Chapter 7.
Zircon and I spend the rest of the afternoon training with Elza and Magnus. Elza turns out to be really good with pole arms and axes. Magnus has a thing for maces and swords. We spent some time with the tributes from District 3, Leic and Sophie, and District 4, Irvin and Nerida. We tried to approach the boy from 9, who introduced himself as Aran, in a group, but he didn't want to train with us. Magnus eventually approached him by himself, and they spent some time together as well. When Magnus asked him if he wanted to join our alliance, he declined.
"I don't have time for that." He had said. I noticed he was the only male tribute who didn't have his hair cropped short. He put his long, brown hair back in a ponytail and turned away from us. He and Magnus are also the only ones with a hint of facial hair on their chins, which makes them look a little older than the rest.
"Alright, then you're the first on our list." Zircon jokes as Aran walks away. The four of us laugh.
"You're such an idiot." Elza says, but I can tell by the look on her face she's not really mad. I can also tell that she wasn't joking completely.
The last few hours haven't really felt like we're training for a killing competition. It felt like I was having a good time with friends. The realization that I will have to start killing these people in three days, in order to stay alive myself, hits me like a bucket of cold water. I shiver at the thought for a second, but then I decide to not let it ruin my fun for now.
The last day of training, the four of us spend time with more tributes. We train together with Endre and Trix from 6, Oliver and the little girl Tamora from 7, and even Stitch and Florence from 8. Stitch and Florence are dismissed soon, for Florence is not a good fighter and Stitch's clumsy recklessness forms a problem. Tamora, being the youngest tribute this year, might get us a lot of sympathy sponsors, but besides that she wouldn't be a useful addition to our alliance either, so she's dismissed too. That leaves Oliver, Endre and Trix for us to consider. We don't spend time with the tributes from the lower districts; they all appear weak and are not worth our time. So we continue training with Irvin and Nerida instead. Eventually we are also accompanied by the girl from 5, whose name apparently is Bree, and her district partner Raiden.
We decide to stick with the four of us, and for the rest we'll decide during the Games. Sooner than we thought, the last training session ends and it's time for the individual assessments. All twenty-four tributes are gathered in the dining hall, where we are being called one by one.
"Zircon Lovett" is the first name being called over the PA.
"Good luck." I say as Zircon makes his way towards the door, where the gamemakers are waiting for him.
Only ten minutes have passed when my name is being called. I get up and make my way to the same door Zircon has just walked through. When I enter room, I look around. Several attributes have been spread throughout the room. The gamemakers are looking down on me from a balcony, with Plutarch Heavensbee in the front.
"Welcome Satin," He says, "Please present us your chosen skill."
It doesn't take long for me to decide what to do. There's an obstacle course here that is similar to the gauntlets, and there are training dummies and knives. I put the dummies on different sides of the obstacle course, and gather a bunch of throwing knives in my hands. I step onto the first platform of the obstacle course, and pray to myself that I don't trip and embarrass myself. But my body seems to agree with me on that. My feet fluently find their way from platform to platform, only stopping to throw a knife in the direction of one of the training dummies. I jump off the last platform and turn around. Each training dummy has been hit by a knife in the chest. Proud of myself, I smile at the gamemakers, who applaud me. I bow before them, then I leave the room.
"How did it go?" Parcival asks as I enter our apartment afterwards.
"I think it went well. I've showed them my best trick." I tell him with a smile.
Both Parcival and Auria smile back at me. "Good." Auria says.
That evening, we all gather on the large lounge couch before the television in our apartment, as we wait for the television to turn on. When it turns on, the first thing we see is a close up of Caesar Flickerman, who sits behind a desk by himself, screens flashing behind him. He talks the usual introduction talk: The gamemakers have given all of the tributes a score, ranging from one to twelve. When he finishes his introduction talk, a picture of Zircon's face is shown. Underneath his face flashes the number nine. Then my face is shown, with an eight underneath. An eight. I feel a twinge of disappointment: I had showed them my best trick, wasn't that worth more than an eight?
"Well done, you two." Brynn comments. Next to her, Doozie grins excitedly.
