The Game to End all Games [COMPLETED]

Chapter 8

@horseyeilidh

Octavia sniffs loudly and Venia glares at her.
"What's wrong, Octavia?" I ask gently. She sniffs again and shakes her head quickly and sadly. Venia shoots her another glare and Octavia gets up slowly. She leaves the room but the other two don't seem to notice. Flavius finishes combing through my hair and Venia plucks the final stray strands from my now stinging eyebrows. They admire their work somberly and make any final alterations before leaving. The cold edge of the metal table digs into my bare legs that sting from having all of the hair removed. I run my hand over the smooth surface, all the way down to my toes which just graze the floor. The door opens abruptly. A guy with dark skin and closely cropped hair steps through it and walks towards me. There are very few people with dark skin in the Capitol, most are fair or surgically altered in colour.
"Hello, Primrose," he whispers, in a voice so unlike the heavily accented ones of the Capitol that it makes me shiver. "If you put on your gown, we can go and have a little talk," I retrieve the tissue paper thin gown and fashion it around myself before following him into a separate room. Light floods through the floor-to-ceiling windows but I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not passing out. The world seems to be spinning rapidly as I make it over to the sofa. Cinna smiles sadly at me from where he is sat opposite me.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Everdeen," the flecks of gold in his green eyes dance. "You're sister spoke very highly about you when she was here," the gold eyeliner, applied with a light hand, is enhancing and beautiful. "I feel like I already know you. And yet we have never met... properly."

Of course we have met before, on his numerous visits to aid Katniss in her fashion designing. But he was always her guest, so I stayed out of the way and only made polite small talk.
"Portia and I have been working hard on a design for you and your district partner." He presses a button an the table between us. I watch as an array of food rises from within but nothing here shocks me. This is the place where anything is possible. "To fit with the theme of ending, we have created costumes to reflect both that and your district."
"So when will I get to see it?"
"Soon enough," he responds with a smile; "But... don't be disappointed. It holds more surprises than will be instantly evident," We eat the meal in near silence but after I have eaten the last mouthful, I have a burning question that I have to ask.
"Why was Octavia so sad to see me?" I ask. "And why did Venia make her leave?" It reminded me of a couple of years ago when it was against all the social rules to speak unless spoken to. I would often get glares while walking down the corridor after something as small as asking for a pen. I was shunned for months before Rory and my other friends finally picked up on it and helped get it sorted.
"When they saw your sister after her time in the Arena, there was a lot of crying and it upset Katniss that they cried so much. I thought that you might feel the same way," he says after a slight pause. I could have guessed it really. Katniss dislikes those who are incapable, injured or show their feelings. She sees it as weak.
"No," I tell the empty plate in front of me. "I do not feel the same way."