Glory And Gore ~ Clove Kentwell

(2) Money power glory

As Cassiopeia, Billy, Evam (the male tribute), Finnick, and Annie enter the train, a million thoughts run through Cassiopeia's brain. But one sits at the front. "how do we win?" She whispers. "what? Speak up." Finnick says, popping a grape in his mouth, hand entwined with Annie's. "How do we win?" She asks, speaking loud and clear this time.

"well, let's see, what weapons are you two good with?" Finnick asks, still smiling as if Cassiopeia and Evam aren't about to die, it angers her. "I'm a Fisher, I'm good with a trident." Cassiopeia states, her voice never once wavering. She figures that if she seems like she isn't absolutely terrified, she won't be. "I'm not good with anything, I'm still in school." The boy murmers and Annie gazes at him pitifully. Finnick sighs and rubs his temple. "Cassidy? Cassiopeia? Yeah. That's good, a trident is how I won." Finnick nods thoughtfully, like he's solving a problem in his head. "As for you," he points at Evam. "you need to learn quickly if you want to live." He says lowly.

"enough of this dark talk!" Billy exclaims and stands up. "let's go eat dinner, we arrive in an hours time!" He smiles and heads to what I'm assuming to be the dining room. Everyone gets up to leave, and as Cassiopeia approaches the door, Finnick grabs her arm. Cassiopeia spins around, a look of confusion evident on her face. "Cassiopeia, I'm not going to lie to you, that kid, Evam, he's going to die, but you, you have a chance, a chance to live. I won with a trident, and others have too, spend plenty of time training in the training center if you want to make  out of here, got it?" He talks so quickly and quietly, Cassiopeia almost misses it, but she nods slowly, following him to the dining room.

~'|•|'~

"Oh my god...." Evam whispers, looking out the window. Cassiopeia looks up from her conversation with Finnick. "what is it?" She asks, standing up to walk over to him. "we're here!" He turns to look at her and smiles. Cassiopeia can't help but smile back at the small boy and walks over to where he is, the both of them look out the window. "smile, wave, the more they like you the more sponsors you'll get!" Finnick says and Billy hums in agreement. Finnick turns and whispers something to Annie, causing her to drop his hand, and her smile.

As they pull into the train station, Cassiopeia smiles and waves through the window like Finnick said to. People in brightly colored clothes with big hair and extravagant makeup cheer and scream, Cassiopeia can hear them screaming her name. "CASSIOPEIA!" One in the front screams, louder than the others and Cassiopeia makes eye contact and winks at the girl.

The train comes to a stop and Billy guides them to the door. It slides open and the screaming gets louder, Cassiopeia winces and then smiles and waves at them as she walks with peacekeepers keeping the people in order.

~'|•|'~
Cassiopeia's POV!

What is happening. Why in gods name am I lying naked on a metal table? Three people come and stand beside me. One, with lime green hair and caramel colored skin smiles at me and begins to talk with her fancy Capitol accent, "hello Cassiopeia, I'm Star, and this is Minny, and Jackson, we are going to get you looking nice and clean!" She cheers and I sigh and smile. "alright." They get to work hosing me down and scrubbing away all the dirt on my body, it feels weird having that thin layer of dirt underneath my fingernails gone, and the faint smell of salt and fish washed away from my body. It feels unnatural.

"alright, lets get you to Neptune!" Minny says and ushers me into a bland metal room. A girl with dark navy colored hair and dark purple painted lips with skin the color of chocolate enters and I assume it's my stylest. "hello dear." She says in a calming voice that sounds smooth like velvet. "I'm Neptune, your stylest for the games!" She says and smiles at me. I do my best to return the smile, "I'm Cassiopeia, what are you thinking for the parade?" I ask and she grins. "straight into it I see! Well as you know, I've always made you fishers, but that's boring, it's not cool anymore. So I want to make you a fish, in a good way!", she says and I nod. She wants to dress me as a fish?

" what? " I ask and her eyes widen "oh my god! No I didn't mean like, a puffy fish costume! Here I'll show you the swimsuit!" Neptune rushes to correct herself Andi giggle, I didn't expect any of the Capitol people to be this nice. Neptune grabs a swimsuit from a rack in the far corner of the room and turns around to show it to me. It's a beautiful skin tight swimsuit with almost fish looking holographic colorful scales, it's beautiful and shiny. "Oh my..." I trail off as I walk up to her and feel the material on my hands. "Beautiful isn't it!" Neptune cheers and I nod. "it's, it's stunning!" I say and look up to her. "you'll wear your hair in a ponytail with glitter and beads spread across your hair, and have glittery heels, and of course the bait!" She explains the rest of the costume, and for a moment, I almost forget  that the only reason I'm here is to die.

(picture shown above! NOT MY ART!)

~'|•|'~
THIRD PERSON POV!

"are you ready?" Finnick asks The two tributes and they nod slowly. "you look beautiful..." Annie says to Cassiopeia but gets distracted and walks away.  Cassiopeia looks around and her eyes land on a small dark haired girl in a gold costume, District two, masonry. Cassiopeia watches as the girl yells and her Mentor and slaps away the hand of her designer. The girl raises her arms in anger before huffing and turning towards Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia looks away thinking she hadn't been caught, but the girl had seen her, and smirked before turning back to argue with her mentor again.

~'|•|'~

As the carriage rolled out, Cassiopeia's eyes scanned the cheering crowd, there were so many of them. She reminded herself of the goal here and straightened her posture. She put on a "tough" face and waved at the crowds. Her eye caught the banner that was showing her face and she winked at the camera, Finnick told her to be charming. She flashed the camera one smile and people roared with cheers and calls. As their carriage stopped, Cassiopeia turned to look at Evam and noticed he was shaking, she reached over and squeezed his hand before dropping it. All of a sudden the crowds got ten times louder and Cassiopeia turned around to look at the cause, District twelve was on fire. It was stunning, if Cassiopeia thought her costume was good, district twelves was stunning.

Cassiopeia huffed and turned around to face president snow, thinking about the girl from two, and the girl on fire.

~'|•|'~

"you were great out there, the wink and grin! Brilliant!" Finnick exclaimed, patting Cassiopeia on the back. "he's right, you two looked good!" Billy said and smiled. Cassiopeia, however, was not happy, that girl and boy from district twelve stole the show, stole the sponsors, and Cassiopeia was determined to win.

She didn't care about the money, it wouldn't bring her power, and she couldn't care less about glory, she just wanted to return home to Kaliana and her mother. Money power and glory were the least of her concerns.

~'|•|'~

Andrea's notes

I'm so excited for Cassiopeia and Cloves story, I love Cassiopeia so much!

-Andrea