Okay, so, IceTigers? I just noticed that you wanted me to write training and not chariot. Um. Whoops. Sorry about that. And, uh, sorry for misspelling her name, too. It was the autocorrect, I swear! :S
Emerianne Rivkin, District 6
I watch interestedly as Pollyssn braids a red wire through my hair. She smiles at me in the mirror, and I grin back. I've already made friends with her and my prep team, because I figure after all that once I-
Nope. I won't think it.
Still won't. Lalala. Tumdedum.
"Just one minute," she says, and vanishes through a door.
I like her name. I feel a sort of understanding between us, people with long names. I bet she couldn't spell hers until she graduated secondary school, although at least "Polly" is a nice nickname. I guess I could go by a nickname too, but whenever someone shortens my name I just feel like they're talking to a completely different person from me.
Polly returns, carrying a dress. It's white, and looks like it would hit a little below my knee. It reminds me a little bit of a wedding dress, but I love it. I lean closer, and realize that the silver-speckled lace is woven of tiny wires. The fringe is made of wires, and wires form a lattice that laces up the back. Even the shoes, which are almost exactly like the ones I dance in, have long wires that weave up my leg.
I twirl happily in front of the mirror. The outfit is a little sparkly, I guess, but I like it, and I don't care how the other tributes feel about it.
Polly adds a few dabs of makeup to my face, then straightens my dress, declares that I look beautiful, and leads me out the door. My stomach flips as we approach the elevator. I've been making up a thousand and one excuses not to ride it, but none spring to mind, and I'm inside with the door shut before I can say anything. I gulp as it drops, and I think that Polly notices my discomfort, because she starts making pleasant small talk. Before I know it, we're at the bottom, and I step gratefully off.
Of course, I'm almost run over by the girl from District Two running by. I sidestep quickly, and she passes. I don't think she even noticed me. Polly says she'll wait with me until Merryn gets here, but he shows up almost as soon as she says it. I wish he hadn't. I mean, I don't have anything against it, but I don't want Polly to leave. I'm trying to think of a way to ask her to stay without seeming absolutely pathetic, but once again, the elevator doors have closed before I can object.
I turn to Merryn. He's dressed in a white suit, accented with wires, like my dress is. He's wearing a black scarf, and I think it's the same one he had during the Reapings. I wonder if he'll try to take it into the Games? I know it's not his token; his token is that necklace with the little vial on it. He's looking at me expectantly, blue eyes magnified by his square black glasses. I'm opening my mouth to say something, although I'm not too sure what, when a girl's voice calls us.
"District Six!" I turn, and see the girl from District Nine. My mentor said to get any alliance I could, so I walk over, Merryn following me. We arrive at the District Nine chariot, and the girl smiles warmly. "Hi, I'm Diana. What are your names?"
"I'm Emerianne," I say, making my voice as friendly as I can. I'm not sure whether I should introduce Merryn or let him introduce himself, but he doesn't say anything, so I add, "And this is Merryn."
"Nice to meet you," Diana replies. I decide that I like her. I can tell she's going out of her way to be nice, but I appreciate that. She reminds me of Polly.
I study the rest of what seems to be an alliance. The boys, Eight and Nine, look friendly enough. They're both much taller than me, but they're not that big. The Nine boy has brown hair like Diana, although his is a little lighter. It's combed down, but he keeps messing with it, and half of it is standing straight up now. He looks happy enough, but I can tell he's paying very close attention. The one from Eight is a little taller, but he's pretty slim, too. His skin is sort of caramel-colored, and he has dark brown hair. I can't see his eyes, because he's standing half-behind Diana and looking down. Then there's the girl from Eight. She looks sort of angry, and I can't tell who it's directed at. She's standing apart from the group slightly, and I'm not sure whether she's even part of the alliance.
"We were wondering if you'd like to ally with us," Diana continues, "Since six people can win and all. Well, win this round at least.
I turn to Merryn. "Okay with you?" I ask. I know it's okay with me. I'm pretty sure I can trust these people. They don't look that dangerous compared to the Careers, but still, they're a whole lot scarier than I am.
"Sure," Merryn says quietly. I nod at Diana, and she smiles warmly. The girl from Eight bites her lip. I don't have time to wonder what's happening before the attendants tell use to get on our chariots. Merryn and I scuttle past the Eight chariot, ducking around the quiet pair. The Capitol people have to run and get stepstools to get us into the chariot. Still, it's not as bad as some of the others. Almost every chariot but ours is having some sort of trouble. The Two girl almost falls out, while the Three boy somehow manages not to notice that the chariots are leaving and barely dives into his in time. The Four girl fiddles with her dress, accidentally ripping a scale off of it, and her partner tells her off impatiently. Behind us, I can hear the Eights hissing furiously at each other, which is weird, since they didn't talk at all before. It's hard to tell whether they're angry or just trying to be quiet. I wonder what's going on, but our chariot is pulled out into the Capitol, and I forget about it instantly.
The Capitol is amazing. I vaguely perceive the other tributes waving and blowing kisses at the citizens, but I'm far too busy just looking around to be bothered with that, and it's not like they're exactly going to be falling over themselves to sponsor me, anyway. The buildings soar impossibly high, but they're lit so brightly than I can see all the way to the top. Somehow, there's a nighttime atmosphere, but it's as bright as day. Almost none of the light is white. The buildings, the streetlights, the automobiles, even the citizens themselves glow every color of the rainbow, and I'm completely overawed.
We pull into the city circle, and the President starts her speech, but I'm still not paying attention. Now, I begin to look at the people themselves. Some are impossibly beautiful, some have been operated on to the point of being horrifying, and some are just plain weird. They're almost all screaming at the top of their lungs, and I begin to feel a bit unnerved. They're... wild. I'm starting to get decidedly creeped out, and to my surprise, Merryn seems to catch on to this.
"Don't worry," he says quietly. It's not much, but it helps. Then, of course, he has to ruin it. "They're not yelling to us. They don't care about us."
... Well, I appreciate the effort.
I must have gotten a slightly sardonic look on my face, because he shrugs, adding, "What? It's true." And it is. Now that I'm paying attention, not one of the baying sea of citizens is looking at me. I know that this is a bad thing, because it means we'll have few sponsors, if any, but it comes as a relief. I'm half-expecting them to swarm forward and crush the chariots, and slipping underneath their attention doesn't seem like such a bad thing. I stare quietly ahead as the President finishes her speech and during the ride to the Training Center. When we pull into the relative quiet of its basement, I feel strangely drained, and allow our mentors to walk me to my room without a word. I feel like I've realized something big, but I don't know what.
Oh, and I'll be updating Tribute of District Thirteen within the next few days, for those of you who are following that, sorry for neglecting it. :( And sorry for doing all of the same thing at the same time. I realize that might make it a little boring, but I need to keep it in rough chronological order for my own sake or I'd completely lose track of what was going on. One more chariot ride (District 9 Female) then to Training!
Edit: Okay, since I accidentally wrote the chariot ride of someone I was supposed to do training for (D3F,) I'm switching D9F to training, which means that she won't be for another few chapters, sorry. But it also means we'll be hearing from the mysterious D4F, Tied Edison, next chapter!
Oh, and for some reason the last few lines of this didn't get uploaded, sorry about that. Hopefully that's fixed now.