"Two things only the people anxiously desire — bread and circuses." -Juvenal
James cracked open his eyes to find Bunting bursting into his room, clapping his hands, shouting, "Come on, James, time to get up!"
James groans, wriggling out of the bed he'd slept in and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, alright, give me a few minutes."
"Take as much time as you need," Bunting says. "Just be in the dining car soon!"
Groaning a second time, James reached over to the clothes he'd worn the previous day, pulling them on. They're probably not that dirty, James thinks.
After getting dressed and taking another shower, James found himself in the dining car, munching on the feast that awaited him and Violet. Blight and the rest were already there, happily eating the first meal of the day.
They had been eating in silence for almost five minutes when Blight asks, "James, you good with a weapon?"
"Wha?" James asks through a mouthful of eggs.
"Are you any good with a bow?" Blight rephrases. This questioning is a surprise to James; Blight has always seemed like a laidback guy. James expected Eques to ask the questions about weapons and Blight to handle the interviews.
"Nope," James replies. "I mean, I've shot a bow a few times, but I'm bad at it."
Blight nods. "Alright, well, how about axes? I mean, we're from District 7, right?"
"Yeah. I'm good with an axe," James replies. "I can swing hard with a longer one, and I can throw a smaller one pretty far."
"Good, good," Blight nods. "Anything else?"
James shakes his head. "I can kind of use a machete, but no, not much else."
"This is good," Blight echoes. He looks over at Violet. "How about you, Violet? Can you fight with anything?"
Violet shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe a knife."
"You'd probably be good with a dagger," James adds.
"What's a dagger?" Violet asks.
"It's like a smaller knife," James replies.
"That might be a good idea. I used to climb with knives," Violet says.
The train suddenly grows darker, and James realizes this is because they are entering the famed train tunnel to the Capitol. It's famed because it's the only way into the Capitol from the east, so once it was blocked off rebels had to scale the rocky hills and mountains. This, naturally, led to most of them being bombed by the air force used by the Capitol. James has been told that his great-grandfather was one such rebel killed scaling the mountain. Then again, everyone is told that every rebel was killed during the Dark Days.
"If there are trees in the arena," Eques starts, "Then you're golden."
"We'll talk later," Blight finishes. "We're about to enter the Capitol. Be sure to wave and smile."
James wipes his mouth with a napkin and walks over to one of the train windows. The train is still surrounded by darkness, but he crosses his arms and waits. Violet joins him, rocking nervously on her toes. After standing there for several minutes in silence with Violet, they enter the Capitol.
James is immediately stunned.
The cameras he's seen in the Capitol can't even compare to its magnificence. Huge skyscrapers rise out of the ground and tower above them. Shiny, fancy cars drive along the road. Both driving the cars and walking on the street are the citizens of the Capitol; Fully-fed and oblivious to the struggles of life, they are clad in ridiculous clothing one should only wear to a party where the theme is stupid clothes. Almost immediately they recognize the tribute train and rush towards the two, waving and cheering. In a way, James is disgusted with the people of the Capitol. They've led their whole lives without struggle and are now cheering on two people only because they were unjustly marked for death by the Capitol.
Nonetheless, James puts on his best smile and waves to the crowd.
.
.
.
"Uh, what...exactly does this do?" James asks, eyeing his reflection in the body-length mirror; Save for some Capitol underwear far too tight for comfort, James is naked. His design team, whose names are extravagant and he's already forgotten, look at him back. Just seconds ago they rubbed some sort of ointment on his face.
"It will keep your face from growing facial hair over the next week or so," shrugs a taller man with purple eyeliner; James thinks his name might be Dax.
"Why the next week?" James asks.
"It's for the interviews," shrugs a plump woman with huge eyebrows; James knows her name starts with an L, but that's it. "You can't be appearing to the Capitol with a full beard. That would be hideous!" She shrieks out a laugh, and the other two members of the design team join in; It's an ugly laugh and obnoxious, but relaxing in a way.
"You're going to meet your stylist in just a minute," giggles the third member of his prep team, whose name he forgets completely; He is of average height and his hair is striped black and white and looks ridiculous. Then again, very few people in the Capitol don't look ridiculous.
The team exits the room, and James sits alone for a moment, barely-clothed and scrubbed down completely with anti-beard cream on his face. He's allowed to keep all of his arm and leg hair, but some of his chest hair and all of his armpit hair has been waved off painfully. It feels weird to have it gone; In a way, James feels much younger.
Suddenly, the door opens and James' stylist, Cliff, strolls into the room, and for a moment James isn't sure if this is even a Capitol citizen; Clad in a black suit and sporting elegantly-combed blonde hair, the only signs that he's a Capitol citizen are two strips of eye black under his eyes, a small eyebrow piercing, and two earrings.
"James?" he asks with a smile. His voice is soothing, melodic, like Bunting's.
"Cliff?" James asks back, smiling because his stylist looks normal.
"The one and only," Cliff replies with a bigger smile, extending a hand; James shakes it. "It's a pleasure to be your mentor."
"It's a pleasure to be your tribute," James replies. He likes Cliff. He's not loud like the other people of the Capitol.
Cliff keeps his smile. "Respectful, I like it. Stand up, let me have a look at you."
James nods, and hops off of the table, feeling a bit exposed in only the Capitol compression underwear, standing in the room. Cliff paces around him, his shoes clacking on the floor as they go. Cliff makes a full rotation and nods. James can't help but ask nervously, "How do I look?"
