Julius Flickerman's P.O.V.

"Welcome back to the finalist interviews, everybody!" I shout ecstatically to the crowd of Capitol citizens, "Please welcome Brenda Long, Nathan Brooke, Sage Salereno, Flora Cottonweed, James Oxford and Luke Wiley!"

The audience cheers the six tribute's names as they walk onto the stage and take a seat beside me.

"Congratulations on making it to the final round, tributes! I'll start with the lovely Brenda," I say.

"Hi, Julius," Brenda says quietly.

"Hello, it's so good to see that you made it so far, Brenda."

"I'm glad too," she says.

"Ok, so I want to know your thoughts on the Games."

"It was very confusing and strange. I have never been in such a dangerous situation. Plus, I didn't even know what the arena looked like. I pretty much had to rely on my allies to tell me everything that was going on."

"I thought it would be hard for you. At least you came out with only a broken arm," I say.

"Yeah, I'm not dead...yet."

"Don't have such negative thoughts. I'm rooting for you. Not to mention, you have new, really good allies."

She gives a forced smile, "I guess so. I'd prefer that somebody else would win."

"Hmmm. If anyone was to win besides you, who would you want it to be?"

Brenda pauses a few seconds before responding, "Maybe one of the twins or Kaya Willow. One of my allies would be good too."

"Good choices. How do you feel about having Mason Paits as an ally?"

"I think he is very trustworthy. He doesn't really care who his allies are. He knows that he needs them in order to get far in the Games."

"I see. Well, I'm sorry that these interviews must be so short, but I'm only allowed to ask a few questions to each of you, so I should move on to Nathan now."

"Ok," Brenda says as I face Nathan.

"So Nathan, I heard your old alliance split up. Why is that?"

"Well, at first we were gonna stay together and Blake was going to leave and join Kierra and Flora. But later, everyone wanted people to join the alliance, and those people wanted more people to join the alliance, so the alliance would've been half the tributes if it went that way. I told them that it would be best if we split up and went with who we wanted," he explains.

"So who did you end up joining?"

"Luke, Jason and James."

I nod approvingly, "Those are good ones."

"Yeah, I have a good feeling about the next Games."

"So, which arena did you like more so far, the first one or the second one?"

"Maybe the first one. I like arenas with more nature."

"Do you think you will do more fighting in the Games tomorrow?"

"I'm sure," he replies, "I admit, our alliance got really lucky in the last Games."

"Yes. What are you predicting for the next round?"

"Well, naturally, I'm sure the Careers will take the cornucopia. One thing for sure, some tributes won't make it past the Bloodbath. And I hate to say this, but I don't think Dean and Kaya will make it very far on their own. They better find some allies quickly."

"Oh, I thought they were in an alliance," I say, but Nathan frowns and shakes his head, "Alright, well, I guess I should move on to Sage."

"Pleasure talking with you, Julius."

"Sage, were you relived that you made it to the final round?"

"Of course I was! I was so glad that I wasn't the person to die at the end there. Crimson had it coming."

I point at Sage's face, "She broke your nose, right?"

Sage crosses her arms over her chest, "Yes, and it was a lot more painful than it looked."

"Oh, it looked pretty bad to me," I say, "So how did you feel about Grace and Kaya joining your alliance? They did attack you, after all."

"I actually didn't trust them. Especially Grace. I knew that if I had to, I could take Kaya, but Grace is more skilled than I am."

"Well, she is older and she has picked up some skills from her years as a thief."

"Yep."

"Are you feeling good about the Games for tomorrow?"

"Well, I guess so. I've had a lot of time to prepare for it after round one so..."

"That's great! I can't wait to see you all tomorrow. For now, I should move on before the time runs out for the rest of the tributes."

"Ok."

I turn to James Oxford next, "How did you feel about making a kill in the last Games, James?"

"It felt...wrong. I didn't feel like myself. Something in me told me to run after them. I didn't want to kill Conner, but I didn't want him to kill me either."

"You did what you had to do, James. Try not to feel bad about it. Because you did that, you might get some sponsors," I point out.

"I guess."

"Were you disappointed that his ally died too?"

"I'm not sure. I knew Brad wasn't going to make it far. I guess Jason felt bad for him since I killed his only ally."

"Hmmm, you must've felt bad as well," I say, "Because when Jarus and Mason attacked, you guarded Brad the whole time."

James smacks his forehead, "Oh, I was so stupid! I could've stopped them from killing Chance and Jimmy. I really could've, but I didn't... I don't know what came over me. Everything was happening so fast that I didn't even know what to do, and before I knew it, Jimmy and Chance's canons went off and Mason and Jarus were gone."

"Calm down," I say to James, "It's in the past. There's nothing you can do about it now."

He lowers his head, "I guess."

"Now, are you planning on going to the cornucopia at the Bloodbath?"

"Yes, we are going in. I'm not leaving the arena without at least a pack."

"Good. I should move on to Flora now. It was nice to talk to you again, James. Good luck in the Games."

He nods and says, "Thanks."

"Alright, Flora, how have you been since...you know."

Flora frowns and turns away, "Not so great."

"I'm glad that you and Kierra made up and are still allies. You guys are already good friends, I hear." 

"Yeah, but it's a different kind of friendship. Bella and I shared secrets and did everything with each other. Kierra and I can't make a serious friendship because of the situation at hand."

I raise an eyebrow, "What situation?"

"The Hunger Games, you idiot!" Flora all but shouts at me.

"No need to shout," I say calmly, "I was just asking."

"Well I don't care! I don't want to talk about this anymore! In fact, I don't want to talk at all!"

Flora stands up and storms off the stage. The crowd gasps.

  I cringe and turn to the audience, "Sorry about that," then I turn to Luke, "I guess I'll interview you now."

Luke turns to the back of the stage to see if Flora is coming back or not, then says, "Alright."

"So, what was the worst thing that happened in the Games for you?"

"I would have to say when Chance and Jimmy died. I was just becoming friends with Chance."

"Are you going to get revenge in the next Games?"

"I don't think so. I can't take on Mason alone."

"Well, you have allies, right?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't drag them along just to get revenge on someone."

"I see. So are you prepared for the Games tomorrow?"

"Don't remind me. I'm dreading it, but I think I'll at least make it past the Bloodbath, hopefully."

"That's good to hear. Will you still be the 'team leader'?"

He shrugs, "I never really considered myself to be the team leader before, but maybe I will, unless Nathan wants to take responsibility."

"Who knows. Your alliance is one of the bigger ones though. The only other alliance that has the same amount of tributes as yours is the Careers."

Luke frowns, "Ah, yes, the Careers..."

"What's so wrong with them?" I question.

"They just think they're so above it all and that nobody can win if they aren't a Career," he replies.

"They can be like that sometimes, I suppose. But not all of them are like that."

Before Luke can say another thing, the familiar buzzer rings. The crowd bursts out cheering for the six tributes as they leave the stage. I turn to the audience and say, "Well, there is only one last interview left, so say goodbye to these tributes and get ready for the final set! Good luck, tributes!"