A/N So i had my first review. Yes i know she is a bit Mary-Sue at the moment, please give her a chance to get to her games. All will change, and she will gain her murderer title very quickly I promise. Also I will at some point in the near future re-edit those first few chapters, so they flow better. They were typed in one sitting so I know they are a bit rushed.

The car had disappeared under the black building, the fast ride through the streets had actually terrified her. Eventually it came to a stop, Palatine jumped out and clapped his hands, and "these are your prep teams". He gestured to 6 brightly coloured people across the room
"They will spend the next 24 hours getting you ready for the parade, extra time. Our tributes will look stunning for a change." Like trees again she sulked, we are always trees, she had to admit there weren't really very many options for her district if your only concept of trees I what you saw in pictures. From the screaming ride through the city they didn't really have much plant life. The prep team really were beetles, their hair was hard and shiny, filled with a glittering substance. They talked so much that their chatter just faded into a buzz. Inane snippets occasionally filtered through to Johanna but she had no real need to understand or like these insects. They stood her on a table and inspected her, while she tried her best to ignore the fact that she was naked, and being treated like a cow for slaughter. The green one buzzed about her nails, the red one about her hair, the yellow one looked like a tracker jacker and said nothing just stared at her legs. In her head she just be called them by their colours, they hadn't bothered to introduce themselves anyway. Red tugged at her hair

"Do they breed any blondes in 7 just once I would like something other than this black. The district 1 and 2 tributes are always stunning." No we don't have blondes she thought, and if I wasn't dressed as a tree maybe I wouldn't look so boring. She crossed her arms over her chest just to have them separated again.

"At least the boy is pretty. She's just so average it'll take some work."

"Have you seen her eyes? so rare. The middle of each eye is brown, the outer part green. Do you think is natural?" Red gushed, Yellow looked positively jealous. Well at least something about me is worthy she thought to herself "Pity it's not a more exotic colour like grey, purple." Guess not, these people must have been dropped on their heads, she had never heard of anyone with purple eyes. Her green ones were rare enough and even they were stained with the brown of her district.

"The skin is so olive, we'll have to pale her up a little" bleach me she thought. The process took hours of soaking and re washing her skin, it burned and stung and she hated every second. Red and green buzzed about how lucky they were to have extra time to do this. Johanna hoped that it was permanent just so she would never have to spend hours feeling like her skin was being burnt off and regrown every 15 minutes.

"She's a bit small for a 17 year old. Skinny to" Green began to rub some kind of gel into her skin, it stunk and was slimy.

"Lay over there, we needed to remove this hair, it's like they don't have any hygiene standards out there. They are always so hairy." Yellow looked mildly happy, she wondered if her prep team enjoyed inflicting pain on others.

Red yammered away while Yellow began to wax every part of her body. The ripping sensation destroyed the veneer of civility she had and she began to swear every time they ripped another layer off her, they bleaching process had obviously left her hair unscathed. She was not sure why but the waxing process seemed far more excruciating because her skin had already been tampered with. The prep team ignored her, this was torture, and the way these bugs kept talking away they did it by choice. Idiots. They primped and preened for hours, eventually after her third bath in something odd and faintly chemical smelling she slipped into a slumber. There was no way she was going to get a say in what they did to her, so she may as well get some sleep. They table floated her as she slept, the prep team had no problem accessing every part of her.

Finally she was awoken with a tap, Yellow was standing in front of her holding a mirror, in full length she could see herself. They had lightened her naturally olive skin to a pale white all over. One of the creams had filled in her bony bits, her ribs were flat rather than ridged. They had put her into some kind of slip that covered her chest stomach and upper thighs while leaving her ribs, and back bare. Well at least the important bits were covered. Painted on all her visible skin were autumn oak leaves, they twirled round her arms and across her back, her legs were awash of green and gold. The only part of her without leaves was her face, even her hair was twisted into branches topped with fall leaves. She looked like the ghost of autumn, it was horrible. She hoped the dress looked better.
"You can sit but don't damage anything Ausat will be through in a little while with dress." The red one said she looked awed with her work, Johanna decided that it was policy in the capitol to drop babies on their heads. There was no other way that 3 people could be so shallow.

"Stunning just stunning" Green was muttering behind her.

