05 ; Sugar Cubes



Dorta and Casper are both waiting for Emberly once she exits the train. Casper making grabby hands towards her and once his orange skinned hand is on her arm, he's dragging her to the stylist station for her District.


Mika is standing inside of the private styling room, her hair now a beautiful red color as she gives Emberly a soft look, seeing that Emberly is struggling to keep her composure.


"We need to wake you up," Mika says, grabbing Emberly's hand in hers as she leads Emberly into a separate room, filled with silver bathtubs. "so, we're giving you an ice bath."


Emberly doesn't fight it when Casper and Dorta begin taking off her clothes. Leaving her naked as she steps into the bathtub filled with ice water. There is some random herbs floating in the water, some for relaxation, some for skin rejuvenation, and others just for fragrance.


"Dunk your head underneath, the rejuvenation leaves will help with the wrinkles on your forehead and with the bags underneath your eyes." Mika instructs, placing her hands onto Emberly's shaking shoulders as she shoves Emberly down into the ice water.


The cold water makes Emberly's chest constrict, heart beating heavily in her ears as the green relaxation leaves begin to soak into her skin and make all her muscle start to unconstrict. Mika lifts her up after a few minutes, and glances at her face before making a pleased sound.


"Get out, we need to dry you off." Dorta says, helping Emberly from the tub of ice water and wrapping her in a warm white towel. Within seconds, they're leading Emberly's body to a large containment cubicle, having heaters blow on her body to dry everything.


"You have the extensions, I have the make up." Casper says, grabbing Emberly from the cubicle, who's still in her white towel and directs her towards a large black leather chair. Emberly then notices, as Casper is getting out the multicolored make-up palette, just how much the Capitol has changed the Stylist's headquarters.


Everything is shiny silver and new, as if they still want to make the victors feel like royalty even though they're sending them back into the arena to fight for their lives. Even after they were promised they never were going to have to relive that nightmare again.


Casper is just finishing curling the red extensions clipped into Emberly's dark hair the when Mika walks back into the room. A large dress bag in her hands as she gives Emberly a small smile in the reflection of the mirror as she places the bag on the back of a nearby chair.


"Beautiful," Mika grins, eyeing the beautiful smoky eyes that Dorta had put placed on the lids of Emberly's eyes. Grey and black eyeshadow mix together in harmony, and with how beautiful her make up looks; Emberly can only imagine what her dress looks like.


"Come this way," Mika says, grabbing Emberly's hand and leading her towards the back room. Undoing the dress from it's bag, Emberly's jaw drops at just how simple the dress looks; but in a way it captures all of her attention.


"I made it in honor of your family." Mika says, before she's showing Emberly the bottom hem of the dress. On the black silk of the dress are golden lion crests, surrounded by flickers of red, white, and orange to look like lion heads in the mists of flames.


"It's beautiful." Emberly says, removing the towel from around her waist and letting Mika slide the dress up her legs, until it's snug on her body. The black dress is strapless, but the bust of the dress is covered in bright red and orange jewels to accent her District's main factor: luxury.


"Are you ready?" Dorta asks, looking at Emberly with kind purple eyes. Emberly glances at herself in the mirror one last time, nodding her head before grabbing Dorta's hand and letting the small, plump stylist lead her towards the chariots.


<


Noah is waiting by the chariot with his cluster of stylists when Emberly emerges from hers. His tall frame is in a pure black jacket and slacks, his breast pocket has a red handkerchief. He glances at her for a few seconds, blue eyes unreadable before he's looking away and letting his stylist play with the blond curls on his head.


The chariot is plain black, but on top of the black paint is large black lace. It twirls around the chariots in intricate designs; that lead all the way to the head pieces that the white horses pulling the chariot are wearing. It matches Emberly and Noah's outfits perfectly, and Emberly honestly wants to know how Mika comes up with these things when President Snow's voice is addressing the Capitol people in the stands.


Noah steps onto the chariot first, his large, muscular frame entrapping Emberly for a few seconds before she's directing her attention away and steps onto the chariot beside him.


"Oh, I almost forgot." Mika says, rushing towards the chariot with two large headdresses in her arms. She reaches them out towards Emberly and Noah both, a tiny smile grazing her lips when she gives Emberly a wink before walking back to Dorta and Casper.


Noah grabs the black headdress from Emberly's hands, placing it on top of his curls. The headdress is made to look masculine, it's black all around beside the large red, orange, and white feathers decorating it is sections.


