Author's Note: Thanks to adela's lament, KiraDemon, and GilllieBeanN for adding this story to their following list, and thanks to koryandrs and adela's lament for your positive reviews, especially adela's lament for your comment about the dialogue. I can't promise that this chapter will contain as much dialogue because it's really more about the costumes. Still, I hope you all enjoy it. In the coming chapter, I give the Tributes more training time, and Thresh and Rue will meet Katniss and Peeta.

Please continue to review and follow! It inspires me to keep going when you do.


As the Tributes from District 11, Rue and I occupied the second-highest floor of the Training Center. My quarters were bigger than Nana's hovel, and the hallway that led to the elevator was longer than our entire street. And it served my every whim: With the press of one button on the wall next to my bed, I could change the color of the furniture—bed, chairs, and what Danting called a "sofa"; if I pressed another button, I could alter the volume of my viewing screen to the level of shouting match or as gentle as Rue's whispers. There was even a button to have food brought to my room.

I experienced my first real shower in the Training Center. In District 11, we filled buckets with rainwater and dumped it over our heads to wash once a week or so. Running water was rare back home because any running water went to the fields. And because of our work in the fields, some people did not shower at all.

In the Training Center, the water came from a nozzle in the latrine. When I stepped under the nozzle, it came out so cold, I gasped, "Too cold!" The water immediately warmed up, but I found the pace of the water too powerful. "The water's coming out too fast!" It adjusted instantly.

Then I found myself yearning for soap with which to scrub my skin. "Where's the soap?"

A frothy jet of green liquid came out the nozzle. As I began to lather, a beeping noise from the wall made me jump and almost fall. "Good, you're in the shower already, Thresh."

"Parion?" I gasped.

"Yes, I can see you're already in the shower."

"How can you see me?"

"There are cameras in every wall of the Training Center, silly!" She laughed at me.

"What do you want?"

"I gave you something to wear for your makeover. And take two showers!"

"Parion, why would I need two showers?" There was no response, so I repeated myself and waited. "Parion?" There was still no response, but knowing that I was being watched, I rinsed myself and asked for soap for a second shower.

When I exited the latrine, Parion and her assistants waited for me in my quarters. "Thresh, this is Juno and Cissus." The two female assistants studied my naked form.

I felt more embarrassed than I had before. I tried to hold my head high like I had seen Fieldhands do in our local Market. When farmers needed hands before planting each year, Fieldhands went to Market and displayed their strength in order to find employment for the season. I had seen fully grown men endure the thorough examination of orange farmers, pecan farmers, and even apple farmers, to the point that they were stripped naked.

I studied the stylists. Parion now wore a dress with tiger-like green-and-yellow stripes and sleeves like inflated balloons. Juno was paler than anyone or anything I had seen before. She had purple eyes and two spots of purple makeup on her cheeks. Cissus had normal, White skin but the rest of her was many colors. Her eyes were mismatched blue and orange; her hair stood atop her head in a straight line with many streaks of color running through them.

Parion stood. "I see we've got quite a bit to work on. We've got to remove your body hair. For the outfit I've designed, your body is most appropriate."


Four hours later, I stood in a chariot and felt hungrier than ever in my life. In the Capitol, food surrounded me in large amounts wherever I looked, but I couldn't eat even a crumb. Parion had warned Rue and me that filling our stomachs would damage our outfits.

Rue reacted to her hunger by being more restless. Our outfits permitted her constants need for motion because they were comfortable, but I was more unsettled by her behavior. Back home, we would spend half a day or longer harvesting at this time of year, and were barely feed. After one train ride and half a day in the Capitol, my sister couldn't stand to be hungry.

It made me worry: Would she change permanently, if she survived the Games? Or should I follow Nana's wishes and allow Rue to die, to keep her from becoming a spoiled child?

We were in a stadium attached to the Training Center, an area I remembered from earlier Hunger Games. In it, the audience back home got their first sight of the 24 Tributes in the glorious works created by stylists. Women and girls enjoyed it more than the men did. Back home, we called it Last Night, because it was the last time we would see the Tributes alive.

The Tributes were in a holding area, and the crowd waited for us. Rue and I were near the end of the procession of Tributes so we saw everyone in their outfits before the audience. Each year, the stylists designed outfits that reflected our Districts' primary industries. Far ahead of us, the Tributes of District 3 were brightly lit in an imitation of their factories. The Tributes of District Four wore costumes the color of the sea. District 10's Tributes were covered in a black sludge that I guessed to be their oil.

