As I look around my room, I yawn. The meeting took longer than expected, it was weird because so many people had questions.
I actually found it really annoying. I think that I'll cut off everyone's mouths in the arena as well. So, anyways, because of the stupid questions people took all night to ask, I got about an hour of sleep, so I was beat.
Thankfully, today will be a good day for relaxation. All we have to do is prepare for the interviews. Simple enough.
And of course, who else to wake me from my lovely slumber than (opposite of) wonderful Carliu?
"Oh silly! Do we want to sleep in until the afternoon? No no no! That just won't do! Up we go, 1...2...3! Yes! Let's go! Breakfast shall be-Woah! You don't need to throw things-I just thought-Okay you know what? I-think-I'll-leave!" Great, now the lamp is gone. All my pillows too.
I roll my eyes and drag myself out of bed. Once I've grabbed some clothes and made my way to the Dining Room, I've gotten rid of a little bit of that "I'm still sleepy, so don't talk to me." vibe.
Oh well, looks like I'll have to make do with just being mean for no reason. That sounds fun too.
"Pony! Hello! Did you sleep well?" Plore is smiling at me as if I'm the sun. Well, of course, I'm her missing daughter.
"I still hate you Plore." That's what I want to say, but I don't. Instead, I smile politely and say hello to everyone. Everyone but Plore. Ha. That'll be funny to see her face.
Nevertheless, Plore smiles and starts telling us the strategy of the day, "Okay, Tiger; Pony. Here's how our time's going to fly. You'll each get some time with either me or Urgrile, and Carliu. Who wants to go with Carliu first?"
Tiger is shoved-really, Plore's actually stronger than I thought-over to Carliu, so I guess I'm stuck with Plore for the next however many hours I have to waste my life with her.
Inward, I sigh but walk over to her, and beaming, she leads me to a room where she sits there, and just stares at me as if I'm a magic fairy or something. Yeah, sure Plore. Go ahead, say it.
And she does, "Oh Pony! I love you so much! I'm so glad that I found you-daughter!" She stumbles over the last word, since she hasn't used it very often. Not for me at least.
"Okay sweetie, " I wince at that, "What kind of person do you want the Capitol to see you as?" She spits out the word, Capitol. I guess she hates it as much as me.
I smile, knowing that she'll like what I'm about to say, "Hateful." I nod, satisfied that she'll agree.
She doesn't. "Are you sure?, " She looks...worried? "What about innocent? Humble? Scared? Confident? Anything?"
"No. I hate them and I'm going to put on some stupid character for them. I don't need or want their money." I glare at her, challenging her to disagree.
"What about something else? Anything else you can. But that." She looks desperate. I guess she really doesn't want me to actually die.
I sigh, knowing I probably should get at least a few sponsors, "Okay. Fine. What do you suggest?"
She smiles, and leans forward, "You could be an innocent little girl. Make people sad for you. It'll earn you alot of sponsors if you play it right."
"Fine. But if they think for a second that I'll be all "I love you!" to them, they're dead wrong." I get up and storm from the room, I'm hungry.
I hear her following me and throw my head back and close my eyes. "Okay, I'll play the dumb little girl thing but if Cosink makes me look ugly, I'll kill her myself."
I hear Plore nervously laugh and then she puts her hand on my shoulder. I know that it's supposed to be comforting. But it's not. It actually feels foreign. Not right. Dangerous.
"Don't worry. People will love you." Even though her tone is bright, her face holds a trace of worry. I sigh, knowing that I have to be her kind and awesome daughter. Not too hard.
"I know, but no one will think that I'll actually win." I put my head on her shoulder, and pretend to cry. Please. As if I'd ever cry in public. Next thing I know, she's wrapped her arms around me and for the next three hours, she tells me about her games. I nod every other sentence, but I'm not listening.
I never thought that I would be glad to see Carliu but I am and I leap up and throw my arms around him as soon as I see him.
"Well, Plore, as fun as this has been, I have to go see what Carliu has in store for me. I know that it'll never compete with what you taught me." I smile brightly at her, but Carliu looks miffed. Haha. Poor him.
I push him out the door and into the room I was just in with Plore. He starts to smile at me but I hold up a hand, "Save it. Just do whatever you're paid to do then I can leave."
He nods, but I swear that I see a tear in his eye. See? This is what I mean about everyone in the Capitol being messed-up.
Turns out that Carliu has so much to teach me that I can't remember it all. He said at the end that the only thing that I have to worry about is smiling at the audience and making sure that they love me. Yeah, whatever Capitol freak.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
The next day when I wake up, Cosink is waiting there with a bright smile and my prep team, who look really grouchy. Uh-oh. Cosink leads us over to a vanity with a huge mirror and at least one-hundred different bottles. And that's just what I can see.
