Swallow Ruse, District 9
"And WHAT did he do to his hair? Did a blind person cut it?" one of the peppy crew members piped up in her high pitched capitol voice. Her name was Sunshine, which fits pretty well with her hair so yellow-ish white that it's almost blinding to look at. If I were you, wouldn't stare at it too long, unless you want some serious damage on your eyes. How the heck is it even possible to dye it that color? Sunshine flies at my head with a pair of small glittery scissors, snipping off the uneven pieces of hair that I cut myself with a rusty pair of shears.
"Not quite." I say slowly, a grin forming unto my face. "In District 9, where you live underground with all the bugs, it's hard to get a hold of scissors." I suppress a smirk sneaking up on me as all three stylists stop to stare at me, with open mouths. They are so gullible, it's kind of hilarious. I doubt any one of them has even step foot in District 9. The grin of mine makes it through my system, and before I know it, I'm grinning widely, trying to suppress laughter. Then Kandee screams, and I quickly shut my mouth, grinning without showing my chipped tooth.
After regaining her calm, Kandee slowly walks towards me, eyes squinted. She almost looks like a fuzzy, bright pink lion, with her mane like hair-style. She slowly says, "Open your mouth again."
"Well that's the first time I heard that!" I say, smiling my signature smirk.
Sunshine gasps, and the third one, Sugar, who sports white and light pink polka dotted hair slaps her forehead.
"Look on the bright side... You still have this wonderful looking face to work with! Not to mention this perfectly molded body!" I say, being my wise-ass self. This did not bring smiles to my prep team. This brought a glare from Kandee, a shake of the head from Sunshine, and another face-palm from Sugar.
"Just... Just sit down." Sugar says, obviously annoyed. I smile triumphantly in return, after sitting down on the chair. Sugar takes a look at the tooth, trying to figure out what to do with it. As far as I'm concerned, Sugar is the most human one of the three. She's is kind of sarcastic though, and isn't as happy as the other 2. Kandee is obviously the leader of the three, and the girly but brave one. Sunshine the girly-girl, who screams at the sight of a cracked tooth.
"There's nothing we can do with it, as far as I know. If we had saw this at the reapings on TV, we might have been able to bring something. We might be able to get it fixed for the games, but for now, he stuck like this." Sugar says, defeated, sounding very intelligent, but almost arrogant.
"If there's nothing we can do, there's nothing we can do. Sunshine, continue to work on his hair. See what you can do to it. Maybe some highlights, or a completely new look?" Kandee orders, taking control.
"Uh-huh!" Sunshine smiles, and continues to snip away pieces.
"Sugar, work on his face. You know what to do."
"Yup." Sugar states, and continues to work on me doing God-knows-what.
About after what should've been 15 minutes, but turned into a half hour due to 'unruly comments' made by yours truly, the stylist came in to begin to talk to me about my chariot outfit. Followed by her was an angry looking Rikki, holding her little planner tightly in her hands, covered in gold rings.
Before the stylist, whom I still have no clue what her name is, begins to talk, Rikki glares at me and begins, "Swallow? Do you know what time it is?" angrily.
By the look on Rikki's face, I should guessed 'time for me to die.' I'm about to make a wise comment, but when my mouth opens she quickly growls, "Don't talk, just listen!" and my mouth shuts. A small smile comes across my face, because honestly, Rikki is kind of funny when she's flipping out.
"Wipe that smirk off your face." The smirk remains. Still, Rikki goes on, getting louder and quicker with her words as she rants on. "It is 12:15! The prep team was supposed to be done with you 15 whole minutes ago! 15! Violet is already almost ready, and you're just finishing with the prep team! Why? Why is that? Well, Kandee told me that you were making comments! Really, Swallow? Is this what it comes down to? Harassing your prep team? Swallow, if-"
"Rikki? Yeah? Calm. Down. I've got everything under control here. I mean, I got along so well with you and Kandee, I'm BOUND to be bestriends with the stylist!" I smirk.
