Part IX

Faith walked to where she was meant to be, knowing she was first but not caring. She straightened her dress, smoothed her head and tilted her chin up.

Acacia was already in position, panicking slightly.

Orchid walked haughtily to her seat, sitting up straight and crossing her legs. She stared haughtily at the cameras.

As the anthem blared Faith smiled into the cameras, batting her eyelashes.

Cat stared around with wide eyes, taking in the audience, and looking wide eyed at the cameras.

Ceaser introduced the show, yadda yadda ya, until he came to the first interview. Faith stood up, blowing a kiss towards the crowds and walked over to Ceaser.

-x-

The stage was rather bright. Jasper winced as he sat down with the rest of the tributes. He was a ball of raw nerves, wringing his hands and bouncing his leg. Jasper forced himself to stop fidgeting as he paid attention to the first tribute that came up to talk to Cesear. It was going to be a long night.

-x-

"Hello, Ceaser." She grinned lopsidedly.

"Hel-lo, Faith Spring. You're looking stunning tonight."

Faith's grin grew "Of course, Ceaser. What did you expect?"

"Nothing different" He said with a smile. "So you looked fabulous at the parade, and once again, your amazing Faith. Let me ask, how do you do it?"

She laughed. "Of course, nothing could happen without my amazing stylists."

She blew a kiss in their direction

-x-

Orchid narrowed her eyes and glared at Faith, feeling sickened by her simpering tone. She didn't care who saw her glare, the only image she wanted was an aggressive one.

-x-

Cat watched Faith, impressed at her act. Who would have thought that the giggling girl before her was a killer? She noticed a camera turning towards her, and smiled innocently at it. She intended to keep up just as good a façade as Faith.

-x-

"Of course, we certainly have great ones this year!"

Faith smirked and nodded. "Yup."

"So, Faith, being a simple stunner, you must have a horde of guys back home."

She winked at the audience and cameras. "That may be..."

-x-

Cat gave a small giggle at this.

-x-

Orchid scowl deepened.

-x-

"But... a horde is never enough." She added, smirking at the audience.

"Mhm. So, the competition is tough this year, got any techniques?"

Faith smirked and tapped her nose. "That's for me to know, and you to find out, I'm afraid."

"Of course it is." He said with a grin. "So what was life back home then, Faith?"

"Oh, boring. Never could add up to the capitol... all the amazing guys..." She grinned to the audience as the buzzer sounded.

"Well, time up I'm afraid, Faith Spring. I'm sure everyone, especially all the men, will wish you all the best of luck."

Faith smirked and blew another kiss. "Oh, I won't need it."

After blowing the audience one last kiss she leaned up to kiss Ceaser on the cheek before taking her seat. Then, when she saw the cameras could see she smiled innocently and blew a kiss at Orchid.

-x-

Orchid shot a death stare back at Faith, her eyes flashing.

Faith smirked, waiting for Orchid's interview.

-x-

After the boy from District 1 had gone, Orchid finally heard her signal. "And now...Miss Orchid Lang!"

Orchid stood up gracefully and walked to the chair next to Ceaser, crossing her legs neatly.

"Sooo...Orchid. How are you today?"

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, thank-you."

-x-

Faith watched, calm and collected as always, a faint smile still playing on her lips.

-x-

"Sooooo, Orchid, What's your favourite thing about the Capitol?"

Orchid smiled. "Definitely the weapons training area. What wouldn't I give for one of them back home!"

"So you're a fighter?"

"I've been training for these games since I was two years old."

"So what's your greatest strength?"

"Well, let's just say I haven't been wasting the last 16 years." There was a glint of steel in her smile this time.

"So, what do you think of your amazing outfit?"

"It's gorgeous! I'd like to thank my prep team for putting up with me. I can be a bit grouchy in the mornings."

There was a snort from one of the team in the audience. She suspected it was the one who'd she'd attacked and pinned to the wall.

-x-

Faith's lip quirked up in the corner. She wouldn't be waking Orchid up in the mornings. Except maybe with a knife...

-x-

"So, do you feel like you're in with a chance of winning the games?"

Orchid gave a deadly smile. "I don't think I have a chance of winning."

Ceaser looked suprised. "You don't?"

"No. I know that I'm going to win."

The buzzer rang, and Orchid gave the crowd a smouldering and confident smile, before sauntering back to her seat.

