Lunch, Common room before Interview night

[Derrin Verittia]

Derrin sat in the lunch room, due to having stayed up late last night. The interview was going to be later that night and the day after that, they would be sent up to the arena to do battle. Derrin at his lunch and waited knowing that most people would be eating here and hopefully he could congratulate or encourage those he did well or did not do well.

He had his tiny notebook with all of his notes in it and had it turned to the page with a list of everyone and their placement scores.

To be fair very little had actually surprised him when it came to that. He leaned back into his chair and looked up at the lights. They hurt his eyes a bit and so he closed them and thought about what had actually surprised him. Fenlen making third was a surprise. He wished he could have talked to him more but knew that at this point meeting anymore people would be hard to do. It was a shame really. He wanted to meet everyone.

He looked back down at the list and chewed his eraser. Well Talia making sixteenth was a huge shock. She had been doing so well since the start and then suddenly it just felt like she dropped the ball. So much for all those sponsor gifts she was going to receive.

Honestly those two were the only real big surprises. He had figured on everyone else making it to exactly where they ended. After the Interview session which is where he would get some fill in the blanks he hoped to learn.

He would defiantly be paying the most attention to tonight. He started to eat his food again, since the eraser started to make his stomach feel bad.

[Talia Zinten]

Talia's long braided hair swayed behind as she strolled into the Common room. There was Derrin, just the person she had been looking for.

"Salutations, Derrin!" She called, approaching him.

"We have not conversed as often as I would prefer the last few days, though our arrangement is still serving its intended purpose."

Glancing around, the diminutive girl moved closer to Derrin. Her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Listen, Derrin. You are clever and compassionate, which inclines me toward genuinely liking you. This makes the following actions that much harder for me..."

Talia took two steps back, drawing a pair of safety scissors from her waistband. The tapered blade had been broken to create a makeshift shiv which she brandished toward Derrin's neck.

"YOU DECEIVED ME, USELESS REFUSE!" She cried, advancing on District Six tribute.

There was a blur of motion as peacekeepers tackled the Girl from District Three, wrestling the scissors from her hand and expertly restraining her arms.

"Think you're the first Trib to try and shank someone?" Sneered a peacekeeper, dragging her toward the door. "You're not nearly as smart as you think, girl."

[Derrin Verittia]

Talia walked up to him while continue to nom his sandwich. She walked up and said hello to him, apparently there arrangement was still working out which as nice enough, and then something happened. Something that he felt was very weird and very…well unnecessary. Apparently she said she liked him and then pulled out a shiv and moved towards his neck.

Derrin simply sat there and continued to eat, while the peace keepers tackled the girl and dragged her away. He blinked a few times and when Talia was removed the room Derrin lifted up his hand and looked around, “Anyone who is not insane want to sit and chat?”

Derrin had received a bit of attention from the tributes because he exited his skill test with his entire arm completely bandaged and half the time it was blood red from leaking. No one asked him directly but he knew that when they saw an injury the size that he sustained, well it had to have been self-inflicted right?

They did not know the story but that’s okay. He would probably explain himself tonight anyway.

[Quinn Watson]

Quinn came into the room, looking for a nice meal. Though, upon entering, he sees Talia charging at Derrin with some scissors in hand.

"Talia! No!" Quinn dashes towards her, but the peacekeepers push him out of the way. As they detain her, Quinn calls out,

"I told you to get some rest! You're going crazy!" The noise clears and Quinn finds himself with Derrin.

"Somehow I feel the need to apologize on her behalf. I don't know why, though..." Quinn seats himself and grabs some lunch.

"So, uh...how are things going for--Ah! You're arm! What happened?!" Quinn points largely and then attempts to compose himself.

"Oh! I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me if it's a secret. Are you okay, though?"

[Derrin Verittia]

Apparently according to Quinn, Talia was losing her mind. This of course made Derrin concerned but at the same point more interested than anything else. She had to be interviewed in somewhere around six hours.

He blinked a few times but generally just shook his head. Her game she was playing seemed weird and generally a pain in the butt. Derrin had been calm and collect this whole time and was actually enjoying himself. This experience has been the most fun in his entire life.

Quinn exclaimed at his arm and Derrin nodded to him and chuckled. “Not a secret I plan to explain at the interview today anyway. I cut myself all along my arm giving a blood oath to the judges. Quinn, I am not going to win this hunger games and to be fair I never really planned to. I aim to get one person whom I like to win and then eventually kill myself when it gets close to their victory or if I just can’t do anything anymore. So I told the judges to put any sponsor points onto Kimber in case she wanted to try to win and leave me in last. The funny part they actually did it.”

He rubbed his arm a bit, “Yea it hurts a lot. So how is everything with you? You doing okay now that the arena is so close?”

[Quinn Watson]

Quinn stares intently at Derrin as he explains his arm.

"That's..." Quinn searches for words,

"very brave of you...accepting...you know." He meets Derrin's eyes.

"Well, you have my respect." Derrin rubs his arm and asks how Quinn is doing. Quinn looks taken aback.

