I am still missing check-ins for the following tributes:
Toren Kollath (also missing check-in 1)
Bellona Pierce (also missing check-in 1)
Gear Griswald (also missing check-in 1)
Astrid Balan (also missing check-in 1)
Haruhi Maki (also missing check-in 1)
Corbyn Reid (also missing check-in 1)
Amelia Williams (also missing check-in 1)
Charles Thomson
Zilla Odbody (also missing check-in 1)
Darra Delaney (also missing check-in 1)
Twill Chintz (also missing check-in 1)
Lily Baudilair (also missing check-in 1)
Red Bellmont (also missing check-in 1)
Clair Ivory (also missing check-in 1)
Please send the author's note at the end of Chapter 22 for the second check-in question and Chapter 15 for the first check-in question. You can send the answers to me either via PM or by DM on Discord.
Toren Kollath, 17
District 2 Male
Bellona cackled as she stared down Toren's outfit. "Ew, what an ugly suit."
"I think it makes me look refined.
"I think it makes you look stupid."
Toren rolled his eyes. "It's the blush. I asked my stylist to tone down the makeup. Of course she didn't listen."
"That certainly explains the clown aesthetic."
"Stay classy, Pierce."
She was only joking, of course. And despite how nice the suit felt, Toren didn't mind slamming the more ridiculous parts of his outfit either. Plus the powdery makeup caked onto his face, which made him want to sneeze. The pros and cons of dressing up.
And in just a few minutes, the interviews would start.
"You nervous?" Toren asked Bellona, who was busy smoothing down her skirt. "I kinda am..."
"Nah. I feel fine."
"You sure?"
Bellona brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. "Hey, don't worry about me. Only I need to worry about me. Looks like they're starting."
Elise was the first one up, wearing a beige dress that draped behind her on the floor and was decorated in gold floral patterns. She smiled the whole time, with a charming and confident aura to her as she tilted her head and giggle at the rights time, to the audience's adoration. Thankfully, she was clear to mention her alliance, and how confident she was in their abilities.
Bellona giggled. "She's got them all eating out of her hand."
"Here's to hoping she can convince everyone to sponsor us."
Stravos's suit was a pale golden colour, making his dark black tie stand out rather well. he crossed his legs and folded his arms behind his head, grinning the whole time. And as expected, he shrugged off all concerns about his lack of an alliance.
"You know what, it's their loss. I'm not trying to make threats here and tell them to watch their backs or anything, but that's exactly what I'm saying. And I mean it. They want to dump their hand for a new one? Shouldn't have messed with the king of cards!"
Damn, Toren thought to himself. He's good.
"Knock 'em dead," Toren whispered as Bellona strolled out in a sea foam green dress that trailed behind her and was studded in little crystals. The second she sat down, Bellona's morphed into an intimidating scowl, one that would surely paint her as someone to be feared. Bellona slowly told the crowd about the ten different ways she knew to carve up someone's face with a knife, which she was more than willing to do if it meant her victory.
As the crowd hollered, Toren nervously shoved his hands into his pockets. It was time. He walked up onto the stage, briefly shielding his eyes from the blinding lights as the cheers got louder and louder and...wow.
He had to give them a good show. He had to be confident. Now was not the time for weakness.
He heard someone mention the word volunteer. They wanted to know why he volunteered. Yeah, he could tell them that, right?
"Well, I volunteered...for the honour! The glory! It just gives me such a rush and I want to do my family proud! I've prepared for this moment for a few years now and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win. It's expected of me after all."
The crowd was silent. Then they started to clap. The noise got louder and louder and finally, when those three minutes were up, he could feel himself relax as he left the stage, waving one last goodbye. It was as if a huge weight had suddenly been lifted form his shoulders.
Belloan gave him a punch in the shoulder as he sat down next to her. "Not too shabby. I think they liked you."
"I hope they liked me."
Astrid was up next, wearing a short dark green evening gown, complete with tall golden heels. She just oozed of confidence, giggling at all of her own jokes and brushing off any concerns about her, such as her age or her lack of care about the situation around her. Astrid just leaned back and sighed. "Aw man. I can't wait to have a nice stiff drink when this all blows over."
In the front row, Toren bit his lip to keep from bursting with laughter as the camera zoomed in on Mark Giblet's red face.
The green of Gear's suit easily matched his district partner's dress, but with a faint black number pattern on it. He seemed nervous, but relaxed a lot more once he was finally seated. He talked a lot about his intelligence and his school grades, which he joked made all his classmates jealous.
"Yeah, I know, I kinda sound like the token nerd from District 3. Hopefully, that'll take my alliance far. Not like I'm making fun of them, but we all have something to contribute and I contributed my brain."
Just like that, an entire quarter of interviews had flown by. Toren was just happy to be done with his. He pulled off his tie, opened up his suit a little, and relaxed. Bellona and Elise just giggled watching him, but he didn't mind. Stravos and the District 3 pair ignored him.
It could've gone a lot worse. But people seemed happy with him. He'd be a hard name to forget now.
Now, he just had to see what the remaining tributes had up their sleeves.
Charles Thomson, 16
District 6 Male
Not only was he the first of his alliance to walk up on that stage, his interview would be followed by a quick intermission as the audience got restless. The pressure was on; Charles had to stand out no matter what.
