Breakfast is better than dinner was.
There is a multitude of jams and jellies all lined up for the choosing. Drinks like tea, coffee, fruit juices and some warm drinks I've never tried are available too. There is all types of bread, fruit, cheese and even delicious pastries with what a server calls "icing sugar" on the side.
Apparently, you take one of the pastries, place some fruit on top and sprinkle it with icing sugar, that's what the server tells me is nice.
I try to take some of everything, having small portions of each type of food laid out.
"When we reach the Capitol, you will be taken by a prep team and dolled up for the opening ceremony," Cass informs us.
"Opening ceremony?" Phelan asks between bites.
"Yes, you will ride in a chariot dressed up in a costume that represents your district. I can imagine you two will be dressed up with a forestry themed outfit," Cass says.
"I can't think of anything worse. First they want to kill us, now they want us to look like idiots?" Phelan scowls.
"Hush, hush!" Cass scolds.
When we reach the Capitol, I am taken away into a different room.
People who look as funny as Cass does, starts stripping me of my clothes.
My prep team was made up of one woman named Fawn and two men named Flux and Grandis.
Fawn had her skin dyed a light brown with white dots down her back, I guessing it was to make her look like a fawn. Her eyes were big, like a deer's.
Flux had tattoos all over his body. There wasn't a quarter of a square foot of his body that didn't have tattoos. He was quite scary to look at.
Grandis had green hair and white powder all over his face. He was a tall and skinny man, that towered over most.
They scrubbed my skin until it was raw, then waxed me in every place possible. They even cut my long blonde locks short, at chin length. I get very angry when I see what they did.
"What have you done to my hair!" I yell.
"It looks better this way, dear," Fawn replies, calmly. "Now your chin has been softened."
She is right. I look in the mirror and I see a different person, a better looking person. I like the hair cut, even the bangs and the unevenness of it, the way one side was longer than the other.
"Thank you. I'm sorry for being rude. I didn't mean to get so angry," I say, feeling guilty.
"Oh, this one's a polite girl," Grandis says. "Don't worry, child. It's normal to be scared of change."
I nodded. I wanted so badly to hate all of the Capitol people, but I couldn't. These people genuinely want to help me, I can tell.
Flux starts working on my makeup. Gold, brown and green colors all get painted on my face. They paint my nails a green color with what seems like veins drawn on in a lighter green, the veins of leaves.
When they're done, they start examining my naked body, checking for any irregularities.
A woman walks into the room. She has purple hair and long blue fake eyelashes. "Hello," she says. "I'm Terra Nairne. I will be your stylist."
Terra examines my body as well, then lets me put a robe over it. "Well done, she looks beautiful," she tells my prep team.
"Thank you," Flux says.
"Let's have lunch," Terra tells me and leads me towards a table.
We start eating and she tells me about the opening ceremony. "As you know, you have to be dressed up according to your district. Your district's main industry is forestry so I have prepared a forestry themed outfit. I think you will like it."
When we are finished eating, Terra helps me into my outfit. She wraps these ropes around my body, made to look exactly like the vines of a weeping willow tree. She slips bracelets with pine needles on them and a tiara made of sticks and leaves is placed on my head.
When I look in the mirror, I'm not me anymore. I look beautiful.
I'm sent off to an area where all the other tributes and the chariots we are supposed to be riding are. I walk up to Phelan. His outfit is similar to mine.
"What happened to you?" he asks. "You look like a girl."
I jokingly punch him. We talk for a bit, then he walks away to look at the horses.
The boy from District 1 walks up to me. He is wearing a tunic made completely out of jewels and gold. I look across the room and see that female counterpart is dressed similarly, except she is wearing silver instead of gold.
"Is it just me, or did your hair get shorter since the reaping?" he asks me.
I smile. "It did. It isn't just you," I assure him.
"You look like the princess of trees," he tells me.
"You look like an idiot," I tell him, honestly. His costume is too flashy for my taste.
"Yes, I do," he says. "I'm Asriel Rivendell."
"I'm Tallulah Lloyd," I say.
"No you're not, you're Threat," he says.
"Do you mean to say that I am a threat or that my name is Threat?" I ask.
"The latter," he says.
"I just told you it wasn't," I say. "I just told you my name is Tallulah."
"I'm not bothering to learn names, what's the point of niceties if I'm going to kill you? I'm just labeling everyone, so I know who to target. You are a threat, the boy in twelve is a dead body."
His words anger me. "And why do I need to learn your name?"
"Figured it would be nice to know the name of the person who will kill you."
"Not if I kill you first. Why are you so cynical?" I ask.
"Because this is all just a show for the Capitol. The minute I start thinking of you people as humans is the minute I am weakened. You play your part, that's all you do. You don't devote yourself to emotions if you want to stay alive," he tells me, and now I know for a fact that he will be a threat for me.
"Why am I a threat?" I ask.
"Because you seem strong, you seem tough. But you're also pretty, and that will make it easier for you to get sponsors."
"You're quite the looker too," I say.
"So I'm a threat to you too," he smiles. I believe that it is time to get on our chariots. Best of luck Tallulah Lloyd."
"You just called me by my name, I thought you said you weren't going to do that," I say as he walks away.
He turns around for a moment. "I'm afraid I've started to think of you as something other than a target, a human."
"That's not always a bad thing," I say but it's too late, he's gone.