Chapter Thirty-Nine: Start the Show

Interviews

Burton Goldfinch, Capitol Citizen

"Honey, wake up."

I don't want to wake up. My head hurts so damn much…

Then I feel someone roughly shaking me. "The interviews, sweetie! You missed them already!"

"I can find them online," I manage to slur. I'm not sure how much of this is whatever illness I have and how much of it is the hangover I got last night cropping back up, but I feel like someone smashed a hammer into my skull. Repeatedly.

"Do it for the kids," the person I finally recognize as Zinnia says. "Come on, it'll only be a few minutes, they're just showing highlights now."

"Fine," I manage to say before staggering out of bed, just enough clothes on that I look presentable, before flopping down on the couch with Daria and Janice, who say hello in the cutest ways imaginable, just like always.

"Please don't," I say to Janice when she goes in for a hug. "Daddy's sick, and I don't want you getting what I have."

"Okay," she says before moving away. Daria takes note as well.

The commercial that was playing on the television abruptly ends, and they go to the aforementioned highlights, with the caption "Memorable Moments" displaying on the top of the screen.

As usual, they have the girls go before the boys for each District, and they start from District One and work their way down from there. Thus, I'm seeing the girl from One first, who enters the stage wearing a shirt screaming "HERE STANDS THE VICTOR" in neon colors. The host, Julius Flickerman (the son of the recently-deceased Ceasar), notices that fast.

"That's a bold statement," Julius says as the girl sits down.

"Well, I'm a bold person," the girl replies. "And hey! See something enough, eventually you'll start believing it."

Confidence. I know that kind of comes standard with every Career, but it seems like she has more of that than even most of them. And in a place as stressful as the Games, that's definitely a good thing.

They then jump ahead to show one more memorable exchange, starting with the girl saying, "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself. I know I'm going to have to kill to win, and I feel more than ready to do that."

"That's nice to hear," Julius replies. "What about your allies? If it comes down to just you and them, what's the case there?"

"Same thing," the girl says. "Doesn't matter who they are, everyone else has to die if I want to win. If it comes to that, it comes to that."

Right after that, they cut to the guy, wearing an outfit with so much shiny jewelry on it that even I can barely look at it without my eyes watering. Julius doesn't seem bothered, though, immediately launching into the thick of things. "So, how do you feel about being here today?"

"Fantastic," the boy says. "In all honesty, I've been waiting to come here for years."

"Okay," Julius replies. "And why is that?"

"Because home became so unbearable that a death match seemed tame by comparison. And I mean that! The Hunger Games? They've got nothing on domestic conflict."

The audience releases an awkward laugh, and they quickly cut to an unrelated conversation. That's definitely a good thing, considering the way he was going felt like it would get very uncomfortable, very fast.

He starts off this next exchange by saying, "I'm ready to do this. I've been training my whole life for this, the time has come."

Julius responds, "That sounds excellent! You should do well in the arena."

"I will," the boy says, but it sounds more like that was for himself than the audience. Following that, they cut to the girl from Two, who's wearing a blood-red dress and has a look on her face that honestly disturbs me a little.

Julius doesn't seem fazed, though, instead saying, "So, how was your stay in the Capitol?"

"It was amazing," the girl replies, "even though I had to interact with some… unpleasant tributes while I was here. Oh well, it's not like they're going to live much longer anyway."

Then, just as before, they jump ahead to show one more exchange. Julius asks, "so, why did you volunteer?"

"I wanted to prove that brawn alone can't win these games for you. Even if I don't make it, that's still a statement I want to make. Finally, dulce est decorum est pro patria mori."

"Okay, I don't speak Latin, but I'll assume that means something profound," Julius says, earning a spot of laughter from the audience before they cut to the hulking boy from Two, dressed in all black.

He seems to be able to handle the pressure of being on stage with ease. When Julius asks him about how he feels representing his family line, however, he gets this odd expression on his face and cuts him off before he can get any further.

"My goal is to stand out on my own, not because of my father," he says. "Just because I'm his son doesn't mean I'll be anything like him."

"Nice to know," Julius said. "So, is there anyone you're doing this for back home?"

"My girlfriend, Freya, and my brother. Dorian. Don't worry about me, guys- I'll see both of you soon."

They skip the rest, heading over to the first non-Career interview which is a refreshing change, because all of the Careers had varying degrees of the same attitude towards the Games and it was getting kind of boring. Hopefully, the girl from Three will provide a nice change of pace.

The first thing I notice about her is that her outfit is incredibly frilly and cutesy and makes her look way younger than she probably is. However, the second she starts talking, it's clear that her attitude doesn't match her clothes at all.

"Honestly, most people are hard to like. Call me misanthropic or whatever if you want, but that's just my opinion," the girl says.

"Okay then… so, how did the Capitol treat you?" Julius has a strange, almost stunned look as he asks this.

"The place? Great. The people? With a few exceptions, not so much," the girl says. "Oh, and before we get any further, I just need to say, Latine loqui sicut facit canetis putidum, stultus." I know that might be hypocritical, but I also could care less."

I don't know what she said, but based on my precious little knowledge about Latin, I'm guessing that was meant to be an insult aimed at the girl from Two. Not a good move, in my opinion- she should really pick her battles more carefully.

