Safe and Sound

Chapter Seven - The Flaming Mockingjay

I woke up the next morning, the air of accomplishment still hanging around me. Getting a good score meant that people would want to sponsor you, but it could also mean that the other tributes would want to kill you first, to make sure they have gotten rid of the 'strongest', as so to speak. I definitely wasn't the strongest tributes. If I was compared to the Career tributes, I would probably look like some lost, little girl that shouldn't have received an eleven and a half. I shook my head so that the thoughts of the Games and the arena were out of my head completely, before I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I gingerly got out of bed and put on a black shirt and brown-green trousers. I then put on a pair of flat soled boots and put my hair in another side plait. I then made my way down to breakfast in the dining car. I entered and sat next to Grayson, who just gave me a small smile, like usual.

Before we had both gone to bed, I had told him the story of what happened in the Training Centre and he had seemed to be shocked, yet impressed. He said I didn't look like I was somebody who would do that. I replied with 'neither do you', which made him blush madly. He really was a shy little squirrel who generally looked like he had been caught in headlights. I then promised him I wouldn't pull off any other stupid stunts that could get me executed, with which I also added that I only did it because the adrenaline and frustration had got the better of me and it was nothing to worry about, I wasn't going to get myself killed before I entered the arena.

I ate some scrambled eggs and took a sip of a drink Grayson had found and introduced me to - hot chocolate. It really was delicious. Grayson seemed to love everything to do with chocolate and I honestly couldn't blame him, it was lovely and something we definitely could never afford back at home. It would be a waste, anyway. So we were going to enjoy it while we still could.

"What are we doing today?" I asked Effie, who was flicking through the pages attached to her clipboard. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile with her bright pink lips.

"As you know, tomorrow evening is your televised interviews, meaning that today you are going to have a session with Haymitch and I each. When you are with me, you will be working on presentation and how you carry yourself and when you are with Haymitch, you will go through content for your interview. You will have four hours with each of us. I start with you and Grayson, you will be with Haymitch for the beginning session. We start straight after breakfast. Any questions?" Grayson and I shook our heads. It sounded like a reasonable and easy day to me.

Well, that assumption was my first mistake of the day.

* * *

"Come on, Harper! Back straight and walk! Head high and- no, no! Careful! Heels aren't that hard, you know." Effie said as I stumbled about, rather ungracefully, in a pair of high heels I was being forced to walk in. I groaned and tried to stand up straighter and take a step, but I almost topped over, which could have resulted in a nose break and the wrath of my prep team. Walking in high heels was a lot harder than it looked and Effie made it look as if it was a breeze. Mind, I had a long dress on as well, which probably was making the situation a whole lot worse.

"Effie, I can't do it. You're going to have to ask Cinna if I can have flat soled shoes. I can't walk." I said, leaning against a nearby table. Effie sighed.

"Watch me and then try again. You must be able to. Every girl can." Effie said, standing up and giving me a demonstration. I stared at her, in exasperation mostly. "Watch how place one foot after the other and how my back remains straight. Long strides shows power. Heel-toe is seductive. Small steps is naïve and shows innocence." She said. I didn't understand how walking can prove certain things such as seduction and power. Heavens, I had no clue as to why Effie thought small steps showed being naïve as such. My walk must have shown idiocy and unattractiveness.

"But Effie, you see, I'm not an everyday girl. I'm someone who has to do illegal things to keep my family alive. I use stealth instead of looks to catch food for my dying father and broken mother. If I didn't do it, my family and I would be dead. If you had to hunt, you wouldn't do it in six inch heels, you would do it in flat soled, hunting boots. That's what I'm used to, so please Effie, don't make me walk in heels. And if you want me to, I beg you to make them really small." I said, trying to make up a really touching reason. Capitol people liked that sort of thing and it usually worked. And it worked. Effie took the heels off me. Yes, she did it rather reluctantly, but she took them off me all the same. Effie then began teaching me how to walk 'beautifully' in flats. Long strides would cause your dress to rise slightly around the skirt and show off your ankles. Heel toe made your dress swish and your hips sway. Small steps made you elegant and fairylike. At least I'm not in danger of a broken neck anymore, I thought to myself as I practiced walking up and down in front of Effie, balancing books on my head to practice having a straight back. In some ways, it was the easiest training I had had, but in some ways it was also the hardest. I couldn't keep a completely dead straight back for very long. I was used to stooping quite low as to stay and hidden and not scare game.

