"Wait!" Katniss cries. The Doctor's hand freezes on the lever and he turns. "You should leave us."
"What? We can't leave you out there- you'll die!" I exclaim.
"We need a distraction so that you can, well, stop the Capitol. We'll make sure they can't take their eyes off of us," she is determined, a fire in her grey eyes.
"Alright," the Doctor says, "we'll come back for you and the other tributes when we can. If anything goes wrong-"
"We'll take care of each other- always have," Peeta smiles, his hand on Katniss' shoulder for support. She tugs his pant leg over his bandages so they are hidden. "Thank you both for your help."
"Good luck!" Katniss calls over her shoulder as they step out of the TARDIS. I smile, knowing their minds are about to be blown as the TARDIS dematerializes before their eyes. He pulls the screen towards him and analyzes it before pushing it back.
"This should be exciting!" the Doctor exclaims, jumping off of the stairs and walking toward the closet. He chooses a dress for me and leaves me to change. I walk out in a sheer dress with green tints, the curtain of it moving from translucent to a solid red petal, long and draping around my legs. My back is bare, aside from the translucent green fabric that makes me look an unnatural color, like my body is the stalk of a broccoli floret. While I appreciate the delicate nature of the petals in the skirt, and the fact that they feel alive, I still feel out of place in my new skin.
"Why am I dressed like a supermodel?" I say flatly as I apply an appropriately overdramatic layer of makeup on my face. "Isn't the point to blend in?" I have electrifying green eyeshadow and glitter on my eyelashes. My skin is unnaturally smooth from all of the foundation I have put on, and my cheeks have an excessive amount of blush. I finish it off by putting on gold-embroidered gloves.
"That's what people wear in the Capitol," the Doctor says from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"
"Don't laugh," I warn him as he enters. He looks me up and down and I feel as if the excessive blush I put on my face was unnecessary, and my face is probably beet red now.
"You can't wear those shoes in the Capitol," he says, picking up a pair of platforms without heels. Literally.
"I can't wear those- they're broken!"
"The first pair Alexander McQueen designed," he says, holding them out, "gave them to me the day I met him. Said I inspired a new design." I narrow my eyes suspiciously, unconvinced that they were stable, but put them on anyway. I am surprised when I do not fall, but I do not like the uneasy feeling I get when wearing them. "You're as tall as me, now," he smiles.
"Keep in mind, I can squash you like a bug in these," I say, before faltering in my step. I nearly twisted my ankle, but the Doctor grabbed my arm and held me steady. "Is this really how they dress?"
"See for yourself!" he says, leading me to the screen in the console room. The people on the screen were unbelievably ridiculous. Not only do they have dyed and wigged hair, but some of them have even dyed their skin. The clothing was ridiculous, like stage clothes for a comedy or a child's drawing.
"Look at the men, Doctor! You won't fit in like that!" I exclaim. He stares at me, not registering what it means.
"Oh, no! No no no no! I am not wearing anything like that!" his eyes wide.
"Then i'm not wearing this!" I smirk. Check mate.
"Alright, i'll put on... something," he comes back with a few random items. A red handkerchief that matched his red shoes, a stick of celery, a long striped scarf, and a bow tie.
"Which one?" he says, holding them out for me to look at.
"Definitely the bow tie," I smirk, taking it from his hand and fastening it around his collar in place of his usual tie.
"How do I look?" he asks.
"Very cool," I smile warmly. "Now wait here while I go put on something a bit more sensible."
"Women," he mumbled, "can never make their mind up about clothes."
"Oi! I heard that!" I shout as I walk away. The shoes are first to go, soon to be replaced by nice comfortable converse. I decide the dress is actually kind of cool, so I keep it. My shoes don't match, but I don't care. Considering how the people of the Capitol dressed, all mismatched and outlandish, I don't think they would either.
"Look at you- you look more like you now," the Doctor smiles. "Very sexy."
