Forum Thread

Cesar takes a moment to calm down and maintain his composure before inviting the next tribute onstage. "Zahara Payne, please come on stage!" Cesar calls enthusiastically. He extends a hand towards the backstage. The crowd cheers for Zahara, but when nobody comes onstage they ever so slowly go silent. They all exchange confused looks. After a minute, Zahara finally skips onstage. A few people clap and holler, but then they go quiet when they realize that nobody else is applauding for her.

"I'm sorry! I was sleeping backstage! Your speech was boring." A few people chuckle, but then they immediately look uncomfortable when they realize that she was serious.

"Well-" Cesar says with a nervous chuckle. "Right, Zahara you had a very interesting private session. I'm sure we are all wondering why you did that?" Cesar's voice was slightly monotoned; as if he had been forced to memorize this line. Zahara doesn't answer, she was too busy fiddling with a loose thread on the chair. "Zahara?" Cesar asks.

"Hm?" Zahara sits up and glances at Cesar. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?" A flash of annoyance crosses across Cesar's face and Zahara giggles at it. "Your face looks so funny when you're mad!" She observes. She glances at the audience. "Laugh!" She shouts. When there is no reaction she stands up and stomps her foot on the ground. "Laugh!" She screams. She takes control of Cesar's fear and forces him to laugh. "Good~, good~" she purrs. She sits on the arm of Cesar's chair and grabs his chin and forces him to stare up at her. He tries to stop her, but she manages to paralyze his muscles by forcing his fit of laughter to worsen. "I've been waiting for this day." She takes a deep breath through her nose and closes her eyes. When she opens her eyes, they are black.
"I've been waiting for the day the Capitol would be foolish enough to release me! They have no idea the pain they caused me. What they caused for others. Oh, I am not ignorant of the burden many have to carry. Their pain never leaves me. Yet, you guys turn a blind eye to all their suffering. No, what you do is worse than ignoring, you encourage it! It's about time you open your eyes to the suffering, although it appears that you'll have to be forced." She drags one of her nails across his cheek and draws a bit of blood. "Does that hurt?" She asks softly. "That pain you feel, is nothing compared to what I- no, what all of us feel on a daily basis, and it's all because of the Capitol." She then shoves him back, making him and the chair topple backward. "You'll all crumble beneath my feet one day! Mark my words!" Zahara roars. Her arms were spread open as if she were about to hug an invisible person. "If I survive the arena then I'll return with a vengeance!" She promises. "I'll burn the Capitol to the ground and laugh at your faces when you have nothing. We'll all be on equal ground then, but you'll be worse off than all of us!" The buzzer goes off beside her, signaling the end of her interview. She finally releases Cesar, who gasps in surprise. She turns around and strolls offstage without a final word. She is in love with the fear that fills the air behind her.
...and scene

Where Mare's stylist lacked in colors, he made up for in creativity and elegance. He had dressed her in a pretty white dress. The stylist had draped this over her shoulders. Silver Earrings glittered from her ears, matching her eyes and making her emit a sort of silvery glow. Her hair was styled like this and she had a hair clip that matched her earrings. To top it off, she had a beautiful necklace on.

"Mare Et Tenebrae!"

Mare walks up onto the stage, waving to the audience as she did. She sits down in the chair without complaint, and smiles at Ceasar, who seems relieved she wasn't going to make him look foolish. "Nice night for it, isn't it?" she comments, waiting for him to begin. "I'll as the questions, Miss Tenebrae." he says with a chuckle, getting some laughs from the audience. "Naturally." she says, quieting down so he can speak. "Well Miss Tenebrae, can we call you Mare? Yes? Alright. I hate to start it off with such a personal question but, what does your name mean?" he asks her. Mare smiles. "A mare is a ghost that can cause freezing temperature, and loves the darkness. 'Et Tenebrae' means 'of the darkness.' So my name literally means 'ghost of the darkness.' Which is quite accurate, I really am a night owl." the crowd laughs a little. "Well Mare, how are you feeling about the other tributes?" Mare bites her lip. "Well, many of them are really strong. Or at least they appear to be." she says casually. "Well I'm sure everyone wants to know, but are you actually a ghost?" Mare smiles mournfully. "If you mean, did I die at one point, the answer is yes. And so did my girlfriend Yurei." she says, somewhat sadly. The buzzer goes off. "Well, sorry for the lack of questions. We wish you luck 'Ghost of the darkness!'" Ceasar says. Mare stands up, and fades away, getting much applause from the audience and a few "oohs and ahhs."