-x-

Faith smiled innocently as Orchid returned.

Orchid gave Faith a nasty look, and sat back down, looking impassively around the crowd.

-x-

Cressie unsteadily stood and took a tentative step toward her interview. With every step she began to look more confident. She began to feel more confident. The interview itself was nothing special, just the usual questions about home life, family and friends, and strengths. The content didn't matter to Cressie. What mattered was the way she began to feel less afraid and to smile more.

What mattered was the beginning of her metamorphosis.

-x-

Acacia fiddled with her dress slightly, finding the smooth material comforting.

Her eyes lined with thick green eyeliner and mascara remained calculating, her occasional smirk, sly but not in a way that would place her as a looser, or a winner, just in the middle

-x-

Cat bit her lip and waited nervously for her go.

Faith blew Orchid another kiss, loving to annoy her. Orchid pretended not to see Faith, instead ignoring her completely. Faith continued smiling at Orchid.

-x-

Cat nervously stepped towards Ceaser as her name was called. "So hi there Catherine, how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you Ceaser." she managed to say quietly.

"That good." he smiled encouragingly at her as she sat down. "May I say you look truly magical tonight, Catherine? Doesn't she folks?" he addressed to the audience, who clapped.

-x-

Orchid snorted.

-x-

Cat smiled sweetly at them all. "Thank you." she said, "And you can call me Cat if you want."

"Cat? More like kitten!" Ceaser joked. The audience 'awwwwed'

Cat smiled up at him.

"So Kitten, what's your favourite thing about the Capitol?"

"The people! Everyone I've met here so far has been so lovely to me! Especially my prep team and my amazing stylist Heather!" she gestured towards her prep team, who all beamed and gave her the thumbs up. More applause.

"And what a magnificent job they did too!" Ceaser took in the fairy princess look. "What did you think when you first saw the dress?"

"I could hardly believe it was me staring back out of that mirror!"

"Give us a spin, Kitten?"

She stood up, and spun gently on the spot, the gossamer fabric rippling behind her. The audience all clapped.

She giggled and sat back down.

-x-

Faith watched Cat, wondering vaguely if she could see the innocent giggling girl covered in blood clutching a knife. She almost shuddered.

-x-

"So, Cat, I know that your session with the Gamemakers didn't go to well.

Would you like to talk about that?"

Cat went pink, and her eyes swam with tears. "I tried my hardest. I guess I'm just not very good and some things. I nearly killed some of the other contestants though, just by making them laugh so much they could hardly breathe!"

Ceaser chuckled kindly at this. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

A tear slid down Cat's cheek. "I really hope so. I really miss my brothers."

Ceaser slid an arm around her. "Hey, don't cry now! You'll ruin all your pretty make-up."

Cat gave a chocked laugh. More 'Awwww''s rang out from the audience, along with a couple of 'Bless her!"'s

"Give us a smile!" Ceaser said, and Cat smiled wetly. "That's better. So Kitten, what do you think you'll do in the games?"

"I'll just have to keep trying my best I suppose. And hope its good enough."

The buzzer rang.

-x-

Acacia watched the girl. Poor girl. She thought. Stands no chance. Kinda like me.

-x-

Orchid smiled to herself at Cat walked back to her seat, wiping her tears.

This will be easy. Much too easy. Maybe she'd draw it out to give everyone at home a show? Especially sweet little Catherine's brothers, who the poor ickle baby misses so much.

-x-

Faith sat boredly, not entirely bothered by any of the other interviews. She studied them quietly, figuring their weaknesses easily.

-x-

Cat sat back down, smiling bravely at the cameras.

-x-

Acacia was even surer than ever that she was going to die; the interview was the least on her worries.

-x-

Cat noticed the girl from District Seven looking worried. She shot her an encouraging smile.

Acacia saw the young girl shoot her a smile. Her eyes flickered away. She wanted to smile back. But she didn't want to appear nice. She didn't want to appear anything. Cat actually felt a little bit hurt. Which was of course ridiculous. That girl would probably be trying to kill her tomorrow, so it was stupid to get upset about a rejected smile. Acacia felt bad, but didn't let out any emotion, except a plain expression, as if she could leap out and change at any given moment. Cat bit her lip and looked away from the girl.

-x-

Orchid's sharp eyes noticed this exchange and a small smirk flashed across her mouth. Here was another girl who seemed to dislike Cat. She could probably use that to her advantage somehow...

