flight of the fallen ━━ the hunger games

𝘃. revolution

FLIGHT OF THE FALLEN
☀︎ Chapter Five

The Tribute Parade had gone, surprisingly, well.

The Career districts, predictably, had been well loved, as well as Twelve with their unforgiving stares and fiery entrance. And, for the first time since Sacha could remember, District Six was being called out for by the Capitol citizens. Of course, James was not the most attractive but his suit made up for it, made up of the same material as Sacha's dress and timed perfectly with it. A couple of other stylists had attempted to steal Cinna's designs—electric light studded outfits for 3, flaming belts for 10—and that only garnered more love for Six, where their designs were not only independent, but also had never been seen before.

As she and her partner stepped off the chariot, Sacha could feel herself practically glowing, almost like the sunshine people often compared her to. She felt that she wouldn't entirely be on her own with her objective in the arena. There had to be a few sponsors willing to help James, as well as herself, so that he didn't suffer a painful death. Not only did he have an underdog quality about him, their outfits had—and Sacha wasn't bragging—been the most loved.

Suddenly, James grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. He slipped into an elevator, ruffling past a woman dressed in leafy headgear, to join Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. The other two in the lift were Haymitch Abernathy and Johanna Mason.

Haymitch: paunchy, dishevelled with straight blonde hair and a scruffy beard. He had an alcohol addiction, specifically dependent on white liquor, and had a general look of neglect about him. No wonder he and James were friends. The two exchanged a nod as they caught eyes. Johanna Mason: pale skin, wide-set brown eyes, matching auburn hair with red stripes. She won her games by convincingly portraying herself as weak and helpless so that she would be ignored, then shed her sheep façade and demonstrated a wicked ability to murder. Classic wolf in sheep's clothing. 

The woman pulled off her headdress and tossed it behind her without bothering to look where it fell. With a scoff, she glanced Sacha up and down, "Don't you look spectacular? Wish I'd gotten your stylist, they have to be some sort of genius. Or Cinna, he's excellent." Sighing, she turned her back to everyone, whipping off her spiked green cuffs and tossing them to the side, "My stylist's the biggest idiot in the Capitol. I'd love to put my axe in her face. Our tributes have been trees for forty years under her. Isn't my costume awful?"

The question wasn't particularly directed to anyone but, before the silence could get too long, Katniss spoke up, "Well, Cinna's helping me design my own clothing line. You should see what he can do with velvet."

Johanna nodded, "I have on your tour. That strapless number you wore in District Two? The deep blue one with the diamonds? So gorgeous I wanted to reach through the screen and tear it right off your back." Katniss clenched her teeth at this but the woman didn't seem to notice.

In fact, Johanna unzipped the rest of her tree costume, letting it drop to the floor, and then kicked it away in disgust. Apart from some forest-green slippers, she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing.

"You dogs," Sacha found herself scowling. The men in the elevator were staring at her nude figure, apart from James, who had his head tilted upward and was suddenly very interested in the ceiling. They weren't even staring in a crude manner; Peeta was more busy observing his fiancée's irritated reaction and Haymitch was grinning in amusement. Still, it had triggered an anger in Sacha.

Johanna laughed at that, giving her head a dismissive shake, "It's just a bit of skin. It's the one thing they can't take away from me."

They. As in the Capitol, of course. But what couldn't they take away from her? Her nakedness? Her true self, is that what she meant? Or more? They couldn't take away her independence, freedom to do as she pleased...Her autonomy. Sacha found herself frowning, mostly from jealousy.