He could do that, right? He could just talk about his passions. Nobody was bound to forget the boy so enamoured with toxicology. But sandwiched between his rather odd district partner and his ally who had lost her younger brother, his odds suddenly took a huge plummet.
Adella was up next, in a short and frilly light blue dress with a sweetheart neckline. Charles thought she smiled an awful lot and was very chatty. Adella talked quite a bit about her home life, her father, and his shop. Occasionally, Adella told everyone, she helped out with restoring the trinkets, which really boosted her creativity.
Her district partner was wearing a simple black suit over a slightly wrinkled white dress shirt. Haruhi was much less talkative than Adella and was leaning very far back in his seat. Charles wasn't sure whether he would fall out of the chair or fall asleep. He didn't seem too bothered with his current situation, as he wanted to take life one step at a time. He talked a bit about his friends and family back home as the audience let out a collective aww.
Darra snickered. "We got the bar kicked down for us."
"Sorry, Darra. I'm just trying to focus here."
"You'll be fine. Everyone loves a mad scientist."
Charles wasn't so sure about that.
Amelia scurried up onstage in an all black suit and a bright red tie. She instantly hid her eyes behind her bright red hair, shying away from the lights above her. Every question was met with a small answer composed of no more than two words, usually with the volume of a squeak.
It had to be an act. Charles had seen the girl in training. She had no problem sassing off her allies at all.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes at Corbyn's outfit. The guy had a freaking leather jacket on, the skinniest black jeans Charles had ever seen, and a long fake-ass clip on earring dangling from his right ear. Yeah, like Corbyn of all people was the perfect guy for this "bad boy" image his stylists must've generated on the spot.
Well, in Charles's mind, he was a massive prick. So maybe he could pull it off quite well.
Despite all the leather and tight pants, Corbyn was completely silent. He just folded his hands on his lap and sat there, staring off into space, before he was overtaken by a sudden coughing and hiccuping fit. As much as he wanted to laugh, Charles also wanted to slap the guy upside the head. Why the hell wasn't Corbyn using this interview to his advantage!?
"What a train wreck," Darra sighed.
"Tell me about it."
"I thought you hated him."
"Well, he is my district partner's ally, so I hope he doesn't drag her down," Charles mutter through clenched teeth. Zilla quickly turned around to face him, before an Avox pointed her towards the stage, then shoved her up the steps.
Zilla was wearing a tight black pencil skirt and a frilly white blouse. Her hair was piled on top of her head and completely out of her face. She answered her questions bluntly in a monotone voice, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. And it all seemed to be going smoothly until...
"Want to know what I think of the Capitol?" Zilla asked. "Well, for starters, there's a lot to see and do here. I find it quite interesting, although I do believe you could've handled the war and all the fighting much more effectively. And your games are quite barbaric. Disgusting. It's a shame that they taint a lot of the positive aspects of your culture in my honest opinion."
There were a couple nervous laughs and some genuine ones, as if Zilla's statement was little more than a joke. Was it a joke? She looked so sure of herself, but Charles had always found her incredibly difficult to read. However, he spotted the famous Snow family sitting in a balcony across from the stage, staring down at him.
The President looked furious.
Charles would have three minutes and one interview to save things.
His deep blue suit was pretty soft and comfortable and the lighter sky-coloured tie helped complete the look, then he thought that white stripes on his pants were pretty silly. The whole scheme fit someone from District 4 instead. Ah well, he wasn't complain. Didn't have time to. He needed to be onstage right now.
Yep, not hard. Not a hard job at all!
Ughhhhh...
Charles just smiled and allowed himself to relax a little. He cracked a few jokes about his nerves, the serious atmosphere surrounding the stage, and about his alliance. But just kidding, he loved Darra and Weller. They were awesome. Weller provided the brute force, Darra the slashing skills of a lumberjack, and him? Oh...just toxins.
"But they're just so exciting, you know? It's toxicology, I love toxicology! It's a science, and you can do so much with it. You could study what different substances are made of, or how people react to them. That last part's really interesting, because you'll know how to treat someone who gets exposed to something that-"
A loud buzzer rudely interrupted him. It was a shame that Charles couldn't have gone on any longer. But still he made it to the end, and it was all over for him.
And with still half of the interviews left to go, there was bound to be a lot more to watch.
One half of the interviews done! Yeah, I have to break them in half to make them much more manageable. But we've got quite some fun interviews here. Should the Careers heed Stravos's threat? Was Zilla condemning the Capitol a smart move? Did Charles do a good job as the last interview of this chapter? Who gave Corbyn a leather jacket?
And with three chapters left before the big day, I can happily announce that the Bloodbath will be coming out in August! We're much close than it seems!
So yeah, now that the Games themselves are not too far away, thanks for all the support so far! For submitters, it's obviously not mandatory and I don't base my Victor pickings one hundred percent off of reviews and check-in submissions, but I won't give the Victor to someone who's been completely absent since the story started. I don't think it's fair to everyone else. But a little review once in a while, either detailing your thoughts or just mentioning some stuff you liked about the chapter is nice to see. :3
Next chapter, we'll be seeing the other half of interviews with Twill and Red. Stay tuned for that!
-Vr