A/N: Hey guys I'm back! :) The INTERVIEWS! And I'm pretty sure that the chapter after this is going to be the Games, or the chapter after that one! :) This story has gone by really quicly! :) We're already at chapter 8! :D I'm really excited about writing about the games guys. Once again, don't forget to vote on my poll. Just go on my profile and click on vote now and the poll will appear! :)
Chapter 8
The Interviews
"We're far from home, it's for the better
What we dream, it's all that matters
We're on our way, united
Turn the crowd up now, We'll never back down
Shoot down a skyline, watch it in primetime
Turn up the love now, listen up now, turn up the love
Who's gonna save the world tonight?
Who's gonna bring you back to life?
We're gonna make it, you and I
We're gonna Save The World tonight"
Save the World – Swedish House of Mafia
Lillian Conner's POV District 8's Female Tribute
"So, what am I going to be wearing for the interviews?" I ask my stylist nervously. Hopefully I'll get something decent. Our chariot costumes weren't bad, though. They were actually quite good.
"You'll see in a minute, I'm going to go get your dress, just stay here." My stylist responds quickly. Hopefully I've already got a few sponsors. This is my last chance to get sponsors though, so I have to really do my best. My training score wasn't amazing it was just average. My odds weren't amazing either, apparently I have the odds of 27-1 of winning, not great odds. It scares me a little how the Gamemakers give us odds, they're basically telling you that you're going to die pretty soon. I always knew that I never stood a chance, but when your odds flash on the television screen, it just makes the reality sink in deeper. My stylist's back with a short purple dress that has purple, pink and blue gems stuck to parts of the dress. It has a long purple fabric that's attached to the side of the dress that almost touches the floor.
"Wow…" I say a bit in shock, I wasn't expecting my stylist to give me such an impressive dress. He isn't a bad stylist, but I wasn't expecting him to design this.
"I knew you'd love it! It's beautiful isn't it?" he says excitedly as I put it on. The dress is slightly tight, but not as horrible as my mentor described it. My mentor, Cecilia, said that she was put in a dress so tight that she could barley breathe during her interview. She ended up winning so I guess it didn't really matter.
"Great now the interviews will begin in about 30 minutes, so how about we go meet your escort and your mentors?" He says to me as he leads me out of the styling room. I see Hunter leaving his styling room as well, he shoots another menacing glare at me. By this point, I'm used to them. You got used to them after the 30th one. I simply ignore him and follow my stylist. I get the point that he's a career and all, but why does he want to intimidate me so badly? I mean, he already knows he's far better than me and he's got much better odds than me, so why bother? You'd think that a career from District 8 would be relatively nice, but no, clearly not. He's just like the others, completely brainwashed.
"Here they are! Here they are!" Squeals the escort into our ears. "Tonight is a big night! Make sure you're both ready! This is the time to make a big impression on the audience!" She continues. Cecilia walks over to me and greets me with a smile, while Woof heads over to Hunter. These are our last two victors… Cecilia and Woof. Apart from them, there are only three other living victors in District 8. Decida, Rai and Leech. Two of them are in their 70's and Leech is in his 50's. Isn't this why Hunter volunteered or something? Because there aren't enough victors in 8? I really don't care. All I care about right now are my interviews. I don't really have too much of a strategy for the interviews. Cecilia told me to talk about clothes, because the Capitol loves anything related to fashion, so if I talk about clothes and textiles and how District 8 has an influence on the Capitol's fashion, then I should be fine. Hunter's probably going to come across as some bloodthirsty career that can't wait to get into the arena, at least that's what all careers come across as, usually. How does that not bore the Capitol?
"Alright! We're starting soon! We have to go go go!" squeals our escort once more.
Darren Hacker's POV District 3's Male Tribute
The Interviews are about to start. I'm slightly nervous, but not too much, this isn't going to determine whether I live or not. I understand the concept of sponsors, but I'm in an alliance, a pretty big alliance if I do say so myself, odds are they'll like at least one of us. That should be good enough to get us some sort of help during the games. Hopefully we won't need too much of it. That is if our strategy works of course. Our plan is to stick as a group during the initial bloodbath, not getting separated, then as a group we all try to get as many weapons and survival items as possible, we then flee the cornucopia as a group. No one will dare to attack us when we're moving in a pack of four. After that, we wait everyone out as they die during the games, and then once most of them are dead, there probably won't be many alliances left, which will make it easier for us to pick off the remaining tributes. It's true that we're not the strongest tributes, but considering that there won't be any alliances by that point, except for ours, we could easily pick off others. Four against one are good odds. Of course not always will we be able to kill a tribute quickly without any damage done to our alliance, that's were my plan comes into action. I let the three of them get into a fight with the tribute while I simply run around for backup at a safe distance, and wait for the fight to be over. Hopefully, our alliance will then slowly decrease in numbers as we pick off more tributes. Then, the final three, same strategy, let my ally do the work, and in a moment when both tributes are vulnerable, I strike and win. A simple, easy plan that will hopefully work, because I don't have any other ideas.