"Oh, man. I haven't been thinking about that...or trying not to. I wish I could be alright with the outcomes as you have done so well. But...I think I still got something kicking around that doesn't want to go...I'm just afraid I think."

[Derrin Verittia]

Quinn informed him that it was very brave of him and accepting. Derrin shrugged it off and said, “Hey thanks man but to be fair it seems like a coward’s way out to the other tributes probably.”

He said that he had his respect and Derrin blushed a bit. He did not deserve anyone’s respect. He was pretty much useless and just trying to enjoy himself one last time. If Quinn held respect for him though he had to accept it. “Thanks, I respect you too; I respect anyone who has to be a part of this, provided they are at least decent human beings.”

Not sure if that caused him to be happy or hurt that Derrin’s respect was so easy to get but Derrin also figured that maybe it was hard to be a decent human being, Quinn was that was for sure, he showed human emotions all the time.

He admitted that was he was afraid reached forward and patter him on the head, It was Derrin’s only nice way to try and comfort someone without being weird, he pulled away after that said, “Hey man, Everyone is afraid, even me. Hell I cried last night just thinking about death. It’s why I am still going to try and survive as long as I can. I also know however that I won’t kill anyone except myself, because it is not fair to them. So in the end, I think I am just trying to ignore it and move along as well. Like I said, I am trying to live a vacation in the area and just trying to relax before the final swing of things happen. Trying to be happy as I can while it lasts.”

He shifted a little and ate some more of his food. “Besides who knows, maybe you will win Quinn and not have to worry about death again for a really long time.” He smiled and held up a glass to him and then drank it.

[Quinn Watson]

Derrin had complimented and given respect to Quinn. Quinn visibly looked happier and less afraid as he continued to converse with Derrin.

"Huh, it sounds like you're going to do what you want to." He then looked up at Derrin and a smile slowly emerged onto his face.

"I don't think I've ever done that before. That sounds...fun!"

[Derrin Verittia]

Quinn looked happier and as such he felt better himself too. It warmed him to notice that at least one person here had come to better terms with how they felt about this whole thing. Quinn smiled at him and mentioned how doing what he wanted to do sounded fun.

Derrin shrugged a bit and said, “Hey, what more fun could it be than that. Maybe they will give us a beach and I can sun tan for a few hours and eat coconuts or something. I mean I’ll have to blurt out the cannon fires but it should make for an interest change to these games.”

He looked at Quinn and said, “Hey I posted a note asking anyone who wanted to relax should just pal around with me. Maybe if you aren’t too busy trying to win and two other girl tributes join us maybe we could go on a double date.” He smiled and laughed because honestly that would probably never happen and was just a big joke but still it was meant as such.

“Though knowing this group the end of the date would end with us getting stabbed.” He laughed a bit harder and then simple simply watched and was curious about Quinn’s reaction.

[Decimus Augusta]

Decimus walks into the lunch room flustered. 'Has... Anyone seen Millie?' he says looking around at no one in particular. 'I err... may have made some comments that I should redact...'

The last few days had been stressful for Decimus. 'People love me in District 1, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here.' he thought.

[William Mandela]

William enters the room and spies Derrin, ignoring the others he approaches with a skip in his step.

"Hey Derrin, I saw your note in the common room. I don't know, if you wanna meet up somewhere I could teach you fish or something before we get our heads cut off, haha." he laughed weakly. " We'll have the time. Yeah, well, f you wanna talk, you can meet me in the Blue Forum. See ya.

[Quinn Watson]

Quinn had a knowing smirk on his face as he listened to Derrin.

"You know, I like the way you talk. I always used to--or...am," he gives a small laugh, "sarcastic at home all the time, except I got into a lot of trouble." He gives a hearty laugh.

"But, hey! Great minds think alike!" Just then, Decimus walked into the room to ask where Millie was.

"Sorry, man. I haven't seen her in awhile...but, I'll let her know you're looking for her if I run into her." Just then, William burst in and completely ignored Quinn. Quinn looked a little hurt, but instead he talked to Decimus.

"How has everything been going for you?"

[William Mandela]

"Oh hey Quinn, I didnt even notice you over there. How's it going?" He stammered on. Quinn looked sorta dejected, but William couldn't really place why.
"Oh have you talked to Talia? She didnt really seem herself at the interview. I mean, shes yoyr districtmate, youre still talking to her right?"

[Quinn Watson]

Quinn turned his attention to William.

"Hey, William. Oh yeah, I'm good...Yeah, now that you mention it. Something did seem off...maybe I'll visit her and see what's up."

[Decimus Augusta]

'I'm... Alright' replied Decimus, this was the first time he ever talked to Quinn and he wasn't used to being approached. 'is there... Something in can do for you?'

[Quinn Watson]

Quin looked up at him a little confused.

"Oh, uh...I'm fine." A smile came over his face.

"I mean, I could always use a back rub, but I'm sure we all could." Quinn laughs and waves a hand at Decimus.

"I'm just kidding. I just never talked to you, so I thought I'd say 'hi'."