By the end of the day, most of the other districts have arrived. The rest will get here tomorrow morning. Blair and Charles go to sleep while Kog, Liam, and I stay up to discuss strategies. Kog begins by stating how he feels about Charles. "Charles has proven to be very humorous, but he doesn't have the stomach for killing. Turns out he's a vegetarian." He sighs and shakes his head. Liam giggles and says, "Well the Capitol will love him if he can tell a good joke. Then it'll make it easier for me to talk him up!" Kog stares at Liam like he's from another world, which technically he is, and then sits back. I start to talk about Blair. Slowly but surely. "Blair…she's sweet…she…she can run very fast…innocent…beautiful…yet fragile." "A glass bullet," Kog says. Liam claps his hands together. "Ooh I love it! Glass bullet! How fetching!" Liam pulls out a notepad and scribbles down "glass bullet" so he can remember it. As if he can't remember it himself. "Now then," Liam says, "Illyana has agreed to be Blair's stylist. And Charles will have Kora." Kora is the newest stylist in the Games. She was assigned to District 3 just this year. We'll see what she can do. "All right Kog, that's it for you," Liam says. "Wiress, you stay with me for a moment so we can go over how to be a good mentor." Kog gets up and leaves. Liam explains to me the procedures for accepting sponsors and rules of what I can and cannot do as a mentor. I cannot give a tribute a weapon as a token for the arena. I cannot give separate weapons training to any tribute. I cannot help a tribute kill himself or herself outside of the Games. "That about covers it sweetheart," Liam says. I want to throw up whenever he calls me "baby" or "sweetheart". But I'm able to hold it in, and I nod at him and get up to go to my room. Tomorrow Blair will meet privately with Illyana and the stylist team. I wish her luck; from what I remember from my experience with the crazy wardrobe squad, she'll need it.
The next morning I am walking by Blair's room to go get some breakfast when I hear a small shriek of pain. I put my ear up to her door and hear one of the stylists say, "Hold still, darling! We need to get every inch of hair off of you!" There is silence for a moment. Then I hear a loud ripping sound and Blair screeches again. The stylist says, "Oh dear…let me get something for the bleeding." I pull away from the door and go get some food. While I eat, I go through a list of the tributes and memorize their names, faces, and districts. It takes me ten minutes. I sit and read a book until I hear footsteps. I look up and see Blair standing in front of me, all cleaned up and beautiful in a bathrobe. Her hair is now straightened and she is wearing too much makeup, in my opinion. But I will admit she looks stunning. I can't tell how she feels about how she looks now. Her face shoes no emotion, save for a clenched jaw. She comes and sits next to me to eat. "You look nice," I say to her softly. She gives me a small smile and a side glance. "Thanks." She's hardly taken a bite of her buttered toast when one of the stylists shows up and announces that Illyana has arrived to design an outfit for Blair. She sighs and puts her head down. Then her fingers tense up on the table. She shoves her plate and lets her hands fly up over her head. The plate flies off the table and slams into the wall. Now I see how she really feels. Her face screams to me that she is stressed and annoyed, and her actions betray her. Blair stands up, letting her chair fall behind her. She doesn't make any move to right it. Instead, she walks out of the room and shoves past the stylist. He says something under his breath and follows her back to her room. Blair's starting to fight. Time will only tell if she starts to care enough to try to win. So much for "glass bullet". I think it's time to replace that nickname with "steel bullet".
A servant comes in and cleans up Blair's mess, and then leaves quickly. I decide to go check on Charles and Kora. I walk into Charles's room to find him sitting down talking to her. She's interviewing him to design an outfit based off his personality. Interesting. I leave as silently as I came in. I go peek inside Blair's room and find Illyana blathering on about nothing as she throws different fabrics onto Blair. Blair's face has a very ugly expression, and she stands there in a silent rage while Illyana goes on about nothing. "Look Claire, I don't…Oh! I'm sorry, I meant Blanche. I don't know why I called you Claire. I know a woman named Claire. Stuck up and pompous. I mean it Blanche, if I ever turn into someone who becomes too self-centered to see how much of an idiot she really is, then someone ought to ship me off to District 12!" Blair opens her mouth to say something, then closes it quickly. I slip out the door and go to my room. I unscrew a panel on the wall and tinker around with the wires inside it for no reason except to relieve my headache a bit. Inventing, calculating, and fiddling with electronics makes me relax more than anything else does. I hear a knock on my door a few hours later and turn to see Blair in a beautiful green evening gown embroidered with very small green sequins. That was fast. As Blair walks towards me, the sequin color switches to yellow with each movement. It looks stunning. Blair is smiling and she seems pleased with Illyana's design. Illyana stands in the doorway. Blair turns to her and thanks her for the garment. Illyana merely tilts her head high and closes her eyes, as if smelling something delicious in the air. Then she strides away, completely above it all. Blair doesn't even care. She stands there spinning around and watching her dress flicker and flash. She may have a temper, but right now she is the glass bullet again. Absolutely beautiful. As I watch her giggle and spin, I try not to think about how in a matter of days, she may be dead.