A Flower for the Fair (Kat)

Katrina wasn't sure how to feel about this whole interview thing. First of all, she hadn't really signed up for this whole flower contest thing, but since Calley had gone along with her selling him for Valentine's Day, she felt like when he wanted to raise money for his church soup kitchen she didn't really have a choice. Why he was even hanging around Sebastian's church completely baffled her, but she had been too busy to figure out what he had been up to lately, what with the valentine auction and now this flower thing.

Second, she wasn't sure how she felt about being interviewed by Maxine Ralls, in particular. The reporter had donated to her frisbee team's fundraiser by bidding on one of the eligible bachelors, so she must have some redeeming qualities... but Katrina had seen far too many of her news segments not to be immediately suspicious.

Maxine had made her fame by making people look like either fools or heroes, and it seemed like it depended only on the woman's mood at the time which of the two options it ended up being. Sometimes Katrina agreed completely with her choices, like when the red headed reporter highlighted how ridiculous it was when mutants ran around the city slaughtering people. Those people deserved to be shown as fools. Other times she took perfectly innocent, well intentioned people and made them look silly on air. That, Katrina couldn't agree with.

So, when she was getting ready, and even before then, when she was considering what she wanted to look like, she was already calculating how she would try to react to her red headed interviewer. In her own mind, she could twist any outfit or any hairdo into something negative, so it would be child's play for Maxine to do the same if she wanted. Something too provocative and Katrina would likely be made out to be some kind of hussy. Too conservative and she'd be made out to look like a little girl. If she curled her hair, she'd be trying to hard. If she left it straight she'd be accused of rolling out of bed right before the interview.

In the end, she decided to dress however she wanted and not care at all what anyone else thought, except, maybe for Slate. She curled her hair because she thought it was pretty that way. She wore a cream colored dress the same color, though not nearly as fancy, as the one she had worn on Christmas during their year in Serbia, because she thought Slate would like it. She let her mom do her makeup, because her mom had good taste and Katrina didn't have much practice with stuff like eyeliner.

By the time they got to the studio, she finally felt like she was ready.

Maxine was wearing a red dress, which was a little flashier than what Katrina was used to seeing her in on the air. Red hair, red dress. Blonde hair, cream dress. The bright lights probably washed the color out of both her dress and hair so they looked lighter, too. She hadn't thought of that. It was almost like they were set up to be polar opposites of each other, like the red queen and the white queen from Through the Looking Glass. That was actually fine with Katrina. She was good at playing chess.

>>"Tell us, Katrina--may I call you Katrina?--tell us what got you into this vigilante philanthropism."

What kind of question was that supposed to be anyway? It was like Maxine wanted her to sound like a contestant in some beauty contest. But then, when she was about halfway between that and reality T.V., she supposed it was the better of the two options.

Katrina smiled, mirroring the brightness with which Maxine had regarded the camera. She could answer that.

“Each time it was because I saw a need. Whether it be a monster that needs slaying or a simple soup kitchen that needs funds, I try to help the people that need it most.”

Now she really sounded like she was trying to win some kind of pageant. She smiled like she was trying to win one, too, even though Slate was whispering in her ear about Maxine making him uncomfortable.

Why? What is she thinking? Then after a moment, she added, Keep me updated.

If they were going to play this game, they were going to play it her way.