-x-

Acacia's eyes flickered around. She wasn't a killer; she knew there was no possible way she could really kill, unless it was life or death in the end. She sighed inwardly. Sneaky. I have to be. She thought.

-x-

Cat sighed almost inaudibly. She was tired of sitting straight and looking nice. Her back was beginning to hurt.

-x-

Faith's lips were curled up in a smirk, still, wrapping some fingers around her locket. Alone. She chanted in her head. Always alone. Cat caught sight of Faiths smirk, but saw the loneliness in her eyes. She shot her a secret smile, while the cameras were looking away, to try and remind her that she wasn't alone. Her gaze flickered to Cat, her hand slipping from her locket. She faintly returned the smile, but looking at Cat hurt more, reminding her that her sister left her too. Cat frowned slightly. Faith was hurting and she wasn't sure why. If they hadn't have been about to head into a reality TV show where they would probably end up killing each other, she would have tried to find out what was wrong. But the last thing she wanted to do was irritate her...

Faith tapped her fingers against her leg slightly impatiently

-x-

Orchid noticed the smile Cat gave Faith, and curled her lip. Stupid, stupid little girl... Didn't she know never to trust a careerer? Could she really be that naive? Or was she faking? No. I'd be able to tell. Orchid thought, No ones that good an actress...

-x-

Acacia eyes flickered away from the cameras, waiting for her interview.

-x-

Jasper continued to fidget. He was getting more and more nervous with each passing minute. He hoped to all hell that his interview would go just as smoothly as everyone else's seemed to. He also noted that some of the tributes were downright scary... like that girl from District 2. He shuddered.

Orchid? Was that her name? Such a pretty name for a scary girl. He also learned the names of the two girls that he constantly saw around the place.

Faith, District 1 and a seemingly confident Career. She scared him too. A small smile graced his lips as he listened to the other girl he recognized.

So... her name was Catherine, was it? Pretty name for a pretty face. Jasper watched as she spoke her fears about being in the arena. He shook his head. The Games were all about making people give in to their fears. He snorted. Like he'd be a puppet for the Capitol.

-x-

Cat went to nibble a nail, but stopped at a wrathful look from her stylist. She saw the boy from 12 smile at her. She smiled widely back, happy that there was someone here that wasn't grumpy! She caught Orchids eye. She seemed to be silently mocking her. Cat shuddered. There was something about Orchid that gave her the creeps. Probably her total lack of pity...

-x-

Acacia's eyes remained calm and emotionless, when Faith looked over at the girl she saw nothing but a black face, but inside Acacia wanted to cry, even if she didn't show it at all

-x-

Jasper swore that Catherine's brilliant smile may as well have blinded him. He felt truly sorry that Pandem was going to lose another beautiful person.

People were so sour and shallow these days. He glanced nervously at Orchid who was still glaring venomously at everyone with a pulse. He shuddered again, and looked away. He glanced up at the Stylist platform and Ink caught his eye. He smiled comfortingly and gave a subtle thumbs up. Jasper gave him a meek smile in response, before looking away again.

-x-

Orchid sat perfectly, studying her own blood red nails. She shot Faith a look from under her eyelashes. She is so irritating!

Faith's act still remained perfect, with no crack in her performance, she hoped. Her bright eyes swept the audience, spending a moment to smile at some. Orchid ground her teeth. Her eyes swept over Orchid, and she smiled with pure innocence. Orchids eyes flashed with rage. Faith bated her eyelashes and blew her a kiss. Orchid made a low snarling sound. Cat bit her lip.

-x-

Acacia bit her cheek to calm herself before swiftly standing and making her way to the chair.

"Hello, Acacia. I see all our stylists have been doing very well tonight."

She smiled the way she'd practised, but tried to appear bland. No one to notice her, that's what she wanted. "Yeah. Everyone's looking great tonight." She said sincerely.

Ceaser smiled. "So, what's life back at home Acacia?"

She smiled. "Ah... it's nothing compared to the Capitol. And you can call me Ace."

"Acacia's a pretty name, don't you like it?"

"I do... it's just easier to say Ace."

"Well, Acacia certaintly suits you."

-x-

Cat noticed that it was the girl who had shunned her earlier. She appeared to quiet sly. Cat sighed, and began to study the faces in the audience.