Sitting was okay and so was smiling, but I was aching by the time lunch came around, meaning I was feeling quite fed up by the time I had Haymitch for four hours. I may have been awful with Effie, but I think I did quite well when I was with Haymitch for content. Haymitch acted as an interviewer and I answered the questions as best I could, smiling and giggling and making sure that I could come across likeable to the audience. When I had finished, Haymitch seemed more or less impressed. He hadn't drunk alcohol the whole session, so that had to be some sort of good sign.

I went to bed that night, exhausted, but quite refreshed. My cheeks were aching and my feet hurt, but I was still in some form of good mood. Grayson's cheeks were twitching slightly when I saw him across the hall meaning Effie had made him smile with everything he had said, like me. I had to suppress several giggles, so I hid in my room, where I was now lying in bed, thinking about what I was going to wear at the interview. Was I going to be flaming again? Was I going to make a huge impression? Was I going to look...beautiful? No, surely not beautiful. Different, yes, but not so stunning that boys trip over me. That was impossible. I laughed into my pillow at the thought of young, male Capitol members rushing to Haymitch to sponsor me.

I smiled and rolled over, still laughing into my pillow and imagining what Cinna had in store for me for my televised interview. With those happy and hilarious thoughts in my head, I finally fell into a well deserved, dreamless sleep.

__________

I looked up at Cinna as he examined my make up, which consisted of black and dark grey eye shadow. My hair had also been cleaned by my prep team, but they had done nothing else. Well, besides making sure all the hair from my body was still gone, even though I had insisted that it hadn't grown back. I had been wrong, they managed o find several escaped hairs. Cinna reached out and smudged my eye shadow slightly, giving it a smoother effect. He seemed happy enough.

"Cinna," I asked as he ran his fingers through my freshly washed hair, getting rid of the extra knots and tangles, "What is my dress going to be like? Can you give me hint, please? Is it going to be like the fire dress?"

Cinna chuckled at my enthusiasm at wanting to know what I was going to wear. "You'll have to see, but all I'm going to tell you is that you are going to look stunning and very beautiful." I blinked.

"Stunning and beautiful?" I questioned, "Cinna, even you couldn't pull that one off." I snorted, giggling madly, "Stunning and beautiful, my word, you must be some superhero that can be counted as someone that's magic if you are able to make me look like that." Cinna chuckled lightly and looked at me, locking his gaze with mine.

"But you see, not superhero or magic man is needed to make you beautiful. You already are in your own ways." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. He then leaned right by my ear, which shocked me a little bit, "But between us, I am actually very magical, thank you very much."

I laughed quietly to myself as Cinna then exited the room. I fiddled with the end of my fresh and clean hair until Cinna walked back into the room, holding a black dress bag, which was holding my interview dress. My heart rate began to pick up. I was feeling excited. I watched on eagerly as Cinna unzipped the bag and pulled out the most stunning and beautiful dress that I had laid my eyes on.

It was strapless and black, made completely out of soft, small feathers. The skirt puffed out and fell to the floor, glittering where the light caught the feathers. The feathers got bigger the further down the skirt you looked. Attached to the shoulders was a massive pair of wings that would be attached to the back of each of my arms. The wings would move with my arms, making it look like they were real. The longest feather on the end of the wing, the flight feather, would spread out to the tip of my middle finger. There were specks of white here and there, meaning only one thing - I had obeyed my mother's wish, I was going to be a mockingjay. I squealed with excitement and reached out and touched the feathers, which were unbelievably soft. Cinna smiled down at me as I was almost reduced to tears of joy.

"I am doing your hair personally tonight, that's why your prep team only washed and half heatedly brushed it," Cinna explained, "And for that, I am going to need your red ribbon."

* * *

After a long while, I was at long last ready. I was a mockingjay once and for all. My hair was braided down my back with my ribbon and mockingjay wing feathers here and there mixed within the plait. My dress was stunning, but the best thing about it, however, was the fact that whenever I flapped my 'wings', they would spark and let out little, flickering flames. My grey, Seam eyes looked much darker and more alert with the purposely smudged, smoky eye shadow, making them look attractive, but menacing.

I couldn't wait for my mother and father to see me wearing this dress on their TV. It was most likely that my mother would either cry or not be bothered at all, depending on what mood she was in. I hoped it would be the crying option, which would actually show she cared deeply about her daughter that had been forced to take part in a show where she would undoubtedly be killed in a very vicious and graphic way.

