A/N: As you older readers of mine can see, I replaced Portia with Tigris, because well, Portia got killed. Yeah this is where we all look at eachother awkwardly like, ...whoops. Oh well, I fixed it
Chapter 9
The next day, after lunch, we reported to the Remake Center. Tigris lays out my outfit for me. It's a long silky jade green dress. It's sleeveless with spaghetti-straps. My prep team puts a green cardigan on me. Its shoulders are square and puffed out like emeralds; the whole thing is covered in fake jewels that glitter when the light touches it. There's a pearl button connecting the two sides of the cardigan together. This simple outfit made me wonder, why they wanted me to come here so early, since the interviews started at seven, and it was probably half past noon. But then my prep team brought out a big case for makeup and a big case for hair. Oh… that's why.
They start working on my face. I end up with green eye shadow with glitter at the edge of my eye, some eye liner, a good eyebrow plucking so my eyebrows are little lines, and dark green lipstick. Then they start with my hair. They brush it all out and straighten it, removing the slight curve from the bottom of my hair, making it longer. They pull all of my hair to one side of my face, clipping it in place with a green clip/band thing. They hair spray it to make it stick even more. Then they add a sparkly green hair extension and make it fall on the other side of my face. All of this takes four hours. I have hair issues.
Next they adorn me with accessories, a belt encrusted with jewels, a necklace with one big emerald hanging from it, and a few bracelets. Then comes the shoes. They put me in clear 3 inch heels. The glass is tinted green and emeralds edge the shoe. Then they do touch ups, a little more hairspray, some more glitter on my eye, a bit more lip stick.
When they're done, Jupiter, Merimee, and Rhoda leave the room. It's just me and Tigris. She motions for me to stand up. I stand in front of the mirror. She circles me once, twice, than puts a hand on my shoulder.
"How does it feel?" she asks "To be so, in the nicest meaning possible, ignorant to the horrors of these games, then pushed head-first inside them?"
I'm caught off-guard. I don't like to talk about my real feelings most of the time. And it takes a while, for even Mari, to get me to talk. "Um… It's hard. My brain doesn't want to accept it. I guess, even though I know I'm probably going to die by the end of this week, my brain refuses to treat this as for real. Have you ever had that feeling? When you're in a crazy situation, and you know you're feeling a feeling, but your brain refuses to believe you're feeling that feeling." I sigh. Why am I so confusing? "I guess I'm still in the mindset that this is all a game. I've told myself that it's real and I'm going to die, but I don't know, it's really surreally scary."
"Do you know if you're ready?"
"Can anyone be ready for the Hunger Games?" The words slip out of my mouth.
She smiles, "I think you are."
A buzz goes through the room. It's the signal that the stylists should finish and send the tributes up to the stage. I meet Mercury and Peeta at the elevator. Mercury is dressed in a pitch black suit with red square jewels edging it. He wears a red shirt underneath and black gloves with his fingertips showing. His hair is gelled back and he might be wearing some eyeliner. I'm just glad it's the stylists who choose what we wear. Mercury comes to me.
"You look amazing," he says, putting his hands on my elbows.
"Thanks," I reply, pulling away. Doesn't he know that we'll just end up broken if we let ourselves go?
"You both look really good. They are going to love you," Peeta says.
Some stage managers start calling the tributes over to start lining us up. I'm the second to last; Mercury is behind me. At seven sharp, Caesar Flickerman, with his midnight blue suit and new orange hair comes out and warms up the audience with a few jokes before calling the first tribute up. Then the next tribute takes his turn. Soon, it's Telly's turn to take the stage. She starts out very shy, but by the end, when she's gotten comfortable, she's sweet and outgoing. People are going to love her. Her partner is dull and boring. Honestly I feel bad for the kid; he probably won't last very long, even if he survives the Cornucopia. A few more tributes go. Agatha and Balthazar were, like, made to be partners. They act the same, look the same, they might be related, you never know. Then Rom goes up. He's arrogant and slightly annoying, but to the point where you're laughing at it. Eventually, it's my turn to go up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Esmerelda Snow," Caesar introduces me.
I smile, laugh and wave as the people cheer.
"So, Esmerelda, can I ask how long it took to get your little cardigan on?" He raises his eyebrows, which looks kind of funny, considering they're orange.
"A good twenty minutes. We had to edge my arms around the sleeves and fix the jewels a lot." I say, not really thinking too much. Caesar laughs a little.
"What did you do when you found out that the famous Peeta Mellark was your mentor?" Caesar asks.
I start to blush, "Well, I kind screamed, 'Oh, my gosh! It's Peeta freaking Mellark!' but you know, I calmed down afterwards."
"Peeta freaking Mellark?"
"Yeah, my best friend and I used to be really big fans of his," I laugh.
"Well," he says, "Who's your best friend?"
I look down at my entangled hands for a second or two. "Her name was Marigold. She, uh, died before the Capitol was overtaken."
Caesar puts his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.
"But it's just something to make me want to fight through this; it makes me want to try, for her."
"That's very touching," he says, "I wish she could see you now."
I smile. The buzzer goes off.
"Alright," he says, holding my hand up, as we stand together, "One more round of applause for Esmerelda Snow."
I bow and walk back to my spot.
"And now, give a warm welcome to our last tribute of the night, Mercury Famine!" Caesar announces.
Mercury gets up and waves to the crowd. He walks over to the seat next to Caesar. They shake hands.
"I'm a big fan, it's nice to meet you," Mercury laughs.
"Oh, no I'm a big fan myself," Caesar compliments. "So, a nine, can you tell me anything about that."
"Well, I guess I did a plethora of things that got me a nine. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say exactly what happened," Mercury says, "but I know a few things from playing with my friends when I was a kid."
"Dare I ask what things?"
Mercury smiles slyly, "I'd rather keep those a secret." It makes me wonder if he was lying when he told us what he was doing during the sessions with the Game makers.
"So, is there a girl?" Caesar asks, hoping for some juicy results like last time he asked that.
"No, there were." I glance at Tiamy. Her face glows red with anger. "What I'm really hoping for is one last romance. But I don't think it'll happen."
"No?"
"Yeah, it's a dumb idea. And the girl I want probably is smart enough to know that too."
"I trust you'll make a wise decision," Caesar says, as the buzzer goes off. "And those are our tributes for the 76th Hunger Games! Have a good night and may the odds be ever in your favor!"