---

"Please welcome Maci Lam!" Cesar calls. The crowd cheers for the blonde hair girl who steps onstage. She doesn't look at them, instead, she looks at the ground. They aren't worthy of her attention. "There's no need to be nervous Maci" Cesar assures. "Please take a seat." Maci takes a seat next to Cesar, but she doesn't look up at him. "Maci, you have quite the story: 'A sick girl is sent to the Capitol,' tell me, why don't you elaborate on this story, how do you feel about being sent here?" Cesar asks. Maci's jaw clenches. How typical of the Capitol to continue convincing her that she was sick with an irreversible illness. To try to cash out on her story. It was pathetic.

"What's there to say?" Maci asks tightly. "It sucks, but what am I supposed to do?" A few of the audience members offer Maci a pitied sigh.

"What about your boyfriend? Word on the street says you two were close. How do you feel about leaving hi-" his words are cut off by Maci suddenly standing up.

"Don't!" She warns. "Please-" tears spill down her face. "You can mention anything about my life, but please, don't politicize the one thing that truly belongs to me!" As her desperate eyes meet Cesar's, she finds that he actually looked ashamed.

"Alright, we can move onto the final question: how are you going to survive in the arena without your medicine?" Cesar asks.

"I'll find a way," Maci replies mysteriously, but she doesn't mention the fact that she doesn't need it anymore. Cesar suddenly looks terrified.

"Interesting." He replies. A shiver runs down Maci's spine. Suddenly, she is worried that she made a mistake.

"Why is my medicine so important?" Maci asks slowly. She was trying to choose her words carefully.

"It keeps you alive" Cesar replies, but a bit too quickly. This raises alarms in Maci's head. Her mind scrambles to think piece this information in her head. After a second she releases a nervous sigh. She has a theory about her medicine, Cesar seemed to be the best person to drill.

"Does it?" Maci asks and Cesar flinches. "Or does it do the opposite? I've been avoiding my medicine for days now and I feel fine. But whenever I take it, I have symptoms of being sick afterward. I think The Capitol has been using it to suppress me." Her words were dangerous. She could already see Peacekeepers moving towards her on the corner of her eye. But she decided to keep pushing. "Am I right? Has the Capitol purposely been trying to kill me? Or at least weaken me? Is that why I'm here? So you guys can ensure that I'm dead? So that I can never be a threat to you?" She stands in silence, awaiting Cesar's answer. She jumps in surprise when the buzzer goes off. Cesar stands up with a tight smile. He places a hand on her shoulder and lightly pushes her away from him.

"All questions are done. Bye, bye Maci." She glares at him and races offstage. She is sent offstage with nervous applause. She weaves between tributes and hides in a dark corner to avoid the Peacekeepers, who were starting to discreetly search for her. She holds a hand over her pounding heart. "No way." She whispers. She finally has figured it out, she finally knows how she'll get better.

Kioku waited behind the stage while reading a book, interviews were not his thing at all. He preferred to keep to himself, but if need be then he would do it. When the buzzer sounded he stood up, adjusted his plain suit, and walked onstage. Cesar greeted him and they sat down.

“So Kioku, what led you to volunteer for the Hunger Games?” Cesar asked. You could clearly tell he was nervous after the previous interviews.

Kioku smiled, “Ah yes, I’ve gotten that one a lot. My main reason is that I’m interested in some of the other tributes and their powers you see. I would love to research them, no matter the cost” he said in an eerie tone.

Cesar laughed, “Research you say? How will you do that?”

Kioku pushed up his glasses, “Well a magician can never tell his secrets. Let’s just say that I like superpowers” he exclaimed with a small chuckle.

