Carlton Vars,34, Hunger games host
We're now in the final five, it's almost surreal honestly. I remember speaking to each of those tributes like yesterday and it now just seems like in the blink of an eye, 19 of them are dead. This is how it's been for the last five years though since I was given this job. I still remember every tributes' face I've interviewed and it does effect me to an extent, but I of course can't show it.
This is the part in the games where we conduct family interviews with the remaining tributes' family. We usually conduct the interviews when we reach the final 8 but yesterday was a pretty brutal day which I'm sure entertained the viewers. On that note though, District 2 is our first stop where we'll be interviewing the family of Victoria Aspen. She's definitely not in good shape after her encounter with Barbel, but I won't count her out.
We arrive in this district and while it's not nearly as fancy looking as the colorful and gleaming district 1, It's still obviously in much better condition than the other districts. I begin my walk to her home being escorted by peacekeepers, the camera man and when I reach her rather nice looking house, knock on the door and patiently wait for an answer.
A middle aged woman who Victoria resembles somewhat opens the door and greets me with a faint smile but I can tell she's incredibly stressed out.
"Good day to you, Carlton Vars!" I extend my hand to her and she hesitantly shakes my hand.
"Ava Aspen and wow you're a lot taller than you look on television!" She compliments me and I let out a chuckle.
"Yes, I get that often." I respond.
"Come in, please!" she welcomes me into the house and I happily accept.
"You can have a seat at the table, would you like anything, coffee, tea?" She offers.
"I'll have a glass of water, thank you!" I smile and she gives me a happy nod before going into her kitchen and a middle aged man who I assume is her husband comes down the stairs and gives me a weary look, he looks quite familiar but I can't recall where I've seen him.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot you guys were coming today, Roger Aspen." He greets me and I shake his hand.
"Carlton Vars, a pleasure!" I greet him and he sits across from me while Ava exits her kitchen with a large pitcher of water and a several glasses of ice. Once we get situated, I'm ready to begin the interview.
"How would you describe Victoria?" I begin and both of her parents give each other an awkward glance before Roger clears his throat.
"Victoria is a strong young woman, very resourceful and very wise. She's also very rebellious though. She loves partying and doing things we don't condone. We never actually wanted her volunteering or even being a career. We just wanted her to…be an ordinary girl, live an ordinary life, find someone to marry and just be happy, but for whatever reason, she just decided to go down this route." Roger answers staring at his glass of water.
"Do you respect her decision going down this, route?" I curiously ask and he sighs.
"Initially we didn't, oh my goodness. We…didn't even come to visit her after she volunteered because we were so upset with her." Ava wipes her eye with a napkin and sniffs.
"That is just the biggest regret of our lives, not coming to see our daughter…no matter how upset we were with her, we robbed her of the opportunity to be with her parents, and that's all she wanted, was to see us." Roger chimes in but also seems to be getting emotional and understandably so.
"She's our daughter though, she's our only daughter, we love her so much and a large part of love is just accepting someone for they are and just supporting them in whatever they want to do." Ava comments and breaks down crying afterwards and Roger rubs her back trying to comfort her. I can feel their regret and their pain, it stings quite a bit but I nod as I listen to what they have to say.
"What are your thoughts on her making it this far?" I ask.
"She's strong, very strong, she has the tools to win. She does, so I expected her to come this far." Roger wipes his eyes and takes a sip of his water.
"Do you think she'll win?" I ask and they both nod in unison. She's definitely in the worst shape compared to the rest of the tributes, but still she's also the most skilled, even in her state she should still be able to hold her own against the remainder tributes.
"Yes, she'll win, she will win." Roger confidently declares
"She has to, that's our baby, that's our girl." Ava sniffs and I nod in response.
"Thank you so much for your time Mr. and Mrs. Aspen." I finish the interview and I shake both their hands once again before they escort me out of the house, another long train ride awaits me as I'm now heading to district 3 to interview the family of Zananova Pixa. She's a very interesting girl to say the least and I think the traumatic event she experienced as a small child is a large part of the reason why she's the way she is now…
Her parent's were apparently executed right in front of her and she sat in their blood around their decomposing bodies for hours before she was found. I can't imagine what a huge toll that took on her, I pity her.