They left her in the silence of the empty room. She eventually ordered some food, being careful not to damage her costume she ate for the first time since she had entered the prep room. Bread from her district full of nuts, fruits and cheeses, and a tray of meats with thin crunchy bread. The Avox had refused to bring anything that wasn't finger food. Being very careful to break each morsel of food so that it passed through her lips without touching her perfectly applied lipstick. She ate until she felt ready to burst. How she missed eating on solid land, she was able to devour this meal without feeling sick. While she waited she wondered about her family. Ever since she had killed Gallium she worried that her family would be punished, but so far nothing had come of it. Nothing had even been mentioned from anyone other than Camellia and Blight, she worried. In this alone time she had expected something to come of it. Now would be the perfect time to meter out punishment, the prep team used to have a whole day to cover her bruises, but she wasn't sure how long was left of that. Even better they could have crippled her making her an easier target in the games, but nothing had happened she hadn't even seen a peacekeeper since they had boarded the car to enter the tributes building.

What felt like hours had passed before a skinny woman with a wooden face walked into the room. Ausat, the idiot who had dressed her district for as long as she could remember.

"I'm am your stylist, Ausat" she announced in dramatic fashion. She pulled out a leaf covered mini it fit the slip, so this was the god awful thing she was going to have to wear. Ausat helped her into it, and checked her over. Johanna looked in the full length mirror, it wasn't that bad, minus the canopy hair. As she was looking at herself the woman came up behind her, she had a bark collar, clipped around her neck. It rose into her hair at the back and had loops that wrapped around her breasts in the front. Johanna nearly laughed, this was more like it, awful absolutely awful.
"I thought you were 17, your chest isn't nearly big enough for this piece" Johanna breathed a sigh of relief, maybe she wouldn't have to wear it. Ausat was rummaging around in a draw behind her, suddenly the older woman slipped what felt like a lump of meat under her right breast. Followed quickly with the left. Johanna now had a large chest that supported the collar.
"Perfect, my vision come to life. Now careful that bark is real so don't move your head we don't want it to flake off" the wooden face attempted to smile, but nothing moved. Fantastic she thought I am stuck like this. I hope Alder looks just as bad, with his arrogance he might actually be able to pull off a decent tree costume.
"Have you ever thought about something other than, well, autumn trees Ausat?" she looked her stylist in the eye, the first capitol person to receive this gaze.

"Why ever would I. What else do you do?" a very good question Johanna stayed silent content to study the stylist face.

Standing in the light she could finally see why Ausat's face was so wooden, the muscles under her face didn't move, her eyes the iris a vibrant blue, the area that should be white a stunning silver, were the most expressive feature. Her lips opened when she talked but barely shifted to form words, it seemed that most letter formation came from her tongue. Johanna had a sinking suspicion that this was one of those "capitol surgeries" gone very, very wrong. For a woman who must be in her later 50's she had a remarkably young physique, but was short. She barely reached Johanna's chin, thinking back to watching the games, she was sure the woman appeared taller on television. Maybe she stood on a chair just out of camera's angle, the thought made her snicker. Finally a pair of moss covered shoes slipped on to her feet. In the mirror she looked like a tree, nothing memorable.
"I had to make these much higher, you must be the shortest contestant in a while." Johanna could only remember a hand full of games, for her age definitely, but there had been a 12 year old the year the twins were born surely she was taller than a child. She had never walked in heels before, the platforms didn't help with the balance, she wobbled with her stylist to the elevator, Ausat would occasionally offer tips, but none really helped. By the time Alder reached them she could at least stand without feeling like she was going to topple over. He looked incredibly grumpy his outfit matched hers, although he wore pants, rather than a dress, and his torso was bare. His collar surrounded the nipples on his chest matching her own. His prep team also seemed to have shaded in his stomach painting over his muscles making them seem bigger. Maybe the prep team really were there to help she thought bitterly, but not her. As they boarded the elevator her stomach plummeted through the floor, she would have to ride in another contraption, I hope this is short enough that I don't vomit. Her worried thoughts about vomiting on the carriage were interrupted by Alder's stylist.
"Smiles remember we have to love you" the younger man beamed, his face was not wooden at all. He looked similar to Ausat, but how Johanna couldn't tell. This place was so strange especially in the way they treated their faces and bodies, this younger man's face was covered in a tattoo that changed colours under his skin. His lips were over full, but he looked more human than the insect prep team who met them in the car park. They buzzed about her, brushing away bark that had scraped off in her hair before finally leading her to the black carriage. It looked as if they had been some of the last to arrive, the two skinny tributes from 12 were huddled next to their cart. Naked except for a sprinkling of black, which she assumed was coal dust, and some gaudy hat with a light on it. The girl covered her breasts, when she moved Johanna could see there was nothing over them, the poor girl. Ausat suddenly had far more respect in her eyes, at least the old woman hadn't left her naked and vulnerable. The district 1 pair were wrapped in material the flowed like water, white with wreaths upon their heads, they looked like some ancient drawings, Johanna thought it was a bit rude to crown them before the game had even started. The boy and girl from 2 looked almost exactly like last year's tributes, there hadn't been much change. They were painted in a white, and looked like marble statues, they both carried bows no arrows she noted. Both were naked from the waist up. This year was a nudity year she thought, as she scanned the room she noted that at least half the female tributes wore nothing above the waist. Two of the boys wore nothing at all, the rest were bare chested. Blight wandered across the car park to them, the rest of the victors were helping the tributes into the carriages,
"time to go up. Remember you want the crowd to love you." He lifted Johanna into the carriage, there was no way for her to negotiate the ladder in the shoes. Alder clambered up beside her, moving his head a little too much and showering his hair and shoulders with bark. Ausat hurried over kicking off her shoes she joined them, desperately trying to fix Alder's costume. She was still on there when district 6's carriage started to move towards the large doors. As their carriage lurched forward she jumped to the floor, sighing that "it would have to do". As they moved onto the street they could hear her yelling,
"DO NOT MOVE YOUR HEADS"