Rikki gives me an evil glare, looks at her watch, and runs out of the room in a hurry, quietly cursing to herself, This cause me to grin. Too bad I'll be dead in a matter of days. I quickly look in a mirror again. I was never meant to be a pretty boy or anything, but I have to admit, I look a lot better than I did before. My hair has been cut short; Sunshine says it's to bring out my eyes or something. I've already been instructed not to grin at the chariots by 3 people. Which means I have to grin as wide as I possibly can the second I come into view.
"Now, Swallow." the stylist says, the last word going up like she asking a question. You never know how annoying that is until your surrounded by it for a couple days. "For your costume, I tried to think of something that was never done before. Swallow? Are you afraid of crows?"
For some reason, I have a horrible feeling this women doesn't know what grain is used for. Aw, crap.
Ariela Crest, District 4
I walk out of my dressing room, in a sparkling green skirt that reached the floor that matched my eyes, and a pinkish purple bikini top. There was a sea-shell in my hair that was now curled, and I was covered in blue sparkles. Yup. I was a mermaid, just like the last 24 female District 4 tributes. I'm not complaining, I actually look pretty nice. I have on light pinkish lipgloss, and my prep team did something with making my eyes stand out. My stylist, Blu, hands me a light blue tiara before I walk away.
My District partner, Patrick, and I walk down to get in our chariot. He's shirtless, with blue tattoos of waves on his chest, matching his hair that was already dyed blue. He wears a crown that matches my tiara, and darker blue swim trunks. I'm on good terms with him and everything, but I don't exactly want to be friends with a person who is trained to kill me. He's big, about 6 foot, and he has been training all his life, unlike me, so I have respect for him, and I don't want to get on his bad side.
In the elevator, we see a couple more pairs of people, most of them making me grateful for my costume. 2 trees, obviously from District 7, 2 skimpy coal miners from 12, who look ridiculous, and one more odd pair. Some kind of rich looking scarecrow, and a girl in a wheat colored dress, with a tightly made headband of wheat, and light brown boots. I know the girl's from 9, but I have no idea what the heck the scarecrow supposed to be from. 10? 11? Maybe 9?
The elevator doors close, and we all hear an enormous squawk. It scares the living daylights out of me, and the smaller girl tree must've jumped 3 feet in the seemed to jump, except for Scarecrow boy, who slaps his forehead. Then, I see it. A live crow, who looks like it was taped to Scarecrow's 's trying to fly off, but the tape is too strong, so it looks ridilous. I can't help but grin, because honestly, it's kind of funny. The girl tree is still recovering from fright, and Patrick looks kind of annoyed. Then Scarecrow looks over at me, and grins along with me a wolfish smile. He has a chipped tooth, but it doesn't look awful.
He laughs a bit at himself and says sarcastically, "Didn't my stylist do a fantastic job?"
"What District are you from?" Patrick sneers a bit, obviously annoyed a bit with my childish grin and making friends with the enemy.
Scarecrow grabs the sides of his golden pants and twirls around in a circle, mocking a model, and says, "District 9. Can't you tell?"
Well this causes me, and oddly only me, to laugh. I take that back. I see little tree girl smiling a bit, and Scarecrow is laughing. I can get used to this kid. My laughing earns me a glare from Patrick, who obviously doesn't trust my new friend. The elevator dings, and lets in another person. This, I hate to say, is the most heart-breaking thing I'd ever seen. A little chick obviously, wearing a yellow and fuzzy short dress, with yellow leggings, and orange boots The dress is completed with wings, and she looks very cute. The girl must be half my size, and I remember her from watching the re-caps. The audience was booing the escort, and the little girl, must be barely 12, was close to tears. I hate to say this, but I doubt she'll make it pass the bloodbath.
