"Dahlia Blossom. Don't let the name fool you. She's better known as the Black Dahlia. And she didn't earn that nickname by smiling and looking pretty."
"She sure knows how to perform for the camera."
"Because she knows how to play the game. She alwa...
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Cressida led them through the Capitol, each surviving member of the squad trying their best to fight through their emotional and physical exhaustion to keep up. Dahlia and Finnick gripped desperately to each other for support, their heads darting around madly as they anticipated more pods or Peacekeepers to follow. Their own wanted posters taunted them all the way, beaming blindingly bright as they sprinted past. But they were all too fatigued to care.
The relief when they finally slowed down was almost enough to make Dahlia's legs give out, though she resisted the urge to drop her guard as they arrived outside an unfamiliar building. Cressida pounded on the door relentlessly while the others remained alert behind her. Peering through the misty glass windows, the Capitol director continued her desperate knocking until a mysterious shadow began advancing towards them.
"Someone's coming." Peeta announced, his voice full of panic as his body tensed. Though Dahlia just wanted to collapse, she tightened her hold on the stolen gun and prepared to fight whatever possible threat came their way.
As soon as the door was opened, the squad flooded in and Cressida swiftly snapped out orders, "Shut the door, shut the door!" Once inside, Katniss and Dahlia aimed their weapons at the stranger suspiciously, though Cressida was quick to soothe their paranoia with a hushed mumble, "No, Katniss, Dahlia. It's okay, it's okay. It's okay." Finnick shut the door behind them as Gale sprinted past to survey the foreign area. "Tigris, do you remember me? I'm with Plutarch's underground. We need your help."
The strange woman slowly swept her feline eyes along the group as Gale loudly shouted through, "Clear!"
Tigris' features were heavily altered to mimic the animal referenced in her name, with black stripes marring her skin and whiskers protruding from her cheeks. The sight of her was initially disturbing to Dahlia, especially after their earlier encounter with the reptilian mutts which were given distinctly human-like characteristics. So shaken from that experience, she found it difficult to look the woman in the eye as Tigris glanced over at her. She leaned into Finnick instead and Tigris' attention turned to Katniss who seemed equally agitated by her appearance.
Bowing her head in compliance, Tigris clutched her fur coat closer to her body and glided past the squad without uttering a word. They all silently followed behind as Tigris guided them towards the back of what they could only assume was a fashion boutique. The woman brushed a rug aside to reveal a hatch cut into the floor with a handle which she tugged open.
Tigris had barely straightened up when Katniss' eyebrows furrowed in recognition and she announced, "I know you. You were a stylist in the Games."
At first, the woman seemed surprised by the identification but then her expression hardened in bitterness. Pushing the hood off her shoulders exposed the dark thinning hair covering her head and the markings swirling across her pronounced collarbone. Her voice was soft despite the hostility laced through each word as she muttered a reply, "Until Snow decided I wasn't pretty enough anymore."
