District 3
Lennox Porter
The moment I enter the prep room, a trio of vibrantly-dressed Capitolians rush over to me, their eyes alight at the prospect of "fixing me". The maniacal glint in their eyes makes me nervous. I look back down the hall, but Blick has already left with Nikola.
"Wow, haven't we got a tough job ahead of us?" the male with red eyes and pointy red hair states, looking me over. I suddenly feel self-conscious and cross my arms over my chest.
"I think we can manage," the tall woman with long eyelashes and purple hair says. "She has potential."
"And we're the best stylists ever," the short, plump man says happily.
"That's a bit of a reach, Marvolo," the redhaired man says skeptically.
"Nope, we're the best!" the plump man squeals, smiling widely.
Both the redhaired man and purple-haired woman look skeptical, but they nod in agreement. Then, they decide that they should get to work, which doesn't bode well for me, because I've heard that the prepping process is quite painful.
Marvolo fills a fancy tub with hot water, then squirts in some kind of soap which causes frothy purple bubbles to grow on the surface of the water. It actually smells fantastic and the idea of taking a bath right now sounds very enticing, but I don't want to take a bath with all of these freaks watching. They stare at me for a moment.
"Get in the bath," the redhaired man orders. I shake my head. "Seriously, get in the bath or we'll call security," he says, anger appearing on his face. I consider this for a moment, then decide that I don't want to deal with security. Reluctantly, I pull off the comfortable sweatshirt and leggings I found on the train. My prep team doesn't give me any privacy and don't even have the decency to avert their eyes. They all stare directly at me while I strip off my clothes.
When I'm completely undressed, I climb into the tub, shielding my… more intimate parts from the prep team. I sink into bubbles and let my hands fall to my sides since the bubbles completely conceal me. It's actually very relaxing if I try to ignore the unsettling stares from the freaks who are supposed to prep me.
The purple-haired woman grabs a scary looking brush, and before I know what's happening, she begins scrubbing me down. It's very uncomfortable, both because I feel like she's invading my privacy and she's scrubbing off about three layers of skin.
"I can do that," I suggest hopefully. She shakes her head.
"No, we can't risk that."
"Risk what?" I ask.
"The possibility that you don't clean yourself as well as possible," Marvolo chimes in.
"I know how to clean myself!" I exclaim. I swallow a yelp of pain as the purple-haired woman rubs another layer of skin off of my back.
"Evidently not," the red-haired man tuts, looking down at me disapprovingly. "You looked like you had never bathed in your life when you walked in here." I glare at him, offended, but the glare quickly morphs into a grimace as the purple-haired woman decides she has to scrub my skin even harder than she initially was.
Marvolo begins washing my hair using a raspberry-scented soap, and the red-haired man pours a new liquid into the tub which makes my skin sting. He ignores my complaints and mixes it completely in. Next, he begins using a towel coating in the stinging liquid to wash my face. He gets extremely close to my eyes but luckily avoids them.
When Marvolo is done washing my hair and the purple-haired woman (who I hear the red-haired man call Stella) is done ridding my body of skin and comfort, they have me step out of the tub and stand still, completely nude, while they surround me, using hand-held devices that blow warm air to dry me off.
They finally have me lay down on a cushioned table while they begin to work on the more intricate details. Stella sprays perfumed moisturizer along my body, while the red-haired man works on my nails, and Marvolo, my hair.
"Use the de-greasing spray for her hair," Stella tells Marvolo as she finishes spritzing me and begins rubbing in the spray.
"Is my hair greasy?" I ask, surprised.
"Very," they all say in unison.
I tune out for most of this part since all I need to do is stay still while they clean me up. The red-haired man paints my nails electric blue and Marvolo repeatedly tugs at my knotted black hair. However, the worst part comes when Stella finishes moisturizing me and decides that she needs to wax the hair off of me.