Silence. That's what happens when the girl boards the train. I almost want to cry, because this girl only has a couple more days to live. Why is she even here? Why did her District send her to the games? It makes no sense. Looking around the room, everyone else, even Scarecrow, seems to frown at the unfairness of these Games. Even Patrick doesn't seem 100% thrilled to see a little girl be killed on live television. The games only started 25 years ago, and not many 12 year olds have been reaped, since most times their names were only entered once, unless they took a lot of tressuare, but than again, they still didn't have much of a chance compared to 18 year olds who took tons of treasure a year. I never took any, being from a richer district, and I made nets on a boat for a living. Sure, I wasn't absolutely pampered like someone from District 1 or the Capitol, but I was never hungry. This girl was from 10, a relatively poor District. Was she ever hungry? Scarecrow was from District 9, was he ever hungry? The little girl quickly turns around, as if she knew everyone was staring at her. Shelooked at me for a spilt second, then faced the wall again. Her face was pleading for help, to be rescued from this hell we call the games. She showed on the outside what I couldn't. Not unless I wanted to be shanked in the back by the other careers for not being as strong as them.
The elevator dings again, and we are let off. The little chick runs out the door as quick as she can, in front of everyone, and is gone in a flash. It's like she took flight in those little yellow wings, and disappeared. I wished she could fly away from the games, and be safe somewhere else. Maybe she could take me with her. Scarecrow, too. He didn't seem half bad. Everyone else seems to pair up with their District partner, including Patrick and I, and Scarecrow and his partner. I examined his partner in the wheat colored dress for a second. She was smaller than the rest of us, except for the little chick-girl. She had light blonde hair that looked nice with her dressed, and dyed camermel streaks, most likely from her prep team. I couldn't help but notice she had a scar on her jawline, and one running down her arm. I wonder what they're from. Did this girl have more training fighting than I? Possibly, which, for a tribute from four, is pretty pathetic. She seemed to close herself off from everyone, including Scarecrow. She seemed off into her own little land. I think I might be able to remember her name from the re-caps. It started with one of the letters late in the albet...V? Maybe it was Victoria... Violet! That's what it was. She didn't look like she was going to make it very far in the games. She didn't have much muscles, and she was small and skinny. Scarecrow was a chicken of a boy, being skinny much like his partner. Still, his wolfish grin and funny jokes made me like him immediately.
At home, I had the same attitide, but since the reapings, I've tightened up a bit. I think I should start loosing up, like Scarecrow, if I only have so many days to live.
Before I knew it, Pat and I were at our chariot, with dyed blue horses with a greenish-blue... What are they called? I don't know. It's the thing we have to stand it. It was rather pretty. I feel bad for District 12- they're all black. District 1 had snow white horses and a gold seat, while District 2 had misty colored horses with a blood-red seat. District 7 had brown horses with a hinter green seat. Scarecrow's horses were wheat colored, and they had a orangish-yellowish seat. I think about starting to get ready to go, when Patrick spins me around, and there's four more people in front of us. Two are spray painted gold, and covered in gold swirly tattoos and jewels, and they look wonderful. Except the guy scares me. A lot. The girl has dark brown hair, and is very... Beautiful. I'm not one to be jealous of looks, but I think any other girl would be glaring at her. She looks flawless. The boy looks very... Like he's been training his whole life for this moment. I turn my attention to the other two. The girl wears a white dress with boots and a helmet, looking much like a female peacekeeper. Honestly, she scares me too, with a fierce look always in her eyes, that to me, look slightly insane with anger and fierceness. The boy is also dressed as a peacekeeper. They both have guns, which I really hope are fake, but they look really authentic.
You from Four?" the boy from 1 barks at me. Hmmm... Considering we're standing right next to the District 4 Chariot, and I'm dressed as a mermaid, I think maybe we are? What did you think? We were from District 5 or something?
But all I do is stare at the bulky boy, who must be three times my weight, slightly taken back by his meanness. I see the girl from his District roll her eyes. Bitch.
Lucky for me, Patrick comes to my rescue. "Yes, yes we are. And I'm assuming your from One and Two?" I take a deep breath, and smile sweetly at my future allies.
The people from Two, mostly the girl, eyeball me closely, as if analyzing Patrick and me. It's kind of sad how seriously these kids take these games. I mean, they never knew anything besides training, and they've been taught all they're life to kill. I wish people wouldn't treat their kids this way! It was cruel, which is the reason I never trained for games. Now I'm almost wishing I did.