"Well done indeed." Peach adds, then she notices the expression on my face. "Why the long face, Satin? An eight is great!"
I work up a smile, although it takes a few seconds for it to be genuine. "It's not bad." I murmur.
The next face on the screen is Magnus's, who has a score of ten. Then Elza's, who has a score of nine. I see the faces of the other tributes flash by. Sophie from 3 has a score of seven, Irvin from 4 has a five, and Nerida has a six. The little girl from 7 has a five. Stitch managed to get a six. Aran has a ten, just like Magnus, which makes him our biggest competition now. The lowest score goes to the girl from 12, who ended up with a three.
The next morning, Zircon and I are both taken to different rooms by Parcival and Auria for our individual media training. This is in preparation for the big show this afternoon, in which Caesar Flickerman will interview all of the tributes. Auria throws all kinds of questions at me, and I answer each of them with the same poise and grace.
"I think it was good to pick the princess angle for you. It really suits you." Auria comments after another bombardment of questions. "I've told Peach to make you a royally beautiful dress."
"I can't wait to see it." I say, smiling.
Auria then drags me to another room, where Brynn is waiting for me. She gives me a short course on how to present myself in public and how to walk in heels. It doesn't take long, because most of these things come naturally to me. I've walked on heels before, so it's not completely new to me, but I'm not used to walking on heels this high.
After we've both finished our individual training, Zircon and I are brought downstairs, where Peach and Doozie are waiting for us. They bring us to the same rooms they prepped us in for the Tribute Parade. Nimmo, Juniper and Arlue are already waiting for me.
"You know what to do." Peach tells them. Then she turns to me. "While they work on making you pretty, I'm going to put the finishing touch on your dress. Be good, darling!" And with those words, she's out the door again. Nimmo starts working on my hair with some kind of curling iron, as Arlue paints my finger nails and Juniper puts make-up on my face.
"Darling, can you try to sit still?" Juniper asks.
"I try" I say through clenched teeth as Nimmo pulls on another strand of my hair.
Almost an hour later, they let me look in the mirror. I recognize myself, but I feel like a completely exaggerated version of me. My nails are a deep, glittery pink. My hair looks like it's been bathed in golden glitter and it's been put back with all kinds of pins. My golden curls now fall only over my back, instead of my shoulders. My face is made up with shades of pink and pink, which really brings out my blue eyes. I don't just feel like ordinary Satin Charbrooke anymore. Instead, I feel like the princess they want me to be.
"Look at you." Peach says in awe, as she walks in with a bag that must contain my dress. "You look absolutely beautiful."
"You did a great job!" She tells her three assistants. "Let's put on her dress. Satin, close your eyes."
I do as they say. I hear a zipper opening, and ruffle of fabric. Then I feel the silken fabric slide over my body, some adjusting and more ruffling, and then it's done.
"It's absolutely gorgeous." I hear Nimmo's deep voice say.
"Do you want to see it?" Peach asks me. I nod without hesitation.
"Okay, open your eyes."
I do as she says and as soon as I see the dress, I'm speechless for a few seconds. The dress is made out of soft pink fabric. The top is corset-like, with golden laces at the back. The skirt falls under it in wide layers of pink and gold. The whole thing is decorated with butterflies, in a zigzag line from top to bottom. Arlue helps me in the heeled golden sandals that go along with it. Then there's a knock on the door.
"Is she ready?" Brynn's voice chirps from the other side of the door. Then she opens it and walks in, her mouth falling open at the sight of me.
"Satin, you look absolutely beautiful! Are you ready to go?"
I follow Brynn out of the room, where Zircon is already waiting. Compared to my dress, his white and marine blue suit looks somewhat dull. Nonetheless, he still looks charming. I see him eyeing me, but he says nothing. Neither do I. Brynn brings us to the car which will bring the three of us to the City Circle for our interview. When we arrive backstage, we meet up with Auria and Parcival again, who compliment our prep teams for making us look so beautiful.
"Satin, you'll be up first." Auria tells me. "But if you do it just as we rehearsed yesterday, you'll be great."