She does not leave a single inch of skin unwaxed, even parts that barely have any hair and I hope the Capitol won't see, like my stomach. It's very painful and makes me wonder whether Capitolians do this on a frequent basis because I definitely couldn't.
"Ow!" I cry out when she rips a particularly painful wax-strip off my leg.
"Oh, calm down," the red-haired man says in an irritated tone. "You'll encounter much worse pain in the Hunger Games."
After that reminder, I fall silent.
District 12
Quentin Fredericus
"All right," Fyona says. "You're all done!"
"Really?" I ask. Fyona nods.
"We're going to leave now. Your stylist should be in here shortly. Feel free to put on a bathrobe." Fyona and the rest of my prep team exit the room, leaving me to myself. I take a look around and see several bathrobes hanging on a hook by the door. It is a bit chilly in here, so I walk over to the hook and begin looking at the bathrobes. There are a bunch of different sizes, so I choose the largest one. It's slightly too big for me, which is surprising, considering I'm 6'4, but I suppose so many different sized tributes come in, they prepare for anything.
I don't bother switching to the next size down, because it's comfy, anyway. I tie it around my waist. I'm not sure what to do now. I don't know when my stylist will enter, and there isn't anything to do in here.
I see a full-body mirror on one wall, so I stroll over to that. It should be interesting to see what my prep team did to my body. When I look at myself in the mirror, I gasp. I look completely different.
First of all, I'm not covered in a bunch of dirt. I took a shower on the train, but they must have scrubbed through years of dirt. I actually look clean. My skin is a little pink from being rubbed so hard, but it isn't too noticeable. My skin is also surprisingly soft after being moisturized. I suppose they weren't able to moisturize it enough to get rid of all of the callouses, but it's definitely softer.
I also have much less hair. They waxed it all off, which was a painful process, but it made a huge difference. Fyona said she had never seen body hair as thick as mine, and she kept referring to it as "fur". She also waxed the hair off of my jaw and upper lip. Then she gave me a shot that she said would stunt the growth of my facial hair for the next few weeks.
I'm not a huge fan of this part, but they chopped off almost all of my hair. They explained that it would only get in the way in the Hunger Games and it was impossible to untangle some of the twigs stuck in it, which I suppose makes sense, but I still wish they hadn't. The feeling of my hair hanging down my back was oddly comforting. Now, the back of my next feels exposed. They trimmed my hair down to about two inches. To be fair, it does look nice all clean, but it makes it difficult to recognize myself.
I'm running my fingers through my soft hair when the door opens behind me. I turn around and see a woman with silver skin and short red hair standing in the doorway. She's holding a binder and a covered outfit on a hanger.
"Hello, Quentin," she says, striding in self-importantly.
"Hi," I say nervously.
"Are you ready to see your chariot outfit?" she asks me, unzipping the cover. I'm a little taken aback at her straightforward nature. I heard that stylists usually like to chat before showing you their outfits, but I suppose this isn't the case with my stylist, who has yet to introduce herself.
"Yeah," I say, and walk over to her. She sets her binder down on the table in order to take out the costume.
"You know, when the Capitol first saw you at the Reapings, they were reminded of a wild animal," she says casually. "I decided to make a few changes to the costume in order for it to fit with your current image." She removes the costume and shows it to me. I feel my jaw drop open and I stare at it for a moment before speaking.
"...Is that real?"
District 4
Lucretius Marlo
Noelani and I are some of the first tributes to enter the stables. Looking around, I see that the only tributes who have arrived are the District 3 tributes and the District 6 tributes. The District 3 tributes are wearing black bodysuits with glowing blue wires running down them and the District 6 tributes are dressed up as birds of prey. The District 3 costumes are decent, although a little overused, but the District 6 costumes just look weird.
Noelani and I are dress up as mermen. We've both got scaly turquoise tails, then Noelani has a seashell top while I'm shirtless, with a necklace of shells. We both got tridents as props, although the tips of made of rubber so we can't pierce anything with them, which was a small disappointment because I got really excited when my stylist brought mine out.
