Delilah-anne Elora - district 11 - - - Delilah-anne did wish she could’ve spent more time getting ready if only to talk to her stylists a bit more. She had grown rather fond of them. Sure, some of them were rather… eccentric but she did realize that was what the capitol was! There wasn’t anything she could do about, so she decided to embrace it. Annie would miss the group of cats when she got into the arena. And such a good job they did on her dress. It was the prettiest shade of green and had a sweeping train of flowers that followed her. it made her feel as if she was a little girl again, trying on her mother’s wedding dress. Never mind that, there were things more important to focus on. As Annie bowed promptly and made her way over to the interviewer, her green eyes looked across the cats gathered to watch this. watch her. for a moment she was awestruck, though completely aware of how… terrible it might be there also was some beauty in it. delilah finally shook paws with Ellema, smiling almost shyly. “I love your crown.” she waved her paw towards the rainbow covering the interviewer’s head. “why thank you darling!” she sure was cheerful, wasn’t she? Ellema turned to the crowd, chuckling softly. “isn’t she a dear?” Annie flushed, ducking her head though forcing the smile to stay on her face. after Ellema addressed the crowd, she turned back to Annie, ushering her to sit down, and she did. “Now we don’t have too much time and you seem like such an interesting cat, so lets get to it, shall we?” did she say that with everyone? it certainly seemed like an easy thing to say to everyone. maybe delilah was overthinking it. she often did. “tell us a little about your family and how you’ve been living the past few years without them? I’m sorry about all that by the way, it’s truly heartbreaking.” Ellema turned towards the crowd at the last word, frowning softly. what an awful question. “do you often ask about families and the deaths?” she laughed softly, though the sound was tense, almost forced. delilah-anne knew it wasn’t the right thing to say. “it’s just… I feel the crowd would appreciate if we talked about something more… exciting and interesting, fun even.” Ellema’s eyebrows raised, glancing around. “Err- of course! of course! Let’s see… How has training been? Any friends? Foes? Maybe even a lover?” Okay, annie could do this. this was much easier. “Training has been good. I recently learned how to swim which was… terrible to be honest.” she laughed softly, casting her eyes towards the crowd. “As of friends… there’s a few of them, and no foes yet but you’ll have to see once we get to the arena what happens.” she winked at the crowd, keeping her face off of Ellema’s. all she had to convince were the sponsors. was everyone’s ears ringing or was it just her? that tightness in her throat? was there some sort of bug going around? delilah-anne cleared her throat, claws digging into the chair beneath her. “excuse me… it’s just really bright in here.” annie glanced down, head spinning. “oh no it’s alright, lovely! take a breath if you need one.” delilah-anne swallowed the bile in her throat, taking a deep breath. “I’ve never done anything like this before to be honest.” oh here comes the word vomit. though she supposed it’s better than actual vomit. “there’s just so many of you, and one of me, and almost fifty other cats you could sponsor and really that’s all this is, you know? trying to convince cats to sponsor you and it’s actually really frightening! I-I-I mean I bet almost all the cats you just met and will meet are just putting on facade so you like them!” her words came tumbling over each other, not even talking to the interviewer anymore. “I’ve never been good at that, acting, I mean. And I just really want to get a sponsor, or something that could help me. An-and now there’s even less chances to get sponsor-“ the words died on her throat. Ellema placed a paw over Annie’s, smiling awkwardly. “Well, darling! I’m sure that you had much more to say but time is out for now, but what a beautiful speech you gave, isn’t that right, folks?” she turned to the crowd, waving her paw in Delilah’s direction. “Delilah-anne Elora of district 11!” cheers chased her off of the stage.
