As I lay across a table, wondering when my stylist will come in... I continue thinking about all of the events that have led to this point in time. The reapings, the train ride... oh god the train ride.

When I found myself waking up, I saw my older brother sitting on my bed. He didn't smile, he sighed instead. As he woke me up, we went outside and we saw the Capitol in person. We entered the train station and after that, were sent to the tribute center. Now here we are...

I'm currently already annoyed by the 5 hours I've been here. I've spent that time getting washed off by the stylists who comment on how dirty I am for a 12 year old boy. Thankfully, they're done scrubbing me. Currently though, I'm still trying not to fall asleep as I wait for my stylist.

"CREEEEEEK!" The door begins to creek open. I blush and quickly cover myself. When the door fully opens, it reveals a middle aged looking woman. Her hair is mostly hidden by a bandanna that extends around her short hair. Though, it spills out of this bandanna and in front of her face.

Her hair is a deep purple, confusing looking. She has a smile that totally looks sewed on her face because it does not let down. She walks into the room with a big grin on her face as she walks over to me. "Well hello their. I'm assuming that you're Altar?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Alright then. For a 12 year old, you seem pretty cut-," She begins. "Don't go there. I'm still 12." I remind her. She sighs, keeping the smile on her face. "Well, the Capitol will love you. My idea will work on your size the best. Oh, I didn't get to say my name. I'm Pan." She says. She grabs my robe and hands it to me.

This woman only seems partially oblivious to the fact that I'm annoyed with her. However, her grin has me curious. It's like she's playing a sort of game to see where I'll go with this.

Far Later...

After much anticipation and after much more tiring makeup work that goes on for endless hours at a time... The costume is finally done. Granted, I'm obviously not impressed by the design. "Farmers... Obviously." I say to Pan who only gives me a smug grin.

"Obviously. You're not impressed are you? You're not supposed to be impressed yet." She says, smiling anyways. I only give her a confused face before looking to the door. Wonder if the others are close to done. As soon as I turn my head back, she shows me my face in the mirror. I look kind of ordinary... which is abnormal considering this is the chariot rides we're talking about.

"You look a lot less stressed now." She smiles to me. I scoff but she moves me out of the room and into the main area for the 11th area of the tribute center. Here, I finally get to see Alma who has an aggressively annoyed face.

He actually seems more angry than he had before hand when we were reaped and unable to say goodbye to momma. He turns his head over to me. "This is easily the most uninteresting looking costume I have ever seen..." Soya admits quietly, walking from her dressing room. Of course, this being one of the few times she's bothered to speak, this is probably the most serious uninteresting costumes in history.

Eventually, Ceres finally comes into the picture. She's glaring even larger than before. Alma laughs at the costume. I think she was the only person the costume designers actually bothered putting makeup on. Her eyes have a blue-ish purple design around the edges that make her eyes look like flowers.

"Hm. You all look pretty good." A man walks in now. He has brown hair, relatively pale skin and green eyes. This guy is easily the stupidest looking of our designers. Alma just rolls his eyes as he checks all of our outfits.

"I like it. Everybody here seem very... clean and 11." He nods to his assistants. The other two, another man and a women, bow their heads to him. He pats my head like a pet before looking over to the others.

"Ms. Chere looks the best." He gives a smile to which Ceres responds with a deep glare. Soya backs up a bit and even Alma looks prepared for a fight. However, he continues smiling like an oblivious idiot and moves over to the elevator. "Early bird gets the worm." He motions us to the elevator.

As we all get stuffed in the elevator, he goes quiet and we're left looking around and thinking. Alma looks down at me. "I know you kind of don't want to... but Alt, you really need to smile when we get out there..." Alma tells me.

I sigh. "Sure. Whatever." I reply. Alma then turns his head to Ceres who continues to glare over at the main stylist. The man continues to give a radiant smile at all of us.

"What's your name by the way?" I ask. He looks down at me. "Oh, I'm Huss. Stylist of 13 years." He tells us, facing the elevator door now. As the elevator continues going down, we're knocked back into silence once more.

"Also, Ceres... can you not... strip midway through our act?" Huss asks Ceres. She only rolls her eyes and gives a smug grin. "How'd you know?" She asks. I roll my eyes, praying that this elevator ride will end.

Finally, the doors open and we find ourselves moving through the doors and into the area that leads to the area where the chariots are. As we walk along the path to the chariot area, I notice Soya coming close to breaking down and crying.

I quickly tell her not to cry yet, as we have to make our impression. However, that only knocks her further closer to tears and I'm left with a slap to the head from Alma.

We finally get to the chariot area. All the Districts but 5, 6, 9 and 10 are here. Huss looks around the area, observing the other designs. I also observe the designs, but it's around this time that the District 9 tributes come in and I quickly go over to observe their outfits.

However, it doesn't look like anything special so I turn back to the other districts.

"Hm. So it seems District 1 stepped up their game by an inch. But just an inch." Someone behind us jokes. I ignore them, continuing my thought procce-,

"Hm. District 2 is once again their generic gods and goddess things... meh... 3... Eh, an improvement. The neon look pretty cool, I'll admit." The woman behind us continues. By this time, I notice Huss' smile dropping for the first time. He gives a sigh and closes his eyes as the woman behind him continues.

"District 4. Different I guess. But these tributes are not Finnick. Those fishing outfits are too tight. I almost feel bad." She sighs. "You should." One of the male 4 tributes admits, though he isn't happy about his outfit.

The woman walks in front of us, now I think I know how Huss knows her. The woman seem like a young woman, purple-blue-ish hair. She looks over to the District 5 tributes.

