Dew of the Sea [Finnick Odair]

[23. The Facts]

Rosemary

Her lunch was a bowl of beef broth and a roll. She was reminded to eat slowly by Cinna at least three different times, in order to avoid getting sick, but she was starving. Within the five minutes of her tray being delivered, she was already sopping up the remnants of the broth with her roll and asking the Avox for another serving.

"You can't have a second serving," Cinna reminded her patiently. "You know why."

"Because of refeeding syndrome," Rosemary sighed. "I'm hungry."

"You'll get food at the banquet," Windy told her, attempting to comfort her. "Oh, it's going to be so much fun!"

"Can I at least get another roll?" Rosemary pleaded, ignoring Windy's excitement.

Cinna sighed but nodded. The Avox disappeared and then reappeared within a moment, a new roll on a small plate in his hand. She grabbed it from him and gave him her thanks before popping the roll, whole, into her mouth and bit down while ripping off half of the roll. She ate the half still in her mouth, humming in satisfaction.

"Gross," Joss grimaced, looking up from his work on her toenails. "Try to use your hands, darling."

Rosemary glared at him, unimpressed, and swallowed her bite.

"She can't use one of them, Joss, goodness gracious!" Windy rolled her eyes at her coworker.

"Well, she could try a little harder, no?"

"Joss, shut your mouth," Cinna ordered sternly.

Rosemary gave him a grateful look, not wanting to have a confrontation with Joss, herself. She just couldn't deal with it today, and didn't want to waste her energy on him. Already she had had to deal with his envious comments about her malnourished body and the full-body polish (a procedure that erased all of her scars and laser-removed her body hair) that the Capitol so-called "blessed" her with. She couldn't wait until she didn't have to deal with him anymore.

Thankfully, he was almost done with her toes. He'd already done her fingernails. Just a few more minutes and he'll be gone, Rosemary comforted herself, inhaling deeply.

"Almost done," Cinna told her quietly. He was nonchalant about it, still focusing on her make-up, and didn't even make eye contact with her while he spoke.

"Almost done," Rosemary closed her eyes and repeated his words like a prayer. Her chest felt heavy and when she breathed, she did it too quickly. She stopped herself from breathing like that again, and inhaled and exhaled slowly, regulating her breathing. She didn't want to freak out.

There was so much at stake.

Behind her, Windy started on her hair. Her clean, freshly dried, blonde locks were gently pinned here and there until, eventually, a loose bun was created at the back of her neck. By the time Joss was finished with her toes, Cinna was sitting back, admiring his work, and Windy was laying bits of her hair just right to frame her face in order to give her a gentle, feminine look.