Fall Away

"I hate this."

"I knew you would."

"Would you stop grinning for 5 seconds?"

"I don't think I can."

"I hate this, and I hate you."

"I love it when you play hard-to-get." Finnick's grin grew wider as he watched Shalim scurry around me, decking me out in the worst possible costume I could have imagined. It was nothing more than rope that weaved loosely around me in a net-like pattern, knotting to cover only what was absolutely necessary. I was as good as naked, and this was what I would have to wear in front of Panem at tonight's opening ceremony.

"Stop flirting and get in your costume, Finnick!" Rafa scolded, smacking Finnick on the back of his head.

Finnick winced and meekly scurried off into his changing room, and I was suddenly overwhelmingly grateful to have Rafa.

"Look, Winnie, you have to kick ass tonight, okay? I know that you've been all sweet and trying to be Panem's Sweetheart ever since you got out of the arena, but you have to put that behind you. I need you to exude power. I want you to look like you could freeze someone with just a cold glare. If you can do that, then you can pull this outfit off." Rafa said, turning to me with a solemn look on his face.

I nodded. "I'll do whatever you say. I need to win this," I assured him, but a quiet voice in the back of my mind screamed, 'liar'. I didn't want to win. I just needed to do well enough that I wouldn't hurt Adri's chance of getting sponsors. If I could keep Adri in good shape, then I'd be happy.

"Okay. Now, I'm going to leave, because I feel creepy looking at you when you're almost naked, but I'm here with you in spirit." He said before ducking out of the room.

Shalim scoffed. "I'm not sure if that man is admirably honest, or just incredibly awkward." He muttered, pinning another section of rope into place.

"I need honesty right now, so I'll take what I can get." I murmured, inspecting myself in the mirror. I was barely recognizable, but the biggest change was in my expression. I looked just as exhausted and weary as I felt, and I knew I had to do better. I practiced giving myself a cold glare in the mirror for a few moments, but I felt silly and quickly stopped. If I couldn't even stare myself down, how the hell was I going to fool the entire country?!

As soon as I was finished and sufficiently almost-naked, Finnick and I were thrust onto our carriages in the back room. Adri and Cashmere weren't out yet, but I barely had time to look for them as last minute alterations were made. Another brush of powder or swipe of lipstick seemed to be necessary, and all I could do was let them fuss over me. Finnick and I avoided eye contact as much as possible. I didn't know why he was avoiding my gaze, but I knew that I couldn't look at him in his current outfit without blushing and feeling awkward, and that was the last thing I needed.

I heard the door swing open as another crowd of people huddled through the door, and I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Cashmere and Adri walking side-by-side, perfectly in harmony. Their eyes were set straight ahead, not even bothering to look at the other tributes, like they didn't matter. I wanted to run to Adri's side and punch Cashmere in the face, but I fought back the urge.

Once Adri was settled in his carriage, he turned and faced the other tributes, and I saw his eyes searching the room for me. His eyes ran right over my face, and without even lingering on me, they moved right on to Finnick. As soon as his eyes found Finnick's, though, his eyes widened, and he slowly drew his gaze back to me. His jaw dropped in either shock or horror -- I couldn't tell -- as he saw my outfit, and he looked me over several times in disbelief before getting off the carriage. A few staff urged him back up onto the platform, but he pushed his way through them easily, not even pausing to look at them as he made his way to my side.

"I don't like that." He said, nodding to my outfit. "Do you really have to whore yourself out just to get sponsors?"

"I think it looks quite nice. She can certainly pull it off, can't she?" Finnick said easily, taking his first opportunity at getting inside Adri's head. I winced, remembering Finnick's fondness for mind games, and I knew instantly that working with Finnick and Adri together would be unimaginably difficult.

Adri's jaw clenched, but he didn't take his eyes off me. "I don't remember asking you to bless me with your opinion." He growled.

"I'm not whoring myself out. Shalim and Rafa both agree that it will make me look more powerful." I said, eager to distract Adri from Finnick, who was smirking at him easily.

"I still don't like it." Adri said, clenching his jaw.

Finnick scoffed, cutting back in -- much to my chagrin. "I thought you'd like it. Gives you a little more to look at, doesn't it?" He murmured, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to his side, which was extremely uncomfortable given that we were both almost naked.

No, no, no! Both of you, shut up! I screamed at them inside my head, but my lips seemed unable to form the words.

"Actually, you're right. Maybe you could sneak up to my room tonight wearing that. I can think of a few things we could do with that costume." Adri grabbed my arm and pulled me over to him, nuzzling his lips against my neck, but I could see he was glaring at Finnick the entire time.

Finnick didn't let go of my waist, and he was just about to shoot back a reply when Cashmere appeared out of nowhere and tugged Adri back to the carriage. As soon as Adri was facing away from us, Finnick let go of my waist and took a step away, putting a comfortable amount of distance between us.

I whirled around to glare at him. "What the hell was that?" I demanded.

"Look at you two, Winnie. You're both furious and hell-bent, and it shows. Don't you want the audience to see you two like this?" Finnick said.

I looked up at Adri and saw that he was glancing over his shoulder at me, and Finnick was right. His expression was one of pure fury, his muscles tensed as he balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. He looked terrifying, and that was exactly what the audience needed to see. "So, you're telling me that the only reason you pulled that stunt was to get Adri primed for the audience?" I muttered, turning back to Finnick and glaring skeptically at him.

He shrugged. "There might have been a few personal perks in it for me, but it was for his own overall benefit. And yours, of course."

I grimaced. "I didn't realize you liked playing this dirty."

Finnick chuckled and turned back to face front as the opening music began to play. Just before the doors opened to let us through, I heard him murmur, "Oh, if you think that was dirty, just wait until you see what I've got planned."