Chapter 5

The first morning in the capitol was spent in a flurry of colours, noises and smells with various creams and pastes being smothered into my hair and skin by my new prep team. They introduced themselves as Arcus, Ignius and Pruella before assuring me that I was in good manicured hands as they had made Finnick the star of his games ,and that they had single handedly helped him win. Between the three of them, they had plucked, buffed and shined me raw, my skin radiating a red tint that normally came from a good day out on the sea.

Respite was offered in the form of lunch and the introduction of my stylist. He was clad in a glittering suit, with long shoulder length hair and an intricate styled beard. He spent time looking me over before offering me his hand " Lachlan Villan, it's a pleasure doll " He shot me a toothy smile reminiscent of the sharks back at home , before conversing about himself.

"So… How long have you been a stylist Mr Villan?" I asked, trying to ease my nerves. He paused his brush strokes of powder on my face as if thinking "My first game was the 55th games, 14 years ago. I was 21, my mother knew the right man to speak to and managed to pull some strings, landing me as a stylist for 7 and after 5 years I got promoted to 4." He was still smiling when he continued to apply the make up.

"Must have known someone quite high up , your mum I mean?" I pondered outloud, not that his answer would make any sense, I didn't know anyone in the Capitol.

"Something like that doll, he was like a father to me growing up, if I didn't want to be a stylist I would have landed a job working for him" Our small talk continued until he stood up and squeezed my shoulders before reassuring he would be back momentarily.

Walking out into the lower ground floor of the remake center, I felt the stares from others. The top half of my outfit was a cream bra, molded to resemble shells that always litter the beach back home. The bottom half consisted of a short glittery pair of dark purple shorts, detailed with scales, and a swath of fabric for a tail. All over my body scales had been drawn to compliment my tail and the sea themed decorations in my hair. I must have looked like the classic depiction of the mermaids back home. Resisting the urge to cover up, I dramatically paraded over to a laughing Palomar.

" Hello Sailor"

He was dressed in a blue sailor suit, the fabric clinging like a second skin, showing the defined muscles of his arms. He'd stopped laughing but was still grinning. "Just like the stories, are you going to lure me into the depths?" I rolled my eyes at his childish antics "Where's Finnick? He's meant to be helping" I huffed knowing Palomar was useless he had no clue where Finnick would be. Spotting him I walked over .He offered me a smile.

"Ahh, Corrine you're down. Meet Gloss, district 1, victor of the 63rd games." Gloss offered his hand, he turned to Finnick "She a fighter?"

I stood straighter "I'm right here"

They both laughed "Confident too, maybe a bit vain, I saw you checking your reflection so don't deny it, assuming you can fight, you'll be a good contender for the careers, am I right sweetheart?" he mocked. Ignoring him I turned to Finnick "Are you gonna help?" Finnick laughed before apologizing to Gloss "Gotta go mate,duty calls, speak to you later"

He walked us back to Palomar, offering a hand to help me up onto the chariot 'Be confident , make a good impression , act inviting and make them love you. Easy' He offered.

Days in the capitol tended to start early and finish late. Despite the fact that capitol citizens were late risers, anyone involved with the games would be up with the sun to make sure that months of planning hadn't gone to waste, and the mentoring victors were no different. Gloss had left at around half 5, meaning he had plenty of time to reach his floor before the Avoxes were up to prepare the floor for breakfast. Even though our meetings were a regular thing, It was a constant worry, getting caught. A lot was riding on the line, if the wrong person caught us it would be game over for quite a lot of people.

There were 3 training days for Marina and Kai to make an impression, it didn't matter if Finn and i spoke to 1 and 2 about the career pack, if they didn't make an impression on the others, the game was over. If you didn't have a particular strength, or aspect to you that the careers could use, you were dead. I felt for Kai, he was small and one of the youngest, it was likely he wouldn't make an impression and would fall in the bloodbath. We tutored the kids, explaining which stations to go to, who to speak to and how to make the connections needed. Both seemed to take the advice and it wasn't till the third day when we saw there skills.

We were all sitting waiting for the scores to be shown,it wasn't till kai and marina was on their second servings of ice cream, and a full bottle of capitol posca had been dispensed to the adults, when Caesar Flickerman's face appeared on the screen. He had the room's attention as he started explaining the scoring system. The scores ranged from 1 to 12, with district 4 ranging between 6 and 11.

The careers all did good as expected, Marvel and glimmer got 9 and 8 respectively whilst Cato and Clove both got 10. The stakes were high for the others, the careers would be formidable this year.

'Kai from district 4… 7 and Marina from district 4 … 9'

Relief was clear on their faces, both of them had described what they did during dinner. They both showcased skills with knives and knots, and marina showed some knowledge of edible plants.

'It's really good, you've shown promise to the capitol and you've kept up with 1 and 2 , so an alliance can be made if you want to' I spoke whilst Finnick nodded, keeping his eyes on the screen. Most of the following tributes managed average scores, it wasn't till 12 came up and the girl got an 11, the highest score for this year's games. She was this year's wildcard, and unpredictable from what had been whispered about the capitol.

Glancing at the clock, I knew Hansons car would be meeting me outside soon.

'Well done guys, I will see you fresh and early for a day of preparing for interviews." I turned to Finnick "Don't wait up" He nodded, understanding where I was going.

As I approached the car, the back window rolled down revealing Handsons face, his smirk cocky "You're looking divine this evening Corrine" his predatory gaze looked me up and down, "I'm sure you'll look even better with less clothes on … Get in"

The door slammed shut, with the wheels squealing as the car sped away from the curb.

I'm not dead … Not gonna lie I had completely forgotten about this until I had an email saying I got some new followers (So you have them to thank), and then I Didn't know how to finish this chapter that I had started way back in September I think. As always feel free to review or message me with any queries/advice/criticism/help it will be much appreciated any help is good help. Thank you for reading!