Katniss POV
Meeting our prep team was a disaster. Thankfully, Max and I were sharing, as there was only two for each district. Flavius, Octavia and Venia were the silliest people I'd ever had the misfortune to meet. They weren't mean or anything, they were just plain daft. Unfortunately for us tributes, they were not silly enough to not wax nearly every hair off our bodies. For an hour, they pasted sticky strips of paper on our legs, arms, and faces and ripped them off. Chattering about unimportant things, they stripped us until we were raw. When they were done, we were sent to our rooms to scrub our sore, aching bodies clean. I was given a thin robe to drape over myself while we waited for the head stylist. We had nothing to talk about, so we sat in a comfortable silence.
"Hello," a warm, friendly voice sounded behind me. "I'm Cinna."
Turning, I found a dark-skinned man with a hint of gold eyeliner. He smiled at me and Max and I felt myself automatically smiling back. There was something about this man that was different than the other Capitol stylists, like he understood. He shook my hand firmly, and then turned to face Max.
"So, if I'm going to make you look your absolute best, I need to know what is wrong with your back."
"Erm..." Max glanced at me.
I shrugged and nodded. We were going to die anyway, what did it matter if one more person knew her secret? She sighed and shrugged off her robes, slowly extending her beautiful tawny wings. Cinna gasped and grinned.
"That will give the Gamemakers a bit of a shock, won't it?" He chuckled, still admiring Max's outstretched flappers.
"Can you put slits or something on the uniform we wear in the arena? I want them to be easily accessible." Max moved the tip of her wing into Cinna's open hand.
His eyes lit up as he stroked the smooth feathers.
"I will have to work around this, but yes, I will make sure you have slits for your wings" he said as Max put her wings away and pulled her robe back on. He smiled again.
His grin was infectious. I giggled, which was so unlike me that Max gave out a full-on shout of laughter. This set me off in the end and the three of us were on the floor, laughing our heads off. Wiping his eyes, but careful not to smudge his eyeliner, Cinna climbed to his feet and pulled out two costumes. They were all black and shiny.
"This year, we are focusing on the product, rather than the people." He handed us the clothes and shooed us off to get dressed. "Come on, Effie will give me an earful if you two aren't changed in five minutes!"
Still giggling, I got into the jet black outfit as quickly as possible; I didn't want to give Cinna any trouble. Dashing out of my new room in the tributes hotel, I ran beside Max down to the lift. Reaching the chariot room, I glanced around. Most of the other tributes were already here.
"Katniss! Max!" Cinna and the boy's head stylist, Portia, waved us over and helped us into the carriage, in between the boys. The carriage was extra large this year because there were extra tributes.
Portia shook her head and cried "Oh, No!"
Cinna nodded. "I see what you mean."
"What?" Peeta asked.
"Peeta, can you move in between Katniss and Max? It would look so good!"
Peeta obliged and shuffled over. I didn't like it. Max was my lifeline to sanity in this mess, but Portia had split us apart.
"Now," Cinna came forward with a curious little container in his hand. "Don't be alarmed, but we are going to set you on fire. Portia came up with a little synthetic fire that won't burn you." He flashed a dazzling smile and she blushed.
The anthem started and Cinna lit us up. He was telling the truth, I couldn't feel a thing. I looked down at Cinna and beamed. Then he started making weird motions. Peeta and Fang noticed too.
"I think he wants us to link hands" yelled Fang over the music.
I shrugged and took Peeta's hand in my own. Max grimaced at me and I laughed, suddenly euphoric. This one small thing could show the Capitol that they didn't own me, that I wasn't just a piece in their games.
As one, we rode the large chariot out into the screaming crowds.
