It's impossible to move.
There's crowds and crowds and crowds of Capitol citizens, and they are all screaming their heads off. The closer ones are pushing each other, trying to get a better view of Finnick Odair. Some reach their hands out in attempts to touch him.
Ugh.
They're disgusting.
And Finnick appeared to be enjoying the attention he's getting. In fact, he takes the hand of a ridiculously blue-colored woman and kisses it. She faints.
I roll my eyes. These women are hopeless.
"We're coming through," says Locketta. Peacekeepers surround us as we walk to where the car waits, giving us room to move. Davis and I squeeze into the back while Finnick and Mags pile into the front with Locketta.
It's not a long trip to the City Circle.
"At last," I groan, once we're clear of the crowds. "I don't want to experience something like that ever again."
Finnick puts an arm around me. "I told you how much the Capitol loves me," he says.
I jerk away from him. "I don't love you," I snap.
"Ah, but you're not from the Capitol," he counters with a triumphant smile.
My stomach rumbles at the most opportune time.
"Oh, dear, little Miss Annie is hungry," Finnick coos. "We should satisfy her hunger at once. Or else we'll have to feel her wrath, and it's very unpleasant!" He pretends to shudder in fear.
"Oh, shut up," I mutter as we follow Locketta into the dining room.
I sit down next to Davis—there's no way I'm going to sit next to Finnick after the episode earlier—and begin piling eggs onto my plate. We hardly ever get eggs back in District Four.
"Not sitting next to me, Miss Annie?" Finnick asks. "Aw, come on. I don't bite!"
"Not in a million years," I tell him dryly. "Do me a favor and don't talk for the next half hour, will you?"
Finnick makes a face. "I thought mentors are supposed to give tributes advice. How am I ever going to do that if I can't talk?"
I wave my knife in Mags's direction. "Mags can mentor both me and Davis, then."
Mags mumbles something about rules.
"Oh, and Cresta? Here's a piece of advice: don't complain," says Finnick, popping a sugar cube into his mouth.
"Are you just saying that to get on my nerves?" I retort.
Finnick and his sugar cubes. I want to burn every last sugar cube in existence. That'll make an impression on him.
"My dear Annie, of course not!" Finnick exclaims dramatically. "Why, did you think I'm that bad? I'm talking about when your prep team gives you your drastic makeover!"
I don't know how to respond to that. So all I say is "I'll keep that in mind," because I don't think saying "Thank you" will be appropriate.
After the rest of our rather uneventful breakfast, Locketta takes me to the room where my prep team will be working on me. "Your stylist is Sandra," she tells me briskly. "She'll dress you up after Trixi, Jerso and Silia makes you presentable enough. Well, good luck!"
She drags Davis off in the other direction.
I gulp nervously, wondering what kind of torture I'll expect, when the three most ridiculous people I've ever seen comes walking down the hall. They're chatting to each other, but stop dead when they see me.
They gawk at me, and I'm pretty sure I'm staring back at them in a similar fashion.
The first is a middle-aged woman. She has these cat ears sticking onto the top of her head. And they're pink. Her body is covered with something blue, and she's wearing the most painful-looking high heels I've ever come across.
The second, a younger man, isn't any better. His pointy mud-colored hair is sticking out in all directions. Thankfully, he's not blue. Instead, he's covered with tattoos of what I think are the past presidents of Panem.
The third, also a woman, is the plainest of them. Her teeth are yellow, and when I inspect them carefully, I realize that they're gold. Whether it's real gold or magically colored is a whole different matter 's wearing a rather revealing dress, and has bracelets going up the length of her arms.
"My, my," the first woman comments as she stares at me. "We've got quite some work to do, don't we, Jerso, Silia?"
So she's Trixi.
"Hurry up! No time to waste! Chop chop!" She pushes me into the prep room and instructs me to take off my dress.
Staying true to Finnick's advice, I don't complain one bit.
Not even when they remove hairs from my body.
"You're very workable," remarks Jerso sometime later. "Last year's girl—ugh. All she ever did was complain. It was a miracle we even got anything done!"
I have no idea what he means by "workable", but I do offer him a small smile. I grit my teeth as Silia rips out the last of my precious body hair. "Mmm, all done, sweetie," she declares triumphantly. "My, that took awhile, didn't it?"
"Time for the hair!" Trixi announces. I groan inwardly.