I turn toward Noelani to joke about District 6's costumes, but I realize that she has already walked off to our chariot without me. I sigh and run after her, keeping a careful eye on the ground, which has horse manure everywhere.
I'm pretty sure Noelani hates me for volunteering instead of Mercury. I know she and Mercury were close, so she must have been looking forward to going into the Hunger Games with him. And when I told her why I volunteered, she said I was an idiot and stormed off into her room on the train. I hope she begins liking me or at least tolerates me by the time the Hunger Games come around, though, because it would be nice to have someone I can trust. I don't think she would kill me, but you never know.
Noelani leans against our coral-themes chariot, pretending to be inspecting her freshly-painted fingernails when I approach.
"I like your hair," I say honestly because her wavy auburn hair is actually very pretty. Instead of thanking me or at least taking the compliment like a normal person, she glares at me and barks;
"What do you want?" I shrug.
"I'm just complimenting you. Jeez. Why do you hate me so much?"
"Um, maybe because you completely betrayed your brother by taking his spot in volunteering just because you couldn't stand him succeeding? Maybe because you took away his last chance to volunteer when you had another year? Maybe because I could have had someone I trusted and liked fighting alongside me, and am instead stuck with you," Noelani shouts. I'm a little afraid of her sudden outburst, but I quickly regain my wits.
"Look, you shouldn't just make assumptions about me and my reasons for volunteering. For all you know, I volunteered because I didn't want to see my big brother die!"
"I'm not making any assumptions. You straight up told me that you volunteered so your brother wouldn't be able to win the Hunger Games," she reminds me.
"That's not how I put it," I mumble, losing my confidence. "I said that I volunteered so people would respect me. If Mercury won, then I'd always be seen as 'The Victor's brother'. Even if I volunteered next year and won, I'd still only be seen as his brother. I want to be seen as a Victor, or at least myself." Recognition flashes in Noelani's eyes as I speak, and for a moment, she seems empathetic. Then her glare returns.
"That's no excuse," she says simply, and looks away, although it doesn't seem like she means it. I look over at the entrance to the stables, and see a few more pairs flood in, including the tributes from District 1 and 2, our fellow Careers. They head straight over to us as if it's some unspoken assumption that we're having our first meeting right here.
The girl from District 2 arrives first. She stands with her hands on her hips and inspects both of us, with a slight smirk on her lips. I feel uncomfortable when her eyes pass over me. It's obvious she's judging me right now, which makes me feel really vulnerable.
"Um, hi, I'm Lucretius Marlo," I say holding out my hand.
"Glitter Monique," she replies after a moment, shaking my hand. "And who are you?" she asks Noelani.
"Noelani King." Noelani and Glitter also shake hands, and a moment later, the rest of the Careers arrive. I feel really self-conscious next to all of them. I'm much shorter than both of the males, and everyone is way more attractive than me. Even the boy from District 1, who isn't as handsome as the usual District 1 males, is much more attractive than me. There's a really awkward moment when everyone inspects each other, sizing up our allies/competition.
"I'm Glorian Stafford," the boy from District 2 finally says, nodding hello to us. After that, we go in a circle, introducing ourselves. When we've all said our names, nobody says anything else. It almost feels like a dare to whoever decides to speak first. I decide to take on the dare.
"So, um… who will be the leader?" I ask.
"Definitely not you," Trajan states, sneering. I consider standing up for myself because I wasn't even suggesting that I be the leader, but I decide that it's probably not the greatest idea to talk back to him and stay silent.
"Why don't we see who has the best training score?" Cecelia suggests. "Then our leader will have earned his or her position and are the most qualified. Also, no fighting is necessary."
"But we don't find out our training scores for a few days," Noelani reminds her. "Who will be the leader until then?"
"Do we need a leader before then?"
"Maybe," I shrug. "For training and stuff, if there's some sort of strategy we want for stations."