The interviews went by relatively fast. The girls looked stunning and seriously beautiful in their dresses and heels, the boys looking handsome and smooth in their specially designed suits and outfits. They were funny and obviously very appealing to the crowd, making the crowd laugh and sigh. I would need a lot to make myself stand out among the other tributes, but I half knew I had some chance of standing out, what with my sparking, feathery dress. I was going to be a mockingjay, and the Capitol weren't going to stop me now.

At long last, it was time for my interview. All the advice Effie had given me was to smile, look confident and speak louder. She didn't have to worry about me stumbling about in high heels because Cinna had given me a pair of black flats, covered in smooth and very neatly placed black and white feathers. I was a mockingjay from head to toe.

So I walked with confidence out and on to the stage. The crowd gasped as I moved my arms as if my wings were real, causing the sparks and flickering flames to trail out behind me. I beamed at them all, pretending that I wasn't hyperventilating inside and that I actually wanted to be there. Caesar Flickerman cheered and clapped loudly, before he beckoned for me to sit down in the chair assigned for me, which was diagonally facing the audience and Caesar at the same time.

"Well, Harper. It is lovely to see you and might I say, you look stunning!" Caesar exclaimed as I carefully placed myself down in the comfy chair, smoothing out my feathers. I smiled at him graciously and smiled out towards the audience.

"Thank you, it's all thanks to Cinna, for taking in the words of my mother. She wanted me to be a mockingjay; to be confident and to keep singing even when everything seems lost and only darkness remains, for that is what the sweet little mockingjay does." I said, suppressing a sniff and placing a hand on my heart. It felt odd to twist my mother's words, but if I wanted to appeal to the audience, I had to break their hearts first. Caesar tutted sympathetically.

"Very touching. Cinna is known for his magnificence in designing. Now, I know this may be a little intrusive, but I have heard that your father is dying. Is this just gossip or is it the truth?" Caesar pressed. I felt my smile flicker slightly, so I bowed my head and blinked back tears, bowing my head slightly, earning a collective 'aww' from the audience.

"Y-Yes. It is true. He is dying slowly and it is breaking both me and my mother, inside and out. We think he breathed in some nasty fumes, which is poisoning him slowly. My little sister, Rose, also died not that long ago. She was the only person, besides my parents, that loved me and that-" I could feel my voice wavering for real, "-that...I loved. She understood me. Sh-She knew me. She cared. Now she has left me all alone, without anyone to hold on to. The ribbon in my hair, the red one, that was hers. I keep it is a token. It shall be my token in the arena, my little piece of my sister that I can hold on to for as long as I live. But Caesar, I'm not going to cry, Rose wouldn't want me to and neither would my father. All I'm going to do for now is smile, because that is something both my sister and my father were able to make me do." I said, looking out at the crowd, the tears stinging my eyes. The audience applauded me. I caught some of them holding tissues to their eyes, which proved that I had touched them in some way. I caught Cinna's eye, who gave me a subtle smile. He looked a bit misty eyed too, unless I was mistaken.

Caesar reached out and gave me a quick pat on the knee, a sign of sympathy, before straightening himself up in his chair, ready for the next question.

"That's wonderful Harper. A few of the other previous and present tributes and people in the crowd should he more like you and not let depression and grief take over them. To live for the moment." Caesar then said, offering me a smile with his pale orange lips. "Now, we haven't got much time left, so I would like to go back to your outfit. We all know Cinna likes to make things amazing by hiding spectacular things up his sleeve...sometimes even literally! So, Harper, please could you give the crowd and people watching a bit of a twirl?"

I didn't know if Cinna had prepared anything on the dress for twirling, but I couldn't afford to disappoint now. Oh well, I thought, even if Cinna hasn't planned anything, the wings will give off some nice looking sparks.

So, I smiled at Caesar and got to my feet. I walked to the centre of the stage and spread my arms out as elegantly and as birdlike as I could. And, with a confident smile to the crowd, I twirled around. I knew something had happened because the crowd were cheering and gasping. I knew my wings were letting out sparks. But the thing that made my smile genuine was that my whole dress had been engulfed in flame, making it look like it was only made out of fire. I eventually stopped twirling and the huge flames reduced to flickering flames here and there about the dress and wings which still looked magnificent to me. I raised my arms, spreading out my wings for the crowd. I wasn't the Girl on Fire, like Katniss Everdeen, I was the Flaming Mockingjay...and I wasn't going to go down in these Games without a fight.