"Well to be fair... last years District 5 design has grown on me a bit so I'll give some credit." She begins. District 6 shows up. Their outfits seem to be an all white outfit with some giant wings on the sides... representing something...

"Oh no." She laughs. The District 6 tributes only roll their eyes as they walk along. She turns to us next. "Nothing new here in 11... but why did you put makeup on the girl edgy one?" The woman asks.

Ceres' face goes straight up black. She glares angrily at the woman and begins to angrily storm over there. "Ceres. Wait!" Huss yells over to Ceres, holding her back. The District 9 tributes all watch in horror as Ceres and Huss struggle. Ceres eventually gets back and walks over to where the rest of us stand. I roll my eyes as Huss walks over to the young stylist.

"Hello Anat. Long time no see." He waves. She smiles back, but I can see the resentment. "Oh, hello Huss. It's been a while." She replies. So from what I can tell in the conversationt that begins because of this, we learn that Huss taught Anat everything she knew, Anat left because she let her ego get the best of her and now she's been jumping between Districts since the 96th games.

Alma is busy watching the group from 9. I notice why he looking over their. He's noticing that the victor from last years games is over there for some reason. Considering how their aren't any other mentors showing up, I guess I can see why he's looking over their.

The victor from last year, Dagan of District 9, won his games in a confusing finale that I can barely even recall. He, the District 3 female and the girl from 9 all fought against the remaining careers. He and his District partner both survived, but the girl from 1 shot at the girl from 9 leaving Dagan as the victor.

Even though last year was convoluted and crazy, it was one of the most horrifying even on the levels of the 98th games. I cringe remembering the events of the 98th games. I want to forget them... I think the Capitol would love for me to do the same.

As I continue thinking, the other Districts all show up and we are slowly motioned to our chariots. I feel myself tensing up as we get up on the horses. As I sigh, Alma slaps me across the head. I look up and notice that he's giving me a smile. "Don't be nervous. If they don't love us, that's the way they'll be. Smile." He tells me. He then turns his head to Ceres who is rolling her eyes.

"Don't bother." He tells her. "I'm not going to strip." She argues. "No. He means you don't give any rude gestures." Soya explains. Ceres only rolls her eyes once again. Huss looks up to us, checking if he truly likes the design.

"When you get out... you'll notice something... cool, happening." He tells us. Me and Alma exchange glances. What does he mean?

Well anyways, the anthem begins blasting outside and it's so loud that I literally almost fall out of the chariot. Thankfully though, Alma grabs my hand and pulls me back up.

"Thanks." I nod. Eventually, the giant gates open and the District 1 tributes begin riding off and the others begin to follow. Even though we aren't moving out yet, I can see the crowd. It looks terrifying out there.

However, Alma gives me yet another smile, encouraging me to do the same. Eventually, we begin to take off and I feel a little bit of pressure as the chariot steps outside. I breathe out as it does.

I can't make out a full image of what I can see in the crowd but the amount of colors is close to making me blackout. I give my brightness and cutest 12 year old smile at the crowd, hoping they'll love it. Well... they do actually. Thankfully, I'm doing a good job of holding them over at the moment but that's also when I look over to Ceres who is glaring at the crowd with an totally not excited glare.

I roll my eyes while continuing when I suddenly notice my farmers outfit... The overalls turn bright green. I notice vines growing and flowers sprouting as the chariots continue. My eyes are filled with complete shock, but I manage to hold onto my smile. Alma surprisingly isn't able to as he looks at our outfits. He looks back up at the crowd with a confident but neutral look.

Other plants and flowers continue growing on our outfits as we our chariot goes on (Though I can't help but take note at Ceres who is annually ripping off all of the flowers appearing on her outfit) I begin to breath a little and I find it easier to smile.

Finally though, our chariot stops and we find ourselves right in front of President Ramia. He stands high up on a podium in a black suit. It has a white rose sticking out of the front pocket.

He calms the crowd and begins his annual speech. "Greetings tributes. Welcome to the Capitol and the 100th Annual Hunger Games. We salute your courage, sacrifice and your services in the 4th Quarter Quell. We wish you a happy Hunger Games. May the odds forever be in your favor." He says before walking off the podium.

The District 5 Female scoffs. "His speeches are getting shorter and shorter every year." She admits. One of the District 9 tributes actually looks over to the 5 tribute and comes close to laughing.

Well afterwards, our chariots turn themselves around and we find ourselves going back inside. As I turn around, I see the gates close once more and now I don't think I'll ever see the outsides ever again...

Anyways, I jump out of the chariot, feeling a bit dizzy now. Though all of the things we did still swoosh around my head like water. Huss applauds the four of us. "Pretty good. Pretty good." He nods. The stylist from District 9 (Anat, I think) also nods. "Wow. What a comeback." She nods.

"Yeah. I've been stealing from you." He laughs. Anat doesn't laugh. "I really hope you aren't..." She sighs, like this has happened before.

We begin to head back to our rooms. Ceres has a creepy grin on her face. "Tomorrow is the day we learn of our partners. I can't wait. They know who I'm compatible with." She snarls.

Alma rolls his eyes. "Better hope the ruin your chances by putting you with a smaller tribute." He says. "He's got a point actually. The games would be ruined if they put all of the bigger tributes together." I admit.

"Of course a kid like you. Being former scholar and all." Ceres rolls her eyes. I look up to her. "Wait? How'd you know?" I ask. She only scoffs... not responding at all...

I don't want to know what tomorrow will look like...

I think I did too many callbacks to the 99th Games. I mean, I meant to kind of have some callbacks to the old cast but I kind of went a little overboard...

What do you guys think of the designs and characters introduced in this chapter? Thanks for reading.