I'm back, finally! I hope I didn't confuse too many people when I deleted that non chapter (I didn't know that deleting a chapter would make it look like I had update the story) so forgive me for those who were disappointed.
But don't fret my babies, I'm here now!
...
You ever hear that old saying, "you don't know what you've got until it's gone,"? I completely understand that now. I turn my head and look at the hair covered strips on the table next to me. It's not that I was overly fond of being hairy, it just provided a little extra warmth for hunting in the winter.
I lay naked on a hard, cold metal table; a woman who had introduced herself as Venia with the squeaky customary Capital accent, was rubbing a foul smelling salve on my legs, that seemed to be removing another layer of skin. She looked nice enough, for a Capital citizen. She seemed to be really sorry that she was causing me pain, she apologized with every strip being yanked away.
"There, all done." She cooed, patting my foot. I nod, keeping my gaze on the ceiling. I desperately want to grab the robe on the chair next to me, but I have a feeling they aren't done with me yet.
I feel like I have been in here for hours. They've waxed hair from my eyebrows, upper lip and arms, along with my legs. The guy with curly orange hair, Flavius, had even plucked a stray hair from my nose. He didn't seem too concerned about my discomfort.
My skin is raw, and my feet and hands have been scrubbed and soaked, I'll never understand how Capital people do this, I've heard they think this is relaxing!
"You're doing better than most, the last tribute we had, cried!" Flavius says, almost gleefully.
"She was probably terrified," I say coldly. I know I should hold my tongue, these people are ruthless, they watch children die and murder each other for fun, they don't care if a frightened girl cries when she gets a waxing. But to my surprise, Flavius looks a little sheepish.
"Well at any rate, you're stronger than most." He clears his throat. "Octavia! Get the tub ready!" He shouts, turning around, he goes to a closet and pulls out a cart weighed down with boxes and bottles of varying sizes.
A plump woman I assume to be Octavia rushes out of the room and then comes back and gently takes my hand. Her skin has been dyed a light green that softly shimmers in the light, I'm surprised that I find that it suits her. She leads me behind a partition where a deep tub filled with yellow goop awaits me. The smell makes me stop short, it's a mix of old eggs and rotten fruit.
"I know it smells dreadful, but it'll soften your skin and take away any discomfort. Promise," she says patting my shoulder. I let her help me settle in the smelly concoction, noticing the burning on my arms and legs has started to ebb. If the mixture didn't smell so pungent, it might have been relaxing.
"Come along, dear, we need to trim your hair!" Flavius chirps. Venia and Octavia help me out of the tub and wipe the stinky stuff off my body.
Flavius trims while the women apply a flowery scented lotion all over my skin. They had just finished with my makeup when Flavius clapped his hands again and deemed me acceptable of being seen by Cinna. The three walk gracefully out of the room and I'm finally left alone. I quickly grab the robe and throw it on, uncaring if I have to take it off again.
A moment later the door opens again and a man steps in. I'm shocked by his appearance; while the prep team had some enhancements- Venia had tattoos on her face, Flavius with his unnatural hair color and Octavia with her dyed, shimmery skin- Cinna looks untouched. His dark hair is short, his skin a natural caramel. The only thing I see that gives to the eccentric fashion of the Capital is the gold eyeliner, but even that seems to suit him.
He stands before me and extends his hand, "Hello, Katniss, I'm Cinna."
I shake his hand but remain silent.
"Hold still, please." He says walking around me, his brown eyes looking over my form. I'm thankful he let me keep the robe. He finishes his circle and stands before me again. "Hungry?"
I realize that I haven't eaten since breakfast on the train, what time was it? "Yes," I say to him.
We walk over to a small couch and he presses a button on the table. A covered platter comes up from some trap door. I don't know what's hidden beneath it, but I imagine it's more extravagant food like on the train. I wasn't expecting small sandwiches and fruit I actually recognized.
"I hope you weren't expecting anything spectacular, I'm partial to simpler foods." Cinna says picking up a sandwich. I take one too.
"No, this is perfect." I say taking a bite. Turkey and lettuce. "We ate some kind of bird that had six legs last night." I said with a shudder, it was good, but something like that had to be grown in a lab somewhere. It gave me the creeps.
Cinna laughed, it was quiet, but deep and rich. "I try and stay away from things not found in nature."
