Querencia | Finnick Odair

Chapter XV

When I get back to the apartment my team and I stay in I am once again put into a bathtub, my hair that was just straightened is washed and lotions put on. I get a small lunch and then they work on me for hours and when I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself, and the dress, oh the dress, I hate it because once again it is white. But I love it, because it is not a normal dress. The skirt fits tightly and is made from a stronger fabric, but the upper half of the dress is unbelievable. It is only made from diamonds and other white gems, woven together to make a revealing top. My midriff is free, except for a single row of gems that connect the diamonds that line the hem of the skirt to the ones covering my bust. In the back, a design has been made with a big gem in the middle and single strands with gems moving outward from there on, a little like a cobweb. There are threads with diamonds surrounding my shoulders, hanging in small circles and connecting to the threads in the back. Contrast to that is my make-up. Dramatic dark eyes and blood-red lipstick. Once again the shoes have the same colour as my lips and I think this outfit is supposed to reenact my moment of victory. Blood on the snow, the outfit of my crowning, all of that is represented here. And I am wearing a crown that is half braided into my hair, with more diamonds and a single red ruby dangling in the middle. I hate it and love it. It makes me feel sick, but also makes me seem so strong.

"Well, let's get this party started!", Keaton exclaims and gleefully presents me to my mentors whose jaws drop.

"Well now I wish you would have been my stylist", Mariann says and compliments me and my team many times throughout the trip to Snow's mansion.

Frensesia actually showed up this time to accompany us, but I would guess that she is gone as soon as we arrive at the gala. "Strut, Smile, Smirk. Once that is done be polite, make small talk, be humble yet strong, eat and dance. Enjoy your night", Silas orders just a few seconds before we arrive. And that I do.

Peoples jaws drop, hands reach out and applause is to be heard. I smile and walk the best strut yet, head held high, up the stairs of the mansion and inside. The outfits of the Capitol citizens are incredibly weird and extravagant. But mine stands out, just as Keaton planned.

The first part of the evening is mainly eating while talking to my sponsors and high ranking personalities of the Capitol. A few models, politicians and TV-Stars. Then we have to dance and I am handed from one to another. I am stepping on the foot of each of them, some by accident, some not. After I had to dance with Seneca Crane, the man who decided that it would be a fun idea to send wolves to kill me, we are all lead outside. Snow stands on a balcony, above all the others like always and makes a speech about my victory, about my record kill number and my beauty. Then colours explode in the sky. For a short time I am fascinated by the pictures that are painted in front of the dark canvas of the night sky, until two Avoxes approach me and guide me back into the mansion, up a flight of stairs and into a study. Snow is standing there and the mute servants leave the room.

"Mr. President, why do I have the honor?", I question, the diamonds clicking as I move my arms in front of me.

"Sit, Miss Moreno. We have business to discuss", his tone didn't tolerate objection, so I carefully move to sit on one of the blood red chairs.

"I am slightly confused. What business can I not discuss with my mentors?", I question, not hiding the mistrust in my voice.

"You are to accompany one of my advisors tonight. He'll pay for your service", he explains, short and simple.

"I already danced with politicians tonight and I do not understand why I should be paid for that?", I ask, hoping that the dark feeling in my gut was wrong, that the feeling that something bad was about to happen was misleading.

"Oh, Miss Moreno, don't play innocent, we both know that you aren't. You will accompany him to bed."

And there it was, the bad thing.

"Yeah, that is not going to happen", I protest and rise from my seat.

"That is not your choice Miss Moreno."

"Oh, but it is my body. And you don't get to sell it. You can take the money I don't earn for you that way off my victors salary. I don't need it."

"Miss Moreno..."

"No!"

"Your behaviour will have consequences, Miss Moreno."

"So be it!", I yell and rush out the door.