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Katniss finishes her lessons early and spends an extra hour in training. Her grandfather has been gone from the castle for the past two day and had given her instructions to attend his meeting in his place for the week. Tonight she will dine with Pelenos.
Katniss never attended formal meetings before but she's managed to get more food out to the outlining districts and double the funds for technical improvements around Panem so she can't be doing too bad. She's been noticing little things like this for a while now, her grandfather pushing her to make a small speech or prompting her to attend more social gatherings and converse with the high profile names around the capitol, it must be his way of getting her ready to one day take on the role of queen.
He had been declared president at the age of twenty two, during the twenty second games, after his father who founded Panem had been wounded and needed time to heal from his injuries. At the time they were still using the term president from the dark days. Coriolanus Snow had announced the Snow bloodline as the royal family soon after his rise to power but had already been known as president for two years. His father had been president in the Dark Days. He was always a king.
Kicking it into double time to catch up on the game planning, Katniss was halfway finished with the 73rd games two months earlier than usual. She'd cut out Mutts this year and had added in a conundrum of beautiful poisonous plants and natural, not so natural, disasters. She hasn't wanted much to do with any mutts aside from her own since nearly being killed by one. She thinks she'll set the sky to a constant state of sun rises followed by Sun sets. It's going to be a dessert.
Pelenos brings her beautiful clothes from the Dark World and laughs when she jumps into his arms. It's not knew for one of her grandfathers business partners to bring her extravagant gifts to earn his favor but Pelenos has always taken the time to bring her something pertaining to her interest, often something rare or one of a kind from the Dark Days. Books or wines, Jewelry or weapons, he once gave her a real human skull over a hundred years old. The skull of a renowned serial killer. It now lays on her book shelve next to a plague mask.
"No business tonight princess, just pleasures! We're going out, dinner and then out for a night on the town!"
Dinner is wonderful, the staff clear the room and bring her bubbly alcohols. She gets two plates, he gets three, they pick at each others food. The pastas are her favorite and he gets her to eat a snail.
Pelenos is a typical capitol resident with too much money and not enough time to spend it. Mid forties and orange from head to toe, always along for a smile and a laugh. Katniss imagines this is what it would be like to have a doting uncle. She doesn't need to wear her stoic mask when she's with him, she still wears her eye mask. "Have you considered painting your nails orange dear?" He's asked her a hundred times over the years, will ask her a thousand times over the next.
They go down to the capitol courtyard where the citizens gather for the craze every other night. He's not any good at dancing and steps on her feet half a dozen times while she laughs and guides him to the fast music. He spins her out and she wraps back into his side. They watch the fireworks reflected in the water of a large fountain before she kisses his lips in parting. Typical capitol night. She admits she enjoyed every moment though, a little fun never hurt no one.
Katniss returns to her pretty castle, as the world sways behind her eyes, laughing with every step.
When Diamond steps out during her training the next day Gold cuts the lesson short. "I want to help."
"You are helping, I hit the target every time today." She has the gull to roll her eyes.
"You hit the target in non vital.. never mind. I want to help with the victors. I know about everything that's been going on, I know about the prostitution. I overheard the president talking about it. I know you don't like it either and together I think we can put an end to it."
The weeks after she'd healed had been hard, she was no closer to finding the one responsible for her victors anguish, been told of Finnicks re-involvement, perhaps never ended involvement, in it all. To top everything off her grandfather has been disposing of game mutts by releasing them into the Dead World and she had no idea why or what to do with that knowledge.
"What do you have in mind?"
Turns out what Golds has in mind may end up being the answers to all her problems. She should have thought of it herself.
When she asks where her sudden interest in the victors came from Gold tells her that she wants to do anything to protect her 'family'. It's not the first time Katniss has wandered where her obsession with the victors came from. What does she viewed them as, pets, entertainment, certainly not family, perhaps one day though?
Katniss has been to a handful of parties in her life but never thrown one in her own name. She needs a theme that will entice the populace. She decides on masquerade, well known for her own eye mask, it's the obvious choice. She volunteers all victors to attend in more of a volun-told way and plans the gathering for three days out, that should be just enough time.
Diamond just so happens to get asked to help Dolly with some errands, courtesy of Gold. She hadn't even noticed her instructors very obvious crush on her sworn avox until it had been dangled in front of her face. Katniss calls in Gloss.
She wears a new design Cinna makes for her. Strapless black silk that stops mid thigh, he even makes her a new mask to match. They get her hair mostly out of her face and into a large messy bun on the top of her head. Smoke has become her new signature so he has some tumble out of her hair. Slyth gets a matching collar.
Cinna makes over Gold too, tying her long blonde hair into a birdcage on her head and painting it gold. Her skin is dyed grey and her blue eyes get covered with large black feathers. Silver chains cover her body. He finishes the look with a living dove. She's unrecognizable.
The victors are more on edge than usual. Summoned from their district homes to the capitol for the princesses first ever social party, they practically cower in the corner when she enters. They watch her throughout the night. None of them approach her, none of them approach Mr. Ridmen across the room.
She and Cinna are the last to arrive at the strike of midnight. The guests rush her with gifts and drinks and she dances with many of them, even shares a dance with Gold posing as a citizen.
It's going well and she has to laugh watching Gold rub herself all over Gloss as she talks too loudly about how dove's mate for life and how she's a symbol for broken hearts everywhere. Guests walk through the room bowing and kissing hands, when they dance they flash each other smiles and subtly show each other their eyes, wink and giggle.
Slyth lounges with the wallflowers. Annie is doing well today and dances with Finnick on the balcony where the rest of the room won't notice them, he locks eyes with her for a moment before turning away and putting his head down. Mags stuffs her face, picking items off trays every time an avox walks by. It's a great hit.
The sun peaks through the windows and guests fall out the doors and down the steps. Cinna is with Haymitch, they've stayed longer than they normally would and she goes to get him so they can't sleep off the drinks in her rooms. She doesn't manage to reach them before a woman is yelling for her, when she looks back red wine covers her face. Katniss feels the gaze of wide eyes from all sides of the room. It's the sickly looking woman who had been hanging off of Gloss the night she'd taken him to dance. She's drunk.
"Enough!" She motions Cinna back, but the woman hasn't had enough. The wench calls her demeaning slurs and blames her for being removed from 'the lovers list'. She's signalling a guard when the the woman throws her glass, it goes right and catches the edge of a force field. Shards fly in all directions while citizens scatter. Katniss stands tall, eyes closed, between the barrier and the tributes, thick shards impaling her face and neck, cutting her dress open. Annie and the others are behind her. She'll protect them. The glass lessons and when she opens her eyes Mr. Ridmen is shielding her with his body.
"Protect your master!" Slyth is on the woman in an instant, he doesn't pay any mind to her shrieks as he pulls her from the room.
"It's just a scratch," She tells Mr. Ridmen before addressing the room. "I'm alright." Inside she's an inferno.
That night when her cuts have been healed and she's dressed in a thin nightgown Gold visits her. Her hair is back to normal but she'll be grey for a about a week, so she's going to be skipping training. Gold had played her role wonderfully, pretending to be a capitol citizen and questioning the men and women who got a little too handsy with the victors. She'd showed just enough interest and just enough money to share some hushed words and be escorted out by two well to do women, all in an attempt to put a name to the person playing an old fashioned madam.
She hadn't thought her night could end any worse than it already had.
"Do you know a man named Pelenos?"