-x-

Orchid's eyes turned to the girl, and just as quickly flickered away. Boring.

Drab. Dead in under a minute.

-x-

"Thanks." She said, smiling lopsidedly.

"No problem sweetie. So, got any tactics for the games?"

"That would be telling." She said still smiling.

"Of course it would." He chuckled. "Any special people at home?"

"My family. I miss them, a lot. I told them I would do what it takes to return home."

"Of course you did. And are you going to stick to that?"

"Definitely." She said with a nod as the buzzer sounded.

Acacia said her goodbyes and scurried back to her chair, glad it was over.

-x-

A camera came Jaspers way and he offered the crowd a smouldering secret smile and flirtatious wink. Once the camera passed he slumped down again. It was becoming too much effort to keep up his faux-charm. He couldn't wait till he was in the arena. Then he could escape.

Cat sighed, and noticed the District 12 boy looking tired. She smiled at him again, not as widely this time, but just as friendly. He seemed really nice. But then again, these were the Hunger Games. He could always be pretending. However, something about him just made her instinctively trust him.

Jasper was jittery. He bounced his leg, chewed his lip and the inside of his cheek and was close to giving into biting his nails. He just wanted his interview over and done with. He sneakily slid his eyes to Catherine and back.

Perhaps it was the impending doom that was looming over his head, but Jasper had suddenly decided that he liked the girl. He shook his head furiously to clear his thoughts. No. This is not the time to start getting attached to people. Almost everyone here will die in the next few days.

-x-

Faith sighed, she was bored of interviews. Her act didn't crack at all though; she still sat perfectly straight, smiling at the audience.

-x-

Cat kept smiling, concentrating on looking cute, when in reality she was aching from sitting so still.

-x-

Emily sat on the chair, her back perfectly straight, and her hands folded in her lap. She didn't even bother smiling; she just kept the same, unreadable expression on her face. Inside her heart fluttered like a trapped bird, and the audience has a hungry cat eyeing it lustily. They were hungry for some prey, but Emily would assure them that she was not it. Emily's eyes slowly swept the room, being completely void of any emotion what-so-ever.

-x-

Faith's eyes swept over a girl with a calm blank facade. She studied her for a second before releasing her hair was beginning to curl again; she frowned slightly before smiling at the audience, blowing them another kiss.

-x-

Orchid's sharp eyes surveyed the girl, but dismissed her almost immediately.

-x-

Ceasar smiled at Emily, but she still sat completely emotionless.

"So, Emily, do you have any family?" he asked, grinning at her.

Emily nodded. "Some brothers." she replied quietly, her expression completely unreadable.

"Some brothers, eh? Must be pretty tough growing up with a bunch of boys, I bet. What do you like best about The Captiol?"

Emily shrugged. "It's pretty nice. The food's nice. The people are... nice."she commented solemnly.

"Well we're glad you think it's nice, right everyone?" he called to the audience, which proceeded to shout back positive responses. "Okay, so here's something completely unorthodox: What's your favourite colour?" he asked playfully, noting the faint look of surprise from Emily.

"Uh... I suppose... Green maybe?" her eyes widened slightly in surprise at the random question. The buzzer sounded, and she let out an inward sigh of relief.

"Well, that's time up for you, so we'll see you in the arena!" he called as Emily walked gracefully back out to the other tributes. Victims, she thought bitterly

-x-

Faith still smiled innocently, waving at the audience

-x-

Thom leant back against his chair, giving a cocky, lop-sided grin and a wink at one of the cameras. He lazily surveyed the competition; inwardly he decided who was weaker than him, and who was stronger, but outwardly he just gave a look of disinterest.

-x-

Acacia was bored of waiting; she'd been waiting for ages. She wanted the games to begin now, she wanted to know whether she was going to live or die.

-x-

Thom kept a wary eye on the smiling Catherine. He didn't like the look of her at all. He liked to judge people on appearance; it was a much easier way of learning he found. He winked at a camera again, making sure that the audience knew he thought it would be easy. He didn't think it at all.

-x-

Faith blew another kiss towards the audience and cameras, her purposely overly innocent act working perfectly. She forced herself not to try and pull the fabric of the dress down and instead sat perfectly straight with a tilted chin, her hair beginning to curl again.

-x-

"So..." Ceaser began, before quickly flipping through a few documents and adding, "Symonn." Even Symonn knew that that was a bad start to an interview.

