Cordelia Korver, District Four

The apartment bedroom that Cordelia was being housed in had a large window looking out into the capitol. It was on the fourth floor, high enough to give a bit of a view but not so high that she lost all of the details. She could watch the various capitolites rush around about their day, which is what she was doing when a giant of a man stepped into her room.

Instantly she fell into a fighting stance, and looked around for a weapon. There was a curtain rod that she could use for a spear if needed. Otherwise she just might have to go hand to hand with him. It was not advisable though, the man was huge and while he seemed to have a bulging stomach Cordelia could see the muscles in his arms.

He raised those very arms up in a sign of surrender. "Sorry. Sorry I should have knocked. Hello. I'm Ronan, your stylist. Is now not a good time?"

Cordelia relaxed her stance a bit and tried not to let on that she was a bit disappointed. The journey to the capitol had been amazing so far. She had loved the train rides, and the food was excellent. Her prep team had been rather kind to her and she looked even better than usual, which was quite the accomplishment. But she didn't have very much at the moment to sate her need for adrenaline. Flirting with district partner had prevented her from getting too bored, but she had rather been itching for a fight.

"No. Now's a good time. What do you need me to do?" She asked.

"Well. At the moment, let me have a good look at you." He said, and made a little spinning motion with his hands. Cordelia got the point and turned around, feeling a little ridiculous. "You're very pretty. And tall. Very very tall."

"What's wrong with being tall?" Cordelia snapped. It was a bit of a sore spot with her. She generally thought she was a good looking person, and she took some care in her appearance. But she did hate how tall and lanky she was.

"Nothing at all!" Ronan answered, "Tall is a good thing. Take it from me. I'm tall, I love being tall, except when I hit my head on ceiling fans. Tall makes you stand out. And you've got a swimmer's body. Like a mermaid. No, a siren."

"What's the difference?" She asked.

"Well a mermaid is just a fish person. She swims around. Makes jewelry. Whatever But a siren? A siren sings a tune so achingly lovely that a sailor would have to pursue it. So the sirens would lead them to rocks where their ships would crash, and then they would drown them. A siren seems one way, but is another. They will lead you to ruin."

Cordelia was a little unnerved by what he stylist was saying. Not so much about how morbid it was, she found that kind of interesting. But how well it fit her personality. Cordelia couldn't deal well with confrontation. As frustrating as it was, she always stepped down if a stronger voice was heard. So she had gotten in to subversion. Once she had spiked a fellow trainee's energy drink with laxatives because the girl had been purposely coming early for training to use up some of Cordelia's time. She often felt like the words she said or the things she did were just ways to manipulate others, beckoning them the throw themselves against the rocks.

But the man was probably just a lucky guesser.

"Do I get to wear bracelets?" She asked,

"Oh. So many bracelets. Made out of seashells and kelp and little starfish charms."

Cordelia smiled a little bit "I love it."

Titania Topaz, District One

The stylists for District One this year were twins, one boy and one girl but still very much similar in appearance. The boy had gotten his skin tinted bronze while his sister was a luminous silver. Metallics were in this year, Titania had noticed. Her mother had often talked of the bright colors and outrageous body modification that she had seen back when she was in the Capitol. But fashion had a way of moving forward. They had very little else to do, after all. Titania could never be comfortable with how they lived at the expense of others, even as she was determined to use them to restore her family's good name. There was an ugliness to their excess, a lack of restraint that made even the elegant not quite work in Titania's mind.

Still, she had managed to fit in well enough with a black suit tailored to perfection and sporting bright gold buttons. She was obviously from the Districts, but clearly with a sense of style. This suited Titania just fine, as her origin wasn't something that she was trying to hide.

"So these are our first sketches for your outfits." The boy twin said, showing her and her district partner a couple of drawings, "Gemstones may be a little on the nose, but it suits you both I think. Diamonds for Diamond, naturally. And for Titania… we have a lead on the most beautiful cornflower sapphires. In honor of your mother."

"I always forget your mother and one of my sisters share the same name." Diamond said, "Is that why you picked me?"

Titania was not sure how, but Diamond had managed to find out that after Pizazz's alternate had been dismissed, she was the one who picked who would replace him. Ever since, he had been dropping it into every conversation, some attempts more smoothly than others. Titania smiled at him and laughed slightly, but gave no answer. Instead she looked at the initial sketches. Hers was an elegant ball gown made entirely of blue gemstones, while Diamond's was a sleek tuxedo, with a sharp silhouette and similarly lined with gemstones.

"These designs are breathtaking." Titania said, " And I love how you've chosen these based on my mother. She has so many wonderful stories about her time in the Capitol." Which was true enough, Titania figured. There were quite a few lovely stories, before Sapphire became pregnant with her. Before the whole Capitol turned on her.

"But…" She continued, "I don't wear dresses. I am terribly sorry as it is a lovely design."

The boy twin, who she was pretty sure now was her stylist while the other was Diamond's, looked very confused. "What would you wear then? A suit."

"Yes, actually."

"We can if you truly want to. But suits don't test particularly well with Capitol men."

