The Assassin (Finnick Odair X OC)

Chapter Nine: The Public's Eye

Chapter Nine: The Public's Eye

"I don't know who you pissed off." Terrence greets me as I enter the styling room, properly picked and preened for the public.

I sit down on the empty chair across from him and frown. "Did I piss someone off?"

"You m - don't act so ignorant." His eyes narrow, latching onto mine with suspicion. I give him a confused look and, with an exaggerated sigh, Terrence stands and walks over to a black bag. He picks it up and unzips the black bag, revealing some sort of clothing. "This came straight from the president."

I pretend to act surprised.

No shit it did. Snow's not going to trust you to clothe me in the way that he wants - no. He called in a different stylist and, with their help, fabricated a public image for me. It's a slightly disappointing image, to be honest.

I've already seen the dress, but I stand as Terrence holds it out, disgust flashing across his face. "This is the simplest shit that I've seen in years. It's like the President wants you to be forgettable."

You're partially right, Terrence.

Snow doesn't want me to be forgotten. No, he wants me to be as relaxed and casual as possible.

He said that there's never been an uncaring trainee win over the hearts of the Capitol and, on top of providing an explanation for my lack of caring during the games (I've killed before - unlike the others, there won't me a haunted undertone to my voice. I've become numb to the after effects of taking an innocent life), he's curious to see if it can be done.

It's a navy blue dress. There's not much design - nothing that I can really explain. The cleavage is nonexistent and, although it stops above my knee, it's not important. I'm not trying to make an impression with the clothing tonight.

I heave a sigh, acting disappointed. "I wanted to be remembered."

"Yeah, well." Terrence lets out a huff and holds the dress out to me. "Someone doesn't want that."

Oh, I will be. I may look relaxed, but I think that this can be done. It's one of the easiest things that he's asked me to do, anyway.

|||

"You're going for a strange look today." I walk up to greet Alice, only to have her speak first. "Very boring."

"How kind of you." My eyes flick over to Jay, who is wearing just a simple black collared shirt with some of the buttons undone. He's clearly going to try to entice the crowd. "Not bad, Jay."

Jay allows a tight smile to appear on his face. "Thanks." He's still uncomfortable around me; if it were up to him, I wouldn't be a career.

Thank god it's not up to him.

I look at Alice. She's wearing a pretty nice dress. It's kind of metallic, with a tight top and a puffy skirt flowing out behind her.

"I'm going for the cute look." I joke.

Alice snorts as I wink at her. "That was the least cute thing that I've seen in years."

"You must not look in mirrors." I chuckle as she groans loudly, making a motion to slap me.

"I hate you." I shrug back in agreement and she snorts, her eyes flicking past me. "How's your district partner?"

"As useless as always. I should go back-"

"Nonsense. Stay until I'm called." Alice shakes her head at me. I turn as well to look at James, who has moved as well to talk to the District Eight trainees. "He's making alliances?"

"Yeah, James has been fixated on those two since the beginning." I confirm. "They're scavengers, though. The way that they'll survive is through hiding."

The two District Eights trainees are both fourteen. They were definitely close friends at home because I haven't seen them apart once. From what I can gather, the boy - Freddy - is the muscle of the two, casting glances at swords throughout almost all of our training time. But, he never left Heather's side - the shy looking female - and they went from survival station to survival station.

He could go far but, with her, there's no way that Freddy really does well. I don't know what James sees in them but, for some reason, he trust them a shit ton. I don't ask. If those are the allies that he wants, then they're the allies he gets.

There is a flurry of cheers and we both turn. Through a small curtain, we can see Caesar Flickerman walk up to the center of the stage.

I pat Alice on the back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomo - oh, yeah. I almost forgot that the games started tomorrow. See you in the arena." She flashes me a smirk and I turn, walking back to my spot on the line.

James has already made his way back and he shifts over, allowing me to stand next to him. "You nervous?" It takes me a minute to realize that he spoke to me.

I shake my head at him. "Don't try."

"I thought that we could at least be civi-"

"No." I look up at one of the many screens available for us to watch. Alice has walked out onto the stage. "We can't be."

|||

"How has your visit to the Capitol been?" I look Caesar square in the face as he speaks.

My goal to be as casual as I can be. I'm not sure if it will work but, honestly, I'll have fun trying. At the very least, it'll confuse the hell out of Caesar, who's probably expecting either a cute persona or a scary persona or a sexy one.

I shrug. "Not too bad."

He lets out a loud chuckle, causing some of the audience to laugh with him. "You haven't enjoyed your stay?"

"No, it's been fun." I exhale and speak again. "I just don't really enjoy all of the colors."

"Ah, the Capitol is known to be a very vibrant place." He pauses, I think for drama.

I speak up, raising my eyebrow. "I'm just - you look like a human pumpkin. What's your natural hair color?"

My question is drowned out by a huge explosion of laughter.

"That's hilarious! I've never heard that one before." Caesar makes a face, patting the top of his wig, and laughs as well. "What did you ask?"

"Your natural hair color. Or, are you bald?" I ask casually, my face not changing as the crowd roars again. I'm going more the route of unfiltered person but, at this point, I've got to stick with it.

"Let's move on from my hair!" Caesar replies quickly, his face lighting up into a smile. He lets the crowd continue before putting his hands up.

They go dead silent, and he talks to me again, swiftly changing the subject. "Now, I'm sure that we were all quite surprised when you received the highest ranking of the tributes. How ever did you do that?"

"Oh, that?" I pretend to think for a moment before shrugging. "It wasn't really anything special. I threw a couple of weapons."

"Well, those must have been thrown with complete accuracy." He presses.

I raise my eyebrow at Caesar. "You're really trying hard to get a clear answer out of me."

The crowd laughs boisterously as he sucks in an exaggerated gasp. "The insults! My dear, you've got quite an attitude."

"Do I?" I shrug and he laughs again, standing up. The crowd's laughter turns into applause. "Well, I'd like to give a round of applause to the hilarious Miss Kai Shields."

The noise gets louder and I give a salute, turning and walking over to where the other trainees are sitting. My eyes meet Alice's. She gives me a nod, which I return.