The boy from Three fills the screen now, wearing yet another monochrome outfit. Maybe the Districts only get television in black and white, where they wouldn't know the difference. I don't know and I don't really care.

Julius starts off this exchange by asking, "So, what do you do back home?"

"I work part-time for a secondhand store, and I go to new and interesting places every day with a handful of friends in my free time," the boy replies.

"Sounds exciting," Julius says. "What kind of places and what kind of friends?"

"Abandoned places," the boy says just a little too quickly to be seen as natural. "And as for friends, I've got a handful and we were basically inseparable. Although it helps that they may have literally saved my life back when I was younger."

The audience lets out an appropriate "awww," before they cut off his interview highlights and begin to show us the last Career of the year, the girl from Four, wearing a surprisingly simple blue dress with matching earrings. I know she's the sister of the victor from two years ago, but that's as far as my knowledge about her goes.

"So," Julius asks, "how do you feel about being compared to your sister?"

"I don't mind that much," the girl responds. "If I let everyone's opinion of me matter, I wouldn't be here. I need to focus on what's important to me and those around me, and that's it."

They then jump ahead to one final exchange, starting with the girl saying, "It's been great here. I got to meet plenty of nice people, and I've got a feeling helping the Careers stick together will be smooth sailing."

"Really?" Julius puts on a comical expression designed to over-emphasize his confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"Because even if I don't agree with everyone in the Pack, I at least see that all of them have points. Sirena did the same when she won, so I'm pretty confident I can handle that."

Some clapping from the audience ensues, which the video allows us to take in for a few seconds before jumping ahead once more to cover the boy from Four. He's wearing something way too shiny for the bright stage lights, so I can hardly tell if what he's wearing makes sense or not.

"I've heard through the grapevine that you declined the offer of the Careers to join their alliance," Julius says. "Why didn't you take it?"

"They're not my type, and that is in no means romantic," he says, addressing the audience with that last bit. "I don't fit in well with them and I don't really see the need for an alliance, period."

Then, they jump ahead to one last part, beginning with Julius saying, "Anyone rooting for you back home?"

"My best friend and my mom," he says. "That's about it. And with my luck, my mom will be dead before I get back to her. Pardon the language, but cancer is a bitch."

He gets some affection from the audience mixed in with a couple of yells before they move on to the petite girl from Five, wearing a loose silver dress that I have to add onto the list of "clothes that blind me when I look at them." She's got a mind-numbing smile on when Julius asks her his first question. "Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?"

The girl gives him a confused look. "Uh, is that a trick question? And even if I did, why would I tell you with everyone else wanting to kill me?"

"Fair point, fair point," Julius says. "Sorry for asking. I'll let you take the stage for a little while if you want."

"Sure thing," the girl replies, saying, "to Mom and all six of my siblings back home, don't worry. I'll be seeing you soon. I promise."

The audience cheers in support of her, even though chances are she's going down early. Unfortunately, the Hunger Games rarely turn out well for people as cute and innocent as her. They don't show anything else from her, instead switching over to the guy from Five, looking nervous as all get-out in his suit covered in a million blinking light bulbs.

Julius asks, "So, anything you'd like me to know about you before we start?"

The boy manages to stammer out a response. "Uhh, I'd planned on getting married before this happened… sorry Mel… and… uhh… sorry..."

"It's fine," Julius says. "There's still plenty more time."

They don't use any more time to highlight him, though, so I assume he just crashed and burned, which is sad but not surprising. There's usually at least one tribute like that every year.

The girl from Six looks pretty in an emerald-green dress and heels to match, talking so quickly Julius doesn't even ask any questions after the initial one. "In some deep, dark corner of my heart I always wanted to visit the Capitol, surprised it turned out this way though. Time here was nice although I wish it lasted longer. Korrie, Jacob, Liela, and all my siblings, I hope you've wished me luck by now. The Games are going to be hard but I think I can get through them…"

They hang on her for a little while before transitioning to her male counterpart, who's wearing a simple suit and tie. The first words out of his mouth are, "I loved it here, I just wish I was visiting under different circumstances."

Julius asks the obvious follow-up to that question, which is, "What did you love most?"

"I can't think of a definitive winner here," he replies. "Everything was so amazing I'd just consider it, like, a seventeen-way tie."

"Okay then," Julius says as some sparse laughter emerges from the crowd. They hold onto him for a few seconds longer before cutting to commercial once more.

Oh well. I've never been the biggest fan of commercials, but I need to go to the bathroom anyway- the crackers and water I forced down for dinner have not been sitting well.

I stagger away, hoping whatever this is will be done before the commercials are over.

Author's Notes:

-Dulce est decorum est pro patria mori: It is sweet and proper to die for your country.

-Latine loqui sicut facit canetis putidum, stultus: Speaking Latin just makes you sound pretentious, idiot. (I had to rely on Google Translate for that one, I don't know a word of Latin. I only have the first line because the author sent it to me.)

-Thanks for sticking around this long. Interviews 7-12 are next, but those may take a while, since I just had my first day of college classes and am going to be bogged down for a while.

-See you next chapter!