After a very long ride, we finally arrive in district 3 and I take in a deep breath and I can smell, technology. It's been quite a while since I've interviewed the families of a district 3 tribute so this is a nice change of pace..
Her only surviving family member is a man named Tyvon. He was apparently close with her parents and was the one that found her around her dead parents. He adopted her as his own and he's apparently a very skilled coroner in the district, it seems like she learned a lot from him.
Their home is all the way on the outskirts of the district, quite a distance away from most of the other homes, it somehow seems very fitting though.
I knock on the door and patiently wait for a response before the door slowly creaks open for Tyvon to greet me with an unwelcome look on his face. He's wearing gloves and they're covered in blood…
"Pardon me, I was in the middle of work." He removes his gloves and throws them into a trash bin.
"Tyvon, I assume you're here to interview me about Zananova." He speaks to me in an eerie tone and his eyes only continues burning a hole through me, I really do get the creeps around him, lets hope this interview is quick.
"Carlton Vars, a pleasure!" I greet him and extend my hand but he dismisses it and opens his door all the way to "welcome" me inside.
"Let's make this quick, I have to return to work." He narrows his eyes at me and I let out a low gulp before entering his place. Inside of his house seems pretty old fashioned, like everything is made of wood and is old fashioned antique ware and a very expensive old clock constantly ticks as I take a seat across from him on the table. In between us is a large bowl of apples, wow they must really like them.
He only stares at me, waiting for me to begin the interview and I clear my throat before beginning.
"So, how would you describe Zananova?" I ask.
"She's an intelligent and creative girl, well beyond her years. She's always a step ahead of you, always setting traps for you and is always prepared to counter whatever you do. That is what makes her such a dangerous adversary when you're going up against her, hmmph I almost pity the other four tributes in the arena with her, they don't stand a chance." He confidently states pulling an apple out of the bowl and crunching it as juice splatters across the table.
"With how much praise you're giving her, I assume you're not surprised she made it this far?" I question.
"Why would I be? Everyone's fate was already sealed the moment she was reaped, look at her right now." He gazes at his television and I see Zananova preparing a new batch of toxin and some of the powdered toxin flies up into the air before spreading out and she lets out a low chuckle. I don't even want to imagine what she's planning, but this doesn't look good for the other tributes.
"An airborne toxin, these games are over, of course the toxins will have no effect on her since she injected herself with a vaccine earlier, everyone else will breath in this toxin and die soon after. This is her trump card, exactly what she's been planning all along." He does a faint smile still looking at the televison screen, he seems so genuinely proud.
"So…you do think she'll win?" I ask and he almost seems insulted after I ask that.
"Like I already said, the games are over, the toxin she created will take about a day to kill anyone who breathes it in and looking at the components in that toxin, anyone who breathes it in will wish they were dead." He grins.
"...very well said, thank you for your time Tyvon." I thank him and he only continues glaring me as I stand up and exit his home, my gosh I'm so glad to be out of there.
It's another look ride to district 6 and that's where I'll be interviewing the family of Rylee Turbin. Her only surviving family member is her younger brother who is named Scrapp. He's apparently been staying at an orphanage ever since she got reaped so that's where he should be.
It seems pretty gloomy here for the most part, there aren't many people out and the clouds are dark but I make my way to the orphanage and there's already several staff members standing outside of it. They then turn to me and greet me with a warm smile, they were obviously expecting me.
"Carlton Vars, a pleasure!" I extend my hand to one of the female staff and she blushes a bit.
"My, you're even more handsome than you look on television." She eyes me up and down and I continue smiling.
"Thank you, you look rather lovely yourself!" I compliment her back.
"Do i? Well how about we go for a drink after the interview?" She offers me and before i can respectfully decline, the male staff member intervenes.