"Really?" I look down at the shimmering sheer dress. It felt like silk against my legs. "Thanks!"
"Miss Rowling," he offers his arm to me.
"Doctor," I mimic his proper tone, but wish he had a last name for me to call him. He leads me out of the TARDIS and into the busy street full of laughably colorful people. They look so inhuman I could have mistaken them for an alien race.
"We're gone not five minutes and they're snogging already," the Doctor says, looking up at a giant screen overhead. The screen is broadcasting the Games and is focused in on Katniss and Peeta. "Going a bit over the top," he was referring to their promise to distract the Capitol.
"I don't think they mind," I say and we resume moving through the crowd, finally coming to the doors.
"Hello," he says, flashing his psychic paper, "President Snow sent us."
"Of course," he moves to let us pass through, even opening the door for us. I wonder who he thinks we are?
"It's crazy."
"What?" the Doctor raises a brow at me.
"Hm?" I hadn't noticed I had said that aloud. "Oh, I was just thinking how crazy it is that you can just-" I take his psychic paper and hold it up, mimicking his expression.
"I don't look like that!" he exclaims, "Do I?"
"Well..." I mimic him again, smiling. We come to a room with a hologram of the arena in the middle. The room is pristine and focused on the hologram, the gamemakers all at computers, controlling the Games.
"Who are you?" a man at the door asks us.
"The name's John Smith, and this is Jessica Rowling," he says in his best Capitol accent, flashing the psychic paper. "We're here to make sure everything is running smoothly.
"Of course, feel free," he says, allowing us to pass through. The Doctor begins examining different components on the computers, even licking one of them.
"Standard procedure," I say in my best Capitol accent to the man standing closes to me, who is eyeing the Doctor oddly. "We'll need a sample of the technology for testing, too." The man doesn't seem pleased, but he leaves and returns with a memory block, little wires visible beneath the translucent red button. "Thank you," I say and walk over to the Doctor, who is eyeing the hologram suspiciously. "Let's go."
I can tell he wanted to keep snooping, but he didn't question me. When we are outside, I wait until the door is shut. "I hit the jackpot," I say, holding out the memory block. I watch as his eyes grow big with delight.
"Jess, you're brilliant!" he grins. We head back to the TARDIS and he begins scanning the technology for its origin. "Lekaki Merah."
"Leka- what?" I ask for clarification.
"Lekaki Merah," the Doctor repeats. "Oh, it's brilliant of them. Coming here to the Capitol where they can blend in. The perfect hiding place- in plain sight."
"In plain sight?" I ask, "So they look human?"
"Take a look around, Jess. Everyone following crazy fashion trends with bright colors. When they saw a Lekian with bright red skin they just saw it as a trend and dyed their skin too!"
"So those people in the street, they're Lekian?"
"Some of them, anyway," the Doctor says. "The question is, what are they doing here?"
"Killing children," I say bitterly. The reminder fills the Doctor with burning hatred. "I mean, they probably have an ulterior motive or something, screwing with Earth's timeline."
"Actually, time isn't a strict progression of cause to effect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."
"Right, of course, but they can't just be wanting to swoop in and kill children. If they did, they could just do it themselves. Why try to blend in with the crowd?"
"I've never encountered the Lekians for long enough to figure out their drives, but from what i've seen today, they have a sick sense of entertainment."
"Maybe that's it," I suggest, "maybe they got bored on their planet and have colonized on others and created these savage games. Makes sense, considering they televise every gory moment in the Capitol and nobody thinks twice about it."
"Well then, it's our job to put a stop to it," he stands, the memory block sitting in his hand. "Let's bring down the government," he grins at me, bringing his fist down on the memory block. Before I could even blink, he was gone. Poof- right out of thin air. The memory block tumbled to the ground.
"Doctor?" I say tentatively. "DOCTOR?!" But he is gone. Not invisible, not hiding, but gone.