As the train pulls into the station and we wave at our 'adoring fans', I can't help but scowl in disgust. These people live out their lavish lives while we starve in the Districts and are forced to kill each other for entertainment.
"Alright girls, we need to get you into the Remake Center to get all cleaned up!" Vita all but shouts.
We get off the train and are escorted though the crowd into the basement of a large building. There, we meet our make-up teams. There are three people assigned to both of us, and my team introduces themselves to me as Persephone, Lydia, and Knox. Persephone is tall and skinny, with dark navy-blue hair that ends at her ankles, and eyes so wide they must have been surgically altered. Lydia is shorter than me, with an affinity for the color yellow and a waist the size of my wrist. Knox has short, spiky, black hair with green streaks in it, and is wearing colors of eyeshadow on his eyes that I didn't know existed. They begin fawning over me, and Alexia's team does the same to her, talking about all of our imperfections and flaws and they pull us away from each other into two separate rooms. The room that I am dragged into looks unsettlingly like a hospital room, with a large metal table in the middle and bright lights everywhere.
They strip me down, without asking, and get to work. They wash me and wax me and scrub me all over, making me look like a shiny pristine doll. It takes hours until they seem satisfied, then wash me down one last time, dry me off, quickly cut my hair, and send me off into a room to sit alone. I find something akin to a surgical gown laid down on the bench beside me, so I put it on. A few minutes pass before a somewhat normal looking man comes into the room. He still doesn't look as though he would belong in the Districts, but he doesn't exactly fit in with the Capital crowd either. He wears a black jacket and tight black pants, and his natural looking brown hair is worn long and back in a ponytail. He wears almost no makeup but does wear some insanely large hoop earrings.
"Hi," he says to me as he closes the door, "I'm Helios, and I'm your stylist. Welcome to the Capital."
He walks over to me and shakes my hand as he says this, then sits down next to me.
"I'm sorry that you're here," he continues, "and if you ever need anything, just let me know. I'm here to help you and your sister make a good impression at the tribute parade and the interviews, through your outfits,"
Helios is the first person from the Capitol that is actually treating me like a victim, instead of someone who just won the lottery.
"Thank you," I respond.
"Both you and your sister will be wearing matching outfits, and we – meaning Chastity and I, Chastity is your sister's stylist – created a new costume this year," Helios says.
Every year the District 12 tributes wear one of three different outfits – either the miner outfit, naked but completely covered in coal, or wearing something that looks like it's set you on fire. One year they made the tributes parade around naked and covered in coal, but the coal dust was sparkling. I thought the tributes were going to die right there.
"As long as I'm wearing actual clothes I won't care what it looks like," I say.
Helios chuckles to himself.
"Don't worry, you won't be naked. And I think you might change your mind once you see what it can do." He says, standing and walking to the hanger with a garment bag hanging on the other side of the room.
"Would you like to see it, Ms. Hawthorne?"
YOU ARE READING
The 175th Hunger Games
Fanfiction"On the 175th anniversary, for the rebels to remember that the war was fought against their own brothers, the two tributes selected from each district will be siblings, both between the ages of 12 and 18 as per usual." One hundred and one years aft...
