Chive was in the dressing room, staring in the mirror. She couldn't even recognize herself, and that…scared her. Well, lots of things scared her, but, this was one of many. The face she was used to seeing was obscured by makeup and her own saddened expression. She jumped at the sound of the announcement on the intercom, signaling for the tributes to go to their chariots. Chive took a deep breath, trying to hide her nervousness. She padded to her chariot, the moonlight glowing ever so brightly. She wondered if it was the actual moon or artificial or a hologram. She saw other tributes piling in, and started to sweat nervously. What if the Capitol didn’t like her? Even worse, what if they thought she was mediocre? She stepped onto the chariot, and it immediately started forward. She grabbed onto the edge of the front of the chariot, trying to regain her balance. She saw glowing hues of pink, blue, and green. The light in the distance looked a bit transparent and glitchy, but she didn’t know what it was. The chariots drove through a curtain and into an enclosed space full of lights and cameras, and what looked like holographic avatars of cats. Chive knew that if she wanted to have any chance in the arena, then maybe getting others to like her would be a good start. She put on a fake smile, nodding and waving to the holograms in the audience. Her gold dress with flower designs of it flowed with her, and cats started to cheer. This wasn’t enough though. This wouldn’t impress them enough…so she got the sunflower from out of her fur and picked apart the petals, throwing them into the crowd. The audience oohed and aaahed, and even though they were mere holograms, they reached out to grab some petals. Surprisingly, the petals didn’t go through them and they caught the bright yellow petals. She smiled even more, blowing a kiss toward the crowd and saying, “Here’s my little gift from me, to you.” Chive took a slight bow, and waved goodbye. This cat wasn’t Chive. She was someone else entirely. A mere persona. A front to hide Chive’s true feelings, and to impress a crowd. Inside was a scared little girl…but this was her first step. Her first tiny step for any sort of hope of making it out alive.
This took way too long, LMAO. 6 hours on the drawing, but the writing wasn’t too bad. Only 30 minutes. Hope anyone who sees this has a great day! Art by me, and the writing is by me.
