I thought it was about time to get another chapter up and ready for you to read, so here's the usual rambling that I make every chapter. I need some reader participation, because I seriously can't decide a few things. Liz and Luke are getting married and I have no idea what people are going to be doing and saying there. There are more things, but here's how you can get involved. I am begging you, please do these things. You all say your fans, but not many of you go past reading, and sometimes reviewing. If you're a fan, please please pretty please do these things. They will probably be in the story as long as I can make it make sense, and it's not OOC.
Write a wedding speech for someone in the story. Keep it in character, and have fun. What do you honestly think that that certain person would say?
When you think of Liz and/or Luke (separately, or as a couple), what do you think of? Are they stupid love struck teens? Are they the ultimate power duo? Express what YOU think, because it might be different then the way I have written them.
If you could become one of the characters in this story, who would you be? Why?
Who is your favorite character in this story? Why? Least favorite? Why did you pick that person?
If Luke and Liz couldn't be together anymore, and you got to choose who they ended up with, who would it be? Why?
You can submit these things by PM, review, or you can e-mail them to me at . Just make sure that I am going to know what it is that I am reading. I would love to hear from all of you. Here's a chapter to make you all happy and stuff.
"I don't care what you two did Tari. I want you and Argentina to play nice and maybe do your job, because we are almost to the Capitol, and Luke and I have an interview to get to where people are going to be seriously paying attention to what we're wearing."
Usually, I wouldn't encourage them to primp and prod me and make me look like a plastic figurine, but I'm thinking that if I do that, maybe Tari and Argentina will stop fighting and being so….hostile if they got working on what they liked to do…even if I positively hate it.
"Yeah please stop fighting. It's kind of depressing." Luke says, coming up and grabbing me around the waist.
I smile and carefully wiggle my way out of his grasp.
Vilnius is looking guilty, but Argentina smiles at him lovingly and kisses him. And by then, Tari is shaking hands with Argentina, and everything is right in the world.
"We're in the Capitol. Everybody look alarmed." Haymitch adds, coming in the room in his usual drunken haze. He totally just ruined the nice environment Luke and I worked so hard to get.
"Shut up Haymitch. We're going to the Capitol. No big deal." Effie trills.
"I have a knife. We'll be perfectly fine." My mom says, her eyes glowing with the enthusiasm that can only be given to her by a weapon.
She twirls the knife between her fingers, smirking and looking downright murderous.
"Mom? Cool it. We left the Arena 3 months ago." I murmur.
And I go back to my compartment, grab my suitcase, and walk back out, ready to face the Capitol.
"Liz, really. You're wearing that into the Capitol?"
Now who do you think said that? Octavia? Melody? My mom? Effie? Nope. My dad. My dad was questioning me about my clothing choice. This would have been alright with me if I was dressed inappropriately. But I wasn't. I was wearing a black peasant blouse, a knee length black skirt, a pair of hot pink leggings, and black flats. No reason for him to question me.
"Is there something wrong with this?" I ask, gesturing to my clothes.
"You bet there is! You can't go out there looking boring and appropriate. People here look at you and think of the fiery, aggressive, sex y girl from District 2. Go put something else on."
"I'll go change."
"Keep the leggings, but put on your hot pink tank top, your black buttoned vest, and your black stilettos. The 3 inch, not the 6 please. Can't go too overboard."
"Yes sir."
I turn around and start walking back to my compartment.
"Elizabeth?"
"Yes?"
"Sir? Really?"
"Sorry. Yes daddy." I say.
"Much better."
"Not really. I feel like I'm going to throw up." I say with a mock gag.
"Go change, smartass." He laughs.
I smirk and turn around.
15 minutes later, I have not only gotten changed, but pulled my hair up into a sexy side ponytail and applied my usual makeup, black and red of course.
"That's a lot better." My dad comments.
Luke leans in to kiss me.
"Wow! That makeup is applied flawlessly! Do not mess it up!" Melody shrieks.
Luke and I roll our eyes, intertwine our fingers, fix our faces, his into a smile, mine into a smirk, and then we walk out of the train to the cameras and people screaming and cheering.
"Want to give them a show?" Luke says.
"Go for it. Screw the makeup. I can recreate that anytime." I state.
Luke starts it up immediately.
Lifting me up with his hands around my waist. Click. Click click click.
The cameras are going crazy.
I straddle Luke and he kisses me. Click click click click.
He puts me down again and we stand there holding hands. Click.
Hmmm. The cameras click a lot less when we aren't all over each other. Surprise surprise.
We walk into the old training center, which makes me almost cry, and we head up to our old rooms. Well….mine. Luke and I are staying in the same room since Haymitch punched a hole in his wall when we were here for the Games.
My parents leave us with Melody, Vilnius and our prep teams, and then Luke and I are instantly getting ready again. Not even 20 seconds to just sit down.
"You two know the drill." Melody says, shooing us off and turning to one of the tables to unpack one of the many black pouches full of styling supplies.
"Yeah yeah. We're getting naked." Luke says, rolling his eyes with a groan.
"Just listen to what you're told to do." Tari snaps.
"As long as you aren't eyeing me up, I will." Luke retorts.
My eyes widen. What happened to Luke? I like this new change in him. Much much weirder then the normal Luke. I don't know what happened with him, but he's acting pretty strangely. I'll have to ask him about it later.
"So am I going slutty or strange tonight?" I whisper to Luke playfully.
"I'm not sure, but I hope you'll have something comfortable. I know how you hate anything that's overly frilly, and padded stuff might make you spontaneously combust into flames, so I'd think those two things are out completely."
"I hope so too. I hope you don't have to wear sequins. They don't work on you very well, no matter what they are saying."