"Scrapp is waiting for you in the cafeteria, I'll escort you there." He offers and he leads me into a large cafeteria with only scrap sitting there with a pint of apple juice in front of him. He looks very nervous, but he's just a kid, it's understandable.
"Why hello there!" I greet him in a friendly tone and sit across from him.
"H-hi…" he nervously greets me back.
"My name is Carlton Vars, what's yours?" I ask.
"uhmmm…Scrapp." He gulps.
"Well it's very nice to meet you Scrapp. Your sister Rylee, she's fighting very hard for you right now." I inform him and he lightly nods.
"I miss her..." his voice cracks.
"I'm sure she misses you too and that's why I'm sure she'll do her best to get back to you." I try to cheer him up.
"I hope so…she told me to come here, to this orphanage and they accepted me. It's fun here, the food is good too but I really just want Rylee to come home." A tear rolls down his cheek.
"Would you like to tell me more about her?" I ask.
"Uhmm she works a lot so she's not home often, but she sometimes comes back with a lot of food and sweets and she always tries to take really good care of me, but I know it's hard." He sniffs.
"I'm sure it is, what do you think about her making it this far?" I ask.
"I just get more and more scared, the further she gets, the happier I become but it kind of scares me. I just don't want anything to happen to her." He begins crying and I console and let him cry on my shoulder. Poor kid, he's been through a lot.
"I…I just hope she wins. She told me she wasn't a good sister, but she is! She's a great sister…I love her so much." He cries.
"I'm sure she loves you too, this is why she's fighting so hard, to get back home to you and continue being a good sister. She has you to fight for, and that'll give her the strength she needs to return home." I try to cheer him up.
"Y-yeah you're right. Thank you Carlton, you're very nice." He seems much better now.
"Just continue rooting for her and supporting her, that's all you need to do, it's been a pleasure speaking to you." I wrap up the interview and extend my hand to him where he shakes it and sniffs again.
"I will, I promise!" He assures me and I give him one more nod before taking my leave.
Next up is district 9, which is quite interesting. Outside of the quarter quell we never had a pair of sibling tributes. The capitol worked really hard on that mutt though so it actually is quite impressive Fall was able to use his sheer will to keep himself from harming his little sister, he really loved her…
I arrive in district 9 some time after and make my way towards the home of Winter where I'll be interviewing her family. They live in an average looking home, nothing impressive, but they look like they're getting by.
I knock on the door and patiently wait, seems like about a minute passes as i continue to wait and I wonder if anyone is even there. I'm about to knock again but the door slowly opens and I see a young woman who looks like an older version of winter open the door, must be her sister. She looks like she's been crying quite a bit because her eyes are puffy and pink and she does a loud sniff before painting a smile over her face.
"H-hi, Carlton Vars right? I'm Summer, older sister of Winter." She sniffs again and extends her hand and I shake it.
"That'll be me, pleasure to meet you Summer!" I greet her back.
"Come in, please! She welcomes me into the home and I oblige, entering the home and I see another young woman sitting at the table who resembles Summer but she looks slightly younger. She also looks like she's been crying quite a bit. I understand though, they did just lose their brother. I do recall in the records saying he was despised by almost everyone in his family but I guess they saw him for who he really was in the arena and changed their views about him.
The slightly younger woman notices me and quickly wipes her tears.
"Carlton right? I'm Spring…" she greets me.
"That'll be me, pleasure to meet you!" I smile.
"You may have a seat at the table with us Carlton. May I help you to anything? Coffee, tea, cupcake?" Summer offers.
"A glass of water will be fine." I smile and she nods and goes into the kitchen.
I sit across from Spring and she sniffs, wiping her eyes again.
"I'm very sorry for your loss…" I try and console her and she breaks down crying after this, oh no.
Moments later, Summer arrives with a large glass of water with ice and sits it infront of me before hugging Spring and trying to console her.
"We were so mean, we, were so mean to him!" Spring sputters but Summer continues hugging her and rubbing her back, crying as well. A middle aged man who must be the father then begins slowly walking down the stairs and he looks to be taking it the hardest but he walks over to me and extends his hand.