My hair, nails and face get completely redone. An hour before the actual interviews start, I have glossy black hair, glowing skin, light yellow nails and an innocent look on my face.
My prep team didn't speak to me at all, they just spoke amongst themselves. It's as if I'm just a doll to them, and they just like making me into someone new while they gossip. Whatever, I made them cry. So, joke's on you freaks.
I smile at that and when Cosink comes in, my shoulders sag in relief. She may be awful but she's better than these idiots.
She's holding a black garment bag that has my spectacular outfit in it and, despite myself, I can't help but feel a little jump of pleasure. Maybe, just maybe if people see how wonderful I look, they'll sponsor me. After all, these people are shallow, right?
"Close your eyes! Ready, one, two, three!" I can practically hear Cosink's smile in her voice as she slides the dress over my head.
I feel something, silk? Anyways, it's really soft and I rub my cheek against it. Then, once my cheek feels tingly, I raise my eyes and look at myself in the mirror. It is made of silk, yellow silk. The yellow as the sunset, and perfectly innocent. It made me look like I was a sweet young girl, not a mean, surly person. The hem was little white flowers stiched in, and the neckline also has some. My makeup makes my face look smaller than usual, I look wonderfully amazingly perfect!
"Oh!" I gasp, "I may not be one for clothes but Fivey would love this! She's my sister." I feel tears in my eyes, and Cosink grabs my face in her hands, "No no no no no, this won't do. No crying, you'll mess up the makeup."
But she spoke too late and I feel tears running down my face. My prep team's eyes fill with pity as they come towards me and hug me. I sniffle as they wipe my face off and start reapplying waterproof makeup.
I smile at them and they smile brightly back, they're really forgiving. Whatever, this doesn't mean that I all the sudden am best friends with them, on the contary, I think I hate them even more than I did before. Because they saw me cry.
Once they've finished putting on makeup, Cosink leads me to the stage where I see Cruton Flickerman's chair, and another one, for the tribute who's being interviewed. She shows me my seat and I sit down next to Tiger. I put on my most innocent face and turn towards him. He chokes on his own spit.
"You-you-you look...nice!" He stutters. I smile at him, my usual, devious smile.
"Yes, well, I always do, don't I?" I narrow my eyes at him, telling him to say something right for a change.
"Well, I mean, you have...I mean...you're always so...yes, you always look nice." He looks relieved that he came up with a good answer.
I step on his foot and then turn to the stage. The District One girl just walked on. She talks with Ceasar for some time and then her district partner goes on.
They got to District Five, and I gasp as I see Elfay's dress. It's a deep purple, with jewels all over it, I look closer and see that they make a pattern. Of what I can't imagine. I think it's her name. The dress, minus the jewels is very pretty and it touches the floor. It's perfect for her.
She's playing sneaky and devious. I giggle at her interpretation of it and clap loudly for her. Before I know it, my name's being called. I gulp and stand up. As I walk past Elfay, she whispers, "Good luck."
I try to smile at her but my stomach is full of knots and I can't breathe. I see Cruton Flickerman sitting there, smiling. He looks freakish, but he somehow has a wife and two kids. A girl named Ranch, and a boy named Ceasar. I suspect that once he's done with his job that Ceasar will take over.
"Well, hello there Miss. Pony Lyfus, female tribute of District Eleven!" He smiles his stupid fake grin. I'd like to cut it off his face with a knife.
"Hi Cruton." I say, while smiling a small half-smile. Cruton shakes my hand and motions for me to sit. I plop down on the soft couch and a few feathers shoot out. Oops.
"So, Pony. Wonderful dress you got there, who's your stylist again?" He scratches his chin and looks around.
"Me! Me! Oh it's me! My goodness! It's me! I designed it! Yes! Me!" Oh great. Cosink. I try not to roll my eyes but I can't help it. Since I have to pretend that I'm nice to everyone, I hide it by putting a hand over my face. "Yes, Cosink designed it. She's so nice to me. Everyone is. But whenever I want to thank them, I can never think of a nice enough way to do it." I shoot my brightest smile at him.
"Well, you can thank them on here, in front of just a few of your closest friends." He laughs as if he just told the best joke he's ever heard. Yes, fine, idiot, that's not what I wanted, Cruton, stupidhead.
"Oh, okay, thankyou Cruton for the lovely idea." Not. "I just want to thank everyone who I've met in the Capitol. Thankyou so much!" I wipe a fake tear away, "Oh! I just love you all so much! It's just so, oh! Thankyou!"
Yes Pony, keep crying. Blubber away. Look like an idiot. In front of the whole country. Okay, actually, stop fake crying. Right now. Hurry! Wait, what am I doing? Think-talking to myself? Wait, what did Cruton say? Oh great. I'll just nod and laugh. Good, okay.
"Er, um, yes! Right, that is correct..." I look at him blankly. This isn't going well. Not. At. All.