Liberosis - The Hunger Games

05

My eyes dart open to the sound of Sylvia's high heels running frantically through my carriage, after Finnick's drunken scene last night I had apparently slept through my alarm. Sylvia seemed to be making up time by running around like a headless chicken and doing nothing useful whatsoever. "We're going to be late!" She screeches, flapping her arms into the air as she enters my sleeping quarters, the blue-haired woman begins to rummage through my wardrobe to find something 'presentable' to wear when we get off the train.

"Sylvia, calm down, we're still on the train," Mags soothes the woman, becoming the voice of reason amongst the three of us, "Come, Rory, let's get some food into you," She leads me by the hand through the train. Inside the dining carriage, Thorn sits alone, the table is stacked sky-high with different breakfast foods. I take my seat beside the boy and pile some bacon and eggs onto my plate, Finnick trudges into the room half asleep and squinting at the amount of sunlight the windows provide.

"What's going on?" He grumbled huskily, blocking the sunlight away from his eyes with his hand. Mags greets the boy with some aspirin and a glass of water, kissing him on the cheek. He smiles gratefully at her before popping the pills into his mouth and chugging the entire glass of water.

"Sylvia's over-reacting, what's new?" Thorn chuckled, the rest of us let out laughs as Finnick takes a seat across from me.

"Morning sunshine," I greet him, reaching across the table and flattening out his bed hair, secretly I thought that the way it flew in several directions was a good look on him. I knew he would probably agree with me, but Sylvia would definitely disagree, it was better to give the woman at least one reason to have her head still screwed on.

"Hey Rory," He smiled at me, putting a piece of toast on his plate and nibbling on the edge of it, Mags hands each of us a steaming mug of coffee which we all take graciously.

Sylvia appears from down the corridor breathing heavily with an excited look on her face, "I found the perfect outfit!" She exclaimed happily, sitting at the head of the table. A smile forms on my face, as much as Sylvia could be annoying or overbearing, she was probably the only reason I would look presentable in the eyes of the Capitol. I was relying on her to get me through the publicity of the Hunger Games.

The television screen flashes on as Caesar Flickerman chatters excitedly about the first impression each of the tributes has bought to the Capitol. Unsurprisingly, the boy from One and the girl from Two have been voted as fan favourites, but the next tribute comes as a surprise. "Coming in third for first impressions is the astonishingly beautiful Aurora Hartley from District Four, it seems she's not only caught the eye of Finnick Odair, but the eyes of many of our lovely viewers- aren't we all excited for her interview?" He asks the audience; a loud cheer is heard through the crowd.

I blush and look down at my breakfast plate as all eyes turn to me, Sylvia is gushing as Thorn provides an amused look, Finnick is as red as me when Mags throws him a knowing look. "This makes your entrance to the Capitol all the more important, big smiles ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime!" She exclaims, pulling me from my chair and down the train.

Sylvia tells me not to bother bathing, telling me that the prep team will take care of that when we arrive. Instead, she dresses me in a flowy green dress that touches just above my ankles, the dress is in a wrap style and has thousands of tiny white daisies on the pattern. Mags weaves a braided crown into my hair, leaving tiny curled fly-aways out of updo. Sylvia adds the perfect touch of real white daisies into my hair, strapping chunky white sandals to my feet. She lets me leave Finnick's pearl necklace around my neck, smacking a layer of clear lip-gloss onto my lips.

It's obvious the play she's going for, the entire Capitol has already labelled me as astonishingly beautiful, she's clearly attempted to highlight some of my best features. Mags compliments my appearance as I stand gaping like a fish in the mirror, Sylvia also compliments her handiwork claiming that I'm 'Capitol's next Finnick Odair' I don't really know what that means, but it makes me uncomfortable. I exit the carriage in search of my best friend that I find in the lounge.