"Aspen Baromet..." his voice cracks as he extends his hand and I shake his hand.
"Carlton Vars…" I greet him and Aspen walks over to his two daughters and they embrace each other in a tight group hug as they grieve, they can take as long as they need to, I look over at the television and it seems like today is fairly quiet day. Winter is now being shown and she's sitting against a tree looking up in the sky and crying as heavy rain is pouring down.
The three embrace each other for a little longer but they take another moment and seat themselves around me.
"Sorry Carlton, we just, needed a moment." Aspen apologizes.
"it's completely fine, please take as long as you need." I assure them.
"Thank you Carlton, we're ready now." Spring states and I nod in approval.
"How would you describe Winter?" I begin.
"She's…she can just bring the best out of anyone…" Spring Sniffs.
"She's caring, so loving and kind…" Summer adds.
"Winter…she's a special girl. A very special girl. She's creative, resourceful, strong and she has her ditzy moments." He lets out a small chuckle.
"My wife also did that a lot, I think it's adorable, she resembles her mom in practically every way, but i… I want to talk about my son too." He begins and wipes his eyes as I nod.
"Fall is my son. He is my son, my child. I didn't always have the best way of showing that, but he's my son and…I loved him…" he sniffs again.
"We…we just have so much guilt Carlton , the way we treated him, how awful we were to him and…all he wanted, all he ever wanted was for his sister to be safe." Summer adds.
"He, he got into trouble a lot ever since mom passed. She was his best friend and it just all happened so suddenly and he grieved. His way of grieving though, was going outside and causing a ruckus, just giving everyone a reason to dislike him but it, it was all just a cry for help. He just wanted to be loved to just be shown that we cared and us three, we couldn't even do that." Spring laments.
"Winter did though, she always remained by his side, always showed him how much he meant to her and he was able to let go of his anger, he was able to be himself from that point on and who was he? A loving brother who only wanted his sister to be safe and happy, This capitol…they turned my son into a monster, into a weapon that will destroy anyone in sight friend or foe…and he was still able to channel in his will and his love for his sister to keep himself from hurting her and in the end, he died to ensure he wouldn't hurt her, that is how much she meant to him, I just wish I can hug him, I just wish I can hold him." He breaks down again but his two daughters embrace him.
This is rough, real rough. Even after doing this for years, I'll never become numb to it, it'll hurt every time…
"What are your thoughts on Winter making it this far?" I ask after a moment.
"It terrifies me…Fall he won't be able to protect her anymore, so she's on her own but…she can do it, she can do it. She just needs to be more confident in herself…that's what we want, that's what Fall wants, my baby girl." He sniffs looking at the television and Winter is still looking in the sky crying as rain drenches her and repeatedly mumbles something in the air, it sounds like 'Come back, come back."
"Thank you so much for your time…" I begin to take my leave and the three of them nod and sniff in unison. It's time for me to take my leave though and I stand outside their home and take a moment to gather myself before boarding the train once again to interview the family of the final contestant, Oswine Nanshope.
He's an only child and lives with his mother and father, seems like a rather ordinary family. I reach district 10 some hours later and the smell of district 10 greets me as I pass by various farmlands to finally reach the Nanshope residence and I knock on the door. Moments later a man who bears a striking resemblance to Oswine opens the door.
"Oh, hi! Lannan Nanshope!" he extends his hand to me.
"Carlton Vars, pleasure to meet you!" I greet him back.
"Sure is, come in, please!" He opens the door fully for me to enter and I oblige. The house smells like fish stew, almost like this is all they've been eating for the last few days.
"I just finished making lunch, would you like some fish stew or anything to drink?" Lannan offers.
"A glass of water will be fine." I smile.
"Sure, coming right up. Make yourself at yourself at home, please." He offers and I smile and take a seat at his table. A woman who I assume is Oswine's mother then exits her room and looks at me for a moment, she has a serious look on her face but I can tell she's been crying recently.
"Hi, Shannon Nanshope." She greets me.