Emberly glances down at hers and places it on her head without a second thought. Her headdress is black but it's covered in beautiful red, orange, white, and gold feathers that are made to compliment Emberly's dress and the Lion crests on it as well.


The horses of their chariot burst to life, huffing and clomping their hoofs onto the ground as the dark red and orange jewels on their headdress sway and look like sparks of fire. Then, Emberly is grabbing the bar in front of her, the pure white horses leading them towards the entrance of the tribute parade.


The Capitol people scream, the hype to it's maximum at seeing familiar faces of all the victors of the years in front of them in a large parade. They throw roses and coins, cheering for their favorites before the chariots are stopping underneath the ledge of President Snow's chair.


He begins his speech, the same speech he does every year. Emberly ignores it, biting her bottom lip hard for the twenty minutes it takes  for President Snow to talk before the horses are leading them away and back towards their stylists whom are hurrying towards them with warm smiles on their faces.


Noah leaves the chariot in a hurry, his stylists squawking things in his face as he does so. Emberly watches him leave, seeing that Noah still remains shy and quiet. Nothing like Marvel was, being Marvel was cocky and quick-witted. Noah just seems lost and confused, something that Emberly is still trying to figure out.


"Hello, Emberly."


Jerking around, Emberly instantly comes face to face with Finnick Odair. He's smiling at her with pearly white teeth. He's tall, athletic, golden skinned, has bronze colored hair and a pair of beautiful turquoise colored eyes.


"Hello, Finnick." Emberly says, as if her and Finnick are friends and aren't meeting for the first time; being that Finnick is somewhat of a legend. Finnick won the Sixty-Fifth Hunger Games when he was fourteen years old. But he was from District 4, meaning he was trained, much like Emberly, since birth to be a fighter.


It'd taken the other tributes a long time to figure out he was the one to kill. But by then, Finnick was prepared for them and had been giving the gift of a trident from the sponsors. Which was the key to the end, District 4 was fishing District, giving Finnick a trident was like giving Emberly a bow.


"Want a sugar cube?" Finnick asks, offering his hand which is piled high with the soft white cubes. "They're supposed to be for the horse, but who cares? They've got years to eat sugar, whereas you and I....well, if we see something sweet, we better grab it quick."


"No thanks," Emberly says, before glancing down at Finnick's tall frame. "but I like you outfit. I might have to steal it from you sometime."


Finnick is draped in a golden net that's strategically knotted at his groin so that he can't be called naked, but he's about as close to it as he can get. Emberly guesses his stylist decided that the more of Finnick they show to the audience, the better.


"Oh, I'd pay to see that." Finnick grins, popping a sugar cube into his mouth as he raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Emberly. "what happened to the jeweled dresses?"


"I'm not a big fan of my District." Emberly says, stepping out of her chariot. Pretending not to notice Finnick's blue eyes grazing over her frame, or linger on the lion crests sewn onto her dress.


Finnick then looks back up at Emberly's face, "Too bad about this Quell thing. I mean, you could've made out like a bandit with the Capitol's riches. But you just had to volunteer for that girl in your district didn't you? What was her name, Cashmere?"


Emberly tightens her jaw, knowing that Finnick's district is just like hers. Filled with people who are cunning, greedy, and who know a fake sacrifice when they see one. But Emberly has dealt with people from her District for years and replies, "I only volunteered in hopes of seeing you Finnick."


Finnick smirks at Emberly, before he's stepping into Emberly's personal space. Tilting his head up so his lips are almost touching  hers. "Well, now the real question is that now you've seen me, what are you going to do with me?"


Emberly wants to groan in disgust but she just steps forward, making Finnick smirk at her, but he doesn't move. Making them even closer than before, before she's whispering close to his face "Oh you'll see in the arena Finnick, I plan to do so many things to you."


Finnick's once cunning face turns cold, his blue eyes hardening before Emberly hears a familiar voice call out her name. Lifting her head away from Finnick's, she see's Mika waving her arms and motioning for her to hurry up her chat with Finnick.


"I see you have to go," Finnick says, stepping away from Emberly's personal space. He then grab Emberly's hand, bowing curly and kissing Emberly's knuckle before standing up straight. "I'll see you sound Emberly Hawke."


Emberly smiles, watching Finnick saunter off before answering. "I sure hope so Finnick Odair."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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