The Chariot Ride with District 11
The Point of View of Jett Wayland
The next chariot entering the stadium contains Sky and Chesta. Inside the stadium I can see a large orange athletics track enclosed by massive stands filled with people. I notice stars and a moon projected onto the high black ceiling, and the multi-colored costumes of the Capitol. As our chariot moves out into the open my senses are bombarded by sound, flashing lights and millions of movements from the crowd. It suddenly dawns on me what a massive event the Games are here, and how fortunate I am to be involved. I can just imagine the crowd in a few weeks time. As victor they would idealize me. I could jump into the crowd and they would support me and carry me anywhere. Maybe they would even let me live in the Capitol?
The horses are pulling our chariots around the outside of the track. I wave to the excited crowd and get a multitude of waves back in response. This is great. Finally I have the adoring fans that I deserve. I look behind me to see the District 12 chariot. Julian and Thistle are dressed as some kind of underground miners. That's pretty cool, but not as good as our outfits though.
Way up high I can see President Snow sitting in a massive corporate box surrounded by his usual entourage of Gamemakers and important people.
"Ouch, what was that for!" I exclaim, as Kestrel punches me in the face.
She's always acting mental. I won't let her bully me in front of my admiring crowd. I punch her in the face and as expected she retaliates. Soon we are truly re-enacting the hand to hand combat seen in Roman coliseums. The crowd loves it. They think it is all a show. Even after the chariot pulls from the stadium we wrestle each other until she suddenly bolts. I think she is actually mentally deranged or something.
The point of view of Kestrel Snarky
I just totally love parading in front of millions of people in a cow costume. Especially with Jett; he's a real stunner.
I try my best to resist the urge to rip this ridiculous, tight fitting costume off. It takes a lot of effort considering my obsessive compulsive disorder. I'll be naked if I rip off this white fluffy costume with large black dots, but it might be worth it in order to stop looking like a milking cow. It doesn't help that that annoying kid from school is here next to me acting like he's having fun. I swear it is almost as if they designed the outfits to be as humiliating as possible. The group behind us are impersonating coal miners, which means they are wearing ugly overalls smeared with soot. Tasi and Jack are trapped inside two big plastic trees. Nero and Pixie from District 3 are dressed as giant, red cylindrical capacitors. They look ridiculous with their heads and arms sticking out.
It's pretty obvious why they do it though. Why they make us parade around like zoo animals in outrageous costumes. They just want to make us seem orderly and compliant so there is a massive contrast when we enter the arena and start throttling each other. By the time all these chariot rides and training sessions are finished every one of this large crowd will be baying for blood.
OK, I just can't take this anymore. We are barely half-way around this stupid track and my hands are twitching like mad. Punch him; punch the little black haired demon. I punch him in the face. He punches me in the face. I punch him in the face again and wrap my arms around his head dragging him out of sight. I then continue to punch him as he tries to fight back. The crowd is cheering for some reason. Perhaps they think it is a rehearsed part of our show. Maybe they think this is where milk comes from? First you have to get the cow in a headlock and pound it in the ribcage repeatedly. In fact the cows must just routinely do it to each other.
As soon as we are out of the stadium I jump out of the chariot and sprint for the elevators. As I run I rip off parts of my costume and discard them, until five minutes later I am locked up in my room naked. The girl who stares back at me from the luxurious hotel mirror has straight, light brown waist length hair and deep blue eyes. Quickly I fix my hair, styling it into its usual plaited and clipped back self. After that I put my reaping outfit back on. It consists of a green and black checkered dress that reaches my knees and a brown cape with fur trim. That's better. I lay on my bed, flat on my back, finally able to relax.