"Carlton Vars, a pleasure!" I smile and she takes a seat across from me as Lannan exits the kitchen with a glass of water and a plate of cookies.
"Here you go!" He sits the plate and glass of water in front of me.
"I always want my guests to feel comfortable and at home!" he adds still smiling.
"I really do appreciate the amazing hospitality!" I praise him.
"First congratulations on Oswine making it this far!" i begin, I honestly didn't expect him to last long, Xavarion is a large part of this but still even on his own, Oswine seems like a capable young boy.
"Yes, that's my boy, that's my boy." His voice cracks slightly as he wipes his eye.
Shannon remains quiet, but I can see some guilt on her face.
"How would you describe Oswine?" I ask.
"Oh he's a quiet boy, a very quiet boy, I used to be the same when I was his age so he must've gotten it from me!" Lannan laughs as a tear comes down his eye and Shannon shifts in her seat but still remains quiet.
"He's in his room a lot, he prefers to be alone most of the time but he also loves to go fishing, just like me. He's so intelligent though, but also very kind when you get to know him. He's a very shy boy and doesn't like being around people but he'll open up when you get to know him and, you'll see just what a great boy he is." He begins crying and Shannon has a conflicted look on her face as she looks like she's comtemplating on whether she should comfort her husband or not.
"What are your thoughts on him making this far?" I ask.
"I'm so proud of him, so proud of my son! I know he can win, I just know it!" Lannan sniffs.
"I…" Shannon begins and I look over at her.
"I've said some horrible things to Oswine, my son. Horrible things that…I can never take back." She states as several tears fall down her face.
"I wished death on him, on my own son…and I know I'm a horrible person for that, someone tells you something like that, your own parent for that matter. It's so hard to just want to continue afterwards, to just want to continue fighting but look at him, look at him just continuing to fight, just continuing to find something to live for!" She cries and Lannan rubs her back to try and comfort her.
"I'm so sorry Lannan, I'm so sorry Oswine, I just want to see him again, tell him how sorry I am." She continues crying.
"It's ok Shannon, it's ok, he knows you didn't mean it." He tries to console her but she continues crying.
"I just want to see him, I want to see him!" she cries aloud.
"You will, you will Shannon!" Lannon assures her as he sniffs and she lays her head on his shoulder.
"He's going to be a big brother too…" She mumbles and Lannon gives her a surprised look.
"Shannon…oh my goodness, what?" Lannon sputters in obvious shock.
"I just found out today." She cries and he looks at her for another moment in pure shock.
"Oh god, Shannon!" Lannon cries and hugs her.
Wow, that's really all I can say about this…
"He needs to return, he needs to come home so he can meet his little sibling!" she cries.
"He'll be back Shannon, he will, I promise you that." Lannon assures her.
They continue crying and embracing each other and that's when I decide its time to begin taking my leave.
"Congratulations Mr. And Mrs. Nanshope and thank you for your time." I give my farwells to them but I don't think they hear me as they continue crying and hugging each other, so I exit the home and let out a deep sigh, The family interviews are finally over, but this is never going to get any easier…
Hi guys! Here are the family interviews and they were rather interesting for me to write. Everyone has something and/or someone to return home to and that is what keeps them fighting even when they're past their limits. We'll be back in the arena next chapter and it can very well be the finale. I'll most likely split the finale into two parts but i guess we'll see how that goes.
I want to thank you all again for sticking with me and leaving amazing reviews! I just want you guys to know that you all submitted amazing tributes and I've enjoyed writing and bringing all of them to life. This is my very first syot and I'm proud with my performance. In the earlier chapters, i was very stiff and nervous but as the chapters went on, i loosened up, got more comfortable and took all of the amazing feedback from you all to improve my writing even further. I want to also thank you for that since i would not have been able to do any of this without you!
I absolutely do plan on doing a sequel, and it'll start after the victor is announced. The sequel will be called "Madness Returns" and i already have a ton of plans for it, but right now my focus is wrapping up this story.
See you all soon,Till next time!