The noise hit them like a way, the entire capitol cheered them through the doors. Johanna did her best not to move her head to much and focus on the square in the distance, the slow trot of the horses ahead was making her nauseous. The image of them projected on the big screen showed a white small girl covered in leaves, she did look like the ghost of autumn, and a tall strong boy. It was then that she noticed that Alder had been allowed to keep his olive skin, and that his colour against the leaves made him look stronger, while she looked sickly. Blight might have mentioned her strategy she thought. Trying her best to wave to the crowd she kept wobbling on the tall shoes. Occasionally throwing her arms out to keep here balance. Luckily the cameras were far more interested in the naked tributes from 4. When they reached the square she could tell the crowd was getting bored, the cheers were far less noisy, and in the VIP stands in front of her a few of the guests had begun to yawn. Johanna couldn't help feeling sorry for the district 12 girl. They had paraded her nakedness around, like they owned every part of her, and then couldn't even be bothered to cheer her on. She had never liked the capitol, but this hour long spectacle had made her hate them.

As the final carriage pulled into the square President Snow addressed the crowd, Johanna was barely listening to him, she studied the crowd hoping for a familiar face, or even a human one. She spotted the Victors sitting in a private section well away from the rest of the crowd of dignified officials. The stylists and escorts below them. The Victors faces were the only ones who looked mostly human, every person in the rest of the crowd looked altered in some way. She couldn't help thinking that they were trying to hide the things that made them human. The speech wrapped up

"…. As we welcome our tributes this year in celebration of the quashed rebellion 71 years ago, I remind all those watching of the sacrifice we have all made to keep this country in a state of Peace. Panem welcomes you. And may the odds be ever in your favour. I present to you the tributes of the 71 Hunger Games"

As snow wrapped up his speech the anthem began to play, they stood silent, eventually the carriages moved back through the streets to her home for the next week. She couldn't help but notice that the crowds had already started to disperse, many were drinking so much that they barely noticed the passage of the 12 carriages through the streets. Johanna was worried, these people became uninterested easily that she knew, but she never realised how quickly they lost interest in something novel. It did not bode well for her. She thought back to previous hunger games and realised why they usually never lasted longer than two weeks, these people would riot if it took that long to murder 12 children. The boredom of waiting for them to die could so quickly be resolved by forcing the tributes together.

