THE GOLDEN AGE, sejanus plinth

013. the interview

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE INTERVIEW
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SATURDAY NIGHT ARRIVED quicker than Aurora had hoped. She stood in front of her mirror, put the second earring in, and sighed loudly.

Pandora had bought the bright pink dress the previous day, demanding that Aurora would represent the Cranes as they deserved to be represented, meaning only their best side.

She wasn't feeling like going on stage, but she had to try her best so that Sol would get sponsors. No matter how small the girl's chances of winning were, Aurora didn't want to lose hope.

Smoothing the soft material and adjusting the neck holder, she nodded at herself in the mirror.

Luckily, she was used to wearing high heels or otherwise this evening would be a pain in her ass.

As the Cranes arrived, she quickly parted from them and made her way backstage where a frightened Sol was already waiting for her. She looked lost, she always did, but even more so without Hy present.

"Sol, how are you?" Aurora greeted her with a rub of the younger girl's shoulders.

The girl shook her head, but that was all her mentor needed to understand how she was feeling.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm with you every step of your way. We got this."
She smiled and let go off her to reach into the big bag that was dangling from her shoulder (and that Pandora had categorized as so not fashionable).

She pulled out another notebook that was twice the size of the one she had given Sol a while ago. Confusion shimmered in her eyes and Aurora was about to answer her when Coryo and Tigris walked past her quickly, nodding at her.

"I know that you don't wanna dance without Hy, so I thought you could draw something while I introduce you to the audience," she explained, quickly glancing at the Snows a little farther away.

Tigris freshened up Lucy Gray's dress.

Sol still didn't look convinced. Her mentor smiled at her, again laying one hand on her shoulder.
"I can only imagine what that must be like for you and if you really don't want to do this, then we don't."

Aurora would get extra points if her tribute would participate in the interview, but she had stopped caring about this stupid project weeks ago. Who cared about a grade when this little girl could be dead in two days?

Sol's blue eyes filled with tears and Aurora could feel her own threatening to smudge her mascara. So much for trying to not get attached.

The girl shook her head quickly, held her hand out for the notebook, and ran her other through her knotted mouse brown hair.

"Hold on a second." Aurora vanished around a corner and came back with a wet handkerchief, trying to get the dirt off the girl's face.

"The people here are incredibly vain," she mumbled, "I haven't seen my aunt without makeup since the war. She even wears it at home, don't get me wrong, she looks great with it, but she also looks great without it."

After the war, a rise in the fashion industry had occurred. The people were finally done with worrying about their basic needs, so they had gone back to creating the latest trends.