A while later, my hair has been covered with some type of gel, giving it an "underwater" look. It's silky and flowy, and there's even some blue-green glitter in it.
That's how my morning went.
By lunch, I'm exhausted. My prep team stands back and give me one last look, admiring me from all angles. "You've got a wonderful body, dearie," Trixi says fondly. "With some work to it, you're quite presentable. No wonder Mr. Odair's taken a liking to you."
I flush. When has Finnick said anything to them about me?
"Well, that's that," Trixi sighs. "Sandra will come and look at you in the afternoon. Do try and not mess anything up, will you, dearie?"
"I'll do my best," I say.
I eat lunch by myself (all I have to do is press a few buttons, and the food is instantly there!), and when I'm drinking the last spoonful of soup, a woman, Sandra, enters the room. She nods approvingly at my appearance.
"Your prep team has done a good job," she praises. "But, now's the fun part."
She winks at me, and I smile back shyly. She asks me to take off my robe, and inspects my now-cleaned body. "Very nice," she would say every now and then. When she's finally finished, she tells me to dress. I gladly comply.
"So, you know that the Opening Ceremonies are an important part in the Games," she begins.
I nod.
"And you'll have to make an impression on the Capitol."
Obviously. I need to make an impression on the Capitol. If I don't, there won't even be a chance for me to get Sponsors.
"By wearing something that's related to your District," she finishes. "Of course, in District Four, you're famous for the fish and the beach and the sea."
Am I expected to dress in some silly fish costume? Or perhaps some very revealing net?
I want to gag at the thought.
She smiles at me, as if she knows what I'm thinking. "Mr. Odair requested that you have to look innocent," she says quietly. "Have you ever heard of the story of The Little Mermaid?" she asks.
What does that have to do with this? My mother used to tell me stories before I go to bed, and The Little Mermaid has always been my favorite, because it's about a girl who lives in the sea.
Sometimes I wish I could live in the sea, like a mermaid. Then I won't need air to breathe, and I can swim as much as I want to.
"We've thought outside the box a little," she continues without waiting for my answer. "You'll see what I mean once I'm through with you. Do me a favor and close your eyes, won't you, my dear?"
I do so.
I feel her move around, and periodically she would ask me to raise my arms, lower my arms, bend down, and so on.
I decide that I like Sandra. She's brisk and to-the-point, unlike the other Capitol women, who speak so delicately it's like they were made out of glass.
The bonus is that she doesn't seem to admire Finnick.
"Whew, that was some work," she says finally. "You're all done now! Go on, take a look," she encourages.
I open my eyes, and she gestures to the mirror behind the door.
I gasp.
Sandra has turned me into a mermaid.
I'm wearing a purple bra, but it covers enough of my chest so I don't feel naked. Other than that, I don't have anything else on above my waist.
What's below my waist is different. It's like a dress, sort of, but instead of spreading out at the bottom, it's tight and wraps around my ankles. The blue-green dress is decorated with sparkling sequences.
And the shoes I'm wearing are actually fish tails.
Simple yet elegant.
"What do you think?" Sandra asks.
"It's amazing," I breath, because it really is amazing. "Thank you!"
Sandra shrugs. "Don't thank me. It was mostly Mr. Odair's idea."
I scowl at the thought of owing him for this.
The door opens just then, revealing none other than Finnick himself.
"Ah, Mr. Odair," Sandra greets him cheerfully. "Just in time! She's ready."
His eyes sweep down my form, and I shift uncomfortably. What does he think about my costume? "Not yet. One more thing," he says, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a necklace.
It consists of a single pearl, strung onto a cord and tied together with expert knots. It's not fancy at all. Huh. I would've certainly expected it to be some fancy Capitol jewelry.
He ties it around my neck, and his fingers brush against my skin. I shiver at his touch. "Would you do me a favor and keep it as your District token?" he asks serenely.
I can't find the words to thank him, but I do say, "Of course."
"Thank you, my little mermaid," he murmurs. "Now, let's go out there and give the Capitol something to talk about."
Finnick holds out his hand to me, and I take it without complaint. As he leads me to where Davis is waiting, deep down, I am thinking that there may just be a chance for me to win the Games after all.
Disclaimer: I am not from the Capitol, so of course I don't own the Hunger Games.
(I'm sorry if the prep team scene isn't the same as what Katniss went through. I lent the first book to a friend, so I can't use it to reference things.)
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