(Chapter 14: James)
"We shouldn't really need to do much, since you're already so good-looking." One of my stylists chirps. This is unsettling coming from a lady in her thirties.
I have three people preparing me to see my main stylist. They're naming everything about me that they need to fix. I'm pretty sure their names were Ester, Jupiter and Romaine, and they all wore so much makeup and they all had their hair dyed extreme colours.
I sat in the chair, trying not to wince as they plucked my eyebrows, chit-chatting about the games and my stylist, and how I'm going to love all the Capitol clothes and the attention I'm going to get, and how they always think that District 1 tributes are the most polite and victorious, even though we haven't had any victors.
I just say thank-you and nod every now and then.
They give me a haircut, and shave my face. Then they rub lotion on my face and body, cut and file my nails.
Then they all inspect me, making sure they haven't left anything untouched. It's honestly embarrassing, but I've been trying so hard to be confident up until now that I'm not going to let it go down the drain.
Jupiter hands me a towel to wrap around my waist.
Soon, Romaine smiles at me and says, "Wonderful! Time to get Ezra!" and trots off, followed by Ester and Jupiter.
I stand there, slightly cold, thinking about what my stylist is going to make me wear. Probably something shiny, glittery, or gold, given that my district is known for special goods like gemstones and diamonds.
Then, Ezra enters the room. His hair and eyebrows are dyed startling red, with red eyeliner and very pale white skin, and a dark red suit, he looked like some kind of strawberry demon. He opens his arms wide and smiles at me.
"You must be James Lysander!" He announces, then drops his arms and quickly inspects me.
"Yep, that's me." I say, forcing a smile.
"Wonderful. Yes, you're looking good…maybe add some makeup, fix your hair, get you into your costume and you'll look spectacular!" he says, beaming at me.
"Great!" I tell him, trying to be a bit enthusiastic.
Ezra grins. "Your District is for special goods, like gemstones and gold, as you know. So we're going to show this in your outfit, of course."
Typical, but I smile anyway.
"Let's get the costume on and I'll explain." he tells me.
Soon, I'm standing in front of a mirror in my costume. It's giving some sort of Roman or Greek toga, except it's hardly covering any skin. The toga was a shiny purple-coloured material that shifted from green, to blue, to pink, depending on the angle you look at it. It covered from my waist to my knees, leaving me shirtless. I had some gold glitter sprinkled on my chest, and I think on my back too, as well as both my arms, from the tips of my fingers to my elbows, are covered in the stuff, including my neck. I have a small gold ring that goes around my head like a crown that is decorated with different coloured gemstones, standing out in my dark hair. Tall gemstones ranging in colours like purple, pink, white and blue lined around my shoulders, reaching as tall as my head, acting like a raised collar. My shoes were golden and sandal-like, similar to the ancient Greek shoes called 'embades' that we learned about in school. The topmost part of the shoe was decorated with gemstones like my crown.
"What do you think?" Ezra said, clearly bursting with pride and excitement.
I would much rather be a bit more covered, but I plaster another fake smile onto my mouth.
"It looks great! Thank you!"
"Wonderful, wonderful…let's get some makeup on!" He says.
I sat in a chair as Ezra did my makeup. He covered the sides of my face and my eyelids in this shiny, metallic powder, then added a small amount of eyeliner on my eyes.
"I don't want too much attention on your face." he explained, "I want all of it on your costume!"
After he was finished, he took me down to the bottom floor of the Remake Centre, where we met Lilly and her stylist; Allira. Lilly was wearing a matching outfit to mine, except she had crystals lining her shoulders as well as covering her chest, and she wore golden heels instead of sandals. She had a dress that on one side went all the way to her feet and swept across the floor, and the other side ended halfway down her thigh, so that her leg was exposed. She had a matching crown, except it wasn't as obvious in her dark blonde hair as it was in my brown hair.
We are loaded into our all-gold chariot, decorated with gemstones. The horses pulling it were pure white. The opening music begins. The huge doors slide open, revealing the massive crowds and cameras. The horses begin to trot out into the streets, and the crowd begins to roar and cheer, and every now and then someone whistles. I smile at the crowds. Our district is always the favourite, and it does us lots of favours in the games. Behind us, the other districts begin coming out in ascending order, district 12 coming out last. I keep my eyes on the crowds, smiling, waving, trying to gain some sponsors later on.