After eating, Cinna looked at me for a few moments, scrutinizing every detail of my face, the prep team had been told to leave my face natural, nothing crazy, for that I was grateful. "Portia, my partner, and I, chose District Twelve after your reaping." He said suddenly.
"You did? Why?" I asked in confusion.
Cinna gave me a smile, almost as if I wasn't privy to a secret. "We like a good underdog." He sipped at his water, looking at me again. "How do you feel about fire, Katniss?" He asks, smirking at me.
...
A few hours later finds me stuffed into a black suit, it covered my body save for my hands and face. For it being so tight it's relatively comfortable, it even has a cape!
Cinna leads me down twisted hallways and through serval doors, a long elevator ride later and we come into a large room. There are twelve chariots waiting with horses to be lead out of the gate, waiting to be paraded through the Capital center.
I quickly spot Peeta standing beside the very last set of horses, I keep my focus on him, not interested in looking at our competition.
A large, hard body roughly bumps into my shoulder, I turn and am met with cold blue eyes. The boy from Two towers over me, his face menacing. "Watch where you're walking, Twelve." He says cockily, like I'm the one who bumped into him. A short girl with dark brown hair peers around him and looks at me, sizing me up. She looks small, but her eyes hold a darkness in them.
"Stay out of my way, and there won't be a problem, Two." I say, staring into his eyes unflinchingly. His eyes grow darker, staring me down.
"Katniss, let's keep moving, shall we?" Cinna says, ending our staring match.
"Run along, Twelve," the girl says, moving her hands in a shooing motion.
"Nice bumping into you, but we've got some sponsors to win." The boy says, I think I heard his name was Plato? Potato? Whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
I don't get a chance to reply, Cinna pushes me forward. By this time Peeta has seen us and is staring angrily at Plato. I stop in front of him, my relief of Peeta being similarly dressed is short lived, he scoops me into a bone crushing hug. "What did he say to you?"
I push him away gently, he gets the message and let's go. "Just wishing us luck," I mutter before turning to face Cinna again."
"Alright, you two ready?" A blond lady- I assume is Portia- standing to the right of Cinna asks.
"It's almost time, remember this is a synthetic flame, it only works on these suits. Ok?" He asks, looking us each in the eye.
"I'm going to be so embarrassed if I burn to death before we leave the tunnel." Peeta says quietly, talking out the side of his mouth, earning him a small giggle from me.
"Don't worry, I'll stomp your fire out." I whisper back. Peeta looks pained thinking about that, it causes me to laugh again.
"Alright, up you go, it's time."Cinna says taking a long stick out of his pockets. Portia touches the stick with some kind of metal device that sparks. The stick ignites, the flame a strange blue.
Peeta climbs up first, giving me a hand up. Cinna and Portia touch the burning sticks to our suits. I tense, waiting for the heat. I relax when it doesn't come, in fact the suit feels quite cool, the magic flames tickling my chin.
I glance over at Peeta, the flames now look like real fire, it makes his skin glow and his eyes shine. His hair is brighter, he looks like some kind of heavenly creature.
His eyes flick over and meet mine, a subtle blush takes over his face. "What?" He asks shyly.
I turn my gaze forward, realizing I had been staring at him. "Nothing, I was just thinking how I could scare a horse enough to make it pee on you to stop you from burning up."
Peeta's loud laughter echoes through the large hall, a few Tributes turn and look at us, but I don't pay attention to them.
Portia and Cinna stand in front of our chariot and look us over, they give us a thumbs up and step back with the other stylists.
The line in front of us starts to move, our horses lightly jerk our perch. I look over to Peeta one last time, he gives me a thin smile. Just before our horses get to the door he takes my hand and gently kisses my knuckles, he lowers our hands but doesn't let go.
I don't have much time to ponder the fluttery feeling in my belly, or the electricity in my chest, we are soon pulled out of the door and out into the center of the Capital. There are huge rows of seats as far as I can see, flashes popping in every direction. A camera on some kind of small aircraft zooms around us, circles a few times and then zips away.
I'm not scared- more like stunned. All I can hear are people shouting our names. People shouting my name. Peeta squeezes my hand making me look up at him. "Stop scowling, smile and wave. They'll love you," he says winking. Peeta is waving and smiling, he even picked a rose off our cart and threw it in the stands, causing a riot of young girls to try and catch it.
Ilook to the right, a man screams my name when I catch his eye.
I can do this. How do the girls at school act?
