I was under inspection at the moment. The prep team was making sure I looked like a naked mole rat before they dressed me in my outfit for the parade.
After they were finished I was wrapped in a linen material that only draped over the important parts. It didn't leave much to the imagination and after months of not modeling I felt like I had to cover myself with my arms so no one could see my body.
My makeup artist painted blue waves on my legs in incredible detail it almost looked like my legs were a part of the ocean. I was put into a pair of sandals that looked like they were made of an old fishing net. Next I was draped in a net dress it barely went past my butt and the sleeves were short. The net dress had large gaps in the rope and was woven with dangling jewels that sparkled in the light. As per usual the dress jingled as I moved. My hair was in its signature crown braid and woven in was a piece of blue cloth to add a pop of color along with copious amounts of glitter. My eyes were painted with white graphic liner and my cheeks were painted a baby blue with my signature rhinestone freckles. A small rhinestone was placed on the inner corner of my eyes and I could feel it brush against my eyelashes. It bothered me to no end but I just dealt with it.
I walked out and met finnick who was wearing nothing but a tightly woven net skirt. It was uncomfortable to be around one another with barely anything on because we always made it a point to be fully clothed around one another but we had no choice.
"You look nice." He said without looking me up and down. He focused on looking deep into my eyes.
"You look good too." I replied maintaining the eye contact.
"We should go see the other tributes." He said taking my hand and pulling me along to find Johanna.
Once we got to her her jaw dropped at us. "Well at least they made you look like a fashionable thing of salt water." She complemented in a backhanded kind of way.
"I want my privacy back." I said as I moved the net dress around nervously.
"Wow, for someone who's on every cover of a magazine and every billboard I would think you'd be less uncomfortable about something like this." She said nudging me.
"It brings back bad memories." I replied.
"Everything does that." She countered.
"Exactly." I said then walked away to go speak with Katniss and Peeta.
Finnick walked next to me and grabbed a handful of sugarcubes from a bowl and began snacking on them as we walked. We knew many of the tributes so we got a few greetings and grumpy side eyes. I'm not typically one to brag but we definitely looked better than many of the tributes. Time wasn't in many of their favors.
When we approached Katniss she looked upset and angry. Finnick offered her a sugar cube but she didn't take it so I did.
A moment later Peeta came back and looked Finnick and I up and down trying to hide what he had just done. I was better off not knowing when people were looking because now I wanted to curl up into a ball and hide. I stepped closer to finnick hoping he would calm me down and he wrapped an arm around my waist pulling me away to our chariot. We were mostly out of sight so I was already beginning to feel more comfortable.
"Hey, it's only for a little while longer." He said pulling me into a hug. I would have hugged him back if my arms weren't wrapped around myself trying to hide.
"I hate looking like this. They make me look like I've got nothing to hide and it makes me so uncomfortable. I look so vulnerable." I said in a quivering voice as I rested my head on his shoulder.
"I hate it too. At least we know larina didn't have a say in the outfits or you would be in a snow suit and I wouldn't have anything on." He joked.
"I'd rather wear a snow suit." I replied as I pulled away from the hug.
"Same." He said.
"The parade starts in thirty seconds." I said looking at a clock with the countdown displayed.
"Already?" He said in a whisper as he pressed a kiss to my lips.
"Yup." I replied through the kiss.
"Well try not to give President Snow any dirty looks or he might call you in." Finnick said climbing into the chariot.
"I won't. Are we going to put on a show or let Katniss take care of that?" I asked.
"We gave them a show at the reaping let's let the light shine somewhere else." He replied.
"She's going to light this parade on fire if she keeps looking at everyone like that." I remarked with pride. I found Katniss endearing and her fury only made her look stronger.
"Literally." He said as we watched cinna give katniss a small remote.
A moment later the gate opened and we began riding out. There were thousands of deafening cheers from the stands as we each rode out of the building. I put on my superficial smile and waved at everyone we passed. The cheers were significantly louder for us than the first three groups of tributes.
Just when I thought it would be normal we began hearing a chant for us to kiss so we gave them what they wanted. Finnick grabbed my waist and pulled me so close to him I could feel his heartbeat. He pressed a kiss to my lips but I hated it. I hated having to kiss him around people for entertainment. It completely ruined the experience.
Moments later the attention was off of us and on the girl on fire. I was thankful that Katniss stole the show.
"You alright?" Finnick asked. He had kept his arm around my waist and I appreciated him giving me his support because my legs had grown shaky with nerves.
"I think it's finally hitting me." I replied.
"That's terrible timing." He said with a slight laugh.
"When this is all over I want cuddles." I said in a baby voice.
"Absolutely." He replied.
After he said that our chariots came to a stop and President Snow got to his feet ready to make his speech. I listened closely in case he riddled his words but it seemed like he gave full control of the games to Plutarch. Everything was happening according to plan.
When we returned to the tribute apartments I immediately changed into a pair of pants and a tank top and enlisted the help of finnick to help me scrub the paint off my legs. We were in my bathroom with the door closed because we didn't want to be interred by larina.
I can see why larina would think something suspicious was happening because the bathroom door was frosted and you could see a shadow of me sitting on the counter with finnick in front of me. It didn't help that we were making random frustration noises as we scrubbed the paint off.
"They couldn't have used actual body paint?" Finnick asked in an annoyed voice.
"It's a tattoo at this point." I said.
"I'm this close to asking larina for help." He said.
"I wonder what she thinks we're doing." I thought aloud.
"Well she hasn't bothered us yet." He replied. We were both thinking it so there was no point in saying it.
"We should try acetone." I suggested.
"Is it safe for skin?" He questioned.
"I don't care." I said as I uncapped a bottle of nail polish remover and dumped it down my leg.
The paint came off much easier after that and we were able to finish getting it off soon after. Once we left the bathroom larina gave us weird looks but I just pointed at my leg and she pretended to understand.
After we ate Finnick and I went to his room and turned on the parade broadcast and watched it together. If there was one thing for sure Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were going to be the stars of this year's games.
