Dangerous Allies // Cato Hadley

Part 2: Show Time

"Well aren't you a pretty thing!" The voice was less annoying than TeeLee's, but not by much.

"Besides those atrocious nails."

The three people in front of her laughed amongst themselves as they looked her over.

"But we'll fix that right up!" A man with drawn on yellow eyebrows assured her.

"Great." She said sarcastically as they pushed her onto her back.

The blue table was cold under her bare skin as they began to wax her entire body.

She cringed as each strip was torn from her skin. "Is this really necessary?"

The woman rubbing another strip onto her thigh scoffed. "Do you want to go out there with hairy legs?"

"Yes!" Her answer came out in a yelp as more hair was ripped from her skin.

It felt like hours until she was left to lay on the table alone.

The door hissed open and Eve's neck snapped towards the woman who walked through it.

Her purple jumpsuit had shoulders that pointed so far Eve was surprised they didn't scrap the doorframe.

"Go ahead and sit up for me, sweetheart." She said, sporting the usual capital accent.

She beamed as Eve pushed herself upward. "First, I want to say congratulations!"

"My name is Fira." She said, extending her hand.

Eve didn't say thank you, but she did shake her hand.

"I'm so happy to finally have a suitable model for my clothes!" She beamed.

"Gosh I'm so excited." She smiled. "Would you like to see what I have planned for you to wear?"

Whether she wanted to or not didn't matter. The small screen was already illuminating her face.

She tried to hold back her look of horror when she saw the designs in front of her.

A giant crown with fake bubbles and pearls stuck out like a sore thumb. The dress was like nothing she had ever seen before. Blue plastic sheets were draped over the electronic mannequin, held together by a white starfish.

Eve cleared her throat. "It's something."

"Isn't it?" She laughed.

"It really is beautiful." Eve lied.

"But what if we made it look more like... I don't know..." She tried to come up with something, anything, to keep her from having to wear the atrocity in front of her. "A siren?"

"A siren?"

"It's a mythical creature from my district." She said. "They lure fisherman with their beauty before killing them in the ocean's depths."

"How demented." A smile spread over her mouth. "I love it."

Eve gently took the small screen from her stylist and began to draw.

"Do you like jewels?" Eve asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course!"

"Then let's put a big one right here." She said, gesturing just below her ribcage.

"The blues are already perfect." She said, trying to flatter the woman who was in charge of her outfits.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"But what if we made the fabric tighter at the top." She suggested. "With a silver layer on top to make it shimmer instead of the other material."

"I know just the thing!" She squealed, snatching the machine from Eve's hand to scribble madly over the screen.