Cesar was a bit on edge after that comment, but kept asking questions. Eventually the buzzer went off and he walked offstage.


Meya’s interview was probably the worst interview in the history of the hunger games. Being a select mute and trying to protect the people that she hated from her power made it hard for an interview. All she could do was nod and shake her head. After many awkward silences the buzzer went off and she ran back behind the stage, completely embarrassed.

---

Ariel chuckled a little at Sorrento's remark of using his jacket to cover her. "I wouldn't mind if you did.~" Ariel leaned in and gave Sorrento a small peck on his nose. "Actually, I have something to confess that I wanted to tell you and Julian earlier, but I never got to."

---

T'val gave a meek smile, having jumped a little at Naru's sudden appearance. "You wouldn't mind? I'd hate to take away from your outfit." She fiddled with a random fold from the upper half, her dark skin practically shining under the lights above and around them. In all truth, she wanted to hide. More than a few of the male Tributes had given her looks, despite their supposed love at home. It unnerved her, showing so much skin. Usually, she wore a simple shirt and pants, no questions asked. It was nearly second nature for her to wear clothes that actually covered her. She was comfortable that way, without the prying eyes of the rejected landing on her bare skin. But now, with the Capitol's twisted mind wrapped around her, she really had less than a choice to wear the exposing outfits chosen.

Chuckling, Sorrento wrapped an arm around Ariel, gently squeezing her shoulder. "Whenever you're ready to talk, I'll listen. Don't force yourself and take your time." He assured, half focusing on the interviews that were going on. "We'll still love you regardless."

---

"It's really only a half cape. Honestly, the designers should have gone for a full cape or off the shoulder one if they wanted a cape at all. It works much better with your outfit, tied around the waist and adding almost another layer to that pretty skirt of yours. You might want to take off the metal piece if you can though, it'll distort the silhouette." She huffed, a part of her already missing her usual design team. They were good people. "Besides, what kind of knight would I be if I didn't help out a beautiful lady?" She tacked on, a teasing wink tossed T'val's way. Narukami could see why the capital would give her revealing clothes, the other was quite pretty and charming in her own right. It was a shame that she disliked showing off but Narukami could respect that others liked to stay modest even if she herself tended to do otherwise.

---

"Well, I've had a childhood crush on her for as long as I can remember, and it hasn't gone away," Ariel admitted to Sorrento as Star passed them, subtly pointing Star out to him. "I think I'm falling in love with her too, is. . .is that bad?" She looked up at him, holding her breath as she waited for his answer.

---

T'val opened and closed her mouth a few times, small sounds barely escaping her mouth. "Wh-.. I-.." After a moment, she laughed and shook her head. "You'd better be careful, there. Who knows what Jamie might do?" Her smile had returned, and after a moment, she frowned again. "Is distorting the image a really bad thing, though? I think, with the little distortion it gives, it sort of messes up the lack of facial features." As if to try and test, she took a step back. The afterimage hung in the air. "Punishment is Neigh." Frowning at the message, she examined it carefully. "I think it looks a little better."

Sorrento tipped his head, observing Star. He couldn't deny that she was aesthetically pretty, holding herself up like a lioness who knew she had all eyes on her. "Well," He started out, glancing down and he felt his heart drop at how apprehensive Ariel looked as if she was scared of his answer. He let out a small huff, fond smile spreading over his face as he squeezed Ariel's shoulder again. "You've always had so much love to give." He finally settled on, gently giving her a kiss. "It's never a bad thing to love people. But ultimately its your choice to decide if you want to pursue her or not. Whatever you choose, I'll support you with everything I have and I know Julian will too."

---

"I'm sure he'd agree with me when I say that you deserve to feel safe no matter the situation." Naru nodded as if she was the wisest person in the room, holding the answer to all of life's mysteries. "But what you wear and how you wear it is up to you. I'm just your friendly neighborhood model with some smattering of fashion knowlage." Sharp eyes flickered over to the mirage and her smile tightened slightly. Punishment? For what? And to whom? She was fine with whatever punishment the Capital decided to doll out to her, she was capable of taking a beating, but if it was directed to T'val then Narukami was worried. What could that message mean?

