldn't work out what was going on with those two. She guessed they had some sort of argument back in district 2 and never resolved it. She saw their disharmony as something that boosted her chances of winning.
Aelia wore a gold, sequined maxi dress with a trail skirt of the same material and pattern attached. Her makeup was dark and bold. The Capitol would love her. Tangent was more jealous than annoyed at Aelia and her outfit.
Behind the pair from district 3, Hudson stood with a simple black suit which had flowery embroidery on one shoulder. He managed to make something so simple look so stylish.
Even Ripley looked amazing. She was wearing a white, strapless jumpsuit where the legs were loose. The girl from Four didn't seem that confident in her outfit but a lot of people recognised how pretty she looked.
How come her allies got such beautiful outfits that suited them? It infuriated Tangent and her stylists wouldn't let her change despite her protests and moaning.
Tangent was wearing a royal blue, satin dress that hugged her figure. It was low cut and reached the floor. Her hair was straightened and her eyeshadow done to match the colour of the dress.
Tangent looked like every other typical district 1 girl. What more did she have to do to prove to people that she was different and unique? She was determined to make sure that her interview would be nothing like one from a typical district 1 girl.
Tangent was snapped out of her thoughts when the interviewers, Sappho and Phaon, called Extravagance onto the stage. The audience loved his dress and expressed it through the huge cheers he earned as he walked across the stage. Tangent just rolled her eyes.
Throughout the interview, Extravagance was loud, flirtatious and soaked in the praise about his high training score. Tangent had expected nothing less. The boy knew how win over a crowd.
"Your parents must be so proud of you." Sappho commented.
She had not expected a flicker of pain to cross the boy from One's face. The district partners had never really spoken about their home lives with each other and hadn't really crossed paths back in One so Tangent didn't know much about his personal life.
"My mother always knew I would be a superstar." Extravagance smiled, flashing his pearly white teeth and ignoring the pain he so obviously felt.
The interviewers realised they weren't going to get an answer about his father so changed the topic to his best friend, Tiffany. Extravagance spoke highly of her and was reluctant to shut up when the buzzer signalling his time was up went off. The cheers were just as loud for his departure.
Tangent hadn't expected Extravagance's interview to feel so short. But she was strangely confident walking on stage, ready to prove herself to the whole of Panem.
She was welcomed to cheers and whistles from the crowd. She knew half of the cheers were for her dress, it was one of a typical district 1 girl. Tangent faked a smile at the crowd but deep down she knew it wasn't really fake and she really did enjoy the compliments.
The girl from One took a seat in between the two interviewers and accepted the compliments on her dress but then Sappho and Phaon shared a sombre look.
"Tangent, why don't we talk about the elephant in the room first?" Phaon said.
"Where's the elephant?" Tangent spoke, looking around the stage for an elephant.
The crowd and the interviewers began laughing hysterically. Tangent joined in when she realised there was no elephant and she had to pretend that it was a joke.
"Now, talk to us about your training score of 8."
Tangent barely kept her smile upon hearing the interviewer's words. She didn't want to be reminded of her score, it was abysmal and an embarrassment to everyone at home. Even a typical girl from One would get a better score than that.
"Well, Phaon. I don't think the game makers have as much love for technology as they do swords and knives. I'd like to see another tribute get as high a score as I did by manipulating technology." Tangent spoke confidently, smiling at the crowd.
However, the crowd didn't react with the cheers she expected from them. Instead they looked at each other hesitantly and confused. Even Phaon and Sappho looked uncomfortable.
"You do know that two of your competitors, Jester Marley and Crane Marcus-Hall are extremely skilled in technology, right? They also got a score of 8." It was Sappho who spoke up.
She could feel her face and ears turning red from embarrassment. Tangent hadn't really taken note of many tributes outside of the careers, and she definitely didn't remember most of their names and faces. It was probably all of that stupid math messing up her memory and observation skills.
"I'm properly trained though. They won't last two minutes in that arena." She said, again showing her confidence. The crowd responded with the loud cheers she'd been waiting for, causing Tangent's smile to widen.
"That a very bold statement from Tangent!" The interviewers chuckled.
The next question they asked her was on the career pack and how strong she thought they were. Obviously she couldn't portray them as weak despite the fact that there was friction and weak links.
"We're the strongest pack the Capitol has seen in years. You guys are in for a treat." The sound of the crowd's cheers was like music to her ears.
"Can you tell us what's going on with the pair from Two? We've noticed they seem to despise each other."
"I've been trying to work that out myself Phaon. I have a lot of theories." She laughed, choosing to ignore the strangely identical glares she was getting from Aelia and Tarquin.
"Do tell us! We love a good gossip session."
"What?" Tangent asked, caught off guard.
"Spill the tea!"
Tangent Grace didn't gossip. Well she hadn't gossiped in years because smart girls who love technology don't gossip. However, she couldn't deny that she loved hearing gossip about someone and that it took everything not to sit and gossip with her friends. One little, brief gossip session with Sappho and Phaon wasn't going to hurt? Plus she was doing it to get the Capitol to love her.
