"The Capitol looks like a strange, strange place," James mumbled absent mindedly as he gazed out of the grimy train window.
Lily looked out at the people on the platform. She was surprised by the sheer number of them- people everywhere, waving flags and banners, wearing t-shirts with the number 74 emblazoned onto them. Seventy four- that number had cropped up in Lily's dreams last night.
It hadn't exactly been a nightmare; Lily was lying in a meadow, which seemed peaceful at first. She was surrounded by rabbits which seemed innocent at first, but then they bared sharp fangs at her. The number seventy four drifted everywhere and swirled around her, and all the while a cool female voice was saying "Kill or be killed….."
Lily shuddered as she remembered the dream, and turned to look out at the Capitol people. Her first impression was that they were freaks. She'd never seen anyone who looked quite so strange, and to see thousands upon thousands at once was overwhelming. They had multi-coloured hair, purple eyes, puffy lips, strange patterned faces and wore strange clothes that almost seemed to have a life of their own.
The train was stopping now, and Lily and James left with Merope and their mentor, Haymitch, following behind.
Next thing Lily knew, she was inside, separated from Merope, Haymitch and James. She was lying on some kind of narrow bed, and strange people peered down at her naked body. Lily, feeling horribly exposed as they pulled out her hair and applied powders to her face, tried to struggle, but they told her to "just relax, relax…" Someone jabbed something sharp into her arm and she felt instantly relaxed.
The next thing she know she woke up on another bed inside another tiny room, completely alone. She sprung up, horribly conscious that she was wearing some kind of dress which had no back to it. It felt as though she'd been completely plucked- like a bare chicken hanging up in the hob. Lily's hands flew to her hair and face, her fingers probing, checking to see if everything was still in tact. What had they done to her? Blown up her lips, changed the shape of her nose? Or drawn strange designs all over her?
Panic immediately began to set in. Where was she? Why was she alone? Was anyone coming back for her? Lily began to pace frantically.
The fear she'd always held of being alone stemmed from one time when she'd lost her father in the woods. Lily must've been about six or seven years old, and she'd only ever been into the woods a few times. Somehow they'd been separated- Lily had frantically ran in the wrong direction looking for her father, unknowingly putting an even greater distance between them. It only took her father twenty minutes to find her, yet to Lily's childhood mind it seemed a lot longer.
A tall, skinny man walked into the room, making Lily jump and look up at him. The newcomer was about six foot tall, but seemed different from the other capitol people she'd so far encountered. His clothes were simple and plain, instead of loud and obnoxious. The only thing that remotely showed his background was the light streaks of gold above his eyes, and even then they were tiny.
"Who are you?" Lily asked, terrified- and her voice must've shown it.
"It's alright- don't be afraid," the man said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'm Cinna, your stylist for the Hunger Games."
Lily had heard about Stylists and seen their past work on television in previous Hunger Games. It was their job to dress up the tribute for the opening parade and the interviews.
"So, you're here to make me look pretty?" Lily asked, scornfully. She'd never thought much of people who got paid for dressing up children about to go to their deaths.
Cinna grimanced. "I'm here to help you make an impression."
"Oh…." was all Lily could say to this.
Cinna began to pace around her, behind her and Lily was extremely conscious that he could see her behind. Cinna made no comment though, and although she found this extremely unnerving, Lily realised that Cinna, being a stylist (even though he was new) must be used to this.
"So what's the costume?"
"I've got a few ideas lined up," Cinna murmured, still distracted by eying every part of her.
Lily took this as a bad sign; the tributes from the districts were always dressed in costumes representing the key area of their district. District twelve was coal mining, and usually the tributes were dressed in some kind of awful black getup with a headlamp. One year they'd even been dressed naked covered in coal dust. Lily dreaded her costume.
Cinna led her down a hallway, which was packed with strange people rushing everywhere. Lily tried to get a sense of their bearings, but it was impossible. The place was huge- there were no windows, so she couldn't see the landscape at all.
Lily suddenly remembered the bangle Petunia had given her, and automatically her hands sprung to her wrist as she felt for it. Relieved she realised it was still there- as least the bizarre people who'd plucked out her body hairs had had the courteously to leave that alone.
They arrived in a much larger room- and Lily realised this must be Cinna's personal workspace. It was filled with rails upon rails of clothes, there were clothes strewn on the floor, along with shoes neatly laid in a row and boxes upon boxes of makeup. Everything made Lily's head spin- if this was just one stylist's collection, what did James's stylist have?
They arrived at the end of the long room, where Cinna handed her a dress. It was made from a black floaty fabric with many layers.
Cinna pointed to a changing room, and Lily walked inside, drawing the curtain around her.
There was a large mirror- and the first thing she did was examine what they'd done to her. She threw off the hospital gown and stood completely naked in front of the mirror. They'd plucked all her leg hair and underarm hair, and changed the shape of her eyebrows. Lily was especially vigilant about checking herself for the strange designs permanently drawn onto the skin or surgical alterations. With relief, she found there was none.
Once she'd changed into the dress she examined herself in the mirror. The dress was alright- it seemed to emphasise what little curves she had, but Lily still wasn't sure how it represented coal mining. Still, it was better than being naked and covered in dust.