I walk into Aries' room and sit down on the overstuffed armchair in the corner. I see a black bag hanging on the back of the door. I imagine it's my dress for tonight. Tonight. I shudder at the thought. Whats going to happen? What if Ceaser asks me a question I can't anwser? My hands start to shake. If I'm this scared to go out on stage for my interview than how am I going to be going into the arena? I take a deep breath. Calm down. I tell myself. Avery is going to be watching. I need to be brave. I need to be brave for him. Just then Aries bursts through the door with two plates of food.
"Hello, beautiful", he says as I stand up, he hands me my dinner. "Are you ready for tonight?" My hands start to shake again, and I shake my head. "There's nothing to worry about. I'll be right there in the front row. Pretend like it's just you and I. Like I'm the one asking the questions." I nod my head. We both sit down and put our plates on the table.
"Okay. But what if I mess up? What if I say something wrong?" I ask taking a bite of the steak.
"Well we're going to work on that. Have you figured out your style yet?" He asks.
"Haymitch says I'm brave. That I'm the brave girl from District twelve." I say.
"Hmmm", Aries nods his head, "that will definatly work. Did you and Haymitch work on how you will anwser Ceasers questions? Did he run over what he is probably going to ask you?" He asks.
"Not really. We were about to but Katniss brought up the Rebillion and he got all moody and left the room." I say. Aries looks at me than looks at his food. "What? Why does everyone do that?" I ask frustrated.
"Do what?" Aries asks still looking at the floor.
"That!" I point at him. "As soon as the Rebellion is mentioned people won't even look in my general direction. What did I do?" I ask. Aries takes a deep breath and looks up at me.
"It's not my position to tell you Cassandra. Haymitch will tell me when he's ready." He say's taking a large bite of his potatoes.
"Tell me what? I don't understand" I ask slumping forward.
"I don't know. It's his secret not mine." He says with a shrug. We finish the rest of our dinners in silence. He takes both of our plates to a small opening in the wall and presses a button.
"What's that?" I ask.
"It's like an elevator but for dirty dishes. We put them in there and it goes into the kitchen for the Avox's to wash. He walks back to the table and sits down.
"Aries... I'm scared. I am terrified actually." I confess. "I wasn't scared before but now..." I let my voice trail off. He stands up and takes my hand, I stand as well. He pulls me into a tight hug.
"Everything is going to be okay. I promise. You're going to be amazing tonight and you are going to win the games. You know how I know?" He asks. I shake my head. "Because you are stronger than they are. You will find a way to win this." He says. I nod y head. He pulls away from the hug and still holding y hand guides me to a table with a large mirror. I sit down and immediately he pulls out a number of different make up products. "Okay, so we're going to keep it simple, but edgy at the same time. We don't want you to look like a little girl if you're trying to look brave." He says turning the chair to face him. He starts to put a liquid on my face that looks about the same colour as my face.
"What is that?" I ask. He smiles at me.
"It's foundation, a type of concealer. It'll help cover up any scars or red marks on you're face. You really don't need it though." He say's finishing up. He grabs a big bushy brush and dabs it in some dry powder, about the same colour as the foundation. "This will add a matte finish to you're foundation."
"What does matte mean?" I ask.
"It means it'll stop it from getting shiny." He says and pulls out a small black paint brush looking thing. "Okay, close your eyes." I do as I'm told and he starts to put the black liquid across my eyes, and onto the side of my face a little. Once he's stopped I hear him rummaging through his bag. He starts brushing onto my eyelid, which I assume is eye powder. As soon as he stops I open my eyes. He smiles brightly. "Beautiful. Okay so you remember how this works?" He asks me, holding up a tube and a small pointy brush. I shake my head. "All you have to do is keep your eye open and trust me." He say's leaning forward. He starts brushing the comb through my eye lashes. I blink a couple times and he stops. "I know it's hard but please try to keep your eyes open." he says as he puts the brush in the tube and pulls it out again. I look up at the ceiling and he starts brushing my eyelashes again.
"What is this for?" I ask, when he stops to pump the brush again.
"This is mascara, it's to make your eyelashes longer and darker, which again you really don't need this but it'll add a nice touch." he says starting on the other eye. "You weren't this curious when I did your make up for the Opening Ceremony. Why so curious now?" He asks. I don't know why.
"I don't know. I just have become more curious about what you are putting on my face. I know what some of it is but some is completely new to me." I say. He puts the brush back in the tube and put's it away. He takes out a bottle of lipstick and a small pencil. He draws along the edges of my lip with the small pencil.
"This is called a lip liner" he says before I can ask. "You use it to draw around the edges of your lips so that when you apply lipstick it's easier to see where the edges of your lips are." He says putting the cap back on the pencil. He unscrews the lid for the lipstick. "Okay I need you to open your mouth a tiny bit." I do what he said and he starts to apply the lipstick. Once he's done he leans back and stares at me. He smiles and turns my chair back to face the mirror. "Do you like it?" He asks. I stare at myself and nod. He shaded my eyes with a dark grey colour, and my eyeliner looks like it has wings, he also gave me dark red lips. Simple and edgy at the same time.