I throw my arm up and wave, I do every ridiculous thing I can think of,I bat my eyes and blow kisses. I feel so silly but it seems to work.
"I love you, Katniss!" Someone shouts from above me, I send a wink in their general direction. Someone throws a rose, I catch it and tuck in in my hair, causing a new roll of screaming.
I look at Peeta, he seems to be getting the same welcome as me. Maybe we can do this. Someone her has to want to bet on us!
The crowd continues to shout or names even after we come to a stop in front of the presidents mansion, I can see the other Tributes throwing us looks of destain, some look at us in jealously. But the boy from District Two, whatever his name is; is seething. I can see the veins in his neck pulsating. He might want to get that looked at.
The crowd still shouting for us and is only silenced when President Snow himself demands they be quiet.
He gives his routine speech, welcoming us to the Capital, thanking us for our sacrifice, blah, blah, blah. He doesn't mean it anyway.
The Tribute chariots turn around and go back where they came, Peeta and I make sure to lay it on thick on the return trip.
Our flames are put out and Effie meets is at the elevator, I'm surprised, I didn't think her job went further than the train.
"There you are! Oh my, dears, you were marvelous! Absolutely splendid!" She chirps, excitedly clapping her hands. For some reason I can't help but smiling at her. She walks up to us and places her hands on our shoulders and steers us to the elevator.
The elevator was roomy, and completely done in shiny metal, I could see Effie standing behind us, fluffing her hair in the reflection. I looked at Peeta and he seemed to be barely concealing a smile at our escort.
The doors opened to reveal a large alcove, with bright white walls and ridiculous looking paintings on the walls. Effie swivels passed us and snapped her fingers. "Move along dears, dinner should be arriving any moment."
Effie quickly ushers us down a hallway and stops in front of the first door. "Peeta, dear, here you are. Haymitch is right next door."
"Thank you, Effie." He says with a smile. He opens his door and with Effie's back to him he sticks his tongue out at me, I try to return the gesture but he's already closed the door.
"And you my darling, are right here." She says, tapping the closed door. "Right next to me," she says with a hopeful tone. "Perhaps we could have that girl talk after dinner? We didn't get a chance to chat last night." She says smiling, making her thick makeup look cakey in her faint smile lines.
I cringe, that is the last thing I want to do. What could we possibly have to talk about? "Sounds great, Effie." I reply with a wide and hopefully none too obvious smile.
"Excellent!" She twirls passed me and skips down the hall the way we came from.
I sigh and roll my eyes and open the door. The room is massive, it's a lot to take in a once, it's all creams and neutral colors. The bed is even bigger than the one on the train, it has fifteen pillows; I counted. And a ridiculously high head board, it's wood, and carved in great detail is a map of Panem. The Districts are small, not as detailed as the Capital; I wouldn't be surprised if the carving was completely accurate of all buildings and streets. It's seems a bit much, a tad narcissistic.
I turn away from the bed and go to one of the closed doors and open it, it's a closet, and it puts the one on the train to shame. Its enormous, and stuffed to the brim with colorful fabric, and shoes, and hats. I could probably live here a lifetime and still not wear everything this closet has to offer. Feeling rather intimidated I grab the first shirt and pants I find, a simple red shirt and black pants and a pair of underwear that had the most cloth and go to the other door hoping a bathroom lurks beyond.
After struggling much like I did on the train, I finally manage to clean myself. I am impressed that I remembered what the metal platelet was for.
Clean and dry I make my way back down the hallway, hearing light laughter I turn the corner. Haymitch sits at the head of the table, Cinna and Portia sit together at his right, Peeta at his left and Effie at the end of the table. I take the only open seat next to Peeta and try and smile at the rest of the table, I do send a glare at Haymitch though. He only seems to find it amusing though.
"Hey there, Sweetheart. Glad you could finally join us." He says shoving a fork of something in his mouth.
"I had a bit of trouble," I mumble at my plate.
"I didn't know which buttons to press either," Peeta offers.
"Oh, Katniss, I'm so glad you remembered how to work the hair dryer." Effie says, her voice edged with pride.
"Yes, thank you for showing me, Effie." She beams at me, and if she didn't have so much gunk on her face, I'd swear she were blushing.
"Yes, you look fabulous." Haymitch says with a snicker. I squeeze the fork tighter in my hand, but decide not to comment.
"You should have heard the chatter in the viewing boxes when you came out, it was pandemonium! They couldn't get enough of you dears!" Effie says with a smile, looking like she had something to do with it.