"Oh, that's fine. It's not the men I'm trying to attract." Titania said, then sent a wink to the girl stylist, who blushed and looked away. To his credit, her stylist understood rather quickly.

"I can work with that." He said, "Though I admit it's a shame about the dress."

It truly was. Titania was not a dress person, and never would be. But she could tell craftsmanship when she saw it. Her stylist had put a lot of work into this design. It would be a shame to just throw it away.

Unless…

Titania's lips curved into a mischievous grin, "What do you think about the dress Diamond?" she asked. His eyebrows rose in indignation.

"Are you assuming I like dresses because I'm gay?"

"No. I'm assuming because you have three sisters."

He couldn't really argue with that and took a look at the design, "It is incredible." He said, "But I don't know how I would look in it."

"Oh you'll look wonderful trust me." The female stylist finally spoke up, "Especially if we use your original color pallette. The diamonds will bring out your eyes, and we have your measurements so we can make it to flatter you."

"It a bold idea." The male stylist said, "People will definitely be talking about you."

"I'm not sure." Diamond said, then leaned over to whisper to Titania, "I'm already a little self conscious about how I'm not built like a standard One tribute. I don't know if I want to be seen like this to the world."

It was a fair concern, and Titania didn't want Diamond to feel uncomfortable. But she also thought that this was a particularly brilliant idea.

"Maybe don't think about how the world will respond. Think about how Al will."

Diamond stared at the designs again and she watched as pink flushed his cheeks. She had to admit she was a little proud of herself. It wasn't often that she made a man blush.

"All right. I'll do it. But the rest of the time, I need men's clothes. Strong clothes. The gown is a one time thing."

Diamond's stylist was nodding, and had already started sketching designs on a notepad she had brought.

"So it's settled. We switch the designs." Her stylist said, and the both of them nodded.

Titania had to admit, the Games were going pretty good for her so far.

Arachne Weber, District Eight

"You're very lucky. Most tributes don't get to help during this part. But as you're eights we figured you might appreciate it." Her stylist Quint said. She wasn't entirely sure that they liked her, as she had asked whether they were a boy or a girl when they first met, when apparently they were neither. This had embarrassed her so much that she had taken to not talking to the stylist. Not that she talked all that much anyway.

She nodded slightly to acknowledge she had heard them then looked around the warehouse. Inside was more fabric than she had ever seen in her life, and working as she did constructing peacekeeper's uniforms that was saying something. Sheets of wools and linens and other rarer fabrics lined the walls. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

Her district partner Lucien sniffed. "We have something like this back at home." he said.

"Oh I've heard that's where you got your start. I bet it's quite lovely." Lucien's stylist Regulus said. From what Arachne had heard, Lucien was famous. So famous the Capitol knew about him, and Regulus was his biggest fan. It made Arachne feel awkward. Even more awkward than usual.

"Well. At least someone appreciates it." Quint remarked and smiled over at Arachne. She wasn't sure how to respond to it. In her experience, attention was always negative. When Mrs. Owl, the woman who had raised her after her parents died, gave her attention it meant either punishment or extra work. When her boss at the factory paid her attention it almost always meant extra work. And when the world had its attention on her? Well it was because she had been reaped for the Hunger Games. Arachne tried her best to be quiet, to not make waves, to get along as best she could. So instead of smiling back she just wandered through the warehouse.

She stopped in one aisle and couldn't help but be attracted to a bolt of dark green silk. She had seen the silkhouses in Eight of course, but as she didn't work there was never allowed in. It had always seemed like such a luxurious fabric to her. She ran her hand down the surface. It felt cool against her skin.

"And that's why you take Eights fabric shopping with you." Quint said, appearing behind her with their gentle but terrifying smile, "The green will bring out your eyes. And silk is the perfect fit for someone named Arachne, don't you think? This will help you stand out."

"But I don't want to stand out." She said.

Quint got quiet but serious. It made Arachne more nervous than the smile did, "You want to live don't you?"

Arachne nodded.

"Well then we need to make you stand out. I can tell that's going to be hard for you. But trust me. Please."

Arachne wasn't sure she trusted wasn't meant to be cruel. It was just safer not to. But there was something about Quint. And at this point she was already dead. What could it really hurt?

"I make scarves sometimes." She said, though she wasn't sure why.

"Scarves? That's lovely. I tell you what. You pick out some yarn while we're here. We'll incorporate scarves into the chariot outfit. That will give you time to make a scarf for the interviews, which we'll match your outfit to. Would you like that?"

Like was not exactly appropriate. She didn't like anything in the Capitol. It was loud and busy and unfamiliar. She desperately wanted to be home with Mrs. Owl and the other orphans. There wasn't much love there, but it was familiar. But she knew that wasn't an option. So she nodded.

"Very good. The knitting materials are over there." Quint pointed.

At least the yarn was familiar. She picked up a few that she liked the feel of and held them all the way until her and Lucien were returned back to their apartments.

AN: I am running out of things to say in these, but I do like mentioning who did which tribute. So this chapter we had Cordelia Korver by Whareverisopen, Titania Topaz by Queenofinsanity, and Arachne Weber by sherazade96. We're almost done with tribute introductions, and the parade is coming up too. Thank you everyone for reading, and please review!