"Wow. I love it." He smiles at me and claps his hands.
"I'm so glad you like it!" He says hugging me. He quickly puts the make up away and pulls out some things for my hair. He brushes out my hair and puts on only one glove. "I love your hair." He says picking up the wand like thing.
"What is that going to do?" I ask, "And why are you only wearing one glove?" I laugh slightly.
"It's so I don't burn my fingers." He smiles. "And this," he gestures to the wand in his hand, "is a curling wand." He parts my hair into a multiple different strands, he picks one up, "I'm going to take a strand and wrap it around the curler, and hold it for a few moments," we wait a couple of seconds, "than I let it go," he unravels the my hair and it falls into perfect curls, "and tada!" he gestures to the curled strand. He continues to curl my hair until it's all in long blonde curls. He takes off the glove and picks up the straightener the used on my hair the last time. He quickly runs over the curls with it and it makes them even longer and more spread out. It's weird to think that I don't know what any of this stuff is and he is so amazing at using it.
"It looks amazing" I say as he sprays it with a sweet smelling liquid. He smiles and looks at me through the mirror smiling.
"So lets just do a quick run through of what you're going to say to Ceaser." He says. "So why did you volenteer for Katniss' daughter?" He asks pulling a chair over and sitting beside me.
"I- I don't really know" I say looking down. "She has a whole family to lover at home, a mother, a father and a brother. I- I don't have a very big family." I say looking up at Aries.
"Who do you have watching you at home?" He asks.
"My brother, and maybe my mom." He looks at me with confusion. "My mom and I don't really have the best relationship. She probably won't watch." Aries takes my hand and smooths his thumb over the top of my hand.
"Wow." he said. "Are you ready for the games? Are you scared?"
"Yes. I'm terrified." I say.
"What are your special strengths? Any talents?" He asks.
"Not really. Knife throwing, archery, survival skills. Nothing extra special."
"Well I think you're ready." He say's half smiling.
"What's wrong?" I ask him. Sadness drawn all over his face.
"Nothing. I'm just excited to see you in your dress." He says turning around. "Close your eyes." he says. I close my eyes and I hear him unzipping a bag. "No peaking." I laugh as he stands me up. He helps me take off my robe and step into the dress. "Okay now open you're eyes." I open my eyes and gasp. Aries has out done himself.
"Oh wow Aries." I say turning slightly. The top of the dress is strapless and very tight and at the waist it puffs out slightly and cascades down to the floor. The top layer of the skirt is slightly sparkly, it looks almost like a night sky, or sparks. The top part looks like I'm wrapped in silky ribbons. "I love it" He smiles brightly handing me a pair of sparkly black high heels. He hold my arm for support as I put them on.
"One last thing." He say's reaching into his pocket. He pulls out the necklace he gave me for the opening ceremonies that had been attached to the locket Rose gave me. I smile.
"How did you get that I thought it was in my room." I say as he puts it around my neck.
"One of the Avox's found it on the floor the night when they released the training scores." He says. "I had to come back to the apartment and saw he had it so he gave it to me." I smile and look at myself in the mirror. "Cassandra Blackwell. The Bright Spark of District Twelve." I smile.
"Thank you so much." I say hugging Aries. "For everything you've done for me."
"I would do it again for you any day. Oh! I almost forgot, near the end of the interview raise your arms up. Iwas watching the interview of the past and felt particularly inspired by Cinna." He says. He takes a deep breath. "Well... It's time for you to go upstairs."He says taking my hand. "Remember. You're not talking to Ceaser, you're talking to me." He says as he opens the door. I nod my head and we walk upstairs in silence. Once we walk upstairs we are greeted by Haymitch and Katniss.
"You look nice sweetie." Haymitch says with a smirk. Katniss elbows him in the ribs.
"You do look nice." She says. I smile.
"Okay go get in line and they will call you all out once it starts." Aries says. I nod and walk towards the large line. I spot Emmit when I turn the corner. His face brightens once he sees me. He leaves his spot in line and walks over to me.
"You look amazing." He says his eyes wide. I smile.
"You do too." I say smiling. He's wearing a light green suit with blue cuffs on the wrists and ankles. He also has a bow tie with a fish design. He grins.
"Here let me walk you to your spot in line." He says linking his arm in mine. My stomach flutters. We walk to the back of the line.
"Well I hope you do good in your interview." I say awkwardly.
"I don't need to hope for you. I know you will." He says with a huge smile. He hugs me lightly and walks back to his place in line.
"You look nice." Jasper say's.
"Thanks you do too." I say with a smile. He has a bright red suit on with black cuffs just like Emmit's. Loud music starts to play and a loud voice comes over the speakers.
"Please give a warm welcome to this year's hot Ceaser Flickerman!" Cesar runs on stage with a huge smile on his face. The crowd goes insane.
"Settle down everyone, settle down." He says waving his arms in a downward motion. "Are you all ready to meet this years Tributes?!" He yells. The crowd screams even louder than before. "Than lets bring them out on stage!" he screams. The line starts moving and suddenly I'm blinded by bright lights.