The mood of the tributes was subdued as they re-entered the garage, each team was helped off their carriage and entered the elevator to at the far end of the room. Camellia was striding towards them muttering to Blight who was walking behind her. Both her mentors looked old today, she couldn't understand why. The capitol was open to them, she knew from the gossip announcements that filtered through the TV at home. A week with no information from the tributes was very boring so her parents would be watching a week of "Victor Programming" to fill the blanks. She really wanted to contact her parents, to make sure they knew she was all right, but mostly to make sure that she hadn't been punished. Her turn for an elevator ride finally arrived, the prep team and stylist had already headed up into the strange contraption. There were no elevator in her district, everything was single story, so that it could be torn down and moved as the forest receded, or re-grew. The elevator arrived to take her to her new floor, it was just going to be the four of them. Alder, Camellia, Blight and herself, but Finnick rushed ahead of the crowd. He smiled apologetically at the two mentors,
"Special date tonight, I have to get ready." He sounded almost upset, Johanna thought, but then the man was wearing nearly no clothes, and had rushed ahead of at least three other districts leaving his tributes with an old woman. She couldn't feel sorry for him. He turned on the charm in the elevator, teasing Camellia to his floor.

"How's Barking Cami?"
"Fine Finnick. I haven't had a red letter just yet. So he obviously is trying his best to keep it under control."

"Well if I knew someone as beautiful as you was receiving letters then I would be burning down buildings to get to you to."
"Fin, he's my brother." Finnick smiled at her, his eyes sparkling

"It would matter to me. I always chase beauty. Never had a choice." His last sentence seemed almost melancholic, but his smile made him seem happy. Johanna was just glad that she didn't have to spend any more time in the small box with him. He stepped off the elevator at a level marked 4.

"All right kids it's easy enough to remember, our rooms are on the floor marked with a 7. Training rooms are the T button on the bottom. Don't go travelling to other districts floors, it's a sure fire way to get beaten up or start a fight." Blight paused here and looked both her and Alder directly in each other their eyes

"You do not want to enter the games crippled. And you will enter the games crippled if you don't play by the rules here." Alder shrugged his shoulders, Johanna bobbed her head.
"They've seen us now it's not like they can replace us if we get hurt, or go missing." Alder muttered, Camellia wheeled around
"Smart boy this one, thinks he has it all figured out. Do you think you look any different to all the other 18 year old boys from 7? Because to these people we are all olive skinned, black haired. They think we look exactly the same. Have you not noticed what they have done to your companion's skin" she pointed a finger at Johanna "It's permanent and painful, and they do it so she doesn't look like every other girl from 7 who has come through those gates, onto the platforms to die. From what I understand you squealed like a pig when they pulled out a few hairs. She re-grew every layer of her skin, and then had a fucking nap. When we tell you to do something you do it. No questions asked. Or you'll end up like Blights cousin." Alder stared at her open mouthed, they had never heard Camellia loose her temper. She was known as they quiet Victor, who patiently cared for her brother. Johanna was more shocked that one of the tributes had been Blight's cousin. The doors to the elevator pinged.

"We are going to continue this discussion in the living room." Camellia stalked away and the other three followed quietly, the prep teams who had been waiting on the landing quietly disappeared. It seemed like this was not the usual greeting for the District 7 room. In a spacious living area, there where puffy white couches, the walls had wood panelling, the floors were covered in a soft carpet, Johanna kicked off the shoes she could barely walk in, and wiggled her toes in the thick flooring. Palatine was watching a re-run of the parade on a television that took up an entire wall.
"Shut that off Palatine. We just went through it." Palatine pouted at he hit a button on a sliver stand that was next to him. Johanna saw that the stand was next to every seat in the room. The television cleared and became a window that looked out over the city. The streets were alive moving and jumping. In the sky pops, and flashes of colour appeared and disappeared at random above the buildings.

"Fireworks, they got off to an early start. They dot usually appear till midnight." Blight growled as he pushed another button on a silver stand and the window went blank. Eventually the window matched the rest of the walls in this room, with its own simulated wood panelling.
"Sit." Camellia growled. Then looking to Blight "Shall you start or shall I?"

"Better finished what you started on the ride up." He shrugged at her. She nodded her head and then turned to the couch that Johanna and Alder were sitting on.

"We are here to keep you alive. That is our job until you die. Alder you want to think you know better that's fine, I will devote my limited time to someone who can listen. The arrogant persona is good for the cameras but here cut it out. We know better, I have seen every tribute I have coached in 10 years die. There is nothing you can do different except win."

"We will coach you, not just for the camera's but also for the games themselves. You get one week in the training room, we cannot join you, and it is your time with the trainers and game-makers. I suggest you use that time to better skills you do not have. Use the scoring day to show off your talents. You have both decided on you personality for the games. Camellia is right the arrogant thing works for the cameras, Cinder used it effectively a few years ago." Johanna wracked her brain trying to remember a tribute named Cinder, and image of a tall muscular boy having his throat cut in the blood bath popped into her mind.