Caesar's voice snaps me back to reality.
"Welcome audience, to the 72nd Hunger Game Interviews! In short moments they'll all be up here, this year's tributes!" Lots of roaring is heard from the crowd as Caesar moves over to his seat. Before he sits down, he faces the audience again.
"We begin with District 1! Please welcome our first tribute… Claire!" The blonde girl walks up the stage with a seducing smile. She greets Caesar with the same smile. Her short tight dress adapts to the curves of her body making her really provocative. She answers all of Caesar's questions in a very seducing manner as she occasionally winks at the audience. Typical District 1 girl approach, no surprises here. Soon enough, her time's up and the District 1 boy is now taking the stage. The boy plays off the funny and cool side with the audience, cracking jokes every once in a while which makes the audience chuckle quite a bit. He also shows his vicious side when Caesar asks him what his strategy for the games is. He describes various killing procedures he might use on some of the tributes. This gives me the shivers. I'm most likely one of his targets. I try to push the thought away from my mind while the District 2 girl takes the stage. To my surprise, she plays off the innocent side with Caesar, acting as if she weren't going to participate in a fight to the death. She tried to show Caesar her sweet side. This is a terrible approach. The girl is a career! To get sponsors shouldn't she want to show her viciousness and her determination for killing? I have no idea what this girl is thinking. Logan takes the stage now. As the crowd chants his name, I realize that I've learnt this guy's name as well. For a second I'm shocked because I was oblivious to most of the tribute's name's and personal details for the majority of the time. I'm too lost in my thoughts to notice Ariadna running up to the stage with a huge smile plastered on her face. Once I do notice her, she's leaving the stage and I'm being called on. Here goes nothing.
"Welcome Darren!" Caesar smiles warmly.
"So Darren tell me, what do you like most about the Capitol?" He asks me eagerly, and I say the first thing that comes to mind.
"The food." This gets me quite a few chuckles from the crowd and Caesar himself. What's so funny? The food is incredible here, much better than in three! Everything there is so polluted that the majority of the food isn't great.
"Funny boy" He says as he pats my leg.
"Now seriously Darren, let me ask you about the games you'll be in in less than 24 hours now." This makes my heart sink. He's right. In much less than 24 hours I'll be fighting for my life, praying to make it through one more day, one more hour, even one more minute.
"What do you envision the arena to be?" I really use my intellect to answer this question. Usually, when I'm asked to predict or estimate things, I really do try to do it as precisely as possible. I guess it's just a District 3 habit.
"Well, considering we have a new head Gamemaker, he's probably going to try to impress the audience to make himself stand out. So the arena can really be anything. I wouldn't be able to say precisely what theme or what style it will follow, but I can tell you that the arena will be packed with all sorts of surprises and traps. Something we won't expect." I respond eagerly. This is the first time that I actually think about what the arena is going to be. There's honestly no way of telling.
"Ah, well I see you really have thought it through. Tell me about back home Darren, what really motivates you to come back?" I think about this. To be honest, I really don't have a sob story or anything of the sort. Many tributes this year do though. There's the girl from 10 with her sick sister that might die if she doesn't get medical help from the Capitol. Then there are the siblings from 7, which have left their mother alone at home to cope with everything going on. I can't even compare. If I died, I wouldn't be that missed. My family would be sad of course, but they'd be fine without me. One mouth less to feed. If I want any chance of sponsors I need a sob story, and since I don't have one, I need to make something up. I say what first comes to mind.
"My mother, she's got a disease which will kill her soon. The Capitol medicine can help her, if I can manage to get it then she could live. Right now she's got a bit less than a year of life left." I just basically adapted to District 10 girl's story. There are a few aw's coming from the audience and Caesar looks at me in pity. I can't help but feeling sorry for them, I've literally just tricked an entire nation of people into believing that my mother has some deadly disease. This should get me some sponsors. Caesar prepares another question, but my time's up. He shakes my hand and introduces me once more to the Capitol audience, I smile warmly and quickly get off stage.
