𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯 ℭ𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔡 - Clove and Cato/Clato

XII

"Ladies and gentlemen, your masters of ceremonies, Cesar Flickerman!" The ballad of trumpets was playing as Cesar excitedly greeted the audience. Glimmer was the first to be called up. She excitedly strutted out onto the stage with confidence. She radiated pure femininity. I wasn't sure how I would be able to compete with that. I crossed my arms and tensed up a little bit, but Cato's touch came back, and this helped.

Next was Marvel, and he demonstrated confidence and humor. He tugged the audience along on a leash. "Now Marvel," Cesar addressed him, "a little birdie told me that you and a certain other tribute might have had a secret love affair."

My eyes widened, and I whipped around at Cato, whose jaw was clenched. He didn't look back at me and his hand removed itself from my body.

"Well, Cesar, you could say that," he smiled coyly.

"Do we get to know who this special girl is?" He questioned.

"Well, I'm not going to name any names, but she may or may not be the next one out here!" This caused an uproar from the audience. I tensed up and felt my eyes begin to water. Those sick sadistic fucks. They knew only one of us would come out alive, so why were they so into the idea of romance?

The buzzer then rung, and his time was up. When he came back offstage, he winked at me before my own name was called. I wanted to punch his smug little face. I let whatever was watering from my eyes catch onto my finger, and not stream down my face before I took a deep breath and walked on stage.

The crowd was going crazy for me, much more than they had for Glimmer or Marvel. Despite my anxiety and anger, I plastered a smile on. "Your outfit is absolutely divine!" Cesar complimented.

Keeping my smile, I replied. "Thank you, Cesar! I find that it represents my personality really well."

"How so?" He asked.

"Well, this dress depicts ancient mythological creatures called goddesses. They were very powerful," I smiled.

The audience cheered and applauded at this comment. "Oh indeed, and so are you!" He complimented and I nodded eagerly in response. "The audience is dying to know, Clove, what is going on between you and Marvel?"

Shit. I knew this question would come up. I was disturbed, but I kept my smile. "Now, Cesar, I didn't come here to talk about other tributes, I came to talk about myself," I replied charmingly. Some of the audience whooped at this.

"Very empowering," Cesar replied. It was obvious that he still wanted to discuss the topic.

"But if you must know," I continued. "Perhaps I simply wanted a taste of the luxury district," I winked.

Cesar's mouth dropped open, and the audience went crazy. "Naughty Clove!" He joked.

"Oh, I'm a lot more than that," I continued the conversation. "I am dangerous."

"Right," Cesar added, "I was told you are quite the knife thrower."

The audience piped down to listen to my skillsets. "I'm the best," I replied, suddenly changing my demeanor from sharp to deadly. I received sporadic applause but also a bit of gasps. "I could kill you from clear across the stage," I joked.

Cesar held his hands up in surrender. "Woah!" He continued the bit until the buzzer went off. "Well, you are certainly a force to be reckoned with." We stood up and he held my arm to the air. "Ladies and gentlemen, CLOVE!" It seemed as though the audience was even louder than when I first came out.

I made my way back offstage and smiled with pride thinking that I crushed it. I looked to Cato for validation that my interview was good, but he was not smiling, and was not looking at me either. I tried to subtly brush my hand against his as I walked past, but he pulled it away.