"I think they were great friends back in Two and they had a massive argument. Perhaps they were even secret lovers. Or maybe Tarquin dated one of Aelia's best friends and left her heartbroken." Tangent spoke, almost forgetting to breath.
Both interviewers seemed to love her theories, and the crowd did too. The interview was definitely going well. Hopefully she was doing enough to get the sponsors on her side. So when it was time for the career pack to split, they would sponsor her instead of her allies.
However, it didn't look like her allies enjoyed her theories as much. Tarquin looked physically sick, Aelia's face burnt so red with anger than it blended with her fiery hair, Hudson looked deflated and Ripley looked irritated. Her district partner had a smirk on his face and Tangent had no clue what that meant. But she wasn't here to make friends, she was here to win the Hunger Games and she couldn't give a damn about what her allies thought of her.
The rest of her interview was spent talking about her friends and family back at home. Tangent found it hard to stop talking about them and how much she loved them. It was during her interview she realised she actually missed home and her family.
She would be back to them all soon though. She would make sure of it. As a victor, Tangent would no longer be the overlooked middle child. Once she wins she doesn't have to be the smarted or feign interest in math and physics so her parents notice her. She will be noticed and no one will care for her personality, just her victor status. Tangent could picture her victory and it was coming.
As Tangent's interview finished she was greeted with a tremendous amount of applause, the same amount as Extravagance had received. It excited her and she wished they could go straight into the arena from the interviews but unfortunately there were still two more nights to get through until she was in the arena.
Tangent noticed that Extravagance was still smirking when she took her seat next to him.
"How ironic would it be if it were Jester or Crane who killed you? The ones you wrote off even though they probably have more experience with technology than you do."
"They haven't trained for the Games since they little."
"No but Jester's been competing in Capitol technology competitions since he was little."
Tangent gulped and felt a bead of sweat drip down her forehead. She didn't know that about Jester. She really ought to start being more observant of the outer district tributes.
"Let's hope they don't last more than two minutes." Extravagance whispered in her ear, chuckling.
When Tarquin's interview began Extravagance decided to shut up. The boy from Two was cracking jokes left right and centre and the crowd seemed to love him and his infectious personality.
However, Phaon brought up one of Tangent's theories about him and Aelia. It was the one about them being secret lovers. He seemed to force himself to say through gritted teeth,
"No. We were not secret lovers. And never will be." Tarquin looked very uncomfortable and as if he was going to puke.
The interviewers couldn't get any more information on the topic out of him so decided to ask if he had any siblings. A flicker of pain crossed the boy's face and he kept glancing over to the wings where the remaining tributes were waiting as he explained that he didn't have any siblings and was an only child.
Tangent thought that was quite weird and the boy from Two didn't seem to put in as much effort into his jokes for the remainder of his interview.
As his interview finished and Aelia began to walk on stage, Tangent noticed Hudson who looked like he was putting pieces of a puzzle together. She wondered what that was about.
Aelia got the loudest cheers of the night so far. It was probably due to both her dress and her amazing training score. An 11 was impressive but Tangent knew that Extravagance had already seen her as his biggest threat. He probably planned to kill her as soon as the career pack split up. Jokes on him though because he doesn't realise that Tangent is his biggest threat.
The girl from Two's interview was mainly spend talking about her amazing score and her skills. The crowd couldn't get enough of her. Aelia talked a lot about her family and seemed to care about them a great amount. Tarquin tensed every time someone said the word family. He was acting really weird.
The pair from Three were never really memorable to Tangent but they didn't seem much of a threat either. Especially the girl, it was painful to watch her interview.
Duplo stormed on the stage and was cold towards the audience. He was never going to get sponsors if he kept that up. He seemed like a really sour boy and Tangent was glad she didn't know him.
The boy kept talking about how strong he was and how everyone had underestimated him and hadn't given him a second glance. It was kind of true but there was nothing that stood out about him to Tangent. She still couldn't believe he thought he could join the careers. It did give her a good laugh though.
"I heard you knew Margit before you got reaped?" Sappho asked the boy.
"I did. She followed me everywhere. Even the bloody hunger games."
That got a little laugh out of the audience but from the tone of his voice Tangent didn't think the boy was joking. Instead it was a really harsh comment.
When he left the stage and his district partner skipped on he didn't seem the least bit interested. At least Tangent had the decency to pay somewhat attention to the interviews.
Tangent had to admit she did get a laugh out of the shit show that was Margit's interview. The girl was totally clueless about everything. She also kept talking about how she wanted the arena to be a magical kingdom with a castle and Duplo to be her knight in shining armour.
"I feel kind of sorry for her." Aelia said from a few chairs down.
Margit was delusional if she thought Duplo was going to be her knight in shining armour; he was irritated by the sight of her. Tangent pitied the girl and the audience seemed to as well.
The girl ended her interview by walking off of the wrong side of the stage so had to run back across the stage as Hudson was walking out. The audience were in fits of laughter and even Hudson found it amusing.
The boy from Four walked out confidently and Tangent noticed Aelia smile and blush before the girl caught herself and went back to having a straight face.
Hudson talked about how he was quite the prankster back at home and how the one he was most proud of was putting hair removal cream into a boy's moisturiser. Apparently it took two months for his eyebrows to grow back.