"And if we want to add outer District tributes into our alliance," Glorian adds in a deep voice. "We can't just add whoever we want. Someone needs to filter out the bad tributes from the good ones."
"True," Cecelia says. "Hey, why don't we have a vote? On an interim leader?"
"We don't know a lot about each other. How would we vote?" asks Noelani.
"I think we should vote," I decide. "After all, it's the fairest way. And it's only temporary; we can always choose a new interim leader. It doesn't have to be set in stone."
"Okay. Let's vote," Noelani shrugs. "I vote for Cecelia." Cecelia looks surprised.
"Yeah, I vote for Cecelia, too," I say. Cecelia has had most of the ideas so far, so it seems like a good idea for her to be our makeshift leader. Besides, she seems fair.
"I think Glorian should be the leader," Glitter states.
"Well, I vote for myself," Trajan says.
"You can't vote for yourself!" Glitter exclaims. "Otherwise I would have voted for myself, too." Trajan looks mad at this but accepts it.
"Fine. I guess I'll vote for… you." Trajan gestures at Glorian.
"My name is Glorian," Glorian repeats. "Do you seriously not remember my name? I introduced myself only a few seconds ago." Trajan shrugs. "I'll vote for Cecelia, too."
"I think Lucretius should be the leader," Cecelia says in a surprised voice. My jaw drops open, along with a few others.
"Me? Really?" I ask, astounded. Cecelia shrugs.
"You've kind of been leading the conversation so far," she explains. I think you would do pretty well as an interim leader."
"Well, I guess Cecelia's the leader for now," Noelani says.
"Tributes. The first chariot will leave in three minutes. Please get in your chariots." The voice of Leandros Winthrop comes over the intercom very loudly, making me jump.
"I'll see you guys during training tomorrow," Cecelia says before walking off toward her chariot. The rest of us do the same, following the actions of our new makeshift leader.
District 10
Arabella Cantros
The District 1 chariot leaves first. Cecelia is dressed in a bejeweled jumpsuit that the light reflects off of, almost blinding me. She waves at the crowd with a determined expression on her face. She's not smiling, but the crowd still goes crazy for her, throwing roses and jewelry and other random items. Trajan is dressed in a toga and wears golden sandals and a golden crown. He doesn't wave, just stares straight ahead with a creepy grin on his face. He gets less attention than Cecelia but receives a few cheers.
When District 1 has received enough attention, the District 2 chariot leaves. Both of the District 2 tributes are dressed like gladiators. They have swords, which I assume (and hope) are fake. Glitter waves at the crowd, grinning confidently. Glorian waves, but doesn't smile. He comes off as a little shy, which probably isn't his intention. The Capitol loves both of them, and both receive a significant amount of roses and cheers.
The District 3 chariot leaves, but the Capitol doesn't seem to care much. They're both dressed in a black jumpsuit with glowing blue wires running down their outfit. It's not a terrible costume, but so overused that it's no longer exciting. Both Nikola and Lennox appear slightly overwhelmed, and their waving comes across as nervous. The Capitol is mostly still cheering for the previous two Districts, but I hear some people shouting for Lennox. Poor Nikola doesn't seem to have a lot of fans.
District 4 goes out, and the applauding immediately grows. Both tributes are dressed as mermen, which is a pretty cool costume. They even have tridents, which, like the District 2 swords, I assume are fake. Both Noelani and Lucretius smile at the crowd. Lucretius waves, but Noelani doesn't. I blame that on the fact that she only has one arm, though, since she needs to hold on to the chariot. They both receive a lot of cheers. District 4 is typically a crowd favorite, especially since Malakai Mavericks just won.
District 5 is a very interesting pair (or trio) this year. Dennis is a creepy mystery and everyone has been wondering about the Siamese twins. Dennis wears a shockingly bright golden suit, which I assume is supposed to represent the sun. He doesn't wave at the audience, but looks around, grinning creepily. The twins are wearing a dress split into two different styles. Tracey's side looks like water, and Macey's looks like fire. It's a cool concept, but a bit of a reach for the 'power' theme. Macey and Tracey take turns; one holds onto the chariot while the other waves, and then they switch. I'm surprised to hear a few people booing District 5, but most are cheering with excitement.