Andrew Stang's POV District 10's Male Tribute
The girl from District 4 takes the stage now. Many roars are heard, just like when the other careers went up. The girl plays off the mysterious and intelligent side and it works very well for her, the audience loves her just as much as the other careers. The boy from 4 comes on and does a typical career interview, but it seems awfully forced, something tells me that this isn't his really personality at all. He seems much too polite too. The girl from 5 comes on now, you can really see the difference in cheers when a career comes on and when a regular tribute comes on. The Capitol really annoys me sometimes. The idea of the Hunger Games is already horrible, but the way they host them and the routine they do in order to prepare for them is also terrible. Everything is done to add utmost excitement for the viewers, it's sick. When I look back up at the screen, the girl is returning, and Braydon is coming up. This is the kid that asked me for an alliance. I obviously denied, you can trust no one in a game like this, making close ties simply ends up being a burden. Braydon tries to imitate the confident and vicious career interview, he manages to have a decent interview, but nothing compared to the careers. The audience probably views him as a career wannabe. The girl from 6 tries to look confident because she scored an 8 in training. She tries to make herself the underdog, and it works very well. The Capitol loves this, a really smart act to play really. Her mentor must've probably given her this idea. Then it hits me. Her mentor is last year's victor, Elle. She was a smart girl that one, but she had a lot of luck too. But you have to have luck to win these games, even if you're a career. The boy from District 6 is running up to the stage now, with a nervous smile. You can tell that he's really nervous, he keeps on stuttering and his legs are slightly shaking. He isn't going to get many sponsors, his training score was mediocre and he isn't a memorable tribute. A bloodbath. The pair from 7 both play the sob story act were they both are really sad that one of them if not both of them are going to die, the boy keeps on telling Caesar that he's going to do anything to make sure his sister wins the games. Then the girl from 8 comes on, she talks about fashion and about how District 8 is so important to the Capitol's fashion. She also talks about her dress and how the materials on it are directly imported from District 8. The Capitol love anything related to fashion, and when a tribute talks about something they're passionate about, they love it. Many roars and cheers are heard form the crowd as she leaves the stage. The boy from 8 plays off the career interview as well. He does a much better job than Braydon. Probably because he is a career, the audience loves him. They love careers that come from outline Districts, such as him. The pair from 9 both try to come across as innocent children, which in their case works against them. Everyone views them as bloodbath deaths and pity them. And you definitely don't get sponsor when people pity you and know you're going to die. People only sponsor careers, underdogs and big alliances. Hopefully I can fall under the underdog section. Because I need sponsors since I'm going in there alone.
Iris is returning from her interview when I'm snapped back to reality by my escort. How did Iris do? She has a smile plastered on her face as she leaves the stage, leaving me to guess that she probably did very well. My name is being called as I walk up onto the stage with a huge grin. I need to try and look confident. I need to be an underdog. I scored an 8, which is a very good score for someone in District 10. Caesar stands up to shake my hand and I confidently smile at him. For all I know, Caesar could be a sponsor himself. I sit down in the very comfortable chair.
"You got a very high score during training, an 8" says Caesar with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I did" I say as I look over to the audience with confidence. I see people cheering and smiling my direction, this is going well.
"Now that you know every tribute's skill, and your own in comparison to theirs, do you have a strategy for the games?"
"Yeah, I do. Firstly, I haven't allied with anyone. In a game like the Hunger Games, no one can be trusted. There can only be one winner. For the games themselves, you'll just have to wait and see." I say with a mysterious smile. I was about to explain my strategy, but with the other tributes listening, I can't afford to let people know my strategy. But now that I think about it, I don't really have one. All I've focused on so far was not trusting anyone and observing the others' skills. Oh well, I'll figure something out tonight with Felix, my mentor.
"Aha, so you don't trust anyone at all?"
"Nope, everyone here wants to go home as much as I do, everyone here could take my life without much thought. Better not to make close bonds, they're simply a burden later on."
"I see, and have you been observing the other tributes?"
"Oh yes of course, I've made sure that I forget none of them." I say trying to sound smart, I could come across as intelligent and strong.
"And what do you think of them then? Since you haven't made any close ties with anyone, do you have any opinions on this year's group of tributes?" The question surprises me at first, and it takes me a while to process what the man just asked. When I open my mouth to answer, the words come out without thought.
"They're a bunch of idiots. The careers are all just vicious and bloodthirsty. All they care about is fame and fortune. Too bad they're all going to die huh? The pair from 3 are weaklings, I could take them both in a second. The boy from 5 seems somewhat stupid, and his District partner is nothing of interest. The girl from 6 thinks she's all mighty and strong, but she's not, and the boy from 6 is a bit of an idiot. The pair from 7 are just attention seekers that are trying to make up this sob story to make everyone love them, pretty pathetic if you ask me. The girl from 8 is saying a bunch of stuff that she doesn't really care about to impress everyone in the audience, no interest in her whatsoever. The boy from 8 is basically a career wannabe, not much more to be said. And the pair from 9 are both going to die in the bloodbath. They were dead the second they're names were called out during the reaping. Iris, my District partner, is like the pair from 7, she's making up this whole story about her sister being sick so she can get all the attention from the crowd. Too bad she's never coming back to District 10 huh? Then there's the group of outcasts. That's the tributes from 11 and 12. Not much can be said about them, they're probably going to slowly die during the games for stupid reasons, like dehydration or hunger. They'll all slowly die one by one. And that about sums up this year's tributes. Or shall I say, this year's idiots…" I say all this with a huge grin on my face. The audience is silent. It takes me a while to realize what I've just been saying for the past minute. Caesar looks at me slightly shocked. My buzzer going off interrupts the awkward silence. As I leave the stage, dirty looks from everyone are being shot at me.
