Pompeia Clacher [D2] (![]() ![]() @ 2014-04-22 22:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 57th games, - capitol, victor: 57th pompeia clacher |
WHO: Pompeia Clacher, Caesar
WHEN: Post-Games
WHERE: The Capitol
WHAT: The interview. As expected. More guidance than usual.
STATUS: Completed
"...Pompeia Clacher!" She was still studying her gown's rose patterns on her arms as the platform lifted her to stage-level. As soon as the audience got a glimpse of her, the screams grew so loud, they made her ears throb and the helmet of large metal scales on her head vibrate. Her pupils were pin-sized before the lights had reached them. This time, her smile was more calm and relaxed, instead of predatory like her first interview. The noise drowned her clomping across the stage towards Caesar and the victor's chair. When she reached it, she settled back. "Welcome back, Pompeia. I think you can tell how happy everyone is that you are back. Am I right, ladies and gentlemen?" he asked the crowd, who manage to grow even louder before her ears start adjusting to the noise. And he segued into the highlights without needing her to reply. The camera climbed up the steep cliffside that Pompeia never saw, to the tributes standing around the Cornucopia with a much clearer view than they had been given. The music started the same time as the gong went off. As the bloodbath began. the audience roared with approval, and Pompeia looked out at them to give them a grin. Hands out, palms facing up, she gestured for them to roar louder, which they did. She continued staring at them a while longer, barely able to make them out in the front rows, but knowing that they stretched out far back and above her, and to either side. She tried to make out all of them. She turned back in time to see Almond and Oyle drinking a yellow liquid, which also received a roar of approval from the audience. It showed the pack eating lobster and some of them making faces as they had trouble with the insides, as they turned out either rubbery or jerky-like, mixed with shells. She made an affronted face at one of the more extreme reactions to the cooking, and she was still making that face when Shift died alone. Terry's death made her mystified, and Pompeia looked stunned by Shimmer attacking Fannie. For the crowd closer to the stage, she mouthed something that made Caesar look sympathetically over to her. The highlights captured her as someone with strength, excellence and perseverance. She was allowed a pensive moment of her head bowed before a later day, when she and Aeneas found Buckwheat. As the sequence reached the climax, the final eight, the pop rock crescendoed, as did the vocals wailing about capturing the moment. Pompeia sat there, looking perturbed with a vague smile on her face as the mutts attacked Aeneas to lyrics about soaking in everything, Aeneas's spear being taken, her finding the boy, and Almond dying. And not wanting to forget Shimmer suddenly disappearing from sight, or the feast, wherein Shad's throat was crushed and Pompeia launching herself at Oyle. The music was timed to end as soon as Oyle died. The crowd had started up again as soon as she went after Oyle, and to Pompeia, it almost drowned out any of the music. Caesar waited, giving her time to soak in the moment before he said, "What a Games." He smiled at her, and then at the crowd for their consensus. "What a Games." "Yeah, everyone fought really hard," she replied, nodding emphatically, with wide eyes. Pompeia reached for her glass of water, and she grinned, lifting it as if making a toast, before taking a sip. Her interview was more guided than some of the others, a lot of the time eaten up by the cheering of the crowd. His questions and offers were detailed yet brief, and she could answer things like what was going through her head when she went after Oyle instead of defending herself against the mutt ("I told myself that I'd end it then.") and that she wished she stayed closer to where Shay and Shimmer were for a fight. She got asked about the targets. Her blank look didn't last long before he reminded her of her first interview, and she replied she had some regrets in the arena, and would change them if she could, but she would leave them there. The whole time, she kept reaching for her water and taking sips. The interview turned her district partner. "He was great," she said, sounding calm. "I can't imagine being partnered with anyone else. We had mutual respect, except for rock gardening, and I know how badly he wanted to make it to the end. To be here. But I hope he's satisfied with the result." They talked about her drive, growing up. In a serene tone, she said, "I got some [beep] thrown at me at points in my life." "Not literal, I hope." There was a beat before Pompeia laughed, and the crowd did too. "No, no. I think me being here speaks for itself." "It does," Caesar replied, looking proud and leading the crowd into more applause. "Would you say it drove you?" "No. I did this for myself." A beat. "And my district and Panem." He gave her the opportunity to thank her family, her escort and prep team, her mentors, the victors of her district for giving her the inspiration, and all of her supporters in the Capitol and around Panem. "Are you looking forward to getting back?" "Yeah. I came here to win. I focused on that, so I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone better when we get back." And Caesar continued carrying her interview until it was time for her to be crowned. By that time, she started looking more alert, and she kept clenching her jaw. The goddamn painkillers were wearing off, and her leg hadn't healed by the time of the interview. Her shoes didn't help. She had to push the pain and the vague hope of a doctor running in and touching her arm with that numbing wand out of the way as the President approached to much a applause and cheers. "Congratulations, Pompeia." Her smile tightened as she tried to be accommodating and bend her knees for the crown to be placed on her head. It was as graceful as she was when she was particularly out of form. Everything felt sore. "Thank you," she replied, going for humble and grateful and missing the first. Still, she was in minor awe of him, even through the opiate haze and the cheering her ears felt immune to at this point. He smiled. She couldn't read it. "You should stay away from the wine tonight." She nodded, her own smile a bit more of an apologetic grimace. But she remembered thinking that he seemed nice. |