"It was pretty brilliant," I say smiling at Cinna and Portia. They both raise their glasses at me with small smiles.
"It was a pleasure setting you two on fire," Cinna smirks. To which Portia lightly slaps his arm.
"So..." Haymitch says catching our attention. He begins to wave his fork between Peeta and I. "What's up with the hand holding?" He says looking into our eyes, I imagine he's trying to read our minds.
"It was nothing, I was nervous and Peeta held my hand."
"It was perfect," Haymitch replies with a certain tone, but not elaborating further.
I glance at Peeta, but he seems to be just as lost as I am.
After dinner, everyone decides to watch the recap of the parade, I'd rather stick a fork in my eye, but concede and find myself sandwiched between Peeta and Haymitch; who surprisingly doesn't smell like spirits, I still lean away from him. His very presence raises my hackles, he's never done anything to me personally, but I can't help but be on the verge of annoyance whenever he is around. Peeta on the other hand, smells like fresh cut flowers, but I can still smell home underneath the Capital couture. It soothes my nerves and helps me effectively tune out the television.
I wonder how Prim and my mother are doing. What did they think of Peeta and I tonight? And Gale, I'm not sure if he watched. I imagine he had to, it being mandatory viewing.
Peeta wiggles next to me and taps the top of my head. "Recap is over, big hands." He says with mock seriousness.
I use my elbow in his side to get up, getting a satisfactory yelp of pain in return.
"We'll talk at breakfast," Haymitch grunts and leaves the room.
Cinna and Portia bid the rest of us good night before exiting our floor.
I turn to Peeta, wondering what I should do. I want to know how he's doing, we haven't really talked much the last few days. I take his hand and rub my thumb across the back of his hand, he smiles warmly at me.
"Katniss darling, it's still early. I would love it if we spent a little time together." Her smile is blinding. I sigh, knowing what I'm going to do. As annoying and ignorant Effie is, she has a certain innocence about her.
"Sure thing, Effie. Just going to say goodnight to Peeta."
She looks between us for a moment, a small smile playing on her pink lips. "You two are just precious." She sighs.
I squint my eyes in confusion. "Thanks?" I say, but it sounds more like a question.
Peeta chuckles beside me. "We do try, Effie."
Her eyes scan us again before she sighs and leaves the room.
"So what was that all about?" Peeta asks, amusement coloring his tone.
"Girl talk," I mutter. "I might have mentioned- sarcastically- on the train that we could have girl talk and gossip."
Peeta's barking laughter surprises me. "That's great! Can I be there too? I don't want to miss that!" He replies, breaking into another fit of chuckles.
"I don't even want to be there, no way I'm going to have embarrassing conversation in front of you, too." I look into his smiling eyes and can't help but crack one too. Peeta is always so wonderful, it makes me wonder how he can be friends with me, I'm always so sullen.
"Oh," I say remembering the train incident. "You remember this morning on the train? I think he was just trying to agitate us."
"Yeah, I got that after you pinned him against the wall." He says, smirking at me.
I look down, slightly embarrassed, I was only reacting out of Peeta being hurt.
"Don't sweat it, I thought it was pretty cool." Peeta says tightening his grip on my hand, I had forgotten they were still connected.
I clear my throat and slowly remove my hand from his. "I better get this over with, if she tries to put make up on me I might kill her."
"Be nice, she is half responsible for getting us sponsors you know." He says sternly, but I can't take it seriously with that mischievous glint in his blue eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, wish me luck." I toss over my shoulder as I move passed him towards Effie's room.
"Have fun!" Peeta calls after me.
"Shut up!" I yell back.
Peeta's musical laughter is the last thing I hear before I'm engulfed in pink, feathers, and fluffy robes.
Must not kill Effie. Must not kill Effie. Must not kill Effie...
...
I do not like this chapter, something about it isn't right.
Any thoughts?
I did like how Katniss couldn't be bothered to learn Cato's name. Plato and Potato? Oh Katniss...
I'm trying to sneak a bit of Peeta/Katniss in there, but she's still dumb right now.
I know Peeta didn't talk much, he was mostly support this chapter. He'll have a bigger roll in the next chapter and rest of the story. I also plan on doing out takes from his pov during certain events, so you have that to look forward to!
Shoot me a review, I love reading them, they encourage me to keep going.
As always, if you'd like a preview for the next chapter please say so in your review!
Thanks!