Cliff laughs, a warm sound filled with pleasure. "Just fine, James. You're tall. Strong, too. The crowds will love you. The only real obstacle we have left is your hair."
"My hair?" James asks, reflexively running his hand through his short, brown hair that he's kept trimmed his whole life. "What's wrong with my hair?"
"Nothing," Cliff grins. "We just need to spike it or quiff it with one of the hairdryers, and we'll be right as rain. Follow me."
James puts on a robe the color of blood and follows Cliff into a sitting room overlooking the Capitol. It really is quite a sight, and James falters for a moment before continuing. He plops down on one of the chairs next to Cliff. An elegant meal sits before the two of them, but James ignores it.
"So, James," starts Cliff, "We have a few ideas for your parade outfit."
"Shoot," replies James. "You're the expert."
Cliff snorts. "Barely. I've only been a stylist for four years."
James remembers this; Cliff was the stylist of District Eight three years ago, and graduated to District Seven two years ago. This means that James will be the third tribute mentored. Third time's the charm, right? James thinks, instinctively reaching for Iris' necklace, but remembers that it was removed when they entered the Capitol.
"So, do you remember the costumes last year?" Cliff asked.
"Yeah, there were, um...they were trees," James replied, painfully remembering Justinian parade through the Capitol.
"The trees were supposed to be a special type of tree that resembled strength," Cliff frowned. "Unfortunately, most people didn't catch on."
"I know they didn't," James frowns, recalling that Justinian didn't even get matches when he was shivering on the ground. Nobody sponsored the boy who looked like a big-ass leaf.
Cliff's eyes widen for a moment before he stammers out, "Oh, that's right...you're Justinian's brother. I'm so sorry, James. I forgot."
"It's okay," James says flatly. "You didn't kill Justinian. Barely anyone got sponsors last year." He coughs. "Let's, uh, move on."
"Good idea," Cliff agrees. Echoing James' own awkward cough, the stylist continues. "Err, anyway, when I watched the Reaping of you and Violet, I noticed something."
"What?" James asks.
"You and her are...polar opposites, physically," Cliff responds. "Violet is this short, cute little girl yet you are a tall, muscular boy. The Capitol likes muscle, just look at Finnick Odair."
Cliff was right; Finnick Odair, the victor of the Hunger Games three years ago, is loved by almost every person of the Capitol, and just like James, is tall and muscled. Only he has the charisma and charm that James doesn't.
"So what are you thinking?" James asks, hoping against hope that he doesn't end up looking like a shrub.
"The men of District 7 have been carrying lumber for a decent part of their lives," Cliff says. "They're strong. As a result, we'll clad you in something that people attribute to strength. Since Violet is more innocent, she'll be wearing something more, well, innocent."
"What resembles strength?"
"Tell me, James," Cliff grins. "Have you ever heard of the Romans?"
Two hours later, James still doesn't know what Romans are, but is wearing a red tunic that covers half of his chest and goes down to his knees, with an iron chest-plate adorning his stomach. On his head is a clunky bronze helmet with holes only for eyes with a long row of feathers on top. Violet is wearing a white tunic that covers almost her whole body.
James doesn't care who the Romans are anymore, all he cares about is that they dress weird and their helmets are claustrophobic.
"Remember, you are the embodiment of strength," Cliff reminds them as they mount their chariot.
"And Violet, you are the embodiment of innocence!" chirps Violet's stylist, a man who looks like a carrot.
As Violet mounts the chariot, she mutters to James, "Nice helmet. You look cool."
James laughs through the cramped helmet. "Yeah, but I can't breathe."
Violet laughs. "If you can't breathe, just take it off."
"Great idea, Violet," James snorts. "I think I'll have to do just that."
By now, District 6's chariot has just left, and before long their own beautiful horses trot into the parade.
The crowd roars as they enter the long road where the chariots travel to, but the cheers increase when they spot the mystery boy with the helmet. Before long, most of the cameras have focused away from the Career tributes, and on to James, whose face is still covered in the helmet. Only his emerald-green eyes are visible. The cheer is building more as more Capitol citizens take notes of James, whose face is masked.
"They love us!" James shouts through the helmet.
"They love you!" Violet shouts back.
Then James remembers what Cliff told him, that he is representing strength and Violet is representing innocence. In a way, they have styled James to be a sort of protector over Violet; The boy in the warrior's outfit, and the girl in the white tunic.
"Take my hand," orders James.
Violet doesn't say anything, but James feels her grasp in his palm, and tightens it. "Follow my lead!" he shouts. James reaches to the bottom of the helmet, and tears it off, revealing his face. The crowd quiets their roars only for a moment, and then James throws their arms into the air.
The crowd goes berserk.
They stay like that for the rest of the parade, James clutching Violet's small hand, maintaining a fierce look on his face that reads, "Don't mess with the little girl." The cameras divide their time between them and the other districts as best they can, but the mystery of James and Violet has enthralled the crowd, up to the point where they enter the Training Center.
It takes all of James' mental capacity not to grin with joy.
They might have just earned a chance at getting a sponsor.
Chapter 3! This chapter was a bit shorter, around 2,100 words (of course, excluding this bit) and its chief purpose was to establish James' stylist, Cliff, and also flesh out the victors a bit. The next chapter will probably be much longer, and to throw you a bone, it'll include a good portion of the training center and maybe a little backstory. That's about it for now, I'll see you guys next chapter!
Reviews:
LittleMissPriss210501: Thanks! I appreciate your support, and hope you're enjoying the story!
-C