A/N: Starting this chapter, and then in future chapters I won't be going into full detail about the meals being served. I'm going to take somethings from the books, but change them for this story; later in the story Sasha is going to track down the original person to make the event happen like it did in the book. If I didn't say it before I'm going to show younger version of certain key characters before their appearances in the second half of the story.
To say that that I was amazed by the size of the Remake Center would have been an understatement; four stories and a basement. Seems impressive compared to all the one and two-story buildings back in District 12. Nikki herded Tessa and me to and elevator, from there we're off to meet our prep teams and stylist. We all get off at the same floor, but there were two separate teams waiting for us. I wink at Tessa, and step off the elevator and my prep team whisks me away to prepare for the opening ceremonies tonight. On the way to my room they introduce themselves: Nix, Maya, and Zero. When we get to my room and the door shuts they tell me to strip down to nothing but my underwear. I comply, but I have no clue what to expect. When I am standing in my underwear they take my body in, circling me to see what they had to do make me presentable. I take my body in also; I notice that I have the early stages of a beard beginning to show, I have hair on my back, arm, and legs. What I hear next is something that sends dread through me.
"That's a lot of body hair we're going to have to remove." Maya said.
Maya is short and petite, but looks like she has corkscrew contacts in. I'm a little put off by her eyes, but I stand my ground.
"Lily doesn't want to see him until he is Base Beauty Zero, Maya." Zero said.
Zero looked like a normal man, average height and frame, but it's his mouth sets him apart. His canines were either filed, or surgically altered to look like fangs.
Fangs like that of a big cat that I've seen wondering in the woods near District 12. I think. I guess Lily is my stylist.
"Go behind the wall and put these on." Nix said.
Nix is a tall lanky woman with a dark skinned complexion, dread locks, and fingertip covers. Nix handed me a pair of cloth underwear; I grab the underwear and go change behind the wall. When I step from behind the wall I see that the prep team had pressed a few buttons because where I was standing before going behind the wall a table has raised up from the floor. The team beckons me to lie down on the table so we could begin. What happens next is the longest, most painful experience I have ever lived through. Three hours later the team had finally remove most body hair, and shave my face.
"Sasha are you okay?" Maya asked.
"That depends on your definition of okay." I shot back effortlessly.
My prep team gets a kick out of my response, they're all laughing.
"I saw you gritting your teeth a lot, and one time you almost knockout Zero with your one of your knees when he was working on your legs." Nix said.
"Body hair is view differently in the districts as opposed to here in the capitol." I say.
"It's so unsightly, and disgusting." Nix said.
"How can anybody be attracted to the sight of body hair?" Maya asked, I see Zero nod his head in agreement.
Too ignorant for their own good. I think.
"Well in the Capitol where you don't have to worry about heating your homes as much, body hair does seem unsightly. But trying to stay warm in the districts where we don't have reliable sources of heat like you do, so we have to compensate." I say.
My prep team stares at me blankly for a time, and then Zero speaks up.
"I'm glad I live in the Capitol then." Zero says, to which Maya and Nix just nod their heads. "But now that we are done removing your body hair it's time to move on to your skin."
They get some lotion that they rub all over my body that cause a stinging sensation when it makes contact with my raw skin, but soothes it also; it's the best feeling after the assault that I just survived for the past three hours. They help me off the table, and then they grab tweezers and then circle my body one last time to remove any hair they might have missed. When they were satisfied Zero spoke again.
"That should do. Time to call in Lily."
With that Zero, Maya, and Nix leave the room to go get my stylist. I sit back on the table and take in the room; it reminds me of the operating room of the doctor's back in District 12; white, clean, and sterile. I wonder how Tessa survived her torture session with the waxing. More importantly I hope Lily is more sensible than her prep team. Just then the door opened and in walked the woman who must be my stylist, and she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen; albeit, I'm kind of tickled by her appearance.
Lily is a fascinating woman, but she has sort of an odd obsession with tigers it seems. I think.
"Hi Sasha. My name is Lily, I'm your stylist." Lily said.
Lily is a tall, thin woman with a neat hourglass figure, and with a crop and sleek haircut.
"Is you hair normally orange?" I ask.
"Hold on, can you give me a couple of seconds?" Lily says.
"Go ahead." I say.
Lily takes her time carefully eyeing me from head to toe, front to back. Then she looked at my head, and was puzzled by it.
"What's wrong with my hair?" I ask.
"For what I want to do tonight it's too long." Lily almost purring. "And no my hair isn't normally orange."
"Do you have a nickname, or something; I don't know, say like Tiger Lily?" I ask.
Lily laughs at my wisecrack. She isn't even offended, but her response isn't what I was expecting either.
