"You look astonishing." Finnick noticed.
"I know." I answered. My dress was undoubtedly the prettiest, and boldest, dress I've worn in my life. Deep blue with white details that represented the waves of my homeland's ocean. Almost my entire back and abdomen were showing and even though the dress was long a huge cut over my left leg exposed both my legs and bare feet too. Still, I didn't feel uncomfortable. In District's 4 port and fishing boats we were usually wearing even less.
"Make them know." he said, putting special emphasis on that. He proceeded into fixing a strand of my curly hair that escaped my deliberately messy ponytail. He then took something out of his pocket. A small, perfectly shaped pearl run through a tiny piece of plastic fishing line. A gift from home.
"Consider it a good luck charm, miss Pearl." he said and tied the pearl around my hand.
"Thanks.." was all that I could whisper, full of gratitude.
"Thank me by staying alive." he answered and gave me a wide smile. I smiled back at him and nodded positively. Staying alive was exactly what I was going to do.
Finnick left, as it was about time for me and Michael to get on our chariot. Michael was shirtless, wearing a plain pair of pants made out of rough canvas, just like my dress, though his looked even more unrefined. A complex long shell necklace was hanging from his neck, way more impressive than mine, that looked a lot more delicate though. However, together we looked like a beautiful couple, strong and bold just like the ocean. I silently thanked our stylist, well-aware of the importance of a good first impression.
As our chariot was speeding up, rapidly approaching the entrance, I took some time to notice the other District's chariots too.
The tributes from District 1 were dressed up in feathers and glitter, representing their luxury industry. I remembered the girl's name from watching the Reaping. Lux Adams, a fifteen year old Career. I couldn't remember the boy's name, but he was a Career too.
District's 2 tributes followed, dressed up like roman gladiators. Pretty fitting to their District's heavy industry, masonry. I was mainly concerned about the male tribute, Basil, a 17 year old Career that gladly volunteered. His cold stare was intimidating at best.
District's 3 tributes, right in front of us, were dressed up in metallic colors, with wires attached onto their clothes, representing the rapidly developing technology of their District. Behind us, the tributes of District 5 dressed in gold, like the golden rays of the sun that fueled their homeland's power industry. Tributes from District 6 represented "transportation" in bright red motocycle helmets. District's 7 tributes were impressive in their bright green clothes and beautiful branch wreaths, representing the lumber industry.
Tributes from District 8 were dressed in a wide variety of different fabrics that created a beautiful and strangely harmonic result. What did I expect from a district specializing in textile making? The tributes from District 9 looked much alike to those of 5, though their golden dresses represented vast grain fields. District's 10 tributes were dressed up like cowboys, representing their District's industry, livestock, and the two children from District 11 were dressed up in flowers and bright colours, for agriculture. I remembered the girl, Alexia Flowers, from the Reaping, since her blonde hair and fair complexion truly stood out, comparing to the chocolate brown skin and black hair that characterized her District's population. She and her District partner were holding hands all the time, as if they were draining strength from each other.
Last but not least, the tributes from District 12, a girl I recognised from the reaping, Ellie Craig, and a young boy whose kind eyes made me question how long he would survive in the arena. They were dressed in black leather, with some red details, representing coal mining.
There was no more time for observation as now we were entering the stadium, the main part of the Training Centre. The audience was all around us, shouting, applauding and cheering. Me and Michael raised our hands, while at the same time waving to the crowd. I tried to wear my brightest smile, even though the only thing I felt for those people was pure disgust. They enjoyed this parade of soon-to-be dead children. They enjoyed these horrible Games... At least our appearance didn't go unnoticed. No other chariot was cheered more than ours, with District's 7 and 12 chariots closely following. We were undoubtedly the highlights of this freak-show.