"What would you say is your strongest tactic for the games?" before giving him a sort of a smile, that looked like an insect had flown into his mouth and he was trying to kill it with his teeth.

"Um. I guess I'll just go out there. And. And...fight. And...and..." Symonn wiped sweat off his forehead before croaking out. "And do District 11 proud." Before manipulatively throwing his scrawny fist in the air and smiling nervously. He put it down when he heard no applause. Ceaser laughed before swiftly moving on.

"So, will you be fighting for anybody? Perhaps a special lady?" Symonn's turquoise blinkers became wide as spaceships. He looked around and saw a small cluster of girls with acne, bingo!

"There is no special lady at the moment," he answered in a pseudo-slick manor before winking at the pimply girls, who squealed with delight. Ceaser smiled in the same manner. Symonn began to relax, hoping he'd broken the ice a bit.

"So," Caesar cleared his throat. "You're looking a little different to how you looked at the parade." Symonn laughed, in a manner that screamed 'I'm so cool, I know how to laugh'.

"Yep. The stylist pretty much had to perform surgery, Caesar." This was followed by a wave of laughter, which was a relief as it was pretty much the first noise the crowd had made since he came on other than a couple of 'boos' and 'get offs' from a couple of kids at the back. Caesar gave a patronising laugh before butting in with the next question.

"So, do you have any messages for your family and the people back home in District 11?" Symonn's fake smile completely vanished and so did his throat.

He scratched his ear and there was silence for a minute, until Caesar prompted him to answer with a "Well...?"

Symonn composed himself, stared straight at the camera in the least intense manor possible to him and said "I said everything I needed to say at the reaping." The audience's reaction to this, could be described using the oxymoron 'a deafening silence' Caesar gulped before smiling and lightening things up by asking Symonn his favourite colour.

"Green of course. You should know that Caesar, I'm an agriculture lad." The audience laughed warmly. Pretty soon after the buzzer sounded. Symonn exhaled deeply.

As Symonn came off, the first person to come into his thoughts was Faith. He didn't really understand why, he just felt better when he was near her, he felt like he was safe with her.

-x-

Faith rapped her nails repeatedly against the arm of the chair. Nearly over.

She told herself, still smiling at the audience

-x-

"Jasper Hawn, why don't you join me up here." Jasper flinched as his name was called. He exhaled shakily and stole a glance at the stylist podium. Ink grinned at him and mouthed 'good luck', gracing him with a wink. Jasper sighed and closed his eyes, counting backwards from 5. He opened his eyes again and fixed the crowd with a playful wink and a gorgeous smile. Jasper gracefully flopped himself into the chair beside Caesar, and gave the host a lazy smile.

"'Ello, Cesear. And heellloooo to all the lovely ladies in the crowd tonight~!" He crooned at the cameras. He was rewarded with a dull roar in his ears. Caesar looked at him with a gentle smile.

"My, Jasper, what a sweet voice you have. Do you sing?" Jasper shook his head and laughed, a soft breathy kind.

"No. The whole district will think I'm a girl. And we can't have that, can we?" Jasper's smile widened a little as a few 'no's echoed from the crowd.

Caesar grinned and shook his head in agreement.

"No, of course not. So, how do you plan on winning this year? Hopefully not by singing people to death?" Jasper chuckled, and flipped his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm quite literally a ghost. I figured that if I stay out of everyone's way, they'll all forget I'm there." Like the rest of the District. He thought bitterly. Jasper never let the dark thought show on his open and happy face.

"But, should anyone cross my path, they might find themselves... rather high in the air." Jasper smiled secretively, earning some confused looks in the crowd. Caesar clapped his hands.

"Any enemies yet?"

"No." Jasper casted his eye out along the tributes, hoping to catch the eye of one in particular. "But there is one that I'd like for an ally..." Jasper let his smouldering gaze linger in her general direction before smiling at the crowd once more. Caesar looked briefly at his watch.

"Ooh, we're almost out of time. Any last words for your folks back home?"

Here, Jasper's eyes narrowed. He stood up gracefully and glared right into the cameras.

"What family?" And the siren blared. Jasper walked off the stage, waving and sending kisses out to whoever wanted them. He was pretty sure he lost his chance at getting a sponsor now.

-x-

Faith watched with a raised eyebrow and a dull smirk, still sending sweet smiles towards the crowds.