"So have you played any pranks on anybody yet?" Phaon asked.
"Not yet, but there's still time to play some pranks. Nobody's safe, not even my allies." Hudson smiled and winked at the camera.
Part of Tangent hoped Hudson would prank the careers. It would be great fun and probably set the other two boys off on playing pranks. A prank war would be amazing and let them all be normal teenagers for a little while. However, the sensible side of Tangent would curse him for playing a prank on her, she didn't want to be distracted.
When Hudson's interview finished, he sat next to Aelia and said something which they both laughed at. She hoped they weren't going to be like this in the arena. But then again, Tangent wanted Aelia to tell her all the details because they were kind of cute.
Ripley walked onto the stage hesitantly but when she heard the cheers from the crowd, she lifted her chin slightly.
As the girl from Four sat down, she was first complimented on her outfit but then she was congratulated on her score.
"Are you kidding me?" Tangent said a bit too loudly.
There was only 1 point between her score and Ripley's – that was nothing. How comes she was congratulated and Tangent was condemned for the low score?
During her interview, Ripley predominantly talked about her skill with the brass knuckles and her martial art abilities. It was a good strategy from her. Her score wasn't the highest but she was still letting the sponsors know that she was still a contender.
After her final ally's interview ended, Tangent had to force herself to pay attention and not just talk to her allies. She didn't want to seem rude and she also needed to try to be observant.
The pair from district 3 were sandwiched between careers and Tangent was surprised that they didn't even look uncomfortable or scared. Duplo was just glaring at the stage and Margit looked like she had no clue what was going on.
Spark Atom from district 5 walked on stage and they looked pretty intimidated by the lights, noise and audience. They were very quiet and seemed reluctant to answer questions.
"So Spark, when did you realise that you were agender?" Phaon asked.
Tangent expected Spark to become a little more confident as they answered the question but instead they seemed to become more uncomfortable and solemn.
"At the age of nine. I came out to my father and he was accepting of that identity."
Their interview didn't last much longer and as Spark took their seat, they stared longingly and Extravagance. Tangent soon realised that Spark was staring at Extravagance's dress. Her district partner noticed too and a confused looked passed over his face too.
The girl from district Five, Ariela, was quiet just like her district partner but seemed extremely driven and determined for a 12 year old. She was a very polite girl too which the audience thought was cute and even Tarquin pointed out the girl's politeness.
As the interview progressed, Ariela began to open up a little bit more and said that she felt left out and overlooked at home due to being the fifth child of 8. Sappho and Phaon reassured her that she wasn't being overlooked in the Capitol. Tangent feared that wasn't the case though as she didn't recall the young girl having any allies so a lot of media coverage wouldn't be of her.
Jester Marley's interview soon came and Tangent found herself intrigued about what the boy would say.
The interviewers began the interview poking fun at Jester's name in comparison to his not so fun personality.
"Jester, tell me. What did you make of Tangent's comments about you?"
"She has seriously underestimated Crane and I. We got 8's for a reason and she needs to watch out."
Tangent felt her cheeks redden and her allies' eyes on her. She was also sure that there was a camera pointing towards her too, waiting for her reaction. She knew she couldn't stop her face reddening but she could feign confidence by visibly sitting up straighter and lifting her chin higher.
Jester's interview went quickly after that and when it was time for him to sit with the other tributes he came and stood in front of Tangent.
"You'll wish I didn't last more than two minutes when I'm killing you." He spat.
Tangent was shocked at the statement. She was a career and he was from district 6. He shouldn't be talking to her like that. The girl from One just rolled her eyes and didn't look at the boy but she could still feel a knot forming in her stomach.
The girl from 6, Perona bounced onto the stage with a huge grin on her face. Jester cheered her on which momentarily confused Tangent until she was reminded that the two were allies.
Perona liked to talk about her two older allies and how skilled they were. She regarded them as friends and said she would do anything to protect them. Tangent had a feeling that it was the other way round and the two older boys allied with her to protect her.
Perona also opened up about her struggles panic attacks which showed everyone a different, more vulnerable side to the girl. Again, she mentioned Jester and how he helped her during the attacks, doing whatever he could to comfort her.
As her interview finished, Perona skipped off of the stage and gave Jester a hug which he returned. Jester obviously cared for Perona like a sister which gave Tangent an idea. Tangent smirked as she watched the pair from 6 hug and then sit down.
She was going to kill Perona. That would show Jester the consequences of talking to a career like he did.
A.N: Hey guys! I had to split the interviews into two chapters even though I was determined not to. It was just getting too long A very tired glader wrote the last 400 words or so, please forgive me if something didn't make sense or if there were errors.
So what did you think of the chapter? Which interview did you like best? Will Tangent be able to kill Perona before Jester kills her? I've already randomly done the cornucopia arrangements so do you think Tangent and Jester are placed anywhere near each other?
Hopefully I'll have the second part out soon and then we'll be even closer to the bloodbath!
QOTC: Another sports question because a sports poster was the first thing I saw (sorry XD). Can you name one English football (soccer) team off the top of your head?