"Tiger Lily, that's cute; I like that. I have been in love with tigers ever since I was a little girl. The answer to your question is yes I do have a nickname, and it's Tigris. You can put your regular underwear back on then this robe." Lily says.
I change out of the underwear that my prep team gave me, and then I put the robe on. As I step from behind the wall to see that Lily is standing by the door. I follow her out into a sitting room with two chairs; three of room's walls are bay windows that give me a phenomenal view of the city; I whistle.
"You should see the place at night." Lily says with a grin.
I happened to catch a look at Lily's face when she grinned, and I saw that she had a mouth full of surgically altered teeth to look like a big cats teeth. I smile back to hide my shock. From the looks of the position of the sun it's early afternoon. Lily invites me to sit down; she presses a button on the table next to her, the floor opens up, and a table enters the room that has our meal for the day. From the looks of her meal it's basically raw meat; like they cut it off the creature after it had just been killed. While my meal is looking more lively; or more appropriately, more thoroughly cooked!
"Cheers." I say as I pick up my fork and start eating.
Lily smiles, and then starts eating her steak. When Lily finishes her steak, she grabs a napkin dabs her lips, and then begins to talk.
"Now were going to discuss your costume for the opening ceremonies tonight." Lily says.
"I can eat and listen at the same time." I say.
"You know that we usually try to reflect what the district does, and then try to display it in the costumes." Lily said.
Basically the stylist try to describe what the district does for a living, and tries to reflect it in the costume.
"Twelve is coal mining; that would be a plain jumpsuit." I say, between bites.
"Yes, but we're not going to do the coal miner's jumpsuit; I think we can both agree that it's been play out." Lily said.
So what's the play? I think, while I still eating. I finishing my meal when Lilly starts again.
"Instead of working the angle of the miners, we're going to work it from the angle of the coal." Lily said.
It takes me less than ten seconds to realize what she was talking about.
"You're not going to set me and Tessa on fire are you?" I ask.
"That would up the ante for your entrance, but neither I nor Kaz, Tessa stylist, know how to make the synthetic elements to make the fire. I have a friend who does know the element mix, so we are just going to work a different angle." Lily said. "Come with me."
Five hours later I'm in a shiny black unitard that covers me from my ankles to my neck; paired with shiny black, leather boots that lace up to my knees. My hair has been cut to ear length, I take in the uniform in as I'm standing in front of a full length mirror. What I couldn't see at first is what looked like panels stitched into the uniform.
"Can you turn off the lights?" I asked.
"Hold on. All I have left to do is the makeup." Lily says.
Lily pulled out a makeup panel and started to apply it to my face. Lily applied makeup to my face and lips; then she went to work on my eyes. Layering a shimmery peach on my eyelids, and then building up layers of darker browns in the outer corner of my eye. Next Lily used a soft, deep brown eyeliner to line the upper and lower lash lines, concentrating on the outer corners. She joined the two lines in the corner and then slightly smudge out the edges. A coating of deep brown mascara to finish the look. I looked at Lily and awaited her order; instead she pressed a button, and my suit came to life. I looked at myself in the mirror and I'm rendered speechless as well as breathless. My suit had panels that are solid gray, with orange around the edges. When one panel went off, another cut on. The entire uniform had the panels spread out evenly, and it gave off the effect of smoldering coal, but the makeup makes my skin and lips look ashen, and my eyes look smoky.
"Lily… this… is… amazing." I say.
"Please. Call me Tigris." Lily said.
"Okay, Tigris. You and Kaz really out did yourselves." I say.
Tigris pressed the button and it shut the suit off. It was getting time for the opening ceremonies, so we exit the room, and made our way down to the basement of the Remake Center. The basement is a stable where the keep the horses. All the chariots are lined front to back by districts, I see the other tributes are already here, and standing around their chariots. I make my way to our chariot, and I give Tigris a look that say "let's make this quick shall we?" and she gets the idea. So we make the quick trip back to our chariot, where I see Tessa, Kaz, and her prep team are already waiting.
To see Tessa dressed like me, but a different makeup color scheme, is pretty sexy. I think.
"Tessa." I say in greeting.
"Shepard." Tessa greets back.
"You must be Kaz." I say extending my hand in greeting "Sasha."
"Pleasure is all mine." Kaz say shaking my hand. "Shepard?"
"District nickname." I say.
"It's an interesting nickname." Kaz say.
"I'll explain it later." I say to Kaz.
It was at the time the anthem starts blaring, signaling that the ceremonies are about to begin. The tributes got up on their chariots and prepared to enter the ceremonies. Kaz had one last order, per se, for us.
"When you leave the Center I want your heads high, eyes straight ahead, and finally you're not to wave to the crowd. I want you to act as if this whole thing is beneath you." Kaz said.