"You're dead meat kid." I hear a voice from behind me say. It comes from the boy from 1.
"A career wannabe? I just can't wait until the arena, when I can get my hands on you and slowly but painfully kill you. I'm going to see your little body slowly going still as I suck the life away from you." This comes from the District 8 boy. The girl from 11 is on stage now trying to lighten up the mood by making a few jokes. I just head straight over to where my mentors and escort are standing.
"Are you crazy!? Have you gone mad?! What did you think you were doing up there insulting every single tribute?!" My escort screams into my ear.
"Like the career from 1 said, you are dead meat." This time it comes from Iris.
"I'm no less dead meat than you are Iris!" I scream at hear as I head straight for the elevator. I'm not here to make friends, but I should've never done that. Now every single tribute hates me. All I wanted was to stick out, to be the underdog. Guess I'm a dead underdog now. As the elevator reaches the 10th floor, all I can think about are the games that will start tomorrow. In less than 24 hours, I could be lying dead on the ground, my body lifeless body still, just like the career from 8 described. I sprint for my room and throw myself on my bed dreading the games that would start tomorrow, knowing that every second that passes, I'm one second closer to the hell of my life, the Hunger Games.
A/N: Finally! This chapter is over, I'm sorry I didn't do the rest of the interviews, I originally planned to continue, but I thought it would be more emotional to finish on that depressing note. So yeah, now everyone hates Andrew Stang, the boy from District 10. Guys I really need more reviews. Like this isn't even funny I seriously need more reviews cuz I only have four so far all from the same person :/ So please review cuz I feel like I'm writing to myself at the moment. Is anyone even reading this? Aha, I know some of you voted on my poll, thanks so much, so if you have done so already please go vote on my poll. All you have to do is go to my profile and click on vote now at the top of the page and the poll will appear. You can vote up to three choices so make sure you don't only vote for one. I will be deleting the choices as the games progress. Thanks for reading and I leave you with the list of tributes :D
Tributes:
District 1:
Female: Claire Cludiant (17)
Training Score: 10
Odds of winning: 5-1
Male: Keaton Gold (17)
Training Score: 10
Odds of winning: 5-1
District 2:
Female: Melissa Hemmis (16)
Training Score: 9
Odds of winning: 6-1
Male: Logan Voss (18)
Training Score: 10
Odds of winning: 4-1
District 3:
Female: Ariadna Meyer (15)
Training Score: 6
Odds of winning: 29-1
Male: Darren Hacker (13)
Training Score: 4
Odds of winning: 35-1
District 4:
Female: Sophia Press (17)
Training Score: 9
Odds of winning: 7-1
Male: Dale Alderman (17)
Training Score: 9
Odds of winning: 6-1
District 5:
Female: Silvia Heffernan (15)
Training Score: 7
Odds of winning: 27-1
Male: Braydon Serre (16)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 21-1
District 6:
Female: Mai Kilson (16)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 20-1
Male: Evan Stein (13)
Training Score: 6
Odds of winning: 30-1
District 7:
Female: Abigail Gould (16)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 22-1
Male: Nathan Gould (17)
Training Score: 9
Odds of winning: 15-1
District 8:
Female: Lillian Conner (16)
Training Score: 7
Odds of winning: 27-1
Male: Hunter Lever (17)
Training Score: 9
Odds of winning: 8-1
District 9:
Female: Rylie Naples (13)
Training Score: 3
Odds of winning: 50-1
Male: Malik Stevens (13)
Training Score: 5
Odds of winning: 40-1
District 10:
Female: Iris Perricone (14)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 15-1
Male: Andrew Stang (16)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 22-1
District 11:
Female: Makayla Zideck (15)
Training Score: 6
Odds of winning: 35-1
Male: Tristan Ray (18)
Training Score: 8
Odds of winning: 14-1
District 12:
Female: Autumn Govern (16)
Training Score: 7
Odds of winning: 27-1
Male: Austin Pelikan (15)
Training Score: 7
Odds of winning: 25-1
