DRESS, coriolanus snow

03, a living nightmare.

DRESS
( goodbye arachne crane )
▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

"CHARLOTTE VANDERBILT! MISS, what are you doing in the cage?"

She felt her throat dry up as she stared in horror at the crowd. She could already imagine the headlines. Vanderbilt down!, Vanderbilts meltdown!. Her mind hurried to formulate a solution to her problem when she remembered how Lucy Gray recomposed herself after being hit in the face. She was no performer, but all her years of publicity training were adding up to this moment. Once again, she took ahold of Coriolanus' sleeve and dragged him with her as she approached her tribute.

"Hey Wovey, would you like to meet my neighbors?" she asked and Wovey nodded. She held her other hand out for Wovey to hold onto as they walked towards the bars, and she crouched down to greet a small girl, no older than Wovey.

"Why, hello pretty," Charlotte smiled warmly at the little girl, "This is my tribute from District 8, her name's Wovey, and I'm pretty sure you both are about the same age."

The small girl, delicate and scared looked behind to her mother who nodded her head in Wovey's direction.

"My name's Olivia." the girl murmured, just loud enough for both Charlotte and Wovey to hear. Wovey greeted the girl with a smile as she complemented her headband in a shade of light pink with a rose on it.

"I have a rose, too," Wovey pointed towards the pin Charlotte gave her earlier, "My mentor gave it to me as a gift."

"I like it!" the girl giggled.

"Awe, that is just adorable! Now, Miss Vanderbilt, the Game makers did tell you to jump in a cage with them, no?" Flickerman practically shoved his microphone behind the bars and in front of her face as she stood back up, using her grip on Coriolanus' sleeve for support.

"Well, they didn't tell us not to. They said to introduce the tributes to the Capitol, so that's what I'm doing," she smiled, "Now, don't you know Coriolanus Snow?"

"Ah! Mr. Snow, the songbird's mentor. Where's your tribute, sir?" Flickerman's attention span was like one with ADHD, moving from person to person once he's bored.

"I expect she's here somewhere, probably enchanting people with her charm," he nodded as Lucy Gray's head poked from the sideview. Coriolanus noticed this and pulled her so she stood in front of him, and Lucky's eyes seem to light up.

He threw questions after questions at her and she answered every single of them with grace, something Charlotte admired about her. She was just like a Capitol person, one with a big reputation like herself.

"It seems clearly that Wovey and I got the cake with the cream, 'cause nobody else apparently even bothered to show up." she said as she patted Coriolanus on his shoulder.

"Well, seems your time is up, Miss Vanderbilt, Mr. Snow. Good to see you, hope to see you again!" he continued his outro as per usual as two peacekeepers came to collect her and Coriolanus.

Charlotte managed to pass Wovey a small bag with pastries before allowing the Peacekeepers to escort her out of the cage. Whilst she caught her breath, she took sight of the scowls on the Peacekeepers faces.

"What're you two playing at?" a Peacekeeper demanded, "You're not allowed in there!"

"So, I thought, until your cohorts unceremoniously dumped us down a chute," Coriolanus replied.

"We only signed up for the ride to the zoo. I'd be happy to explain the whole thing to your presiding officer and identify the Peacekeepers that did this. But to you, I offer my thanks." Charlotte added.