As we step onto our chariot, I see that Tessa is starting to stumble; so I brace her, and then gab her hand. I see Kaz out the corner of my eye take in the holding hands, but he lets it slide. I'm guessing that as long as we follow the orders it probably won't matter.
Also if we hold hands it could give off the effect of two pieces of coal that have been bonded together because of intense heat. I think, an interest thought.
Ten minutes after the anthem starts to play the doors open, and the first chariot is away. Before long the next chariot. We have a couple of minutes before it's our turn in the spot light, and it's going to be a twenty minute ride.
That's going to be one heck of a long ride. I think.
Just before the chariot for District 11 leave I look at Tessa.
"A repeat performance of the reaping?" Tessa asks.
"That goes without saying baby." I say.
With that the chariot for 11 was gone. As we're pulling up to the door I look at Tessa one last time, and she looks at me. I wink at her, and she winks back; then were are pulled out into the city. We both look straight ahead, and become statues again. The crowd is taken back when first we pull out; we look like creatures from another world, but when the take it all in the ashen face and lips, the smoky eyes, and then the lights on our uniforms the crowd goes wild. Kaz and Tigris must have activated our suits just as we left the Remake Center. Another part of crowd is a little hesitant and then they realized what our costume is supposed be, and then the start cheering, loudly. So loud that it draws the attention of the crowd three chariots in front of us.
I feel the cheering and admiration from the crowd entering my blood and I find it hard not to react, but I intend to follow Kaz order. By the time we are reaching the City Circle I hear a cascading of applause for us, and I think that I might be going deaf from the applause. We pull up to the Training Center and our team of horse's lines up off to the right side. I hear the music and applause continue, but I see President Snow take to the podium and he silences the crowd as the music fades. I hear President Snow give his speech, but I'm not listening. I'm watching out of respect, but in my mind I'm thousands of miles away and Tessa is with me too. I'm brought back to reality when the horses enter the Training Center.
"Did you see it?" Tessa asked.
"See what?" I say.
"The monitors?" Tessa asked.
"No I was miles away." I say.
"We stole the spot light." Tessa said. "The camera operators wouldn't budge from us."
"Tessa that is a curse in disguise trust me. If we look better than everybody else, especially the Careers; they will come for us. Let's try stay under the radar for now." I say.
"Okay." Tessa said, disappointed.
"There is nothing wrong for stealing the spot light from other people. Can it earn us sponsors? Yeah, but it puts a bigger bulls eye on our back. I'm sorry for stealing your fire." I say
Tessa smiles at me and then blows me a kiss, which I do in kind. Just as our chariot is stopping, both Kaz and Tigris are approaching our chariot. As we are stepping off our chariot Kaz and Tigris turn our outfits off; also at this time Haymitch and Nikki are approaching the group.
"I see you still got use out of that statue act?" Haymitch said.
I see Nikki behind him beaming with excitement.
"Kaz order, not mine." I say.
"Well with that outfit it work perfectly; albeit, it is a little morbid." Haymitch said.
"Well the crowd loved it." Tessa said.
I see Haymitch put both of his hands together signaling that our hands are still together. He drew the attention away from us as I began the process of extricating my hand from Tessa. We massaged our hands to get the blood flow backing into our fingers. It was at this time Haymitch decided to take this party upstairs because we were receiving unsavory glance from some of the other tributes. So we head upstairs. We step on the elevator, and take the car all the way to the top floor. When we get to the penthouse both Tessa and I are blown away by the size of room.
"This is bigger than three businesses back in twelve." Tessa whisper.
"Everything on this trip is bigger and better than everything back in twelve." I say, snickering.
I see something out the corner of my eye; it was a man dressed in red standing as still as a statue. Across the room from his position was a woman, who was also dress in red. That's puzzling, but I take this opportunity to razz Haymitch.
"Hey Haymitch." I say.
"What Sasha." Haymitch say.
"Between us, and the people in red, who does a better statue pose?" I ask.
Tessa snickers, but attempts to contain her laughter. Haymitch gives a mock smile.
"True they have you beat there, but they can't talk to you." Haymitch said.
We share a look, and then we booth turn and look at Haymitch.
"Why not?" Tessa asks.
"They're Avox." Nikki said.
We glance at the group dumbfounded.
"Traitors to the Capitol; their tongues have been cut out, and serve the tributes that come to participate in the Games." Kaz said.
Both Tessa and I look at each other for a little bit, and then I mouth at Haymitch "Well played," then we are led away to our rooms. Nikki said that the dinner will be ready in a half hour. I get a shower to wash off all this makeup.
We made one heck of an entrance tonight, but Haymitch is right it was pretty morbid. We looked like death warmed over, but given what is less than a week away I guess Kaz and Tigris did us a favor. I think.
I finish my shower, get dressed, and then head down to dinner.