Nothing Personal

District One Interviews

The tributes filed onto the stage to tumultuous applause. District One led the way, Amber and Dark waving brightly at the crowd and beaming and bowing, Amber blowing kisses. Dark winked. District Two slid behind them, almost unnoticed, and the rest followed quietly, thinking only about sitting down to stop their legs shaking.

"Hello, and welcome to the interview stage!" chirped the interviewer, a woman with a mass of dark hair in a simple black dress. All the tributes knew her; Martina was famous for her skyscraper heels - today's pair were vivid yellow - and elaborate eye makeup. Small jewels were glued along her eyelashes and into the small laughter lines in the corners of her eyes. "Now, we've got a lot to get through, so let's get right on with the show by introducing our District One female tribute; Amber Bullit!"

Amber sashayed proudly to the stage, taking the applause and admiration with a gracious wave of her hand. She looked stunning; her dress was full length and blood red satin that shimmered in the lights and, like her reaping dress, had a slit torn suggestively up the side, almost until it was indecent. Nobody was complaining. She lowered herself elegantly into the proffered chair, reaching up to rearrange her hair and draw more attention to the gleaming tiara nestled into the folds and twists. Everything about her glittered and shone. Even Martina seemed stunned.

"Wow! Honey, you are looking amazing!" she exclaimed. Amber fluttered her false eyelashes and giggled pleasantly.

"Why thank you," she breezed, brushing her shoulder to draw attention to the cut of her dress, "Didn't Ricardo do a great job?" The light switched briefly to Ricardo the stylist, waving from the side of the stage and looking very proud of himself, before being irresistably tugged back to Amber again. This time it became obvious that something didn't fit with her outfit; a little leather necklace tied around her neck, with a small wooden cow dangling from it. Martina noticed before Amber could hide it. "Now then honey, I know Ricardo, and he would never have suggested that charming little necklace. So what is it for you?"

"Oh, this?" said Amber, fiddling suggestively with the little cow, "This was a present from my mum. She's always been very eager for me to compete and she gave me this as good luck." It looked more like something one of the District Ten tributes would have, but Martina didn't even consider saying it, in case Amber took offense.

"Is there any particular reason for it being a cow?" she asked instead. Amber pursed her lips.

"I don't know. Probably not. It's quite pretty," she answered with her trademark smile, straightening the tiara again. It sparkled teasingly in the bright lights. She glanced back at the other tributes; most were deliberately ignoring her but Dark was grinning at her meaningfully. She managed to avoid a shudder.

"So, your mother! Will she be proud of you?" Martina pressed, after a suitable silence.

"Of course. She's probably cheering at the screen right now!" Amber exclaimed.

The crowd loved this. They went wild and Martina had to wait a while before they calmed down. "Well, they clearly love you already! Do you think that will give you an advantage in the Games?"

"I don't need it!" Amber replied, to more cheers, "I mean, I'll appreciate my sponsors, but I don't think they'll give me any more of an advantage than I've already got." She followed this up with a quick wink, a friendlier version of the one she'd given Dark at the reaping.

Back in his seat, Dark scowled. That wink had been stuck in his head all the way through training, especially because she'd been ignoring him. At lunch she'd sat with the District Two tributes and acted like he wasn't there, despite his best efforts to force her to acknowledge his existance. He would have sworn that the pair from Two were laughing at him. The girl definitely had been.