Caesar Flickerman- Interviewer
In all my years of interviewing, I should have known nothing was certain, but I was still surprised when I met Grande. The hesitant movements, the way he didn't settle all his weight into the chair, the way he leaned just a little forward like he was ready to jump up and fight the enemy that didn't exist… Grande had anxiety. I saw that plenty, but never in Careers. Well, you see something new every day.
"How has the Capitol been treating you?" I lobbed an easy question at him.
He cleared his throat quietly to buy time to refine an answer. "It's very nice here. There are lots of friendly people and the building is very pretty." At the end of the interview, he walked offstage grimacing at himself. Careers. They're either confident no matter how they perform, or they're always certain it's not good enough.
Elissa came out struggling under the weight of nearly ankle-length hair extensions braided and entwined with gems. We had a chuckle about that, and then another chuckle about an amusingly self-deprecating story she told about Careers trying to learn survival skills and almost burning the Academy down after a fire-making lesson.
"But you know, the best defense is a good offense!" she added brightly.
Atticus had no time for fripperies. "Soon enough it will be time for the Arena," he said. "That's when you'll see what I can do. I'm not here to make friends."
Donnatella looked surprisingly demure in a low-necked green lace gown. We talked about other things, but of course we couldn't leave out the elephant in the room.
"Being Kallista's mother gave me perspective," she said. "The non-Careers have one advantage in that they more immediately know that the stakes of the Games are survival. Careers have other reasons that sometimes get in the way. But for me, it's survival, too. It's about surviving for my daughter and the survival of my family." I wasn't too sure she could be noble, seeing as she volunteered to risk her daughter's mother, but there was many a tearful eye in the audience.
"Just call me Coby," Colbalt broke in when I used his full name.
"All right. Coby, how are you going to win the Games?" I asked.
"I'm going to surprise everyone. Even myself, to be honest," Coby said.
"We're a s-strong- an alliance- we're a strong alliance," Yttria said. She smiled nervously as she stumbled over her words. Some people aren't meant for the stage. "A lot of strong girls. Young women. Very strong."
No matter how long I did this job, some children would still chill me. Caio spoke as smoothly as glass and as warmly as honey. I got the feeling he really meant it. Either he was so good he could fool a professional interviewer, or he really did mean what he was saying. And that would have been worse. I saw the warmth in his smile and at the same time, the sharpness in his eyes. He'd act the same way if he was pulling out a knife and watching his opponent die. And as he politely apologized and congratulated their valor, some of the dying would believe him even then.
"Oh, what can I say that hasn't already been said? I've trained hard, I have my own tricks and traps, and I'll do everything I can to win. We all think we're going to, even the ones that really don't have a chance," Seychelle said. She was formal to the point of stiffness after that, until a parting joke about flopping fish released the audience's tension.
Klaus looked younger than his years, though he wanted to look older.
"The Careers have every advantage you can train," he said. "The rest of us have to rely on what you can't. Intelligence, for me. I'm not the smartest person in the country, but I don't have to be. I just have to be the smartest in the Arena."
I didn't interview Meenah. She interviewed me. It was all I could do to keep up with her half a dozen trains of thought. At the end of the interview, I was pretty sure she'd sold me something, though I couldn't remember what.\
It took Enzo three tries. After an awkward performance, he gamely kept trying to get the joke out. It kind of made it funnier how hard he was trying to tell it. It couldn't possibly have measured up, so the humor shifted from the joke to the herculean effort it took to relate such a small thing.
"And then the woman said 'have you seen my parakeet?'"
"I mean, I'm not very happy I'm here," Gasoly said. "I know we're not supposed to say that, but we're all thinking it. But I'm looking on the bright side and I'm going to just keep going. Maybe I'll win. Then I'll be happy I was here."
Adair walked to his chair like a robot and tried to sit down.
"These things are so tight," he said about his suit. "Do you wear these every day?"
"Most days," I said.
"You have a hard life."
"You have to be crazy to think you'll win the Games," Jezzebell said. "Not that I'm naming any names, Careers. But I can't judge, because I'm a little crazy myself. I'd be pretty depressed if I wasn't. But hey, crazy people sometimes turn out right. Maybe I'll win, and it will turn out I was the smart one all along."
Linden carried a single rose with him as he took the stage. He pretended to be embarrassed when I asked about it.
"I suppose you've heard the rumors," he said. "We know it seems hopeless, and I guess it is. But love comes when it comes." he left the rose on the chair as he left.
Visenya let a single tear eke out as she pretended to be surprised by the rose and clutched it to her chest.
"He's a beautiful person," she said. "He pretends he's not scared, just so I won't be. We both are, though. We know it won't last forever. We only wish there could be a miracle." Clever girl. Clever boy.
"You know what's really boring?" Gavin said, fidgeting in a suit that seemed far too big for him. "Hearing the same questions and answers over and over. But you know what's not boring? Hearing a ukelele." He triumphantly whipped it out of the empty folds of his suit and spent the next three minutes playing happy little tunes.
"I try to be nice. There's too much wrong with the world to spend time on being vile," Paloma said about her outlook on life. And then, about the Careers, "The most dangerous liars are those who believe they are telling the truth." I wasn't sure that one would make it to the airings.
I looked down, and down, and down, at Apollo. He wasn't smaller than average. He was just twelve years old. I, a man who'd lived multiple decades, looked down at a boy who measured his life in years. He was fidgeting with the energy that children haven't burned off yet, and his eyes were still large on his not fully grown face. Each year I grew older, and every year let me see more clearly what twelve-year-old Reaping victims were.
Powder shone on Wisteria's face. Makeup could hide her from the audience, but a trained eye could see the sallowness. Her hair was dull, even under the intricate style.
"Can mine be short?" Wisteria asked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just don't feel good. I feel terrible. I just want to go to bed."
"I wonder who's gonna win," Argent said. "I hope it's someone cool, like Meenah."
"What about you?" I asked.
"No, it's not going to be me," Argent said politely. "That's just the way these things work. Not everyone gets to win."
Sundew wore her hair in a simple ponytail. It was quite the contrast from most interview updos.
"The stylists wanted me to wear a silly hairstyle. I told them I wouldn't go out unless it was a simple, sensible ponytail. I'm about to go into the Arena. I better be able to stand up for myself," she said.
It happened sometimes that I had no idea who would win. Most years I had some guess, but this was one of those days. A few of them said it, and they were right. Whoever it was, it would be a surprise.
