Bluebell Hawthorne was too young. To young to provide for her mother and four younger siblings. Too young to take care of the Everdeen siblings and their mother, whose father passed in the same explosion that took Bluebell's. Most of all, she was to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Bluebell winced as Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos, ripped another strip of hair off her leg. "Sorry," she piped in her high pitched capitol accent. "You're just so hairy." Bluebell gave her a shy smile.
"Don't worry about it, Venia," she assured the older woman. The three turned to her, making Bluebell worry she did something wrong.
"You remember my name?" Venia asked her.
"Of course," the brunette shrugged. "You remember mine too. We're a team, right?"
"Grease her down," Flavius said in an attempt to distract the girl from the tears in Venia's eyes. It was becoming increasingly clear to Bluebell that the prep teams were underappreciated and maybe mistreated by tributes and Capitol citizens alike.
After Octavia, a plump woman whose skin has been dyed a shade of pea green, rubbed a lotion on Bluebell that first stung, then soothed her raw skin. The trio then stood her up and circled her, wielding tweezers to remove any remaining hairs.
When they stepped back, Flavius gave her an approving nod. "Excellent! You almost look like a human now."
"Thank you," Bluebell told them with a girly smile. "We don't have much reason to look nice back in District Twelve." This, of course, completely won them over.
"Of course you don't dear," Octavia said gently.
"Don't worry dear, now that we've got you all fixed up, you're not horrible at all," Flavius said encouragingly. "Let's call Catalina."
The team leaves Bluebell in silence. She thought of Gale watching her on a screen tonight. Would she be recognizable or would this Catalina turn her into another disastrous coal miner with a helmet to big for her head. She thought of Katniss, hoped she was doing okay. Bluebell knew the younger girl would be living with survivor's guilt if she doesn't return home.
She thought of Katniss' mother and how Bluebell could never return her green dress.
Eventually, the door opened to reveal a woman with wavy blonde hair that fell to her waist and sat bluntly across her forehead. She had bright blue eyes and her face seemed to be relatively clear of make up and altercations, minus the bright red paint on her lips.
"Nice to meet you, Bluebell," she said quietly. "I am Catalina. You can just call me Lina, if you'd wish." Bluebell gave her a curt nod. "If you just give me a second?" Bluebell nodded and Catalina circled her with calculating eyes.
"So," Bluebell starts as the pair headed into a new room with a table, two red sofas, and a few large, plush chairs. "Coalminer get-ups again?" Catalina sighed.
"I suppose. I'm trying to find something new. My partner suggest we turn you into coal itself, but she also wants to send you out nude and covered in coaldust so?" Bluebell shuddered.
"I'll take the headlamp." Catalina shot her a smile.
"You're friendlier than the past tributes from your district." The way she said it made it seem like a question.