In recent years, the stylists of District Eleven had presented our Tributes naked and covered with fruit. Parion wasn't like that, fortunately for us.

A Gamesmaster came over the amplifier system to address the entire stadium. "Each year, the Districts of Panem gather to honor the pact between their Capitol and the Districts. This obligation began when this land was divided into Thirteen Districts, before the disobedience of the Dark Days. Since the rebellion of the Districts, this has been the price to pay for that betrayal: Two people—a boy and a girl between twelve and eighteen years of age—sent to the Capitol each year.

"In memory of what was sacrificed, there must be sacrifice. Welcome to the start of the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games!" the Gamesmaster finished enthusiastically. This announcement was followed by more applause. Even in the holding area, I could barely hear, "Now, let us meet your Tributes for this year's Games!"

The doors protecting us from the audience vanished. District One's chariot filed out. It was the wealthiest District in Panem, with District Two being a close second. As the mechanical horses of their chariot trotted into the stadium, I noticed their costumes were simple white togas, fastened together by the gold their District mined.

"Why isn't anyone else moving?" Rue asked me.

"Each District has to go around the stadium once before the next one is allowed to go. Then we all salute the crowd at the end." Rue shifted in her dress again. "Didn't they make your outfit comfortable?"

"I don't want to do this, Thresh."

I didn't know what to say to Rue to comfort her. I didn't want to be there either, and I doubted any of the other Tributes did. Only Districts 1 and 2—known for producing Careers, boys and girls who had trained for most of their lives to become successes in the Games—seemed excited to be in the Stadium.

When I saw Parion approach the chariot, I forgot about comforting my sister. She held in her hands two tubes of something and flashed her teeth in that eerie smile of hers. "It's the latest in dyes. Your clothes have certain threads that react to certain lights. When the light hits them, the dyes will match the threads."

I gaped at her explanation, confused. "I hope it works okay."

Parion uncapped the tubes and squeezed one onto my clothes. She squeezed the other onto Rue's dress. As I watched, the dyes moved across my clothes until I was covered in them and soaked into the fabric, even the cape I wore. The same happened with Rue's dress, except it finally made her stand still. For extra effect, Parion took a dab of dye and smacked it on the headdress—what she called it—on my head.

When the dyes disappeared, Parion smiled. "Everything looks alright. Good luck."

The District 9 Tributes galloped into the stadium. I held onto the reins of our mechanical horse contraption more tightly. Back home, we had real horses to pull carts and help with plowing fields. The mechanical ones didn't feel the same way as the fleshy ones did.

District 10 trotted into the stadium's glaring lights.

I glanced at Rue. Her brown eyes were focused straight ahead. Despite her small frame, she had the intimidating frame of a killer. She was ready for the Games. Why wasn't I?

'Because she doesn't face the same decision you do,' I responded silently.

To silence that thought, I put my left arm around my sister and held the reins in my right hand.

The holding area doors opened. Lights washed over Rue and me. A roaring crowd greeted us.

"And here are your Tributes from District Eleven!" The Gamesmaster announced. In that split second, the dyes reacted to the change in lights. Rue's plain white dress became dotted with sunflowers. My green coat and pants became the color of wheat. My headdress transformed into the grain atop the stalk of wheat I represented.

I held Rue all the more closely and flicked the reins for the horses to trot. Many of the faces I saw in the crowd gaped in shock at us. At first, I thought it was because Rue wore sunflowers, and outside of District Eleven, no one ate sunflower seeds. It was one of the few Harvest crops we were allowed to consume freely for that reason. Then I realized it was our closeness. Every other Tribute rode side-by-side in their chariots but presented no physical contact to Panem. It suggested cooperation and unity before the Games began.

That was forbidden in the Capitol. But it did not cross my mind to let go of Rue.

Cameras flashed all around us. Our costumes reacted to the flashes of light and changed again. Rue's sunflowers became dozens of peaches, oranges, and lemons. With her naturally curly hair and friendly smile, it made her look happier. My cape became as green as corn silk, and my clothes became rippling kernels of corn. To complete the look, my headdress became the color of corn tassels. The crowd cheered wildly.

As we rode into the final end of the stadium's track, our outfits changed a final time. My headdress became a horn of plenty. My shoulders and cape were wrapped in green leaves, and my body in rich brown bark. Rue's dress became a brilliant green bush, dotted with strawberries that looked very real. I laughed at my stomach's growl.

We were the talk of the Tributes' debut night.

Then the District 12 Tributes rode around the stadium on fire.