---

Ariel looked up at Sorrento, her eyes shining like a kid on Christmas. "And you're sure you really don't mind?"

Alana was rocking back and forth on her heels humming a tune under her breath as she tried to calm down. Small ice crystals forming on her hands and wrists from the child's unease.

(Imma open Alana up for interaction, but I'm heading to bed. So I'll try to post something before the barn.)

---

"Let's give it up for Shiloh Farley!"

Shiloh's heart was pounding a mile a minute as her name was called. She had made some earlier arrangments, so, in her hands, she clutched a pen and paper. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. She walked across the stage, earning some polite clapping. No one was really sure what to expect, especially after the last interviews. Shiloh sat down, and Ceaser started without hesitation. "Alright, can I just say that you look absolutley stunning today?" There was a confused silence as Shiloh wrote something down on the paper and showed it to Ceaser. "Thank..you." He read aloud. "You're quite welcome, but why don't you say it aloud?" Shiloh gestured to her throat, and shook her head, and it didn't take long for all of them to put two and two together. "Oooh, you're mute! I'm terribly sorry." Shiloh scribbled her next answer down and Ceaser read, "It's fine, a lot of people don't realize it that fast." He continued like the seasoned professional that he was, saying, "So care to explain why you're mute?" Shiloh shook her head. "Oh, come now, the audience would love to hear it!" She shook her head harder, eyes wide. "Alright..so, hear that you have a boyfriend back home, Ian was it?" Hesitantely, she nodded. "How do you think he's dealing with all of this?" She shook her head again, writing shakily, "I don't know." Seeing that the auidence was starting to side with Shiloh, he quickly said, "Time for one last question. What caused that rather erruptive training room expericence?" Shiloh tried once to write an answer, crossed it out, attempted once more, then again. By the time that she was about to hold up the paper, the buzzer rang. "Well, looks like we're all done here. Thank you Shiloh, and good luck!" Shiloh left, clutching the paper. But, she dropped it as she hurried backstage. Written in shaky letters were the words, "Something that Scares me beyond anything I've ever experienced."

---

"Let me ask it this way. Why wouldn't I? You deserve to be happy and I don't mind being in an open relationship. Sure, we're married but the heart loves what the heart loves. I don't have the right to stop you." He assured. Once upon a time, if he had been younger he might have said differently, jealousy a green eyed monster who spared no body. But Sorrento had learned from his current relationship, opened up and talked with Julian about his own feelings, came to terms with his own tangled problems, became more honest with Ariel. It had been hard, all relationship were and he had to put in the work to make it as strong as it was now. But Sorrento was glad that he had grown, long since taming the ugly writhing feelings that barred its fangs at anyone who would dare steal away his treasure into something healthier.

---

"Next up is Star!" Cesar declares. Like he has done for the rest, he extends a hand towards the curtains where Star should be waiting. The audience eagerly applauds and waits for her to appear onstage.

Star heard her name getting called and with a sigh walked up onto the stage with the poise and grace as a princess in her dress and sat down in the seat shaking her hair out of hair face.

---

"Well Star, you certainly look stunning tonight!" Cesar comments enthusiastically. "Tell us, you've been pretty quiet ever since you've been chosen, but eyes have definitely fallen upon you after the private sessions. Do you perhaps have any alliances, or are you a lone wolf?"

Star smile a little and crossed her legs at the ankles. "As of now, I plan on going solo, but that might change." She had seen Ariel and Sorento and she was happy for them, but yet her heart still ached as she loved Ariel, but never had the chance to say.

---

Cesar nods knowingly. "This Hunger Games has primarily targeted couples. Most couples were split up, but a a few were chosen together. Is there anybody that you left behind?" Cesar asks curiously.

Star nodded. "Yes, I did"

(oof short-)

---

Cesar leans forward eagerly, suddenly drawn to how vague her answer was. "Really?" He asks. "Do tell, who was this special person that you left behind?" The crowd also seems to be on the edge of their seats as they await her answer.