"I'm Patrick." Patrick offers, smiling, completely relaxed.
"My name's Ariela." I add, still smiling sweetly. I really don't want to get on any of their bad sides.
The girl from 1 smiles and claps her hands and says, "Ariela! That's such a pretty name! I'm Diamond!" This girls got the being nice thing down.
"Cupurnia." the gun girl from 2 says, still frowning a bit.
Her partner adds, "Caligula."
"Gallant." the insanely strong looking guy says, as if trying to top Caligula for the 'who-can look cooler competition.'
Suddenly, a small girl with reddish blonde hair comes zipping past us all, bumping into Cupurnia and causing her to stumble a bit, being caught off guard by this little kid. Kid was quick, too, but she turned bright pink and squeaked when Cupurnia glared an icy glare at her. It was like Cupurnia hypnotized her into staying still like a deer in headlights. The little girl, maybe 13 or 14 started viably shaking, and I heard the people from District 1 snicker a bit, mostly the boy. The girl had a small head, with an angular face and big bright blue eyes, and sharp features. She was really skinny, much like Scarecrow, and didn't look that tough. Cupurnia, still in the middle of hypnotizing her, circled her prey, looking utterly crazy with the will to kill as she grinned evilly. Maybe I'll ditch the careers after a couple days... The girl stood there, frozen with fear as the Peacekeeper girl laughed and circled her, analyzing her. The girl tings that looked very techie, like wires and stuff, so I'm assuming she's from District 3.
"What's your name, girl?" Cupurnia demanded harshly.
The girl squeaked something I couldn't make out. Apparently, neither could Cupurnia. She growled, and swung her gun so it hit her in the leg. The girl yipped, falling backwards. She looked defenseless. I know I wanted to help, and I know I could help, but this could most likely end in my death, as well as the little girl's in the arena. Something told me I couldn't stop the insane look in Cupurnia's eyes.
Then a boy, maybe my age or a little younger, was behind the small girl, and helped her up, glaring at Cupurnia. "Flynn, get in the chariot. I'll be there in a minute." and then the the little girl nodded and ran off to her Chariot, which wasn't very far away.
"Listen. I don't know how they treat little girls in your Districts," he looked at all of us. Mostly Cupurnia, but he glanced at all of us. I felt a hard sting of guilt and anger and sadness all at the same time. I didn't know I could feel it. The games changed me. I used to not have a care in the world, and be so carefree and happy, but now all I can think about is my death. I really want to be just like Scarecrow, with his wolfie grin, even though he's not going to make it, if the odds are correct. Then, I realized something. I didn't even know Scarecrow's name. His real name, actually.
The District 3 boy's voice brought me back to the real world, "Mermaid girl? You there? Or do I have to repeat myself just for you?"
I thought of all the things I could say or do. I could just shut up, shake my head, and walk away. But something tells me thats not the Ariela way out of this.
"You would repeat yourself just for me? Sorry, Hun, but I'm a bit too old for you." I say, poking his nose followed by my signature smirk. The boy rolls his eyes at me, which reminds me... of home. All the adults used to do that when I'd talk back. The boy walks away, and Cupurnia lifts her gun, shoots it, but nothing comes out.
"Dammit! How I wish I could just shoot everyone here." Cupurnia swears loudly.
I laugh, thinking she's joking, only to be welcomed by a glare from Cupurnia. Cupurnia must be crazy or sadist or something. Why she grinned so happily when the little girl, Flynn, feel to the ground. Why she trained for the games. Why she wished her gun was real.
A bell rings, which means the horses will be pulling out in 2 minutes. Everyone scrambles back to their horse, including me in my own. I turn around, to examine the other horses and tributes one last time, and I see a certain scarecrow, smiling wolfishly at me. I smirk back, and then we both laugh at the same time. I turn around, when I realized something- One way or another, both of us were not coming home. I fake a smile, pushing that thought out of my mind, and wave to the crowd.