"Cinder was an idiot. He didn't listen to me or his cousin he thought he was capable due to family legacy. He died quickly." There was no joy in either of the mentor's voices, Blight looked upset and Camellia looked frustrated.

"There is only one piece of advice I have for the two of you, don't get killed. Our entire time here is devoted to doing just that." The woman turned and stalked away from the room. Blight stood slowly and beckoned them to follow him down a hall way.
"The Avox will let you know when dinner is. If you don't want to see you faces every 10 minutes then avoid the living room Palatine likes to watch the games and their lead up." He pointed at two rooms "they are identical, pick one, it's your for the duration of the stay we are on the other side of the dining room" he gestured in the direction that Camellia had walked. With that he turned and walked away leaving them alone.

"Which one do you want?" Johanna was taken aback by Alder's offer. Normally he would have just taken a room and left her alone. She pointed at the one nearest her.

"They look tired. Guess all this excess in the capitol is getting to them. When I win I don't think I'll ever go back to 7." He smiled turning and walking into the room she had pointed at. Johanna wondered if what Camellia had said got through to him or if he would last long enough for her to have to kill him. She walked the five extra steps to the other room, inside was a bed, a dresser, another shower and a window. Next to the bed was one of those silver stands from the living room, she sat down on the bed and began to push the buttons. From what she could tell so far the top 3 controlled the light, and the bottom two blanked out the window. The largest button had a speaker next to it and the word AVOX written underneath, she assumed she could order food through it. She stripped off her costume dumping it on the floor next to the bed, it showered leaves and bark everywhere. Next she worked at her hair, trying to pull out the leaves, all it did was tug on her scalp and give her a headache. She jumped in the shower, hoping that the buttons and knobs all controlled the same things as those on the train. Setting the water at a medium warmth and higher power, she climbed in and shut the door. The paint on her arms and legs melted into a muddy brown, swirly down the drain. Once her skin was clean she decided to attempt to clean the tangle that was her hair. To her surprise the second she got it wet it melted out and down the drain, what she thought would take forever took less than 5 minutes to wash out. Sighing she enjoyed the warmth and water pressure. Eventually an orange scented foam covered her, and after a final rinse she stepped out of the shower. She eloped, standing on the other side of the door holding a towel was an Avox. The girl had to be no more than 12, shorter than her with golden locks, Johanna thought she might have to be from district 1 or 2. The girl still looked like a child as she handed her the towel and then left the room. These silent people scared her, they were so compliant to the capitol even after the punishment they had received. She wondered what the little girl had done, to have her tongue ripped from her.

The costume was gone, on her bed was what looked like a black jumpsuit in. When she picked it up she saw that it was pants and a jacket, underneath was some under clothes and a shirt all in white. On the back of the jacket and shirt the number 7 was printed in green. She slithered into her new costume. As she was tugging on a pair of soft shoes the Avox re-entered the room. She pointed at her and then the doors, clearly trying to get her to follow. Johanna exited the room, hoping that Camellia had calmed down enough for her to enjoy the very first capitol meal she would be able to keep down. She followed the Avox to the dining room, a large mahogany table with beautiful cedar and pine chairs dominated the room, Blight was sitting at the table nursing a drink. The others had not arrived yet, the table itself was set for 7 which she assumed meant that they would have guests. Blight looked at her a smile barely twitched the corners of her mouth

"How are we crying girl?" Johanna said nothing, she was breathing in the polished wood smells that reminded her or home.

"Do they decorate every floor with so much wood?" she whispered. She had to remember that Crying Girl was timid.

"This is supposed to make us feel at home, some get wood, some get plastic. They all get capitol versions of home" he pointed at the wall behind her, this was also a window/TV combination. For their meal it had been programmed to show a forest glen, grass and a lake surrounded by trees. Blight shuddered

"By the time we reach dessert they will be pumping in an artificial wood smell. They never seem to get it quite right. Like all things in the capitol it just seems peculiar in some way" He laughed to himself and stared into his drink. Camellia entered from the door behind him, the same Avox that had lead her here was now guiding her, Johanna hadn't even noticed the small girl leaving. Camellia walked to the bar on the same wall and poured herself a bright pink drink, sitting down next to Blight she began to sip it slowly. Johanna took a seat opposite them while they waited for Alder and whoever else was coming to arrive.