The District 6 chariot rolls out. Both tributes are dressed like birds of prey, with feathers and hats that look like beaks. I feel bad for them because the costume is really weird. Tristana is dressed like an eagle and Axel, like a falcon. Despite their humiliating costumes, they smile and wave for the crowd. They receive a little bit of applause, but most people focus on the chariots in front of them.
District 7 comes out next, and no one seems to notice. As usual, the tributes are dressed as trees. It's one of the only costumes District 7 ever wears, so at this point, most of the audience doesn't really pay attention to them. Several people are interested in Ruce, though, since he volunteered, so he gets a few cheers. Zaira, on the other hand, barely has anyone clapping for her. They both wave, but Ruce seems much more confident than his District partner.
District 8 gets fairly good reception. The two of them emerge from the stables looking very nervous, but both begin waving more enthusiastically when they realize people are cheering for them. Linen wears an intentionally roughly-sewn denim dress with random splashes of color. Felix's outfit has a similar concept. He has a beige suit on but also wears a cape made of different color fabrics. People cheer for them, I'm not sure why.
The District 9 tributes are dressed in some of the saddest outfits I have ever seen; were the stylists just incredibly lazy or did they think dressing their tributes as loaves of bread was a good idea? Both Hadley and Savanna are inside of what looks like a giant loaf of bread. It does look comfy, but it's so bad, it provokes some laughs from the audience. Hadley and Savanna both wave and smile, but it's clear they're deeply embarrassed.
My heart leaps in my throat when I realize that we're next. Our chariot jolts forward, and my hands instinctively tighten around the chariot. The ride is bumpier than I presumed. Buck and I are both dressed like cowboys, which I suppose is because it's an easy costume but doesn't look stupid. It's the same as last year, so the audience doesn't look too interested, but I can hear them cheer for us… mostly Buck, actually, but I hear my name mixed in there. My face splits into a grin and I wave enthusiastically at the crowd. Buck just stands still, ignoring them. Surprisingly, that seems to make them cheer even louder.
I glance back just when the District 11 chariot rolls out. They're both dressed as farmers, in overalls and straw hats. The audience doesn't seem too excited to see them, but Kade gets a decent amount of cheers. He grins charmingly at the audience and blows kisses at random women in the crowd, which makes him quite popular. I see several roses land near him. Yael, on the other hand, stares directly ahead, looking very angry. With some alarm, I realize she's glaring directly at Buck. I consider warning him, but decide against it. It's probably not important.
District 12 finally rolls out. Rachel is dressed in a long, black gown with bright red border which I suppose symbolize flame. Quentin is dressed in a suit made completely out of animal fur. He looks absolutely disgusted and I see tears running down his face. Rachel waves at the crowd pleasantly, but neither of them get a lot of attention. That is, until Quentin rips off his animal-fur shirt. He throws it on the ground, angrily. He begins yelling something how no innocent animals should suffer and their carcasses worn as a fashion style. He strips off his fur pants next and throws them toward the crowd. Strangely, several people fight to catch it. He's left standing in only his underwear, and he continues to scream and rant about animal rights.
I nervously bite my lip and return to waving at the audience, pretending to ignore him. I think I'm trying to ignore a lot of things, today. Such as the fact that I may die in the next few days.
I didn't think I'd be able to update this fast - I thought I'd procrastinate for another week, but I guess not. I'm excited because a lot of the drama will happen before the Games even begin, so this should be fun.
QUESTIONS:
1. What outfits sounded good?
2. Which outfits sound terrible?
3. What did you think of the Careers' plan for a leader?
4. Who are you rooting for besides your own character?
5. Who's your favorite author? (Mine is either Stephen King or J.K. Rowling)
- Lilah