Katie's Interview

Katie's Interview Feb 26, 2011 18:35:10 GMT -5

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Post by phunke on Feb 26, 2011 18:35:10 GMT -5

ooc; Interview thread's locked and several people had expressed interest in reading this. Also I worked hard on it, soooo...
Yeah! :) Enjoy.

I should be living
giving my mind a chance to rewind
and play back beautiful music

"Laaaadies and gentlemen, seventeen years old, from District Three, we have-- Katie Morven!"
As the crowd clapped and buzzed with the excitement of the first few interviews, a seventeen-year-old brunette reluctantly stood from a chair she'd only perched on and stepped on-stage, straightening her skirt hem anxiously.
"So Katie, I know District Three folks haven't always done so great in training, but you came here, gave it your best shot for the Gamemakers...you got a five out of twelve. How's that making you feel with the Games so close?"

Katie giggled, wide eyes flashing with reflections of all the lights focused on her. "Not so bad actually. I mean...I know that five seems pretty...ordinary. But honestly, considering h- well, anyway, I'm not too worried about the five. I don't...really see how I could be more ready..." The left side of her mouth twisted up wryly.
"Katie, I gotta tell ya, we Capitolites are a little vain about our city. [crowd laughs] Do you think you could let me in on your favorite thing you've seen in this lovely city during your stay here?"
"I like..." Looking down at her fidgeting hands, the girl's voice dropped to a whisper in slight embarrassment. She'd never really liked telling people about her love of beauty in all forms."the vibrancy here."
"...What?"
"People in district three are happy, but here, in the Capitol- it just radiates. I think it's the colors. I sort of...I dunno- I love colors, all colors. And they're celebrated here."
"I have to say, I've only just met you and it's obvious you're as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside. Katie, I know I'm not the only man in Panem who thinks that." [crowd laughs]
"..."With her head tilted slightly sideways, Katie stared at Caesar with her brows furrowed questioningly. A slight smile was still imprinted on her lips, and the compliment was nice, but was it a question? How could the girl reply to something she couldn't discern the intentions of?
"Well? Don't you have someone special back home?"
Oh. It is a question. Before thinking, however, or even really mulling over the question at all, an expression her father had always said jokingly spilled out past a mischievous grin, her voice playful."...
...Special?...Like, stop-chewing-the-wires special?"
A moment of silence. Katie looked down with a growing sense of shame; perhaps it was one of those jokes that only she and her dad found funny.
Luckily, it turned out to be something that people just had to take in for a minute: after that terrifying moment of noiselessness, the crowd - and Caesar - burst into riotous laughter, causing Katie to look up, push her hair back, and smile serenely. It made her so blissfully happy, being here on stage in front of all these people, especially since she'd been able to successfully forget why this interview was taking place. Remembering would have put a damper on this nice moment, and that was not wanted.
"Come on now though, you're killing me! Girl like you couldn't possibly stay single for long, we gotta know who the beau is!"
Finally it dawned on Katie that all along, the interviewer had been asking her about dating! How silly, how inconsequential. For a moment her mind flickered to a moment in the Justice Building, before she'd left...but that wasn't something Caesar or the crowd needed to know. They wouldn't even be interested in Gage, she lied to herself so that she, too, could feign a lack of care. "None to speak of."
"Alright, alright, I get it, I'll stop asking about your guy." Caesar winked, displaying a bright flash of color smeared on his eyelid that made Katie grin. "So, Katie Morven, aside from seeking out beautiful colors and denying all the guys knocking at your door, what do you do to fill the hours?"
Another giggle from the seventeen-year-old. These questions were nice questions, they were happy and superficial and lovely; they reminded her of good things. Things she'd always liked but never gotten to discuss with anyone because she never thought anyone would be interested in them. "Well, not a whole lot really - free time's a bit hard to come by! I spend- spent a lot of time working at a local factory that made show- that made...light-switches. When I'm not- when I wasn't working, I'd-" Sing. "-hang out with my dad. ...I guess."
"Just your dad? Might I infer, then, that your parents are separated?"
This question was not quite so reminiscent of happiness; in fact, it produced an uncomfortable twist in the girl's stomach which she did her best to ignore. Momentary discomfort she easily covered up with a moment's hesitation followed by a nod and a bracing smile that suggested she was strong enough to deal with it.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. Is it hard, your family being split like that?" Yes. Well, no. Not now, now that I can forget. But still...
"Truth be told, I don't really...think about it, much. ...Anymore. I mean, ...yeah. I guess you could say I'm hoping that this will bring my parents a bit closer."
"That what will?"
"Me in the Games. I'm- it's silly, really. I'm sort of hoping that maybe they won't fight quite so much now that I'm..." Gone. "...away."
Caesar looked straight into the girl's eyes and gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry, we're all hoping you won't be away from home for long. Right?" He turned to the audience, eyebrows raised in a way that was almost comical in its extremity. This, however, was met with genuine, kind enthusiasm from the audience; they cheered and clapped and shouted things like yes! and you can make it home, Katie! that only served to erase her smile. All Katie could think of was that all these people in an audience which had just met her wanted her to get home, believed she could get home, and her own father couldn't do the same.
"But until then, is there anything you'll miss in particular from back home?"
Wiping her thoughts and memory of that awful exchange with her parent, Katie allowed a bright smile to take hold of her features. Her eyes shone with faraway longing as she spoke. "There's this coffee place across from work, used to go there all the time. I miss that already." Another distant smile.
"Mmmm, I'm drooling just thinking about that! Would love to talk about it more, but we're almost out of time! So, Katie Morven of District Three, any final words to anyone back home, or even your fellow tributes?"
For a moment, Katie just stared at the man sitting before her, mouth slightly agape. Totally caught off guard by the question - final words? But how, how could she push everything into crude, simplistic words? And who to address? Her father, the girl decided, was most important. He'd raised her and their exchange in the Justice Building was causing the girl a great deal of pain and angst. So though she intended to deliver some sentimental words of parting, what came out was a sad, torn reprimand.
"Dad, you should have believed I could do this. You of all people. And..." Eyes filling with tears, Katie looked down. Thinking about her father was far too hard. Trying to anchor her emotions to an object so that she could maintain the cheery demeanor that the interview had lent her, the girl touched her yellow wire bracelet, twisting it back and forth on her wrist; the familiar materials gave her comfort. Suddenly she remembered the other set of hands which had touched this bracelet: hands belonging to the only person she knew who depended on the manufacturing of the useless trinkets and machines produced in District Three for safety, stability. And that person had also been thrown from his consistent life, removed from a daily routine; she knew it would be wreaking havoc on his mind the same way it did on hers. Except that while Gage Cooper was in the hospital, Katie Morven was a tribute in the Hunger Games. Not exactly a malady from which one could recover. Forearm raised and pressed against her chest, thick yellow wires pressed to a spot over her heart, Katie's voice came out softly, tentatively. "...please get better soon...I-I'm so sorry."
Too embarrassed to look at Caesar or the audience anymore, the girl stood up from her chair a moment before the buzzer sounded; when it did, Katie strode back to her seat, glad that her stylist hadn't cared enough to make her wear heels instead of flats - she probably would have tripped otherwise. The area seemed dull once she'd taken her seat again, out of the spotlight and the adoring gazes of the crowd.