"OK, so here's the deal. We have two options for each of you. You can pick which one makes you more happy. But I doubt you will truly like either one of them. Luke, you can go first."
Vilnius holds up a pressed white collared shirt, a charcoal grey sweater vest, a black bowtie, crisp khakis, and a pair of black dress shoes.
Luke blinks a few times, and starts laughing. Full out, deep laughing that makes him shake a little bit, and makes me smile. His laughter is infectious. He's wiping tears away from his eyes.
"You seriously want me to wear that?" He asks.
"Well, that's one choice. Here's the other." Vilnius replies.
He puts down the sweater vest and picks up a leather jacket, black sunglasses, a bottle of hair gel, and black sunglasses.
This isn't Luke either….that is like what Marcus would wear. What a District 2 boy would wear. Not at all like what I can see Luke wanting to wear. But that other option was weird too….this is bound to be interesting to say the least. I honestly can't even make my own decision on what he is going to pick, and I'm the so called expert on him.
I doubt Katniss and Peeta are going to approve of this outfit either. Maybe the first one, but I have no idea how this will play out in the slightest.
"Option 2." Luke says in a bored tone.
Vilnius hands him the clothes and Luke wordlessly pulls them on.
"Liz, it's your turn." Melody sing songs.
She holds up a super, and I mean super short black dress. It comes to just below my crotch, and if I sit down in it, I bet that you would be able to see my underwear.
"There better be more." I mutter.
"Oh yeah." Melody says. She turns around for a second, and returns in my direction with a pair of little black booty shorts and a pair of 6 inch black heels.
"Other option?" I ask.
She puts down all of the clothes and picks up a pair of 1 inch shiny black heels, a powder pink skirt, a white tank top a button up black vest, and then a black hair band with a huge light pink bow. Not at all like me.
So I can dress like an insanely slutty prostitute, or a clean and appropriate schoolgirl.
"You might as well offer me a pair of glasses with duct tape in the middle." I add.
"Don't tempt me." Octavia laughs.
I think it over. Which one is worse….? I don't want to look that inappropriate. But at the same time, people won't expect me to wear something so safe and boring.
Luke is wearing the one that is the opposite of him. So will I….I'm regretting this already.
"Second option."
Too late to go back now.
Octavia hands me the clothes, and I put them on without speaking.
Luke smiles at me, but even that can't make me feel good right now.
Melody ushers me over to one vanity, and Luke is ushered to the other, where Vilnius starts running enough hair gel through his blond hair to empty the entire stock of District 1. His hair looks good, if you like the dangerous and aggressive looks.
And Melody curls the ends of my hair so that my hair is slightly more shaped then before. She slides the hair band in, and I look in the mirror. Not looking too bad. Red lip stick and black eyeliner complete it, and by then I'm not too disgusted by the look.
My parents, on the other hand, are not so thrilled.
"What did I tell you? Sexy. Dangerous. This is neither. Luke looks fantastic, but Liz….honey, what are you wearing?"
"The opposite of what I would normally wear. Luke did the same thing."
Luke nods, and that's when Katniss and Peeta jump in.
"Oh my god! What…how….what is going on here?" Katniss asks.
"I'm wearing something I would never wear, and Liz is too. "
"I see that." Peeta says.
A buzzer goes off, and Caesar Flickerman stands on the Capitol stage, lilac hair and a suit to match, just like the last time we saw him.
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome back 88th Hunger Games Victors Elizabeth Hirsch and Luke Mellark."
The crowd goes nuts. It's more deafening then any of the districts, even our own. I laugh, and Luke and I give each other one more encouraging and supportive look before we're walking out to Caesar, who smiles with his overly white teeth and altered appearance.
Caesar opens his arms, and I go into them, like we're friends or something. Luke shakes hands with him and Caesar settles himself into a plush chair. Luke and I settle down across from him on an equally plush sofa.
"It's so wonderful to see you again Caesar." I say, smiling.
"And you too! Liz, you look fabulous! This is something we've never seen of you before."
"My stylists, along with Luke's, agreed that Luke and I should wear something different. Luke and I are pretty much wearing the opposite of our normal attire." I say much too formally.
My mother's firm and steely look shows she's still not happy about this.
"Luke, you look an awful lot like District 2's male tribute for these Games, Marcus Shay."
The crowd gets silent at Marcus's name, and slowly my smile disappears. I did not think we'd be getting around to Marcus this quickly.
"I noticed the same thing. I think it suits me a lot." Luke says with a laugh and that sexy smile that melts me every time.
He's trying to put a positive spin on this, and by the looks of it, he's doing pretty well.
It apparently makes the woman and even some of the men in the Capitol melt too. There are squeals, giggles, and laughs heard all over the crowd.
"Well played indeed. I see what your getting at. Playing into your fiancée's clothing likes….you smart boy." Caesar says, keeping the banter going.
I laugh, just trying to compose myself. I have never felt more nervous in my life. Why am I so nervous all of a sudden? I didn't feel like this while we were preparing….oh wait, yeah I did. Now my nerves are really kicking in.
"And here's the question we are all dying to know the answer to here in the Capitol…..pregnancy plans? Are we going to see the development of children any time soon?"
And the nerves skyrocket to the roof. Forget nervous. I'm downright terrified now.
I know, I know. Cliffhanger! Well, sort of. We all kind of know the answer to this question, but I thought this would be a nice place to end. Please review, and do the contests. I would be super happy if you did. Like, more happy then I have ever been while writing this story. And I know this chapter wasn't the best, but I just wanted to update something. Anything! So please, tell me what you thought. I'll update as soon as I can.