"Zircon is second. Same goes for you, just remember to smile a little more." Parcival tells Zircon, which makes Zircon frown at him.
When all the tributes are gathered backstage, the show starts. We hear not the familiar intro tune that was always played when Amaryllis entered the stage, but we hear a new one instead. These are fresh, new notes coming from trumpets, that give a whole new atmosphere to the City Circle. After Caesar has walked up the stage, he calls us. All twenty-four of us take place on the seats in the back of the stage. Caesar cracks a few jokes to warm up the audience, then I'm being called to the center of the stage.
"A round of applause for the first tribute of this evening, the princess of District 1: Satin Charbrooke!" Caesar gestures in my direction, and I know that's my cue to stand up and walk towards him. I sit down on the seat next to his.
"Welcome, Satin." Says Caesar. "You look absolutely stunning this evening." Then he addresses the audience with a "Doesn't she, folks?" to which the audience claps wildly.
"So at the reaping in District 1, you volunteered as a tribute. And out of all the volunteers, you were the one who was chosen. How does that make you feel?" He asks.
"I feel honored to be representing my District." I answer gracefully.
"Do you think you're ready?"
"I couldn't be more ready than I am now. I've done all that I could do to prepare."
"So poised, so marvelous. A real princess!" Caesar exclaims. "You've already made a lasting impression when I saw you in that beautiful outfit during the Parade, it would be hard for other tributes to measure up."
"Thank you, Caesar. The jewelry I wore during the Parade was crafted by my own family and I am very proud of that."
"I can imagine that very well. Now, are you going to make your family proud of you?"
I am just in time to reply with a determined "Yes" before the buzzer goes, announcing that our three minutes have passed.
"Thank you, Satin" Caesar says, and the audience applauds for me once more as I make my way back to my own seat.
"The next tribute might be known by a lot of you as the Lovett's son: Zircon Lovett!" Caesar announces as Zircon makes his way to the center stage. For the first time, I see the charming Zircon again. Making jokes with Caesar, but not forgetting to show off his strength and confidence.
"You'll have the ladies standing in line for you if you win this thing." Caesar eventually says. Then the buzzer goes, and it's the turn for Elza, who is dressed in a sky blue gown that matches her eyes. Just like me, Elza is very calm and collected, and even a little sarcastic. The audience applauds for her just as much. Magnus doesn't talk much during his interview. His answers are short and don't contain more words than necessary. Both Sophie and Leic talk in long sentences with difficult words, which make it hard to understand for some of us. Little Tamora from 7 is very shy at first, but eventually she opens up and gets a lot of sympathy from the audience. Stitch from 8 says he's ready to beat everyone up, and in his enthusiasm he hits Caesar in the face with his fist. I thought Magnus was blunt, but Aran is even worse. He'll only say "yes" or "no", and he constantly looks annoyed or angry. First to last is the girl from 12, whose name is Melanie. She doesn't make much sense. She giggles a few times and tries come off as a decent fighter, but her weak appearance is not contributing much.
After the show, we are all brought back to our apartments. Back in my room, I take off the dress and hang it over the door of the wardrobe. Then I jump into the shower to wash off all the glittery make up. My nails are still deep pink, but I decide to leave them that way.
When I finish showering, I decide to go to bed straight away. I could use some extra sleep this night before the Games. Unfortunately I can't sleep right away. I lay awake for a good hour, thinking about all the events that took place today. Things are looking good for me so far. I had a good training score and I have an alliance that has my back tomorrow. As last, I think of Blaze. What is he doing at this moment? There will probably be a couple of parties going on in the richer areas of District 1. The previous years, Blaze and I always tried to crash those parties together, whether we were invited or not. Often we were lucky and they let us in somewhere. The nights that we spent only roaming the streets in our best outfits, were rare. I smile at the memories. I wonder what he's doing tonight, now I'm here in the Capitol. Would he be crashing the parties by himself? Or did he find someone else to join him? I feel a twinge of jealousy to imagine him doing that with another person, since it was always our thing. Nonetheless, the memories have made me happy. Feeling satisfied and confident, I fall asleep soon.